Hannah Handy Part 1

Thank you for Listening in to our inaugural episode of Coolest People You’ve Never Heard Of,

We hope to share many more really cool stories adding sweetness to everyone’s day.

In October 1780, the Revolutionary War crashes into Hannah Handy’s life.

At this point in the war has been raging for four years with ongoing fighting in the south and New York. The British hold many major cities, but victory is still unsure, so they switch tactics and focus on attacking and weakening the heart of America, her small towns and families.

Vermont was recently settled from land grants from New Hampshire and New York. There is a mountain range that splits the state in half. Royalton, the city, where the heroic journey takes place is on the west side of the mountains.

Vermont was not a Part of the Original Colonies. The state was considered an independent republic from the years 1777 and 1791. During this time frame they had their own currency and stamps. In 1791 they were the first state to be formed after the 13 colonies. Making Vermont the 14th state to be formed in the United States.

This image is from the book, Royalton Raid. Like the bottom of the image describes, this picture is the exact view from the Haven’s house where the Raid began and set up base for the during of the attack.

Even in Black and white the image portrays how serene the Monday morning probably was that day on October 16th, 1780.

There is not a vast amount of information on our heroin Hannah Handee, but the facts we do know make this story incredible. She was said to be poor, but beautiful. She was a seamstress and a mother of two kids. Lucritia (Lu-krEE-sha) age 3 and Micheal age 7. She had a close relationship with the native American Indian tribe from the Abenaki Nation. She fed them when she could and had gotten to know some of their native sign language.

Our podcast explores Hannah’s exceptional courage and grit when facing down an attacking party of 300 Indian Warriors and battle-hardened British troops.

She had no education and only signed her name with an x. Despite the lack of resources she had access to, that did not stop her from changing history for generations.

Disclaimer: This is a human run blog and podcast, and we do not consent for our work to be used for or in Generative Artificial Intelligence in any form.

Work Cited

“A Brief History of Vermont | Visit Vermont.” SVDV Chamber of Commerce, https://www.visitvermont.com/history/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2025.

Dunklee, Ivah. The Burning of Royalton Vermont by Indians. Geo. H. Ellis Co., Printers. Boston. 1906.

Goodwin, Neil. We Go as Captives: The Royalton Raid and the Shadow War on the Revolutionary Frontier. With Vermont historical society, Vermont Historical Society, 2010.

List of Revolutionary War Battles, Raids & Skirmishes for 1780 | American Revolutionary War. https://revolutionarywar.us/year-1780/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.