The Royalton Raid

On October sixteenth, seventeen eighty, nearly three hundred warriors allied with the British fell on the frontier settlements of this valley, from Tunbridge down to Royalton. The raid was designed to terrorize Vermont's backcountry and stretch American defenses thin during the Revolutionary War.

Four settlers were killed and twenty-six were taken prisoner. Royalton itself was burned to the ground. The captives, mostly women and children, were marched north through harsh October wilderness toward Canada. Some were ransomed back over the following months; others were eventually released or escaped. The Royalton Raid was the last major British-allied attack on Vermont settlements during the war. It left a scar on this valley's memory deep enough that the date, October sixteenth, seventeen eighty, is still carved into the marker you are passing right now.