The St. Albans Raid was the most Northern action of the Civil War. Lt. Bennett Young of the Confederate army had escaped from a Union prison camp and made it to Canada. He came up with the idea of robbing some Northern banks to get back at his captors. Historians have posited several possible motives. Some believe Young wanted to use the money to support the Confederate war effort. Others believe the raid was an act of revenge for Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign. And some theorize that the raiders hoped their action would force the North to redeploy forces to Vermont. Young recruited other escaped prisoners for his scheme. He chose the city of St. Albans, Vermont because it had four big banks and no military units in the area. The 18 raiders arrived in twos and threes. All but one were ages 20-26. On Oct. 19, 1864, the raiders took over the city by herding the citizens onto the village green. They then proceeded to rob the banks. Resistance was token and a few shots were fired. The inept bank robbers (who were possibly drunk) left more money in the banks than they stole. Still, they managed to steal about $208,000. A soldier on leave, Capt. George Conger, organized resistance and the raiders were forced to flee with a posse in hot pursuit. Before they left, they tried to set several buildings on fire but their bottles of “Greek fire” failed to work. They did manage to make it back to Canada, but 14 were arrested by Canadian authorities. $88,000 was recovered, but since Canada was neutral, they were not extradited. They went free. Only one citizen was killed and two wounded that day.
http://www.stalbansraid.com/history/the-raid/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Albans_Raid
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