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HARVARD 
COLLEGE 
LIBRARY 



EARLY HISTORY 



-OF- 



VERMONT. 

BY La FAYETTE WILBUR, 



OP JERICHO, VT. 



VOLUME IV. 



"Oh ! give mc liberty ! 
For were Paradise my prison, 
Still I shoo Id long to leap ttoe crystal wall*." 

— Dryden. 



JERICHO. TT. 

ROSCOE PRINTING HOUSE. 
'903- 



/ir 

1936 




Entered ^ooorfing to aot k Congress, 19US, by 

La FAYETTE WILBUR 

In the omoe of the Librarian of Congress at 



Washington, V. 0. 

/ 



The bodies of men, munitions, and money, 
May lastly be termed the sinews of war. 

y J -Sir Walter BaUigh. 



'♦Peace is the bounteous goddess who bestows 
Weddings, and holidays, and joyous feasts, 
Relations, f riends, health, plenty, social comfort* 
And pleasures which alone make life a blessing." 



PREFACE. 



The unique place that Vermont held in the 
country in its early days, the difference in senti- 
ment of her people and their clashing political in- 
terests caused them to be exceedingly watchful 
while several parties claimed her territory. When 
New Hampshire withdrew her claim to the Grants 
and protection of the people dwelling there, the 
Green Mountain Boys, the inhabitants of the 
Grants, declared themselves independent ot all 
other earthly power or jurisdiction. This decla- 
ration seemed to whet the appetites of all the sur- 
rounding powers. New York redoubled her ener- 
gy to subdue the people of the Grants; Massachu- 
setts would absorb her; New Hampshire would 
resume her jurisdiction that she had so timidly 
surrendered to New York or would divide Ver- 
mont between her and New York, while the Brit- 
ish attempted, by her army and persuasion, to re- 
tain her jurisdiction over this land. Vermont' 
seemed to have no friends on either side, and re- 
lied on the strength and courage of her people to 
maintain the independent stand she had taken. 
To add to what would seem an overwhelming odds 
against Vermont, her own people were divided. 
For a time Tories were numerous and did what 
they could to prevent the people of Vermont main- 
taining their independence. Not only was New 

(8) 



4 EARLY HISTORY 

York aided in the scheme to subjugate Vermont 
by a strong party of York sympathizers in Ver- 
mont, but Congress gave New York aid to the 
same end. Under these surroundings, party lines 
were strongly drawn. Loyal Vermonters were 
•determined against all opposition to root out all 
Tory influence and eradicate all sentiment that 
appeared in favor of submitting to New York. 
This required every loyal Vermonter to ferret out 
and learn the sentiment and intentions of every 
neighbor. The selection of every delegate to po- 
litical conventions was attended to, and every 
convention controlled by true Vermonters, and 
every town organization was under the same 
power. And all Tory and York influence had to 
be stamped out. Is it any wonder that this same 
spirit of political activity, loyalty and independ- 
ence have been kept alive among Vermont people? 
It seemed opportune to devote the I. and II. Chap- 
ters of this volume to Vermont politics. The III. 
Chapter is devoted to Banks, and especially to 
what is known as "Vermont State Bank" and the 
management of the currency. The Chapters from 
IV. to VIII. inclusive are devoted to the sketches 
of the lives and administrations of the first fit- 
teen Governors of the State. The IX. Chapter 
states the causes of the war of the Rebellion, and 
the services of the 1st Vermont Regiment in that 
war! 

The Chapters from X. to the XVI. inclu- 
sive are devoted to the part that Vermont sol- 
diers took in that same war. To avoid a too vol- 
uminous description of the services of the Vcr- 



OF VERMONT. 5 

motit soldiers in the war, I have been limited 
to the main facts. To learn the details of their 
service in the war the reader will have to resort to 
the history that is wholly devoted to that war. 
In the XVII. Chapter some of the leading Ver- 
mont industries have been considered. The 
sketches of the lives of the Green Mountain Boys 
and the Pioneers of Vermont, that were com- 
nienced in Volumes II. and III , are continued in 
Chapters XVIII. and XIX., while the XX. Chap- 
ter gives the changes of the names and jurisdiction 
of many of the towns and gores in Vermont. This 
Volume brings the history of Vermont down on- 
ly to the close of the War of the Rebellion, ex- 
cept in a few instances where it was necessary to 
treat the topic under consideration down to a 
more recent date. There is material enough for 
another volume of great interest, and it is hoped 
that some one will undertake its writing. 

La Fayette "Wilbur. 

Jtrlc/io. January !>f A, VKM. 





Mail who their duties know. 

Bat know their rights, end knowing, dare maintain, 

Prevent the long-aimed blow, 

And crush the tyrant, while thej rend the ohaln :— 

These constitute a gtate.— Sir William Jones. 



GONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. (Page 1.) 

POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN VERMONT. 

CHAPTER II. (Page 23.) 

POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN VERMONT. 
—CONTINUED. 

CHAPTER HI. (Page 46.) 

BANKS. 

CHAPTER IV. (Page 68.) 

THOMAS CHITTENDEN AND MOSES ROBINSON AND 
THEIR ADMINISTRATIONS AS GOVERNORS. PAUL 

BRIGHAM, ACTING GOVERNOR. 

CHAPTER V. (Page 96.) 

ISAAC TICHBNOR, ISRAEL SMITH, JONAS GALU- 
SHA, AND RICHARD SKINNER, AND THEIR ADMINIS- 
TRATIONS AS GOVERNORS. 

CHAPTER VI. (Page 124.) 

CORNELIUS PETER VAN NESS, EZRA BUTLER, 
SAMUEL C. CRAFTS, WILLIAM ADAMS PALMER, AND 
SILAS HEMENWAY JENISON AND THEIR ADMINIS- 
TRATIONS. 

(7) 



8 EARLY HISTORY 

CHAPTER VII. (Page 156.) 

CHARLES PAINE, JOHN MATTOCKS, AND WILL- 
IAM SLADE, AND THEIR ADMINISTRATIONS AS GOV- 
ERNORS. 

CHAPTER VIII. (Page 173.) 

THE CAUSE OP THE WAR OP THE REBELLION 
OF 1861— THE ATTITUDE OF VERMONT TOWARDS 
THE ACTION OF THE SOUTH—THE FIRST VERMONT 
REGIMENT AND ITS SERVICE. 

CHAPTER IX. (Page 192.) 

THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THE SEC- 
OND VERMONT REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 
1861. 

CHAPTER X. (Page 207.) 

THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THETHIRD, 
FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH REGIMENTS IN THE CIV- 
IL WAR OF 1861. 

CHAPTER XI. (Page 234.) 

THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THE SEV- 
ENTH, EIGHTH AND NINTH REGIMENTS IN THE CIV- 
IL WAR OF 1861. 

CHAPTER XII. (Page 261.) 

THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THE 
TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND SBVBNTBENH REGIMENTS 
IN THE CIVIL WAR OF 1861. 

CHAPTER XIII. (Page 275.) 

THE FIRST VERMONT BRIGADE. 

CHAPTER XIV. (Page 288.) 

THE FIRST VERMONT BRIGADE — CONTINUED. 



OF VERMONT. 9 

CHAPTER XV. (Page 307.) 

THE TWELFTH, THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, 
FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH VERMONT REGIMENTS 
AND THE SECOND VERMONT BRIGADE. 

CHAPTER XVI. (Page 322.) 

VERMONT CAVALRY, BATTERIES, SHARPSHOOT- 
ERS, AND BRIGADE BAND. 

CHAPTER XVII. (Page 351.) 

SOME LEADING INDUSTRIES OF VERMONT. 

CHAPTER XVIII. (Page 368.) 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PlOfofrtRS OF THE 
NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS AND VERMONT. 

CHAPTER XIX. (Page 406.) 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS OF THE 
NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS AND VERMONT— CON- 
TINUED. 

CHAPTER XX. (Page 439.) 

TABLE SHOWING THE CHANGE OF NAMES OF 
TOWNS, AND THE DATE OF GRANT OR CHARTER OF 
SUCH TOWNS IN THE SEVERAL COUNTIES OF THE 
STATE. 

THE HEROES THAT CAPTURED FORT 
TICONDEROGA. (Page 447.) 



NOTE. (Page 448.) 

JUDGES. U. S. SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN. 



ERRATA. 



On page 10, third line from bottom, the name 'Truman" should read 
-Martini 

On page 44, In llth line from bottom, the word "of" should read -by.,' 
On page 67, the figures $11,664.86 should read $11,644.26. 
On page 78 In llth line from top the word "resigned" should read, "de- 
clined to be a candidate for." 

On page 86 In 6th line from top the word "our" should read "their." 
On page 140 In llth line from bottom the word "practicing" should 
read "praotloe." 

On page 146 In top line the word "polity" should read "policy." 
On page 167 In 9th line from bottom "Monment" should read "Monu- 
ment" 

On page 807, in the heading, the word "Twelfth" should follow the 
word "The** ; and In 8d line from top the word "Fifth" should read ''five," 
and In the same line the word "Regiment" should read "Regiments." 
On page 806 In first line the word "five" should read "four." 



The fate of a battle is the result of a moment— of a thought: hos- 
tile forces advance with various combinations, they attack each other and 
light for a time; the critical moment arrives, a mental flash decides, and 
the least reserve accomplishes the object —Napoleon l. 



If to preserve political independence and olvil freedom to 
nations was a Just ground of war. a war to preserve national in- 
dependence, property, liberty, life, honor from certain universal 
havoc is a war just, necessary, manly, pious; and we are bound 
to persevere in it by every principle, divine and human, as long 
as the system that menaces them all, and all equally, has an ex- 
istence In the world r- Burke. 



Oar country cannot well subsist without liberty, nor lib- 
erty without virtue.— Mouutau. 



CHAPTER I. 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN 
VERMONT. 



The disturbed condition of the people of Ver- 
mont in its early history, and the determined ef- 
forts that were made by New York, especially to 
destroy her political existence and prevent this 
territory from having a separate or independent 
government, compelled her inhabitants to be 
active and watchful against the machinations of 
the authorities of New York on the West, and 
of the British on the North. These dangers 
caused her people to become interested in each 
other against her foreign foes. They were com- 
pelled to keep themselves well informed as to every 
warlike demonstration and every political move. 
Eternal vigilance became their habit by force of 
circumstances. There was another cause that 
required the inhabitants of the State, in its early 
days, to be on the alert and to know the disposi- 
tion and political sentiments of all their neighbors. 
At the time Vermont territory began to be set- 
tled, 129 towns were granted by Benning Went- 
worth, then governor of the Province of New 
Hampshire, and at the same time New York also 
claimed the same territory as far east as the 
Connecticut River, and the authority of that State 



2 EARLY HISTORY 

assumed jurisdiction to that river and granted 
lands to all who would take grants from them, 
and to all who would become adherents to that 
State. Hence there became a clash of interests as 
well as of political sentiments between the ad- 
herents of the the two jurisdictions. When the dif- 
ferent grants began to be organized, there at once 
began the contention as to which authority or 
party should control, and what influence should 
dominate in social life and in political divisions. 
The questions involved so far as jurisdiction was 
concerned, were vital. If the Tory party won, this 
territory would remain a colony of Great Britain; 
. if the Yorkers succeeded in their designs, these lands 
would be a part of New York, and those who had 
bought and paid for their lands granted by Gov- 
ernor Wentworth would be compelled to give up 
their lands with all the improvements made there- 
on and lose what they had paid lor them, or pay 
for them a second time to New York. So it be- 
came important to know whether their neighbors 
were friends or foes. Every loyal person to the 
New Hampshire Grants was active in promo- 
ting her interests. As the majority of the people 
became firm adherents of the Grants, the friends of 
New York were required to keep silence or leave 
the territory under the penalty of receiving an ap- 
plication of the "beech seal/' or be dealt with in 
some severe manner. This practice of becoming 
familiar with the political sentiments of every man 
in the community was a necessity to completely 
eradicate the New York and Tory sentiments. 
That practice of the New Hampshire Grants and 



OF VERMONT. 3 

the Pioneers of Vermont of interviewing and 
learning the political sentiments of the people in 
the community and working actively in controll- 
ing the aftairs of the town became a fixed habit 
that has been retained to a considerable extent 
ever since. When New Hampshire withdrew her 
claims to all lands west of the Connecticut River 
and left New Hampshire Grants to cope with New 
York alone, and the people declared the Grants an 
independent State in 1777, which was finally 
named Vermont, the people of the State who 
did not sympathize with New York nor with 
England in her war to subdue the American Colo- 
nies, were more determined than ever to root out 
all sentiment in favor of allowing New York to 
exercise jurisdiction over Vermont territory, and 
not to tolerate Tory sentiment. When meetings 
were called or conventions held by loyal Vermont- 
ers, the towns were canvassed and the people were 
required to declare their sentiments and give their 
influence and vote in favor of the independency 
of Vermont, and no adverse sentiment was toler- 
ated. The people generally, soon became not only 
interested for the welfare of the new independent 
State, but took willingly an active, bold and cour- 
ageous stand against all disloyal persons. At 
that early day the people were not separated into 
Federalists and Republicans or Whigs and Demo- 
crats, but the test was loyalty to Vermont as an 
independent State and the American Revolution- 
ary cause. 

In those exacting times, and later in the history 
of the State, a pernicious and corrupting practice 



4 EARLY HISTORY 

of influencing voters by treating and undue per- 
suasion, came into vogue. 

In about the year of 1790, a gentleman from 
Virginia, visited the State, who formed a very 
favorable opinion of the State and its people, but 
there was one thing that fell under his observation 
with which he was not favorably impressed, and 
which if not remedied, he thought, would prove 
fatal to the rights and liberties of the people, 
which had been purchased at so dear a rate— and 
that was the manner of electioneering. He said 
that:— 

"This is an evil under which Great Britain 
groans to this day, who are compelled to submit 
to the domination of those elected to office by 
bribery and corruption, and afterward taxed to 
pay the expense. And though it sometimes hap- 
pens that gentlemen of real worth are brought 
forward in this way, who honor their appoint- 
ments, and are a blessing to society of which they 
are members: yet in how many instances are men 
promoted, who are altogether unqualified for the 
higher walks of government into which they are 
introduced, and steal into office through the mis- 
take of mankind. Had they continued in the 
more obscure paths of life, they might have proved 
good citizens as well as useful members of society; 
but their being placed in a sphere for public action, 
the business of which they are unacquainted with, 
proves a real injury to themselves, and entirely 
frustrates the end of their appointment. 

"There are some who thrust themselves for- 
ward by the mere dint of a brazen front, and 



OF VERMONT. 5 

those low intriguing arts despised by men of sense 
and honesty, by which they intimidate some and 
allure others of the lower class; whereas if such de- 
signing men were stripped of their property, and 
presented in their true light, they would soon sink 
into their original nothingness, and become ob- 
jects of ridicule and contempt. 

"But I shall remark no farther; but conclude 
with the words of the poet, 

"In times of general agitation, 
Some rise like scum in fermentation : 
Who push and kick the world up- 
Side down to get themselves a-top : 
And when they've gained their favorite point, 
For want of strength can't move a jdlnt. 
As useless as a leaky cask, 
Or like % furnace out of blast ; 
Who shortly must be laid aside, 
Like horse, unfit to draw or ride." 

The emphasis on the word "furnace" indi- 
cated that Matthew Lyon was the object of this 
censure. Lyon at that time was running both 
a furnace at Fatrhaven, and in the Western 
district for Congress against Israel Smith and 
Isaac Tichenor, and he was publicly charged as an 
adept [in two arts,-— "the art of making politics 
malleable, and the other art of selling civil offices 
for proxies." 

It often happens in turbulent times, and when 
affairs of State or nation are unsettled and 
the contest between opposing parties is close and 
uncertain, bad and unfit men force themselves to 
the front and by a vigorous use of the party whip, 
win, and are placed in positions of influence and 



6 EARLY HISTORY 

power. The situation of such times is expressed 
by the following lines viz: 

'•For In the ferment of the stream, 
The drugs have worked up to the brim, 
And by the rule of topsy — turvies, 
The scum stands foaming on the surface.** 

The pernicious practice of treating voters in 
Vermont as a mode of electioneering, was former- 
ly more prevalent than at the present time, but 
the practice has not wholly disappeared. This 
mode of electioneering not only existed in the 
early history of the State, but the practice was 
kept up within the memory of the middle aged 
man of to-day. A politician of wide acquaintance 
would be selected by the candidate or his party 
managers to pass around among the voters of the 
State, district or county of the residence of the 
candidate, and by the use of persuasive arguments 
and by the still more persuasive means, with some, 
with money and treating, create short lived en- 
thusiasm and draw the voters to the polls by these 
means. With such voters the qualifications for the 
office are of a secondary consideration. 

The election of the two first Governors of the 
State were singularly free from political jobbery. 
Thomas Chittenden was first elected governor in 
perilous times. The main thing in the minds of 
the people was to get a man that could lead them 
through the great peril and maintain the independ- 
ence of the State against the persistent efforts of 
New York to subject the State to her jurisdiction 
and power. Such a man was Thomas Chitten- 
di<:n — the people were substantially united on him 



OF VERMONT. 7 

for such a leader. He has been justly called the 
"Washington of Vermont." 

During the last term of George Washington, as 
President of the United States, when it was gen- 
erally understood that he would decline being a 
candidate for President of the United States for 
another term, and that John Adams and Thomas 
Jefferson would be aspirants for that office, party 
lines began to distinctly appear. The members of 
one party were called Federalists and of the other 
Republicans. The Federalists supported John 
Adams for President in 1797, and the Republicans 
were of the Jeffersonian type. Matthew Lyon, who 
deserves to be ranked as one of the remarkable 
men of Vermont in his day, was an active Republi- 
can, and was a terse and vigorous writer and an 
able debater, and, at times, intemperate in his lan- 
guage. In 1798 his political enemies had him in- 
dicted and tried under the Sedition act of July 
4, 1798, for seditious language used in a letter 
written by him that appeared in the "Vermont 
Journal" published at Windsor. He was convicted 
in October following and fined one thousand dol- 
lars and sentenced to imprisonment for four 
months. Party spirit ran high and his friends were 
active in his support, and while in prison he was 
elected a member of Congress. This showed that 
politics of the Jeffersonian type had a strong hold 
of the voters of Vermont at that time. His politi- 
cal enemies intended to havejhim re-arrested at the 
end of his term of imprisonment so as to prevent 
him taking his seat in the House, but at the end 
of his term of imprisonment in Feb. of 1799, he an- 



8 EARLY HISTORY 

nounced that he was on his way to attend Con- 
gress at Philadelphia, and thus escaped a re-arrest, 
as no member on their way to take their seat 
could be arrested. He took his seat as a member 
of the National House of Representatives on Feb. 
20, 1799, and on that day Mr. Bayard of Dela- 
ware, a Federalist, introduced a resolution to ex- 
pel Lyon from the House, setting forth that he 
had been convicted of being a notorious and sedi- 
tious person and of a depraved mind, and wicked 
and diabolical disposition, and maliciously con- 
triving to defame the Government and John 
Adams, the President of the United States, and 
bring the Government and the President into con- 
tempt and disrepute and stir up sedition in 
the United States, wrote and published certain 
scandalous and seditious writings. It is quite 
doubtful whether Lyon's writings were seditious 
under the present measure of the liberty of the 
press. 

The object of the resolution was to deprive the 
Republican party of Lyon's vote if the election of 
President should be thrown into the House in the 
then next Congress. If Lyon could be expelled, the 
Federalists would have a chance to electa Federal- 
ist on a special election. The resolution failed for 
want of a two-thirds vote,— the vote stood yeas 49 
to nays 45. The election was thrown into the 
House, and on the thirty-sixth ballot Thomas Jef- 
ferson was elected President by one majority. 
Lewis R. Morris, the Federalist representative 
from Vermont, voted for Aaron Burr the first 
thirty-five ballots, and Lyon for Thomas Jefferson. 



OF VERMONT. 9 

On the thirty-sixth ballot Morris withheld his vote 
and Lyon voted for Jefferson, thus giving the vote 
ot Vermont to Jefferson which was Sufficient to 
elect him. In the light of subsequent events, the 
choice made for President was fortunate. As bear- 
ing on the animus of Bayard's resolution, and as a 
specimen of Lyon's style, I here quote the seditious 
article, viz: 

"As to the Executive, when I shall see the ef- 
forts of that power bent on the promotion of the 
comfort, the happiness, and the accommodation of 
the people, that executive shall have my zealous 
and uniform support. But whenever I shall, on 
the part of the executive, see every consideration 
of publick welfare swallowed up in a continual 
grasp, for power, in an unbounded thirst for ridic- 
ulous pomp, foolish adulation, or selfish avarice; 
when I shall behold men of real merit daily turned 
out of office for no other cause but independency of 
spirit; when I shall see men of firmness, merit t 
years, abilities, and experience, discarded, in their 
applications for office, for fear they possess that 
independence, and men of meanness preferred, for 
the ease with which they can take up and advo- 
cate opinions, the consequences of which they 
know but little of; when I shall see the sacred 
name of religion employed as a State engine to 
make mankind hate and persecute each other, I 
shall not be their humble advocate." 

The organ of the Republican party of that day 
was entitled: 

" A Republican Magazine: or Repository of Po- 



10 EARLY HISTORY 

litical Truths. By James Lyon of Fairhaven, Ver- 
mont, 

"Nature has left this Tincture in the Blood, 
That all men would btTy rants if they cou'd— 
If they forbear their neighbors to devour, 
•Tis tiot for want of Will, but want of Powtr." 

One of Lyon's fulminations in verse was on the 
expulsion of Col. Isaac Clark, a zealous Republi- 
can, from the General Assembly of Vermont, for an 
alleged misdeirieanor as a member of the Com- 
mittee to canvass votes for State officers. Lyon 
claimed that Col. Clark was one of the victims of 
the so-called, "Vergennes Slaughter House." The 
lines were as follows: 

"When party zeal in public good shall end, 
And show the world who is his country's friend ; 
When Democrats shall rise and reign, 
And Freedom bless the earth again ; 
When Tories shall sink down to hell, 
Where Pandemonium Harpies dwell ; 
Millennial Love shall then prevail ; 
Aristocrats lament and wail ; 
Republicans rejoice to see 
The blest return of Liberty ; 
Vtrgtnnes fever will harmless prove, 
Or rage a stimulous to Love." 

These lines were written when Lyon was in jail 
at Vergennes, suffering the penalty of the Alien 
and Sedition act. 

After the formation of the Federal and Repub- 
lican or Jeffersonian parties the control of the State 
down to 1804, had been in the hands of the Fed- 
eralists. But in the year 1804, although Isaac 
Tichenor the Federal candidate for Governor, on 



OF VERMONT. 11 

account of his popularity was elected over Jona- 
than Robinson, the Republican candidate, Paul 
Brigham, the candidate for Lieutenant-Governor 
on the Republican ticket, was elected, as well as 
William Hunter, for State Treasurer, on the same 
ticket. Paul Brigham's majority for Lieut.-Gov- 
ernor was nearly 4000. A large majority of the 
representatives, chosen at the same election, were 
JefFersonians. The Jeffersonian majority on the 
ballot in joint committee for Presidential Electors 
was 81. Jonas Galusha, a Republican, at that 
election ran for Councillor and received 3010 votes 
more than the highest candidate on the Jefferson- 
ian or Republican ticket. It was evident that the 
people at that election, did not consider themselves 
bound by party considerations. At that time the 
Republicans were rapidly increasing in the State, 
as is seen by contrasting previous votes cast for 
Governors. In 1800 Isaac Tichenor received 6444 
votes for Governor, against 3239 for Israel gmith, 
the Republican candidate. 

In 1806, the House was Jeftersonian by a very 
large majority, as indicated by the election of 
Stephen R. Bradley as United States Senator, he 
having received 120 votes to 60 for all other per- 
sons—Bradley being a Republican— but Isaac Tich- 
enor, the Federal candidate, was elected gover- 
nor against Isarel Smith the candidate of the Re- 
publicans. In the year 1807 Israel Smith was 
elected Governor over Isaac Tichenor and Paul 
Brigham Lieutenant-Governor, but in 1808 the 
tables were turned, and Tichenor was again elect- 
ed Governor. Paul Brigham was one of the most 



12 EARLY HISTORY 

trusted, reliable and popular men of Vermont, as 
appears from the fact that whichever political 
party was dominant or won at the general elec- 
tion, he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, yearly, 
from 1796 until 1813, and from 181 5 to 1820. 

In 1809, Jonas Galusha of Shaftsbury, the Re- 
publican candidate for Governor, was elected over 
Isaac Tichenor by a vote 14583 to 13467, and the 
Republicans elected were inducted into office with 
great military demonstrations. The Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor and Treasurer, were saluted 
each of them by a gun, as well as the Council, af- 
ter which a gun was fired for each State in the 
Union. The Military Company that served at 
this and other elections was called the Governor's 
guard. This Company's first appearance was in 
1809, and was a "fine artillery company, uni- 
formed throughout with plumed Bonaparte hats 
and the dress of field officers in all except the 
epaulette on the privates; it was organized from 
among the first citizens of this and the neighbor- 
ing towns, to serve as the Governor's Guard, and 
be in special attendance on Election days. Of this 
company Isaac Putman, a man nearly six-feet-six 
high, weighing over two hundred pounds, well 
proportioned, and as noble in soul as in body, had 
the honor of being chosen the first captain, and no 
one of those present now living can fail to recall 
his fine and commanding military appearance on 
those occasions as he stood up between bis soldiers 
and the encircling crowd, like Saul among the 
people." 

During the administration of John Adams, the 



OF VERMONT. 13 

voters of the two great parties had adopted the 
terms Federal and Republican as the names of 
their respective parties, and the line between them 
was distinctly drawn, and as the administration 
of Adams was drawing to a close, no means were 
left unemployed that was supposed to increase 
their respective influence and numbers; the Repub- 
lican party claimed to be desirous of rendering the 
government of the Union more democratic and 
were believed to favor the principles of the French 
Revolution, while the Federalists were accused of a 
desire to make the government of the United 
States more independent of the people and mo- 
narchal in its principles. There was one matter 
during Adams' administration that seemed to 
unite the feelings of the parties and abate party 
spirit in Vermont as well as through the United 
States— that was the conduct of the French nation. 
The whole community was agitated with the 
revolutionary excitement of the French. It seemed 
to the people of this government that the vilest 
depravity and guilt were concealed under the mask 
of liberty. Violent depredations had been commit- 
ted upon American commerce, our ambassadors 
were refused admission to the performance of their 
appointed service, and under the name of a loan, 
the French government was demanding a tribute. 
These claims and proceedings received the resent- 
ment of the American people. The stand of Amer- 
ica was "Millions for defense, not a cent for trib- 
ute." Governor Tichenor in his speech to the Leg- 
islature in 1798, expressed the strongest disappro- 
bation of tl*e French policy and proceedings, and 



14 EARLY HISTORY 

the House returned an answer imbued with the 
same spirit. Both the spirit of the sj>eech and of 
the answer was in tone what was called federal- 
ism t and the Legislature declared their willingness 
to take up arms against the rapacity of the French. 
At this time the Federal sentiment was so strong 
they allowed their action to sweep republicans 
from office simply on partizan grounds. Israel 
Smith who had held the office of the Chief Justice 
of the State, and who was a man of integrity and 
virtue, was dropped on account of his attachment 
to the Republican party, and for all important of- 
fices, selections were made from those of decided 
federal principles and with designs of encouraging 
the supporters of John Adams and checking the 
progress of Republicanism, but after the appoint- 
ments were made, party spirit subsided. 

At the October session of the Legislature of 
1799, the spirit of opposition to the French prin- 
ciples and measures in both parties ran high. 

At this session resolutions from Virginia and 
Kentucky, that declared that it belonged to the 
State Legislatures to decide on the constitutional- 
ity of the laws made by the general government 
and not to the national judiciary, were strongly 
condemned by the Federal members of the Legisla- 
ture. Soon after the election of Jefferson as Pres- 
ident of the United States in 1801, he disclaimed 
the purpose of carrying out the principles of polit- 
ical intolerance and said, "we are all Federalists, 
we are all Republicans.*' This frank avowal led 
the candid people to believe that party factions 
and animosities were about to be a thing of the 



OF VERMONT. 15 

past. But only a short time elapsed before the 
United States Attorney and Marshal for the 
district of Vermont, were removed from office 
and their places filled by persons of decided Repub- 
lican sentiments. It was now believed that the 
Republicans, who were now in the majority in 
Vermont, would exercise their power in, making 
partisan appointments, but the Legislature of 
1801 took a considerate course and the appoint- 
ments were made not on account of political 
opinions but from their supposed qualifications for 
the office. 

In 1808, Isaac Tichenor was again elected gov- 
ernor in opposition to Israel Smith, who had held 
the office during the preceding year. In his speech 
he expressed his decided disapprobation of the lead- 
ing measures of Jefferson's administration. The 
Republicans having a majority in the Assembly, 
returned an answer, in which they expressed the 
fullest confidence in the President, and a hearty 
approval of his measures. 

In 1808, the strained relations between the 
United States and Prance and England growing 
out of the Berlin and Milan decrees and the dom. 
ineering course of Great Britain towards the 
United States, served to moderate party spirit in 
the United States, and unite them against foreign 
aggression. When Bonaparte announced his de- 
sign of enforcing with rigor the Berlin decree, and 
the British asserted the right of search and im- 
pressment, the President of the United States 
recommended to Congress the detention of the 
American seamen, ships and merchandise in port, 



16 EARLY HISTORY 

to preserve them from the danger of cruisers, which 
was effected by the restrictions of an indefinite 
embargo. This was designed to coerce the bel- 
ligerent powers, to return to the observance of the 
laws of nations, by withholding from them the 
advantages of the American trade. Following 
this, and within a few days, information was re- 
ceived that neutrals, comprising almost every 
maritime nation of Europe, were compelled to pay 
tribute if they traded with France or her allies. 
This was immediately succeeded by the Milan de- 
cree, declaring that every neutral which submitted 
to the British restrictions, should be confiscated if 
they were afterwards found in their ports, or tak- 
en by the French cruisers. These orders and de- 
crees subjected nearly all the vessels sailing on the 
ocean to capture. The highly prosperous com- 
merce of New England was by these regulations 
swept from the sea. While all the people were 
united against the course of France and England, 
the people became restive under the United States 
Embargo act, as it became burdensome to the 
people, especially of Vermont lying on the North- 
ern borders, where their trade with Canada 
was destroyed. The Embargo act was a Repub- 
lican measure and was enforced by the adminis- 
tration of President Jefferson. The Federalists of 
Vermont opposed the enforcement of the act with 
a great deal of feeling and earnestness. The suffer- 
ing which the people endured changed public senti- 
ment so rapidly that a majority of the people 
were soon opposed to the Embargo act and the 
measures of government, and pronounced them as 



OF VERMONT. 17 

unwise. The Berlin and Milan decrees were re- 
voked by France in 1810, but England continued 
her insolent and overbearing course resulting in 
the destruction of American commerce. Before 
1811 nine hundred American vessels had been taken 
by the English since 1803. Great Britain persist- 
ed in enforcing her orders establishing a kind of 
a blockading system through the principal harbors 
of the United States and continued to impress 
American seamen, and no satisfactory arrange- 
ment could be made with that power. In 1808, 
during the term of Governor Tichenor, the Feder- 
alists opposed the measures of the administration 
of President Jefferson, especially the embargo act 
and its enforcement; but aside from that act, the 
sentiment of the people was setting in favor of his 
administration. In 1809, Jonas Galusha, a Re- 
publican, one of the former judges of the Supreme 
Court, was elected governor to succeed Gov. 
Tichenor. James Madison was elected President 
of the United States, and Galusha had four success, 
ive elections as Governor of the State and proved 
to be an able and popular Governor. The con- 
duct and obnoxious measures of Great Britain 
were such that a declaration of war was resorted 
to, and war by act of Congress was declared with 
England on the 18th day of June, 1812. A consid- 
erable portion of the citizens of the United States 
were decidedly opposed to resorting to war, and 
the Federalists in Vermont asserted that the declar- 
ation of war was unnecessary, partial, and unwise, 
and claimed that in their opinion a satisfactory 
adjustment of all disputes might have been effected 



18 EARLY HISTORY 

by further negotiations. They said it was partial 
because it had given greater provocation in pro- 
portion to her means of annoyance, than Great 
Britain; that it was unwise, because the nation 
was not prepared for war; that by declaring war 
against the only remaining enemy of Prance, the 
United States indirectly but powerfully aided the 
Emperor of Prance in his attempt at the subjuga- 
tion of the world; and the advantages sought to 
be obtained, would be more than counterbalanced 
by the expense and sufferings of the nation. The 
consideration of the subject by the parties exceeded 
the bounds of temperate and candid discussion. 
The Federalists examined with the severest scruti- 
ny the measures and motives of the government. 
Mr. Galusha was elected for his fourth term as 
Governor in 1812, and in his speech at the open- 
ing of the session in October, he took strong 
ground in favor of the administration of Madison 
and the measures of the government for the pros- 
ecution of the war, and commented with great 
severity on the course of the opposition. Party 
resentment was wrought to the highest pitch of 
irritation. The parties denounced each other as 
enemies to their common country, and under the 
influence and domination of foreign powers. The 
answer to his speech was kindled to a blaze of re- 
sentment. 

The majority of the General Assembly stood by 

the Governor and the measures of the national 

government and adopted the following resolutions: 

"We therefore pledge ourselves to each other 

and the government, that with our individual ex- 



OF VERMONT. 19 

ertions, our example and influence, we will support 
our government and country in the present con- 
test, and rely on the great Arbiter of events for a 
favorable result." This resolution was adopted by 
a vote of 128 in the affirmative, and 79 in the neg- 
ative. Those who voted in the negative drew up 
a protest and entered it upon* the journal of the 
House, setting forth, in substance, that although 
they felt themselves under obligation to yield faith- 
ful obedience to the laws of the general goveniment, 
and to support with their lives the independence of 
their country, theyfelt it their duty to express their 
decided disapprobation of any law measures of the 
government, which on candid consideration they 
regarded injurious to the public, and declared that 
they would endeavor to remove the evil by effect- 
ing a change in the measures of the administra- 
tion or by changing the administration itself. The 
dissenting members expressed their disapproba- 
tion of the declaration of war, and declared the 
war unjust and destitute of advantage to any ex- 
cept Bonaparte and the French government; that 
the restraint on commerce, was calculated to in- 
crease crimes rather than starve the enemy. These 
representations had a powerful effect on the people 
at the election of 1813. Governor Galusha was 
not a successful candidate for re-election. There 
was no election by the people, and the election 
was thrown into the House, and the parties there 
were equally divided. Finally the Federalist party 
succeeded and they elected Truman Chittenden 
for Governor, and William Chamberlin for Lieu- 
tenant-Governor. An attempt was made to set 



20 EARLY HISTORY 

aside his election on the ground that the vote of 
one, Carpus Clark, the representative from Wor- 
cester, who was a Republican, was purchased to 
insure the election of Mr. Chittenden to the office 
of Governor. Clark was expelled from the House, 
but the movement against the Governor-elect was 
not successful; and the Governor appeared in the 
House and qualified, and among other matters of 
business he expressed his views upon the subject 
of the militia as follows:— 

"I have always considered this force peculiarly 
adapted, and exclusively assigned for the service 
and protection of the respective States, except in 
the cases provided for by the national Constitu- 
tion." In attempting to carry out this view during 
his administration, in refusing to officially order the 
militia out of the State to the vicinity of Platts. 
burgh to aid in repelling the British invasion of 
New York, his orders as Commander-in-Chief of the 
Vermont militia were disobeyed, and he was sub- 
ject to the sharpest criticism. Governor Chitten- 
den believed that he had no power to send them 
out of the State, but he was willing any might go 
to repel the invasion of the British that were 
marching on Plattsburgh, and even urged them to 
do so. 

In 1814, after a warm contest, there was no 
election again by the people for Governor, and the 
election again was taken before the House and 
Mr. Chittenden was chosen to preside over the 
State, and the same Lieutenant-Governor, Secre- 
tary of State and Executive Council were re- 
elected, all of whom professed the principles of 



OF VERMONT. 21 

Federalism. The Governor spoke in the highest 
terms of the officers and men employed in repell- 
ing and defeating the enemy on the Lake and at 
Pittsburgh arid in teaching the foe the mortifying 
lesson that the soil of freedom will not bear the 
tread of hostile feet with impunity, but he declared 
that his opinion of the propriety of the war was 
unchanged. As the war continued, the people saw 
the necessity of being better united in the prosecu- 
tion of the war, and a more harmonious feeling 
prevailed throughout the country, and many who 
were, at first, opposed to the war were convinced, 
that the good of their country demanded united 
and vigorous efforts in its prosecution to an hon- 
orable and successful termination. It was brought 
to a close by the treaty of Ghent signed December 
24,1814. 

On October 25, 1814, Governor Chittenden 
transmitted to the General Assembly letters from 
the Governor and presiding officers of the Senate 
and House of Massachusetts, covering the resolu- 
tions of the Legislature of that State, which in- 
vited Vermont with other New England States to 
send delegates to the Convention to be held at 
Hartford, Conn., in the succeeding December, since 
styled the "Hartford Convention," to take in- 
to consideration the state of the Union. The 
documents were referred to a select committee of 
six from the House and three from the Council. 
Both Houses were controlled by the Federalists, 
but six of the Committee were Federalists and 
three were Republicans. The committee were 
unanimous in the opinion that it was inexpedient 



22 EARLY HISTORY 

to comply with the invitation of Massachusetts. 
Although the State declined to send delegates to 
the Hartford Convention, William Hall, Jr., who 
was chairman of the said committee, attended the 
Convention in his private capacity, did sit and act 
in the Convention. The seven amendments to the 
Federal Constitution proposed by the Convention 
were rejected by the Vermont Legislature at the 
session of 1815. 



CHAPTER II. 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIES IN VER- 
MONT.— continued. 



In 1815, Jonas Galusha was elected Governor 
over Martin Chittenden by a vote of 18,055 to 
16,632, and again in 1816, over Samuel Strong by 
a vote of 17,262 to 13,888. In 1817, Galusha was 
elected Governor by a majority of 6,326 over 
Isaac Tichenor. In 1818, the Federalists had no 
party ticket in the field and Galusha received 
15,243 votes, scattering 749. In canvassing the 
votes for Governor that year it was found that a 
considerable number of the votes were printed, and 
a question arose whether they should be counted. 
By the Constitution, the freemen were required to 
bring in their votes for Governor "with his name 
fairly written" Considerable debate arose on 
the question, and the printed votes were rejected. 
At Galusha's last election as Governor in 1819, 
he received 12,628 votes, William C. Bradley 
1,035, Dudley Chase 658 and scattering 1,085. 

During the several years that Galusha had re- 
mained at the head of affairs as governor, the 
asperity of party feelings were mitigated as social 
intercourse took on a friendly character. The 
people discovered that their true interest consist- 
ed in the cultivation of friendly sentiments and the 

(28) 



24 EARLY HISTORY 

pursuit of peaceable occupations. During the time 
of the administration of James Monroe, it was 
called an Era of Good Feeling. The year of 1816 
was a cold, hard, and unprosperous year for the 
people, but in 1817, the internal affairs of the State 
assumed a more healchy and prosperous condi- 
tion, and a bountiful harvest supplied the wants 
of the people. With the last term of Galusha as 
Governor of the State, terminated the practice of 
returning an answer to the Governor's speech 
that had been followed ever since the first election 
of Governor Tichenor. The returning an answer 
consumed much time and frequently gave rise to 
violent party contention. 

Richard Skinner of Manchester was elected 
Governor in 1820, and in 1821, with William 
Cahoon of Lyndon as Lieutenant-Governor for 
both terms. In 1822 Governor Skinner was re- 
elected with Aaron Leland of Chester as Lieuten- 
ant-Governor. 

In 1823, Cornelius P. Van Ness of Burlington . 
was elected Governor, he was also elected Gover- 
nor in 1824 and 1825. Aaron Leland was elected 
Lieutenant-Governor for the three terms that 
Van Ness served as governor. In 1826, Van Ness 
was a candidate for the United States senatorship, 
and, in the most memorable contest for that of- 
fice in Vermont, he was defeated by a small major- 
ity for Horatio Seymour of Middlebury. Stung by 
that defeat, which he attributed to the interference 
of confidential friends of the then President, John 
Quincy Adams, whose administration Van Ness 
had supported until that event. Mr. Van Ness 



OF VERMONT. 25 

then issued a manifesto to the public, declaring 
hostility to Adams and a preference for Gen. Jack- 
son, and shortly after the inauguration of Match, 
1829, President Jackson appointed Van Ness En- 
voy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 
to Spain. Soon after the induction of John Quincy 
Adams into office as President, a vigilant opposi- 
tion to his administration commenced, and in the 
political ferment of the next Presidential contest, 
Gen. Jackson was elected to the Presidency. His 
friends declared his election was due to his inflexi- 
ble stand and not being corrupted with political 
chicanery; they said he was the saviour of the 
county, and the only person who would dare cor- 
rect the abuses of executive patronage. During 
the political campaign when Adams and Jackson 
were running as candidates for the Presidency, the 
former as the Federal or National Republican can- 
didate, and the latter as the Democratic candi- 
date, nothing that could be effected by argument, 
misstatement or ridicule was left unimproved in 
the heat of party zeal. The qualifications, talents 
and character of the favorite of each party was 
extolled and represented as the most perfect stand- 
ard of human excellence. This mode of conduct- 
ing the campaign extended to the political parti- 
sans in Vermont. 

In 1824, the candidates before the General As- 
sembly for a United States Senator were Dudley 
Chase of Randolph and Samuel Prentiss of Mont- 
pelier, both of whom were members of the General 
Assembly, and sat side by side in one of the desks 
for two members during the election. This was 



26 EARLY HISTORY 

thought to be significant evidence that the contest 
for the Senatorship was a friendly one. At that 
session, the House sent up to the Governor and 
Council for concurrence a resolution, that that 
part of the Governor's speech relating to certain 
resolutions from the States of Ohio, Tennessee, 
Alabama, and Mississippi, be referred to a commit- 
tee of four members to join one from the Council. 
The committee was appointed. The resolutions re- 
lated to emancipation, the Monroe doctrine, and 
Congressional caucus nominations. Ohio was for 
the emancipation of slaves by colonization, Tenn- 
essee was for the "Monroe Doctrine/' against the 
Holy Alliance— in both of which propositions Ver- 
mont sympathized; Tennessee condemned Con- 
gressional caucus nominations for President and 
Vice-President, and Alabama recommended Gen. 
Andrew Jackson for President, on which Vermont 
declined to express any opinion, and the committee 
was discharged from any further consideration of 
these matters. 

In 1826, Ezra Butler of Waterbury was elected 
Governor by the Democrats and received 8,966 
votes for that position, against 3,157 for Joel 
Doolittle. Mr. Butler was the successful candi- 
date again in 1828 by a vote of 13,699 to 1,951 
for Joel Doolittle. 

At the session of the Legislature during the 
administration of John Quincy Adams, while the 
political campaign was in progress that resulted 
in the election of Andrew Jackson as President of 
the United States, the House on Nov. 2, 1827, 
sent to the Governor and Council for concur- 



OF VERMONT. 27 

rence the following: "Resolved, That in the 
opinion of this House the policy adopted by the 
present administration of the General Government 
is well calculated to promote the permanent pros- 
perity of the nation, and is approved by the peo- 
ple of Vermont; and that the re-election of John 
Quincy Adams to the Presidency of the United 
States is an object highly desirable." This resolu- 
tion was passed in concurrence. In the General 
Assembly the resolution was adopted by a vote of 
yeas 165 to nays 35. Politically the State has 
been controlled by the Whigs and Republicans 
from that time to this, with the exception of the 
intervention of Anti-Masonry, and the extraordi- 
nary election of 1853, when the Free. Soil Party 
united with the Democrats and defeated the 
Whigs. On account of this steady political course 
Vermont has been styled "The Star that never 
sets." 

To this resolution the Democrats presented and 
had put on file a carefully drawn- document ex- 
pressing their dissent to the sentiments expressed 
in the resolution and to the practice of the Legis- 
lature interfering with elections. They expressed 
their dissent to the resolution because they 
claimed the design of its movers was to call in the 
aid of the Legislature, in a legislative capacity, to 
attempt to give direction to the freemen relative 
to an election submitted to the people or by them 
retained— that it was an improper interference 
with elections. The votes cast in Vermont in that 
Presidential election showed that Vermont ap- 
proved of the administration of John Quincy Ad- 



28 EARLY HISTORY 

ams, notwithstanding his defeat; and all of the 
four members of the Council, except one, who 
signed the document of dissent, at the election of 
1828, were dropped from the Council. In 1828 
the House sent to the Governor and Council for 
concurrence resolutions "that the policy atnd 
measures, adopted and pursued by the adminis- 
tration, are calculated and designed to promote 
and perpetuate the happiness and prosperity of 
the nation, and that the talents, integrity and ex- 
perience of John Quincy Adams, eminently qualify 
him to discharge the Jiigh and responsible duties 
of the President of the United States, and that this 
Legislature approve of the nomination of Richard 
Rush as a candidate tor the office of Vice-Presi- 
dent, 9 ' and the resolutions were passed by the 
Council without a dissenting vote. The close of 
the year 1827, ended the "era of good feeling" in 
in Vermont, politically. The people were sharply 
divided into two parties— the predominant one 
soon took the name of "National Republicans," 
but subsequently was called the "Whig Party." 
The other was the "Jackson Party," but was 
soon changed to "Democratic Party." In Septem- 
ber, 1828, Samuel C. Crafts of Craftsbury, a Na- 
tional Republican, was elected without much oppo- 
sition, having 16,285 votes to 916 for Joel Doolit- 
tle, and was re-elected in 1829 by a vote of 14,325 
to 7,346 for Heman Allen of Burlington, and 3, 
972 for Joel Doolittle. The Anti-Masons for the 
first time placed a ticket in the field, voting for 
Mr. Allen, although he declined to identify himself 
with that party. 



OF VERMONT. 29 

In 1829, the Governor and Council appointed a 
commission consisting of Robert Pierpoint, John 
Smith, and John S. Pettibone, in the case of Jo- 
seph Bum ham, who had been convicted of a crime 
and sentenced 1 to State prison in Woodstock for 
ten years. He died in prison and was buried at 
Woodstock. One Toshua Cobb subsequently went 
to New York City, and there met a man that he 
called Joseph Burnham, and wrote to his friends in 
Woodstock that he had seen Joseph Burnham and 
that he must have escaped or been released from 
State prison. It happened to be that Burnham's 
son, who had visited his father Who was sick in 
prison, was a Mason, as was Hon. John Cotton, 
the Superintendent of the prison. The Anti-Ma- 
sonic portion of the people of Windham County 
became excited and were quite ready to suspect 
and charge that Burnham had been released by 
the Mason, Cotton. The legislature, therefore, in- 
stituted an investigation; the remains of Burn- 
ham were exhumed and identified by his wife, and 
his resemblance in New York proved to be another 
person. Out of this affair came a political pam- 
phlet entitled, "The Doleful Tragedy of the raising 
of Jo. Burnham, or the Cat Let Out of the Bag," 
which was printed at Woodstock in 1832, its pur- 
pose being to satirize Anti-Masonry as a scheme 
for political preferment. 

In 1830, there was no election by the people for 
Governor. There were three parties in the Legis- 
lature, the National Republicans, the Anti-Masons, 
and the Jackson men, or Democrats. Samuel C. 
Crafts, the National Republican and Masonic can- 



30 EARLY HISTORY 

didate, was reelected Governor on the thirty-sec- 
ond ballot by a vote of six majority. William A. 
Palmer was the candidate of the Anti-Masons, 
and William C. Bradley the candidate of the Jack- 
sonians. * 

In 1831, the choice for Governor again devolved 
upon the Legislature, as there was no election by 
the people, Willliam A. Palmer, the Anti-Masonic 
candidate, was elected on the ninth ballot by one 
majority. At the polls Palmer received 15,258 
votes, Heman Allen, the National Republican cam 
didate, received 12.990, and Ezra Meech, Demo- 
crat, received 6fl58, votes. No election was made 
by the people for Governor in 1832, but Gov. Pal- 
mer was elected by the Legislature on the 43d 
ballot, over Crafts and Meech. In 1833, Gover- 
nor Palmer was elected Governor by the people. 

January 6, 1836, by an amendment to the con- 
stitution, a Senate was substituted for the Coun- 
cil. Down to January 2, 1850, County officers 
were elected by the Legislature, but at that time 
County officers were made elective by the people 
of the respective Counties. When County officers 
were elected or appointed by the Legislature, it 
made the Legislature a place of great excitement 
and political manoeuvring until those elections 
and appointments were disposed of. 

In 1834, no choice was made for Governor by 
the people. William A. Palmer, Anti-Mason, re- 
received 17,131 votes, William C. Bradley, Demo- 
crat, received 10,365, and Horatio Seymour, 
Whig, received 10,159; but Palmer, before the 
Legislature, was the successful candidate. 



OF VERMONT. 31 

In 1833, Charles K. Williams, Stephen Royce, 
Samuel S. Phelps, Jacob Collamer, and John Mat- 
tocks were elected Judges of the Supreme Court. It 
is noticeable that three of these judges, Mattocks, 
Williams and Royce, were subsequently elected 
Governors, and the remaining two were among 
the most distinguished members of the United 
States Senate. 

There was no election of Governor by the peo- 
ple in 1835, but Silas H. Jenison of Shoreham was 
elected Lieutenant-Governor. William A. Palmer, 
the Anti-Mason candidate for Governor, received 
16,210 votes, William C. Bradley, Democrat, re- 
ceived 13,254 votes, and Charles Paine, Whig, 
5,435 votes. The Joint Assembly balloted un- 
successfully for Governor from October 9 un- 
til Nov. 2; there were 63 ballots taken and 
the highest vote that Palmer received was 112 
out of a total of 226. The Joint Assembly was 
dissolved, without the election of Governor, 
by a vote of 113 to 100, and Lieu tenant-Go ver. 
nor Jenison became acting Governor. E. P. Wal- 
ton says in a political note in the "Governor and 
Council," that the defeat of Palmer was accom- 
plished in Washington County, in which both An- 
ti-Masons and Whigs took part, and was based 
upon the special ground that the Governor's posi- 
tion in respect to Martin Van Buren, the then ex- 
pected Democratic candidate for President, was 
doubted, and generally upon the policy of uniting 
in one party in view of the then coming Presiden- 
tial election, both the Whigs and Anti-Masons of 
whig proclivities. For this purpose a County 



32 EARLY HISTORY 

Convention, composed of Whigs and Anti-Masons, 
met at Montpelier on the 25th of June, 1835, and 
ratified the nomination of the Anti-Masonic State 
Convention, Gov. Palmer alone excepted, for 
whose name that of Charles Paine was substi- 
tuted. This scheme was supported in other Coun- 
ties sufficiently to defeat Gov. Palmer. In 1836, 
the union was completed, and the distinctive Anti- 
Masonic party disappeared and the Whi^ senti- 
ment prevailed throughout the State in both the 
State and Presidential elections. Prom that date 
till the organization of the Republican party in 
1854, the Whig party succeeded at every election, 
except in 1853, when there was no election of 
State officers by the people, and the State officers 
were elected in Joint Assembly, when the Whigs 
were defeated by the coalition of the Democrats 
and Free Soilers. 

The general sentiment of Vermont was opposed 
to slavery, but the credit of the first Anti-Slavery 
movement in the State belongs to the Society of 
Friends, and it was in response to their petitions 
in 1835, that the committee reported a resolution 
of instructions to the Congressional delegation 
for the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia. The politicians were afraid of it, 
and it was dismissed by a vote of 86 to 34. 
Among those voting against dismissing it were 
David M. Camp, William Hebard, William Henry 
and Alvah Sabin, who were afterwards prominent 
anti-slavery Whigs. 

The Whigs of Vermont were always strongly 
in favor of the American system of protection to 



OF VERMONT. 33 

domestic industries and internal improvements of 
a national character and opposed a reduction of 
tariff duties, and believed that a United States 
Bank was indispensably necessary as the fiscal 
agent of the government and of great utility in 
promoting and sustaining a sound currency in the 
country. In 1832, the Democrats were in favor of 
areduction of the tariff and opposed to a re-charter 
of the United States Bank, but the Legislature of 
Vermont at the session of that year, passed reso- 
lutions instructing their Senators and Representa- 
tives in Congress to oppose any modification of 
the tariff laws that would have a tendency to 
weaken or destroy their efficiency as a system of 
protection to domestic manufactures; and to aid 
in procuring appropriations for works of internal 
improvements ; and to use their endeavors to pro- 
cure a re-charter of the United States Bank. 

Silas H. Jenison received five successive elec- 
tions by the people for Governor from 1836 to 
1840 inclusive. He was a man of rare judgment 
and solid worth, and conducted the affairs of 
State with wise discretion. In 1836, resolutions 
were passed by the Legislature declaring "that 
neither Congress nor the State governments have 
any constitutional right to abridge the free ex- 
pression of opinions or the transmission of them 
through the mails; and that Congress do pos- 
sess the power to abolish Slavery and the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia." 

In the year 1837, occurred one of the most dis- 
astrous and distressing financial panics ever ex- 
perienced ; the causes for it were attributed to the 



34 EARLY HISTORY 

increase of trade upon borrowed capital, the spec- 
ulation in public lands, the failure of the wheat 
crop, which rendered the importation of bread 
stuffs necessary, the removal of the deposits of 
public money from the United States Bank, and 
the efforts of that Bank to close its concerns. 

Whatever the cause, the currency was deranged, 
confidence destroyed, business paralyzed, and 
the banks obliged to suspend specie payments, and 
distress and ruin prevailed. The Governor advised 
economy in public concerns and industry and fru- 
gality in private affairs. Resolutions were adopt- 
ed solemnly protesting against the admission of 
Texas, or any other State, into the Union, whose 
constitution tolerated domestic slavery. During 
this year a rebellion in Lower Canada broke out, 
and many of the people of Vermont had their sym- 
pathies aroused in behalf of those in Canada, 
whom, they supposed, were struggling like our fa- 
thers in the Revolution, to free themselves from 
British tyranny and oppression. A disposition of a 
large number of Vermonters to encourage the in- 
surgents was manifested by public meetings and 
inflammatory addresses and in collecting arms 
and men and conveying them near to Canada 
line to aid the cause of the patriot war. 

In this state of affairs Gov. Jenison issued his 
proclamation warning them against violating the 
treaty between the United States and Great Brit- 
ain and the peril of violating the laws of neutral- 
ity established by Congress. The excitement was 
so great that nearly the entire press of the State 
censured the Governor's course; this showed how 



OF VERMONT. 35 

easily feelings may triumph over reason. The in- 
surgents who escaped into the United States after 
their defeat in Canada, made unwearied efforts to 
collect forces and supplies along the line, and in 
February, of 1838, resolved to advance into Can- 
ada from Alburgh. They were prevented from 
forming on the Vermont side of the line by Gen. 
Wool, who had command of a body of militia, but 
five or six hundred insurgents crossed and organ- 
ized in Canada. Gen. Wool sent word to them (in- 
formation that he had received) that 1600 or 
1700 British troops were on the march to attack 
them. Gen. Wool gave them permission to return 
if they would surrender their arms to him, but it 
they attempted to retreat into Vermont when at- 
tacked by the British, he should order the militia 
to fire upon them. The rank and file passed nearly 
a unanimous vote to stand their ground and trust 
the consequences, but their officers advised differ- 
ently, and the little army recrossed the line* laid 
down their arms and dispersed. 

The year of 1840, witnessed the most tremen- 
dous political battles to change the administra- 
tion that had been witnessed since the organiza- 
tion of the Government. A convention of delegates 
of the Whig party assembled at Harrisburgh, in 
Pennsylvania, Dec. 4, 1839, and nominated Gen. 
William H. Harrison a candidate for President 
and John Tyler a candidate for Vice-President, in 
opposition to the Democratic incumbents. Martin 
Van Buren, then President, was seeking a re-elec- 
tion. The din of preparation for the combat was 
sounded from one extremity of the Union to the 



36 EARLY HISTORY 

other. State, County, town and school district 
committees were everywhere organized and set 
vigorously at work to favor the object of the re- 
spective parties; conventions of the people assem- 
bled by thousands and tens of thousands to hear 
inflammatory speeches, and patriotic songs sung, 
and to display flags and mottoes. The indifferent 
were aroused, the wavering made to take a decid- 
ed stand, the sick and superannuated brought to 
the polls, and all were marshalled for the great 
battle at the ballot box. Harrison and Tyler were 
elected by a great majority. Gov. Jenison's ma- 
jority for Governor this year was 10,798 over the 
administration candidate. 

In 1841, the Anti-Slavery party made its ap- 
pearance. Charles Paine was put in nomination 
by the Whigs for Governor, Nathan Smilie of Cam- 
bridge by the Democrats, and Titus Hutchinson 
by the Anti-Slavery party; the result was no elec- 
tion for Governor by the people, but in the Legis. 
lature Paine was elected Governor, and re-elected 
in 1842. The next six Governors of the State, John 
Mattocks, William Slade, Horace Eaton, Carlos 
Coolidge, Charles K. Williams, and Erastus Fair- 
banks, were elected by the Whig party in the order 
named; the first five held the office for two terms 
each. Fairbanks, who was elected in 1852, was 
defeated in 1853. In 1853 there was no election 
by the people, and John S. Robinson was elected 
in Joint Assembly over Fairbanks, by a combina- 
tion of the Democrats with the Free Soilers. 

From 1850 to 1854, the Whig party was rap- 
idly on the wane. The Liberty and Free Soil par- 



OF VERMONT. 37 

ties had increased their numbers by drawing from 
the Whig ranks; the Southern Whigs were strongly 
pro-slavery in sentiment; many of the Northern 
Democrats were opposed to the extension of Slav- 
ery, and it was evident to the political managers 
of all parties that there was soon to come a 
breaking up of the old parties, and new ones 
formed with different aims and policy to keep pace 
with the advanced thought towards freedom and 
a higher state of civilization. This will appear by 
looking back a little. 

Previous to 1849, many of the influential mem- 
bers of the Whig party had taken a wavering 
course on the question of Slavery. Had the Whig 
party, while in power from 1849 to 1 853, dur- 
ing the administrations of Presidents Tyler and 
Fillmore, been brave enough boldly to assume 
a rational anti-slavery attitude, it would have 
had a future, and a new party would not have 
been needed— the Abolitionists, Free Soilers and 
many Northern Democrats, would have flocked to 
the standard, but the chance passed unimproved. 
The temporizing attitude of the party's then 
leaders, and the known pro-slavery feeling of most 
of the Southern members worked death to the 
party; in the South its members went over to the 
Democrats, and generally in the North to the new 
Republican party. Some of the Whigs took a cir- 
cuitous route to the Republican party : first con- 
nected themselves to the short-lived "Know-Noth- 
ing" party, the leading idea of which was "Amer- 
ica for Americans, "and were against allowing emi- 
grants becoming voting citizens on short residence, 



38 EARLY HISTORY 

and opposed to the Roman Catholic Church. The 
Know-Nothings were a secret organization and 
they proposed to "put none but Americans on 
guard." Americanism had its greatest run after 
1850, when the Whigs saw their organization go- 
ing to pieces, and in 1854 they swung out as a 
third party, and in 1855, it assumed national 
proportions; but there was but little in it to com- 
mend it to the people. 

The origin of the Republican party that became 
fully organized in 1854, may be more fully stated. 
The Mexican War, the Whig and Liberty parties 
opposed. In 1848 the Democratic party had be- 
come strongly pro-slavery. The Whigs as a party, 
as well as the Abolition or Liberty party, were op- 
posed to the acquisition of territory that would 
likely become Slave States. So the burning ques- 
tion was, should the territory which the vyar 
was made to acquire, remain free or be surren- 
dered to the domination of the slave power? It 
had been hoped that it had been settled by the 
Wilmot Proviso, which declared that neither slav- 
ery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, 
should ever exist there. The Pro-Slavery party re- 
sorted to two or three schemes to do away with 
that restriction, so they plead for "Squatter Sov- 
ereignty," which involved the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise of 1820, which declared that 
slavery should not exist north of latitude 36° 30'; 
that compromise measure was repealed, and then 
followed the Dred Scott Decision from the Supreme 
Court of the United States. Chief Judge Roger B. 
Taney announced the decision in that case, that 



OF VERMONT. 39 

held in substance, that slave holders could take 
their slaves into any territory of the United States 
and hold them there as slaves, and strongly hinted 
that a master might take his slave property into 
a free State and there own and hold them on the 
same principle that he could take and hold his 
horse there. These claims and principles did not 
meet with favor with the people of Vermont, nor 
through the North generally. The majority of the 
Northern people declared that no territory then 
free should ever be darkened by the pall of slavery 
with their consent, nor without overcoming all 
lawful resistance they could interpose. Slavery it- 
self was cordially detested by the people of the 
Green Mountain State. They inherited their love 
of freedom from their ancestors. No person has 
ever been held as a slave in Vermont, nor has 
any slave ever been taken away from Vermont 
against his will. No slave that ever passed through 
Vermont to the land of freedom was ever denied 
rest, food and clothing. It was about this time 
that the Democratic party * n Vermont split in 
twain. The greater part of them at first were 
willing to make concessions which the Southern 
wing of the party demanded : viz., the rejection of 
the Wilmot Proviso, and the acceptance of the 
doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty," that would 
give any Territory or State the right to adopt the 
system of slavery. It was at this time that the 
Democratic State Convention was called to meet 
at Montpelier. There were a few of the Democrats 
who declared they would never consent that there 
should ever go into the platform or resolutions of 



40 EARLY HISTORY 

the Convention concessions that the South de- 
manded. Six delegates to that Convention met 
at the Pavilion at Montpelier on the evening be- 
fore the Convention and agreed that if the Con- 
vention committed itself in favor of Squatter Sov- 
ereignty and against the Wilmot Proviso, they 
would leave the Convention and raise the stan- 
dard of Free Soil, These six men were Lucius E. 
Chittenden and Charles D. Kasson of Burlington, 
Edward D. Barber of Middlebury, Charles I. Wal- 
ker and Charles K. Field of Windham, and A. J. 
Rowell of Orleans County. They notified the State 
Committee of their purpose to withdraw from the 
Convention if the new planks to the platform were 
persisted in. The objectionable resolutions were 
pressed upon the Convention. Mr. Chittenden 
who spoke against the resolutions, said, among 
other things, to the Convention, "Your resolu- 
tions prostitute the Democratic party to the serv- 
ice of the Slave power. Our ancestors fought two 
States and a Kingdom, through cold, poverty and 
hunger, for almost twenty years, to secure a place 
where Vermont was thi equal of any State in the 
Federal Union. Your resolutions are unworthy ol 
their descendants. Pass them, and with my asso- 
ciates, I leave this hall for the time being and the 
Democratic party forever, unless it is redeemed 
from its present vassalage, and restored to its for- 
mer principles and dignity." The resolutions were 
passed, and the six walked out of the Convention, 
returned to their hotel and organized the Free Soil 
Party, and the same day drew up an address to 
the people of Vermont. The party grew rapidly 



OF VERMONT. 41 

and soon became a power in the State. That was 
the first organization of a Free Soil party in New 
England. This organization was effected some six 
weeks before the Buffalo Convention of 1848 was 
held, at which Martin Van Bnren was selected as 
a candidate for President on the Free Soil Ticket, 
By 1856, Northern Democrats, in large num- 
bers, Anti-Slavery men, Free Soilers, Northern 
Whigs, and Know-Nothings, united and formed a 
strong, progressive organization called the "Re- 
publican Party." The old Liberty Party in 1840, 
and in 1844, ran Birney as its candidate for Presi- 
dent. The Free Soilers of New York in 1848, were 
led by Martin Van Buren— his partisans in New 
York were called "Barn-Burners." These several 
elements united and made Martin Van Buren and 
Charles Francis Adams their candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President. Their platform declared 
against any further extension of Slavery; the mem- 
bers of the party were thereafter known as Free 
Soilers. This party had the hearty co-operation of 
the Abolitionists. The Republican party in Ver- 
mont was formed in 1854. It became the leading 
political party of the State at once, and entered 
into the campaign in 1856, in favor of the candi- 
dacy of Fremont and Daton, for President and 
Vice-President, with great enthusiasm, and re- 
joiced in the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, • 
as the President of the United States. The Repub- 
lican party has been the dominant party of the 
State ever since 1854. The next four Governors 
elected by the freemen of Vermont after the forma- 
tion of the Republican party in Vermont, were, Ste- 



42 EARLY HISTORY 

phen Royce, Ryland Fletcher, Hiland Hall, and 
Erastus Fairbanks; the first three held the office 
two terms each, and Gov. Fairbanks but one year, 
from 1860 to 1861. This brought the history of 
the State down to the great Rebellion of 1861. 

The early days of 1861, were anxious days for 
the people, and the public men of Vermont appre- 
ciated, to some extent, the national emergency. 
When it became evident that the South were bent 
on the treasonable act of secession, the people of 
Vermont, without distinction of party, awoke from 
the dreams of peace, and rose with general and 
grand uprising of the North, anxious to do the most 
possible to aid the Government in preserving the 
Union by subduing the Southern Rebellion. The 
firing upon Sumpter by the Southern traitors and 
the surrender of that fort to them was all that 
was necessary to fire the Vermonter, and the 
Northern heart generally, with intense indignation 
against treason and the traitors. There was a 
small party at the North that clung to and sym- 
pathized with the South in their attempt at Seces- 
sion—this class were regarded by the people gener- 
ally of the North with contempt, and were called 
"copper-heads." It is not the purpose of the 
writer in this chapter to consider the action of the 
State and the measures adopted to aid in the pros- 
• ecution of the war for the suppression of the Re- 
bellion; that subject is reserved for future chapters. 
In 1867, there was one of the most remarkable 
and exciting political campaigns that ever took 
place in Vermont for a member of Congress. This 
campaign was in what was then the Third Con- 



OF VERMONT. . 43 

gressional District. Portus Baxter of Derby had 
served as Representative from that district ever 
since 1861, and was serving his third term in Con- 
gress and sought to be his own successor for a 
fourth term. There were many in the District 
' that desired a change and brought forward Ro- 
meo H. Hoy t of St. Albans as a candidate in op- 
position to Baxter. Baxter was atn active politi- 
cian and was quite popular with the people on 
account of the interest he had taken for the wel- 
fare of the Vermont soldiers in hospital and field in 
the war of the great Rebellion that was then on. 

A Republican District Mass Convention was 
called to meet at Hyde Park in the County of La- 
moille to nominate a candidate for Congress. 
Much active work had been done by the friends of 
the respective candidates, by personal appeals, so- 
licitation, and by the use of money to arouse the 
people to personally appear at the Convention 
and support by their influence and vote the candi- 
date they were inclined to favor. On the day ap- 
pointed for holding the Convention, as well as the 
day before, the roads from all parts of the District 
were lined with carriages and double teams loaded 
with voters on their way to the Convention at 
Hyde Park. Even Democrats were not excluded. 
Any one who gave the party managers encourage- 
ment that they would support the candidate 
that the manager favored, was furnished a free 
ride to and from the Convention. All roads 
seemed to lead to Hyde Park for a short time be- 
fore the Convention. More than ten thousand 
people found their way to the streets of Hyde 



44 JEARLY HISTORY 

Park to attend the Convention; no building there 
could accommodate them, and the Convention 
was held in the open air on the Common in front 
of the Court House, and the space between the 
Court House and the Hotel on the opposite side ol 
the street some twenty rods away, was literally 
packed with those who came to attend the Con- 
vention. There was an endeavor made to take a 
vote for a nomination of a candidate for Con- 
gress, by having the voters counted as they passed 
through gates in the fence that surrounded the 
Common. It was difficult to prevent repeating, 
and an accurate vote was impossible. This man- 
ner of voting turned out unsatisfactory. Parti- 
san spirit ran high, but it was evident that the 
supporters of Baxter were the most numerous. 
Before any result of the count was announced, a 
motion was made, at the stand on the Common 
where the officers of the Convention were gath- 
ered, to adjourn without day. The motion was 
carried and the result was announced of the Pres- 
ident of the Convention. This action by the Con- 
vention took the Baxter party by surprise as they 
expected an announcement of a large majority for 
their candidate. The crowd that day and the fol. 
lowing day dispersed and wended their way to 
their several homes wearied from their long jour- 
ney and excitement, after having had considerable 
political experience. 

This left the matter as to who should be the 
next member of Congress from the Third District 
to be fought out at the polls unless a compromise 
should be effected. In a few days a compromise 



OF VERMONT. 45 

was reached. It was agreed that both candidates 
should withdraw from the canvass, and that Wor- 
thingtota C. Smith of St. Albans should be the can- 
didate of both factions. Smith was elected with- 
out opposition. 

It must be said that, generally, the elections for 
political offices in Vermont have been conducted 
with decorum and fairness and without political 
corruption. The voters have gone to the polls and 
have elected men of integrity and ability, who con- 
ducted the affairs entrusted to them with credit to 
themselves and for the best interests of the State. 
When one looks over the list of the Governors 
and other State officials, members of Congress 
and United States Senators, they are few indeed, 
who have not done credit to themselves and the 
State they have represented. 

Since the War of the Rebellion the men who 
served the State in the war as soldiers have been 
held in much favor and have been elected to many 
political positions. Seven of the Governors of the 
State elected since the War of the Rebellion have 
been taken from those who served as soldiers, in 
some capacity, in that war. 



CHAPTER III. 



BANKS. 



It was stated in Volume One of this history, 
on page 205, that an act was passed by the Gen- 
eral Assembly June 5, 1785, granting to Reuben 
Harmon, Jr., the right of coining copper. Noth- 
ing but gold, silver and copper coin, was used as 
money, that was recognized by the State, until 
1781. The State issued bills of credit in 1781, to 
the amount of 25,155 pounds which were after- 
wards faithfully redeemed. No other paper money 
was authorized by Vermont until 1806, when an 
act was passed establishing the Vermont State 
Bank. 

The first issue of paper money in America was 
made by the Provincial government of Massachu- 
setts in 1690, known as bills of credit, for the pur. 
pose of defraying the expenses of an expedition 
against Canada. New issues were made from time 
to time, and in 1712, and again in 1722, acts 
were passed making bills of credit legal tender, 
without adequate specie basis, and they soon rap- 
idly depreciated. Those issues were denominated 
"Old Tenor/' meaning old tender. The bills of 
credit issued by Congress, called Continental 
money, that first possessed the value of specie, 
which circulated to some extent in Vermont, soon 



OF VERMONT. 47 

depreciated and became nearly worthless. In Sep- 
tember, 1780, $100 of specie was worth $7,200 of 
"Continental Money." 

For many years after the organization of the 
State government in 1778, a large majority of the 
people of the State were decidedly opposed to the 
issue of paper money. The bills of credit that 
were issued by the State in 1781, were declared in 
the preamble to be for the carrying on the war* the 
payment of the State debt, and the enlargement of 
the circulating medium. Matthew Lyon, Edward 
Harris and Ezra Styles were appointed a commit- 
tee to make a form and device for the bills. Those 
bills that were for "twenty shillings" were headed 
with the words "Vermont Currency," and it was 
stated on their face "The possessor of this Bill 
shall be paid by the Treasurer of the State of Ver- 
mont, Twenty Shillings in Spanish milled Dollars 
at Six Shillings each, or Gold or Silver Coins equiv- 
alent, by the first day of June, A. D. 1782. By or- 
der of Assembly Windsor, February, 1781. 

T. Porter, Jno. Fasset." On the face of the Bills 
for One Pound were the words "Death to Coun- 
terfeit." For the purpose of raising the means for 
the redemption of the bills, a tax was laid, by the 
same act that authorized the issue of the bills, 
of one shilling three pence on the pound on the 
grand list of the State, to be paid in gold or silver 
or the aforesaid bills. In 1787, and also in 1803, 
there were efforts made in the Legislature to es- 
tablish Banks in Vermont, but they were not suc- 
cessful. Governor Tichenor and the Council gave 
their reasons in 1803, for non-concurring in a bill 



48 EARLY HISTORY 

to incorporate a Bank at Windsor. Their reasons 
were as follows: viz., 

"1. Because bank bills being regarded as money, 
and money like water always seeking its level, the 
bills put into circulation within this State must 
displace nearly the same sum of money now in cir- 
culation among us, and by driving it into the sea- 
ports, facilitate its exportation to foreign coun- 
tries; which, as bank bills cannot be made a legal 
tender, must prove a calamity to the citizens gen- 
ererally, and especially to those who dwell at a 
distance from the proposed bank. 

"2. Because, by introducing a more extensive 
credit, the tendency of banks would be to palsy 
the vigor of industry and to stupefy the vigilance 
of economy, the only two honest, general and sure 
sources of wealth. In this view, banks would 
tend to divert the attention of the speculator, the 
inexperienced youth, the indolent and incautious, 
from those honest, honorable and sure sources of 
mediocrity and independence, and to fix it upon 
imaginary and unjustifiable methods of suddenly 
accumulating an overgrown property; in pursuit 
of which, a large proportion of the adventurers 
would probably at the same time sacrifice the 
property with which they began their specula- 
tions, and imbibe an ungovernable disgust for 
wholesome industry and economy, now become 
more necessary than ever. 

"3. Because banks by facilitating enterprises 
both hazardous and unjustifiable, are natural 
sources of all that class of vices, which arise from 
the gambling system, and which cannot fail to 



OF VERMONT. 49 

act as sure and fatal, though slow poisons to the 
republic in which they exist. 

"4. Because banks tend stronglj- to draw off 
the dependence of debtors from their own exer- 
tions, as means of payment, and to place it on the 
facility of increasing new debts to discharge the 
old, which cannot but be detrimental, both to the 
debtor, and through bis example to society at 
large. 

"5. Because banks have a violent tendency, in 
their natural operation, to draw into the hands of 
the few a large proportion of the property at pres- 
ent fortunately diffused among the many ; and, in 
this way, straiten the circumstances of the many, 
and thus to render them still more dependent on 
the few; and, of course, to make them, through 
necessity, yet more subservient to their aspiring 
views; and by these means, the tendency of banks 
seems to be, to weaken the great pillars of a re- 
publican government, and at the same time to in- 
crease the forces employed for its overthrow. 

"6. Because, as banks will credit none but per- 
sons of affluence, those who are in the greatest 
need of help cannot expect to be directly accom- 
modated by them; and as the banks would enable 
those who have credit with them to loan money 
at an exorbitant interest to the necessitous, there 
is reason to fear lest they should operate as means 
of an increased usury and oppression. 

"7. Because, should the bill pass into a law, 
we apprehend it would be found necessary at 
least, to render the bank granted thereby perpet- 
ual; a measure which appears to us too impor- 



60 EARLY HISTORY 

tant to be adopted without a more thorough in- 
vestigation than the novelty ol the question and 
the shortness of the time will allow. 

"8. Because by the establishment of banks 
government would, in our opinion, go farther 
than could have been contemplated in its original 
institution. Government, we apprehend, was not 
designed to open fields of speculation, nor to di- 
rect the efforts of individuals, but merely to pro- 
tect them in respect of property, and such of their 
pursuits as are not inconsistent with the general 
good of the citizens at large; much less was it de- 
signed as a means of drawing property out of the 
hands of the less wealthy, to place it in the hands 
of the more wealthy." 

Notwithstanding these arguments, the clamor 
for banks continued, and in 1805 the House of 
Representatives passed a bill to establish a bank 
at Windsor and one at Burlington, but it was 
non-concurred in. 

On the 10th day of November, 1806, an act 
was passed establishing "The Vermont State 
Bank." The act provided that the bank should 
consist of two branches, one at Woodstock and 
the other at Middlebury, and such other branches 
might be established from time to time, and all of 
its stock and profits should be the property of the 
State and be under the direction and disposal of 
the Legislature, forever; and there should be chos- 
en annually, by ballot of both branches of the Leg- 
islature, a joint committee of thirteen persons for 
directors of the bank and who should have power 
to choose one of their number for President of the 



OF VERMONT. 51 

bank; that the directors and President, by the 
name and style of "The President and Directors of 
the Vermont State Bank/ 9 should have the power 
to prosecute any action upon contract or for any 
cause which should concern the bank; that six of 
the directors should reside in the two eastern, and 
six in the two western districts, and should be 
commissioned by the Governor, and a majority of 
them should constitute a quorum to transact bus- 
iness; the directors who reside in the eastern dis- 
tricts should be directors of the bank established 
at Woodstock, and the remainder should be di- 
rectors of the bank established at Middlebury; the 
President might sit as director of either branch. 
The majority of all the directors might appoint 
the cashier and clerks, and make and establish 
rules for the bank; and the directors of each 
branch should have discretionary power to bor- 
row money on the credit of such bank, but not to 
give a greater rate of interest than six per cent per 
annum. The bills issued should be signed by the 
president and countersigned by the cashier of 
that branch at which the bills should be made 
payable. Neither branch should issue bills to a 
greater amount than the actual sum of the depos- 
it of silver, gold and copper coins in the vault of 
such branch until the deposit amounted to $25, 
000, after which they might put in circulation 
bills, to three times the amount of such deposit, 
but the deposit should not at any time exceed 
$300,000. 

Provision was made by the act for procuring 
plates and paper for the use of the bank; that the 



52 EARLY HISTORY 

Legislature might appropriate money to fill the 
vaults of said branch or any other branches of the 
bank that the Legislature might establish; that the 
directors and officers of the bank should give 
bonds for the faithful discharge of their respective 
duties and receive for their compensation for serv- 
ices such sum as the Legislature might direct, not 
to exceed the whole profits of the bank for the 
first year, nor exceeding one-half of the profits for 
any succeeding year; that the president and di- 
rectors had power to purchase, hold and dispose 
of any property as the banking interest might dic- 
tate, and the directors should yearly report to the 
Legislature the situation of the bank, the amount 
oi deposits and of the bills in circulation. 

The Legislature on November 9, 1807, estab- 
lished two additional branches of said State bank; 
Burlington and Westminster were designated as 
the places for the two additional branches. It 
was provided that the directors should assign 
three of their number to each branch, two of 
whom should constitute a quorum to manage the 
prudential concerns of the branch. 

By an act of the General Assembly, passed Nov. 
11, 1807, it was provided that the directors that 
should be chosen thereafter should commence to 
exercise their respective offices on the 5th day of 
December next following their election; the com- 
pensation of the first directors up to the 30th day 
of September, 1807, was fixed, varying % from 
ten dollars to one hundred and thirty dollars. 
The first President of the bank was Titus Hutch- 
inson, whose compensation was $450; that of Job 



OF VERMONT. 53 

Lyman, cashier, Charles Dana, clerk of the Wood- 
stock branch, at $450; and that of William G* 
Hooker, cashier, and Adonijah Schuyler, clerk 
of the Middlebury branch, $450. 

The act provided that the Treasurer of the 
State should deposit in the bank for the benefit of 
the State, all the revenues of the State that should 
come into his custody, subject to be drawn out as 
the exigencies of the State required; the board of 
directors had the power to fill any vacancies that 
should happen among their number, and such ap- 
pointee should be commissioned by the Governor; 
the directors by the last named act were given the 
power to agree with cashiers and clerks of each 
branch on a sum for their compensation for serv- 
ices. 

On Nov. 6, 1807, an act was passed forbidding, 
under heavy penalties, any person irom bringing 
into the State any foreign bank bills, or any bills 
issued by directors of any bank out of this State 
with the intent of leaving the same, or any funds 
thereby created, as money or bills current within • 
this State, or from loaning the same within 
this State, or aiding or assisting in so doing. 
The reasons given in the preamble to the act 
for the enactment of the law were that sundry 
persons had combined together and formed 
companies for the purpose of bringing bills of 
banks, in other States, into Vermont for loaning 
purposes; and considering the great, distances of 
the banks from which they were issued, and the 
uncertainty of securing the specie on the bills, and 
that the tendency would be to injure the banking 
institutions of this State. 



54 EARLY HISTORY 

The bank began to issue bills on the 23d day of 
February, 1807. The first report of the directors 
showed the total expenses of the bank to Septem- 
ber 30, 1807, were $4,031.35; that the income of 
the bank by interest on loans was $2,753.27; and 
debts due $139,757.23. They said in their report: 
4 'The high credit and extensive circulation of our 
bills, we trust are sufficient to inspire the public 
confidence and insure a continuance of their pat. 
ronage. Under the fostering care of the Legisla- 
ture, we are induced to believe that this institu- 
tion may become highly inducive to the conven- 
ience of the citizens and a productive source of 
revenue to the State." 

The directors from time to time were changed 
and redistributed over the State, and in 1812, 
the number was reduced to four. The anticipa- 
tions of the people as to the usefulness and success 
of this scheme were not realized, and the affairs of 
the bank were soon found to be in inexplicable 
confusion and the institution insolvent. In 1812 
the number of directors were reduced to three, 
whose functions were to close the business of the 
bank, collect the debts due it, and take care of the 
property, but the closing of the bank affairs took 
about twenty-five years. Governor Galusha in 
his speech to the Legislature in 1809, said:— 

"The State bank is a subject which will deserve 
your attention. The failure of private banks in 
the vicinity of this State; the rejecting our bills by 
the law of one State; and the policy or caprice of 
others, has embarrassed our mercantile inter- 
course with the adjoining States. The measures 



OF VERMONT. 55 

to be pursued to meet or remove the impediments 
to a friendly trading intercourse with our sister 
States, which certainly is to be greatly desired, I 
leave to your consideration. The subject is too 
important for me to hazard a sudden and undi- 
gested opinion upon. It will be remembered by 
many that I was not among those that favored 
the instituting of country banks; but it is appar- 
ent that the establishment of a public bank in this 
State, has saved many of our citizens from great 
losses and probably some from total ruin : for it 
is obvious that but for this establishment, in lieu 
of our Vermont bank bills, our citizens would, on 
the late bankruptcies, have been possessed of large 
sums of the depreciated paper of the failing pri- 
vate banks. If the president and directors of the 
State bank have the 3'ear past encountered some 
difficulties, occasioned by the intrigues of some un- 
principled speculators, and the alarm occasioned 
by the failure of so many private banks, I think 
no apprehensions can be justly entertained that 
any holders of our bills will eventually suffer from 
an institution which is, and, I trust, will be sup- 
ported by the honor, and guaranteed by the 
wealth of the State. For my own part, I con- 
sider the holders of our bills perfectly secure; and 
as every person in the State has an interest in the 
avails of the bank, they will the more cheerfully 
acquiesce in any prudent measure you may devise, 
to give it support." 

Acts were passed from 1809 to 1812, making 
the bills of the bank receivable for land taxes, and 
by acts of 1812, for State taxes also. In 1809, 



56 EARLY HISTORY 

summary collection of debts that were due to 
the bank was authorized, the cashiers being em- 
powered to issue an extent which had all the force 
of an execution, for the payment oi any note three 
days past due. In 1 810, the bank was restrained 
from issuing bills to an amount exceeding twice 
the specie in bank, and from making any one loan 
exceeding $1000; in 1811, all State and County 
officers were prohibited from receiving the bills of 
any private banks in the United States. In 1808, 
less than a year after the branch at Westminster 
had been put in operation, serious complaints 
concerning it were made to the Legislature; its 
officers were investigated, and that branch was 
moved to Woodstock to be managed by the of- 
ficers of that branch, and to put in suit the bonds 
of any of the officers of either branch. At the Oc- 
tober session a committee made a detailed report 
showing the failure of the Middlebury branch to 
redeem its checks and bills. 

On November 9, 1812, an act was passed 
empowering and directing a committee, consisting 
of Samuel C. Crafts, Elihu Luce, and Robert Tem- 
ple, to remove the two branches at Burlington 
and Middlebury to the bank at Woodstock, and 
directing the committee with one or more of the 
directors of the bank to burn all the bills of the 
Vermont State Bank, except what was necessary 
to pay the checks due from said bank; and direct- 
ing the President and Directors of the Vermont 
State Bank to collect, in the most safe and speedy 
manner, all debts due said bank, and to sell its 
property and to close up the concerns of said bank 



OF VERMONT. 57 

as soon as it could be done with advantage to the 
State; and making it the duty of the Treasurer of 
the State to issue notes of the State signed by him 
as Treasurer to persons holding bills of the bank, 
in exchange for the bills, if the persons holding the 
bills elected to make the change. Such notes were 
to be made payable one-half in one year and the 
other half in two years, with interest at the rate 
of six per cent per annum. The committee dis- 
charged the duties enjoined upon them by the act, 
and reported at the next session that they had re- 
moved the Burlington and Middlebury branches, 
and had prosecuted the directors, and had ob- 
tained judgment in favor of the State, and taken 
out an execution for the sum of $22,826.13. 
This execution was against the three directors, 
Daniel Chipman, John Willard and Horatio Sey- 
mour, the directors of the Middlebury branch. 
They were by an act of Nov. 17, 1813, relieved 
from the judgment, except for the sum of $1238.84. 
The committee further reported as to the bills of 
the bank as follows: 

BRANCHES. BILLS SIGHED. BILLS DESTROYED. NOT DESTROYED, ' 

Burlington, $166,505.25 $154,861.00 $11,654.25 
Middlebury, 295,313.25 252,019.25 43.294.00 
Westminster, 200,773.00 191,714.00 9,059.00 
Woodstock, 234,280.50 228,159.50 6,121.00 



Total, $896,872.00 $826,743.75 $70,128.25 
The sum of $3,606 of the bills not destroyed 
were in bank, leaving $66,552.25 as unredeemed.' 
From year to year the redemption proceeded until 
all the bills presented for payment were redeemed. 
The loss to individuals in consequence of the fail- 



58 EARLY HISTORY 

tire of the institution was trifling, but the loss to 
the State was very considerable ; it was claimed 
that the loss was more than compensated in fur- 
nishing to the people a currency that was superior 
to that which they would otherwise have had ; 
they suffered but little in the depreciation of the 
bills of the State Bank, whereas by the failure of 
private banks and bankers in adjoining States 
their losses were considerable. The State Bank 
was succeeded by private banks chartered by the 
Legislature from 1818 until the advent of the na- 
tional banks in 1863. 

The people of Vermont in the early days of the 
State were reluctant to establish banks. They 
said it would encourage speculation ; that if bills 
were put into circulation it would drive specie out 
of the State to seaport towns and to foreign coun- 
tries; that it would tend to introduce a more ex- 
tensive credit system, and palsy and stupefy in- 
dustry and economy ; that they would be natural 
sources of vices that arise from gambling, and 
they imagined a long list of evils that would re- 
sult from the incorporation of banks and the put- 
ting in circulation of bank bills. In 1803 the 
House passed a bill to establish a bank at Windsor, 
but the Governor and Council did not concur, and 
through their committee gave their reasons to the 
House for the noncurrence, as follows: 

"1. Because Bank bills being regarded as money, 
and money, like water, always seeking its level, 
the bills put into circulation within this State 
must displace nearly the same sum of money now 
in circulation among us, and by driving it into the 



OF VERMONT. 59 

seaports, facilitate its exportation to foreign 
countries ; which, as bank bills cannot be made a 
legal tender, must prove a calamity to the citizens 
generally, and especially to those who dwell at # a 
distance from the proposed banks. 

•'2. Because by introducing a more extensive 
credit, the tendency of banks would be to palsy 
the vigor of industry, and to stupefy the vigilance 
of economy, the only two honest, general and sure 
sources of wealth. In this view, banks would tend 
to divert the attention of the speculator, the inex- 
perienced youth, the indolent and the incautious, 
from those honest, honorable and sure sources of 
mediocrity and independence, and to fix it upon 
imaginary and unjustifiable methods of suddenly 
accumulating an overgrown property ; in pursuit 
of which a large proportion of the adventurers 
would probably at the same time sacrifice the 
property with which they began their specula- 
tions and imbibe an ungovernable disgust for 
wholesome industry and economy, now become 
more necessary than ever. 

"3. Because banks, by facilitating enterprises, 
both hazardous and unjustifiable, are natural 
sources of all that class of vices, which arise from 
the gambling system, and which cannot fail to act 
as sure and fatal tho' slow poisons, to the republic 
in which they exist. 

"4. Because Banks tend strongly to draw off 
the dependence of debtors from their own exertions 
as means of payment, and to place it on the facility 
of increasing new debts to discharge the old ; 
which cannot but be detrimental, both to the 



60 EARLY HISTORY 

debtor, and through his example, to society at 
large. 

* '5. Because Banks have a violent tendency, in 
their natural operation, to draw into the hands 
of the few, a large proportion of the property, at 
present, fortunately diffused among the many; 
and in this way, straiten the circumstances of the 
many, and thus render them still more dependent 
on the few, and of course to make them, through 
necessity, yet more subservient to their aspiring 
views ; and by these means, the tendency of banks 
seems to be, to weaken the great pillars of a re- 
publican government, and at the same time, to in- 
crease the forces employed for its overthrow. 

"6. Because as banks will credit none, but per- 
sons of affluence ; those who are in the greatest 
need of help, cannot expect to be directly accom- 
modated by them. And as the banks would enable 
those who have credit with them, to loan money 
at an exorbitant interest to the necessitous, there 
is reason to fear lest they should operate as means 
of increased usury and oppression. 

"7. Because should the bill pass into a law, we 
apprehend it would be found necessary at least to 
render the bank granted thereby perpetual. A 
measure which appears to us too important to be 
adopted without a more thorough investigation 
than the novelty of the question, its extent and 
the shortness of the time will allow. 

"8. Because, by the establishment government 
will, in our opinion, go further than could have 
been contemplated in its original institution. 
Government, we apprehend, was not designed to 



OF VERMONT. 61 

open new fields of speculation, nor to direct the 
efforts of individuals, but merely to protect them 
in respect of property and such of their pursuits as 
are not inconsistent with the general good of the 
citizens at large; much less was it designed as a 
means of drawing property out of the hands of 
the less wealthy, to place it in the hands of the 
more wealthy. " 

After the failure of the Vermont State Bank, 
compelling the people to depend upon a very limit- 
ed amount of specie circulated in the State or the 
bills of banks of other States of uncertain value, 
as a circulating medium, the sentiment of the 
State, in view of their experience in banking, was 
averse to the incorporation of banks, but they 
were soon compelled in self defence to consent to 
the incorporation of banks in consequence of the 
great multiplication of them in neighboring States. 
While bank bills were the circulating medium in 
other States, it was found impossible to prevent 
their introduction here, and the consequence was 
the people of Vermont suffered by being imposed 
upon by counterfeit bills and bank failures, and 
neither the State nor any of her people shared any 
of the profits accruing from banking opperations. 
On petition the Bank of Burlington was incorpor- 
ated in 1818, and the Bank of Brattleboro in 
1821, but the people were slow to perceive their 
utility. Gov. Richard Skinner, in his speech to the 
Legislature in 1822, said : 

"The natural effect produced by the success, 
which of late has attended the petitions for the es- 
tablishment of banks, is to encourage others in 



62 EARLY HISTORY 

the pursuit ; and the difficulty of resisting applica- 
tions, supported by arguments which have hereto- 
fore been urged, with so much skill and efficacy, 

. is probably not diminished. The commercial con- 
cerns of the State cannot require extensive banking 
institutions. The resources of our husbandmen, 
and their course of business, are illy calculated 
to meet the demand, and comply with the neces- 
sary regulations. An opportunity will be afforded 
for investing that money, which would otherwise 
remain in the hands of many wealthy honorable 
citizens, accessible to those who will then become 
the prey of such as are thereby enabled to increase 

1 the means of usurious depredations. The advant- 
age ordinarily derived to the State at large, from 
the augmentation of a circulating medium, which 
is not the representative of real wealth, is not dis- 
cerned. The ruinous effect of multiplying banks 
in the interior of our country has been felt, and is, 
I believe, generally acknowledged ; and I can but 
hope that the legislature will concur in the opin- 
ion, that enough has already been done to satisfy 
every requisition, emanating from an ingenious 
desire for the public good." 

But notwithstanding this, banks in the State 
continued to multiply, and in 1840 the Legislature 
passed a general act for the regulation of banks 
to be chartered or re-chartered within the State, 
designed to secure the public against losses by the 
mismanagement of these institutions, and pro- 
vided for the appointment of a bank commissioner 
who was authorized to examine the condition of 
the banks and institute proceedings against them 



OF VERMONT. 63 

in the Court of Chancery, if found in a condition 
to warrant them. Several banks in the State 
have forfeited their charter or failed, and others 
have been re-chartered. 

The banks that were in operation in 1841 are 
exhibited in the following table: 

VANS OP BARK. INCORPORATED. CAPITAL. PAID lit. 

Bank of Burlington, Nov. 9, 1818, $150,000, $150,000 

Bank of Brattleboro, Nov. 5, 1821, 100,000, 75,000 

Bank of Rutland, Nov. 1, 1824, 1 00,000, 100,000 

Bank of Caledonia, Nov. 1, 1825", 100,000, 50,000 

Bank of St. Albans, Oct. 29, 1825, 100,000, 50,000 

Bank of Vergennes, Oct. 27, 1826, 100,000, 8o,oco 

Bank of Orange Co., Nov. 3, 1827, 100,000, 70,000 

Bank of Woodstock, Nov. 3, 183 1, 100,000, 50,000 

Bank of Middlebury, Nov. 9, 183 1, 100,000, 60,000 

Bank of Bellows Falln, Nov. 9, 1831, 100,000, 50,000 

Bank of Manchester, Nov. 7, 1832, 100,000, 70,000 

Bank of Newbury, Nov. 7, 1832, 100,000, 50,000 

Bank of Orleans, Nov. 8, 1832, 60,000, 30,000 

Farmers* Bank (Orwell), Nov. 7, 1833, 100,000, 60,000 
Farmers' & Merchants' 

Bank, Burlington, Nov. 4, 1834, 150,000, 105,000 

Bank of Montpelier, Oct. 29, 1840, 75,000, 37,500 

Bank of Poultney, Oct. 29, 1840, 100,000 50,000 

Total, $i,735*ooo $i,i37»5<x> 

There were 41 banks in Vermont in 1864, be- 
fore any of the Vermont banks had been trans- 
ferred into the National system, with a total capi- 
tal of $3,916,000; and at that time there were 
also ten Savings Banks in Vermont, which were 
located at Burlington, Bellows Palls, Brattleboro, 
Newfane, Rutland, St. Johnsbury, Springfield, 
Windsor, Wilmington and Woodstock. In the 
year 1899 there were 49 National Banks located 
in Vermont with a total capital of $6,860,000, 



64 EARLY HISTORY 

and also 40 Sayings Banks and Trust Campanies, 
with a total amount of deposits of $36,526,759.73, 
and with a surplus of $1,844,745.97. No banks 
in the country are regarded in a more sound or 
healthy condition than those of Vermont. 

The writer must refer the reader to the several 
revisions of the Vermont statutes of the State for 
the provisions for the organization of banks since 
1818, and for the detailed provisions for banking. 
The present statutes upon the subject provides for 
their organization, the deposit of stocks with, and 
an issue of the circulation by the treasurer, how 
the capital stock shall be paid, and provision 
made for the reduction of the capital stock, and 
providing for the regulation and liabilities for 
banking associations, providing for their inspec- 
tion and what proceeding shall be taken upon the 
failure of banks to redeem their bills. The statute 
provides for there-organization of National Banks 
and the manner of proceeding to wind up their 
affairs. 

The private banking system, that was in vogue 
from 1818 until 1863, was generally acceptable to 
the people and profitable to the stockholders— re- 
sults due not only to the prudence and integrity 
of the managers of the banks, but because for 
many years, by reason of a requisition of the 
State that their bills should be redeemed in Bos- 
ton, thus giving them a credit equal to that of the 
best banks in New England. In 1830 a branch of 
the United States bank was established at Burling- 
ton, which continued in operation until the expir- 
ation of the charter of that institution. Undoubt- 



OF VERMONT. 65 

edly the circulation of the United States Bank was 
a great aid in supplying the people of the State 
with a sufficient amount of money for business 
purposes. The establishment of a United States 
Bank was first proposed by Alexander Hamilton 
during the second session of the first Congress. 
He designed it to act as the financial agent of the 
United States. The Anti-Federalists denied the 
power of Congress, under the constitution to cre- 
ate such a corporation, and claimed that there 
was no necessity for such an institution; they 
said it would subject the government to the 
money power. In 1815 A. J. Dallas, Secretary of 
the Treasury, recommended the creation of a Na- 
tional Bank to relieve the country of the terrible 
condition to which its finances had been reduced 
by the war with Great Britain and with the In- 
dians, and a bill chartering the bank was passed 
Jan. 20, 1815, but it was vetoed by President 
Madison on the ground that it would not afford 
the necessary relief. In 1816, a bill was passed in- 
corporating the bank, and it was then signed by 
President Madison. The charter gave the bank a 
twenty 3*ears lease of life, and authorized a capital 
of $35,000,000 of which the United States Govern- 
ment was to subscribe $7,000,000 ; and the bank 
was to commence business when $8,400,000 of 
additional capital should be paid in. In 1830, the 
charter of the bank was soon to expire, and when 
Congress assembled it was evident that there 
would be a struggle oyer the extension of its char- 
ter. President Jackson in his message violently at- 
tacked the National Bank; he believed that the im- 

6 



66 EARLY HISTORY 

mense power which the bank had acquired had 
been grossly abused, and was a great and grow- 
ing menace to the Republic. Philadelphia was its 
headquarters, but it had 25 branches scattered 
through the country. It had $7,000,000 on de- 
posit, in addition to $6,000,000 of other deposi- 
tors; with a note circulation of $12,000,000, and 
a line of discounts amounting to $40,000,000 
which in a few months ran up to $70,000,000. 
Jackson recommended that Congress should direct 
the removal from the bank of the government's 
deposit. This Congress refused to do, and at the 
next session he also recommended that the stock in 
the bank belonging to the United States should be 
sold, but both propositions were voted down, and 
a bill to renew the bank charter was passed. This 
was vetoed by the President July 10, 1832, and he 
instructed the Secretary in the spring of 1833, that 
no more government money should be deposited 
in the bank. The Secretary refused to obey the in- 
struction, and off came his official head, and Roger 
B. Taney was appointed, who obeyed the Presi- 
dent's order. This has been called a "removal of 
the deposits ;" but in point of fact there was no 
removal ; it vyas merely a cessation of making any 
further deposit and leaving the government bal- 
ance in the bank to be withdrawn to pay current 
expenses as they should arise. Failing to get a 
renewal of its charter from the Federal govern- 
nieut, the bank applied to and was granted a 
charter by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1836. 
In 1837 it suspended, and closed its affairs finally 
in 1839. 



OF VERMONT. 67 

Under the banking system in Vermont that was 
in operation down to the present national system, 
owing to the numerous private banks in the several 
States of the Union, and the wide circulation of 
their respective bills, the people were greatly an- 
noyed from the great amount of counterfeit bank 
bills in circulation, and from the numerous failures 
of banks resulting in great and frequent losses to 
holders of the bills. It became necessary for every 
business man handling considerable amount of 
bills to have a "bank detecter" at his side that 
would describe all counterfeit bills and that would 
give the names of the unsound banks and those 
that had failed. These bank detecters were issued 
often and sent to merchants and other business 
men throughout the country, and were deemed a 
useful publication. Since the creation of the Na- 
tional banks the people havesuffered but few losses 
from counterfeiting, and the people have no dispo- 
sition to return to the old svstem. 



GHflPTER IV. 



THOMAS CHITTENDEN AND MOSES ROBIN- 
SON AND THEIR ADMINISTRATION, AS 
GOVERNORS. PAUL BRIGHAM 
ACTING GOVERNOR. 



In almost every age of the world there have 
been produced persons who seemed to be particu- 
larly fitted for the exigences ot the times in which 
they lived— master spirits who were enabled to 
control public opinion and give it direction in a 
way that it would redound to the happiness and 
welfare of the people. Washington and Lincoln 
were conspicuous examples. The happy results of 
the action of the leaders, of course, are material- 
ly affected by the amount of virtue and intelli- 
gence of the people, but virtue and intelligence are 
not alone sufficient in troublesome times. It needs 
tact and native energy that but few have possess- 
ed. There has been no one in our State that has 
manifested a wiser discretion and a capacity 
adapted to the trying ordeal through which the 
State has passed, in a more eminent degree than 
Thomas Chittenden. His lineage has been traced 
back to a noted and brave ancestry, to Moses 
Chittenden, an officer in Cromwell's own regi- 
ment, a solid Puritan, and was a brave soldier, 
and left his spirit to his descendants. 

(68) 



OF VERMONT. 69 

Thomas Chittenden was born at East Guilford, 
Connecticut, and lived with his father until Oct. 4, 
1749, and at about the age of 20 years he married 
Miss Elizabeth Meigs, and soon moved to Salis- 
bury, Conn., where by his industry and economy he 
acquired considerable landed property. He repre- 
sented Salisbury in the Legislature of Connecticut 
from 1766 to 1769, and again in 1772. He was 
colonel of the militia and a justice of the peace of 
that State. Early in the spring of 1774, he re- 
moved with his family to the New Hampshire 
Grants, as Vermont was then called, and settled 
in the valley of the Winooski, or Onion river in the 
township of Williston, where he had purchased a 
tract of land. He arrived there without having 
any habitation provided for himself and family. 
At that time there were but few inhabitants of the 
State to the north of Rutland, and none within 
the limits of the county of Chittenden, excepting 
those who had come that year and located at 
Burlington and Colchester, and a few other places. 
On the banks of the beautiful Winooski he com- 
mcnced the clearing and cultivation of his new 
farm, and by his well-directed efforts soon procured 
the necessary provisions for the comfortable sup- 
port of his family and opened to him the prospect 
of many of the conveniences of life. There were 
opened to him flattering prospects of rural wealth, 
abundance and independence, the natural and cer- 
tain consequence of the labor of his hands and the 
fertility of the soil. It was in the midst of these 
pleasant scenes and anticipations that the war of 
the Revolution commenced, and the frontier set- 



70 EARLY HISTORY 

tlements became exposed to the depredations of 
the enemy, and to the merciless warfare of the In- 
dians, the allies to the British. Under these circum- 
stances something must be done for the protection 
of the people on the Grants, and especially those 
situated on the frontier. Chittenden, with four 
others in 1775, wasemplo3'ed as a committee to re- 
pair to Philadelphia to obtain information and 
receive advice respecting the political measures to 
be adopted bj' the people in the New Hampshire 
Grants. In the Spring of 1776 the Americans re- 
treated from Canada, and the advance of the 
British upon Lake Champlain rendered it no longer 
safe for the few settlers scattered along the west- 
ern border of Vermont north of Rutland to remain 
upon their lands, and the people were compelled 
to abandon that section of the country and retire 
to the Southern part of the district, or into the 
States of Massachusetts and Connecticut until the 
imminent danger should be past. Chittenden re- 
moved with his family to Arlington in June, 1776, 
and he resided in Danby, Pownal and Arlington 
(mainly at Arlington) until he returned to his home- 
stead in Williston in 1787, but during the time of 
his absence he was not inactive. He was a lead- 
ing member in the Vermont conventions and Pres- 
ident of the Council of Safety, an organization 
that did more for the good order of the State in its 
early existence, and to prevent the territory from 
being absorbed by neighboring States, than any 
other organization. He entered with deep interest 
into the controversy with New York respecting 
the titles of the lands in the New Hampshire 



OF VERMONT. 71 

Grants. He was regarded as the most suitable 
person to be placed at the head of their operations 
against New York. Mr. Chittenden was quick to 
see that the general struggle, that the colonies in 
which they were engaged with Great Britain, for 
their independence, was a favorable opportunity 
to terminate the controversy with New York, and 
for setting up an independent government in the 
disputed territory; this plan now was adopted by 
the Green Mountain Boys, and Chittenden steadi- 
ly pursued it till he saw the independence of Ver- 
mont recognized by the neighboring States and by 
the general government. 

Thompson says of him that "He was a member 
of the first convention of delegates from the sever- 
al townships, which met at Dorset, September 25, 
1776, for the purpose of taking into consideration 
the expediency of declaring Vermont an independ- 
ent State, and at the subsequent meeting of the 
convention at Westminster, January 15, 1777, he 
was one of the committee who draughted the dec- 
laration of independence, which was there adopted, 
and also a member of another committee, who at 
that time, petitioned Congress, pra3*ing that body 
to acknowledge Vermont a free and independent 
State. He assisted in forming the first constitu- 
tion of Vermont, which was adopted by the con- 
vention, July 2, 1777, and in 1778 he was elected 
the first governor of Vermont, which office he held 
with the exception of one year till his death. He 
was one of the eight persons who secretly man-, 
aged the negotiations with the British in Canada 
in 1780, and the three following years, with such 



72 EARLY HISTORY 

consummate adroitness and skill as to deceive alike 
the British and the people of the United States, 
and effectually to secure Vermont from the hostili- 
ties of the enemy, whose forces were all this time 
in possession of Lake Champlain, and Vermont 
without any other means of defence. After the 
close of the war, Governor Chittenden again re- 
moved his family to Williston, where he spent the 
remainder of his active and useful life. Advanced 
in years and declining in health, in the Summer of 
1797 he resigned the office of governor, which he 
had held for 18 years, and died the same season, 
August the 25th, in the 69th year of his age, be- 
loved by his family and friends and sincerely es- 
teemed and lamented by the people of Vermont." 

In 1789, there being no election of governor by 
the people, the council and representatives in joint 
ballot made choice of Moses Robinson, whereupon 
a committee was appointed to prepare an address 
of thanks to Gov. Chittenden for his past services, 
and on the 17th of October, the following address 
was adopted by the general assembly : 
"To the Hon. Thomas Chittenden, Esquire:— 

Sir— On your exit from the important office of 
governor, which you have so long held by the 
united suffrages of the people of this State, the 
representatives in general assembly met, beg leave 
to address you, and publicly demonstrate the sat- 
isfaction they feel in your late administration. 
The citizens of Vermont must contemplate with 
pleasure, your early and reiterated endeavors to 
establish and maintain the existence and welfare 
of this government—and at the same time feel a 



OF VERMONT. 73 

grateful sense of the many and good services you 
have rendered them as the supporter, guardian 
and protector of their civil liberties. 

"The representatives of the people of Vermont, 
upon this occasion, request your Hoqor, to ac- 
cept, for your past services, all that a noble and 
generous mind can give, or wish to receive,— their 
gratitude and warmest thanks; and it is their 
earnest wish that in your advanced age, and re- 
tirement from the arduous task of public life, you 
may enjoy all the blessings of domestic ease. I am, 
may it please your Honor, (by order and in behalf 
of the House), with the greatest respect, your most 
obedient, humble servant." 

The next year Mr. Chittenden was elected Gov- 
ernor by the people and continued to hold the 
office till his resignation a little before his death. 

The predominent traits of Gov. Chittenden's 
character were of the most substantial excellence. 
He possessed to an eminent degree, precisely those 
qualifications, which fitted him for the sphere in 
which he was called upon to act. He did not 
claim to be an orator, nor to have a scholastic 
education, but he was educated to habits of indus- 
try and economy, and had but little to do with 
the artificial forms of society. A common school 
education completed his early advantages; and, 
indeed, the little time he had to spare from labor 
was not devoted to books and study so much as 
to his favorite athletic sports. At the time he 
emigrated to Vermont he possessed a strong and 
active mind that was matured by age, practiced 
to business, and enriched bv a careful observance 



74 EARLY HISTORY 

of men and things. His knowledge was practical ; 
he was regular in his habits, plain and simple in 
his manners — averse to ostentation of equipage or 
dress, and he cared little for luxuries, the blandish- 
ment of etiquette and refined society, and was far 
better fitted to be the leader and governor of the 
independent, dauntless and hardy but uncultivated 
settlers of Vermont, than would have been a man 
of more theoretic knowledge, or polite accomplish- 
ments. He seemed to have an intuitive insight 
into all men with whom he came in contact, and 
into all questions which he had to decide. Ethan 
Allen said of him, "That he was the only man that 
he ever knew, who was sure to be right in all, 
even the most difficult and complex cases, and yet 
could not tell or seem to know why it was so." 
Many of his letters and official documents were 
written by Jonas or Joseph Fay, Ethan or Ira 
Allen, Moses Robinson and Nathaniel Chipman, but 
undoubtedly were dictated by Chittenden as no 
Vermonter was superior to him in judgment. By 
reason of his unflinching patriotism and sound 
judgment, or his official position, he was the mas- 
ter in every community in Vermont in which he 
dwelt, but " his government was rather patriarch- 
al than constitutional." It has been stated in 
this history that he became a resident of Arling- 
ton to quell the Tory power there, as he rigorously 
did, until nearly every royalist was driven out or 
persuaded to remain in submission. Chittenden 
was a man over six feet in height, of fair propor- 
tions, though not portl>", had fine teeth, but for a 
portion of his life he lost the use of one eye. He 



OF VERMONT. 75 

was eminently an able and good governor, a wise 
ruler and father to his people. 

He was a delegate from Williston to the Dorset 
Convention of July 24, 1776, and at the adjourned 
session thereof held at Westminster, Jan. 15, 1777, 
and also at the Windsor Convention that met 
June 4, 1777. At the adjourned session held Jan. 
15, 1777, the district of land commonly called by 
the name of the New Hampshire Grants was de- 
clared to be a "free and independent State, capable 
of regulating their own internal police in all and 
every respect whatever, and that it should be 
thereafter known by the name of New Connecti- 
cut." In the Convention held at Windsor July 2-8, 

1777, Chittenden appeared as a delegate for Dan- 
by with William Gage. 

The Convention that met at Windsor in Decem- 
ber, 1777, to revise the Constitution appointed 
the first election to be on the 12th day of March, 

1778. Representatives were elected and attended 
the Assembly on the 12th of March, 1778, when 
and where the votes of the freeman for a Gover- 
nor, a Lieutenant Governor, and 12 Counsellors 
and a Treasurer were sorted and counted, and the 
persons who had the majority of votes for the re- 
spective offices, were declared duly elected. The 
cause of the hasty course of this election has been 
given in a previous volume. Thomas Chittenden 
was declared the Governor elected. The powers 
of the Governor were defined in the Constitution 
that had been adopted ; for a time the Governor 
and Council were the Board of War, of which 
Thomas Chittenden was President. He was quite 



76 EARLY HISTORY 

free from ostentation and modest and conserva- 
tive in bis views, in addressing the Council and 
Assembly. On his election as Governor in October, 
1779, he said " The honor conferred on me by the 
freemen of this State, in appointing me their chief 
magistrate, demands a return of my warmest 
thanks ; at the same time I regret my inabilities 
to support the character of so important a sta- 
tion. Notwithstanding, as my appointment ap- 
pears so unanimous, it affords me the highest sat- 
isfaction and is to me a confirmation of their gen- 
eral approbation of my conduct; theiefore, I shall 
consider it my duty to serve the ensuing year, and 
by Divine assistance, shall labor to continue an eq- 
ual, steady firmness, an impartial administration oi 
Justice, which has hitherto governed my conduct; 
relying on the candor and assistance of my Coun- 
cil and the Legislature for my support.' 1 His 
main address to the Legislature will be found in 
volume two of this history on page 153. After his 
re-election as Governor in 1780, he did what is 
quite unusual with persons that have been elected 
to high office: he requested the House verbally to 
accept his resignation of the office of Governor, 
but after repeated requests of a number of the 
members of Council and Assembly he withdrew his 
request for resignation and took the oath of office. 
In the most gloomy period of Vermont in her 
struggle against New Hampshire and New York, 
with Congress, and with the common enemy, Gov- 
ernor Chittenden, on Nov. 14, 1781, addressed a 
letter to General Washington which was able, can- 
did and of the most convincing character, justifying 



OF VERMONT. 77 

the course of Vermont in the struggle, and the jus- 
tice of her claim to become a separate State. ' After 
stating that he placed the highest confidence in 
Washington, his patriotism in the cause of liberty, 
and a disposition to do equal right and justice to 
every part of America, and that he did not doubt 
but that Washington was well satisfied of the 
real attachment of Vermont to the common cause, 
poceeded in his letter and said: 

•'It is the misfortune of this State to join on the 
Province of Quebec and the waters of the Lake 
Champlain which affords an easy passage for the 
enemy to make a descent with a formidable army 
on its frontiers, and into the neighborhood of the 
several States of New York, New Hampshire, and 
Massachusetts, who have severally laid claims in 
part or in whole, to this State, and who have used 
every art which they could devise to divide her cit- 
izens, to set Congress against her, and finally to 
overturn the government and share its territory 
among them. The repeated applications of this 
State to the Congress of the United States to be 
admitted into the Federal Union with them, upon 
the liberal principles of paying a just proportion 
of the expenses of the war with Great Britain, 
have been rejected, and resolutions passed ex parte 
tending to create schisms in the State, and thereby 
embarrass its efforts in raising men and money for 
the defense of her frontiers, and discountenancing 
the very existence of the State. Every article be- 
longing to the United States, even to pickaxes and 
spades, has been by continental commissaries or- 
dered out of this State, at a time when she was 



78 EARLY HISTORY 

erecting a line of forts on her frontiers. At the 
same time the State of New York evncunted the 
post of Skenesborough for the avowed purpose 
of exposing this State to the ravages of the com- 
mon enemy. 

"The British officers in New York, being ac- 
quainted with the public disputes between this 
and the claiming States, and between Congress 
and this State, made overtures to Gen. Allen, in a 
letter, projecting that Vermont should be a colony 
under the Crown of England, endeavoring, at the 
same time, to draw the people of Vermont into 
their interest. The same day Gen. Allen received 
this letter (which was in August [or last of July] 
1780), he laid it before me and my council, who, 
under the critical circumstances of the State, ad- 
vised that no answer, either oral or written, 
should be returned, and that the letter should be 
safely deposited till further consideration, to 
which Gen. Allen consented. A few months after, 
he received a second letter from the enemy, and the 
same council advised that Gen. Allen should send 
both letters to Congress inclosed in a letter under 
his signature; which he did, in hopes that Con- 
gress would admit Vermont into the Union; but 
they had not the desired effect. 

In the fall of the year 1780, the British made a 
descent up the Lake Champlain, and captured the 
Ports George and Anne, and appeared in force on 
the Lake. This occasioned the militia oi this State, 
most generally, to go forth to defend it. Thus the 
militia were encamped against the enemy near 
six weeks, when Gen. Allen received a flag from 



OF VERMONT. 79 

them, with an answer to my letter dated the pre- 
ceding July to Gen. Haldimand, on the subject of 
an exchange of prisoners. The flag delivered a 
letter to Gen. Allen, from the commanding officer 
of the enemy, who were then at Crown Point, 
with proposals for a truce with the State of Ver- 
mont, during the negotiating the exchange of pris- 
oners. General Allen sent hack a flag of his to the 
commanding officer of the British, agreeing to the 
truce, provided he would extend the same to the 
frontier posts of the State of New York, which 
was complied with, and a truce took place which 
lasted about three weeks. It was chiefly owing 
to the military prowess of the militia of this State, 
and the including the State of New York in the 
truce, that Albany and Schenectady did not fall a 
sacrifice to the ambition of the enemy, that cam- 
paign. 

Previous to the retiring of the enemy into win- 
ter quarters, Col. Allen and Major Fay were com- 
missioned to negotiate the proposed exchange of 
prisoners. They proceeded so far as to treat with 
the British commissioners on the subject of their 
mission, during which time they were interchange- 
ably entertained with politics, which they treated 
in an affable manner, as I have been told. But no 
cartel was settled, and the campaign ended with- 
out the effusion of blood. 

The cabinet Council, in the course of the suc- 
ceeding Winter, finding that the enemy in Canada 
were about seven thousand strong, and that Ver- 
mont must needs be their object the ensuing cam- 
paign, circular letters were therefore sent from the 



80 EARLY HISTORY 

supreme executive authority of this State to the 
claiming States before mentioned, demanding of 
them to relinquish their claims to this State, and 
inviting them to join in a solid union and confeder- 
ation against the common enemy. Letters were 
also sent to your excellency and to the States of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island. Each of these let- 
ters stated the extreme circumstances of this State, 
and implored their aid and alliance, giving them 
withal to understand that it was out of the pow- 
er of this State to lay in magazines and support a 
body of men, sufficient to defend this State against 
the force of the enemy. But to these letters there 
has been no manner of answer returned. 

From all which it appeared this State was de- 
voted to destruction by the sword of the common 
enemy. It appeared to be the more unjustifiable 
that the State of Vermont should be thus forsaken, 
inasmuch as her citizens struck the first offensive 
blow against British usurpation, by putting the 
continent in possession of Ticonderoga, and more 
than two hundred pieces of cannon; with Crown 
Point, St. Johns, and all Lake Champlain ; their 
exertions in defeating Gen. Carleton in his attempt 
to raise the seige of St. John ; their assisting in 
penetrating Canada ; their valor in the battles of 
Hubbardton, Bennington, and at the landing near 
Ticonderoga; assisting in the capture of Gen. Bur- 
goyne; and by being a principal barrier against 
the power of the enemy in Canada ever since. 

That the citizens of this State have by nature 
an equal right to liberty and independency with 
the citizens of America in general, cannot be dis- 



OF VERMONT. 81 

pa ted. And that they have merited it from the 
United States by their exertions with them in 
bringing about the present glorious revolution, is 
as evident a truth as any other, which respects 
the acquired right of any community. 

Generosity, merit, and gratitude all conspire in 
vindicating the independence of Vermont. But 
notwithstanding the arguments, which have been 
exhibited in sundry pamphlets in favor of Vermont, 
and which have been abundantly satisfactory to 
the impartial part of mankind, it has been in the 
power of her external enemies to deprive her of 
union, confederation, or any equal advantage in 
defending themselves against the common enemy. 

The winter was thus spent in fruitless attempts 
to form alliances, but no advantages were pro- 
cured in favor of this State, except that Massa- 
chusetts withdrew her claim, on condition that 
the United States would concede the independence 
of Vermont ; but if they would not, they would 
have their snack at the south end of its territory. 
Still New York and New Hampshire are strenu- 
ously opposed to the independence of Vermont : 
and every strategem in their power, to divide and 
subdivide her citizens, are exerted, imagining that 
their influence in Congress and the certain destruc- 
tion as they supposed, of the inhabitants of this 
State by the common enemy, could not fail of fi- 
nally accomplishing their wishes. 

In this juncture of affairs, the cabinet of Ver- 
mont projected the extension of their claim of ju- 
risdiction upon the States of New Hampshire and 
New York, as well to quiet some of her own inter- 

7 



82 EARLY HISTORY 

nal divisions occasioned by the machinations of 
those two governments, as to make them experi- 
ence the evils of intestine broils, and strengthen 
this State against insult. The Legislature, accord- 
ingly, extended their jurisdiction to the eastward 
of Connecticut river to the old Mason line, and to 
the westward to Hudson river ; but, in the articles 
of Union, referred the determination of the bound- 
ary lines of Vermont, and the respective claiming 
States, to the final decision of Congress, or such 
other tribunal as might be mutually agreed on by 
the contending governments. These were the 
principal political movements of the last winter. 

The last campaign opening with a gloomy 
aspect to discerning citizens of this State, being 
destitute of adequate resources, and without any 
alliance, and from its local situation to Canada, 
obliged to encounter the whole force of that prov- 
ince, or give up its claim to independence and run 
away, Yermont being thus driven to desperation 
by the injustice of those who should have been her 
friends, was obliged to adopt policy in room of 
power. And on the first day of May last, Col. Ira 
Allen was sent to Canada to further negotiate the 
business oi exchange of the prisoners, who agreed 
on a time, place, and other particulars relating to 
an exchange. While he was transacting that busi- 
ness, he was treated with great politeness and 
entertained with political matters, which necessity 
obliged him to humor in that easy manner that 
might save the interest of this State in its extreme 
critical situation, and that its consequences might 
not be injurious to the United States. The plan 



OF VERMONT. 83 

succeeded, the frontiers of this State were not in- 
vaded; and Lord George Germaine's letter 
wrought upon Congress and procured that from 
them, which the public virtue of this people could 
not. 

In the month of July last, Maj. Joseph Fay was 
sent to the British shipping, on Lake Champlain, 
who completed an exchange of a number of prison- 
ers, who were delivered at Skenesborough in Sep- 
tember last; at which time and place Col. Allen 
and Maj. Fay had a conference with the British 
commissioners. And no damage had, as yet, ac- 
crued to this, or the United States from this quar- 
ter. And in the month of October last, the enemy 
appeared in force at Crown Point and Ticonder- 
oga ; but were manoeuvred out of their expedition, 
and are returned into winter quarters, in Canada, 
with great safety, that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the prophet, 'I will put my hook in 
their nose and turn them back by the way which 
they came, and they shall not come into this city 
(alias Vermont), saith the Lord.' 

It remains that I congratulate your excellency, 
and participate with you in the joy of your cap- 
turing the haughty Cornwallis and his army; and 
assure your excellency that there are no gentlemen 
in America, who enjoy the glorious victory more 
than the gentlemen of this State, and him who has 
the honor to subscribe himself your excellency's 
devoted and most humble servant. 

Thomas Chittenden." 

In 1786 an address was made by Gov. Chitten- 
den to the Freemen of Vermont, which forcibly 



84 EARLY HISTORY 

showed the cause and cure of the distresses of the 
people of the State as follows : 

"The distresses so much complained of in this 
State for want of a circulating medium, is partly 
occasioned by the devastations and distresses of 
the late war. Being a frontier, disowned and un- 
protected by the States in the Union, and having 
no credit to enable us to borrow money, we were 
necessitated to pay our proportion of the great ex- 
pense of the war as it arose, and while it has left 
on the United States a debt of 42,000,375 dollars, 
exclusive of their own respective State debts, we 
have but a trifle to pay. 

"It appears that the State tax of the town of 
Stockbridge, in the county of Berkshire, Mass., 
for the present year, is £746 more than that of 
the town of Bennington, which is near or quite as 
large as Stockbridge, £303 of which must be paid 
in hard money. 

"In the time of the war we were obliged to fol- 
low the example of Joshua of old, who commanded 
the sun to stand still while he fought his battle ; 
we commanded our creditors to stand still while 
we fought our enemies. Tho' we had no power to 
borrow money, we had power to retain what we 
had, and improve it for the safety of the whole; 
consequently some of our people were left in debt 
and behind hand, and many were so harrassed 
and distressed by the war that at the close of it, 
they were destitute of a supply of provisions, 
though by the blessing of heaven on their industry 
they have obtained a plenty now. 

"Another reason of our present distress is, that 



OF VERMONT. 85 

since the close of the war, in lieu of exerting our- 
selves to the uttermost, to raise flax and wool and 
clothe ourselves, we have purchased on credit too 
many articles of the growth and manufacture of 
foreign countries, by which means we have drained 
the State of nearly all the cash we had and a great 
part of our cattle, meantime we have been paying 
the taxes of other States, accumulating new debts, 
and flinging ourselves into the hands of the trad- 
ers, lawyers and pettifoggers. 

"Law suits are become so numerous that there 
is hardly money sufficient to pay for entering the 
actions, not to mention the debts or lawyers and 
officers' fees, yet as we have but few disputable 
causes, most of the time of the court is taken up 
in hearing what the lawyers call shun age y to 
avoid for the present, what is so much dreaded, 
executions; and many persons, to prevent their 
estates being sold at vendue, are necessitated to 
subject themselves to the extraordinary expense 
of two or three executions for one debt before it 
can be settled. I have reason to believe that the 
expense of law suits for two years past, has been 
nearly equal to that of any two years of the war, 
and for a remedy one cries a Tender Act, another a 
bank of money, and others, kill the lawyers and 
deputy sheriffs. 

"A remedy arising from either of these methods, 
without other exertions, will be but temporary ; 
it might afford some respite at present, but would 
not remove the cause, and I know of no certain 
effectual method that can be taken to afford sub- 
stantial relief, but by prudence, industry and 



86 EARLY HISTORY 

economy, and these must be encouraged by Gov- 
ernment. 

•'As this is an inland country, it is of course very 
expensive transporting our produce to market 
from many parts of the State, and when we arrive 
there we must take and give our own price. It 
must therefore be for our interest to raise and 
manufacture every article this country will pro- 
duce, and that may be in value nineteen-twentieths 
of our necessaries, and purchase no more foreign 
goods than real necessity requires, until we have 
more articles for export than the value of what we 
want to purchase. Then, and not till then, can 
we have specie for a circulating medium. 

"I agree with the Hon. Council of Censors in 
rejecting the present mode of taxation ; I view it 
neither just nor political ; it is not only unequal, 
but being laid on the necessaries of life tends to 
discourage industry, while the idle and litigious 
are preying upon us with impunity. I therefore 
most earnestly recommend it to you to consider 
whether it would not be wise and greatly tend to 
encourage prudence, industry, agriculture and 
manufacture to lay our taxes in future on lawsuits 
and such commodities as are imported into this 
State, excepting only such as are absolutely nec- 
essary, and that this State will not be apt to 
make too free use of, and out of the avails of these 
taxes give a bounty for the encouragement of rais- 
ing sheep and flax, and where there are lands in 
new townships, that are not settled in proper 
time, either tax them or take the forfeiture. 

"It may be said this, or something like it might 



OP VERMONT. 87 

have answered our purpose had we set about it 
three oi four years ago, and it may be of service 
now and help us by degrees, but it will not afford 
present relief: something must be done to prevent 
paying so much cost. Interest we can bear but 
the costs will ruin us. If we would sell our farms 
to pay our debts, the distresses are so great in 
other States there are no purchasers. I sincerely 
wish some method might be adopted to ease and 
quiet the people, without either a tender act or 
making paper money; but if either must take 
place, I prefer the latter for the following reasons : 
The fact is there are many who have good inter- 
ests in land that have not wherewith to turn out 
to satisfy the demands on them, without distress- 
ing their families, or even with, therefore would be 
obliged to ward off their debts as long as possible, 
and still continue to pay costs ; this would pre- 
vent but few suits, and be attended with great 
loss in different appraisals, driving cattle &c. 

"It a small bank of money should be struck and 
loaned by the State to those that would take it 
on interest, to be paid annually, on such security 
and for such term as the Assembly shall think 
proper, and make it a tender on all debts on which 
a prosecution is or shall be commenced : the inter- 
est of the money and the money arising from the 
tax above mentioned would pay the annual ex- 
penses of government in times of peace, and soon 
redeem the notes and orders that are out; it would 
prevent four-fifths of the law suits, and some part 
of the sheriffs, their deputies, part of the consta- 
bles, and all the pettifoggers might go to work. 



88 EARLY HISTORY 

"If a bank must be made let it be small, make no 
other law to support its credit, let it solely depend 
on the foundation it is issued on, and the virtue of 
the people, and if we follow the example of some 
of our neighboring States, all agree that it shall 
be good, it will be so ; and if those who by the 
scarcity of money have tlie advantage of others, 
and wish to keep it, should be disposed to depre- 
ciate it, they will be the greatest sufferers." 

The Legislature met in October, 1791, at Wind- 
sor, and the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and 
some of the Councillors were escorted into town 
by a troop of horse commanded by Capt. Hawley. 
Election day was ushered in by beat of drum; and 
when His Excellency Thomas Chittenden was de- 
clared duly elected Governor for another year, the 
same was announced by the discharge of fifteen 
cannon from the parade by Capt. Hodgeman's 
Artillery Company; a sermon was delivered by 
the Rev. Mr. Shuttleworth, and in the evening an 
elegant ball was given by a number of gentlemen 
of Windsor to a most brilliant assembly of gentle- 
men and ladies of this and the neighboring States. 

Gov. Chittenden was again elected Governor in 
1793. The canvass of the vote for that office 
stood as follows : For Thomas Chittenden, 3184; 
for Isaac Tichenor, 2712; for Noah Smith, 174; 
scattering, 85 votes. 

Thomas Chittenden received his last election as 
Governor in 1796. He was Governor of Vermont 
from 1778 until his death in 1797, except the year 
1789, when there was no election by the people, 
and the Legislature elected Moses Robinson. 



OF VERMONT. 89 

Governor Chittenden did not attend the adjourned 
session of the Legislature in February, 1 797, and 
in July, 1797, he gave notice to the freemen of 
Vermont, that he would not be a candidate for re- 
election. He died in office on the 25th day of 
August, 1797. At the October session of 1.794 the 
Assembly voted him 150 pounds, lawful money 
for his salary for the year ensuing, and the same 
amount was voted at the session in October, 1795, 
for the year ensuing; this session was held at 
Windsor and His Excellency was escorted to the 
town by Captain Stone's company of Cavalry, 
and on the next day the Governor, Council and 
House of Representatives formed a procession and 
attended by Captain Leonard's company of Light 
Infantry, proceeded to the Court House, where a 
sermon was delivered by Rev. Asa Burton, from 
Psalms viii: 5, "Thou hast made him a little low- 
er than the Angels. 9 ' His election and other offi- 
cers was then announced. The whole ceremony 
was concluded by a discharge of fifteen cannon. 

Thomas Chittenden's last speech as Governor 
was made at the session of the Legislature of 
1796, and is as follows : 

"Gentlemen of the Council and Assembly:— You 
are so well knowing to the manifold favors and 
blessings bestowed upon us, as a people, by the 
great Ruler of the universe, that it would be unnec- 
essary for me to recapitulate them. I would there- 
fore only observe, that but a few years since we 
were without constitution, law or government, 
in a state of anarchy and confusion, at war with 
a potent foreign power, opposed by a powerful 



90 E^RLY HISTORY 

neighboring State, discountenanced by the Con- 
gress, distressed by internal dissensions, all our 
landed property in imminent danger, and without 
the means of defence. 

"Now j r our eyes behold the happy day, when 
we are in the full and uninterrupted enjoyment of a 
well regulated government, suited to the situation 
and genius of the people, acknowledged by all the 
powers of the earth, supported by the Congress, 
at peace with our sister States, among ourselves 
and all the world. 

"From whence did these great blessings come? 
From God. Are they not /worth enjoying? They 
surely are. Does it not become us as a people, to 
improve them, that we may have reason to hope 
they may be continued to us, and transmitted to 
posterity? It certainly does. 

"What are the most likely measures to be taken 
by us, as a people, to obtain this great end? To 
be a faithful, virtuous and industrious, and a 
moral people. 

"Does it not become us as the Legislature, to 
take every method in our power to encourage vir- 
tue, industry, morality, religion, and learning? I 
think it does. 

"Is there any better method that can be taken 
by us, to answer this purpose, than by our own 
example, and having a sacred regard to virtue, in- 
dustry, integrity, and morality, in all our appoint- 
ments of executive and judicial officers. This is 
the day we have appointed to nominate all our 
subordinate, executive, and judicial officers, 
through the Slate for the present year. 



OF VERMONT. 91 

"The people by their free suffrages, have given 
us the power, and in us they have placed their con- 
fidence, and to God, to them, and our own con- 
sciences, we are accountable. 

"Suffer me, sir, as a leader, as a father, as a 
friend and a lover of this people, and as one whose 
voice cannot be much longer heard here, to in- 
struct you in all your appointments, to have re- 
gard to none, but those who maintain a good 
moral character, men of integrity, and distin- 
guished for wisdom and abilities; in doing this 
you will encourage virtue which is the glory of a 
people, and discountenance and discourage vice and 
profaneness, which is a reproach to any people." 

In this sketch of his life and of his administra- 
tion as Governor it has not been the purpose of 
the writer to go into details of his life or a com- 
plete history of all his acts of administration, for 
the reason that his habits and unblemished char- 
acter as a citizen and a description of his services 
for the State, and his unselfish devotion to the in- 
terests of the people have been quite fully presented 
in the course of this history, and it would be but 
a repetition to set them forth here. Indeed, no 
true history of Vermont can be written that does 
not give a full account of Thomas Chittenden's 
public acts and life, because his services and life 
were so completely interwoven with the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of the State. In an obituary 
notice written of him in September, 1797, it was 
said of him that "During the troubles occasioned 
by the claims of New York on the New Hampshire 
Grants, Governor Chittenden was a faithful ad- 



92 EARLY HISTORY 

viser, and a strong supporter of the feeble settlers. 
During the American Revolution, while Warner, 
Allen, and many others were in the field, he was 
assiduously engaged in the Council of Safety at 
home, where he rendered essential service to his 
country. In the year 1778, when the State of 
Vermont assumed the powers of government and 
established a constitution, the eyes of the freemen 
were immediately fixed on Mr. Chittenden as their 
first magistrate. He was accordingly elected to 
that arduous and difficult office, and continued 
therein, one year only excepted, until his death. 
To presume to say how well he conducted in the 
most trying times would be arrogance in an indi- 
vidual; let the felicity of his constituents evince, 
let the history of Vermont declare it. From a lit- 
tle band of associates, he saw his government sur- 
pass a hundred thousand souls in number; he saw 
them rise superior to oppression, brave the hor- 
rors of a foreign war, and finally taking her op- 
pressor by the hand, receive her embrace as a sis- 
ter State, and rise a constellation in the federal 
dome. 

"That Governor Chittenden was possessed of 
great talents and a keen discernment in affairs 
relative to men and things, no one can deny. His 
conversation was easy, simple and instructive, 
«and although his enemies sometimes abused his 
open frankness, yet it is a truth that no person 
knew better how to eompass great designs with 
secrecy than himself. His particular address and 
negotiations during the late war, were master- 
strokes of policy. His talents at reconciling jar- 



OF VERMONT. 93 

ring interests among the people were peculiar. 
His many and useful services to his country, to 
the State of Vermont, and the vicinity wherein he 
dwelt, will be long remembered by a grateful pub- 
lic, and entitle him to be named with the Wash- 
ington, the Hancock*, and Adamses of his day. 
Nor were his private virtues less conspicuous. In 
times of scarcity and distress, too common in new 
settlements, never did a man display more ration- 
al or more noble benevolence. His granary was 
open to all the needy. He was a professor of re- 
ligion, a worshipper of God, believing in the Son 
to the glory of the Father. Such was the man, 
and such the citizen Vermont has lost. Superior 
to a Prince, a great man here has fallen." 

-Take him for all In all" 

"We ne'er shall look upon his like again." 

Moses Robinson was the second Governor of 
Vermont. His grandfather, Samuel Robinson, 
was born in Bristol, England, in 1668, and 
claimed descent from Rev. John Robinson, the fa- 
ther of the independents, who was pastor of the 
Pilgrims before they sailed from Holland in the 
May Flower in August, 1620. The father of Mo- 
ses Robinson was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 
1705, was the pioneer settler of Bennington, Vt., 
and who went in December, 1765, as agent of the 
New Hampshire Grants to petition the King for 
relief against the government of New York, and 
died in London, October 27, 1767. Moses Robin- 
son was born in Hard wick, Mass., March 26, 
1744, and came to Bennington with his father in 
1761. He was the first town clerk of Bennington, 



94 EARLY HISTORY 

chosen in March, 1762, which office he held 19 
years. As colonel of militia, he was with his regi- 
ment at the evacuation of Ticonderoga and Mount 
Independence in July, 1777. He was a member of 
the Council of Safety in 1777-8, and Councillor 
eight years, to October, 1785. In 1778, he was ap- 
pointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
Vermont and served in that capacity from 1778 
to 1783-4, and again from 1785 to 1788-9, in all 
ten years. On the admission of the State to the 
Union in 1791, Mr. Robinson was one of the first 
two U. S. Senators, serving till June 1, 1796; he 
was a man of piety of a marked type. He was re- 
garded as wealthy and liberal to the cause of re- 
ligion corresponding to his ability; he was elected 
deacon May 22, 1789, which office he held until 
his death, May 26, 1813. Dr. Samuel Peters wrote 
of him that 'Moses Robinson, A.M., of Verdmont 
has bpen a Governor of that State, and a Senator 
in Congress; he is head of a family of Robinsons, de- 
scendants of the Rev. John Robinson, the father of 
the Puritans in England in 1620, in whom the 
Methodists and the Puritans place confidence." 

In 1789 there was no election for Governor by 
the people— the vote stood 1263 for Thomas Chit- 
tenden, 746 for Moses Robinson, 478 for Samuel 
Safford, and 378 for all others. Robinson was 
elected in joint Assembly at Westminster, October 
9, and Governor Chittenden, as presiding 'officer, 
was requested to inform him of his election. On 
October 13, 1789, a committee consisting of two 
members from each county was appointed to es- 
cort the Governor-elect into town, and he appeared 



OF VERMONT. 95 

the same day and assumed the duties q{ his office, 
but his opening speech was not preserved. He 
held the office but one year, when Thomas Chit- 
tenden was chosen as his successor. Governor 
Robinson's admirable address on retiring from the 
Chief Magistracy of the State, and the answer of 
the House to it will be found in volume second of 
this history on pages 144 to 146. At the close of 
the session of 1789, he thanked the members for 
their attention to the public business, and "en- 
joined on them a strict observance and attention 
to the laws of the State, that by their respectable 
examples, others might be induced to a similar 
line of conduct." His service rendered in the in- 
terest of the people of the State has been recorded 
in the course of these volumes. His services and 
influence were regarded of great value on commis- 
sions, and as agent at the seat of government in 
negotiating for the admission of the State into the 
Federal Union. 



Paul Brigham, who was elected Lieutenant- 
Governor in 1796 became acting Governor on the 
death of Governor Chittenden on the 25th day 
of August, 1797. Brigham was Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor from 1796 to 1813, and again from 1815 to 
1820, a sketch of whose life will be found in vol- 
ume three on page 348 of this history. 



CHAPTER V. 



ISAAC TICHENOR, ISRAEL SMITH, JONAS 

GALUSHA, AND RICHARD SKINNER, 

AND THEIR ADMINISTRATIONS 

AS GOVERNORS. 



Isaac Tichbnor of Bennington was the third 
man that was elected by the people as the Gover- 
nor of the State of Vermont. After the death of 
Thomas Chittenden on the 25th day of August, 
1797, Lieutenant-Gov. Paul Brigham became act- 
ing Governor and served as such the remainder of 
Governor Chittenden's term. A short sketch of 
his public services for Vermont will be found in the 
first volume of this History on page 167. In the 
year 1797, there was no election of Governor by 
the people and Isaac Tichenor was elected Gover- 
nor in Joint Assembly; and he accepted and took 
the oath of office. In his speech to the Legislature, 
he said he relied upon the candor, friendship and 
support of that body in the discharge of his duties, 
and that no endeavor should be wanting on his 
part to discharge his duty with fidelity to the 
public and satisfaction to his own conscience. He 
declared his confidence in the national govern- 
ment, and in the experience, firmness and integ- 
rity of those who had been placed at the head of 



OF VERMONT. 97 

the administration; he paid a high tribute to the 
services and character of his predecessor, Thomas 
Chittenden, under whose administration the gov- 
ernment had flourished and obtained a respectable 
character among her sister States; he enjoined 
economy in the affairs of the State, and to guard 
against the creation of public debt ; he observed 
that it is from among men of principle, virtue and 
integrity that they would find the best public 
officers, and that he would be happy to co-oper- 
ate with them in adopting measures which would 
tend to the promotion of education and progress 
of useful knowledge in the State, and encourage 
industry and frugality, so necessary to the happi. 
ness and prosperity of the people. 

In 1798, he was elected Governor bj f the people, 
receiving 6,211 votes to Moses Robinson 2,805, 
and 332 scattering; and was again elected in 1799. 
In the year of 1800 in the vote for Governor he 
received 6,444 votes, Israel Smith, 3,239 votes, and 
380 scattering. The popularity of Governor 
Tichenor was seen in his re-election in 1803. At 
that time the State was in the hands of the Jeffer- 
son Republicans, when the lowest Republican can- 
didate had a majority of 500 over the highest 
Federal, and still Governor Tichenor, a Federalist, 
was elected Governor. Sometime before 1798, the 
administration proclaimed its policy of neutrality 
in the controversy and war between Great Britain 
and France. A treaty had existed that ordained 
that neutral ships could carry what goods they 
pleased. But because the United States would 
not side with France in her war with England, 



98 EARLY HISTORY 

provisions owned by Americans and enroute to 
England, were declared by France forfeited as con- 
traband. French officials seemed bent on treat- 
ing America as a dependency of France. Genet, 
the French envoy to America, even before our neu- 
trality had been proclaimed, set about putting 
out privateers, manning them with Americans, 
and serfding them to prey upon British ships, 
some of which they captured in American waters ; 
he instated Washington, challenging his motives 
and authority for his acts. At length Washing- 
ton effected his removal. France, upon learning 
that the United States had ratified the Jay treaty 
with England, went insane with rage. Barras 
dismissed Mr. Monroe, our minister, in a contempt- 
uous speech, denouncing the American govern- 
ment as condescending to the suggestions of her 
former tyrants, and called upon the American 
people, ''always proud of their liberty," never to 
forget that they owe it to France. President 
Adams, to make a last effort for peace, sent John 
Marshall and El bridge Gerry to aid Pinckney for 
a becoming admission to their courts, but all in 
vain. Under this state of things, Governor Tiche- 
nor,in his special speech to the Council and House, 
said, "though we cannot with propriety be called 
a commercial State, yet as the sale of the produce 
of our larms intimately depend upon its exporta- 
tion from the seaports of our sister States, when 
their commerce is destroyed, the tiller of the soil is 
involved in its ruin; and the enemy who captures 
the cargo of the merchant, gives a mortal blow to 
the harvest of the husbandman. The return of 



OF VERMONT. 99 

Mr. Gerry, the last of our insulted messengers of 
peace to France, although without effecting the 
object of their mission, must be considered by 
every discerning man, as a fortunate event; an 
event which must confound the advocates of 
French amity, dissolve the last ligaments which 
bind us to that aspiring, perfidious nation, and 
convince the most obdurately incredulous, that 
friendly and sincere proffers of amicable accom- 
modation can have no avail with men whose am* 
bition is gain, and whose policy is plunder. * * * 
As a respectable member of the Union, it behoves 
us at this momentous period, wlien the sovereign- 
ty of our nation is threatened, to express in the 
most decided manner, by our official acts, our con- 
fidence in, and our adherence to our national gov- 
ernment, and to convince France that notwith- 
standing the liberal efforts of some deluded and 
designing men among us, we are not a divided 
people, and that she may no longer presume that 
intestine division of political sentiments, which 
has so long invited her indults, and to which so 
many European Republics have fallen a sacrifice. 
* * * America must now, under God, look to 
her own resources, and the valor and patriotism 
of her own citizens, for that justice which she has 
in vain sought from French uprightness, or French 
friendship" The committee of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, in reply to the Governor's speech on 
this subject, fully endorsed his views, and in re- 
ferring to the duplicity and insults to our govern- 
ment by France, said, "the veil is removed— I^et 
ns adopt an old motto, Liberty or Death!" 



100 EARLY HISTORY 

At the October session of the Legislature of 
1798, he presented before that body a resolve of 
the Legislature of Massachusetts proposing 
amendment of the constitution of the United 
States, declaring that no person shall be eligible 
as President, or Vice-President of the United States 
or Senator or Representative in Congress, except 
a natural born citizen. On this subject the Gov- 
ernor said, "Think it is obvious that a gov- 
ernment can be best administered by its own citi- 
zens/ 1 and favored the proposed amendment. 

At the session of October 1799, the Governor 
laid before the House the resolutions of the 
States of Virginia and Kentucky, which are re- 
ferred to in volume three of this history, and 
which embodied the seeds of nullification and dis- 
union. The Governor said, "For my own part I 
have not the smallest hesitation in predicting that 
they will meet your decided disapprobation, be- 
cause they contain principles hostile to your best 
interests, and because I know you love your coun- 
try, and are rationally attached to the principles 
of our excellent Federal Constitution." 

In his speech to the Council and House at the 
session of 1802, on the harmful influence of violent 
party spirit, said, "One of the greatest misfortunes 
that attend Republican governments, is the prog- 
ress and violence of party spirit. In a govern- 
ment where the honors and emoluments of public 
offices are alike open to all the citizens, it will be 
natural for many to appear as candidates for pub- 
lic approbation and employment ; and mam* good 
effects will result from a spirit of emulation, enter- 



OF VERMONT. 101 

prise and ambition : let them be well directed, and 
under proper regulations, and they will give rise 
to the most necessary and useful public exertions. 
But when ambitious men become inflamed so as 
to produce a violation of the laws of virtue, the 
destruction of private character, the propagation 
of falsehood and slander and an established ran- 
corous spirit of party, they introduce into civil 
society some of the worst evils. One part of the 
community become inflamed against the other; 
different parties are ranked under different leaders; 
they have different views and aims, and forgetful 
of the public good, are most of all active and vio- 
lent to accomplish their own particular purposes. 
It cannot be, in such a state of things, but that 
the public interest will be sacrificed to private 
views. It requires the abilities and exertions of 
the wisest and most virtuous, in every country to 
direct the public affairs, to restrain the vicious, to 
give the laws the proper direction and energy, and 
to keep up those civil and moral institutions on 
which the existence and safety of civil society es- 
sentially depend. Those, therefore, who from a 
spirit of party, or personal aggrandizement, labor 
to divide and inflame one part of the community 
against the other, whatever motives and princi- 
ples they may avow, are the greatest enemies to 
our republican institutions and form of govern- 
ment. A remedy of these evils, so pernicious to 
society, is not within reach of legislative acts ; it 
is only on the virtue and information of the great 
body of the people that we can rely to stop their 
progress, or do away with their fatal effects ; and 



102 EARLY HISTORY 

when aided by the precepts and examples of virtu- 
ous representatives and upright magistrates, 
these will, I presume, be effectual." In his message 
to the Legislature in 1803, he thought it not un- 
profitable to look back, to trace the measures 
pursued by their venerable fathers, to whose wis- 
dom and firmness they were indebted for the rank 
and privileges of an independent State ; that their 
appointments to office were fixed on men whose 
disinterested zeal for the public good were mani- 
fested more by their acts than their professions ; a 
patriotic spirit of union, in Council and measures 
animated their administrations; they subdued 
the wilderness, they sowed the seeds of science and 
the arts, and it was wisdom to adhere to those 
rules and maxims by which they regulated their 
conduct. 

He told the Legislature that it was important 
that a Stpte prison should be erected ; that means 
should be provided for punishing by hard labor 
those who should be convicted of crimes not capi- 
tal, whereby the criminal shall be employed for 
the benefit of the public. 

In 1804 he said, "from recent events in Europe 
it would seem that our country is the only place 
on the globe in which there is a prospect that the 
Republican system can succeed. Should that sys- 
tem here fail, in a time and under circumstances so 
favorable to its continuance, future generations 
must pronounce it impracticable. To preserve it 
among ourselves, we must guard against all in- 
tolerance, intrigue, party spirit and party meas- 
ures." 



OF VERMONT. 103 

In 1805, in his message he expressed himself in 
favor of schools and other seminaries of learning, 
the improvement of our militia establishment and 
agricultural and manufacturing interests. 

In 1805 it was claimed by many that the gov- 
ernment of the Province of Lower Canada claimed 
jurisdiction of a strip of land several miles in width 
south of the true northern line of Vermont, and 
the Legislature took action to have the matter 
investigated, and Governor Ticbenor, in his mes- 
sage of 1806, stated that, he, conformably to the 
act of the Legislature of 1805, appointed Dr. Sam- 
uel Williams to ascertain the true divisional line 
between the State and said Province; which by a 
course of astronomical observations, made near 
the ancient monument at Connecticut River, he 
found to be nearly fourteen miles south of the lati- 
tude of forty-fi ve degrees. At the Lake Memphre- 
magog, the present divisional line was found to 
be more than seven miles south of what it ought 
to be. From these observations he said, "the re- 
sult is, that the State has been out of possession, 
owing to the error in establishing the divisional 
line, of a tract of land equal to eighteen town- 
ships." The matter was referred to the national 
government. Substantially the present northern 
line of the State was run and marked in 1772-3-4 
by Collins and Valentine, and under the treaty of 
Washington of 1842, the Collins and Valentine 
line was agreed upon. This matter will be found 
further considered in the second volume of this 
History on page 52. After an intermission of one 
yepr Isaac Tichenor was elected Governor for the 



104 EARLY HISTORY 

last time in 1808. At that time the national em- 
bargo was the law of the land which the national 
government was endeavoring to enforce. Smug- 
glers were constantly violating its provisions. 
Undoubtedly the act was a great hardship upon 
the people, especially those living in the northern 
part of the State. Canada had been a great mar- 
ket for most of the articles that the people had to 
export, and this act forbade all trade with the 
people of the Province. The people were against 
the enforcement of the act. The object of the act 
and the enforcement of it by the national govern- 
ment was to bring Prance and England to terms 
which were pursuing an oppressive policy against 
the United States. Out of the enforcement of the 
act grew the "Black Snake" affair and other 
troubles that have been considered in previous 
volumes. Governor Tichenor, while feeling the 
evils in common with his fellow citizens resulting 
from that law, and desiring its repeal, enjoined 
the necessity of a quiet submission to the hard- 
ship it caused until they could be relieved from it 
in a constitutional way. That nothing could be 
more dangerous and inconsistent with Republican 
principles than a forcible hostile opposition to the 
law. 

He had been governor ever since 1797 to 1809, 
except the year 1808. In 1806 he was elected 
Governor by the people by a vote of 5,065 against 
a vote of 4,250 for Israel Smith of Rutland. This 
was not a little surprising as the Governor was a 
Federalist and the House that year was Jeffef- 
sonian by a very large majority, as indicated )>y 



OF VERMONT. 105 

the election of Stephen R. Bradley, a Republican, 
as United States Senator, he having received 120 
votes against 60 for all other persons. But in 
October of 1807, on the receiving and counting 
the votes by the committee appointed for that 
purpose, he was found to be defeated and Israel 
Smith elected Governor. In 1808 Tichenor was 
again elected by a vote of 13,634 against 12,775 
for Israel Smith, and 4127 scattering. 

Israel Smith of Rutland, who was elected 
Governor of Vermont in 1807, was born in Suf- 
field, Conn., April 4, 1759, and graduated at Yale 
College in 1781, and became a resident of Rupert 
in 1783, when he was admitted to the bar in this 
State. He represented Rupert in the General As- 
sembly in 1785, 1788, 1789, and 1790, and was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention in 1791, 
in which year he removed to Rutland. He was one 
of the Commissioners named in the act of 1789, to 
settle the controversy with New York. He repre- 
sented the Sou th-Wes tern District of Vermont in 
Congress from 1791 to 1797, when he was elected 
Chief Judge of the Supreme Court and served one 
year. It was said he was the chief victim of the 
"Vergennes Slaughter-house" in 1798, when the 
Federalists, for party reasons, refused to re-elect 
him. He, however, was again elected Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court in 1801, but declined the of- 
fice. He was United States Senator from 1803 to 
1807, when he resigned that office to accept the 
office of Governor. His talents were good and 
he was a noble looking man, and he got the name 



106 EARLY HISTORY 

of the "Handsome Judge." He was distinguished 
for amiable candor and inflexible integrity. 

la bis speech to the General Assembly he said 
on the subject of the modes of punishment for 
crime that he would substitute generally for cor- 
poral punishments confinement for the purpose of 
initiating the culprit into a habit of useful indus- 
try—confinement to hard labor. He said, "it will 
not be denied that corporal punishment may have 
had a good effect in the prevention of crimes, but 
this concession does not admit the inference that 
no other mode of punishment would be preferable. 
That mode of punishment which is worse than 
none must be vile indeed. Confinement and hard 
labor is a mode of punishment peculiarly suited to 
an advanced state of society, and where the arts 
abound. By substituting the punishment pro- 
posed, a government may not only prevent the 
expense to which other modes of punishment must 
subject it, but may make it, if thought advisable, 
a source of revenue to the State." And he urged 
the Legislature to make the necessary provisions 
for carrying out such a policy. 

He was a statesman of intelligent and broad 
views. In his message he called the attention of 
the legislators to the fact that it was their duty 
to provide wholesome laws for the promotion of 
virtue, happiness, and prosperity among the peo- 
ple over whom the laws are to operate ; that the 
end of all government is to teach each individual 
of the community the necessity of self-government; 
that the influence of the laws of the State in 
moulding and forming the manners, the habits and 



OF VERMONT. 107 

virtues of the people, extended over little less than 
two hundred thousand people; that the business 
of legislation swells to a prodigious magnitude, 
and creates in our minds enthusiastic expectations 
from its good effects. Other nations, he said, 
have, by their corruption, venality, and abuse of 
power, sunk into the vortex of despotism, but 
these evils have arisen in a great measure from the 
circumstances of irresponsibility with which the 
powers of government have heretofore been in- 
trusted to men. Our government is happily or- 
ganized in a manner in which the duty and inter- 
est of the law-giver is very intimately connected 
and blended with the spirit and interests of the 
community ; and under such circumstances of re- 
sponsibility for the exercise of his power, as com- 
pels him to feel less the sympathies of the rulers 
than the sympathies of the ruled, and he hoped we 
might be instrumental in promoting the blessings 
of government, and keep up that watchfulness 
over the conduct of rulers, which is calculated to 
teach them a just responsibilitv in their stations, 
and for the people to exercise all that indulgence 
towards honest difference of opinion which the full 
and complete enjoyment of all the blessings of a 
free government renders necessary. The answer 
of the Assembly to the speech was highly compli- 
mentary to the Governor. 

At his death all united in deploring the loss of a 
dignified statesman and much esteemed man. He 
died at Rutland Dec. 2, 1810, in the fifty-second 
year of his age. 

Jonas Galusha of Shaftsbury was the fifth per- 



108 EARLY HISTORY 

son who was elected by the people to fill the office 
of Governor in Verm on t . He was born in Norwich , 
Conn., February 11, 1753, and came to Shafts- 
bury in 1775, and was captain of a military com- 
pany from 1777 to 1780. There were two com- 
panies in that town, of one of which Amos Hun- 
tington was its captain ; the latter company was 
in the battle of Hubbardton, where Huntington 
was taken prisoner by the British. Soon after 
Captain Galusha was assigned to the command 
of both companies and he led them in the battle 
of Bennington. He represented Shaftsbury in the 
Legislature of 1800 ; was Councillor from Octo- 
ber, 1793, to October, 1799, and also October, 
1801, until 1806. Sheriff of Bennington County 
from 1781, to 1787; judge of the County Court 
from 1795 until 1798, and again 1801 until 1807; 
judge of the Supreme Court in 1807 and 1808; 
Governor from. 1809 until 1813, and from 1815 to 
1820; he was elector of President and Vice-Presi- 
dent in 1808, 1820 and 1824; one ot the Council 
of Censors in 1 792, and a member of the Constitu- 
tional Conventions of 1814 and 1822, and Presi- 
dent of both Conventions. He possessed a mild, 
benevolent, and philosophic turn of mind, and 
comprehensive understanding; he was not a man 
of many words and came direct to his conclusions. 
Aside from being engaged in his public duties, like 
many excellent and notable men in the early days 
of Vermont, he was both farmer and inn-keeper. 
Though he was not a member of any church he 
lived a true Christian life. It was said of him he 
was modest, amiable, upright and faithful to every 



OF VERMONT. 109 

obligation ; he was a decided and unwavering R&. 
publican of those days, and a veteran of the Revo- 
lution. For his first wife he married Mary, the 
daughter of Governor Thomas Chittenden, by 
whom he had five sons and four daughters. He 
died September 24, 1834. 

In his first speech as Governor to the Legisla- 
ture in 1809, he said he was educated a plain 
farmer and consequently destitute of those literary 
attainments which by many are esteemed so requi- 
site to the due discharge of official duties, but he 
relied upon honest intentions, on a habitual zeal 
for the public good, upon the wisdom of the Legis- 
lature in the great business of legislation. 

Referring to the division among the people in 
the State and nation arising from the measures 
taken by the genet al government to maintain our 
national and commercial rights against the insults 
and wanton aggressions of Great Britain and 
France, said, "I hope the period is not far distant, 
when the citizens of the Union will lay aside all 
party feelings and become united like a band of 
brothers in support of the best government on 
earth." While he recommended a cheerful submis- 
sion to the laws of the United States for the pres- 
ervation and defence of our national rights, he 
would remind the members that they were the 
guardian of the rights and powers that were not 
delegated by the constitution of the United States 
but reserved to the respective States and to the 
people; he spoke favorably of the operations and 
usefulness of the State bank that then was in 
operation; he spoke encouraginely for the future 



110 EARLY HISTORY 

of the country, and said the manufactures in vari- 
ous parts of the country were increasing with a 
rapidity unparalleled, and the pride of Ameiicans 
begins to be gratified with a dress of our own 
manufacturing, and the time not far distant when 
the citizens of these United States, instead of rely- 
ing on foreign countries for their clothing, will be 
able, not only to supply their own wants, but to 
export every kind of cotton, if not woolen goods, 
and restore to the Union that portion of specie 
that was drawn from us by the exclusive use of 
foreign manufactured goods ; and no people could 
profit by commerce, when the balance of trade is 
against them. He expressed himself strongly in 
favor of the improvement of the State militia; 
that the militia had a common interest with their 
fellow citizens, their property, their wives, their 
children, and they, all equally depend upon the 
laws and fate of their common country, and can 
never be made to surrender the blessings of free- 
dom and the rights of independence to any foreign 
ot domestic usurper. Speaking of the educational 
interests of the State, he said, "the means of 
knowledge should not be restricted to one class of 
the people, but liberally imparted to all. Every 
citizen ought to be so far instructed in the sciences 
as to be able to participate in the blessings of so- 
ciety, comprehend the nature of government and 
the benediction of liberty." 

At the time the Governor made his speech to 
the Council and House of Representatives in 1811, 
France had mitigated the rigor of her hostile 
measures against our commerce, and had so modi- 



OF VERMONT. Ill 

fled her Berlin and Milan decrees that they had 
ceased to operate against the United States, but 
Great Britain would not relinquish her offensive 
orders nor surrender up our oppressed seamen or 
permit us to enjoy the common legal rights of a 
neutral nation. In view of this state of things he 
advised to be prepared for any event that might 
occur, but to be united was indispensably neces- 
sary to be prepared either for a state of war or 
for the full enjoyment of peace. And he said, "A 
people well agreed in the principles of their social 
compact and firmly united in the support of their 
government, can surmount almost any obstacle 
which may oppose their prosperity and independ- 
ence." As to the enactment of laws, he said, the 
frequent changes in our general statutes render 
them perplexing to magistrates and jurors, tend 
to increase litigation, or promote what is by some 
styled the "glorious uncertainty of the law," and 
frequently subjects the honest citizen to expense 
and loss before the laws are fully promulgated or 
their operations rightly understood. He therefore 
recommended alterations only in cases where ex- 
perience has discovered a material defect. When 
the Governor delivered his speech to the Legisla- 
ture in 1812, war had been declared by the nation- 
al government against Great Britain; although 
some doubted the propriety of the declaration, he 
advised all to lay aside all party prejudice and 
unite in the common cause against the common 
enemy. And said, "is it possible to conceive that 
any citizen living under such a mild and equal gov- 
ernment, can be so destitute of a principle, of 



112 EARLY HISTORY 

patriotism, and so lost to their own true inter- 
est as through a fond passion for a foreign power, 
the violence of party zeal or the sordid passion of 
avarice to betray the just cause of their suffering 
country, prolong the horrors of war, invoke the 
vengeance of heaven, and be guilty of the blood of 
thousands, by devoting their talents and yielding 
their support to a nation whose pledged faith has 
been so often violated, and whose tender mercies 
by experience have been proved to consist in cruel- 
ty ?" After the war was declared pressing calls 
from nearly all the towns in the northern part of 
the State were made for protection or to be fur- 
nished with means of defence, and he did what he 
could to supply them with arms and other muni- 
tions of war. In 1809 he was elected by a vote of 
14,583 against a vote of 13,467 for Isaac Tiche- 
nor and 498 scattering votes, and his induction 
into the office of Governor was accompanied with 
considerable military parade consisting of a fine 
artillery company that had just been formed, and 
uniformed throughout with plumed Bonaparte 
hats and the dress of field officers, to serve as the 
Governor's Guard, and to be in especial attend- 
ance on election day. 

After an intermission of two years, while the 
Governor's chair had been filled by Martin Chit- 
tenden, Galusha was again elected by a vote of 
18,055 against a vote of 1 6,632 for Martin Chit- 
tenden and 571 scattering. And in 1816, he was 
re-elected by a vote of 17,262 against a vote of 
13,888 for Samuel Strong, and scattering 102; 
and again elected in 1817, by a vote of 13,756 



OF VERMONT. 113 

against a vote of 7430 for Isaac Tichenor. In 
1818 he was elected by a vote of 15,243 against 
a scattering vote of 749. In 1819 he was elected 
Governor for the last time by a vote of 12,628 
against a vote for William C. Bradley of 1035, 
and for Dudley Chase, a vote of 658, and scatter- 
ing 1085. 

At the time that Governor Galusha was elected 
in 1815, the war spirit of Europe had subsided, 
and the war in which the United States had been 
engaged had terminated, and the blessings of 
peace had come. The Governor thought that al- 
though tranquility had settled down on the na- 
tions of Europe we ought, by an indissoluble 
union, to be prepared for any storm that might 
arise. He contrasted the nations of Europe with 
the United States and claimed that we emerged 
from the war that left us in a far better situation 
than the nation with which we had been at war. 
He said, "the nations of Europe, after suffering 
an almost incalculable destruction of property, 
after drenching the earth with blood, and clothing 
their fields with carnage, have sunk down under 
governments no less despotic, with immense addi- 
tional burthens ; Spain was again groaning under 
the terrors of the Inquisition, and France degraded 
to a state of wretchedness ; and if from beholding 
the unhappy state of Europe we turn our eyes to 
ill-fated Asia, there we behold despotism and mis- 
ery reigning triumphant ;" and from this survey 
he enjoined the people to more carefully guard the 
rights, and firmly support the principles of a free, 
equal and happy government; he said, "of all the 

9 



114 EARLY HISTORY 

nations of the earth, the United States, alone, are 
left to support a government whose basis is equal 
liberty, and whose sovereignty is the will of the 
people." He said there was to some extent a rest- 
less ambition rankling in the very bosom of our 
country, and therefore we ought carefully to watch 
over our own hearts, check every inordinate de- 
sire, and be vigilant and active to prevent the 
overturn of the fair temple of liberty. 

In his speech of 1816 to the Council and House, 
he said our country was at peace with all nations 
and with our savage neighbors ; that virtue is the 
basis of a Republican government; and where 
vice predominates, tyranny in some shape, ensues. 
Virtue, therefore ought to be the pole star to guide 
us iii all of our deliberations; and the whole sys- 
tem of law should be adopted to promote that 
vital principle ; that the constant emigration to 
this country from under the governments of Eu- 
rope, was an evidence that we possessed privileges 
and blessings, superior to the other nations of the 
earth. The year of 1816 was so cold that there 
was a scarcity of provisions for man and beasts, 
and great destitution. The Governor, therefore, 
recommended to the people that they exercise the 
most rigid economy in the early expenditure of 
those articles of provision most deficient. 

In his speech in 1817, he thought the deficiency 
of a circulating medium was owing to an increased 
immigration of our inhabitants to the West, who 
converted their property into cash for transporta- 
tion, and the unfruitfulness of the then past sea- 
sons, in addition to the common causes which 



OF VERMONT. 115 

uniformly produce a scarcity of money at the 
close of a war; that the scarcity of money had 
caused serious embarrassments, but the industry 
and economy it has excited has nearly counter- 
balanced the evil experienced. He regretted that 
the wars and the unsettled affairs in Europe 
had not terminated more favorably to the rights 
and liberties of the people ; he said the result ot a 
want of a better state of things there had awak- 
ened many to a sense of their sufferings, and as- 
piring for liberty were resorting to the United 
States, an asylum for oppressed and afflicted 
humanity. He urged upon the Legislature to en- 
courage improvement in manufacturing; he 
thought it should be the policy of a State so re- 
mote from the great marts of the world, and not 
adjacent to the sea-board, to adopt every prudent 
measure to supply her wants by her own manu- 
facture; that such a course would prevent the 
emigration of many of her valuable citizens to 
other parts of the country to find employment 
and make a neat saving of expense of transport- 
ing that .portion of provision consumed by the 
manufacturers, and turn the balance of exports 
and imports in her own favor. 

In his speech of 1818, he urged the importance 
of keeping up the vital spark of patriotism, and 
against lapsing into a state of inattention to our 
political concerns, as a people negligent of their 
rights will not long retain their liberties; and 
warned them to carefully guard against any en- 
croachments on the sovereignties of the individual 
States, or infringements on the privileges reserved 



116 EARLY HISTORY 

to them, or to the people; that favors ought only 
to be granted by the Legislature when they do not 
interfere with the public good, or the interest and 
happiness of other individuals; and in passing 
laws it would be well to keep in view that excel- 
lent maxim contained in our bill of rights, that 
< 'government is, or ought to be, instituted for the 
common benefit, protection, and security of the 
people, nation, or community, and not for the par- 
ticular emolument or advantage of any single 
man, family, or set of men, who are a part only of 
that community." 

On the improvement in agriculture, he said, 
although we ought to rely as much as possible on 
home manufactures for a supply of manufactured 
articles, yet the main source of our wealth and the 
subsistence of every class of citizens, must depend 
on the cultivation of the soil; when the farms 
were new and unimpaired by tillage, it was profit- 
able to extend our labors and to cast our seed 
over a large portion of our soil, but as our lands 
become less productive by frequency of crops, it is 
necessary that new modes of husbandry should be 
resorted to, in order to keep them in a fertile state ; 
he recommended the formation of societies, with 
corporate privileges for the beneficial puposes of 
advancing agricultural interests, encouraging 
manufactures, and improving the breed of domestic 
animals; that an agricultural society existed in 
1806, but it extended over the whole State, the 
members being so remote from each other and 
the field for examination so extensive it proved 
ineffectual. 



OF VERMONT. 117 

In 1819 he made his last speech as Governor to 
the Legislature. He said there was a great scarci- 
ty of circulating medium resulting in the distress 
of individuals, in discharging their private debts, 
and in managing their own concerns, and that 
state of things existed to the greatest extent where 
banks were the most numerous, and he was confi- 
dent that a multiplicity of incorporated banks in 
the State would prove injurious to the community. 
He said, "For a people possessing a rich and exten- 
sive territory, abounding with the fruits and pro- 
ductions of almost every clime; with an unshackled 
commerce throughout the habitable world ; pos- 
sessing genius and enterprise exceeded by no other 
people on earth, to be in distress for a want of a 
sufficient portion of the circulating medium, is a 
subject that calls loudly for investigation and re- 
form. Among the various causes, the want of 
economy is the most prominent; The unlimited 
credit given in this country, in almost every branch 
of business, proves the ruin of too many valuable 
citizens of every class and profession in society. 
The frequent bankruptcies, suspensions and com- 
mitments to county jails, sufficiently prove the 
fact ; and the evil cannot be wholly remedied by 
acts of legislation." He was also in favor of pass- 
ing a law freeing the body of the debtors from ar- 
rest and imprisonment for small debts that should 
be contracted after a given time in the then future. 
He thought that such a law would discourage 
credit where it ought not to be given, and produce 
punctuality in those who obtain it; and heclaimed 
that the onlv safe remedy against embarrassment 



118 EARLY HISTORY 

or poverty is a retrenchment of family excuses, 
and lessening the consumption of articles of for- 
eign growth and manufacture; general informa- 
tion is indispensably necessary to the preservation 
of a free republican government, but this cannot 
be retained if the great body of the people, through 
want of economy, indulge their propensities in the 
use of superfluities, and )>ecome poor and unable 
to educate their children. He concluded his mes- 
sage by saying he had a great desire to spend the 
residue of his life in domestic retirement, and 
recommended to the freemen of the State to unite 
on some other person to perform the duties of 
chief magistrate after the expiration of his then 
term of office, but he assured them that his zeal 
for the public good would never cease but with his 
reason or his life. On retiring from the office of 
Governor October 13, 1820, he briefly verbally 
addressed the jornt Assembly, and in response the 
committee of the Assembly said in part, "On a re- 
view of the events of the memorable struggle of 
our fathers for Independence, we find you, in early 
life, on the banks of the Walloomsack, with your 
patriotic band, teaching their hands to war and 
their fingers to fight. Most of us recollect with 
satisfaction, the period when, by suffrages of your 
fellow citizens, you were called to assist in the 
Council of this State. In the discharge of the 
duties of a member of Council, of a Judge, and of a 
Chief Magistrate of the State, you have ever mer- 
ited, and often received, in language unequivocal, 
the approbation of your fellow citizens." 
Richard Skinner, LL. D., of Manchester was the 



OF VERMONT. 119 

sixth Governor of Vermont, who was elected by the 
people, and was born in Litchfield, Conn., May 30, 
1778, and was son of Gen. Timothy Skinner; he 
was educated for his profession at the Litchfield 
Law School, and admitted to the bar of Litchfield 
County in 1800. He came immediately to Ver- 
mont and settled in Manchester, where he spent 
the remainder of his life. He commenced his pub- 
lic service in 1801, and was almost constantly 
in office until he voluntarily retired in 1829. He 
was State's Attorney for Bennington County from 
1801 until 1813, and in 1819; Judge of Probate 
from 1806 until 1813; Representative of Manches- 
ter in the General Assembly in 1815 and 1818, and 
speaker of the House in 1818; Member of Con- 
gress from 1813 until 1815 ; Assistant Judge of 
the Supreme Court in 1815, and Chief Judge in 
1816, and also Chief Judge from 1823 to 1829, 
inclusive. Intellectually his qualities were of that 
kind which gained the respect and confidence of 
mankind rather than the immediate admiration; 
as a lawyer and a judge he was noted for the clear* 
ness and force with which he presented his cases. 
He filled the highest places in the State with abili- 
ty and dignity, and left a reputation of which his 
town and State may well be proud. 

He died May 23, 1833, from injuries received by 
being thrown from his carriage. 

In 1820 he was elected Governor of the State 
by a vote of 13,152 against a scattering vote of 
934. He stated in his first speech that frequent 
alterations of public statutes is justly considered 
an evil seldom counterbalanced bv the benefits re 



120 EARLY HISTORY 

suiting therefrom, and warned against innovation 
unless the public good demanded it. He advised 
not allowing a party against whom a verdict and 
judgment had been rendered, the right to review 
his case again by a new trial as a matter of legal 
right, without good reason therefor. He said 
"There can be no presumption that a second panel 
will be more capable, or more disposed to impar- 
tiality." He said "The act of the (then) last ses- 
sion of Congress, authorizing the inhabitants of a 
portion of the territory of the United States (now 
forming the State of Missouri) to form a State 
government without a provision in its constitu- 
tion, restricting the power of enslaving a part of 
the human family, has caused great surprise 
through the State, and excited feelings of sincere 
regret." On the general subject of instructing our 
Senators and Representatives in Congress upon 
important subjects that interest the people, he 
said, "Justice to ourselves dictates, and a long 
course of practice sanctions the propriety of the 
Legislature's expressing the sentiments they en- 
tertain on subjects which essentially concern the 
nation; and more especially of instructing their 
Senators and advising the Representatives in Con- 
gress as to the course they ought to pursue." 

In his speech in 1821 he advocated the pass- 
age of a law that would limit the demand of 
money-lenders to six per cent; and he thought 
that the general diffusion of useful knowledge, and 
improved state of science, offered the best security 
to civil and religious liberty; that a diligent and 
persevering attention to the education of our chil- 



OF VERMONT. 121 

dren, is that without which, we cannot expect the 
people will long retain a republican form of gov- 
ernment; he reminded the Legislature of the neces- 
sity of a practical and careful attention to economy 
in public expenditures ; and it would give him the 
highest satisfaction to aid in every measure calcu- 
lated to advance the great interest of agriculture ; 
that the success of our manufacturers had become 
an object of deep interest to the great body of the 
citizens. He said that "if the measures of the na- 
tional government should give encouragement to 
manufacturers and they should have the effect 
greatly to increase, not the profits, but the num- 
ber of manufacturers and manufacturing estab- 
lishments, and thereby produce a competition 
which does not now exist — to measurably change 
the course of agricultural products, now so un- 
profitable, by inviting the growth of, and furnish- 
ing a home market for raw materials, and also a 
market for that surplus produce which has here 
tofore been exported, and secure amongst us a 
specie currency, there can be no doubt of its wis- 
dom and justice." 

There had been resolutions sent to the Governor 
by the States of Maryland and New Hampshire 
for him to lay before the Legislature for their co- 
operation, upon the subject of appropriating pub- 
lic lands for the purposes of education. The Gov- 
ernor said if they should approve of the principle, 
"they will, it is believed, feel no delicacy in making 
the claim on behalf of the people of Vermont, for 
perhaps none in the United States, in proportion to 
their ability, contributed more to the acquisition 



122 EARLY HISTORY 

of those rights which were purchased by the toils, 
distresses and sacrifices of the Revolutionary war. 
Situated upon the frontier, they constituted a bar- 
rier between the enemy and the Confederated 
States. Not having then been acknowledged as a 
member of the Confederation, no part of the ex- 
pense they incurred in the war, has been assumed 
by the general government, while they have par- 
ticipated in the burden of the funded debt." 

In his last annual speech to the Legislature in 
1822, he urged upon them the improvement of the 
means of transportation for the various commodi- 
ties with which the State abounded, and to facili- 
tate access to the most favorable markets ; and 
called their attention especially to the improve- 
ment of the roads; he suggested the propriety of 
enacting a law making all contracts or security in 
which usury is reserved, void. He thought that 
the then existing penalty for taking usury was 
inadequate; that private prosecutions by the ag- 
grieved, or others, are discouraged by the consid- 
eration, that in most cases the cost and expense 
incurred, and the uncertainty of the final issue 
of the prosecution, will counterbalance the offered 
reward for prosecuting the usurer. Public prose- 
cutions for the act of taking usurious interest, 
were rare; and few would at the expense of the 
displeasure of a powerful class of citizens, volun- 
tarily exercise the reputedly invidious office of in- 
former. 

Upon the subject of Banks he said, "the com- 
mercial concerns of the State cannot require ex- 
tensive banking institutions. The resources of our 



OF VERMONT. 123 

husbandmen and their course of business, are illy 
calculated to meet the demand, and comply with 
the necessary regulations. An opportunity will be 
afforded for investing the money which would 
otherwise remain in the hands of many wealthy, 
honorable citizens, accessible to those who will 
then become the prey of such as are thereby en- 
abled to increase the means of usurious depreda- 
tions. The advantages ordinarily derived to the 
State at large, from the augmentation of a circu- 
lating medium, which is not the representative of 
real wealth, is not discerned. The ruinous effects 
of multiplying banks in the interior of our country, 
have indeed been felt, and is, I believe, generally ac- 
knowledged." He requested that he might not 
again be a candidate for the office of Governor. 



CHAPTER VI. 



CORNELIUS PETER VAN NESS, EZRA BUT- 
LER, SAMUEL C. CRAFTS, WILLIAM 
ADAMS PALMER, AND SILAS 
HEMENWAY JENNISON AND 
THEIR ADMINISTRATIONS. 



Cornelius Peter Van Nbss was the youngest 
of three highly distinguished brothers, sons of 
Peter Van Ness of Columbia County, New York. 
He was born in Kinderhook, Jan. 26, 1782, and 
was fitted for college at the age of fifteen, but de- 
clined a collegiate course, and at the age of 
eighteen entered the law office of his brother, 
William P. Van Ness, where he was a fellow stu- 
dent with Martin Van Buren who became Presi- 
dent of the United States. He was admitted to 
the bar of New York in 1804. Mr. Van Ness re- 
moved to St. Albans, Vermont, in 1806, and from 
thence to Burlington in 1809. In 1810 he entered 
upon a long line of eminently successful official 
services, which covered a period of more than 
thirty years. He was United States Attorney for 
the District of Vermoht from 1810 to 1813, and 
was then transferred to the Collectorship which 
office he held until the close of the war. He was 
next appointed United States Commissioner, under 
the fifth article of the treaty of Gent, to ascertain 

(124) 



OF VERMONT. 125 

the boundary line between the United States and 
the British possessions, from the highlands north 
from the source of the river St. Croix to the inter- 
section of the forty-fifth degree of north latitude 
with the St. Lawrence River; a business in which 
he was unable to agree with the British Commis- 
sioner. He represented Burlington in the General 
Assembly from 1818 until 1822; he was Chief Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court in 1821 and 1822, and 
was elected Governor of the State for three suc- 
cessive terms, commencing in 1823. In 1826 he 
was a candidate for the United States Senator- 
ship and in a most memorable contest he was de- 
feated by a small majority by Horatio Seymour of 
Middlebury. His defeat he attributed t;o the in- 
terference of the confidential friends of the then 
President John Quincy Adams, whose administra- 
tion he had supported until that event. On his 
defeat he issued a manifesto to the people, declar- 
ing hostility to Adams and a preference for Gen. 
Jackson. This was the origin of the Jackson party 
in Vermont, that soon thereafter styled itself the 
Democratic part}'. Shortly after the inaugura- 
tion of President Jackson in March 29, President 
Jackson appointed Mr. Van Ness Envoy Extraordi- 
nary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, from 
which country he returned in 1840, to give his 
time and talents to secure the presidential vote of 
Vermont for the friend of his youth, Martin Van 
Buren. 

In 1841, Mr. Van Ness removed from Vermont 
to New York city, where he served as collector of 
that port in 1844-5, under President Tyler. He 



126 EARLY HISTORY 

fell heir to a large estate of his brother, John P. 
Van Ness of Washington City. The Governor was 
often called there, and on his last journey thither 
was stopped by sickness at Philadelphia, where he 
died Dec. 15, 1852, in the seventy-first year of his 
% age. His remains were deposited in the tomb of 
his brother in Washington, D. C. 

He was elected Governor in 1823, by a vote of 
11,479 against a vote of 1,088 for Dudley Chase 
and 843 scattering. On October 10th the Gover- 
nor elect and Council attended in the House of 
Representatives, when the Governor took and sub- 
scribed the oath of office. In his speech he alluded 
to the fact that it was but forty-seven years since 
the United States first claimed the rank of an in- 
dependent nation, and that during that period the 
improvement of the country, and the increase of 
her population and her wealth had been without 
parallel ; that the government had been erected by 
the sages of the revolution, upon the broad and 
durable foundation of equal rights, and stood as 
the loftiest monument of human wisdom, and the 
most humbling spectacle to tyrants, and then en- 
joyed a liberty unknown to any people on the face 
of the earth; and was favored with every oppor- 
tunity to attend to the internal improvement of 
the country ; he regretted that the country was 
dependent on foreign nations for the supply of 
much that the people consumed, and that the 
manufacturing interests of the United States had 
been left to struggle with obstacles which it could 
never overpower, until the encouragement afforded 
to the importation of foreign goods shall be with- 



OP VERMONT. 127 

drawn, by a sufficient increase of duties or by di- 
rect prohibitory regulations; that the. success of 
our manufacturing industry depended essentially 
on the prosperity of agriculture; by the establish- 
ment of manufactories is created a market for the 
articles necessary for manufacturing and for sub- 
sistence. 

He expressed sympathy for some of the nations 
of the earth who were struggling for greater liber- 
ty. The Greeks, he said, "are bravely struggling 
to break the iron fetters of their slavery and to re- 
sume a rank among the nations/' 

On the subject of Legislation, he said, altera- 
tions in the laws "should be resorted to only in 
cases of pressing and manifest necessity. The 
stability of laws is next in importance to their 
wisdom. Yet so great is the desire of mankind for 
change, and so predominant their ambition for the 
character of reformers that they are seldom at a 
loss for subjects to act upon, and even after start- 
ing upon slight and apparently judicious amend- 
ments, their zeal will frequently urge them to over- 
leap the bounds prescribed by themselves in the 
outset, and in their progress sweep all before 
them, until they have prostrated the fairest insti- 
tutions and most valuable systems." 

He commended the progress that had been 
made in the line of education in the establishment 
of Grammar Schools, Academies and Colleges, but 
it was of the highest importance that the Common 
Schools of the State should be guarded and cher- 
ished, as they were of the greatest importance 
to the people at large, to fit people for the com- 



128 EARLY HISTORY 

moo business of life, and enable them to attain a 
knowledge of the higher branches which are ac- 
quired at the higher institutions of learning. To 
raise additional funds for school purposes he re- 
garded it expedient to increase the tax to be as- 
sessed for this object, on the polls and estate of the 
people; he thought there would be no injustice in 
compelling the rich to contribute to the education 
of the poor; that improving and elevating 
society around them renders more safe and valua- 
able that which they retain, and enables them to 
enjoy it with a greater degree of comfort and 
pleasure. He commended the industry of families 
in the manufacture of articles of clothing from 
materials produced on their own farms; he deemed 
it important to afford every facility to manufact- 
uring establishments by acts of incorporation, by 
reasonable exemption from taxes; he would pro- 
mote settlements by immigration from other 
States ; he would favor the improvement of the 
roads of the State and opening new ones; and 
that the militia should be regarded with interest 
as they must be the reliance of the Country in 
times of trouble and danger until a sufficient regu- 
lar army can be raised. He said that under the 
law passed in 1817, the Secretary of the State had 
ascertained that there were seventy deaf and 
dumb persons in the State, and he hoped the Leg- 
islature would devise some means for their relief. 
In closing his speech to the Legislature, he said, 
"as faithful depositories of the public interest, we 
should use our utmost endeavors to divest our- 
selves of all political and personal prejudices and 



OF VERMONT. 129 

animosities, and to cultivate in their stead 
kind and elevating feelings of mutual confidence 
and good will ; to allay all jealousies and dissen- 
sions of whatever kind, among the people at large 
and between the different classes, trades and pro- 
fessions, and to inculcate a general spirit of union 
and harmony; to promote industry, economy, 
temperance, morality and religion ; to keep steadi- 
ly in view that we are not raised to office for our 
own advantages or aggrandizement, but to serve 
with our best faculties the interest of those whose 
agents we are and to whom we haye to account." 
These are words from which there can be no dis- 
sent. 

In 1824, he strongly urged the Legislature to 
exempt females from imprisonment on matters of 
contract, and said, "The spectacle of an honest 
and unfortunate female confined in a common jail, 
with persons of all descriptions, or even at all re- 
strained of her liberty, because she may be unable 
to fulfill a contract, must create the most painful 
sensations in the mind of every feeling and honor- 
able man/' 

The manner of choosing electors of President 
and Vice-President came before the Legislature. 
The practice had been for the two houses by joint 
ballot to appoint the electors, in pursuance of a 
concurrent resolution, previously adopted for that 
purpose. The Constitution of the United States 
provides that "Each State shall appoint, in such 
manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a 
number of electors, equal to the whole number of 

Senators and Representatives to which the State 

to 



130 EARLY HISTORY 

may be entitled in the Congress." He argued 
that it was clear that the people of the State, and 
not the Legislature, should choose the electors; 
that there was no other way in which the prefer- 
ence of the people could be expressed; that the sen- 
timents of a majority of the Legislature may or 
may not accord with those of a majority of the 
people. He recommended that a law be passed, 
providing for the appointment of electors by 
the people; and he thought they should be elected 
on a general ticket and not by districts, as 
the electors were to be appointed by the State, 
and not some by one portion of the State, and 
some by another. In accordance with these rec- 
ommendations, the Legislature, on October 25, 
1824, passed an act for the election of the electors 
by the people, and the substance of the act has 
been retained ever since. 

The Governor called to the notice of the Legis- 
lature the fact that General La Payette was then 
on a visit to the United States, and of the pro- 
priety of extending to him an invitation to visit 
Vermont. The Governor said, "This respected 
and venerable patriot, at an early age, left his 
country and his family, and for purposes the most 
noble and benevolent, sought his way to these 
troubled shores. He found the people in a 
state of bondage, and placing himself by the side 
of their first chief, assisted to lead them through 
the wilderness, to the enjoyment of freedom and 
independence. He returned to his own country, 
and after an absence of forty years, has come once 
more to visit that which he gloriously served in 



OF VERMONT. 131 

his youth. He finds, indeed, that comparatively 
few, like himself, have survived the wreck of time, 
and remain to greet his arrival, and to talk over 
the perils and the glories of their former days. 
Yet he finds the children of those who have de- 
scended to the tomb; and the hearts of these 
swell with affection and reverence for the friend 
and companion of their departed fathers. But 
above all, he finds himself owned by the whole 
nation, as one of the earliest and most distin- 
guished benefactors, and is cheered by a universal 
burst of gratitude and love from one extreme of 
the union to the other." The Legislature requested 
the Governor to invite General La Fayette to visit 
Vermont. His letter of invitation, and General 
LaFayette's reply will be fonnd in Vol. three on 
page 41 and 42 of this history. 

In 1825 there was great interest manifested in 
the State for the improvement of the navigation 
of Connecticut River, and in the construction of a 
canal to connect the waters of that river with 
Lake Memphremagog. These improvements the 
Governor favored, and would recommend measures 
to forward their accomplishment if the scheme 
should be found to be practicable. Orders were 
given by the authorities of the United States gov- 
ernment to cause an examination and a survey to 
to be made of the country between Lake Memphre- 
magog and the Connecticut River at Barnet with 
a view to ascertain the practicability of con- 
structing a canal to unite those waters, and an 
examination of Connecticut River from Lake Con- 
necticut to the tide waters of Long Island Sound, 



132 EARLY HISTORY 

but these projects were not carried out. The Gov- 
ernor also favored a project to construct a canal 
across the center of the State from Connecticut 
River by way of Onion River to Lake Cham plain. 
The work was not undertaken, undoubtedly, on 
account of the impracticability of its construction 
or an expense disproportionate to its utility. 
Cornelius P. Van Ness took great interest in the 
measures of the national government, and was a 
statesman of no mean ability. 

Ezra Butler was born in Lancaster, Mass., 
Sept. 24, 1763. He came from Weathersfield to 
Waterbury in 1785 to prepare a place of residence, 
which was occupied by the family in 1786. He 
was the second settler in Waterbury, and was 
the first Town Clerk of that town, appointed 
March 31, 1790, and from that date until 1832 he 
was almost constantly in public service; he was 
elected town representative for eleven years, and 
in the last year of that service— the year of 1807, 
he was elected Councillor, and after two days' 
service in the House he took his seat in the Council. 
He served in the Council sixteen years, when he 
was elected Governor in 1826, by a vote of 8966 
against a vote of 3157 for Joel Doolittle, and scat- 
tering 2037, and re-elected in 1827 by a vote of 
13,699 against a vote ot 1951 for Joel Doolittle. 
He served one term in Congress in 1813 to March 
1815, and in Sept.. 1815, he was again elected to 
the Council. He was judge of the County Court for 
twenty years, and was in that office when he was 
elected Governor; he was one of the Council of 
Censors in 1806, and a delegate in the Constitu- 



OF VERMONT. 133 

tional Convention of 1822. Governor Butler was 
a Democrat of the school of Jefferson, for whom he 
voted in 1804; he was subsequently elector for 
three terms and voted in 1820 for Monroe, in 
1828, for John Quincy Adams, and in 1832, for 
William Wirt, candidate for President ; he served 
in more than one office at the same time, and his 
public service covered a period of more than sixty- 
five years. In 1800 he was ordained an elder in 
the Baptist church, and in that capacity was a 
teacher of religion until his death July 12, 1838. 
He was a modest mannered man, of grave counte- 
nance and moderate in speech, apparently con- 
scientious in the discharge of every duty, and firm 
in his convictions. His integrity and sound judg- 
ment secured for him the extraordinary measure 
of public confidence which was accorded him from 
first to last, but not by the arts of the politician, 
brilliant talents, and graceful manners. His last 
speech was delivered in person from the desk of the 
Speaker of the House, in a style like that of a ser- 
mon. B. P. Walton, who heard him deliver one of 
his executive speeches, said there is tradition that 
on the occasion of the delivery of one of his 
speeches, a man in the gallery invited the joint as- 
sembly to "sing Mear." Whether this be true or 
not, the suggestion, he said, was truly indicative of 
the ministerial manner of the excellent Governor. 
In his speech to the Legislature in 1826, he said 
that his election as Governor was a favor he never 
sought, never expected, but had been freely be- 
stowed, and he received it with the deepest grati- 
tude. He said, "Ever since the adoption of our 



134 EARLY HISTORY 

Constitution, with the exception of three or four 
years, I have constantly had a direct concern in 
the Legislation of this State, or that of the general 
government. Neither was the freedom of our 
country obtained without my participating in her 
sufferings." He said, "Our Country has strug- 
gled through trying scenes. They have all termi- 
nated in our political prosperity, and resulted in 
the stability and permanency of our institutions. 
We see her rapidly advancing to the high eminence 
of national importance to which she is evidently 
destined. The people in every part of the Union 
are in the full enjoyment of all that liberty which 
the honest can desire, both civil and religious; 
with the exception only of that unfortunate class 
of the human species, held in servitude in some of 
our sister States, but he hoped for their complete 
emancipation in such a way as should be consist- 
ent with the safety and peace of the community. 
His recommendation that in the commitment of 
debtors for debt that the creditor be made liable 
for all expenses chargeable on the town, where the 
indigent debtor has settlement or happens to re- 
side, was of doubtful policy, and has never been 
adopted by the State. 

He expressed himself strongly against any Leg- 
islation that would encourage lotteries, and was 
opposed to raising money in that way, and said 
that "the principles of morality in Vermont must 
suffer a sad decline before this species of gambling 
will be sanctioned by the government and ap- 
proved by the people." He enjoined economy in 
both private and public concerns, and said "Econ- 



OF VERMONT. 135 

omy is of importance in all the concerns of private 
life; without it no individual can long be prosper- 
ous or happy. It is essential in the affairs of 
government. It has marked the general course of 
former legislation in Vermont," and he enjoined 
frugality in the expenditure of the public treasure. 
In his speech of 1827, he seemed to favor some 
legislation that would ensure the wise expenditure 
of the public money raised for the support of 
schools; that a proper board should be appointed 
in each county or town, for the examination of 
those who were to be emploj'ed as instructors; 
and that every town should appoint suitable per- 
sons to visit the schools. 

One of the propositions that was widely dis- 
cussed in the United States at that period was 
whether the election of am* one person as Presi- 
dent of the United States should not be limited to 
one term of Tour years. He took strong ground 
against limiting the right of the Presidential office 
to one term, and a large part of his speech was 
taken up with the expression of his views on that 
question. He said, "there can be no better guide 
in politics than past experience. Look at the 
present prosperous condition of the United States 
—three successive administrations continued eight 
years each ; one after another steadily progressing 
in prosperity and credit, at home and abroad. Is 
all this to be forgotten in our future march? Or 
shall this instructive lesson be improved as a lamp 
to our path? It is true, no one can say what 
would have been the consequence if Jefferson had 
not received his second election; and Madison, and 



136 EARLY HISTORY 

Monroe had shared the same fate; and all three, 
one after another, had been dismissed from public 
service at the end of their first term. * * * There 
is no other way in which the great body of the 
freemen can express their approbation of the first 
four years 9 administration, but by the second 
election. Should that take place, and should the 
same course be pursued the last four, the Pesident 
leaves the chair of state with the sealed approba- 
tion of the nation— his reputation is secure forever, 
as it ought to be. * * * The doctrine against 
which I protest, in its practical operation, would 
in all cases deprive the State of the services of the 
ablest statesmen, at a time when they would be 
most capable of being useful, and perhaps at a 
time when their services would be indispensably 
necessary to preserve the country from destruc- 
tion, and the government from dissolution. If it 
has been so difficult to concentrate the public 
opinion once in eight years, will it not be much 
more so, to unite on a new candidate once in every 
four? There is some risk in placing the power of 
the nation in inexperienced hands every four 
years." 

Samuel Chandler Crafts was a son of Col. 
Ebenezer Crafts, and was born in Woodstock, 
Conn., Oct. 6, 1768; he graduated at Harvard 
University in 1790, and in 1791, settled in Crafts- 
bury. He was clerk of that town in 1799, and 
until March 1829, a term of thirty years; he was 
a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 
1793, being the youngest member in that body, 
and again a delegate in 1829, and was its Presi- 



OF VERMONT. 137 

dent; he represented Craftsbury in the General 
Assembly in 1796, 1800, 1801, 1803 and 1805; 
Clerk of the House in 1798 and 1799; Counselor 
in 1809 and until 1813, and again in 1825 and 
until 1828 ; he was Clerk of the Courts in 1836 
and until 1838 ; Register of Probate in 1796 until 
1815; he was Member of Congress in 1817 until 
March 1825, and Governor of the State in 1828, 
until 1831. He was United States Senator from 
Dec. 1842 until March 3, 1843; Presidential 
Elector in 1840. In June 1802, while there were 
but few log huts on the site of the present city of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, he commenced a tour of observa- 
tion to the lower Mississippi, and in company 
with Michaux, the younger, made a botanical re- 
connaissance of the Valley of the Great West in 
canoes and "arks." He had the confidence of the 
people of Vermont to as large a measure as any 
other public man ; he was modest and unassum- 
ing in deportment, active in every good work, 
and serving for many years as an officer of State 
Benevolent Societies. He died November 19, 1853. 
In his first speech as Governor to the Legisla- 
ture in 1828, while commenting upon the subject 
of the incorporation of Banks he expressed his 
conviction that while Banks were necessary for 
carrying on the various operations of commercial 
transactions requiring the frequent use and inter- 
change of large sums of money, yet he said) "in 
an inland country, almost exclusively agricultur- 
al, the necessity of banks is considered much more 
questionable. That a certain number might be 
sustained without any material injury to the in- 



138 EARLY HISTORY 

terests of the people ; or that in some respects, 
they may prove beneficial, but this number has its 
limits, beyond which any increase will prove injuri- 
ous. * * * The motives which influence monied 
men to apply for these incorporations, partake 
less of patriotism and a desire to benefit the com- 
munity than to procure a profitable investment 
of their money." On the subject of taxation for 
the benefit of roads he said in substance, that the 
mode of taxation in the early days of our govern- 
ment when the townships were sparsely settled, 
and not divided into severalties, lands were taxed 
without reference to their value, to render them 
more accessible to settlers; for those times that 
mode of taxation may have been fair. But the 
time had come when the mode of taxation should 
be changed; some lands, by their proximity to 
settlements and to public roads, or from improve- 
ments made upon them had become very valuable, 
while other lands lying on mountains, destitute of 
roads, and often unfit for cultivation, were of little 
value; that taxation should be according to the 
value of the land. 

He put his seal of disapprobation upon nullifi- 
cation and all nullifiers. He said "there were rest- 
less and aspiring characters, some of whom have 
stood high in the estimation, and have partaken 
largely of the confidence, of their fellow citizens, 
who from disappointed ambition, sectional preju- 
dices, or from other motives as little patriotic, and 
as regardless of the peace and prosperity of their 
country as of their own political reputation, 
have publicly advanced doctrines, and recom- 



OF VERMONT. 139 

mended measures, hostile to the fundamental prin- 
ciples of our government, and, in their tendency, 
subversive of the integrity of our Union. That 
these doctrines instead of receiving the prompt 
and decided disapprobation of the public, have on 
the contrarj', acquired numerous proselytes, must, 
to the patriot, be matter for astonishment and re- 
gret. It is however to be hoped that the sober 
and reflecting portion of tiie population of that 
section have nothing to gain but much to lose, by 
a dissolution of the Union, will be found so great 
as to render these treasonable and seditious pro- 
ceedings abortive." He referred especially to the 
course that John C. Calhoun of South Carolina 
had taken in the advocacy of the doctrine of State 
rights. 

He also condemned the bitterness and acrimony 
with which the contests for the highest offices in 
our government were conducted, and the mis- 
representations, slanders and abuse that were so 
unsparingly bestowed upon the first characters of 
our country. He said "If the highest officers in 
our government— men of great experience, ac- 
knowledged talents, of the directest integrity, 
whose measures after being subjected to the se- 
verest scrutiny, and found to be wise, prudent and 
promotive of the honor and best interests of our 
country, are to be vilified— their characters tra- 
duced—their motives questioned, and their acts 
misrepresented, the time cannot be distant when 
the wise, the prudent, and the friends of peace and 
order will retire from the. contest; and our offices 
will be filled with the ambitious, the unprincipled, 
and the designing." 



140 EARLY HISTORY 

He evidently was convinced of the pernicious 
effects of the use of intoxicating drinks among the 
militia, for in his speech to the Legislature in 1829, 
he said, "The demoralizing effects of the practice 
so general with officers of the militia, of treating 
their companies with spirits on training days, 
has been witnessed by many with regret. Thi3 
practice has been of so long standing that few 
officers are disposed to risk their popularity by 
adopting a different course. It imposes a heavy 
burden npon the. officers without any adequate 
benefit to the companies, but often the reverse- 
causing frequent instances of intemperance, pro- 
fanity and strife. It is believed that a law prohib- 
iting this practice would be very acceptable to the 
orderly portion of our citizens. 1 ' In his time it 
had become evident as shown by observation and 
experience of many, that any practice not forbid- 
den by law and public sentiment, that tends to 
undue excitement among a large number of per- 
sons assembled, will become demoralizing to socie- 
ty and harmful to the individual participating; 
and if the practicing is long continued, it becomes 
an evil hard to be eradicated ; this is especially so 
in the use of intoxicating drinks and in the use of 
morphine and other narcotics. 

He recommended improvement in the State Pris- 
on for the better accommodation of the prison- 
ers, having in view their reformation, a larger 
number of cells should be furnished; as it was, 
it was necessary to confine two prisoners in 
one cell—and often the hardened villain with the 
youthful offender were put together in the same 



OF VERMONT. 141 

cell, giving them an opportunity for conversation 
through the night, to recount over their deeds of 
wickednes, the means used to circumvent the un- 
suspecting, and to form plans for future depreda- 
tions on society. He said, "It has been found by 
experience, that by confining the convicts in sepa- 
rate cells, so that when they leave their work shop 
they can hold no communication with each other, 
and kept in silence and solitude, under a never- 
ceasing supervision and inspection, these evils 
have been prevented. In the solitude of their cells, 
they have much time for reflection, and are ren- 
dered peculiarly susceptible to instruction in moral 
and religious principles." He appointed Joshua Y. 
Vail, Esq., as an agent of Vermont to aid the Unit- 
ed States Topographical Engineers to make exam- 
ination and surveys, with a view to connect the 
waters of Lake Champlain and the River Connec- 
ticut by a canal, by the way of the Valley of On- 
ion River. 

It was evident by his last annual Speech to the 
Legislature in 1830, that the education of the 
youth of the State lie very near his heart; he 
thought that in republican form of government, 
where the people elected their own rulers, and dic- 
tated and controlled the general policy, measures 
and laws of government, a more general diffusion 
of information, and correct knowledge of their 
rights and duties, are required than under other 
forms of government; to qualify the youth to per- 
form the high responsible duties of freeman, they 
should, in addition to the usual course of instruc- 
tion, be instructed in the principles of our free in- 



142 EARLY HISTORY 

stitutions, in the social relations, in a love of coun- 
try, of order, morality, religion, and in whatever 
shall tend to establish correct habits and princi- 
ples; with a population thus educated, the liber- 
ties of our countries will be safe; and that means 
should be provided that this end thould he at- 
attained. 

He had a high opinion of the State, of its capa- 
bilities and resources, for he said it possessed "a 
salubrious climate, a productive soil, much min- 
eral wealth, an immense amount of water power, 
and an industrious, enterprising and intelligent 
population, and it seemed destined to become, 
when her natural resources shall be developed, a 
very important member of our great family of 
States, but situated at a distance from the sea- 
board, she can have no participation in the com- 
merce with foreign nations; her attention must 
necessarily be turned to the improvement of her 
internal resources." He foresaw the great disad- 
vantages the people of the State would labor un- 
der in getting the products of the State, whether 
obtained from the soil or from manufacturing, to 
a distant market; he was aware that some cheap- 
er mode of communication should be effected, by 
the construction of canals or railroads or by the 
improvements of the waterways of the State be- 
fore any considerable amount of capital would be 
invested in manufactures. Undoubtedly at that 
time he did not anticipate that the State would 
ever have the numerous railroads with which it is 
provided at this present writing, amply supply- 
ing the people with facilities of communication 



OF VERMONT. 143 

and commercial advantages in taking the prod- 
ucts of their labors to the markets of the world at 
reasonable prices. 

During his administration he negotiated with 
the authorities of Lower Canada to cause the ob- 
struction across the river at the outlet of Lake 
Memphremagog to be removed so that the water 
in said lake might be reduced to its former height. 
The obstruction in the river had caused the water 
in the lake to rise so as to flood and render a 
large area of farming lands in Vermont valueless. 
Governor Crafts was a man of sterling worth, and 
in whom the people of the State had great confi- 
dence. 

William Adams Palmer of Danville was the . 
son of Stephen and Susannah Palmer, who came 
to this country from England previous to the Rev- 
olutionary war. William A. Palmer was born in 
Hebron, Conn., Sept. 12, 1781; he having in his 
youth lost a part of one hand by an accident, he 
was induced to choose a professional life; he 
studied law in the office of John Thompson Peters 
of Hebron. About the time Mr. Palmer became 
of age he came to Chelsea, Vermont, and after 
studying in the office of Hon. Daniel Buck a while 
he was admitted to the bar of Orange County. 
Seeking a place of settlement, he visited Browning- 
ton, and spent a short time in the law office of 
Hon. William Baxter; then went to Derby, and 
not liking the people there, he settled in St. Johns- 
bury about the year 1805. In 1807 he was ap- 
pointed Judge of Probate for Caledonia County, 
and also County Clerk, and removed to Danville. 



144 EARLY HISTORY 

His public offices were numerous. He was County 
Clerk in 1807 until 1815; Judge of Probate in 
1807 and 1811 until 1817 ; represented Danville in 
the General Assembly of 1811, 1812, 1818, 1825 
and 1829; State Senator in 1836 and 1837; Dele- 
gate in the Constitutional Convention of 1827, 
1836 and 1850; Judge of the Supreme Court in 
1816, and was re-elected in 1817, but declined the 
office ; he was United States Senator from October 
1818 until March 4, 1825, having been elected 
October 20, 1818, both to fill the unexpired term 
of James Fisk and the full succeeding term. He 
voted for the Missouri compromise, which ren- 
dered him for a time unpopular, but he became 
Governor in 1831. There was no election of Gov- 
ernor that year by the people. The popular vote 
stood 15,258 for William A. Palmer, 12,990 for 
Heman Allen, 6158 for Ezra Meach, scattering 
270; William A. Palmer was elected Governor on 
the ninth ballot in joint Assembly. On the ninth 
ballot the vote stood 114 for William A. Palmer, 
Anti-Mason, 36 for Heman Allen, National Repub- 
lican, 42 for Ezra Meach, Democrat, 35 for Samuel 
C. Crafts, National Republican, which gave 
William A. Palmer one majority. He held the 
office until 1835, when there was no election by 
the people for that office nor by the Legislature, 
and Silas H. Jenison became Governor by virtue of 
his election as Lieutenant Governor. In 1832 
there again was no election of Governor by the 
people, the vote standing 17,318 for William A. 
Palmer, Anti-Mason, 15.499 for Samuel C. Crafts, 
National Republican, and 8,210 for Ezra Meach, 



OF VERMONT. 145 

but Governor Palmer was elected in joint Assem- 
bly on the forty-third ballot, receiving 111 votes 
against 72 for Crafts, 37 for Meach and one scat 
-ering. In 1833 Governor Palmer was re-elected 
by the people, but in 1834 there was no election 
by the people, the votes standing 17,131 for Gov- 
ernor Palmer, Anti-Mason, 10,365 for William C. 
Bradley, Democrat, 10,159 for Horatio Seymour, 
Whig and 84 scattering, but Governor Palmer was 
re-elected in joint Assembly by 12G votes out of 
168 votes cast. 

In his speech on taking the chair as Governor 
of the State in 1831, he declared that the condi- 
tion of our common country was that of peace, 
prosperity and happiness; that the evils to which 
we were subject were light and transient in their 
character; the conflicts of opinion incident to a 
free government produce sometimes, contentions 
and divisions which for a time are alarming and 
portentious in their aspect; but thej* are generally 
of short duration, and when they have passed 
away, like the commotion of the elements, leave a 
clear sky and a purer atmosphere. They present 
no serious obstructions in our march to national 
happiness; and the Old World is profiting by our 
example. He said, "a special regard should be paid 
to that great principle incorporated in our Bill of 
Rights, which declares, 'that government is, or 
ought to be instituted for the common benefit, 
protection and security of the people, nation or 
community, and not for the particular emolument 
or advantage of any single man, family or set of 
men who are a part of the community.' " 



146 EARLY HISTORY 

i 

He expressed himself in favor of the polity of a 
protective tariff, and giving encouragement to 
works of internal improvement— the improve- 
ment of the various channels of communication 
between the different parts of the State and with 
other States, the promotion of trade, agriculture, 
and manufactures. 

He expressed himself in favor of changing the 
law so that the person of the debtor, where there 
was not strong presumption of fraud, should not 
be continued in prison after delivering up all his 
estate for the use of his creditor. He was in favor 
of enacting a statute to prohibit the administering 
of oaths except when necessary to secure the faith- 
ful discharge of official trusts, and to elicit the 
truth in the administration of justice. He further 
said/ 1 ! submit also to your consideration whether 
the cause of morality, and the general good, do 
not demand your interposition to diminish the 
frequency of their imposition even for the above 
purposes." The writer would submit to the read- 
er whether it would not be quite as well to discon- 
tinue the practice of administering the oath to all 
witnesses testifying in Court, and make the wit- 
ness by law liable to prosecution for wilfully falsi- 
fying in his testimony given in Court on a material 
point. It would seem that the Governor was 
right in suggesting that the general good would 
be subserved in requiring the oath to be adminis- 
tered with diminishing frequency. 

In his speech of 1832 he insisted that the only 
permanent basis upon which republican govern- 
ment could rest was knowledge and virtue; and 



OF VERMONT. 147 

declared that the venerable founders of otir gov- 
ernment were well aware of this great truth, and 
therefore declared in our constitution that "a com- 
petent number of schools ought to be maintained 
in each town for the convenient instruction of 
youth, and one or more grammar schools be in- 
corporated and properly supported in each county 
in this State;" and that it become the duty of the 
guardians of the public welfare to inquire whether 
the good intentions and wise policy of our fore- 
fathers have been carried into effect in the various 
parts of the State. He was strongly in favor of an 
efficient organization of the militia, upon whom we 
must depend in case of sudden invasion and imme- 
diate attacks, before more elaborate preparations 
could be made, and internal commotions prevented; 
but history warns us in language too plain to be 
misunderstood, to beware of the danger of a large 
standing army. 

He thought it unwise in President Jackson to 
refuse his assent to the bill passed by Congress for 
a re-charter of the United States Bank; he !>e- 
lieved that a great majority of the people of this 
State were in favor of its re-charter, from the con- 
sideration that the Bank had exercised a salutary 
influence in equalizing the currency of the country, 
and in preventing many of the State Banks from 
suspending specie payments. 

As to the opposition to the law regulating the 
tariff of duties by the Southern section of the 
Union, he said, 'from recent manifestations of pub- 
lic feeling in that quarter, we have much reason to 
fear that the party claiming the extraordinan* 



148 EARLY HISTORY 

right to nullify any law of Congress, which in 
their opinion has not been passed in strict con- 
formity to the provisions of the constitution ot 
the United States, will result in immediate civil 
commotion, or a separation ftom the other mem- 
bers of the Confederacy." He declared that in the 
Union alone is there any adequate security for our 
liberty. 

In his speech of 1833 he regarded the great 
improvement in Agriculture, the increase of Com- 
merce, and the progress and encouragement of the 
Arts, in our Country, as furnishing the most satis- 
factory proof of the excellence of our political in- 
stitutions; to maintain them demanded great 
intelligence in the body of the people, and great re- 
liance must be placed on our Common Schools, 
Academies and Colleges. 

In 1834, in his last speech as Governor, he 
claimed that "the sentiment in regard to public 
worship, religion and morality, interwoven with 
our constitution, as far as our limited knowledge 
can extend, have had great influence on the people. 
These circumstances, under our established form 
of government, excluding as it does all persecu- 
tions and intolerance in matters of religion and 
modes of worship, give to our State an honorable 
station in the view of the enlightened part of the 
world." 

He alluded again to the militia, and said, "It is 
the great depository of our liberty and independ- 
ence—it is the first and last hope of our Country." 
He said, in substance, that previous to the revolu- 
tion the greatest care was taken to keep the mili- 



OF VERMONT. 149 

tia in an unorganized and inefficient state, bat 
when the war with England became inevitable, a 
re-organization of the whole body of the militia 
took place ; that the material composing the mili- 
tia were independent and aspiring citizens, whose 
fearless spirit never was, and never will be, subdued 
by foreign domination. They will sooner nobly 
perish on the field of battle, than surrender their 
beloved Country to an inexorable and haughty 
invader, and it was not proper to let them remain 
unimproved. 

The Governor informed the Legislature that he, 
pursuant to a resolution of the General Assembly 
at their previous session, had endeavored to re- 
new the correspondence with the Governor General 
of the British Province upon the subject of ob- 
structions at the outlet of the waters of Lake 
Champlain, and in his letter to the Governor of 
Lower Canada, he requested that government to 
appoint commissioners, to meet such as were ap- 
pointed on the part of Vermont, for the purpose of 
ascertaining the true cause or causes of the over- 
flowing of the lands in this State on the margin of 
Lake Champlain and its tributary streams, and 
the extent of the evils complained of, but he had 
not received an answer from any of the authorities 
of that government. 

He closed his speech by saying that, *'At a 
period of uncommon agitation and embarrass- 
ment, it is among the important duties required 
of us to soar above local and partial views— to 
cherish and inculcate a disinterested spirit, and to 
secure, by every possible means, the blessings of 
liberty to ourselves and our posterity." 



150 EARLY HISTORY 

Silas Heminway Jenison, son of Levi and 
Ruth Jenison, was born in Shoreham May 17, 
1791, ami was the first native of the State to be- 
come its Governor. His father was a farmer, who 
died when Silas was only about one year old, and 
his life was spent for many years on a farm man- 
aged by his mother. He obtained his education 
at the common district school ; he acquired a taste 
for reading, which abided with him through life. 
After his regular school days were over, he en- 
gaged the services of Gideon Sissons, an old school 
master of Shoreham, who was skilled in Latin and 
French languages, arithmetic, algebra and survey- 
ing, and from him the young man acquired a hand 
writing round and free, and the skill of an accurate 
surveyor, in which his services were often em- 
ployed to the close of his life. It has been claimed 
that he possessed many of the qualities of the first 
Governor Chittenden, sound common sense, fideli- 
ty in the discharge of every duty, an earnest re- 
gard for the interest of the State, and fearless in 
the discharge of every duty which devolved upon 
him as the Chief Magistrate of the State. It was 
during his administration that "the Patriot Re- 
bellion" in Lower Canada occurred, in which the 
sympathies of the people of Vermont were largely 
with the rebels. The Governor saw that neutrali- 
ty was the duty of the nation, and of Vermont as a 
part of it, be therefore issued a proclamation warn- 
ing the people against taking part in the rebellion, 
and called out the militia to aid the officers of the 
United States in repressing those bodies of armed 
men who were moving to aid the rebellion in Can- 



OK VERMONT. 151 

acla ; while by this course he forfeited the good 
will of some voters, he was sustained by a majori- 
ty of the people, for in 1840 he received the largest 
majority of votes for Governor which had ever 
before l>een cast. He was a member of the General 
Assembly in 1826 and until 1831 ; Judge of Addi- 
son County Court in 1829 and until 1835, and 
was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1835, and be- 
came the Acting Governor on the failure of the elec- 
tion of "Governor, and was elected Governor by the 
people in 1836, and held that office until 1841, 
when he declined a re-election. He died October 
30, 1 849. 

In his message to the House and Senate in 1836, 
he seemed to foresee that there would be a drain 
of wealth and of the best citizens *of the State un- 
less means of communication were improved in 
the State. He said, "to one who has attentively 
marked the march of improvements among our 
sister States, who has seen canals and railroads 
made and built as by magic, while no attempt has 
been made to improve the facilities of communica- 
tion in our own State, the cause of our daily drain 
of wealth, and what is of incalculably greater im- 
portance to any community, the unprecedented 
emigration of our best enterprising citizens is not 
problematical. " 

The year of 1837 was marked as one of a pecu- 
liarly disastrous character as it related to the de- 
rangement of the currency. Many of the Banks 
had been rendered liable to a forfeiture of their 
charters by their suspension of specie payments. 
The Governor was inclined not to recommend a 



152 EARLY HISTORY 

rigid enforcement of the penalties provided in the 
act relating to the chartering of Banks, he thought 
that course would increase the difficulty of a suf- 
fering people, and invited the Legislature to con- 
sider the question of legalizing this act of the 
Banks, and treat their delinquency, as he thought 
the Banks were doing the best they could to re- 
sume specie payment. He placed great reliance 
on the forbearance of the patriotic citizens of the 
State. But the next year he stated that confi- 
dence was reviving with astonishing rapidity, and 
business was returning to its accustomed channels, 
evincing that the energies of a free people, cannot 
for any length of time, be restrained by the most 
untoward circumstances, and that our people can 
accommodate themselves to any circumstances* 
and surmount any difficulties. 

He would have the law changed so that there 
would not be any imprisonment for debt; that 
the misfortune of poverty should not be punished 
as crime, and that punishment should not be left 
to be meted out by the creditor. He thought the 
law as it then was, put it in the power of a vindic- 
tive creditor to fix a distant day for trial, and in 
the meantime imprison the poor debtor if he failed 
to obtain the aid of friends. 

As to the punishment for crime he seemed to 
favor the abolishment of capital punishment. He 
said the only sound reasons for the infliction of 
punishment are based upon the reformation of the 
criminal and the security of the people. The right 
to inflict capital punishment was doubted by 
many of our intelligent and philanthropic fellow 



OF VERMONT. 153 

citizens, and that number was constantly increas- 
ing; that the right to destroy, it was argued, does 
not belong to an individual, and consequently 
could not be transferred to government; that 
juries were liable to be influenced to clear the 
guilty by the consideration that a verdict of guilty 
would result in the death of a fellow being. He 
recommended that when capita! punishment was 
inflicted there should be no public execution, but 
that it be done within the walls of the prison. 

He favored a geological survey of the State, 
and said, in substance, that it was our true policy 
to adopt such measures as would foster the indus- 
try of our citizens, and encourage the commence- 
ment of new branches of profitable employment 
by developing the natural mineral and agricult- 
ural resources of the Country, and place within 
the reach of the young and ardent, a reasonable 
prospect of competence and wealth, and thereby 
check the tide of emigration, which was draining 
us of a desirable portion of our population. 

In his annual message he again expressed him- 
self in favor of modifying the law as to the collec- 
tion of debts so as to put the poor debtor out of 
the power of a vindictive creditor and give him a 
right of immediate trial when arrested for debt 
and unable to procure bail. 

He informed the Legislature that disturbances 
that had then recently taken place in the Province 
of Canada had caused much excitement among 
the citizens of Vermont. Men of the best feeling 
and much moral worth participated largely in 
their sympathies with those whom thev deemed 



154 KARLY HISTORY 

oppressed, and that their habits and education 
led to that result, but he had taken measures to 
prevent the inhabitants of the State from engaging 
in an unlawful interference with a neighboring 
power. And in his message in 1839, he said the 
political disturbances, referred to continued, and 
the contest had been carried on with cruelty, "re- 
sulting in a system of incendiarism of the most 
reckless and desperate character on the frontier/' 
the object of which was to provoke and exasper- 
ate the public mind, and bring on a state of feeling 
between the inhabitants of the two countries 
which would result in war. A number of citizens 
of Vermont were subject to heavy losses by the 
destruction of their buildings and other property 
by fire. He called out some portion of the militia 
of the State to suppress such disturbance; that 
the militia after a few days of service were relieved 
by regular troops mustered into the service of the 
United States. 

During that year an application was made by 
the authorities of Canada, to the Governor for the 
surrender of one Holmes for crime committed 
there, and he made an order for the delivery of 
Holmes to the Canadian government, but the exe- 
cution of it was prevented by a writ of Habeas 
Corpus from the Supreme Court of the State. This 
led the Governor to say that if the laws of nations 
and the courtesies which are supposed to subsist 
between countries at peace, whose territories are 
contiguous, do not warrant the exercise of the 
power necessary to make the surrender of atro- 
cious criminals escaping from one country to the 



OF VERMONT. 155 

other, if the foreign felon can force himself upon us, 
claiming protection under our law from merited 
punishment, and all laws emanating from State 
Legislatures on the subject are unconstitutional 
and inoperative, it becomes our immediate duty, as 
a measure of self-protection, promptly to make 
such representations to the general government, 
that proper measures be taken to enable the prop- 
er authorities to mutually demand and surrender 
persons charged with great crimes in one gov- 
ernment and escaping into the territories of an- 
other. 

In 1840 in his message to the Senate and House 
of Representatives he said that "Under our happy 
form of government, the rights of the humblest 
citizens are as sacredly secured as those of the 
most favored ; and every act, which shall necessa- 
rily limit or abridge those rights is a positive con- 
travention of the letter of our Constitution, and 
in direct violation of the spirit of our Civil Consti- 
tution. To encourage the practice of virtue, to 
prevent the commission of crime, to foster the in- 
terest of education, to promote the industries and 
improvement'of the Country, and to protect the 
personal liberty and rights of our citizens, are 
among our legitimate and proper duties. In pop- 
ular governments, the law depends for its efficien- 
cy mainly upon the convictions of the people of its 
necessity and expediency." 



CHAPTER VII. 



CHARLES PAINE, JOHN MATTOCKS, AND 

WILLIAM SLADE, AND THEIR AD- 

MINISTRATIONS AS GOVERNORS. 



Charles Paine was a son of Elijah Paine, a 
distinguished Judge of the District Court of the 
United States for Vermont. The son, the subject 
of this sketch, was born at Williamstown, Ver- 
mont, on April 15, 1799. He became a member of 
Harvard College at the age of seventeen; he was 
greatly distinguished for his services in manufac- 
tures and especially in the construction of the Ver- 
mont Central Railroad and of railroads in Texas. 
He became financially embarrassed by reason of 
his connection with railroad matters. He died at 
Waco, Texas, July 6, 1853, at the age of 54 years. 

The town of Northfield is greatly indebted to 
to him for their beautiful village. The railroad 
shops were located there through his influence; he 
was Northfield 's great benefactor; he donated the 
land on which was built the Academy, and five 
hundred dollars in money and an excellent ap- 
paratus for the institution; He gave the land for 
Elmwood Cemetery, the deed of which was exe- 
cuted by his administrators after his death, pursu- 
ant to his wishes previously expressed; the church 
in the Depot Village was built by his funds, and 
was occupied by the Congregational Society. 

"(166) 



OP VERMONT. 157 

On Jan. 8, 1847,, he was the first to break 
ground near the depot in building the Vermont 
Central Railroad,— the spade with which he did it 
was preserved by the railroad officials.. The first 
train came into the new depot on October 11, 
1848, at 20 minutes past nine o'clock, p.m. He 
made the first excursion on the new railroad Nov. 
4, 1848; and during the ride on that excursion he 
composed a song of 13 verses, the first of which 
was as follows: viz., 

'•We took an earlj start to-dajr 

And braved a rough old ride, 
To i each the place where Paine, they s.ij\ 

The iron horse, was breathing gas 
In the sequestered vale. 

And every one ambitious was 
To ride upon a rail ! 

Hurrah! Hurrah! 

For Governor Paine, the raller ! 
He builds hi* roads o'er rocks and hills 

And goes for General Taylor! 

Hon. Heman Carpenter said in his eulogy on 
him, "By his influence and his energy, the Charter 
of the Vermont Central Rrilroad was obtained, 
and to him we are indebted for the accomplish- 
ment of this stupendous vtork ! This is his Afon- 
ment! And when we are dead and forgotten, then 
fresh in the memory of the future will be his name 
— as long as the Iron Horse shall traverse our 
State his name will be cherished by the honest, 
hardy sons of the Green Mountain State." 

He was Governor of Vermont from 1841 to 
1843. 

In his Message to the legislature in 1841, he 



158 EARLY HISTORY 

recommended scrutiny and vigilance respecting 
our common school system as well a« to our high- 
er seminaries of learning. The latter, he said, are 
nurseries of our professional men, and they conse- 
quently exert as great an influence on society as 
our common schools. If it is important that our 
farmers and mechanics should be well qualified for 
usefulness and responsibility in their callings, it is 
equally essential that our clergymen, our states- 
men and physicians, and our school masters, 
should be so in theirs. 

He expressed himself in favor of a geological 
survey of the State, and an examination into the 
botony of the State. 

He showed a deep interest in the matter ot in- 
ternal improvements. He said that "at no distant 
period we may expect that public attention will 
l>e actively directed towards the subject. When 
the enterprise of other States shall have brought, 
as they soon will bring their railroads to our bor- 
ders, the means will not be wanting of continuing 
them through our own State." This prophecy 
and his expectations were soon realized— they have 
been more than fulfilled as is evidenced by the 
many railroads traversing our State at this writ- 
ing. 

He expressed himself strongly in favor of a dis- 
criminative system of revenue from duties on im- 
ports, and said that under that system the 
country had emerged from embarrassment to 
wealth, power and natural greatness, and he 
had no doubt of the Constitutional power of Con- 
gress to impose duties for the purpose of prohibi- 



OF VERMONT. 159 

tion, anil thought it wise to urge upon our delega- 
tion in Congress the neeessity of shielding, by an 
adequate tariff, the domestic industries of the 
country, against competition with the pauper 
labor and solid capital of Europe. 

He expressed himself against a second term 
for President, and in favor of taking away from 
him the veto power. 

In his annual message of 1842, he suggested a 
way to overcome the competition of the great 
West. He said "the rich and almost boundless 
plains of the great West are become covered with 
flocks of sheep, which will soon furnish supplies 
of wool in such abundance as may seriously affect 
the sale of our own. But as the West also can 
produce everything else cheaper than the Atlantic 
States, it would l)e in vain to attempt to comi>ete 
with them in any other product designed for the 
general market. Our constant study should, 
therefore, be directed to creating and building a 
market, among ourselves, and to establish the 
means of such communication with the markets 
on the sea boards as would enable us to dispose 
of our products without fear of competition from 
the distant west ; and the most obvious means to 
accomplish this desirable object is the introduc- 
tion of railroads, and the encouragement of man- 
ufactures aiid the mechanic arts." 

He congratulated the country in having lx»cn 
rescued from the destruction which then seemed, 
to him, as impending over them by the wise efforts 
of Congress to secure a tariff of duties adequate 
to protect them, and that the people had every 



160 EARLY HISTORY 

reason to hope that the prosperity of the countrj' 
would begin to revive. 

John Mattocks lived at Peacham when the 
Academy in that town was having its prosperous 
days. It has been said of him that he was cham- 
pion of the Academy boys. He read law at Mid- 
dlebury, with his brother-in-law, Miller, a distin- 
guished member of the bar. As early as 1827, he 
had become one of the first lawyers of the State. 
After studying law, he removed to Peacham., 
where be spent the remainder of his life, mainly in 
the practice of his chosen profession. Judge Isaac 
P.Redfield said that it "might not unjustly be said 
of him that he wielded a wider and more controll- 
ing influence than any man of his j r ears had ever 
done before, or ever done since, in the State." He 
was a Federalist in politics and one of the most 
influential members of that party in the State, and 
in influence was classed with such men as Isaac* 
Tichenor, Nathaniel and Daniel Chipmao, Chaun- 
cey Langdon, Charles H. Williams, Samuel and 
Benjamin Swift, Samuel Miller, Daniel Farrand, 
Daniel Buck, Elijah Paine and Samuel Prentiss. 

He represented his town in the Legislature as 
often as he desired ; he was a member of Congress 
from his district from 1821 to 1823, and from 
1825 to 1827, and again from 1841 to 1843 ; he 
was a member of the Supreme Court from 1833 
to 1835; and Governor of the State one year 
from 1843 to 1844. While he was Governor, 
Richard M . Johnson visited the State and was re- 
ceived by the Governor and General Assembly in 
joint session, and at the time the Governor made 



OF VERMONT. 161 

one of his happy speeches of welcome, and conclud- 
ing, in his own inimitable manner, by addressing 
Johnson, "How are you, Dick Johnson? I am glad 
to welcome you to this State, and to this Cham- 
ber." The Vice President afterwards said, "he 
was sorry he had not known his Excellency's sou- 
briquet that he might have replied, "How are you, 
Jack Mattocks? God bless you." In times of re- 
laxation, and when no deep sense of responsibility 
rested upon him, he was a man of great geniality 
and playfulness of character. His witticisms in 
the undertone of the bar, were remembered a long 
time b\- the members of the legal profession, who 
had the opportunity of listening to him, and were 
thought worth repeating. 

Governor Mattocks' life work was not mainly 
accomplished in political positions, although he 
secured a large share of the public confidence 
throughout the well rounded term of his earthly 
existence. Isaac F. Red field, who was one of the 
Supreme Judges of the State for many years and 
had lxren associated with Mattccks at the bar, 
wrote of him from Boston January 6th, 1876, 
that "Gov. Mattocks' great field of excellence and 
glory was at the bar. There is no shamming, 
and no short cuts to eminence there. Stern justice 
applies its measuring-rod with unflinching impar- 
tiality to all comers there, whether from the walls 
of the universities, or from the fields and the flocks, 
or the highways and byways of common life in 
any department. There is there no favoritism, 
and no stinted or grudging recognition of power 

or strength in that field. The humblest may there 
is 



1G2 EARLY HISTORY 

expect a patient hearing, and the most highly fa- 
vored can demand no more. It was my fortune, 
when 1 came to the bar in Orleans county, to find 
all the important advocating in the hands of law- 
yers from other counties. And of this number, 
Gov. Mattock 8 was far the most eminent, al- 
though there were many others, such as Fletcher, 
Cushman, Paddock and Bell, that it would not be 
easy to match anywhere in the State at any time 
since. We naturally felt some humiliation at such 
a state of things, but we coultf not break it up, 
since the clients would control the matter to a 
large extent, in spite of the advice of the local bar. 
But we could and did seek redress in another way. 
Some of the members of that bar attended the 
terms in the adjoining counties, and returned the 
favor they did us by arguing their causes. This 
was always kindly received bv Gov. Mattocks. 
His position was too assured to feel any twinges 
of envy or jealousy. He said of his old companions 
of the bar, that it had something of the sound of 
old Roman times, "delendo est Carthago" more 
in sport or badinage than in earnest, no doubt. 

The most effective and eloquent address I ever 
heard from Governor Mattocks, was the closing 
address to the jury on behalf of the Information in 
the trial of Cleveland for murder in procuring 
an abortion. The accused was connected by 
affinity with some of the most influential families 
in the State, who naturally shrunk from being de- 
clared kindred with a murderer, which gave great 
interest to the trial in many as|>ects. The court 
was composed of the Chief Justice apd one other 



OF VERMONT. 163 

judge of the Supreme Court, with two lay assist- 
ants. The law was discussed at the bar from day 
to day, during the trial, and was supposed to l>e def- 
initely settled 1x?fore Mr. Mattocks arose to make 
his closing argument. The popular sentiment 
seemed quietly to have settled down into the expec- 
tation of a verdict of manslaughter. But Mr. 
Mattocks had not spoken twenty minutes before 
we all felt that he was carrying everything before 
him with the power of the enchanting wand. 
The spectators, the bar, and the court, and espe- 
cially the jury comprehended at a glance that 
Mattocks would accept nothing less than a ver- 
dict of murder in the first degree, and this he 
must and would have, in spite of all obstruction 
from the public opinion, or the charge of the court. 
His manner was cool almost to solemnity, his 
diction plain, even to the very verge of the com- 
mon places of the vernacular in ordinary con- 
versation. His person short and dumpy, and his 
eye almost obscured by fixed introversion, gave no 
special force to his look, or his manner, which was 
indeed that of fixedness, rather than of expression. ' 
But his words possessed such a power as words 
never seemed to me to have on any other occasion. 
He arranged the evidence in a manner it had never 
l>efore assumed, and the rule of law which he in- 
voked from the court as the only security of the life 
of the body politic, and of each of its members, was 
so simple and natural, as to seem irresistible, and 
such it proved for the court at once acceded to it, 
withdrawing all its former announcements. 

I have listened to Webster, and to most of the 



164 EARLY HISTORY 

more distinguished American orators, both at the 
bar and in Congress, and to the most distinguish- 
ed orators of England at the present time, in par- 
liament, as well as at the bar, but for real mad- 
dened eloquence, I have never heard anything 
which seemed to me quite up to this argument of 
Governor Mattocks. It is scarcely needful to add 
that Cleveland was convicted of murder and sen- 
tenced to death, a most salutary example, but 
finally his punishment was commuted. 

I have listened to a great many of Governor 
Mattocks's arguments at the bar, both to court 
and jury, sometimes when not myself engaged in 
the cause; sometimes when acting as opposing 
counsel, and sometimes while sitting as judge, and 
in all of them there seemed to me great power and 
ability. 19 

In Governor Mattocks' message to the Legis- 
lature in 1843, he said, "The condition of the in- 
habitants of this State is, upon the whole, proba- 
bly as good as that of any other people. We are 
an intelligent, moral and law-abiding people ; we 
. have institutions securing the liberty and rights 
of the citizens; and have a fertile soil, a healthful 
and invigorating climate, and industrious habits, 
which enable us to surpass any other State in the 
Union, according to our population, in the value 
of our agricultural productions.' 9 He strongly 
urged the improvement of the educational ad- 
vantages of the State, and especially of the com- 
mon schools, and the creation of a Board of 
Education. He put himself on record in his mes- 
sage against the abolishment of capital punish- 



OF VERMONT. 165 

ment in case of murder. On the subject of slavery, 
he said "the continuance of this ineffable curse in 
the District of Columbia, and in the Territories, 
should excite our warmest indignation. Three 
thousand of human beings are in perpetual bond- 
age; and the slave market is openly held at the 
seat of the freest government upon the earth. 
This is a spectacle fit only for tyrants to be- 
hold ; and to make this state of things not only 
permanent, but as if also to fasten the awful re- 
sponsibility of it upon the citizens of the free 
States, there have not been wanting representa- 
tives in the Federal government, from those States 
(happily none from our own), who have refused, 
where Congress has clearly the right to act, to let 
the oppressed go free, and abolish a traffic, which 
by the spirit of the laws, even of that government, 
is ranked with piracy itself." He did not claim 
the right to interfere with the system in the States 
where it existed by a law of that State, or the 
right of the master to reclaim his slaves that had 
escaped into a free State, under the laWs of the 
United States, but he said, "it is not obligatory 
upon any State to suffer its own magistrates to 
exercise the same power." And he recommended 
the Legislature to enact a law, "prohibiting all 
executive officers of the State from arresting and 
detaining in jail any person who is claimed as 
a fugitive slave. And if the passing of the statute 
proposed shall incidentally tend to prevent the re- 
capture of fugitive slaves, may we not well exclaim 
in its defence, in the language of Monticello— 
'shall distressed humanity find no asylum V " He 



160 BARKY HISTORY 

opposed the then scheme for the annexation of 
Texas as a State, as it would tend to create a per- 
petual market for slaves, and enable the govern- 
ment to carve out of that territory slave States 
enough to give preponderance in the Union to 
slave power, and said that "if such an attempt 
8b all succeed, then woe betide our happy country. 
Who then can hope that the wrath of heaven can 
be longer restrained." He closed his message on 
this topic by saying, "I have spoken perhaps too 
freely upon this exciting subject ; but at the capi- 
tal of Vermont, unlike that at Washington, there 
is liberty of speech upon all public topics." He ex- 
pressed himself in favor of a national tariff, not 
only sufficient to supply all of the reasonable 
wants of the national government, but adequate 
to protect home industry and to "embrace the 
idea of protection for the sake of protection." 
John Mattocks was a typical Vermonter of his 
day. 

William Slade of Middlebury was the six- 
teenth Governor of Vermont and held the office 
two successive years; he was declared elected in 
October 1844, and his second term of office as 
Goveror expired October 1846. The writer has 
been unable to learn much' of his early life, but 
evidently he was a man of good abilities and of a 
ripe scholarship. He held the office of Secretary 
of State from 1815 to 1823. In 1823, he com- 
piled and published a valuable work entitled, Ver- 
mont State Papers, being a collection of records 
and documents, connected with the assumption 
and establishment of government by the people of 



OF VERMONT. 167 

Vermont, including the Journal of the Council of 
Safety, the first Constitution, the early Journals 
of the General Assembly, and the Laws from the 
year 1779 to 1786, inclusive; also the proceedings 
of the first and second Councils of Censors. 

In his message as Governor to the Legislature 
of 1844, he called their attention to the necessity 
of selecting for office men of upright minds, pure 
morals, of tried integrity and sound intelligence; 
he said the power of office and personal example 
and influence, can never be separated; and he 
bears the sword of justice in vain who counteracts 
by the one, what he endeavors to enforce by the 
other. 

On the subject of education,* he said "to educate 
a people becomes an indispensible part of legisla- 
tion; our children should be learned to think, to 
discriminate, to feel the conscious power of culti- 
vated intellect, and the purifying and elevating 
influence of Christian principle; that education 
should be universal, reaching the humble hovel as 
well as the spacious mansion, and thus bring the 
children of the poor and the rich, to drink together 
at the enlarged fountains of knowledge; that we 
need a more elevated standard of common school 
instruction ; that there was too wide a chasm be- 
tween a liberal and a common education; the 
higher should not be brought down but the lower 
raised. And he said, in substance, that the great 
desideration in regard to common education is 
improved modes of teaching, whereby great waste 
of time may be avoided and the mind stimulated 
to activity and the pupils trained to habits of self- 



168 EARLY HISTORY 

relying efforts and learn to go alone. Teaching 
should be made a profession, and there should be 
an examination into the condition of the school 
houses, in reference to their size, seating, ventila- 
tion, warmth, location and the grounds connected 
with them. He said, "Vermont has an enviable 
name abroad. Let her maintain it by fostering 
and improving her schools." 

He recommended a geological survey of the 
State, that the people might not remain ignorant 
of the properties of its soil and of its defects and 
the means of supplying them; if we retain our 
people at home we must show them what Ver- 
mont is, and what it is capable of becoming as an 
agi icultural State. He declared himself in favor 
of the law limiting the rate of interest to six per 
cent, but said there was no adequate remedy 
against taking a larger rate, and that the law 
providing for the recovery of the sum taken in ex- 
cess of that rate was inadequate, as the necessities 
of the borrower and the influence of the lender 
would compel the former to submit to usurious 
rates. He put himself on record as strongly in 
favor of the protective system. He said "the true 
doctrine is, not discrimination for revenue, with 
incidental protection, but a tariff for revenue with 
discrimination for protection." 

He was in favor of distributing to the States 
the proceeds of the sales of public lands, and 
against the admission of Texas as one of the 
States of the Union. On the latter subject, he 
said "It is a question whether by an act of arbi- 
trary power, Vermont shall be forced, without her 



OF VERMONT. 169 

consent, into a Federal Union, with a State or 
States, not admissable by the compact into which 
she has entered. It is questionable whether his 
views were sound as a legal proposition although 
they might accord with good policy as things 
then were. The Constitution provided that "New 
States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union." But upon the question of policy his argu- 
ments against the annexation of Texas were un- 
answerable. He said "the purpose of the slavery 
holding power was to establish and perpetuate 
slavery. The onward progress of freedom, under 
its high impulses is rapidly changing the balance of 
power, and leaving slavery to perish, and now the 
nation is suddenly called on to come to its rescue, 
to save it from sinking. To attempt annexation 
for the purpose.of sustaining slavery and subject- 
ing the tenants of those mountains to its prolong- 
ed power, is to be thought of with no dream of 
submission to it for an hour. Upon the consum- 
mation of the threatened measure, I do not hesi- 
tate to say that it would be the duty of Vermont 
to declare her unalterable determination to have 
no connection with the new Union, thus formed 
without her consent and against her will." He 
would have the Union remain as of old and take 
in no new partners. He claimed that the world 
was moving in the work of human emancipation. 
To attempt to put down abolition of slavery is 
vain. The statesmen of the nation must look the 
question square in the face. He said, "Slavery is 
an element of politicalpower ; and how long and 
to what extent, it shall be suffered to control the 



170 EARLY HISTORY 

policy and mould the destiny of this nation is a 
question the consideration of which cannot be 
postponed indefinitely." These sentiments in the 
light of subsequent events seem to have been pro- 
phetic. 

He urged upon the Legislature that upon mat- 
ters concerning the material interests of the State 
to let party lines become obliterated, and let the 
strife of party zeal be lost in a generous emulation 
to devise the best means of advancing the best in- 
terests of the Commonwealth. 

Gov. Slade in his message to the Legislature in 
1845, on the subject of education said, "Every 
child in the State has a right to be educated— a 
right essentially reciprocal to the claims of the 
State to allegiance— the right to protection— pro- 
tection from the effects of ignorance and vice, 
which is, itself, protection in the highest sense, 
from all the dangers which can arise within the 
limits of the State. All the children in Vermont 
—especially the poor— stand iq the attitude of 
just claimants, in respect to education, upon the 
fostering bounty and guardian care of the State. 
He again referred to the lamentable deficiency in 
the qualification of teachers; great and manifest 
defects in the modes of instruction, and confusion 
and want of uniformity in regard to books used 
for that purpose. The writer well remembers 
while teaching in the common schools the incon- 
venience of a want of uniformity of text books; 
there would be brought* into the school room as 
many as six different kinds of arithmetics, and as 
many different kinds of geographies and readers, 



OF VERMONT. 171 

and many grammars by different authors. Such 
a state of things would cause the teacher much 
hard and perplexing work and deprive the school 
of the best results. 

As to matters of crime the Governor thought 
the great purpose of criminal law was reforma- 
tion which lay at the foundation of the peneten- 
tiary system which combines with imprisonment, 
hard labor and a course of moral discipline suited 
to bring the offender to paths of rectitude and vir- 
tue; that reformation was not usually obtained 
by confinement in the county jails. He said, 
whether the confiement in the county jail was 
inflicted as a punishment or results from inability 
to pay fines, it had the effect entirely the reverse of 
reformation. That it was impossible to vest a 
convict thus thrown into a county jail with but 
little or no attention paid to any except his mere 
animal wants without feeling painfully impressed 
with a conviction that it was an unnatural and 
monstrous perversion of the power of punishment; 
thus situated he is without employment or exer- 
cise, and left to the corroding and maddening in- 
fluence of reflections that he is an outcast from the 
charity and sympathy of the world, and the law 
and the executioner are his enemies. The Gover- 
nor urged that better treatment should be ad- 
ministered that better results might be obtained; 
that Houses of Correction should be provided. 
Some of these reforms have been brought about. 

The reader will remember that the Governor in 
his first message took strong ground against £he 
annexation of Texas. In his second message on 



172 EARLY HISTORY 

this subject he said, "But annexation may be con- 
summated! Slavery may triumph. It may se- 
cure a majority of the Senate of the United 
States. It may annul the compromise of the Con- 
stitution and destroy the bond that holds the State 
together. What then shall Vermont do? What 
will be her right to do admits of no question. If 
from a regard to peace, she shall forbear to exer- 
cise her right, it should be with a solemn declara- 
tion to the Union and the world that she thereby 
acknowledges no right of annexation and forbears 
from no diminished conviction that it will subvert 
the Constitution and essentially destroy the Union 
of which it is the bond, and that she reserves the 
right of such future action as circumstances may 
suggest." Mr. Slade did not live to see a realiza- 
tion of the improvements that he recommended, 
and the blight of human slavery swept from the 
American Union, but the march of events thftt 
has been brought by evolution and revolution 
has ushered in an era that he so much desired. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CAUSE OF THE WAR OF THE REBELL- 
ION OF 1861-THE ATTITUDE OF VER- 
MONT TOWARD THE ACTION 
OF THE SOUTH-THE FIRST 
VERMONT REGIMENT 
AND ITS SERVICE. 



Before presenting to the reader the share that 
Vermont took in civil war for the maintenahce of 
the Union, and to put down the great Rebellion of 
1861, it will not be out of place to consider what 
were the causes that brought about the Southern 
Rebellion— and what preparations had been made 
and plans laid for the conflict. The war was the 
last resort in an "irrepressible conflict" in the 
struggle for and against the genius of the world's 
advance. Economic, social, and moral evolution, 
resulting in two radically different civilizations, 
had enforced upon each section different views of 
the Constitution and of the morality of the sys- 
tem of slavery. The South would have the gov- 
ernment the corner stone of which was the sys- 
tem of slavery. The views of the North were more 
in harmony with the spirit of the age— they fore- 
saw that slavery was a blight upon the land. 
Each party had been at work for many years to 
strengthen their respective positions and to mould 



174 EARLY HISTORY 

the government to their way of thinking. Slavery 
had existed ever since the colonial days, but it 
was not regarded as especially profitable or de- 
sirable till several years after the government of 
the United States was established, and it was ex- 
pected that the employment of slave labor would 
become less, and the system of slavery would die 
out. Slaves were employed in the cotton States 
in the raising of cotton. Before the year of 1800 
cotton was not to any considerable extent manu- 
factured in the United States, and but very little 
had been exported. A slave could clean but five 
or six pounds of cotton a day; but in 1793, Eli 
Whitney invented the cotton gin by which a slave 
could' clean 1000 pounds of cotton a day. This 
wrought a great change and slave labor became 
exceedingly profitable. In 1791 the cotton export 
was but 189,316 pounds; in 1804 the export was 
38,118,041 pounds, and in 1859 it was nearly 
one and four tenth billions pounds and worth 
about one hundred and sixty-one and a half mil- 
lion dollars. Slavery became profitable. Andrews 
says in his history of the United States that, "It 
polluted social relations in obvious ways, setting . 
at naught among slaves family ties and behests of 
virtue, influences that reacted terribly upon the 
whites. The entire government oi slaves had a 
brutalizing tendency, more pronounced as time 
passed. Plantation manners were cultivated, 
which, displaying themselves in Congress and 
elsewhere, in all discusssions and measures relat- 
ing to the execrable institution, made the North 
believe that the South was drifting toward bar- 



OF VERMONT. 175 

barism." Free speech in the South on the subject 
of slavery was not tolerated. 

The zeal of the slave-masters to capture and re- 
turn the runaway slave who was escaping to a 
land of freedom, and the attempt of the owner of 
the slave to force the northern magistrate to aid 
him in capturing and returning the slaves who 
had escaped from bondage, the attempt to revive 
the foreign slave trade, the barberous practice of 
tearing families apart, and driving them many 
hundreds of miles in shackles or carried coastwise 
in the over-filled holds of vessels, to live or die un- 
der unknown skies, and subject to new heartless 
masters, stirred the feelings of the northern peo- 
ple to a high pitch. Hatred of slavery was gradu- 
ally intensified and spread. In 1832 rose the New 
England Anti-Slavery Society, and in 1833 the 
American Society was organized that declared 
slavery a crime. But Slavery had its advocates in 
the North. Southern papers and Legislatures de- 
manded that Abolition sentiments, and societies, 
and their publications be suppressed by law and 
abolition agitation made penal. And there were 
many Northerners quite ready to grant these de- 
mands. Churches, politics and business seemed to 
be permeated with Southern sentiment in favor of 
slavery. The' destruction of colored people's 
houses became of frequent occurrence in many 
Northern cities. Schools for colored children were 
opposed even in New England and their school 
houses destroyed. 

As time went on the Southern leaders were 
making: every move possible to strengthen their 



176 EARLY HISTORY 

favorite institution. As early as 1830, Texas a 
province of Mexico, had become settled to a large 
extent by emigrants from the United States, and 
the people of that Province, by the aid of Samuel 
Houston gained a complete victory over Santa 
Anna, the Mexican President, captured him, and 
compelled him to acknowledge Texan independ- 
ence. This opened the way for the pro-slavery 
party to advocate for its admission into the Un- 
ion as a slave State. And as early as 1840, the 
Democratic party forced a demand for this into 
their national platform. In 1844 the election of 
James K. Polk as president was hailed as endors- 
ing annexation, and Texas was annexed to the 
Union on January 25, 1845, adding to the United 
States 376,133 square miles of slave territory. 

Then followed the Mexican war, which resulted 
in the acquisition of another large Territory which 
the Democratic party claimed to be a great vic- 
tory for slavery, as most of it lay south of 36° 30', 
the Mason and Dixon Missouri Compromise line 
of 1820. All of this wide relm under Mexico had 
been free, and for slavery to exist under the Terri- 
tory acquired by the Mexican war, it must be es- 
tablished by Congress, but California asked ad- 
mission as a free State, and was so admitted Sep- 
tember 9, 1850. This threw another firebrand 
into the political caldron. Following this the 
Proslavery party, with the aid of Henry Clay and 
Daniel Websteri defeated the Wilmot Proviso bill 
that provided "except for crime, neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude should ever exist in any of 
the territories to be annexed." The Pro-Slavery 



OF VERMONT. 177 

party succeeded in passing the obnoxious fugitive 
slave law of 1850. This law placed the entire 
power of the general government at the slave, 
hunter's disposal, and ordered rendition without 
trial or grant of habeas corpvs, on a certificate to 
be had by simple affidavit. Bv-standers, if bidden, 
were obliged to help marshals, and tremendous 
penalties imposed for aid to fugitives. It power- 
fully fanned the abolition flame all over the North, 
and new personal liberty laws were enacted by 
different States, and the "higher law," was advo- 
cated by many who did not hesitate to oppose in 
every possible way the operation of this slave- 
catching legislation. The cowardly assault upon 
Charles Sumner in the United States Senate by 
Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina in 1856, and 
the Dred Scott decision of the United States Su- 
preme Court, that denied the right of citizenship 
to persons of African blood, added fuel to the 
flame. The slave power sought to have Kansas 
admitted as a slave State, and in this they failed. 
This seemed to check them in their career and 
stung them to the heart. There was increased fe- 
rocity toward all who did not pronounce slavery 
a blessing. The pro-s1averv party became more 
domineering in politics and made continuous 
threats of secession in case the slave power should 
fail to have its way. The South made the election 
of Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, as the Presi- 
dent of the United States in a constitutional way, 
a pretext for the dissolution of the Union, when in 
fact the true cause was, it loved slavery better 
than it loved the Constitution, and the equal 
is 



178 EARLY HISTORY 

rights of man. Secession was no new thought at 
the South. It lurked behind the Kentucky and 
Virginia resolutions of 1798—99, that were sent 
to the Vermont General Assembly for adoption at 
that time; it was announced again by South 
Carolina in the nullification troubles of 1832. 
"Texas or disunion" was the cry at the South in 
184-3—44. During the presidential campaign of 
1856, threats were made that if Fremont, the Re- 
publican candidate, should be elected the South 
would secede. When Lincoln was elected in 1860 
the South began to marshal their hosts to carry 
their threats into execution. The Southern States, 
one after another, passed ordinances of secession; 
and the seizure of the United States property went 
hand in hand with secession. By January 15, 
1861, the secessionists had taken possession of 
arsenals at Augusta, Ga., Mount Vernon, Ala., 
Fayetteville, N. C, Chattahoochee, Fla., and 
Baton Rouge, La., and the forts in Alabama and 
Georgia, and of the navy yard at Pensacola, Fla., 
and of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, command- 
ing the mouth of the Mississippi. At one arsenal 
they found 150,000 pounds of powder, at another 
22,000 muskets and rifles, besides ammunition 
and cannon, and at another 50,000 small arms 
and twenty heavy guns. The whole South had 
been well supplied with military stores by the 
treasonable foresight of J. B. Floyd of Virginia, 
President Buchanan's Secretary of War. He had 
sent thither 115,000 muskets from the Springfield 
arsenal alone. The mint in New Orleans, contain- 
ing over half a million in gold and silver, was 
seized. 



OF VERMONT. 179 

In February 1861 more than half of the regular 
army was turned over by General Twiggs to the 
secession committee. The Southern Confederacy 
was formed. 

During these treasonable proceedings the people 
of the North did not wake up to the realization of 
the danger. They said the Southern leaders are 
playing at their old game of bluff and threatening 
and will be glad enough to come back. The gov- 
ernment seemed paralyzed so long as Buchanan 
remained in office; he was weak and feared to 
exert his right in the use of measures to save the 
Union and insisted that the United States had no 
power to coerce a State which should secede. The 
South took advantage of his inaction to launch 
the Confederacy. 

Under these circumstances Vermont was called 
upon with other Northern States to prepare for 
war to save the Union. An attempt at compro- 
mise was made at the famous Peace Conference 
called by the Legislature of Virginia. Erastus 
Fairbanks, the Governor of Vermont, appointed 
Ex-Governor Hiland Hall, Levi Underwood, then 
Lieutenant-Governor of the State, Hon. L. E. 
Chittenden, Adjutant General H. H. Baxter, and 
Hon. B. D. Harris, commissioners to represent 
Vermont in the Conference. The session lasted 24 
days but nothing was accomplished except to de- 
lay, on the part of the North, the needed prepara- 
tion for the oncoming contest. The attitude of 
Virginia, the leading border State, at the Confer- 
ence was aptly expressed in the New York Com- 
mercial Advertiser in the following lines: 



180 EARLY HISTORY 

"VIRGINIA TO THE NORTH. 

Thus speaks the Sovereign Old Dominion 
To Northern States her frank opinion. 
First. 
Move not a finger; f t is coercion, 
The signal for our prompt dispersion. 

Second. 
Wait till I make my full decision, 
Be it for union or division. 

Third. 
If I declare my ultimatum, 
Accept my terms as I shall state 'em. 

Fourth. 
Then I'll remain while I'm inclined to, 
Seceding when I have a mind to. 11 

After Lincoln was inaugurated as President of 
the United States, though he regarded the Union 
unbroken and was willing to treat the South as 
friends, he held out the olive branch to the seces- 
sionists, and the people of Vermont were willing 
to share his hope that reason and patriotism 
would yet return to the Southern mind. 

When it was known that the OldFlag had been 
fired upon, a thrill of passionate rage electrified 
the North from Maine to Oregon. Then was wit- 
nessed an uprising unparalleled in American his- 
tory if not in that of mankind. From all parts of 
the loyal States came the earnest words, "The 
Union must be preserved ! Away with further at- 
tempts to conciliate traitors ! To arms !" was the 



OF VERMONT. 181 

universal cry. Pulpit, platform, and press echoed 
with patriotic sentiment. Through the Northern 
States union meetings, speeches and parades were 
in order, and the Stars and Stripes were kept un- 
furled. 

Governor Fairbanks, in the early days of 1861, 
appreciated in some degree the need of the imme- 
diate preparation for war to maintain the na- 
tional government and thwart the traitorous 
plans of the South. On January 5th, 1861, be 
wrote Governor Buckingham of Connecticut that 
"I am desirous to learn your views as to the expe- 
diency of legislation in the Free States at the pres- 
ent time touching the affairs of the General Gov- 
ernment and the action of certain Southern States. 
Should the plans of the Secessionists in South 
Corolina and other cotton States be persevered in 
and culminate in the design to seize upon the Na- 
tional capital, will it be prudent to delay a dem- 
onstration on the part of the Free States assuring 
the general government of their united co-opera- 
tion in putting down rebellion and sustaining the 
Constitution and the dignity of the United States 
Government." About this time Governor Fair- 
banks received information from John A. Andrews, 
Governor of Massachusetts, that the secessionists 
had determined to take Washington before the 4th 
of March, and that he was about to put a portion 
of the militia of that State in readiness for active 
service in defence of the National Capital, and 
urged the Governors of the other New England 
States to make like preparations. On a sugges- 
tion that came through Governor Andrews from 



182 EARLY HISTORY 

Charles Francis Adams, Governor Fairbanks, who 
resided in St. Johnsbury, sent telegrams and mes- 
sages to Montpelier, Burlington, St. Albans, Rut- 
land, Brattleboro, Bennington, Woodstock, Wind- 
sor and other towns, to fire salutes of 100 guns on 
the 8th of January in honor of the Union of the 
States, and of Major Anderson, the gallant defend- 
er of Fort Sumpter in South Carolina, in resisting 
the surrender of that Fort. The 8th being the an- 
niversary of General Jackson's victory at New Or- 
leans in 1815 most of the towns complied with the 
request. Governor Fairbanks was ready to call a 
special session of the Legislature to take measures 
to aid the General Government to resist the trea- 
sonable designs of the South, but on advice from 
the Representatives from Vermont in Congress, he 
thought best to wait till a requisition was made 
from Washington for troops. He authorized the 
Vermont Senators to inform President Buchanan 
that he was ready to furnish troops by calling 
into service the uniformed militia of Vermont and 
by accepting the service of volunteers. 

At the outbreak of the Southern rebellion of 
1861 no State in the Union was less prepared for 
war than Vermont. While during the Revolution- 
ary war and in the controversy with New York in 
theearly days of Vermont, an<T through the war of 
1812 with England, no State in the Union furnish- 
ed more hardy, brave and loyal soldiers than 
Vermont, but they had been pursuing the arts of 
peace so long that they were illy prepared for war, 
and the State was nearly destitute of uniforms, 
arms and munitions of war. No one doubted but 



OF VERMONT. 183 

that the descendants of the Aliens, the Chitten- 
dens, the Warners and the Green Mountain Boys 
generally would not be found wanting when 
called upon to sustain the honor of their country, 
and that there would be no shrinking from the dis- 
charge of every duty in camp and on the field of 
battle. It will be seen that the services, endur- 
ance and courage of the Vermont soldiers during 
the war justified the high hopes and expectations 
entertained of them. But in 1861 they were not 
fitted for actual service. The "June training" 
that was intended to fit the militia for defensive 
war and acquaint them with military arts, bad 
long been discontinued. Uniformed companies 
had been disbanded and as late as 1856, there was 
no military organization, but in that year an 
effort was made to revive the militia laws and a 
few companies were organized in 1857 and 1858 ; 
and in 1860 men and officers numbered about nine 
hundred. Although Vermont was unprepared for 
war she was loyal to the core ; the leading men of 
Vermont publicly expressed themselves decidedly 
against treason and traitors. Hon. David A. 
Smaller, United States District Judge for Vermont, 
sitting in the United States Circuit Court for the 
Southern District of New York on the 14th day of 
January, 1861, in his charge to the Grand Jury, 
declared that "any individual owing allegiance to 
the United States, who shall furnish these South- 
ern traitors with arms or munitions 'of war, ves- 
sels or means of transportation, or materials 
which will aid the traitors in carrying on their 
traitorous purpose, is clearly liable to be indicted, 



184 EARLY HISTORY 

tried, convicted and executed as a traitor, for 
death is the penalty of treason." 

On January 23d, Senator Collamer introduced 
in the United States Senate a bill authorizing the 
President to close the forts of the seceded States 
and suspending the United States mail service in 
those States. E. P. Walton, Representative of 
Vermont in Congress, declared in a speech on the 
floor of the House, that to compromise with se- 
cession was to license rebellion for all future time, 
and that it would be more dangerous to surrender 
to rebellion than to resist it. 11 Hon. Justin S. 
Morrill, Senator from Vermont, declared that no 
compromise was possible. 

On the 26th January, 1861, the Governor is- 
sued an order, directing the Adjutant and Inspec- 
tor General to issue notices to town clerks and lis- 
ters to make return of the number of persons lia- 
ble to do service in the militia in their respective 
towns; and an order directing the officers of the 
uniformed militia to ascertain whether the men 
under their command were unable or indisposed 
to respond to the orders of the Commander-in- 
Chief to aid in the maintenance of the laws. These 
orders were generally complied with, and the com- 
panies began to drill arid make ready for active 
service. 

The news of the surrender of Fort Sumpter 
stirred the people to a high pitch of indignation, 
and this was followed by President Lincoln's first 
call for 75,000 troops, to maintain the honor, the 
integrity and existence of our National Union. 
The response of the State was prompt. Ver- 



OF VERMONT. 185 

mont's quota under the President's call was one 
regiment of 780 men. This first regiment was 
soon raised and Captain John W. Phelps of Brat- 
tleboro was appointed its Colonel. Phelps was a 
graduate of the United States Military Academy 
of the class of 1836, and Captain of the 4th Ar- 
tillery in Texas, on the Plains and in Mexico, 
where he was severely wounded; he was a just 
and conscientious man, who knew no fear. Peter 
T. Washburn of Woodstock was made Lieutenant 
Colonel of the regiment ; he was at the time a 
leading lawyer of the State, who afterwards was 
Governor of the State and died during his term. 

The regiment was ordered to rendezvous at 
Rutland on the 2d of May and was mustered into 
the United States service on the 8th and left the 
State for fortress Monroe, Va., on the 9th, and ar- 
rived at the Fort May 13th, 1861. In presenting 
the regimental standard and a national flag to the 
regiment at Rutland, Governor Fairbanks, address- 
ing Colonel Phelps, said, "In your hands, supported 
by these troops, I feel that this flag will never l>e 
dishonored nor the State of Vermont disgraced. 
I charge you to remember thai the flag represents 
but one star in that other flag which I now pre- 
sent, bearing the national emblem, the stars and 
stripes. Vermont claims no separate nationality. 
Her citizens are loyal to the Union and the Con- 
stitution, will rally in their strength for the 
preservation of the National Government and the 
honor of our country's flag/' 

Colonel Phelps responded, pledging the highest 
endeavors of the regiment to retain the stars, the 



186 EARLY HISTORY 

emblems upon the Union and State flags, in a way 
that should meet the approval of the freemen of 
Vermont. 

When General Scott learned that a regiment of 
Green Mountain Boys, commanded by Colonel 
Phelps, whom he had known in the Mexican war, 
was waiting orders, he at once declared "that 
Colonel Phelps was the man and his regiment the 
troops that he wanted for responsible duty. I 
have not forgotten the Vermont men on the Niag- 
ara frontier. " The rank and file of the regiment 
were young men, native Vermonters of all profes- 
sions and callings. One of the companies was 
from Bradford and bad in it twelve men over six 
feet in height, and one six* feet and four inches. 
Many men in each company were no less than six 
feet tall. 

In raising men for the service public meetings 
were held in most of the towns of the State to 
awaken an interest in the raising of troops and to 
express encouraging sentiments. As the com- 
panies took their departure from the several local- 
ities in the State, and when taking their final 
leave for the seat ofwar, long processions escorted 
them to the railroad stations, and the new soldiers 
took the train in the presence of sober-faced men 
and tearful friends. It was a time when visions 
of mortal conflict and bloodshed were presented 
to the thinking mind— scenes that soon came true. 
During that year and the four succeeding years 
many left Vermont never to return, but gave up 
their lives in Southern prisons or on the battle 
field. Benjamin Underwood of Bradford, a pri- 



OF VERMONT. 187 

vate of the first regiment, was the first volunteer 
Vermonter to give his life for his country ; he died 
of measles on May 20, 1861, and was buried 
about a mile from the fort. 

General Butler took command of the forces 
at Fortress Monroe on the 23d day of May, and 
by his direction Colonel Phelps made a reconnois- 
sance out three miles from the Fort to Hampton, 
a village containing then about 200 inhabitants ; 
as he approached the bridge crossing Hampton 
river the rebels set fire to the bridge ; Phelps' men 
discovered the fire in time to extinguish it before 
it did much damage. The rebels made a hasty 
exit from the village, and threw their guns into 
the river and retreated without firing a shot; 
after a short stay Phelps returned to the Fort and 
a number of negroes embraced this opportunity to 
escape from bondage, and followed the troops to 
the Fort. Shortly after this, Major Cary, a Con- 
federate officer, came to Fortress Monroe under a 
flag of truce, to ask for the return of three colored 
men, the slaves of a Colonel Mallory, residing 
near Hampton. Major Cary was informed by 
General Butler that fugitives were "contraband of 
war," and had set them at work within the fort- 
ress. Soon the regiment took up its position at 
Newport News, as did other regiments about ten 
miles from the fort. Gen. Butler placed Colonel 
Phelps in command of the post, and the command 
of the regiment devolved on Lieut.-Col. Washburn. 

The first clash of arms was at Big Bethel situ- 
ated on the north branch of Black River where 
there were posted about 1000 Confederates and 



188 EARLY HISTORY 

seven pieces of artillery, and the place fortified. On 
June 9th, under Gen. Butler's orders to Brigadier 
Gen. E. W. Pierce of Massachusetts and to Col. 
Phelps, a small force took up their march early in 
the morning of the 10th towards Big Bethel, but 
while near Little Bethel before daylight, one por- 
tion of the Union troops fired into another por- 
tion of them with both muskets and artillery, mis- 
taking them for the enemy. Two men were killed 
and fifteen men and four officers were wounded 
from the Third New York, before the mistake was 
discovered. In the morning the troops break- 
fasted and at 7 o'clock the column moved on, and 
about 9 o'clock it halted in sight of the Confed- 
erate works at Big Bethel. A reconnoissance 
was made by Captain Kilpatrick, who reported 
that he had found the enemy with from three 
to five thousand pien, posted in a strong posi- 
tion, three earthworks and a masked battery on 
the right and left, and a large force of cavalry. 
Others estimated the rebel strength as high as 
twenty thousand. These reports excited Gen, 
Pierce and his trepidation became apparent to 
those, about him. But an assault was made on 
the enemies' works in which the Vermont troops 
were engaged. The only formidable assault made 
on the enemies' works was made by Lieut. Colonel 
Washburn, but the assault was not successful. 
Washburn was making some progress against 
the enemy when Gen. Pierce ordered a retreat and 
abandoned the attempt to take Big Bethel. Two 
of Washburn's men were killed though they were 
not Vermonters. Also Major Theodore Winthrop 



OF VERMONT. 189 

and Lieutenant Greble were killed. The Union loss 
in this battle was 16 killed and 34 wounded, and 
private Reuben M. Parker was taken prisoner and 
soon after was exchanged. It was claimed that he 
was the first prisoner that was formally exchanged. 
Upon the retreat from Big Bethel three Companies 
of Confederate cavalry followed the Union force as 
far as New Market Bridge, though at safe dis- 
tance. The loss of the enemy in the battle is un- 
known. The Confederate General Magruder soon 
abandoned his works at Big Bethel and withdrew 
his command to Yorktown. Lieutenant Wash- 
burn's coolness and courage during the battle was 
conspicuous, and his men and those of Massachu- 
setts that were in the battle behaved like veterans, 
and with Phelps in command of the Union forces 
instead of the inexperienced General Pierce, a suc- 
cessful result would have been recorded instead of 
a defeat. 

On June 16th a scouting party made up of three 
Vermont companies under Major Worthem, went 
back into the country and brought in a drove of 
cattle taken from secessionists. Private D. H. 
Whitney of the Woodstock company, while out 
from camp, was killed by rebel scouts. He was the 
only member of the regiment that was killed by 
the enemy. 

This regiment enlisted but for three months and 
their term of service expired on August 2d, and re- 
turned immediately to Vermont. The entire regi- 
ment numbered 782 officers and men and all but 
five returned to Vermont at the expiration of their 
term of service in that regiment; six hundred of 



190 EARLY HISTORY 

them re-enlisted and returned to active service; 
two hundred and fifty of them subsequently held 
commissions. General Phelps was proud of his 
regiment of Vermonters, and declared, after it left, 
that he "greatly missed the influence of their ex- 
ample on other regiments of his command, and 
that it was a regiment, the like of which will not 
soon be seen again." 

Vermont provided well for her soldiers; the Leg- 
islature met in Special Session on the 25th of 
April, 1861, and on motion of Stephen Thomas of 
West Pairlee, a leading Democrat, the oath of al- 
legiance to the United States Government was ad- 
ministered to the members in addition to the usual 
oath. Ample appropriations for military purposes 
were urged by the Governor, and the Legislature 
passed a bill to raise a million dollars for war ex- 
penses and also passed ap act providing tor the or- 
ganizing, arming and equipment of six more regi- 
ments for two years service, and giving each pri- 
vate seven 'dollars a month of State pay in addi- 
tion to the thirteen dollars that the government 
paid, thus providing for the relief of the families of 
volunteers at the expense of the State The Leg- 
islature also voted a war tax of ten cents on the 
dollar of the Grand List. 

The seven dollars per month provided by the 
State was drawn during the war by the Select- 
men of the towns where the enlisted soldier lived 
and paid over to the soldier's family if he had one, 
thus providing for the wants of the family while 
the soldiers were in the field. These provisions 
made for the soldiers and their families took about 



OF VERMONT. 191 

four millions of dollars from the State treasury. 
The women of the State during the war, were as 
patriotic and as interested as the men, and were 
busy with the needle in supplying troops with 
clothing and furnishing their husbands and sons 
at the front and in the hospitals with food and 
other articles for their comfort. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THE 

SECOND REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL 

WAR OF 1861. 



The second regiment that was mustered into 
the national service in the war of the rebellion 
was one of the most active and valuable regiments 
of the Union army, and was longer in the service 
than any other Vermont organization; it took 
part in almost every battle of the Army of the Po- 
tomac from Bull Run till the close of the war; its 
ranks as they became thinned by the casualties of 
of war, were filled by recruits ; the list of killed 
and wounded was forty per cent of its aggregate 
of 1858 officers and men. G. G. Benedict, in his 
History of the Civil war said, that the "ratio of 
killed and mortally wounded was more than eight 
times the general ratio of killed and mortally 
wounded in the Union army." The companies that 
composed the regiment at its organization were se- 
lected by its State Adjutant and Inspector General 
Baxter from about sixty companies, which tendered 
their services to the State for the war. Many of the 
men of the regiment were not less than six feet in 
height and they were a strong and healthy body 
oi men, and it was expected that the prestige and 
honor of Vermont would not suffer in their hands, 



OF VERMONT. 193 

and the people of Vermont were not disappointed 
in their hopes and expectations. The command 
of the regiment was tendered by Gov. Fairbanks 
to Colonel Israel B. Richardson of Michigan, an 
experienced officer and a gallant son of Vermont, 
who had won fame in the Mexican war, but he 
had accepted the command of the First Michigan 
Regiment, and he recommended Henry Whiting of 
the Fifth United States Infantry, who had been 
his classmate at West Point, and had seen service 
on the Northwestern frontier, and in Texas at the 
commencement of the Mexican war. The Colo- 
nelcy of the regiment was tendered to him by 
the Governor and he accepted the appointment, 
and George J. Stannard of St. Albans, a brave 
man of military taste, became Lieutenant Colonel 
and proved to be a gallant soldier and successful 
commander; Charles H. Joyce, a lawyer of North- 
field, was appointed Major. The uniforms of the 
regiment were made in Vermont, of cloth manu- 
factured bj* Merrill & Company of Reading, Ver- 
mont. The regiment was provided with a band 
of 24 brass pieces. The regiment was mustered 
into the United States service by Lieutenant Colo- 
nel Rains on June 20, 1861, and it broke camp 
at Burlington on the 24th and made its way to 
Washington; it numbered 868 officers and men. 
They were greeted with cheers and offerings of 
flowers at railroad stations, and at the cities of 
Troy, New Yoik and Philadelphia on their way to 
Washington for active service. They had an en- 
thusiastic reception at "New York at which Hon. 
B. D. Culver, in an eloquent speech presented a 



194 EARLY HISTORY 

beautiful regimental standard, the gift of the Sons 
of Vermont in New York. It will not be the pur- 
pose of the writer to particularly describe the 
entire service of the Vermont troops in the war, 
or minutely describe the part they took in the bat- 
tles fought, however interesting it migbt lie. For 
the extended and vivid account of their hardy 
service, devotion to the best interests of their 
country, and brave action on the field, the reader 
must Imj referred to the invaluable history of Ver- 
mont's part in the Civil War by Hon. G. G. Bene- 
dict. 

The regiment, after reaching Washington, went 
into camp on Capitol Hill. On July 10th they 
moved into Virginia, through Alexandria to Bush 
Hill about five miles towards Fairfax Court 
House. The largest army ever collected on the 
American continent began moving to the front to 
meet the enemy in battle. The regiment with the 
Third, Fourth and Fifth of Maine were formed " 
into a brigade under the* command of Col. O. O. 
Howard (now Major General) of the Third Maine, 
and assigned to the Division of General Heintzle- 
man. The Union army under General McDowell 
moved to Centerville, but delayed the attack until 
the 21st of July. Bull Run in its general course 
runs from north to south, and the Warrenton 
Turnpike crosses it by the famous stone bridge at 
right angles. The rebel army of 22,000 men and 
29 guns was disposed along the right bank of that 
river. McDowell ordered the attack to 1>e made 
on the 21st of July ; the Divisions of Hunter and 
Hcintzlcman made a detour to the north and were 



OF VERMONT. 195 

to cross Bull Run at the unguarded ford of Sudley 
Springs, about two miles north of Stone Bridge 
and fall upon the enemy's left, and as they should 
roll it back, other troops were to cross the stream 
lower down, and Tyler was to cross at the Stone 
Bridge. For a time this excellent plan worked 
well ; the rebel left was turned and driven back 
some two miles and south across the Warrenton 
Turnpike; other Union forces struck the rebel 
center and a complete victory over the enemy 
seemed near at hand, and some of the rebel force 
lx?gan to hastily retreat; at this period of the 
conflict the re1>el forces were strengthened by the 
arrival of 12,000 fresh troops from Richmond and 
the Shenandoah and opened a deadly fire upon 
the Union ranks, and a panic was soon seen 
among some of the Union forces, and the army 
was compelled to retreat, and the day was lost. 
Bull Run has been well called "one of the best 
planned and worst fought battles of the war." 
Near the close of the battle Howard's brigade 
was put into action undoubtedly with the object 
of holding the enemy in check while the rest of the 
army was being withdrawn. The enemy's line 
was visible in front, as were the re-enforcements 
under General E. Kirby Smith on the right arriv- 
ing on the field and advancing unopposed. The 
Second Vermont moved steadily up the slope near 
the Turnpike under the fire of the enemy's batter- 
ies; at this point Corporal R. H. Benjamin was killed 
and Sergeant U. A. Woodbury lost an arm. This 
was the first man killed in action, and the first 
sleeve emptied by a rebel shot among the Vermont 



196 EARLY HISTORY 

troops. The same shell that killed Benjamin took 
Woodbury's right arm. The Second marched to 
within from 200 to 300 yards of the enemy's line, 
posted behind a rail fence, and fired from ten to fif- 
teen rounds per man. Soon after, however, the en- 
emy concentrated the fire of his batteries upon the 
ranks of the Second, and Colonel Whiting learning 
that the line behind him had retired, they fell back 
and found the army in full retreat. The Vermont- 
ers gave the last parting shot to the foe. The 
Second Vermont lost 2 enlisted men killed, 1 officer 
and 34 enlisted men wounded, and 1 officer and . 
30 enlisted men missing — all being captured — a 
total of 68. Colonel Whiting said in his report 
that "officers and men exhibited the utmost cool* 
ness and bravery in the presence of the enemy; 99 
and Colonel Howard (now Major General) said of 
them, they were "cool and steady as regular 
troops. You stood on the brow of that hill (re- 
ferring to a hill the regiment had passed over just 
before they were' withdrawn) and fired your 36 
rounds and retired only at the command of your 
Colonel." The enemy was not in condition to fol- 
low up their success. In this battle there were 
481 Union men killed, 1011 wounded and 1216 
missing, and 387 Confederates killed, 1582 wound- 
ed, and 13 missing. The Second Vermont con- 
tinued its retreat to Alexandria and was soon 
after moved to Georgetown heights commanding 
Chain Bridge where the Third Vermont was sta- 
tioned, and in September was moved to the Vir- 
ginia side of the Potomac on the Leesburg pike, 
about a mile from the bridge to a camp called 
"Camp Advance." 



OF VERMONT. 197 

General George B. McClellan had taken com- 
mand of the army and the troops were drilled and 
fitted to make an advance on Richmond, the capi- 
tal of Va. In the latter part of September the 
Fourth and Fifth Vermont regiments arrived from 
Vermont and went into camp near by the Second. 
The regiment had a' great amount of fatigue 
duty in constructing Forts Ethan Allen and Mar- 
cy, which were to guard the approaches to 
Chain Bridge. In September the condition of the 
men was not cheerful as they needed their over- 
coats, that they lost at the battle of Bull Run, to 
protect them from the autumn fogs, chilly nights 
and cold rain storms. The Vermont troops were 
now in General W. F. Smith's Division, and he or- 
dered an advance, and the Vermont regiments 
marched about four miles and camped at what 
was named Camp Griffin, and here they remained 
five months. During the month of October the 2d, 
3d, 4th, 5th and 6th Vermont regiments were or- 
ganized into the first Vermont brigade. 

Colonel Whiting, in recommending promotions 
and appointments to Governor Holbrook, made 
it a point to transfer officers from one company to 
another, and gave as a reason that officers found 
it difficult to secure obedience from men who had 
been their neighbors and equals at home, but this 
did not meet the approval of Governor Holbrook 
who thought that when transfers were made the 
officers and privates should beconsulted. Whiting 
objected to submitting his recommendations to 
his inferiors in rank as utterly without precedent 
in military history, and he could not be responsi- 



11)8 EARLY HISTORY 

ble for the discipline of the regiment, "if the head 
was to be in the tail." It was regarded that 
Colonel Whiting's objection was well taken, and 
thereafter the recommendations of Colonels in the 
field for appointments and promotions were as a 
rule approved by the Governors. 

In the spring of 1862, when General McClellan 
had got ready to put the army of the Potomac in 
motion towards Richmond, his objective point 
was the Peninsula between the York and James 
rivers, and the Second regiment was transported 
to Fortress Monroe and took its part in the 
Peninsula campaign. The other regiments of the 
brigade received their first experience in battle at 
Lee's Mill, April 16th; the Second lost but two 
men. The reconnoisances made by Gen. McClel- 
lan on April 30th in preparation for an attack on 
Yorktown, was conducted by the Second regi- 
ment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel 
Stannard. They skirmished with the enemy's 
pickets and drove them back a mile to their rifle- 
pits. The loss to the regiment was three men 
killed. The regiment was with the brigade at the 
battle of Williamsburg and did its share of march- 
ing, digging and fighting on the Chickahominy on 
the army's progress towards Richmond during 
the months of May and June. On May 21 Stan- 
nard was appointed Colonel of the Ninth regiment. 
General McClellan was sharply criticised by 
the people and a large portion of the press of the 
pountry on account of his slow progress up the 
peninsula and the failure to take Richmond. Un- 
doubtedly the delay was disastrous to the Union 



OF VERMONT. 199 

forces. The fighting force of the Union army \va9 
greatly weakened by sickness of the men caused 
by the unhealthy locality where they were en- 
camped in the swamps of the Chickahominy. The 
Second suffered with the rest; it had its share of 
hardships during the battles of Fair Oaks, Sav- 
age's Station, the Seven Days' Retreat and at the 
battle of Malvern Hill. At Savage's Station the 
regiment lost five men killed and 38 wounded on 
June 29th; and had one man killed and several 
wounded at the battle of Antietam on Sept. 17th, 
and then marched back to Virginia with the Sixth 
Corps to Acquia Creek; on Dec. 3d the Second 
was detached from the brigade to guard the mili- 
tary telegraph line and rejoined the brigade at 
Belle Plain, Va., on the 10th of December, and on 
the 13th it was engaged in the battle of Freder- 
icksburg and held the crest of a hill near the spot 
where the Richmond stage road crosses Deep Run; 
the regiment lost five men killed and mortally 
wounded, and 54 wounded. On February 9th, 
1863, Colonel Whiting resigned for the reason 
that he had not been justly treated in the matter 
of promotion. He was the ranking Colonel of the 
brigade, and General Smith, bis junior, had been 
rapidly advanced. General Brooks was made 
commander of the brigade when he thought he 
was entitled to it. His resignation was accepted. 
At the battle of Chancelldrsville in May, 1803, 
the regiment was distinguished by its gallantry 
in storming the Heights of Fredericksburg on 
the 3d of May; it was one of the first regiments 
which gained the crest of Mary's heights and 



200 EARLY HISTORY 

drove the enemy from bis works and captured 
three guns; the regiment lost 11 men killed and 
94 wounded, five of whom mortally; the next 
day it was hotly engaged at or near Banks 9 
Ford with a loss of 6 killed and 20 wounded. On 
the 13th the Confederate army under General R.E. 
Lee started on their march to the north, and the 
Second with the 6th Corps marched through Cen- 
terville,Va.,and through Maryland to Gettysburg, 
and took part in the battle there that resulted in 
a decisive Union victory. This result caused Lee's 
army to return to Virginia. On August 14th, the 
regiment went with the brigade to New York to 
maintain order during the draft, and after a stay 
of two weeks it was taken to Poughkeepsie, N. 
Y., where it remained eight days; it won high 
praises from both the press and people for its dis- 
cipline. The regiment returned to Virginia; and 
the 22d of August, 1863, joined the Sixth Corps 
at Culpepper Court House. On the 26th the regi- 
ment had the misfortune to lose its Quartermas- 
ter Stone and supply train of twenty wagons, five 
miles northwest of Warrenton on his way to 
camp, where he was overtaken by Colonel Mosby 
with a hundred men of his irregular cavalry. 

On December 18th the regiment had a new and 
sad experience, when one of the recruits was shot 
for desertion. The sentence was executed in the 
presence of the entire regiment. 

Before the term of the men had expired under 
the orders of the war department, the men were 
allowed to re-enlist, and between December 1863, 
and the 4th of February, 1864, 181 men of the 



OP VERMONT. 201 

regiment had re-enlisted, the government paying a 
bounty of $402. 

On May 4th, 1864, the regiment marched with 
the Sixth Corps to share the work and dangers 
of the army under General Grant in the battles of 
the wilderness ; the 5th and 6th of May were two 
bloody days ; Colonel Stone, the commander of 
the Second, was wounded early in the action on 
the 5th, and went to the rear and had his wound 
dressed ; he then called for his horse and rode back 
to the front, where he was greeted with cheers by 
his command. IJe said to his men "Well, boys, 
this is rough work, but I have done as I told you I 
wished you to do, not to leave for a slight wound, 
but to remain just as long as you can do any 
good. I am here to stay just as long as I can do 
any good." He was struck by a musket ball and 
fell from his horse a corpse. The conduct and 
courage of such a soul are more than any words 
of praise. The command then devolved on Lieut.- 
Col. Tyler, who, the same day, received a mortal 
wound ; when his men ran to help him he ordered 
them back to the ranks— he said, "every musket 
is needed in the line." The next day the regiment 
was placed under the command of Lieut. -Col. 
S. E. Pingree of the Third Vermont. The loss of 
the regiment in this battle was 297 men out of 
800 present for duty; 57 were killed or mortally 
wounded. The regiment had 12 trying days be- 
fore the lines of Spottsylvania; on the 10th it 
was a part of the column of twelve picked regi- 
ments, under Colonel Upton that charged the 
enemy's center and carried the works and cap- 



202 EARLY HISTORY 

tured a brigade of over 1000 men and a battery; 
it fought at the famous "bloody angle" on the 
12th of May. Up to this time in the campaign its 
casualties were 440 after it crossed the Rapidan. 
The regiment distinguished itself again on Tune 
1st in a severe engagement at Gold Harbor, Va., 
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Pingree, 
charging the enemy's woris under heavy fire and 
making a firm stand near the enemy's line. When 
the overland campaign of Gen. Grant ended on 
June 12th the aggregate loss of the regiment was 
477 men— 82 of them killed, 359 wounded, 50 of 
whom died of their wounds. On June 18th the 
regiment had two men wounded in a skirmish in 
front ot Petersburgh. The term of service of the 
original members of the regiment, that had not 
re-enlisted expired before October 1st, and 19 
officers and 200 men started for home and were 
mustered out at Brattleboro. There was gen- 
eral regret at their departure from the front 
as was expressed in an order of Brig.-Gen. Neill 
as follows : 

"Headquarters Second Division Sixth Corps, 

June 20th, 1864. 

General Order No. 36— It is not necessary that 
any of the Vermont brigade should have their 
deeds recounted, or their praises sung in general 
orders. How many well fought and bloody fields 
bear witness to their bravery! Least of all do you, 
the soldiers of the Second Vermont, the veterans 
of the brigade who have shed your blood on al- 
most every field, from the first Bull Run, need a 
panegyrist. Your deeds speak for themselves, and 



OF VERMONT. 203 

will keep your memory green, while courage, 
steadiness and devotion to duty are honored 
among men. But that you may know how your 
general and your comrades regret and mourn your 
departure, and to bid you farewell and Godspeed, 
this order is written. Again fareweU, brave and 
noble men. For three years you have borne the. 
brunt of battle, and now returning home with 
scarce a tithe of your original numbers, with 
just pride you can proclaim that you have done 
your duty. You have fulfilled your compact. His- 
tory will record your services. Let this order ex- 
press the feelings ol those you leave behind. " 

At the end of the three years* term there were 
left but 370 out of 866 original members. Down to 
that time the 181 men that had re enlisted were 
reduced by death to 150 men. Of those that re- 
mained in service, participated with the Fourth 
and Eleventh Vermont in the movement against 
the Weldon Railroad, where they suffered severely. 
The regiment with the Vermont brigade were de- 
tached from the army and sent to Washington to 
protect that city from capture by General Early. 
Then followed the arduous service of the Vermont 
troops in Shenandoah Valley, and was engaged on 
the 14th of August, 1864, in the skirmish on Fish- 
er's Hill, where the Second lost two men wounded 
on the skirmish line, and were sharply engaged at 
Charlestown, Va., on the 21st under command of 
Lieut.-Col. Tracy, where it lost five men killed and 
11 wounded. At the battle of Winchester, on Sept. 
19th, the regiment lost five men killed and mor- 
tally wounded, and 29 wounded. The regiment 



204 EARLY HISTORY 

on that victorious field was led by Major Enoch 
Johnson, whose services were especially recog- 
nized by the brigade commander. At Cedar Creek 
on the 19th of October, Lieutenant Colonel Tracy 
in that battle was temporarily in command of the 
brigade and was wounded— his services in that 
day's work were specially mentioned in the report 
of General L. A. Grant. The regiment in that bat- 
tle in which a splendid victory was won, was com- 
manded by Captain Elijah Wales. The national 
troops in these series of victories in the Shenandoah 
were under the command of the brave General 
Sheridan. 

On Dec. 9, 1864, the regiment with the rest of 
the Sixth Corps were at Petersburgh, where it, on 
April 2d, 1865, participated in the final victorious 
assault on the defences at that place; the regi- 
ment lost eight men killed and 33 wounded; it 
joined in the pursuit of Lee's army. The regi- 
ment was finally mustered out July 1 5, 1865, and 
returned to Burlington, Yt., where they were wel- 
comed home by Hon. George P. Edmunds in an 
appropriate address. The regiment had won im- 
perishable glory. The dangers and hardships 
through which the regiment had passed are indi- 
cated by the following list of battles in which it 
participated: 

THE BATTLES OP THE SECOND VERMONT. 

Bull Run, July 21, 1861 

Lee's Mill, April 16, 1862 

Williamsburg, May 5, 1862 

Gokling's Farm, June 26, 1862 



OF VERMONT. 



205 



Savage's Station, 

White Oak Swamp, 

Crampton's Gap, 

Antietara, 

Fredericksburg, 

Marye's Heights, 

Salem Heights, 

Fredericksburg, 

Gettysburg, 

Funkstown, 

Rappahannock Station, 

Wilderness, 

Spottsylvania, 

Cold Harbor, 

Petersburg, 

Fisher's Hill, 

Cliarlestown, 

Opequan, 

Winchester, 

Fisher's Hill, 

Mount Jackson, 

Cedar Creek, 

Petersburg, 

Petersburg, 

Sailor's Creek, 



June 29, 1862 

June 30, 1862 

Sept. 14, 1862 

Sept. 17, 1862 

Dec. 13, 1862 

May 3, 1863 

May 4, 1863 

June 5, 1863 

July 3, 1863 

July 10, 1863 

Nov. 7, 1863 

May 5 to 10, 1864 

May 10 to 18, 1864 

June 1 to 12, 1864 

June 18, 1864 

Aug. 14, 1864 

Aug. 21, 1864 

Sept. 13, 1864 

Sept. 19, 1864 

Sept. 21, 1864 

Sept. 24, 1864 

Oct. 19, 1864 

March 25, 1865 

April 2, 1865 

April 6, 1865 



This is a wonderful record. In this regiment 
there were 
Killed in action 4 officers, and 134 enlisted 

men; total 138 

Died of wounds, 2 officers and 80 enlisted 

men; total 82 

Died of disease, enlisted men 139 



206 



EARLY HISTORY 



Died in Confederate prisons, not of wounds 22 
Died from accidents, enlisted men, 3; exe- 
cuted 1; total 4 



Total of deaths, 



385 




'93 




CHAPTER X. 



THE ORGANIZATIONS AND SERVICES OF 

THE THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH AND 

SIXTH REGIMENTS IN THE 

CIVIL WAR OF 1861. 



The rendezvous for the Third regiment was 
fixed at St. Johnsbttry on the grounds of the Agri- 
cultural society — the camp was named Camp Bax- 
ter. The regiment was a fine body of troops, the 
average height of the men was five feet ten and one- 
half inches ; the tallest one measured six feet five 
and one-half inches in his stocking feet. During the 
six weeks sojourn at the camp, the discipline of 
regiment was lax and an unusual amount of 
running the guards, and some riotous proceedings 
took place. On the evening of July 20, 1861, a 
raid by some of the men was made on a refresh- 
ment saloon, and one of the guards fired into the 
raiders who were battering in the door bf the 
saloon and killed Sergeant John Terrill of Co. I, 
and wounded another. 

Breed N. Hyde of Hyde Park was appointed its 
Lieutenant-Colonel. The regiment was mustered 
into the United States service on July 16th, and it 
left for Washington July 24th ; the regiment then 
num1>ered 882 officers and men; it was accom- 
panied by a regimental band of 24 pieces. At the 

(207) 



208 EARLY HISTORY 

stations all the way down the Connecticut valley 
to New Haven the men were cheered on their way 
by throngs of spectators ; at Holyoke, Mass., a 
thousand factory girls from the mills formed in 
line beside the track and cheered and waved the 
men on as the train went by; they arrived at 
Washington July 26th, and marched to George- 
town Heights, and went into camp at Camp 
Lyon ; Captain William P. Smith, U. S. A., after- 
wards Major-General, took command_of the regi- 
ment as its Colonel. On August 16th Colonel 
Smith was appointed Brigadier-General of Volun- 
teers, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hyde was made 
Colonel, and Major Wheelock G. Veazey was ap- 
pointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and 
Captain Thomas O. Seaver of Co. F, was made 
Major. The regiment did its full share of fatigue 
duty. About this time an incident occurred that 
made a great sensation and created much sympa- 
thy for William Scott, a private of Co. K. Scott 
was found asleep while on picket duty; for this 
offense he was tried, convicted and sentenced to be 
shot on Sept. 8th. He was but 22 years of age 
and of good character, and had been on picket 
duty two nights in succession, the last night hav- 
ing taken the place of a sick comrade. An ap- 
plication was made, numerously signed for his 
pardon and taken to Washington. The facts 
came to the knowledge of President Lincoln and 
he caused an order to be telegraphed to camp to 
stay the execution of the sentence— fearing it had 
been miscarried he went himself on the night of 
the 7th ten miles to headquarters to see that his 



OF VERMONT. 209 

order was carried out. In accordance with his 
order, the next day, as Scott was taken out to be 
shot, deadly pale and in agony in view of his sup- 
posed last moments, an order from Major-General 
McClellan was read to him and those assembled, 
that declared in part, that "the President of the 
United States has expressed a wish that as this is 
the first condemnation to death in this array for 
this crime, mercy may be extended to the criminal. 
This fact, viewed in connection with the inexperi- 
ence of the condemned as a soldier, his previous 
good conduct and general good character, and the 
urgent entreaties made in his behalf" had deter- 
mined the Major-General commanding to grant 
the pardon; and he was released and returned to 
duty. Scott did good service thereafter and gave 
his life for his country a few months later while 
charging the rebel rifle pits at Lee's Mill. 

On September 11th the regiment with a part of 
the Second and others, had their first experience 
under fire near Lewinsville, Va., and drove in the 
enemy's skirmishers where Sergeant Farnham was 
wounded in the ankle, and on return of the troops 
they were attacked by a section of Rosser v s bat- 
tery and infantry under command of the rebel 
Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, killing one man of the 
Third and mortally wounding another, and 
wounding four or five others, but the enemy was 
driven back. This affair' was characterized by the 
Confederate side as routing of a large Union force 
by a small Confederate battalion. The fall rains, 
frequent fogs and cold nights told severely on the 
health of the men. Typhoid fever prevailed that 



210 EARLY HISTOKY 

occasioned several deaths; on the 8th of October 
over 200 men were on the sick list. There was a 
serious lack of sufficient clothing; a petition was 
made by the commissioned officers to the Legis- 
lature and by Geheral Smith to the Governor, 
calling attention of the State authorities to the 
needs of the men, and by the middle of November 
the regiment was comfortably clothed and the 
health of the regiment greatly improved. In the 
spring of 1862 the regiment was removed with 
the brigade and the army to the Peninsula to take 
part in the campaign under McClellan. The regi- 
ment arrived at Portiess Monroe on March 24th, 
and on April 16th they took an important part in 
the assault on the enemy's works at Lee's Mill; 
four companies of the regiment dashed through 
and across Warwick Creek and carried the enemy's 
rifle pits— this was regarded as the most daring 
exploit of the campaign. Captain Samuel E. Pin- 
gree led the assault with the utmost gallantry 
and held his men to their work until he was seri- 
ously wounded. The loss of the regiment in this 
battle was 26 killed and 63 wounded, nine of 
whom died of their wounds. At the battle of 
Williamsburg the regiment was sent to the right to 
re-inforce General Hancock, and did picket and 
fatigue duty in front of Richmond, and on the 
Seven Days Retreat. In those trying days the 
regiment was commanded by Lieut. -Col. Veazey ; 
at Savage's Station, June 29th, it lost six killed 
and eighteen wounded. Willie Johnson, 14 years of 
age, the drummer boy of Co. D, was the only 
drummer of the entire division who carried 



OF VERMONT. 211 

his drum through to Harrison's Landing. Later 
Willie was summoned to Washington and received 
from Secretary Stanton the star medal of honor, 
for his fidelity and pluck. 

The regiment took part in the fighting at 
Crampton's Gap on the 14th of September and in 
the battle at Antietam on the 17th of September, 
where it lost one man killed and three wounded, 
and at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13th, where it had 
two killed and eight wounded. On January 7, 
1863 the regiment was at Belle Plain, Va., with 
an aggregate of 791 men. Col. Hyde was ordered 
before a court martial on a charge of cowardice at 
the battle of Fredericksburg of Dec. 13, 1862 ; he 
was advised to resign, and did so on the 15th of 
January, 1863, and Lieut.-Col. Seaver was made 
Colonel. 

Seaver was a man that had shown himself cool 
and brave in action and faithful to every duty. On . 
May 3d, 1863, at the second battle of Fredericks- 
burg his regiment formed a part of the third 
storming column that carried the crest with the 
loss of one killed and six wounded; the next day 
at the engagement at Hanks 9 Ford under Lieut.- 
Col. Pingree, it rendered gallant service in the 
repulse of the Confederate brigades of Hoke and 
Hays, where the regiment lost two killed and 
mortally wounded, 24 wounded and 13 missing; 
it shared the hard march to Gettysburg. In Au- 
gust and September 1863, it was held at New York 
to maintain order in that city; a part of their 
service, before they returned to service in Virginia, 
was to guard a New Jersey regiment that was .not 



212 EARLY HISTORY 

under proper discipline, and to stop desertion 
therefrom. On the night of the 7th September 
several of the Jerseymen undertook to run past 
the guard, and three of them, bounty jumpers, 
were killed and four wounded, which stopped any 
further attempt to run the guard while Vermont- 
ers were on duty. 

Six hundred men of the regiment marched into 
the Wilderness under General U. S. Grant on the 
4th of May, 1864, and more than a third of them 
fell in the battles of the 5th and 6th ot May— 40 
were killed, 184 wounded, 25 of whom died of 
their wounds. The regiment was in the thickest 
of the fight at the ''bloody Angle." The loss of 
the regiment on the 10th and 12th of May was 19 
killed and 75 wounded, of whom 7 died. On June 
3d it suffered severely at Cold Harbor, having 13 
killed, 17 mortally wounded, and 53 wounded; 
the regiment marched with the army and arrived 
in front of Petersburg. The regiment was a part 
of the sixth corps composed mainly of Vermont 
troops under the charge of Lieut.-Col. S. E. Pin- 
gree as Division Officer of the Day, and showed 
great coolness and bravery at the battle at 
Weldon Railroad, where 400 of the brigade were 
captured. The regiment went with the brigade to 
Washington on July 9th, to repel Early's attempt 
to take that city. While the regiment was at Lees- 
burg on July 16th, the term oi 104 of the original 
members of the regiment, who had not re-enlisted, 
expired, and they returned to Vermont, and ar- 
rived at Burlington the 21st, where they were wel- 
comed in the presence of a large assemblage, in an 



OF VERMONT. 213 

address by Hon. L. B. Englesby, followed by a 
supper tendered the veterans by the citizens of 
Burlington at the American Hotel. 

In the engagement of the regiment at Charles- 
town, Va., August 21st, 1864, it had three men 
killed and fifteen wounded, and at Winchester, 
Sept. 19th, General Sheridan's opening battle of 
the Shenandoah campaign, it had two men killed 
and twenty-six wounded., and on the 21st at 
the battle of Fisher's Hill it had one killed, and 
again at the battle of Cedar Creek on the 19th of 
October, the regiment lost three killed and 38 
wounded, three of whom died of their wounds. 
Major Floyd was mentioned in General Grant's 
report, for "truly conspicuous and gallant con- 
duct." He received his commission as Lieutenant- 
Colonel of the regiment soon after that battle. Af- 
ter the close of the Shenandoah campaign the reg- 
iment with the Sixth Corps returned to Peters- 
burg and took part in the operations of the Army 
under General U. S. Grant till the surrender of Lee 
at Appomattox. In the last stand made by the en. 
eny in front of Petersburg, a portion of the regi- 
ment captured a Confederate battery where the 
regiment lost four killed and 19 wounded, two of 
whom died. The report of the regiment of June 
7th, 1865, showed an aggregate of 466 men of 
whom 320 were on duty, 128 sick, and 18 absent. 
On June 4th Floyd was promoted to the colonelcy 
of the regiment. On the 19th about 100 whose 
term of service had expired, were mustered out 
and returned to Burlington, Vt. f where they were 
welcomed by a salute of cannon and an address 



214 



EARLY HISTORY 



by Rev. George B. Safford, and were dined at the 
City Hall by the ladies of Burlington. 

BATTLES OF THE THIRD REGIMENT. 



Lewinsville, 


Sept. 11,1861 


Lee's Mill, 


April 16, 1862 


Williamsburg, 


May 5, 1862 


Golding's Farm, 


June 26, 1862 


Savage's Station, 


June 29, 1862 


White Oak Swamp, 


June 30, 1862 


Crampton's Gap, 


Sept. 14, 1862 


Antietam, 


Sept. 17, 1862 


First Fredericksburg, 


Dec. 13, 1862 


Marye's Heights, 


May 3, 1863 


Salem Heights, 


May 4, 1863 


Fredericksburg, 


June 5, 1863 


Gettysburg, 


July 3, 1863 


Funkstown, 


July 10, 1863 


Rappahannock Station, 


Nov. 7, 1863 


Wilderness, 


May 5 to 10, 1864 


Spottsylvania, 


May 10 to 18, 1864 


Cold Harbor, 


June 1 to 12, 1864 


Petersburg, 


June 18, 1864 


Reams Station, 


June 29, 1864 


Washington, 


July 11, 1864 


Charlestown, 


Aug. 21, 1864 


Opequan, 


Sept. 13, 1864 


Winchester, 


Sept. 19, 1864 


Fisher's Hill, 


Sept. 21 and 22, 1864 


Cedar Creek, 


Oct. 19, 1864 


Petersburg, 


March 25 and 27, 1865 


Petersburg, 


April 2, 1865 


The original members 


of the Third Regiment 



OF VERMONT. 215 

were 38 commissioned officers and 843 enlisted 
men, total 881 

It gained by recruits 919 and transfers 
from other regiments, 9, total 928 

Aggregate, 1809 

LOSSES 

Killed in action, officers and enlisted men, 130 

Died of wounds, 70 

Died of disease, 1 44 

Died not of wounds in Confederate prisons, 9 

Died from accidents, 4 

Total of deaths, 357 

The Fourth Regiment.— Soon after the first 
battle of Bull Run, in a proclamation, the Gover- 
nor declared that orders would be issued for en- 
listing the Fourth and Fifth Regiments, and in ac- 
cordance with that determination and the act of 
the Legislature he exercised his discretion, and the 
orders were issued, and forty recruiting officers 
were commissioned, and he called upon the citi- 
zens, and "especially the young men of the State 
to enroll their names at the several recruiting sta- 
tions for the service of their country." Enough 
enlisted before Sept. 1st to fill both regiments. 
Lieutenant Edwin H. Stoughton, U. S. A., a grad- 
uate of West Point, 23 years of age, was appoint- 
ed Colonel of the Fourth. The rendezvous of the 
regiment was at Brattleboro at the place called 
Camp Holbrook; the standard bearer was six feet 
seven and one-half inches tall. The regiment was 



216 EARLY HISTORY 

sent forward and arrived at Washington Sept. 
23d, and went into camp with the Fifth at "Camp 
Advance" with other Vermont Regiments and at 
once entered upon picket duty, and soon were 
moved- with General Smith's division to Lewins- 
ville, Va. 

Adjutant General Theodore S. Peck, in his Re- 
vised Roster of Vermont Volunteers says, that the 
long and honorable service of each of the regi- 
ments composing the First Vermont Brigade, con- 
sisting of the five regiments from the Second to 
the Sixth inclusive, was so nearly the common ex- 
perience and fame of all, "that the story of one is 
the substantial counterpart to the story of all the 
others. There was scarcely a fight in the whole 
service in which all were not under fire where any 
were; and no man could say that the glory which 
shed such a wide lustre on our arms, and gave the 
great name to the valor of the Vermont troops, 
was not the equal property of each of those five 
regiments." The Eleventh Regiment that joined 
the Brigade later, shared in the arduous service 
and the imperishable glory of the achievements of 
the brigade. 

From the 9th of October 1861, until March 10, 
1862, the regiment was encamped at Camp Griffin. 
As the period of cold nights and fall rains came on 
much sickness prevailed ; on Nov. 9, 1861 the sur- 
geon reported 200 men sick, and in December the 
number was nearly doubled. The camp was 
moved in December on to higher ground and more 
ample clothing was furnished, and a change for 
the better immediately took place. On March 10, 



OF VERMONT. 217 

1862, the regiment with the brigade embarked on 
transports for Fortress Monroe, and sdon marched 
in the grand advance of General McClellan's army 
up the Peninsula. On the 7th, Private Madison 
M. Myrick was wounded by the enemy's picket — 
he was the first man wounded in the regiment. 
The regiment was in the engagement at Lee's 
Mill above the dam of Warwick Creek. The loss 
of the regiment in this engagement was two killed 
and ten wounded, one of whom died of his wounds. 
It took part in the battle of Williamsburg and 
aided in turning the enemy's left, and in the en- 
gagements at Golding's Farm, Savage's Station, 
White Oak Swamp, and on the Seven Days Re- 
treat. In all these battles the regiment took an 
honorable part and had one man killed, and five 
sick and three wounded men fell into the hands 
of the enemy at Savage's Station June 29th. The 
regiment remained at Harrison's Landing till 
August 16th, when it marched to Fortress Mon- 
roe, and from thence transported to Acquia Creek, 
and shared in the hardships and triumphs of the 
Antietam campaign, and distinguished itself in the 
storming of Crampton's Gap Sept. 14, and cap- 
tured on the crest of the mountains 121 men and 
the colors of the 16th Virginia. The loss of the 
regiment the 14th was one killed and 14 wounded; 
at the battle of Antietam on the 17th it had six 
men wounded, three of whom died of their wounds; 
soon after, while at Hagerstown, Md., it received 
109 recruits. On Sept. 20th it showed an aggre- 
gate of 798 officers and men. On Nov. 6th, 1862, 
Colonel S. H. Stoughton was appointed Brigadier 



218 EARLY HISTORY 

General of volunteers and assigned to command 
the Second Vermont brigade, and Charles B. 
Stoughton became Colonel of the regiment, and 
Major George P. Poster was appointed Lieutenant 
Colonel. On Dec. 13th at the battle of Fredericks- 
burgh the regiment had 11 killed and 45 wounded. 
At the second battle of Fredericksburg, May 3, 
1863, the regiment was in the third line of the 
assaulting column in the storming of Marye's 
Heights, and in the engagement the next day at 
Bank's Ford it lost one man killed and 22 
wounded. At this battle Sergeant Coffey alone 
captured a Captain, a Lieutenant and five pri- 
vates— Coffey came on to them suddenly and com- 
manded them to surrender, and they immediately 
complied, when he threw their muskets into the 
stream, and secured the officers' swords before 
they discovered he was alone; soon some of 
Coffey's company came to his assistance and the 
captured men were marched in, to their intense 
mortification. The regiment was marched to 
Gettysburg, and was on the skirmish line on that 
field on the third day. Colonel Stoughton was 
severely wounded at Funkstown, July 10th, and 
the regiment there lost one man killed and 23 
wounded. The regiment with the brigade in Au- 
gust went to New York city to maintain order 
during the draft. On the 24th September it re- 
ceived 200 recruits at Culpepper Court House; it 
spent the winter with the Sixth Corps at Brandy 
Station, Va. On February 2d Colonel Stoughton 
resigned and Lieutenant Fodter became Colonel, 
and afterwards for gallant and meritorious con- 



OF VERMONT. 219 

duct in the Shenandoah Campaign and before 
Petersburg won a brevet as brigadier general. 

The regiment had its share in the battle of the 
Wilderness; on May 4th, I864 f it crossed the 
Rapidan with about 600 muskets ; the first three 
days it had 16 officers killed and wounded— the 
casualties of the regiment were 257, over forty 
per cent of its effective force, 34 were killed, 194 
wounded, of whom 45 died of their wounds. On 
May 7th the regiment was marched to Chancel- 
lorsville, where the brigade was detached to guard 
the train of the Sixth Corps. At Spottsylvania, 
on May 12th, it fought in the front line where 
four were killed and 44 wounded, 13 of whom 
died of their wounds, and at Cold Harbor it had 
one man killed and seven wounded, six of whom 
died of their wounds. On the 16th the regiment 
crossed James River in the movement of the Divi- 
sion to Petersburg. On the 23d, at the Weldon 
Railroad, seven officers and 137 men of the regi- 
ment, and a battalion of the Eleventh were cap- 
tured. Three men of the Fourth were killed and 
several wounded. It is sad to note, that of the 
men captured no less than 65 of them died in Con- 
federate prisons— most of them in Andersonville, 
Ga. What was left of the Fourth went with the 
Sixth Corps to Washington to stop the progress 
of Early's raid in Maryland and prevent him from 
making a dash on Washington. The regiment 
shared in the marching and fighting in the Shenan- 
doah Campaign under General Sheridan. On the 
20th Sept. the term of the original three years 
men that had not re-enlisted, expired. Ten officers 



220 EARLY HISTORY 

and 136 men returned to Vermont and were mus- 
tered out. The regiment had still an aggregate 
of 550 men, of which about 200 were present for 
duty, and 144 still in the hands of the enemy and 
200 sick. The vote in the field for President in the 
regiment stood 74 for McClellan and 64 for Lin- 
coln. 

On Dec. 9, 1864, the regiment was returned to 
the army in front of Petersburg. On February 
25, 1865 the regiment was consolidated into eight 
companies and 166 sharp shooters were trans- 
ferred to it, increasing the aggregate of the regi- 
ment to 757, but only 365 were present for duty. 
Forty of those captured at the Weldon Railroad 
were exchanged and joined the regiment on March 
10th. 

In the final assault on the 2d of April, resulting 
in the fall of Richmond, the regiment was actively 
engaged and lost one man killed and 11 mfen 
wounded. Soon alter the regiment marched to 
Danville, Va., and then to Munson's Hill near 
Washington, where it remained till mustered out. 

THE BATTLES OF THE FOURTH YERMONT. 

Lee's Mill, April 16, 1862 

Williamsburg, May 5, 1862 

Golding's Farm, June 26, 1862 

Savage's Station, June 29, 1862 

White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862 

Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862 

Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862 

Fredericksburg, Dec. 1 3, 1 862 

Marve's Heights,. May 3, 1863 





OF VERMONT. 221 


Fredericksburg, 




June 5, 1863 


Gettysburg, 




July 3, 1863 


Funkstown, 




July 10, 1563 


Rappahannock Station, 


Nov. 7, 1863 


Wilderness, 




May 5 to 10, 1864 


Spottsylvania, 




May 10 to 18, 1864 


Cold Harbor, 




June 1 to 12, 1864 


Petersburg, 




June 18, 1864 


Weldon Railroad, 




June 23, 1864 


Charlestown, 




Aug. 21, 1864 


Opequan, 




Sept. 13, 1864 


Winchester,. 




Sept. 19, 1864 


Fisher's Hill, 




Sept. 21 and 22, 1864 


Cedar Creek, 




Oct. 19, 1864 


Petersburg, 




March 25 and 27, 1865 


Petersburg, 




April 2, 1865 




STATEMENT. 



Original members, 38 officers, and 1010 

enlisted men, total 1048 

Gain— recruits 602, transfers from other 

regiments 203, total 805 

Aggregate # 1853 

LOSSES. 

Killed in action, 8 officers, and 66 enlisted 

men; total 74 
Died of wounds, 4 officers and 83 enlisted 

men; total 87 

Died of disease. 1 95 

Died (unwounded) in Confederate prisons 71 

Died from accidents 2 



Total of deaths, 



429 



222 EARLY HISTORY 

The Fifth Regiment was raised in compli- 
ance with Governor Fairbanks' proclamation of 
July 21, 1861, as before stated; its place of ren- 
dezvous was St. Albans. Lieutenant Henry A. 
Smalley, Seeond U. S. Artillery, who graduated 
from the United States Military Academy in 1854, 
was made its Colonel. The regiment armed and 
equipped, left the State for Washington Septem- 
ber 21st, and arrived at Washington, September 
25th, and soon went into camp at Camp Advance 
on Virginia side of the river close by the camps of 
the Second, Third and Fourth regiments. On Oc- 
tober 9, 1861 the regiment moved out and went 
into camp at Camp Griffin, surrounded by the 
Second, Third and Fourth regiments, and near by 
where Smith's division of twenty thousand men 
were. It was a time of year when the men suffered 
for want of coats and underwear, but the last of 
October proper clothing was received and dis- 
tributed and deficiency in arms supplied ; sickness 
prevailed to an alarming extent, and on January 
2, 1862, sixty men of the Fifth were in hospitals, 
but the regiment improved in health. On March 
10th the Fifth with the other Vermont regiments 
left Camp Griffin and were transported down the 
Potomac to Fortress Monroe and marched up the 
Peninsula with the army under General McClellan. 
Peter Brady was the first man wounded by a hos- 
tile bullet ; this was at Young's Mills. At Lee's 
Mill a part of the regiment was detailed to act as 
sharp-shooters and did good work under a sharp 
fire, in picking off the enemy's cannoneers and 
keeping the enemy's guns silent for hours; two 



OF VERMONT. 223 

man of the regiment were killed in this work. 
When the enemy evacuated Warwick Creek the 
Fifth was the first regiment of General Smith's 
division that was sent across the Creek to occupy 
the enemy's works. 

In March 1862, the staff and line officers ten- 
dered Colonel Smalley, as a token of regard, a 
sabre, belt and sash, which he declined to receive, 
saying, "After any action with the enemy, should 
you then preserve the same high opinion of me 
you now entertain, I shall be pleased and happy 
to accept any evidence of it." After the action at 
Lee's Mill the tender of the testimonial was re- 
newed, and accepted. He said the officers and 
men of the regiment in action had justified his 
hopes, and that "I have in the open field added to 
your confidence is gratifying." In this campaign 
the regiment did their full duty. It was encamped 
at Golding's Farm when the seven days' fighting 
and retreat to Harrison's Landing commenced. 
On June 29th at Savage's Station the regiment ren- 
dered signal service ; during a half hour the regi- 
ment in that engagement suffered the greatest loss 
of men killed and wounded that ever was endured 
by any Vermont regiment in a single action. The 
regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Grant. The regiment took into action not exceed- 
ing 400 men, and lost 45 officers and men killed, 
and 143 wounded of whom 27 died of their 
wounds. Seventy-five wounded and three sick 
men fell into the hands of the enemy. On August 
16th the regiment participated in the movement 
of the army down the Peninsula and up the Poto- 



224 EARLY HISTORY 

mac, and in the campaign in Maryland and Vir. 
ginia in August and September ot 1862. On Sept. 
10th, Col. Smalley retired and Lieut-Col. Grant 
succeeded him. On Sept. 14th the regiment partici- 
pated in the storming of Crampton'sGap and was 
on the field of Antietam. At the battle of Frede- 
ricksburg from Dec. 11th to the 14th it was under 
fire four days where it suffered by one man killed 
and 13 wounded. In February 1863 Colonel Grant 
took command of the brigade and Lieut.-Col. 
Lewis succeeded to the command of the regiment. 
At the storming of Marye's Heights at the Second 
battle of Fredericksburg on the 3d of May, it ad- 
vanced to the top of the heights without loss, but 
on the fourth it lost three killed and 11 wounded. 
On the 5th of June in an affair below Fredericks- 
burg it captured 90 of the enemy from the Eight- 
eenth Mississippi, with a loss of seven men 
wounded. The regiment was on the field of 
Gettysburg, but was not actively engaged, and 
lost but one man ; at the engagement at Funks- 
town on July 10th the regiment repulsed repeated 
attacks of the Confederate lines with a loss of 
three men killed and seven wounded. On August 
11th it was sent to Kingston, N. Y., to keep order 
during the draft. This was an agreeable vacation 
for about three weeks. The regiment's next en- 
gagement was on Nov. 7, 1863, at Rappahannock 
Station, where three men were wounded by artil- 
lery fire. It went into winter quarters ot Brandy 
Station, Va. There on the 15th of December 255 
officers and men, having re-enlisted, were granted 
a furlough for 30 days and left for their homes in 



OF VERMONT. 225 

Vermont; at the expiration of their furlough they 
returned to the field with 40 new recruits. 

On May 4, 1864, the regiment crossed the Rapi- 
dan to take part in the bloody Wilderness cam- 
paign under General U. S. Grant. It went into 
the first days* fight with about 500 men. The 
loss during the Wilderness battle, aggregated 349. 
Lieut.-Col. John R. Lewis, in command of the regi- 
ment, fell early in the first day's fight, May the 
5th, with his left arm shattered, and his arm was 
amputated. He was taken to Fredericksburg, 
where he was met by his wife, who cared for him. 
He was afterwards on June 5th, made Colonel of 
the regiment in consideration of his gallantry — 
his commission dating from May 5th,. 1864; he 
was afterwards brevetted brigadier-general for 
"gallant services in the battle of the Wilderness." 
In the battle of Spottsylvania from May 10th to 
the 21st inclusive the regiment lost 15 killed and 
50 wounded, 12 of whom died of their wounds, 
and 20 missing. Major Dudley, who had suc- 
ceeded to the command of the regiment upon the 
fall of Lieut.-Col. Lewis, was mortally wounded 
while cheering on his njen. He was a brave man 
and had distinguished himself at Bank's Ford and 
at the crossing of the Rappahannock June 5. 1863, 
and on other occasions. The regiment was in the 
front line at Cold Harbor on the 3d of June, losing 
eight killed and 22 wounded ; it moved with the 
brigade to James River and took its share of the 
dangers and hardships before Petersburg; it went 
with the Sixth Corps to drive General Early from 
menacing Washington, in July, where it had one 
10 



226 EARLY HISTORY 

man wounded. In the engagement at Charles- 
town, Va., August 21, it had two men killed and 
four wounded. On Sept. 15th, 1864, 107 of the 
men at the expiration of their term of enlistment, 
who had not re-enlisted, were mustered out and re- 
turned to Vermont. The regiment served with 
the brigade in Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign ; 
at Winchester Sept. 19th it lost six killed and 22 
wounded, and in the battle of Cedar Creek Oct. 
19th, under the command of Major Enoch John- 
son of the Second Vermont, it lost two killed and 
17 wounded. At the close of Sheridan's cam- 
paign in the Valley, it returned with the brigade 
to the main army under Grant, south of Peters- 
burg with 574 men including recruits. It had 148 
sick on the 16th of February, 1865, but the men 
in the regiment improved in health. At Fort 
Fisher, March 25th, the regiment entered the 
works with the brigade and took a number of 
prisoners. The Fifth lost one man killed and 7 
wounded in repulsing an attack on the picket 
line. March 27th, seven men were wounded. 
In the final attack on April 2, 1865, under the 
command of Lieutenant Kennedy the Sixth Corps 
had the honor of leading the storming column, and 
its colors were the first planted on the enemy's 
works. Sergeant Lester G. Hack of Co. F, of the 
Fifth, seized a Confederate battle flag, knocked 
down the Color-bearer, though surrounded by a 
squad of his comrades, and secured the flag. In 
that day's work the regiment lost five killed, 34 
wounded, and seven missing who were taken pris- 
oners, but recaptured. After the surrender of 



OF VERMONT. 



227 



General R. B. Lee, the regiment marched to the vi- 
cinity of Washington, where they were mustered 
out in June, 1865. The State will ever be proud 
of the services of the members of the Fifth, who 
met so many dangers and endured so many hard- 
ships. 

THE HATTLKS OF THE FIFTH VERMONT. 



Lee's Mill, 


April 16, 1862 


Williamsburg, 


May 5, 1862 


Golding's Farm, 


June 26, 1862 


Savage's Station, 


June 29, 1862 


White Oak Swamp, 


June 30, 1862 


Crampton's Gap, 


Sept. 14, 1862 


Antietatn, 


Sept. 17, 1862 


Fredericksburg, 


Dec. 13, 1862 


Marye's Heights, 


May 3, 1863 


Salem Heights, 


May 4, 1863 


Fredericksburg, 


June 5, 1863 


Gettysburg, 


July 3, 1863 


Funkstown, 


July 10, 1863 


Rappahannock Station, 


Nov. 7, 1863 


Wilderness, 


May 6 to 10, 1864 


Spottsylvania, 


May 10 to 18, 1864 


Cold Harbor, 


June 1 to 12, 1864 


Petersburg, 


June 18, 1864 


Charlestown, 


Aug. 21, 1864 


Opequan, 


Sept. 13, 1864 


Winchester, 


Sept. 19, 1864 


Fisher's Hill, 


Sept. 21 and 22, 1864 


Cedar Creek, 


Oct. 19, 1864 


Petersburg, 


March 25 and 27, 1865 


Petersburg, 


April 2, 1865 



228 EARLY HISTORY 



STATEMENT. 



Original members, commissioned officers, 

and men 986 

Recruits 588 

Transferred from other regiments 43 

Aggregate 1617 

LOSSES. 

Killed in action, 133 

Died of wounds, 72 

Died of disease, 114 
Died (not of wounds) in Confederate prisons 11 

Died from accidents 4 

Executed 1 



Total of deaths, 335 

The Sixth Regiment was raised and organized 
in response to a call issued by Governor Fairbanks 
issued on the 16th day of September, 1861. It 
was raised in less than two weeks, and it rendez- 
voused at Montpelier, and was mustered into the 
United States service on October 15th. for three 
years; Nathan Lord, Jr., became its Colonel, and 
it reached Washington, the 22d, and marched to 
Camp Griffin, where it joined the other Vermont 
regiments, completing the Vermont brigade. Dur- 
ing the following winter there were more than 
fifty deaths in the regiment. There were 278 cases 
of typhoid fever, 330 of measles, 90 of diphtheria 
and 180 of mumps. The Vermont brigade was 
assigned to General William F. Smith's division of 
the Fourth Army Corps under the command of 
General Keyes. It entered upon its field work in 



OF VERMONT. 229 

the Peninsula Campaign, and was before the 
enemy at Warwick Creek on April 5th, 18G2; it 
received its baptism of fire on April 16th at Lee's 
Mill. The loss of the regiment in that battle was 
23 killed and mortally wounded, and 57 wounded; 
the regiment was again in battle at Williamsburg. 
On May 16th the regiment became a part of the 
Second brigade, Second Division, Sixth Army 
Corps. The regiment did much hard service while 
the army was laying on the Chickahominy ; it 
was in the battle at Savage's Station on the 
29th of June, where it lost 21 killed and mor- 
tally wounded, and 54 wounded and missing. It 
then marched to Harrison's Landing, where it re- 
mained more than a month ; it then marched to 
Fortress Monroe, where it embarked on trans- 
ports and reached Alexandria the 24th of August ; 
it participated in the Maryland campaign and 
was engaged in the battles of Crampton's Gap, the 
bloody battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. 
On Dec. 18th, 1862, Colonel Lord resigned, and 
Lieutenant Tuttle was promoted to the Colonelcy* 
and in March, 1863, Colonel Tuttle resigned, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Barney was made Colonel, and 
he remained Colonel and commanded the regiment 
until he fell mortally wounded in the battle of the 
Wilderness. The regiment did good service in the 
Chancellorsville Campaign of 1863, at Marye's 
Heights, and Bank's Ford where it made a gallant 
charge and drove back the enemy and captured 
250 prisoners. 

The following incident shows how sometimes 
one good turn serves another. Among the 



230 EAttLY HISTORY 

wounded men captured by the Confederates at the 
battle of Savage's Station was Corporal Alexan- 
der W. Davis of Co. D; while confined in Libby 
prison he learned that his cousin, Dr. James B. 
Davis (a son of Hon. Bliss N. Davis of Danville, 
Vt.) v who resided in Louisiana when the war 
broke out, was the surgeon of the Seventh Louisi- 
ana regiment then stationed near Richmond. He 
wrote to Dr. Davis a letter that resulted in getting 
some kind offices in procuring his exchange and 
furnishing him a horse to ride from Richmond 
to Atkins Landing, where the prisoners were 
transferred to transports to be taken North. 
After the battle of Antietam, Dr. Davis was 
left in charge of the Confederate wounded with- 
in the Union lines, and there met Colonel George 
P. Foster of the Fourth Vermont, and others 
of his former schoolmates. General Truman 
Seymour gave Dr. Davis a guard at that time 
and showed him kindness, which Dr. Davis recip- 
rocated when General Seymour afterwards was a 
prisoner, after the battle of the Wilderness. The 
regiment in the battle of Funkstown, Md., where 
the whole brigade was deployed as skirmishers, 
suffered severely. During the day it was attacked 
three times by heavy lines of battle, but each time 
the enemy was repulsed. It served the remainder 
of the year with "Meade and Lee's express line be- 
tween Alexandria and Culpepper;" and went into 
winter quarters at Brandy Station. 

In the Wilderness campaign the regiment fought 
bravely and suffered greatly in killed and wounded. 
Of the 441 that went into battle 69 were killed 



OF VERMONT. 231 

and 127 wounded. On May 5th Colonel Barney 
was mortally wounded, and the command de- 
volved on Lieutenant Colonel Oscar A. Hale. On 
the 10th at Spottsylvania, it charged with Upton's 
forlorn hope, in which were the first six Vermont 
regiments that were then in the service. Twelve 
regiments were selected, formed in three lines and 
charged bayonet; they took the enemy's works 
and held them three hours and till they were or- 
dered to retire. It was one of the most famous 
charges of the war; it made Colonel Upton Briga- 
dier General and reflected high honor on every 
soldier engaged. The Sixth fought again on the 
12th at the Bloodj r Angle, where nothing but a 
breast work about six feet thick separated them 
from the rebel forces. On the 15th it was re-en- 
forced by 150 men. The regiment was engaged at 
Cold Harbor for 12 days. On the 16th of June, 
1864, it crossed the James, where it remained in 
front of Petersburg until it was sent to Washing- 
ton with other Vermont regiments to drive Gen. 
Early away from that city that he was threat- 
ening to capture; and from there it went with 
Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley; it was at 
Opequan, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar 
Creek, and did its work gloriously. On Dec. 9th, 
1864, the regiment left the Valley and joined the 
army in front of Petersburg the 13th, and in the 
final assault on April 2d the regiment was among 
the first to enter the enemy's works, and was in 
the front line in subsequent movements. It shared 
in the pursuit of Lee's army after the fall of Rich- 
mond; it soon returned to near Washington, 



232 EARLY HISTORY 

where those who had not been discharged before, 
were mustered out on the 26th of June, 1865, and 
those who were able to travel, 297 in number, 
left camp next day for Vermont and arrived at 
Burlington, Vt., June 29th, 1865, and were 
marched to the City Hall, where they were wel- 
comed home, and where the ladies of Burlington 
served a supper for them, and sang songs of wel- 
come, and gave them three cheers and a "tiger." 

BATTLES OF THE SIXTH REGIMENT. 



Lee's Mill, 




April 16, 1862 


Williamsburg, 




May 5, 1862 


Golding's Farm, 




June 26, 1862 


Savage's Station, 




June 29, 1862 


White Oak Swamp, 




June 30, 1862 


Crampton's Gap, 




Sept. 14, 1862 


Antietam, 




Sept. 17, 1862 


Fredericksburg, 




Dec. 13, 1862 


Marye's Heights, 




May 3, 1863 


Salem Heights, 




May 4, 1863 


Fredericksburg, 




June 5, 1863 


Gettysburg, 




July 3, 1863 


Funkstown, 




July 10, 1863 


Rappahannock Station, 




Nov. 7, 1863 


Wilderness, 


M 


ay 5 to 10, 1864 


Spottsylvania, 


May 10 to IS, 1864 


Cold Harbor, 


June 1 to 12, 1864 


Petersburg, 




June 18, 1864 


Charlestown, 




Aug. 21, 1864 


Opequan, 




Sept. 13, 1864 


Winchester, 




Sept. 19, 1864 


Fisher's Hill, 


Sept. 


21 and 22, 1864 



OF VERMONT. 233 

Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864 
Petersburg, March 25 and 27, 1865 

Petersburg, April 2, 1865 

STATEMENT. 

Original number, officers and men, 966 

Recruits, 703 

Transfers from other regiments, 7 



Total 1680 

LOSSES 

Killed in action, 103 

Died of wounds, 84 

Died of disease, 182 

Died (unwounded) in Confederate prisons, 22 

Died from accidents, 2 

Total of deaths, 393 



GHflPTER XL 



THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF THE 

SEVENTH, EIGHTH AND NINTH 

REGIMENTS IN THE CIVIL 

WAR OF 1861. 



Governor Holbrook announced in his message 
to the Legislature in October 1861, that two more 
additional regiments would be required to be 
raised under the then existing call for troops, and 
a law was enacted authorizing the Governor to 
raise one regiment to form a part of the division 
which Benjamin F. Butler was then organizing for 
service in Louisiana, and another to serve in the 
army of the United States without designating 
where. 

The Seventh rendezvoused at Rutland. George 
T. Roberts of Rutland was made its Colonel. The 
Seventh was not raised as a Butler regiment, and 
was dissatisfied when it became known that Gen- 
eral Butler had obtained from the war depart- 
ment an assignment of it to his division. The 
regiment left the State March 10th and was sent 
to Ship Island in the Gulf of Mexico; two died 
during the passage and were buried at sea. Gen- 
eral J. W. Phelps, the old commander of the 
First Vermont, had been on the Island four 
months. He signalized the event of the arrival of 

(284) 



OF VERMONT. 235 

the Vermont troops, which inaugurated a friction 
between him and General Butler and the govern- 
ment at Washington. General Phelps issued his 
famous proclamation to the loyal citizens of the 
Southwest, declaring slavery to be incompatible 
with free government, and its overthrow the aim 
and object of the government in the prosecution 
of the war. 

General Butler prepared, in connection with 
Farragut, an expedition against New Orleans. 
The Seventh and Eighth, and the First and Sec- 
ond Vermont batteries were to take part in it, as 
a part of the brigade, to be commanded by Gen- 
eral Phelps. There was great rejoicing on May 
2d, 1861, when the Vermont troops learned that 
New Orleans had fallen. A part of the regiment 
occupying Fort Pike on May 5th, was employed 
to aid in guarding the entrance of Lake Pontchar- 
train which had been abandoned by the Confeder- 
ates with other defences of New Orleans; soon 
after they reported to General Phelps at Carroll- 
ton, six miles above New Orleans, where they had 
some severe fatigue dut3 r to perform. Malarial 
diseases made a large sick list. On June 15th by a 
peremptor*- order from General Butler, the regi- 
ment under Lieutenant-Colonel Fullam embarked 
for Baton Rouge and reported to Brig.-General 
Thomas Williams. Company C and a part of 
company D were left at Fort Pike. 

The regiment accompanied the expedition under 
Captain Farragut against Vicksburg ; the expedi- 
tion reached that place June 25th, where a long, 
fruitless bombardment took place. In this expe- 



236 EARLY HISTORY 

dition there were but about 3000 men. The rebel 
force at this place was 15,000 men. On July 2d 
Parragut reported that he was satisfied that it 
was not possible to take Vicksburg without an 
army of 12,000 or 15,000 men. The men were 
put to work digging a canal to change the course 
of the Mississippi river so as to leave the town 
back from the river. The scheme was a hopeless 
one. The soldiers christened the trench "Butler's 
Ditch" and "Folly Creek." But sickness in this 
malarial region made fearful inroads into the 
ranks of the troops. The regiment became so re- 
duced that not more than four officers and 100 
men were fit for duty. On July 20th they received 
the welcome order to return to Baton Rouge. 
The Seventh went to Vicksburg, a body of some 
700 effective men. It mustered on its return to 
Baton Rouge, thirty-six days after, less than one 
hundred men fit for duty. The regiment soon im- 
proved somewhat in health, but they were soon 
called into active service in battle before the regi- 
ment had got into a condition for hard service. 
As soon as the expedition against Vicksburg had 
been abandoned, General Van Dorn, who com- 
manded the Confederate forces at Vicksburg, or- 
dered Major-General John C. Breckenridge with 
5000 men to repair to Camp Moore, 60 miles 
from Baton Rouge, there to be joined by the brig- 
ade of General Ruggles, and from there make a 
dash at Baton Rouge and overwhelm the Federal 
forces at that point. It was a good plan if they 
could carry it out. Breckenridge with 18 regi- 
ments and four batteries appeared before the city 



OF YERMONT. 237 

ready for a conflict. To meet this formidable force 
General Williams bad but about 2000 effective 
men. The Seventh with less than 250 men was 
among the opposing forces. General Williams, 
though a capable officer and had had experi- 
ence in the Mexican war, had neglected to fortify 
his position which was on the east bank of the 
Mississippi, just north of the city. Williams was 
warned of the approach of the enemy on the 4th 
of August, and prepared for battle on the next 
day. The Seventh was formed in the second line 
of battle, just in the rear of the Indiana and 
Michigan regiments. The battle commenced in 
earnest at day-break, and in a dense fog, and 
raged for five hours, the Union lines were out- 
flanked and forced back, but by nine o'clock the 
advance of the enemy was checked, and at ten 
o'clock Breckenridge withdrew his forces from 
the field. The Union losses were 84 killed and 266 
wounded, and 33 missing. The Confederate state- 
ment was that they had 84 killed, 313 wounded 
and 56 missing. One of Butler's staff was des- 
patched to the battlefield the next day and re- 
ported that they had already buried 250 rebels. 
The Seventh had but 225 bayonets in the line ot 
battle. The loss of the regiment was one officer 
and nine men wounded. Colonel Roberts was 
twice wounded and died on the 7th, of his wounds. 
General Williams was killed. Jack Russell, a lad 
too young to enlist, who accompanied Major 
Holbrook from Vermont as his servant, was 
also killed. His body was found the next day. 
He had followed Major Holbrook to the picket 



238 BARKY HISTORY 

line and was shot where bis body was found. 
Four days after the battle General Butler is- 
sued an order in which he complimented the Union 
troops without exception for the bravery and 
good behavior in the battle. But soon after a re- 
port reached the regiment that he was going to 
censure it. Major Holbrook called on General 
Butler who notified him that he had been rec- 
ommended to the vacant Colonelcy, and that 
he had prepared an order censuring the regiment 
tor "discreditable behaviour in the face of the 
enemy." Major Holbrook denied the statement 
on which Butler based his order, and cited him to 
eye witnesses of good standing that would testi- 
fy to the good conduct of the men and protested 
against his condemnation of the regiment, but in 
vain, and the order was issued in which he claimed 
the Seventh refused to aid the overwhelmed Indi- 
anians, and by mistake had fired into it killing and 
wounding several, and therefore he "will not per- 
mit their colors to be inscribed with a name which 
could bring to its officers and men no proud 
thought, " and "that the colors be not borne by 
them until such time as they shall have earned 
the right to them." General Butler also made the 
charge that the colors of the regiment were brought 
off the field by another regiment. Major Holbrook 
wrote to the Adjutant-General at Washington ask- 
ing for a court of inquiry. The Governor of Ver- 
mont urged the creation of such a court, and be 
made up of officers sent from Washington. After 
long delay a court of inquiry was appointed from 
officers of troops under the command of General 



OF VERMONT. 239 

Butler. In the findings of the court no failure of 
the regiment was found, except in one particular: 
viz., that soon after Colonel Roberts fell, under the 
sharpest volley that was fired at that battle, "the 
regiment fled about one hundred feet to the rear 
and to the cover of some gullies in a disorderly 
manner, and about two-fifths of the men present 
for duty did not return to the position in the lin^ 
of battle during the day." This finding was ap- 
proved by General Butler, and in his order to 
the regiment said that "the General is glad to 
find that most of the line officers behaved well, 
and that the official reports that led him to be- 
lieve that the regimental colors were lost by the 
regiment were mistakes, and therefore he had pleas- 
ure in ordering the colors of the regiment to be re- 
stored to the regiment with the privilege to car- 
ry them," but did not order them to be inscribed 
with the name of the battle, and he doubted not 
that "the regiment will in its next action retrieve 
its position and earn a proud name for itself and 
State." It was thought by many who had the op- 
portunity to know the facts that the charges made 
against the regiment were hasty and untrue, and 
made to gratify a spite or grudge that General But- 
ler had against the Seventh. The members of the 
court were selected by General Butler and were un- 
der his influence, and naturally anxious not to of- 
fend him. Colonel Dudley, who was in command of 
the regiment during the latter part of the action, 
testified "that he saw nothing to censure in the 
conduct of the Seventh." The fact of the good con- 
duct of the regiment was sustained by the evidence 



240 EARLY HISTORY 

oi Major Holbrook, Captains Porter, Barber, Dut- 
ton and Cronan, and Lieutenants Parker and 
Woodman, and also by Color-Sergeant Parkhurst. 
Subsequently Major General P. H. Sheridan or- 
dered that there be inscribed upon the colors of 
the regiment, Siege of Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, 
Gonzales Station, Spanish Fort and Whistler. 
Major Holbrook was appointed Colonel of the 
regiment. Disease contracted in the swamps near 
Vicksburg made a fearful havoc in the regiment. 
On Nov. 13th, 1862, the regiment embarked for 
Pcnsacola, Florida, and there with healthful sur- 
roundings the health of the regiment rapidly im- 
proved. During the autumn of 1863, many 
refugees came into the Union lines to escape Con- 
federate conscription, and General Asboth, who 
had succeeded Colonel Holbrook in command, di- 
rected Adjutant Sheldon of the Seventh to recruit 
and drill a light battery from the refugees, and al- 
so attempted to organize a cavalry regiment from 
them but they were found to be untrustworthy, 
and the effort was abandoned. Occasionally the 
troops had brushes with Confederate cavalry, 
which broke the monotony of camp life. On Feb- 
ruary, 1864, Lieut. Frank N. Finney returned to 
the regiment from Vermont with 110 recruits, and 
335 during that month re-enlisted, and were en- 
titled to a furlough, but the furlough was delayed 
till August 10th, when they with those whose 
term of service had expired on the 1st day of June, 
1864, departed from Barrancas and Fort Pickens 
for home. On their departure General Asboth ex- 
pressed his full appreciation of their good order, 



OF VERMONT. 24-1 

discipline and efficient service. They arrived at 
Brattleboro August 26, and were received by Gov- 
ernor Smith and the citizens of the town. They 
were glad to meet their kindred and friends, but 
their meeting was saddened at the thought of the 
350 missing comrades that lay buried on the 
banks of the Mississippi and in Florida. At the 
expiration of the furlough the regiment returned 
to the service and arrived at New Orleans on the 
13th of October, 1864, where it remained during 
the winter. The regiment took part in the taking 
of the Spanish Fort in the Mobile campaign under 
General Canby the fore part of April, 1865. The 
siege lasted thirteen days, during which time the 
Seventh was continually under fire. . On the 23d 
of April the Union troops at this place received 
the news of the assassination of President Lincoln. 
Truce was arranged between General Canby and 
General Richard Taylor, and Taylor here surren- 
dered his army which ended hostilities east of the 
Mississippi. The loss of the regiment in this cam- 
paign against Mobile was 18 men wounded and 
25 captured. Colonel Holbrook in his report of 
the regiment, said ''under all circumstances, both 
officers and men have shown courage, obedience 
and proficiencj\" The war was over, but not the 
services of the Seventh, and it was stationed in 
Texas on the Rio Grande at Clarksville and 
Brownsville, to await the outcome of the attempt 
to establish an empire in Mexico under the pro- 
tection of France. The regiment was mustered 
out March 14th, 1866, with 22 commissioned 
officers and 326 enlisted men. 

17 



242 EARLY HISTORY 

THE BATTLES OF THE SEVENTH REGIMENT. 

Siege of Vicksburg, June and July, 1862 

Baton Rouge, Aug. 5, 1862 

Gonzales Station, July 15, 1864 

Mobile campaign and Spanish 

Fort, Mar. 17 to April 1 1 , 1865 

Whistler, April 13, 1865 

STATEMENT. 

Original members, 943 

Recruits and transfers from other regiments, 628 



Total, 


1571 


LOSSES. 




Killed in action, 


11 


Died of disease, 


375 


Disabilities, 


241 


Losses from other causes, 


179 


Mustered out 


765 



Total, 1571 

The Eighth Regiment was in the outset de- 
signed for General Butler's New England division, 
and Stephen Thomas of West Fairlee was selected 
for its Colonel by General Butler himself. Colonel 
Thomas was selected from civil life and was with- 
out any military experience, but he was a man of 
courage, patriotism and honesty, and retained his 
command through the three years term. He was 
mustered out January 21, 1865, and appointed 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers February 1st, 
1865. While the regiment was at Camp Hol- 
hrook, before it left the State, Colonel Thomas 



OF VERMONT. 243 

read to the regiment on dress parade the news 
then just received of the capture of Fort Donald- 
son with 12,000 prisoners by General U. S. Grant. 
Colonel Thomas told his men "that if they did not 
start soon for the front, the Western men would 
end the war and have all the glory." The regiment 
was mustered in February 18th, 1862, and left 
the State March 14th, 1060 strong, together with 
the First Batterj', and after a long and stormy 
voyage anchored at Ship Island April 6th, 1862. 
Here they were drilled, and reviewed by General 
Butler. A little newspaper was started and 
printed by Alfred W. Eastman of Company I. Its 
publisher, in truth, claimed "that it was the best 
paper ever published on Ship Island." After the 
taking of New Orleans the regiment was sent for 
by General Butler. On disembarking they found 
that the burnt docks and warehouses were still 
smouldering; the city was filled with unemployed 
workmen and roughs, who with the women of the 
city, did not conceal their hatred to Union troops. 
General Butler appointed Q. M. Sergeant, J. Elliot 
Smith of the Eighth, military superintendent of 
the telegraph line, and of the fire alarm telegraph 
of the city, and established telegraph lines to the 
outlying districts. The regiment seemed to be 
General Butler's favorite. The New Orleans Delta 
had violated General Butler's proclamation for- 
bidding the publication of rebellious articles, and it 
was taken possession of by General Butler, who 
transformed it into a loyal paper, and in May, 
1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Brown of the regiment 
was detailed to take the editorial charge. On 



244 EARLY HISTORY 

Aug. 28th Colonel Thomas was sent with some 200 
men into the country near forty miles from Algiers 
where it had been learned that cattle were being 
collected for the Confederate army east of the Mis- 
sissippi; he returned heading a procession three 
miles long, comprising 500 negroes, nearly 1000 
head of cattle, and a large number of sheep and 
mules. 

Captain Hall and 139 others in July were cap- 
tured above Algiers or near Bayou Des Allemands 
by Confederate troops under General Richard Tay- 
lor. In this affair the train on which the Union 
forces were, ran into an ambush, and out of the 
61 men on the train but 25 escaped unhurt, four- 
teen were killed or mortally wounded, and 22 
others were wounded. One hundred and twenty- 
two of the men captured were exchanged in Feb- 
ruary, 1863. There was a sad sequel to the cap- 
ture of seven Germans, a part of the 139 men 
that were captured and surrendered. They had 
enlisted in New Orleans; they were held for trial 
as deserters from the Confederate army. There 
was no proof that they ever had been in the Con- 
federate service, but their names were found on the 
conscript list, and in spite of their protestations of 
innocence they were condemned and executed 
October 23d, 1862. They were compelled to dig 
their own grave and then ranged along beside it 
where they were shot to death. These martyrs 
should have a monument erected over their resting 
place by the United States government. One of 
this number was an only son, scarcely 19 yenrs 
old, whose aged father with much reluctance ul- 



OF VERMONT. 245 

lowed him to enlist in order that he might escape 
Confederate conscription, and not be forced to 
fight against a government to which both father 
and son were loyal. On Dec. 16th, 1862, General 
Butler was superseded by General N. P. Banks. 
In General Butler's farewell order he had words of 
praise for the regiment, and among other things 
he said to them "you have deserved well of your 
country." After General Banks assumed com- 
mand the regiment performed important service 
in the region of the Teche under General Weitzel, 
who in his report said, "The Eighth Vermont un- 
der Colonel Thomas, for the first time in action as 
a regiment, reflected the highest honor upon itself 
by the splendid manner in which they cleared the 
enemy's lifle pits on the east bank, and afterwards 
pursued them. This regiment took 41 prisoners, 
three wounded, and killed four of the enemy." 
Both sides were making preparations for a re- 
newal of the contest in the spring of 1863 in the 
vicinity of the Teche. Taylor had been reinforced. 
At the battle at Brisland the conduct of the regi- 
ment was all that could be wished for, encouraged 
by the words of Colonel Thomas, as he rode along 
the line, saying, "men! stand firm! old Vermont 
is looking at you !" When General Taylor learned 
that General Grover had landed above him with 
4000 men and was moving to Franklin in his rear, 
he abandoned this line and fell back to New Iberia 
just in time to escape. The Eighth was ordered 
forward in pursuit, and Taylor fell back to Ope- 
lousas. General Banks claimed as a result of this 
expedition the capture of 2000 prisoners, 1000 



246 EARLY HISTORY 

stand of small arms and 20 heavy guns; the des- 
truction of foundries at Franklin and New Iberia, 
the capture of two steamers, and the destruction 
of three gunboats and ten or twelve transports. 
Banks' loss was 40 killed and 184 wounded of 
which numbers, there were 12 killed and 58 
wounded in Weitzel's brigade. On May 5th 
Banks started for Red River and on the night of 
the 7th the regiment led the brigade into Alexan- 
dria, making 90 miles in three days; they camped 
on the bank of Red River. Generals Taylor and 
Kirby Smith retreated up the river to Shreveport, 
and Banks, to aid General Grant in his campaign 
against Vicksburg, moved against Port Hudson, a 
strongly fortified place, and was then defended by 
the Confederate Major-General Frank Gardner 
with 8000 men and fifty pieces of artillery. Gen- 
eral Weitzel commanded the Division that manned 
the Union lines on the north and northeast of Port 
Hudson. Lieutenant-Colonel Dillingham com- 
manded the Eighth. General Banks ordered a 
general assault on the morning of the 27th of 
May, 1863; the assault was gallantly made, but 
ineffectual; the loss of the regiment was 88 men 
killed and wounded; 51 fell in the first charge. 
The assault having failed, General Banks became 
undeceived as to the strength of the garrison, 
prepared for a long siege and the men were con- 
fined for more than a month to the ditches in 
which they were compelled to eat, sleep, live and 
fight. General Banks ordered another assault, 
and on the 13th of June he summoned General 
Gardner to surrender, who replied that his duty 



OF VERMONT. 247 

did not permit him to entertain the proposition. 
Due preparations were made for the assault, and 
it was commenced before light on the morning of 
the 14-th in the face of a murderous fire. The 
pickets and skirmishers were driven hack, and the 
storming column was ordered forward, the Eighth 
Vermont leading the way; in five minutes sixty 
Vermonters dropped dead or wounded under the 
galling fire which swept the ground in front. 
The men were driven back, and although two or 
three brigades advanced at other points, no en- 
trance to the works was effected. The actual 
assault ended at ten o'clock in the forenoon, but 
there was no retreat till night fall, as many of the 
men were in a position from which they could not 
advance or retire till night fall without fatal ex- 
posure. In this assault Banks lost 2000 men in 
killed, wounded and missing. The siege was con- 
tinued. On the 7th of July news came of the fall 
of Vicksburg and General Gardner surrendered the 
garrison at Port Hudson. In the assaults and 
siege the Eighth lost 99 men killed and wounded. 
The fall of Port Hudson cleared the Mississippi of 
all rebel obstructions. General Weitzel, in his re- 
port, commended the Eighth Vermont for its 
courage and endurance during the siege, and 
Colonel Thomas "for his coolness and gallantry 
at all times." 

While Banks was at Port Hudson General Tay- 
lor had re-occupied the Teche and the Eighth Ver- 
mont with WeitzePs brigade was sent into that 
region to drive away Taylor and finally went into 
camp at Thebodeaux July 31st, where it had the 



248 EARLY HISTORY 

first period of rest since April 9th. Colonel 
Thomas went to Vermont to recruit his health, 
but rejoined the regiment in February 1864, with 
a body of 304 recruits at Franklin. Colonel 
Thomas again visited Vermont to secure for the 
men \vho would re-enlist, the bounty offered by 
many towns to new recruits. He succeeded in 
procuring the bounties for some of the men. 
Three hundred and twenty-one of the men re-en- 
listed, and thereby, also secured a furlough and 
went to their homes in Vermont; the rest of the 
regiment remained at Algiers under command of 
Major J. L. Barstow, but in May were ordered to 
Vermont to be mustered out, being 170 men includ- 
ing Major Barstow. The re-enlisted men had re- 
turned from Vermont and did inportant service 
until June 19th, 1864, when they were ordered 
North to reinforce the army of the Potomac. On 
July 5th they embarked on a steamer and sailed 
for Fortress Monroe; before disembarking Colonel 
Thomas found orders awaiting him to proceed to 
Washington, and they proceeded thither, and their 
Colonel reported to Secretary Stanton. General 
Early had been repulsed the day before, and the 
Eighth was ordered to join the Sixth Corps in 
pursuit of the enemy. The Eighth became a part 
of McClellan's brigade. For many days they 
were continually on the march. At the battle of 
Opequan the regiment came at once under heavy 
fire. For a moment the regimental line faltered, 
but became firm under Colonel Thomas' shout, 
"Steady, men !" Thomas ordered the Eighth Ver- 
mont and Twelfth Connecticut to charge with the 



OF VERMONT. 249 

bayonet, and himself led the way. He made to 
his men the following speech : "Boys, if any of you 
are in the habit of praying— and I hope you all are 
—pray now, and pray quick and hard. Remember 
Ethan Allen and Old Vermont ; and we will drive 
those fellows to hell, where they belong." The 
charge was splendidly and successfully made. 
The regiment lost 7 men killed and 33 wounded. 
The regiment did its full duty at the battles of 
Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek; in the latter battle 
it lost 15 killed and 82 wounded and 27 missing 
out of not over 350 men then in the regiment on 
the field. In January, 1865, Colonel Thomas was 
mustered out, but was appointed brigadier-gen- 
eral, hi9 commission bearing date February 1st, 
18G5, but the war ended before he was assigned 
to further active service, and he did not return to 
the field. The regiment was mustered out the 
28th day of June, 1865, and left Washington for 
home the next day. 

THE BATTLES OF THE EIGHTH VERMONT REGIMENT. 

Occupation of New Orleans, . May 1802 

Boutte Station and Bayou Des Alle- 

mands Sept. 4, 1862 

Steamer Colton, fan. 14, 1863 

Brisland, Apr. 12, 1863 

Port Hudson, assault, May 27, 1863 

Port Hudson, night engagement, June 10, 1863 
Port Hudson, assault, June 14, 1863 

Opequan, Sept. 19, 1864 

Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21 and 22, 1864 

Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864 

Newton, Nov. 12, 1864 



250 EARLY HISTORY 



STATEMENT. 




Original number, 


1016 


Recruits, transfers from other regiments. 


756 


Aggregate 


1772 


LOSSES 




Killed in action, 


71 


Died of wounds, 


33 


Died of disease, 


213 


Died (un wounded) in Confederate prisons, 


20 


Died from accidents, 


8 


Total of deaths, 


345 



The Ninth Regiment was raised in the sum- 
mer of 1862, when the excitement was great in 
the countiy, arising from General Banks having 
been driven from the Shenandoah Valley by Stone- 
wall Jackson and the seven days' fighting before 
Richmond, and President Lincoln's call for 300,- 
000 more volunteers. On July 9th the regiment 
was mustered into the United States service, and 
George J. Stannard, an experienced soldier, became 
its Colonel. The regiment left for the field July 
15th. Vermont was the first State that sent a 
regiment to the field under the call of the Presi- 
dent for 300,000 men. General Pope then had 
been assigned to the command of the army of Vir- 
ginia, and the regiment, after considerable delay, 
was sent to Winchester to Camp Sigel, where it 
spent five weeks working on the fortifications 
there and performed much picket duty. 

About the middle of August 1862, Lee began to 
press Pope, whose headquarters were at Culpepper. 



OF VERMONT. 251 

On the 30th and 31st Pope fought the second bat- 
tle of Bull Run, and withdrew within the defences 
of Washington. General White, who then had the 
command of the troops of which the Ninth were 
a part, was ordered by General Hallock to remove 
his artillery and withdraw his' command to Har- 
per's Ferry ; this more was hastened by informa- 
tion obtained by General White's chief of scouts, 
Major Stowell of the Ninth, that a Confederate 
column of 20,000 men were within 20 miles of 
him. Stonewall Jackson's advance was at Salem. 
A forced march was made to Harper's Ferry by 
the Union troops; this swelled the Union forces 
thereto 11,500 men. Within 24 hours after the 
Ninth reached Harper's Ferry, Lee's army was 
crossing the Potomac ten miles below; that made 
it certain that the garrison was cut off from Wash- 
ington. General Miles was in command of the 
Union forces at Harper's Ferry, and, although 
General White ranked him, he waived his right and 
took orders under Miles. 

Harper's Ferry is surrounded with high bluffs 
or heights. The heights on the Virginia side of 
the Potomac north of the Shenandoah are known 
as Bolivar Heights, and those on the south of the 
Shenandoah as Loudon Heights, and those on the 
Maryland side as Maryland Heights. Stonewall 
Jackson crossed the Potomac above Harper's 
Ferry with his corps of three divisions and came 
down on Bolivar Heights from the northwest. 
Walker with his division crossed the Potomac be- 
low Harper's Ferry and eame up to Loudon 
Heights from the southeast. McLaws with his 



252 EARLY HISTORY 

own and Anderson's division advanced against 
Maryland Heights from the east. A combined 
cannonading from the encircling forces was terri- 
fic. Surrender came. When the word reached the 
regiment that the white flag had gone up, Colonel 
Stannard jumped up and swore a bitter oath that 
he would never surrender without a struggle ; and 
at his command, the regiment sprang into line, 
and rushed for the pontoon bridge to cross into 
Maryland thinking they might cut their way out 
to McClellan's army. When the regiment was 
missed from the line General White sent one of his 
own and one of Confederate General Hill's aids to 
intercept and bring the regiment back. Stannard 
reluctantly yielded. After the surrender Stone- 
wall Jackson sat on his horse among a company 
of officers. Lieutenant Quimby of company E, 
hot-headed and bold, went down to the side of 
Jackson '8 horse and said, "Are you Stonewall 
Jackson?" Jackson replied, "Yes." Then Quimby 
said, "Then, by God, sir, I want you to drive 
those lousy thieves of yours out of my camp and 
stop them robbing my men." Jackson quietly re- 
plied, "This is all wrong, and I will see it stopped,'* 
and sent one of his staff to carry out his order. 
This disaster has been attributed largely to the in- 
activity of General Miles. The Ninth was the last 
regiment to surrender. They were paroled and 
sent to Annapolis, Md., with the other paroled 
prisoners, and from thence to Chicago. On Janu- 
ary 10th, 1863, the regiment was exchanged, but 
were kept there to help guard the Confederate 
prisoners. 



OF VERMONT. 253 

On March 28th, 1863, the regiment was or- 
dered to escort 2500 Confederate prisoners to City 
Point, Va M for exchange. At this time Norfolk 
was held by the Union naval and land forces. 
General Hooker was preparing for his campaign 
against Lee; and Lee sent an expedition against 
Suffolk that was about 18 miles southwest of 
Norfolk and thereby hoping by threatening Nor- 
folk to draw troops from Hooker's army, and the 
Ninth was sent to Suffolk. General Peck com- 
mantled the Union troops in this locality and the 
Ninth was attached to General Getty's division. 
General Longstreet with three divisions were de- 
tached from Lee and sent down to meet Peck's 
forces, and D. H. Hill's corps came up from North 
Carolina for the same purpose. On May 1st, 
when Hooker's movement to Chancellorsville be- 
came developed, Longstreet was recalled; the 
Ninth did skirmishing in that region. Early in 
June Colonel Andross resigned and Lien t. -Colonel 
Ripley was appointed Colonel. 

After the departure of Longstreet, 10,000 of 
the Union troops were sent to the peninsula; the 
Ninth with Wistar's brigade was a part of that 
force. The Ninth went to Yorktown and camped 
on the ground where General Washington had his 
headquarters at the time Cornwallis surrendered 
to him. General Getty passed by them up York 
river to White House. The Ninth with other 
troops under General Wistar were sent to occupy 
West Point, ten miles above White House. The 
object of the moves was to take Richmond, but 
that city was not left undefended. The regiment 



254 EARLY HISTORY 

spent the rest of the summer at Yorktown. While 
in this region they learned of the fall of Vicksburg 
and the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg. 

About October 25th, 1863, the regiment em- 
barked for New Berne, North Carolina. After ar- 
riving at Morehead City it was sent to Newport, 
N. C. On Dec. 1st, 1863, Major Jarvis was shot 
by a rebel he was endeavoring to capture and died 
of his wounds the same day. He was the first 
man of the Ninth who fell by a rebel bullet. On 
Dec. 24th the Ninth with the 158th New York 
were sent to Bear Sound, some thirty miles south 
of Newport, where they destroyed lour large salt 
works and a large quantity of imported salt, and 
returned with a large number of blacks. On Janu- 
ary 28th the same force with a few cavalry men 
captured a Confederate outpost of a Lieutenant 
and 27 cavalrymen with thirty horses and their 
equipments. About that time the regiment re- 
ceived 350 recruits from Vermont, which increased 
the regiment to 844. 

In the last part of January 1864, the Confeder- 
ate General Picket commanding the department of 
North Carolina sent General Martin's brigade of 
North Carolina troops to break up the railroad 
and capture the Union troops at Newport. He 
reached the vicinity of Newport the 1st of Febru- 
ary with 1700 men; the Ninth were compelled 
to retreat, but they kept up a running lire and 
kept the main body from being captured. 

This work was kept up during the day, and at 
night made their way after great suffering and 
fatigue to Beaufort, a distance of twenty-seven 



OK VERMONT. 255 

miles. The loss of the regiment in this affair was 
three killed, 14 wounded and 47 missing. The 
loss of the enemy was 17 men killed and 32 
wounded. The regiment with other troops were 
returned to Newport Barracks, where two of the 
men killed were found unburied, stripped of their 
clothing, together with two wounded Confeder- 
ates, who had been stripped by their comrades, 
but both were cared for by the Union surgeons 
and recovered. Here the regiment received 70 
more recruits. On April 27th Lieut. Barney, who 
had the command of the Ninth at Newport Bar- 
racks, sent a detail of twenty men after a party 
that were fishing for the Confederates. They 
brought in one sergeant, three men and 500 
pounds of sea trout, a seine and three canoes ; he 
also on the 29th sent out fifty men and captured 
at Swansboro a Lieutenant and seventeen men of 
the* Seventh North Carolina cavalry with their 
horses and arms, a howitzer and several sailboats, 
and destroyed a quantity of Confederate stores. 

On August 31th, 1864, orders came to join the 
army in front of Richmond, and the regiment bade 
adieu to the land of tar and turpentine and arrived 
at Bermuda Hundred on the James the 5th Sept. 
The Ninth was assigned to the Eighteenth Army 
Corps. General Stannard was in command of the 
first division of the Eighteenth corps and was a 
part of the army of the James under General But- 
ler. The Ninth was assigned to the First brigade 
commanded by Ames, and a part of the Second 
division. Colonel Ripley took command of that 
brigade and Lieut.-Colonel Barney took command 



256 EAHLY HISTOSY 

of the Ninth. The Ninth was transferred to the 
Second brigade of that division. On Sept. 17th 
170 recruits joined the regiment, making the ag- 
gregate up to 1129 and giving the regiment 700 
effective men. Here the regiment did a great deal 
of active work. On Sept. 29th, 1864, the battle 
of Chapin's Farm and the taking of Port Harri- 
son took place. The older members of the regi- 
ment were eager for a chance to wipe out the dis- 
grace at Harper's Perry. General Grant indicated 
that General Stannard should lead the attack. 
Stannard went to General Grant and protested on 
behalf of the poor men of his division, and said to 
him, they "have led every assault of the Eighteenth 
Corps from Cold Harbor until now, and are 
fought down to a skeleton of a division. I have 
not a word to say for myself— I will freely go 
wherever you send me, but it is inhuman to give 
my men so much more than their share of these 
forlorn hopes." General Grant quietly replied: 
"General Stannard, we must carry Fort Harrison, 
and I know you will do it." The regiment crossed 
the James to the north. The Ninth took into the 
assault 700 bayonets commanded by Major 
Brooks. The cannonading was terrific, and the 
courage and fighting of the men all that could be 
asked for. General Stannard rode at the side of 
his Third brigade and entered the Fort with his 
men. Colonel Ripley, who was to closely follow 
Stannard, was struck from his horse and stunned 
by a piece of shell which clipped the hair on his 
temple, but he continued with his brigade. ' 
The loss of the regiment in this day's work was 



OF VERMONT. 257 

seven killed, 42 wounded, six of whom died of 
their wounds, and 13 missing. The next day Lee 
undertook to re-take the Fort and superintended 
the arrangements for the assault in person The 
brigades of Law, Anderson, Bratton, Clingman and 
Colquett were selected for the assault. Stannard 
prepared to meet the assault. Shortly after noon 
the word passed along Stannard's lines, "They 
are coming." They came on 6000 or 7000 strong. 
Their assault was gallantly made, for they were 
fighting under the eye of General Lee, but they 
could not withstand the carnage made in their 
ranks; they recoiled and fled. Two more assaults 
were made, but both were unsuccessful. A pris- 
oner, an Alabama Colonel, with blood running 
down his face, asked General Stannard if he was 
commander of the Fort? Stannard told him 
"Yes." He then rejoined that "he letter get out of 
this for General Lee is over there, (pointing to 
Fort Gilmer) and he will take these works if it 
takes half of his army." Stannard replied that 1 e 
would l>e "happy to see General Lee whenever he 
chose to call." During these exciting hours Gen- 
eral Stannard passed the parapet, sword in one 
hand and slouched hat in the other, watching the 
work and cheering his men. Near the end of the 
second assault a bullet struck his right arm, and 
he sank back fainting. He carried an empty 
sleeve the rest of his life. Stannard's division lost 
600 men in killed and wounded. There was an- 
other demonstration towards Richmond Oct. 
27th that was not successful, in which the Ninth 
lost ten men killed and wounded. On Nov. 1st, 

18 



258 KAKLY HISTORY 

1864, upon the occasion of the Presidential elec- 
tion, and fearing a renewal of the riots in New 
York city, General Butler was ordered to pr<x*eed 
to that city and take with him some trusty troops 
to maintain order there. He selected the Ninth as 
a part of that force. They took transports for 
Fortress Monroe. Corporal Charles H. Sweeney 
was out on picket at the time, but he did not in- 
tend to be left, hailing a tug he was taken on 
board and carried to City Point, and reported to 
the Provost Marshal. The Marshal did not be- 
lieve his story that the regiment had left him, and 
treated him and the men he had with him as de- 
serters and said he should put them in the guard 
house. Sweeney denied the charge and refused to go; 
the Marshal ordered him to be hand-cuffed. Sweeney 
ordered the men under him to fix bayonets and 
posted them as guard over the Provost Marshal's 
office with strict orders to let no one pass in or 
out, and started for headquarters, and was 
ushered in before General U. S. Grant; the General 
listened to his story with a twinkle of his eye as 
he related how he put the Provost Marshal under 
guard, while he came to see what the General com- 
manding would say about locking up in the bull- 
pen some good Vermont soldiers who were trying 
to rejoin their regiment. The General said, "We 
will see about that," and wrote a note for the 
Coporal to hand to the Provost Marshal. The 
Corporal and his men with the rest of the regi- 
ment proceeded to New York, and by the 18th of 
Nov. they were back to their old camp at Cha- 
pin's Farm. On March Gth, 1805, the regiment 



OF VERMONT. 259 

was insjxx'ted and pronounced by Genera! Devens 
the l>est in the brigade inspection ; and b}' a third 
general order it was declared the best regiment in 
the division. 

On April 2d, 1865, news came that Grant had 
broken through the defences of Petersburg and 
the regiment expected an order to assault the 
defences of Richmond. The next morning the Vcr- 
monters were the first to enter the city. Densely 
packed on either side of the street were thousands 
of blacks, till that moment slaves, down upon 
their knees, throwing their hands wildly in the air, 
while floods of tears poured down their wild faces, 
and shouting "Glory to God ! Glory to God ! the 
day of jubilee hab come ! Massa Linkum am here! 
Massa Linkum am here!*' General Ripley was 
selected to command in the city. On June 13th, 
1865, the original inemfcrs of the regiment and 
recruits whose term of service would expire before 
Oct. 1st, numbering 633, were mustered out; the 
remainder were formed into a battalion number- 
ing 408, and they were mustered out Dec. 1st, 
1865, and returned to Burlington, Vermont, 
where they were welcomed in an address by Hon. 
G. G. Benedict, after which they partook of the 
bountiful collation that had 1>een provided for 
them. 

IIATTLKS OF THE NINTH VERMONT. 

Harper's Ferry, Sept. 13 and 15, 1862 

Newport Barracks, Feb. 2, 1864 

Chapin's Farm, vSept. 29, 1864 

Fair Oaks, Oct. 27, 1864 

Fall of Richmond, April 3, 1865 



260 EARLY HISTORY 



STATEMENT. 

Original members, officers and men 915 

Recruits and transfers from other regiments 956 





Aggregate, 




1871 




LOSSES. 






Killed in action, 






12 


Died of wounds, 






12 


Died of disease, 






232 


Died (un wounded) 


in Confederate 


prisons 


36 


Died from accidents 




8 



Total of deaths, 300 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES OF 
THE TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND SEV- 
ENTEENTH REGIMENTS IN THE 
CIVIL WAR OF 1861. 



Governor Holbrook in June, 1862, was notified 
by Secretary of War, Stanton, to "organize your 
Tenth regimen t." The Governor issued a stirring 
proclamation, in which he said "Let no young 
man capable of bearing arms in defence of his 
country linger at this important period." The reg- 
iment was quickly raised and A. B. Jewett of 
S wanton 1>eca me its Colonel; it rendezvoused at 
Brattleboro, and its camp was named "Camp 
Washburn ; ,f it left its camp for Washington Sept. 
6th, and arrived at Washington the 8th. At this 
time Lee was on his first invasion at Maryland, 
and the Army of the Potomac was on the march 
to resist him. The regiment did service for some 
time along the banks of the Potomac, at Seneca 
Lock, Edwards Ferry and Seneca Creek. There 
was much sickness in the regiment. On Dec. 21 it 
was moved to Poolsville. About June 13th, 1863, 
news came that Lee again was north of the Poto- 
mac. 

On June 30th the Tenth was ordered with 
about 7000 other troops under General French to 

(MM 



262 EARLY HISTORY 

Frederick, Md. On July 2d it was sent to Monoc- 
acy Junction to guard the railroad bridge, and 
then to Crampton's Gap, where after the battle 
of Gettysburg it was detailed to guard Confeder- 
ate prisoners on their way to Baltimore, and then 
returned and marched with the army in following 
the Confederate army till Lee crossed the Rapidan 
in September 1863. On October 8th Lee assumed 
the offensive, aiming for Centerville Heights, and 
the Tenth did its part in driving him back behind 
the Rapidan. On November 26th the Union army 
started on the Mine Run campaign, and the Tenth 
started with Morris's brigade and crossed the 
Rapidan near Jacob's Ford. The next da} r it was 
under fire most of the day, and at 3 o'clock in the 
afternoon Morris was ordered to charge. The 
Tenth dashed squarely at the enemy's line, and 
drove the enemy a considerable distance, when 
finding it was not supported, it fell back. The 
Third Corps lost about 1000 men in this affair. 
General Morris in his report, said, "The enemy 
was holding a fence on the crest of the hill in our 
front, and I ordered the Tenth Vermont to charge 
and take it. The regiment advanced in gallant 
style and took the crest." The regiment in this 
affair lost 12 killed and 58 wounded, five of whom 
died of their wounds. Captain Dillingham, acting 
on General Morris's staff, while carrying an order 
ran upon a line of the enemy, had his horse shot 
under him, and was captured and spent four 
months in Libby prison. Lee withdrew to the 
west side of Mine Run, and Mead withdrew the 
Union army to Brandy Station, where it went 



OP VERMONT. 263 

into winter quarters. The Tenth had its camp 
near the house of John Minor Botts. 

In General Grant's preparation for the Wilder- 
ness campaign, the Third Corps (to which the Tenth 
had been attached) and the Tenth Regiment joined 
the Sixth Corps. Colonel Jewett resigned and 
Lieutenant-Colonel W. W. Henry succeeded him. 
On May 4th the Sixth Corps crossed the Rapidan. 
Though the regiment was under fire during the 
4th, 5th and 6th, its loss was but two men killed 
and nine wounded. On the 7th the regiment 
moved with the Sixth Corps towards Spottsyl- 
vania, crossing on its way the Chancellorville bat- 
tlefield. The Tenth did not suffer any severe loss 
till it reached Cold Harbor, where the regiment 
did valliant service and lost heavily. Colonel 
Henry was wounded and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Chandler took command, who on the 7th issued a 
complimentary order, in which he thanked the 
officers and men for their "brave and soldierly con- 
duct in the bloody battles of the past six days," 
and added that "186 of our number have been 
made to fill unmarked soldier's graves, or lie 
wounded upon the scanty cot of our army field 
hospital. Yet, nobly have those died who have 
gone. Heroically do our wounded suffer who live." 
The regiment crossed the James and arrived at 
Bermuda Hundred on the 16th of June, and moved 
with the brigade up behind General Butler's forti- 
fied line midway between the James and tbe Ap- 
pomattox. It participated in the movement 
against the Weldon railroad. On July 6th it was 
detached from the army to oppose General Early's 



2)4 EARLY HISTORY 

raid with 15,000 men against Washington. They 
welcomed this change. General Wallace was in 
command of the small Union force near Frederick 
City, Md., and when Colonel Henry arrived with 
the Tenth, Wallace disclosed the critical situation 
to him, and it was arranged that Colonel Henry 
should march and countermarch over various 
knolls east of Frederick City so as to make the 
re1>el General lx?lieve the Union forces were much 
larger than they were, so as to retard Early's 
progress towards Washington till troops could be 
sent from General Grant to protect Washington. 
On 1>eing pressed by Early the Union forces of 
only about three or four thousand were with- 
drawn across the Monocacy River and posted on 
the east bank of the river. Early's right wing, 
commanded by General Gordon, forded the river 
below the Union forces. The Union forces on the 
Union left, commanded by General Rickets, after 
some severe fighting, were compelled to retreat to 
save capture by the overwhelming force of the 
enemy, and the whole of the Union force fell back. 
Lieutenant George E. Davis with skirmishers 
under his command greatly retarded by active 
and brave work, the progress of the rebel force 
that were advancing on the Washington Pike. 
The rel)el losses hi this battle, in killed and 
wounded, were more than 700 and probably ex- 
ceeded 1000 men. 

The Union losses were 84 killled, 511 wounded 
and 1,054 reported missing, of which latter num- 
ber about one-half were captured, and the rest 
were scattered in the woods and rejoined their 



OF VERMONT. 265 

commands. The Tenth had three killed, 2(> 
wounded and 32 missing, nine of whom died in 
Confederate prisons. This battle, though a defeat, 
saved Washington, as it gave time to enable the 
rest of the Sixth Corps to reach Washington from 
Grant's army. Benedict, in his history of Vermont 
in the Civil War, relates that Oscar E. Wait of 
Company I, who after being captured made his 
escape by knocking down a guard. He was re- 
captured three days later near Clarksburg, and 
while on the way to Richmond with 300 other 
prisoners, he picked up a discarded gfay jacket, 
slipped it over his blouse, and taking a musket 
which one of the guard had left leaning against a 
tree for a moment during a halt at night, took 
his place among the guard, instead of with the 
prisoners. Watching his opportunit}- he made his 
escape, accompanied by a comrade, and the two 
reached the Union lines in safety, bringing with 
them a Confederate officer with his horse and 
arms, whom they met and captured. The Tenth 
on the 14th with the division, took the cars for 
Washington, and then followed the Sixth and 
Nineteenth Corps in pursuit of Ear1j\ who now 
was in full retreat. At Leesburg it overtook the 
Nineteenth Corps, and there found Colonel 
Thomas of the Eighth Vermont doing guard duty, 
and on the 17th joined the Sixth Corps. 

Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley 
commenced on the 8th of August. The regiment 
was in the battle of the Opequon on the 19th of 
September, where Major Dillingham, commanding 
the Tenth, was mortalty wounded. The regiment 



266 EARLY HISTORY 

lost 11 killed and 52 wounded. At the battle of 
Fisher's Hill on the 21st and 22d it lost one man 
killed and six wounded, and in the battle of Cedar 
Creek on October 19th, 1864, where the regiment 
did so much brave work, it lost 15 killed and 66 
wounded, 9 of whom died of their wounds; in the 
two last mentioned battles the regiment was at- 
tached to the First brigade. On Nov. 8th the reg- 
iment voted for President and cast 195 votes for 
Lincoln and 12 for McClellan. 

In December the regiment with other troops 
rejoined the army under Grant near Petersburg. 

On April 2d, 1865, the Tenth Vermont took a 
brilliant part; it was the first regiment in the 
division to plant a stand of colors within the 
enemy's works— this act was performed by Cor- 
poral Ira F. Varney of Company K, color- 
bearer. In this day's work the regiment lost one 
killed and 39 wounded, nine of whom died of 
wounds. After Lee's surrender it marched to 
Danville, Va. After Johnson's surrender the regi- 
ment returned to Richmond by rail, and from 
thence to Washington, and soon after were mus- 
tered out and returned to Vermont, and were 
handsomely welcomed home at Burlington. 

THE BATTLES OF THE TENTH YERMONT. 

Orange Grove, Nov. 27, 1863 

Wilderness, May 5 to 8, 1864 

Spottsylvania, May 10 to 18, 1864 

Tolopotomoy, May 31, 1864 

Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864 

Weldon Railroad, June 22 and 23, 1864 



OF VERMONT. 

Monocacy, 

Winchester, 

Fisher's Hill, Sept. 

Cedar Creek, 

Petersburg, 

Petersburg, 

Sailor's Creek, 

STATEMENT. 

Original members, 

Recruits, 

Transfered from other regiments, 


267 

July 9, 1864 

Sept. 19, 1864 

21 and 22, 1864 

Oct. 19, 1864 

March 25, 1865 

April 2, 1865 

April 6, .1865 

1015 

286 

3 


Aggregate, 

LOSSES. 

Killed in action. 

Died of wounds, 

Died of disease, 

Died (un wounded) in Confederate 

Died from accident, 


1304 

83 

58 

153 

prison 36 

2 


Total of deaths, 


332 



The Eleventh Regiment was raised at the 
same time of the Tenth, and no better regiment 
entered the service. Lieutenant James M. Warner 
of the regular army, a Vermonter, was appointed 
its Colonel. The regiment left Camp Bradley at 
Brattleboro Sept. 7, 1862, and arrived at Wash- 
ington the 9th. Lee's army was in Maryland, and 
McClellan with the Army of the Potomac was 
marching to meet the Confederate army at Antie- 
tam. The regiment was kept near Washington till 
the 10th of May, 1864. On Dec. 10th, 1862, the 



26S EARLY HISTORY 

regiment was made, by order of the Secretary of 
War, a heavy artillery regiment, called "First Ar- 
tillery, Eleventh Vermont Volunteers," and its 
numbers were increased to 12 companies of 150 
men each. During the critical summer of 1863, 
while expecting to be called to active service in 
the field, they remained in the forts, strengthen- 
ing the works, building batteries and covered 
ways, and laying abatis. On May 10th, 1864, 
at the request of General John Sedgewick, com- 
manding the Sixth Corps, it was assigned to that 
Corps, and proceeded at once by way of Belle 
Plain, to report to General Sedgewick. They 
knew they were needed at the front, and ol)eycd 
the summons with cheerfulness, and on the night 
of the 14th reported to General Wright, the com- 
mander of the Sixth Corps (General Sedgewick 
having been killed) and was assigned to Vermont 
Second brigade of the Second division. The regi- 
ment had its first baptism of fire on May 18th at 
the famous "salient" where Colonel Weaver was 
wounded. At Spottsylvania it lost two men 
killed and fourteen wounded ; at Cold Harbor 
from the 31st of May to June 4th it lost 15 men 
killed and 121 wounded, and 17 died of their 
wounds; from the 4th to the 10th of June it lost 
three men killed, 17 wounded, eight of whom died 
of their wounds. The regiment crossed the Chick- 
ahominy at Jones Bridge and marched to the 
James, and on the 17th of June moved to the front 
of Petersburg. A part of the regiment was in the 
affair at the Weldon railroad of the 23d of June, 
1864, and lost nine men killed, 31 wounded and 



OF VERMONT. 269 

261 missing, taken prisoners. Of the 261 stout, 
healthy men of the Eleventh taken that day, 165 
died in the enemy's hands. Eighty-nine o f them 
perished at Anderson ville. The regiment was sent 
to Washington with the Sixth Corps to defend 
the eity against Early's raid. On the 23d of July, 
after ten days of hard marching in Maryland and 
Virginia the brigade returned to Washington, 
where the Eleventh was detached from it and as- 
signed to the eight forts about Washington, which 
it had garrisoned in former days. The regiment 
was immediately ordered to report to the Sixth 
Corps to serve in Sheridan's campaign. At 
Charlestown on the 21st of August the regiment 
lost five killed and 27 wounded. 

At the battle of O|>equon September 19th the 
regiment lost seven killed and 85 wounded ; dur- 
ing this battle Colonel Warner commanded the 
Vermont brigade, who afterwards became the 
permanent commander of the First brigade, and 
the regiment was commanded by Major Aldace 
F. Walker. In the battl* of Cedar Creek the regi- 
ment lost ten killed and 74 wounded, of whom 14 
died of their wonnds. 

In December the regiment with the brigade 
went to the front at Petersburg. In the capture 
of the enemy's picket line on March 25, and in de- 
fending them from being retaken on the 27th of 
March, 1865, the regiment lost one killed and 17 
wounded. The regiment took part in the final as- 
sault on April 2d ; it took part on June 8th in the 
grand review of the Sixth Corps at Washington, 
and soon mustered out and returned home. Thev 



270 EARLY HISTORY 

were welcomed back from the field by the citizens 
of Burlington. 

THE BATTLES OF THE ELEVENTH VERMONT. 

Spottsylvania, May 15 to 18, 1864 

Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864 

Petersburg, June 18, 1864 

Weldon Railroad, June 23, 1864 

Washington July 11, 1864 

Charlestown, Aug. 21, 1864 

Gilbert's Ford, Sept. 13. 1864 

Opequon, Sept. 19, 1864 

Fisher's Hill, Sept. 21 and 22, 1864 

Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864 
Petersburg, , March 25 and 27, 1865 

Petersburg, April 2, 1865 

STATEMENT. 

Original members, 1315 

Transfers from other regiments, 29 

Recruits, 976 

Aggregate* 2320 

LOSSES. 

Promotions and transfers to other organ- 
izations, 124 

Killed in action, 69 

Died of wounds, 86 

Died of disease, 213 

Died (unwounded) in Confederate prisons, 174 

Total of deaths, 542 

The Seventeenth Regiment was of slow 



OF VERMONT. 271 

growth. The recruiting of it wfis authorized by 
the government July 2, 1863, and on Aug, 3, 
1863 directed it to be raised. The enlistments 
were for three years. The battle of Gettysburg 
had just been fought in which the Vermont troops 
had covered themselves with glory and made an 
enviable record. The term of the nine months 
men had expired, and it was thought they would 
be eager to re-enlist, but this did not prove to be 
the case. On October 17, 1863, President Lincoln 
issued a call for 300,000 men to fill the regiments 
then in the field. Gov. J. Gregory Smith got the 
order relating to recruits, so far as Vermont was 
concerned, so modified as to allow them to be put 
into the Seventeenth, then being raised. The com- 
panies were slowly filled, and on February 10th, 
1864, Francis V. Randall, who distinguished him- 
self as Colonel of the Thirteenth Vermont, at 
Gettysburg, was commissioned Colonel of the 
regiment. It left the State for the seat of war be- 
fore it was filled. The regiment had had but little 
drill. It reached Alexandria, Va., April 22, 1864, 
and was assigned to the Second brigade,. Second 
Division, Ninth Corps. The regiment went into 
active service at the front. . Its first service was 
in the battle of the Wilderness. In this battle the 
regiment gave evidence of the possession of high 
qualities of courage, daring and coolness, which 
made the first Vermont Brigade famous. In its 
first fight the losses were ten killed and 64 
wounded, and ten of which mortally. On May 
10th it moved with the Corps towards Spottsyl- 
vania Court House; here it gallantly and prompt- 



272 EARLY HISTORY 

ly responded to every call. The regiment lost 
here twelve killed and 58 wounded. At North 
Anna it was under fire on the 25th and 26th, and 
also on the 30th, where the regiment lost one 
killed and 17 wounded; at Cold Harbor the regi- 
ment was under constant fire till it moved to 
Petersburg. On June 17th the regiment captured 
the colors, Adjutant and about 70 men of the 
Seventeenth Tennessee. It lost here six killed and 
twenty wounded, seven fatally. The Seventeenth 
were with the troops that made the assault at 
the explosion of the mine on July 30th. Major 
Reynolds led the regiment, numbering but eight 
officers and 120 men. All that men could do they 
did, but in vain, and when all was over, 

"They that had fought to well 
Came through the jaws of death. 
Back from the mouth of hell. 
All that was left of them.*' 

The loss of the regiment was ten killed, 46 
wounded, and 18 missing. Major Reynolds was 
, killed \vtfile encouraging his men to beat back the 
enemy. The regiment was reduced to about 100 
men. On August 13th Company I with 87 men 
joined the regiment. Officers and men began to 
return to the regiment, and on September 1st there 
were 233 present for duty. 

At the affair near Peebles's bouse on September 
30th, 1864, when Grant was pressing back Lee s 
right and swinging in the Union left towards 
Petersburg, the loss of the regiment was eight 
killed, 40 wounded and 27 missing, nine of whom 
died in the hands of the enemv. On October 27 



OK VERMONT. 273 

Company K, Captain Vale, with 9f> men and Col- 
onel Randall joined the regiment. Randall, with 
his regiment and the 31st Maine and 56th Massa- 
chusetts and two batteries, were placed in com- 
mand of Fort Davis, where they remained till 
Feb. 11, 1865. During the winter it lost several 
men in skirmishes. In the final assault on the 
enemy's works on April 2d, the regiment lost ten 
killed and 39 wounded, five fatally. On the morn- 
ing of the 3d the regiment passed through Peters- 
burg in pursuit of Lee and reached Burkesvillc on 
the 8th, and on the 9th marched to Farmville, 
where they were informed of Lee's surrender, and 
then returned to Burkesville. Here Colonel Ran- 
dall, who had been absent on a 30 days' leave, 
rejoined the regiment and was put in command of 
the place, guarding the immense quantity of cap- 
tured property and numerous prisoners. On the 
20th of April it joined the brigade and marched to 
City Point, and was transported to Alexandria, 
reaching that place the 30th. It took part in the 
grand review at Washington May 23d, and left 
for Vermont July 14th, and arrived at Burlington 
July 18th, 1865, and were welcomed back by 
the people. The service of the Seventeenth passed 
into history. General Griffin said, "The Seven- 
teenth Vermont bore an active and honorable 
part in Grant's campaign through the Wilderness, 
in the siege of Petersburg, and in the capture of 
Lee." 

BATTLES OF THE SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT. 

Wilderness, May 6 to 9, 1864 

Spottsylvania, May 12 to 15, 1864 

19 



274 EARLY HISTORY 

Spottsylvania, May 18, 1864 

North Anna, May 25 and 26, 1864 

Tolopotomoy , M ay 3 1 , 1 864 

Bethesda Church, June 3, 1864 

Cold Harbor, June 7 and 8 1864 

Petersburg, June 17, 1864 

Petersburg, July 30, 1864 

Weldon Railroad, Aug. 21, 1864 

Poplar Spring Church, Sept. 30, 1864 

Hatcher's Run, Oct. 27 and 28, 1864 

Petersburg, April 2, 1865 

STATEMENT. 

Original numbers. 869 
Recruits and transfers from other regiments, 237 



Aggregate, 


1106 


LOSSES. 




Killed in action, 


72 


Died of wounds, 


61 


Died of disease, 


57 


Died in Confederate prisons. 


33 


Died from accident, 


3 



Total of deaths, 226 

Total wounded, 314 

Total taken prisoner, 72 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE FIRvST VERMONT BRIGADE. 



The First Vermont Brigade was formed at the 
suggestion of General William F. Smith in the fall 
of 1861. General McClellan allowed General 
Smith to organize it. It was completed by Octo- 
bor 6th, and was composed of the Second, Third, 
Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Vermont regiments, and 
Brevet-Major W. T. H. Brooks was assigned to 
its command ; he was in his forty-second year, 
tall and erect of figure and of soldierly bearing, 
and he from the first, made a favorable impression 
on his command. For five months it remained at 
Camp Griffin. During the fall and winter there 
was much sickness in the regiment; on Dec. 
12th not less than one-fourth of the men were 
excused from duty in consequence of sickness. 
The work of the winter was drill and picket du- 
ty. One night 27 colored fugitives came in and 
were fed and sent to Washington. In February 
news was received of the capture of Forts Henry 
and Donelson, which raised the spirits of all. At 
midnight on the 9th of March, i862, order came 
to march at three o'clock in the morning. This 
order was received with rejoicing. Packing of 
knapsacks and the writing of letters to send home 
occupied the attention of the men till the time 

<275) 



276 EARLY HISTORY 

came to march. The troops doubted not that 
they were to meet the rebels on the field of Manas- 
sas, where they expected to wipe out the disgrace 
of Bull Run. They got as far as Flint Hill, north 
of Fairfax Court House, and there halted, and 
learned that no enemy was in front. General Joe 
Johnston with his 50,000 men had evacuated 
Centerville and retired beyond the Rappahan- 
nock. General McCIellan had organized an army 
of 175,000 men. Plans were changed and the 
army sent to the Peninsula; McCIellan made 
slow progress up the Peninsula, and at Warwick 
River the enemy blocked his advance. President 
Lincoln urged him April 6th, to break the enemy's 
line at once, but McCIellan waited, and sat down 
to wait for siege guns. The first assault on an 
entrenched line made by the army of the Potomac, 
where brave action of the Vermont troops showed 
itself, was at Lee's Mill. It was a bloody action, 
and an unimproved opportunity. A detachment 
from the the Third Vermont crossed the Creek be- 
low the dam under a heavy fire and took the 
enemy's rifle-pits, but not receiving the promised 
support, it was compelled to return across the 
deep Creek. General Howell Cobb and Colonel 
Anderson of Georgia concentrated no less than 
seven regiments against the little band of Ver- 
monters, which caused their withdrawal amid a 
shower of musket balls from the enemy that made 
the water boil as in a hail storm. Of the 192 
brave men who crossed the stream, about 100 
came back unharmed, bearing with them as many 
as they could of their wounded comrades. Now 



OF VERMONT. 277 

the Sixth regiment was ordere 1 across und^r com- 
mand of Colonel Lord* Tiny crossed under a 
heavy fire of the enemy, but they were compelled 
to retreat across the Creek. In this advance the 
regiment lost 23 men killed or mortally wounded, 
and 57 others wounded. It was now night. 
There were many brave and touching incidents in 
this bloody affair. Among the men of the Third 
who charged the rifle pits was William Scott, the 
young man who was sentenced to death for sleep- 
ing on his post soon after the regiment went out, 
and was pardoned by the President. He fell with 
several others mortally wounded. His comrades 
raised him up, and heard him with his dying 
breath, amid the shouting and din of the fight, 
lift a prayer for God's blessing on President Lin- 
coln, who had given him a chance to show that 
he was no coward or sneak, and not afraid to die. 
Julian A. Scott, a drummer boy of the same com- 
pany, a lad of 16, went twice across the creek to 
rescue wounded men ; he subsequently painted the 
large picture of the battle of Cedar Creek now in 
the Vermont State House. Captain D. B. Daven- 
port of Company H, of the Sixth, was wounded. 
His son Henry, a drummer boy, a lad of but 11 
years, helped his father out of the water and to a 
place of safety, and returning to the stream to get 
some water for him, filled his cup and had it 
knocked out of his hands by a bullet. The loss of 
the brigade at Lee's Mill was 44 killed, 148 
wounded and 21 who died of wounds. The rebel 
forces were commanded by General Magruder. In 
this whole affair McClellan was at fault in his 



278 EARLY HISTORY 

plans. It was a great mistake that support was 
not promptly given to the Third Vermont when 
they crossed the Creek and entered the enemy's 
rifle-pits. Colonel Levy of the Second Louisiana, 
who came to the Union lines with a flag of truce 
on a matter relating to the burial of the Union 
dead, asked what regiment made that first as- 
sault on the rifle pits. He was told that it was a 
detachment of the Third Vermont. He replied, 
4 'It was lucky for us that you did not send over 
many such detachments." Theseriously wounded 
Vermonters were sent to Vermont. 

When General McClellan got ready to open his 
siege batteries the enemy retreated to Williams- 
burg, where another battle was fought, and then 
the army proceeded up the Peninsula, the Vermont 
brigade to the White House at the head oi navi- 
gation on York river, and a base of supplies for 
the army. On May 19th the Vermont brigade 
marched to the left bank of the Chickahominy 
near New Bridge, ten miles from Richmond. On 
May 22d the Vermont brigade was encamped near 
Gains Mill, and among Virginia farmers, who 
were holding their slaves and enjoying the protec- 
tion of the Union guards stationed around their 
houses, and who at the same time were asserting 
the right of secession and wishing and predicting 
the success of the Confederate army. This course 
of protecting rebels was unwise and served the 
rebel cause. Some of the houses were used for 
Union hospitals, among which was the birthplace 
of Patrick Henry. Then came the battle of Fair 
Oakes or Seven Pines. The Third and Fourth 



OF VERMONT. 27U 

Corps had crossed theChickahominy and advanced 
within six miles of Richmond when they were at- 
tacked by General Joe Johnston by a larger part 
of his army. The Union forces- held their ground, 
and the next day the rebel army withdrew into 
their lines nearer Richmond. This attempt to 
crush that part of the Union army that had 
crossed the river cost the enemy 6000 men killed 
and wounded, and among the latter was General 
Johnston. The Union loss was nearly as great. 
The Vermont brigade was not in this battle, but 
were ready if needed to enter the fight. On June 
5th the Vermont brigade with the Sixth Corps 
crossed the river at Grapevine Bridge, and moved 
upon the right bank to Golding's house, about a 
mile north of Fair Oakes. Here it remained 19 
days. Digging in the construction of breastworks 
and redoubts and doing picket duty -was severe on 
the men. General Lee succeeded General Johnston 
in command of the Confederate ^rmy. 

On the 26th A. P. Hill struck a heavy blow on 
parties left north of the river, while Magruder 
kept up a demonstration on the Union lines south 
of the river. Hill north of the river was met by 
McCall's Division, with a loss to the rebel troops 
of between three and four thousand, while 
McCall's loss was but as many hundreds. The 
Vermont troops were not brought into action 
that day. That night General McClellan learning 
that Jackson was on his right and rear decided to 
retreat to the James. The next day the bloody 
battle at Gaines's Mill was fought; there were six 
hours of desperate fighting. In this battle Gen- 



280 EARLY HISTORY 

eral Smith took part with his heavy artilleo'. 
It is to be noted that two-thirds of the Confed- 
erate army assaulted Porter on the north of the 
river, while Magruder made, demonstrations 
against the Union lines in front of him. In the 
afternoon the rebels began to feel the Union lines 
south of the river. The pressure came on Han- 
cock's brigade supported by the Vermont brigade. 
The demonstration of the enemy here was repulsed . 
The Fourth Vermont had eight men wounded and 
the Sixth one killed and six wounded. 

It is (|uite certain that if McClellan had thrown 
his left wing forward he could have marched into 
Richmond, for Magruder had but 25,000 men 
south of the river to oppose him, while McClellan 
had 60,000 on that side of the river. Magruder 
admitted in his report that McClellan could have 
succeeded if he had known of the situation. But 
McClellan had made up his mind to retreat. The 
retreat l>egan to a great disappointment of the 
Union army. General Smith's division moved to 
the east along the highlands, then turning to the 
southwest marched to Savage's Station, where a 
large share of the army stores had been brought 
by railroad, and now what could not J>e loaded 
into wagons were destro3 r cd. Everyone hcl])cd 
himself to what he wanted. A long train of cars 
was loaded with powder and shells, the cars set 
on fire and started down grade to the river, filling 
the air with exploding shells and fragments of 
shattered cars, till it crashed through the blazing 
railroad bridge, when, with a great explosion the 
train, its load and the bridge disap|>carcd. Here 



OF VERMONT. 2S1 

were also, the large army hospitals in which over 
2500 sick and wounded men and several hun- 
dred surgeons and nurses fell into the enemy's 
hands. 

The great White Oak Swamp lie between 
McClellan's army and Harrison's Landing, and it 
was a difficult task to take an army of 115,000 
fighting men and army wagons through it with a 
hostile armj r in his rear. To insure ^the success of 
this undertaking a stand must be made at Sav- 
age's Station to keep the enemy in check till the 
retreat was fairly under way through the Swamp. 
The battle of Savage's Station was a severe one. 
The duty of making a stand in front of the Con- 
federate forces on the road leading from Savage's 
Station to the Swamp was placed on General 
Sumner, who was to be supported by Heintzle- 
man, but the latter, instead of rendering him sup- 
port, continued his retreat. Sumner, after giving 
Magruder a sharp repulse some two miles up the 
railroad towards Richmond, fell back to Savage's 
Station, supposing Heintzleman was taking posi- 
tion there on his left, but learned he had moved off* 
to the Swamp, but General Smith by Sumner's 
direction took position in front of the Station, 
and after Sumner arrived, Smith started for the 
Swamp, but was recalled by General Sumner. 
The fighting at the Station fell to the Vermont 
brigade of Smith's division. The Fifth regiment 
suffered the greatest loss in killed and wounded 
ever sustained by a Vermont regiment in action. 
The Station was held for five hours, which en- 
abled McClellan to make good his retreat into the 



282 EARLY HISTORY 

Swamp. This action saved the army. The Fifth 
was the greatest sufferer; in twenty minutes 
every other man in the line of the Fifth was killed 
or wounded. The men had sixty rounds of cart- 
ridges, and many of them used them all, exchang- 
ing their guns as fast as they l>ecame heated for 
those of their fallen comrades. In that fight the 
regiment on the field had not over 400 muskets ; 
its loss in killed and wounded was 206. In Com- 
pany E there were five brothers, from Manchester, 
Henry, Hiram, Silas, William and Edward Cum- 
mings, with a cousin, William H. Cummings, and 
a brother-in-law, Horace Clayton. Of these seven 
men all were killed but one, and he, Henry, was 
wounded. The Second and Sixth regiments suf- 
fered severely. The loss of the brigade in this bat- 
tle was 71 killed, 270 wounded, 17 missing, and 
36 died of wounds. The Swamp was passed ; 
the Confederates followed and the battle at Mal- 
vern Hill was fought, where the enemy were de- 
feated, and the army proceeded to Harrison's 
Landing. Here McClellan was commanded by 
the authorities at Washington to withdraw from 
the Peninsula and come up to near Washington 'to 
co-operate with General Pope's command. The 
brigade disembarked at Alexandria August 24-th, 
1862, conscious that they had fought well, both 
in advance and in retreat, and that no part of the 
reverses could Ihj laid at their door. 

On Septeml>er 1st, 1862, affairs did not look 
flattering. The situation was as follows: The 
siege of Vicksburg had l)een abandoned, the Con- 
federates were conducting an offensive campaign 



OF VERMONT. 283 

in Tennessee and Kentucky, the campaign against 
Richmond had failed, the administration, had lost 
confidence in McClellan, General Halleek had 1>ecii 
brought from the West and made General-in-ehief 
of the army to direct operations from his head- 
quarters at Washington, to the disgust of the 
generals in the field. McDowell, Banks and Sigel's 
commands had been consolidated into the army 
of Virginia, of which General Pope took command. 
Pope announced that he had come to introduce the 
ways of the West, where they did not bother their 
heads* about lines of retreat or bases of supply, 
and that his headquarters were to be in the saddle. 
To the Eastern generals this announcement was 
regarded a little bombastic, and was disliked by 
the subordinate generals. Banks had fought the 
battle of Cedar Mountain, but he had failed to 
cripple Jackson to prevent him joining Lee. 

I>ee now moved to the north to destroy Poj>e 
l>efore he was re-enforced from McClellan *s army. 
On the 30th of. September the Second battle of 
Bull Run was fought and Pope's forces were 
pushed back to near the defences of Washington, 
which finished Pope's campaign, and Lee moved 
north into Maryland. While Pope was fighting 
this battle, the troops under Fitz John Porter, 
Franklin and Sumner were allowed to remain in- 
active by McClellan. These Generals were criticized 
for not rendering seasonable aid to Pope, which was 
in their power to do. McClellan snid« "leave Pope 
to get out of his scrape/' The Vermont brigade 
had no part in the battle. The Vermont troops 
were ready to go to the aid of Pope, if they had 
l>een ordered. 



28*4 EARLY HISTORY 

Pope resigned, and McClcllan was -re-instated 
and started to follow Lee A copy of General 
Lee's order was found and placed in McClellan's 
hands, which told him that Lee had divided his 
army and sent Generals Jackson and McLaws 
four divisions to surround and cap' urc the Federal 
garrison of 11,000 men at Harper's Ferry. 
McClcllan dispatched Franklin to pass over S »uth 
Mountain through Cramp ton's Gap north of the 
Potomac and cut off McLaws and relieve Miles, 
but he was too late. At the Gap the Federals met 
General Cobb, with three brigades with the in- 
tention of holding the pass. The battle took 
place at Burkettsville near the entrance of the 
pass, in which the Vermont brigade had a promi- 
nent part. The enemy were driven through the 
Gap. Franklin lost in this battle 110 killed and 
420 wounded. The Vermont regiments lost one 
man killed and 22 wounded. General Franklin 
states he buried 150 of the enemy, took charge of 
over 300 of their wounded, and captured 400 
prisoners. The tardiness of Franklin rendered the 
relief of Harper's Ferry impossible. Now both 
armies concentrated at Antietam. On Septeml)er 
17th, 1862, the battle of Antietam was fought. 
Lee had about 40,000 and McClcllan 80,000, but 
he fought the battle with 50,000 men. Lee fought 
a defensive battle, greatly favored by the strength 
of his position. 

There was desperate fighting. The next day 
Lee buried his dead under a flag of truce. McClel- 
lan's loss in killed and wounded was 11,500 and 
1000 missing, and that of the enemy not less. 



OF VERMONT. 285 

The Vermont brigade lost 25 killed and wounded. 
Arrangements were made to attaek Lee on the 
19th at daylight, bat Lee's invasion had come to 
an end and he was gone. On the 19th the Sixth 
Corps moved forward over the field on which hun- 
dreds of the dead still lay. McClellan remained in 
the vicinity of Hagerstown a month re-organizing 
his army, and Lee was holding the Shenandoah 
Valley. The emancipation proclamation that had 
l>een issued to take effect Jan. 1st, 1863, was earn- 
estly discussed. Here 250 recruits were sent from 
Vermont to the brigade. The authorities at Wash- 
ington and the people were impatient at McClel- 
lan's tardiness to move. At last on the 28th of 
()ctol>er the Sixth Corps received marching orders 
and recrossed the Potomac at Berlin on Nov. 2d, 
and marched south at the base of the Blue Ridge 
and rested a week at Warrenton. Here McClel- 
lan was relieved of his command, and General A. 
E. Burnside succeeded him. The army was divided 
into three divisions. Franklin was appointed to 
command one division and Sumner and Hooker 
the other two, and Major General William F. 
Smith succeeded Franklin in command of the 
Sixth Corps. This army now was a well equipped 
body of 125,000 men. The Vermont regiments 
now had about 500 men each, and Colonel Whit- 
ing became their brigade commander instead of 
the experienced General- Brooks. The army 
marched to the Rappahannock near Fredericks- 
burg, but was unable to cross for want of pon- 
toons; this delay through the fault of General 
Halleck or some subordinate, prevented Burnside 



286 EARLY HISTORV 

occupying Fredericksburg and the Heights unop- 
posed. The delays gave Lee full. opportunity to 
prepare to meet Ruraside when he should cross 
the river. The battle was fought on the 1 3th of 
December. Lee having occupied the Heights south 
of the river, and made the positiou strong against 
any opposing force, gave them great advantage 
over any force that Burnside could bring against 
him. The conduct and the dauntless courage of 
the rank and file was grand. In several parts of 
the field the enemy was driven back with great 
loss to them, as well as to the assaulting party. 
Night put an end to the terrible carnage. The 
Union wounded were brought back across the 
river and their dead buried. Twelve thousand 
men had been sacrificed in a fruitless battle. The 
Vermont regiment lost 21 killed, 125 wounded 
and three died of wounds. 

General Burnside, stung by his defeat, proposed 
to renew the battle and head his old Ninth Corps 
in person, but his Corps commanders dissuaded 
him from making another trial with such odds 
against him. Lee did not venture to take the 
offensive. The Union troops went into camp. 
After the failure at Fredericksburg Burnside 
learned from President Lincoln that a number of 
his Corps and division commanders considered 
him incompetent and had no faith that he could 
succeed. Thereupon Burnside made out an order 
dismissing from the service Generals Hooker, 
Brooks, Newton and Cochrane, and sending away 
from the army of the Potomac Generals Franklin, 
Smith, Sturgis and Ferrero, took it to Washing- 



OF VERMONT. 287 

ton and demanded its approval or the acceptance 
of his own resignation. His resignation was ac- 
cepted and General Joseph Hooker was made 
commander of the army. 

In the new arrangement the Vermont brigade 
remained a part of the Sixth Corps which was 
commanded by General Sedgwick. The Sixth 
Corps was sorry to lose General Smith, but found 
a good successor. Colonel Lewis A. Grant of the 
Fifth succeeded Colonel Whiting in command of 
the brigade. In the winter there was a snow 
storm battle that made as great local excitement 
as an actual battle between enemies. The 26th 
New Jersey challenged the Third and Fourth Ver- 
mont, about equal in numbers. Amid a great 
throng of spectators the snow ball battle took 
place. It ended in the capture of the Colonel, Ad- 
jutant and Quartermaster of the New Jersey regi- 
ment, and the utter rout of the New Jersey regi- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE FIRST VERMONT BRIGADE— Coktikuku. 



On March 10th, 1864, the welcome news came 
to the army at Brandy Station that there was a 
new commander-in-chief in the person of Lieu ten- 
ant-General Ulysses S. Grant, and that he was to 
take the field with the Army of the Potomac, and 
they concluded it meant business. That General 
Hal leek's rule had come to an end. The army 
was reorganized. It was felt on both sides that 
the crisis of the war was at hand. The Army of 
the Potomac numbered about 100,000 men of all 
arms ; that of Northern Virginia 75,000, but the 
Confederates had the advantage of position. 

On May 3d Grant began his move. The Sec- 
ond Corps crossed the Rapidan at Ely Ford, and 
moved to Chancellorsville; the Fifth and Sixth 
Corps crossed atGermanna Ford. Most of Grant's 
army was across the river that day. On the 5th 
and 6th of May the terrible battle of the Wilder- 
uess was fought. The purpose of Lee was to di- 
vide Grant's army and drive each portion back 
across the river as he had Burnside and Hooker. 
In this he failed. Grant learned that Lee had de- 
termined to fight in the wilderness. The two 
most important points to be held were where the 
Orange Turnpike crossed the Germanna Road and 
where the Orange Plank Road crossed the Brock 



OF VERMONT. 2S9 

Road as the Union army was marching to the 
Wilderness by the Gennanna Road and its paral- 
lels. It was important to hold the Germanna 
Road to prevent Lee placing his army between the 
two wings of the Union arm}' . Grant's best troops 
and best generals were placed at these points. 
Getty's division, a part of which was the Vermont 
brigade, was sent to the junction of the Brock 
and Plank roads with instructions to ••hold that 
point at all hazards, until relieved." After Getty 
had been hotly engaged for some time Hancock's 
column came up. Getty had two divisions of the 
enemy now in his front. The battle raged all 
along the line. In the Vermont regiments the car- 
nage was fearful. Darkness fell on the scene and 
there was a lull for the night. The position that 
Getty took was held, but a thousand Vermontcrs 
fell that day. The next morning the battle was 
renewed and raged all day. The Vermont regi- 
ments in this Battle of the Wilderness lost in killed 
191, wounded 94-7, missing 96, died of wounds 
151. There were man}' sad hearts in the Vermont 
regiments on the night of May Oth, but they did 
not lose courage. That night Lee retired within 
his intrenched lines. The Battle of the Wilderness 
was ended. The at*my of Northern Virginia never 
after fought an offensive battle, but always kept 
on the defensive. 

The next day the Union army moved on to the 
South. The next battle was at Spottsylvania. On 
the 9th, Gen. John Sedgwick, a brave and trusted 
commander, was killed— his loss was mourned by 
the whole army and especially by the Vermont 



290 KARI.Y HISTORY 

brigade, who called him "Uncle John." General 
Wright took his place as the Corps commander. 
On the 10th the battle was a stubborn one. One 
of the hottest places was at the "Salient." The 
troops at this point were ordered to fall back, but 
some of the Vermonters failed to get the order to 
withdraw and refused to go back with the rest, 
and stayed there two hours after the rest of the 
column had gone back. During this time General 
Wright rode up to Lieut. -General Grant, and re- 
ported that some of his men were still in the Sa- 
lient and would not come away. "What shall 
I do?" he asked. Grant replied, "pile in the men 
and hold it." Finally the Vermonters by express 
command withdrew for the night. The f 2th of 
May was the most important of the twelve days 
sj>ent at Spottsylvania. Grant proceeded to the 
work of taking the "Salient" or "Angle" in which 
the Vermont Brigade took an important part. 
The carnage was fearful and the dead of both ar- 
mies, at this point, literally lay piled in heaps. 
General L. A. Grant said "It was literally a hand 
to hand fight. Nothing but the piled up logs of 
the breast works separated the combatants. Our 
men would reach over the logs and fire into the 
faces of the enemy, and stab over with their bayon- 
ets. Many were shot and stabbed through crev- 
ices and holes in the logs. * * * It was there 
that the celebrated tree was cut off by bullets, and 
that the brush and logs were cut to pieces and 
whipped into basket stuff, and that fallen men's 
flesh was torn from their bones, and their bones 
shattered." The Vermont brigade was engaged 



OF VERMONT. 291 

for about eight hours. Of all the struggles of the 
war, this was the fiercest ancj the most deadly. 

The Salient was taken and held by the Union 
army against all attempts of Lee to retake it. 
The fighting did not cease till three o'clock the 
next morning, when Lee gave up the task and 
withdrew his men to a new line of works. In this 
day's work the Army of the Potomac lost in all 
6,820 killed, wounded and missing. Lee's loss 
was from 9,000 to 10,000, the larger part at the 
Salient. The loss of the Vermont brigade on the 
10th and 12th was 48 killed, 252 wounded, 92 
missing. On May 15th Colonel Warner with his 
Eleventh Vermont of 1,500 men joined the brig- 
ade. Also at this time the old regiments received 
150 recruits. The Union army moved by the left 
flank to the south to the North Anna. General 
Grant abandoned Fredericksburg as a base and 
shifted to Tort Royal. The losses of the brigade, 
in action since they crossed the Rapidan, as re- 
ported by Gen. L. A. Grant, were 249 killed, 1,231 
wounded, 170 missing, and not less than 190 died 
of their wounds. Fredericksburg was a vast hospi- 
tal. Many of the sick and wounded were sent to 
Vermont to the hospitals at Burlington, Brattle- 
boro and Montpelier. The next great battle in 
which the Vermont brigade took part was at Cold 
Harbor. 

On May 31st the Sixth Corps was sent to occu- 
py Cold Harbor where Grant intended to cross the 
Chickahominy and where Sheridan with the cav- 
alry were holding it against great odds. Here 
General Wright was joined by General William F. 



292 EARLY HISTORY 

Smith, who had come up from White House with 
10,000 men. As soon as Lee learned that the 
Sixth Corps had been sent forward, he sent Early 
and Longstreet's Corps to occupy Cold Harbor 
and prevent the Union army from crossing the riv- 
er, and protect their own army in crossing. Sher- 
idan had already occupied Cold Harbor, but the 
Confederates intrenched their lines between the 
Chickahominy and Cold Harbor and sought to 
prevent Grant's crossing. Here on June 1st the 
Vermont brigade was placed in the front line; the 
firing in front was terrific, and in twenty minutes 
about one-fourth of the assaulting force had fallen, 
but they moved steadily on. General Ricketts, of 
whose division the Tenth Vermont formed a part, 
struck the enemy's main line, and took 600 pris- 
oners. During the day many of the rifle pits of the 
enemy were taken, which Lee, in vain undertook 
to regain. During the night Wright and Smith in- 
trenched the position they had gained. In this as- 
sault the battalion of the Eleventh lost 13 men 
killed and 107 wounded. The loss of the Sixth 
Corps in killed and wounded was about 1,200, 
and of the Eighteenth Corps 900. 

On June 3d a terrible battle took place. Han- 
cock's Corps lost 1000 men in fifteen minutes. The 
Sixth Corps lost 800 men that morning. General 
Stannard commanded a brigade of General Smith's 
command. His brigade made a desperate unsuc- 
cessful assault in which fifty per cent of his men 
and every member of his staff had fallen. Stannard 
himself was wounded in the thigh, but kept his sad- 
dle. There was not much more fighting at Cold Har- 



OV YI2RMONT. 293 

bor. The loss of the Vermont brigade was 104 
men. The two armies remained here ten dny3 
watching each other, during which time the Ver- 
mont brigade lost 48 men killed and wounded. 
General Grant was desirous of holding Lee's army 
here till General Hunter moved up the Shenandoah 
Valley and against Lynchburg. 

On June 12th the army marched down the 
Chickahominy twenty-three miles and crossed 
that river at Jones's bridge, and from there 
marched to the James River, some 55 miles from 
Cold Harbor, and soon appeared in front of Pe- 
tersburg. 

On June 16th, 17 and 18th Grant made an at- 
tempt on the works of the enemy in front of Pe- 
tersburg and carried a part ol their works. In 
these three days' fighting the Union losses exceed- 
ed 7,000 killed and wounded. In this battle the 
Vermont troops did not take a part, an unusual 
circumstance. In the Weldon Railroad affair June 
23, 1864, the brigade lost 13 killed, 45 wounded, 
401 missing. Most of the 401 afterwards died a 
lingering death in the prison pens of Anderson- 
ville, and other Southern prisons. 

General Hunter proceeded up the Shenandoah 
Valley, defeated the Confederate General Vaughn 
and had advanced to Lj'nchburg where he was 
met by General Early. Hunter withdrew into 
Kanawha Valley. Early took advantage of this 
and came down the Valley of the Shenandoah and 
pushed rapidly into Maryland to threaten Wash- 
ington, thereupon General Grant, at President Lin- 
coln's request, withdrew the Sixth Corps »from the 



294 EARLY HISTORY 

lines at Petersburg and sent it to Washington. 
Ricketts' division of that Corps was sent to Balti- 
more and reported to General Lew Wallace, com- 
manding that department. These troops were 
thrown between Early and Washington near 
Frederick, Md. Here a battle took place between 
Early and Wallace; Wallace was defeated, General 
Ricketts severely wounded, and 1,500 men of his 
division killed, wounded and captured. This bat- 
tle, however, delayed Early's advance for two 
days, giving time for the rest of the corps to come 
up the Potomac to Washington and thwart Ear- 
ly's purpose to take the city. As soon as the rest 
of the corps had reached Washington they pre- 
pared to meet Early. General Getty and his Staff 
preceded his troops as they came up the Poto- 
mac. It was anxious times in Washington as Ear- 
ly was near the city. President Lincoln and Sec- 
retary Stanton were standing on the wharf as 
Geneial Getty and Staff landed. The President 
asked "What troops does this steamer bring?" 
Surgeon Allen of the Tenth Vermont replied, "It 
brings Major General Getty and his Staff, but no 
troops." The President said, "I do not care to see 
any Major General : I came here to see the Ver- 
mont brigade." The two divisions reached Wash- 
ington on the evening of the 11th of July and dis- 
embarked the next morning. Early was within 
five miles of Washington as was supposed with 
30,000 men. The city was near a panic. As the 
troops marched up Seventh Street, the sidewalks 
were thronged with people who shouted ; "It is 
the old Sixth Corps! Hurrah for the men who 



OF VERMONT. 295 

stormed Marye's Heights! We are all right 
now !" The people regarded now the danger over. 

Early had halted on the afternoon of the 
10th before Fort Stevens standing on Seventh 
Street Pike with about 12,000 men and fif- 
ty guns. The Second and Third Vermont regi- 
ments were posted in rifle pits to the left of the 
Fort and the rest of the brigade with other troops 
in the woods to the west of the Fort. While the 
arrangement for an advance was being made 80 
picked men were sent under Captain A. M. Real lie 
of the Third Vermont to the skirmish line to drive 
away the rebel sharp-shooters whose work was 
greatly annoying. These 80 men lost one Ver- 
monter killed and six wounded. In the after- 
noon the picket line was strengthened by 50 picked 
men of the Sixth Vermont. General Wright sent 
out a brigade to develop Early's position and re- 
lieve the Union line from the enemy's sharp-shoot- 
ers. About four o'clock the Third brigade. Colonel 
Bid well's, of Getty's division, filed out into the road 
in front of the Fort, and deployed in two lines. 
The Fort opened a vigorous fire with heavy guns 
to clear the way. They advanced and swept 
over the ground; although the enemy made a 
stout resistance. Every regimental commander of 
Bidwell's brigade fell, killed or wounded, but the 
advance was not stopped and Early's lines were 
drawn back for a mile, and the Vermont brigade 
picketed the front for the night. The Union loss 
was 280. Early left 30 dead on the field, and 70 
men too seriously wounded to be moved. 

President Lincoln, Secretary Stanton and oth- 



296 EARLY HISTORY 

er members of the Cabinet and several ladies, 
including Mrs. Lincoln, went during the after- 
noon to see some of the fighting. Mr. Lincoln at 
the invitation of General Wright remained dur- 
ing the action. Lincoln persisted in standing on 
the parapet of the Fort, by the side of General 
Wright, in spite of earnest remonstrance of 
Wright and others, till an officer was wounded 
standing within three feet of him, by a rebel bullet. 
In the hostile camp beyond stood General Breck- 
enridge who four years before was Vice-President 
of the United States and President of the Senate, 
but now he was not allowed to have a nearer 
view. 

That night Early returned and halted the next 
morning 18 miles away, and the Union forces fol- 
lowed in pursuit the next day. Early was fol- 
lowed to the banks of the Shenandoah at Snick- 
er's Ferry, where the Union forces got a clip at 
Early's rear guard, where Early lost 400 killed 
and wounded, but Early slipped away up the Val- 
ley. General Wright with the Vermont brigade 
returned to Tenallytown, expecting to rejoin the 
army in front of Petersburg. 

When General Early learned that the Sixth 
Corps had left the Valley he turned on Crooks and 
defeated his small force that remained in the val- 
ley, and proceeded to break up the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad, and went on a raid into Maryland 
and Pennsylvania; his cavalry under the command 
of McCausland proceeded as far north as Cham- 
bcrsburg, Penn., burning, robbing and laying con- 
tributions on the people. At Chambersburg he 



OF VERMONT. 297 

demanded $500,000 in currency or $100,000 in 
gold from the people under the penalty if not fur- 
nished, of having their town burned; it not being 
furnished, as it could not be, the torch was applied 
and the village of 3,000 inhabitants was laid in 
ashes, citizens were plundered and robbed of their 
money and valuables. The rebels returned with 
their booty; and exchanged lame and worthless 
horses for good ones wherever they could find 
them. When the news of Crook's defeat came to 
Washington the Sixth corps was sent to the as- 
sistance of Crook and Hunter. The corps did the 
hardest marching that they did during the war; 
they marched 75 miles in less than three days, but 
it was infantry against rebel Cavalrj\ 

The enemy were struck by General Averill at 
Moorfield, West Virginia, and here the enemy lost 
400 horses, 420 men captured and most of his wag- 
ons. This was the last Confederate raid into Ma- 
ryland. Early still remained in the Shenandoah 
Valley with 20,000 men, a continual menace to 
the North and to the Capital of the nation. 

Now different arrangements were determined 
upon. General Sheridan was put in command 
of the forces in the Valley. General Grant tele- 
graphed to General Halleck at Washington, "I 
want Sheridan put in command of all the troops 
in the field, with instructions to put himself South 
of the enemy, and follow him to the death. Wher- 
ever the enemy goes let our troops go also." Hal- 
leck proposed to confine Sheridan to the command 
of the Cavalry. President Lincoln intimated to 
General Grant that his instructions were not being 



298 EARLY HISTORY 

followed. Immediately Grant appeared in Wash- 
ington, saw General Hunter at his headquarters. 
His first question was, "Where is the enemy?" 
Hunter replied, he "did not know," adding that 
he had been so ordered hither and thither by des- 
patches from Washington that he had been unable 
to determine the position of the rebels, much less 
to pursue them." GeneralJ Grant replied, "I will 
find out where the enemj' is." He put the army in 
motion that night for the Valley. On the 7th of 
August 1864, General Philip H. Sheridan assumed 
command of till the forces in Washington, Mary- 
land and West Virginia. He at once gathered the 
scattered troops; the Sixth Corps of about 12,000, 
Crook's army and cavalry of about 8,000, with 
these and the artillery gave him 30,000 ready for 
duty. Early had about the same number, and was 
about 20 miles west of Halltown, Va., and Sheri- 
dan at Halltown. Early withdrew to the Valley 
and took a strong position at Fisher's Hill, and 
Mosby with his irregular troops was in Sheridan's 
rear and captured 75 wagons loaded with supplies 
for Sheridan's army. Early now was reenforced, 
and Sheridan withdrew to Berry ville leaving Tor- 
bcrt and Penrose at Winchester. They were at- 
tacked and driven back with a loss of 700 men 
killed, wounded and captured. Sheridan as he re- 
treated burned all the wheat and hay south of Ber- 
ry ville and drove off all the cattle, much to the 
disgust of the owners and of General Early. In 
the march down the Valley the Sixth Corps 
bivouacked on the banks of the Opequan, 
and then retreated to Charlcstown where Sheri- 



OF VERMONT. 299 

dan met his supply trains and fed his hungry sol- 
diers. Here Sheridan faced around and met Early 
in a fierce battle in which the Vermont brigade 
took a leading part. The Third, Fourth andJSixth 
regiments were deployed as skirmishers in a curved 
line and advanced rapidly; they were supportedjby 
the Second, Fifth and Eleventh, each in line of 
battle. The battle ground was owned by John 
B. Packett where his wife and family lived. She 
was the daughter of Colonel John A. Wash- 
ington, the former owner of Mount Vernon, 
who had been killed in the Confederate service. 
Among the inmates were several ladies. They 
were all urged to leave the house and go to the 
camp of the Vermont brigade, but instead of 
doing so went into the cellar for safety and re- 
mained there till it began to be torn to pieces 
by rebel balls and shells, when they went weep- 
ing and shrieking to the rear. Fifty-six thou- 
sand rounds of ammunition were used that day 
by the Vermont regiments. In this battle the 
Vermont regiments lost 24 killed, 200 wounded, 
16 died of wounds. Sheridan, for better position 
withdrew his army to Halltown five miles back. 
The fore part of September a part of Early's 
force had been withdrawn to strengthen Lee's 
lines at Fetersburg. Sheridah on September 
14th advanced to Charleston. Here Lieuten- 
ant General Grant appeared at Sheridan's Head- 
quarters. He was impatient at the delay and 
came up from Petersburg to confer with Sher- 
idan, who satisfied Grant that he was right in 
delaying the advance till Early's forces had 



300 EARLY HISTORY 

been weakened by a withdrawal of a part to sup- 
port Lee. He simply told Sheridan to "go in." 
On September 19th, the most important battle 
that had ever been fought in the Shenandoah took 
place at Winchester, sometimes called the battle 
of the Opequon, was won by the Union forces, 
and Early sent flying up the valley. But it was 
won at a terrible sacrifice of life. The Tenth Ver- 
mont fought in the third Division of the Sixth Corps 
and lost Major Dillingham and about 60 men killed 
and wounded. The loss of the First Vermont 
brigade, was 22 killed, 224 wounded, 9 missing 
and 26 died of their wounds. 

On September 22d the battle of Fisher's Hill 
was fought. Early had taken a strong position 
at that place. Sheridan came up and sent Crook 
around to strike Early's left. When Crook made 
his appearance and commenced the work of crush- 
ing in Early's lelt, Sheridan ordered the Sixth and 
the Ninth Corps forward against the Confederate 
center and left, then Early's whole army broke for 
the rear in utter rout. General Sheridan joined 
Getty's division, shouting: "Run boys, run! 
Don't wait to form. Don't let them stop. If you 
can't run, then cheer! " The Sixth Corps followed 
the rebel army that night 12 miles to and through 
Woodstock. Sheridan's loss was 400 killed and 
wounded. He captured 16 guns and 1,100 prison- 
ers. Early claimed his entire loss was but 1400. 
The Union army returned to Strasburg. Early 
was now reenforced from Lee's army and with 
Kosser's brigade ot cavalry. This brigade of cav- 
alry attacked Custer who was covering the rear 



OF VERMONT. 301 

of Sheridan's column. Sheridan gave orders to 
Torbert, commander of the cavalry, to whip the 
rebel cavalry or get whipped; the former command 
was obeyed. Custer and Merritt's command took 
11 guns, about 50 wagons, 4 Confederate cavalry 
generals and 330 prisoners. As Sheridan was re- 
turning to Strasburgh on the march, he destroyed 
seventy mills with flour and grain, and over two 
thousand barns filled with wheat and hay, were 
burned, and 7,000 cattle and sheep were gathered 
in and driven along for the use of Sheridan's ar- 
my. 

On October 10th the Sixth Corps started for 
Washington to rejoin Grant's army, but on the 
way they had orders to return to Cedar Creek as 
Sheridan had learned that Early with a large force 
had reoccupied Fisher's Hill. Early intended to 
surprise the Union forces where they were en- 
camped on the Creek. The Confederate forces 
on the evening of the 18th of October started 
from Fisher's Hill and attacked the Union forces 
at daybreak on the morning of the 19th while 
they were unprepared, and the rebels were in the 
camps of some of the Union troops before they 
could get into line, and it looked for a time as 
though it was to be a perfect scoup for Early, but 
the Union lines were soon formed and the men be- 
gan to do telling work against the foe, but many 
of the Union forces were killed or captured and 
were compelled to fall back. General Sheridan at 
this time was on his way to Washington on im- 
portant business and left the army in command of 
General Wright, and left word with him "to be 



302 EARLY HISTORY 

well prepared and if the enemy slioul 1 advance' • 
he said, "I know you will defeat him." In a crit 
ical part of the battle, Bidwell who commanded a 
brigade, was mortally wonnded and there was a 
liability of a panic in that brigade that was 
placed at the left of the Vermont brigade. Colonel 
French, who succeeded Bidwell, shouted to his 
men "Don't run, men, till the Vermonters do." 
This seemed to inspire his men, and they drove the 
Confederates back and took many ot them prison- 
ers. Though the Union forces fell back slowly they 
made a stubborn resistance. Early's forces had 
become considerably broken. His troops had scat- 
tered through the Union camps for plunder, and 
were more cautious against advancing, and 
Early devoted himseif to reorganizing his lines. 
General Wright was active in efforts to retrieve 
the day. General Sheridan was on his way back 
trom Washington. When he reached Winchester 
on the morning of the 19th the sound of artillery 
told him that a battle was in progress and soon 
began to meet troops and trains and he took mea- 
sures to stop stragglers, and he started for Cedar 
Creek with ari escort of 20 mounted men. The 
battle scene changed as he arrived on the field. 
Cheer after cheer went up from the Union foices as 
Sheridan rode down the lines on his fiery "Black 
Hawk." General Custer first stopped him and 
kissed him before his men. The next halt was be- 
fore his own brigade. The scene was inspiring; 
caps were tossed high in the air. 

Doubts were gone; every man felt that a Union 
victory was assured. Colonel Tracy rode up to 



OF VERMONT. 303 

him and said, "General, we're glad to see you." 
The General exclaimed, "Well, by G— , I am glad 
to be here. What troops are these?" "Sixth Corps! 
Vermont Brigade^ " was shouted from the ranks. 
Sheridan's answer was prompt, "All right! We 
are all right. We will have our camps by 
night." It was now about noon. At the ap- 
pointed time the whole line advanced against the 
enemy. That afternoon the enemy was beaten at 
every point, all of the cannon that had been taken 
were retaken. The enemy's guns had been taken in- 
to camp, and prisoners were crowding in by hun- 
dreds in front of Sheridan's headquarters, and the 
Union soldiers were back in their morning camp. 
Twenty-four Confederate guns were captured, and 
1,200 prisoners taken and many Confederate bat- 
tle flags. In the morning Early took 1,400 pris- 
oners and hurried them off to Richmond. Early 
admitted he lost 1,860 men killed and wounded. 
This battle nearly ended the Valley campaign and 
Jubal Early. Sheridan's loss was near 4,000 
killed and wounded. Ti;e loss of the Vermont reg- 
iments of Sixth brigade were 30 killed, 214 
wounded, 41 missing, and 29 died of wounds. 

On the 8th of November the Presidential elec- 
tion took place in camp. In the Vermont brigade 
Lincoln had a majority of 416, out of 1,112 votes. 
McClellan had a majority in the Second and 
Fourth regiments. There were two cavalry en- 
gagements in November. The first on the 12th 
where Merritt and Custer had an easy victory 
over the rebel Rosser, and in the other Powell 
routed McCausland's brigade at Stony Point, 



304 EARLY HISTORY 

where the latter lost two guns and 250 men. Ear- 
ly returned to New Market on the 14th and did 
not again visit the lower Shenandoah Valley. 

Sheridan and his force was called to join 
Grant's array in front of Petersburg and arrived 
there about the 14th of December, 1864. On 
March 2d, 1865, General Lee addressed a letter to 
Grant proposing to meet and adjust the "unhap- 
py difficulties" and a method of closing the war, 
by means of a ''military convention." This meet- 
ing was declined by Grant, under orders from 
President Lincoln, to whom the request was re- 
ferred, to hold no conference with Lee, except for 
surrender. So nothing was left to Lee, but to 
fight or surrender. Lee had a consultation with 
President Davis in which it was determined as 
soon as the condition would permit to leave Rich- 
mond and push his army to Danville, Va., and 
there unite with Johnson and destroy Sherman's 
army, and then turn back upon Grant; and estab- 
lish the Confederate government farther south. 
Grant anticipating this move, issued orders on 
March 25th, to move around Lee's right and com- 
pel him to fight or surrender. At the same time 
Lee began a sortie against Grant's right to cause 
him to draw in his left and leave a way for 
the Confederate army to escape. Lee partly suc- 
ceeded in storming Fort S ted man, but he was fi- 
nally repulsed and the rebel General Gordon left 
1949 of his men prisoners, and 120 killed that he 
took away under a flag of truce. The rebel rifle 
pits in front of the Union Fort Fisher were carried 



OF VERMONT. 305 

by the Union forces, among whom were the Ver- 
mont troops of the Vermont brigade. There were 
905 Confederates taken in the rifle pits, and 547 
of them surrendered to the Vermonters. The Ver- 
mont brigade lost 4 killed,33 wounded, and three 
died of their wounds. Lee lost in this day's fight 
1,000 killed and wounded, and 3,000 taken pris- 
oners. Getty lost 460 killed and wounded, the Sec- 
ond Corps 700, and the Ninth 800 men. But it 
was a great gain in position for the Union forces. 

On the 29th, Sheridan had pushed out to near 
Five Forks where Lee's cavalry and Pickett's di- 
vision of infantry, in all 12,000 men, had en- 
trenched themselves. Sheridan thought he saw an 
opportunity to cut off" and capture Pickett, but 
for this work needed some infantry, and sent word 
to Grant, "I could with the sixth Corps turn the 
enemy's right and break through his lines." Grant 
replied "It will be impossible to give you the Sixth 
Corps. It is the center of our line; besides, Wright 
thinks he could go through the lines where he is, 
and it is desirable to ha ve troops and a comman- 
der there who feel so " 

On April 1st the battle at Five Forks was 
fought and won by Sheridan and Warren; Pickett 
was routed with a loss of six guns and half bis 
corps captured; as soon as the news of Sheridan's 
success reached Grant he ordered a general bom- 
bardment, and a grand assault was ordered for 
the next morning, and the Sixth Corps was relied 
on to go through Lee's lines. General Wright 
had promised General Mead he "would make the 
fur fly when he should get the word, go." General 



306 EARLY HISTORY 

Wright selected Getty's division for the assaulting 
column; and General Getty gave the Vermont bri- 
gade the honor of guiding and leading the column. 
On the morning of April 1st, the brigade showed a 
total of 2,209 of officers and men present for duty. 
The assault was gallantly made and was a glori- 
ous success. The work of the brigade on the 1st 
and the 2nd of April, and until Lee surrendered, 
was such as received and merited the highest 
praise. The piercing of Lee's lines by the Sixth 
Corps was the blow which caused the immediate 
flight of his army. The Sixth Corps in the charge 
lost 1,100 men killed and wounded, but it took 
3,000 prisoners before 10 o'clock a. m. The loss of 
the brigade on the 2nd of April was 25 killed and 
161 wounded. Lee was now in full retreat, but 
finding his way to the south blocked, surrendered 
to General (J. S. Grant on the 9th of April, 1865. 
The brigade and division now moved south to 
Danville, Va., to meet General Johnson, but they 
learned he had surrendered to General W. T. Sher- 
man. They soon returned to Washington. At the 
review the Vermont brigade made the best display 
and received the highest compliments. When the 
orders for the disbandment of the Vermont bri- 
gade was received the commander, Brevet Major 
General L. A. Grant, in his address said in part, 
"Our battles are over, victory is ours, and peace 
smiles upon our fair land. The principles of Re- 
publicanism are established. The rights of man 
are vindicated, and the powers of the federal Gov- 
ernment are settled, it is hoped, for all time." 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, FIF- 
TEENTH AND SIXTEENTH VERMONT 
REGIMENT AND THE SECOND 
VERMONT BRIGADE. 



The second Vermont Brigade was made np 
from the Fifth Vermont Regiment of nine months 
men consisting of the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 
16th regiments. Soon after President Lincoln 
had issued his call, July 1st, 1862, for 300,000 
men for three years, Congress passed an act 
authorizing him to call out the entire militia of 
the states. Under this act President Lincoln 
issued a call for 300,000 militia to serve for nine 
months within which time it was supposed the 
rebellion would be crushed. Vermont's quota of 
this number was 4,898 men. Governor Holbrook 
on the 11th of August, 1862, issued an order for a 
new enrollment of the militia comprising all able- 
bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45 years. 
By the 20th of September, fifty companies were 
raised and formed into the five regiments. Asa 
P. Blunt of St. Johnsbury, who had seen service 
in the field, was appointed colonel of the Twelfth, 
and the regiment was mustered in on October 4th, 
and arrived at Washington the 8th, and on 

(907) 



308 EARLY HISTORY 

October 30th the other five regiments having ar- 
rived at Washington were brigaded together. 
Francis V. Randall of Montpelier was appointed 
colonel of the Thirteenth. Randall had seen ser- 
vice as captain in the Second Vermont, and fifteen 
months service in the First Vermont Brigade. 
The regiment was mustered in October 8th and 
reached Washington the 13th and soon became a 
part of the Second Brigade. William T. Nichols 
of Rutland, who had seen service in the First Ver- 
mont regiment, was appointed colonel of the 
Fourteenth. The regiment was mustered into the 
United States service on October 21st, 1862, and 
arrived at Washington the 25th and soon became 
a part of the Second Vermont Brigade. Red field 
Proctor of Cavendish, who had seen considerable 
service in the field as quartermaster of the Third, 
and as one of the staff of General Smith and as 
major of the Fifth, was appointed colonel of the 
Fifteenth. 

The regiment was mustered into the United 
States service October 22, 1862, and arrived at 
Washington the 26th, and soon after was bri- 
gaded with the other nine months men of Ver- 
mont. Wheelock G. Veazey of Springfield, who 
had seen service as captain of Company A of the 
Third, and afterwards major and lieutenant- 
colonel of the regiment, and also on the staff of 
Major General William F. Smith, was appointed 
colonel of the Sixteenth. The regiment was 
mustered into the United States service on Octo- 
ber 23, 1862, and arrived at Washington the 
27th, and camped near and became a part of the 



OF VERMONT. 309 

Second Vermont Brigade. The important part 
which these five regiments took will be related in 
the farther history of the Second Vermont Bri- 
gade. 

Desertions were but few in this brigade. The 
number of professional men among it was large 
and many of them after the war* filled important 
positions in civil life: three governors, two lieu- 
tenant governors, two judges of the Supreme 
Court, one United States territorial judge, a con- 
gressman, a secretary of the state, a United States 
district attorney, an adjutant general, a quarter- 
master general, more than fourteen state senators 
and many other minor positons. 

The brigade became a part of Major-General 
Silaf Casey's division which served in the defense 
of Washington. During the winter it picketed a 
part of the line encircling Washington and did 
fatigue duty on the outer works of Fort Lyon 
for which 1500 men were detailed daily from the 
brigade. On Nov. 7th came the change in the 
command of the Army of the Potomac. Many 
had lost confidence in McClcllan, he was so slow 
in his movements. Burnside assumed command 
and moved to the Rappahannock on the 11th of 
December, 1862, and prepared for the disastrous 
battle of Fredericksburg. The second Vermont 
brigade took the place of Sickles brigade which had 
been ordered to join Sigel who had l>ecn ordered 
from Centerville to Burnside. The brigade with 
the First Virginia (loyal) cavalry now had to 
picket a front of five or six miles along Bull Run 
and Cub Run and protect Washington. The 



310 EARLY HISTORY 

enemy, that this force had to guard against, was 
guerrillas and Mosby 's irregular force. They also 
had to contend wi£h Stuart's cavalry raid of 
1800 men from Lee's army, the last of November. 
The brigade had to be vigilant against the op- 
perations of Mosby. He had been, at his own 
request, detailed to harrass the Federal forces 
guarding Washington; at first he had but fifteen 
men from the First Virginia (Confederate) cav- 
alry, which was increased from time to time 
from the disloyal inhabitants of the region, who 
placed themselves under his command, at his will, 
and retiring to their homes when not needed. 
In a note in Benedict's history of the war it is 
said that Mosby called his force "the conglom- 
erates" and said, that like one of the old political 
parties, they "were held together by the force of 
public plunder." 

On February 2nd, 1863, the brigade was made 
a part of the Twenty-second Army Corps under 
the command of Major-General Hentzleman. 
On March 9th General Stoughton, the brigade 
commander, was "gobbled up" by Mosby. 
Stoughton had his headquarters at the brick 
house of a Dr. Gunnell at Fairfax Court House. 
He had with him his personal staff and his 
mother and two sisters. His exposed position 
had caused it to be predicted that he would be 
captured. Mosby with 30 picked men, and a 
deserter from the Fifth New York cavalry, (who 
was familiar with the situation and who was 
killed a year later,) divided his men into 
three parties, one to capture Colonel Wyndham, 



OF VBRMONT. 311 

one to collect the horses from the stables, and the 
*third with Mosby went to General Stoughton's 
headquarters. Rapping at the door, announced 
they had dispatches for General Stoughton, and 
they were admitted, went to his room, made him 
prisoner with Lieut. Samuel F. Prentiss of the 
Thirteenth Vermont, a member of Stough ton's 
staff, and made their escape with their prisoners* 
The raiders spent an hour in the village without 
firing a shot and without causing a general 
alarm. They took with them two underofficers, 
a guest, a telegraph operator, postmaster, a 
photographer, and fifteen private soldiers, several 
of whom were members of Vermont regiments, 
and fifty-five horses, fourteen of which belonged 
to General Stoughton and his aides. Prentiss made 
his escape. The prisoners were sent to Libby pris- 
on. President Lincoln, referring to this affair, 
said "lie did not much mind the loss of a briga- 
dier general for he could make another in five 
minutes, but those horses cost $125 a piece." 
This ended General Stoughton's military career. 
The command now devolved* upon Colonel Blunt 
and on April 20th General George J. Stannard, 
who had 1>een promoted brigadier general, was 
assigned to the command of the second brigade; 
the brigade was assigned to protect the Orange 
and Alexander railroad to the Rappahannock that 
it might 1)e operated for the use of Hooker's army. 
While the battle of . Chancellorsville was in 
progress some portion of the brigade was at 
Catlett's Station and at Warrenton Junction. 
Mosby had been appointed to be a major, and 



312 EARLY HISTORY 

had a command of 100 men and was intending to 
harrass Hooker's rear, but his command soon* 
came to grief. He captured three men of the 
Twelfth and about fifty men of the First Virginia 
Loyal cavalry under command of Major Steele 
and were being taken off by Mosby, when the 
Fifth New York cavalry and a part of the Fir§t 
Vermont cavalry came on the scene and re- 
captured all the prisoners but two, and captured 
twenty-three of Mosby's men, most of them 
wounded, and scattered the rest. The captured 
pickets of the Twelfth made their escape during 
the fight. 

While the Twelfth was stationed near Brandy 
Station, three of Hon. John Minor Botts' former 
slaves escaped to the camp of the Twelfth. Botts 
came and asked for their return on the ground that 
he was a union man, and that Lincoln's procla- 
mation of freedom affected only slave property 
of rebels. Colonel Blunt did not consent to order 
their return, but told Mr. Botts he might have an 
opportunity to persuade them to return. The 
colored men concluded that they rather be free, 
and one of them who resembled Mr. Botts argued 
the matter with Botts, and said to him that "if 
he, Botts, was a rebel he might claim his slaves, 
but if he was a truly loyal man, he ought to 
respect Mr. Lincoln's proclamation, which declared 
all the slaves in any state or part of a state in 
rebellion, to be thence forward and forever free." 
Mr. Botts appealed to Mr. Lincoln but got no 
satisfaction. 

About the middle of May the Thirteenth lost a 



OF VERMONT. 313 

.few men and some army wagons by Mosby and 
guerrillas, but the prisoners were released on pa- 
role. In the first week of June Lee commenced his 
second invasion of the North that ended at 
Gettysburg. The Army of the Potomac met the 
Army of Northern Virginia on that bloody field. 
General Meade had been assigned to the command 
of the army. General Stannard on June 23d was 
notified that his brigade had been attached to the 
First Corps of the Army of the Potomac. On this 
march to the North the men had blistered and 
bleeding feet and ninety men were left at Fredr 
erick City. On June 30th they had reached Em- 
metsburg two miles from Pennsylvania line. The 
brigade had marched 120 miles in six days. 

For the then coming battle Meade had 91,000 
effective men. and 327 guns. Many of Meade's 
men had never l>een under fire. Lee had 80,000 
men, all veterans, and 268 guns. The number 
that actually took part in battle were about the 
same on each side. Meade held one corps in 
reserve, while every brigade of Lee's was in the 
fight. On July 1st the Twelfth and Fifteenth 
regiments were directed to remain with the trains 
and the other three regiments to move forward. 
The battle had commenced in earnest and 
Stannard established communication with General 
Reynolds. About noon word was received that 
General Reynolds was killed and that the brigade 
was needed as soon as it could get to the field. 
They hurried forward, meeting pale women and 
frightened children fleeing from scenes of blood 
shed. The union forces fell back to Cemetery Hill, 



314 EARLY HISTORY 

and the Second Vermont Brigade was finally 
placed on the right of Birney's division. Two 
hundred men of the Sixteenth were posted under 
Major Rounds in front to relieve Bufortl.s cavalry. 
That day there was fearful carnage along the 
line. 

Under the order of General Sickles, given without 
strict right, the Fifteenth was sent forward to the 
battle-field. This order they were glad to receive 
as they desired to take a hand in the battle, but 
on arriving to the front, hearing that the train 
was liable to be taken by the Confederate right 
wing, were ordered back to guard the train with 
the Twelfth. 

During the forenoon of the second day of the 
battle, as the brigade lay massed in column by 
division, in the rear of Cemetery Hill, General 
Doubleday was heard to remark to a member of 
his staft as he rode by the brigade, "Here are some 
boys that will fight when their time comes." 
General Stannard in the afternoon was placed in 
charge of the infantry supports of the batteries on 
the left brow of Cemetery Hill. The brigade had 
but little to do till near the end of the afternoon. 
Sickles had been struck on front and flank by Long- 
street, and after a prolonged contest and bloody 
fighting on both sides the angle of Sickles* lines at 
the Peach Orchard had been broken, he had 
been wounded and his Corps driven back, and 
Longstreet followed up his advantage and under- 
took to seige the crest between Cemetery Hill 
and Round Tops. If he had succeeded he would 
have cut the Union army in two, with fatal 



OF VERMONT. 315 

results. The Hill was saved by the desperate 
fighting of the Twentieth Maine with some Ver- 
mont sharp-shooters, together with timely aid 
from the Third, Fifth, Twelfth and Sixth Corps. 
Here General Hood lost an arm, and at dark 
the Union position was secure. 

Humphrey's division, after an obstinate resist- 
ance, fell back to Cemetery Ridge, closely' pursued 
by a heavy force that broke through the lines of 
the Second Corps that had been ordered up to 
support Humphrey and well nigh cut the Union 
army in two. At this point the Second Vermont 
Brigade came into action and drove back the 
advancing enemy, and filled a large gap and 
re-established the Union lines, along Cemetery 
Ridge. At the head of the column that did such 
important work at this crictical time, in re-estab- 
lishing the Union lines, was Stannard's Vermont 
Brigade. 

General Hancock had been endeavoring to 
rally the support of Weir's (Fifth U. S.) Battery 
that was in danger of being captured, and he 
met Colonel Randall with companies A, B, C, G. 
and I. of the Thirteenth on the Crest. The 
gunners of the battery had abandoned three of 
the guns. Hancock asked Colonel Randall "Can't 
you save that battery?" "We can try" was the 
reply— "forward, boys!" 

Randall's horse was shot under him, and the 
colonel went on foot, and reached the battery with 
Captain Lonergan by his side, who was in com- 
mand of Company A. The Georgians were driven 
from the guns and the cannon passed to the rear;* 



316 EARLY HISTORY 

Randall, with his men, pushed on to the Emraetts- 
burg road, stepping dver some Confederates, one 
of whom rose and fired at Major Boynton's back, 
but the shot did not take effect—the rebel was 
sent to the rear as prisoner. While in this ad- 
vanced position, the rebels advanced two pieces of 
artillery into the road about 100 yards distant to 
the south and commenced to throw shells at 
Randall's men. The colonel ordered a charge and 
seized the guns. Then his men were fired upon 
from the Rogers house standing on the same road. 
Company A was sent thither. Captain Lonergan 
surrounded the house and took their captain and 
80 men of an Alabama regiment prisoners, a 
larger number of prisoners than in Lonergan's 
company. 

At the close of the second day of the battle, 
July 2nd, the Army of the Potomac held Culp's 
Hill on the right, Cemetery Hill and Ridge in the 
center and the Round Tops on the left, but the 
enemy was dangerously near the Baltimore Pike 
on the Union right, and had possession of the 
Devil's Den at the bases of the Round Tops. 
Although Meade's loss was heavy there was no 
thought among the officers and men but to fight 
it out. 

On the third day the battle opened with 
cannonading at daylight by Longstreet from the 
rebel left and center to attract attention to that 
part of the field while Ewell could gain a foothold 
on the Union right so as to get possession of the 
Baltimore' Pike. Early had declared he would 
•break the Union right if it cost him his last man. 



OF VERMONT. 317 

Here the contest raged for six hours till eleven 
A. m., when Geary drove the enemy back. Early 
retired, terribly broken and the battle was over 
on the right. The Confederate dead covered the 
ground for a long distance. The Union loss here 
was small. 

On the Union left center, the 16th Vermont under 
Colonel Veazey remained on the picket line during 
the night, moving late in the forenoon the next 
day. The Second Vermont Brigade took its share 
of the opening cannonade in the morning of the 
third day and lost a few men. The famous charge 
known as Pickett's Charge, was in fact composed 
of three divisions: Pickett's division of Long- 
street's Corps; Heth's division of Hill's Corps 
and commanded by Pettigrew, and half of 
Pender's division. The charge was made with 
17,000 men. The charge was preceded by a 
cannonading from 150 guns by Lee. While 
Meade had more guns in his position he could not 
well use but 90. The cannonade was without a 
parallel. Each gun could with ease be discharged 
twice every minute. The 240 guns would aggre- 
gate 350 discharges a minute. The cannonading 
commenced at ten minutes past two p. m. and 
lasted for two hours. 

It has been compared to "the thundering roar 
of all the accumulated battles ever fought upon 
the earth rolled into one volume." The sounds 
of it were heard 143 miles from Gettysburg. 

Colonel Veazey's men who had been out on 
picket all night and forenoon lay during this 
cannonade in front of the Union batteries which 



318 EARLY HISTORY 

fired right over them. Veazey said the effect of the 
cannonading on his men was most astonishing. 
Most of them fell asleep and it was by the greatest 
effort he could keep awake himself, notwithstand- 
ing the cries of his wounded men and his anxiety 
in reference to the more fearful scenes which he 
knew would speedily follow. Soon after three 
o'clock was the grand charge. The assaulting 
forces came in two lines, taking a sweep of about 
1000, yards across the open stretch of meadow. 
From the crest occupied by Lee it gently de- 
scended about half of the way to the crest 
occupied. by Meade and rose by a gentle incline to 
the Union lines. 

The veterans of Pickett came on steadily pre- 
ceded by their skirmishers. The pickets of the 
Sixteenth Vermont fell back to the main body as 
the enemy advanced. The enemy's right seemed 
to be aiming at the position of the Fourteenth. 
Colonel Stannard ordered them to hold their fire 
till the enemy was close upon them, then give 
them a volley and then the bayonet. When the 
regiment arose the enemy's line changed and 
marched by the flank to the north across its 
front for some sixty rods, and again fronting came 
upon the line of the Second Corps; this move of 
the enemy seemed to have been caused by the 
sudden appearance of a body of troops nearer 
than they expected, but in fact a gap had been 
opened in the enemy's line and they obliqued to 
the left to close the gap. The Fourteenth and 
Thirteenth poured a deadly fire into the enemy's 
lines, leaving many dead in front of the Vermont 



OF VERMONT. 319 

division. The enemy now came in on the charge 
with a wild yell that was heard above the sound 
of the cannon and musketry. The batteries on 
the slope, firing grape and canister, made havoc 
in the enemy's lines. An opportunity for a flank 
attack by Stannard had come and he improved it. 
He ordered the Thirteenth and Sixteenth regi- 
ments out upon the enemy's flank. The enemy's 
rear line met this force by a sharp fire that 
seemed to falter for a mo merit but soon a line 
of fire ran down the front pf the Thirteenth on the 
crowding mass of the enemy. The Sixteenth now 
joined in the work. The three regiments joined in 
the front attack at short range. The Thirteenth 
fired 10 or 12 rounds, and the Sixteenth about six 
into a mass of men on which every bullet took 
effect and the progress of the Confederates ceased, 
but falling rapidly and many shortly fled in all 
directions; a larger part of them dropped their 
arms and hurriedly made their way into the 
Union lines as prisoners. A large number sur- 
rendered to the Thirteenth. One body of about 
250 men were sent to the rear in charge of two 
companies of the Thirteenth. Many surrendered 
to the Sixteenth. At sundown the regiments of 
the Vermont brigade were back in the original 
line and remained there till ten o'clock p. M. when 
they were relieved. The bloodiest battle ever 
fought on this continent was ended. General 
Stannard was badly wounded in thigh and leg. 
To his perfect coolness, close and constant presence 
with his men— which was an inspiration to them 
—his quickness to seize the great opportunity of 



320 EARLY HISTORY 

the battle in charging Pickett's men in their right 
flank, the glorious success of the battle of Gettys- 
burg was in a large measure due. 

Major General Hancock, after rallying troops 
to meet Pickett's charge fell wounded from his 
horse and was caught by Lieut. Hooker and 
Benedict of Stannard's staff. General Doubleday 
saw the charge of Stannard's brigade, waved his 
hat and shouted : "Glory to God, glory to God! 
See the Vermonters go it." The next day 
Company E of the Sixteenth marched to General 
Meade's headquarters and delivered to him the 
captured flag of the Second Florida, and received 
his thanks, which he accompanied with praise of 
the gallant service rendered by Stannard's brigade. 

General Lee's loss in the battle as stated by 
reliable Confederate historians was 23,000. Over 
5,000 of his dead were buried on the field, 7,600 
of his severely wounded were left on the field, and 
there were 13,621 Confederate prisoners taken. 

The Second Vermont brigade lost at the battle 
46 killed, 240 wounded and 56 missing; of the 
wounded 19 died of their wounds. The term of 
service of the brigade was soon to expire, and 
after a few days more service they were mustered 
out and returned to their homes. 

STATEMENT. 
TWELFTH REGIMENT. 

Original members, 996 

Died of disease, 62 

THIRTEENTH REGIMENT. 

Original members, 955 



OF VERMONT. 321 



Died, killed in action, 


11 


Died of wounds. 





Died of disease, \ - t , ( 


61 


FOURTEENTH REGIMFNT. 




Original members, 


959 


Killed in action, 


19 


Died of wounds, 


8 


Died of disease, 


39 


Died in Confederate prisons, 


2 


FIFTEENTH REGIMENT. 




Original members, 


939 


Died of disease, 


78 


Died from accident, 


1 


SIXTEENTH REGIMENT. 




Original members, 


960 


Deaths, killed in action, 


16 


Died from wounds, 


8 


Died from disease, 


48 


Taken prisoner, 


1 



28 



CHAPTER XVI. 



VERMONT CAVALRY, BATTERIES SHARP- 
SHOOTERS, AND BRIGADE BAND. 



Vermont sent to the war the first full regiment 
of Cavalry from New England. It was raised un- 
der the direct authority of the United States, as 
Governor Fairbanks in 1861, thought there was 
no State law that authorized the raising it. Si- 
mon Cameron, the Secretary of War, commis- 
sioned Lemuel B. Piatt as Colonel with authority 
to raise the regiment. Cameron asked Piatt 
what military experience he had had. He told 
him he had spent three days at a military muster 
when a young man, two of which he spent in a 
guard house, but he could raise a regiment, though 
he did not consider himself competent to drill and 
cammand it; and he would undertake to raise it 
in forty days. In forty-two days from that date 
the regiment was in camp, the uniforms provided 
and the horses on the ground. They were mus- 
tered in Nov. 19, 1861. The regiment filled 153 
cars. The regiment was sent to Annapolis, Md., 
to be drilled. Colonel Piatt here resigned and 
Captain Jonas P. Halliday of the Second United 
States cavalry was appointed colonel ; he was 33 
years old, tall, slender and grave. On March 9th, 
1862, the regime rtt was sent to join the forces 

IS*?) 



OF VERMONT. 323 

guarding the line of the Potonmc above Washing- 
ton. They were soon sent to General Banks, who 
was pressing his advantage against Stonewall 
Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley ; the regiment 
moved to Woodstock, where Banks had hi** head- 
quarters. At this time their colonel in a state of 
despondency committed suicide. The regiment 
moved up the Valley and it was near Mount 
Jackson that the regiment received their first 
fighting order to "make ready for a charge." As 
they charged through the village they passed an 
Indiana regiment of infantry; the latter called out, 
••Let the Green Mountain Boys go at them. They 
are all sons of Ethan Allen, and will show the 
Michigan boys something new." The Confederate 
cavalry made a hasty retreat from the village, 
setting the bridge on fire that crossed the creek; 
the fire was extinguished by the Vermonters. 
Here Chaplain Woodward took a hand in the 
fight, showing he could fight as well as pray. 
The next morning the regiment reached New 
Market that Banks had just taken. The regiment 
moved on to Harrisonburg and beyond to the 
little hamlet of McGaheysville where they charged 
and scattered a small body of Confederates. 
Here Corporal John Chase was wounded in his 
bowels but kept on, overtook and captured one of 
the enemy, and on returning fainted and fell from 
his horse and died the next day of his wounds. 
Banks learning that Jackson had been reinforced, 
withdrew to New Market on May 5th. 

In the course of a chase after some of the rebel 
cavalry, Chaplain Woodward describes how he 



324 EARLY HISTORY 

captured two men as follows: The horses of the 
captain and chaplain being the fleetest, drew so 
near to the retreating foe as to give them several 
shots. Two of the rebels leaped from their horses 
and fled into a house. Woodward followed them. 
On entering the house an elderly lady broke out in 
an unearthly screaming. "Oh, dear, dear, the 
Yankees have come !" . He opened the door into a 
bedroom, aqd seeing two feet protruding from 
under the bed, raised it and said: "Jonathan, 
come out! I want you." He proved to be the son 
of the woman making the outcry. The chaplain 
told her that "the terrible Yankees would not 
hurt her or her son if they behaved themselves." 
He found the other man in the other room. Both 
were taken prisoneri and their horses were taken 
also. Now Jackson began to press upon the 
Union iorees, and attacked Schenck and Mil- 
roy; they lost 256 men to Jackson's 461. His 
purpose was to drive Banks out of the Valley. 
Banks withdrew first to Strasburg. On the 23rd, 
Charles H. Tompkins joined the regiment as its 
colonel. Jackson had a force now of 20,000 men, 
twice the number that Banks had. Jackson 
passed to the east of Banks, passing down the 
Luray Valley and turned Banks' flank. Now 
Banks fell back, but he had a large number of sick 
to care for and his supply train that numbered 
500 wagons, and other vehicles in all filled seven 
miles of highway. He effected his retreat across 
the Potomac at Williamsport on the 26th, with a 
loss of 200 men killed and wounded and 700 miss- 
ing in his running fight of sixty miles. A Mary- 



OF VERMONT. 325 

land regiment was captured at Front Royal. 
Banks also lost two field pieces and 55 wagons. 
The retreat was well conducted in the face of a 
superior force. The Vermont cavalry had a varied 
and trying experience which the writer has not 
space to relate in detail. The regiment went into 
camp two miles out from Williamsport; tents and 
baggage had been lost and the men built sheds 
for shelter. They were depressed at the supposed 
loss of 300 of their number, but some 200 of the 
missing came in in the course of two or three 
days— some with their horses ,and some on foot. 
In the running fight from New Market to the 
Potomac the regiment lost four killed, nineteen 
wounded and about sixty captured, of whom 
about fifteen were wounded. General Hatch 
praised the Vermont cavalry for "steadiness in 
ranks." On June 13th, 1862, the re-occupation of 
the Valley began. The forces of Generals Free- 
mont, Banks and McDowell were placed under the 
command of Major-General John Pope. On the 
15th the regiment went into camp at Winchester. 
On July 12th Hatch, with his brigade, was ordered 
to destroy the railroad from Gordonsville to 
Charlottsville, but Jackson's advance reached 
Gordonsville, before he did ; then Pope ordered 
him to strike the road and destroy the track west 
ot Gordonsville. Hatch commenced the move- 
ment, but abandoned it, and Pope relieved him of 
his command and sent General John Bufford to 
take his place. The retreat of General McClellan 
from the front of Richmond left Lee free to operate 
against Pope and push his way north to meet the 



326 EARLY HISTORY 

Union forces on the field of Antietam. Pope, ow- 
ing in part to the fact of the tardiness of McClel- 
lan and the officers under him to render him 
prompt support, was defeated at the second bat- 
tle of Bull Run. The Vermont Cavalry during this 
trying time was almost continuously in the sad- 
dle. Companies A and I were supposed for a time 
to have been captured, but they made their re- 
treat with a loss of seven men captured, and re- 
joined the regiment on the 6th of September. Pope 
resigned and McClellan was re-instated as com- 
mander of the army and fought the successful bat- 
tle of Antietam on the 17th. 

On Sept. 9th Major Edward B. Sawyer was 
promoted to be Colonel in place of Tompkins re- 
signed. A part of the regiment with other troops 
had a sharp contest near Upperville on the 21st of 
September with the Sixth Virginia cavalry. They 
were sent to cut off a supply train for Lee's army, 
where they succeeded in taking five wagons, three 
of which were loaded with clothing— they were 
burned. In this affair Captain Perkins was killed 
and seven men wounded. The reikis had 4 killed, 
fourteen wounded and 14 captured. Lieutenant 
Colonel Preston had a very narrow escape: he in the 
charge had passed through the rear line of the en- 
emy, and as they turned and fled they took Pres- 
ton, who got wedged in between two of them; 
each drew a pistol on him. He knocked one of 
their revolvers one side and disabled the holder of 
it with his saber. The shot of the other pistol 
passed through Preston's right arm, another ball 



OF VERMONT. 327 

grazed his stomach, but he got away and came up 
with the main body. 

On October 27th an order came mustering out 
Colonel Sawyer for "inefficiency and neglect of the 
welfare of his regiment while a Major thereof," 
but on learning the facts fully in the matter the 
order was revoked. The regiment lost during the 
first year of service 319 men by death, discharge 
and dismissal. On January 12, 1863, Company 
M, Captain John W. Woodward, recruited mainly 
in Chittenden County, joined the regiment, raising 
it to 1,034 men. The regiment spent the winter 
in picket duty near Washington. On March'2nd, 
50 men of Companies H and M, in a fight with 
Mosby, lost 14 men by being captured— Captain 
Woodward was one of the captured. Mosby 
again on March 17th surrounded a picket guard 
of 25 men under Lieutenant A. G. Watson of Com- 
pany L. They took refuge in the saw mill at or 
near Herndon Station six miles from Dranesville. 
Mosby gave the men the choice to surrender or be 
roasted alive— they chose to surrender. Blinn 
Atchinson was seriously wounded. Major Wells, 
Captain Scofield of Company F and Lieut. Cheney 
of Companj' C had gone to the same station on a 
commission investigating a charge of stealing 
brought by a citizen against some of the troops; 
the}' also were captured. The men were paroled, 
but the officers spent two months in Libby 
Prison at Richmond. Later a disastrous affair 
took place at Dranesville after the Union forces 
had been withdrawn from that place. A loyal 
citizen brought word that Mosby with 80 men 



328 EARLY HISTORY 

were at Dranesville 12 miles distant. Captain 
Flint with 130 men was sent to capture them. 
Mosby's men had picketed their horses inside a 
large barnj'ard. Before the yard was reached 
Mosby learned of Flint's purpose from Dick 
Moran, one of his men who had learned of Flint's 
approach. Flint made a charge on the men in the 
yard before his whole force came up. The high 
yard fence protected Mosby's men and they 
used their pistols with effect and Flint fell dead 
with six bullets in his body; Grout and about 
a dozen men were wounded. The cavalry 
became demoralized and Mosby dashed out and 
became the aggressive party. The regiment had 
seven killed and mortally wounded ; 22 wounded 
and 82 captured unwounded. 

On May 30, 1863, when Mosby made his at- 
tack on a supply train near Catlett's, a part of 
the regiment under Preston did very creditable 
work. When Mosby made his attack on the train 
Preston was six miles away, but when he heard 
the sound of Mosby's howitzer, Preston had 125 
men in ten minutes in the saddle on the waj r to 
meet Mosby, and was at Catlett's in thirty min- 
utes; Mosby was on his retreat with the mail 
bags and sutlers goods. Preston skirmished with 
his rear guard for twQ miles till Mosby made a 
stand on a brow of a hill. Here Lieut. Barker 
of the Fifth New York, with 30 men, charged up 
the hill, losing three men killed and seven 
wounded; Mosby then charged and Barker was 
driven back. The Vermonters now took their 
turn; a hand to hand right followed around 



OF VERMONT. 329 

Mosby 's howitzer. Captain Haskins, an English 
officer who had joined Mosby, was mortally 
wounded. Lieut. Chapman of Mosby's party 
was wounded and captured with two others of 
Mosby's men; Mosby received a sabre wound; 
his men scattered . into the woods and escaped. 
This was the last encounter that the Vermont 
cavalry had with Mosby. 

On June 28th, the cavalry division was consoli- 
dated into two brigades and came under. the 
general command of General Judson Kilpatrick. 
The First Vermont, Fifth New York, Eighteenth 
Pennsylvania constituted the First Brigade under 
General Elon J. Farnsworth. The regiment had 
now S40 men present for ditty. Major Wells had 
returned from Libby prison. On June 29th the 
rebel General Stewart was making his way 
through Maryland to join Lee in Pennsylvania, 
picking up all the horses he could on his way, but 
at Hanover he struck Farnsworth's brigade. 
Stewart charged in upon the Pennsylvania regi- 
ment which he broke and scattered. Major Ben- 
nett with Companies M and D charged the enemy 
with the Fifth New York and drove the enemy out 
of the village and captured Lieut-Col Payne of a 
North Carolina regiment and 20 mert and came 
near capturing General Stewart. The victory was 
won which rejoiced the hearts of the citizens of the 
village. On July 2nd Kilpatrick was ordered by 
General Pleasonton to move to Gettysburg. In 
arriving on the field the First Vermont supported 
the battery that drove Hampton back, who was 
attempting to turn the Union right on Cemetery 



330 EARLY HISTORY* 

Ridge, and then was ordered back to the Balti- 
more Pike, southeast of Gettysburg, passing near 
E well's corps laying in front of Gulp's Hill near 
the Union right. The regiment marched all night 
to accomplish this. They there rested till eight a. m , 
and then proceeded to the Union left to demon- 
strate against Lee's right to prevent him flanking 
the Union army. Kilpa trick moved with Farns- 
worth's brigade to the south of Round Top. He 
moved up in front of Hood's division; Preston 
with the Vermont cavalry being in the advance, 
drove the enemy from a knoll with a house on it, 
riding up through a volley of musketry. At five 
o'clock July 3rd General Kilpatrick ordered a 
cavalry attack. General Farnsworth, who had 
reconnoitred the ground where the charge on the 
enemy was to l>e made, expressed his opinion that 
it was a desperate thing for mounted men to be 
taken into such a place where the enemy were at 
the foot of Round Top. Kilpatrick replied that 
the charge must l)e made and at once, and if 
General Farnsworth did not want to lead it he 
would. Farnsworth rejoined that * % he was not 
afraid to go as far as any man. and no man could 
take his men any farther than he could," and 
wheeling gave his order to charge and placed him- 
self by Wells' side at the head of the column. 
Preston followed Farnsworth and Wells. Many 
saddles were emptied and the contest became a 
hand to hand one in which sabres were effectually 
used. The enemy was completely cut up and sent 
to the rear in squads. Now they were exposed to 
the enemies' batteries and were compelled to fall 



OF VERMONT. 331 

back. Farnsworth's horse was shot under him, 
and Corporal Freeman gave him his. The\- dashed 
up the hillside and were met by the Fifteenth Ala- 
bama. General Famsworth ordered the men to 
surrender. The reply was a volley, before which 
horse and rider went down, and formation became 
lost, and they escaped the best they could. The 
Vermont regiment encountered five regiments of 
infantry and two batteries. The loss of the regi- 
ment was 12 killed, 20 wounded, two of them 
mortally and 35 missing. The story that Fams- 
worth committed suicide, circulated at the time by 
the rebels, was untrue. There were five bullet 
holes in his body when his body was taken from 
the field. This charge contributed greatly to the 
final victory at Gettysburg which soon followed. 
The next morning General Kilpatrick received 
orders to follow Lee and went on to Hagerstown 
taking 100 pris mers, a drove of cattle and several 
wagons. In the fight at Hagerstown and in the 
retreat the Vermont cavalry lost five men killed, 
16 wounded and 65 missing. Captain Wood- 
ward, son of Chaplain Woodward, was killed, 
pierced through heart and brain. It is stated in a 
note in G. G. Benedict's history that a few days 
before his death he received the news of the death 
of his betrothed. Thereafter he cared little what 
happened to him, and evidently welcomed a 
soldier's death. His remains were taken to Ver- 
mont, and two grave stones, side by side in the 
cemetery at Cambridge, record the close of a 
mournful romance of real life. The regiment had 
continual skirmishing with the enemy's cavalry 



332 EARLY HISTORY 

until Lee recrossed the river at Williamsport into 
Virginia. In the Gettysburg campaign the regi- 
ment lost 19 killed, 63 wounded and 101 missing; 
five died of their wounds. In a charge at Hagers- 
town Major Wells had a hand to hand contest 
with two rebels. In the melee Wells crossed sabres 
with a Confederate officer and received a glancing 
thrust in the side which passed through his clothes 
and made a slight wound; at the same time he 
was struck a blow across the back by another 
trooper, when Sergeant Hatch disabled one of 
Wells' assailants by a shot from his revolver and 
Wells beat off the other. The regiment was in 
constant service till August 20th, when it was 
transferred to Custer's brigade and the regiment 
soon went into camp four miles north of Palmouth 
and picketed the Rappahannock. The regiment 
was in the affair at Culpeper Sept. 13th, in which 
the Vermont cavalry was under fire for four hours, 
and took 40 prisoners. At Pony Mountain, Adju- 
tant Gates was wounded and taken prisoner and 
taken to Belle Isle where he remained three weeks 
and then sent to the hospital. Being a fine pen- 
man, he was employed as a clerk in preparing 
lists of enlisted men to be paroled and exchanged, 
and by slyly inserting his own name in the list, 
was sent with other paroled prisoners to City 
Point and exchanged. 

In Lee's Bristol campaign in October, the 
First Vermont. took part in five engagements. In 
the fight at Brandy Station nearly the whole cav- 
alry force of both armies confronted each other. 
The loss of the Vermont regiment was one killed, 



OF VERMONT. 333 

four wounded and 28 missing. Captain Beeman, 
who was taken prisoner, was confined in Libby 
Prison, and was taken from thence to Macon, Ga. 
While on his way thence he escaped fi om the cars, 
was recaptured by means of blood hounds, and 
after five months confinement in Charleston and 
Columbia, was paroled. Captain Adams, who 
was also captured was confined at Charlotte, N. 
C, escaped from prison March 1st, 1865, made his 
way on foot to the Union lines at Knoxville, Tenn. 
The regiment took part in Kilpatrick's famous 
raid against Richmond in the fore part of March, 
1864. While before Richmond Kilpatrick pro- 
posed to Preston to take his regiment and make a 
dash into Richmond on the morning of the second 
of March. Preston accepted the undertaking but 
before he started, Kilpatrick, learning of the 
superior force that Preston would have to meet, 
abandoned the desperate enterprise and moved on 
to Mechanicsville, six miles from Richmond and 
destroyed the depot and the railroad track and 
had a skirmish with the enemy in which the Ver- 
monters took a part, and then moved in direction 
of the White House, and near this place united 
with Dahlgren who came up and joined the main 
body. Dahlgren had been led astray by a guide 
representing that the river was fordable at Dover 
Mills. No ford was found and the false guide was 
hung. Dahlgren undertook to take the city of 
Richmond from the North and drove theenemv 
inside of the outer lines of their fortifications, and 
the cavalry then returned and reached Yorktown 
March 4th, and after a week's rest the First Ver- 



334 EARLY HISTORY 

mont embarked for Alexandria. The loss of the 
regiment in this expedition was 12 wounded, 
seven of whom were captured, 59 missing. In the 
rearrangement under General Grant the First 
Vermont became the first regiment of the second 
brigade of the third division, and Lieutenant Col- 
onel Preston was made colonel, Sawyer having 
resigned. George H. Chapman became command- 
er of the brigade. The First Vermont did their 
share of the fighting in the Wilderness campaign. 
At the engagement on June 3, 1864, at Hawes' 
Shop Colonel Preston was killed— a great loss to 
the regiment. General Custer said, as he turned 
away from his corpse, "There lies the best fighting 
colonel in the cavalry corps." The command then 
devolved on Major Wells, who was soon promoted 
to the colonelcy. The regiment was with Wilson's 
force on his raid against the Welden railroad south 
and sonthwest of Richmond from the 22nd of 
June to July 1st, 1864, when he was quite success- 
ful in the object of his raid, but on his return was 
badly handled by the rebel forces. Wilson was 
fiercely attacked by General Mahone when the 
Vermont regiment was brought under a very 
severe fire. The regiment cut its way through the 
enemy, but Captain Grant and Lieutenant Higley 
and 60 men were captured. At Ream's Station 
Wilson was attacked by a force of 9,000 infantry 
and cavalry and lost 1,500 men and 12 guns. 
Wilson retreated. In the retreat at the bridge ov- 
er the Nottoway a terrible scene took place. Some 
1,200 colored fugitives from slavery had accom- 
panied the column. General Wilson placed a guard 



OF VERMONT. 335 

at the bridge and allowed no men on foot to pass 
till the mounted men had crossed. Those on foot 
had not all crossed over when the enemy rode up 
and opened fire on the helpless mass of unarmed 
men. The bridge became filled with footmen, 
black and white, mingled among the horsemen. 
Many were pushed over its sides and fell upon the 
rocks or into the stream below. The enemy shot 
and sabred the negroes without mercy. Only 200 
succeeded in crossing and keeping up with the 
cavalry column. 

Since June 22nd the regiment had marched 300 
miles. It was a hard experience. The regiment 
lost three killed and 12 wounded and 75 men 
captured, and most of the wounded * were cap- 
tured. 

On August 8th the regiment with the division 
embarked to go into the Shenandoah Valley 
under Sheridan, and on August 17th the regiment 
arrived at Winchester. General Torbert now was 
chief of the cavalry of the Army of the Shenandoah. 
On August 25th in the fight at or near Kearney- 
ville the regimeut lost eight men wounded and 
three mortally. The regiment were engaged at 
the battle of the Opequon Sept. 19. Now General 
Wells was made commander of the second brigade 
and General Chapman resigned. Colonel Wells was 
succeeded in the command of the regiment by 
Lieutenant Colonel Bennett. At the fight at 
Tom's Brook with the rebel General Rosser, 
General Custer just before the charge rode out in 
advance of his staff, and taking off his hat swept 
it to his knees in a knightly salute to his foe. 



336 EARLY HISTORY 

Rosser. from the crest beyond, pointed him out to 
his staff, saying: "That's Custer; and I am going 
to give him the best whipping today that he ever 
got." But it turned out that Rosser got the 
whipping. The enemy lost all his artillery but one 
piece, and everything else which was carried on 
wheels. In this battle the First Vermont had an 
active part. Before this defeat Rosser's men had 
been wearing a laurel leaf as a badge. When Gen- 
eral Early met the commander of his cavalry, he 
said, "Rosser, your brigade had better take the 
grape! leaf for a badge; the laurel is not a running 
vinei/' Bennett, the commander of the regiment, 
said, » "the conduct of the men exceeded my 
most sanguine expectations." The regiment lost 
one officer mortally mounded and two men 
killed and several wounded. . The conduct of the 
First Vermont on the battle field of Cedar Creek 
on October 19, was heroic. They seemed to be 
everywhere on the field. Lieutenant H. O Wheel- 
er says, "Our regiment was sent from one part of 
the field to another as the needs of the place and 
hour required. Now it strengthened the picket 
line; now stood as a wall against the advancing 
foe, and covered some retreating division as it fell 
back; now it dashed down the road and checked 
some advancing column; now it kept up a lively 
skirmish ; now it charged into the woods to break 
or drive back the enemy's line. On whatever er- 
rand it was sent it did it's duty." Captain A. G. 
Watson fell with a ball through the shoulder and 
wounded in the head, and. was taken to the rear. 
The captures of the regiment were 161 prisoners 



OF VERMONT. 337 

among which was one general officer, one colonel, 
one lieutenant-colonel, three battle flags, 23 pieces 
of artillery, 14 caissons, 17 army wagons, six 
spring wagons and ambulances, 83 sets of artillery 
harnesses, 75 sets of wagon harnesses, 98 horses and 
69 mules. General Sheridan stated that %< no regi- 
ment had captured so much since the war com- 
menced." The New York Tribune Stated in its 
columns that "The First Vermont cavalry has long 
been a terror to the rebels." Sheridan having fin- 
ished his work in the Valley started with 10,000 
men in two divisions on February 27th, 1865, 
to join Grant south of Petersburg or Sherman in 
South Carolina, intending to pass through Lynch- 
burg, crossing the James river above Richmond. 
Hiscourse was through Woodstock andCharlotts- 
ville, doing all the damage to railroads possible 
and struck the James at New Market. On his 
way thither he met Early at Waynesboro and 
gave him a sound threshing, and captured 1,600 
of Early's men, with 11 guns and a great quantity 
of military stores in which battle the Vermont 
regiment took a prominent part. 

Custer followed up this ad vantage by capturing 
and destroying materials of war of the value of 
over a million dollars. At New Market Sheridan 
found that he had not pontoons enough to enable 
him to cross the James, and he determined to move 
down the north bank of the James and cross the 
river below Richmond and join Grant. This was 
accomplished and on the 29th of March, Sheridan 
was sent out to Lee's right near FiveForks,andon 
the 31st he, aided by the Fifth Corps, routed 

33 



338 EARLY HISTORY 

Pickett and Pitzhugh Lee at Five Forks with a 
loss to the enemy of 5,000 men. This was the be- 
ginning of the end of Lee. In this battle the Ver- 
mont men made a grand and successful charge. 
On April 8th the First Vermont in the fight at 
Appomattox Station took eight guns; here the 
regiment had one killed and five wounded. On the 
9th, the last day of fighting, when about ready to 
charge the enemy at Appomattox Court House, 
Lieutenant Colonel Whittaker ot Custer's staff, 
accompanied by two Confederate officers, rode 
along the line, saying, "Lower your carbines men, 
lower your carbines. You will never have to raise 
them again in this war." At five p. m. General 
Custer rode along the lines and announced that 
the terms of surrender had been signed. General 
Custer issued the following order, viz : 

HKADgUARTBRS TfilKD CAVALRY DIVISION, \ 

Appomattox Court House, Va , April 9th, 1865./ 

Soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division : 

With profound gratitude to the God of Battles, 
by whose blessings our enemies are humbled and 
our arms rendered triumphant, your commanding 
general avails himself of this his first opportunity 
to express to you his admiration for the heroic man- 
ner in which you have passed through the series of 
battles whici; to-day resulted in the surrender of 
the enemy's entire army. The record established 
by your indomitable courage is unsurpassed in the 
annals of war. Your prowess has won for you 
even the respect and admiration of your enemies. 
During the past six months, although in most in- 
stances confronted by superior numbers, you have 
captured from the enemy in open battle, 1 11 pieces 
ot field artillery, 65 battle flags, and upwards of 



OF VERMONT. 389 

10,000 prisoners of war, including several general 
officers. Within the past ten davs, and included 
in the above, you have captured 46 pieces of field 
artillery and 37 battle flags. You have never lost 
a gun, never lost a color, and have never been de- 
feated; and notwithstanding the numerous en- 
gagements, including the memorable battles of the 
Shenandoah, \ r ou have captured every piece of 
artillery which the enemy have dared to open upon 
you. The near approach of peace renders it im- 
probable that you will again be called upon to 
undergo the fatigues of the toilsome march, or the 
exposure of the battle field ; but should the assist- 
ance of keen blades, wielded by your sturdy arms, 
be required to hasten the coming of the glorious 
peace for which we have been so long contending, 
the general commanding is proudly confident that 
in the future, as in the past, every demand will 
meet with a hearty and willing response. Let us 
hope that our work is done, and that blessed with 
the comforts of peace, we may soon be permitted 
to enjoy the pleasures of home and friends. For 
our comrades who have fallen let us ever cherish a 
grateful remembrance. To the wounded and 
those who languish in Southhm prisons, let our 
heartfelt sympathy be tendered. And now, speak- 
ing for myself alone— when the war is ended, and 
the task of the historian begins ; when those deeds 
of daring which have rendered the name and fame 
of the Third cavalry division imperishable, are 
inscribed upon the bright pages of our country's- 
history— I only ask that my name be written as 
the commander of the Third cavalry division. 

George A. Custer 
Brev. Major General. 

On June 7th, 1865, the regiment took part in 
the review of the Vermont troops. The First Ver- 
mont cavalry was engaged in 76 battles during 



340 EARLY HISTORY 

its term of service; eleven in 1862, 24 in 1863, 
34 in 1864, and 7 in 1865 ; the first battle was at 
Mount Jackson April 16, 1862, and the last one 
was at Appomattox Court House April 9, 1865. 

STATEMENT. 

Original numbers, 1174 

Gains by transfers from other regiments, 1 2 

Recruits, 1111 

Aggregate, 2297 

LOSSES. 

Killed in action, 63 

Died of wounds. 39 

Died of disease, 112 

Died, unwounded, 182 

Died by accident, 1 



Total deaths, 397 

In the summer of 1863 S. R. Malloy, Secretary 
of the Navy of the Confederate States, sent 27 
commissioned and 40 non-commissioned officers to 
Canada tor the purpose of organizing raids into 
the Union along the Northern frontier. Among 
those engaged in the movement were C. C. Clay, 
Jr., George N. Saunders, Dr. Blackburn, Jacob 
Thompson, J. Wilkes Booth and Bennett H. 
Young. Acting under the authority of James A. 
Sedden, Secretary of War, C. S. A., Bennett II. 
Young organized in Canada a company of 20 
soldiers who had escaped from the Union prisons 
and taken refuge in Canada, and with them made 
an attack on St. Albans, Vermont, Oct. 19, 1864. 



OF VERMONT. 34-1 

This company, a few at a time, left Montreal and 
came to St. Albans dressed in citizen's clothes and 
registered at the different hotels just before the 
1 9th— a part of them came from Canada the very 
day of the raid ; they avoided being seen together 
so as to have the appearance ot being ordinary 
travellers. At an agreed time an attack on the 
village began. About three o'clock in the after- 
noon on Oct. 19, 1864, Young and his men 
appeared on Main street in military array and 
took armed possession of the business portion of 
the village. Shots were exchanged between 
raiders and citizens, and Elias J- Morrison was 
fatally wounded and C. H. Huntington and 
Lorenzo Bingham were wounded. Three of the 
banks were entered and the officers of the banks 
put under guard, and the banks robbed of more 
than $200,000. Some of the raiders then visited 
the livery stables and took forcible possession of 
the horses, and others kept guard in the streets to 
prevent any demonstrations against the Confed- 
erate bank robbers; and as. soon as the money 
was obtained from the bank, they mounted the 
horses and made off in haste into Canada. The 
citizens soon gathered a posse and followed them 
to near Canada line, but were unable to overtake 
them before they reached Canada, This affair 
aroused the people to action to take measures 
to protect the northern frontier, and two com- 
panies of cavalry of 100 men each were raised 
for that purpose; Companv Mj Captain Josi- 
ah Grout, Jr., and Company F, Captain George B. 
French. They were mustered into the service of 



342 EARLY HISTORY 

the United States January 10, 1865, and mustered 
oat June 27, 1865. 

THE LIGHT BATTERIES. 

The State sent three batteries of light artillery 
to the field. One was raised for General Butler's 
New England division for service in the gulf and 
it took an active part in the several campaigns in 
that department. George W. Duncan was its first 
captain, Salmon B. Hibbard its second captain. 
It left for home in July on a steamer up the Mis- 
sissippi to Cairo and thence by rail via. Chicago to 
Brattleboro, Vt., and mustered out Aug. 10, 
1864. 

BATTLES OP THE FIRST BATTERY. 

Plain's Store. May 21. 1863 

Siege of Port Hudson, May 25 to July t>, 1863 



Pleasant Hill, 


April 9, 


1864 


Monette's Bluff, 


April 23, 


1864 


Yellow Bayou, 


May 18, 


1864 


STATEMENT. 






Original members, 




156 


Recruits, 




61 


Aggregate, 




217 


LOSSKS. 






Killed in action, 




1 


Died of wounds, 




2 


Died of disease, 




42 


Died from accident, 




1 



Total deaths, . 46 

THE SECOND BATTERY. 

The Second Battery, like the first one, enlisted 



OF VERMONT. 343 

tinder the act of Nov. 21st, 1861, to form a part 
of General B. F. Butler's New England division. 
It was raised and sent to the gulf; its captain was 
L. R. Sayles. It disembarked on May 2nd, 1862, 
at New Orleans, it being the first Union batten' 
landed in that city. Between 20 and 30 loyal 
men of that city enlisted in the battery during the 
month of May. It did its duty at the several 
points where it was sent in the gulf department. 
Upon the surrender of Port Hudson to the Union 
forces July 8, 1863, the battery had the honor of 
being the first Union artillery to enter that strong- 
hold. On August 3rd a serious disaster befell it. 
It was ordered to accompany an expedition sent 
to Jackson, La., 15 miles north of Port Hudson; 
the battery was to be supported by 500 colored 
troops. They were surprised by a superior force 
of Forest's cavalry. The colored troops failed to 
support the battery and fled from the field and 
the battery was captured with 16 men. The 
colored troops lost 30 meh killed, wounded and 
captured. The captured guns were recaptured 
about a year after by General Herron, and re- 
stored to the battery. They returned to Vermont, 
arriving at Burlington July 20, 1865. The artil- 
lery was mustered out July 28th, and the battery 
was mustered out July 31st, 1865. 

BATTLES OF THE SECOND BATTERY. 

Plain's Store, near Port Hudson, La., May 21, 

[1863 

Siege of Port Hudson, May 25 to July 9, 1863 

Jackson, La., Aug. 3d* 1863 



344 EARLY HISTORY 

STATEMENT OP SECOND BATTERY. 

Original members, 111 

Gains by transfers and recruits, 346 

Aggregate, 457 

Died of wounds, disease, accidents, and in 

Confederate prisons, 54 

Transferred, 123 

Deserted, 18 

STATEMENT OF FIRST COMPANY HEAVY ARTILLERY. 

Whole number, 119 

LOSSES. 

Died in prison and by accident, 5 

THE THIRD BATTERY. 

The Third Battery was raised under Gov HoU 
"brook's general order of August 3, 1863. Romeo 
H. Start was appointed captain. It arrived at 
Washington on the 18th of January, 1864. It 
joined the Army of the Potomac on May 6th, on 
the battlefield of the Wilderness, and moved cm to 
the lines of Petersburg. It did its full duty in the 
trying scenes before Petersburg. At the close of 
the war they returned to Burlington and were 
mustered out June 13, 1865. 

THE BATTLES OF THE THIRD BATTERY. 



Petersburg Mine, 


July 30, 1864 


Petersburg, 


Aug. 18, 1864 


Petersburg, 


March 25, 1865 


Petersburg, 


April 2, 1865 


. STATEMENT. 




Died from disease and accident, 


21 


Deserted, 


'7 


Wounded, 


3 



OF VERMONT. 345 

THE SHARPSHOOTERS. 

Hiram Berdan of New York called the atten- 
tion of the government to the importance of 
skilled shots to meet the marksmen so numerous 
in the Confederate service. He was commissioned 
as colonel. Two regiments were raised. Vermont 
furnished more than one sixth. Vermont sent into 
the ranks of these regiments 620. Their service 
was severe, important and extremely dangerous. 
They were prepared for their duties by a public 
trial, firing from the shoulder and without tele- 
scope sights. To be accepted it required the re- 
cruit in ten shots to place ten bullets within a ten- 
inch ring, at a distance of 200 yards. The uniform 
was distinctive, being of green cloth, to harmon- 
ize with the colors of nature with leather leggings 
and knapsacks of leather tanned with the hair on. 
The First company organized at West Randolph 
Sept. 13, 1861, with 113 men, Edmund Weston, 
Jr., captain; and 100 men were mustered into the 
United States service October 31, 1861. In alltjie 
battles the Sharpshooters played an important 
part. Company F was in 32 battles; the first 
one was at Big Bethel March 28th, 1862, and the 
last one was at Hatchers' Run Oct. 27, 1864. 

STATEMENT. 

Original members, 116 

Recruits, 74 



Aggregate, 190 

Died, killed in action, 17 

Died of wounds received in action, 13 

Died of disease, • ' 12 



846 EARLY HISTORY 

Deserted, 6 

Wounded, 43 

COMPANIES B AND H, SECOND UNITED STATES SHARP- 
SHOOTERS. 

Companies E and H were organized and Homer 
R. Stoughton became captain ; they were mus- 
tered into the United States service Nov. 9, 1861, 
with 91 officers and men an dleft the State for 
Washington Nov. 23rd, and there became Com- 
pany E of the Second regiment of United States 
Sharpshooters. 

The Third company of Sharpshooters was re- 
cruited in Nov. and Dec., 1861, and rendezvoused 
at Brattleboro. Gilbert Hart became its captain; 
it was mustered in Dec. 31st and left the same 
day for Washington. It became Company H of 
the Second regiment. They were in active service 
till Feb. 25, 1865, when they were disbanded, 
much to the disgust of both officers and men, and 
the Second and Third Vermont companies were 
transferred to Companies G and H of the Fourth 
Vermont. 

Companies E and H, Second regiment, United 
States Sharpshooters, were in 27 engagements, 
the first one was at Rappahannock Station, Aug. 
21 to 24, 1862, and the last one at Hatcher's 
Run Feb. 5 to 7, 1865. 

STATEMENT FOR COMPANY E. 

Original members, 91 

Gains by transfers and recruits, 148 

LOSSES. 

Killed in action, 9 



OF YERMONT. 347 

Died of wounds, 13 

Died of disease, 18 

Died (tin wounded) in Confederate prisons, 36 

Deserted, 8 

Whole number wounded, 50 

STATEMENT OF COMPANY H. 

Original members, 100 

Gains by transfers and recruits, 91 

LOSSES. 

Killed in action, 12 

Died from wounds, 6 

Died of disease, 18 

Deserted, 4 

Whole number of wounded, 40 

Vermont furnished, as shown on official state- 
ment reduced to a three years basis, 32,549 troops 
for the war of which number 1,061 were killed in 
action, 748 died of wounds. The deaths from all 
causes were 5,224. The average number of killed 
per thousand were.32.59. The number of deaths 
per. thousand from alt causes wete 160.49. It is 
stated in Benedict's accurate history that 4< Taken 
in connection with facts, shown by the census of 
1860, that a larger proportion of natives of Ver- 
mont were residents of other States, than of any 
other State. That the population of Vermont in 
1860, was 315,098. Natives of Vermont residing 
in California, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wiscon- 
sin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylva- 
nia, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, Massachusetts and Maine were 168,781. 
That the official records show that the population 



348 EAR^Y HISTORY 

of native Americans among the Vermont troops 
were 82.23 per cent. That the number of Ver- 
mont troops killed in action exceeded the general 
ratio of killed in the army of 25 men in every 
thousand. The deaths from all causes among the 
Vermont troops exceeded the general ratio by 24 
in every thousand." These figures indicate the 
heroic, fighting character of the Vermont troops. 
As a general rule, the greatest losses in action will 
be found among the troops that are oftenest put 
in places of danger and that fight when others 
fly. 

Vermont being an inland State furnished but 
few men for the Navy. The number of Vermonters 
enrolled as such, in the Navy and Marine Corps, 
during the war was 619. There were Vermonters 
in every rank from seaman to commodore. 

The whole number of men furnished by the 
State were 34,238 as shown by the books of the 
Adjutant General of Vermont. The war depart- 
ment credited the State 35,242 men. Many of the 
Vermonters who enlisted in the regular army and 
navy had been reported at Washington which were 
not reported to the State authorities. The total 
number of men in, Vermont, subject to military 
duty was 60,719; more than one-half of her able 
bodied men went to fight for their country; and 
the State expended $9,887,353 for war purposes; 
her soldiers took upon themselves the hardships 
and dangers of the war and the State contributed 
her share to the expense of the war ungrudging- 
ly, tp preserve the Union and make the United 
States a land of the free. 



OF VERMONT. 349 

There were 15 original members of the First 
Brigade Band and it reeeived 6 recruits. Nelson 
B. Adams was Band Master. 

This chapter and the eight preceding ones have 
l>een devoted to the part that the people of the 
United States have taken in the greatest war that 
the world has ever known. It must be retneni- 
bered that though women, except in a few in- 
stances, have not taken their places in the ranks 
as soldiers, they have taken their share of the bur- 
dens and paid their share of the expenses of the 
war. They \*ere the mothers of the army; they 
encouraged their husbands, sons and brothers to 
go forth for the maintenance of the government in 
which they all lived, and they felt the loss in man3' 
ways keenly when their kindred fell on the battle 
field, died of wounds and disease or lay sick in hos- 
pital and in Southern prisons. They rendered ar- 
duous and important service as nurses in hospital 
and camp and workers in the sanitary commis- 
sion. The burden of doing the work in the home, 
on the farm, and in the office and shop, and the 
maintaining the little ones at home in the absence 
of their dear ones in the army was thrust upon 
them; they took the entire burden of maintaining 
the family and the family home, when in a vast 
numl>er of instances those who joined the army 
went out to fight the battles were not permitted 
to return. It must l)e remembered, too, that 
wives, daughters and sisters were continually at 
work preparing and sending articles of food and 
clothing to the soldiers in the field and supph-ing 
the hospitals with articles of comfort and necessity 



350 EARLY HISTORY 

for the many thousands laying in hospitals suffer- 
ing from wounds and disease contracted in the 
service of their country. It must be remembered, 
too, that the women in the several loyal States 
paid about one- fifth of monies raised by taxation 
for carrying on the war— a burden from which 
they did not flinch, though they were disfranchised, 
with few exceptions, and deprived of the power 
to say how the money raised should be expended, 
or what laws should be enacted, or how the laws 
should l)e administered — a wrong that the voting 
population of Vermont and other States, that 
deny the right of equal suffrage, will some day 
remove and adopt a more just and enlightened 
policy. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SOME LEADING INDUSTRIES OF VERMONT. 



The manufacturing industries of Vermont had 
a very meagre beginning. The pioneers to the 
wilderness were poor; they were not educated to 
establish and carry forward to a successful result 
many of the industries that usually accompany 
older communities, besides, they were compelled 
to clear the land from the primeval forest and 
fit it for raising crops for food for the inhabi- 
tants and domestic animals. Farming and the 
making of pearlash were the principal business. 
As the country became cleared, and more thickly 
populated, manufacturies and other branches 
of business were established and began to flour- 
ish. The fact, that on the rivers of Vermont, 
that take their rise in the high altitudes of the 
Green Mountains, there are numerous waterfalls 
furnishing ample power for running the vari- 
ous kinds of machinery that greatly facilitated 
the introduction of manufactures of different kinds 
in this territory, and the people that came here, 
as well as the native Vermonters, were not slow 
to avail themselves of establishing manufacturing 
industries, and they multiplied and thrived as 
appears from the tables and figures furnished in 

(851) 



352 EARLY HISTORY 

the Third Volume of this History on Pages 28, 30, 
31 and 82. 

It is not the purpose of the writer to give a de- 
tailed description of the varied manufactures and 
industries of the people of Vermont or how they 
rank with like business in other States and 
countries, but will refer to some of the leading in- 
dustries of the State sufficiently to show the 
industrious habits, the intelligence and progress- 
ive character of her people. 

One of the leading industries is the manufacture 
of Scales at St. Johnsbury by B. and T. Fairbanks 
and Company. This device is known as the "Fair- 
banks Scales.' 1 Before 1830, commerce was 
greatly impeded by the slow and inaccurate 
method of determining the weights of merchan- 
dise — weighing machines which would determine 
weight with accuracy were unknown. The first 
platform scale made on the principle of the lever 
was erected at St. Johnsbury in 1831 and was 
patented that year to Erastus and Thaddeus 
Fairbanks; these scales have become indispensa- 
ble in the commercial interests of the world. 
Nearly all the products of the combined industries 
are weighed over and over again in the different 
stages of manufacture. In this country the mil- 
lions of tons of ore that are mined, the metals 
produced therefrom, the products of the coal 
mines, the enormous yield of wheat, corn, and 
other grains are weighed by both the seller and 
the purchaser. The rolling stock of all the rail- 
roads of our country is marked with its proper 
weight, the weight of a vast amount of merchan- 



OF VERMONT. 353 

disc and other freight carried thereon is recorded ; 
every ship knows the weight of its cargo, every 
warehouse the weight of what it stores, resulting 
from the use of the scales. The just weight of all 
industries and commercial exchanges are depend- 
ent upon the scales. What is true of this country 
is true of all other countries. The scales manu- 
factured are made to the standards and require- 
ments of every nation. The weight is ascertained 
with accuracy and celerity. The ship can be 
weighed with its cargo; the train of cars can he 
weighed while in motion; the grain is weighed 
from the great elevators as it runs rapidly 
through the hoppers; scales are now made which 
record the correct weight upon a ticket, rendering 
the reading of the !>catn unnecessary, making mis- 
takes impossible. Such are the scales manufac- 
tured by this Company. The amount of material 
handled in the production of these scales and the 
scales in their finishsd state, is over 60,000,000 
lbs. of freight by the compan}-, in a single year, at 
their St. Johnsbury factory. 

The growth of this enterprise is enormous. 
From the small factor\\ sixty by twenty-five feet 
with an area of 1,500 feet floor space, in which 
this industry 1>egan, the works now cover 
more than twelve acres of floor space, in which 
are employed seven hundred skilled mechanics. 
The business of this plant has Ixrcome so exten- 
sive, and the demand for the scales of the various 
patterns has become so great, that branch houses 
have been established in all of the large cities of 
the United States, and agencies established in 



354 EARLY HISTORY 

nearly all the countries of Europe. These scales 
are carried to every portion of the earth where 
civilization has gained a foothold. The demand is 
so great that more than 2000 scales of various 
patterns are furnished to the trade per week. The 
value of this industry to the mechanical, indus- 
trial and commercial world is inestimable. Gold 
and silver medals have been awarded Fairbanks 
Scales at all the world's great exhibitions. 

THE HOWE SCALE COMPANY 

that manufactures Scales, Trucks, tatter- Presses, 
Electric Coffee Mills and Coal Handling Machin- 
ery, is located at Rutland, and its works have 
greatly promoted the growth of that city. The 
history of that company dates back to 1857, 
when the plant was located at Vergennes, but 
was removed to Brandon and subsequently, in 
1875, it was moved to Rutland, and incorporated 
in 1888. About the year of 1840, the system of 
weights was revolutionized by the invention of 
what is known as the multiplying lever that took 
the place of the even balance system that Justice 
in her blindness is supposed to use. A Mr. Strong, 
who was at the head of the plant, when it was lo- 
cated at Vergennes, devised a system to preserve 
the life of pivots by using chilled steel balls; before 
this time the platforms were rigid, but under the 
new system the company made the flexible plat- 
form scale. This combination with the multiplying 
lever, which weighs accurately two hundred times 
the weight oi the poise, gave to the Howe Scales 
a large place in the world of commerce. The sys- 



OF VERMONT. 855 

tcm has been employed in all manner of scales 
from those weighing a fraction of an ounce to 
those used by railroads for weighing cars. This 
company manufactures trucks of over one thou- 
sand styles. The operations of this company re- 
quire the daily melting of about twenty-four tons 
of iron and the use of eight thousand feet of lum- 
ber. 

The capital stock of the company is $500,000 
and this plant covers an area of two acres and cov- 
ered with buildings; and this extensive business re- 
quires warehouses in all the principal cities of the 
United States, Canada, and in London, England. 
The company gives employment to about 450 
skilled hands and about 300 other employees. 

The Vermont Mariile Company and the 
Mariile Industry.— Vermont leads the world in 
the production of marble and the towns of Proctor 
and West Rutland occupy a prominent position 
in the story of the commercial progress of the 
State. The outside world knows Vermont and 
yields to her fame for her marble products; the 
natural resources of the marble that lay hidden 
in the soil of the Green Mountain State, are inex- 
haustible. The Vermont Marble Company is the 
leading firm engaged in the marble industry and 
its headquarters are situated at Sutherland Falls 
at Proctor. A recent writer acquainted with the 
extent of the business of that company, said, "Its 
real importance cannot be imagined by the casual 
reader or observer ; the immensity of its contri- 
bution to the trade of State and country cannot 
be fathomed save by those who have visited the 



356 EARLY HISTORY 

headquarters of the Vermont Marble Company to 
which Proetpr owes its success and the impor- 
tance and prosperity that today mark the town 
as an important center. When the searcher after 
facts and figures visits this beautiful spot in the 
lovely and fertile valley of the beautiful Otter 
Creek, surrounded by stately, verdured mountains, 
his mission is likely to be lost in his wonder at the 
marvelous picture which nature and the hand of 
man have prepared for his gaze. To the artist 
who faces the white marble vision for the first 
time, comes the thought of the l>eauties it created 
in ancient and medieval days, when moulden by 
the deft fingers of acknowledged masters, or piled 
into temples and colliseums at which the world 
still marvels. Even to the man without poetry in 
his soul, the caves of white opened up to his vision 
and yielding daily tons upon tons of the material 
which later will form the marble halls for man to 
dwell in, appeal and inspire him with something 
akin to awe. He sees the bowels of the earth torn 
asunder to yield to and gratify the demands and 
needs of a progressive and beauty-loving people. 
In order to get some adequate idea of the immen- 
sity of this marble industry and an insight into 
the skilled labor required to hew the raw material 
into size and shape suitable for its various uses, 
one should visit the great quarries and workshops 
of the Vermont Marble Compan}'. Stupendous 
the task, yet simplified by practice on the part of 
operators, the rough stone is hewed into shape in 
marvelous manner and by thorough methods 
and always up to date. Sawed by machinery, 



OF VERMONT. 357 

chislecl by tools, in the hands of skilled men, yet 
impelled automatically and polished by peculiar 
devices, the erstwhile huge, rough and ugly look- 
ing block is soon a massive thing of beauty ready 
to be shipped to any and all parts of the world 
where the name and fame of Vermont marble has 
become known. Mam r advantages may be 
claimed for Vermont marble; for beauty, strength, 
durability, closeness of grain and fire resistance it 
is unequalled, and the improved and cheapened 
methods of production make it possible to furnish 
the stone in competition with granite, sandstone 
and limestone Three different varieties are pro- 
duced by this company, known to the trade as 
Sutherland Falls, Rutland White and Blue Marble. 
The Sutherland Falls is |>erhaps the most desir- 
able for buildingpurposes It is slightly variegated ; 
is a fine, hard and close-grained stone and does 
not absorb the impurities of the atmosphere, but 
retains its bright and clear appearance after con- 
tinued exposure. Not being a dead white, it blends 
nicely in an entire front. It seems to be the con- 
sensus of opinion among scientists after the most 
exhaustive examination, that for uniformity of 
texture and hardness, purity and resistance to 
decay, among all the building stone in general 
use, Sutherland Falls Marble stan Is the strongest 
tests and is unquestionably the best. It stands 
the test of heat at 1200 degrees Fahr. and remains 
uninjured for some time. It is a scientific fact 
that marble reflects but does not absorb heat, and 
1>ecause of its compact and even structure it does 
not absorb water. This is an important consid- 



358 EARLY HISTORY 

eration in a wintry and changeable climate. The 
most magnificent structures ertcted throughout 
the United States during the past decade exhibit 
the product of these quarries. They are a perpet- 
ual reminder of the vast resources of these quarries, 
and from all indications the supply is inexhaust- 
ible. When Senator Proctor went into the marble 
business in 1870, he began operating one quarry 
and a small mill of ten gangs of saws, employing 
altogether not more than seventy-five men. Now 
the immense mills of the Vermont Marble Com- 
pany contain over three hundred gangs of saws, 
besides its extensive shops lor cutting and polish- 
ing marble. It is operating at present twelve 
quarries, producing five thousand carloads of 
marble annually; employing 2500 men whose 
annual wages approximate $1,000,000. From a 
small, unimportant industry, the Vermont Marble 
Company has grown to be many times the largest 
producer and manufacturer in the world. Its 
mills and shops are located at Proctor, Centre 
Rutland and West Rutland and its principal quar- 
ries are at Proctor, West Rutland and Pittsford, 
although it possesses marble properties in other 
towns. These various mills and quarries are con- 
nected by a steam railroad twelve miles in length 
called the "Clarendon & Pittsford," owned by the 
company. It bas branch establishments at 
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, 
Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco, and nearly 
all of them operate mills and shops. The com- 
pany has long had a nourishing trade in Australia 
and ships its product to Japan, China, India, 



OF VERMONT. 859 

South America and other remote sections of the 
world/' 

The most extensive quarries of the company 
are at West Rutland; practically those quarries 
furnish the only merchantable, pure, white marble 
in the country which is adapted to monumental 
and other high uses. At Centre Rutland the com- 
pany have two large water powers and extensive 
mills and shops for sawing and finishing the mar- 
ble. At Proctor the company has one of the most 
remarkable water powers in the State. Here the 
Otter Creek has a fall of 122 feet and is known as 
Sutherland Falls and furnishes about 3,000 horse 
power. The machinery at Proctor is run by 
electricity generated by water power, and power 
from the same source is transmitted to West Rut- 
land for the operation of the quarries there. The 
village of Proctor has over two thousand inhabi- 
tants and has mainly grown up since 1870, 
resulting from the marble industry, and has all the 
advantages and improvements of a modern cit3% 
and from the prosperity of which can be seen what 
might be done for the improvement of other vil- 
lages in the State by the fostering of various in- 
dustries by the people. This village has a Free 
Public Library building, built with stone and 
marble front and contains a library of over 4,000 
volumes ; it, also, has a modern hospital built by 
the company with modern furnishings, intended 
primarily for the benefit of the employees of the 
company. 

The granite industry in Vermont is very great 
and the business is carried on in several localities 



360 EAKLY HISTORY 

in the State. The Barre granite industry takes 
the lead and has a world wide reputation and use. 
This granite is of a hard and durable quality and 
stands the severest climate and takes on a fine 
finish. The quarries at Barre are inexhaustible. 
Granite of this kind is found also, in the town of 
Jericho and other parts of the State. 

There are a large number of companies at Barre 
that work the granite and carry on extensive 
business in supplying the traders of the world that 
engage in dealing in this material The companies 
working these quarries supply the people of the 
United States and other countries with monu- 
ments for prices ranging from $100 to $4,000; 
and large shipments are made for building pur- 
poses. Accompanying this industry is the manu- 
facture of derricks, tools and polishing machinery, 
and other labor saving devices of the most modern 
character, for carrying on the business. The der- 
ricks are of sufficient size and strength to handle 
fifty ton blocks. 

Granite and fine stone quarries for monumental 
and building purposes are found and successfully 
worked in Hard wick, Woodbury, Ryegate and 
Isle La Motte, 

The slate quarries are quite numerous in the 
State, and the business of furbishing slate for 
building purposes has Income extensive and is 
found in abundance in Benson, Fair Haven, 
Poultney and other towns. Limestone is found in 
great quantities in several parts of the State, 
where large quantities of lime is burned and pre- 
pared for use. As!>cstos mines are found in Eden 




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OF VERMONT. 361 

and Lowell and apparently the supply is unlimit- 
ed; the working of these mines furnishes employ- 
ployment for a large num1>er of hands. Gold has 
l>een discovered in several parts of the State, but 
not in sufficient quantities to warrant the expense 
in the working the soil or mines in which it has 
been found. 

TUB VERMONT FARM MACHINE COMPANY. 

At Bellows Falls another large and important 
industrx- has 1>eeu established by the Vermont 
Farm Machine Company. The articles manufac- 
tured by this company are of the utmost impor 
tance to the welfare of the people generally, and 
especially to the farming and dairy interests in 
Vermont. The business of this company has aris- 
en from a small 1>eginning. The main building in 
which their work is carried on is 355 feet long and 
00 feet wide, three stories and a basement, with a 
separate building for the boiler and engine. They 
have their own electric light plant and a complete 
line of telephone connections throughout the works. 
The articles manufactured have 1x?en changed 
from time to time to keep up with the improved 
machinery and the new inventions to supply the 
needs of the farmer. For a time thej- gave most 
of their attention to the manufacture of the Coo- 
lex- Creamers, the Davis Swing Churn, Babcock 
Milk Testers, Vats and Powers. .One of the most 
important articles of their manufacture is the im- 
proved United States Centrifugal Cream Separa- 
tor, and the capacity of their large works is taxed 
to the utmost to meet the demand. The amount 
of woik that can be done by this separator in 



362 EARLY HISTORY 

comparison with what was done with the old 
fashion dash churn used in the early days of Ver- 
mont, is incredible to those who have not sien 
the new invention operate. From the small size 
with the capacity of separating only 150 pounds 
of milk per hour that they first manufactured, to 
the large factory size with a capacity of 3000 
pounds or more per hour that they now manufac- 
ture, is a great advancement in the amount of 
business that can be done in the same space of 
time and the enormous saving of labor. The 
company supplies a complete creamery outfit, as 
well as an entire outfit for the whole milk factory, 
and their goods are used through the entire coun- 
try. At this writing the company have in process 
of erection two additional extensive three-story 
buildings for offices, and to accommodate the plac- 
ing and the use of the large amount of new machin- 
ery that has l>een purchased to enable the company 
to supply the increasing demand for the United 
States Separators. Vermont, in proportion to her 
size, by reason of the enterprising character of her 
people, easily takes the lead in the manufacture of 
dairy products, and the manufacture of the nec- 
essary articles to aid in such production. 

THE PORTER SCREEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

This company manufactures Window Screens, 
and was organized in 1895, as successor to the 
Porter Manufacturing Company. The business is 
carried on at Winooski Village just across Onion 
River from the City of Burlington. The new com- 
pany began making adjustible window screens, ex- 
clusively, but in 1897, it, also, commenced the 



OF VERMONT. 363 

manufacture of screen doors. The business then 
occupied but 12,000 square feet of floor space and 
employed less than fifty hands. The finances of 
the company are conducted by Frank O. Brings of 
Trenton, New Jersey, its controlling spirit; and 
under the competent and local management of 
Harry A. Way of Burlington, Vt , the business has 
grown to enormous proportions. 

On Nov. 21st, 1900, the company suffered a 
great loss by the destruction of its entire factory by 
fire. But like Chicago that built a grander city on 
its ashes, the company has erected on the ashes of 
its old factory a plant far more extensive, costly 
and imposing than the one destroyed. The new 
main mill is 280 by 60 feet and three stories high; 
there are three large warehouses with a combined 
Ct'ipacitv of six hundred carloads of screen doors 
and windows; a large boiler and engine house 
from which is produced a power sufficient to run 
the entire machinery of the extensive plant; a com- 
modious office building, pump house, oil house and 
stables, and the workman's lunch house. There is 
storage room sufficient for four hundred car loads 
of lum1)er. In the buildings there are 32,000 
square feet of floor space. The Compaq- has a 
half mile of private railroad side-track convenient 
for carrying lumber to the yard and factory, and 
for shipping the products of the factory. The 
importance and extent of this industry can 1>e 
seen by noting the variety, quality, and amount 
of the products turned out by these works, and 
the rapidity with which they are manufactured. 
There are fifty varieties of screen doors and win- 



364 EARLY HISTORY 

dows manufactured. The doors are produced at 
the rate of two per minute, and the window 
screens are turned out early at the rate of twelve 
per minute. An idea of the amount of work 
produced from this factory, will be obtained by 
remembering, that a single day's product laid 
out in a straight line would extend four miles, 
or if piled one top of another, the monument 
would extend six hundred feet into the air. It 
is no wonder that old-time mechanics who were 
accustomed to make and finish all their work by 
the use of hand augers, chisels, planes, saws, and 
other hand tools, are astonished to see the amount 
of work accomplished in a given time, and the rapid- 
ity with which it is done with modern appliances 
and machinery. The factory of this company is 
furnished with the most useful and the latest ap- 
proved styles of machinery adapted to the busi- 
ness. A special automatic machine in use by this 
company will fasten the wire cloth to six thou- 
sand frames daily. Two expert operators will 
complete the wiring and moulding of a complete 
door every one hundred seconds; a single machine 
•will, at high speed, dress the stiles for five doors per 
minute. The doors are not put together by mor- 
tice and tenon, but by boring holes, many at a 
time where necessary, and dowelling. Not only 
planing and sawing are done by machinery, but 
the boring of the holes, making the dowels, the fit- 
ting the screen doors and windows together, the 
cutting the screens into proper lengths, carving, 
setting and driving the necessary nails, and many 
other kinds of work are done rapidly by modern 



OF VKRMONT. 365 

machinery, and as fast as nimble hands can place 
and change the pieces for the machinery to o|>er- 
ate upon. Each operator does but one thing 
towards the completion of the screen door or win- 
dow. 

As soon as the first operator has completed his 
share of the work, the piece is passed on to a new 
hand and a different machine, and so on till the 
article is finished and ready for market. In every 
department of the manufacture of the goods spe- 
cial and automatic machinery is used to econo- 
mize and expedite production. 

Such industries are a blessing to every commu- 
nity where they are carried on; the people are fur- 
nished employment and paid suitable wages, and 
the community receive a healthy business impulse. 
This companv employs from 175 to 225 persons — 
varying at different seasons of the year. That 
part of the work where nimble fingers are needed 
for quick handling of light work, young men and 
women from 18 to 22 years of age are largely em- 
ployed, but for the more responsible positions a 
maturer class are employed. The pay roll of this 
company is sixtv-five thousand dollars annually. 
The products of this firm are distributed through- 
out the United States and Canada, increasing the 
comfort and happiness of the people. During the 
selling season, which is usually from Nov. 1st to 
Feb. 1st, the company is represented on the road 
by six traveling agents. When the shipping sea- 
son commences the goods are sent to numerous 
principal cities in the United States as distributing 
centers. One of the largest recent shipments was 



366 EARLY HISTORY 

thirty-five carloads sent to Chicago. During the 
busy season the shipping department handles from 
ten to fifteen car loads daily, and the company 
has 150 distributing points to which five carloads 
of goods are forwarded at specified dates. 

The fire-fighting appliances are worthy of record. 
The entire plant is equipped with an automatic 
sprinkling and hydrant system To maintain this 
system a private reservoir, with a capacity of 150, 
000 gallons has been constructed, and this is re- 
enforced by a 20,000 gallon water tower and by 
connection with the reservoirs of the Winooski 
aqueduct company. 



The lumber business and the manufacture of all 
kinds of furniture and wood wares from the differ- 
ent kinds of lumber is a great industry in Ver- 
mont and furnishing employment for many thou- 
sands of persons; the manufacturing of woolen 
and cotton goods and the knitting of the various 
kinds of wearing material, the manufacture of 
boots and shoes and a hundred other useful in- 
dustries have grown from small beginnings to bus- 
iness of large proportions. One hardly realizes the 
advance step that has been taken in all these in- 
dustries and the prosperity that the people have 
reached thereby, nor that they have been the means 
of lifting the people of the State from a condition 
of want and poverty into the comforts of a higher 
state of civilization, unless he contrasts their pres- 
ent state of prosperity with that of earlier times. 
This change silences the grumblers who assert 
that civilization is retrograding. Persons are sel- 



OF VERMONT. 367 

rlom now to Ik* found who express n desire to re- 
turn to the old-time ways of their lathers. And 
it is now evident they would not consent to be de- 
prived of the countless articles, that did not exist 
among the pioneers of Vermont, that now afford 
so much comfort and pleasure. When labor-sav- 
ing machines began to be invented and used, and 
improved means of locomotion by means of steam 
and electricity appeared, and information and cur- 
rent news and daily happenings began to be dis- 
seminated throughout the world by means of 
the telegraph and telephone, many people were 
deeply concerned for fear the laboring man would 
be deprived of work and become poverty stricken; 
they asserted that horses would be a drug in the 
market, and the prices of food for both man and 
beast would be greatly reduced and the farnter ru- 
ined ! but how different the result ! The wages of 
the laborer have become greatly increased. There 
is an abundance to do for all who are inclined 
to work. Farmers get good returns for every- 
thing they can produce. Horses arc still needed 
for other work than hauling freight to distant 
markets, and conveying passengers to distant' 
lands and cities. The labor-saving machines that 
enable the laborer to produce ten times the 
amount of articles, that he was enabled to do 
with bis hand tools, gives him more time for 
recreation and intellectual improvement, and 
makes it easier lor him to maintain himsell and 
family and even to gain a competency. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS 

OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS, 

AND VERMONT. 



Frederick Bliss settled in Georgia in 1786, 
and represented that town in the General Assem- 
bly of 1819; he was Assistant Judge of Franklin 
County Court in 1804 until 1813, and trom 1815 
until 1818; Judge of Probate in 1813; Delegate in 
the Constitutional Convention of 1814; Council- 
lor in the year 1809 until 1813, and from 1815 un- 
til 1819. He was reported to have been the peace- 
maker of the town, the arbiter of all difficulties, 
and promoter of every good cause, and was not 
ambitious of wealth or honors, yet both came to 
him to his heart's content. He died childless, Nov. 
8, 1827, aged 65 years. 

Gimiekt Dknison represented Guilford in the 
General Assembly in 1805 until 1809; was Judge 
of Probate in 1806 until 1811, and also in 1816; 
Sheriff of Windham County for 1811 and 1812; 
Assistant Judge in 1817 until 1820; and Council- 
lor in 1809 until 1812. 

Maj. Haines French of Maidstone was born 
about the year 1760, and at the age of 15 became 
a servant to Maj. VVhitcomb ot the revolutionary 



OF VERMONT. 369 

army, and was with him at the siege of Quebec 
under Montgomery, when he became a prisoner of 
war. In the winter of 1813, through the aid of 
Congressman James Fisk, he obtained a commis- 
sion as Major in the 31st Regiment of U. S. Infan- 
try, in the division of Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton, 
and he entered upon the service with three of his 
sons, one of whom (Homer) was killed in the bat- 
tle of Chippewa. Maj. French died previous to 
that event, having been stopped on the march at 
Chateaugay Four Corners, N. Y., by an illness 
which proved fatal about the middle of Nov. 1813. 
His school education was meager, not having the 
advantages of even a district school, and was 
taught to write by his wife after his marriage, but 
he was a great reader and acquired much valuable 
information, which, with his good sense and ex- 
perience in the Legislature and the Courts, made 
him a useful man. He represented the town in 
the General Assembly in 1793, 1794, 1796, 1797, 
and from 1802 until 1808, and was a delegate in 
the Constitutional Convention of 1793. He served 
as clerk of Essex County Court, in 1802 until 
1813; and was councillor in 1809 and 1810. He 
was elected Chief Judge of the County Court in 
1808, but declined to serve. His father, John 
French, came from Walpole, N. H., to Maidstone 
previous to 1774. 

Horatio Seymour, LL. D., was born in Litch- 
field, Conn., May 31, 1778, graduated at Yale 
College in 1797, came to Middlebury in 1799, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1800, soon winning 
an extensive practice.. He was State's Attorney 

25 



370 EARLY HISTORY 

for Addison County from 1810 until 1813, and 
again from 1815 until 1819; Judge of Probate 
from 1847 to 1856; councillor from 1809 until 
1814. In 1820 he was elected United States sen- 
ator, and was re-elected in 1826, serving from 
March, 1821, to March, 1833. His election in 
1826 was zealously contested by Cornelius P. 
Van Ness, who felt his defeat keenly, and charged 
it to the interference of John Quincy Adams, whose 
administration he then abandoned, and so far as 
he could do so, transferred his friends over to the 
then Jackson party of which he became the chief 
in Vermont. Seymour died Nov. 27, 1857. 

William Hunter represented Windsor in the 
General Assembly in 1795, 1807 and 1808; was 
councillor in 1809 until 1813, and 1815; member 
of Congress from March, 1817, to March, 1819; 
Register of Probate in 1798 until 1801 ; Judge of 
Probate in 1801 and 1802; Assistant Judge of the 
County Court in 1805 until 1816; and Member of 
the Council of Censors in 1806 and 1820. 

Apollos Austin represented Orwell in the 
General Assembly in 1819; served as councillor 
one year, and was a member of the Council of 
Censors in 1806, and Presidential Elector in 1816 
and in 1828. He was an ardent politician of the 
Jefferson school, and offered of his abundant 
wealth means to discharge the fine of Matthew 
Lyon, who was sentenced by the court under the 
sedition act. Austin voted for Monroe in 1816 
and for John Quincy Adams in 1828. 

Jedediah P. Buckingham graduated at Dart- 
mouth College in 1779, and came to Thetford in 



OF VERMONT. 371 

1784 as an attorney ; he was nn able man in his 
profession; he represented that town in the Gen- 
eral Assembly in 1800, 1804 and in 1805; he was 
councillor one year; Chief Judge of Orange County 
Court from 1799 until 1806, and 1813 until 1816. 
He died Sept. 1, 1840, at Thetford. 

Chauncey Langdon graduated at Yale College 
in 1787 and came to Castleton; he was Register of 
Probate in 1792 and was Register for five years, 
and a practicing attorney in Rutland County 
Court in 1794; and Judge of Probate in 1798 and 
1799. He represented Castleton in the years of 
1813, 1814, 1817, 1819, 1820 and 1822 ; coun- 
cillor in 1808, 1823 and until his death in 1830. 
He was a Federal member of Congress in 1815 
and until March, 1817. He was dignified in his 
bearing and his character and talents entitled him 
to high respect. He was first vice-president of the 
Vermont Bible society at the time of his death. 

John Cameron came from Scotland to the town 
of Ryegate in 1790, and purchased one thousand 
acres of land in the western part of the town, and 
afterwards, at the Comers, built the first store in 
Ryegate. He was a man of large mental endow- 
ments and his influence was felt far beyond his 
town, commanding the confidence of both politi- 
cal parties. He represented Ryegate in the Gen- 
eral Assembly of 1797 and 1798, and from 1801 
until 1810, and 1820 and 1832 ; Councillor in 
1811 and 1812; assistant judge of Caledonia 
County Court from 1806 until 1811, and Chief 
Judge from 1811 until 1814. He died in 1837, 



372 EARLY HISTORY 

aged 76 years. His wife was a daughter of Gen. 
John Stark. 

Deacon Daniel Dana came to Guildhall from 
Connecticut as an attorney and represented that 
town in the Assembly from 1800 until he entered 
the Council. He was councillor in 1813 and 1814, 
and Judge of Probate from 1801 until 1809, and 
in 1813 and 1814. He removed to New York. 
Charles A. Dana of New York City, the editor, 
was his grandson. 

Reuben Hatch represented Tunbridge in the 
General Assembly in 1792, 1793 and 1795 and 
was councillor one year. 

John Ellsworth represented Greensboro 
in the General Assembly in 1799 and 1806. He 
was clerk of Orleans County Court from 1803 
until 1814, and served in the Council one year. 

Thomas Davis was the second son ot Colonel 
Jacob Davis, the first permanent settler of Mont- 
pelier, and inherited the liberal spirit of his father 
in enterprises for the public good. He gave not 
only the land which the State occupies for its capi- 
tal, but also subsequently gave the lot on which 
the County jail has stood. 

Josiah Dunham established The Washingtonian 
at Windsor, July 23, 1810, and published it until 
about 1816. He was an able editor, and zealous 
Federalist, and withal an elegant and accom- 
plished gentleman. He was Secretary of State 
1813 to 1815. 

David Edmond, a native of Ancient Woodbury, 
Conn., was graduated from college in 1796. He 
came to Vermont about the year 1800, and rep- 



OF VERMONT. 373 

resented Vergennes in the General Assembly in 
1808,1809,1X13, 1816, 1817 and 1821; a dele- 
gate in the Constitutional Convention of 1814. 
He was a member of the Council of Censors in 
1813, and State's Attorney for Addison County 
1808, 1809, 1813, 1814, and from 1819 until 
1824. He was an eloquent speaker. 

Jambs Fisk was born about the year 1762 in 
the county of Worcester, Mass., was self-educated, 
chose the law for his profession and distinguished 
himself both as a lawyer and a democratic poli- 
tician. He represented Barre in the General As- 
sembly from 1800 until 1805. and in 1809, 1810 
and 1815; he was delegate in the Constitutional 
Convention of 1814; was judge of Orange County 
Court in 1802 and 1809, and of the Supreme 
Court in 1815 and 1816. Representative in Con- 
gress from March, 1805, to March, 1809 and 
from Dec. 3, 1810, to March, 1815, and United 
States Senator in 1817 and 1818, resigning that 
office at the latter date to accept the Collectorship 
for the District of Vermont, which he held eight 
years. President Madison appointed him Judge 
of the Territory of Indiana in 1812, but he de- 
clined the office. He died in S wanton Dec. 1, 
1844. He was very entertaining in giving the 
reminiscences of public men and events of his 
time. He was once tendered the Postmaster 
Generalship. In his form, vigor of intellect and 
the brilliancy of his eyes, he much resembled Aar- 
on Burr at the same age. 

Col. William Chase Harrington came to 
Shelburne from Connecticut shortly after the Rev- 



374 EARLY HISTORY 

olutionary War, and first appeared officially as 
delegate from that town in the Constitutional 
Convention of 1791 and 1793, and representative 
in the General Assembly in 1789 and 1795, when 
he removed to Burlington and soon won high 
reputation as a lawyer. He represented Burling- 
ton in the Assembly in 1798, 1802, 1804 and 
1806; he was State's Attorney for Chittenden 
County from 1791 until 1796, and from 1798 
until 1812; was councillor in 1812 and 1813. He 
died in the last term of his office as councillor, 
July 15, 1814, aged 58 years. 

Capt. Jbdbdiah Hyde married Mary Water- 
man. They came from . Norwich, Conn., and 
resided in Pawlet and Poultney, Vt., from about 
1782 until 1788, when he removed to Hyde Park. 
Their son, Arunah Hyde, was born Sept. 21, 1708. 
and resided in Castleton and held the office of 
Sheriff. 

Rev. Asa Lyon was bom in Pomfret, Conn., 
Dec. 31, 1763, graduated at Dartmouth College in 
1790, and was pastor of the Congregational church 
at Sunderland, Mass., from Oct. 4, 1792, to Sept. 
23, 1793. He organized the Congregational church 
in South Hero, in conjunction with Grand Isle, in 
1795, and was its first minister, though he never 
was installed; was elected by the members from Dec. 
21, 1802, to March 15, 1840. After a few years, a 
difficulty arose as to his support, when he declared 
that his pastoral services should be gratuitous. He 
had a farm on North Hero. Beginning with a val- 
uable farm and living in the most frugal fashion, he 
became the wealthiest man on the Island, without 



OF VERMONT. 375 

the aid of a salary. The three present towns of 
Grand Isle, North Hero, and South Hero origin- 
ally formed one town named the Two Heroes. On 
Oct. 27, 1788, the Islands were divided into two 
towns, which were known as North Hero and 
South Hero. On Nov. 7, 1798, South Hero was 
made two towns named Middle Hero and South 
J/cro, and on Nov. 5, 1810, the natne of Middle He- 
ro was changed to Grand Isle. Lyon represented 
South Hero in the General Assembly from 1799 
till 1807; he was representative in 1808 until he 
entered the Council; he served as Councillor one 
year; he also represented Grand Isle from 1812 till 
. 1815, when he was elected to Congress, where he 
served from 1815 to March, 1817. He was Chief 
Judge of Grand Isle County Court in 1805, 1806, 
1808, and 1813. 

Rev. Simeon Parmalee, who had an intimate 
acquaintance with him, said of him that he was a 
great man in stature and in powers of mind; dark 
complexion, coarse features, powerful build, more 
than six feet in height, large boned, giant-framed, 
and a little stooping. # # # His friends thought 
him not only a great man but a good man. You 
could offend in no way quicker than to speak re- 
proachfully of him. He was a divine, a philoso- 
pher, a reasoner and a scholar in almost every 
sense of the word; he was truly learned 6n all sub- 
jects, even a literary encyclopoedia himself, and 
was eloquent in extemporaneous discussion. Hon. 
Charles Adams of Burlington, a contemporary, 
Said, 'There have been two men in' this State 
whose intellect towered above all others, one, Nat. 



376 EARLY HISTORY 

Chipman of Tinmouth, the other Asa Lyon of 
Grand Isle.' His death occurred April 4, 1841, in 
his 78th year. 

Rollin Carlos Mallary was born in Chesh- 
ire, Conn., May 27, 1784, and graduated at Mid- 
dlebury College in the class of 1805. He practiced 
law in Castleton from 1807 to 1818, and in Poult- 
ney from 1818 until his death. He served as Secre- 
tary of the Governor and Council in 1807, and 
from 1809 until 1813, and State's Attorney for 
Rutland County from 1810 until 1813, and again 
in 1815; and as a Member of Congress from 1819 
until 1831, in which year, on April 15th he died at 
Baltimore, Md. He was a zealous advocate of 
protection to American manufactures, and was 
chairman of the committee of mauufacturers, and 
reported the tariff of 1828; he was held in the 
highest estimation both for his public acts and pri- 
vate virtues. 

Doct. Samuel Shaw, was born in Massachu- 
setts, in Dec , 1768 and removed to Putney, Vt., in 
1778, and to Castleton in 1787, when he entered 
upon the practice of his profession at the age of 
19, and became eminent as a surgeon. He entered 
early into politics and was one of the victims of 
the sedition laws; for his denunciation of the ad- 
ministration of John Adams, he was imprisoned, 
but liberated by the people without the forms of 
law. He represented Castleton in the Assembly 
from 1800 until 1807, when he was elected to each 
House and accepted the office of Councillor; he 
served but one year, as he was defeated in 1808, 
when the Federalists elected 10 of the 12 Council- 



OF VERMONT. 377 

lors, but he was elected to Congress in 1808, and 
served until March 1813. On bis retirement from 
Congress he was appointed Surgeon in the U. S. 
army, which office he filled until 1816. It is stated 
that he once rode on horse-back from St. Louis, 
Mo., to Albany, N. Y., in 29 daj'S. He died at 
Clarendon, Vt., Oct. 22. 1827. 

Chari.es Rich was born in Warwick, Mass., 
Sept. 13, 1771, came to Shoreham in 1787, having 
made the journey on foot. At the age of 21 he 
married, and house-keeping was commenced with 
one cow, one pair of two-year-old steers, six sheep, 
one bed and a few articles of household furniture, 
all of which was valued at sixty dollars, and 
45 acres of land, given him by his father. From 
this modest beginning, by industry, integrity, and 
prudence, he became a wealthy man; he also be- 
came a valuable servant ol the public; he was a 
self-made man. He had attended school only three 
months at the age of fifteen, but was studious 
in all his leisure hours. Thus self-schooled, he be- 
came speedily known as a man of much more than 
ordinary intelligence, and was often called upon to 
deliver Fourth of July orations. At the age of 29 
he was elected town representative, and received 
12 elections to that office; he was a delegate to 
the Constitutional Convention of 1814; one of the 
judges of Addison County Court for six years, and 
elected a representative in Congress five terms in 
1813, 1815 and from 1807 to 1825, but died Oct. 
16, 1824, before his last term expired. On Oct. 
13, 1812, he introduced into the House the follow- 
ing: viz, "We, the representatives of the people of 



378 EARLY HISTORY 

Vermont, believing that in times like these in 
which we now live, it is both proper and neces- 
sary that our sentiments should be known to our 
sister states and the general government, do here- 
by adopt the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That the constituted authorities of 
our country having declared war between the 
United States and Great Britain and her depen- 
dencies, it is our duty as citizens to support the 
measure, otherwise we should identify ourselves 
with the enemy with no other distinction than 
that of locality^ We therefore pledge ourselves to 
each other, and to our government, that with our 
individual exertions, examples, and influence, we 
will support our government and country in the 
present contest, and rely on the Great Arbiter of 
Events for a favorable result," which, after some 
contention as to the form of the resolution 1k>- 
tween the Federalists and Republicans, was 
adopted and concurred in by the Council and 
Governors. 

Pliny Smith represented Orwell in the General 
Assembly of 1798 until 1810, when he entered the 
Council and served as Councillor from 1810 to 
1813, and again from 1815 to 1819. He was 
assistant judge of Rutland County Court in 1805, 
and from 1807, until 1811, and chief judge from 
1811 until 1820. making a continuous public ser- 
vice for twentj r -two years. 

William Strong was born in Windham county, 
Connecticut. Represented Hartford, Vt., in the 
General Assembly seven years, l>eginning in 1798, 
was sheriff of Windsor County from 1802 to 1810, 



OF VERMONT. 379 

and assistant judge in 1816, and Representative 
in Congress in 1S1 1 until March 1815, and -again 
in 1819 until 1822. 

Gen. Josiah Wright was born in 1752 and 
brought by his father, Charles Wright, from Wil- 
liamstown, Mass., to Pownal in 1763. He repre- 
sented Pownal in the General Assembly from 1793 
until 1803, excepting the year 1796; he was judge 
of probate from 1801 until 1814; councillor from 
1805 until 1817, except the years of 1808 and 
1814; Judge of the County Court in 1810 until 
1817, except the year 1814. a justice of the peace 
24 years; and Presidential Elector in 1804 and 
1812 ; he was one of the Hoard of Commissioners 
appointed in 1807 for the erection of the State's 
Prison. He was a Jefferson Republican and was 
a party leader and influential in his county and in 
the State. He was defeated by his younger 
brother, Judge Solomon Wright, in the election for 
representative in 1796, 1803 and 1804, and in the 
appointment as Judge of the County Court and of 
the Probate Court in 1814; he rendered military 
service in the Battle of Bennington. His death 
occurred by accident Jan. 1, 1817, while holding 
the office of Councillor. 

Zerah Willoughhy was a farmer and mer- 
chant and represented Fletcher in the General As- 
sembly in 1818, 1820, 1822 and 1823; and a 
member of the Constitutional Convention of 
1822. He was Assistant Judge of Franklin County 
Court in 1801 and until 1806, and in 1813, 1814, 
and from 1818 to 1823, and was Chief Judge of 



380 EARLY HISTORY 

County Court in 1824-5. He was Councillor in 
1808 and 1814. 

Captain John Vincbnt was a prominent Indian 
Chief, loyal to the American cause through the 
Revolution and a friend to the American people 
till his death that took place at Parkerstown, 
(Mend on,) on July 3, 1810, at the age of 95 years. 
There appeared in Spooncr's Vermont Journal of 
July 23, 1810, the following sketch of his career: 
viz., 

•'In 1755, he had a command among the Cog- 
nawogga tribe, then opposed by French influence 
to these then colonies and provinces. Gen. Brad- 
dock was at that time defeated at Fort duQuesne, 
near where Pittsburgh now is. Capt. Vincent had 
reconnoitred the country southerly to the mouth 
of the Scioto, and had returned before the engage- 
ment. He formed the ambuscade, which defeated 
Braddock. Upon the death of Braddock he com- 
manded and contended against Colonel Washing- 
ton, and has often said that if Braddock would 
have known the great man then advising him, he 
would have been preserved. That Braddock did 
not consider Colonel Washington as a soldier, and 
therefore lost his life.— That Colonel Washington 
harrassed the French and Indians, when they sup- 
posed themselves to be the conquerers. At that 
time Capt, Vincent returned with his warriors to 
his tribe—That at the commencement of the revo- 
lutionary war, he, Capt. John, soon learned that 
Colonel Washington was commander in chief— 
that his tribe being in British interests, he left 
them, fully l>elieving that the Great Spirit had 



OF VERMONT. 381 

preserved Colonel Washington— that a numl>er of 
his young warriors, after the death of Braddock, 
had shot at Washington, but nobody could kill 
him— that about the year 1779, Capt. John re- 
ceived from General Washington a Captain's com- 
mission. He piloted the American troops from 
Cambridge through the province of Maine to 
Quebec. He was at Quebec when Montgomery 
fell. He well understood the history of the Revo- 
lutionary war, having in 1775 espoused the Amer- 
ican cause, and his trite being seduced to the 
British interest. He has since secreted himself 
among our mountains in Sherburne. 

"The Legislature of Vermont havingknown this 
distinguished chieftain, long since made him a 
l>ensioner. Capt. John was early educated by a 
Roman Catholic Priest in the French language 
and in the tenets of that church. These early im- 
pressions were not erased. At no time was this 
tenant of the forest known to arise without his 
orisons, to sleep without his vespers, or to eat 
without at least offering up his silent but reverent 
petition. From this Romau instructor he had re- 
ceived a large French bible. This he often read 
and preserved as his best inheritance, and it is said 
has bequeathed it to the Rev. Heman Ball of the 
village of Rutland. It is not supposed that Capt. 
Vincent was perfect, but he was brave, generous, 
humane and pious. He not only knew how to dis- 
tinguish wisdom from folly, but could see God in 
the clouds and hear him in the wind. A uniform 
coat, presented him by General Washington, he 
bequeathed, with some other articles, to Mr. Rich- 



382 EARLY HISTORY 

ardson. This proud trophy has been preserved 
unsullied. 

In 1804 Vincent petitioned to the Legislature 
of Vermont for assistance in the most touching 
> and pleading terms as follows: viz., 

"To the Fathers of the People of Vermont, now 
Assembled in Grand Council at Rutland, Broth- 
ers, When your fathers, to avoid persecution, fled 
from England and the English nation, they came 
across the big Lake that separates Europe from 
America, and settled among the Indians, of whom 
I am a descendant. At that time, your fathers 
were weak, without friends, and without pro- 
visions or wigwams: My fathers gave them pro- 
tection, became their friends, and furnished them 
with provisions. And when the King of England 
assumed an oppressive authority over them, they 
opposed his oppression : and a friendship existed 
between them and my tribe. At the commence- 
ment of the war that divided the Colonies from 
Great-Britain, Captain John Vincent was a firm 
friend of the United States. Under General Wash- 
ington he became attached to their cause, and 
constantly directed his arrows against the British 
Sachem. From the River Kenncl>ec, through the 
wilderness, to Quel^ec, he pointed out the way, 
and fought under General Montgomery, at the 
seige of that place. Following the fortune of the 
Americans, he fought under General Gates, at 
Stillwater, and assisted in taking General Bur- 
goyne, and at various other places; and during 
the whole war, was engaged in the American ser- 
vice. 



OF VERMONT. 383 

"Brothers, I am now become old, I am become 
old in your service, fighting your battles. Seventy- 
three winters have gone, and almost half of them 
I have been among you. 

"Brothers, When Capt. John became your friend, 
he was a young man— he could then catch Beavers 
and Deer enough to feed and clothe him ; but hav- 
ing, thro* age, lost his activity, the means of his 
support are cut off, and he is obliged to ask of you 
a maintenance, which he refused, for your cause, to 
receive from others. 

"Since the last war, Brothers, I have stayed on 
your mountains and in j*our forests, and I have 
preserved that staying, b} r means of hunting, and 
some handicraft business, and at no time (for I 
appeal to the men of Rutland, and others, who 
know Capt. John) have I departed from the path 
of friendship and honesty. 

"Brothers, I come before you to solicit assist- 
ance. The Great Spirit will soon take me to my 
fathers ; will you give me something to procure me 
meat and blankets till the Grent Alknomak shall 
call me away. Capt. John Vincent." 

A Committee to whom the petition was referred 
reported that the facts stated in the petition were 
true. An appropriation of twenty-five dollars 
was made for him, and a guardian was appointed 
to receive the same for his use. In 1806, John 
Fuller of Sherburne was authorized to draw thirty 
dollars annually for Vincent's support: in 1807, 
$59.35 was granted to several persons who had 
contributed for his support. In 1809 an act was 



384 EARLY HISTORY 

passed authorizing Jaraes D. Butler of Rutland to 
draw not exeeeding sixty dollars annually for his 
support. 

John H. Andrus came from Colchester, Conn., 
to Danby , Vt., in 1780, and represented that town in 
the General Assembly nine years, from 1805 to 1813, 
inclusive, and in 1816; he was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1814; Assistant 
Judge of Rutland County Court in 1811, and 1814; 
Councillor in 1820 and 1821. He removed to 
Pawlet in 1822 and died there in 1841, aged 73 
years. 

Nicholas Baylies was born at Uxbridge, 
Mass., about 1768, and graduated at Dartmouth 
in 1794. He was admitted to the bar and com- 
menced the practice of law at Woodstock with the 
Hon. Charles Marsh, and removed to Montpelier 
in 1810, and from thence to Lyndon in 1836, 
where he died August 17, 1847. In 1814 he pub- 
lished a digest of modern English and American 
common law reports in three volumes, and in 
1820 a volume on free agency. He was Councillor 
but a single term in 1814, but during that term 
his learning in the law was manifested; he in- 
itiated the Vermont State Library, and also the 
printed reports of the Supreme Court. He was a 
member of the Council of Censors in 1813; and 
Judge of the Supreme Court three years from 1831 
to 1834. 

Moses Robinson, the first child of Gov. Moses 
Robinson, was born in Bennington Nov. 16, 1763. 
He represented Bennington in the General Assem- 
bly in 1819, 1820 and 1823, and was a candidate 



OF VERMONT. 385 

for the Council on the Federal ticket previous to 
his election in 1814, and on one occasion failed by 
the omission of the "junior" from his name. He 
died Jan. 30, 1825. 

James Davis Butler was born in Boston, and 
came to the state and settled in Rutland in 1787, 
and represented that town in the General Assem- 
bly in 1812 and 1813, and was Councillor in 
1814. He was called . "the mechanic, the mer- 
chant, the scholar, the wit." 

Eli as Stevens represented Royal ton in the 
General Assembly eleven years, beginning in 1783, 
and ending in 1816, and was Councillor one year. 

John Winthrop Chandler was born in New- 
ton, Conn., in 1767 and was one of the early 
settlers of Peacham and lived there till his death 
July 15, 1855. He represented the town in the 
General Assembly in 1797; was Judge of Probate 
from 1797 until 1800, and again in 1806, 1808, 
1809 and from 1817 till 1821 ; Register in 1805, 
and Judge of the County Court from 1800 until 
1806, and from 1813 until 1817. 

William Hall, Jr., was a member of the 
Council of Censors in 1813, and Councillor in 
1814. He also represented Grafton in the General 
Assembly in 1799, and Rockingham in 1826 and 
1827. 

Col. Josiah Hubbard was Councillor one year # 
He died at Thetlord about July 1, 1833. 

Mark Richards .was born in New Haven, 
Conn., in 1760, represented Westminster in the 
General Assembly beginning in 1801, and receiving 
his last election in 1834; was one of the Council of 

26 



386 EARLY HISTORY 

Censors in 1806, Sheriff of Windham County five 
years in succession, beginning in 1806, Elector of 
President and Vice-President in 1812. Councillor 
in 1818 and 1814, Member of Congress from .1817 
to 1821, and Lieutenant Governor in 1830. He 
died at Westminster Aug. 10, 1844., aged 84 years. 
Gamaliel Paintkr was born in New Haven, 
Conn., May 22, 1742, and was one of the first 
three settlers of Middlebury in 1773. He was 
plain and slow of speech and of few words, and a 
man of sound judgment upon which his friends 
placed implicit confidence and safe reliance; he be- 
came a leader in all important enterprises. To 
him, more than to any other man, the town of 
Middlebury is indebted for its college, its first 
church, its village square and the first mills, and 
was recognized as "the father of the town." 
.While he did not derive great advantage from 
schools he learned much' from the association with 
men of more learning and experience, and so be- 
came an efficient public servant, and honored for 
his patriotism and practical business qualities. 
He served as Quartermaster and Captain in the 
Revolutionary army, and undoubtedly served 
with credit in the campaign in Canada, as he was 
appointed by Congress July 5, 1776, a First 
Lieutenant in Warner's Continental regiment— the 
officers of that regiment consisted of such as 
served with credit in Canada. He was the first 
delegate of Middlebury in the Dorset Convention- 
he was a member of that Convention in January 
and September of 1776, and a delegate for Corn- 
wall at Windsor in June, 1777. He was the first 



OF VERMONT. 387 

representative of Middlebury in the General As- 
sembly in 1786, and for 14 years in all. On the 
organization of Addison Connty in 1785, he was 
appointed Assistant Judge of the County Court, 
but resigned that office before the term expired for 
the purpose of becoming Sheriff of that County in 
1786. He again became Judge in 1787, and held 
that position until 1795. He was Councillor in 
1813 and 1814, coming into that office as a can* 
didate of the Federal party. He died May 21, 
1819; and the trustees of Middlebury College, to 
whom his estate was bequeathed, erected a mon- 
ument over his grave. • 

Samuel Swift; LL. D., was the seventh of 14? 
children of Rev. Job and Mary Ann Sedgwick 
Swift, and born at Nine Partners, [Amenia,] N. Y., 
August 2, 1782, graduated at Dartmouth College 
in 1800; Le was tutor in Middlebury College from 
1801 to 1803, and a member of Addison County 
bar as early as 1808. He edited the Vermont 
Mirror at Middlebury and also edited a Vermont 
Register and Almanac from 1803 till 1818. He 
was Secretary of the Governor and Council in 
1813 and 1814; Judge of Probate from 1819 to 
1841 ; Clerk of Addison County Courts from 1814 
to 1846; Assistant Judge from 1855 to 1857, and 
Elector of President and Vice-President in 1836. 
He wrote the history of Addison Cotanty and the 
town of Middlebury which were printed in 1859. 
He died July 8, 1875. 

Gen. William Cahoon was born in 1774, was 
representative of Lyndon in the General Assembly 
in 1802 which office he held nine years. He was 



388 EARLY HISTORY 

delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 1814 
and 1828; Presidential Elector in 1808; Judge of 
Caledonia County Court from 1811 to 1819, 
eight years. Councillor from 1815 to 1820, five 
years. Lieutenant Governor from 1820 till 1822, 
two years ; a member of Congress from 1829 to 
1833. He died May 30, 1833. 

Joel Doouttle graduated at Yale College in 
1777 and came to Middlebury in 1800, as the first 
tutor in Middlebury College. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1801, and was a successful Advocate 
and Councillor until 1817, when he was elected a 
Judge of the Supreme Court, an office that he held 
until 1824, except the year 1823; he was Council- 
lor three years, commencing in 1815; representa- 
tive in the General Assembly in 1824, and member 
and president of the Council of Censors in 1834. 
He died in March, 1841, at the age of 68 years. 

James Tarbox, born in Merrimac, N. H. t in 
1759, and settled in Randolph about 1794, and 
engaged successfully in trade, and was a man of 
sound judgment and sterling integrity and was 
much employed in public service. He represented 
his town in the General Assembly six years, first 
in 17t*7 and last in 1813; was one of the Council 
of Censors in 1806; Judge of Orange County 
Court from 1806 until 1812, was Councillor in 
1815, and Presidential Elector in 1808 and in 
1832. He died August 25, 1841, aged 82 years. 

Truman Chittenden was the fourth and the 
youngest son of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, and 
settled on a farm adjoining the homestead of his 
father in Williston. He was justice of the peace 



OF VERMONT. 389 

30 years; Judge of the Probate 11 years: Judge of 
the County Court seven years; also Councillor 12 
years, and for 26 years a member of the corpora- 
tion of the University of Vermont. He represented 
the town of Williston four years, and was ever 
employed in some public duties. He possessed a 
sound judgment and quick, penetrating mind. 
• Timothy Stanley was one of the original 
proprietors of Greensborough, and settled his 
family there in 1792. In December, 1788, he lost 
a foot by frost in attending a meeting of the pro- 
prietors of Greensborough holden at Cabot. Not- 
withstanding this misfortune, he was one of the 
most enterprising and energetic of men in that 
town and influential in the County for many 
years. He represented that town 13 years, first 
in 1795 and last in 1813, and was delegate in the 
Constitutional Convention of 1814; he was Clerk 
of Orleans County Court in 1801, and Judge from 
1802 to 1814, and again in 1815 and until 1824. 
He was Presidential Elector in 1820 and voted for 
James Monroe to be President, and Daniel D. 
Tompkins to be Vice-President, and was appointed 
messenger to bear the electoral votes of Vermont 
to Washington City; that he rode the entire dis- 
tance on horseback. At that time a large number 
of State officers and members of the two Houses of 
the Legislature were accustomed to go to Mont- 
pelier on horseback; to pasture their steeds in 
Montpelier, Berlin and Middlesex during the ses- 
sion, and return to their homes in the same 
manner. He was Councillor from 1815 until his 
death April 15, 1825, aged 61 years. 



390 EARLY HISTORY 

Daniel Pkaslee represented Washington in 
the General Assembly ten years, first in 1802 and 
last in 1826; he was a delegate in the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1814; Sheriff of Orange 
County in 1807 and until 1812, and Councillor 
from 1816 until 1819. 

Thomas Harmon was born in Newton, Mass. 
Feb. 20, 1762, and at the age of four years he 
was taken from his parents and bound to a 
farmer in Leicester, Mass. In 1778 he enlisted in 
the Continental army, served nine months and be- 
came Fifth Corporal, a position he used to say of 
which he felt prouder than any he afterwards 
held. In 1782 he came to Shaftsbury, Vt., and in 

1783 to Pittsford. The vicissitudes of his early 
years were unfavorable to the development of 
good character, but on his way to Pittsford he 
resolved to leave his bad deeds behind, and strive 
thencefoi th for a noble manhood. In this he was 
successful and became eminently useful in the 
church and to the public. He represented Pitts- 
ford in the General Assembly nine years in 1794 
until 1813, and in the Constitutional Convention 
of 1791; was Judge of Rutland County Court 
seven years and until 1822 and Councillor from 
1816 until 1820; and during the war of 1812-14, 
was United States Assessor. He died April 4, 
1847. 

Theophilus Crawford was born in Union, 
Conn., April 25, 1764, and brought by his father, 
James Crawford, to Westminster in 1769. In 

1784 he served with the Vermont Militia in quell- 
ing the disturbance of the Yorkers at Guilford ; he 



OF VERMONT. 391 

was a delegate from Putney in the Constitutional 
Convention in 1822, and representative in the 
General Assembly of 1823; Sheriff of Windham 
County in 1819, and Councillor from 1816 to 
1820. He died in January, 1856. 

David Fav was the youngest son of Stephen 
Fa}- and brother of Jonas Fay, and was born in 
Hard wick, Mass., Dec. 13, 1761, and came to 
Bennington with his father in 1766. Although he 
was not 16 years of age, he was in the Battle of 
Bennington as one of Captain Samuel Robinson's 
company; he was admitted to the bar in 1794; 
member of the Council of Censors in 1799; State's 
Attorney four years previous to 1801; United 
State's Attorney for the District of Vermont in 
.1801 to 1809; Judge of the Supreme Court from 
1809 until 1813; Judge of Probate in 1819-20. 
and Councillor from 1817 until 1821. He died 
June 5, 1827, leaving no descendants. 

Roiikrt Trmplr was born in Braintree, Mass., 
in 1783, and admitted to the bar in Rutland 
County in 1804, and settled in Castleton. Subse- 
quently he removed to Rutland where he died by 
his own hand Oct. 7, 1834. He was Clerk of the 
Rutland County Court from 1804 until 1819; 
Member and Secretary of the Council of Censors 
of 1813, and Secretary of the Governor and 
Council in 1820 until 1823. He was an admirable 
Secretarj\ In 1817 he was elected as one of the 
Judges of the Supreme Court but he declined to 
accept the office and Joel Doolittle was elected to 
fill the vacancy ; was of the same family as Lord 
Pahnerston, and a descendant of Gov. Bradford of 



392 EARLY HISTORY 

the Mayflower — also a descendant of the good 
Godiva, wife of the Mercian Earl Leofrick, the 
Saxon King maker, one thousand years ago. B. 
P. Walton said he remembered him as a large, well- 
formed and well dressed gentleman, and the 
leader among the members oi fashionable society 
at Montpelier, who were accustomed in his day to 
come annually from the principal towns of the 
State at the opening of the Legislature. 

Aaron Leland was pastor of the Baptist 
church in Chester at its organization in 1788 and 
continued its pastor till his death in 1833. He 
was an active and influential politician of the 
Jefferson school, and influential throughout the 
State. He represented Chester in the Constitution- 
al Convention of 1814, and in the General Assem- 
bly in 1801 until 1810, and in 1813; and Speaker 
of the House from 1804 until 1808; Councillor 
from 1818 until 1822; Lieutenant Governor in 
1822 until 1827, and Presidential Elector in 1820. 
His portly .appearance in person over-awed some, 
while his light and airy deportment sometimes 
displeased others. He was so fat he could neither 
put on nor take off his boots and was as cheerful 
as fat. He had sterling qualities of character; he 
was accustomed for many years to use alcoholic 
liquors freely, but joined in the early temperance 
movement both by word and deed. Called to 
administer the rite of baptism he became chilled, 
and was urged to protect himself by stimulants. 
''No," he said, "I will die first," and did on the 
third day thereafter. The famous hotel men of 
the name of Leland are of his family. 



OF VERMONT. 393 

Ahel Tomlinson was High Sheriff of Addison 
County from 1819 until 1824; he was a republi- 
can. 

John H. Cotton represented Bradford in the 
General Assembly in 1814, and until 1819; was 
Councillor in 1819 and 1820; Presidential Elector 
in 1816; and Assistant fudge of Orange County 
Court in 1812 and until 1820. He accepted the 
office of Superintendent, of the Vermont State 
Prison in 1820, from which position he retired in 
1838. 

Seth Wetmorb, born in Massachusetts, and 
commenced practice as an attorney at St. Albans 
about 1800; was Sheriff of Franklin County in 
1809 and 1810; Register of Probate in 1814; 
Councillor from 1819 until 1829; Judge of Pro- 
bate from 1815 until his death in August, 1830. 
He was unfortunate in his pecunian* matters, but 
maintained his integrity. He officiated as magis- 
trate in the trial of causes more than any other 
man in his town or countv. 

Joseph Berry was a resident of Guildhall, and 
his name was recorded in 1799 as a member of the 
first church there organized. He represented that 
town in the General Assembly in 1816, and State's 
Attorney in 1815, '17, '18,' '23 and '24; Chief 
Judge of Essex County Court in 1822 and 1823; 
and Councillor from 1819 to 1825. He removed 
to Newbury, and was Clerk of the Orange County 
Court from 1 850 to 1 852. 

Charles Phelps of Townsend was born Sept. 
13, 1781, son of Col. Timothy, and grandson of 
Charles Phelps of Marlboro, both of whom were 



394 EARLY HISTORV 

quite troublesome to the Vermont government 
during the controversy with New York. Hon. 
Charles Phelps was Judge of Probate in 1821, 
1822 and 1824; Assistant Judge of Windham 
County Court in 1882, 1833 and 1834; and 
Councillor in 1820, until 1822. He removed to 
Ohio, and died in Cincinnati Nov. 19, 1854. 

Joseph Warner represented Sudbury in the 
Constitutional Conventions of 1791 and 1822, 
and ir> the General Assembly in 1805 until 1818, 
1825; and 1828, and until 1832. He was Assist- 
ant Judge of Rutland County Court from 1821 
unti^ 1824; Councillor in 1820 and 1821. 

Henry Olin was born in Shaftsbury May 7, 
1788; he was nephew of Hon. Gideon Olin of the 
same town. Judge Olin settled in Leicester about 
1788, and commenced his public services in 1799 
as representative in the General Assembly, which 
office he held for 22 years out of 26. He was As- 
sistant Judge of Addison County County eight 
years, and Chief Judge 15 years, making 23 years 
of continuous judicial service; Delegate in the 
Constitutional Conventions of 1814, 1822 and 
and 1828; Councillor in 1820, and 1821; Member 
of Congress from December, 1824 to March 4, 
1825, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the 
death of Hon. Charles Rich ; and Lieutenant- 
Governor from 1827 until 1830. In physical pro- 
portions he was gigantic, but in temper genial, 
abounding in wit and sound judgment, and a use- 
ful man in his town, county and state; he was a 
zealous and consistent Methodist; at first a 
Jefferson democrat in politics and finally became a 



OF VERMONT. 895 

Whig. He was the father of Stephen Olin, D. D., 
LL. D. Removing to Salisbury in the spring of 
1837, and there died on Aug. 18, 1838 

Josiaii Dana was a descendant of Richard Dana 
who settled in Cambridge, Mass., in 1640. Josiah 
was born in Barre, Mass., and was a son of a 
Congregational clergyman, and first appeared in 
Vermont records as representative of Chelsea in 
the General Assembly of 1803 which office he had . 
also in 1806, 1808, and 1809; he was a Delegate 
in the Constitutional Convention of 1814; As- 
sistant Judge of Orange County Court in 1812, 
Chief Judge in 1816 and until 1820, and Presi- 
dential Elector in 1828; he was also Councillor in 
1821 until 1826. He died in April, 1841. 

Joel Pratt represented Manchester in the 
General Assembly from 1808 until 1812, also in 
1813 and 1817. He was Clerk of Bennington 
County Court from 1803 until 1828; Member of 
the Council of Censors in 1820, and Councillor in 
1821 until 1824. 

Jonathan Orms, a carpenter and mill-wright, 
came to Pittsficld, Vt , from Northampton, Mass., 
about 1788, and shortly after removed to Fair- 
haven, and in 1790 settled in what is now West 
Haven. He removed soon after to Fairhaven,and 
from thence to Castleton in 1842, where he died 
Aug. 8, 1850, aged 86 years. He was General-in 
Chief of all the militia in Vermont in the time ot 
the war of 1812-14 with Great Britian and had 
his headquarters at Burlington. 

William Griswold was born in New Marl- 
borough, Mass., Srept. 15, 1775, and when he was 



396 EARLY HISTORY 

about ten years old he removed to Bennington 
with his father. He graduated at Dartmouth 
College, studied law in the office of Chief Justice 
Jonathan Robinson of Bennington, and married 
Mary Follett in 1798 and commenced business at 
Danville. He was State's Attorney for Caledonia 
County in 1803 until 1813, and from 1815 until 
1820. He represented Danville in the General 
Assembly in 1807 and until 1811, and from 1813 
until 1819. He was speaker of the Assembly from 
1815 until 1819; he was Delegate for Danville in 
the Constitutional Convention of 1814. In 1821 
he was appointed United States Attorney for the 
District of Vermont, and removed to Burlington, 
holding the office until 1829. He represented 
Burlington in the Assembly of 1841, and was one 
of the Council of Censors in 1827; Presidential 
Elector in 1812, and in 1836; Councillor in 1833 
and in 1834. He was a long time in office, a fact 
due to his genial temperament, readiness in de- 
bate, and fidelit}' in the discharge of his duties. 
He died in Burlington in 1845, aged 70 years. 

Austin Bukchako was born in Wilmington, 
Dec. 5, 1793. The son of a farmer, his early sum- 
mers were spent on the farm, and his winters in 
the district school, of which in due time he be- 
came a teacher. In the store of Samuel Clark of 
Brattleboro he fitted for the business of a mer- 
chant that he honorably and successfully followed 
till late in life. He settled in Newfane in 1822, and 
there resided until his death Sept. 13, 1879, in his 
80th 3'car. The youngest of his four sons died a 
prisoner in the notorious Andcrsonville prison. 



OF VERMONT. 397 

Georgia, and one of his two daughters was killed 
in the lamentable railroad accident at Ashtabula, 
Ohio. His sister, Sophia, was the mother of 
President Rutherford B. Hayes. He served as 
Councillor in 1833 and 1834; Member of the 
Council of Censors in 1841, and of the State Sen- 
ate in 1846. He was a friend to internal im- 
provements, a cheerful contributor for benevolent 
and religious purposes, and strongly opposed to 
slavery and to secret societies. 

Gen. William Barton was born in Providence, 
R. I... in 1747, and died there Oct. 22, 1831. He 
was a brave man and a good, true soldier. By 
what is said in Volume III, on pages 58 and 59, of 
this History, one might be led to think that Gen. 
Barton was unjustly treated by Vermont. The 
facts relating to his treatment show that that 
view is not correct. His country, it is true, owed 
him a debt of gratitude for his valuable service. 
On July 10, 1777, as Lieutenant-Colonel in the 
Rhode Island militia, he, with a small party, 
crossed Narragansett Bay, passing three British 
frigates, landed l>ctween Newport and Bristol 
ferry, and captured the British brigadier, after- 
wards Lieutenant-General Richard Prescott. For 
this service Congress honored Barton with the 
presentation of a sword and a commission as 
Colonel ; he was wounded in action in August in 
1778. The General Assembly of Vermont on Oct. 
23,1781, granted a township of land by the name 
of Providence, that name being given to the grant 
in honor ot his birthplace. By a resolution passed 
by the General Assembly on Oct. 16, 1784, the 



398 • EARLY HISTORY 

name of the town was changed to Barton at the 
request of the proprietors of the town. Barton's 
biographer, Mrs. C. M. Williams, stated that the 
grant of the land to him in Vermont was made by 
Congress, which is an error. In dealing with this 
land Gen. Barton became entangled in the law, 
was imprisoned at Danville in Caledonia County, 
Vermont, for debt many years, and until his re- 
lease in 1825 by the generosity of Gen. Lafayette 
on his visit to the State. The extent of the yard 
within which the General was confined was two 
miles square. The facts relating to Gen. Barton *s 
litigation and imprisonment, were that in 1781, 
the General Assembly granted the land afterwards 
called Barton to Col. William Barton and Com- 
pany, l>eing 65 men including Gen. Ira Allen,— 
these 65 men constituted the original proprietors 
of the town of Barton. Accompanying this grant 
was the following complimentary resolution: 
"Resolved, That this Assembly, having the high- 
est sense of the merit of Col. William Barton, as 
an active, brave and intrepid officer in the army 
of the United States, do grant him two of said 
rights in said township free of all expense.** This 
resolution, however, at Col. Barton's request, was 
reconsidered, but the adoption of the resolution 
showed the good will of the State towards Bar- 
ton. The town was, by a vote of the proprietors, 
some ten years after, surveyed and apportioned 
among the respective grantees; a tax was imposed 
upon the several rights to defray the expense of 
the survey and settlement. On this subject the 
following appeared in the Vermont Watchman 
and State Gazette of Aug. 23, 1 831, viz., 



OF VERMONT. 399 

"In December, 1791, the rights, upon which the 
tax was unpaid, were sold b\* a collector chosen 
by the proprietors. Among these rights were 
those drawn to Gen. [Ira] Allen. Doct. Arnold, a 
friend and agent of Gen. Barton, bid off the rights 
of Gen. Allen, and the latter having failed to re- 
deem them, they were, at the expiration of the 
time limited by law, conveyed by deed from the 
collector to Gen. Barton. A part or the whole of 
the rights so obtained by Gen. Barton were sub- 
sequentty sold and deeded by him to different pur- 
chasers. In October, 1 799, Jabez G. Pitch levied 
an execution, he had previously obtained against 
Gen. Allen, on the rights originally allotted to the 
latter, and bv that means vested in himself Allen's 
title to the land. The grantees of Gen Barton 
still remaining in possession of the rights in 
question, Fitch commenced actions of ejectment 
against lour or five of them, and in one of them, * 
the decision of which would of course determine 
the common principle upon which they all de- 
pended, obtained judgment in 1802 in the Su- 
preme Court. Gen. Barton appeared in the de- 
fence of these actions, as he had bound himself to 
do, by the covenants of warranty in his deeds to 
the defendants. The cause, whfch.was decided 
against his grantee in 1802, he reviewed to the 
succeeding term of the Supreme Court, and the 
others remained on the docket of the Court to 
await the final decision of the one which was then 
litigated. The Court excluded from the Jury the 
deed from the collector [of taxes] to Gen. Barton, 
on the ground that the proceedings in the vendue 
were illegal and of course insufficient to pass a 
title to the purchaser under it— the collector hav- 
ing neglected to give the notice required by law. 
The cause, which was reviewed from 1802 to the 
following term of the Court, was continued, and 
while it was still pending and before a final de- 
cision was had, Gen. Barton and Fitch, the 



400 EARJ.Y HISTORY 

plaintiff, mutually agreed to submit the question 
in controversy to the arbitrament of three men 
chosen by themselves. The arbitrators met, 
heard the parties in the premises, and made and 

Eublished their award. With this award Gen. 
arton failed to comply. Fitch subsequently con- 
veyed his title to the lands in question to Heman 
Allen and Samuel Fitch. 

In 1806 Gen. Barton brought his bill in Chan- 
cery against Ira and Heman Allen andJabesG. 
and Samuel Fitch, praying the Court to decree 
Heman Allen and Samuel Fitch to execute deeds 
to him of a part or the whole of the land con- 
veyed by Jabez G. Fitch to them. The bill in 
Chancery was continued from term to term till, 
in 1809, the Court decreed a specific performance 
of the award made by the arbitrators. The de- 
fendants to the bill subsequently preferred a pe- 
tition for a rehearing, and in 1814 the decree of 
1809 was vacated, and in 1816 upon a new hear- 
ing, the original bill was dismissed with part cost 
to the defendants, amounting, as taxed, to less 
than fifty dollars. General Barton's title to the 
lands in question having failed, bis grantees com- 
menced suits upon his covenants of warranty, 
obtained judgments against him. and, on his 
neglecting to pay them, he was in 181 2 committed 
to goal in this place, [Danville,] where he has re- 
mained ever since. 

"Such is a brief outline of the case of Gen. Bar- 
ton: And the enquiry arises, whether he has any 
ground for complaint, either in relation to the 
parties with whom the suit has been litigated, or 
the government under the administration of whose 
laws the suit has thus terminated. 

"In forming an impartial opinion upon the sub- 
ject, it may not be improper to inquire what have 
been the measures resorted to, subsequently to his 
commitment to jail, by the party who supposed 



OF VERMONT. 401 

himself injured, and what has been the result of 
these measures. 

"In the first place. Gen. Barton has repeatedly 
petitioned the Legislature of this State for redress, 
and, upon a disclosure of the facts in his case, has 
as repeatedly failed of convincing that body of his 
claims to relief. An enlightened and intelligent 
Committee of the Legislature, one of the members 
of which, without having been employed in the 
case, was familiar with the whole history of the 
bill in chancery, discovering no merits in his case, 
reported in substance that, as the petitioner had 
ample pecuniary means of relief, he ought not to 
expect assistance from the State. Indeed it would 
have been entirely unprecedented for the govern- 
ment to interpose either their authority or their 
charity in a case where the former would have been 
illegal and the latter unmerited. 

"Gen. Barton, having failed entirely in his ap- 
plication to the State Legislature, preferred a 
petition to Congress, praying for such relief as 
that body should think his case demanded. His 
petition was referred to the Military Committee, 
consisting among others, of Dr. Eustis, who wasa 
Revolutionary soldier, and of course a man from 
whose sympathies the petitioner could expect 
every prepossession in his favor which the circum- 
stances of his case could possibly warrant. An- 
other individual of the committee was person- 
al^ acquainted with the facts involved in the 
case and consequently qualified to do justice to 
the petitioner's claims. Thus, it should seem, the 
case had at length reached a board from which 
Gen. Barton was assured of a patient examination 
and as favorable a report as it himself had elected 
the committee. But unfortunately for the peti- 
tioner, the committee thought the claims of sjrm- 
pathj* much less imperious than those of justice, 
and the application to Congress consequently 

27 



402 EARLY HISTORY 

terminated in as total a failure as the petition to 
the State Legislature. 

"It is worthy of remark that Gen. Burton not 
only does not pretend he is poor and unable to dis- 
charge the sums for which he is confined, but, on the 
contrary, instructed the individual, who drafted his 
petition to Congress, to insert no claim on the 
ground of poverty. Indeed, he openly proclaims his 
ability to pay the debts in question, and assigns as 
one reason, among others, for neglecting to dis- 
charge them, that he has made a solemn oath that 
he will never leave the place of his confinement 
without, as he emphatically expresses himself, some 
satisfaction for the injustice which has been done 
him. His claim, it should be further remarked, is of 
an exclusively pecuniary nature. He is, however, 
much less exhorbitant in his demands than when 
he was first committed, and the amount of satis- 
faction which he claims, has diminished in the 
same proportion that the prospect of obtaining it 
has lessened. It is also true, that he declares it a 
consideration perfectly immaterial, whether he 
receives pecuniary redress from those whom he 
represents as his oppressors, from the government 
in which the alleged injustice has been practiced, 
or from the charity of individuals in no way con- 
nected with the transaction of which he complains. 
He has even requested that a paper should be 
drawn up, in which the charitable should sub- 
scribe such sums for his benefit as the services and 
the sufferings of "an old revolutionary officer" 
should prompt them to bestow—and this he asks, 
notwithstanding he possesses, in addition to a 
considerable estate, which he has long owned, the 
avails of some eight or ten years' annual pension 
from the government of $360. But he has re- 
solved that his own money shall never be appro- 
priated to the payment of what the highest 
tribunal in the State has solemnly declared to l>e 



OF VERMONT. 403 

his own debts. The motive from which this reso- 
lution has proceeded is not the business of the 
writer of this article to determine. It is sufficient 
for him to have stated the facts; and it becomes 
the province of an impartial public to draw such 
inferences as the facts shall in their. opinion, war- 
rant. 

"It has been stated, and the statement has 
taken the rounds of our newspapers, and has even 
attracted the notice and drawn upon our govern- 
ment the illiberal and triumphant sneers of a 
foreign editor, that this unfortunate officer of our 
revolution is now immured 'within the walls of a 
noisome dungeon/ without the means of paying 
the debt for which he is confined. The extent of 
the yard within which the General is confined is 
two miles square, and his remaining even within 
its limits is purely voluntary." 

The committee to whom was referred the 
memorial of Barton, praying that he might be 
liberated from imprisonment, made report, "that 
the committee fully appreciate the services of the 
petitioner to the United States, and regret that he 
does not draw from his pocket that relief which he 
solicits from the Assembly." The losses of Gen. 
Barton were purely from the fault of the collector 
who sold the land, and theneglect of his agent to 
verify the legality or illegality of the sale, and 
ought to have considered the fact that for years he 
wronged those who had purchased of him in good 
faith the land, relying upon his warranty. The 
fault did not lie at the door of Vermont or of the 
Courts. The claim of Gen. Barton was but one of 
many whose claims have failed for want of com- 
pliance with the statute in the official sale of lands. 
The unreasonable obstinacy of Gen. Barton in this 



404 EARLY HISTORY 

matter can not rob him of the admiration and 
gratitude of his countrymen for his patriotic ser- 
vice. 



^$§h 



CHAPTER XIX. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS 

OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 

AND VERMONT. 



Ira H. Allen was the second son of Maj. Ira 
Allen and was bom in Colchester about 1792, 
where he dwelt until his removal to Irasburgh in 
1814, to take charge of the lands in that town, 
all of which save the public rights then belonging 
to his mother, and constituted nearly all that was 
left of the once immense estate of Ira Allen. In 
the management of this great property Allen 
gained the confidence and good will of all con- 
cerned, and established a character that was 
honored wherever he was known. He represented 
Irasburgh in the General Assembly 11 years from 
1818 until 1823, and in 1826, 1827, 1835, 1838 
and 1840; was Clerk of Orleans County Court 17 
years, 1816 until 1824, and 1826 until 1835 ; was 
Councillor in 1828 and 1831, and a member of the 
Council of Censors in 1848. He died at Iras- 
burgh April, 1866. 

Samuel Clark represented Brattleboro in the 
Getieral Assembly in 1820, 1821, and in 1825-'26 ; 
was Councillor from 1828 until 1831 ; delegate in 

(406) 



406 EARLY HISTORY 

the Constitutional Convention of 1836, and Judge 
of Windham County Court in 1833. 

George B. Shaw was an Attorney at Danville 
in 1821. He was Register of Probate in Caledo- 
nia County in 1821-'22; Secretary oftheGovernor 
and Council in 1828 until 1831. Mr. Shaw moved 
to Burlington and practiced his profession there 
until 1854. He reported the 9th and 10th vol- 
umes of the decisions of the Supreme Court. 

Ezra Hoyt came to New Haven in an early day 
and was a useful citizen. He represented that 
town in the General Assembly in 1797-8, 1808, 
and from 1812 to 1815, 1817. 1821 and in 1824; 
was Judge of Addison County Court from 1813 
until 1818 and in 1823; Judge of Probate from 
1824 until 1829, and Councillor from 1828 until 
1831. He was a man of talents and public spirit, 
kind and urbane in his bearing. 

Myron Clark was Judge of Bennington 
County Court from 1824 until 1827; Judge of 
Probate from 1831 until 1835, and Councillor 
from 1828 until 1P31. 

Gen. Abner Forbes was born in Sutton, Mass., 
Feb. 29, 1772, and died in Windsor, Dec. 28,1828. 
In early life he was an extensive merchant and 
acquired a handsome fortune. From 1800 to 
1805 he was Colonel of Militia and from 1805 to 
1810 Brigadier-General, for six years he was a 
commissioner of the State Prison, and the first 
President of the old Windsor Bank. He served 
seven years as Judge of Windsor County Court 
and in 1823 and 1825 he was elected as Chief 
Judge of the same. In 1820 and 1827 he was 



OF VERMONT. 407 

Windsor's representative in the Vermont Legisla- 
ture and in 1828 he was a member of the Gover- 
nor's Council. 

Gen. Forbes was a student, a man of more than 
ordinary literary ability and in all his many of- 
fices, military, judicial, legislative and executive, 
served with distinction and credit. He was 
treasurer of the Vermont Bible Society, Vice- 
President of the Vermont Temperance Society, 
Vice-President of the Vermont Colonization So- 
ciety and a trustee of Middleburv College, the 
Columbian University, Washington, D. C, and 
Newton Theological Institution. For many j-ears 
he was a deacon of the Baptist Church. His 
second wife, by whom most of his children were 
born, was Sally, daughter of Hon. Alden Spooner, 
of Windsor, and granddaughter of Judge Jacob 
Burton, of Norwich, Vt. 

Frances, the wife of the late Hon. J. D. Hatch, 
of Burlington, Vt., was one of his children. 

Jedediah H. Harris was born in New Hamp- 
shire in 1784, and came to Strafford at an early 
age and commenced business as a merchant in 
which he was successful, but for the last 30 years 
of his life he gave his attention to agriculture in 
which business he was an excellent example to the 
community' in which he dwelt. He was an in- 
fluential politician and was elected to numerous 
public offices; he represented Strafford in the 
General Assembly eight years, in 1810 until 1813, 
1814, and 1818 and until 1822; he wasa delegate 
in the Constitutional Convention of 1814; As- 
sistant Judge of the County Court in 1821 and 



408 EARLY HISTORY 

'22; Member of the Council of Censors in 1827; 
Councillor in 1828 until 1831, and he headed the 
list of Presidential Electors in 1844. He died 
March 8, 1855, nearly 71 years of age. 

Israel P. Dana was the fifth son of John W. 
Dana and grandson of Gen. Israel Putnam of 
Pomfret, Conn., and born April 13, 1774, and 
settled in Danville in 1805, as inn-keeper for a few 
years and afterwards a merchant. He gained the 
confidence of the public that he retained till his 
death. He was Sheriff of Caledonia County in 
1808 and until 1813, when he was appointed 
under the United States government one of the 
Collectors of the internal taxes ; in 1814 he raised 
and commanded a company of volunteers, who 
marched to resist the invasion of Plattsburgh, 
and met at Montpelier the news of the glorious 
victory; in 1822 and until 1827, he was one of 
the Governor's Council, and soon after the organi- 
zation of the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company, was appointed its president. He held 
to the doctrine and polity of the Congregational 
Church. His granddaughter, Sophia D.Stoddard, 
was a missionary in Persia, and Allen Hazen, his 
grandson, was missionary in Bombay. He died 
June 22, 1848. 

Jaobz Proctor was born in Westford, Mass., 
April 22, 1780, and came to Proctorsville, Vt., 
with his father's family in February, 1784, — his 
father being the first settler there. During his 
minority he was employed in agriculture, mer- 
chandizing and hotel keeping, but on becoming of 
age he entered into partnership with his brother. 



OF VERMONT. 409 

He was Councillor for five years, from 1822 to 
1827; Judge of Probate for the District of Wind- 
sor four years, frojn 1830 until 1834; Presidential 
Elector in 1824, and again in 1836, and headed 
the list, and was the messenger to carry the vote 
of the State to Washington ; he was a safe Council- 
lor, careful in coming to his conclusions, and firm 
in his adherence to them. He was the father of 
United States Senator Redfield Proctor. 

Uriel C. Hatch represented Cavendish in the 
Constitutional Convention of 1814, and in the 
General Assembly 11 years, 1809 until 1819, and 
in 1821, Judge of Probate in 1821, and Councillor 
in 1822. 

Eiien W. Junn was a delegate from Middlebury 
in the Constitutional Convention of 1822, Assist- 
ant Judge of Addison County Court from 1825 to 
1829, and Councillor one term. 

Samuel H. Hollv was a native of Bristol, and 
removed therefrom to Shoreham in 1809, and 
commenced practice as an Attorney ; he was an 
early graduate of West Point Military Academy; 
served as Captain during a part of the war of 
1812-'15, but resigned and resumed practice for a 
few years at Shoreham. In 1820 he practiced at 
Bristol, and in 1821 and for some years thereafter 
at Middlebury. He served as Councillor from 
1823 until 1828; was Assistant Judge of Addison 
County Court nine yearfc from 1833 until 1842. 

John Roberts represented Whitingham in the 
General Assembly seven years from 1819 until 
1823, and in 1833-'4. He was elected to both 
houses in 1823, but served in the Assembly. He 



410 EARLY HISTORY 

served three years in the Council, in 1824 to 1826, 
and was Chief Judge of Windham County Court 
in 1820 until 1833, 13 years. # 

Daniel Kellogg, ll d., was born in Amherst, 
Mass., Feb. 13, 1791, graduated at Williams Col- 
lege in 1810, and was admitted to the bar of 
Windham County in 1812. He commenced prac- 
tice in Rockingham in 1813, and removed to 
Brattleboro in 1855, where he died May 10, 1875, 
just 100 years after the surrender of Ticonderoga 
to Gen. Ethan Allen. In 1819 and in 1820 he was 
Judge of Probate for the northern district of 
Windham County; Secretarj' of the Governor and 
Council from 1823 until 1828; State's Attorney 
for Windham County lor 1827; United States At- 
torney for the District of Vermont from 1829 
until 1841; Delegate and President of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1843; Judge of the 
Supreme Court in 1843 and 1845, and until 1851; 
and Presidential Elector in 1864. 

Robert Pierfoikt was born in Litchfield, 
Conn., May 4, 1791. His mother, Sarah Phelps, 
born in said Litchfield, Oct. 4, 1766, was sister of 
the father of the distinguished Jurist and Sen- 
ator, Samuel S. Phelps of Middlebury, Vt. At the 
age of seven Robert came to Manchester to five 
with his uncle Robert, and for nine years, with 
broken health and almost a cripple from rheuma- 
tism, he dwelt in his uncle's inn, improving his 
opportunities for studying character, attending 
the common school occasionally, and reading all 
the books he could get. At 16 he entered the law 
ofHee of Hon. Richard Skinner. In June, 1812, he 



OF VERMONT. 411 

was admitted to the bar of Bennington County, 
and in the same year removed to Rutland. He 
was soon made deputy collector of the direct tax 
occasioned by the war of 1812-*15— a difficult task, 
but faithfully and successfully performed. He 
represented Rutland in the General Assembly in 
1819, 1823, and 1857. and in the Constitutional 
Convention in 1822 and 1828; was Councillor 
in 1825 and until 1831 ; Judge of Probate in 1831; 
Clerk of the house of Representatives in 1832 and 
in 1838; County Clerk from June, 1820, until 
April, 1839; Trustee of the University of Vermont 
in 1823 to 1833; State Senator from 1836 until 
1840; Lieutenant Governor in 1848 and 1849; 
and Judge of the State Circuit Court from 1850 to 
1850. He received the honorary degree of Master 
of Arts from both Middlebury College and the 
University of Vermont. He died at Rutland Sept, 
13, 1864, aged 73 years, " without a personal 
enemy, full of years and full of honors." He united 
with the Congregational church in Rutland 
March 5, 1826. Hon. John Pierpoint of Ver- 
gennes, who for many years was Chief Justice of 
the Supreme court of Vermont, was his youngest 
brother. 

William Wilbur was born in Westmoreland, 
N. H., March 8, 1801, and removed with his 
father's family about the year 1803, to Coit's 
Gore, Franklin County, (now Waterville in the 
County of Lamoille) where he acquired a. common 
school education. He reclaimed from the wilder- 
ness a large farm and became a practical farmer. 
He represented the town of Waterville in the Gen- 



412 EARLY HISTORY 

eral Assembly in 1843 and 1844. He was post- 
master in that town 22 years and a deacon of 
the Congregational Church in Waterville for more 
than 40 years and until his death March 7, 1882. 
He married Betsey Fuller of Westmoreland, N. H., 
and had a family of 12 children, of whom the 
writer of this history is one, 

Lyman Fitch represented Thetford in the Gen- 
eral Assembly in 1811- , 12, 1820-'21, and from 
1823 until 1826, and in 1835-'6, and in the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1836, of which he was 
president; was Sheriff of Orange County in 1831- 
'32; Judge of the County Court in 1833,1835, 
and in 1837, and Councillor in 1826 and 1827. 
He was said to be a good legislator. 

Gen. John Peck was a descendant from Joseph 
Peck who came from Old Hingham, England, to 
Hingham, Mass., in 1638, and he was a descendant 
in the twentieth generation from John Peck of 
Belton, England. John Peck, the father of Gen. 
John Peck, the subject of this sketch, came to 
Montpelier from Royalton, Mass., in 1806 and 
the son settled in Waterbury not long after. Gen. 
Peck represented Waterbury in the General Assem- 
bly in 1811 and in 1818; was Sheriff of Jefferson 
and Washington County in the years of 1811, 
1812 and in 1819 until 1825; was Judge of Wash- 
ington County Court in 1818, and Councillor in 
1826. He was the father of the Hon. Lucius B. 
Peck who was a member of Congress from Ver- 
mont from 1847 to 1851, and Uqited States At- 
torney for the District of Vermont from 1853 to 
1857, and was a sound lawyer. 



OF VERMONT. 413 

Orsamus C. Merrill was born in Farmingtoii, 
Conn., June 18, 1775, and came to Bennington 
April 6, 1791, and was apprenticed to Anthony 
Haswell, the Bennington printer. After he had 
learned the trade he entered the printing business 
for himself and the first book he printed was 
Webster's spelling book. He studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1805. He entered the 
military service of the war of 1812-'14, and was 
major in the 11th U. S. Infantry March 3, 1813, 
Lieutenant-Colonel of the 26th Infantry as rifle- 
man Sept. 4, 1814, and transferred back to the 
11th Infantry as Lieutenant-Colonel Sept. 26, 
1814. He was Register of Probate in 1815 ; Clerk 
of the Courts in 1816, Member of Congress from 
1817 to 1819; Representative of Bennington in 
the Constitutional Convention and to the General 
Assembly in 1822; Judge of Probate in the years 
1822, 1841, 1842 and 1846; State's Attorney in 
1823 and 1824; Councillor in 1824 and 1826, and 
member of the first State Senate ; he was a man of 
purity and of great elevation and urbanity of 
character, and conscientious. He died April 12, 
1865, in the 98th year of his age. He was a 
brother of Hon. Timothy Merrill of Montpelier. 

Job Lyman was an Attorney at Woodstock in 
1811, and continued in practice there until 1851. 
He was Auditor of Accounts against the State 
from 1813 until 1815, and Councillor in 1829. He 
was Auditor for several years in the Treasury D e- 
part ment. 

James Davis was born at North Kingston, R. 
1., Aug. 8, 1783, graduated at Union College, N. 



414 EARLY HISTORY 

Y., in 1809, and in November, 1810, he became a 
citizen of St. Albans and was there admitted to 
the bar in 1812, and for .50 years his name ap- 
peared in the list of Attorneys in Walton's Regis- 
ter. He resided for a time at North Hero, in Pair- 
field and Swanton, but returned to St. Albans in 
1819, and there resided till his death. He was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1828; 
Councillor in 1829 and 1830; Judge of Franklin 
County Court in 1843 and 1844; Judge of Probate 
six years, 1845 till 1848, 1849, 1853 and 1855. 

Hon. Jacoii Burton, of Norwich, Vt., one of 
the State Fathers, was born in Preston, Conn., 
Sept. 14, 1715, and died in Norwich, Vt., June 12, 
1798. He settled in Norwich in 1766, and became 
a leading figure in the history of the place. At his 
home were held the early meetings of the Corpora- 
tion of Dartmouth College. He was the first 
Town Clerk of Norwich and long a Justice of the 
Peace. He was a member of the early conventions 
of the New Hampshire Grants, a member of the 
committee of five, including Gov. Chittenden, 
which drew up the Declaration of Independence of 
Vermont, a member of the convention of 1777, 
which adopted the name "Vermont" and the 
State Constitution of which he was a signer, Judge 
of the Court of Newbury shire in 1778 and a mem- 
ber of the General Assembly of 1785. Two of his 
sons became men of distinction in the young State, 
Rev. Dr. Asa Burton and Major Elisha Burton; 
one of his daughters, Sar^ih, became the wife of 
Hon. Alden Spooner, of Windsor, for 40 years edi- 
tor of the *• Vermont Journal," State Printer and 



OF VERMONT. 415 

Legislator. Among Judge Burton's descendants 
are United States Senator William P. Dillingham, 
Col. Charles Spooner Forbes of St. Albans, and 
the late Major-General William Wells of Burling- 
ton. 

John C. Thompson was an Attorney at Hart- 
land in 1819, but removed to Burlington soon 
after. He was Councillor in 1827 until 1831, and 
Judge of the Supreme Court in 1830-'31, and died 
in June, 1831. 

Georgk Worthington came from Connecticut 
to Montpelier when a young man and entered into 
the business as a hatter; married Clarissa Davis, 
the youngest daughter of Col. Jacob Davis— she 
was the first person born in Montpelier. He rep- 
resented Montpelier in the General Assembly in 
1819; was Sheriff of Washington County in 1814; 
Judge of Probate in 1840 and Councillor in 1827 
and until 1835. He was a man highly esteemed 
for his integrit3'. He removed to Irasburgh about 
1858, and died there shortly thereafter. 

Benjamin F. Dkming was Clerk of Caledonia 
County Courts from 1817 until 1833, and judge 
of* Probate from 1821 to 1833; Councillor from 
1827 until 1833, and Member of Congress in 1833 
and until his death at Saratoga Springs July ll f 
1834, aged 44 years. 

David Hopkinson, Jr., of Guildhall represented 
that town in 1829, and was Judge of the County 
Court in 1826, and in 1829; he was Councillor in 
1827 and died suddenly in November, 1837. 

Stephen Haioht was a self-made man of quick 
apprehension, and ardent in all his undertakings. 



416 EARLY HISTORY 

He represented Monkton in the General Assembly 
in 1812 until 1823, and in 1824 and in 1831, and 
and was an active and influential member ; was 
Judge of Addison County Court from 1818 until 
1822, and Sheriff of Addison County in 1827 and 
1828, He was a very ardent Federalist, and could 
not forgive John Quincy Adams for supporting a 
Republican administration in a crisis of the 
country. Mr Haight therefore joined himself to 
the friends of Gen. Jackson by whom he was made 
Sergeant-at-Arms of the United States Senate, 
which office he held until his death in Washington 
City Jan. 12, 1841, aged 58 years. 

William G. Hunter was a son of Hon. Wil- 
liam Hunter. He held no office except that of 
Councillor for 1830-'31. 

Henry P. Janes was born in Brimfield, Mass., 
in October, 1792. He removed to Vermont soon 
after becoming of age and studied law at Mont- 
pelier, and was admitted to the bar in Washing- 
ton County in 1817. In that year he set.tled in 
Waterbury and lived there till he died. He was 
postmaster of Waterbury from 1820 until 1830; 
he was a Councillor from 1830 until 1835; mem- 
ber of Congress from 1835 to 1837; State Treas- 
urer from 1838 until 1841; he was a member of 
the Council of Censors in 1848, and represented 
Waterbury in the Legislature of 1855. 

Calvin J. Keith, the first State Librarian, was 
a native of Uxbridge, Mass., but in 1825, was a 
student of law, and, for many years subsequent, 
an attorney at Montpelier, where he held his resi- 
dence until his death, although employed for sev- 



OF VERMONT. 417 

eral years in New Orleans. He was the originator 
of "Green Mount Cemetery/* at Montpelier, where 
his remains repose. 

Hon. Joseph Warner of Sudbury represented 
that town in the General Assembly for 1 4 years. 
He was Councillor for two years, and for three 
years was one of the Judges of the Rutland County 
Court. He died at Montpelier Nov. 14, 1825, 
while a Representative of Sudburj' in the House. 
The House and the Governor and Council united 
in attending his funeral. He was the father of the 
Hon. Joseph Warner of Middlebury, Vt. 

Samuel Prentiss was a descendant from an 
English family, traceable by official records as far 
back as 1318. He was sixth in direct descent from 
Capt. Thomas Prentiss, who was born in England 
about 1620, settled in Newton, Mass., in 1652, 
and was an officer of high reputation in the war 
with the Indian King, Phillip. The subject of this 
sketch was born in Stonington, Conn., March 31, 
1782, son of Dr. Samuel Prentiss, who was a 
surgeon in the Army of the Revolution. Samuel, 
the subject of this sketeh, was brought to North- 
field, Mass., and his youthful years were spent 
there, and there also he had the advantage of a 
course of classical studies under the care of the 
Rev. Samuel C. Allen. At the age of 19, Mr. Pren- 
tiss entered the office of Samuel Vose of North- 
field as a law student, and subsequently entered 
the office of John W. Blake of Brattleboro, where 
he completed his preparatory studies, and in Dec. 
1802, was admitted to the bar. In 1803 he 
settled in Montpelier, where he spent his life; he 



418 EARLY HISTORY 

early won an extensive practice at the bar; he 
was during his whole life a thorough and indus- 
trious student of the law in his office during the 
hours of the day not required for business, and of 
the best literature of the English language in the 
evening at his home; he acquired a complete 
knowledge of the law, and acquired also a clear 
and pure style in speech and composition, both of 
which made him a great lawyer, a great judge and 
an admirable advocate. In politics he was a 
Federalist, and during the most of his residence in 
Vermont he was in the minority in both his town 
and county, nevertheless his pure character and 
great abilities were fully recognized and honored. 
He represented Montpelier in the Legislature of 
1824 and 1825, and was the author of a reform 
in the judicial system of the State referred to in 
Volume III. on page 167, which has been main- 
tained to the present time. He was elected an 
Assistant Judge of the Supreme Court in 1822, but 
declined the office on account of the pressing de- 
mands of a very large family. In 1826, however, 
he consented to accept the office, and he held it 
until 1829, when he was elected Chief Justice. In 
1830 he was elected United States Senator on the 
first ballot by the Legislature which did not have 
a majority politically in accord with him. He was 
again elected in 1836, and held the office until the 
death of the venerable Elijah Paine, Judge of the 
United States Court for the District of Vermont, in 
1842, when he was appointed Judge of the United 
States Court for the District of Vermont, conse- 
quently resigned his seat in the Senate. This office 



Ol* VERMONT. 419 

he held and adorned until his death on the 15th of 
January, 1857. 

As a United States Senator, though exceedingly 
modest and never pressing himself unnecessarily 
into debate, he was the peer and associate of the 
most brilliant men in a body which for ability and 
dignity was unsurpassed by any like body in the 
world. On the bankrupt act of 1840, he went 
against every Senator but one of his party in an 
argument, which John C. Calhoun declared to be 
the clearest and the most unanswerable which he 
had heard for years. It was an argument for per- 
fect honesty and integrity between debtor and 
creditor, not only because demanded by the high- 
est legal and moral principle, but also by the 
soundest public policy. ' Mr; Prentiss had 10 sons 
and one daughter, the latter dying in infancy. All 
the sons adopted the law as a profession. 

Edward D. Barker, born in New York, was a 
graduate of Middlebury College in 1829, when he 
became editor of the An ti- Masonic Republican 
until 1832, and of the Middlebury Free Press in 
1832 until 1836. He was the Secretary of the 
Council in 1831, Representative of Middlebury in 
the General Assembly in 1832 and 1833, and 
Clerk of that body in 1834. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1834, and died Aug. 23, 1856, aged 49 
years. He was the leader of the Anti-Masonic 
party in the House in 1832, and at that session 
introduced the series of resolutions that were 
adopted by a vote of 113 to 3-7, in favor of pro- 
tection to American industries, declaring the 
United States National Bank indispensable, favor- 



420 EARLY HISTORY 

ing an equitable distribution among the several 
States for educational purposes and internal im- 
provements, and protesting against the action of 
President Jackson in his removal of the public 
monies— the United States Treasury deposits— 
from the United States Bank. 

Rev. Chester Wright was the first pastor of 
the first Congregational church in Montpelier, 
occupying that office from Aug. 16, 1809, until 
Dec. 22, 1 830. He was an able preacher and suc- 
cessful pastor, and highly respected by everybody. 
He was imbued in Anti-Masonic ideas, and 
preached on the subject so as to offend some of 
the oldest and best members and officers of his 
church, and was dismissed from his pastoral 
charge. He was pastor of the Second Congrega- 
tional church in Hard wick from June 15, 1837, un- 
til 1840, when his health tailing, he returned to 
Montpelier and died there April 16, 1840, in his 
64th year. 

Cyrus Ware was one of the remarkable men 
among the early settlers of Montpelier. He was a 
son of Jonathan Ware, born in Wrentham, Mass., 
May 8, 1769, and came to Hartford, Vt , about 
the age of 14, and served as apprentice to a black- 
smith until he was of age. He received a common 
school education and then entered the office of 
Hon. Charles Marsh as a law student, and com- 
pleted his law studies with the late Jacob Smith, 
Esq., of Royalton, and was admitted to the bar in 
1799, and settled in Montpelier. He represented 
the town in the General Assembly in 1805 until 
1810, and with the Hon. David Wing, Jr., was 



OF VERMONT. 421 

instrumental in getting the State House located 
at Montpelier. He was Chief Judge of Caledonia 
County Couitfrom 1808 until 1811, when he be- 
came ineligible by his residence in the new county 
of Jefferson, now Washington. From Dec. 1, 
1819, until his death Feb. 17, 1849, he was Justice 
of the Peace for Washington County. He never 
succeeded financially; he was adroit in his pro- 
fession, possessed an abundance of wisdom, wit 
and good humor which made him an instructive 
and genial companion. 

Allen Wardner, for a lqng time a successful 
merchant and financier of Windsor, and repre- 
sented that town in the General Assembly in 1831 
and to 1834, and again in 1841 ; was Councillor 
in 1834 and 1835: and State Treasurer in 1837 
and 1838. He was a man of integrity ,and good 
business capacity, and was often appointed to irt- 
voice of property and to investigate the accounts 
of the State Prison. A daughter of his became 
the wife of Hon. William M. Evarts, a distin- 
guished lawyer and Secretary of State of the 
United States in the administration of Presi- 
dent Rutherford B. Ha3 r es. 

Herman Ruggles Beardsley was admitted to 
the bar in 1826, and represented St. Albans in the ' 
Geneial Assembly of 1848, and was Councillor in 
1834. He was regarded as a sound lawyer. 

George Green represented Swanton in the 
General Assembly in 1832 and 1833; was Judgeof 
Franklin County Court in 1829, and in 1832 until 
1838, and Councillor in 1834-5, and State Sena- 
tor in 1851-2. 



422 EARLY HISTORY 

Royal Tyler was a wit, poet, aiid jurist ; he 
was born in Boston July 18, 1757, graduated at 
Harvard University in 1776, and died at Brattle- 
boro Aug. 16, 1826. He studied law in the office 
of John Adams, afterwards President of the United 
States, and became an aide to Gen. Benjamin 
Lincoln, in which capacity he came to Vermont 
during Shay's rebellion in 1787. He settled in 
Guilford, then the most populous town in Ver- 
mont; he became Assistant Judge of the Supreme 
Court in 1801, which position he held until 1807, 
when he was elected Chief Justice, which office he 
held until 1813. In* 1809 he published two vol- 
umes of reports of cases in the Supreme Court of 
the State. In 1786 he wrote, u The Contrast," a 
comedy, which was the first original play ever put 
upon the stage in America. He was author of 
other successful plays, and in 1799, a fictitious 
memoir entitled "The Algerine Captive." Hetook 
the minutes of the conference that Gov. Tichenor 
had with theCognawaga Indians on Oct. 25, 1798, 
at Vergennes. Tyler was an intense democrat of 
the Jeffersonian school, although he had been a 
student in the office of John Adams. Governor 
Tichenor was an intense Federalist, but politics 
aside, he and Tyler were "hail fellows well met." 

Benjamin Swift was the sixth child and third 
son of Rev. Job Swift, D. D. t and was born at 
Amenia, N. Y., April 8, 1780, studied, law in the 
law school at Litchfield, Conn., and commenced 
practice in Bennington, but in 1809, settled in St. 
Albans where he resided until his sudden death, 
Nov. 11, 1847. He represented St. Albans in the 



OF VERMONT. 423 

General Assembly in 1813, 1825, and 1826; was 
member of Congress in 1827 until 1831, and 
United States Senator from 1833 until 1839. 
Physically, mentally* and morally he was a large 
man. He was a partner of Hon/john Smith ofSt. 

Albans in business for 17 years. 

David Crawford was a son of Councillor 
Theophilus Crawford of Putney, and .first ap- 
pears in Vermont history as First Lieutenant of 
the 11th Regiment of U. S. Infantry, appointed 
June 26, 1813, and was Adjutant of that regiment 
in the battle of Lundy's Lane. He was slights- 
wounded in the sortie from Fort Erie Sept. 17, 
1814, and from that date was a Captain. He rep- 
resented Putney in the General Assembly in 1828-9 
and in 1832-33, and was a delegate in the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1843. He was Councillor 
in 1835 ; Presidential Elector in 1836, State Sena- 
tor in 1840 and in 1841, and one of the Council of 
Censors in 1848. 

Thomas Denny Harmond was the oldest son of 
Councillor Thomas Harmond, and son-in-law of 
Councillor A polios Austin, and was born in Pitts- 
ford Aug. 16, 1791, and represented Orwell in the 
General Assembly in 1828/ 1829, and in 1832 until 
1835, and was Councillor in 1835. He died March 
30, 1841. 

Harvey Bell was Councillor in 1835, and 
State Senator in 1836 and 1837. 

Martin Flint was born in Hampton, Conn., 
Jan. 12, 1782, and came to Randolph with his 
parents in 1785, and was a citizen of that town 
till his death Feb. 28, 1855. He was an energetic, 



424 EARLY HISTORY 

patriotic and an influential citizen. On. the in- 
vasion of Plattsburgh in 1814, be was active in 
raising a company of volunteers, of which he be- 
came Lieutenant, with Lieut-Gov. Egerton as 
Captain. He represented Randolph in the General 
Assembly in 1831 and until 1835, and was 
Councillor in 1835, and Judge of Orange County 
Court in .1841 and until 1844. He was also Adju- 
tant General of the State. He publicly renounced 
the Masonic institution and was a leading and 
very active man in the Anti-Masonic party from 
1827 until its dissolution in 1835. He was a 
good farmer, a good neighbor, a good husband 
and father of nine children. 

Milton Brown was born at Winchendon, 
Mass., April 1, 1798, and came with his father, 
Amasa Brown, to Montpelier in 1807. He repre- 
sented Worcester in the General Assembly in 1829 
until 1833, and in 1837 and in 1850; was Sheriff 
of Washington County in 1832, and Councillor in 
in 1835. He died in Montpelier July 3, 1852, in 
his 55th year. 

Walter Harvey, son of Alexander Harvey, the 
first representative of Barnet in 1778, and in the 
Constitutional Convention of 1791, was born in 
Barnet and represented that town also in 1824-5, 
1829, 1837 to 1839, and in 1844, and in the Con- 
stitutional Convention in 1828. He was Council- 
lor in 1835, and Judge of Caledonia County Court 
in 1849. 

Elisha H. Starkweather was an attorney in 
Derby from 1823 to 1826, and in Irasburgh in 
1827 to 1836. Represented Irasburgh in the 



OF VERMONT. 425 

General Assembly in 1828 to 1831; State's At- 
torney for Orleans County in 1828 to 1830, and 
in 1835; member of the Council of Censors in 
1834, and Councillor in 1835. 

Isaac Sherman represented Sandgate in the 
General Assembly in 1816, 1818 and 1819, and 
was Councillor in 1832, 1833 and 1834. 

Joshua Sawyer has been justly styled the 
father of Lamoille County. He was born in 
Haverhill, Mass., July 23, 1789; he was admitted 
to the bar of Chittenden Countv in 1809, and 
commenced practice at Hyde Park in 1810 and 
continued in it until his death, March 16, 1869. 
When in full vigor he had a very extensive and 
successful practice in Northern Vermont, and was 
the associate and recognized as the peer of some of 
.the ablest lawyers. In many respects he resembled 
strongly the late Gov. John Mattock— in his wit 
and ready resources and peculiar style of speech— 
and like him he was popular at the bar and in the 
legislature. His wit and humor was shown in his 
reply to the incident related by Judge Poland in his 
argument in the trial of a case in Lamoille County 
where Sawyer and Poland were opposing counsel, 
as found related in Volume I of this History on 
pages 347-8. 

Horatio Bucklin Sawyer, grandson of Col. 
Bphraim Sawyer, who commanded a Massachu- 
setts regiment at the battles of Bunker Hill and 
Saratoga, and son of Col. James Sawyer, who 
'was also an officer in the war of the Revolution, 
was born in Burlington Feb. 22, 1797, and was 
appointed midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1812, 



426 EARLY HISTORY 

and commenced his service on Lake Champlain. 
He was captured on the sinking of the sloop, 
Eagle, in 1813, and detained for a year at Quebec 
as a prisoner. On his release he was assigned 
to the frigate Constitution, under Commodore 
Stewart, and served with credit in the action 
which resulted in the capture of the British ship, 
Cyane and Levant. After the peace of 1815, Saw- 
yer entered a ship for India as a sailor before the 
piast, to acquaint himself practically with all the 
duties and hardships of a common sailor. On his 
return he was promoted to a Lieutenancy, and 
served on the South American coast, against 
pirates both in the waters of the West India Is- 
lands and in the Mediterranean, and for many 
years on shore service. While engaged in preserv- 
ing neutrality, at Derby Line, during the "Patriot 
Rebellion" in Canada, he was appointed Lieu- 
tenant Commandant in the Navy, and in 1854 
received a commission as Post-Captain, the high- 
est honor reached by him ; though but for deaf- 
ness incurred in the service, he would undoubtedly, 
have attained a still higher position, as he was an 
officer both of excellent qualifications and esti- 
mable character. He died in Washington, D. C, 
Feb. 14, 1860. 

Liebbus Egerton, a native of Randolph, and 
was appointed Captain, April 30, 1813, in the 
31st U. S. Regiment of Infantry for the service in 
the war of 1812-15. This position he resigned 
Jan. 11, 1814, but on Prevost's invasion in « 
September of that year he offered his services to the 
State, and was elected Captain of a company of 



OF VERMONT. 427 

Volunteers from Randolph and adjoining towns, 
and marched for Plattsburgh, reaching that place 
the next da3* after the battle. He represented 
Randolph in the General Assembly in 1825 and 
'26, and in the Constitutional Convention of 1828, 
and was Town Clerk from March, 1830, until 
March, 1833; Lieutenant Governor in 1831 until 
1835, State Senator in 1837 until 1839; and from 
Feb. 1833, until October, 1836, was Superintend- 
ent of the construction of the State House at 
Montpelier. 

Zimri Howe was born in Pqultney in 1786, 
graduated at Middlebury College in 1810, ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1813, and the same year 
settled in Castleton where he remained until his 
death in 1863. He was an active promotor of 
every good work, and served as Assistant Judge 
of Rutland County Court in 1838 until 1844; was 
Councillor in 1831 until 1835, and member of the 
State Senate in 1836 and 1837. 

Daniel Cobb was a lawyer in Strafford in 
1813. He was a good lawyer and given to the 
habit of discouraging litigation. He represented 
Strafford in the General Assembly in 1815 until 
1818, and in 1824, 1825, 1841 and 1842; he was 
Assistant Judge of Orange County Court in 1824 
until 1833, also in 1834. 1837, 1839 and 1842; 
Councillor in 1831 until lf>35, and State Senator 
in 1837 and in 1839. He died July 26, 1868, aged 
81 years. 

Jasper Robinson was one ot the prominent 
men who were early citizens of Brownington. He 
represented Brownington in the General Assembly 



428 EARLY HISTORY 

in 1825, 1827 and in 1828, and was also elected 
in 1831, but served in the Council ; was Judge of 
Orleans County Court in 1828, 1829, and in 1831 
and 1832, and Councillor in 1831 until 1835. 

Samuel C. Loveland, a clergyman of the Uni- 
versalis t denomination, represented Reading in 
the General Assembly in 1824, 1825, 1827 and in 
1828; was Assistant Judge of Windsor County 
Court in 1832 and in 1833, and Councillor in 
1831 until 1834. He prepared a Lexicon of the 
Greek Testament which was printed at Wood- 
stock in 1828. 

Joseph H. Brainerd of St. Albans was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1825, and was Clerk of 
Franklin County Courts from 1834 until 1872, 38 
years; Register of the Probate Court from 1843 
until 1846, and in 1858; and Councillor from 
1831uniil 1834. 

Richardson Graves represented Concord in 
the General Assembly in 1809, 1810, 1813 and in 
1814; was Assistant Judge of Essex County 
Court in 1821, 1823, 1824,1831 and in 1834; 
and was Councillor in 1831 until 1834. 

John Phelps, grandson of Charles Phelps and 
oldest son of Timothy— two men who were quite 
troublesome to Vermont in the controversy^ with 
New York — was born at Marlborough, Nov. 18, 
1777. He represented Guilford in the General As- 
sembly in 1814 and 1818; was Register of Pro- 
bate until 1812, and again in 1837; a member of 
the Council of Censors in 1820, and in 1834; 
Councillor in 1831 and 1832, and State' Senator 
in 1837. In 1831 he married Almira Hart, widow 



OF VERMONT. 429 

of Simeon Lincoln, and sister of Emma Hart Wil- 
lard. Both of these ladies were eminent teachers. 
He died at Patapsco Institute, Maryland, April 
14, 1849, aged 72 or 73 years. 

Nathan Leayenworth was born in New Mil- 
ford, Conn., in 1764, and came to Hinesburgh in 
1787, of which town he soon became a leading 
citizen. From 1796 to 1830, Gen. Leavenworth 
represented Hinesburgh in the General Assembly, 
21 3'ears, and was delegate in the Constitutional 
Convention of 1822. He was Presidential Elector 
in 1832, and Councillor in 1832 and in 1833. He 
died in September, 1849, aged 85 years. 

John S. Pettibone represented Manchester in 
the General Assembly in 1822, 1825, and from 
1827 until 1830, and in 1833 and 1842; was 
Judge of Probate in 1818 until 1824, and in 1835; 
and was Councillor in 1831 and in 1835. 

Samuel Sheathar Phelps was born in 
Litchfield, Conn., May 13, 1793, and graduated 
at Yale College in 1811. He spent the winter of 
1812 at said Litchfield Law School, and in the 
spring of that year came to Middlebury and en- 
tered {he law office of Hon. Horatio Seymour. 
On the opening of the war of 1812-15, he was 
drafted and served as a private until the autumn 
of 1812, when he was appointed paymaster in the 
United States service. On his return to Middle- 
bury he resumed the study of law and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in December, 1814, and entered 
upon a successful and extensive practice. He was 
a member of the Council of Censors in 1827, and 
wrote the address of that body to the people of 



430 EARLY HISTORY 

the State ; a marked feature in which was an ar- 
gument for a Senate, possessing powers coordi- 
nate with the House of Representatives, in place 
of the Council— a proposition which then failed, 
but was adopted at the next septenary. He was 
Councillor in 1831, and was elected Judge of the 
Supreme Court, which office he held and magnified 
until 1838. He was United States Senator by two 
elections, 1839-1851 ; and again by appointment 
of the Governor in 1853-4. At this time a nomi- 
nation of a Whig Judge of the United States 
Supreme Court was pending and Phelps was then 
in Washington and it was doubtful whether a 
new appointee could get to Washington to act 
to vote on the selection of a Judge. Party consid- 
erations demand immediate action in the selection 
of the new Senator. The Vermont delegation in 
Congress urged Gov. Fairbanks to appoint fudge 
Phelps, and the appointment was made. He was 
an able lawyer, judge and senator. Judge Phelps 
died at Middlebury March 25, 1855, in the 62nd 
year of his age. 

Zadock Remington was a large proprietor and 
early settler in Castleton, coming in 1770. He 
was the first tavern keeper ot that town. His 
patriotism in the Revolutionary war was not of 
the sturdiest kind. 

Truman B. Ransom was for some tjme Presi- 
dent of Norwich University, and afterwards Major 
General of Vermont Militia, Major of the 9th U. 
S. Infantry, Feb. 16, 1847, and Colonel of the 
same regiment March 16, 1847. He was killed 
Sept. 13, 1847, at the head of his regiment, when 



OF VERMONT. 431 

storming Chap'ultepec, near the city of Mexico. 
Two of his sons were on the Union side of the war 
of the rebellion of 1861-5, and each of them won 
a General's rank. Brig. Gen. T. E. G. Ransom 
died Oct. 28, 1864, while commanding the 17th 
Corps in Sherman's "march to the sea. " Gen. 
Sherman described him as "a young, most gallant, 
and promising officer." A full-length portrait of 
Col. Truman B. Ransom was presented, about 
1880, to the State of Vermont. 

George C. Cahoon was a graduate at the 
University of Vermont in 1820, studied law at 
Montpelier, and entered upon the profession of the 
law at Danville in 1823, but removed to Lyndon 
in 1826, where he resided until his death Feb. 1, 
1879, aged 80 years. He was Register of Probate 
for the Caledonia District in 1823 and until 1826 ; 
State's Attorney for Caledonia County in 1835 
and until 1838 and also in 1847; representative 
of Lyndon in the General Assembly in 1835, and 
delegate in the Constitutional Convention of 1836 
and 1843; Councillor in 1833 and 1834, and State 
Senator in 1843 and 1844. 

Levi Willard came to Hartland [then Hert- 
ford] about 1766, when about seven years of age. 
He was in Dartmouth College with Abel Curtis, 
and at about the age of 18 he joined the British 
army and served in the commissary department. 
At the close of the Revolutionary war he was em- 
ployed by a British fur company, and for many 
years lived among the savages and trappers, but 
finally returned to Vermont and died at Sheldon 
in October 1839 in his 80th year, in humiliation 



432 EARLY HISTORY 

and obscurity. On Sept. 22, 1777, Abel Curtis 
addressd a letter to Willard soon after he joined 
the British, dated at Dartmouth College. Al- 
though the letter never reached Willard and was 
returned to Curtis in some, way, I here insert the 
main part of it as it shows the patriotic spirit and 
the unwavering loyalty of the Green Mountain 
boys of that day, and with what detestation 
traitors and Tories were held by true Vermonters. 
The superscription was as follows, viz: ''Mr. Levi 
Willard, supposed to be with the British forces at 
the Northward, unless taken. To the care of any 
Patriot." 

The letter was as follows, viz: 

'•My dear Willard, 

You can hardly guess my surprise and grief 
when first I heard the melancholy news that you 
had forsaken a father's house, friends and ac- 
quaintance, and gone; — gracious Heaven. — 
where? To join yourself with, (let me use as favor- 
able terms as possible) those savage and unnatural 
destroyers ot our Country. What frenzy possessed 
your mind ? or rather what evil genius actuated 
you, and in an unguarded hour persuaded you in 
spite of your wonted steadiness, reason, and the 
dictates of your conscience — to sacrifice your peace, 
good name and reputation to procure the favor 
and friendship of those whose footsteps spread 
horror and desolation, and whose conduct evi- 
dences that their minds are void of every tender 
feeling ot humanity. Why else do we often hear 
and many see helpless victims whom the fortune 
of war has thrown into their power, some perish- 
ing with hunger, others mangled in the most 
cruel manner, their hands, cut off, their bodies 

Eierced with bayonets? Nor does their insatiate 
iry stop with breath, but relentless and deaf to 



OF VERMONT. 433 

the voice of humanity they stab the lifeless corpse. 
Why else do they let loose a blood-thirsty savage, 
— indiscriminately to scalp and torture friends 
and foes? And why else is virgin innocence be- 
trayed to sate their brutal hellish lust ? O Britain 
how art thou fallen ! Is thy pristine glory reduced 
to this! Are thy troops, once the terror of haughty 
Kings and the restorers of peace and defenders of 
librety, now guilty of more than savage barbarity? 
And what is still more surprising, are there any 
who, not regarding the ties of consanguinty nor 
the blessings of liberty, join in with these un- 
natural enemies and barter their honor and repu- 
tation for venal servitude and passive obedience? 
who are willing to risk even life in the inglorious 
cause ? And Satan like, transform themselves into 
the appearance of savages that they may, as they 
imagine, spread the greater terror and commit the 
more mischief. I can heartily say with Mr. 
Pope- 
Curst be the man, devoid of law and right, 
Unworthv property, unworthy light; 
Whose liist is murder and whose savage joy 
To tear his country and his kind destroy. 

But the most unaccountable of all is, if we may 
credit it, that even women have lately been taken 
dressed and painted in Indian form, while they 
were attempting to ravage and plunder. These are 
incontestable facts and can not fail to entail endless 
disgrace and infamy on the British arms, and if there 
be a God in Heaven who regards the affairs of men, 
theshame and destruction of all their miscreant 
tools must unavoidably ensue. But whither am I 
transported by the warmth of passion ? I desire 
to trust in that God who sits at the helm of 
affairs to defeat the designs of the enemjr and 
bring the mischiefs they are plotting against us 
upon their own heads. Permit me to ask what 
could be the reason of your so abrupt departure? 



434 EARLY HISTORY 

Why might not a friend once have the opportuni- 
ty to advise you, or, at least bid you farewell? 
Was you convinced that the American cause is un- 
just? or did you join the enemy from a prospect of 
gain or honor? Or, (which I am ready to think 
was the case) was you seduced by the persuasion 
of other? If you think our cause unjust,— I shall 
not at present multiply words, only ask you to 
look into the natural and equal right every man 
has to freedom and then see if one may in justice 
assume power over another so as to 'bind him 
in all cases whatsoever;' if so then the notion of 
freedom is a mere chimera, a creature of the brain. 
It is this arbitrary power these States are oppos- 
ing, and indeed I am so convinced of the justice of 
our cause that should every man in the United 
States of America even to his Excellency Gen. 
Washington, willingly submit to the power of 
Britain (which I am cod fid en t is far otherwise) I 
should by no means be persuaded to think that we 
are not fighting in the cause of Heaven and man- 
kind — 

Without a sigh his sword the good man draws 
And asks no omen but his country's cause — 

If vou had honor or wealth in view, permit me 
to ask you, have you attained your end ? If you 
have not, then too late you find your disappoint- 
ment; but if you have, I ask— can it sufficiently 
compensate the resentment of an injured people, or 
make amends for that peace of mind you must un- 
avoidably lose thereby ? But if you was seduced, 
I heartily join with you in cursing the man who 
was so criminally guilty. To persuade a young 
gentleman possessed of every amiable qualifica- 
tion, in the prime of life, and capable of extensive 
usefulness— to forsake friends and relation— to in- 
cur the revenue of an affronted country— to entail 
upon himself the execrations of thousands— and 
(shocking to relate) to join himself to worse than 



OF VERMONT. 435 

savage foes, the destroyers of the rights of man- 
kind — such conduct I say is the most impious, in- 
human, and ungenerous that can be conceived or 
committed by mortal. 

Met h inks I hear you say — Had it not been 
for that Dev— h Esq". Zadock Wright it would 
not have been thus with me now. Ah Willard I 
where was your reason, your fortitude of mind to 
withstand his hellish persuasions? But I must 
not be to severe; your own reflections can not fail 
of giving you sufficient uneasiness. It becomes me 
to be thankful for that restraining grace which 
has, and I trust will keep, me from falling down 
same frightful precipice. 

That you may be thoroughly convinced of 
your error— return to your allegiance to the 
American States— be a faithful and true subject of 
the same — and experience the happy, happy effects 
of a pardon from your God and your injured 
country, is, once dear sir, the hearty desire and 
prayer of your real well wisher and my country's 
devoted servant." A. Curtiss." 

Dartmouth College,! M t- j w:n ar( j 

Sept. 22, 1777. / Mr - ^ vl W1llara - 

George B. Manser, d. d., studied law at Dan- 
ville, and in 1829 commenced its practice at Willis- 
ton where he remained a few years. He was Regis- 
ter of Probate for the District of Chittenden in 1830, 
1831, and in 1835; Secretary of the Governor and 
Council in 1832 until 1836, and Secretary of Civil 
and Military Affairs in 1836 until 1841. During 
this period he removed to Montpelier, was Regis- 
ter of Probate in 1840, engaged in his profession, 
and also for a time in editing a temperance news- 
paper. He was an active member of the Congre- 
gational church and a successful Superintendent of 
the Sabbath School connected therewith, but in 



436 EARLY HISTORY 

1842 gathered Christ Church, the first Episcopal 
Church in Montpelier, of which he was the first 
rector, and this office he held until February, 1850, 
when he became rector of St. Peter's Church in 
Bennington, and so remained until his death Nov. 
17, 1862, aged 59 years and three months. 

William Czar Bradley, LL. D., was born in 
Westminster March 23, 1782, and was a son of 
Stephen R. Bradley, graduated at Yale College in 
1817, and admitted to the bar in 1802. He repre- 
sented Weathersfield in the General Assembly in 
1806, 1807, 1819, and 1852, was State't Attor- 
ney in 1804 until 1812; Councillor in 1812 ; Mem- 
ber of Congress from 1813 to March, 1815, and 
from 1823 to March, 1827; and Presidential 
Elector in 1856. He was an agent of the United 
States under the treaty of Ghent. He was a man 
rich in the wisdom that comes from learning, 
reflection and intercourse with the ablest men of 
the countrv, and had a ready wit and a large fund 
of anecdotes, so that in public addresses or social 
converse he was charming. For several years he 
was the candidate of the democratic party in Ver- 
mont for Governor, but with many of his political 
associates he rebelled against the pro-slavery pol- 
icy of the democratic administration in 1856, and 
voted for John C. Fremont, the republican candi- 
date for President. His last published speech was 
in 1852 on the death of Daniel Webster. 

On the selection of Members of -Congress he 
said : " A long experience has proved to me that 
when we have good agents at the seat of govern- 
ment nothing can be more pernicious than what is 



OF VERMONT. 437 

called 'the party rule' to send them for two terms 
and then supplant them just at the time when 
they have well learnt how to perform their duties 
and acquired their reasonable share of influence. 
No person would act on that principle in his pri- 
vate business. We are presumed in the first in- 
stance to select the best men, and when called upon 
shortly after to make a new selection are reduced 
to the necessity of taking the second best and so 
in succession until we get down to bran." 

He expressed himself on the "Dred Scott" case 
as follows, viz., 

"As to the wicked decision in the Dred Scott 
case : * * It was thoroughly the opinion of Mr. 
Jefferson that the greatest danger to our institu- 
tions and liberties would come from the irre- 
sponsible Supreme Court, and it proves so, for the 
power of impeachment has now become a farce 
and the only remedy is to be found in what is 
called "the reserved rights of the States," which, 
after all, are but a weak and partial protection. 
The history of that Court is a singular one. It. 
began prudently and well, but before the close of 
the last century began to be intoxicated with 
power to such a degree that I well remember that 
Judge Patterson, one of the best and mildest of 
them, used language on the bench in one of the 
political trials in Vermont under the sedition law 
which would at this day by all parties be deemed 
shameful. The trial of Judge Chase put an end to 
this, and when afterwards Judge Story, who was 
very greedy of power and jurisdiction, came on the 
bench a young man and was pressing some high 
toned doctrine without success, he remarked to 
Judge Chase at their lodgings that he was much 
disappointed in finding the latter so moderate and 
yielding. 'Judge Story, 9 said Chase, taking his 



438 EARLY HISTORY 

[ripe out of bis mouth, 'if when having lived as 
ong as I have you come to be impeached and es- 
cape by the skin of your teeth, you will be moder- 
ate enough.' At any rate the effect was quite 
visible so long as Marshall lived, bat when his 
successor came from Gen. Jackson's cabinet, 
(where, being under the control of a stronger and 
I think better man than himself, I find no fault 
with him,) he brought the political temper on the 
bench again and we see the fruits of it. M 



To the hero, when his sword 

Has won the battle (or the free, 

Death's voice sounds like a prophet's word ; 

And its hollow tones are heard 

The thanks of millions yet to be t 

Halleck. 



CHAPTER XX. 



A TABLE SHOWING THE CHANGE OF NAMES 
OF TOWNS AND GORES, AND ANNEXA- 
TIONS TO Of HER TOWNS, AND DATE 
OF GRANT OR CHARTER AND THE 
PRESENT NAMES OF SUCH 
TOWNS IN THE SEVERAL 
COUNTIES OF THE 
STATE. 



Present Name. 



Bristol 
Goshen i 
Granville 



Peru 
Stamford 



Bolton * 
Huntington' 
Richmond * 
Shelburne * 
Underbill 4 



Burke « 



Former Name* Date of Change. 

ADDISON COUNTY, 
Pocock October 21, 1789 

Kingston . Nov. 6, 1834 

BBNNIN6TON COUNTY. 
Bromley Feb. 3, 1804 

New Stamford March 6, 1753 

CHITTENDEN COUNTY. 
New Huntington Oct. 27,1795 



CALEDONIA COUNTY. 



Date of 
Original Grant 
or Charter 



June 36, 1762 
Feb. 23, 1782 
Aug. 2, 1 781 



Oct. 13, 1761 
Mar. 6, 1753 



Tune 7, 1763 

June 7, 1763 

Oct. 27, 1794 

Aug. 18, 1763 

June 8, 1763 



Feb. 26, 1782 



440 



EARLY HISTORY 



Concord 8 
Danville 7 

Dewey tburgh 7 Annexed to 
other towns 



Kirby « 
Sutton » 
Stannard • 
Walerford W 



Brighton I* 
Broom field 
Canaan W 



Bakersfield " 

Franklin I* 
Fairfield 18 

Highgate 

Sheldon 



Alburgh H 



Hopkinsville 
Billymead 
Goshen Gore, 
Littleton 



Oct. 28, 1807 
Oct. 19, 1812 

1867 
Mar. 9, 1797 



BSSBX COUNTY. 

Bandon Nov. 3. 183a 

Minehead Nov. 9, 1830 

FRANKLIN COUNTY. 

Knight's or 
Knowlton's Gore 
Huntsburg 
Smithfield 
(in part) 
Marvin's Gore 
(in part) 
Hungerford 



Oct. 25, 1792 
1817 
1792 

Oct. 23, 1806 

Nov. 8, 1792 



GRAND ISLE COUNTY. 



1 Point Algonquin 

2 Point du Detour 

3 Point Detouror 

4 Missfcco Tongue 

5 Misslsco Leg 

6 Caldwell's Upper Manor 

7 Allensburgh 
Grand Isle 17 1 South Hero 

(in part) 

2 Middle Hero Nov. 5, 1810 

Isle La Motte 17 1 Isle La Motte Nov. 1, 1802 

2 Vineyard (in part) Nov: 6, 1830 

North Hero 17 Two Heroes 1788 

(in part) 



Nov. 7, 1780 
Oct. 27, 1786 
Feb. 28, 1782 

Oct. 27, 1790 
Feb. 6, 1782 

Nov. 7, 1780 



Aug. 13, 1781 
June 29, 1762 
Feb. 26, 1782 



June 25, 1791 
Oct. 24, 1787 
Aug. 18, 1763 

Aug. 17, 1763 

Aug. 18, 1763 

Feb. 23, i78r 



1798 Oct. 27, 1779 



Oct. 27, 1787 
Oct. 27, 1779 
Oct. 27, 1779 



OF VERMONT. 



441 



South Hero 17 



Two Heroes 
(in part) 

LAMOILLE COUNTY. 



Belvidere W 
Johnson 18 
Watervillc l» 



Colt's Gore Nov. 15, 1824 

ORANGE COUNTY. 



Bradford 20 Moretown 
Chelsea Turnersburgh 

Orange 21 Kempton 

Randolph 22 Middlesex 
Vershlre Vershlre 

a Ely 
West Fairlee» Falrlee (In part) 
Washington 24 Kingland 



Albany 
Barton 
Craftsbury 
Coventry 

Charleston 

Lowell, 
Morgan M 
Newport 
Troy 25 
Westmore M 



ORLEANS 
Lutterlok 
Providence 
Minden 

1 Coventry 

2 Orleans 
Navay 
Carthage 
Rellyvale 
Caldersburgh 
Duncansboro 
Missisco 
Westford 



Oct. 23, 1788 
Oct. 13, 1788 
Aug. 1 1, 1781 

Nov. 26, 1878 
Nov. 16, 1882 

Oct. 25, 1781 

COUNTY. 
Oct. 30, 18 1 5 
Oct. 20, 1789 
Oct 27, 1790 
Nov. ,1841 

"843 
Nov. 16, 1825, 
Nov. 7, 1792 
Nov. i, 183 1 
Oct. 10, 1801 
Oct. 26, 1 78 1 
Oct. 26, 1803 



Brandon M 
Chittenden 20 
Clarendon 2T 
Hubbardton 28 
Mendon 29 

Middletown 



RUTLAND COUNTY. 
Neshobe Oct. 20, 1784 

Philadelphia in part 



1 Med way 

2 Parkerstown 



Springs 80 Middletown 



Nov. 7, 1804 
Nov. 6, 1927 

1884 



Oct. 27, 1779 



March 5, 1787 
Feb. 27, 1782 
Oct. 26* 1789 

June 7, 1763 
Aug. 4, 1781 
Nov. 6, 1780 
Nov. 2, 1780 
Nov. 7, 1780 

Feb. 25, 1797 
Nov. 6, 1780 

June 27, 1781 
Oct. 28, 1781 
Nov. 6, 1780 
Oct. 17. 1784 

Nov. 6, 1780 
Mar. 13, 1780 
Mar. 5, 1787 
Nov. 6, 1780 
Oct. 30, 18 16 
Oct. 13, 179a 
Nov. 7, 1780 

Oct. 20, 1762 
Mar. 14, 1780 
Sept. 5, 1 761 
June 15, 1764 
Feb. 23, 1 781 



1786 



442 EARLY HISTORY 

Mount Holly 81 Oct. 31, 179a 

Mount Tabor Harwick 1803 Aug. 28, 1761 

Proctor 33 Part of Rutland Nov. 18, 1886 Nov. 18, 1886 

Sherburne ** Killington Nov. 4, 1800 July 7, 1761 

West Haven ** Oct. 30, 1793 

West Rutland Part of Rutland Nov. 19, 1886 Nov. 19, 1886 

WINDHAM COUNTY. 

Brookline 68 Oct. 30, 1794 

Dummerston Furham Dec. 26, 1753 

Dover * Wardsboro in part 1810 Nov. 7, 1780 

Grafton 36 Totnlinson Oct. 31, 1791 April 6, 1754 

Londonderry 87 Kent Apr. 20, 1780 Feb. 30, 1770 

Newfane * Fane May 11, 1773 June 19, 1753 

Towns bend 88 June 20, 1753 

Vernon 40 Hinsdale Oct. 31, 1803 Sept. 5, 1753 

Wilmington 41 1 Wilmington June 17. 1763 Apr. 35, 1751 

3 Draper 

Windbam 48 Mack's Leg, &c. Oct. 33, 179s Oct. 33, 1795 

WINDSOR COUNTY. 

Baltimore 4 * Cavendisb in part Oct. 19, 1793 

Chester 44 i Flamttead Nov. 3, 1766 Feb. 32, 1754 

3 New Flam stead July 14, 1766 

Hartland Hertford June 15, 1783 July io, 1761 

Plymouth Saltash Feb. 33, 1797 July 6, 1761 

Weston 46 Benton's Gore Oct. 36, 1799 1790 

(in part) 

West Wlndsor46 1 Windsor in part 1814 July 6, 1761 

3 West Windsor 1815 

3 Windsor in part 1848 

WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

Barre 47 Wildersburgh Oct. 19, 1793 Nov. 6, 1780 

Montpelier 48 Oct. 21, 1780 

Plainfield 48 St. Andrew's Gore Nov. 6, 1797 Oct. 37, 1788 

Woodbury 1 Woodbury Nov. 5, 1838 Nov. 6, 1780 
3 Monroe * 1843 



• The Charter of towns was not given, usually at the time of grant. 
I The northern half of Philadelphia was annexed to Goshen Nov. 9, 



OF VERMONT. 443 



1814, and the remainder annexed to Chittenden Nov. 2, 1818. It was 
originally granted March 14, 1781. Goshen had two charters; the first one 
given Feb. 2, 1792, and the new one Nov. I, 1798. 

2 The north-east part of Huntington was annexed to it Oot 27, 1794* 
and the western part of the town was taken, with parts of Jericho, Hunt- 
ington and Wllliston to form the town of Richmond by act of the Legis- 
lature. A part of Bolton was annexed to Richmond Oot 25, 1804. 

8 On Oot. 27, 1794, the north-westerly part of New Huntington was 
taken to form a part of Richmond and the north easterly part was annexed 
to Bolton, and at the same time the north part of Avery's and Bad's Gores 
were annexed to New Huntington. 

4 On Nov. 15, 1839, the western part of Mansfield was annexed to Un- 
derbill and the eastern part to 8towe in 1848. 

6 8heiburne embraced in its charter two points of land extending into 
Lake Champlaln ; in an early day they were known as Logan and Pouter's 
Points, and were named after two early German settlers who. tradition 
says, were murdered for their money at the northern end of the lake. 
Those lands now are known as Shelburne Point. 

8. The southeast part of Burke bore the name of Burke's Tongue, but 
on October 28, 18U7, the Tongue was annexed to HopkinsTille and the two 
incorporated into the township of Ktrby. 

7. October 29, 1792, Waiden Gore was annexed to Danville, and in No- 
vember, 1810. the town of Deweysburgh was divided by act of Legislature 
and one-half of it was annexed to Danville and the other half to Peaoham. 
Deweysburgh was granted Feb. 28, 1782. Danville received a new grant on 
Nov. 12, 17& 

8. Bradleyvale was granted Jan 27, 1798, and Incorporated with all 
the rights and privilege* or a town, excepting that of representation. Octo- 
ber 29, 1808, and later annexed to the towns of Conoord and Victory in 1858. 

9. Stannard was formerly one of the Goshen Gores in Caledonia Coun- 
ty. And the other Gore annex* d to Plaintleld in 1874. 

10. This town was chartered Not. 8. 1780. 

11. Baker-ifleld was originally ohartered *to Luke Knowlton June 25* 
1791. 

12. Franklin was gi anted October 21, 1787, to Jonathan Hjnnt and his 
associates, but not chartered until Maroh 19, 1789, and was organized <n 
1798 

18. That part of Fairfield that was not made by the annexation of 
Smtthfleld was originally chartered to Samuel Hungerfora and others. 
SmlthHold wan annexed to Falrrteid October 25, 1792. 

14 The Alburgh township has borne more names than any other 
town In the State. The name of Point D$touror In English means tvrn 
about; tradition has It that a traveller who reached the southern point 
was oompeiled to turn about. The name of Caldwell's was given to it 
from the faot that Henry Caldwell of Belmont. Canada, claimed all or a 
large part of the town. Caldwell sold out his claim to Heman and Ira Al- 
len, and hence it took the name of Allensburgh. The Frenoh made a small 
settlement and 'erected a stone wlna mill upon a point in this territory, 
early in the eighteenth century, and that part of the territory received the 
name of Wind Mill Point The settlement in this townthlp was com- 
menced by the English in 1782, and the town was organised in 1792. 

15 E. P Walton states in she second Vol. of the Governor and Counct 1 
that thU township was originally granted to Ellhu Marvin and oompany 
by the name of Gtlead; a part of Wneeloek. was annexed to it In 1858. 

18. Norfolk was ohartered Feb. 28, 1782, and annexed to Canaan Octo- 
ber 28 1801, and the latter received a new oharter February 28, 17P2. A 
part of* Canaan wa« annexed to Lemlogton in 1887, and a part of Lemlng- 
ton to Canaan In 1870. 

17. At first Grand Isle was grantei in connection with whit is now 
South Hero. North Hero, and Isle La rto.te October 27, 1779 to Ethan Al- 
len, Samuel Herrlok, and others. North Hero and Isle LaMotte were 



444 EARLY HISTORY 

called North Hera and Bomb Hero and Grand Iale were called Sooth He- 
ro, and both together were chartered an the 'Two Heros.** North and 
Sooth Hero were •operated into two townships In 1788. Sooth Hero in 1798 
was dlYlded into two townships by the names of South Hero and Middle 
Hero. isle La Motte was chartered as Isle LaMotte in October 27, 17*. to 
Benjamin Walt and others, 

18. There was a strong opposition in the Legislature to granting John- 
son a charter. The opposition came from the Browns who were the grant- 
ees of Brownington and woo claimed rights in Johnson. On the *4th of Oc- 
tober 1787, a petition was presented to the Assembly by the proprietors of 
Johnson against the proprietors of Brownlngion, and the Assembly adopt- 
ed a resolution requesting the Governor and Council to issue a .charter of 
incorporation of the township of Johnson to lief. Dr. Jonathan Edwards 
and wm Samuel Johnson of Connecticut. Tue Assembly and the Council 
disagreed. Tne assembly claimed the exclusive right to grant lands, and 
the Governor and Council denied that claim. The claims of the Browns 
were Anally settled by a charter of Brownington October and, 179j; John- 
son was chartered January tad, 1791 to said Bawards and Johnson. 
The town of Sterling that was chartered Feb 26. 1782, was divided by 
an act of the Legislature approved Nov. 14, itto, and annexed, a part to 
Johnson, a part to Morrlstown and a part to Stowe; a part of Sterling had 
been annexed to Cambridge in 18*8. 

19. Some portion of adjoining towns, and notably a point of land be- 
longing to Befvldere, then known as "Belvldere Leg,** were taken in to 
form a part of WatervUla A part of Colt's Gore hau been annexed to 
Bakeradeld October 20, 1799, and a part of Bakerstteld annexed to Water- 
vilie Nov. la, 18*4. 

29. The lands on and near Connecticut River in an early day (then In 
Gloucester but now Orange County), were granted both by New Hamp- 
shire and New York making conflicting claims and causing much vexa- 
tious litigation and trouble. Throe thousand acres of this town along the 
river were grunted oy New York to Sir Henry Moore and byhim conveyed 
to do settlers, una the rest of the Und was taken up by pitches. This town 
not having been regularly chartered, the Legislature January 22nd, 1791, 
up pointed Israel Smitu, Alexander Harvey una James Wbiteiaw a com- 
mittee to deea the luna to the settlers. 

XI. This was a New York grant by the name of Kempton, but Ver- 
mont seems to nave disregarded the New York proceedings. 

22. There was a oompany of 20 persons formed In Hay, 1778, at Dres- 
den, N. H., now Hanover, lor the purpose of purchasing this township, 
known to tnem as Middlesex The town was chartered June 29, 1781, by 
the name of Randolph 

28. This town was set off from FairleeFei. 26th, 1797. 

24. This town was originally granted by New York and was the 
Shire town of Gloucester Couaty. 

26 This township was granted In two separate Gores. The south part 
was chartered to John Kelley October 18, 1792. and the north half to aamoel 
Avery. 

28 The southern part of the township of Philadelphia was annexed to 
Chittenden November 2, 181& 

27 This township was granted both by New Hampshire and New 
York and InoluJes a part of two grants, Sooutlborough and Durham. Ma- 
ny of the early settlers purchased their land of Col. Lldeus. who claimed 
them under a title derived from (be Indians. This title never was con- 
firmed by either of the oolonlal governments, and the diversity of claim- 
ants occasioned much litigation, but in 1786, the Legislature passed a qui- 
eting act which put the settlers in peaceable possession of their lands, and 
the New Hampshire title to the lands not settled was confirmed; and there 
are no public rights In the town. A part of the town was annexed to Ira 
in 1864. 

28 A gore on the east was taken by Ptttaford and the north part of 
Hubbardton as originally granted was held by Sudbury In consequeuoe of 
the prior charters and surveys of those towns. 



OF VERMONT. 445 

29 Parker's Qore wms annexed to thin township at the time the name 
was changed from Midway to Parkerstown. The town was organised Mar. 
11,180*. 

80 Middle town was made up from parts of Tinmouth, Wells, Poult- 
ney and Ira. and was named Middletown ftom the fact that it was in the 
midst of the four towns from which it was taken. 

81 This town was made up of Jackson's Gore, the east side of Wall- 
ingford. the west side of Ludlow, and from Weston. 

8*3 The town of Rutland was dlTlded and Proctor and Wert Rutland 
were carved out of its tertltory, and the remaining part of the town re- 
tained the name of Rutland, a part of which was incorporated as the City 
of Kutland by an Act approved Nov 10. 1802. and subsequently a part of the 
city was annexed to the town of Rutland under the Act of Nov. *7, 1894. 
This divides the original town Into four separata municipalities. 

88 A tract of land called Parker's Gore was annexed to 8herburne 
Nov. 4. 1822. 

84 It was set off trom Faf rhaven October 1792. 

85 After Wardsboro was granted it was divided into two districts, 
North and South Districts, October 18, 1748, and the South District was. In- 
corporated as a separate town by the name or Dover in 1810, and the North 
District at the same time incorporated as Wardsborough. 

88 This township was re- chartered Sept 1, 1788. 

87 The lands of this township were confiscated on account of the prin- 
cipal proprietor, James Rogers, becoming a Tory and leaving the Country, 
and it was regranted by the government of Vermont March 16. 1740, and 
chartered to Edward Aikins April do, 1780. 

88 In 1701 the first charter of Fane was returned to Governor Went, 
worth and a new one granted. On May 11. 1772, the Governor of New York 
made a grant of the towhbhip by the name of Newfane to Walter Franklin 
and others and they conveyed their right to the township, to Lake Knowl- 
ton and John Taylor. The title of all the lands of the township are derived 
from the New York Charter. 

89 The town of Acton was annexed to Townshend October, 184o; Acton 
was granted Feb £8, 1781, and was originally called Johnsou's Gore and 
afterwards constituted a township by the name of Acton Nov. 0, 1800. 

40 This township constituted a part of Hinsdale, N. H.. which was 
chartered Sepk B, 1788. When Vermont became a separate State it be- 
came the township of Hinsdale In Vermont. 

41 This township was twice onartered by New Hampshire. 

42 This township was made up of a gore of land called "Mack's Leg" 
and a part of Londonderry. 

48 Thin township was set off from Cavendish Ootober 19, 1798 and or- 
ganized March 12, 1794. 

44 Flamstead was reohartared by the name of New Flamstead No- 
vember 8, 1708, but previously, on July 14, 1700, Thomas Chandler obtained 
a charter from New York of this township for himself and 80 others in 
which It took the name of Chester. It had once before been granted by 
New York by the name of Gageborough. 

45 This Township was set off from Andover In 1790 and organized 
March 8, 1800. Benton's Gore that lay west of Weston was annexed to 
It Ootober 80. 1799. 

40 At an early day Windsor was divided Into an oast and west par- 
ish, October 17. 1788; and In 1798. the town was divided into trvo dis- 
tinct parishes by an act of the Legislature. In 1814, they were erected 
Into two distinct towns by the names of Windsor and West Windsor, but 
the next year they were reunited under .he name of Windsor. Subse- 
quently, In 1848, they were Incorporated into separate towns, the West- 
ern part taking the name of West Windsor. 

47 Barre was abolished and a part of it was incorporated as a city 
and the remainder as the town of Barre, by Act of Nov. 28, 1894. 



446 BARLY HISTORY 

48 Em( Montpelter wm taken from this town In 1848. 
48 This town wm organised under the name of St. Andrew's Gore 
April 4, 1796. 

60 A part of AYery's Gore was annexed to Belvldere by Act of Not. 
84, 1888, and a part of Belridere was annexed to Eden in 1888. 

61 A part of Brandon was annexed to Philadelphia in 1812 and Clem- 
ens lands annexed to Goshen in 1864. 

61 It was set off from Putney and Athens Ootober 30, 17M, and a part 
of Putney was annexed to Brookllne Ootober 86, 1804, and a part of 
Newfane annexed to it in 18*0, and a part of Brookllne annexed to Athens 
in 1818. 

68 Brownlngton's and Whltelaw*s Qores were annexed to Oaldersburg 
in 1801, and a part of Oaldersburg was annexed to Wenlook the same year; 
and in 18 8 Wenlook was dlrided, one part annexed to Brighton and the other 
part to Ferdinand. 

64 This township was ohartered by the name of Westford August 17* 
178L 

66 This town was included in a New York Grant in an early day, un- 
der the name of Bamf. 



I Ml 





It was stated in Vol. 1. on page 244 that Ethan 
Allen with 230 Green Mountain Boys were in the 
expedition that surprised and captured Fort Ti- 
conderoga under the lead of Ethan Allen. On the 
morning of the 10th of May, 1775, eighty-three of 
the men had succeeded in crossing the lake and 
taken position near the Fort ready to make the 
attack at daylight. They all entered the Fort. 
The names of those who actually entered the Fort, 
so far as the writer has been able to ascertain, are 
as follows, viz.:— 



Col. Ethan Allen 
Benedict Arnold 
Nathan Beeman 
Amos Callendar 
Maj. Noah Callendar 
Elijah Kellogg 
Thomas Rowley 
John Crigo 
Samuel Wolcott 
Samuel Wolcott, Jr. 
Stephen Smith 
Maj. Samuel Beach 
James Wilcox 
Joseph Tyler 
Thomas Ashley 



Col. Samuel H. Parsons 
Josiah Lewis 
Peleg Sunderland 
Mr. Halsey 
Mr. Bull 
Robert Cochran 
Ebenezer Allen 
Benjamin Cooley 
Ephriam Stevens 
John Deming 
Isaac Buck, Jr. 
Christopher Roberts 
John Roberts,(C's father) 

Roberts 

Roberts 



448 BARLY HISTORY 

Capt. Asa Douglass Roberts 

Capt. Edwin Mott Amariah Dana 
Rice Hopkins Rowley 

Also frve from Massachusetts: viz., Lieut. Ben- 
jamin Everest, Col. James Easton, John Brown, a 
lawyer, Capt. Israel Dickinson and Captain Samuel 
H. Parsons; the four former from Pittstield and 
the last one named from Deer field. 



NOTE. 

0^ Wendall P. Stafford, by reason of the death of Judge 

piforest H. Thompson, which took place in 1900, was 

appointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court In conse- 
quence of the death of Russell S. Taft, Chief Judge of the Su- 
preme Court, who died March 22, 1902, John Vv. Rowell was 
promoted to the Chief Judgeship and Senaca Haselton was ap- 
pointed the Sixth Assistant Judge of the Supreme Court. 

William P. Dillingham was elected United States Senator 
by the Legislature in 1900 to fill out the remainder of the term 
of Justin S. Morrill deceased, and was reelected in 1902 for the 
term of six years. 

David J. Foster was elected as a Member of Congress from 
the First District in 1900 and Kittridge Haskins from the Sec- 
ond District, and both reelected for a term of two years in 1902. 



INDEX. 





A 




Adams, John 




.78 


Adams, John Q. 




24, 27, 28 


Alabama 




26 


Allen, Heman 




28, 30, 144 


Adams, Charles Francis 




41, 182 


Allen, Ethan 




74 


Allen, Ira 




74,82 


Andrews, Gov. 




181 


Averill, Gen. 




297 


Atchinson, Blinn 




327 


Austin, Apollos 




370 


Andrus, John H. 




384 


Allen, Ira H. 




405 


Bayard 


B 


8 


Burr, Aaron 




8 


Brigham, Paul 




11,95 


Bradley, Stephen R. 




11, 105 


Bonapart 




. 15 


Bradley, William C. 


23, 30, 31, 


113, 145, 436 


Butler, Ezra 




26, 132 


Burnham, Joseph, excitement, 


29 


Barber, Edward D. 




40,419 


Baxter, Portus 




43 


Banks 




* 47, 63 


80 




(449) 



450 EARLY HISTORY 






Baxter, H. H. 




179 


Buckingham, Gov. 




181 


Butler, Gen. Benj. P. 187, 234, 235, 


238, 


242, 245 


Brady, Peter 




222 


Barney, Col. B. L. 




229, 231 


Banks, Gen. N. P. 245, 


,246, 


250, 323 


Benedict, G. G. 


192, 


259. 320 


Brooks, Maj. Gen. W. T. H. 




275 


Burnside, Gen. A. B. 




285, 286 


Blunt, Col. Asa P. 


307, 


311,312 


Botts, John M. 




312 


Bennett, Col. 




335, 336 


Berdam, Hiram 




345 


Bliss, Frederick 




368 


Buckingham, Jedediah P. 




370 


Baylies, Nicholas 




384 


Butler, James Davis 




385 


Berry, Joseph 




393 


Burchard, Austin 




396 


Barton, Gen. William 




397 


Burton, Jacob 




414 


Beardsley, Herman Ruggles 




421 


Bell, Harvey 




423 


Brown, Milton 




424 


Brainerd, Joseph H. 

C 
Chittenden, Thomas 




428 


6, 68, 83, 88 


Clark, Col. Isaac 




10 


Chittenden, Martin 


19,20,112 


Chamberlain, 




19,20 


Clark, Carpus 




20 


Chase, Dudley 


23, 25, 126 


Cahoon, William 




24, 387 



OP VERMONT. 


451 


Crafts, Samuel C. 


28, 30, 56, 136 


Collamer, Jacob 


31, 184 


Camp, David M. 


32 


Chittenden, Lucius B. 


40,179 


Coining money, 


46 


Chipman, Daniel 


57 


Chipman, Nathaniel 


74 


Carpenter, Heman 


157 


Cause of Rebellion of 1861, 


173 


Clay, Henry 


176 


Culver, E. D. 


193 


Cary, Conf d Maj. 


187 


Chandler, Col. 


263 


Cobb, Gen. Howell 


276,284 


Cummings, family 


282 


Cameron, Simon 


322 


Chase, John 


323 


Chapman, George H. 


334 


Custer, Gen. Geo. A. 301, 302, i 


303,334,336,338 


Cameron, John 


371 


Chandler, John Winthrop 


385 


Chittenden, Truman 


388 


Crawford, Theophilus 


390 


Cotton, John H. 


393 


Clark, Samuel 


405 


Clark, Myron 


406 


Crawford, David 


423 


Cobb, Daniel 


427 


Cahoon, George C. 


431 


Curtis, A. 


435 


D 




Decrees of France and England 


15, 17, 111 


Doolittle, Joel 26, 


28, 132, 133, 388 



452 EARLY HISTORY 




Dana, Charles 






53 


Dallas, A. J. 






65 


Davis, Confed., Dr. 


James B. 




320 


Dillingham, Edwin, 


Maj, 




262, 265, 300 


Davis, George B. 






264 


Davenport, Henry 






277 


Davis, Jefferson 






304 


Doubled ay, Gen. 






320 


Duncan, Geo. W. 






342 


Dana, Dea. Daniel 






372 


Davis, Thomas 






372 


Dunham Josiah 






372 


Dana, Josiah 






394 


Dana, Israel P. 






408 


Davis, James 






413 


Deming, Benj. F. 


mm 




415 


Edmunds, Geo. P. 


C 




204 


Englesby, L. B. 






213 


Election, 






258, 266, 303 


Early, Gen. Jubal 


293, 294, 296, 


298, 303, 316, 


317, 336 








Ellsworth, John 






372 


Edmund, David, 






372 


Edgerton, Liebeus 


i* 




426 


Federalists 


r 




17, 18, 19 


Free Soil Party 




27 


, 32, 36, 40. 41 


Fairbanks, Erastus 


i 36, 


42, 


179, 181, 182, 


185, 193,222,228,322 






Field, Charles K. 






40 


F asset, Juno 






47 

• 


Fay, Joseph, 






74,83 



OP VERMONT. 


453 


Fay, Jonas 


74 


Floyd, J. B. 


178 


Foster, George P. 


218, 230 


Franklin, Gen. W. B. 


284 


Farnsworth, Gen. Elon ]. 


329, 330 


Farm Machine Industry 


361 


French, Maj. Haines 


368 


Fisk, James 


373 


Fay, David 


391 


Forbes, Gen. Abner 


406 


Fitch, Lyman 


412 


Flint, Martin 


423 



Galusha, Jonas 1 1, 12, i7, 18, 23, 55, 107 

Ghent, Treaty of 21 

Greble, Lieut. 189 

Grant, Gen. U. S. 202, 258, 288, 290, 291, 293, 

298, 299, 304, 305 
Grant, Gen. L. A. 204, 224, 290, 291, 306 

Griffin, Gen. S. G. 273 

Getty, Gen. Geo. W. 294, 306 

Griswold, William 395 

Graves, Richardson 428 

Green, George 421 

H 

Hartford Convention 21 

Hale, William, Jr. 22 

Hebard, William 32 

Henry, William 32 

Harrison, William H. 35 

Hutchinson, Titus 36, 52 



454 EARLY HISTOKY 




Hoyt, Romeo H. 


43 


Hooker, William G. 


53 


Hamilton, Alexander 


65 


Holmes, Habeas Corpus Case 


154 


Hall, Hiland 


179 


Harris, B. D. 


179 


Howard, 0. 0. 


194, 196 


Hyde, B. N. 


208, 211 


Hack, Lester 6. 


226 


Holbrook, Gov. Frederick 234, 


261, 307, 344 


Holbrook, Col. W. C. 


240, 241 


Henry, Col. W. W. 


263, 264 


Hill, A. P. 


279 


Halleck, Gen. H. W. 


283, 288. 297 


Hooker, Gen. Joseph 


285. 287 


Hunter, Gen. 


293 


Hancock, Maj. Gen. W. S. 


315, 320 


Hood. Confd. Maj. Gen. 


315 


Hooker, Geo. W. 


320 


Halliday, Jonas P. 


322 


Hibbard, Salmon B. 


342 


Hart, Gilbert 


346 


Hunter, William 


370 


Hatch, Reuben 


372 


Harrington, Col. William Chase 


373 


Hyde, Capt. Jedediah 


374 


Hall, William Jr. 


385 


Hubbard, Col. Josiah 


385 


Harmon, Thomas 


390 


Hoyt, Ezra 


406 


Harris, Jedediah H. 


407 


Hatch, Uriel C. 


409 


Holly, Samuel H. 


409 



OF VERMONT. 




455 


Hopkins, David Jr. 






415 


Haight, Stephen 






415 


Hunter, William G. 






416 


Harmond, Thomas Denny 






422 


Harvey, Walter 






424 


Howe, Zimri 






427 


J 

Jefferson, Thomas 






8 


Jackson, Andrew 


% 


26, 65, 


, 125, 147 


Jen iso n, Silas H. 


31, 


33, 34, 


, 150, 153 


Johnson, Richard M. 






160 


Jackson, Stonewall 




251, 


, 252, 324 


Jewett, Col. A. B. 






263 


Johnston, Gen. Joe 






276, 279 


Judd, Eben W. 






409 


Janes, Henry F. 

K 

Kasson, Charles D. 






416 






40 


Kilpatrick, Gen.Judson 




• 


329, 330 


Kellogg, Daniel 






410 


Keith, Colvin J. 






416 


L 
Lyon, Matthew 


t 




6,7,8 


Lyon, James 






10 


Leland, Aaron 






24, 392 


Lyman, Job 






53, 418 


Luce, Elihu 






66 


Lincoln, President 184, 271 


, 276, 293, 


294, 296, 



297, 304, 307, 311 
Lee, Confed. Gen. Robert E. 200, 250, 257, 262, 
283, 284, 288, 291, 304, 313, 320 



456 BARLY HISTORY 




Lewis, John R. 


224, 225 


Lord, Nathan Jr. 


228, 229, 277 


Lonergan, Capt. John 


315,316 


Langdon, Chauncey, 


371 


Lyon, Rev. Asa 


374 


Loveland, Samuel C. 


428 


Leavenworth, Nathan, 


429 


M 

Morris, Lewis R. ' • 


8 


Madison, James 


17,65 


Meach, Ezra 


30, 144 


Mattocks, John 


31, 160 


Meigs, Elizabeth 


69 


Morrill, Justin S. 


184 


Magruder, Confed. Gen. J. B. 


189, 277 


McDowell, Gen. Irvin 


194 


McClellan, Gen. Geo. B. 197, 198, 


209, 275, 276, 


278, 279, 283, 284, 285 




Mvrick, Madison M. 


217 


Morris, Gen. 


262 


Meade, Maj. Gen. Geo. G. 


262, 313 


Merritt, Gen. 


301, 303 


Mosby, John S. 310, 


, 312, 327, 328 


Mahone, Confed. Gen. 


334 


Marble industry 


355 


Mallary, Rollin Carlos 


376 


Merrill, Orsaraus C. 


413 


Manser, George. B. 

N 

Northern line of Vermont 


435 


103 


Nichols, Col. William T. 


308 



OF VERMONT. 457 




O 




Ohio, 




26 


Olin, Henry 




394 


Orms, Jonathan 


P 


395 


Putnam, Israel 


12 


Prentiss, Samuel 




25, 417 


Political Parties in Vermont, 


28, 29, 32, 37, 38, 


39,41 






Palmer, William A. 




30, 31, 32, 143, 144 


Phelps, Samuel S. 




31 


Paine, Charles 




31, 32, 36, 156 


Patriot War 




34, 163 


Porter, T. 




47 


Peters, Dr. Samuel 




94 


Phelps, John W. 




185, 234, 235 


Pierce, Brig. Gen. E. W 




188 


Parker, Reuben M. 




189 


Peck, Theodore S. 




216 


Pope, Gen. John 




283, 284, 325, 326 


Proctor, Col. Redfield 




308 


Prentiss, Lieut. Samuel F. 


311 


Picket's Charge 




317 


Piatt, Samuel B. 




322 


Preston, Col. 




326, 334 


Painter, Gamaliel 




. 386 


Peaslee, Daniel 




390 


Phelps, Charles 




393 


Pratt, Joel 




- 395 


Proctor, Jabez 




408 


Pierpoint, Robert 




410 


Peck, Gen. John 




412 



458 EARLY HISTORY 



A IKipO, JUUU 

Pettibonc, John S. 


429 


R 

Robinson, Jonathan 


11 


Royce, Stephen 


31 


Robinson, John S. 


36 


Rowell, A. J. 


40 


Robinson, Moses 


93 


Redfield, Isaac P. 


161 


Richardson, Israel B. 


193 


Roberts, Geo. T. 


234,237 


Russell, Jack 


237 


Ripley, Gen. E. H. 


255, 256, 259 


Ricketts, Gen. J. B. 


264, 292 


Randall, Col. Francis V. 


271, 273, 308, 315 


Reynolds, Maj. 


272 


Rounds, Maj. William 


314 


Rich, Charles 


377 


Robinson, Moses, Jr. 


384 


Richards, Mark 


385 


Roberts, John 


409 


Robinson, Jasper 


427 


Remington, Zadock 


430 


Kansom, Truman B. 


430 


S 
Smith, Israel 


5, 11, 15, 105 


Seditious Article of Lyon, 


9 


Skinner, Richard 


24,61,118 


Seymour, Horatio 


24, 30, 57, 145, 369 


Society of Friends 


32 


Sabin, Alva 


32 



OP VERMONT. 




459 


Smilie, Nathan 






36 


Southern Rebellion 






42 


Smith, Worthington Ci 






45 


Schuyler, Adonijah 






53 


Shuttleworth, Rey. 






88 


Slade, William 






166 


Sm alley, David A. 






183 


Scott, Gen. W. S. 






186 


State pay for Soldiers 






190 


Scott, William 






208, 277 


Smith, Confed. Gen. E. Kirby 






195, 246 


Stannard, Geo. J. 193, 198, 250, 252 


,265,266,257 


311, 313, 314, 318 








Stone, Col. 






201 


Smith, Maj. Gen. W. F. 208, 


,210. 


275 


, 285, 291 


292 








Seaver, Col. T. 0. 






211 


Safford, Geo. B. 






214 


Stoughton, Edwin H. 






215 


Stottghton, S. H. 






117,310 


Stoughton, Chas. B. 






218 


Smalley, Henry A. 






222, 223 


Sheridan, Maj. Gen. P. H. 


240,: 


291, 


297, 298, 



299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 337 

Smith, Gov. John G. 241 

Sweeney, Charles H. 258 

Scott, Julian A. 277 

Sumner, Gen. Edwin V. 281, 283 

Sedgwick, Gen. John 287, 289 

Stanton, Sec. Edwin M. 294, 295 

Sawyer, Edward B. 326, 327 

St. Albans Raid, 340 

Sayles, L. R. 343 



460 EARLY HISTORY 




Start, Romeo H. 


344 


Stoughton, Homer R. 


346 


Scale Industry 


352, 354 


Screen Manufacturing Industry, 


362 


Shaw, Doct. Samuel, 


376 


Smith, Pliny 


378 


Strong, William 


378 


Stevens, Elias 


385 


Swift, Samuel 


387 


Stanley, Timothy 


389 


Shaw, George B. 


406 


Swift, Benj. 


422 


Starkweather, Elisha H. 


424 


Sherman, Isaac 


425 


Sawyer, Joshua 


425 


Sawyer, Horatio Bucklin, 


425 


Sheathar, Samuel 


429 



T 

Treating 4 
Tichenor, Isaac 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 47, 96, 

104, 113 

Tennessee 26 

Tyler, John 35 

Tciney, Roger B. 38. 65 

Temple, Robert 56, 391 
Thomas, Gen. Stephen 190, 242, 243, 244, 245, 

247, 248 

Tuttle, Col. 229 

Taylor, Confed.Gen. Richard 241, 244, 246, 

247, 248 

Tracy, Col. A. S. 302 

Tompkins, Chas. H. 324 



OF VERMONT. 


461 


Tarbox, James 


388 


Thompson, John C. 


415 


Tyler; Royal 


422 


Towns, change of name, etc. 


439 

• 


U 




United States Bank 


65 


Underwood, Levi 


179 


Underwood, Benj. 


186 



Van Ness, Cornelius 24, 124, 125, 126, 130 

Van Buren, Martin 31, 35, 41 

Vermont's First Regiment of Infantry 185, 187, 

188 
Vermont's 2d Regt. Camps and Battlefields 193, 

194, 196, 198, 199, 201, 202, 204 
Vermont, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th Reg't Camps 

and Battlefields 207 to 228, 233 

Vermont, 7th, 8th, and 9th Reg't Camps 

and Battlefields 234, 242, 250 

Vermont, 10th, 11th, and 17th Reg't Camps 

and Battlefields 261, 267, 270' 

Varney, Ira F. 266 

Vaughn, Gen. 293 

Veazy, Col. Wheelock G. 308, 318 

Vermont Women : 349 

Vincent, Capt. John 380 

Vermont, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th 

Regiments 307, 309 



462 BAKLY HISTORY 






W 






Went worth, Benning 




1.2 


Williams, Charles K. 




31 


Wood, Gen. John E. 




35 


Walker, Charles J. 




40 


Willard, John 




57 


Washington, George 




77 


Wehster, Daniel 




176 


Walton, E. P. 




184 


Washburn, Peter T. 185, 


,187, 


, 188, 189 


Winthrop, Maj. Theodore 




188 


Worthem, Maj. 




189 


Whitney, D. H. 




189 


Whitney, Henry 189, 196, 197, 


,199 


, 285, 287 


Wallace, Gen. Lew 




264, 294 


Wait, Oscar E. 




265 


Warner, Col. James M. 


267, 


269, 291 


Walker, Maj. Aldice P. 




269 


Wright, Gen. H. G. 290, 292, 295, 


296, 


301, 302, 


305 






Woodward, John W. 




327, 331 


Watson, A. G. 




327, 336 


Wells, Gen. W. W. 




327, 335 


Wheeler, Lieut. H. 0. 




336 


Weston, Edmund 




345 


Wright, Gen. Josiah 




379 


Willoughby, Zerah 




379 


Wetmore, Seth 




393 


Warner, Joseph 




394 


Wilbur, William 




411 


Worthington, George 




415 


Warner, Hon. Joseph 




417 



OF VERMONT. 



463 



Wright, Rev. Chester 
Ware, Cyrus 
Wardner, Allen 
Willard, Levi 



420 
420 
421 
431 



Yale, Capt. John L. 



273 




9* 



J 



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