John Munro (loyalist) - Shaftesbury, Vermont

Shaftesbury, Vermont

In about 1765, the no-nonsense attitude of Munro led him to be favoured by James Duane and John Tabor Kempe in New York. They gained for him his commission of the peace for Albany and Munro received land at Shaftsbury, Vermont, moving his family there. As one of a handful of Tories in the region, he continued to farm (operating mills, a Pottery, a Pearl Ashery and a nail factory) but was ostensibly placed there to bring to order Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, who disputed the New Hampshire Grants.

In 1771, Munro led a group of twelve men to capture Remember Baker, raiding his mill and taking him away as a prisoner, but before they could get him across the Hudson River, the Green Mountain Boys ambushed their party and rescued the prisoner. Munro reported to the Governor of New York that the conflict at Baker's house was very desperate and that he had "some reason to be thankful to Divine Providence for the preservation of his life and that of his party" but that he should have succeeded in carrying Baker to Albany, if he could have had ten men who would have taken arms and obeyed his orders; but they all ran into the woods. During the capture of Baker, his gun had been taken by Munro which led to a fierce argument between him and Seth Warner, who drew his sword and struck Munro on the head. According to Ira Allen, the Scotsman's thick hair and skull saved his brains and broke Warner's sword. Munro was a prominent Tory and as such his family and property were continuously harassed in the pre-revolutionary period, and he was twice imprisoned by the rebel forces.