The British under Gen. Burgoyne captured the Lake Champlain forts in July 1777, and the rear guard of the American army, retreating from Ticonderoga, was defeated at Hubbardton, Vt., July 7, 1777. In an attempt to capture American stores at Ben nington, British detachments under Cols. Baum and Breymann were defeated by an American force, consisting of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts troops commanded by Gen. John Stark, on Aug. 16, 1777. This was the beginning of Burgoyne's reverses which ended in his surrender to Gen. Gates.
The new State of Vermont continued to function, although opposed by foes at home and abroad. In 1790 New York, under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton, recognized the independence of Vermont conditioned upon the payment of $30,000, and on Mar. 4, 1791, the Green Mountain Commonwealth was the first State admitted to the Union after the original 13.
Settlement was rapid during the latter years of the Revolution ary War. A rough census showed about 7,000 people in the State in 1771. In 1791 the number rose to 85,525. After her declaration of independence the State granted her own lands. In 1779 the legislature planned that they were to be in townships 6 m. square with 70 rights or divisions in each. Five divisions in each were reserved, one for the support of a college, one for a county gram mar school, one for an English school, one for the support of preaching and one for the first settled minister. The legislature convened in several of the larger towns of the State until 1808, when the capital was permanently situated at Montpelier.
Many little iron mines were opened, and small forges put in operation with charcoal as fuel. This was an industry which is no longer found. The iron and other businesses were stimulated by the War of 1812. In this war Vermont troops took part in the battles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Lake Erie and Plattsburgh, but the only engagement in the State itself was the defence of Ft. Cassin at the mouth of Otter creek in 1813.
Steady expansion followed. Farm produce and cattle were sold South to older markets. The lumber business began to be devel oped in the Connecticut valley and along the shores of Lake Cham plain where water transportation was available, the demand at first being principally for ship timber. During the winter the lines of sledges took the produce of the Champlain region to Montreal, just as that from the south-western part was taken to Albany, and that from the Connecticut valley to Portsmouth or Boston. The opening of the Champlain canal in 1823, connecting Lake Cham plain and the Hudson river, largely increased commerce with New York and diverted trade from Canada. Stage lines began to carry the mail and passengers throughout the State. Many towns to which they went had a larger population in 1820 than in 1920. The decade between 182o and 1830 was the last one in which there was a marked increase of population in the State. After that many Vermonters were seized with the desire to go west and so they helped to build many of the northern States of the Mississippi valley. Many also went south to the rising industrial centres of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Despite these great losses the population continued to increase, aided in later years by an influx of French Canadians from Canada.
During the Civil War a small band of Confederates crossed the frontier from Canada and raided the town of St. Albans. In 1870 St. Albans was the headquarters of an attempted Fenian invasion of Canada. Sheep raising was an important farm industry before and after the Civil War, but after 188o declined rapidly because of competition from the Western States and Australia. The Ver mont Central, between Windsor and Burlington, and the Rutland from Bellows Falls to Burlington, were completed in 1849. In presidential campaigns the State was Federalist, 1792-1800; Democratic-Republican, 1804-20; Adams-Republican, 1824-28; Anti-Masonic, 1832; Whig, 1836-52; and Republican since 1856.