The War Against New England
The News & Observer out of North Carolina has an article on the raid carried out by Confederate Agents on St Albans, VT on October 19, 1864. Although the loss of life was small (1 Killed) and the destruction of property was less then planned the symbolic nature of the raid was meant to be an attack directly against the people of New England. Bennett Young the leader of the raid recalled on his commanders saying that "It is right that the people of New England,and especially Vermont, whose officers and troops have been foremost [in waging war], should have brought to them some of the horrors of warfare."
St. Albans was not the only time in New England saw Confederate agents in action. There was a similar raid on a bank carried in Calais, Maine. In Maine's largest city Portland Confederate saliors commandeered a US Revenue Service Cutter called the Calab Cushing. The best account of these and other actions by Confederates in Maine and along the Maine coast can be found in Confederates Downeast by Mason Philip Smith.
St. Albans was not the only time in New England saw Confederate agents in action. There was a similar raid on a bank carried in Calais, Maine. In Maine's largest city Portland Confederate saliors commandeered a US Revenue Service Cutter called the Calab Cushing. The best account of these and other actions by Confederates in Maine and along the Maine coast can be found in Confederates Downeast by Mason Philip Smith.
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