St. Albans raid

St. Albans Raid

St. Albans bank tellers being forced to pledge allegiance to the Confederacy,

Date	October 19, 1864 (1864-10-19)
Location	St. Albans (city), Vermont 44°48′37″N 73°09′08″W / 44.81028°N 73.15222°W / 44.81028; -73.15222Coordinates: 44°48′37″N 73°09′08″W / 44.81028°N 73.15222°W / 44.81028; -73.15222
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

Confederate States of America
Supported by:

Canadian sympathizers

Commanders and leaders

Bennett H. Young

Strength

local police and militia

21 cavalry

Casualties and losses

1 killed
2 wounded

1 wounded

Confederate States of America
Supported by:

The St. Albans Raid was the northernmost land action of the American Civil War. It was a controversial raid from Canada by Confederate soldiers meant to rob banks to raise money and to trick the Union Army to divert troops to defend their northern border against further raids. It took place in St. Albans, Vermont, on October 19, 1864.

In this wartime incident, Kentuckian Bennett H. Young led the Confederate States Army forces. Young had been captured after the Battle of Salineville in Ohio ended Morgan's Raid the year before. He managed to escape to Canada, then part of the British Empire. After meeting with Confederate agents there, he returned to the Confederacy, where he proposed raids on the Union from the Canada–US border to build the Confederate treasury and force the Union Army to divert troops from the South. Young was commissioned as a lieutenant and returned to Canada, where he recruited other escaped Confederates for a raid on St. Albans, Vermont, a quiet city just 15 miles (24 km) from the Canada–US border.

Young and two others checked into a local hotel on October 10, saying they had come from St. John's, Canada East, for a "sporting vacation". Two or three more men arrived daily, until by October 19, 21 Confederate cavalrymen had assembled. Shortly before 3 p.m. the men staged simultaneous robberies of the city's three banks. They identified themselves as Confederate soldiers and took a total of $208,000 (US$ 3,190,000 in 2017). During the robberies, eight or nine Confederates held the villagers at gun point on the village green, taking their horses to prevent pursuit. Several armed villagers tried to resist, and one was killed and another wounded. Young ordered his men to burn the city, but the 4-US-fluid-ounce (120 ml) bottles of Greek fire they used failed to ignite, and only one shed was destroyed by fire.

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