History

(source – Wikipedia)

Originally inhabited by Native American tribes (Abenaki and Iroquois), much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France but became a British possession after France's defeat in the French and Indian War. For many years, the surrounding colonies disputed control of the area (referred to at the time as the New Hampshire Grants) especially New Hampshire and New York. Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic, founded during the Revolutionary War and lasting for fourteen years; Vermont is thus one of four U.S. states (along with Texas, Hawaii, and the brief California Republic) to have, at one point, existed as its own sovereign nation. In 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the fourteenth state, and the first outside the original Thirteen Colonies.