The St. Albans Raid and the Vermont Ballard Carbines

In the fall of 1864, the quiet town of St. Albans, Vermont—just 15 miles from the Canadian border—was rocked by an audacious Confederate raid, the northernmost land action of the Civil War. On October 19, 1864, a group of 21 Confederate soldiers, having escaped from Union-held territory and taken refuge in Canada, crossed into Vermont posing as civilians. Their leader, Lieutenant Bennett H. Young, had been captured earlier in the war and later escaped to Canada, where he organized the raid with the support of the Confederate Secret Service.

The group had been filtering into St. Albans over the course of several days, posing as travelers. At 3 p.m. on the 19th, they struck simultaneously. Dividing into teams, they robbed three banks—stealing over $200,000—and attempted to burn the town using bottles of Greek fire, a primitive incendiary. Their goal was to create panic in the North, tie up Union resources, and retaliate for Union destruction in the South.

The raid lasted less than an hour. As the Confederates fled north on stolen horses, they were pursued by an armed posse of Vermonters. The raiders made it back across the border into Canada, where they were arrested by British authorities. Though most of the stolen money was recovered, the raiders were not extradited to the United States. Canadian courts ruled that, since they were acting under orders as soldiers in war, they couldn’t be prosecuted as common criminals. This ruling angered many in the Union and sparked tensions between the U.S. and Britain.

The raid left the people of Vermont shaken and exposed. In response, the State of Vermont urgently sought to arm its militia to defend the northern border. On December 10, 1864, the U.S. government shipped a batch of Ballard carbines to the State of Vermont to arm the State Militia. 

The Ballard carbine was chosen because it was a rugged, single-shot, percussion-fired breechloader known for its reliability and ease of use—qualities ideal for militia forces who might not have had extensive training. Its simple construction made it both economical and practical for rapid deployment.