By 1763, the English had driven the French armies from Canada, making the Champlain Valley safe for settlement, and in that same year King George III chartered Colchester Township on the Onion River, now known as the Winooski. In 1773, Ira Allen's Onion River Land Company bought much of the Onion's north bank from the royal grantees, and Allen, a land speculator and settler, made his home in Colchester. During the Revolutionary War, he was active in the movement to win statehood for Vermont. Congress rejected Vermont's bid because both New York and New Hampshire claimed its territories, but in 1777 Colchester's Ira Allen joined delegates from Vermont's other towns at Windsor, where they declared Vermont an independent state. He became Secretary of the state's Ruling Council under Governor Thomas Chittenden. Not until 1791, after settlement of the New Hampshire and New York claims, did Congress admit Vermont to the Union as the 14th state. Newly incorporated that year, Colchester prospered as lumber, woolens, and agricultural products sold well on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. The British invasion of the valley in 1814 threatened Colchester once again, but the combined forces of Commodore Macdonough and General Macomb, including Colchester volunteers, repulsed the invaders at Plattsburgh. Colchester was never again in danger.