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IB- NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08178195 1 / (y' HISTORY OF VERMONT %^4xv Ira Allen To whom Vermont owes as much as to any one man for the estab- lishment of the State and its preservation during the early years of its existence, came to the New Hampshire Grants as a surveyor. He soon became one of the most influential of the leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, took part in the Canadian campaign. He was active in the forma- tion of the new State, devised the plan for the confiscation of the estates of Tories, and was a leading spirit in assembling the forces which won the battle of Bennington. With consummate skill he deceived the British in regard to a possible alliance, thus protecting this region from invasion. He was one of the leaders who labored long to secure Vermont's admis- sion to the Union, and succeeded at last in this undertaking. Ira Allen, with the vision of a statesman, saw the possibilities of Vermont industry, agriculture and commerce, and he was one of the first manufacturers in this State. VERMONT The Green Mountain State BY Walter Hill Crockett author of Vermont — Its Resources and Opportunities History of Lake Champlain George Franklin Edmunds Volume One The Century History Company, Inc. New York 1921 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 569586A AiTOR, LENOX AND TtLDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1931 L Copyright 1921 BY The Century History Company ALL rights reserved Publication Office 8 West 47th Street, New York U. S. A. To THE Memory of George Grenvillh Benedict AND Horace Ward Bailey Who encouraged and aided the author in his study of Vermont history, these volumes are dedicated. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS The Various Geological Periods as Shown in Vermont. The Effects of Erosion. Fossils in Vermont Rocks. Changes Wrought During the Glacial Periods. The Geological History of Lake Champlain. The Formation of Granite, Marble and Slate. CHAPTER n CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY Conditions in the Year 1G09. Samuel Champlain's Explorations. He Joins a War Party of Canadian Indians on an Expedition Against the Iroquois. Discovers the Lake that Bears His Name. Battle with the Iroquois. Far-Reaching Effect of the Conflict. CHAPTER HI INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT The Algonquin and Iroquois Confederacies. The Abnakis. Vermont's Present Area Contested Ground. Mohican Massacre in Pownal. The Squakheag Tribe of the Connecticut Valley. Occupation of The Coos Region. King Philip Assembles a Conference of Indian Tribes at Vernon. Specimens of Picture Writing. Prehistoric Indians in Swanton. The Missiassik Tribe. Relics in Vermont Towns. Indian Trails. Indian Names. CHAPTER IV CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND THE INDIAN RAIDS Indian Migration from Southern New England. Importance of the Abnaki Settlement on the Missisquol. Gray Lock's Leadership. His Raids in the Connecticut Valley. X HISTORY OF VERMONT Scouting Parties Sent out Against Indians. Frencli Expeditions in tlie Champlain Valley. New York Incursions into Canada. The Burning of Deerfield. Attacks on Scouting Parties of Captains Melvin and Hobbs. Number Four Attacked. A Connecticut River Fort Burned. Robert Rogers Destroys tlie St. Fi-ancis Village. CHAPTER V THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES The Building of Fort St. Anne on Isle La Motte. Marquis de Tracy's Expedition. The Fort Abandoned. French Attempts to Plant Colonies. Grants of Land on Lake Champlain. Extent of the Seigniories. Conditions of the French Grants. Settlement at Alburg. Fort St. Frederic and Outlying Settlements. Disputes between French and English Regarding Ownership. CHAPTER VI FORT DUMMER AND THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. The Northfleld, Mass., Settlements. The Equivalent Lands. The Building of Fort Dummer. This Fortification as a Trading Post. New Boundary Line Gives Fort to New Hampshire. Contest Over Its Maintenance. The First "White Child Known to Have Been Born in Vermont. Forts Bridgman and Sartwell Built. CHAPTER VII THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS The Settlement of Number One, or Westminster. First Inhabitants of Vernon. First Clearings and Early Settlers at Putney. John Kathan, the First Settler at Dummerston. Settlements at Rockingham, Halifax and Newfane. Building of Military Road from Crown Point to Number Four. CONTENTS XI CHAPTER VIII NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS Benning Wentworth and the Bennington Grant. The Form of Charter Used. Grants Made from 1750 to 1764. Some Facts Concerning the Grantees. Grants to Residents of New York, Some of Whom Were Quakers. Official Pees and Perquisites. Grants by New York Governors. Confirmation of New Hampshire Charters. CHAPTER IX CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS Attractions Offered by the Lands of the New Hampshire Grants. Settlement of Bennington, Guilford, Halifax, Newbury, Pawlet, Pownal, Arlington, Hartford, Hartland, Marlboro, Norwich, Shaftsbury, Chester, Guildhall, Manchester, Panton, Sharon, Thetford, Windsor, Addison, Bradford, Uanby, Woodstock, Pairlee, Middlebury, Newfane, Shelburne, Shoreham, Sunder- land, Vergennes, Rupert, Castleton, Pittsford, Waltham, Andover, Bridport, Clarendon, Dorset, Grafton, Lunenburg, Strafford, Wells, Cavendish, Ferrisburg, Landgrove, New Haven, Rutland, Pomfret, Poultney, Royalton, Sandgate, Whitingham, Brandon, Colchester, Maidstone, Reading, Bur- lington, Londonderry, Peru, Wallingford, Whiting, Windham, Tinmouth, Baniard, Cornwall, Hinesburg, Jericho, Leicester, Middletown, Monkton, Salisbury, Williston, Hubbardton, ; Peacham, Richmond, Weybridge, Orwell, St. Albans, Sudbury, Barnet, Ryegate. The Scotch Settlements, In Vermont. Character of the Vermont Settlers. The Connecticut Influence. Methods and Customs of the Pioneers. CHAPTER X A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP Official Correspondence Between Governors Wentworth and Clinton. Evidence Regarding the Boundary between New York and New Hampshire. Matter of Jurisdiction Referred to the Crown. Activity of Lieutenant Governor Colden. Arguments of Provincial Authorities. Effect of the New England Spirit of Independence upon the Controversy. Order of the King in Council Establishing the Connecticut River as the Eastern Boundary of New York. Disputed Territory "Annexed" to New York. XII HISTORY OF VERMONT Lands Already Occupied Regranted. Petition to the King Presented by New Hampshire Grantees. Agents Sent to England. Death of Samuel Robinson in London. British Government Censures New York Governors. CHAPTER XI RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY New Counties Established. First Open Opposition to New York. Affair of the Breakenridge Farm. Sheriff Ten Eyck's Unsuccessful Attempt to Evict Settlers. Appearance of Ethan Allen. Trial of Ejectment Suits at Albany. Bennington People Adopt a Policy of Resistance. New York Officials and Settlers Suffer. Rewards Offered for Apprehension of Green Mountain Leaders. Capture and Rescue of Remember Baker. Plans to Attack Governor Tryon. Cause of the Settlers Presented. Meeting of Town Committees. The "Beech Seal" Applied. "Mobs" and "Rioters." Certain Leaders Declared Outlaws. Their Response. New Royal Colony Proposed. CHAPTER XII THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE Conditions Preceding the American Revolution. Conflicts with New York Provincial Officials. The Rising Spirit of Opposition to British Policies Shown in Public Meetings. County Conventions Called and Sympathy with American Resist- ance Expressed. Attempt to Prevent Holding of Court at Westminster. Armed Conflict and Bloodshed, and Two Men Mortally Wounded. A Popular Uprising Follows the Affray. Practical Ending of New York Rule in This Region. Bold Resolutions Adopted by the People of Cumberland and Gloucester Counties. Volunteers Offer Services Following Battle of Lexington. CHAPTER XIII THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA Part Taken by Residents of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys Interested. CONTENTS XIII Samuel Beach's Famous Journey Warning the Settlers to Rally for Attack. Rendezvous at Castleton. Appearance of Benedict Arnold. Expedition Assembled at Hand's Cove, in Shoreham. Story of the Capture of the Fortress. The Prizes of War. Effect of the Capture. Crown Point, Skenesborough and Fort George Taken. Expedition of Allen and Arnold to St. Johns. CHAPTER XIV THE ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY Friction Between Allen and Arnold. Correspondence with Provincial Authorities and Continental Con- gress. Massachusetts Appoints an Investigating Committee. Arnold Refuses to Recognize the Authority of Colonel Hinman, and Resigns. Many Protests Against Proposal of Congress to Abandon Ticon- deroga. Captured Cannon Transported to Boston by Colonel Knox. CHAPTER XV THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN Ethan Allen and Seth Warner visit Continental Congress and New York Legislature. Raising of Regiment of Green Mountain Boys Recommended. Warner Chosen Leader. Cumberland County Militia Organized. Ethan Allen Urges Immediate Attack Upon Canada. Conditions on Lake Champlain. Schuyler Organizes an Expedition. Remember Baker Killed. Canadian Invasion Begun. Ethan Allen Meets Canadians. Unsuccessful Attempt to Take Montreal. Allen's Capture and Imprisonment. Siege and Capture of St. Johns. Warner Repulses Carleton at Longueuil. Montreal Evacuated. Warner's Regiment Discharged. Charges Against Colonel Enos. Warner Responds to Appeal for Aid. Benjamin Franklin Visits Canada. Ira Allen Aids Montgomery. The Retreat from Canada. Illness and Death Among Troops. Inhabitants of New Hampshire Grants Petition for Protection. Washington Objects to Proposal to Abandon Crown Point. The Bayley-Hazen Road Begun. ILLUSTRATIONS Ira Allen Frontispiece Map of Taquahunga Falls Facing page 40 Isle LaMotte Scenes " " 80 Map of French Seigniories " " 120 Fort Dummer " " 140 Plan of Fort Dummer " " 160 Chorographical Map of North America " " 190 Map of French and English Grants " " 220 Governor Benning Wentworth " " 260 Bridge at Bellows Falls " " 280 Monument to Green Mountain Boys " " 300 Catamount Tavern, Bennington " " 350 Old Court House, Westminster " " 400 Glimpses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point " " 440 "Old Daye Press" " " 460 Facsimile of Ethan Allen Letter " " 480 Old Meeting House at Bennington " " 500 Old Tavern at Arlington " " 520 Lake Dunmore " " 550 PREFACE Measured in terms of square miles, or in tables of population, Vermont is a small State, containing an area of less than ten thousand square miles; but if notable deeds accomplished may be taken as a standard, then the Green Mountain Commonwealth ranks among the really great States of the American Union. The story of Vermont is a marvelous one, filled with perils and sacrifices, heroic deeds and stirring adventures. Great men laid the foundations of the State, great men have builded thereon, and their achievements have given Vermont a name that is honored wherever it is known. Because history is truth, it is often stranger than fiction, and sometimes it is more romantic. Like other mountain States, Vermont has been inhabited by a people in whose hearts a passionate love of liberty has been cherished. First among American States to forbid human slavery, Vermont always has stood for freedom under the law. Never a crown colony, never yielding allegiance to any province. State or kingdom, the little band of bold and resourceful pioneers, dwelling in the shadow of the Green Moun- tains, set up a repubHc and successfully maintained an independent government for thirteen years, until Ver- mont was admitted as the first State to be added to the Union. Certain States, like certain persons, possess an indi- viduality that dififerentiates them from the common type. Without asserting that Vermont is, or has been, peopled by a race of supermen, it is a fact that it diflfers XVI HISTORY OF VERMONT in important particulars from other States, Believing that the history of Vermont is of sufficient importance to warrant relating in greater detail than has yet been told, the author has undertaken to tell this story and to call attention to circumstances in which it differs from other Commonwealths, in the pages that follow, hoping that its narration may arouse a deeper interest in the past, present and the future of the Green Moun- tain State. He realizes the magnitude of the task he has undertaken, and feels the burden of the responsi- bility he has assumed, in attempting to tell adequately and accurately the story of Vermont. He lays no claim to infallibility, but he has sought, diligently and patiently, to consult all accessible sources of infor- mation, and to sift out of the vast amount of available material the important historical facts that deserve to be remembered. The number of historical and biographical works, documents, letters, journals, and reports consulted, has been so great that a recapitulation of the titles would be wearisome. To all who have assisted the author in the preparation of these volumes, and the number is large, he takes this occasion to render heartfelt thanks. Special acknowl- edgment is due to the courteous officials of the Vermont State and the University of Vermont Libraries, for without the help of those institutions this History could not have been written; to the Advisory Board, Hon. Mason S. Stone of Montpelier, Hon. Frank L. Fish of Vergennes, Hon. C. P. Smith of Burlington, Dr. H. C. Tinkham of Burlington, and to the Hon. Horace W. PREFACE XVII Bailey of Newbury and Hon. G. H. Prouty of Newport, whose death before the completion of the History was keenly felt by the author; also to those who have con- tributed special articles for this work, thereby adding much to its value. The kindly interest and hearty cooperation shown by Vermonters within and without the State have lightened the author's burdens and are gratefully acknowledged. Burlington, Vt., June, 1921. Chapter I THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS THE first chapter of Vermont history was written unnumbered centuries ago, in the rocks that form the foundations of the Green Mountains. ^J'he period of time that was consumed in the writing of that chapter seems so long, when we attempt to apply the measuring rod of our ordinary system of reckoning, that the human mind with difficulty comprehends it; and all the years included in the annals of mankind upon this earth, when compared with this vaster span needed for the making of the mountains, seems no more than "a watch in the night." The Green Mountain State ranks among the oldest regions within the limits of what is now known as the United States of America. While it is possible that deep down under these lofty hills there may be rocks belonging to the Archean, the very oldest geological period, none of these ancient rocks have been found, and the evidence obtained indicates that the foundations of the Green Mountains were laid during the next period, the Algonkian. No man has read more carefully this first chapter of our history than has Prof. George H. Perkins, the Ver- mont State Geologist, and in a carefully written article dealing with the geological history of the State, he has said: "It is easy for anyone at all familiar with the geological history of America to imagine something of that which must have happened during all these ages, when much the greater part of North America south of Canada line was formed. "We know that at the beginning of this long period the Adirondacks were already raised, and that not very HISTORY OF VERMONT long after the Green Mountains were in existence, and also that both these ranges were vastly greater than now. The mass was larger and the peaks higher. It is not too much to say that since these ancient mountains were uplifted finally, they have lost half, perhaps more than that, of their original bulk. Nothing is made more plain to the student of geology than the economy of Nature in using the same materials over and over again. The sandstones and conglomerates of one period are the solid strata of a preceding time. The rocks of the Green Mountains are in part, just how large a part we do not as yet know, made from materials derived from the older Adirondacks. And old as they are, the Adiron- dacks owe a part at least of the material which makes up their mass to still older rocks. The sand which was the broken debris of the Adirondack rocks, broken and transported by the waves of the ancient Cambrian seas, formed the red sand rock beds and quartzites of western Vermont, and these more or less metamorphosed by the conditions to which they were exposed, formed quartz- ites, conglomerates, schists, etc., which are now a part of the Green Mountain mass. These in turn, worn by water, disintegrated by various atmospheric agencies, were slowly through the ages reduced to sands and clays, or by glacial action at the last, broken into boul- ders, and lost more than we can estimate of what once formed part of their solid mass, and thus have supplied very largely the materials which cover the surface of the State." Following the Algonkian period came the Cambrian, during which some of the boldest headlands on the east- THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS 5 ern shore of Lake Champlain were formed. These include Mallett's Head, Rock Point and Red Rocks, in the vicinity of Burlington. Such elevations as Cobble Hill in Milton, Mutton Hill and Mount Philo in Char- lotte and most of Snake Mountain in Addison are examples of Cambrian rock. While fossils in this rock are scarce in Vermont, in some sections many trilobites have been found. These are comparatively rare fossils of a very early time. Most of the Rutland county slate deposits belong to the Cambrian period. Next above the Cambrian comes the Ordovician period, which is subdivided into Beekmantown, Chazy, Black River, Trenton and Utica. During the general Cambrian period the Northfield and some of the Rut- land county slates were deposited. The Beekmantown is seen at its best in Vermont at Fort Cassin, at the mouth of Otter Creek, where mol- lusks, especially cephalopods, are found in the rocks in great numbers. This is a famous geological region and many new fossils have been discovered here. Most of the Chazy formation is limestone, but it includes some sandstone, and it is seen to good advantage in the towns of Grand Isle and Isle La Motte. At times it reaches a thickness of nearly nine hundred feet. Some layers contain few fossils, while others are almost wholly made up of trilobites, cephalopods, brachiopods, corals, sponges, etc. These fossil sponges, as seen in polished dies of monumental stones from Isle La Motte quarries, are very beautiful. Black River limestone is not extensive in Vermont, but is found in Isle La Motte, South Hero, and at inter- HISTORY OF VERMONT vals as far south as Benson. The fine grain and jet black color of some of this stone, when polished, have brought it into use as black marble. The Utica is a soft, shaly rock, which easily wears away under erosion. There is much of it in the north- western part of the State. The whole of Alburg penin- sula, the island of North Hero, and much of Grand Isle are covered by the shales of this period, and much of the soil of these towns is formed of decomposed shale. Few fossils have been discovered in this rock. With the Utica, the formation of stratified rocks ceased almost entirely in the region now known as Vermont. At the close of the Ordovician period the shore line of Lake Champlain ran from Shelburne Point through Rock Dunder, and Juniper Island to Appletree Point, and thence to Colchester Point. All to the east of this line was dry land. During the Tertiary period there were swamps in the western part of the State in which grew trees found only in a climate warmer than that which now prevails in Vermont. It is believed that the climate then was as mild as that of the Carolinas today. The most inter- esting evidence of this mild climate is found in the lig- nite beds of Brandon. Occasionally lignite resembles coal, and it has been burned as fuel when there was a shortage of coal, but usually it has the appearance of a dark hued, decayed wood. Embedded in this lignite are found very rare specimens of fossil fruits. A collection of Australian fruits in a Harvard University Museum contains species closely resembling the Brandon fossils. While it is reasonable to suppose that animal life, and THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS 7 other forms of vegetable life existed here during this period, evidences of them have not been found. The interval between the close of the Ordovician and the opening of the Pleistocene period was of very great duration, covering, probably, millions of years. It has been called a period of quiet and gentle changes, and it was followed in the Pleistocene by a period of "great commotion and rapid transformation," to quote from Prof. G. H. Perkins, during which the character of the surface and the scenery of the State underwent a great change. The sand and gravel banks, the clay deposits and much of the rock formation of Vermont belong to this period. It was during the Pleistocene period that the prevail- ing mild climate was transformed into an Arctic tem- perature. North of the St. Lawrence River there accumulated gradually vast masses of snow, thousands of square miles in area and thousands of feet thick, greater, probably, than any such accumulation ever formed before or since that time. From this region of perpetual snows there originated three enormous glaci- ers. The first, a comparatively narrow one, called the Cordilleran, covered the Pacific coast region. The second and longest, covered much of central Canada from Hudson Bay to the Cordilleran glacier, and extended south through the Mississippi valley and into the present State of Kansas. The third glacier, and the one that properly belongs in this narration, origi- nated in northern Labrador and extended over New England and the region of the Great Lakes. Slowly this vast river of ice, probably more than a 8 HISTORY OF VERMONT mile in thickness, moved southward. Graduahy the climate grew colder, and animal and plant life was destroyed or driven southward. Relentlessly it moved forward, crushing and grinding, pulverizing some rocks to powder and polishing others smooth. The softer rocks were deposited as clays, while some of the harder rocks, when disintegrated, took the form of sand or gravel, or were worn into smooth, round cobble-stones. Large fragments of rock were broken from their native ledges, carried hundreds of miles and deposited in the form of boulders. Mountain tops and headlands were worn down and the whole face of the landscape was changed. The very highest peaks of the Green and White Mountains were covered by this Labradorian glacier. Professor Perkins, writing of this period, alludes to "the utmost desolation that must have pre- vailed," and says: 'T suppose that the present condi- tion of Greenland, covered as it is by the ice cap, repre- sents on a small scale, the conditions existing over north- ern North America during the height of the ice age." The melting of this glacier naturally created great bodies of water, cutting new channels for rivers and forming large lakes, or adding to the size of those already existing. Many a rivulet that today seems a misfit as it flows at the bottom of a deep and wide valley, follows the bed of an ancient glacial stream. Water- worn rocks, and potholes high up on the faces of clififs, show the action of ancient seas or rivers countless cen- turies ago. The sand plains along the lower reaches of such rivers as the Lamoille and the Winooski once were the THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS 9 deltas of these streams, when Lake Champlain extended inland nearly or quite to the foot of the Green Moun- tains. The channel of the Ottaquechee River was filled with the sand and debris of the ice age so that the river was compelled to find a new course, and this diversion of the stream resulted in the erosion of what is known as Quechee Gulf, from one-half to three- fourths of a mile long, three hundred feet wide and nearly two hun- dred feet deep. Prof. C. H. Richardson of Dartmouth College says that the length of time necessary for such erosion was not less than ten thousand years. Williamstown "^Gulf, Brookfield Gulf, and the depres- sion in Craf tsbury in which Elligo Pond is situated, are other evidences of the work of glacial torrents. Many of the small lakes and ponds of Vermont are of glacial origin. By the plowing and grinding of the glaciers, by the subsequent melting of the vast masses of ice, and by the decay of the unhar vested vegetation of thousands of years, a soil of unusual thickness and fertility was de- posited over the greater part of Vermont. The Champlain valley between the Adirondack and Green Mountain ranges was formed ages before the glacial epoch. It was always long and narrow, but varied in size. At times it is believed there was a con- tinuous waterway between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and New York Bay. Sometimes the waters of Lake Champlain were salt and sometimes they were fresh. At times the current flowed north, and again it flowed south. Before the *Gulf, as used in this sense, means a gulch. 10 HISTORY OF VERMONT glacial period this lake was so narrow that it resembled a river more than a lake, and the stream which drained into the Hudson valley wore the deep channel, resemb- ling a canyon in its deepest parts, that now exists near the New York shore. The Grand Isle county islands at one time probably constituted a single land body and were raised out of an ancient sea before the Green Mountains were completed, and were divided later by erosion. Probably all the bays of Lake Champlain are of glacial origin. After the great ice sheet of the glacial epoch had melted, the land was depressed and Lake Champlain became an arm of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Probably this arm of the sea did not extend south of the present location of Ticonderoga, an uprising of the land between the present sites of Whitehall and Troy having broken the connection with the Hudson River. The skeleton of a whale found near Charlotte, Vt., is a reminder of the time when Lake Champlain was connected with the Atlantic Ocean. This whale is said to have been similar to the small white whale now found in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When glacial Lake Champlain was largest, its tribu- taries flowed at a higher altitude than that which they now occupy. The Winooski River entered the lake near the present location of Richmond and in time formed a large delta. The Lamoille River created a wide delta about Milton, northern Colchester and southern Georgia, and entered the lake farther north than its present mouth. Glacial Lake Memphremagog probably exceeded by a THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS 11 considerable extent its present bounds. Doctor Hitch- cock thinks that at one time the waters of Lake Mem- phremagog were discharged through the depression in which Elligo Pond is now located, into the Lamoille River ; that the Lamoille found an outlet through Stowe Strait into the Winooski River, while the latter stream may have been discharged through Williamstown gap into the White and Connecticut Rivers. The three most important of Vermont's valuable stone products are marble, granite and slate; and the oldest of these rocks is slate, which belongs partly in the Cam- brian and partly in the Ordovician period. In quiet, deep water a fine sediment accumulated in beds of mud and clay. This hardened into shale with layers approxi- mately horizontal. As a result of change in the level of the sea bottom, and the superimposing of other material like limestone upon the slate, strong pressure was brought to bear upon it, heat and moisture being present. Thus slate was formed. There are four slate areas in Ver- mont, two of them being east and two west of the Green Mountains. Most, if not all, of the Vermont marbles — and there are at least one hundred different varieties — belong to the Ordovician period and to the subdivision called Chazy. Marble has been defined as a rock consisting mainly of crystalline particles of calcite, dolomite, or both. White calcite marble is composed almost entirely of carbonate of lime; white dolomite marble is formed almost wholly of carbonate of magnesia. True marble has been defined as metamorphosed limestone and lime- 12 HISTORY OF VERMONT stone is formed from a deposit of calcium carbonate, either as a result of the accumulation of vast numbers of marine shells or the chemical precipitation from vege- table growth. There was much submergence and eleva- tion during the laying down of the marble deposits. As a result of powerful contractions of the earth's crust, at the close of the Ordovician period the sediments be- came crystalline and were intensely folded. The calcite marbles of western Vermont are regarded as limestones of marine and mostly of organic origin, which have been metamorphosed under great pressure. Overlying the marble deposits of western Vermont is a great mass of schist, a rough, slaty rock. These schists were formed from clay deposits, brought down to the sea by rivers flowing over granitic and other rocks. When the calcareous sediments beneath were metamorphosed into marble, the overlying deposits of clay became mica schists, and the small beds of sand became quartzite. In many places, during the lapse of centuries, the schist was removed by a process of erosion. In Clarendon deposits of marble and dolomite to- gether measure 1,200 feet in thickness, and a fair average of the thickness of the marble beds is said to be 663 feet. The infinite patience of Nature, and the almost incredible length of geological periods, is well illustrated in the time necessary for the laying down of marble beds six hundred or seven hundred feet in thick- ness as a result of the accumulation of the shells of tiny marine animals. The marble area of Vermont consists chiefly of a long and comparatively narrow strip in the western portion of the State. THE MAKING OF THE MOUNTAINS 13 Most Vermont granite is a mixture of quartz, mica and feldspar. The mica usually is black and of the variety known as biotite, but the Bethel white granite contains a white mica called muscovite. Vermont granite generally contains very little iron. The difiference in the various shades of gray is chiefly due to a greater or less amount of black mica. Prof. T. N. Dale is of the opinion that most of the Vermont granites belong to the late Devonian or early Carbonif- erous periods. All of the Vermont granites are of igneous origin, being forced up from beneath as molten masses, through schists or other older rocks. Mount Ascutney shows evidences of volcanic action, there being indications of two eruptions. The first eruption gave rise to the main body of the mountain. According to Prof. C. H. Richardson *'the granite flowed out over the encircling limestone like molten lava, and calcined the lime to a distance of more than five hundred feet." Little Ascutney represents a second eruption. Barre granite is of volcanic origin. Blue Mountain, a granite deposit in Ryegate, and Orange Mountain, are modern repre- sentatives of extinct volcanoes. Apparently the mica schists and mica slates through which the granites of Barre, Bethel, Hardwick, Ryegate, Woodbury, and other localities were forced, are metamorphosed clayey and sandy sediments, and the present granite surfaces have been exposed in many instances by erosion. Granite is more widely distributed throughout Ver- mont than either marble or slate, but the deposits are confined chiefly to the eastern portion of the State. Chapter II CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY IF any European visited the region now known as Vermont during the century and more that elapsed between the discovery of America by Christopher Cokimbus in 1492, and the year 1609, no record has been left to establish that fact, and the probabilities are all against such a visit. When Jacques Cartier, one of the famous mariners of France, sailed up the St. Lawrence River, in 1535, seeking a passage to the Indies, he visited the Indian village of Hochelaga, the site of which is now occupied by the city of Montreal, and while there ascended a mountain nearby, later known as Mount Royal. From this sightly elevation Cartier beheld a great expanse of country, the unbroken forest, stretching in every direction, being gorgeous, as one may believe, on that October day with the brilliant colors of the autumn foliage; and in the far distance, to the southward, it is altogether probable that he saw some of the peaks of the Green Mountains. A period embracing almost three-quarters of a century was to elapse, however, be- fore a fellow countryman of this ''master pilot of St. Malo" was to discover the beautiful lake that was to perpetuate his name, and the verdant shores that border these pleasant waters. Although it had been nearly one hundred and seven- teen years since the first visit of Columbus to the New World, white men had hardly established a foothold on the American continent in the year 1609. Far to the southward, the Spaniards had planted the first perma- nent settlement in what is now the United States of America, at St. Augustine, in Florida; and at a still 18 HISTORY OF VERMONT greater distance to the westward the Spanish colors floated over Santa Fe, in New Mexico. The French had established two colonies, one at Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, in 1605, and another at Quebec, in 1608. The first permanent English colony had just been planted at Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1608. In all the vast region that lay between the Atlantic and the Pacific seas, in all the thousands of miles that stretched from the Arctic snows to the Gulf of Mexico, only these five little settlements were the homes of white men in 1609. All the remainder of the continent north of Mexico was the home and the hunting ground of the red men, who had occupied it for centuries so many that no historian may hope to number them. Six years earlier, in 1603, there had arrived in Canada a man, who, for more than thirty years, was to be the most notable representative of France in the New World, Samuel Champlain. Born about the year 1567 in the little seaport town of Brouage, in the ancient province of Saintonge, in western France, from a child he had loved the sea. His first voyage was to Spain, with an uncle, who held high rank in the Spanish navy. In 1599 he had been given the command of a ship bound for the West Indies and New Spain. He had spent two years or more in that region, landing at Vera Cruz, visit- ing Mexico City, stopping at Panama long enough to observe the possibilities of a ship canal connecting the two oceans, and proceeding as far as New Granada, in South America. During his first year in Canada, Champlain explored the Saguenay River, and a portion of the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence. During three CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY 19 years, beginning with 1604, he explored and charted the Atlantic coast from eastern Nova Scotia to southern Massachusetts. In July, 1608, having returned from a visit to France, Champlain laid the foundations of the city of Quebec, which he made his headquarters during the winter of unusual severity which followed. While the year 1609 may not be counted among the most notable in history, it was not lacking in events of more than ordinary importance. Pastor John Robin- son had led to Leyden the Pilgrims who had left Scrooby, England, for Holland, from which country they were to fare forth, in 1620, to establish a New Eng- land on the Massachusetts coast of America. Prince Maurice of the Netherlands, had defeated the Arch- duke of Austria; the independence of the united prov- inces of Holland was recognized; and a truce of twelve years was declared. That year, 1609, marked the final expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the construction of the telescope by Galileo, and the publication of the Douay version of the Bible. In the spring of 1609, Henry Hudson, an English navigator in the employ of the Dutch East India Com- pany, sailed from Amsterdam for America. Skirting the coast from Nova Scotia southward, he entered the Kennebec River to make repairs upon his ship at the very time that Samuel Champlain was starting on his expedi- tion into the country of the Iroquois. During the preceding year John Milton had been born and William Shakespeare had published "King Lear." Sir Walter Raleigh was a prisoner in the Tower of Lon- don. Only four years had passed since the discovery 20 HISTORY OF VERMONT of the Gunpowder Plot in England; and in the same year, 1605, Bacon published his "Advancement of Learn- ing." Queen Elizabeth had been dead only six years, and a score of years had elapsed since the defeat of the Spanish Armada. James I was the ruler of Great Britain, Henry IV, better known as Henry of Navarre, was monarch of France, and Philip III sat upon the throne of Spain. During the winter of 1608-9 Champlain had learned from the Indians of a large lake lying to the south- west, surrounded by a region of lofty mountains and beautiful valleys. Having been urged to join a war party of Hurons and Algonquins on an expedition against their ancient enemy, the Iroquois, he yielded to their solicitation in order that he might explore the country which the Indians had pictured in such an allur- ing manner. After spending nearly a week in war dances and war feasts, Champlain and his party, consisting of eleven Frenchmen and a band of Montagnais Indians, left Quebec, June 18, 1609. A little later the size of the expedition was increased by the addition of Huron and Algonquin warriors. At the mouth of the River of the Iroquois, now known as the Richelieu, two days were spent, and a disagreement having arisen over the plan of campaign, a portion of the Indians refused to accom- pany the expedition and returned to their homes. On June 28, the party started southward. Champlain and his countrymen, in a small shallop, left their allies behind, owing to the superior sailing qualities of their craft, and crossing the Basin of Chambly were surprised CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY 21 to find rapids that made navigation impossible. The Indians had promised Champlain that he would find an unobstructed course for the whole of the journey, and he says in his Journal : "It afflicted me and troubled me exceedingly to be obliged to return without having seen so great a lake, full of fair islands and bordered with the fine countries which they had described to me." Upon reflection, however, he decided to go on with two of his countrymen, who volunteered to accompany him, together with sixty Indians in twenty-four canoes. The party left the head of the Chambly Rapids on July 2, according to Champlain' s record, the arms, baggage and canoes being carried around the most dangerous part of the rapids. During the day a stop was made for a brief hunting expedition at an island covered with beautiful pines. Bourne, a translator of Champlain's Journal, believes this island to have been St. Therese. Proceeding a little farther, a camp was made for the night, the construction of which the explorer describes in detail in his personal narrative. Following his own account of the journey we read that on the next day, July 3, many pretty islands, low and covered with forests and meadows, were passed — islands upon which were found stags, fallow deer, fawns, roebucks, and other animals — and the camp for the night was made at the entrance to the lake. On July 4, a day destined to become a notable anniversary in the new country which he was exploring, Champlain entered this noble lake to which he gave his name. As he advanced southward, passing the large islands in its northern waters, a wonderful prospect opened before him on this 22 HISTORY OF VERMONT midsummer day. Seldom has an explorer been re- warded by a fairer spectacle than this expanse of water, broad enough and deep enough to float the armadas of Europe, and guarded on either hand by a wall of moun- tains. From the margin of the lake nearly to the sum- mits of the Green and Adirondack peaks, stretched the virgin forest; and at this season the songs of birds must have greeted the ear, and the flowers at the margin of the woodland must have delighted the gaze of the traveller. The Indian guides told Champlain many things — That the larger islands of the lake "formerly had been inhabited by savages, like the River of the Iroquois, but they had been abandoned since they had been at war with one another" ; that to the eastward was a region in- habited by the Iroquois, consisting of "beautiful valleys and open stretches fertile in grain * * * with a great many other fruits." One difficult passage in the explorer's description of the country is his allusion to snow covered mountains to the eastward, meaning the Green Mountains. One can hardly imagine the summits of Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump white with snow in the month of July, and if the season had been unusually cold an intelligent observer like Champlain probably would have recorded the fact. Whether he saw some peculiar cloud forma- tion, or the whitened surface of a landslide may not easily be determined. Possibly exaggeration was not wholly absent from the narrative. It is interesting to compare Champlain's description of the Green Mountains with that of a party from CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY 23 Piscataqua which visited the White Mountain region in 1642, and told of summits above the clouds, covered with snow throughout the year. Another comparison may be made with a "Chorographical map" published about 1779. on which appears a brief description of the Adiron- dack Mountain region, including a statement that "through this tract of land runs a chain of mountains which from Lake Champlain on one side and the River St. Lawrence on the other side, show their tops always white with snow." It is not impossible that these travellers of an earlier day than ours perceived some features of the landscape with the eye of imagination. As Champlain and his party drew near to the region where their enemies, the Iroquois, might be found, greater precautions were taken to avoid discovery. Travelling was done by night and during the day the warriors withdrew to the seclusion of the forests for rest and safety. If the explorer's dates are not con- fused, he spent a good deal more time after entering the lake, and before encountering the enemy on July 30, than was necessary to traverse the distance between the pres- ent sites of Rouses Point and Ticonderoga. No record is left to account for nearly the whole month of July. It is hardly to be supposed that this party on an aggressive and warlike errand in a hostile country, where the enemy might be encountered at any hour, would pause for two or three weeks of hunting, or to permit the French leader to explore the newly discovered country. And if Champlain had interrupted this mili- tary campaign to penetrate the surrounding region, it is entirely reasonable to suppose that this careful narrator 24 HISTORY OF VERMONT of events would have mentioned the fact in his Journals. It is not easy to devise a satisfactory explanation for this unaccounted period, nor is it safe, without further evidence, to discredit Champlain's dates. As the party was proceeding southward, about ten o'clock on the evening of July 29, an Iroquois expedition was encountered going northward, "at the end of a cape that projects into the lake on the west side." With loud outcries the opposing forces began to pre- pare their arms for battle, but neither the hour nor the place was favorable to the methods of warfare employed by the American Indians. The Iroquois, therefore, withdrew to land and constructed a barricade, while the invaders drew their canoes together and fastened them to poles in order that their forces might not be scattered. When the Iroquois had put their forces into battle array, they dispatched two canoes to the Algonquins to learn if the latter wanted to fight. Being assured that nothing else was desired they withdrew and waited for the morn- ing, the remainder of the night being devoted to the singing of war songs, to war dances, and to an exchange of taunts and insults. During all this time Champlain and his two countrymen remained concealed in the canoes of the Algonquins. At daybreak the attacking party went ashore, the three Frenchmen wearing light armor, and each being armed with an arquebus. The Iroquois advanced from their barricade, with nearly two hundred warriors, ready for battle, while the attacking party consisted, as previously stated, of only sixty Indians and three Euro- peans. Champlain says of the Iroquois that they "were CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY 25 strong and robust to look at, coming slowly toward us wath a dignity and assurance that pleased me very much." At their head were three chiefs, each being distinguished by wearing three large plumes. As the Algonquins advanced toward the enemy they opened their ranks to enable Champlain to take the lead. When he came within thirty paces of the Iroquois he halted, aimed at one of the three chiefs, and brought two to the ground, wounding also one of their companions so that he died later. The arrows then began to fly from both sides, Champlain's Indian allies shouting loudly in exultation over the success of their leader. As Cham- plain was loading his weapon again one of his country- men fired a shot from the nearby forest. Unaccustomed to these strange and deadly weapons, the Iroquois fled into the depths of the woods with their wounded. Pur- suing them, Champlain and his allies killed several more of the enemy and captured ten or twelve prisoners. Fifteen or sixteen of the Algonquins were slightly wounded by arrow shots. A considerable quantity of Indian corn and meal was captured, in addition to such weapons as had been abandoned by the fleeing Iroquois. After celebrating the victory for three hours, the triumphant warriors started on their return trip northward. In his narrative of the battle Champlain says the Iroquois were much astonished that their chieftains had been so quickly killed, "although they were provided with armor woven from cotton thread and from wood, proof against arrows." This is said to be the first refer- ence in American history to the use of cotton. 26 HISTORY OF VERMONT There is a difference of opinion as to the scene of this battle, but the best evidence available seems to indicate what the majority of historians believe, that the conflict took place not far from the point where nearly a century and a half later, the fortress of Ticonderoga was built. This brief conflict in the heart of the wilderness, on the shores of a newly discovered lake, meant more than a battle in which less than three hundred Indians and three white men were engaged. It was the meeting of a system of warfare which had prevailed on the Ameri- can continent probably for thousands of years, with the European system, and it was almost inevitable that fire- arms should win over primitive bows and arrows, not only on Lake Champlain, but throughout the Americas. The Iroquois learned their lesson well, and not very long thereafter they found a way to secure more modern weapons and to learn how to use them. If news of the battle had reached the courts of England and France as speedily as reports of later battles in that same region, it would have been considered only an insignificant skirmish; and yet it exerted a powerful influence upon the destiny of America, for it made the Iroquois, the most powerful of Indian confederations, the foes of France and the friends of England, and helped to make this a country of English ideas and English speech. All this was made possible to no inconsiderable degree by the alliance which the great French pioneer made with the enemies of the Iroquois. After travelling eight leagues to the northward on the day of the battle, the victors made their camp at the close of the day, and here one of the prisoners was tor- CHAMPLAIN'S DISCOVERY 27 tured and slain, greatly to the distress of Champlain. The party proceeded directly to Canada, and there is no record that Champlain again saw the beautiful lake which was to be his noblest monument, or the region now called Vermont, which he discovered, although there is no direct proof that he set foot upon its soil. The Indian warriors went their several ways, and Champlain soon embarked for his native France, where he visited the King at Fontainbleau, and told him of his adventures in the wilderness. At the time of his discovery of Vermont, Champlain was about forty-two years old. The remainder of his life, covering a period of twenty-six years, was devoted to New France. He continued his explorations to the westward, along the line of the Great Lakes, and served his God and his King with unflagging zeal. Champlain was, indeed, a knightly character, the finest figure, all things considered, of all the men who followed the fleur de lis of France into this Western world. An indefatigable explorer, a brave soldier, a wise administrator, a Christian gentleman, if Vermont could have chosen her own discoverer, no finer type of man than Samuel Champlain could have been selected from all the captains of that age who sailed the Seven Seas. Chapter III INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT THE earliest authentic information concerning Indian affairs in eastern America indicates the presence of two great native confederacies, the Algonquin and the Iroquois, which were arrayed in hos- tile camps. The former confederacy was the more numerous, and controlled a greater area than the latter, but the Iroquois represented a higher type of civilization, were better organized, and were fiercer warriors than their rivals. The Algonquin confederacy stretched from New- foundland to the Rocky Mountains, and from Churchill River to Pamlico Sound. The northern division in- cluded tribes occupying the territory north of the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. The north- eastern division embraced the tribes inhabiting eastern Quebec, the maritime provinces and eastern Maine. The eastern division was made up of tribes dwelling along the Atlantic coast as far south as North Carolina. The central division included tribes residing in Wiscon- sin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, while the west- ern division comprised three groups along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. An important subdivision of the Algonquin nation was known as the Abnakis, and with this group the Indian history of Vermont is chiefly concerned. Strictly speak- ing, the Abnakis were confined to a small territory in Maine between the Saco and St. John Rivers. The term, however, was applied loosely and often included a considerable portion of the Eastern Indians. The name is said to mean Eastlander, or people of the East. The Abnakis were called Tarrateens by the early Eng- 32 HISTORY OF VERMONT lish inhabitants. According to Professor Vetromile, the Abnakis occupied the land from the shores of the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean and from the mouth of the Kennebec River to the eastern part of New Hamp- shire. A map published in 1660 in "The History of Canada," written by Reverend Father Ducreux, shows the Abnakis occupying the region between the Kennebec River and Lake Champlain. At an early period the Abnakis became firm friends of the French, who had sent missionaries among them, and they were allies of that nation as long as France con- trolled Canada. As the white population of New Eng- land increased, the Abnakis gradually withdrew to Canada, their principal settlements being at Becaucour and Sillery, the latter places being abandoned later for St. Francis, near Pierreville, Quebec. Doctor Trumbull has estimated that at one time there were 123,000 Indians in New England, but in the winter of 1616-17, a virulent disease, thought by some to have been yellow fever, because the victims turned yellow, swept away, probably, more than half the total num- ber. Whole tribes were either annihilated or reduced to a mere handful. It is believed that soon after the land- ing of the Pilgrims not more than twelve thousand Indian warriors could have been assembled in all New England, which would indicate a population approxi- mately of fifty thousand. The powerful Iroquois confederation and its allies occupied a considerable portion of the valley of the St. Lawrence, the basin of Lakes Ontario and Erie, the southeastern shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 33 all of the present State of New York except the lower Hudson valley, all of central Pennsylvania, a portion of the shores of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, the valleys of the Tennessee and upper Savannah Rivers, the moun- tainous parts of Virginia, the Carolinas and Alabama, and a portion of eastern North Carolina and southeast- ern Virginia. The Iroquois confederacy included the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Seneca tribes, and was often called the Five Nations. After the admission of the Tuscarora tribe, in 1722, the confederacy was known as the Six Nations. According to the "Handbook of American Indians," published by the United States Bureau of Ethnology, "the date of the formation of this confederation (probably not the first, but the last of a series of attempts to unite the several tribes in a federal union) was not earlier than about the year 1570." The occasion is thought to have been wars with Algonquin and Huron tribes. When first known to Europeans this confederation occupied the territory extending from the western watershed of Lake Champlain to the western watershed of the Genesee River, and from the Adiron- dack Mountains southward to the territory of the Conestoga on the Susquehanna River. With the coming of the Dutch the Iroquois secured firearms, v/hich had made possible their defeat by Champlain, and thereafter they extended their conquests rapidly. In a speech delivered at Plattsburg, N. Y., in 1909, on the occasion of the celebration of the tercentenary of the discovery of Lake Champlain, Hon. Elihu Root referred to the Algonquins and Iroquois as follows: "The 34 HISTORY OF VERMONT Algonquin tribes that surrounded them (the Iroquois) were still in the lowest stage of industrial life and for their food added to the spoils of the chase only wild fruits and roots. The Iroquois had passed into the agricultural stage. They had settled habitations and cultivated fields. They had extensive orchards of the apple, made sugar from the maple, and raised corn and beans, and squash and pumpkins. The surrounding tribes had only the rudimentary political institution of chief and followers. The Iroquois had a carefully de- vised constitution well adapted to secure confederate authority in matters of common interest, and local authority in matters of local interest. ''Each nation was divided into tribes, the Wolf tribe, the Bear tribe, the Turtle tribe, etc. The same tribes ran through all the nations, the section in each nation being bound by ties of consanguinity to the sections of the same tribe in the other nations. Thus a Seneca Wolf was brother to every Mohawk Wolf, a Seneca Bear to every Mohawk Bear. The arrangement was like that of our college societies with chapters in different colleges. So there were bonds of tribal union running across the lines of national union; and the whole structure was firmly knit together as by the warp and woof of a textile fabric. "The government was vested in a council of fifty sachems, a fixed number coming from each nation. The sachems from each nation came in fixed proportions from specific tribes in that nation ; the office was heredi- tary in the tribe and the member of the tribe to fill it was elected by the tribe. The sachems of each nation INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 35 governed their own nation in all local affairs. Below the sachems were elected chiefs on the military side and keepers of the faith on the religious side. "The territory of the Long House covered the water- shed between the St. Lawrence basin and the Atlantic. From it the w^aters ran into the St. Lawrence, the Hud- son, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Ohio. Down these lines of communication the war parties of the confederacy passed, beating back or overwhelming their enemies until they had become overlords of a vast region, extending far into New England, the Carolinas, the valley of the Mississippi; and to the coast of Lake Huron. * * * "Of all the inhabitants of the New World they were the most terrible foes and the most capable of organized and sustained warfare; and of all the inhabitants north of Mexico they were the most civilized and intelligent." Schoolcraft says: "To such a pitch of power had the Iroquois confederacy reached on the discovery of New York (and Vermont) in 1609, that there can be little doubt that if the arrival of the Europeans had been delayed a century later, it would have absorbed all the tribes situated between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the mouth of the Ohio, if not to the Gulf of Mexico." About a half century after Champlain's discovery of Vermont the Iroquois are supposed to have reached the summit of their power, at which time their numbers are estimated at about sixteen thousand. Cadwallader Colden of New York, whose name will appear later in these pages, in his "History of the Five Indian Nations," says that the Iroquois at an early 36 HISTORY OF VERMONT period lived one liundred leagues above Three Rivers, Canada, along the Ottawa River. Game becoming scarce for the Algonquins they desired that some of the young men of the Iroquois assist them in hunting, and the latter gladly assented, hoping to gain some knowledge of the chase. At first the young Iroquois performed only drudgery, but later became expert hunt- ers. According to Colden's narrative, the Algonquins, on a certain hunting expedition, became jealous of the skill of the new recruits, and killed them. The Iroquois living on the St. Lawrence River, near the present loca- tion of Montreal, became greatly incensed, emigrated to the region south of Lake Ontario, and hostilities soon began. At first the Iroquois defended themselves "but faintly," but becoming accustomed to war they developed great skill. When the French arrived, the two Indian confedera- tions were engaged in hostilities. It is known that when Cartier visited Canada, in 1535, he found the Iroquois at Hochelaga, on the present site of Montreal, but when Champlain came they had vanished, and the Algonquins occupied that region. That fighting had continued for a long period is indicated by Champlain's account of the proposed peace between the warring confederations in 1622, when it is related that the Indians declared that "they were tired and weary of wars which they had had for more than fifty years." In an appendix to his "History of Montpelier," D. P. Thompson wrote a valuable and an interesting article on "The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Winooski Valley," which contains information that applies to a wider re- INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 37 gion than a single river valley. He asserted that when the French and English began settlements in Canada and in the northern part of the United States, they found the Abnakis (or Algonquins) in possession of all the New England States bordering on the Atlantic coast, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, all of Lower Canada east of and around the St. Lawrence up to, and some distance above Montreal, and that part of Vermont east of the eastern range of the Green Mountains. The old men of the nation asserted that the western boundary of their territory originally was, and rightfully should be, Lake Champlain, the Iroquois having won a portion of what is now Vermont by conquest. A map published by Father Ducreux in his "History of Canada" in 1660, gives Lake Champlain as the western boundary of the Abnaki territory. Both Thompson and Rowland Robinson have called attention to the fact that the Indian names applied to the lakes and rivers of Vermont are Algonquin names, a fact of considerable significance. DeWitt Clinton, in an address delivered before the New York Historical Society, in 1825, said that "the supremacy of the Iroquois probably prevailed at one time over the territory as far east as the Connecticut River." Thompson was of the opinion that the Iroquois prob- ably occupied the region about one hundred years, when, about 1640 or 1650, on account of the growing power of the French in Canada, and the inclination of the tribes to move westward, they relinquished their possessions around Lake Champlain and the upper Hudson. In the correspondence of Governor Tryon of New 38 HISTORY OF VERMONT York with Lord Dartmouth, one of the British ministers, in 1773, in which he alluded to a certain map, he said: "All the country to the southward of the River St. Law- rence originally belonged to the Five Nations or Iroquois, and as such it is described in the above mentioned and other ancient maps, and particularly Lake Champlain is there called 'Mere des Iroquois,' Sorel River which leads from the lake into the River St. Lawrence, 'Riviere des Iroquois,' " and the tract on the east side of the lake, Irocoisia. Several writers speak of Vermont as the beaver hunt- ing ground of the Iroquois. It is evident that for a period the Iroquois exercised jurisdiction over a consid- erable portion of what is now Vermont, but their hold was weakened when the Father of New France fired his arquebus in the fight at Ticonderoga in July, 1609; and while the Iroquois later were able to menace the French in Canada, their hold was weakened by the French power, and finally abandoned. With the weakening of the Iroquois control, the Abnaki Indians again came into possession of the land. For nearly eighty years the Caughnawaga Indians, a tribe of Iroquois descent, on various occasions sought to establish a claim to a large area of land in Vermont, based on the Iroquois occupation. Their claims, made to the Vermont Legislature, were to the efifect that their hunting grounds in this State were included in these bounds: "Beginning on the east side of Ticonderoga, from thence to the Great Falls on Otter Creek (Suther- land Falls), continuing the same course to the height of land that divides the streams between Lake Champlain INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 39 and Connecticut River, thence along the height of land opposite the Missisquoi, and thence to the Bay." Holding that the treaty between France and Great Britain in 1763, and the treaty between the United States and Great Britain in 1783 extinguished all Indian claims to the territory of Vermont, the Legislature de- clined to vote money to the Indian claimants. In 1779, the Stockbridge Indians, a tribe of Algonquin affiliations, claimed a portion of Vermont, and this claim was discharged by a grant of the town of Marshheld. The township was soon sold, however, as the white set- tlers came into the region so rapidly that Marshiield was not considered a desirable hunting ground. During the early period when New England and New York were being settled, an Algonquin tribe called the Mohicans (Mohican meaning Wolf) occupied both banks of the Hudson River, their territory extending north almost to Lake Champlain. This tribe must not be confounded with the Mohawks of the Iroquois con- federation, which was nearest to New England of any of the Five Nations. Ruttenber, in his "Indian Tribes of the Hudson River," refers to the tradition that the country of the Mohicans originally included parts of the present States of Massachusetts, Vermont and New York. He says the Mohicans occupied the valleys of the Hudson and the Housatonic; the Soquatucks dwelt east of the Green Mountains; the Horikans were located in the Lake George district ; and the Nawaas were immediately north of the Sequins in the lower Connecticut valley. 40 HISTORY OF VERMONT At one time, apparently, the hunting grounds of the Mohawks included what is now southwestern Vermont, and the region, probably, was the scene of many conflicts between the warring Mohawks and Mohicans during a period including approximately, the years from 1540 to 1670. The mountain passes leading from the Hudson valley to Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River very likely had been used as Indian trails from time immemorial. The summer of 1668, according to tradition, saw a des- perate conflict between the Mohawks and the Mohicans, and the latter, driven up the Hoosac valley, are said to have taken refuge in a narrow pass in the present town of Pownal, beneath what is known as the Weeping Rocks. It is said that the Mohicans cherished the belief that they would not be conquered until "the rocks wept," and here, beneath the dripping rocks of this mountain pass of Pownal, nearly all of the Mohicans were massacred. The following year, 1669, the tables were turned, and the Mohicans defeated the Mohawks. Title deeds are in existence confirming patents of their hunting grounds in the Walloomsac and Battenkill valleys. It is said that Mohican warriors usually spent their winters in the valleys of the Hoosac and Housatonic Rivers, and that their campgrounds included the Wal- loomsac and Battenkill passes of Manchester and Arling- ton, and a camp near the junction of Washtub Brook and the Hoosac River west of Kreigger Rocks, in Pownal. Their planting grounds included the region around the junction of the streams last mentioned, and A Mao of ntahu n INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 41 the land in the vicinity of the headwaters of the Wal- loomsac and the Battenkill, respectively. George Sheldon, the well-known Massachusetts his- torian, is authority for the statement that a powerful confederacy of tribes occupied the Connecticut valley from the vicinity of Hartford, on the south, to Brattle- boro, on the north, the Pocumtucks being the most powerful tribe. The Squakheags, living in the vicinity of Northfield, Mass., occupied the northern portion of this confederacy, their territory occupying a part of the Connecticut River valley, now embraced in southern Vermont. It is be- lieved that this tribe originally was a part of the Mohican confederation of the Fludson valley, but was driven from that region about the year 1610. The Squakheags occupied both banks of the Connecticut River and their northern boundary is said to have been Broad Brook, which flows into the Connecticut near the northern line of the present town of Vernon, Vt. The name of this tribe is spelled in many different ways, the same thing being true of many Indian names. The meaning of the word is believed to have been a spearing place of salmon. The islands in the river near the Squakheag territory, and the mouth of the small streams flowing into the Connecticut, were noted for good salmon and shad fish- ing, and one of these little tributaries was called Salmon Brook by the early settlers. In language and appearance the Squakheags re- sembled the tribes occupying the Merrimac valley, and they were in close alliance with the Pennacooks. The remains of villages and works of defence found on both 42 HISTORY OF VERMONT sides of the river, and the large number of skeletons discovered, indicate a considerable population. The whole valley from the present site of Turners Falls, Mass., to the northern limits of Vernon, Vt, was occupied by Indian villages and smaller family groups. The signs o-f these villages are the presence of such domestic utensils as stone pestles, kettles, knives and hoes; heaps of round stones showing evidence of the action of fire and water, the stones having been thrown red hot into wooden troughs to heat water, and left where used as too cumbersome to remove; circular excavations from five to sixteen feet in diameter, some- times lined with clay, and used as underground granaries or barns; a burial place, indicating the proximity of wigwams; piles of stone chips, where arrow heads and spear heads were made; cleared fields used for planting grounds, and the site of a fort. The most northerly of these Squakheag settlements or villages was that which acknowledged the leadership of the chieftain Nawelet, his territory extending from Mill Brook, in Northfield, Mass., to Broad Brook, in the northern part of Vernon, Vt. "From the size of his possessions," says Temple and Sheldon's "History of Northfield," "and the plain testimony of remains, it is evident that this tract was inhabited by a numerous and powerful tribe. Some were of gigantic stature — a skeleton measuring six and one-half feet having been disinterred. They were enterprising and warlike, as is shown by their extensive planting fields, and the strength and resources of their main fort. Their utensils indi- cate considerable traffic with the whites, and they were INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 43 undoubtedly the last of the native clans to leave the valley. Indeed they are found here as late as 1720, and were then of a character to command the respect of the English settlers." A large village was located on the west side of the river, near the present site of the railroad station at South Vernon. About eighty rods north of the State line, on a hill near the old Ferry Road, the remains of about thirty Indian granaries were visible for many years. The hills here and farther back of Wells' plain afforded good lookouts and there were probably planting grounds on Second Moose plain. Near the Great Bend of the Connecticut, in Vernon, was the chief seat of the tribe. The meadows afforded good planting grounds which were easily tilled, and the annual overflow of the river fertilized these intervals. Several streams which enter the Connecticut here af- forded excellent fishing. As the bend in the river made defence easier it was a strategic location for an Indian village, and it appears to have been one of the largest ever occupied within the present limits of Vermont. The principal fort, probably, was on a hill on the east side of the Connecticut, in w4iat is now the town of Hins- dale, N. H. Stone kettles, hatchets, pestles and other utensils have been found on both sides of the river here. About the year 1663 the Mohawks made an incursion into the Connecticut valley, and having defeated the Pocumtucks, attacked the Squakheags, capturing their forts, destroying their villages and driving the people from their homes. The tribe never recovered from the effects of this blow. The Squakheags did not entirely 44 HISTORY OF VERMONT abandon their territory. Probably the villages were partly rebuilt, the planting grounds cultivated to some extent, and the fisheries patronized, but the old-time prosperity never returned. During a part of King Philip's War, the territory of the Squakheag Indians became an important center of operations. In the autumn of 1675 a considerable number of River Indians encamped in the pine woods a little way above the present site of the railroad station at South Vernon, Vt. For a short time Philip and his band were here but they left soon for Albany. In December the fort of the Narragansetts in Rhode Island was destroyed by Massachusetts and Connecticut troops, and this capture contributed to a great gathering of Indian tribes at Squakheag, as the Narragansetts who had hitherto held aloof from Philip now determined to join forces with him. Early in March, 1676, a large company of Ouaboags, Narragansetts, some Grafton Indians and other war- riors, also women, children and aged persons, arrived at Squakheag. Philip had arrived about the middle of February and made his camp in the Great Bend of the Connecticut at Vernon. During the entire period of the colonial history of America there were few occasions when so many Indians were assembled as were gathered here during the greater part of March, 1676. There were Wampanoags, and Narragansetts, Pocumtucks and Nonotucks, Agawams and Quaboags, Nashaways and Squakheags, Naticks and Hassanamesetts, making a total numbering at least 2,500 Indians, which occupied both banks of the Connecticut INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 45 River. Some of the most famous of Indian chieftains were assembled here, inckKling Philip and his kinsman Quinnapin, Canonchet and his uncle Pessacus, and other tribal leaders of lesser fame. King Philip's headquar- ters were on the Vermont side of the river. Mrs. Row- landson, a captive in Philip's camp, in an account of her captivity, mentioned her amazement ''at the numerous crew of pagans" assembled here. During the gathering plans were made to secure further recruits from the Mohicans and Mohawks of the Hudson valley, and from Canadian tribes, and to make a formidable attack upon the English settlements farther down the valley. Provisions becoming scarce, a party started out to secure corn, and on this expedition the famous Narra- gansett chieftain was captured by the English at Paw- tucket, taken to Stonington, and executed. Philip re- moved his headquarters to Mount Wachusett. About May 1 the Indians assembled here separated into four parties, leaving only one at Squakheag for planting and fishing. Thus ended the most important Indian occupa- tion of southern Vermont concerning which any records exist. With the defeat and death of Philip the River Indians scattered. Some joined the Scaticooks in the Hudson valley, while others found their way eventually to Canada, where so many of the remnants of New Eng- land tribes found a refuge, there to cherish bitter enmity against the English settlers who had driven them from their homes. Two specimens of picture writing by the Indians have been found in the Connecticut valley. The first, known 46 HISTORY OF VERMONT as Indian Rock, was discovered on the south bank of the West River, in the town of Brattleboro, about one hun- dred rods west of the mouth of that stream. The figures carved on this rock are small and crude. Six of them probably represent birds, two may be intended for pic- tures of snakes, and one has been likened to a dog, or wolf. The second specimen of picture writing was found at Bellows Falls, near the foot of the waterfall on the west side of the Connecticut River. It consisted of two rocks on the larger of which were sixteen heads, rudely carved. Near the center of the group was the repre- sentation of the head and shoulders of a person, and from the head extended six rays, or feathers. One figure showed the head and shoulders, two rays extend- ing from the head. The other figures represented only heads without neck or shoulders, and from each of five of the heads not previously mentioned two rays extended. This carving was done on a surface six feet high and fifteen feet wide. Near this rock was another and smaller one containing a single head, fourteen inches high and ten inches wide across the forehead, from which seven rays extended. These carvings are now almost entirely obliterated, due to the building of a branch railroad to the paper mills, the dumping of cinders and the blasting of the channel of the river to facilitate the passage of logs. There is no evidence to indicate the tribe or tribes re- sponsible for this carving. The site of the present village of Bellows Falls was a favorite fishing resort for the Indians when white men INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 47 first came into the Connecticut valley, and above the banks of the West River was an ancient Indian trail. As both these regions were much frequented by Indians the figures may have been cut by some native fisherman encamped nearby. The beautiful meadows of the Great Oxbow of the Connecticut River at Newbury were occupied at differ- ent times, probably, by various tribes. It is said that following the defeat of the Mohicans by the Mohawks, about 1628, some of the former tribes fled from their homes around the headwaters of the Hoosac and Housatonic Rivers, through the Battenkill Pass and over the Green Mountains to the Connecticut River, where, so the legend runs, the squaws cleared the Coos meadows, and cultivated corn and beans. The Indians of this region were known as Coosacs or Coosucks, the name meaning, it is said, ''at the pine." Schoolcraft says the Pennacooks occupied the Coos coun- try from Haverhill to the sources of the Connecticut. The occupation of this region does not seem to have been continuous. Tradition says that the Mohicans who came here returned later to their former homes. It is recorded that in the spring of 1704 Caleb Lyman and a few friendly Indians, having heard that a party of Indians had built a fort and planted corn at Coos, set out from Northampton, Mass., and during a thunder storm, surprised the camp, killing seven Indians. The survivors retired to Canada and joined the St. Francis tribe, but the name of the Coosuck did not become extinct for at least a century thereafter. 48 HISTORY OF VERMONT Wells, in his "History of Newbury," says of the Coos region: "It was, probably, neutral or disputed ground between large tribes, visited by various bands or families for the purpose of fishing or cultivating the meadows. It was, perhaps, the residence, for many years at a time, of some of these companies. But the testimony is so vague, and the time so distant, that nothing positive can be asserted. Those who have made a study of Indian relics are of opinion, from the examination of stone arrow and spear heads, that many of them came from far distant parts of the country, even from beyond the Mississippi, but whether through actual visits from those remote tribes, or by purchase, cannot be known. "The antiquity of these visits, or periods of habita- tion, is attested by these relics of the stone age, articles of greatest necessity, and therefore of greatest value in Indian eyes. These have been found upon all the meadows, and along the valley of Hall's Brook. But the greatest quantity and variety, attesting their frequent visits and long periods of residence, are found upon the Oxbow and upon the ridge between it and Coos meadow. These consist of arrow and spear heads, axes, chisels and domestic utensils. A stone mortar and pestle were found by the early settlers. The Great Oxbow seems to have been a spot beloved by the Indians. The remains of an Indian fort were found upon the Oxbow by the settlers. * * * It is certain that a large part of the Great Oxbow in Newbury and the Little Oxbow in Haverhill (N. H.) had long been cleared and cultivated by the Indians in their rude fashion. Of the other meadows little is known, but it is supposed that they INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 49 were covered with woods, among which lay a great mass of fallen timber, amidst which tall weeds and tangled vines made, in many places, thickets which were almost impenetrable. But there were cleared places in most, if not all, and on Horse meadow was quite a large field." Thompson, in his "History of Vermont," expresses the belief that an Indian village was located in Newbury, and says an Indian burial ground was found a short distance below. Trees five or six inches in diameter were found growing out of a mound in the Oxbow meadow which contained Indian skeletons. After the Pequawket tribe, which formed a part of the Abnaki confederacy, was defeated near the present site of Fryeburg, Me., in 1725, by the English under Captain Lovewell, the survivors withdrew to the sources of the Connecticut River, where they resided at the time of the American Revolution. The largest, the most important, and probably the most ancient of Indian settlements of which we have knowledge at the present time, were those situated with- in the limits of the town of Swanton, only a few miles from the Canadian border. About two miles below the present village of Swanton, on the banks of the Missis- quoi River, evidences have been found of a large Indian village. About two feet below the surface may be found great quantities of flint chippings, fragments of pottery and native implements. L. B. Truax alone has collected upwards of one thousand specimens from this locality. In his opinion these relics indicate not only occupation of Abnakis, but by Iroquois, and by a people much older than either Algonquin or Iroquois. 50 HISTORY OF VERMONT In the "Handbook of American Indians" this tribe is called Missiassik, but there are many other spellings, including Missiscoui and Missiskouy. They appear to have been allied with the St. Francis Indians of Canada, but as that tribe was a sort of catch-all for fragments of not a few of the New England tribes it is difficult to state their relationship to other Indian clans. They may have been related to the Sokoki or Pequawkit Indians. There is a tradition of the St. Francis tribe that many years ago a bloody battle was fought on the Missisquoi River near the head of what was known later as Rood's Island, just below the site of what is marked on ancient maps as an Indian castle. Many spear and arrow heads have been found in this vicinity. At an early date Jesuit missionaries made their home among the people of this tribe and erected a chapel here, it is supposed as early as the year 1700. Near the site of this chapel a monument was erected, its dedication in 1909 forming a part of the Lake Champlain Tercen- tenary exercises. Chauvignerie, in 1736, gave the number of warriors here as 180, which would indicate a population approxi- mately of 800. Ira Allen, in his "History of Vermont," says: "On the Missisquoi River was a large Indian town, which became greatly depopulated about 1730, by a mortal sickness that raged among them; in conse- quence of which they evacuated the place, according to the tradition of the savages, and settled on the River St. Francoise, to get rid of Hoggomag (the devil), leaving their beautiful fields, which extended four miles on the river, waste." INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 51 It is hardly probable that if the place was evacuated in 1730 the population six years later was eight hundred, but Allen, writing from memory, may have been mis- taken in his date, which he does not attempt to fix with absolute precision. It is certain, however, that the Indians did return in considerable numbers and some re- mained until the white men settled here. In 1757 the official report of the French army at Lake St. Sacra- ment (Lake George) included Abnakis of St. Francis and Missiscoui. Ancient maps show the presence of such a tribe near the mouth of the Missisquoi River, and on some maps there are indications that it may have extended over a considerable region, including a portion of Canada. These maps show the location of an Indian castle toward the mouth of the river in the region now known as West Swanton. Moreover, colonial records of New Eng- land show that in this vicinity was located the castle of a famous Indian chieftain, long the scourge of the Eng- lish settlements of the Connecticut valley. Gray Lock, after whom the highest mountain in Massachusetts is named. His operations will be described in detail in a subsequent chapter. Fragments of pottery and imple- ments have been found at West Swanton. It is said that for fifteen miles from the mouth of the Missisquoi River along its banks, extending back for a distance of a mile and a half from the stream, there is hardly a field that does not show traces of Indian occupation. Traces of a still more ancient Indian settlement were found previous to the Civil War two miles north of the village of Swanton, and not far from the Highgate line. 52 HISTORY OF VERMONT On a sandy ridge, covered when the white men came with a tall growth of pines, an Indian burial place was found. How many forests grew to maturity and de- cayed after these graves were made cannot be known. Neither the Indians who lingered here after settlements were begun, nor members of the St. Francis tribe from Canada who have made visits here in recent years, re- lated any traditions of an earlier race which occupied this region. At least twenty-five graves were opened, some of them being not less than six feet below the surface, while others were not more than two feet deep, but the drifting sand of this locality makes it unsafe to assume that any of the graves originally were shallow. Several skeletons were found, and the indications were that the bodies were buried in a sitting posture with their faces to the east. These skeletons crumbled noticeably upon being exposed to the air. The sand under and immediately around the bodies was colored a dark red, or reddish brown, except in two instances, where the color was black. This color was noticed to a depth of from four to six inches, and is sup- posed to have been due to the presence of red iron oxide or red hematite, small pieces of that mineral having been found in several of the graves. A few copper implements were taken from the burial place, including a drill or awl and chisel-shaped object to which fragments of wood adhered. This may have been parts of a war club. Copper objects are rare among Indian relics in this vicinity, and it is assumed that this INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 53 may have been brought from the Lake Superior region as the result of barter between tribes. Several stone tubes varying from six to sixteen inches in length were discovered, the diameter being about one and five-eighths inches. On one of these tubes the figure of a bird with a leaf in its bill had been scratched. In the collection of relics from these graves were about thirty shell ornaments, also beads, the shells resem- bling those of the Florida coast; a polished stone in the shape of a bird, pierced with two holes, a shuttle and a pipe made of soapstone; several flat plats of stone, containing holes; two carvings of red slate, represent- ing animals; one carving of pure white marble; a dis- coidal stone like those found in the West; arrow heads, spear heads and stone axes. Other evidences of Indian occupation are to be found in Swanton. L. B. Truax, who has made a careful study of the Indian occupation here, has said: "The re- sult of an active investigation and study of this region, extending over a period of ten years, leads the writer to the belief that the number of people inhabiting this re- gion in the past has been very much underestimated by writers and students." Dr. David S. Kellogg, a thorough student of early Champlain history, has said: "Later researches have revealed the fact that this (Champlain) valley was once quite thickly populated. I know of at least forty-five dwelling sites, the greater portion of which I have located and visited. The larger part of these are on, or near, the lake itself; but there are also many on the rivers and smaller streams and lakes, and some at a distance 54 HISTORY OF VERMONT from any even moderately large body of water. The evidence of former dwelling sites consists of stone imple- ments and weapons and chippings scattered over small areas — say of half an acre or more." Doctor Kellogg says that from Colchester Point up the Winooski River as far as Williston, the soil abounds in celts, chippings and wrought flints. A sand ridge near the present city of Plattsburg, N. Y., was an im- portant prehistoric dwelling place, and a great village was located here, as a vast number of weapons, flint chippings and fragments of pottery indicate. The vicinity of Ticonderoga, N. Y., and Orwell, on the Vermont shore, directly opposite, was a notable Indian resort, and in modern times the earth here has been "black with flints." Doctor Kellogg has said: "The native flint exists in great abundance, in the lime- stone rocks of the locality; and so it was that for cen- turies the Indians resorted to this region, lived there, and made weapons and implements for their own use, and for traffic with other savages passing by. I have obtained 2,500 chipped stone implements from these shores alone." Peter Kalm, a Swedish naturalist who visited the Champlain valley at an early period, under date of July 20, 1749, gave his impressions of the Indians frequent- ing the Lake Champlain region as follows : "We often saw Indians in bark canoes close to the shore, which was, however, not inhabited; for the Indians come here only to catch sturgeons, wherewith this lake abounds, and which we often saw leaping in the air. These Indians lead a very singular life. At one time of the INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 55 year they live upon the small store of maize, beans and melons, which they have planted ; during another period, or about this time, their food is fish, without bread or any other meat; and another season they eat nothing but stags, roes, beavers, etc., which they shoot in the woods and rivers. They, however, enjoy long life, per- fect health, and are more able to undergo hardships than other people. They sing and dance, are joyful and aKvays content ; and would not for a great deal, exchange their manner of life for that which is preferred in Europe." A study of various town histories furnishes consider- able information concerning the Indian occupation of Vermont. Swift's "History of Middlebury" says: "We find satisfactory evidence in the Indian relics found in different towns that the county of Addison was the established residence of a large population of Indians, and had been for an indefinite period. The borders of Lake Champlain, Otter Creek, Lemon Fair and other streams furnished a convenient location for that pur- pose." Pavements of cobble stones six or seven feet wide have been found at springs in Cornwall near Lemon Fair River and tributary brooks, with evidences that fires had been built on them. Elsewhere in Cornwall have been found arrow and spear heads, a stone gauge, and evidences of the manufacture of Indian implements. A pot made of sand and clay, of curious workmanship, and holding about twenty quarts, was discovered at Mid- dlebury. Parts of a kettle, ornamented with flowers and leaves, were found in an old channel of Middlebury 56 HISTORY OF VERMONT River, where the water had washed the bank away. There have been found in Middlebury arrows and ham- mers of flint and jasper, a stone pestle, and evidences of the manufacture of arrow heads and other stone imple- ments. There are two places in Salisbury where Indian fireplaces have been found, both being near the stream that runs through the village. Many crude earthen vessels, including a kettle holding three or four pails of water, have been plowed up near the Middlebury River. Wolf Hill appears to have been a favorite Indian resort. Evidences of the manufacture of Indian implements, and stone hearths on which fires were built, have been found in Weybridge. A considerable number of Indian implements were found on the Weybridge farm once owned by the father of Silas Wright, a well-known New York statesman. Early settlers in this town found indi- cations of the cultivation of land by the Indians, who, it is said, also made maple sugar here. In Bristol and in Monkton have been found evidences of the manufacture of Indian implements, and there was an Indian burial place in the vicinity of Monkton Pond. An Indian fireplace has been discovered in Panton, and on the headwaters of the White River, in Hancock, was found a stone pestle, twelve inches long and two inches in diameter, and a stone mortar eight inches square and eight and one-half inches deep. Indian implements have been turned up by the plow in Addison, Panton and Waltham, and the presence of flint chips at Vergennes indicates a place where stone implements or weapons INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 57 were made. Two copper arrow heads have been found in Ferrisburg. A large copper celt eight inches long, two inches wide, weighing thirty-eight ounces, and apparently cast rather than hammered, was found near the mouth of Otter Creek. The large number of arrow and spear heads, and other relics, discovered near the mouth of this stream, indicates an Indian occupation covering a con- siderable period. In the "History of the Catholic Church in the United States" references are made to missions on the Otter Creek as well as the Missisquoi, the statement being made that the Abnaki Indians, driven from Maine by the English, were found on the Otter Creek and other Vermont streams from 1687 to 1760. It is also asserted that a stone chapel, containing a bell, was erected near Ferrisburg. The earliest references to the traversing of Lake Champlain as a convenient route to and from Canada shows that the mouth of Otter Creek was a frequent stopping place, and the stone chapel may have been located near this accessible spot. In Bennington county, as already stated, evidences have been found of Indian occupation in Pownal. Relics found in Manchester show that at some time Indians lived in that town. In the "History of Indian Wars," written by President D. C. Sanders of the University of Vermont, and published in 1812, he said: "Indian cornfields are plainly to be seen in various parts of Vermont. In the intervales at Burlington several hundred acres together were found by the American settlers entirely cleared, not a tree upon them. * * * Arrow heads are to be 58 HISTORY OF VERMONT found in almost every spot. They are very numerous on Onion ( Winooski) River and in all the woods in Bur- lington." He also tells of the washing away of a por- tion of the river bank opposite Burlington, which dis- closed an ancient burial place, where was found "a vast quantity of bones of various sorts and sizes for more than ten rods in extent." A party of Scaticook Indians from New York en- camped on the Winooski River in 1699 for a year's stay for the purpose of hunting beaver. On their way they met some "Boston," or Eastern Indians, "who told them to keep off from their coasts, or they would kill them." References in the "History of the Catholic Church in the United States" to Indian occupation of and missions in this State, associate the Winooski River with the Missisquoi and Otter Creek, and the valley of this stream was an ancient Indian highway. Colchester Point seems to have been occupied at an early period by Indians. After settlements were begun in this vicinity Indians still lingered at the mouth of the Lamoille River, and for some time the site of an encampment and burial place was to be distinguished here. In a large mound at the mouth of this stream were found skeletons of persons buried in a sitting pos- ture, also arrow heads and other relics. Evidences of an Indian camp ground have been found in Colchester where Mallett's Creek empties into Mallett's Bay, and here a number of bone implements with stone points, knives, pottery, etc., have been discovered. What is said to be the finest specimen of an Indian jar found in New Eng- land was discovered in Colchester, in 1825, under the INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 59 roots of a large tree. Its height is seven and one-half inches; its inside diameter at the top, live inches; its circumference around the largest part, twenty-seven inches ; and its capacity nine pints. An Indian jar nine and one-half inches high, seven and one-half inches in diameter at the top, twenty inches in circumference at the largest part, and holding fourteen quarts, was found in Bolton about the year 1860. An- other jar of a similar kind was found by a hunter at Bolton Falls in 1895 in a cave-like shelter made by large rocks. It is ten inches high, nine inches across the opening, thirty-six inches in circumference at the largest part, and holds twelve quarts. Prof. G. H. Perkins, State Geologist, once counted more than three hundred different patterns on a large series of fragments of pot- tery ruins found on the shores of Lake Champlain. During the digging of a cellar in Essex, in 1809, a hand- somely wrought Indian pipe was found, which President Sanders declared "must have lain in the hardpan for centuries." The site of an Indian encampment was found in 1809 in the town of Richmond, on the Huntington River, about half a mile above its junction with the Winooski. Its antiquity was indicated by the fact that a birch tree more than three feet in diameter was growing out of the mound. Many Indian relics were found here. At the mouth of the La Plotte River, in Shelburne, a square field of about twenty-five acres had been cleared and cultivated before the coming of the white men. When the first settlers arrived there was a growth of trees, evidently about thirty years old, in this field, but 60 HISTORY OF VERMONT no stumps of the original timber were found. The first white settlers came to Shelburne about 1766, so that field was abandoned, evidently, about 1735. Heaps of stones were found, carried there for use at the camp fires, as the soil was not stony. When the field was cleared in 1803 many arrow heads and Indian imple- ments were discovered. Essex county was a favorite hunting ground of the Indians, and the abundance of moose gave to Moose River its name. Mention has been made of the most important Indian settlements in Franklin county, located in the town of Swanton, but the occupation of this region was not limited to Swanton. The shores of Franklin Pond bore evidences of Indian encampments. The town of Frank- lin was a summer hunting ground of the St. Francis tribe. Moose and deer were driven from the hills ad- jacent to Little Pond, into the marshes where they were killed, and their flesh was dried in the sun for the winter's supply of provisions. Richford was a winter hunting ground. Moose, deer and bears were plentiful and the meat of these animals was frozen. The town of Shel- don was a favorite fishing and hunting resort of the St. Francis Indians, and it was held tenaciously by them, being yielded with great reluctance. Their attitude toward the early settlers was sullen and they cherished a deep-seated hatred, it is said, for the Sheldons, the founders of the town. The Indians frequented Highgate long after the town was settled by white men. Many Indian implements were found near St. Albans Bay by INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 61 early settlers and tradition says this region was a favorite place of resort for the Indians. Champlain refers to the occupation of the islands of Grand Isle county by the natives at a time previous to his visit, before tribal wars had made occupation of that region too dangerous for permanent abode. There is a tradition to the effect that an Iroquois tribe invaded this section, then occupied by a number of the Algonquin group, and drove them from their homes. Several ref- erences are found to an Indian settlement in South Hero, near the sandbar which formed a natural bridge to the mainland during low water. These Indians are sup- posed to have been Loups, or members of the Wolf clan. It is said that there was an Indian village at Alburg, Some Indian relics have been found at North Hero. L. B. Truax has said that probably there is not a farm in Grand Isle county that does not contain some evidence of ancient Indian occupation. Indian tomahawks and other implements have been found in the Lamoille River valley in Lamoille county. There was a camp ground in Cambridge at a place called Indian Hill, where many relics have been unearthed. In Williamstown, in Orange county, the Indians culti- vated corn in the valley and hunted and trapped fur bear- ing animals. When the town of Barton, in Orleans county, was settled, decayed cabins, or wigwams, were numerous there. Members of the St. Francis tribe said in 1824 that about fifty years earlier their ancestors had lived there for about nine years. Troy was long a place of rendezvous for Abnaki Indians. 62 HISTORY OF VERMONT Lake St. Catherine and the Hubbardton Lakes, in Rutland county, were favorite fishing resorts of the Indians. Members of the Caughnawaga tribe fre- quented Pittsford and other portions of the Otter Creek valley. Every year they would ascend the river in large numbers in their canoes, construct wigwams, and fre- quent their favorite fishing and hunting grounds. Evi- dences of Indian village life, including implements and burial places, have been found at Wallingford. Fragments of a rude sort of Indian pottery and Indian implements have been found about two miles above Montpelier, in Washington county. When General Davis surveyed the boundaries of the town, he found what appeared to be an Indian monument. Indian im- plements have been discovered at the mouth of Mad River. Waitsfield was once a hunting ground for the St. Francis tribe, and here a tomahawk and a large num- ber of beads were discovered. Mention has been made of Indian occupancy at Ver- non, in Windham county. Evidences are found of a considerable Indian occupation in Rockingham. These were particularly noticeable in the vicinity of Bellows Falls, which was a noted fishing resort. Several Indian skeletons have been exumed at Bellows Falls, the bodies having been buried in a sitting posture. Space forbids the mention of all evidences of Indian occupation. No doubt such evidences have been found in every township in the State. The Indian occupation of Vermont, as we know it, seems to have been confined to the borders of this State — the Squakheag territory, extending into Vernon ; the Coos settlement at Newbury INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 63 and vicinity; the Missiassik village at Swanton; the Mohican camp sites and planting grounds in the Batten- kill and Walloomsac valleys. It is very evident, how- ever, that this was not the extent of the Indian occupa- tion of Vermont. There are evidences of Indian settle- ments at the mouth of the Otter Creek, the Winooski and other rivers, and along many of our streams. There is abundant evidence of many Indian encampments, of the manufacture of implements of war and domestic utensils, and of the burial of the dead. The western portion of the State seems to have been an Iroquois hunting ground for a considerable period. The forests contained an abundance of deer, moose, beaver and other objects of the chase, while the lakes and streams were filled with fish. The hunting and fish- ing, therefore, attracted many Indians to this region. There may have been a considerable Indian occupation of Vermont prior to the rise of the powerful Iroquois confederacy. So far as we know there was no permanent occupation of any considerable portion of Vermont in a manner corresponding to the Iroquois occupation of parts of New York State, but such occupation by Indians seems to have been the exception rather than the rule. It must be remembered that the Indians were a migratory people. Their mode of living w^as so primitive that a removal of habitation was a comparatively simple matter. With- in certain prescribed limits they seem to have moved freely from place to place, hunting in one section for a few weeks, fishing in another locality for a longer or shorter period, dwelling in one place long enough for 64 HISTORY OF VERMONT the squaws to raise corn and beans, and abandoning it for winter quarters elsewhere. They knew little of fixed habitations as we understand the term. It seems probable that the Indian population of America always was much smaller than has been sup- posed by persons who have given the subject no careful study. The multitude of tribal names has been respon- sible in part for an erroneous impression as to numbers. Different names appear to have been used at different times by different individuals, for the same people. There were divisions and subdivisions of tribes, each having separate designations, but not indicating, of necessity, a large number of Indians. There were frequent changes in tribal relations, so much so that the shifting often is exceedingly difficult to follow. A study of Indian occupation leads to the conclusion that so far as Vermont is concerned the Indian popula- tion generally has been underestimated, while the Indian population of southern New England and other portions of the country has been overestimated. An interesting phase of Indian life was their roads, or trails. This subject was discussed by Samuel Carter in an address before the Pocumptuck Valley Memorial Association, in which he said: "Between the frontiers of New England and New France was a wilderness of vast extent, characterized by great mountains, numerous rivers, great lakes and dense forests, which were the hunting grounds and battlefields of savages. The Indians traversed it in all directions with the ease and certainty with which we travel the roads which modern civilization establishes for its convenience. The Indian INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 65 highways were the rivers and lakes ; and with the moun- tains and hills for their landmarks the whole of this wilderness was open to them, and the illimitable region beyond. In the summer they skirted afoot the banks of the stream, or traversed in their bark canoes the rivers and lakes along whose frozen surface they travelled in winter. Whenever navigation on a stream was inter- rupted by falls, they made a detour around the obstruc- tion, carrying their canoes and luggage with them. These places were called portages or carrying places; other portages existed at the passages between lakes, and others again separated the upper waters of streams run- ning in opposite directions. "Lake Champlain, the westerly boundary of this wilderness, was the all important division in the great Indian thoroughfare between Canada and the English colonies. The Connecticut River, a great and command- ing central driftway through the wilderness, was an important counterpart to Lake Champlain. * >«= * On the easterly side of the Green Mountains the water courses are tributaries of the Great River, as the Con- necticut was familiarly called; on the westerly side of the mountains they flow into the lake. Some of the more important of them were well known Indian roads, and used by the savages as the exigencies of hunting, fight- ing or journeying gave occasion. But they had one principal thoroughfare between the lake and the river, which may be denominated the trunk line. This was the Winooski River; and so commonly was it used by the French and their Indian allies in their raids upon the English, that it came to be called the 'French River.' * * * 66 HISTORY OF VERMONT ''From the upper waters of the Winooski there was a choice of ways to the Great River, to wit: southerly by available branches of the Winooski and corresponding branches of the White River, or easterly by the Wells River ; the two ways forming with the Connecticut a kind of delta. The easterly way afforded a direct access to the planting grounds at the lower Cowass in the vicinity of the present town of Newbury, and easy communica- tion with the eastern Indians beyond ; the southerly way reached farther down the Great River on the way to the frontier settlements of the 'Boston Government.' These two waterways, the White and Wells Rivers, lead- ing up from the Connecticut toward the Winooski, need to be well fixed in the mind." The "Indian Road," so called, was the route from Lake Champlain up the Otter Creek to its source, across the ridge of the Green Mountains to the head waters of the Black and West Rivers, and thence down the Con- necticut. This trail was used, not only by war parties, but was a favorite route for Indians coming from the north to the trading post established later at Fort Dummer. What Mr. Carter called the "trunk line," the Winooski valley, along which many sorrowing captives were car- ried to Canada, ascended the Connecticut River, followed the Third branch of the White River, thence crossed the height of land to the source of Stevens Branch, which was followed to the junction with the Winooski River, the latter stream being the route to Lake Champlain. The great trail from the Merrimac River to Lake Memphremagog was the route chosen later for a line INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 67 of railroad. Another trail following the Connecticut River northward, turned aside at the mouth of Wells River and ascended the valley of that stream. In his "History of Newbury," Wells says: "In various places in this town where the woods have never been cut down, are paths which may be clearly discerned for long distances, which were here when white men came to Coos, and are believed to be sections of prehistoric trails. The settlers used these woodland paths in their journeys, and they gradually became public roads." In addition to the route from Canada to southern New England by way of Lake Champlain, another important trail passed through northeastern Vermont. From the St. Lawrence River the Indians would come up the St. Francis and Magog Rivers in canoes, pass through Lake Memphremagog, and ascend the Clyde River to Island Pond. A short portage led to the headwaters of the Nulhegan River, by means of which the Connecticut River could be reached. The paths made by the Indians at the carrying places on the Nulhegan route were plainly discernible when the region was settled by the whites. It is said that these trails could be seen in the town of Brunswick when the Grand Trunk Railroad was built in 185L The trail from Canada to the Penobscot region of Maine followed the route mentioned by way of Lake Memphremagog, Island Pond and the Nulhegan River to the Connecticut, thence to the upper Ammonoosuc and up that river to some point in the present town of Milan, N. H., where it crossed to the Androscoggin, 68 HISTORY OF VERMONT which was descended to the sea coast, the shore being followed to Penobscot Bay. Mrs. Sigourney, referring to the Indian inhabitants of America, in one of her poems, said: "Their name is on your waters, You may not wash it out." While many of the Indian names have vanished from the geography of this region, some of them remain, and others have been preserved. The late Rowland E. Rob- inson, the well-known Vermont author, assisted by his nephew. Dr. William G. Robinson, made a study of Indian names in this State. Some of these names were obtained by the author from John Wadso, an intelligent member of the St. Francis tribe, and others were given to his nephew by aged St. Francis Indians. According to Robinson, the name Missisquoi origi- nally was Masseepskee, The Land of Arrow Flints, while the river now bearing the name was called Azzusatuquake, the Backward-running Stream. The Lamoille, or La Mouelle, River was Wintoak, or Marrow River. The Winooski was Winooskie-took, or Onion Land River, so called from the leeks or wild onions grow- ing along the stream. The La Plotte River appears on an old map as the Quineaska, and was called by the Indians Quineska-took, from the name given to Shel- burne Point, meaning Long Joint, as it was supposed to represent a man's forearm. Rock Dunder was Wujahose, The Forbidden, a refer- ence to a spirit supposed to guard the rock. Grand Isle was K'chenamehau, The Great Island. Split Rock was INDIAN OCCUPATION OF VERMONT 69 called Tobapsqua, The Pass Through the Rock, and Thompson's Point, Kozoapsqua, The Long Rocky Point. Lewis Creek was Sungahnee-took, Fish-weir River, and Little Otter was Wonaketookese, meaning Little Otter River. The stream now called Otter Creek had two Indian names, Wonakake-took, Otter River, and Pecouk- took. Crooked River. The falls at Vergennes were known as Netahmepuntook, The First or Lower Falls of the River. Neshobe, the original name of Brandon, indicated Clear-running Water. Camel's Hump Mountain was called Tah-wah-be-de-e-wadso, or Ladelle Mountain, and Mount Mansfield was known as Moze-o-de-be- wadso, or The Moose Head Mountain. In addition to the Robinson list other names may be added. Lake Champlain was called by the Iroquois, Caniaderi-Guarunte, The Door of the Country; also by the Abnakis, Petoubouque, The Waters that Lie Be- tween, and Peta-pargow, The Great Water. Lake Dun- more was Moosalamoo, The Lake of the Silver Trout. The Connecticut River was Quinni-tukq-ut, or Quoneh- tu-cut, The Long Tidal River. White River was called Cascadnac, or Pure Water. Wells, the Newbury his- torian, says that Coos was interpreted in a variety of ways, including A Crooked River, A Wide Valley, A Place of Tall Pines, and A Great Fishing Place. Probably Lake Bomoseen was named for an Indian chief, Bommozeen, who lived in the vicinity of Norridge- wock, Me. Maquam is said to be a corruption of the original name Bopquam. The name of the Taconic Mountains comes from an Indian word meaning The 70 HISTORY OF VERMONT Forest Plantation, or The Field in the Woods. Lake Memphremagog is said to derive its name from the Abnaki word, Mamhrahogak, Large Expanse of Water. Chapter IV CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND THE INDIAN RAIDS FOLLOWING the disastrous defeat of the alHed Indian tribes of New England under the leader- ship of King Philip, and the death of that famous chieftain in 1676, there was an extensive migration from southern New England of the survivors of these tribes, some going to Canada, while others fled to the Hudson River. The French had been successful, as a rule, in establishing friendly relations with the Indians, more successful than the English, and they welcomed the refugees, realizing the value of such accessions. The New York authorities also encouraged the New Eng- land Indians to settle in that colony. About 1676 fugitives from the Pennacook, Pocum- tuck, Narragansett, Nipmuc, and Wampanoag tribes, driven out of New England, founded the Indian village of Scaticook, on the east bank of the Hudson, near the mouth of the Hoosac River. The greater part of the Pennacooks, however, fled to Canada. In 1683 the first village of St. Francis was established at the falls of the Chaudiere, in Quebec, by Indian converts from Sil- lery, the latter place being abandoned soon after. In 1700 the village of St. Francis was removed to a loca- tion near Pierreville, Que. This village became a rally- ing place for many New England Indians, driven out by the fortunes of war, or dissatisfied by the growing strength of the English colonists. In 1725 the remnant of the Sokaki and Pequamket tribes removed to St. Francis, and later other bands of Indians followed. Indeed, there seems to have been a pretty steady stream of Indian migration to Canada for many years. 74 HISTORY OF VERMONT The New York authorities sought to win away the St. Francis Indians to Scaticook, while the French attempted a counter attraction. The Canadian officials were so successful that the Scaticook settlement, which numbered about one thousand souls in 1702, had dwindled to two hundred in 1721, and during the French and Indian War the last of the tribe withdrew to Canada. It is not strange that these fugitives became embittered toward the English settlers. They had seen their hunt- ing grounds in New England appropriated for farms and villages. They could not fail to observe their own waning power, while the strength of the English waxed greater with every passing year, and the situation was one that, unchecked, indicated ultimate extermination for the native tribes. Already they had suffered humiliat- ing defeats at the hands of the colonists, and they were ready to listen eagerly to the suggestions of the French that they join that nation in an attempt to check, and perhaps to destroy, the rapidly growing power of the English. A careful study of the Canadian incursions into Massachusetts during the Colonial period tends to estab- lish the fact, heretofore not given the importance that it deserves, that one of the most important centers of Indian hostility to New England, second only to the St. Francis settlement, and, perhaps, at times equal to it, was the native village near the mouth of the Missisquoi River, described in a previous chapter. This village was situated only a few miles south of the present inter- national boundary line. Until the close of the French CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 75 and Indian War all the region around Lake Champlain was controlled by the French, so that a raid from the Missisquoi was considered a raid from Canada as truly as one originating at St. Francis. The date of the establishment of the Abnaki settle- ment on the Missisquoi may not easily be determined, but there are indications that it was soon after the migra- tion of New England tribes to Canada began, following the overthrow of King Philip. Peter Schuyler of Albany, a commissioner for Indian affairs, in a letter to Governor Dongan of New York, dated September 7, 1687, regarding some of the River Indians, who had visited Montreal with a party of Abnakis, said : "They putt our Indians upon the way hither giving them provisions as much as carried them to a castle of Pennacook Indians, where they wanted for nothing." The greater part of the Pennacook tribe, which was located in the Merrimac valley in southern New Hamp- shire, fled to Canada in 1676, the year of King Philip's defeat. While most of their emigrants are supposed to have settled near Quebec, and later to have removed to St. Francis, it is not impossible that some of them may have settled on the Missisquoi River, as the relation between the Missisquoi and St. Francis villages seems to have been close. The direct route, and the natural route, from Montreal to Albany was by way of Lake Champlain. The Indian village of St. Francis at this time was located in the Beauce district of the Chaudiere valley, between the city of Quebec and the Maine border, and was far away from the route to Albany. There is nothing improbable in the assumption 76 HISTORY OF VERMONT that a portion of the Pennacook tribe, or some of the Indians who had recently fled from southern New Eng- land to Canada, had established themselves near the mouth of the Missisquoi as early as 1687. In the ''Jesuit Relations" reference is made to a meet- ing held at Quebec, October 10, 1682, at the house of the Jesuit Fathers, at which many of the provincial officials and leaders were present to take action "against the secret machinations of the Iroquois," and to protect out- lying Indian settlements. This determination was reached: ''Consequently, the utmost efforts must be made to prevent them (the Iroquois) from ruining the natives as they have heretofore ruined the Algonquins, Andastag, Loups, Abenaquis and others, whose rem- nants we have at the settlements of Sillery, Laurette, Lake Champlain and others scattered among us." This would indicate that some of the fragments of Indian tribes which sought refuge in Canada, located at Lake Champlain very early, as soon as the location at Sillery. The only Indian settlement on Lake Champlain of which we have any positive and definite knowledge, is the one near the mouth of the Missisquoi. There are scattered references to the Missisquoi settle- ment in the ''History of the Catholic Church in the United States," as follows: "Fort St. Therese (on the Richelieu River) was abandoned in 1690. It is about this time that the Abnaki Indians appeared on the Missisquoi River, on the Winooski and on Otter Creek, having been driven from Maine by the English in 1680." CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 77 "From 1687 to 1760 we find them on the Missisquoi River, on the Winooski and on the Otter Creek. * * * Having been driven from Maine by the Eng- lish in 1680, the Governor of Canada gave them the country which extends from the River Chaudiere on the St. Laurent, to the River RicheHeu and Lake Cham- plain. * * * Catholicity flourished among the Abenaquis for lengthened periods on the shores of the Missisquoi and Winooski Rivers, Otter Creek, and other places. * * * They (the Indians) had a permanent chapel on the Missisquoi River, near Swanton, on the Highgate side, for a good many years. * * * This chapel was in existence in 1775. * * * Another chapel built of stone and containing a bell existed near Ferrisburg, and doubtless there were others throughout the State." Although unmistakable evidences of Indian settle- ments have been found near the mouths of Otter Creek and the Winooski River, evidence is lacking to prove that either settlement was as important or as enduring as that on the Missisquoi in Swanton. In a letter to Dr. George McAleer of Worcester, Mass., who has made a most exhaustive study of the entire Missisquoi region in order to determine the deriva- tion of the name, William Wallace Tooker, author of the "Algonquin Series," and a well-known Indian scholar, writes : "After the English forces from Fort Richmond, under Capt. Johnson Harmon, attacked the Abnaki Indians of Maine at Norridgewock, on the Ken- nebec River, August 12, 1724, burnt their fort and vil- lage, and slew Father Rasles, the French missionary 78 HISTORY OF VERMONT there, the survivors migrated west to the head of Lake Champlain, then under the control of the French colo- nists of Canada." Some other historians say these survivors went to the St. Francis village, but the close relations between the St. Francis settlement and that on the Missisquoi, make it possible that the fugitives may have gone first to St. Francis, and later to the Champlain village, or that some historians, not realizing the importance of the Missisquoi village, have assumed that the Indians went to St. Francis because they went to Canada. Doctor McAleer concludes ''that the territory now known as Vermont, including Missisquoi Bay and environs, was in early times under the domination of the Iroquois. "That they were supplanted by the Abenaquis. ''That the Abenaquis had for the time a large settle- ment at Swanton Falls that was in existence some seventy-five years or longer." He also says that the Abnakis, or Abenaquis, "made quite a large settlement during the early part of the eighteenth century, if not earlier, on the Missisquoi River at Swanton Falls, and which was there main- tained for more than half a century." It is stated in "Despatches and Orders of the King" (of France), under date of May 24, 1744, that "The establishment of the mission at Missiskoui may also conduce to this end (the further settlement and develop- ment of this region) by means of the spiritual aids which the new settlers will derive from the said mission." CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 79 In "Instructions from the King," issued April 28, 1745, to Marquis Beauharnois, Governor General of Canada, and to Intendant Hocquart, reference is made to the protection of Fort Frederic and the mission at Missiskoui, which "will be very advantageous to them in case the English should attempt encroachments." It is also announced that "His Majesty was pleased to hear of the progress made by the village of Missiskoui and the disposition displayed by the Indians composing it on the occasion of the war." This is a plain indication that the Indian village on the Missisquoi rendered material aid to the French during the colonial war beginning in 1744. In the Canadian Archives is found a "speech of the Missisquoi Indians at the North End of Lake Cham- plain" to the Governor of Quebec, delivered September 8, 1766, in which it is stated that "We, the Missisquoi Indians of St. Francis or Abnaki tribe, have inhabited that part of Lake Champlain known by the name of Missisquoi, time unknown to any of us here present." White's "Early History of New England," in relating an account of the attack on Fort Bridgman, in the pres- ent town of Vernon, Vt., June 27, 1755, tells of the adventures of Mrs. Jemima Howe and her seven chil- dren, who were taken captives. One of these children was an infant, and it is said that the babe was carried "to a place called Messiskow, on the borders of the River Missiscoui, near the north end of Lake Champlain upon the eastern shore." Doctor McAleer, commenting upon this episode, says : "The place here called 'Messiskow' to which these cap- 80 HISTORY OF VERMONT tives were taken was doubtless Swanton Falls, where a very considerable number of these Indians lived for many years, and where they erected a stone church, in the belfry of which was the first bell that ever sum- moned people to the house of worship in Vermont." In a previous chapter a quotation was made from Ira Allen's "History of Vermont," showing that the Indians abandoned the Missisquoi village about 1730 on account of an epidemic, and went to St. Francis. That they, or others, must have returned, has been indicated by state- ments quoted. Other proofs of a resumption of the settlement are available. In a "Journal of Occurrences in Canada," 1746, 1747, found in "Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York," mention is made of a Mohawk attack a league below Chambly. Lieutenant St. Pierre and a detachment were sent to surprise the enemy, and "eight Abenakis of Missiskouy followed this officer." It is further stated that "a party of twenty Abenakis of Missiskouy set out towards Boston," and brought in some prisoners and scalps; that "a party of eight Abenakis of Missiskouy has been fitted out who have been in the vicinity of Corlard (Schenectady) and have returned with some prisoners and scalps" ; that "a party of Abenakis of Missiskouy struck a blow near Orange (Albany) and Corlard and brought in some prisoners and scalps." The number of Indians in direct league with the French in 1744, according to a statement prepared by Governor Clinton of New York, included "the Missis- queeks, 40," or about half the number (90) credited upper picture, Lake Champlain scene Middle picture, Residence of N. W. Fisk, Isle La Motte, where Vice President Roosevelt received news of the assassination of President McKinley Lozvcr piciurc. Site of Fort St. Anne, Isle La Motte, the first white settle- ment in Vermont CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 81 to the St. Francis tribe. Of course forty warriors would include a total population in the Missisquoi vil- lage of several times that number. In a narrative of his captivity, Rev. John Williams, taken prisoner by a party of French and Indians from Canada in the capture of Deerfield, Mass., in 1704, wrote : ''We went a day's journey from the lake (Champlain) to a company of Indians," this being after they had passed down the lake some distance from the mouth of the Winooski River, and he added the information that "we stayed at a branch of the lake and feasted two or three days on geese killed there." It is not improb- able that this stop was made at the Missisquoi village. It is a considerable distance from the regular route to Canada, west of the large islands of Grand Isle county, to the mouth of the Missisquoi. From the earliest knowledge of this region, the marshes at the mouth of this river have been a favorite feeding ground for wild geese on their way south in the autumn. Judge Girouard has said: ''The early settlers relate that the flocks of fowl at certain seasons near the bay (Missis- quoi) were so large and dense that the sun would be obscured during their flight, as though darkened by a cloud." From cover to cover it would be difficult to find in a history of the United States, chapters more thrilling than those which relate to the Indian raids upon the New England colonies. For many years, particularly near the borders of civilization, the settlers lived in con- stant apprehension of Indian attacks, which came silently 82 HISTORY OF VERMONT and swiftly out of the forests, sometimes when the men were working in the fields, and the women and children were engaged in household tasks of the little homes; sometimes at dead of night, when the blood curdling war whoop would arouse the sleeper to the horrors of fire and massacre, and captivity for the survivors. Of all the chieftains who led savage bands out of Canada to fall upon the New England settlements, few were more dreaded than Gray Lock. In connection with the conflict in Maine known as Father Rasles' War (1723-1726), Temple and Sheldon's "His- tory of Northfield, Mass.," says of Gray Lock: "The Indian chief most prominent in the exploits of this war on our borders, and the leader in some daring and suc- cessful expeditions, was Gray Lock, so called from the color of his hair. He was a chieftain of the Waranokes, who lived previous to King Philip's War, on the West- field River, and removed thence to the Mohawk country. He was now well advanced in age, but retained all the daring and tact, and energy of his youth. He was well known to the people of the river towns, and seems to have been capable of inspiring regard by his friendly offices and shrewdness in time of peace, as well as awakening dread by his craft and cruelty in time of war. * * * "At the time of Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) he was living near Mount Royal, and was known as a French Indian that headed small parties fitted out to prey upon the exposed towns on the Connecticut River. In 1723, Gray Lock was living on the shore of Missis- quoi Bay, at the northerly end of Lake Champlain. He CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 83 had built a fort on a small creek, and collected a con- siderable band of followers. Some rich meadows here afforded the squaws a chance to plant large fields of corn. His method was to go forth with a force of trusty savages, larger or smaller, according to circumstances, build a camp at some convenient and secluded point near the towns, and keep out spies and scouts in small parties, who were ready to take scalps or captives, and hurry away for Canada." Trumbull's "History of Northampton," relates the fact that in July, 1712, the last raid of Queen Anne's War occurred. One of the two attacking parties was led by Gray Lock, "the afterwards famous chief," who left Canada July 13. When, or under what circumstances. Gray Lock estab- lished himself on the Missisquoi River, near its mouth, does not appear to be a matter of record. Two reasons may have led him to leave the vicinity of Mount Royal for the Missisquoi country. One reason, probably, was a desire to be in closer proximity to the English settle- ments. Another reason may have been a wish to be nearer the excellent hunting grounds of the region now known as northern Vermont. The Waranokes were famous beaver hunters, and as the Green Mountain coun- try had been a favorite beaver hunting region of the Iroquois, this fact may have been an inducement to locate on the Missisquoi. During the summer of 1723, Governor Dummer of Massachusetts and the officers of the Hampshire county militia, attempted, with the aid of Colonel Schuyler and other Albany officials, to conciliate Gray Lock and other 84 HISTORY OF VERMONT chiefs living near Lake Champlain. Belts and other presents were sent to them, but having accepted from an- other source a more valuable belt, Gray Lock always was conveniently absent when the messengers arrived. On August 13, 1723, Gray Lock, with a party of four Indians, waylaid, killed and scalped two residents of Northfield, Mass. Continuing to Rutland, Mass., Deacon Joseph Stearns and his four sons were attacked as they were at work in the hayfield. Two of the sons were killed and two were made prisoners. Meeting Rev. Joseph Willard in the road, the Indians killed and scalped him, and wath their prisoners made a quick retreat to their castle on the Missisquoi. In order to secure an alliance with the Caughnawagas, Gray Lock gave to them the younger of his two captives. About September 1, Gray Lock started on a fresh expedition. His force consisted of about fifty men of his own and the Caughnawaga tribes, and he was fur- nished with guns and plenty of ammunition by Governor Vaudreuil of Canada. On October 9, 1723, these Indians made a sudden attack on Northfield, Mass., killed one man, wounded two persons, and captured one prisoner. The records show that on December 5, 1723, Capt. Benjamin Wright of Northfield, a famous scout, peti- tioned Governor Dummer for thirty-five or forty men in order that he might proceed to the mouth of Otter Creek and return by way of the White and Connecticut Rivers, but the plan was not carried out. In the year 1724 Fort Dummer was built in the present town of CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 85 Brattleboro, as some writers say to guard against the incursions of Gray Lock. About June 11, 1724, Gray Lock and a party of eleven left his fort for the south and were joined soon by two bands, the first consisting of thirty, and the second of forty men. On June 18, Gray Lock and his Indians fell upon a party of hay makers at Northfield, Mass., killed one man and took two prisoners. A scout of seventeen men pursued the Indians as far as the mouth of Otter Creek. Gray Lock spent the summer and autumn of 1724 in prowling around the settlements at Deerfield, Westfield and Northampton, returning to his Missisquoi camp early in November. The statement concerning Gray Lock's location near the mouth of the Missisquoi is substantiated by the writ- ings of two Colonial leaders. Lieut. Col. John Stod- dard, who selected the site of Fort Dummer, objected to the suggestion made in January, 1725, that a large scout should be organized to go directly to Gray Lock's fort, "and attempt to destroy him and his clan outright." Stoddard wrote on February 3 of that year: "I retain my former opinion, if our people had gone to Gray Lock's fort, which lyeth upon a small river that emptieth itself into the Lake (Champlain) near the further end of it, and had made spoil upon the Indians, those that escaped would in their rage meditate revenge upon our commis- sioners, either in going to or returning from Canada. But an expedition thither in the spring, about the time of their planting corn, may be attended with the like in- convenience. * * * Parties should be raised to go to the upper part of St. Francis River, where these 86 HISTORY OF VERMONT Indians plant their corn, or towards the head of Conn. River where they hunt, or to Ammonoosuck which is the common road from St. Francis to Ammeriscoggan, and so to the Eastern country, or to Gray Lock's fort, or possibly to all of them." In the latter part of March, 1725, Capt. Thomas Wells of Deerfield, Mass., and a party of twenty men went on a scout to the northward. On their return, April 24, a canoe was overturned near the mouth of Miller's River and three men were drowned. Dissatisfied with the re- sult of this expedition. Governor Dummer proposed to Capt. Benjamin Wright to raise and command a party of rangers. Captain Wright replied on May 29, ex- pressing his willingness to do what he could, and adding: "It seems to me the most probable place to be attained, and the most serviceable when done, is Meseesquick, Gray Lock's fort." These letters appear to establish the location of Gray Lock's fort on the Missisquoi beyond question. In two months Captain Wright had recruited fifty- nine men, and the account of the expedition may be read in "A true journal of our march from N-field to Mesix- couk Bay under ye command of Benj. Wright Captain, begim July 27, A. D., 1725." This journal indicates that the rangers, having started the afternoon of July 27 from Northfield, Mass., went as far that night as Pomeroy's Island, five miles above Northfield. The next day they proceeded to Fort Dummer at Brattleboro, where a stop was made for the mending of canoes, after which the party went five miles beyond the fort, to Hawley's Island. On the following day, July 29, they CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 87 came at night ''to a meadow 2 miles short of ye Great Falls" (Bellows Falls). The next day they carried their canoes around the falls and proceeded two miles farther. Their journey was continued up the Connecticut, past the mouth of Black River, and the mouth of White River, encountering much bad weather, and so on as far as the "Cowass" meadows and the mouth of Wells River. Proceeding up Wells River to Groton Pond, they crossed French (Winooski) River, evidently in Marshfield. Continuing their march they came to an- other branch of French River, probably in Calais, and went six miles farther to a beaver pond, possibly one of the Calais ponds, "out of which runs another branch of ye said river," possibly the Worcester Branch. Marching from this branch thirteen miles they "crossed a vast mountain," which may have been Mount Hunger, and camped for the night. The next day they came to a fourth branch of French River, which may have been the Waterbury River, or possibly the Winooski itself. They travelled down this branch six miles and crossed over the mountain six miles farther before mak- ing a camp. If the Waterbury River was referred to no mention is made of crossing the main stream. The journal says: "We marched from here W. N. W. to the top of a vast high mountain, which we called mount Discovery, where we had a fair prospect of ye Lake." Then they went down the mountain, travelling part of the way along a brook. Probably the "vast high moun- tain" was Camel's Hump, and the brook may have been Huntington River. Going down the river they en- 88 HISTORY OF VERMONT camped at the foot of a falls, probably at Winooski, as a few miles brought them to Lake Champlain. The expedition proceeded down the lake only six miles, perhaps to Mallett's Bay, or Colchester Point. At this place the journal says: "And ye northwest end of ye Lake or bay being at a great distance, then we turned homeward without making any discovery here of any enemy." Gray Lock's fort was not destined to suffer the fate that befell that of the Norridgewock Indians at an earlier date, or that which Maj. Robert Rogers meted out to the St. Francis village about thirty-five years later. Mention is made in the journal of a fort at the mouth of Wells River. The party arrived at Northfield, on the return from this scouting expedition, on September 2. About August 18 Gray Lock left his village on the Missisquoi with a band of one hundred and fifty Indians with the double purpose of watching Captain Wright's expedition, and harassing the towns in the Connecticut River valley. Although some Indians were known to have followed Captain Wright as far as Northfield, it is probable that the greater part remained in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, for Colonel Stoddard wrote at this time: "If Capt. Wright could go immediately with 50 men to Otter Creek he might intercept some of those parties." Governor Vaudreuil died on October 25, and his death, it is said, "broke the mainspring" of Indian hos- tilities. Most of the Indians were weary of war, and desired to return to their hunting and trapping. After prolonged negotiations a treaty of peace was signed with CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 89 the Eastern Indians at Boston, December 15, 1725. Gray Lock, however, refused to sign the treaty, and at some time in 1726, he assembled a war party about the mouth of Otter Creek with the intention of attacking the Connecticut River towns, but the rekictance of other Indians to cooperate, and the vigilance of the garrison at Fort Dummer, were responsible for frustrating this plan. In the autumn of 1726 the Indian commissioners at Albany sought to win Gray Lock over by gifts and good will. On January 2, 1727, they sent a message to the chieftain by Malalamet, his brother, inviting him to come to Albany, but the message did not reach him. Then they suggested to the New England authorities that a suitable belt be forwarded them to send to Gray Lock, and that he be invited to Albany to receive it, adding : "He will hardly be persuaded to come into your country, for he has done so much mischief on your fron- tiers, that he doubtless has a guilty conscience." Here the record of Gray Lock's hostilities ends. Peace was established, and for eighteen years the Con- necticut River settlements enjoyed freedom from border warfare. Gray Lock must have been an old man at this time, although his aggressive policy gave no indication of feebleness of body or mind. More than fifty years had elapsed since the death of King Philip, when the chief of the Waranokes left his home Woronoco, in the vicinity of Westfield, where he was the leader of his tribe. There is no record to show his age, but half a century of activity would indicate a career much longer 90 HISTORY OF VERMONT than that which most leaders, whether savage or civilized, enjoy. The history of the Colonial period, therefore, shows a fort in the southern border of the region later known as Vermont, guarding the Massachusetts settlements of the Connecticut River valley against the famous chief- tain Gray Lock and his Indian warriors established in a fort or castle at the extreme northern end of Vermont — the outpost of the French and Indian alliance, pitted against, and watched by, the outpost of the New Eng- land colonists. Because the English and what they stood for won in Vermont, in New England, and in the United States of America, Fort Dummer is a familiar name in history, and Gray Lock and his castle have been lost in obscurity for well nigh two centuries. Neverthe- less, Gray Lock and his Missiassik Indians deserve a place in the early history of Vermont. The raids of Gray Lock and his band were by no means the only ones that followed the trails across the future State of Vermont, or the waters along the borders. For practically a century these expeditions crossed and recrossed the Green Mountains, moving swiftly and silently between Canada and the settlements of New York and New England. On January 30, 1666, Sieur de Courcelles, Governor of New France, started from Fort St. Therese, on the Richelieu River, with five hundred men, soldiers of France and Canadian habitants, on an expedition into the Mohawk country. Proceeding in a southerly direc- tion over the ice-covered surface of Lake Champlain, he approached the vicinity of what is now known as CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 91 Schenectady. Here some of the French troops fell into an ambuscade, eleven soldiers were killed and several were wounded. Having rested his men for three days, the French commander returned with all possible speed to Lake Champlain and Canada, being pursued as far as the lake by the Mohawks. This expedition, designed to quell the hostile Indians, failed to accomplish the desired result, and another was considered necessary. A fort having been constructed at Isle La Motte, a force consisting of six hundred regulars of the Carignan- Salieres regiment, six hundred habitants, and one hun- dred Indians, assembled here, and on the mainland to the west of the island. Early in October the Mohawk country again was in- vaded. The Indians had abandoned their villages upon the approach of the French soldiers, but their houses and many of their stores were burned. This expedition secured a peace lasting nearly twenty years. Following the accession to the British throne of William and Mary in 1689, war broke out between Eng- land and France, and the conflict extended to the Ameri- can colonies. Governor de Callieres of Montreal sub- mitted to the King of France a plan for the conquest of New York. As a part of that plan, designed to check the depredations of the Iroquois, a party of two hundred and ten men was fitted out at Montreal in January, 1690. This expedition, led by Sieur de St. Helene and Lieutenant de Mantet crossed Lake Champlain on the ice, and on a bitterly cold winter night attacked Schenec- tady. The small fort there was captured, the garrison was massacred, the village was burned, and twenty-seven 92 HISTORY OF VERMONT prisoners were taken. On the return trip the invaders were pursued, and suffered great hardships, owing to the fact that the provisions cached had spoiled, and the soldiers were reduced to such straits that they boiled their moccasins for food. Near the end of March, 1690, a small detachment of English and Indians, commanded by Capt. Jacobus de Warm, was sent to Crown Point, from Albany, to watch the enemy from Canada. A few days later, Capt. Abram Schuyler, with a few Englishmen, some Mohawks and Scaticooks, was ordered by the Albany authorities to the mouth of Otter Creek, as a scouting party to give warning of the approach of any hostile force from the north. Schuyler proceeded into Canada as far as Chambly, where he killed two persons and took one prisoner. As part of an elaborate plan for the invasion of Canada by the Colonial troops of Massachusetts, Con- necticut and New York, a force of eight hundred men under Gen. John Winthrop was assembled at the south- ern end of Lake Champlain, in August, 1690, but the Indians failing to bring reinforcements, or furnish canoes, the expedition was abandoned, greatly to the dis- appointment of many of the people of the Colonies. Capt. John Schuyler, being unwilling wholly to abandon the project of a Canadian invasion, with twenty-nine Englishmen and one hundred and twenty Indians, pro- ceeded by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to Laprairie, Canada, and on August 23 he attacked the place, burning houses and barns, killing six men, and taking nineteen prisoners. On August 24 he CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 93 camped at Isle La Motte and on August 25 stopped at Sand Point, probably Colchester Point. The next stop was at "the little stone fort," the exact location of which is unknown, but as it was evidently a day's journey from Sand Point, it may have been at the mouth of Otter Creek, which appears to have been a regular stopping place in traversing Lake Champlain. On June 21, 1691, Maj. Peter Schuyler, a brother of Capt. John Schuyler, left Albany, on a scouting expedi- tion, and July 17, according to his journal, he reached Ticonderoga with a force of two hundred and sixty Eng- lish and Indians and on July 19 advanced to Crown Point. On July 23, spies were sent out who advanced to Regio, or Split Rock, the main body following as far as the mouth of Otter Creek. The spies discovered several camp fires of hostile Indians, and reported that by their number there might be a "considerable army," and as a matter of precaution Schuyler built a small stone fort breast high, possibly similar to the "little stone fort" referred to the previous year. The next day the hostile Indians had disappeared. On July 26 they left the mouth of Otter Creek and pro- ceeded "to a place called Fort Lamotte several years de- serted," and on July 27 reached Chambly. He surprised and captured Laprairie, defeating Governor de Callieres, who lost about two hundred men killed and wounded, Schuyler's loss being slight, and retreated in safety to Albany. These successes encouraged the Iroquois to harass the Canadian settlements, and in order to check these depre- dations, Count de Frontenac assembled a force of six 94 HISTORY OF VERMONT hundred or seven hundred French and Indians, in Jan- uary, 1693, and marching over the frozen surface of Lake Champlain, he fell upon the Mohawk villages beyond Schenectady. Many persons were killed and more than three hundred prisoners were captured. Major Schuyler, with a hastily assembled force, pursued the French as far as the Hudson River, and recaptured about fifty prisoners. The French suffered severe priva- tions before they reached Canada. The greater part of the raids, however, were directed toward the settlements in New England. Toward eve- ning, on July 14, 1698, a small party of Indians attacked a number of persons who were working in the fields at Hatfield, Mass., killing a man and a boy, and taking two boys prisoners. One man escaped and gave the alarm. The news was carried swiftly to Deerfield, where a party of fourteen men was assembled, and mounting horses they rode nearly all night until they reached the Great Bend of the Connecticut at Vernon, opposite the mouth of the Ashuelot River, a distance of twenty miles. Concealing their horses, they formed an ambush, and soon after daybreak the Indians were seen coming north in two canoes. Firing on the savages, they killed two of them, and the captive boys made their escape. One member of the rescuing party, Nathaniel Pomeroy, of Deerfield, was shot and killed, on an island in the Con- necticut River, which is still known as Pomeroy's Island. In 1702 hostilities were renewed between Great Britain and France, and continued for nearly eleven years. This conflict was known as Queen Anne's War. Deerfield was the most northerly settlement of im- CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 95 portance on the Connecticut River, and in the winter of 1704 the Canadian authorities ordered an attack upon this Massachusetts town. Maj. Hertel de Rouville, commanding two hundred Frenchmen and one hundred and forty-two Indians, was sent on this expedition. Following Lake Champlain to the mouth of the Winooski River, the party ascended that stream, crossed the Green Mountains, descended the White River to the Connecti- cut, and followed that stream to Deerfield. Having watched for several hours, until the guard fell asleep, the town was surprised shortly before day- break on the morning of February 29, the depth of snow permitting the attacking party to leap over the slight fortifications. The place was captured without much difficulty. Forty-seven of the inhabitants were killed, one hundred and nineteen men, women and children were captured, and the village was plundered and burned. Among those captured was the village pastor. Rev. John Williams, who has left a record of his capture and imprisonment in a volume called ''The Redeemed Cap- tive." Indian moccasins were substituted for the foot- wear worn by the English prisoners, and plans were made for a journey of three hundred miles to Canada, the snow at the time being knee deep. On the way north nineteen persons were killed and two starved to death. These included infants, children and feeble women. Soon after the party started Mrs. Williams was killed. On the sixth day of the journey, Sunday, March 5, the party rested, and Mr. Williams preached a sermon to his fellow captives, taking as his text Sam. 1 :18, "The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against his com- 96 HISTORY OF VERMONT mandment; hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity." This is supposed to have been the first ser- mon preached within what is now the State of Vermont by a clergyman of the Protestant faith. The encamp- ment is said to have been at the mouth of a river in the town of Rockingham, since known as Williams River, in honor of the captive preacher. The captors urged the prisoners to "Sing us one of Zion's" songs, and up- braided them because the dejected captives did not sing- as loud as their masters. The party proceeded as far as the mouth of the White River, where it was divided, the greater portion going farther up the Connecticut valley to the "Cowass" re- gion; the other, of which Mr. Williams was a member, following the White River to South Royalton, proceed- ing thence up the First Branch through what are now the towns of Tunbridge, Chelsea and Washington to the height of land, thence down Stevens' Branch to the Winooski River and to Lake Champlain, in Colchester, from which place they proceeded over the ice of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to Chambly, Canada. Two days before the French, or Winooski, River was reached, Mr. Williams was informed by his master that he had killed five moose, which gives an idea of the abundance of game in this region. After a journey, probably, of twenty-five days, over what was truly a "way of sorrow," the prisoners arrived at their destina- tion. Stephen Williams, a son of Rev. John Williams, was a member of the party that proceeded up the Connecticut CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 97 River toward "Cowass." Before reaching that place Indians were met who told of an English raid in the vicinity, as a result of which the region was being de- serted. The party remained for a month or six weeks where its members met these Indians from up the river, and suffered much from lack of provisions, being com- pelled to eat roots and the bark of trees. After they had started for Canada, Stephen was compelled to carry heavy burdens. Samuel Carter believes that these Indians made a camp on one of the sources of the Winooski, probably in Peacham, where they stayed until they had feasted on some moose they had killed. From here Stephen's master went to look for his family, and finding them sent for Stephen, who went a day's journey to join them. Carter is of the opinion that this Indian family was located on Joe's Pond, in the eastern part of Cabot, and that the hunting range may have included parts of Cabot, Walden, Danville and Peacham. Stephen ar- rived in Chambly in the month of August, about six months after Deerfield was captured. According to Penhallow's ''Wars of New England," word came to Northampton in the spring of 1704 that a party of Canadian Indians had built a fort and planted corn at Coos (Newbury). Thereupon Caleb Lyman and five friendly Indians proceeded up the Connecticut valley, and while a thunder storm was raging, he attacked a wigwam containing nine Indians, killing seven. According to Col. Frye Bailey and other early settlers, Captain Wells and a small force proceeded to the mouth of Wells River in 1704. Several men became ill of 98 HISTORY OF VERMONT smallpox, and they spent at least a portion of the winter here, building a small log fort. Some of the party, it is said, died here. The river is said to have been named for the commander v^ho, probably, was Capt. Jonathan Wells. In February, 1708, Capt. Benjamin Wright began his career as an Indian fighter by leading a small party to **Coasset" or ''Cowass," near the mouth of Wells River, but no Indians were found. In May, 1709, Captain Wright, with ten men, ascended the Connecticut River, crossed the Green Mountains, and descended to Lake Champlain by one of the well known Indian trails. It is said that the party went within forty miles of Cham- bly. Distances were not very accurately determined and this may indicate that the party went as far as Isle La Motte, or the outlet of Lake Champlain, or to the vicinity of the Indian settlement near the mouth of the Missisquoi. On May 20, Captain Wright's party attacked two canoes containing Indians, killing, as they supposed, four savages, although only one scalp was secured. One canoe with provisions and arms was captured. The next day they seized and destroyed five canoes. On the return trip they met some French and Indians on the Winooski River, and killed, as they believed, four men, although the French account states that only one man was killed. In this encounter, Lieut. John Wells and John Burt, of Wright's party, were killed and John Strong was wounded, but was able to return to his home. Thomas Baker, captured at Deerfield, February 27 , 1709, was taken up the Connecticut River, and thence to CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 99 Canada by the Lake Memphremagog route. His cap- tivity lasted a year, and during that time he became familiar with the country occupied by his captors, its rivers, and mountain passes. Early in 1712 he raised a company of thirty-four men and proceeded to the region known as Coos, and into New Hampshire, where some Indians were killed, the party returning without sustain- ing any loss. The Legislature of Massachusetts, by special resolution, granted to each member of this expedi- tion twenty pounds as a bounty for his part in the exploit. In 1711 a formidable attack on Canada was planned. Four thousand men were to proceed by way of Lake Champlain, and an expedition, 6,400 strong, sailed from Boston for Quebec. The fleet was wrecked, with heavy loss, and as the news reached the other army before it left Lake George, the Lake Champlain campaign was abandoned. Reference has been made previously to raids made in several Massachusetts towns by Gray Lock, the famous Indian chief. After he had attacked a party in the vicinity of Hatfield, a detachment of seven- teen men was organized in that town and went as far as the mouth of Otter Creek, as they supposed, in pur- suit of Gray Lock, but the wily chieftain was lurking in the vicinity of the Massachusetts settlements instead of being on his way to his Missisquoi stronghold. This scouting expedition was organized hastily, leav- ing without proper equipment, and as a result its mem- bers suffered great hardships. The "Massachusetts Archives" quotes Dr. Thomas Hastings of Hatfield as 569SS6 100 HISTORY OF VERMONT saying: "Saw most of ye men when they went forth; they were lusty and in good plight, effective men; saw them when they returned, and they were much emaciated, and their feet so swelled and galled that they could scarce travel on their feet — for some they were necessi- tated to hire horses. Some one or more applied to me to dress their feet and were under my care for a week or more, in bathing and emplastering before they were anything tolerably recruited." This gives a little pic- ture of the hardships of the trail over the Green Moun- tains to Lake Champlain, unless preparation was made similar to that which enabled the Indians to make long marches with comparative ease. On October 7, 1724, Captain Kellogg of Northfield wrote that he had a scout out under orders to go "up ye Great River" (the Connecticut), forty miles, and thence eastward to "Great Monadnock." During the late summer and early autumn most of his force had been employed in guarding the farmers during the har- vest season. This task being accomplished, Captain Kellogg sent out scouting parties, most of them going into southern Vermont to guard against the ever-present danger of incursions from Gray Lock and other enemies from the north. Captain Kellogg describes these expeditions in his journal in the following manner: "The first scout on November 30, 1724, went up on ye west side of Conn. River, and crossing ye West River went up to ye Great Falls (Bellows Falls), and returned, making no discov- ery of any enemy. The second scout went up to West River and followed up sd river 6 miles, and then crossed CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 101 the woods to ye Great Falls, and returned seeing no new signs of ye enemy. The third scout went west from Northfield about 12 miles, then northward crossing West River, and steering east came to canoe place about 16 or 17 miles above Northfield. The fourth struck out northward about 6 miles, then north across West River and so to the Great Meadow, below ye Great Falls, then crossed the Conn. River and came down on the east side. This meadow is about 32 miles from Northfield. The fifth, the men were sent up West River Mountain, there to lodge on the top and view morning and evening for smoaks, and from there up to ye Mountain at ye Great Falls, and there also to lodge on ye top, and view morn- ing and evening for smoaks. The sixth went up to West River, which they followed 5 miles, then north till they come upon Sexton's (Saxtons) River six miles from the mouth of it, which empties itself at ye front of ye Great Falls, and then they came down to the mouth of it, and so returned. In addition we watch and ward 3 forts at Northfield continually, besides what those 10 men do at Deerfield, and ye people are uneasy that we have no more men to keep ye forts than we have." Temple and Sheldon's "History of Northfield" well says of this modest record: "This journal, kept with soldier-like precision, reads like the most ordinary mat- ter of fact afifair, deserving no special attention and no commendation, except evidence of a faithful discharge of duty. But the labors it recorded, and the daring and endurance of these handfuls of men, thus striking ofif into the wild forest in the winter, fording bridgeless streams, and climbing mountains slippery with ice and 102 HISTORY OF VERMONT blocked up with snow, watching for the curling smokes from the red man's camp and listening for the report of his gun, were a most exciting romance, if they had not been a terrible reality. By such vigilance and fidelity, and wear of soul and body, was our village protected, and our valley kept clean of blood." Mention has been made of the proposal of Capt. Ben- jamin Wright to attack Gray Lock's fort on the Missis- quoi and of the failure to reach that stronghold. Late in March, 1725, Capt. Thomas Wells of Deer field led a scouting party northward on an expedition lasting a month, but there is no record of anything of real value accomplished. For nearly two decades following the signing of the treaty of peace with the Eastern Indians at Boston, December 15, 1725, this valley enjoyed freedom from conflict, and respite from the awful horror of the savage peril that might emerge at any hour, from the northern forests. During this interval of peace the boundaries of the frontier had been pushed farther into the wilder- ness, along either bank of ''the Great River," and ad- venturous pioneers had begun settlements at Westmin- ster and Putney, now Vermont towns, and at Keene, Charlestown, and perhaps at Westmoreland, in the province of New Hampshire. War was declared between Great Britain and France on March 15, 1744. On July 9, 1745, William Phipps was captured by a small party of Indians as he was hoeing corn in his field in the Great Meadows of Putney. He was taken into the woods by two savages. One of them having returned for something he had left, Phipps CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 103 struck down his keeper with his hoe, and taking the disabled Indian's gun shot the other Indian as he re- turned. Phipps then started for the fort, but was inter- cepted by other Indians, who killed and scalped him. As a result of this episode the woods were filled with scouts and the towns were guarded by a company of fifty-six men from July 12 to September 8. On October 11a party of eighty French and Indians attacked the fort at the Great Meadow, killed David Rugg and captured Nehemiah How, both being residents of Putney. The fort was not seriously damaged, but all the cattle were killed. Soldiers from Northfield and Fort Dummer pursued the enemy as far as Number Four (Charlestown, N. H.) without overtaking them. The garrisons at the river forts were strengthened as winter approached. A party of Indians appeared on June 24, 1746, in the vicinity of Bridgman's fort, in the town of Vernon, below Fort Dummer, and attacked some men who were at work in a meadow below the fort. William Robbins and James Barker were killed, Michael Gilson and Patrick Ray were wounded, and Daniel How, Jr., and John Beaman w^re taken prisoners. The same day a party of Indians surprised a scout of twelve men com- manded by Capt. Timothy Carter, while they were rest- ing at Cold Spring, a little way below Fort Dummer, capturing a part of their arms, although all the men escaped. The French and Indian expedition under Rigaud, which captured Fort Massachusetts, situated between the present sites of North Adams and Williamstown, 104 HISTORY OF VERMONT in August, 1746, camped near the mouth of Otter Creek, on the Poultney River, and at what is now North Pownal, Vt., on the way to their destination. On April 4, 1747, the post at Charlestown, N. H., known as Number Four, was attacked by a large party of French and Indians under Debeline, the siege lasting three days, but it was successfully defended. On May 15, a party of seven men went as far as Otter Creek on a scouting expedition. Another scout of five men from Connecticut River towns was out twenty-two days in August, traversing the Black River region "to discover motions of the enemy." In February, 1748, the Massachusetts General Court voted to increase the garrisons at Fort Massachusetts and at Number Four to one hundred men each, and a portion of these forces was to be employed constantly *'to intercept the French and Indian enemy in their marches from Wood Creek and Otter Creek." On March 29, 1748, Lieut. John Sergeant, his son Daniel, Moses Cooper, Joshua Wells, and another whose name is not recorded, started from Fort Dummer for Colrain, Mass., to cut ash timber for oars and paddles. They had gone only about a mile down the river when they fell into an Indian ambush. Lieutenant Sergeant and Joshua Wells were killed. Cooper was mortally wounded, but was able to reach the fort, and Daniel Sergeant was captured. The next day a party of seven men from Northfield went up to Fort Dummer, and finding the bodies of Sergeant and Wells, buried them. Capt. Josiah Wil- lard, commandant at Fort Dummer, says of this period : CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 105 "I had but eight men left besides what were sick with the measles, when the enemy made their attack on these five men." On May 13, 1748, Capt. Eleazer Melvin, with eighteen of his best men, started from Fort Dummer on a scout- ing expedition. That night the party encamped at the fort in Westmoreland known as Number Two, pro- ceeding the next day to Number Four, where the expedi- tion was increased by the addition of sixty men under Captains Stevens and Hobbs. Following the old Indian trail up Black River, they crossed the Green Mountains by the Mount Holly Pass, and descended to Otter Creek. Here Captain Melvin crossed the stream and proceeded toward Crown Point, while Captains Stevens and Hobbs followed the east bank of Otter Creek. Captain Melvin reached Lake Champlain a few miles south of Crown Point, on May 24, and camped after marching down the lake about three miles. Melvin's bravery appears to have exceeded his discretion. Con- tinuing his journey north the next morning he discovered two canoes containing Indians, and fired several volleys at them, although he was in plain sight of the French fort at Crown Point. He now made haste to retreat through the drowned lands, being pursued by one hun- dred and fifty Indians. Discovering that the savages were on his trail, Melvin followed the south branch of Otter Creek, crossed the height of land and reached the headwaters of a branch of the West River. The party being weary and hungry and supposing that they had eluded their pursuers, they stopped to rest, eat their lunch and shoot salmon. 106 HISTORY OF VERMONT Guided probably by the sound of the guns, the Indians discovered Melvin and his men, and approaching steahh- ily suddenly opened fire from behind logs and trees, only a few rods away. Unable to rally his soldiers, Captain Melvin fled, his belt being carried away by a shot or a hatchet stroke. He reached Fort Dummer before noon the next day. One of his men already had arrived there and eleven more came in before nightfall. Five men were killed. Sergeants John Howard and Isaac Taylor, John Dodd, Daniel Mann and Samuel Severance. Joseph Petty, wounded too severely to travel, was left by a spring on a couch of pine boughs "to live if he could" until help should return, but it did not return in time to save him, only in time to bury him, a service performed by another party for his com- rades who were slain. This conflict probably took place in Londonderry, ''thirty-three miles from Fort Dummer up West River." As a result of this disaster a fast was proclaimed at Northfield. The detachment led by Captains Stevens and Hobbs followed the Otter Creek a little way, then turned east, hoping to reach White River. After following a stream for five days, and crossing it thirty-five times in one day, they learned that it was the Ottaquechee. From the mouth of this stream they proceeded by rafts and canoes to Number Four, having been absent two weeks on the expedition. A few days later, Captain Stevens and sixty men proceeded to Fort Dummer, where they remained two weeks, returning with a stock of pro- visions. CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 107 The day after Captain Stevens' return, fourteen men on the way from Hinsdale, N. H., to Fort Dummer were waylaid near the mouth of Broad Brook by a band of Indians. John Frost, Jonathan French and Joseph Richardson were killed and scalped. Seven men were taken prisoners and four escaped. Capt. Humphrey Hobbs, with forty men, left Number Four on June 24, 1748, for Fort Shirley, at Heath, Mass., on a scouting expedition. Two days later the party halted about twelve miles west of Fort Dummer, probably in the present town of Marlboro, for the mid- day meal. A sudden attack was made by a consider- able body of Indians, led by a chief named Sackett, said to have been a half-breed descendant of a captive. For- tunately Captain Hobbs had posted a guard which gave warning of the approach of the enemy, and the Colonial troops sought shelter behind trees, fighting the Indians in their own fashion. The battle continued for four hours. At the end of this period, Sackett having been wounded, the Indians retired, carrying ofif their dead and wounded. It is said that when an Indian fell a comrade would approach cautiously, keeping under cover as much as possible, attach a tump line to the body, and it would be drawn to the rear, moving along the ground as though moved by some magic power. Hobbs lost three men killed, Samuel Gunn, Ebenezer Mitchell and Eli Scott, and four men were wounded. Fearing an- other attack Hobbs and his men remained until night, when, under cover of darkness, they retired about two 108 HISTORY OF VERMONT miles, burying their dead and caring for the wounded. The next day, June 27, they arrived at Fort Dummer. On July 14, 1748, Sergt. Thomas Taylor, with six soldiers and ten recruits, started from Northfield, Mass., for his post at Keene, N. H. When near Hinsdell's fort, on the east side of the Connecticut River, less than a mile below Fort Dummer, the detachment marched into an ambush, carefully planned by a party of French and Indians, that outnumbered Taylor's party at least six to one. Asahel Graves and Henry Chandler were killed and scalped, eleven men were captured, two escaped to Hinsdell's fort and two crossed the river and found refuge at Fort Dummer. Two Indians were killed. Two of the prisoners, who were wounded, were knocked on the head with war clubs, and killed. The other prisoners were taken up the east bank of the Con- necticut to the mouth of West River, where they crossed the stream, ascended the West River valley, crossed the mountain range, probably in the present town of Peru, and descended the Otter Creek valley. Leaving the river valley, the prisoners were taken across country to Lake Champlain, about twelve miles below Crown Point, reaching the lake, probably, at or near Ticonderoga. The route to Canada was taken by way of the lake and the Richelieu River. A party of militia and soldiers from Hatfield, Deer- field, Northfield, and other towns in the Connecticut valley, one hundred and twenty-nine in all, set out in pursuit. They buried the victims, but failed to overtake the enemy. The garrison at Fort Dummer was strengthened in August, 1748, and again from Novem- CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 109 ber 15, 1748, to March 1, 1749. A garrison of ten men was kept at Fort Dummer during 1750. Four men who were hunting on a branch of the Merri- mac River on April 28, 1752, were surprised by Indians, and two were captured, one of the captives being John Stark. The prisoners were taken to Canada by the Lake Memphremagog route. There were not many Indian depredations in New England between June, 1749, and May, 1754. When the conflict generally known as the French and Indian War began. Col. Israel Williams, commanding the north- ern New Hampshire regiment, wrote to Governor Shir- ley of Massachusetts, outlining a plan of campaign. He suggested that at least fifty men should be stationed at Fort Massachusetts, a part of them to be employed to watch the roads from Crown Point. In his letter he said : "The enemy generally when they leave that place come by the southerly side of the Lake (Champlain) or Drowned Lands, leave their canoes, and come down to Hoosuck; or they may turn ofif to the east (into Ver- mont) ; let which be the case, that fort is best situated to send parties from for the purpose aforesaid to gain advantage." Colonel Williams refers to the forts north of the Massachusetts border as follows: "As to ye forts above ye Line, if New Hampshire would support them, it might be well; but the advantage that would arise to this government by doing it would not countervail the expense, nor lessen the charge we must be at in de- fending our frontiers on ye east side of ye River, where they can be much easier and cheaper supplied with pro- 110 HISTORY OF VERMONT visions. Notwithstanding the fort at No. 4, the enemy can and will come down Black River, Williams River or West River, go over east, or turn down south without hazard, and return with like security the same way, or go above." Early on the morning of August 30, 1754, a band of Indians appeared at Number Four, forcibly entered the house of James Johnson, and captured Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, their three children, a sister of Mrs. John- son, Miss Miriam Willard, also Ebenezer Farnsworth and Peter Labaree. Crossing the Connecticut, the party proceeded up the Black River, camping the first night in the southwest corner of the present town of Reading. The following morning Mrs. Johnson gave birth to a daughter, to whom was given the appropriate name of Captive. After remaining at this camp for a day, a litter was made on which Mrs. Johnson was carried. A little later she was permitted to ride on a horse. As food was scarce it became necessary to kill the horse, and for several days the infant received its principal nourish- ment from pieces of horse flesh, which it sucked. A marker has been erected to commemorate the sufferings of Mrs. Johnson. Captive Johnson and her parents afterward returned from their captivity and the girl later became the wife of Col. George Kimball of Caven- dish. Alarmed by this incursion, the few inhabitants of Westminster removed to Walpole, N. H. In 1755 a fort was built in the Great Meadow at Putney, to pro- tect the people of that town, Westminster and West- moreland, N. H. Bridgman's fort, built in Vernon CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 111 meadow, a little way below Fort Dummer, by Orlando Bridgman, was burned by Indians early in October, 1747, several persons being killed, and others captured. This fort was rebuilt on a larger scale, but it was erected on low ground, and it was possible from a neighboring eminence to see into the enclosure, and observe the move- ments of the garrison. Evidently a watch was kept and the signal for admittance was learned. On the morning of June 27, 1755, Hilkiah Grant, Benjamin Gaffield, and Caleb Howe accompanied by Howe's two sons, left the fort to work in a cornfield on the bank of the river. Returning at the close of the day's labor, they were fired at from ambush. Howe was shot, scalped, and left for dead, and his two sons were captured. Gaffield was drowned in attempting to cross the river, and Grant escaped. The families in the fort had heard the firing and awaited the return of the party from the meadow with anxiety. Hearing the sound of footsteps and a rapping outside, the occupants hastily opened the gate, the proper signal having been given, and admitted, not members of their families, but a band of hostile Indians. The women and children, fourteen in all, were made prison- ers and the fort was plundered and burned. The prisoners were taken to Crown Point, a nine days' jour- ney, and after resting there a week proceeded to the Canadian settlement of St. Francis. Through the in- fluence of Capt. Peter Schuyler and Maj. Israel Put- nam, Mrs. Howe and three of her children were re- deemed. Caleb Howe was found alive the morning after the attack, and was taken to Hinsdell's fort, but 112 HISTORY OF VERMONT died soon after his arrival there. Mrs. Howe was a woman of great personal beauty, and was known as "The Fair Captive." She was married three times. Her first husband, William Phipps, and her second husband, Caleb Howe, were killed by Indians. Her third hus- band was Amos Tute, with whom she lived many years. In 1757 Massachusetts raised a company of forty- five rangers under Capt. John Burk, and they were stationed at Hinsdell's fort. Much of their scouting was along the West River and its branches, and fre- quently they would ascend West River Mountain, to watch for smokes from the enemy's campfires. A party of Indians attacked the home of Capt. Fair- bank Moore, on the West River, in Brattleboro, at mid- night, March 6, 1758. Bursting open the door, they killed and scalped Captain Moore and his son. Mrs. Moore and her four children, the youngest only a few weeks old, were taken prisoners, and the party on snow- shoes crossed the Green Mountains to Fort Ticonderoga, and from there proceeded to Montreal. In the early autumn of the year 1759, General Amherst, commanding the British troops in the Cham- plain valley, exasperated by the fact that the St. Francis Indians had made a prisoner of an officer sent with a flag of truce, ordered Maj. Robert Rogers, the famous scout, to take two hundred men and ''attack the enemy's settlements on the south side of the St. Lawrence, in such a manner as shall most efifectively disgrace and in- jure the enemy and redound to the honor and success of His Majesty's arms." CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 113 On the night of September 12, 1759, Major Rogers started on his expedition. The French fleet was cruis- ing on Lake Champlain, and it was with some difficulty that Rogers and his men avoided the enemy. On the fifth day out from Crown Point, while encamped on the eastern shore of the lake, a keg of gunpowder acci- dentally was ignited, and Captain Williams and forty men, who were injured or sick returned, leaving one hundred and forty-two men to continue the expedition. After a terl days' journey, Rogers landed on the Cana- dian shore of Missisquoi Bay, probably at what is now the village of Philipsburg. The boats were concealed, a sufficient supply of provisions was left to carry the party back to Crown Point, and two trusty Indians re- mained to watch the boats and supplies. On the second day of his Canadian journey Rogers was overtaken by his Indian guards, who informed him that four hundred Frenchmen had captured the boats and half of that force v/as following on his track. Rogers determined to outmarch his pursuers, destroy the St. Francis village, and return home by way of the Connecticut River, having sent a few men back to Gen- eral Amherst to inform him of the situation and to re- quest that provisions be forwarded to Coos (now New- bury) on the Connecticut River. For nine days the party marched through a spruce bog, and on the tenth day came to a river fifteen miles north of the village of St. Francis. Leaving his detachment three miles from the settlement, Rogers and two companions dressed in Indian garb, approached the village. The Indians were engaged, to use Rogers' expression, "in a high frolic." 114 HISTORY OF VERMONT For this reason the attack was deferred until a half hour before sunrise, the festivities having continued until four o'clock on the morning of October 5. Waiting until the merrymakers had fallen into a deep sleep, Rogers attacked the village from three sides. The wigwams were set on fire, two hundred out of a population of three hundred were killed, and twenty women and children were taken prisoners, most of whom were released. At seven o'clock the battle was ended. Six soldiers were wounded and one friendly Indian was killed. Five English captives were released, and six hundred scalps were found hanging upon poles over the doors of the wigwams. In his journal Rogers remarked that these Indians of St. Francis "had for a century past harassed the frontiers of New England, murdering people of all ages and sexes, and in times of peace when they had no reason to suspect hostile intentions. They had, within my own knowledge, during six years past, killed and carried away more than six hundred persons." It was determined to return to the post known as Number Four. The party kept together for eight days, and when they approached Lake Memphremagog, pro- visions becoming scarce, they divided into companies with guides, and were directed to assemble at the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River. The enemy pursued and captured seven men, two of whom escaped. The officer ordered to proceed to the place agreed upon with provisions remained only two days, and left about two hours before the arrival of Rogers. Finding a fresh fire burning, guns were fired, but the officer only hastened his pace, thinking the enemy was approaching. CHIEF GRAY LOCK AND INDIAN RAIDS 115 The soldiers were in a desperate condition, and Rogers, leaving them to subsist as best they might on ground nuts and lily roots, made a raft of dry pine trees and with Captain Ogden and a captive Indian boy paddled down stream, narrowly escaping being carried over White River falls. The raft was lost and Rogers then burned down trees, and burned them off at the proper length for another raft, on which the three floated to Ottaquechee Falls. They succeeded in getting the raft over this waterfall, and floated down to Num- ber Four. Here a party of wood cutters was found, and a canoe loaded with provisions was sent immediately up the river to the starving soldiers, reaching them ten days after Rogers' departure. Two days later Rogers went up the river with two canoes to meet his comrades. After resting at Number Four those who were able to march started for Crown Point, reaching that post December 1, 1759. Forty-nine men, or one-third the total force, died as a result of the hardships attending this march through the wilderness. Thus ended, with the practical annihilation of the St. Francis tribe, the long period of border warfare, which had been a scourge to New England, particularly to the settlements in the Connecticut valley. During the greater part of a century the soil of Ver- mont and its navigable waters had been crossed and re- crossed, traversed again and again, by Indian, French and English war parties. Through the Green Mountain forests, and along the rivers which flow down the moun- tain slopes, had passed many bands of sorrowing cap- tives, men and women and little children, led to a country 116 HISTORY OF VERMONT where the speech and the customs were unfamiliar and where they knew not what evil the future might hold in store for them. Today these savage forays, the war whoop at mid- night, the torch and the tomahawk, the cruel journeys over rough mountain trails, the fear of attack or ambush, never entirely absent, seem like a terrible dream; but for many a decade they were a very stern reality to the pioneer settlers of New England. Chapter V THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES THE first settlement by white men within the limits of what is now Vermont was made by the French, at Isle La Motte, near the northern end of Lake Champlain, in 1666, fifty-seven years after the great explorer had discovered the lake to which he gave his name. It is probable that this lake had been traversed for years before the beginning of the Isle La Motte settlement by missionaries sent to the Iroquois tribes, and very likely encampments were made on Vermont soil during these journeys southward. Isle La Motte, Colchester Point and the mouth of Otter Creek seem to have been favorite camp sites at a very early period. A French document, dated March 8, 1688, declares that for more than forty years several Frenchmen and some Jesuit missionaries had resided in the Iroquois country. Owing to the aggressiveness of the Iroquois in their attacks upon the French in Canada, and a desire to have military posts where stores for troops might be deposited, it was decided in 1655 to build three forts on the Riche- lieu River, designated on ancient maps as the River of the Iroquois, because it led to the Iroquois country. During the autumn of 1655, M. de Repentigny, a cap- tain in the French service, was sent to Isle La Motte to prepare a site for another fort, that should be the most advanced of all the French fortifications. Pierre de St. Paul, Sieur la Mothe (or la Motte), a Captain of the Carignan regiment, with a few companies of soldiers, was sent to this place in the summer of 1666 to build the fort. It was completed in July of that year, shortly before M. de Chazy, a young French officer, was killed 120 HISTORY OF VERMONT by a Mohawk war party on Lake Champlain, near the mouth of the river which bears his name. This fortifi- cation was dedicated to St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin, in whose honor a chapel was erected the same year, 1666, which was the first edifice in Vermont, erected for Christian worship, of which there is record. Although the dates of the erection of chapels at the mouth of Otter Creek and on the Winooski River are unknown, it is probable that they were not built until after the establishment of Fort St. Anne, and little is known concerning their building. It is a matter of record that the width of this fort was ninety-six feet, but there is some doubt concerning its length, one end of the site having been washed away. The dimension that is known corresponded to that of Forts Richelieu and St. Therese, built in 1665 on the Richelieu River. If the length was the same, it was one hundred and forty- four feet. The Mohawks having broken their treaty with the French, it was determined that the ofifenders should be punished, and an expedition was organized in Canada with orders to rendezvous at the new fort in Isle La Motte, on September 28, 1666. Six hundred veterans of the Carignan-Salieres regiment formed the nucleus of the expedition. This was a famous regiment which had been raised by Thomas Francis, Prince de Carignan, and was commanded by Henry de Chapelas, Sieur de Salieres, colonel of another regiment which was in- corporated with that of Carignan, the name being changed to Carignan-Salieres. This military organiza- tion had participated in the war of La Fronde, had ^.5 acq Ji,^- ^^-3 <^f.^ c o " 3 S "^ > OJ n X . S'bJO^i^ C^y= oJvcS •'""■JJ i-r:i.i'2 ° 5 -t c .S ^ ^ t! -c o ^ „'•- S i2 ii< ,<' ;&^ ^ u X" r^ O <u 3 ;_ JiXl "- " ' "^^ r7i <" ^ ^ ^ r/i t^ V oj S v ... -.^rR •-'^ b: o n o cu>.'" ?-; ^ Q CO uT^; -t ti:a^oS^fiHH^>^jso< -^^'s J: THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES 121 served under Turenne at Auxerre, had been sent in 1664 to aid Emperor Leopold against the Turks, gaining dis- tinction in the battle of St. Godard, and it had arrived recently from Hungary. The first detachment of the regiment arrived in Canada in June, 1665, with Marquis de Tracy, to whom the King of France had issued a patent of Lieutenant General, with a commission as Viceroy in America. The remaining companies came with Colonel de Salieres and the new Governor General, M. de Courcelles. Here, on this wilderness island, in the season when the unbroken expanse of forest that extended from the slopes of the Green and Adirondack Mountains to the shores of Lake Champlain was turning to russet and crimson and gold, were assembled in the farthest south- ern outpost of the French dominions in Canada, six hundred veteran soldiers, trained on the battlefields of Europe, but ignorant of the tactics of the North Ameri- can Indians. On the western shore of the lake, only a little distance away, were encamped six hundred habitants, or Canadian volunteers, and one hundred Algonquins and Hurons. It was a curious combination of opposite extremes in military organization. An account of this foray into the Mohawk country has been given in a previous chapter. During the winter of 1666-67 many of the garrison at Fort St. Anne were ill of scurvy, and at the request of General de Tracy a priest was sent to Isle La Motte, Father Dollier de Casson coming from Montreal on snowshoes. He celebrated mass and officiated at the burial of thirteen soldiers. Sixty men assembled daily 122 HISTORY OF VERMONT for mass and prayers. Father de Casson remained at the fort until the summer of 1667. Before the summer was ended three Jesuit priests, Fathers Fremin, Pierron and Bruyas, who had started for the country of the lower Iroquois to restore the missions interrupted by the wars, were detained at Fort St. Anne by the threatening attitude of Indians known as the Loups (Wolves), a part of the Iroquois nation, and while thus detained they conducted a mission for the soldiers. While at Isle La Motte, Father Pierron wrote a letter dated August 12, 1667, describing his voyage to America, and telling of the habits and customs of the Indians. So far as known this was the first letter written in Vermont. In June, 1668, Bishop Laval, the first Bishop of Quebec and New France, journeyed hither in a canoe and gave confirmation. This is said to have been the first confirmation given within the present limits of the United States. Captain La Mothe was appointed Governor of Mon- treal in 1670, and the fort probably was abandoned that year. A few years later La Mothe was killed by the Indians. He was not the founder of Detroit, and should not be confounded with La Mothe de Cadillac, who took a leading part in French afifairs in the West. Father Kerlidou, who made a careful study of Fort St. Anne and the early settlement on Isle La Motte, has said: "Before leaving the fort the soldiers burned all the palisades and barracks; they also took with them everything which might be of use somewhere else." The site of this ancient fort having been acquired by the Roman Catholic diocese of Burlington, excavations THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES 123 were made in the spring of 1896. Fourteen mounds were opened, under each one of which was found the ruins of a fireplace, full of ashes. Under one mound was a brick oven. The foundations of buildings sixteen by thirty-two feet in size, and others sixteen by twelve feet, were uncovered. The relics brought to light included coins, one bearing the date 1656, portions of guns, bullets, gun flints, arrow heads, tomahawks, Indian pottery, carpenters' tools, nails, pieces of burned timber, broken dishes, cooking utensils, pipes, buttons, knives, forks, and two solid silver spoons, one bearing the name of L. Case. Although Fort St. Anne was abandoned, Isle La Motte, thereafter, was a favorite stopping place for expeditions passing through the lake, as it may have been centuries before the white men came, and probably the site of this fort never wholly lapsed into wilderness conditions. While it is true that this settlement cannot be called permanent, it has the distinction of being the earliest made by white men within the present limits of Vermont, a fact sufficient to make it noteworthy. The story of the attempt of the government of France to plant colonies in the valley of Lake Champlain is a record of failure rather than success, if considered apart from military occupation. On May 20, 1676, the King of France issued an order authorizing the grant- ing of lands in Canada, which was considered by the French officials to be sufficient authority to warrant the granting of lands adjacent to Lake Champlain. A con- siderable number of these grants were made between the years 1733 and 1737, inclusive. These grants, or 124 HISTORY OF VERMONT seigniories, were based on the old feudal system of France, the seignior owing homage to the crown, and the tenants rendering fealty to the seignior. This sys- tem was not entirely abolished in Canada until 1854. These French seigniories on Lake Champlain are shown on what is known as the De Lery map, dated October 10, 1748, these grants extending from Fort Chambly, on the Richelieu River, to Crown Point and including both sides of the lake. The survey of the lake for this map was made in 1732. The grantees, or seigniors, holding title to lands within the present limits of Vermont were Sieurs La Fontaine, de Beauvais fils, Contrecoeur, Contrecoeur fils, Douville, Raimbault, de la Perriere, and Hocquart. Possibly the southern portions of the grants made to Sieurs Foucault and de Lusignan may have been on the Vermont side of the present international boundary line. It is evident that the De Lery map did not attempt to outline the limits of these seigniories with any degree of accuracy, and therefore it is impossible to give their location with reference to present township boundaries only in a very general way. The grant to the younger de Beauvais probably included Highgate, part of Swan- ton, and may have embraced parts of Sheldon and Franklin. The La Fontaine grant evidently included a part of the Alburg peninsula. The map makes North Hero too large and Grand Isle too small. The grant made to the elder Contrecoeur included the island of North Hero. The map would indicate that the Douville seigniory included St. Albans, a part of Georgia, and probably THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES 125 parts of Fairfield and Fletcher. The Raimbault seigniory appears to have been the largest granted, as shown by the De Lery map. Records show that this seigniory was sold in 1766 by Sieur Jean Marie Raim- bault, his wife and his daughter, to Benjamin Price, Daniel Robertson and John Livingston for 90,000 livres (about $18,000). This seigniory of La Maunadiere is said to have a frontage of four leagues and a depth of five leagues. If a league is equivalent to three miles, then this seigniory had a frontage of twelve miles on Lake Champlain and extended back from the lake a distance of fifteen miles. It is expressly stated that the River A la Mouelle (Lamoille) was within its limits, and it probably included Milton, Westford, parts of Georgia, Colchester, Fairfax, Fletcher and Underbill. The La Perriere grant included Burlington, a part of Colchester, and parts of Essex and Williston, being divided by the "River Ouynouski" (Winooski), and having a frontage of two leagues and a depth of three leagues. The seigniory or lordship of Hocquart, opposite Crown Point, as originally granted, April 20, 1743, had a frontage of one league on Lake Champlain and a depth of five leagues. Another grant, made April 1, 1745, increased the bounds of the seigniory, so that it had a frontage of four leagues, corresponding in size to the seigniory of La Maunadiere. This lordship of Hocquart is estimated to have contained about 115,000 acres. Probably it included the towns of Addison, Panton, Waltham, Weybridge, New Haven, the city of Vergennes, and parts of Ferrisburg, Bristol, Bridport, Cornwall and Middlebury. 126 HISTORY OF VERMONT The seigniory granted to Sieur Bedou on the west side of the lake included Isle La Motte. This seigniory originally was granted to M. Pean, Major of Quebec, and later was transferred to Daniel Leinard, Sieur de Beaujeau, who had a grant immediately north of this. Some of the men to whom these grants were made were eminent French officers. Captain La Perriere be- came Governor of Montreal in 1752. Gilles Hocquart was Intendant of Canada from 1728 to 1748. M. Pierre Raimbault was Lieutenant General of the jurisdiction of Montreal. M. de Beaujeau, who held Isle La Motte for a time, succeeded M. Contrecoeur, another holder of a Lake Champlain seigniory, in command of Fort Duquesne, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monon- gahela Rivers, and planned the ambuscade which re- sulted in the defeat and death of General Braddock, at the opening of the French and Indian War, but he won victory at the cost of his life. Some of the conditions of these French grants may be shown in extracts from the grant to M. Hocquart. It was declared to be "for the perpetual enjoyment by the said Sieur Hocquart his heirs and assigns of said Trust by terms of fief and Seignoirs, with High, Middle and Low Justice, and Right of Hunting, Fishing and Trad- ing with Indians throughout the extent of said Seigniory without being obliged by reason of this to pay to His Majesty nor to his Successors, Kings, any duty money; * * * on condition also of preserving and causing to be preserved by the Tenants the Timber of all de- scriptions adapted for the construction of His Majesty's Ships; of informing His Majesty of all Mines or THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES 127 Minerals, if any be found in said Concession ; to improve it and to hold and cause to be held fire and light there by the Tenants, in default whereof it shall be reunited to His Majesty's Domain; of allowing roads necessary for public convenience and allowing also the beaches free to all Fishermen, except those they may require for their fishing; and in case His Majesty may have use here- after, of any portions of said Tract; to erect thereupon Forts, Batteries, Arsenals, Magazines, and other public Works, and the fire wood necessary for the Garrisons of said Forts, without being holden to any compensa- tion/' An order in council, issued by the King of France, July 6, 1711, directed that these lands granted should be cultivated by the inhabitants, and a similar order was issued March 15, 1732. On May 10, 1741, an ordinance was issued by the Governor and Intendant of New France, "for a Reunion of divers Seigniories to the Desmesnes of the French Crown." Other grants were made later but there were few real settlements beyond the range of the guns of some French fortress. Various excuses were made by the owners of these seigniories for failure to establish settlements, and pleas were made for an extension of time. One pro- prietor stated "that he could not find any farmers, up to this time, to place in his seigniory, that if he should find any he is ready to furnish them with axes and picks for clearing, with one year's provisions; that he will do his best to find some and that he intends to form a demesne there." In a "Summary Remonstrance" the Sieurs Contrecoeur, father and son, set forth "that they 128 HISTORY OF VERMONT have done everything to settle their grants; that it was impossible to find individuals to accept lands though they offered them some on very advantageous terms and were willing to give even three hundred livres to engage said individuals * * * ; that they intend, moreover, to do all in their power to find farmers to settle said Seigniories and they hope to succeed therein." Sieur La Fontaine oft'ered "to go this summer on the Grant with three men to build there and begin clearances and to give to those whom he will find willing to settle there, Grain and even money, asking from them no rent, in order to obtain from them by the allurement of this gift what he cannot obtain from them by force." Sieur Roebert set forth "that he had neglected nothing to in- duce some young farmers to go and settle there by pro- curing for them great advantages and many facilities." But in spite of all the "advantages" and "facilities" and "allurements," the young farmers valued their lives and the lives of their families too highly to attempt to culti- vate farms in the valley of Lake Champlain as long as it continued to be the highway of war parties. About 1731 a French settlement was begun in the western part of the present town of Alburg. A grant embracing this region had been made to Sieur Francis Foucault, a member of the Supreme Council of Quebec, and the charter was renewed and augmented in May, 1743, in recognition of the fact that M. Foucault had complied with the conditions of the original grant by establishing three new settlers the previous year, and that he had built in 1731 a windmill of stone masonry costing about $800. An entry in the journal of Capt. THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES 129 Phineas Stearns, made in 1749, notes that "at the empty- ing of the lake into Shamblee (Richelieu) River there is a windmill, built of stone; it stands on the east side of the water, and several houses on both sides built be- fore the war, but one inhabited at present." M. Foucault had taken steps to build a church twenty by forty feet in size. This settlement is said to have been short lived, as was one begun in 1741. Old maps show that the point where this settlement was located was called Pointe a la Algonquin. Later it was known as Windmill Point, from the stone windmill erected here. In the summer of 1749 Peter Kalm, a Swedish scholar, passed through Lake Champlain on his way from New York to Canada. In an account of his travels he refers to the Alburg settlement as follows: "A windmill built of stone stands on the east side of the lake on a projecting piece of ground. Some French- men have lived near it; but they left it when the war broke out, and are not yet come back to it. * * * The English have burnt the houses here several times, but the mill remained unhurt." In 1731 the French built a small stockaded fort at Crown Point, near the southern end and on the western shore of Lake Champlain, designed to accommodate thirty men, which was named Fort St. Frederic. Three years later a fortress was erected here large enough to permit the garrison to be increased to one hundred and twenty men. In 1742 this important fort was en- larged and strengthened to such an extent that it was considered the strongest French fortress in America, with the single exception of Quebec. 130 HISTORY OF VERMONT The settlement which sprang up around the fort extended to the eastern or Vermont shore of Lake Champlain, the lake being only two- fifths of a mile wide at this point. Peter Kalm, in his travels, gave an excellent description of Fort St. Frederic, as it appeared in July, 1749. He observed that the soil about the fort was very fertile "on both sides of the river," that por- tion of the lake south of Crown Point being called a river at that time. By way of comment he added that '•before the last war (King George's War, 1744-48) a great many French families, especially old soldiers, have settled there; but the King obliged them to go into Canada, or to settle close to the fort and to lie in it at night. A great number of them returned at this time, and it was thought that about forty or fifty families would go to settle here this autumn." As Kalm left the fort, sailing northward toward Canada, he noted the fact that "the countr}^ is inhabited within a French mile of the fort, but after that it is covered with a thick forest." Capt. Phineas Stevens, who made a journey to Canada in 1749, the same year in which Kalm traversed the lake, wrote in his journal that "there are eighteen houses near Crown Point, some on each side of the water, but not all inhabited at present." Maj. Robert Rogers, the well-known Colonial scout, in his journals tells of various expeditions to Lake Cham- plain. Early in May, 1756, with a small party, he reached the lake four miles south of Crown Point, and marched "to a village on the east side, about two miles distant from Crown Point, but found no inhabitants THE FRENCH SEIGNIORIES 131 there." After lying in concealment there for about a day and a half the party killed twenty-three head of cattle. In August, 1756, having landed about eight miles north of Crown Point, on the east side of the lake, Rogers and his party "marched to a village lying east of the fort," and took as prisoners a man, his wife and daughter. Evidently the settlements had been extended since Peter Kalm's visit. Fort Carillon, at Ticonderoga, was laid out in 1753 and was completed in 1756. It is probable that the east shore of the lake was occupied to some extent w^hile the French held Fort Carillon. The French grants on Lake Champlain, although not occupied to any great extent by actual tillers of the soil, w^ere the cause of diplomatic correspondence between France and Great Britain, which continued until 1776, when it must have become apparent, even in European capitals, that the American people were likely to have something to say concerning the disposition of the dis- puted territory. The British contended that all the region south of the St. Lawrence River originally belonged to the Iroquois tribes; that as early as 1683 the Iroquois by treaty with the Governor of New York, submitted to the sovereignty of Great Britain, and thereafter were considered sub- jects of that nation; that by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, France expressly recognized the sovereignty of Great Britain over the Iroquois. Another argument used was the purchase by Godfrey Dellius, from the Mohawks, in 1696, of a large tract of land extending from Saratoga along the Hudson River, Wood Creek and Lake Champlain, this tract being supposed to ex- 132 HISTORY OF VERMONT tend along the eastern shore of the lake twenty miles north of Crown Point. This grant was repealed in 1699 as an extravagant favor to one man. The French had the great advantage of the discovery of Lake Champlain and the territory adjacent to it, by Samuel Champlain, in 1609. A considerable portion of the discussion on behalf of the British position was con- ducted by Edmund Burke, a famous parliamentary orator, and a friend of the American colonies, but diplo- matic discussion became profitless when an independent nation had set up a government in America. The feudal system of land tenure which France attempted to introduce was not adapted to the new country, where individual and political freedom flourished like a plant in its native soil. The English system, under which every man might own his own farm, instead of being one of many tenants, who must render homage at the manor house, was vastly better adapted to the building up of political virtue and political capacity than the ancient seigniorial system. Chapter VI FORT DUMMER AND THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS THE first English settlements within the present limits of Vermont, and the first permanent settle- ments in the State, were made in the Connecticut valley. There is no record of any exploration of this valley north of Pasqiiamscut Falls (Turner's Falls, Mass.) prior to the year 1669, when a committee of four persons, appointed by the General Court of the province of Massachusetts Bay, ascended the river as far as the present town of Northfield, Mass. The following year a party from Northampton "went upon discovery'' to the same place, and in 1671 a tract of land on both sides of the Great (Connecticut) River was purchased of the Indians, the deed being signed by Massemet, Panout, Pammook, Nenepownam, his squaw, Wompeleg and Nessacoscom. According to Temple and Sheldon's ''History of Northfield," the northern limits of this pur- chase on the west side of the Connecticut was Broad Brook, sometimes called Wanasquatuk River, near the northern limits of the present town of Vernon. The town of Northfield, Mass., was laid out in 1672 by Lieut. William Clark, William Allis and Isaac Graves. In the spring of 1673 settlements were begun, and a stock- ade was erected around a cluster of houses, or small huts. A second purchase of three thousand acres was made on the west side of the river the same year. In the autumn of 1675 the Northfield settlement was attacked by Indians, twenty-one out of thirty-eight per- sons were killed, and the little village was destroyed. Some years passed after this massacre before an attempt was made to resettle Northfield, or Squakheag, as it was 136 HISTORY OF VERMONT often called at that time. Then it was slowly occupied once more by sturdy pioneers. In August, 1688, six persons were murdered here by Indians, and half the inhabitants thereupon abandoned the frontier settlement. In a petition to the Massa- chusetts General Court in June, 1689, the people of Northfield declared: "We are reduced to twelve mean families. Our small number, in a place so remote, exposed us to ye rage of ye heathen, as it were, invit- ing them to prey upon us. Our estates are exhaust by maintaining garrison soldiers and being kept from our labor. Our burdens of watching, warding, fencing, highways — we for ourselves and them that are absent — overbearing to us; besides all other hardships un- avoidable in a new place. Our wives and children (that we say not ourselves) ready to sink with fears." With the outbreak of war between England and France, with the General Court slow to aid the settlers on the frontiers, and with the ever present danger of Indian invasion, it was no longer possible to maintain a settlement at Northfield, and it was abandoned in 1690. The signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in the spring of 1713, bringing with it peace between England and France, and the expression of a desire on the part of Indian tribes hitherto hostile for a cessation of hostili- ties, again brought courage to New England pioneers, and after an absence of twenty- three years the surviv- ing proprietors of Northfield took steps to reclaim and reoccupy their lands. Slowly the town was populated once more, but there is no evidence to show that any houses were built as far north as the southern boundary FORT DUMMER 137 of Vermont, as it now exists, prior to the erection of a fort within the present limits of the town of Brattle- boro. The year 1723 saw another outbreak of Indian hostilities, and in August, and again in October, raids were made and settlers were killed by the savages. The need of further protection became evident if the settlements at Northfield and elsewhere in the Connecti- cut valley were to be maintained. As a result the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted on December 27, 1723, "That it will be of great service to all the western frontiers both in this and the neighbor- ing government of Connecticut, to build a Blockhouse, above Northfield, in the most convenient place on the lands called the Equivalent Lands, and to post in it 40 able men, English and western Indians, to be employed in scouting at a good distance up Connecticut River, West River, Otter Creek, and sometimes eastwardly above Great Monadnock, for the discovery of the enemy coming towards any of the frontier towns; and that so much of the said Equivalent Lands as shall be necessary for a Blockhouse be taken up, with the consent of the owners of said lands, together with 5 or 6 acres of their intervail land, to be broke up or plowed for the present use of the western Indians (in case any of them shall think fit to bring their families thither)." What were the Equivalent Lands ? When the bound- ary between the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut was determined in 1713 it was found that of the large grants made by Massachusetts, 107,793 acres really belonged to Connecticut. As some of this territory was occupied by flourishing settlements, and 138 HISTORY OF VERMONT there was vigorous objection to a change of jurisdiction, it was agreed that Massachusetts should retain title to the lands granted, and, in return, a grant should be made to Connecticut of an equal number of acres "as an equivalent to the said colony." Gov. Joseph Dudley of Massachusetts, Gov. Gurdon Saltonstall of Connecticut, Elisha Hutchinson and Isaac Addington of Massachusetts, William Pitkin and William Whiting of Connecticut, were appointed com- missioners to locate these lands, and on November 10, 1715, they reported that they had laid out tracts "east of Hadly town" (now Belchertown) and "north of the first surveyed piece" (Pelham, etc.); also 43,943 acres "Within the Limits of the 2d Province on Connecticut River above the former settlements." This large tract was situated within the present limits of three Vermont towns. Putney, Dummerston and Brattleboro. The Equivalent Lands were sold at auction April 24-25, 1716, at Hartford, Conn., to twenty-one persons from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and London, Eng- land, who paid the sum of £683, New England currency, or "a little more than a farthing an acre," to quote an old record. The money thus obtained was given to Yale College. In the partition of these lands the tract which is now a part of Vermont, already mentioned, became the property of William Dummer, Anthony Stoddard, Wil- liam Brattle and John White. In process of time William Dummer became Lieu- tenant Governor of Massachusetts, and acting as execu- tive head of the colony he designated Lieut. Col. John Stoddard of Northampton as a proper person to select FORT DUMMER 139 the site for the new fort, and to superintend its erection. In writing to Lieutenant Governor Dummer under date of February 3, 1724, Colonel Stoddard remarked that he had ordered moccasins and snowshoes made for the expedition northward, a suitable preparation for a jour- ney into the wilderness in winter, and announced that he had committed the work of building the fort to Lieut. Timothy Dwight. It was the expectation of Colonel Stoddard that Lieutenant Dwight would leave on the day the letter was written to take up the task assigned to him, accompanied by twelve soldiers, four carpenters and two teams; that the men would hew all the timber needed for the fort and the houses before their return; and that both fort and houses would be framed and set up during the month of February. Colonel Stoddard did not believe a stockade around the blockhouse necessary, saying in a letter: "We intend to make the fort so strong that the soldiers will be safe even if the enemy get within the parade ground." A little glimpse of the building of the fort is given in another letter of later date, written by Colonel Stod- dard, in which he said: "We agreed with carpenters from Northfield (Stephen Crowfoot, Daniel Wright and 2 others) for 5 shillings per day, except Crowfoot, to whom I promised 6 shillings, and they all allow that he earned his money by doing so much more work than all the others. The soldiers had a very hard service, lying in the woods and were obliged to work early and late : it is thought they deserve 2 shillings per day besides the stated pay, and the carpenters something more. The horses were worked very hard, and commonly had noth- 140 HISTORY OF VERMONT ing to eat but oats, and I believe 2 shillings a day will not be thought an excess for such service." The fort, built of the yellow pine timber, which grew in abundance on the lands adjacent to the river, was nearly square, each side being about one hundred and eighty feet (nearly eleven rods) in length, its height being from twelve to fourteen feet. It was constructed after the fashion of a log house, the timbers being locked together at the angles. The wall of the fort formed the rear wall of the houses erected within the enclosure, each having a single roof fronting on the hollow square, which served as a parade ground. These houses were constructed so that they could be rendered defensible by barricading doors and windows in the event that an attacking party succeeded in bursting open the large gate in the outer wall. A well within the fort supplied water for drinking purposes, but the garrison usually went to the river for water for washing, and sometimes were fired upon from the opposite side of the stream. Four small swivel guns called pateraros were furnished as means of defence, and later a cannon known as "the great gun" was added, which was fired as a signal of danger. The cost of the fort, which was completed in the sum- mer of 1724, was £256. It stood on the west bank of the Connecticut River, near the southern boundary of what is now known as the town of Brattleboro. At the present time the land where the fort stood is flooded as a result of the building of the great dam at Vernon, a few miles farther down the river. The name Fort Dummer was given in honor of the acting Governor of Fort Dummer at Brattleboro, First Permanent Settlement in Vermont FORT DUMMER 141 Massachusetts, and the meadows in the vicinity of the fort were known as the Dunimer meadows. Timothy D wight, the builder of Fort Dummer, then in his thirtieth year, was made captain of a company of fifty-five men, who acted as the garrison. Before the fort was completed, Capt. Joseph Kellogg was sent to Albany, N. Y., to enlist the aid of the Mohawks in the defence of this post. Considerable time and money were spent in this endeavor, but it was difficult to attract many of the Indians while hostilities were in progress, or to keep those who came very long; but when peace pre- vailed there was no difficulty in securing Indians in large numbers. The muster roll of Captain Dwight's com- pany about the time the fort was completed included the names of twelve Indians, three of them being sachems. The first name is that of Hendrick, a Mohawk chieftain. Evidently this was the famous Mohawk leader and friend of the English, sometimes called King Hendrick, who participated in the campaign against the French in 1755, and was killed at the battle of Lake George. So anxious was the General Court of Massachusetts to secure the aid of these Indian allies in the defence of Fort Dummer, that a committee appointed to investi- gate the matter reported "that two shillings per day be allowed to Hendrick and Umpaumet, as they are sachems and the first of that rank that have entered into the service of this province; that none of the Indians be stinted as to allowance of provisions; that they all have the use of their arms gratis and their gims mended at free cost; that a supply of knives, pipes, tobacco, lead, shot and flints, be sent to the commanding officer of the 142 HISTORY OF VERMONT fort, to be given out to them, according to his discretion ; that four barrels of rum be sent to Capt. Jonathan Wells, at Deerfield, to be lodged in his hands, and to be delivered to the commanding officer at the Block House as he sees occasion to send for it ; that so he may be enabled to give out one gill a day to each Indian, and some to his other men as occasion may require." The companionship of the Indians was not always a source of delight to the commanding officer, owing to the fondness of the natives for liquors. In a letter from Timothy Dwight to Col. John Stoddard, dated July 29, 1724, relating his trials, he says: ''I have given them (the Indians) a dram this morning and they have been here this hour begging for more, and they daily call upon me for shirts, pipes, bullets and powder, flints and many other things ; and the Court have granted all but powder, and they don't send it, and I cannot discourse with them, and they are mad at me for that ; and, unless the country will provide stores and inform me I may dispose there- of to them, I cannot live here, if it be possible to avoid it." Colonel Stoddard replied, August 6, 1724, saying: "I am sensible of the trouble you meet with from the humors of the natives. Your best way is, when you have a supply of liquor, to give them ordinarily a good dram each, in a day. And you may tell them for me, that we give them drink for their comfort, not to unman them, or make beasts of them; and that if they will not be content with what we give them, they shall have none at all." FORT DUMMER 143 The General Court voted on June 3, 1724, that Doctor Mather, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Sewell and Mr. Wadsworth "be desired to procure a person of gravity, ability and prudence," for chaplain at Fort Dumnier, their choice to be subject to the approval of the Governor. Daniel Dwight, a brother of Timothy Dwight, the officer in command, was chosen, and his salary was fixed at £100. In addition to his duties as chaplain he was directed to "instruct the Indian natives residing thereabouts in the true Christian religion." Apparently his term of serv- ice was not long, nor does it appear that there were many Indians in the vicinity to instruct. The fort served its purpose well in protecting the frontier, and from it went forth many scouting parties to watch the Indian trails and to give warning of the approach of the dreaded foe from Canada. The year 1726 ushered in a welcome era of peace. The military company at Fort Dummer was discharged, and Capt. Joseph Kellogg was ordered to recruit a small company for garrison duty. In June, 1727, Col. Samuel Partridge, who had been in chief military command in Hampshire county, informed the Governor that "con- siderable numbers of Indians from their hunting come in at Deerfield and Northfield, and the English trade with them; and it is said that some of our men go out and carry them strong liquor and make the Indians drunk and get their furs for a small matter, so that when they get out of their drink, and see that their furs are gone, they are mad and care not what mischief they do: a ready way to bring on outrages and murders, if not the war again." 144 HISTORY OF VERMONT These very sensible observations were followed by the suggestion that trading with the Indians should be pro- hibited or regulated. Captain Kellogg already having suggested the importance of establishing a trading post, and having requested that such a post might be estab- lished at Fort Dummer, or further up the Connecticut River, the General Court agreed to the proposition. In 1728 Fort Dummer was selected as a suitable place for a "truck house," and Captain Kellogg, in command of the post, was made truck master. He was well quali- fied, for his new duties, having learned the manner in which the French conducted their trade with the West- ern Indians, during a long period of captivity in Canada. This trading post at Fort Dummer speedily became a popular resort. The Indians found that they could trade here to better advantage than at the French trad- ing houses. Consequently they brought deer skins, moose skins, tallow, and other articles of commerce in large quantities. The fort being found too small for the increasing traffic. Captain Kellogg was authorized in April, 1729, to erect a building near the truck house "for the recep- tion of the Indians," and he was directed to build a boat for the transportation of supplies. In July, 1731, other improvements were made, and a storehouse was erected. The soldiers at Fort Dummer received forty shillings per month, and Captain Kellogg was allowed four pounds per month as commander of the fort, and one hundred pounds per year as truck master. He held the position until the year 1740. The garrison varied from nine to twenty men, and for a period of about ten years. FORT DUMMER 145 ending in 1744, six Indian commissioners were stationed here in order that trade might be conducted to the best advantage, three of them being members of the Scati- cook tribe, and three representing the Caughnawaga tribe. In October, 1737, five Massachusetts commis- sioners, John Stoddard, Eleazer Porter, Thomas WalHs, Joseph Kellogg, and Israel Williams, met representa- tives of the Caughnawaga Indians at Fort Dummer for the purpose of renewing a treaty. Speeches were made, the King's health was drunk, and blankets and weapons were exchanged. A present of £70, 10 shillings, was made by the Colonial commissioners on this ceremonial occasion. Rev. Ebenezer Hinsdill was appointed chaplain at Fort Dummer in 1730 and held the position until 1743. It is related that he was much beloved both by the Indians and the English. A number of the savages usually assembled on Sunday to hear him preach. In 1743 he erected a fort in what is now Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and together with Josiah Willard, com- mandant at Fort Dummer, he was appointed an under commissioner for the northern portions of Massa- chusetts and the adjacent frontiers. In 1737 the truck house at Fort Dummer was burned. In 1740 extensive repairs were made on the fort, as it had fallen into a defenceless condition. Two bastions were erected at opposite angles, and four Province houses, so-called, two stories in height, and "comfort- able and convenient," were erected within the fort. Several small houses were also erected. The fort was picketed, posts twenty feet high being driven into the 146 HISTORY OF VERMONT ground and then sharpened at the top. Openings were left through which guns might be fired. Sentry boxes, twenty-five feet from the ground, were placed at opposite angles of the fort, and several guns were added to the ordnance. A plan of Fort Dummer is in existence, drawn by Matthew Patten, and bearing date of August 26, 1749. This showed the south side to be somewhat narrower than the north side. At the northwest corner was Major Willard's house, twenty-two by seventeen and one- third feet, and projecting four and one-half feet beyond the wall of the fort. Just east of the house was a building forty by sixteen and one-half feet in size. Beyond this was a straight wall seventy-eight feet in length, extending to the Province house, twenty-two feet by eighteen feet in size, and projecting a few feet beyond the wall of the fort. Inside the wall, and just west of the Province house, were two small houses occupied by Colonel Willard and Lieutenant Butler. The east wall of the fort ran diago- nally from the Province house to the southeast corner. This corner was cut ofif and a watch or sentry box was located here. In the middle of the south wall was a gate thirty- four feet from the southeast corner of the fort. At the southwest corner was Colonel Willard's house, twenty-two by thirty-two feet in size, and project- ing a few feet beyond the wall. From the gate to Colonel Willard's house was a distance of forty-two feet. Inside the fort, near the south wall, were two houses, marked Colonel Willard and Samuel Ashley, respect- FORT DUMMER 147 ively. A little south of the center of the parade ground was a citadel fourteen and one-half feet square. For many years a controversy had existed between Massachusetts and New Hampshire over the location of the boundary line between the two provinces, different opinions being held concerning the meaning of the Massachusetts charter of 1692. Finally the dispute was referred to the King for adjudication, and in a decree dated August 5, 1740, His Majesty fixed the boundary more than forty miles south of the line claimed by Massachusetts, and fourteen miles south of the boundary claimed by New Hampshire. This decree deprived Massachusetts of six hundred square miles, a portion of which had been occupied by her citizens for two gen- erations, and it was the cause of much embarrassment and no little bitterness. The new boundary line was run in March, 1741, by Richard Hazen under the direction of New Hampshire, Massachusetts declining to participate in the survey. This line cut off a portion of the town of Northfield, Mass., four miles and one hundred and ninety-seven rods wide, but the Northfield property holders were not deprived of their holdings north of the new boundary. Massachusetts continued to maintain Fort Dummer until the outbreak of war between France and England in 1744, although the fort w^as in New Hampshire terri- tory, according to the King's boundary decision. At that time Governor Shirley of Massachusetts appealed to the Lord President of the King's Council and to the Duke of Newcastle, one of the Secretaries of State, de- claring that the provincial government did not consider 148 HISTORY OF VERMONT it a duty to maintain a fort no longer its own and urging that New Hampshire, to which it belonged, should pro- vide for its maintenance. The Governor argued that the fort should not be abandoned, although Massa- chusetts, with many other posts to maintain, was not jus- tified in expending money in its defence, as it was only three or four days' march from Crown Point, a resort for hostile French and Indians. The Massachusetts House of Representatives declared that if the fort should fall into the enemy's hands "the enhabitants from Con- tocook to Connecticut River (would) be all drove from their settlements, notwithstanding the forces that are maintained by the province within those limits." The King in Council, on September 6, 1744, ordered that Fort Dummer should be maintained, directing the Governor of New Hampshire to call the attention of the provincial Assembly to the necessity of providing for its maintenance, and warning them that failure to obey this order would result in a restoration of the fort and "a proper district contiguous thereto," to Massa- chusetts. As a matter of precaution, however, Gov- ernor Shirley was directed to point out to the Massa- chusetts Assembly the necessity of maintaining Fort Dummer until an answer should be received from New Hampshire, and the King's pleasure in relation to the matter should be made known. In this order Governor Shirley was quoted as saying that Fort Dummer was "of very great consequence to all His Majesty's sub- jects in those parts." Taking into consideration the necessity of maintain- ing Fort Dummer for the protection of the frontier set- FORT DUMMER 149 tiers in the Connecticut valley, the Massachusetts Legis- lature voted to provide for the enlistment of as many- officers and men as were stationed at the fort during the last war, and added to its defences two swivel guns and two four pounders. Governor Shirley wrote to Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire on February 25, 1745, acquainting him with the order of the King and the action taken by the Massachusetts Assembly, and requested him to provide for the maintenance of Fort Dummer. On May 3, 1745, the New Hampshire Assembly declared that "the fort (Dummer) was 50 miles from any towns which had been settled by the government or people of New Hamp- shire; that the people had no right to the lands which, by the dividing line, had fallen within New Hampshire, notwithstanding the plausible arguments which had been used to induce them to bear the expense of the line, namely, that the land would be given to them or else would be sold to pay the expense; that the charge of maintaining the fort at so great a distance, and to which there was no communication by roads would exceed what had been the whole expense of govern- ment before the line was established; that if they should take upon them to maintain this fort, there was another much better and more convenient fort at a place called Number Four, besides several other settlements, which they should also be obliged to defend; and, finally, that there was no danger that these forts would want sup- port, since it was the interest of Massachusetts, by whom they were erected, to maintain them as a cover to their frontiers." 150 HISTORY OF VERMONT Governor VVentworth thereupon dissolved the As- sembly and called another, renewing his recommenda- tions for providing for Fort Dummer, and that body made provision for the enlistment or impressment of twenty men for six months to perform garrison duty at the fort. Governor Shirley was notified of the action taken and was requested to withdraw the Massachusetts garrison. In view of the fact that the appropriation voted by New Hampshire for the support of the soldiers was less than half that allowed by Massachusetts, and fearing that once having gained possession of the post New Hampshire would neglect it. Governor Shirley decided to fall back upon the King's order to retain the fort until His Majesty's pleasure should be known. Therefore he countermanded his order to deliver the fortification to the New Hampshire authorities upon demand, and the fort was maintained by Massachusetts until 1747, when Governor Shirley again sounded Gov- ernor Wentworth in regard to the taking over of the post by New Hampshire. In October, 1748, Governor Wentworth expressed his unwillingness to bear the ex- pense, and Governor Shirley's next move was to submit to the British authorities a claim against New Hamp- shire for the maintenance of Fort Dummer. The committee to which the matter was referred on August 3, 1749, approved the claim of Massachusetts, and Governor Wentworth was directed to recommend to the provincial Assembly that provision should be made for the permanent maintenance of the fort. Neverthe- less, the burden of supporting the garrison continued to fall upon Massachusetts. Fort Dummer was too im- FORT DUMMER 151 portant a part of the Massachusetts system of defence to permit any relaxation of the vigilance maintained at that post. The six Indian commissioners, who had found this frontier fort an agreeable place of residence during the years of peace, left as soon as hostilities were threatened. In the spring of 1747 Lieut. Dudley Bradstreet was sent to Fort Dummer with forty men, it being consid- ered necessary to strengthen the garrison, and he re- mained in charge of the post from April 15 until the September following, when Col. Josiah Willard resumed command. During the winter that followed Massa- chusetts maintained garrisons of twenty men each at Fort Dummer and at Number Four, the garrison at Fort Dummer being increased to thirty men before the season was far advanced. During the year 1748 Rev. Andrew Gardner, a somewhat eccentric clergyman, offi- ated as chaplain at Fort Dummer. From September, 1749, to June, 1750, a garrison of fifteen men, later reduced to ten, was maintained at this fort. Col. Josiah Willard, for a long period the commanding officer, died December 8, 1750, and he was succeeded by his son. Major Josiah Willard, who had commanded the garrison at Ashuelot. In February, 1752, the General Court of Massachusetts reduced the garrison to five men. Major Willard remained in charge with this slender force until September, 1754, although the General Court voted in January of that year that "from and after February 20th next, no fur- ther provision be made for the pay and subsistence of the five men now posted at Fort Dummer." 152 HISTORY OF VERMONT New Hampshire refusing to provide for the support of a garrison at this post, Massachusetts decided that it could not afford to permit its abandonment, and it was determined to strengthen the fort and furnish it with a few pieces of Hght artillery. On September 19, 1754, Nathan Willard was given command of the fort, and for the greater part of the year following, the garrison numbered eight men, several of them having their families with them. In August, 1755, Captain Willard presented a me- morial to the Massachusetts Legislature stating that the enemy were lurking continually in the woods near the fort, that during the past summer nineteen persons living within two miles of the fort had been "killed or cap- tivated," and he had been unable to render aid, having only five men under pay. He declared that he could see no reason why the fort should not be captured if an attack were made. As a result of this appeal the Legislature directed that six men should be added to the garrison, to serve until October 1 of that year. In October, 1759, there was still a garrison at Fort Dum- mer, although the soldiers at the other blockhouses on the frontier had been dismissed, the French having been expelled from the Champlain valley. With the surrender of Montreal in 1760, the peril of French and Indian attacks vanished. The frontier fortress at Fort Dummer, which had proved such a strong bulwark of defence to the settlements in the Con- necticut valley, no longer was needed, and the great pine timbers which had sheltered many garrisons from a savage foe gradually sank into decay. Other portions FORT DUMMER 153 of the State may have seen brief settlements at earHer periods, but this was the first outpost in the Vermont wilderness that held its own until the little clearing around the military post merged into the cleared fields of actual settlers, who were the pioneers of a new com- monwealth among the Green Mountains. The part that was played on this somewhat obscure historic stage, in its forest setting, lacked neither in variety nor human interest. From its walls went forth brave men on perilous scout duty, to watch from lofty mountain outlooks for the smokes of Indian camp fires. Northward along Indian trails, centuries old, they threaded their way, up the river valleys, through the mountain passes, and down the streams on the farther mountain slopes to Lake Champlain. Around the walls of this fort the Indian warwhoop echoed, and almost within its shadow men were slain and scalped. In inter- vals of peace the Canadian savages came hither to barter their peltry and other wares at this important trading post. With the passing of the need of this and other military outposts there dawned a new era upon the con- tinent of North America, making possible not only the State of Vermont, but also the nation known as the United States of America. It is not possible to state with positive accuracy the name of the first white child born within the present limits of the State of Vermont. Some historians have awarded this distinction to John Sargent, Jr., born at Fort Dummer December 4, 1732, but later investigations show that such a claim is not well founded. 154 HISTORY OF VERMONT While lands within the present town of Vernon were included in the early Northfield Grants, there is no evi- dence to prove that homes were established north of the present State boundary line between Vermont and Massachusetts, prior to the erection of Fort Dummer in 1724. It is said that in the same year in which Fort Dummer was built, 1724, a settlement was made on the banks of the Hoosac River, in the present town of Pownal, by eight or ten burghers of Rennsselaerwyck, headed by Juria Kreigger, who occupied without any legal title the region near the junction of Washtub Branch with the Hoosac River, about four miles east of the line twenty miles from the Hudson River, which forms the western boundary of Connecticut and Massa- chusetts. It is probable that children may have been born to these Dutch squatters before any white children were born in the Connecticut valley, but no record has been found to prove such a claim. The first white child born in Vermont, so far as exist- ing records show, was Timothy D wight, son of Timothy Dwight, the builder and the first commander of Fort Dummer, the date of his birth being May 27, 1726, according to the Dwight family records. This child grew to be a man six feet, four inches in height, possess- ing great physical strength. He was graduated from Yale College in 1744 and became a prosperous merchant in Northampton, Mass. He served as Selectman, Regis- ter of Probate, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and for many years represented Northampton in the General Court of the Colony. When the Revolutionary War began he became a Loyalist, though not an active FORT DUMMER 155 and bitter one, and in the spring of 1776, with his sister, the widow of Maj. Gen. Phineas Lyman, of Colonial war fame, he removed to Natchez, Miss., where he died June 10, 1777, his sister having died two months earlier. He left an estate of £4,567. On November 8, 1750, Timothy Dwight had married Mary, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the famous theologian. Thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters, were born to them. The eldest son of this couple was Timothy Dwight, who was president of Yale College from 1795 to 1817. A daughter, Elizabeth, be- came the mother of Theodore Dwight Woolsey, presi- dent of Yale College, 1846-1871. Another descendant of Timothy Dwight and Mary Edwards, his wife, was Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, 1886-1899. Thus the first white child born in Vermont, concerning whose birth records are available, became the ancestor of one of America's most distinguished families. In 1736 the western part of the present township of Vernon, not included in Northfield, Mass., was granted, together with what is now the Massachusetts town of Bernardston, under the name of Falltown. This grant Vv^as made by the province of Massachusetts to Samuel Hunt and others who were descendants of the men who were in the "Falls fight" at Turner's Falls, in 1676. In 1738 Josiah Sartwell built a fortified residence, known as Sartwell's fort, two miles south of Fort Dum- mer, in the present town of Vernon, Vt. It was con- structed of hewn timbers, was thirt3^-eight feet long and twenty feet wide, the upper story projecting so that from portholes the inmates could guard the approach to the 156 HISTORY OF VERMONT fort. The walls were of hewn timbers, and there was an outer door of hewn planks. Sartwell had obtained from the General Court of Massachusetts a grant of one hundred acres, laid out on the west bank of the Con- necticut River. As a result of the boundary decision by the King in 1740, this fort was included in the town- ship of Hinsdale, N. H. The fort stood almost one hundred years, and when it was taken down in 1837 many of its timbers were used in building a farm house. Fort Bridgman, about four miles south of Brattle- boro, in the town of Vernon, was erected by Orlando Bridgman, probably in 1737, although it may have been in 1738, the same year that Fort Sartwell was erected, which it resembled in dimensions and style of building. Reference already has been made to the burning of this fort in 1747, to its rebuilding on a more extensive scale, and to its capture and destruction by Indians in 1755. These little wooden forts were very humble, unpreten- tious fortifications, but without their protection the frontiers of civilization could not have been pushed for- ward from the province of Massachusetts, up the valley of the Connecticut, to the intervale meadows of southern Vermont, where, in the vicinity of these blockhouses, the first farms Avere won from the forest in the region known a few decades later as the Green Mountain State. Chapter VII THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS NATURALLY the earliest occupation of Vermont was by means of military posts, the first of these being erected by the French at Isle La Motte, in 1666, and the second by soldiers repre- senting the province of Massachusetts, at Fort Dum- mer, near the present village of Brattleboro in 1724. The first actual home building was begun in the Con- necticut River valley, a few miles above the most northerly of the Massachusetts settlements, at a time when the region was supposed to be within the juris- diction of that province. Although these first attempts at building homes and cultivating fields were compar- able to Judge Wendell P. Stafiford's characterization of the building of Fort St. Anne, at Isle La Motte, "a halting, hesitating step, a foot thrust out into the wild and then withdrawn," it represented the next stage beyond military occupation, the coming of the pioneer, with all the hope and promise that such an enterprise involved. On January 15, 1735, the General Court of Massa- chusetts ordered a survey of the lands between the Con- necticut and Merrimac Rivers from the northwest corner of Rumford, on the Merrimac to the Great Falls (Bel- lows Falls) on the Connecticut; also the division of the lands on the west side of the latter stream between the Great Falls and the "Equivalent Lands" into two town- ships six miles square, if the space would allow, and if not into one township. This action was taken in re- sponse to many petitions asking for the granting of lands in this region. Eleven persons were appointed to 160 HISTORY OF VERMONT have charge of the survey and the division of lands. Township Number One, now known as Westminster, was granted to persons from Taunton, Norton and Easton, in Massachusetts, and to others from Ashford and Killingly, in Connecticut. The committee having the survey in charge were em- powered to admit sixty settlers in each township, and to require them to give bonds to the amount of forty pounds each for the performance of their part of the contract. Persons who had not received grants of land for seven years past were given the first opportunity. Each grantee was required to build a dwelling house eighteen feet square and seven feet stud on their re- spective home lots, "and fence in or break up for plow- ing, or clear and stock five acres with English grass within three years next after their admittance, and cause their respective lots to be inhabited." The grantees were also required within the space of three years to build a meeting house and settle "a learned Orthodox Minister." Joseph Tisdale was empowered to call a meeting of the grantees of Number One, in Taunton, January 14, 1737, and such a meeting being held, a committee was appointed to visit the township and divide the lands. It appears that Richard Ellis and his son Reuben built a log house in Westminster (sometimes called New Taunton) in 1734, and fitted five or six acres of land for cultivation, being accompanied by Seth Tisdale and John Barney. During the years 1739 and 1740 several persons were engaged in laying out roads and in prepar- ing the town for occupation. The records of a meeting \a"^>'b"^*\ Built ell Ihr out S\ t Je \. £ The Perade Tlie Phisoqnomy of Fort Burner CcllVWHIardi hou^e Bui ft by tht Pi-ovinct Plan of Fort Diimmer THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS 161 held July 8, 1740, indicate that a sawmill had been built. In 1742 the proprietors, finding that their grants were within the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, according to a decision rendered concerning the northern boundary of Massachusetts, appealed to the General Court of the latter province for directions as to the course to be fol- lowed in securing thefr rights. In 1744 hostilities began between France and Great Britain, and apparently the settlement was abandoned for a time. In 1751 several families from Northfield, Mass., moved into this town. On November 9, 1752, Governor Wentworth granted this township as Westminster, under the jurisdiction of New Hampshire, but the pro- prietors who had purchased lands here under the Massa- chusetts grant were given the privilege of establishing their holdings as they were laid out in the original sur- vey. Indian incursions began late in the summer of 1754, James Johnson and family being captured at Num- ber Four (Charlestown, N. H.). As only a few pioneers had settled at Westminster, and they were with- out adequate defence, they removed to Walpole, N. H., immediately following the attack on Number Four, being cared for at the home of Col. Benjamin Bellows until October, when they returned to Westminster. The situation, however, was a dangerous one, immediately preceding and during the period of conflict known as the French and Indian War, and the settlers who had returned to Westminster did not find it prudent to re- main there many months. With the declaration of peace the danger of invasion from the north was removed 162 HISTORY OF VERMONT and on June 14, 1760, the charter of the town was re- newed, the proprietors being Josiah Willard, Jr., a son of a former commander at Fort Dummer, and others. Lands were allotted and before the close of 1766 about fifty persons had settled here. In 1771 the population had increased to four hundred and seventy-eight, and Westminster was the most populous town in this region. As early as 1740 Joseph Stebbins settled in what is now Vernon. It is to be presumed that lands were cleared and fields were cultivated in the vicinity of Forts Sartwell and Bridgman. It is recorded that soon after the French and Indian War began the settlers in what is now Vernon sought shelter in the forts nearby, or in Northfield, Mass. It is reasonable to suppose that some settlements were made at an early date in Brattle- boro, in the vicinity of Fort Dummer. In 1766 there were a sufficient number of people in Brattleboro and vicinity to organize a regiment. In 1732 merchants of New London, Conn., sent men to the Great Meadow, in what is now the town of Put- ney, to cut mast timber from the magnificent growth of yellow pines which occupied that portion of the Con- necticut River valley. In 1733 seventy men came to this spot to cut timber, and a shipload of it was pre- pared. In 1742 or 1743 Nehemiah Howe of Grafton, Mass., William Phips, and Daniel Rugg, of Leicester, Mass., with their families, also Robert Baker and others, made a clearing at the Great Meadows in Putney. In the center of the clearing a fortification known as Fort Hill was erected. Within two or three years a consider- able stock of cattle had been gathered there. That the THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS 163 fields were cultivated is shown by the fact that William Phips was captured by the Indians July 5, 1745, while hoeing corn on the Great Meadow. The fort here was still occupied in the spring of 1746, but apparently it was abandoned soon after that time. In 1753, Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire chartered the town of Putney to Josiah Willard and others. It is not known precisely when the town was reoccupied, but when the Averill family removed from Westminster to Putney in 1755, they found three fami- lies established there. During the year 1755 the in- habitants of Putney, Westminster, and Westmoreland, N. H., united in building a fort on the Great Meadow in Putney for mutual protection. This fort was about one hundred and twenty by eighty feet in size, and was built of the excellent yellow pine timber of that region, hewed six inches thick and laid up ten feet high. Like the blockhouse at Fort Dummer, dwellings were erected within the enclosure, the inner wall of the fort forming the rear wall of the houses. Each house had a ''salt- box" roof slanting upward to the top of the wall of the fort. These houses numbered fifteen. Watch towers were placed at the northwest and southwest corners of the fort, and a great gate opened to the south toward the Connecticut River. In the center of the enclosure was a hollow square. When the fort was completed several persons from Westmoreland, N. H., joined the garrison. At this time not more than half the Great Meadow was cleared. The settlers were accustomed to work their fields in com- panies of several persons, carrying their guns with them 164 HISTORY OF VERMONT to guard against a possible surprise by French and Indian enemies. No attack was made on this fort dur- ing the French and Indian War, although Indians ap- peared in the vicinity, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to ambush the settlers. In 1762 Lieut. Joshua Hyde purchased two thousand, eight hundred acres in this town and removed his family here. In 1764 Joshua Parker came from Canterbury, Conn., and drove through the main street the first vehicle that had appeared in Putney. Before the middle of the year 1765 there were fifteen families in town. About the year 1766 a sawmill and a gristmill were erected. The town of Dummerston, named, as was Fort Dum- mer, for Lieut. Gov. William Dummer of Massachusetts, included within its limits a portion of the "Equivalent Lands," which were parcelled out on the afternoon of the first Wednesday of June, 1718, at the Green Dragon Tavern, in Boston. Originally all the ''Equivalent Lands" were known as Dummerston. In 1750 Joseph Blanchard of Amherst, N. H., surveyed this region, and the original proprietors holding a Massachusetts title petitioned the Governor of New Hampshire for a grant of it. Accordingly the "Equivalent Lands," together with considerable additional territory, were divided into the three townships of Fulham, Putney and Brattle- borough. Later the name Fulham was changed to Dummerston. The first settler was John Kathan, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1729. He settled in Dummerston in 1752, having associated himself with others in the purchase of a part of the town from the THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS 165 proprietors, and in 1754 he moved his large family to their new home. According to an account written by himself he did "actually clear and improve above 120 acres, and built a good dwelling house, barn and all necessary offices, and also a sawmill and a potash works." In order to protect his property he was "at considerable expense in building a fort round his house," and was "under the disagreeable necessity of residing therein during the course of a tedious and distressing war." Kathan's eldest daughter was captured by the Indians, and for two and one-half years he did not know whether she was dead or alive. At the end of that period she returned home, having been ransomed by Col. Peter Schuyler. Mary, the younger daughter, married John Sargent, born at Fort Dummer, incorrectly styled by some writers the first white child born in Vermont. In 1752 ferries were established between Dummer- ston and the New Hampshire towns of Westmoreland and Chesterfield. Although the settlement here was disturbed by the French and Indian War, it was not abandoned. During the first years of Kathan's occupa- tion of Dummerston he took his corn to Deerfield, Mass., to be ground, and he brought from Worcester, Mass., the first apple trees set out in town. The township was laid out in 1767 by the heirs of Lieutenant Governor Dummer. As early as 1740 a settlement was made at Charles- town, N. H., better known as Number Four. This was an important military post during the period of Colonial wars, and from this fort many a scouting party fol- 166 HISTORY OF VERMONT lowed the Indian trails across the Green Mountains. The first settlement in Springfield, on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River, opposite Number Four, was made in 1752 by John Nott, who built a log house on the intervale meadow. During the next year, 1753, eleven men settled here, although they had no legal title to the lands they cleared, but they held their possessions during the French and Indian War. The Governor of New Hampshire granted this town in 1761, most of the original proprietors being residents of Northampton, Mass. The town of Rockingham was granted by Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire in December, 1752, and its settlement was begun in 1753, when three men from Northfield, Mass., began clearings. Within two years they were compelled to return to Northfield, their situa- tion being made perilous by the outbreak of the French and Indian War. When peace was declared settlers came in rapidly, and in 1771 an enumeration showed a population of two hundred and twenty-five. The shad and salmon fisheries at the Great Falls, which had drawn hither the Indians from time imme- morial, proved an attraction to the pioneers, and it is related that in the early history of the town agriculture was neglected for fishing. Only eight of the fifty-nine grantees were actual settlers. The most influential man among the original pro- prietors of Rockingham was Col. Benjamin Bellows, in whose honor the waterfall and village of Bellows Falls were named. He was the founder of Walpole, N. H., and through his efforts the Rockingham charter was THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS 167 granted. He secured considerable tracts of land in several townships in New Hampshire and in the New Hampshire Grants, so that he became the largest land holder in that region, holding title at the time of his death in 1777 to eight thousand or nine thousand acres. The town of Halifax, the second granted under the seal of New Hampshire within the present limits of Vermont, was chartered May 11, 1750. Settlements were begun in 1751, but the menacing attitude of the Indians compelled the first settlers to withdraw until the French had surrendered Canada to Great Britain. The town of New fane was granted as Fane by Gov- ernor Wentworth, June 19, 1753, to sixty-eight persons, many of whom were residents of Shrewsbury, Mass. During the year 1754 attempts were made to clear a por- tion of the township and allot it, but the danger of in- vasion from Canada made settlement impossible. As a result the charter was forfeited, but it was renewed in 1761. It appears, therefore, that prior to the passing of French authority in Canada, in 1760, and the re- moval of the danger of Indian invasion, actual settle- ments had been made in eight of the towns now compris- ing the State of Vermont, namely: Westminster, Ver- non, Putney, Brattleboro, Dummerston, Springfield, Rockingham and Halifax, but only in the towns of Put- ney, Dummerston, and Springfield, and perhaps in the vicinity of Fort Sartwell in Vernon and Fort Dummer in Brattleboro, did the settlers remain throughout the period of the French and Indian War. During the fifteen years that followed, so great was the emigration into the New Hampshire Grants, that the year 1775, 168 HISTORY OF VERMONT made notable by the outbreak of the American Revolu- tion, saw settlements begun in more than ninety town- ships. Midsummer of the year 1754 saw the withdrawal of the French army from the valley of Lake Champlain, the abandonment and partial destruction of the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the occupation of those important posts by British troops. Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, the British commander, arrived at Crown Point on August 4, and proceeded to lay out a new fortress of great strength, at a cost of two millions of pounds sterling. He also turned his attention to the con- struction of a road from Crown Point over the Green Mountains to Charlestown, N. H., or Number Four, the most northerly of the British military posts in the Con- necticut valley. On March 4, 1756, the Governor of Massachusetts re- quested the provincial Assembly to appoint fourteen men to measure the distance between Crown Point and Number Four, and to gain what knowledge they could of the country. This request was heeded, and the route was surveyed. Only a little more than a week after his arrival at Crown Point, General Amherst wrote Gov- ernor Wentworth of New Hampshire, telling him that the construction of the road was begun, and explaining the benefits to be derived from it. In this letter he said: "Since I have been in possession of this ground one of my particular attentions has been to improve the advantages it gives me of most effectually covering and securing this country and opening such communications as will render the access between the provinces and the THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS 169 army easy, safe and short; accordingly I sent to explore the Otter River, in order to erect such posts on each side of it as will obstruct all scalping parties from going up that river to annoy any of His Majesty's subjects that may now choose to come and settle between No. 4 and that. And for the easier communication of your two provinces (New Hampshire and Massachusetts) with this post, I have already for these some days past had a number of men in the woods that are employed in cutting a road between this and No. 4, which will be finished before you receive this." Unless the letter was delayed long in transmission, General Amherst erred in his prediction regarding the completion of what was known in later years as the Military Road. In the building of this road three able American officers were engaged. The work was begun by Capt. John Stark of New Hampshire, who was des- tined to win fame at a later day in another portion of Vermont. With two hundred Rangers he began at Crown Point, and opened a part of the road. In October of the same year Maj. John Hawks, who had defended Fort Massachusetts so heroically against a French attack in 1746, was directed by General Amherst to take axes for felling trees and implements for making roads, and with about three hundred New England troops to begin work where the Stark expedition had abandoned the task. An old diary preserved in Deer- field, Mass., shows that Major Hawks and his party left Crown Point on Friday, October 26, 1759. Apparently the Hawks expedition built the road up to or over the summit of the Green Mountains, and a peak between 170 HISTORY OF VERMONT the towns of Baltimore and Cavendish bears the name of Hawks Mountain, Hawks having camped on the slope of this eminence. Early in the year 1760, Lieut. Col. John Goffe, a military leader of prominence, with a regi- ment of eight hundred New Hampshire men, was ordered to complete the road. Beginning at Wentworth's Ferry, two miles above the fort at Number Four, a blockhouse, which was enclosed with pickets, was erected near the mouth of Black River. Forty-four days were spent in cutting a road twenty-six miles long to the foot of the Green Mountains, and twenty-six mile posts were erected. Colonel Goffe's regiment reached Crown Point July 31, 1760, with a drove of cattle, having completed their task in time to embark with Haviland's army for the final campaign against the French in Canada. An epidemic broke out while the eastern section of this road was being built, and several men died, and were buried near the road in Springfield. Evidently it was unneces- sary after the French had surrendered Canada to erect the forts along Otter Creek, which General Amherst had planned for the protection of the settlers from *' scalping parties." This Military Road, or Crown Point Road, seems to have followed a part of the ancient Indian trail used both by war parties and by traders who came to the truck house at Fort Dummer, but avoided swamps and low lands, keeping on the higher ground. Starting at Chimney Point, opposite Crown Point, in the present town of Addison, or at a point a little farther south, the exact place of departure being somewhat in doubt, the road passed through Bridport, touched the north line THE FIRST HOME BUILDERS 171 of Shoreham, and running southeast crossed the Lemon Fair River, proceeded through Whiting to Sudbury, to Otter Creek, crossing that stream, and through the west- ern part of Brandon. The road then followed near the present highway west of Otter Creek in Pittsford to Florence. Taking an easterly course to the ford over the Otter known as Pitts' ford, the road turned south- easterly, and proceeded by way of the terrace on which the village of Pittsford is now located, a little west of the village. Its course was between the present roads from Pittsford to Rutland, thence to a ford at Rutland, and passing south to Clarendon it proceeded in an east- erly direction to Shrewsbury Center, through Mount Holly and Plymouth, and perhaps a corner of Ludlow, to Twenty-Mile Camp in Cavendish. From this camp the road passed around Mount Gilead on the southwest side, and passing near Amsden crossed the Weathers- field line into Springfield, skirting the southern part of Sketchewaug Mountain, and reaching the Connecticut River near what is known as the Cheshire bridge. A log camp built in Cavendish gave the names to Twenty-Mile Camp and Twenty-Mile Stream. As set- tlements sprang up along this route the more difficult portions of the road were abandoned, but for many years the old Crown Point Road was a favorite route of travel from northern Vermont to Boston, and many taverns were erected along this ancient highway. Chapter VIII THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS NEW Hampshire became a royal province in 1741, thus making that year an important date in New England history. Previous to that time the Governor of Massachusetts had acted also as Governor of New Hampshire. The first royal Governor was Benning Wentworth, a merchant of Portsmouth, a member of one of the most distinguished families of the province, a popular citizen who had represented his town in the provincial Assembly several terms, and had been advanced to the post of King's Councillor. He was the son of John Wentworth, Lieutenant Governor of the province from 1717 to 1730, and he was named for John Wentworth's mother, Mary Benning. After graduating at Harvard, he was asso- ciated in business with his father and his uncle. A man of fine presence, he looked the part of a royal Governor, and he dispensed generous hospitality in the spacious mansion at Little Harbor, which he had caused to be erected. A touch of romance is given to his career by his second marriage, which occurred in the Wentworth man- sion on his sixtieth birthday, the bride being Martha Hilton, his beautiful serving maid. This episode is celebrated in verse by the poet Longfellow in his "Tales of a Wayside Inn." In 1766 Governor Wentworth re- signed, and in 1776 he died. This brief sketch will in- troduce a man who occupies a conspicuous place in the early history of the region now known as Vermont. One of the outstanding features of the British occupa- tion of America was the diligence with which that nation pursued its projects of colonization. As the older colo- 176 HISTORY OF VERMONT nies became settled in certain portions it was expected that this policy would be carried forward by issuing grants of land in unsettled portions to settlers who would extend the frontiers of civilization. Although the evil of land speculation sometimes interfered with the success of colonization and delayed actual settlement, it did not defeat it. About eight years after his appointment as royal Gov- ernor of the province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth, in pursuance of the policy of subduing the wilderness, made his first grant of land within the pres- ent limits of Vermont on the eleventh day of January, 1749, and the new township was named Bennington, in honor of the Governor who made the grant. This town was supposed to be six miles square, and was laid out by Matthew Clesson, Surveyor. It was granted to Col.. William Williams, a prominent citizen of New Hampshire, and fifty-nine others. In this town, as in most of the towns granted under the authority of New Hampshire, a tract of five hundred acres, accounted as two shares, was set aside for Governor Wentworth, and in many towns this tract is still known as "The Gov- ernor's Right." In most instances provision was made for one share for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, one share for a glebe for the Church of England, one share for the first settled minister, and one share for the benefit of a school. Among the grantees of Bennington were Theodore Atkinson, secretary of the province, and some of the members of the provincial Council, whom the Governor usually remembered in making these grants. The name THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 177 of Samuel Robinson, the founder of Bennington, and ten persons bearing the name of Williams, appear in the list of grantees. The form of charter used for Bennington was fol- lowed substantially in all the other townships granted by New Hampshire, and read as follows: "George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland King Defender of the faith &c— ''To All Persons to whom these Presents Shall come, Greeting "Know ye that We of our Especial Grace, Certain Knowledge & pure Motion for the Due Encouragement of Settling a New Plantation within our Sd Province By and with the Advise of Our Trusty & well beloved Benning Wentworth Esq our Governour & Com'ander in Chieff of our Said Province of New Hampshire in America And Of Our Council of the Said Province Have upon the Conditions & reservations herein after made Given & granted — And by these Presents for us our heirs & Successors Do give And Grant in Equal Shares unto our Loveing Subjects Inhabitants of our Said Province of New Hampshire And his Majesties Other Governm 'ts And to their heirs and Assignes for ever whose names Are Entered on this Grant to be Divided to and Amongst them into Sixty four Equal Shares All that Tract or Parcell of Land Scituate Lying & being within our Said Province of New Hampshire Containing by Admeasurement Twenty three thousand & forty Acres which Tract is to Contain Six Miles Square & no more Out of which An Allowence is to be 178 HISTORY OF VERMONT made for high ways & unimproveable Lands, by Rock, Ponds Mountains & Rivers One thousand And forty Acres free According to a Plan and Survey thereof made by our Said Governour's order by Mathew Clesson Sur- veyer returned unto the Secretarys office And hereunto Annexed Butted and Bounded as follows viz — ". Then follows a description of the boundaries of the town. ''Begining at A Crotched Hemlock Tree". The Charter then continues : — "And that the same be & hereby is Incorporated into a Township By the Name of Bennington and the Inhabitants that do or Shall here- after Inhabit the Said Township Are hereby Declared to be Enfranchized with and Intituled to All & Every the Previledges & Imunities that Other Towns within Our Province by Law Exercize & Enjoy and further that the Said Town as Soon as there Shall be fifty families resident And Settled thereon Shall have the Liberty of Holding two Fairs One of which Shall be held On the first Monday in the Month of March and the Other on the first Monday in the Month of September Annually which fairs Are not to Continue And be held Longer than the respective Saturdays following the Said Mondays And that As Soon as the Said Town Shall Consist of fifty Families A market Shall be Opened & kept one or more Days in each Week as may be that most Advan- tagious to the Inhabitants Also that the first Meeting for the Choice of Town officers Agreeable to the Laws of Our Said Province Shall be held on the Last Wed- nesday of March next which Said Meeting Shall be noti- fied by Call William Williams who is hereby also Ap- pointed the Moderator of the Said first Meeting which THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 179 he is to Notify & Govern Agreeable to the Laws & Cus- tom of our Said Province And that the Annual meeting forever hereafter for the Choice of Such officers for the Sd Town Shall be on the Last Wednesday of March Annually — To Have & To Hold the said Tract of Land as above Expressed togeather with All Previledges And Appurtenances to them & their respective Heirs and Assignes for ever upon the following Conditions viz — "That every Grantee his heirs or Assignes Shall Plant And Cultivate Five Acres of Land within the Term of five years for Every fifty Acres Contained in his or their Share or Proportion of Land in Said Township And Continue to Improve & Settle the Same by Aditionall Cultivations on Penalty of the forfeiture of his Grant or Share in the Said Township and of its reverting to his Majesty his hiers & Successors to be by him or them regranted to such of his Subjects as Shall effectually Settle & Cultivate the Same. "That All white & other Pine Trees within the said Township fit for masting our Royal Navy be carefully Preserved for that Use And None to be Cut or felld without his Majtys Especial Lycence for So doing first had & Obtained upon the Penalty of the forfeiture of the right of Such Grantee his hiers or Assignes to us our hiers or Successers as well as being Subject to the Penalty of Any Act or Acts of Parliament that now are or hereafter Shall be enacted. "That before any Division of the Said Land be made to and Among the Grantees a Tract of Land as near the Center of the Said Township as the Land will admit of, Shall be reserved & Marked Out for Town Lotts one of 180 HISTORY OF VERMONT which Shall be Alotted to Each Grantee of the "Con- tents" of One Acre — "Yielding & Paying therefor to us our Hiers & Suc- cessers for the Space of Ten Years to be Computed from the Date hereof the rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only on the Twenty fifth Day of December Annually if Law- fully Demanded the first Payment to be made on the Twenty fifth Day of December next Ensueing the Date hereof — "Every Proprietor Settler or Inhabitant Shall Yield & Pay unto us our hiers and Successers yearly & every Year for ever from & after the Expiration of Ten years from the Date hereof Namly on the Twenty fifth Day of December which will be in the year of Our Lord 1760 — One Shilling Proclamation Money for every Hundred Acres he So Owns Settles or Possesses and so in Proportion for a greater or A Lesser Tract of the Said Land which money Shall be paid by the Respective Persons above Sd their heirs or Assignes in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth or to Such officer or officers as Shall be Appointed to receive the Same and this to be in Lieu of all other rents or Services whatsoever." Bennington was the only township west of the Con- necticut River granted by Governor Wentworth in 1749. The next year, 1750, he granted only one township, Halifax. In 1751 he granted the townships of Marl- boro and Wilmington, and in 1752 an equal number, Rockingham and Westminster. Seven townships were granted in 1753, Brattleboro, Dummerston, Newfane, Putney, Stamford, Townshend and Woodford. In 1754 three townships, Chester, Grafton, then known as Thomlinson, and Guilford, were granted. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 181 No further grants were made until the close of the French and Indian War, and only one township, Pownal, was granted in 1760, the year that saw the passing of French dominion in Canada. Beginning with 1761, Governor Wentworth entered vigorously upon the policy of granting lands west of the Connecticut River and that year he chartered sixty-three new townships, the list including Addison, Andover, Arlington, Barnard, Bran- don (Neshobe), Bridgewater, Bridport, Brunswick, Castleton, Cavendish, Clarendon, Cornwall, Danby, Dorset, Fairlee, Ferdinand, Wenlock (annexed to Brighton and Ferdinand), Glastenbury, Granby, Guild- hall, Hartford, Hartland (Hertford), Leicester, Lud- low, Maidstone, Manchester, Middlebury, Mount Tabor (Harwick), New Haven, Norwich (Nor which). Pan- ton, Pawlet, Peru (Brumley), Pittsford, Plymouth (Saltash), Pomfret, Poultney, Reading, Rupert, Rut- land, Salisbury, Sandgate, Shaftsbury, Sharon, Sher- burne (Killington), Shoreham, Shrewsbury, Somerset, Springfield, Stockbridge, Strafiford, Stratton, Sunder- land, Thetford, Tinmouth, Tunbridge, Wallingford, Weathersfield, Wells, Weybridge, Windsor, Winhall, and Woodstock. The grants made in 1762 were fewer, numbering only nine, and the townships granted were Averill, Bloom- field (Minehead), Bristol (Pocock), Charlotte (Char- lotta), Ferrisburg, Hinesburg, Lemington (Limington), Lewis and Monkton. Thirty-seven towns were granted in 1763, including Barnet, Berlin, Bolton, Brattle- borough, Burlington, Colchester, Duxbury, Essex, Fair- fax, Fairfield (Smithfield), Georgia, Highgate, Hunt- 182 HISTORY OF VERMONT ington (New Huntington), Jericho, Lunenburg, Mans- field, Middlesex, Milton, Moretown, Newbury, Orwell, Peacham, Ryegate, Shelburne, Sheldon (Hungerford), St. Albans, St. George, Stowe, Sudbury (Dunbar), Swanton, Topsham, Underbill, Waterbury, Westford, Whiting, Williston and Worcester. Five towns, Corinth, Dover, Hubbardton, Readsboro, and Wardsboro, were granted in 1764. This gives a total of one hundred and thirty-one townships granted by Governor Wentworth in what is now Vermont be- tween the years 1749 and 1764, inclusive. No grants were made for five years during the French and Indian War and during three of the years mentioned only one grant was made each year. Although grants were made during eleven of the sixteen years included in this period, one hundred of these one hundred and thirty-one charters were issued in the years 1761 and 1763. Governor Wentworth became a very large landed pro- prietor as a result of the granting of these towns. Three of the one hundred and thirty-one townships chartered were private grants to army officers in which the Gov- ernor did not retain a right. In four townships the Governor's rights amounted to eight hundred acres each and in two towns to four hundred acres each. The total amount of Governor Wentworth's grants to himself was sixty-five thousand acres. In addition to his personal holdings he dealt liberally with his family and friends. Theodore Atkinson, his father-in-law, a member of the Council, and for many years secretary of the province, received fifty-seven lots, in as many towns, the policy being to grant in this man- THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 183 ner only one lot in a town. Theodore Atkinson, Jr., re- ceived sixteen lots. Ranking next to Secretary Atkin- son in favors received, was Richard Wibird, a member of the Council, who was given forty-eight lots. Mark Himking Wentworth, a brother of the Governor, a mem- ber of the Council, who had the agency for procuring masts and spars for the British navy, and was largely concerned in trade and commerce, was granted thirty- seven lots. Other members of the New Hampshire Council liberally remembered with land grants were John Downing, Sampson Sheaffe, Daniel Warner, Wil- liam Temple, Nathaniel Barrell, Joseph Newmarch, James Nevin, Samuel Solley, Joseph Blanchard, and Henry Sherburne, at one time Speaker, whose family was connected with the Wentworths by marriage. Other members of the Wentworth family, not already mentioned, who received from one to twenty lots each, included Samuel Wentworth of Boston, Major John Wentworth, John Wentworth, Jr., Hunking Wentworth, Hugh Hull Wentworth, Samuel Wentworth, Jr., Capt. John Wentworth of Kittery, Samuel Wentworth of Portsmouth, George Wentworth, Joshua Wentworth, Daniel Wentworth, Foster Wentworth, Thomas Went- worth and Ebenezer Wentworth. A study of the lists of grantees in the one hundred and thirty-one townships chartered by Governor Went- worth reveals the names of many well known persons and these include Thomas Pownall, royal Governor of Massachusetts, 1756-1760, and later a member of the British Parliament. 184 HISTORY OF VERMONT Francis Bernard, royal Governor of New York, 1758- 1760, and royal Governor of Massachusetts, 1760-1764. Meshech Weare, Speaker of the New Hampshire Legislature, Justice and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, and President of New Hamp- shire from 1776 through the Revolutionary War. John Langdon, delegate to the Continental Congress, a soldier of the Revolution, Governor of New Hamp- shire and United States Senator. John Stark, afterward a famous officer in the Ameri- can Revolution. Woodbury Langdon, delegate to the Continental Con- gress and a Judge. Dr. Josiah Bartlett, a New Hampshire signer of the Declaration of Independence and a soldier with Stark at Bennington. Sir John Temple, titular Lieutenant Governor of New Hampshire, and a son-in-law of Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts. Timothy Ruggles, a Brigadier under General Amherst and counted one of the ablest lawyers in Massachusetts. Jonathan Edwards, the famous theologian, and Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College. Rev. Edward Holyoke, president of Harvard College, Rev. Henry Caner, rector of King's Chapel, Boston, Rev. Nathaniel Appleton, a member of the corporation of Harvard College for sixty-two years. Phineas Lyman, the real victor of the battle of Lake George. Josiah Willard, commandant at Fort Dummer. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 185 Robert Rogers, the well known scout and leader of Rogers' Rangers. Col. Ebenezer Hinsdale, Col. John Gofife, Capt. Ben- jamin Sheldon, Capt. Nehemiah Lovewell and Benjamin Melvin, well known Indian fighters. The name of Samuel Adams, also appears, but it is probable that it applies not to the well known Massa- chusetts patriot but to a New Hampshire physician of that name. Harrison Gray, a grantee, was Receiver General of Massachusetts and father-in-law of James Otis, the famous orator. Among the grantees who afterward became active in the New Hampshire Grants, or Vermont, were Samuel Robinson, Moses Robinson, Jonathan Robinson, Jonas Fay, Hilkiah Grout, Jonathan Hunt, Thomas Chitten- den, Noah Chittenden, Jacob Bayley, Timothy Brown- son, Samuel Safford, and Roger Enos. The names of several women appear among the grantees, one of them being Jemima Howe, widow of Caleb Howe, mortally wounded in the Indian attack on Fort Bridgman, who, with her seven children, were taken to Canada. It appears that Governor Wentworth not only granted land in what is now Vermont to citizens of New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts, but, strange as it may seem in the light of subsequent events, to not a few residents of New York. Among the grants made to New Yorkers by Governor Wentworth were a considerable number to various persons named Burling. The name appears in a considerable number of Chittenden and Addison county towns. Among the grantees of Colchester were 186 HISTORY OF VERMONT ten persons named Burling. This was a well known name in New York City, and a Burling slip is mentioned in pre-Revolutionary annals. John and Thomas Bur- ling were merchants on Cruger's wharf, New York, and Samuel Burling was a merchant in the same city. Lan- caster Burling was one of a committee of sixty in New York to take action in matters growing out of the con- troversy with Great Britain. The Bogart family appears frequently in Governor Wentworth's charters. There were fourteen grantees of that name in the Essex charter. The name appears in New York and New Jersey records, Nicholas H. Bogart being a New York merchant and John Bogart. Jr., an Alderman of Montgomerie ward. New York City. Such well known names as Philip Scuyler (Schuyler) and Cornelius Low appear in these lists. Continuing an examination of the names of persons to whom town- ships were granted in the region now known as Vermont, it appears that Edward Agar was an apothecary of New York City, Francis Panton of the same city was a barber, Petrus Byvanck was one of the principal merchants of New York, Benjamin Hildreth was a merchant of the same city, as was Dirck Brinckerhofif, who sold hard- ware and metals at the sign of "the Golden Lock." Theodorus Van Wyck was a New York Alderman in 1758. The name Van Wyck appears in several of the Vermont town charters, five of that name being grantees of Berlin. Among these Wentworth grantees, whose names appear in lists of New York freemen, are Nicholas Bogart, Peter Knickerbocker, Daniel Latham, Joseph Latham, Thomas Alsop and Cornelius DeGroot. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 187 Other New York names that appear in these charters are Dyckman, Gouverneur, Lawrence, Lutwyche, Scher- merhorn, Suydam, Swartwout, Ten Eyck, Underhill, Vandusen and Van Zandt. The names of several Bur- lings, Bogarts, and other New York grantees may be found attached to petitions to the King, protesting against the land policy of Lieutenant Governor Golden of that province, and Edward Burling and John Burling were members of a committee empowered to act in this matter in November, 1766. A careful study of the lists of the grantees shows that in several townships, chiefly in the western part of what is now the State of Vermont, apparently all the names are those of New Yorkers, with the exception of a few of Governor Wentworth's favorites. It is not easy to demonstrate this beyond the shadow of a doubt, but there is evidence to show that a large number of these grantees were residents of New York, while the dis- tinctive Knickerbocker names, and the family resem- blance of still others to those of citizens of New York, make it reasonably certain that whole townships, practi- cally, in some instances, and at least parts of townships, in other instances, were granted to New York men. A study of the Wentworth charters shows that on a single day, June 7, 1763, the Governor of New Hamp- shire granted the townships of Colchester, Burlington, Essex, Williston, Jericho, Bolton, New Huntington, Duxbury and Waterbury. The territory granted in- cluded both sides of the Winooski River from its mouth beyond the point where this stream breaks through the barrier of the Green Mountains, Richmond being formed 188 HISTORY OF VERMONT later from parts of other towns. A similarity of names among the grantees, and the fact that the grants were made on the same day, leads to the conclusion that this fertile valley was granted to a group of men in which New York influences largely predominated. It is evident^ moreover, that these New Yorkers recognized the right of a New Hampshire Governor to grant lands west of the Connecticut River. In the "Documentary History of New York" may be found lists of Quakers, published pursuant to an act regulating the militia of the colony of New York. These lists included New York City and Dutchess, Queens and Suffolk counties, and were compiled in 1755 and 1756. In these lists of Quakers may be found a considerable number of names which appear as grantees in the Wentworth charters. The names of eighteen of these Quakers appear in the Monkton charter, sixteen in the Charlotte charter, twelve in the Ferrisburg charter, nine in the Colchester charter, eight in the Shelburne charter, and smaller numbers in other towns. There is a similarity between other Quaker names, and names found in these charters. In the Quaker lists may be found such names as Bur- ling, Ferris, Lawrence, Franklin, Field, Latham, Doty and Underbill, which are familiar names in charters of towns in the New Hampshire Grants. Some of these Quakers were merchants and shopkeepers in New York City, while others were farmers and laborers on Long Island, or in The Oblong and other portions of New York near the Connecticut border. The same Quaker names appear as grantees in several towns, and it is in- THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 189 teresting to note that in the early part of Vermont's his- tory some of these same townships contained substantial colonies of Quakers. Governor Wentworth was a thrifty individual, and the issuing of town charters was attended with profit to the grantor as well as the grantee. Apparently Gov- ernor Wentworth's fees were not uniform. In some in- stances they were one hundred dollars a township, and in others they amounted to a larger sum, but as a rule they were materially less than the fees imposed by New York Governors. Elliott, in his "History of New Eng- land," says that "Wentworth made grants to his friends and to those who had money to pay the necessary costs and fees." According to the Vermont Historical So- ciety collections. Lieutenant Governor Golden received for every thousand acres he patented the sum of $31.25. Other provincial officials received the following sums as fees: Secretary of the Province, $10; Clerk of the Council, $10; Receiver General, $14.37; Attorney Gen- eral, $7.50; Surveyor General, $12.50. This made the total amount of fees for each thousand acres patented by New York, $90.25. This was a period of land speculation, a fact of which Governor Wentworth, no doubt, was well aware. It is possible that anticipating opposition from the New York authorities, he may have taken measures to hasten the granting of charters, and the securing of charter fees, by disseminating information concerning this region now known as Vermont, even in New York itself. This suggestion, however, is regarded only as a guess, and no facts have been found to substantiate it. 190 HISTORY OF VERMONT Following the surrender of the French in Canada, in 1760, there was an active movement toward the lands in what is now the State of Vermont, hitherto rendered unsafe as homes for pioneers on account of the peril of Indian raids, from the north. The provincial officials of New York were not dis- posed to permit all the lands between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain to be granted by New Hamp- shire without opposition. The story of that opposition, however, belongs in subsequent chapters. Elliott, in his "History of New England," says the authorities of New York perceived the movement of settlers into the New Hampshire Grants, and decided to profit by it. Dun- lap's ''History of New York" says : "There was now a King's Lieutenant Governor who had succeeded to the management of afifairs who had as keen a relish for accumulation as Wentworth. * ^ * Mr. Colden, when Surveyor General, had found out the value of the lands between the Hudson or the lake (Champlain) and the boundary line." Although New York did not begin the granting of land between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain until Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire had con- cluded his policy of granting lands in that region, these grants amounted to more than two millions of acres in the aggregate, and the last of them were made after the Revolutionary War actually had commenced. The New York policy was begun by Lieutenant Gov- ernor Colden. Cadwallader Colden was a man of scientific and literary attainments, who had held the office of Surveyor General of New York and member of the tT.^^VTvei. I Printed bv Jolui £ Oant-AlbaB/ ^'^fO^tatA^^^^^^f^^ ^^^„^/^ ^^^ THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 191 provincial Council. In 1761 he was appointed Lieu- tenant Governor of the province, which office he held until 1775, during which period he served four times as acting Governor. No New York grants were made in this region until after the order of the King in Council, issued in 1764, sustaining the New York contention that that province extended eastward as far as the Connecticut River so that it included all of the present State of Vermont. Lieutenant Governor Colden's first grant in this debat- able region was made on May 21, 1765, when a tract of twenty-six thousand acres was chartered as Princetown. This tract originally was granted to twenty-six persons, in shares of one thousand acres each, but within a few weeks all but one of the grantees had conveyed their holdings to three well known land speculators, James Duane, a prominent New York lawyer. Attorney Gen- eral John Taber Xempe and Walter Rutherford, son of a Scottish nobleman. Princetown was about twelve miles long, and three and one-half miles wide, was situated in the Battenkill valley, and included portions of the towns of Arlington, Sunderland and Manchester, granted in 1761 by Governor Wentworth. On October 30, 1765, a tract of ten thousand acres, lying partly in the town of Arlington, Glastenbury, Shaftsbury and Sunderland, was granted to James Lapier. During the year 1765 Lieutenant Governor Colden granted one hundred and fifty-one military patents, covering one hundred and thirty-one thousand, eight hundred acres. 192 HISTORY OF VERMONT Sir Henry Moore was Governor of New York from November 13, 1765, until his death, which occurred Sep- tember 12, 1769. During the years 1766 and 1767 he confirmed the New Hampshire charters of Flamstead (Chester), Brattleboro, Hertford (Hartland), Putney, Townshend and ThomHnson (Grafton), granted a tract of five thousand acres in Athens, and issued eighteen miHtary patents containing thirteen thousand, three hundred and fifty acres, making an aggregate of char- ters confirmed and patents issued amounting to one hun- dred and forty-four thousand, six hundred and twenty acres. Lieutenant Governor Golden again became acting Governor upon the death of Sir Henry Moore, and in the month of November, 1766, he granted four townships, Warrenton, including parts of Athens and Acton (an- nexed to Townshend), fourteen thousand acres; Royal- ton, thirty thousand acres ; Camden, thirty-five thousand acres, in Jamaica, Wardsboro and Dover, to Robert R. Livingston, Chief Justice of the province; and Kempton, sixteen thousand acres in what is now Orange county. From the beginning of the year 1770 until October 19 of that year, when the Earl of Dunmore became royal Governor, Lieutenant Governor Golden granted the fol- lowing townships : Middlesex, thirty-five thousand acres, in Orange county ; Kent, twenty-six thousand acres, now Londonderry; in Cumberland, now Whitingham, ten thousand acres ; Bessborough, thirty-six thousand acres, in St. Johnsbury and vicinity; Charlotte, twenty-five thousand acres, in Chelsea and vicinity; Readsborough, twenty-nine thousand acres, now Readsboro and Sears- THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 193 burg; Mooretown, twenty-five thousand acres, now Bradford; Gageborough, twenty-four thousand acres, now Vershire and vicinity; Kelso, twenty-one thousand acres, in Tinmouth and vicinity; Newbrook, twenty- three thousand acres, in Waterbury and vicinity ; Kings- borough, thirty-five thousand acres, now Montpeher and vicinity; Hulton, twelve thousand acres, now Shrews- bury; Leyden, twenty-four thousand acres, now North- field and vicinity ; Dunmore, thirty-nine thousand acres, in Waterford and vicinity; Virgin Hall, twenty-six thousand acres, in Andover and Weston; Hillsborough, thirty-six thousand acres, in Danville and vicinity ; Kers- borough, twenty thousand acres, in Orange county. In- dividual grants were made of three thousand acres in Orwell, ten thousand acres in or near Wardsboro, and five thousand acres in Benson, in addition to twenty- six military patents, comprising forty-three thousand, seven hundred acres, making a total of six hundred and three thousand, two hundred acres granted by Golden during a little more than one year. The towns granted by Governor Dunmore included Socialborough, forty-eight thousand acres, in Rutland and Pittsford; Monckton, twenty-three thousand acres, in Whiting; Fincastle, eighteen thousand acres, in Stockbridge; Halesborough, twenty-three thousand acres, in Brandon; Deerfield, thirty-five thousand acres, a portion of Burlington, Essex and Williston; Morris- field, twenty-one thousand, nine hundred and forty acres, in Cornwall and Middlebury ; Newry, thirty-seven thousand acres in Sherburne and vicinity; Mecklen- burgh, thirty thousand acres, in Ferrisburg and vicinity; 194 HISTORY OF VERMONT Richmond, twenty- four thousand acres, in Wells and vicinity; Kilby, thirty thousand acres, in Middlesex and vicinity ; Leicester, thirty-five thousand acres, in Somer- set and Woodford; Pratsburgh, thirty thousand acres, in Highgate and S wanton. Governor Dunmore made in- dividual grants of twelve thousand acres, in Poultney; one thousand, eight hundred acres in Shaftsbury; three thousand, two hundred and ten acres (in two parcels), in Addison and Middlebury ; four thousand acres, chiefly in Arlington; ten thousand acres in Addison; seven thousand acres, in Panton and New Haven; ten thou- sand acres, in Panton ; two thousand acres, in Highgate ; fifty-one thousand acres, in Leicester, Salisbury and Middlebury, said to be in reality a grant to Governor Dunmore himself. Military patents covering fifty-five thousand, nine hundred and fifty acres were issued by Governor Dunmore, making a total of five hundred and eleven thousand, nine hundred acres granted during that portion of the year 1771 between February 28 and July 8. During the years 1771 and 1772, Governor Tryon granted townships, as follows: Durham, thirty-two thousand acres, in Clarendon and Wallingford; Wind- ham, thirty-five thousand acres, in Duxbury and vicin- ity ; Truro, twenty-two thousand acres, in Orange and vi- cinity ; Penryn, twenty-two thousand acres, in Calais and vicinity; Norbury, thirty-two thousand acres, in Wor- cester and vicinity, said to be in reality a grant to Gov- ernor Tryon himself; Townshend, thirty thousand acres, in St. Albans and vicinity (a grant to Lord George THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 195 Townshend & Co.); Minto, thirty thousand acres, in Richmond and vicinity. Individual grants were made by Governor Tryon of ten thousand acres in Vernon and Guilford; one thou- sand acres in Danby ; four thousand acres in Shoreham ; four thousand acres in Hubbardton ; five thousand acres in Ira; and one thousand acres in Whiting. Tryon's military patents included fifty-five thousand, nine hun- dred and fifty acres. The New Hampshire charters in Corinth, Westminster, Windsor, Newbury, Weathers- field, New fane, Reading, Springfield, Woodstock, Cavendish and Saltash (now Plymouth) were confirmed or regranted. This makes a total of five hundred and forty-two thousand, four hundred and fifty acres granted at this time. Governor Tryon having been called to England, Lieu- tenant Governor Colden once more became acting Gov- ernor, and the granting of lands in the present State of Vermont proceeded, the following townships being created : Kellybrook, thirty thousand acres, in Fletcher and vicinity ; New Rutland, twenty-three thousand acres, in Sheldon; Sidney, twenty-three thousand acres, in Cabot and vicinity ; Wickham, thirty-six thousand acres, in Randolph and vicinity; St. George, thirty thousand acres, in Coventry and vicinity; Bamf, thirty thousand acres, in Burke and vicinity; Therming, twenty thou- sand acres, in Canaan; Meath, twenty-five thousand acres, in Fairfield and vicinity; Smithfield, twenty-five thousand acres, in Waterville and vicinity. Individual grants were made of twenty thousand acres in Johnson and vicinity (to King's College) ; 196 HISTORY OF VERMONT twenty- four thousand acres in Lincoln and Ripton; twenty-eight thousand acres in Lincoln, Ripton and Granville; ten thousand acres in Fairfield (in two par- cels); two thousand acres in Pawlet; twenty thousand acres in Ryegate; twenty- four thousand acres in Strat- ton. Military patents for nine thousand, one hundred acres were also issued by Golden, making a total of three hundred and seventy-nine thousand, one hundred acres granted. After Governor Tryon's return in 1775 he granted the township of Whippleborough, in Starksboro and vicinity, containing forty thousand acres, and made an individ- ual grant of twenty-three thousand and forty acres, in Topsham, as late as June 12, 1776, making a total of sixty-three thousand and forty acres. This list, taken from a compilation in the ''Proceed- ings of the Vermont Historical Society," includes grants by Lieutenant Governor Golden of nine hundred and sixty-five thousand, five hundred acres; by Governor Moore, of one hundred and forty-four thousand, six hundred and twenty acres; by Governor Dunmore of four hundred and fifty-five thousand, nine hundred and fifty acres; and by Governor Tryon of five hundred and forty-nine thousand, five hundred and forty acres, or a total of two million, one hundred and fifteen thousand, six hundred and ten acres. Adding to this list three hundred and three thousand, one hundred acres granted by various Governors as military patents, the aggregate amount of Vermont lands, granted by all New York Governors, was two million, four hundred and eighteen thousand, seven hundred and ten acres. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 197 A later compilation made by Hiram A. Huse, a thorough student of Vermont history, for the "New Hampshire State Papers," includes grants by Governor Dunmore of the townships of Chatham, containing twelve thousand, seven hundred and fifty acres, prin- cipally in Dorset, and Eugene, containing fifteen thou- sand, three hundred and fifty acres in Rupert and Paw- let. Other grants were Chester, containing thirty-one thousand, seven hundred acres, being for the most part a confirmation of the New Hampshire grant of Flam- stead; Kingsland, including the present town of Wash- ington, which became the county seat of Gloucester county; and Poynell, said to have been located between Thetford and Norwich. The township of Jauncey- borough was situated between Ryegate, Topsham and Peacham. Mention is made of the town of Rhineland, called Underbill, and the New York Council changed the name of Fulham (Dummerston) to Galway. On February 14, 1776, a grant was made to Robert Rogers, the well known scout of the French and Indian W^ar period, and to others, of land on Lake Memphre- magog, "to be erected into the township of Rogers- borough, in compensation for the township of Dunbar, granted to Rogers in 1762 by New Hampshire, but already occupied." Probably other townships in the New Hampshire Grants were patented by New York. A map showing some of the English (or New York) grants, indicates that Pratsburgh was granted to Jeston Homfrey & Co., Deerfield to Wells & Co., and Minto to Andrew Ellit & Co. A strip of land several miles wide, extending along Lake Champlain from a point a little 198 HISTORY OF VERMONT north of the mouth of Otter Creek nearly to the mouth of the Winooski River, was granted to non-commis- sioned officers and soldiers. This map shows grants to Captains Ross and McAdam within the present limits of Chittenden county and grants to Colonel Montresor, Captain Williams and Lieutenants Cuyler, Dambler, Allen, Grant, and Duncan Campbell. The last named officer was a member of the famous Black Watch regi- ment and was fatally wounded in General Abercrombie's unsuccessful battle with the French army at Ticon- deroga, in 1758. There is a legend to the effect that Campbell was warned in a dream that he would meet his death at Ticonderoga. Few settlements were attempted on the New York grants. Some rather ambitious plans were made for Kingsland, the shire town of Gloucester county, which is now known as the town of Washington. At a meet- ing of the governors of King's College, held in New York February 17, 1772, the Mayor, the Attorney Gen- eral and other well known men being present, it was reported that the encouragement given by this corpora- tion for the settlement of the township had proved in- sufficient, and it was voted that an actual survey be made of the whole tract; that one thousand acres be laid out in square lots of ten acres each for a "Town Spott," the center lot to be an open square or green. Plans were made for laying out streets, and streams and places fit for water works were to be noted in the survey. The first twelve settlers were to have a choice of the central ten- acre lots, and one hundred acres each for farms outside of the town plot. It was planned to reserve certain lots THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS 199 fronting on the central square for public buildings and a church. All these plans for a city were destined to failure, and only a log jail was erected, which gave the name to Jail Branch, a tributary of the Winooski River. To the confirmation of New Hampshire charters, or regrants of the same, by the New York Council, already mentioned, should be added the towns of Andover, Averill, Barnet, Bridgewater, Clarendon, Fairlee, Ful- ham (Dummerston), Guilford, Halifax, Hartford (under the name of Ware), Leicester, Lemington, Lunenburgh, Maidstone, Marlboro, Minehead (Bloom- field), Norwich, Orwell, Peacham, Pom fret. Putney, Rockingham, Ryegate, Sharon, Shrewsbury, Somerset, Strafiford, Stratton, Thetford, Thomlinson (Grafton), Topsham, Tunbridge, Wallingford, Westford, Wilming- ton and Winhall. The records of the New York Council show many petitions for the confirmation of New Hampshire Grants, and in some instances the petitions contain prac- tically all the names of the Wentworth grantees except those of political associates or personal friends of the New Hampshire Governor. Some of the petitions show the names of a portion of the New Hampshire grantees, and in other instances only a few of the names mentioned in the New Hampshire charter are to be found. The records give the changes of names in the patents of some of these towns. In some instances the names of grantees under the Wentworth charters appear in the charters of other towns regrantedby New York. In the regrants of certain towns it is specified that the shares of Benning Wentworth, and a few others, prob- 200 HISTORY OF VERMONT ably friends of the Governor, shall remain vested in the crovv'n. The names of many well known New York families appear in the New York grants of lands now a part of Vermont, such as Van Cortlandt, Cruger, Delancey, Livingston, Roosevelt, Schuyler, Stuyvesant, Ten Eyck, John Jay, Isaac Low, and others. Among the compen- satory patents issued is one to Israel Putnam, for Pom- fret. In only a few instances did New York names or New York grants become embodied in the life of the people of Vermont. As a rule the grants made by New York were larger in area than those made by New Hampshire, and the grantees for each township were fewer. The average number of grantees in the townships granted by New Hampshire was sixty- four, but the number varied from forty-eight in Sudbury and Whiting, to eighty-two in Topsham and ninety- four in Ryegate. It is evident that there was much land speculation both in New York and New Hampshire Grants, and some of those engaged in these land transactions bore names well known to the public. A respectable number of the New Hampshire grantees, however, appear to have been actual settlers, and not a few of these names are familiar to Vermonters of the present day. Chapter IX CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS ALTHOUGH some slight attempts at settlement within the present limits of Vermont had been made in the Connecticut valley prior to the close of the French and Indian War, the area under cultiva- tion beyond the immediate protection of a few fortified posts was so small as to be almost negligible. During the fifteen years that intervened between the surrender of Montreal and the beginning of the American Revolu- tion a great transformation took place, particularly in that portion of Vermont now comprised in the four southern counties of the State, Bennington, Rutland, Windsor and Windham, and extending farther north in the Connecticut and Champlain valleys. Indeed, by far the greater part of this transformation occurred during the decade between 1765 and 1775. Up to 1760 the history of Vermont is confined largely to attempts on the part of New England settlers to protect their homes from the incursions of cruel and crafty savages, who descended upon them by way of the passes through the Green Mountains. The period with which this chapter deals is that which relates to the first really successful attempts to conquer the Vermont wilderness. With the coming of peace in 1760, which resulted in the banishment of French authority from Canada, the long standing peril of Indian invasion was removed. Several thousand Colonial soldiers had rendezvoused at Crown Point or Ticonderoga or had entered the Cana- dian region through one of its Vermont gatew^ays. Some of them had aided in building the Crown Point Road over the Green Mountains. Many of them had seen that the new region was very promising, surpassing 204 HISTORY OF VERMONT in fertility the soil of the older New England colonies. They had noted its goodly pines, and had observed that it was well watered by numerous rivers and an abun- dance of smaller streams. There was a general feeling of restlessness abroad, a desire on the part of not a few New Englanders for a wider field of activity. The New Hampshire Grants were not so far removed that transportation methods, which had changed very little for thousands of years, would be seriously taxed in travelling to this Promised Land, thus affording an outlet for the spirit of ad- venture. The new lands were cheap, they were good, they were accessible, and not many years elapsed before the ancient highways of war became thronged with families seeking to establish homes in the primeval for- ests that lay in the valleys of the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain and on the far stretching slopes and foothills of the Green Mountains. In boats that ascended the Connecticut or descended Lake Champlain, on sledges that traversed the frozen surface of lakes and streams, on horseback and on foot along the Indian trails worn deep by the travel of countless centuries, these sturdy pioneers, stout of heart and strong of limb, thronged into this new region. Beyond the perils and privations of the present they saw the vision of future years of plenty and prosperity, and they were content to toil and even to suffer, if only their dreams might come true. In six Vermont towns, Bennington, Guilford, Hali- fax, Newbury, Pawlet and Townshend, settlements were begun in 176L CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 205 Bennington — In Bennington, the first town west of the Connecticut River granted by Governor Wentworth, the leader in promoting the settlement of the township was Capt. Samuel Robinson, who had resided in Hard- wick, Mass., for twenty-six years. He had served in the French and Indian War as an officer in Colonel Ruggles' regiment, and was now fifty-six years old. As the story generally is told, Robinson and a party of soldiers, returning from Lake George to Massachusetts, followed the Walloomsac River, supposing it to be the Hoosac, until they came to the region later known as Bennington, where they camped for the night. It is said that Captain Robinson was so well pleased with this locality that he determined to settle there. It is entirely possible, of course, that the Hardwick Captain may have blundered upon Bennington as the result of losing his way, but the significant fact should not be overlooked that when the township of Bennington was chartered early in the year 1749, and several years before his military expedition to Lake George, Samuel Robinson was one of the grantees. Naturally he would be inter- ested in his own property, whether he visited the place by accident or by design, and he liked Bennington so well that when he returned home it is said he organized a company and purchased the rights of other original pro- prietors, many of whom lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The first immigration consisted of six families, includ- ing twenty-tw^o people. These families, four of them from Amherst, Mass., and two others, those of Leonard Robinson and Samuel Robinson, Jr., came on June 18, 206 HISTORY OF VERMONT 1761. Twenty or thirty additional families came dur- ing the summer and fall, including those of Capt. Samuel Robinson, John Fassett of Hardwick, and others from Massachusetts and Connecticut towns. The first child born in town, January 2, 1762, was Benjamin Harwood, who lived until June 22, 1851. Samuel Rob- inson was commissioned a Justice of the Peace by Gov- ernor Wentworth on February 8, 1762, and is said to have been the first person within the present limits of Vermont to be appointed to a judicial office. As early as 1766 a meeting house was erected, the first Protestant house of worship to be built in Vermont, and the first church edifice to be built in this State in connection with a permanent settlement. Apparently there was a strong religious motive in the settlement of Bennington, connected with what was known as the Separatist movement. Much formality is said to have grown up in the churches of New Eng- land, and as the result of the preaching of Whitefield and others there had been a great awakening, so-called. This had resulted in some dissensions in the Congrega- tional Church, and there were factions known as New Lights and Old Lights. The Separatist churches of Hardwick and Sunderland, Mass., united as the Church of Bennington. Then the church at Westfield, Mass., voted to unite with the Bennington church, and the Westfield pastor. Rev. Jedediah Dewey, became the pas- tor of these united churches, coming to Bennington in 1763. Many members of the First Church at Norwich, Conn., withdrew, refusing to pay tax rates for the sup- port of the minister, and as many as forty men and CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 207 women of the Separatist faith in Norwich were im- prisoned in a single year for this refusal. Not a few of the early settlers of Bennington came from Norwich and vicinity, and the fact that the Connecticut laws bore rather harshly upon those not of the Orthodox faith, doubtless contributed somewhat to the settlement of this town and possibly that of other Vermont townships. The soil of Bennington was highly productive and the new township flourished. Seth Warner came in 1765 and Samuel Safford erected mills here in 1766. In a letter from Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts to Governor Pownal, then in London, dated at Boston July 1, 1765, it is stated that Bennington had sixty-seven families and as many houses, some of the dwellings being of a sort superior to those of common settlers. Hiland Hall says that by the year 1765, "a large portion of the town had become occupied by settlers from Massa- chusetts and Connecticut, who had cleared much of the land, erected dwelling houses and barns, with mills, opened and worked highways and established schools for the instruction of children and youth, and were living in a comfortable and thriving condition." During the next ten years the population increased rapidly, and accord- ing to Rev. Isaac Jennings probably it had reached fifteen hundred persons when the American Revolution began in 1775. GuiivFORD — Although land was cleared in Guiltord by Jonathan and Elisha Hunt as early as 1758, the first settlement was not begun until September, 1761, when Micah Rice and family came into this town. Other families soon followed, coming up the valley of Broad 208 HISTORY OF VERMONT Brook after leaving the Connecticut River. The first settlers were obliged to boil or pound their corn, or to go fifteen miles to mill, carrying their grists upon their backs. Not being able to fulfill the conditions of the charter requiring the grantees to settle, clear and cultivate five acres for every fifty in the township, a renewal and ex- tension was secured in 1761, and again in 1764. This town was virtually a little republic, really subject only to the British Parliament, which naturally did not inter- fere with a frontier settlement in a remote portion of New England. In 1772 the people of Guilford re- nounced their New Hampshire charter and voted that the town was in the province of New York. Beginning in 1764, and continuing for several years, the population of this town increased rapidly, so that Guilford soon became the most populous town in the New Hampshire Grants, although there was not a vil- lage within its borders. In 1771 the population was four hundred and thirty-six and in 1772 it is said to have been five hundred and eighty-six. This increase con- tinued until the population had reached two thousand, four hundred and thirty-two when the first census was taken in 1791, the year of Vermont's admission to the Union. HaIvIFax — An attempt made in 1751 to settle Hali- fax, the second Vermont town granted by Governor Wentworth, was frustrated by the hostility of the Indians. Ten years later, in 1761, Abner Rice of Wor- cester county, Massachusetts, settled here, and in 1763 other families came from Colerain and Pelham, Mass. CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 209 The population increased slowly during the first five years of the town's existence, but after 1766 it grew rapidly, and in 1771 the New York provincial census showed the population of Halifax to be three hundred and twenty-nine. Newbury — In his excellent "History of Newbury," F. P. Wells relates the fact that four officers who had served in Col. John Gofife's regiment during the French and Indian War, Lieut. Col. Jacob Bayley, Capt. John Hazen, Lieut. Jacob Kent and Lieut. Timothy Bedel, returning home after the surrender of the French at Montreal, in 1760, on their way down the Connecticut valley stopped several days at Coos, as the region in the vicinity of the Great Oxbow at Newbury was called, and carefully examined the surrounding country. Con- vinced that it was a most desirable location, Bayley and Hazen came up in 1761 and took the first steps necessary to establish a settlement. Men were secured to cut the hay on the fertile Oxbow meadows, and cattle were brought here, three men remaining to care for them dur- ing the winter. A few families came to Newbury in 1762, but it was not until 1763 that a town charter was secured from Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire, through the efforts of Jacob Bayley and John Hazen. Settlers began to come into the town in considerable numbers in 1763, and during that year the first apple trees in Newbury were planted. Most of the early inhabitants came from southeastern New Hampshire and from Newbury, Mass. 210 HISTORY OF VERMONT The nearest mill to which the first settlers could re- sort was located at Number Four (Charlestown, N. H.), more than sixty miles distant. There were no roads through the wilderness, and grain was carried to mill in canoes, the meal or flour being brought home during the following winter over the frozen surface of the Con- necticut River. The crank for the first sawmill at New- bury was drawn from Concord, N. H., on a hand sled, a distance of nearly eighty miles. TowNSHEND — Col. Johu Hazcltiue secured the char- ter of Townshend, and it is said he caused the names of neighbors and acquaintances to be entered as grantees without their knowledge. The records show that he be- came the owner of sixteen rights for one shilling each. In 1761 Colonel Hazel tine cleared land in the west part of the town and built a log fort. During the same sum- mer John and Thomas Baird settled in town, all return- ing to Massachusetts in the autumn. This practice of working in the new township during the summer and returning to the old home for the winter was continued by these pioneers until 1766. Other persons began clearings during the years 1764 and 1765. The popula- tion in 1771 was one hundred and thirty-six. PawlET — This town was granted to Jonathan Wil- lard and sixty-seven others. For many years Captain Willard was a resident of Colchester, Conn., and owned and operated a vessel trading between New England ports and New York. Soon after the year 1750 he re- moved to Albany, N. Y., where he conducted the only English tavern in the town. After residing in Albany CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 211 eight years he removed to Saratoga, N. Y., and engaged in the lumber business. In 1760 Captain Willard visited the New Hampshire Grants with two companions, and selected three town- ships. Grants were secured in 1761 for Pawlet, Danby and Mount Tabor, the last named town being chartered as Harwick. It is said that Captain Willard entered the names of his former Connecticut neighbors as grantees, and purchased many of their rights for a mug of flip or a new hat. Pawlet fell to Willard as his share of of the purchase. Simon Burton and William Fairfield came into Pawlet in 1761, Burton making the first clearing. In 1762 Captain Willard came into the town with nine laborers and several horses, and as a result of their operations several acres of land were cleared and sowed to wheat. Meeting with heavy losses in the lumber business, Wil- lard returned in 1764 or 1765, bringing his family, although he had purchased the land in Pawlet for pur- poses of speculation. Several of the early settlers were veterans of the French and Indian War. Settlement was slow until after Burgoyne's defeat in 1777. In 1770 there were only nine families in town. PowNAL — The settlement of only one Vermont town, Pownal, was begun in 1762. As early as 1724 Dutch squatters had entered this region, and when settlers hold- ing title under a New Hampshire charter arrived they found a few of these families in possession of farms, claiming rights under the Hoosick patent granted by New York. The first settlers holding New Hampshire titles came from Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 212 HISTORY OF VERMONT George Gardner, who came from Hancock, Mass., in 1765, is said to have attained the great age of one hun- dred and fourteen years. He planted an apple nursery at the age of eighty-five years and lived to see some of the trees bear fruit. Six townships, Arlington, Hartford, Hartland, Marl- boro, Norwich and Shaftsbury, were settled in 1763. ARI.INGT0N — The first dwelling erected in Arlington was a log house, built in 1763 by William Searl. Sev- eral other families came into this town the same year. A rough road, running north and south, and passable for ox teams, had been constructed. In the proprietors' records of the town of Middlebury reference is made to the cutting of a road from Arlington to Crown Point in the autumn of 1764. In the spring of 1764 several families came here from Connecticut, including those of Remember Baker and Jehiel Hawley. Baker, who achieved fame in later years as a leader of the Green Mountain Boys, was a millwright. Hawley became a large landed proprietor, his wife being a sister of Seth Warner. Hartp'ord — Practically all the grantees of Hartford, with the exception of a few friends and relatives of Governor Wentworth, were inhabitants of Connecticut. Strenuous efforts were made to secure an early and a rapid settlement of this township. In March, 1762, the proprietors voted that a premium of sixpence should be paid for each bushel of wheat, rye or Indian corn, raised in Hartford during the year 1763. There is some evidence to indicate that four families of squatters settled here as early as 1761, but the pro- CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 213 prietors' records, and a petition to the New York govern- ment for letters patent state that the settlement was begun in 1763. The New York petition sets forth the claim that ten persons entered the town and labored in 1763. Other settlers came the following summer. The petition to which reference has been made, dated May, 1765, declared that ten more "this present spring" have gone on to improve, and about ten others "intend to go immediately." Most of the early settlers were Con- necticut people, many of them coming from the town of Lebanon. Some of the best lands were purchased for one shilling per acre. It is stated that "thousands upon thousands of white pine trees were consigned to the fire or rolled into the river because they were considered less valuable than the land upon which they grew." The population in 1771, according to New York census returns, was one hundred and ninety. Probably at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War there was a population of three hun- dred. HarTi^and — The settlement of Hartland (chartered as Hertford) was begun by Timothy Lull, in May, 1763. He came up the Connecticut River in a log canoe, bring- ing his family and his household goods. At the mouth of a large brook in this town he broke a bottle, which contained, presumably, something stronger than Con- necticut River water, and named the stream Lull's Brook. Ascending this brook about a mile, he found a deserted log house, and here he made his home. Most of the first settlers came from Massachusetts and Con- 214 HISTORY OF VERMONT necticut. The New York enumeration of 1771 gave this town a population of one hundred and forty-four. Marlboro — The first settlers of Marlboro were Abel Stockwell of West Springfield, Mass., and Thomas Whitmore of Middletown, Conn. Coming into this township in the spring of 1763, one family settled in the northern and one in the southern part of the town, and they resided in Marlboro nearly a year before either family knew of the presence of the other, each supposing itself to be the only family in town. The settlement, which had grown slowly, was considerably augmented in 1770 by emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 1771 the population of the town was fifty. Many incidents are related of the hardships endured by the early settlers. Samuel Whitney, a famous hunter who lived in this town, became engaged in a hand-to- hand struggle with a bear and carried a scar the re- mainder of his life as a reminder of the terrible wound he received. While he was ill of a fever the fuel supply of the family became exhausted, and his daughter Betty, aged thirteen years, yoked up the oxen, went into the woods, cut a load of wood, drew it to the house, and chopped it into firewood. Norwich — Early in 1761 a petition was circulated in eastern Connecticut, in the valleys of the Thames River and its branches, the Shetucket and the Willi- mantic, asking for four townships "at a place known as Cahorse" (Coos) in the vicinity of what is now known as Newbury. Col. Edward Freeman and Joseph Storrs were appointed agents of a syndicate to carry this peti- tion to Governor Wentworth at Portsmouth. The Gov- CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 215 ernor was not ready at that time to grant the very de- sirable region at Coos, but the agents obtained a grant of four townships, two on each bank of the Connecticut River, about twenty-five miles south of the desired loca- tion. The towns chartered were Norwich and Hartford on the west bank, and Hanover and Lebanon on the east bank of the river. The Norwich grantees were mostly residents of Mansfield, Conn., and the neighboring towns of Tolland and Willington. In 1762 a portion of Norwich adjacent to the Con- necticut River was divided into lots, and the proprietors of the four towns voted to unite in ''clearing a road from the old fort in Number Four on the east side of the river as far up said river as a committee chosen for the purpose may think proper." In 1763 a road was opened as far north as the middle of the town of Han- over. Early in April, 1763, the proprietors of Norwich voted to raise five pounds upon each proprietor's right, to be divided among twenty-five men who should immediately engage to settle twenty-five rights, beginning the en- suing summer, and improving at the rate of three acres annually for five years, failure to comply with these terms calling for a repayment of the money advanced. The required number having failed to present them- selves, at a meeting held in May, 1763, it was agreed that in case any number under twenty-five and not less than fifteen should engage in the settlement as suggested by January 1, they should be entitled to the money. The first settlement in Norwich was made by John Slafter, son of Samuel Slafter, one of the proprietors. 216 HISTORY OF VERMONT and by Jacob Fenton and Ebenezer Smith of Mansfield, both proprietors. Slafter had made a journey through this region in 1762, and he found the location at Nor- wich a desirable one. Soon after coming to town Fen- ton was killed as the result of an accident. For four years young Slafter cleared and fitted the new land, re- turning each autumn to Connecticut to spend the winter. In 1767 he married and in the spring of that year, with his bride and several families from his neighborhood who were going into the Coos country, a party was made up for the journey of one hundred and fifty miles. Leaving Mansfield on April 22, they could make no more than eight or nine miles a day against the spring floods, and they did not reach Norwich until May 10. In sev- eral places it was necessary to unload the boats and carry goods and boats around rapids or waterfalls. Some pioneers came on horseback. Beyond Number Four there was nothing but a crooked bridle path for a road, and that was obstructed by fallen trees. There were no bridges across the streams. Other settlers came in the same manner. The wife, or the wife and babes, were placed on the back of a horse with the cloth- ing and bedding, and the man of the family walked. In 1771 Deacon John Burnap and six children came to Norwich, from Lebanon, Conn., carrying household goods in packs on their backs. Immigration was not large before 1767 or 1768, and it is doubtful if the proprietors secured the minimum number of fifteen settlers within the prescribed time limit. As early as 1768 settlers had arrived in consider- able numbers, and farms had been cleared two or three CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 217 miles back from the Connecticut River. Goddard and Partridge's "History of Norwich" says: "Before 1770 a large and steady stream of immigration was pouring into the new towns along the Connecticut River. The woods were full of new settlers. On foot and on horse- back, men, women and children thronged the rough and narrow roads beside the river in the spring of every year. Their canoes and boats dotted the river itself. Late in winter or early spring many came by sleds or sleighs down upon the firm ice that bridged the stream from shore to shore. "Rev. Mr. Sanderson in his 'History of Charlestown, N. H.,' says that the town was crowded with companies which had come there to take an outlook upon the new lands of which they had heard marvelous tales from the rangers and soldiers during the French and Indian Wars. And it is not strange if the smooth and fertile hillsides and rich intervales of Vermont did seem a veritable land of Canaan to the immigrant accustomed to the stony and sterile fields of eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut. "According to Mr. Sanderson, the traffic in supplies for travellers and those newly arrived was a source of much profit to the people of Charlestown. Not only were the inns of the place frequently filled to overflow- ing, but every private family had all they could victual and lodge. * * * "Never was a tract of country colonized and settled by a more homogenous people. On both sides of the river nearly all were emigrants from Connecticut, and from that portion of Connecticut lying east of the Great 218 HISTORY OF VERMONT River. By far the greater part came from a small group of towns lying around Mansfield and Lebanon. A radius of twenty miles extended in every direction from the present town of Willimantic would cover pretty much the whole ground. As regards Norwich, considerable research among the oldest families has not revealed the first one among the inhabitants of the town previous to the year 1790 (then numbering more than 1,000 souls) that in coming here did not leave a home in eastern Con- necticut. ''Norwich and Hanover were largely settled by emi- grants from Mansfield; Hartford, Lebanon and Pier- mont from Lebanon, Conn. ; Thetford, Orford and Fair- lee from Hebron; and Strafiford and Sharon from Hebron and Goshen. * * * Qf Norwich itself, after Mansfield and Preston, Tolland, Lebanon, Hebron, Willington and Coventry were the principal mother towns." In 1771 Norwich contained forty families and two hundred and six persons. Shaftsbury — The first settlement in Shaftsbury was made in 1763. A considerable number of settlers came from Rhode Island and located in the northeast portion of the town, the settlement being known as Little Rhode Island. George Niles, one of the early settlers, lived to be one hundred and five years old. Jonas Galusha, afterward Governor of Vermont, came into town in the spring of 1775. As nearly as can be determined seven Vermont towns were settled during the year 1764. The number in- CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 219 eluded Chester, Guildhall, Manchester, Panton, Sharon, (probably) Thetford and Windsor. Chester — This township was first granted by Gov- ernor Wentworth as Flamstead, and later it was re- granted as New Flamstead. Most of the original pro- prietors were residents of Worcester, Mass., and neigh- boring towns. The first settlement was made by Thomas Chandler and his sons John and Thomas, in 1764. They were soon followed by seven men from Worcester and Maiden, Mass., and Woodstock, Conn. Some of the early settlers came from Rhode Island. In 1766 Governor Tryon of New York granted a charter for this town which he called Chester, and under this charter the lands of the town are now held. Chester was made the shire- town of Cumberland county and en- joyed that honor until 1772, when the county seat was removed to Westminster. According to the New York enumeration, the population in 1771 was one hundred and fifty-two. GuiivDHALL — Guildhall and the adjoining towns on the Connecticut River, together with Brunswick and Stratford, N. H., were known as the Upper Coos, to distinguish this region from that around the Great Oxbow at Newbury. The Indian trail from Maine to Canada ran close to Guildhall. It is related that Emmons Stockwell, returning from service in Canada as a soldier in the French and Indian War, was attracted by this portion of the valley of the Connecticut, and organized at Lancaster, Mass., a party to settle this region. There were five men in this party, including Stockwell, some of them being residents of the Massa- 220 HISTORY OF VERMONT chusetts town of Petersham. They took with them twenty cattle and some horses. This year, 1764, they planted seventeen acres of corn, the first grown in this region by white men. It stood twelve feet high when a frost killed it the twenty-seventh day of August. The stock of cattle almost doubled the first year, but owing to the destruction of the corn all the cattle perished the first winter. Not discouraged by this loss, the settlers secured more cattle from their former homes. Temporary camps or cabins were built the first year, but the following season more substantial dwellings were erected. Other immigrants came in 1775. All these early settlers were squatters, but after a controversy lasting a considerable period, they were confirmed in their possessions by the action of the Vermont Legisla- ture. Manchester — A party of explorers from Amenia, Dutchess County, N. Y., while visiting the region now known as Salem, N. Y., in 1763, ascended a mountain which gave them an extensive view to the eastward. Seeing from this point of vantage a pleasant valley, the party visited it, and thus explored a portion of the pres- ent town of Manchester. The visitors were favorably impressed with this region, and bought nearly all the rights of the proprietors, who were chiefly residents of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and held the lands for purposes of speculation. The first settlement was made during the summer or autumn of 1764. At that time there was no settlement on the west side of the Green Mountains north of Arlington. Nearly all the (This Map is not dated, but was ordered by the Governor and Council of New York in 1772) CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 221 early settlers were from Amenia, N. Y., a town largely settled by New Englanders. Panto N — A survey of Panton was made in 1762 by Ebenezer Frisbee and others, of Sharon, Conn. In April, 1764, the proprietors of this town offered a bounty of seventy pounds to any number of the owners of rights, not less than fifteen, who would go to this town and make necessary clearings preliminary to settlement. It appears that during the spring or summer of that year Capt. Samuel Elmore, Zadock Everest, Samuel Chipman, and others, to the number of fifteen, *'did go, and there build, clear and fence," on fifteen of the town lots. Work was begun on a sawmill in 1764, and it was com- pleted the following year. In 1766 Benjamin Kellogg and Zadock Everest secured a surveyor and laid out seventy-six city lots, of one acre each. Col. David Wooster, afterward an American General during the Revolutionary War, held a New York title to lands in this town. Peter Ferris came from Dutchess county, N. Y., about 1766. Elijah Grandey came from Connecticut in 1773, and Phineas Holcomb from Dutchess county. New York, in 1774. Sharon — Probably this town was settled in 1764, although the date may have been 1765. The proprietors offered a choice of lots to any five or more of their num- ber who would "clear and soe three acres with English grain," and build a house sixteen feet square within a given period. Most of the early settlers came from Con- necticut. This town was credited with sixty-eight in- habitants by the enumeration of 1771. 222 HISTORY OF VERMONT Thetford — The town lots of Thetford were sur- veyed and a road was laid out in 1761. The first settle- ment was begun in 1764 by John Chamberlain of Hebron, Conn., from which town most of the early settlers came. Other families followed in 1765. The land when cleared was very productive, and moose, deer, beaver and fish were plentiful. Windsor — The first permanent settlement in Wind- sor was made in 1764 by Capt. Steele Smith and family, from Farmington, Conn. Plans were made at an earlier date for drawing lots, laying out roads, building mills, etc. In a petition to the New York provincial govern- ment, asking for a regrant, dated October 29, 1765, it is stated that about sixteen families had settled in Wind- sor. The population in 1771 was two hundred and three. The records indicate that four towns in the New Hampshire Grants were settled in 1765. These were Addison, Bradford, Danby and Woodstock. Addison — While serving as a soldier in General Amherst's army, during the French and Indian War, it was the custom of Benjamin Kellogg of Connecticut to hunt deer within the present limits of the town of Addison, to secure venison for the table of the British officers at Crown Point. After the war had ended Kel- logg returned to this region in 1762, 1763 and 1764 on hunting expeditions. In the spring of 1765 Zadock Everest, David Vallance and one other settler began a clearing about three miles north of Chimney Point. In September of this year Kellogg came up on his annual hunting expedition, and John Strong of Salisbury, CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 223 Conn., accompanied him, seeking a location for a new home. Selecting a place on the shore of Lake Cham- plain, Strong built on the site of an old French house. In February, 1766, Strong brought his family to Addison, coming by way of Lakes George and Cham- plain. During the same year several families came into Addison and Panton by way of Otter Creek. Wild animals were very troublesome, and it is related that in September, 1766, while Strong was absent from home on a trip to Albany, N. Y., to secure supplies, his family had an unpleasant experience. A fire had been lighted, as the evenings were cool, and a kettle of samp and a pan of milk had been placed on the table for the family supper. Just then the blanket that served for a door was thrust aside and the head of a bear appeared. Mrs- Strong caught up the baby, and hurrying the older chil- dren up a ladder to the loft, she drew up the ladder after her. The floor of the loft was made of small poles and it was possible through the cracks to watch operations below. Presently the bear and her two cubs entered the room. After upsetting the milk the bear thrust her head into the pudding pot, swallowed a large mouthful and filled her mouth again before she discovered that the pudding was scalding hot. With a furious growl she struck the iron kettle, overturning and breaking it. Then, sitting up on her haunches, her cubs sitting on either side, she tried to get the hot pudding out of her mouth. The sight was so ludicrous that in spite of the danger the children in the loft overhead could not resist the impulse to laugh at the curious spectacle. This angered the old bear still more and she tried to climb 224 HISTORY OF VERMONT to the loft, but after many fruitless attempts the animals withdrew. When Mr. Strong returned home he made a stout door of slabs, hung on wooden hinges, which kept out other unwelcome visitors. This episode will give an idea of the perils of frontier life in Vermont. Bradford — The first settlement in Bradford was made in 1765, the first settlers being squatters. In 1770 thirty landholders desiring a legal title, sent one of their number, Samuel Sleeper, to New York with an oflfer to William Smith, an influential citizen, that if he would secure a royal charter, and give each of the landholders a good title to one hundred acres in the new township, he and such other proprietors as he might select, should have the remainder of the lands. The charter was secured and the name Mooretown was given pre- sumably in honor of Sir Henry Moore, royal Governor of New York. In the spring of 1771 a great freshet occurred which destroyed much property in the Con- necticut valley in this town, and as a result the more elevated lands were sought by settlers. Danby — On September 24, 1760, a meeting was held at the house of Nathan Shepard, in Nine Partners, Dutchess county, N. Y., which was attended by petition- ers who asked Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hamp- shire for a grant of two townships. Samuel Rose was appointed agent to go to Albany "and get what infor- mation he could" relative to obtaining a grant for the two townships, "in the western part of the province of New Hampshire," to quote from records given in "Wil- liams' History of Danby." Capt. William Lamson of Albany was employed to procure the grant, but failing CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 225 to secure the desired results, on October 15, 1760, Jona- than Willard was appointed the agent of the petitioners, and he was sent to Portsmouth, N. H. His mission was successful and he secured charters for Danby, Pawlet and Harwick, known later as Mount Tabor. Apparently the opinion was not very generally held in the vicinity of Nine Partners that lands west of the Connecticut River formed a portion of the territory of New York. Surveys were made in 1762 and 1763, and in the autumn of 1763 or in the spring of 1764 a road was laid out from Bennington to Danby. The first settlement was begun in the summer of 1765 by five men, two of whom came from Nine Partners, N. Y., and two from Rhode Island. Other settlers came in 1767, bringing cattle and swine. About twenty families came in 1768. A large number of the first settlers were Quakers and in a letter Ethan Allen once alluded to "Quaker Danbe." An eminence in town was called Dutch Hill, because several families of Dutch extraction settled in its vicin- ity. Wolves were troublesome in the early period of the town's history. Thomas Rowley, the poet of the Revolution, came from Hebron, Conn., in 1768, and in 1769 he was elected the first Town Clerk of Danby. Afterward he re- moved to Shoreham. Woodstock — In 1765, Timothy Knox, a student of Harvard College, so the story runs, being disappointed in a love aflfair, fled to what is now the town of Wood- stock, and for three years lived a solitary life, following the occupation of a trapper. The first permanent settler was Andrew Powers, who came here in 1768. He was 226 HISTORY OF VERMONT a native of Massachusetts, but had resided in Hartland for a few years. James Sanderson came from Hart- land in the autumn of 1768, drawing his property, his wife and their six-weeks-old child on a hand sled. Other settlers came about this time, but in 1771 there were only forty-two inhabitants. In 1766 settlements were made in Fairlee, Middlebury, New fane, probably in Shelburne, in Shoreham and Sun- derland. Fairlee — In 1766 John Baldwin, who had come from Hebron, Conn., to Thetford the previous year, settled in Fairlee. In 1768 six other men made homes in this town. Middlebury — Several residents of Connecticut, most of them from Salisbury, desiring to secure lands in the New Hampshire Grants, made an agreement to act to- gether in procuring a survey and applying for charters, and John Everts of Salisbury was appointed their agent. Securing the necessary assistance, he penetrated one hundred miles into the wilderness beyond any settlements before he found a sufficient tract of desirable land not already surveyed or in process of being surveyed. It is said to have been Everts' intention to apply for two townships, but sufficient land for three was found on the east side of Otter Creek. Beginning at the head of the Great Falls (now in Vergennes) he surveyed New Haven, Middlebury and Salisbury, the first and the last being named for Connecticut townships, and Middlebury being so named because it was situated between the two other towns granted. The charters for the three towns mentioned were obtained in 1761. There are indications CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 227 that the proprietors of Cornwall acted in some matters with those of New Haven, Middlebury and Salisbury. Elias Reed, the agent who secured the Cornwall charter, resided at Salisbury, Conn., and Everts and Reed went to Portsmouth at the same time to secure charters for new townships. In the spring of 1766 John Chipman of Salisbury, Conn., with fifteen other young men, set out for the new lands of the New Hampshire Grants, taking oxen and a cart laden with farming tools and other necessary articles. They found no house north of Manchester, and probably no road beyond Sutherland Falls, where the village of Proctor is now located. In some places it was necessary for this pioneer band to cut a path. The party followed the valley of the Battenkill to the headwaters of Otter Creek, and at Sutherland Falls a canoe was fashioned from a large tree. The ox-cart was fastened to the stern of the canoe and was towed up stream, while the oxen were driven along the bank. In this manner the young men proceeded to the present site of Vergennes, where the waterfall interrupted naviga- tion. Some of the party settled in Waltham and others in Panton and Addison. Chipman returned to Connecticut after a short stay in town, during which time he made a clearing in the forest. Benjamin Smalley of Salis- bury, Conn., who settled here in 1773, was the first man to bring his family into town. The same year Chipman returned, and Gamaliel Painter and several others brought their families to Middlebury. Before the Revo- lutionary War began thirteen families had settled here. 228 HISTORY OF VERMONT At this time there were no mills nearer than Pittsford, or Ticonderoga, N. Y. Newfane — The first settlers of Newfane were Jona- than Park, Nathaniel Stedman and Ebenezer Dyer, of Worcester county, Mass., who came here in 1766. In 1772 the Governor of New York granted this town to Walter Franklin and twenty others, most of them being residents of New York. These grantees sold their rights to Luke Knowlton and John Taylor of Worcester county, Mass., and titles to lands in Newfane are derived from this charter. The first settlers brought all their provisions from Hinsdale, twenty miles distant, through the wilderness. There were only six families in town in 1774. ShElburne — The first settlers in Shelburne were John Pettier and James Logan, and most histories say they came to this town in 1768. Pottier was one of the original proprietors, and is said to be the only one of this group who ever came into the town. Logan and Pottier were associated in getting out oak timber and rafting it to the Quebec market. Early reports to the effect that these men were murdered by British soldiers for their money not far from the Canadian border, have found a place in various historical sketches. The Journal of William Gilliland, the founder of Willsboro, N. Y., a town situated on the western shore of Lake Champlain, nearly opposite Shelburne, seems to discredit some of these generally accepted reports. There is an entry under date of January 31, 1767, which says : "This day some of our settlers went to see James Logan, whether alive or dead, they crossed the lake in CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 229 a small birch canoe." Sometimes the lake at this point did not freeze over until late in the winter. The entry in the Journal indicates the possibility that a rumor of the murder of Logan, or Logan and Pottier, may have reached Willsboro, and that the canoe trip may have been undertaken to obtain information regard- ing the truth of such a report. No further reference is made to Logan until March 19, when it is said that Logan crossed the ice to Willsboro, having returned from Canada two days previous to this date. Several other references to Logan are made during the month of March. This Journal proves that Logan was living at Shelburne as early as January, 1767, which would in- dicate that he had come to town as early as 1766. While he may have been murdered later, the false rumor afloat regarding his death may have been responsible for this report. The two settlements of Shelburne and Willsboro were closely affiliated, neither having an outlet by roads. Most of the early settlers were from Connecticut and Massachusetts. Shoreham — The charter of Shoreham is said to have been obtained through the agency of Ephraim Doolittle, a captain in General Amherst's army, who was engaged in laying out the Crown Point Road, which passed through Shoreham and Bridport, in each of which towns Doolittle became the proprietor of six rights. In the spring of 1766 Doolittle and twelve or fourteen com- panions came from Worcester county, Mass., and built a log house, living as one family, each man taking his turn in performing the household tasks. A portion of 230 HISTORY OF VERMONT the settlers left town, owing to the prevalence of fever and ague. Some time elapsed before any families were brought here, and only six families are known to have lived here prior to the year 1775. SundEri^and — The settlement of Sunderland was begun in 1766. Among the early settlers were Gideon Brownson of Salisbury, Conn., Timothy Brownson of New Framingham, Conn., and several men from Guil- ford, Conn. Other large accessions soon followed from Massachusetts and Connecticut towns. A fifty-acre lot was voted to Remember Baker to encourage the build- ing of a gristmill and a sawmill. Vergennes — Although Vergennes was not incor- porated until 1788, the first settlement within its present limits was made by Donald Mcintosh, a Scotchman, and a veteran of General Wolfe's army. As early as 1764 work was begun on a sawmill, which was completed in 1765, and over the possession of which there was much controversy. In 1769 John Griswold, his five sons, and twelve families from Salisbury, Conn., settled here. Rupert — Probably this town was named in honor of Prince Rupert. The date of the first settlement is not known but it was earlier than 1767. Jonas Powers was the first settler. Others came into the Mettowee valley not later than 1767 ; into the White Creek valley not later than 1769; and into the Indian River valley not later than 1771. The early settlers were mostly Connecticut men, with a few from Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire, Rhode Island and New York. CasTlETon — In the spring of 1767, Amos Bird and Noah Lee of Salisbury, Conn., attended by a colored CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 231 servant, set out for Castleton, Colonel Bird having pur- chased many of the shares of the original proprietors, who were chiefly residents of Salisbury. From Man- chester to Clarendon it was necessary to follow marked trees. The party passed along the northern border of Castleton, ignorant of the fact that they were near their destination. Proceeding to Crown Point, they went to Ticonderoga and Skenesborough (Whitehall), reaching Castleton by this roundabout route. The first summer was devoted to exploring and sur- veying the township. Bird Mountain received its name from the fact that Colonel Bird, losing his way, was compelled to spend a night on its summit. He peeled the bark from trees and displayed the white surface to scare away wild animals. Log cabins were built and the party returned to Connecticut in the autumn. The next year the same party of three came to Castleton. Bird returned to Salisbury before winter, but Lee and the colored man remained, suffering severe hardships. Colonel Bird built a sawmill, and while engaged in the task he contracted a fever. A physician was summoned from Salisbury, Conn., who remained until the patient was convalescent. On account of a relapse the phy- sician was recalled but Colonel Bird died before his ar- rival. It is said that the first boards from the new sawmill were used to make the pioneer's coffin. A few families arrived in Castleton in 1770. A road was sur- veyed from the west line of Ira to Fair Haven in 1772, following the course of the Castleton River. PiTTsFORD — Most of the grantees of Pittsford were residents of Massachusetts. Col. Ephraim Doolittle 232 HISTORY OF VERMONT was the most active, and at one time he owned nearly one-fifth of the township. There is said to have been much speculation in town lots. The first settlers were Gideon and Benjamin Cooley of Greenwich, Mass., the former being a soldier who had visited the region during the French and Indian War, and early in the year 1767 they built a log house and made a clearing. Other set- tlers came soon, among them being Felix Powell, who was to have the distinction of being the first settler in the towns of Dorset and Burlington. The Cooley brothers returned to Greenwich in the autumn, but came back to Pitts ford the following spring and planted crops. In 1769 Gideon Cooley brought his family here. In 1770 seven families arrived in town. Others came during the next few years, but the population did not in- crease rapidly until 1774. Some of the settlers came from Dutchess county, N. Y., but the greater part were from Connecticut and Massachusetts. Waltham — Although this town was not incorporated until 1796, preparations for settlement within its present limits were made in 1767 by a man named Barton, and by others, but they returned the same year to Connecti- cut. In 1768 Barton returned with his family. Being opposed by New York partisans and by Indians his house was burned and Barton was made a prisoner. Later he returned to Waltham and was joined by other settlers. The towns settled in 1768 included Andover, Bridport, Clarendon, Dorset, Grafton, Lunenburg, probably Straf- ford, and Wells. Andover — The first attempt at the settlement of Andover was made in 1768 by Shubail Geer and Amos CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 233 Babcock. They did not remain in town long, and no further attempt at settlement was made until 1776. Bridport — Most of the original proprietors of Brid- port were residents of Massachusetts. Ephraim Doo- little was active in the early settlement of this town, as he was in that of several other towns. Before the end of the year 1768 Philip Stone came here from Groton, Mass., and made a home. About the same time two families settled under New York titles and three under New Hampshire titles. For a long time the Crown Point Military Road was the only road in this vicinity, Lake Champlain, however, furnished a natural highway both summer and winter. In times of need the settlers were able to obtain pro- visions from the garrison at Crown Point. Clarendon — The first settlement of Clarendon was begun in 1768 by Elkanah Cook, and he was joined by other pioneers during the same year. Most of the early settlers were from Rhode Island. Disputes with New York land claimants delayed the early settlement of the town. Dorset — The first settler in Dorset was Felix Powell, who came here in 1768, having emigrated to Pitts ford the previous year. Others came the same year, includ- ing Abraham Underbill, member of a family whose name appeared frequently among the proprietors of towns granted by Governor Wentworth. Another early set- tler was Cephas Kent, an inn keeper, whose tavern was to figure prominently in early Vermont history. Grafton — The family of a Mr. Hinkley, and two other families came into Grafton in 1768 and began a 234 HISTORY OF VERMONT settlement, but it was abandoned, and not until 1780 was there a permanent settlement here. Lunenburg — Probably the first settlement of Lunen- burg was made as early as 1768, by Uriah Cross, Thomas Gaston and Ebenezer Rice, in the valley of the Connecti- cut River. The early settlers of the neighboring town of Guildhall came from Lunenburg, Mass., and sup- posed they were settling in the new town of Lunenburg. When this town was first settled, moose and deer were very plentiful, and salmon, some of them of great size, were taken with the spear at the head of Fifteen Mile Falls, in the Connecticut River. Strafford — The early proprietors' meetings of the town of StrafTord were held at Hebron, Conn. The first settlers appear to have been James Pennock and Peter Thomas, who came here in 1768. Several other persons settled here the same year. Within the next few years the number of inhabitants was considerably increased, some coming from Connecticut and others from New Hampshire. One of the pioneers was Frederick Smith of Colchester, Conn., who had been employed by several persons owning lands in the New Hampshire Grants to look after their interests and visit their property. WeIvIvS — Most, if not all, of the original proprietors of Wells were residents of Connecticut. The first set- tlement was made by Ogden Mallory in 1768. Daniel and Samuel Culver came into town in 1771 and moved their families here the following year. Most of the early settlers came from Massachusetts and Connecti- cut. CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 235 During the year 1769 settlements were made in the towns of Cavendish, Ferrisburg, Landgrove, New Haven, Pomfret and Rutland. Cavendish — Some of the proprietors of Cavendish visited the town in 1762, and surveyed and allotted it. The first actual settlement was made in 1769 by Capt. John Cofifein, and other settlers came in 1771. Most of the early inhabitants emigrated from Massachusetts. Ferrisburg — A charter for the town of Ferrisburg was granted in 1762 by Gov. Benning Wentworth, appli- cation having been made by Benjamin Ferris. A sur- vey and division of lots was made for the proprietors by David and Benjamin Ferris, surveyors. The first settlement was made in 1769 at the first falls of Otter Creek, within the present limits of the city of Vergennes. The first settlement within the present limits of Ferris- burg was made by Charles Tupper, who came from Pitts- field, Mass., just before the beginning of the American Revolution. About the same time a man named Ferris began a settlement at Basin Harbor, on Lake Cham- plain. Landgrove — The first settlers in what is now the town of Landgrove were William Utley and family, who came from Ash ford, Conn., in 1769, and settled with- out obtaining any title to their lands. In coming to their new home it was necessary to cut a road for fourteen miles through the wilderness. For some time Mr. Utley brought provisions for his family from a Con- necticut River settlement thirty miles distant. In 1780 the town of Landgrove was granted to William Utley and others. 236 HISTORY OF VERMONT New Have:n — One of the townships for which John Everts of Salisbury, Conn., obtained a charter from Governor Wentworth, was New Haven, which he named in honor of New Haven, Conn. Few of the original proprietors became settlers, and some of the owners are said to have forfeited their holdings rather than pay their share of the incidental expenses which attended the surveying and allotting of a township. A few settlers came in 1769, among them being John Griswold and his five sons, and twelve other persons came the same year. The settlement of the town was hindered some- what by contests growing out of the claims of Colonel Reid under a New York grant. RuTivAND — A charter for the town of Rutland was secured by Col. Josiah Willard of Winchester, N. H., and the cost is said to have been about one hundred dol- lars. The town was laid out along the old Crown Point Road. The first grantee named in the charter was John Murray, called the principal citizen of Rutland, Mass., and he may have given the name to the new township. Most of the proprietors are said to have been residents of New Hampshire. James Mead and several other persons emigrated in 1764 from Nine Partners, N. Y., a town adjoining Salis- bury, Conn., to Manchester, in the New Hampshire Grants. In the autumn of 1764 Mead bought twenty rights in the town of Rutland, and sold ten to Charles Button of Clarendon. Before winter he built a log house half a mile west of the present site of Center Rut- land, near the bank of West Creek. In March, 1770, Mead and his family, consisting of a wife and ten chil- CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 237 dren, came to Rutland. The log hut had no roof and it was located too near the river for comfort at the time of the spring freshets. Nearby was a wigwam occupied by Indians, who generously granted its use to the new comers, and proceeded to build another shelter for them- selves. The Mead family occupied the wigwam until late in the year, when a substantial log house was erected. The Meads had an iron handmill, in which corn was ground into a rather coarse meal. At least four fami- lies had come into Rutland by the close of the year 1770 and in 1773 the town contained thirty-five families. PoMF'RET — The charter of Pomfret was obtained from Governor Wentworth by Isaac Dana of Pomfret, Conn., in 1761. Most of the proprietors were friends and neighbors of Mr. Dana. In an attempt to secure settlers the proprietors voted to offer a generous bounty to the first ten of their number who would settle between March and November, 1762, but no proprietor took advantage of the offer. In 1769 several log cabins were built and clearings were made in this town. In 1770 a number of families came to Pomfret. Isaac Dana, the leader in securing the grant of the township, died before conditions warranted a settlement, but a son, two sons- in-law and a grandson became settlers, and they were the only grantees who came to Pomfret to reside. Bartholomew Durkee brought his family here from Pomfret, Conn., in March, 1770, the party coming on foot over a snowshoe path, drawing their furniture upon hand sleds. The settlement was largely increased during the first two years of its existence. The settlers came chiefly from northeastern Connecticut and southeastern 238 HISTORY OF VERMONT Massachusetts, the largest number coming from Wood- stock, Conn., and Bridgewater, Mass. The town of Barnet was settled in 1770, but the story of its settlement will be told in connection with that of Ryegate, with which it properly belongs, owing to the fact that both towns at first were settled chiefly by immi- grants from Scotland. The towns in which settlements were begun in 1771 included Poultney, Royalton, Sandgate, and probably Whitingham. P0U1.TNEY — Most of the grantees of Poultney are said to have been residents of Litchfield county, Conn., and Berkshire county, Mass. The settlement of the town was begun in 1771 by Ebenezer Allen and Thomas Ashley, and several families came into the town before the year ended. Heber Allen, a brother of Ethan Allen, and one of the early settlers, was the first Town Clerk. Both Ethan and Ira Allen owned lands in this town. When Poultney was first settled the nearest mill was at Manchester, thirty miles distant, but a mill was erected soon at Pawlet, which shortened the distance nearly one- half for the Poultney settlers. It is related that one man living in Poultney carried one hundred pounds of iron on his shoulders to Manchester, exchanging it for meal, which he brought home in the same manner. Royalton — The town of Royalton was granted by New York to a group of men living in that province, who were largely interested in land speculation in what is now Vermont. The town was surveyed and allotted in 1770. The first settler was Robert Havens, who came from the neighboring town of Sharon in 1771. CONQUERINCx THE WILDERNESS 239 Others came in 1772, and the population had increased considerably before the outbreak of the American Revo- lution. SandgaTe — The town of Sandgate was chartered by Governor Wentworth in 1761, but a settlement was not begun until 1771, a man named Bristol being the first settler. He was joined soon by Reuben Thomas, whose son was the first child born in Sandgate. Whitingham — This township was a New York grant, made to Col. Nathan Whitney and others. Prob- ably the first settlement ivas made in 1771, and the first settler was Reuben Bratlin, who brought his family from Colerain, Mass. The party drove a cow and carried their cooking utensils on their backs. A small iron kettle was used as a water pail, milk pail and for cook- ing purposes. It was necessary in the early days of Whitingham to go to Greenfield, Mass., to mill. One of the first settlers in town went to Greenfield on foot, bought a five-pail iron kettle and a half bushel of meal, both of which he brought home on his back, a distance of twenty miles, and all the food he had on his journey was a little meal mixed with water. The settlements begun in 1772 included Brandon, Col- chester, Maidstone and Reading. Brandon — The town of Brandon was chartered as Neshobe. Many "pitches," or selections of homesteads, were made before lots could be surveyed, the proprietors voting that "each man shall hold his lot by pitching until he can have opportunity to survey it." Only two of the original proprietors, Josiah and Benjamin Powers, settled in town. Amos Cutler came from Hampton, 240 HISTORY OF VERMONT Conn., in the autumn of 1772, made a clearing and built a cabin. In the spring of 1773 others came from Stam- ford, Conn., and before the beginning of the Revolution- ary War several persons arrived from Connecticut and Massachusetts towns. CoivCHESTER — The grantees of Colchester appear to have been chiefly residents of New York. In the autumn of 1772, Ira Allen and his cousin. Remember Baker, both destined to play important parts in the early history of Vermont, with five laborers, embarked at Skenesborough (now Whitehall, N. Y.) and rowed down Lake Champlain to the mouth of the Winooski River, which they ascended as far as the lower falls, in the town of Colchester. Here they found a New York sur- veying party, which they captured, and returned after receiving a pledge that the members of the party would depart and never return. After making some explorations and surveys, Baker and one man returned to Skenesborough, and presum- ably to Arlington, Baker's home. Allen and the other laborers continued their explorations until they found that they were short of provisions. They proceeded through the wilderness to Pittsford, a distance of about seventy miles, having but one dinner and three part- ridges on the way. The party reached Pittsford on the morning of the fourth day of the journey, being nearly starved. In the spring of 1773 Ira Allen and Baker returned to the falls of the Winooski, Baker bringing his family with him. A blockhouse of hewn timbers, two stories high, with thirty-two portholes, was constructed on the CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 241 north side of the river, a few rods east of the present highway bridge between Winooski and BurHngton, and it was called Fort Frederick. A road was cut the same year from Colchester to Castleton, a distance of about seventy miles, by the Onion River Land Company, which was composed of Ethan, Heman, Ira and Zimri Allen and Remember Baker. The Aliens were brothers. The road proceeded in a direct line to Shelburne Falls, on the La Plotte River, and thence to the falls on Otter Creek at what is now known as Vergennes, and near this place the river was crossed. The company, it is said, pur- chased a good deal of land in that vicinity from the orig- inal proprietors. In the spring of 1774 a clearing was made around the fort in which Baker and his family resided, and other clearings were made below the falls. One of the early settlers, who came in 1775, was Joshua Stanton, one of the grantees of Weybridge. There was a clear- ing on the promontory known as Mallett's Head on the shore of Mallett's Bay, where a Frenchman named Mal- let resided. Nothing is known of his antecedents. He died in 1789 or 1790, an old man, and it is said the clear- ing around his house had the appearance of being very ancient. It is supposed that he had settled there when the French controlled Lake Champlain, and that he re- mained after his countrymen had withdrawn from the valley in 1759. His name is perpetuated by Mallett's Bay.^ Maidstone — The grantees of Maidstone were Con- necticut men, none of whom became settlers. Arthur and Thomas Wooster are called the first settlers, having 242 HISTORY OF VERMONT come into the town in 1772, but it is claimed that a Mr. Marsdeen was here as early as 1770. Twelve settlers came into town prior to 1774, When the first settlers arrived the nearest mill, and the nearest place where provisions might be secured, was Haverhill, N. H., fifty miles to the south. The Connecticut River formed a natural highway and a bridle path marked by blazed trees, followed the valley. READING — The first settlement in Reading was begun in 1772 by Andrew Spear, who brought his family from Walpole, N. H., and for several years this was the only family in town. Settlements were begun in 1773 in Burlington, Lon- donderry, Peru, Ryegate, Wallingford, Whiting and Windham. Burlington — The names of the proprietors of Bur- lington appear to have been chiefly those of New York men, perhaps entirely so, with the exception of a few of Governor Wentworth's favorites, to be found at the end of almost every list of grantees attached to his charters. The town was surveyed by Ira Allen in 1772. The first settler was Felix Powell, who came here in 1773. He had been one of the earliest settlers in Pittsford, and the first settler in Dorset. In 1774 Powell bought a tract of land of Samuel Averill, one of the original pro- prietors, who lived in Litchfield county. Conn. This tract was in the vicinity of Appletree Point, and extended nearly to the Winooski River. A portion of the land on the point was cleared and a log house was erected. In 1774 land was purchased by settlers of Remember Baker and the Aliens, and during that year and the next CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 243 clearings were made in the northern part of the town on the intervale, and opposite Allen and Baker's set- tlement in Colchester, near the lower falls of the Wi- nooski. These settlements were abandoned during the Revolutionary War. Londonderry — The first settlement in Londonderry was made in 1773 by settlers from New Hampshire, some of them coming from the township of London- derry, in that province. They were descendants of members of a Presbyterian colony which emigrated to America from the north of Ireland, about 1738. This township was chartered by New York in 1770, under the name of Kent, and later it was regranted by Ver- mont. PtRV — This town was chartered by Governor Went- worth under the name of Bromley. The first settlement was made in 1773 by William Barlow of Woodstock, Conn. Most of the early settlers were from the vicinity of Westminster, Mass. Wai^lingford — Capt. Eliakim Hall and others of Wallingford, Conn., secured a grant of this township in 1761 and the town was surveyed in 1770 by Remember Baker and his assistants. They found a small clearing occupied by Ephraim Seeley, who supposed he was in Tinmouth. Abraham Jackson and family made the first legal settlement in 1773, coming from Cornwall, Conn. The town was settled slowly before the Revolutionary War. Whiting — At a proprietors' meeting, held at Wren- tham, Mass., in October, 1772, John Wilson of Upton, Mass., was authorized to make a survey of the town 244 HISTORY OF VERMONT of Whiting, which he did before the end of the year. In the summer of 1773 Wilson and several others settled in the town. Probably not more than fifteen families came into Whiting before the beginning of the Ameri- can Revolution. Most of the early settlers came from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Windham — Edward Aiken, Jonas McCormick and John Woodburn were the first settlers of Windham, coming into the township in 1773. Aiken was taken ill nine miles from the nearest neighbor. He was able to send a message to his wife at Londonderry, N. H., and taking her youngest child on horseback, she rode almost one hundred miles, much of the way through the wilder- ness, to reach her husband, whom she nursed back to health. Aiken returned to his New Hampshire home for the winter, but came back to Windham in the spring, accompanied by a son of ten and a daughter of twelve years. He left these children alone at his Windham cabin and was absent for six weeks, returning from Lon- donderry, N. H., with his family arid several other families which settled in the new township. TiNMOUTii — The exact date of the settlement of Tin- mouth is uncertain. The town was organized March 8, 1774, and before that time a considerable number of inhabitants had built houses for themselves here. It is said by Thompson, in his sketch of the town, that the first settlement was made about 1770, and that Thomas Peck and John McNeal were among the first settlers. The settlements begun in 1774 included Barnard, Cornwall, Hinesburg, Jericho, Leicester, probably Mid- dletown, Monkton, Salisbury, and Williston. CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 245 Barnard — Jonas Call came into Barnard in 1777, made a clearing, and left in the autumn. Several fami- lies came into town in 1775, and they are generally recog- nized as the first settlers. CoRNWALiy — Nearly all the original proprietors of Cornwall appear to have been residents of Litchfield county. Conn. The settlement was begun in 1774, fourteen "pitches" being made that year. Other settlers followed in 1775. As in most Vermont towns, the greater part of the settlers came from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Twenty-six years after the arrival of the first settler the town was fully settled. HiNESBURG — This town was named for Abel Hine, proprietors' clerk. Andrew Burritt was the only pro- prietor who became a resident of the town. A consider- able number of the grantees appear to have been New York men. Isaac Lawrence of Canaan, Conn., and Abner Chafifee came here before the American Revolution, probably in 1774 or 1775. On June 10, 1775, the pro- prietors voted Lawrence one hundred acres of land for labor performed by him and expense incurred in building roads. Jericho — The settlement of Jericho was begun in 1774 by the families of Azariah Rood of Lanesboro, Mass., Roderick Messenger of Claverack, N. J., and Joseph Brown of Great Barrington, Mass. The settle- ment was broken up during the Revolutionary War. Leicester — The first settlement in Leicester was made as early as 1774, and possibly in 1773. Jeremiah Parker and Samuel Daniels of Massachusetts were the first men to bring their families here. They had fitted 246 HISTORY OF VERMONT and tilled the land for two or three summers previous to this time. One of Parker's sons remained alone through the winter to care for the cattle, with no neigh- bors nearer than Middlebury and Pittsford. MiDDLETowN — This townsliip was not incorporated until 1784, but the first settlement within its present borders was made shortly before the American Revolu- tion, probably in 1774. Soon after this time mills were erected. MoNKTON — The original proprietors of Monkton appear to have been chiefly New York men. The town was settled in 1774 by Barnabas Barnum, John Bishop, John and Ebenezer Stearns, but was abandoned during the Revolutionary War. Salisbury — John Everts of Salisbury, Conn., was engaged by a number of persons in that town and vicin- ity to go to Portsmouth, N. H., and secure from Gov- ernor Wentworth charters for two townships in the New Hampshire Grants. The intention, it is said, was to locate these townships where Clarendon and Rutland are situated. This region having been granted a few days previous to Everts' application, and being acquainted with the Otter Creek valley as far north as the location of the present city of Vergennes, he decided to ask for the grant of three townships instead of two. As a re- sult of his application charters were secured for Salis- bury, Middlebury and New Haven. Probably Salisbury was named in honor of Everts' Connecticut home. In the spring of 1774 Josiah Graves and his son Jesse came here from Arlington, cleared a few acres of land, and built a log house. In the winter of 1775 the Graves CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 247 family moved into town. Amos Story and his son Solo- mon came here from Rutland in September, 1 774, erected a small log house, and began the task of making a clear- ing. A few weeks after beginning his labors. Story was killed by a falling tree. Mrs. Story being a woman of remarkable force of character and great physical strength, decided to take up her husband's unfinished task. She could wield an axe as well as a man, and in the latter part of 1775 she moved to the log cabin in Salisbury built by her husband, being accompanied by her three sons and two daughters. Aided by her sons, she cleared land and raised crops. During the Revo- lutionary War her home was a place of frequent resort for friends of the American cause. WiivLiSTON — This town was named for Samuel Wil- lis, one of the grantees. Samuel Willis, Jr., was a Quaker of Hempstead, Long Island, in 1756. Presum- ably the father also was of this faith. The first set- tlers were Thomas Chittenden, destined to be the first Governor of Vermont, and Jonathan Spafford, both of Salisbury, Conn., who purchased a tract of land in the valley of the Winooski River, comprising, it is said, several thousand acres. Most of the early settlers of Williston came from Connecticut or western Massa- chusetts. The settlement was abandoned soon after the beginning of the American Revolution. The settlements begun in 1775 included Hubbardton, Peacham, Richmond and Weybridge. Hubbardton — This town was chartered to Thomas Hubbard and others. The Aliens made surveys in town and were large proprietors in the early period of the 248 HISTORY OF VERMONT town's history. Samuel Churchill of Sheffield, Mass., bought three thousand acres of land in Hubbardton. This tract was surveyed in 1774 and in 1775 he moved his family here. Peacham — The first meetings of the proprietors of Peacham were held in Hadley, Mass., and it is probable that a majority of the original proprietors lived in Had- ley or its vicinity. Jonathan Elkins of Hampton, N. H., made a clearing in Peacham in 1775 or 1776, and a few other settlers probably came here just before the begin- ning of the Revolutionary War. Richmond — This town was not organized until 1794, but the settlement of the region included in the present town limits was begun in 1775 by Amos Brownson and John Chamberlain, with their families, in the VVinooski valley. The settlement was abandoned during the Revo- lutionary War. WeybridgK — The settlement of Weybridge was begun in 1775 by the families of Thomas San ford and Claudius Brittell. About the same time the families of David Stow and Justus Sturdevant came in boats up Otter Creek and settled on the south side of the stream, in a part of the town then in New Haven. OrwKll — This town was one in which New York men were the principal proprietors. John Carter lived here several years before the beginning of the American Revolution, and commenced a clearing in the vicinity of what was known later as Mount Independence. The exact date of settlement is unknown. Saint Albans — The first settler of St. Albans was Jesse Welden, a former resident of Salisbury, Conn., CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 249 who came here from Sunderland. He settled on Ball or Bald Island in Lake Champlain in 1774, and after- ward located at St. Albans Bay. Three other men came here before the beginning of the American Revolution but the settlement was abandoned when hostilities began. Sudbury — A few settlers came into Sudbury before the beginning of the American Revolution, but the exact dates of settlement are unknown. BarnET — The first settlers in Barnet were three brothers, Daniel, Jacob and Elijah Hall, and Jonathan Hall, who came into this town in 1770, this being the first settlement within the present limits of Caledonia county. Enos and Willard Stevens of Charlestown, N. H., are said to have been the principal proprietors in 1770. In the spring of 1774 Alexander Harvey and John Clark, agents of a company of farmers in the Scottish shires of Perth and Sterling, appointed to select and pur- chase a tract of land in America for settlement, sailed for New York, arriving at that port in July. From New York they proceeded to Albany, going from there to examine lands near Schenectady, but they were un- able to purchase in that locality as large a tract as they desired. Proceeding by way of Ballston, Saratoga, Salem and Cambridge, N. Y., they crossed the Green Mountains to Charlestown, N. H., and came by way of Newbury to Ryegate, half of which town had been pur- chased by a Scotch company, and arrived at Barnet August 27, 1774. 250 HISTORY OF VERMONT The agents examined land in the southwest part of the town. Colonel Harvey's Journal recorded the fact that they found six or seven settlers in that portion of the town lying. in the Connecticut River valley, and a few more in the western part of the town. Returning by way of Albany to New York, they went to Philadel- phia, examined land in the Susquehanna and Schuylkill valleys, and returned to New York in October. There they found Samuel Stevens, representing the proprietors of Barnet. He had been employed by a land company to explore the country from the White River to the sources of the Winooski and Lamoille Rivers, in order to find the best land for settlement. The agents offered Stevens one shilling per acre. He demanded sixteen pence, and on November 8 they compromised on four- teen pence, purchasing a tract of seven thousand acres in the southeastern part of the town, paying £408, 6s, 8d. John Clark sailed for Scotland in December, 1774. Harvey bought tools and furniture for the company, hired some persons to work, and with five fellow coun- trymen he went to Hartford and New Haven, Conn., bought provisions, and the party came up the Connecti- cut valley to Barnet. Land was cleared and the next season crops were planted. Later five thousand acres in dift'erent parts of Barnet were added to the company's holdings. Harvey became a prominent man in Ver- mont, and a body of water was named Harvey's Lake, in his honor. Rye:gaTe: — "Of the ninety-five grantees of Ryegate not one became an actual settler, and in only one instance CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 251 did a son of a grantee settle in the town," says F. P. Wells, in his '^History of Ryegate." The only one of the grantees who ever visited the town was Joseph Blanchard, an officer in the French and Indian War and a surveyor, whose name appears as a proprietor in the charters of twelve Vermont towns. Most of the grantees of Ryegate were merchants and business men, who lived near Portsmouth, N. H. All their rights were sold by Col. Israel Morey of Charles- town, N. H., to John Church of the same town for one thousand pounds, and Church sold the southern half of the township to Rev. John Witherspoon, D. D., presi- dent of Princeton College. In order to make his title perfectly secure, Mr. Church applied to the New York authorities for a charter, which was granted to nineteen men, all but two being residents of New York City. They conveyed their title to Mr. Church, receiving five pounds each for their services. Ryegate and Barnet are the only Vermont towns which were settled by colonies organized in other countries. In the days when Vermont was being settled, there was little opportunity for persons not connected with the aristocracy to acquire land in Scotland. Conditions of life were hard, and opportunities for betterment were few. Returning soldiers told of the new country they had seen in America, and they aroused a strong desire to seek this land of opportunity, where ownership of property was a possibility even for the humblest person. Many towns in Nova Scotia, New York, Pennsylvania and the South, were settled by associations or companies organized in Scotland, says Wells. 252 HISTORY OF VERMONT On February 5, 1773, at Inchinnan, in Renfrewshire, Scotland, the Scotch-American Company was organized, its articles of government being signed by one hundred and thirty-seven persons. James Whitelaw and David Allan were chosen commissioners. Whitelaw was a young man, tw^enty-four years old, and an excellent sur- veyor. Allan was ten years his senior and was reputed to be a good judge of land values. The original manuscript of Whitelaw's Journal is the property of the Vermont Historical Society. From this record it appears that the two commissioners left home on March 19, 1773, and sailed from Greenock, March 25. On May 24 they arrived at Philadelphia. It is re- lated that at the house where they stayed they acci- dentally met President Witherspoon of Princeton Col- lege, who informed them that he had a township of land called Ryegate, in the province of New York, on the Con- necticut River, which he w-as willing to sell if it w^as found suitable. Very properly he urged the commis- sioners to examine other tracts, and not to be too hasty in making a bargain, advice creditable to a clergyman and college president, who also possessed many of the qualifications of a shrewd business man, found more often in college presidents in modern times then in Doctor Witherspoon's day. After staying in Philadelphia for a few days, White- law and Allan proceeded to New York, and thence to Albany. From Albany they went to Schenectady and Johnstown, where Sir William Johnson had lands to sell. The next stage of the journey was through Sara- toga, to the valley of the Battenkill, with a stop at Man- CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 253 Chester, Then following a trail, the Green Mountains were crossed to Chester and the journey continued to Charlestown, N. H. The next few days were devoted to a stop at Ryegate and to the examination of lands in that township. Mr. Whitelaw observed that all the way from Ryegate to Charlestown, a distance of seventy- two miles, the country was filled with new settlers. The commissioners returned to New York by way of the Connecticut valley, going thence to Philadelphia. In pursuance of their duty they visited southern Penn- sylvania, the Ohio country, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. After all this journeying they re- turned to Princeton and closed a trade with President Witherspoon for half the town of Ryegate. At New York arrangements were made to send a man with chests of tools and provisions to Hartford and thence to Rye- gate. Whitelaw and Allan left New York on October 19 and arrived at Newbury on the first day of November. The southern part of the town fell to the Scotch-Ameri- can Company, and in recounting its advantages of good soil, good mill privileges, etc., Whitelaw added: "We are within six miles of a good Presbyterian meeting." Whitelaw's report to the company contained some observations which furnish an excellent word picture of conditions prevailing in the New Hampshire Grants just before the outbreak of the American Revolution. In the report he said : ''The ground here produces Indian corn, and all kinds of English grain to perfection, like- wise all garden vegetables in great plenty, and they have very promising orchards of excellent fruit. Many things grow here in the open fields, which the climate of 254 HISTORY OF VERMONT Scotland will not produce, such as melons, cucumbers, pumpkins and the like. Salmon and trout and a great many other kinds of fish are caught in plenty in the Con- necticut River. Sugar can be made here in abundance in March and April from the maple tree, which grows in great plenty. In short, no place which we have seen is better furnished with food and the necessaries of life, and even some of the luxuries, or where the people live more comfortable than here. ''There is a good market of all the produce of the ground at the following prices: Wheat from 3/6 to 4/6 (three shillings, sixpence, to four shillings, six- pence) the English bushel. Oats and Indian corn from 1/6 to 2 shillings. Butter 6 d. the English pound. Cheese A^A d. Pork 4}4 d., all sterling money. The country produceth excellent flax, which sells when swingled from AYz to 6 d. the pound. Considering the newness of the country the people here are very pros- perous, and we think that any who come here, and are steady and industrious, may be in very comfortable cir- cumstances within a few years. Clearing land seems to be no great hardship as it is commonly done for from 5 to 6 dollars per acre." The settlement of Ryegate began, according to the usual reckoning, with the taking possession of the southern portion of the town by Whitelaw and Allan, in November, 1773, although Aaron Hosmer and Daniel Hunt had lived in town some time without any title to the lands they occupied. John Hyndman had also set- tled there. CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 255 Several recruits for the new colony arrived from Scotland in May, 1774. In August David Allan re- turned to Scotland, and on the first day of October, that year, several families arrived from overseas. It is thought that about forty emigrants from Scotland had arrived in Ryegate early in the year 1775. The out- break of the American Revolution naturally checked immigration, which promised to be sufficiently large to interfere with the cultivation of the lands of the Right Honorable Lord Blantyre of Renfrew, from among whose tenants many of the Scottish settlers of Ryegate came. The plans of the company for a city, with streets, squares and market places, a city in which land owners might reside while tenants cultivated their farms, was not found to be well adapted to the New England mode of life, and it was abandoned by force of necessity. This company continued to exist until the year 1820. James Whitelaw became Surveyor General of Vermont and a prominent man in public afifairs. The name of the county in which Barnet and Ryegate are situated was named Caledonia in recognition of the Scotch set- tlers of these towns, an element which still exists in family names and racial characteristics in Caledonia county. President Witherspoon invested quite extensively in Vermont lands, an investment which, it is said, eventu- ally resulted in financial loss. In 1774 he purchased six hundred acres of land in Ryegate for his oldest son, John, who came to this town, probably in 1775, and began to clear land. A little later he enlisted in the 256 HISTORY OF VERMONT American army, served as aide on General Washing- ton's staff, and was killed in the battle of Germantown. Early in 1776 John Church sold to Doctor Wither- spoon twenty-eight lots in Ryegate, containing two thousand, seven hundred and sixty acres, and a little later sold five thousand, two hundred and twelve acres to John Pagan, a Glasgow merchant. Mr. Pagan owned eight hundred and thirty-three acres in Newbury and two thousand acres in Cavendish. Doctor Wither- spoon owned twelve thousand, fifty-seven acres in Nova Scotia. In 1792 he exchanged his Nova Scotia lands for the Pagan holdings in Vermont. President Wither- spoon visited Ryegate and Barnet several times, and officiated here in the capacity of clergyman. He was active in public affairs in New Jersey, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Including the few towns in which settlements were begun before the outbreak of the French and Indian War, it appears from what has been set forth regard- ing the activities of the pioneers in the New Hampshire Grants, that in approximately ninety towns now included in the State of Vermont, attempts had been made at the beginning of the American Revolution to build houses and to clear farms. Some of these attempts were feeble, and the opening of hostilities threatening a recurrence of the old peril of attacks on outlying settlements, with Indian incursions a possibility, not only checked the de- velopment of the region, but also caused the abandon- ment of many townships on thefrontier. When the French and Indian War began, every foot of what is now Vermont either was on the frontier, or CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 257 part of a wilderness lying beyond it. In 1775, the frontier line had been pushed forward, so that about one-third of the present State, measuring from the Massachusetts boundary line to the Canadian border, might have been included as a part of the settled com- munities of New England. Thompson, in his "History of Vermont," estimates that at the beginning of the American Revolution the population of the New Hampshire Grants was at least twenty thousand, and that approximately thirteen thou- sand persons had come into this region between the years 1771 and 1775, notwithstanding the fact that the controversy between the settlers and the New York authorities Had had a tendency to discourage emigra- tion. A study of the history of more than four score settle- ments made in the Green Mountain country before the revolt against British authority was begun by the American colonies, reveals a similarity of motives and methods that help the reader to form a mental picture of the conditions that prevailed during this pioneer period. For it was distinctly a pioneer period. There existed at that time a widespread desire to better in- dividual conditions, either by means of settling upon new lands or trafficking in them. It was a period of land speculation, and the records of the time show that the merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, the farmer, the clergyman, even "the butcher, the baker and the candle- stick maker," were interested in buying and selling lands. The Vermont settlers included a large class of people who loved the adventurous life of the wilderness, those 258 HISTORY OF VERMONT who always saw something better and more alluring in the distance, those who found existing conditions un- profitable, and those who desired more land that they might provide homes for their children near their own dwellings. It was the old land hunger that drove men and women and little children into the Vermont wilder- ness, the same compelling force that has been such a powerful motive in the shaping of events in the world's history, and is still a most important factor in the affairs of men. The desire for greater religious freedom may have brought some pioneers into this new country, but it does not appear to have been one of the great motives that actuated most of the early Vermont settlers. These first Vermonters were a strong and vigorous people. By a natural process of selection only those fitted to battle with the wilderness, enlisted in this warfare. As a rule the pioneers possessed good health and the power of thinking clearly and honestly. They feared God, and little else. They were ambitious, courageous and re- sourceful. W. S. Rossiter, formerly an official of the United States Census Bureau, who has made a careful study of this pioneer period, has said: "It is probable that no State in the Union was settled by choicer immi- gration than that which passed up the Connecticut River to the Green Mountains. Early immigration to the colonies from England brought many persons, who, although of excellent British stock, has passed through a long period of privation, anxiety or bereavement. In a large proportion of cases, their presence in the New World was due to political or religious persecution. In CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 259 some respects such colonists could not be regarded as ideal pioneers. A large proportion, indeed, was un- accustomed to manual labor. The settlers of Vermont, on the contrary, were all acclimated, hardy, accustomed from childhood to the use of axe and gun, eager, and full of ambitious purpose to found homes and com- munities of their own. They were all of the same stock; they possessed the same ideals; they were animated by the same purpose. Of 85,072 population reported at the census of 1790 (taken in Vermont in 1791), approxi- mately 81,200 were of English origin and 2,600 Scotch. These two elements thus comprised more than 98 per- cent of the total population of the State at that period. "It is not remarkable, therefore, that Vermont has contributed an extraordinary proportion of the dis- tinguished men of the United States, and to the upbuild- ing and prosperity of innumerable communities through- out the country. To the unusual quality of the original settlers and their early trials and high ideals, is in a large measure due the influence exerted by the State in national councils disproportionate to her own moderate interests in the national welfare." Although the grants of land under which most of the Vermont towns were settled were made by Gov- ernor Wentworth of New Hampshire, a large propor- tion of the grantees were residents of Connecticut and Massachusetts, some of them, however, being inhabitants of New York and New Hampshire. Practically the same statement can be made concerning the early set- tlers in Vermont. Connecticut contributed more pio- neers than any other province, and Massachusetts ranked 2G0 HISTORY OF VERMONT second, but there were some settlers from New York, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The greater part of the Massachusetts settlers appear to have come from the Connecticut River valley and Berkshire county. A considerable number of the New- York settlers, and some of the grantees, were residents of, or lived in the vicinity of the narrow strip known as The Oblong, which had been ceded to New York by Connecticut, but continued to be closely affiliated with New England people and in sympathy with New Eng- land ideas. It is asserted in a work entitled "Connecticut as a Colony and a State," that "by the middle of the eighteenth century Connecticut had begun to feel over populated." Not only was there a strong movement toward the New Hampshire Grants, but also toward the lands farther west, which were held under grants made by the Con- necticut charter. It is a fact not to be overlooked, how- ever, that in the northwestern section of the province, which was the most recently settled, the interest seemed to exceed that in any other portion of Connecticut. Salisbury, from which town there emigrated so many persons, including a number of men afterward famous as Vermont leaders, had been settled only a few years. The pioneer spirit, however, seemed to be in the blood of this people. The preponderance of Connecticut influence stands out clearly as one of the most striking characteristics of early Vermont history. From Connecticut, more than from any other source, were obtained laws, customs, the idea of the town unit of civil organization, devotion to Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 261 the cause of education, a deep religious sentiment, the spirit of industry and thrift, — all those qualities and virtues which unite to make the typical New Englander, In the brief sketches of towns settled before the begin- ning of the American Revolution some incidents have been related, showing the hardships endured by the Ver- mont pioneers. It was not a light task, thus to trans- form a wilderness into a region of settled and well ordered communities, a land of cultivated farms and pleasant villages, with roads and schools and churches and most of the blessings of civilization. It is not to be supposed that these pioneers came into the New Hampshire Grants ignorant of the dangers and discomforts they were to face. They were willing to endure hardship in order to establish homes and acquire property on easier financial terms than could be obtained in the older colonies. Probably a large proportion of the settlers bettered their conditions by coming into the new country, and hundreds of them lived to see the un- broken forest transformed into a land of peace and plenty, much like the old homes they had left in southern New England. Some of the methods and customs of the early set- tlers in Vermont may not be lacking in interest. The first task of the pioneer was the construction of some kind of shelter, for wild beasts were plentiful. This shelter may have been a rude lean-to with only a blanket for a door, and with a hole in the roof to permit the smoke to escape. More often, probably, a small house of unhewn logs was constructed and perhaps occupied before completion, the open spaces between the logs 262 HISTORY OF VERMONT being filled with clay and mud, and the roof and gable ends often were made of elm bark or rived splints through which the storms would beat. At one end a rough stone fireplace was built, which would take in logs four feet in length. There may have been a door of hewn slabs and probably there were two small win- dows, possibly filled with oiled paper. The floor often was made of hewn logs, for sawmills did not precede, but followed in the wake of civilization. Sometimes there was no floor but the earth, and, of course, no cellar. Log houses with only a back of stone for a fireplace were likely often to be filled with smoke. Chimneys were built of split sticks, cob house fashion, and plas- tered inside with clay. It was diflicult to make a split- log floor level, as may be imagined, and one side of the table was likely to be higher than the other. This diffi- culty, however, could be remedied easily by putting a chip under one edge of the porridge dish. Wooden benches sometimes sufficed for seats. Many early set- tlers made tables, bedsteads and chairs with no tools but an axe and an auger. By force of necessity men were compelled to make many utensils such as ox-bows, whip stocks, axe helves^ rude carts and sleds, sometimes wooden plows and many other articles used on the farm or in the household. A little later, when conditions of life had become more like those of settled communities, if a farmer wanted a plow, he would carry a bar of iron to the blacksmith for the share, and the rest would be made at home. The same rule applied to axes, hoes, scythes, pitchforks, etc. CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 263 After a shelter was constructed a clearing must be made for the planting of a few crops between the stumps. Corn was one of the staple crops, and beans, pumpkins, turnips and parsnips were grown in consider- able quantities. A few potatoes were raised and wheat, barley and buckwheat were grown. As soon as possible the settler secured a cow and a pig. In some instances calves were not entirely weaned until autumn in order that their bleating might draw the cows home at night. Apple seeds were planted and soon orchards grew. Samp and Indian meal mush in milk were common articles of diet. It was often necessary at first to travel long distances in order to get the corn ground, perhaps forty or fifty miles, either on horseback or on foot. To save these long journeys the pioneers sometimes made use of w^hat was called a plumping mill. These mills were very crude affairs. A hole was burned in a stump, a weight was attached to a sapling, the shelled corn was placed in the hollow of the stump, and the spring of the sapling helped the operator in crushing the corn into some semblance of samp or meal. Stone ovens were constructed, often separate from the house. Oven wood, small sticks split into thin pieces, were burned in the oven until it was thoroughly heated, then the coals were removed with a "fireslice," the oven swept with an "oven broom," and the loaves of brown bread were placed on the hot stones with a kind of wooden shovel. The seeds were taken out of pumpkins w-hich were partly filled with new milk, and then they were baked six or eight hours in the oven; the baked pumpkin was eaten with milk. The rivers swarmed with fish, and wild game 264 HISTORY OF VERMONT was abundant. Wooden plates were used at first and later pewter dishes and Queen's ware came into use. Starvation was not far removed in the very early pioneer days, and in more than one family children have gone to bed at night crying for lack of food. One family lived almost an entire season on ground nuts. One set- tler eked out the food supply with clams, turtles and woodchucks. Boiled wheat was used when other sup- plies failed. In emergencies roots and herbs were re- sorted to. In one family of eight, breakfasts were milk with a little bread; dinners consisted of boiled herbs; and for supper a large bowl of milk, containing about three quarts, sweetened with maple sugar, was passed around, each taking a sip. Mills ground slowly and sometimes a boy would be sent to mill on horseback with bags of grain, and leaving them would take another load the second day, getting the first day's grist. Tea and coffee were almost unknown, and corn, bean and barley broths were much used. Even after the country was settled and churches were built, people sometimes car- ried cold boiled potatoes for lunch between the first and second Sunday services. The tallow candle was used for light. Fire was kept by burying brands in the ashes, covering the fire up, it was called. If the fire went out, flint and steel were resorted to, sparks being struck over decayed wood that would kindle easily. Often persons were obliged to go long distances to borrow fire. Even in our own day old people have been heard to ask a person travelling in haste if he were going for fire, an expression handed down from pioneer days. CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 265 As soon as farms were cleared and a regular system of agriculture could be established, sheep were kept for the wool they provided, and flax was raised in consider- able quantities. Tow cloth, or linen, was spun and w^oven into summer garments, and wool was carded and yarn was spun and woven into heavier cloth. Carpets were woven and women even made chairs and baskets. Not many sheep were kept at first, owing to the number of wolves in the nearby forests. Black and white wool, mixed, woven double, made clothing that would stand hard wear in the thickets and was warm enough for any weather. Butternut bark and sumac berries were used for dyeing. Overcoats were seldom worn. Women worked at weaving for fifty cents a week. Calico cost fifty cents a yard and six yards constituted a dress pattern. Some children, in the early days, went barefooted all winter. A flank of a hide sometimes was used like a moccasin. Boys often wore leggings instead of boots. A pair of boots sometimes would last a man for years. In summer both men and women have been known to carry their shoes as far as the meeting house door on Sunday before putting them on. Contracts were made and notes given payable October first in neat cattle, or in grain payable the first day of January. Perhaps a few hundred dollars' worth of cattle, passing from one individual to another, would pay debts amounting to several thousand dollars. The manufacture of "salts" was an important item with the early settlers. This product was made by burning to ashes hardwood trees, then an incumbrance 266 HISTORY OF VERMONT to be rid of, and boiling the lye from these ashes to such a consistency that when cold the product might be carried in a basket. In this condition the "salts" were sold to manufacturers of pearlash, an important source of potassium compounds, used in making soap, glass, etc. The market value ranged from three to five and one-half dollars per hundred pounds, and this was one of the few products that could be sold for cash, at a time when barter was the ordinary medium of trade. Much of this product was exported to England. Many a family has been saved from great suffering if not from actual starvation by the sale of "salts." For the first frame barn in Hubbardton, boards were drawn twelve and one-half miles on an ox-sled and the nails used were picked up on the site of burned buildings at Fort Ticonderoga. The shingles on the first shingled house in the town of Halifax were attached with wooden pegs. -^ Thus, in the space of a few decades, through great tribulation, was wrought the transformation from a region where savages had hunted and fished from time immemorial, to a well established, prosperous State. With a few omissions the summary of Saint Paul's de- fence, made to the Corinthian Church, may be applied to the pioneer settlers of Vermont : 'Tn perils of waters, in perils by the heathen, in perils of the wilderness, * * * in weariness and pain fulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." If much emphasis is placed upon the hardships en- dured by the Vermont pioneers, it is not for the purpose CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS 267 of picturing lives that were lived altogether in an atmos- phere of gloom and misery. Human nature is much the same, "yesterday, today and forever." It was natural that young manhood and young womanhood, blessed with health and strength and courage, should view the future through optimistic eyes. There is a joy in con- quest, whether it be the conquest of a kingdom or a few acres of the wilderness. There is a keen delight in the building of a home, whether that home be a cabin or a castle. Thus, in the joys of home buildjng, in the win- ning of farms from the forest, and in the anticipation of better days in the future, some compensation was found for the hardships and perils endured. Amid such conditions was bred a race of men which has done effective work in every State of the Union north of Mason and Dixon's Line and west of Lake Champlain. Chapter X A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP FOR practically a quarter of a century, beginning soon after the earliest settlements in what is now the State of Vermont were commenced, and con- tinuing until Vermont's admission to the Federal Union, a bitter controversy, at times attaining the proportions of border warfare, was waged over the question of own- ership between holders of titles to lands in the region known as New Hampshire Grants, issued by Governor Wentworth, and those holding grants to the same lands, issued by the provincial Government of New York. The controversy was most active in the western por- tion of this region, near the New York border, in the present counties of Bennington, Rutland and Addison. With few exceptions the early settlers held land titles based on the grants made by Governor Wentworth. They had purchased these lands in good faith, for the purpose of establishing homes. After paying fees, buying land, and undergoing the hardships incident to subduing the wilderness, settlers holding New Hamp- shire titles, in their poverty were asked, in effect, to buy again the lands they had improved, and made valuable, paying much larger fees, often to land speculators and favored officials. This New York policy of refusing to recognize the validity of the Wentworth grants was considered rank injustice, and aroused the fighting spirit of these sturdy New England pioneers. For the beginning of this controversy it is necessary to go back to the granting of Bennington, Governor Wentworth's first township in the disputed territory, the charter for which was issued June 11, 1749. On November 17, of the same year. Governor Wentworth 272 HISTORY OF VERMONT wrote to Governor Clinton of New York, alluding to the command of the King, directing the Governor to make grants of unimproved lands within his government *'to such of the inhabitants and others as shall apply for grants for the same, as will oblige themselves to settle and improve, agreeable to His Majesty's instruc- tions." In his letter Governor Wentworth declared: "People are daily applying for grants of land in all quarters of this government, and particularly some for townships to be laid out in the western part thereof, which will fall in the neighborhood of your government. I think it my duty to apprise you thereof, and to transmit to Your Excellency the description of New Hampshire, as the King has determined it in the words of my commis- sion, which, after you have considered, I shall be glad you will be pleased to give me your sentiments in that manner it will affect the grants made by you or preced- ing Governors, it being my intention to avoid as much as I can consistent with His Majesty's instructions, in- terfering with your government." Governor Wentworth then asked how far the Gov- ernment of New York extended north of Albany, and to the eastward of Hudson River, north of the Massa- chusetts line. He enclosed a copy of his commission, which indicated that the western boundary of New Hampshire was rather indefinite, as the province ex- tended west, to quote from the charter, "till it meets with our other governments." The New York Council advised the Governor on April 3, 1750, to acquaint Governor Wentworth with the fact A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 273 "that this province is bounded eastward by Connecti- cut River, h: * * ^j^g letters patent from King Charles the Second to the Duke of York expressly grant- ing all lands from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." Governor Wentworth replied in a letter dated April 25, 1750, saying in substance that the establishment of the Connecticut River as the eastern boundary of New York would be entirely agreeable to him, "had not the two charter governments of Connecticut and the Massa- chusetts Bay extended their bounds many miles to the westward of said river." To this he added, very per- tinently, the opinion of the Council that New Hampshire had an equal right to the same western boundaries. In closing he expressed his desire not to encroach on any other governments, asked by what authority Connecticut and Massachusetts claimed "so far to the westward as they have settled, and declared his purpose to desist meantime from making any further grants on the west- ern frontier likely to interfere with the New York gov- ernment. Governor Clinton's reply, dated June 6, 1750, was to the effect that Connecticut's western boundary was established as the result of an agreement between the province and New York, made on or about the year 1684, and confirmed later by King William, the bound- aries being marked in 1725. As to the Massachusetts boundary. Governor Clinton wrote : "It is presumed the Massachusetts government at first possessed themselves of those lands by intrusion, and thro the negligence of this government have hitherto continued their posses- 274 HISTORY OF VERMONT sion the lands being private property." Governor Clinton added the suggestion that Governor Wentworth recall the grant made of the town of Bennington, say- ing there was reason to apprehend that these lands, or part of them, had been granted previously by New York. Governor Wentworth responded on June 22 of the same year, saying that the Council members were unani- mously of the opinion that it was unwise to commence a boundary dispute with New York until the opinion of the King should be obtained. Governor Wentworth an- nounced his intention to submit the matter to His Majesty, and suggested that Governor Clinton follow a similar course. Referring to the suggestion that the grant of Bennington should be revoked, he added: ''There is no possibility of vacating the grant as you desire, but if it falls by His Majesty's determination in the government of New York, it will be void of course. Both Governors thereupon agreed to submit the matter of the disputed boundary to the King, and to furnish copies of their statements to each other. In a collection of New York documents of this period, relating to the land controversy between New Hampshire and New York, may be found a report of Attorney Gen- eral Richard Bradley of the latter province, made to Governor Clinton, bearing no date, but evidently sub- mitted during the latter part of the year 1750, or the early part of the year 1751. In this report it is urged that it would be unjust to use the western boundary of Connecticut as an argument for a similar line north of that province, because that boundary was the result of a special agreement. At considerable length he argues A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 275 that it is "extremely absurd" for Massachusetts to con- tend that its charter extends the western boundary of that province to within twenty miles of the Hudson River. All that he had to say regarding the very obvious fact that the western boundary of Massachusetts was practi- cally an extension to the northward of that of Con- necticut, was that Massachusetts had intruded upon and taken possession of such lands west of the Connecticut River, ''without pretence of right." To this report Surveyor General Cadwallader Colden added some observations, dated October 14, 1751, includ- ing the very practical suggestion that if the King would assert his right to the lands as far east as the Con- necticut River "against the intrusions of Massachusetts Bay it would greatly increase his revenue arising from the quit rent of lands." In Governor Wentworth's letter to the British Lords of Trade he based the claim of New Hampshire to a western boundary which should be the twenty-mile line east of the Hudson River, upon the fact that the provinces of Connecticut and Massachusetts already had established such limits. A committee of the New York Council, on November 14, 1753, made a report to Lieutenant Governor James Delancey on the eastern boundary of the province, re- hearsing the various stages of the controversy with New Hampshire. The New York claim was based upon the grant made by the Duke of York to Charles the Second, in 1664, which included "all the Land from the West side of Connecticut River to the East Side of Delaware Bay." As to the claim that New Hampshire 276 HISTORY OF VERMONT had as good a right to extend its western boundary as far as the western boundaries of Connecticut and Massa- chusetts, the Council disposed of this rather forceful argument by declaring: "We apprehend that no good title can be within His Majesty's dominions but under valid grants of the crown, and know of no valid grant that Massachusetts have to any soil or jurisdiction west of Connecticut River. We are further of opinion that the intrusions of the Massachusetts Bay within this province could be no good reason for Governor Went- worth to commit the like." By vote of the Council, taken December 6, 1753, this committee report was ordered to be transmitted to the British authorities. For practically a decade following the transmission of these reports to the British government by the Gov- ernors of New Hampshire and New York, the matter of the disputed boundary appears to have received scant attention. This was due in part, no doubt, to the over- shadowing importance of the French and Indian War; but there appears to have been no very vigorous protest on the part of New York while Governor Wentworth was granting townships by the score in the disputed territory during the two or three years immediately fol- lowing the close of the war. The matter of the boundary dispute between New York and New Hampshire was treated very fully by the late Hiland Hall in his "Early History of Vermont." He called attention to the indefinite limits of the grant made to the Duke of York on March 12, 1664. If it had been intended to convey to the King's brother all the territory from the source to the mouth of the Con- A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 277 necticut River, extending to and including the full length of Delaware Bay, then it would have comprised a con- siderable region already granted to others by the King, for the charters granted to Connecticut and Massa- chusetts extended the limits of those provinces westward to the Pacific Ocean. For nearly a century after the settlement of the bound- ary between New York and Connecticut, the northern boundary of New York was undefined, and it was not until 1763 that the forty-fifth parallel of latitude, ex- tending from the St. Lawrence River across Lake Champlain to the Connecticut River, was declared to be the southern boundary of Canada. Until the boundary between New Hampshire and Massachusetts was estab- lished in 1740, it had been considered that the northern boundary of the latter province, like that of New York, extended north to the very indefinite limits of Canada. In writing other Colonial Governors for aid against the French and Indians, Governor Sloughter of New York said: "I doubt not that you are very sensible of the many branches that have been copped ofif from the government in the last reigns, and that it is now con- fined to great narrowness, having only Hudson's River and Long Island for the bounds." In 1720 a series of questions was addressed by the Lords of Trade and Plantations to Robert Hunter, Governor of New York from 1710 to 1719, including a request for a statement of the reputed boundaries of the province. In his reply, he said, in part : "Its boundaries, east, a parallel twenty miles distant from Hudson's River." 278 HISTORY OF VERMONT Cadwallader Colden was more active, probably, than any other New York official in the attempt to secure the New Hampshire Grants as a part of the province, and choice portions of this territory as the property of New York citizens; and yet, when Surveyor General Cad- wallader Colden, in 1738, was called upon to name the boundaries of New York, he made no mention of the Connecticut River. When the boundary line between the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts was established in 1740 by royal decree, it was found that Fort Dummer, on the west side of the Connecticut River, which had been built and maintained by the government of Massa- chusetts, was in the province of New Hampshire. The Governor of Massachusetts complained that it was un- just that the government of his province should be com- pelled to maintain a fort that was situated within the jurisdiction of another province. An order of the King in Council followed, directing New Hampshire to garri- son and maintain it, under penalty of forfeiting the fort and the surrounding district to Massachusetts. New Hampshire failed to comply with this order, and Massa- chusetts felt under the necessity of maintaining Fort Dummer for the protection of its citizens. The subject being brought before the British Board of Trade, the governmental department having charge of Colonial matters, it was ordered that New Hampshire should re- imburse Massachusetts for the maintenance of the fort. Nothing can be clearer than that His Majesty's ministers were not aware that the Connecticut River formed the boundary between New York and New Hampshire. A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 279 A question having arisen in 1752 relative to the legal effect of the boundary decision between Massachusetts and New Hampshire upon the so-called "Equivalent Lands," situated upon the west bank of the Connecticut River, it was referred by the Crown to the Attorney General, Sir Dudley Ryder, and to Solicitor General Murray, better known in later years as the famous Lord Mansfield, one of the greatest of English jurists. These eminent lawyers decided that this region, as a result of the boundary decision, "is become a part of New Hamp- shire." It would be absurd to argue that these officials of the Crown did not know the nature of the grant made to the Duke of York. This decision was made after Governor Wentworth had appealed to the British authorities for a settlement of the boundary dispute with New York, and after claims were made by Acting Gov- ernor Colden and his Attorney General based upon the assertion that the Connecticut River formed the eastern boundary of New York. The Lords of Trade, in recommending to the King, on May 25, 1757, the establishment of a line twenty miles from the Hudson as the boundary between New York and Massachusetts, described it as running in a northerly direction to a point twenty miles east of the Hudson River "on that line which divides the province of New Hampshire and the Massachusetts Bay." Lieu- tenant Governor Delancey, writing to the British Board of Trade, described this proposed boundary line as reach- ing northerly to the line of New Hampshire. Cadwallader Colden, who had become acting Governor of New York upon the death of Lieutenant Governor 280 HISTORY OF VERMONT Delancey, was succeeded in February, 1761, by Gov- ernor Monckton. Just prior to the departure of Gov- ernor Monckton for England on June 25, 1763, a com- mittee of five members of the provincial Council, includ- ing Judge Horsmaden, Oliver Delancey and Lord Stir- ling, made a report to the Governor on the boundaries of the province, which contained the following signifi- cant statement: "We are humbly of opinion that it will not be inconvenient to either province if His Majesty should be pleased to order that some line which shall be established as the division between them and the province of Massachusetts Bay be continued on the same course as far as the most northerly extent of either province, with a saving to the inhabitants of New York of such lands as are held by grants under the great seal of the province eastward of Hudson's River beyond the distance of twenty miles, etc." The Council considered that the twenty-mile line "would be an equitable boundary," between New York and New Hampshire and advised Governor Monckton that it would be proper to agree to such a line in order to prevent further tumults and controversies on the border. It is clear, therefore, that the New York offi- cials were by no means unanimous in supporting Gov- ernor Colden's position. With the departure of Governor Monckton for Eng- land, Lieutenant Governor Colden again became acting Governor, and he took occasion very soon to combat the ideas embodied in the report of the Council to his prede- cessor relative to the boundary line between the prov- inces of New York and New Hampshire. In a letter c^ u A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 281 addressed to the British Lords of Trade, dated Septem- ber 26, 1763, Governor Golden maintained that an exten- sion of the western boundary hne of Gonnecticut could not be adopted rightfully by Massachusetts. In his letter Golden complained that "the Governor of New Hampshire continues to grant lands far to the westward of Gonnecticut River to numbers of people who make a job of them by selling shares in the neigh- boring colonies, and have even attempted it in the Gity of New York, and perhaps with success. The quit rents in New Hampshire, as I am informed, are much lower than in New York, and this is made use of as an inducement to purchase under New Hampshire rather than settle under New York Grants." This is a significant admission, and the writer pro- duced another argument, supposed to have an important bearing on the matter of revenues, when he said: "If all the lands in the province of New York, from 20 miles of Hudson's River to Gonnecticut River, were given up, the crown would be deprived of a quit rent, amounting yearly to a large sum, in my opinion greater than the amount of all the quit rents of the whole that would re- main and is now received." The amount of quit rents received by New York from lands now included in the State of Vermont must have existed in anticipation when this letter was written, as it was not until May 21, 1765, that Governor Golden issued his first patent for lands within the present limits of the State. Near the close of his letter the New York executive embodied a paragraph, the importance of which cannot well be over-estimated in the light of subsequent events, 282 HISTORY OF VERMONT in which he said: "The New England Governments are formed in republican principles and these principles are zealously inculcated on their youth, in opposition to the principles of the Constitution of Great Britain. The government of New York, on the contrary, is established as nearly as may be, after the model of the English Con- stitution. Can it then be good policy to diminish the extent of jurisdiction in His Majesty's province of New York, to extend the power and influence of the others ?" It_should be remembered in considering the influence of the foregoing letter of Governor Colden, that William Pitt had recently retired as Prime Minister after accom- plishing a notable series of events which constitute one of the most brilliant chapters in English history; and that his ministry had been succeeded by a cabinet com- posed of men of a much less liberal type, like the Duke of Newcastle, the Earl of Bute and George Grenville. It is altogether likely that Governor Colden's comparison between the spirit of New York and that of New Eng- land had much more to do with the decision of the dis- puted boundary line than did the ancient grant to the Duke of York. Governor Colden issued a proclamation on December 28, 1763, "Commanding and requiring all judges, jus- tices, and other civil officers within the same (province of New York) to continue to exercise their respective functions as far as the banks of Connecticut River, the undoubted eastern limits of that part of the province of New York, notwithstanding any contrariety of juris- diction claimed by the government of New Hampshire, or any grants of land westward of that river made by A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 283 said government." To this he added the injunction: "And I do hereby enjoin the High Sheriff of the county of Albany, to return to me or the commander-in-chief, the names of all and every person and persons, who under the grants of the government of New Hampshire, do or shall hold the possession of any lands westward of Connecticut River, that they may be proceeded against according to law." Following this proclamation. Governor Golden wrote the British Board of Trade, on January 20, 1764, elaborating his previous arguments, so often advanced, relative to the western boundaries of Gonnecticut and Massachusetts. He expressed his surprise that New Hampshire had made a large number of grants in the disputed territory after the matter had been submitted to the British authorities for adjustment, and remarked that these grants "had probably been still concealed from the knowledge of this government, had not the grantees or persons employed by them travelled thro all parts of this, and in the neighboring province of New Jersey, publicly offering the lands to sale, at such low rates as evince the claimants had no intention of becoming set- tlers, either from inability, or conscious they could derive no title to the lands under the grants of New Hamp- shire." He argued that transportation would be easier to Albany than to New Hampshire and that Albany afforded superior markets. An item of information is found in the letter to the effect that *'the revenue to the Grown, if the lands are settled under this province, will be greater than if granted under New Hampshire, in 284 HISTORY OF VERMONT * proportion to the difference of quit rent which I am in- formed is 1 s sterlg. p 100 acres in that province and is by His Majesty's instructions fixed here at 2/6 sterg." This may have been an effective argument with the Lords of Trade, but it ought not to have occasioned sur- prise that lands patented by New Hampshire were more salable than those which carried the burden of the New York schedule of quit rents. This letter was followed by another from Governor Golden to the British Board of Trade, bearing date of February 8, 1764. In the last mentioned communica- tion allusion is made again to Governor Wentworth's numerous land grants, and attention is called to what evidently is intended to be the shocking information that "a man in appearance no better than a pedlar has lately travelled through New Jersey and this province, hawk- ing and selling his pretended rights of 30 townships, on trifling considerations. The whole proceedings of the government of New Hampshire, in this case, if what is told me be true, are shameful and a discredit to the King's authority, under which they act." Mention was made of the large number of reduced officers and disbanded soldiers who were applying for land grants, and attention was called again to the differ- ence between the New Hampshire and New York rates of quit rents, the Governor saying that "this difference on a moderate computation may amount to one thousand pounds sterling." To clinch the argument, he added: "So that it is likewise much for the benefit of His Majesty's revenue of quit rents that this dispute be speedily put an end to." A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 285 Governor Wentworth issued a proclamation on March 13, 1764, in the nature of an answer to Governor Colden's proclamation, which he considered "of a very extraordinary nature"; and he proceeded to call atten- tion to some important omissions relative to the bound- aries of New York and Massachusetts. He observed rather pertinently that "New York pretends to claim even to the banks of the Connecticut River although she never laid out and settled one town in that part of His Majesty's lands since she existed as a government." Governor Wentworth called attention to the fact that from the grants he had made "a considerable revenue is daily arising to the Crown." Recognizing the fact that Colden's proclamation pos- sibly might affect and retard settlement under the New Hampshire charters, Wentworth assured the grantees that the patent to the Duke of York was obsolete, citing the boundaries of the Jerseys and Connecticut as illus- trations, which provinces were included, at least in part, in the grant to the King's brother. The northern boundaries of New York were said to be unknown, but the proclamation declared that as soon as they were known "New Hampshire will pay a ready and cheerful obedience thereunto, not doubting but that all grants made by New Hampshire that are fulfilled by the grantees will be confirmed to them if it should be His Majesty's pleasure to alter the jurisdiction." Possibly Governor Wentworth had reason to suspect that the boundary dispute might not be decided in his favor. If he harbored such a suspicion he was not deterred from closing his letter in vigorous fashion, saying : "To the 286 HISTORY OF VERMONT end, therefore, that the grantees now settled and settling on those lands under His Late and present Majesty's charters may not be intimidated, or any way hindered or obstructed in the improvement of the land so granted, as well as to ascertain the right & maintain the jurisdic- tion of His Majesty's government of New Hampshire as far westward as to include the grants made, I have thought fit, by and with the advice of His Majesty's Council, to issue this proclamation hereby encouraging the several grantees claiming under this government, to be industrious in clearing and cultivating their lands agreeable to their respective grants." He required all civil officers to be diligent in the exercise of their re- spective offices "as far westward as grants of land have been made by this government, and to deal with any per- sons, that may presume to interrupt the inhabitants or settlers on said lands as to law and justice doth apper- tain. The pretended right of jurisdiction in the afore- said proclamation (that of Governor Golden) notwith- standing." Golden wrote the Board of Trade again, on April 12, 1764, citing Wentworth's proclamation as an illustration of the necessity "of coming to some speedy resolution" in the matter of the disputed boundary. He had not long to wait, for on July 20, 1764, there was issued an order of the King in Gouncil, those participating being the King, the Lord Steward, the Earl of Sandwich, the Earl of Halifax, the Earl of Powis, the Earl of Har- court, the Earl of Hillsborough, the Vice Ghamberlain, Gilbert Elliot, Esq., establishing the Connecticut River as the boundary between New York and New Hamp- A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 287 shire. The text of the order is as follows: "Whereas there was this day read at the Board, a report made by the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Afifairs, dated the 17th of this instant, upon considering a representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, rela- tive to the disputes that have some years subsisted be- tween the provinces of New Hampshire and New York concerning the boundary line between those provinces, His Majesty taking the same into consideration was pleased with the advice of his Privy Council to approve of what is therein proposed, and doth accordingly here- by order and declare the western banks of the river Con- necticut, from where it enters the province of Massa- chusetts Bay, as far north as the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude, to be the boundary line between the said two provinces of New Hampshire and New York. Whereof the respective governors and commanders-in- chief of His Majesty's said provinces of New Hamp- shire and New York for the time being and all others whom it may concern are to take notice of His Majesty's pleasure hereby signified and govern themselves accord- ingly." It had been an opportune time for Governor Colden to press the claims of New York, with a British ministry in power determined to tax the colonies, and displeased with the growing spirit of freedom existing in New England. A meeting of the Governor and Council of New York was held on May 22, 1765, and the following order was issued : ''The Council taking into consideration the case 288 HISTORY OF VERMONT of those persons who are actually settled under the grants of the government of New Hampshire, on lands westward of Connecticut River, and eastward of Hud- son's River, which, by His Majesty's order in Council of the twentieth day of July last are declared to be with- in the jurisdiction of this province; and that the dis- possessing of such persons might be ruinous to them- selves and their families, is of opinion, and it is accord- ingly ordered by His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, with the advice of the Council, that the Surveyor Gen- eral do not, until further order make return on any war- rant of survey, already, or which may hereafter come to his hands, of any lands so actually possessed under such grants, unless for the persons in actual possession there- of, as aforesaid; and that a copy hereof be served on said Surveyor General." This order appears to have been an act of wisdom and justice, based upon a desire to deal fairly with those who had settled in good faith upon lands granted by the Governor of New Hampshire; but the records show that on the day before this benevolent order was issued, on May 21, 1765, Governor Colden made his first grant of lands within the present limits of Vermont, and this grant included a large number of farms already settled under the Wentworth grants. This tract was patented as Princetown, contained twenty-six thousand acres, and included a comparatively narrow strip of the best lands in the Battenkill valley in Arlington, Sunderland and Manchester. According to R. C. Benton, who, in his book "Ver- mont Settlers and New York Land Speculators," has A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 289 made a very thorough and comprehensive study of this period of Vermont history, the tract known as Prince- town covered most of the settlements in ArUngton, all those in Manchester, and probably some in Sunderland. Approximately fifty farms, and the land on which Remember Baker was building a sawmill and a grist- mill, were taken summarily from the actual settlers, so far as the grant of the Governor of New York could take them. A few days after the grant was made the nominal holders conveyed their rights to Attorney Gen- eral John Taber Kempe, James Duane, a prominent lawyer, and Walter Rutherford, men largely interested in land speculation. Improved lands in Bennington were sold on May 30 to a man named Slaughter, and the ejectment suit which he brought figured prominently in the land controversy a few years later. During the same year about ten thousand acres of land in Bennington and Pownal were sold to Crean Brush, a New York lawyer and land specu- lator, who was prominent in early Vermont affairs prior to the American Revolution. Before November 1, 1765, it is said that Governor Golden had issued patents for nearly all the improved lands in Bennington county, not- withstanding the fair sounding order of the Council adopted earlier the same year. While the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, with few exceptions, were thoroughly in sympathy with New England ideas and ideals, and not at all in sym- pathy with the more aristocratic customs and policies of New York, nevertheless, it is probable that the people of this region would have accepted the governmental 290 HISTORY OF VERMONT authority of New York without serious objection if the titles to the farms they had cleared and cultivated had been recognized as valid. If Gov. Benning Wentworth never had the right to grant lands west of the Connecticut River, then, as he said in an early letter to Governor Clinton, such grants would be void, and however great the hardship might be to the settlers, they had no legal rights, being only squatters. If, on the other hand, Governor Went- worth's grants were legal and the decision of the King in Council was in the nature of an annexation of terri- tory, a matter of policy, permissible because New Hamp- shire was a royal colony, and the King might do as he pleased with his own, then the attempts to dispossess the settlers on the Wentworth grants clearly were illegal and a gross abuse of the fundamental rights of a free people. Lord Hillsborough, who was a member of the King's Council which made the order establishing the Connecti- cut River as the boundary between New York and New Hampshire, and later was Secretary for the Colonies, in writing to Governor Moore of New York, February 25, 1768, refers to an order "forbidding any grants to be made of the lands annexed to New York by His Majesty's determination between that colony and New Hampshire." In a letter to Governor Colden, dated December 9, 1769, Lord Hillsborough used almost identical language, alluding to "the lands annexed to New York by His Majesty's determination of the boundary line between that colony and New Hamp- shire." He wrote Governor Tryon of New York on A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 291 December 4, 1771: "I have long lamented the disorders which have prevailed on the lands heretofore considered as a part of New Hampshire but which were annexed to New York by His Majesty's order in Council of the 20th of July, 1764." Lord Hillsborough wrote Gov- ernor Tryon on April 18, 1772, concerning "that country which has been annexed to New York by the determina- tion of the boundary line" between that province and New Hampshire. Lord Dartmouth, who succeeded Lord Hillsborough as Secretary of the Colonies, wrote Governor Tryon on November 4, 1772, regarding "the district annexed to New York by the determination of the boundary line with New Hampshire." In a communication of the British Board of Trade to the King, bearing date of December 3, 1772, allusion is made to "the propriety of or impropriety of re-annexing to New Hampshire the lands west of Connecticut River." Sir William John- son, a member of the New York Council, and well known as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, wrote Com- missary General Leake on August 16, 1765, regarding "that part of New Hampshire lately made part of this province." There seems to be no reason to doubt that the present State of Vermont was considered by the British govern- ment to be a part of the province of New Hampshire until, by order of the King in Council, July 20, 1764, it was annexed to New York. This annexation was ordered, apparently, because the ministry in power con- sidered it good policy to encourage the New York rather than the New England idea of government. 292 HISTORY OF VERMONT The maps of the American Colonies used prior to the Revolutionary War, which included the region known as the New Hampshire Grants, show New Hampshire as extending westward to Lake Champlain and to a line extending south from the lake to the western boundary of Massachusetts. Hiland Hall has said: "Not a single map has been found which extends the province (New York) eastward to Connecticut River, and all concur in separating it from New England by a line running from Long Island Sound parallel to the Hud- son." It should be stated that the historian refers to maps of a period before, or soon after the beginning of the American Revolution. Maps published in 1776 and 1777 show' the Connecticut River as the eastern bound- ary of New York. At that period the British authorities held New England in less esteem than they did when the order of the King in Council was issued in 1764, to which reference has been made. The authority of such eminent men as Sir Dudley Ryder, Attorney General, Solicitor General Murray, later known as Lord Mansfield, and two Secretaries of the Colonies, Lord Hillsborough and Lord Dartmouth, the former a member of the Council which reported the boundary decision, indicate that the region between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain was not consid- ered by the British Government a part of New York previous to July 20, 1764. The Colonial maps lead to the same conclusion. Well known business men of New York City did not spend their money to secure Went- worth grants if they had reason to suppose that New York held the only valid title to such lands. A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 293 Naturally the settlers under the grants of Governor Wentworth, constituting practically all the dwellers within the limits of the present State of Vermont, were both indignant and alarmed at the course pursued by Governor Golden in granting to others the lands they had purchased and cleared, and they proceeded to take steps to defend their property. The early town records of Golchester, kept by Ira Allen as proprietors' clerk, contain a document which shows that Governor Golden, on June 6, 1766, issued an order to the effect that all persons holding grants under New Hampshire titles, west of the Connecticut River, should "as soon as may be," appear by themselves or their attorneys, and pro- duce their grant, deeds and other papers relative to their land holdings, before the Governor in Council. The Colchester records further show that in response to this order some well known Massachusetts men, Henry Lloyd, Harrison Gray, John Searl, Sir John Temple, Jacob Wendall, Nathaniel Appleton, William Brattle and others, met on July 29, 1766, and appointed Giles Alexander of Boston as their attorney to appear before the Governor and Council of New York and endeavor to obtain a confirmation of the grants made to them under the seal of New Hampshire. It appears from the town records of Maidstone that a proprietors' meeting was held at Stratford, Conn., in the autumn of 1766, at which time an agent was appointed to attend a meeting of agents and proprietors to be held at New York, December 10 of that year, for the purpose of devising means for the protection of New Hampshire titles. 294 HISTORY OF VERMONT Meanwhile a petition was drawn up to be presented to the King, which was signed by one thousand or more of the New Hampshire grantees, or their representatives or successors, which was dated "New England, 1766," and at the same time a power of attorney was given in the following language: "We, the subscribers, pro- prietors and claimants in and of sundry townships, lately granted by Governor Wentworth, in the western part of the then supposed province of New Hampshire, do hereby fully impower our trusty friends and fellow partners in those interests, Samuel Robinson, Esq., Ebenezer Cole, Jeremiah French, Benjamin Ferris, Samuel Hunger ford, Ebenezer Fisk, John Brooks, John Sherrer, Samuel Keep, Partridge Thatcher, Abraham Thompson, Edward Burling, Benjamin Townsend, Tunis Wortman, Peter Clapper, John Burling, Joseph Hallet, Thomas Hicks, Esq.; and David Matthews, Esq. ; for us and in our behalf and stead to take and pur- sue all and every needful and proper measure and step by application to His Majesty or otherwise, to obtain a full confirmation to us of said lands, on such reason- able terms as may be; hereby granting to them and to any and every three or more of them, full powers of substitution." The first three members of this committee, Samuel Robinson of Bennington, Ebenezer Cole of Shaftsbury and Jeremiah French of Dover, were residents of the New Hampshire Grants. Six members, Messrs. Hun- ger ford, Fisk, Brooks, Keep, Thatcher and Thompson, were Connecticut men. Ten members, Messrs. Ferris, Sherrer, Edward Burling, John Burling, Townsend, A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 295 Wortman, Clapper, Hallet, Hicks and Matthews, were residents of the province of New York. It is, indeed, a most noteworthy circumstance that out of nineteen men chosen as a committee to represent the thousand or more New Hampshire grantees, their representatives or successors, in petitioning the King for protection from the encroachments of the Governor of New York, ten members of that committee, or a clear majority, should have been residents of this same province of New York. This petition to the King, dated November, 1766, began as follows: "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty, "The Humble Petition of the Several Subscribers Hereto, Your Majesty's Most Loyal Subjects, Sheweth to Your Majesty; "That we obtained at considerable expense of Your Majesty's Governor of the Province of New Hamp- shire, Grants and Patents for more than One Hundred townships in the Western part of the said supposed Province; and being about to settle the same, many of Us, and others of Us, having actually planted Ourselves on the same, were disagreeably surprised and prevented from going on with the further intended Settlements by the News of its having been determined by Your Majesty in Council, That those Lands were within the Province of New York; and by a Proclamation issued by Lieutenant Governor Colden, in Consequence there- of forbidding any further settlement until Patents of Confirmation should be obtained from the Governor of New York. Whereof We applied to the Governor of 296 HISTORY OF VERMONT said Province of New York, to have the same lands con- firmed to Us in the same Manner as they had been at first granted to Us by the Governor of the said Province of Nev^ Hampshire; when, to Our utter Astonishment, We found the same could not be done, without our pay- ing as Fees of Office for the same, at the Rate of Twenty Five Pounds, New York Money, equal to about Four- teen Pounds Sterling; for every Thousand Acres of said Lands, amounting to about Three Hundred and Thirty Pounds Sterling at a Medium, for each of said Town- ships, and which will amount in the Whole to about £33,000 Sterling, besides a Quit rent of Two Shillings and Six Pence Sterling, for every Hundred Acres of said Lands; and which being utterly unable to do and perform. We find ourselves reduced to the sad Neces- sity of losing all our past Expense and Advancements, and many of us being reduced to absolute Poverty and Want, having expended Our All in making said Settle- ments." The petition set forth that when these lands were granted, "the same were and had been at all Times fully understood and reputed to lie and be within the said Province of New Hampshire." These grants were made upon the payment as quit rent of one shilling proc- lamation money, equal to nine pence sterling per hun- dred acres; and these moderate terms, the petitioners say, "induce Us to undertake to settle said Townships throughout, and thereby to form a full and compacted Country of People, whereas the imposing the said Two Shillings and Six Pence Sterling per Hundred Acres, will occasion all the more rough and unprofitable parts A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 297 of said Lands not to be taken up; but pitches, and the more valuable parcels only to be laid out, to the utter preventing the full and proper Settlement of said Coun- try, and on the Whole to the lessening your Majesty's Revenue." The petitioners further declare that the claim that these exorbitant fees were necessary "is without all reasonable and equitable Foundation, and must and will necessarily terminate in the totally preventing your Peti- tioners obtaining the said Lands, and so the same will fall into the Hands of the Rich, to be taken up, the more valuable parts only as aforesaid, and these perhaps not entered upon and settled for many years to come; while your petitioners with their numerous and helpless Families, will be obliged to wander far and wide to find where to plant themselves down, so as to be able to live." In closing, the petitioners request that their lands may be confirmed and quitted to them on reasonable terms, and add this observation: ''We shall esteem it a very great Favor and happiness, to have said Townships put and continued under the Jurisdiction of the government of the said province of New Hampshire, as at the first, as every Emolument and Convenience both publick and private, are in Your Petitioners' humble Opinion, clearly and strongly on the side of such Connection with said New Hampshire Province." At a meeting of agents and proprietors of New Hamp- shire Grants, held in New York December 10, 1766, nothing of importance seems to have been accomplished, and another meeting of a similar nature was held at the home of Benjamin Ferris, a Quaker, in that part 298 HISTORY OF VERMONT of the province of New York, adjacent to Connecticut, known as "The Oblong." At this meeting it was voted to send an agent to England to appeal to the King for relief. A similar course of action was determined upon by the settlers of Bennington and vicinity, and it was agreed that Capt. Samuel Robinson of Bennington should act as the agent of the settlers and the grantees, and that William Samuel Johnson, agent of the province of Connecticut, should be asked to assist him. The agents sailed on the same ship from New York on Christmas day, 1766, and landed at Falmouth, Eng- land, January 30, 1767, from which place they proceeded to London. There had been a change in the British ministry shortly before their arrival, and William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, again was Prime Minister. This ministry was well disposed toward the American colonies. The petition of the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, to which allusion has been made, elaborated somewhat by Mr. Johnson, was presented to Lord Shelburne, Secretary of State for the Colonies, on March 20, 1767. At the same time a petition was pre- sented in behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which obtained a share of land in every New Hampshire charter, but none in charters granted to New York. The Church of Eng- land also received a share of land in each New Hamp- shire Grant, but none from the New York authorities. These grants probably had something to do with the favor shown the cause of the petitioners by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury. A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 299 Finding life in London expensive, and a decision in the land controversy being delayed, Captain Robinson determined to leave matters in the hands of Mr. John- son, and to return home. Unfortunately, however, he was stricken with smallpox, and died in London, October 27, 1767, and was interred in the burial ground attached to Mr. Whitefield's church. That the mission of Robinson and Johnson made a strong impression upon the British ministry is shown in the following extract from a letter of Lord Shelburne to Governor Moore of New York, dated April 11, 1767: "Lest there should be any further proceedings in the matter, till such time as the Council shall have examined into the grounds of it, I am to signify to you His Majesty's commands that you make no new grants of these lands and that you do not molest any person in the quiet possession of his grant, who can produce good and valid deeds for such grant under the seal of the province of New Hampshire until you receive further orders re- specting them. "In my letter of the 11th Deer. I was very explicit upon the point of former grants. You are therein directed to 'take care that the inhabitants lying west- ward of the line reported by the Lords of Trade as the boundary of the two provinces be not molested on account of territorial differences, or disputed jurisdic- tion for whatever province the settlers may be found to belong to, it should make no difference in their property, provided that their titles to their lands should be found good in other respects or that they have been long in uninterrupted possession of them'. 300 HISTORY OF VERMONT "His Majesty's intentions are so clearly expressed to you in the above paragraph that I cannot doubt your having immediately upon receipt of it removed every cause of those complaints which the petitioners set forth. If not it is the King's express command that it may be done without the smallest delay. The power of grant- ing lands was vested in the Governor of the colony orig- inally for the purpose of accommodating, not distressing, settlers, especially the poor and industrious. Any per- version of that power, therefore, must be highly derog- atory, both from the dignity of their stations and from that disinterested character which a Governor ought to support, and which His Majesty expects from every per- son honored by him with his commission. The un- reasonableness of obliging a very large tract of country to pay a second time the immense sum of thirty-three thousand pounds in fees according to the allegations of this petition for no other reason that its being found necessary to settle the line of boundary between the colonies in question is so unjustifiable that His Majesty is not only determined to have the strictest enquiry made into the circumstances of the charge, but expects the clearest and fullest answer to every part of it." The vigorous tone of this letter left no shadow of doubt as to the position of the British Government. The petitioners were sustained in language so positive that there could be no mistaking its meaning. To this indignant rebuke Governor Moore made answer on June 9, 1767, in a lengthy and somewhat evasive letter. In it he alluded to the delay caused by the troubles grow- ing out of the Stamp Act, and to his determination to :Monnment Erected in Honor of the Green Mountain Boys at Rutland A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 301 issue no patents unless they were properly stamped. He mentioned the order made requiring all persons holding lands under New Hampshire Grants to appear in per- son or by attorney and produce their documentary evidence. Governor Moore's letter showed that claims were made under New Hampshire charters to ninety-six townships, in response to an order issued by the New York Council, following the boundary decision made by the King in Council. Of this number it was decided that twenty-one townships were within New York jurisdiction before the boundary decision was made in the controversy with New Hampshire, being within twenty miles of the Hudson River, the waters of South Bay and Lake Champlain. It was further claimed that in none of these twenty-one townships, with the excep- tion of Bennington, Pownal and Shaftsbury, had any settlements been made, or improvements attempted, and that the time limit for settlement having expired the lands again became vested in the Crown. The New York Governor declared that in order to en- courage settlements in the upper Connecticut valley he determined personally to take up a tract of land there "which should be distributed out to poor families in small farms on the condition that they should begin upon the manufacture of pot ash and the culture of hemp." This township, to which reference is made, was granted as Mooretown, but is now known as Bradford. The Governor asserted in his letter that fourteen families had settled in his township and he expected a considerable number of others soon. He also claimed 302 HISTORY OF VERMONT to have ordered the erection of a sawmill and a grist- mill, and to have directed that a church should be built at his sole expense, a large farm set apart as a glebe, a township laid out for the use of clergymen of the Church of England, and another "for the use of the college here." He denied having demanded fees from Robinson or any other person, saying he had signed only six patents since coming into the province for which he had received fees. He asserted that the claim that upwards a thousand families were settled on lands west of the Connecticut River granted by New Hamp- shire, was an untruth, and he expressed the belief that not half or quarter of that number were to be found there. In his opinion "the real land holders of the greatest part of that country actually reside in Boston and Connecticut governments." Governor Moore made slighting references to Samuel Robinson, agent in England for the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, saying of his military record that "Robinson can plead but little merit from his service, which I am told here was nothing more than that of driving an ox-cart for the suttlers" ; and again he asked how "should a man of one of the lowest and meanest occupations at once set up for a statesman and form a notion that the wheels of government are as easily managed and conducted as those of a w^agon, take upon him to direct the King's ministers in their depart- ments?" On the following day, June 10, 1767, Gov- ernor Moore wrote another letter to the Earl of Shel- burne, in which he denied the charges made by the A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 303 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. According to such excellent authorities as Hiland Hall and R. C. Benton, Governor Moore's statement regard- ing his benevolent operations in his new town of Moore- town was untrue. There were not fourteen families there in 1767. In 1771 there were only ten families in the town, and it is asserted that the Governor did not expend any money for them. He did not build mills, or a church, or set apart a farm as a glebe lot. Even if all these claims had been true, instead of untrue, they would have furnished no answer to the petition to the King conveyed by Samuel Robinson. Neither was it true that a large part of the settlers, or any part of the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, were located within less than twenty miles of Hudson River; and so far as a twenty-mile line from Lake Champlain was concerned, such a line had nothing whatever to do with the controversy in question — no more than a twenty- mile line from the Green Mountains. If he did not demand fees from any person his agents did make such demands, nor is there any proof that he remitted any fees for the confirmation of New Hamp- shire charters. Indeed, Governor Golden has said that Governor Moore "refused to pass any (grants) with- out his full fees were paid," a fact, says Golden, that "gave great disgust to the people, and occasioned those applications which have since been made to the King on the subject." The slur upon Captain Robinson's good name was unworthy of any man, and particularly unworthy of the 304 HISTORY OF VERMONT Governor of a royal province. The records show that Samuel Robinson was Captain of a company of Massa- chusetts militia in two campaigns, and saw service in real warfare. It should be said to Governor Moore's credit that he did not disregard the royal orders as did some of his successors. Aside from six regrants con- firming New Hampshire charters, he granted only one tract of five thousand acres, and eighteen military patents amounting to thirteen thousand, three hundred and fifty acres. Acting on a report of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, an order of the King in Council was promulgated on July 24, 1767, in which the Governor of New York was strictly charged and commanded upon pain of His Majesty's highest dis- pleasure not to presume to make any grant of any part of the lands previously granted by New Hampshire until His Majesty's further pleasure should be known. It is said that a majority of the Privy Council was ready to confirm the New Hampshire land titles, but Lord Northington, the president of the Council, objected to immediate action, and the matter was delayed. Wil- liam S. Johnson, the agent of Connecticut, who was associated with Mr. Robinson in presenting the claims of the New Hampshire grantees, in a letter to John Wendell, written soon after Robinson's death, said, "The real poverty of those who joined Capt. Robinson, rendered them unable to give the cause that effectual support, which was necessary to give it proper weight, and render the application to the Crown as regular and respectable as its importance and the usual course of A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 305 proceedings in cases of tliis kind justly required. Money has, in fact, been wanting to do justice to the cause. It came here rather in forma pauperis, which is an appearance seldom made or much regarded in this country; and is by no means an eligible light in which to place an affair of this kind." Soon after the order of July 24, 1767, was issued, the Chatham ministry went out of power, but the ministry which succeeded it did not approve the policy of the New York Governors in granting lands previously granted by Governor Went- worth. In January, 1771, a petition to the King, asking to be re-annexed to New Hampshire, was signed by fifty- six residents of Westminster and twelve residents of Rockingham. This petition declared that "their lying in the province of New York was and is and forever will and must be highly detrimental and disagreeable to them, both in their property and good government, all of which they judged Your Majesty and ministers of State had been egregiously misinformed — and also that those circumstances had been erroneously represented to Your Majesty, that since Your Majesty's said orders to annex the said district to New York their possessions have been unexceptionally granted to other people under the great seal of New York — that writs of ejectment have been brought, their property wrested from them, their persons imprisoned and their whole substance wasted in fruitless lawsuits merely to the enrichment of a few men in the province of New York, whose great influence is the destruction of our hard honestly earned property, that we were greatly and industriously cultivat- 306 HISTORY OF VERMONT ing the wilderness, orderly obeying every law, rejoicing in our safety and Your Majesty's auspicious govern- ment until by this invasion of our property by many who pretended Your Majesty's authority therein, we are thrown in such evident distress, confusion and danger- ous disorder as would touch your royal breast with com- passion could our inexpressible misery be truly repre- sented." The British Board of Trade reported to the Privy Council on July 5, 1770, their belief that the actual set- tlers under grants from New Hampshire "ought to be left in entire possession of such lands as they have actually cultivated and improved." In regard to lands proposed to be granted to claimants under New Hamp- shire titles, but unsettled and unimproved, it was recom- mended that action in these cases be suspended until the country had been surveyed. The closing paragraph of this recommendation shows that the abuse of power by Colonial Governors was not unknown to the King's min- isters. It was as follows: "We are of opinion that the instructions to be given to the Governor of New York in the latter case cannot be too explicit and pre- cise in order to guard against those irregularities and abuses which we are concerned to say have but too much prevailed in the exercise of the powers given to His Majesty's (Governors) in America, for the granting of lands, to the great prejudice of His Majesty's interest, to the discouragement of industry and in many instances to the apprehension of the subject by the exaction of exorbitant and unreasonable fees." A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 307 William Tryon, having become Governor of New York in the summer of 1771, issued a proclamation on the eleventh day of the following December, reiterat- ing the right of that province to the region known as the New Hampshire Grants, and setting forth the familiar arguments based on the ancient grant to the Duke of York. A meeting of delegates from Bennington and adjacent towns was held at Manchester on October 21, 1772, at which time Jehiel Hawley of Arlington and James Breakenridge of Bennington were appointed agents to go to Lyondon and present to the King a petition for the confirmation of their claims under the grants of New Hampshire. The British Board of Trade made a somewhat elaborate report to the Lords of the Privy Council on December 3, 1772, in the nature of a plan to settle the ditticuities in the New Hampshire Grants, 'ihe report took up the proposition to re-annex to New Hampshire the lands west of the Connecticut River, declared a part of New York by the order of the King in Council, July 20, 1764, and while that policy was not approved, the report, it was said, "contains a variety of matter well deserving your lordships' attention, and we think that there is too good reason to believe that many of the proprietors of lands in the townships granted by the Governor of New Hampshire who have bona fide made actual settlement and improvement thereon, have sus- tained great injury and suffered great oppression by the irregular conduct of the Governor and Council of New 308 HISTORY OF VERMONT York in granting warrants of survey for lands under such actual settlement and improvement." The proposition is made in this report that each per- son claiming possession of lands under New York Grants within the limits of towaiships established by Massa- chusetts, should receive a grant of an equal number of acres in some other part of the district between the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers. To officers and sol- diers who had received grants from New York in the district, it was proposed that an equivalent should be granted in some other part of the district if the lands had been actually settled and improved under some pre- vious grant. Another proposal was to the effect that in every township, whether granted by New Hampshire or New York, a tract not exceeding five hundred acres in area be reserved as a glebe for a Protestant minister, and that a tract not exceeding two hundred and fifty acres in area be reserved for a schoolmaster. It was further recommended that of the residue of lands un- granted, or without actual settlement or improvement, conditions should be imposed requiring that each grantee, over and above the usual quit rent of two- sixths sterling per hundred acres, should pay a further consideration of five pounds sterling for every hundred acres. The report alluded to the difficulty of settling these lands if the grants were ''to pass through all the forms now adopted in New York upon grants of lands and are to be subject to the payment of the fees at pres- ent taken by the Governor and other officers of that colony." A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP 309 The action of the New York officials was condemned in the following vigorous terms : "We have upon former occasions found it necessary to take notice of the complaints which have been made of the injustice and extortion of the servants of the Crown in New York in this respect, and we have at all times considered the liberty they have assumed to them- selves of taking greater and other fees upon grants of land, than what were established by the ordinance of the Governor and Council of the year 1710, as most unwar- rantable and unjust. By that ordinance the fees allowed to be taken upon grants of land by the Gov- ernor, the secretary and the surveyor are considerably larger than what are at this day received for the same service in any other of the colonies, nor are fees allowed as we conceive to any other officers than those we have mentioned. Of later times, however, the Governor, the secretary and the surveyor have taken and do now exact considerably more than double what that ordinance allows, and a number of other officers do upon various pretences take fees upon all grants of land, insomuch that the whole amount of these fees upon a grant of one thousand acres of land is in many instances not far short of the real value of the fee simple, and we think we are justified in supposing that it has been from a con- sideration of the advantage arising from these exorbi- tant fees that His Majesty's Governors of New York have of late years taken upon themselves upon the most unwarranted pretences to elude the restrictions contained in His Majesty's instructions with regard to the quan- tity of land to be granted to any one person, and to con- 310 HISTORY OF VERMONT trive by the insertion in one grant of a number of names, either fictitious or which, if real, are only lent for the purpose to convey to one person in one grant from twenty to forty thousand acres of land, an abuse which is now grown to that height as well to deserve your lord- ships' attention." The advice is offered that "most positive instructions" be given the Governor of New York that upon any re- grant of lands no fee shall be taken by the Attorney General, Receiver General or Auditors. Lord Dartmouth reported to Governor Tryon on April 10, 1773, the recommendations of the Board of Trade, offered by the King. It was also directed that ''some short and effectual mode be established, by act of legislature or otherwise, for ascertaining by the inquest of a jury, the state of possession, settlement and im- provement, upon all lands within the said district, claimed under grants made by the governments of New Hampshire or New York, and that all lands never possessed, improved or granted be disposed of in such manner as the King shall think fit." Governor Tryon replied to Lord Dartmouth under date of July 1, 1773, in a long communication. He ex- pressed the belief that the recommendation of the Lords of Trade could not be carried into eft'ect without the action of the Legislature, and he made the rather re- markable declaration: "I cannot flatter myself with the slightest hope of procuring the concurrence of the Assembly of this province in a scheme so repugnant to the claims of persons who from their numbers and con- nections have a very powerful influence." A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP - 311 He raised numerous objections to the plan of the Board of Trade and made some propositions of his own to the effect that all New York patents be declared valid; that all New Hampshire patents be declared void; that all occupants of lands under New Hampshire titles with- in New York patents "have such liberal equivalents out of the waste lands, and such other indulgences by a sus- pension of quit rents as His Majesty shall think equit- able," The settlers on the New Hampshire Grants wanted not "indulgences," but justice, and Governor Try on learned before many months had passed that "liberal equivalents out of the waste lands" would not be accepted by these pioneers for farms bought and cleared and tilled. It is apparent that, although British ministers repre- senting opposing political parties were in power during the period when the title to the New Hampshire Grants was a matter of dispute which engaged the attention of the King and his ministers, the settled policy of the British authorities was to uphold the bona fide settlers holding titles under the Wentworth grants. It was never intended that these lands should be taken from the actual settlers, and the Governors of New York were forbidden repeatedly to make such grants, in terms as forceful as the English language permitted. That they disobeyed explicit orders of the Crown is a matter of history. Alexander Wedderburn, Solicitor General of Great Britain from 1771 until he was made Attorney General in 1778, later Chief Justice of the Court of Com- mon Pleas and Lord High Chancellor, in a letter written December 27, 1775, to William Eden, referring to this 312 HISTORY OF VERMONT subject, mentions the "abuse of an order of Council which was never meant to dispossess the settlers in the lands in debate between ye two provinces." This dis- obedience brought down denunciation upon the heads of the Governors of this province, but conditions in the Colonies were so threatening at this period that the British authorities hesitated to make an example of offi- cials who, on general principles, were in sympathy with the ideas of Old England rather than those of New Eng- land. Had the honest intent of the British Government been carried out, however, the long and bitter contro- versy between Vermont and New York in all probability might have been avoided. Chapter XI RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY THE settlement of the New Hampshire Grants had not proceeded so far that much governmental machinery was necessary when the order of the King in Council was made known, establishing the Con- necticut River as the eastern boundary of New York. A mere handful of townships had organized local gov- ernments. Settlements had been begun in several towns but had not progressed to the point where municipal authority could be established. Such court business as the circumstances demanded was transacted at Ports- mouth, N. H. The first attempt on the part of the province of New York to institute any form of government here was an extension of the jurisdiction of the Sheriff of the county of Albany to extend from Lake Champlain to the Con- necticut River. In order to attend court, or to transact business with the provincial authorities, it was necessary to go to Albany or New York City. As early as October, 1765, a petition was presented Governor Colden, praying for the erection of five coun- ties, as follows : First, the county of Colden, extending from the Massachusetts border to the northern line of Norwich, the county seat to be Colden in the town of New Flamstead, later known as Chester; the second county, known as Sterling, to include that portion of the Connecticut valley on the west bank of the river north of Norwich, and Newbury was to be the county seat; the third county, to be called Manchester, extending from a point twenty-six miles west of the Connecticut River, on the Massachusetts boundary line as far as the northwest corner of that province, and thence westward 316 HISTORY OF VERMONT to the northern branch of the Mohawk River, Stillwater being the county seat; the fourth county, to be called Kingsbury, extending north of the third county as far as the north end of Lake George, the county seat to be Kingsbury; the fifth county, to be called Pitt, to extend from the northern limit of the fourth county to the forty- fifth parallel of latitude, the county seat to be situated on Hospital Point, on the east side" of Lake Champlain, not far from Crown Point. The request embodied in the foregoing petition was denied, it being asserted that the inhabitants were as yet "wholly unacquainted with the laws of the province and the modes of dispensing justice therein." How- ever, on July 3, 1766, the county of Cumberland was erected by New York, the lines running along the Massa- chusetts boundary from the Connecticut River to the southeast corner of Stamford, thence north about sixty miles to the northeast corner of Rutland; thence easterly to the northwest corner of Linfield, now Royalton, and following the northern lines of Sharon and Norwich to the Connecticut River. On June 26, 1767, this act of the New York Legislature was declared void by the King ; but the difficulties attendant upon the administra- tion of justice being so great, a royal order was issued on March 19, 1767, re-establishing the county of Cum- berland, the boundaries being practically the same as before. On February 28, 1779, the New York Council erected the county of Gloucester, which included that portion of the present State of Vermont north of the county of Cumberland and west of the Green Mountains, as far RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 317 north as the Canadian border, Newbury and Kingsland being made the county seats. Although the latter place, now known as the town of Washington, was a wilder- ness, eight miles from any settlement, a log court house and jail were erected there. The reasons advanced for the erection of that county were that there were upwards of seven hundred persons in that region, and that they were "exposed to rapine and plunder from a lawless banditti of felons and criminals, who fly thither from other places." In 1772 the county of Charlotte was erected. This county, beginning at the Green Mountains, extended along the north lines of the towns of Sunderland and Arlington westward to the Hudson River, and included both sides of Lake Champlain as far north as the Cana- dian border. That portion of the present State of Ver- mont, south of Charlotte county, and west of the Green Mountains, was included in the county of Albany. It has been pointed out already that the serious con- troversy which arose between the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants and New York may be traced directly to the refusal of the provincial authorities of New York to follow the plainly expressed desire and in- tent of the British Government, by recognizing the validity of New Hampshire land titles held by actual settlers. Although these pioneers, with few exceptions, were New Englanders through and through, and pre- ferred democratic rather than aristocratic forms of gov- ernment, it is hardly probable that there would have been any revolt against the authority of New York if 318 HISTORY OF VERMONT the settlers had been left in peaceable possession of the farms they had wrested from the primeval forests. The first conflict of authority over lands in what is now Vermont occurred in Pownal in August, 1764, prob- ably before any knowledge had reached the settlers of the royal order, establishing the authority of New York in this region. A letter from Sheriff Schuyler to Gov- ernor Golden, dated August 17, 1764, shows that he received news on the Friday preceding that date to the effect that "the New Hampshire people" had ejected one Hans Greiger, holding title under the "Hoosick patent," a New York grant, taking possession of his lands and tenements; that they had driven off his cattle and com- pelled him to pay forty-five dollars for their redemption, and that they had taken "a parcel of Indian corn." It was intimated that Peter Voss and Bastiane Deale ex- pected to be ejected the following day, and the claim was made that these possessions had been held by the three men mentioned upward of thirty years, with the excep- tion of the periods when they were driven off by the Indians "during the last two wars." The New York reports of the period show that Sheriff Schuyler took two justices of the peace and "a few other good people of this province" and arrived on the scene on Saturday morning. Upon his arrival he found that Voss and Deale had not been dispossessed of their property, but expected a call from "the New Hamp- shire people" the following Monday. They were not disappointed, for early on Monday morning the two men were ejected on the ground that they were within the province and jurisdiction of New Hampshire. RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 319 Sheriff Schuyler was notified, but did not arrive until after the dispossession had been accomplished. Making haste he overtook the New Hampshire party about a mile from the homes of Voss and Deale and placed under arrest Deputy Sheriff Samuel Ashley, and Justice of the Peace Samuel Robinson, also John Horsfoot and Isaac Charles, who claimed to own, respectively, the lands held by Voss and Deale. The four prisoners were committed to Albany jail. The New Hampshire statement regarding this episode may be found in a letter written by Governor Went- worth to Governor Colden, dated September 4, 1764, which declared that several of the inhabitants of Pownal, at a time when the deputy sheriff was executing "a legal precept," were set upon by the Sheriff of Albany and more than thirty armed men on horseback, and that a deputy and three other of the principal inhabitants were seized, carried to Albany and committed to jail. Gov- ernor Wentworth observed that "it would be an act of cruelty to punish individuals for disputes between two governments," and suggested his willingness to submit the matter of jurisdiction to the King. This letter was submitted to the New York Council, and that body advised Governor Colden to acquaint the Governor of New Hampshire with the New York ver- sion of the affair, and that he (Colden) could do nothing more than to recommend that the bail demanded be moderate, and let the matter take its natural legal course. Later the four prisoners were released on bail, having been indicted. A deposition of James Van Cortlandt, taken March 4, 1771, stated that they had not then been 320 HISTORY OF VERMONT brought to trial, and several years previous to this date Samuel Robinson had died in London. The first open resistance to the authority of New York, following the annexation of the New Hampshire Grants to that province by royal decree, occurred in the autumn of 1769. Thirty years earlier, in 1739, a tract of land containing twelve thousand acres, known as the Walloomsack Patent, was granted to James Delancey, Gerardus Stuyvesant, and others, the greater part of which, beyond doubt, was within the present limits of the State of New York. As was the custom in some of the New York grants, an attempt was made to secure only the most fertile land, instead of taking a regular section, and this grant followed the windings of the Walloomsac River in order to obtain the valuable intervale lands in that valley. It was claimed by the New York holders of the patent that it extended across the southwest corner of Shaftsbury, and about three miles into the northwestern part of Bennington. This grant contained the usual provision that it should be void if the grantees should not cultivate a certain pro- portion of their lands within three years from the date of granting, and there was not the necessary compliance with this requirement. So far as known this region never had been settled by white men when Bennington was granted by Gov- ernor Wentworth. James Breakenridge, under a New Hampshire title, bought a farm in the northwestern part of Bennington, adjoining the line Wenty mile's from the Hudson River, claimed by New Hampshire, prior to the King's order of 1764, as its western bound- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 321 ary, and upon this farm extensive and valuable improve- ments had been made. This was considered a particu- larly good opportunity for bringing a test suit in the New York courts. A writ of ejectment was served and commissioners were appointed for the purpose of divid- ing this land among the New York claimants. On October 19, 1769, the commissioners appeared with surveyors in the vicinity of the Breakenridge farm. Breakenridge and his farm hands were in a field gather- ing corn. It is probable that the visit of the New York party was not altogether unexpected, as a party of men, a few of whom w^ere armed with guns, were assembled at a convenient distance. In a deposition signed by James Breakenridge and Samuel Robinson (the latter being a son of the founder of Bennington) February 14, 1770, they gave their version of the affair to the effect that John Munro, a well known New York parti- san and a Justice of the Peace, notified Breakenridge of the approach of the New York party, and their purpose, and warned him not to stop them by force. Breaken- ridge therefore requested his neighbors to withdraw from the field, and they retired some distance. After the surveyor had crossed the twenty-mile line Breakenridge and Robinson went to him, asked him his authority in the proceedings and requested him not to run the line. This question and request were referred to the commissioners, who were John R. Bleeker, Peter Lansing and Thomas Hun. After a conference they went to a neighboring house where the act of the Assembly to divide the patents, and the order of the patentees of this particular grant were shown. Break- 322 HISTORY OF VERMONT enridge and Robinson replied that the commissioners were without the limits of Albany county, and were in- fringing- on a grant made by New Hampshire ; that they understood that the King had forbidden the granting of lands already granted, or interference with settlements. Breakenridge again expressed a desire that no survey of his property be made, saying that Robinson and himself were appointed a committee for Bennington, were large proprietors of lands in Shaftsbury, and as such would forbid their running the lines, asserting that if it were done it must be considered as on disputed lands. According to this deposition the New York party re- peatedly asked the Bennington men to break their chain or compass, or tread on their chain, but this they stead- fastly refused to do, desiring to avoid the breaking of any law. Thereupon Breakenridge and Robinson left the spot, returning to their homes and leaving the sur- veyors on the field, and it was their opinion that all their neighbors left at that time. On December 12, 1769, Governor Golden of New York issued a proclamation in which he asserted that the surveying party on the Breakenridge farm was "inter- rupted and opposed by a number of armed men, tumultu- ously and riotously assembled, for the declared purpose of preventing said partition, who, by open force, com- pelled the commissioners' surveyor to desist from said survey, and by insults and menaces so intimidated the said commissioners that, apprehensive for the safety of their persons, they found it necessary to relinquish any further attempts to perform the trust so reposed in them." It was further claimed that the principal RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 323 "authors of and actors in said riot" were James Breaken- ridge, Jedediah Dewey (pastor of the Bennington church), Samuel Robinson, Nathaniel Horner, Henry Walbridge and Moses Robinson, and the Sheriff of Albany county was ordered to arrest them and commit them to jail. These men were indicted, but never were arrested or tried for the alleged rioting. As a sequel to the afifair at the Breakenridge farm, an attempt was made by Sheriff Ten Eyck of Albany and a posse to take possession of the house and lands of James Breakenridge in Bennington. Having sum- moned a posse comitatus by means of a general sum- mons to the citizens of Albany, the party left that city on the morning of July 18, 1771. The size of this posse is variously estimated. Some of the affidavits of the New York men who participated place it as low as one hundred and fifty men. Ira Allen placed it as high as seven hundred and fifty; Hiland Hall placed the number at about three hundred. In this party were the Mayor of Albany, several Aldermen and four eminent lawyers, Mr. Silvester, Mr. Bleeker, Robert Yates and Chris- topher Yates. A halt was made for the night at San- coick, on the Walloomsac River near the village of North Hoosick, N. Y., and on the following morning the posse set out for the farm of James Breakenridge, several miles distant. Meanwhile the Bennington settlers had been warned of the approach of the New York posse, and about three hundred men assembled at the Breakenridge farm, arriving several hours in advance of Sheriff Ten Eyck. The Breakenridge family sought refuge with a neighbor. 324 HISTORY OF VERMONT The house was prepared for defence by providing a strong barricade for the door and loopholes in the walls, and within a garrison consisting of an officer and eighteen men was stationed. About one hundred and twenty men were posted in a wood behind a ridge, where only their heads and the points of their muskets could be seen rather indistinctly through the trees. This force was stationed near the road along which the Sheriff's posse must march. The remainder of the party of defenders was stationed behind a ridge in a meadow, within firing distance of the house, but out of sight of the New York party. These preparations were made as the result of action previously taken, whereby Mr. Breakenridge and Mr. Fuller, against whom judgments had been rendered by the New York authorities, were taken under the protection of the town of Bennington, and a committee had been appointed to see that their farms were properly defended when an attempt should be made to evict them. The garrison in the Breakenridge house had been fur- nished with a red flag to be raised over the chimney as a signal when help was needed. The forces had been located so that the Albany posse would march into an ambush, where it would be subjected to a cross-fire, pro- vided fighting became necessary. At a bridge over the Walloomsac, about half a mile from the Breakenridge farm, Sheriff Ten Eyck's party was halted by six or seven armed men. After a parley it was agreed that a few men, headed by Major Cuyler, might advance and consult with Mr. Breakenridge. The latter informed the Albany officials that the town- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 325 ship had taken his farm under its protection, and in- tended to keep it. Therefore Cuyler informed Breaken- ridge that "whatever blood should be spilled in opposing the King's writ would be required from his hands." It was agreed finally that Breakenridge should con- sult with his friends, and that the Mayor and his party should return to the bridge, where, within half an hour they should be informed of the result of the conference. At the end of that period it was announced on behalf of Breakenridge and his friends that possession "would be kept at all events." Sherifif Ten Eyck then ordered his posse to more forward, but only a few would accom- pany him, about twenty or thirty, it is said, and those obeyed with apparent reluctance. When the Sherift' and his party approached the house a parley was held with the leaders of the opposing force, and Robert Yates, a lawyer, attempted to argue in be- half of the New York position. The settlers acknowl- edged that they were under the jurisdiction of New York, but claimed that they had been unfairly used in the matter of land titles, and said that word had been received from their agent in England giving strong assurances that a decision would be rendered soon in their favor, and advising them in the meantime not to relinquish possession of their property. Perceiving that arguments were of no avail. Sheriff Ten Eyck seized an axe and demanded entrance to the Breakenridge house, threatening to force the door if refused. The garrison replied: "Attempt it and you are a dead man." The demand was repeated, only to be answered by hideous groans from within. . At this 326 HISTORY OF VERMONT point some of the party defending the settlers displayed their hats on the muzzles of their guns, making the force of the defenders appear more numerous than it really was, while others presented their guns at the Sheriff's posse. Seeing that he had marched into an ambuscade, and considering prudence the better part of valor, Ten Eyck made a hasty retreat, fearing that bloodshed might re- sult if he pressed the matter further. The Sheriff then attempted to evict one Fuller, but most of his posse de- serted, and the attempt was abandoned. Ira Allen says that this episode "cemented the union of the inhabitants, and raised their consequence in the neighboring colonies." That the members of Sheriff Ten Eyck's posse refused in any considerable numbers to follow him in an offensive movement against the in- habitants of Bennington, is proof that the great body of New York people were not in sympathy with the policy of evicting from their homes the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants. Ira Allen expressed this idea when he wrote: "The people on the Grants rightly consid- ered their controversy was not with the great body of the people, only with the Governor and Council, who were but a small part of the community. This distinc- tion was kept up during the whole dispute in all the publications against the tyranny of the rulers of New York." Governor Dunmore issued a proclamation November 1, 1770, ordering the arrest of Simeon Hathaway, Moses Scott, Jonathan Fisk and Silas Robinson, charging that they were among the principal authors of and actors in RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 327 "the last mentioned visit." The Sheriff, aided by John Munro, succeeded in arresting Silas Robinson early on the morning of November 29. He attempted to make no other arrests, but returned with great speed, fear- ing that his prisoner might be rescued. Robinson with fifteen others was indicted, but he was the only man arrested, and after being confined in jail for nearly a year he was released on bail. The little company of farmers gathered in James Breakenridge's corn field, on the border of the twenty- mile line, on that October day in 1769, probably was as peaceable a body of "rioters" as ever was assembled anywhere; but the occasion is rendered notable because it was the first open resistance offered to the attempt of New York to deprive the settlers in what is now the State of Vermont of their hard earned property. Men actually assembled with arms in their hands as a pro- test against the partition of a farm honestly bought and diligently tilled; and among their leaders was the parish clergyman, Jedediah Dewey, and Moses Robin- son, later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Governor and United States Senator. No doubt to the gentlemen from Albany this very mild resistance of a few pioneer farmers and their minister to the representative of a powerful and aristocratic province seemed the height of absurdity and folly ; but the resistance begun in Benning- ton on that autumn day, against such tremendous odds, was destined to continue until the right of the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants should triumph over the might of the officials and the great land holders of New York. 328 HISTORY OF VERMONT Several ejectment suits were brought at the June term of the Circuit Court at Albany, in 1770, among them being two for lands in Shaftsbury, claimed by Maj. John Small, a reduced army officer, the defendants being Isaiah Carpenter and Justin Olin. It is in connection with these suits that Ethan Allen makes his first appear- ance in Vermont history. There is some doubt as to the time of his arrival here. Hiland Hall and the Allen Memorial volume give the date as about 1769. In a statement relative to an affair on Otter Creek, in 1773, Allen declared that he had *'run these woods these seven years," and some writers give 1766 as the date of his coming to Vermont. It is by no means impossible that he may have come into the New Hampshire Grants on several occasions prior to his coming here to abide. This supposition is rendered the more probable from the fact that his cousin. Remember Baker, settled in Arling- ton in 1764, and many early settlers came from that part of Connecticut in which Allen resided. The records show that Ethan Allen, eldest child of Joseph and Mary Allen, was born at Litchfield, Conn., January 10, 1737. This record has been disputed, other Connecticut towns contesting for the honor of being Ethan Allen's birthplace, but in the absence of positive evidence of their untrustworthiness, the records must stand. Ethan was the eldest of eight children, and when he was quite young the family removed to Corn- wall, Conn. In the spring of 1755, Joseph Allen, who had been an industrious farmer of moderate means, died. Ethan, at that time, was a youth of eighteen years. After the death of Joseph Allen the family removed to RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 329 Salisbury, Conn., where Ethan worked on a farm for several years. Ira Allen, his brother, writing many years after to Samuel Williams, the Vermont historian, declared that at the time of his father's death Ethan was fitting for college. Other authorities declare that he studied to fit himself for college with a clergyman named Lee, at Salisbury. His writings indicate that his reading must have been somewhat extensive, and that he was familiar with the general events of history. W^hile a young man, Ethan Allen obtained an interest in iron mines in the northern part of Salisbury, near the Massachusetts line. On January 23, 1762, Ethan Allen and Mary Brownson were married and soon after removed to a home just over the Massachusetts border, in the township of Sheffield. The first iron furnace in Salisbury was built upon the outlet of Wanscopommuc Lake, two miles east of "Old Ore Hill," so-called, by Samuel and Elisha Forbes, Ethan Allen and a Mr. Hazeltine. The articles of copartnership may be found in the town records of Salisbury. This iron ore deposit had a high reputation for the superior quality of the ore produced. During the Revolutionary War cannon, can- non balls and bomb shells were manufactured here for the use of the Continental army; and the famous ship Constitution, which figured prominently in the War of 1812, was equipped with cannon made at Salisbury. Probably Allen accumulated some money in the iron business, as he was able a few years later to obtain rather extensive land holdings in Vermont. It was the most natural thing in the world that a man of Allen's adventurous temperament should have been 330 HISTORY OF VERMONT interested in the settlement of the New Hampshire Grants and in the stirring events that attended the con- troversy with New York. One of his intimate personal friends was Dr. Thomas Young, who lived in the dis- trict known as "The Oblong," just over the New York line from Salisbury. In the same region dwelt Benja- min Ferris, a Quaker, who was a proprietor in several of the townships granted by Governor Went worth. It is not improbable that Allen may have known Ferris, and that the latter, not being of a warlike nature, may have been willing to dispose of some of his holdings in the new country after the troubles over land titles be- came serious. As has been stated, this was an era of land specula- tion, and Ethan Allen and his brothers became interested in the buying and selling of lands in the region known as the New^ Hampshire Grants. Ethan acquired hold- ings in Poultney, Colchester, Essex, and Jericho, some of which he purchased from the original grantees, in- cluding Caleb Lawrence, Samuel Burling, Edward Agar and the Bogarts, most or all of them being residents of New York. The Hartford Courant, in June, 1773, printed an ad- vertisement of Ethan Allen & Co., which began with the following announcement : "Lately purchased by Aliens and Baker a large tract of land on both sides of the mouth of Onion River and fronting westerly on Lake Champlain, containing about 45,000 acres, and sundry lesser parcels of land further up the said river." The advertisement, in alluring terms, described the fertile soil, the salubrious climate, the abundant water power, the REvSISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 331 variety and value of the timber and the abundance of fish and game, closing with the statement: "Whoever inclines to be a purchaser may apply to Ethan, Zimri, and Ira Allen on the premises, or to Heman and Levi Allen in Salisbury." In his "History of Vermont," Ira Allen states that his brother, Ethan, was appointed agent by some of the people of the New Hampshire Grants who were inter- ested in preparing a defence against the ejectment suits brought by New York claimants. The first step taken by the new agent was to go to New Hampshire and obtain copies of the royal orders and instructions authorizing the granting of lands, also copies of town charters issued by Governor Wentworth. His next step was to go to Connecticut and secure the services of Jared Ingersoll, an eminent attorney. Mr. Ingersoll had accepted the office of stamp agent for Connecticut, under the Stamp Act, upon the advice of Benjamin Eranklin, but was compelled by force of public opinion to resign. About this time he was appointed an Admiralty Judge. Mr. Ingersoll accompanied Allen to Albany for the trial of the ejectment suits, and Mr. Silvester of that city was secured as associate counsel. Attorney Gen- eral John Taber Kempe and James Duane appeared as counsel for the plaintififs. The presiding judge was Robert R. Livingston, and with him was associated Judge George D. Ludlow. Judge Livingston was the holder of a New York patent to thirty-five thousand acres of land in the township of Camden, so-called, with- in the present limits of Vermont, but this was land not previously granted by New Hampshire. Mr. Duane, 332 HISTORY OF VERMONT counsel for the plaintiff, however, was Judge Liv- ingston's brother-in-law, and was largely interested in lands, the title to which depended for its validity upon the decision in this particular suit. The first case was that against Josiah Carpenter. The trial was held June 28, 1770, the plaintiff appear- ing, to quote Ethan Allen's words, "in great state and magnificence." The plaintiff claimed to hold the lands in dispute under title of a soldier's grant made by Gov- ernor Colden, and dated October 30, 1765. Mr. Inger- soll, for the defendant, presented the royal orders authorizing Governor Wentworth to make grants of land in the province of New Hampshire; and produced the charter of the township of Shaftsbury, bearing date of August 20, 1761, almost four years earlier than the date of the plaintiff's New York patent, and also pre- sented the defendant's title to the land which he occupied. Judge Livingston refused to admit the defendant's evidence, taking judicial notice that New York always had extended to the Connecticut River, and holding that no evidence had been given to the court showing that New Hampshire ever had included the lands in question, or ever had authority to grant such lands. The court having held that the charter of Shaftsbury granted by Governor Wentworth could not be received as legal evidence, Mr. Ingersoll saw, to quote Ira Allen's words, "that the cause was already prejudged." There was no further attempt to defend the case, and judgment was rendered for the plaintiff in all the ejectment suits en- tered at this term of court. To quote again from Ira RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 333 Allen, ''Thus a precedent was established to annihilate all the titles of land held under New Hampshire grants west of Connecticut River." During the evening following the day of the trial it is related that Messrs. Kempe and Duane, counsel for the plaintiff, and Goldsbrow Banyar, a holder of New York titles to Vermont lands, exceeding in quantity six townships, called on Ethan Allen, and during the con- versation Attorney General Kempe suggested that it would be well to advise the people settled on the New Hampshire Grants to make the best possible terms with their landlords, adding that might often made right. Allen replied with the Delphic expression, ''The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." When Kempe asked for an explanation of the saying Allen replied that if the Attorney General would accompany him to Bennington the phrase would be explained. Following his advice to the settlers with more substantial argu- ments, Kempe proposed, according to Ira Allen's "His- tory of Vermont," to give Ethan Allen and other men of influence in the New Hampshire Grants large tracts of land to secure the friendship of the leading men of the region, and to bring about the pacification of the district. This proposal was rejected, as one might naturally expect, for whatever may have been Ethan Allen's faults, he was not the type of man to accept bribes. At the close of the Revolutionary War, John Munro, an active New York partisan, living in Shaftsbury, made application to the English commissioners for re- imbursement for losses sustained during the war on 334 HISTORY OF VERMONT account of his friendship for the British cause. His lands in Vermont and New York had been confiscated and, according to the poHcy of the British government, he was entitled to compensation for his losses. The commission granted redress for those in New York, but refused to compensate him for his losses in Vermont on the ground that his title was not good, the land in question having been included in the grants made by Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire. This de- cision of a British tribunal afifords a notable illustration of the quality of justice dispensed in Judge Livingston's court in the case of Small vs. Carpenter, coming as it did, from a source by no means prejudiced in favor of the Vermonters. On account of his partisan decision. Judge Livingston may be ranked with the New York Governors who disobeyed the orders of the King's min- isters in granting again lands previously granted and occupied, as the persons chiefly responsible for the long and bitter controversy between the men of the Green Mountains and the government of New York. When Ethan Allen returned to Bennington a conven- tion was called to consider an extremely serious situa- tion, threatening, as it did, the eviction of a great num- ber of settlers. To acquiesce in the decision of the New York court meant financial ruin. To resist the enforce- ment of the decision practically meant revolution. Nevertheless the one hundred men present adopted a resolution not to surrender their lands until a final de- cision had been rendered by the King, and voted that, if necessary, force should be used to protect their rights and property. RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 335 As a matter of necessity, committees representing the towns in the vicinity of Bennington and in the settled region to the northward, were called together in con- ference to devise methods for the protection of their homes from the New York officers and land claimants; and gradually these meetings or conventions, few records of which have been preserved, assumed a cer- tain measure of authority over public afifairs, particu- larly in relation to the land controversy. As the field of operations enlarged, some kind of military organiza- tion became necessary. As early as October, 1764, the people of Bennington had organized a militia company, and after it became evident that the New York authori- ties intended to eject the settlers holding New Hamp- shire titles, other companies were formed. These local companies were organized into a military association, of which Ethan Allen was elected Colonel Commandant, and the Captains included Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran and Gideon Warren. The Gov- ernor of New York having threatened, it is said, to drive into the Green Mountains those who opposed his authority, this organization took the name Green Moun- tain Boys, a name destined to become highly honored and to live long in history. The attempt to dispossess the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants met with scant success. Early in January, 1771, a deputy sherifif from Albany, accom- panied by John Munro of Shaftsbury, and twelve other men whom Munro had secured, having learned that violent resistance was not unlikely, proceeded to the resi- dence of Isaiah Carpenter to serve a writ of possession. 336 HISTORY OF VERMONT The party found the door locked and were refused ad- mission, the owner threatening to blow out the brains of any' person attempting to take possession. The door was forced, and Carpenter was seized with a loaded gun in his hands. Two other New Hampshire claimants were found in the house, and two guns were seized, one being loaded with powder and kidney beans. Carpenter was left in possession upon agreeing to make terms with the holder of the New York title by May first of that year, or to surrender possession. Apparently Carpenter left, for it is recorded that Mayor Small's tenant did not remain long, as he became alarmed, fearing for his per- sonal safety. On the same day that the writ of possession was served on Isaiah Carpenter, the New York deputy, accompanied by Munro and three other men, gained entrance to the house of Samuel Rose, the officer being admitted before his identity was known. Rose being absent from home at the time. Mrs. Rose was left in possession on condition that the property should be held for the plaintiffs. Early in the year 1771 the men of the New Hamp- shire Grants began active measures of resistance to the New York officers. One Samuel Willoughby, a Con- stable of Albany county, having served a writ of eject- ment upon the wife of Thomas French, in the absence of her husband, was overtaken on May 16 by French and certain other "rioters" of Princetown, a New York grant in the valley of the Battenkill. These men were armed with clubs and held a club over the head of Willoughby, threatening to kill him unless he would RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 337 carry out the writ of ejectment. It is further stated in an affidavit that the threat was made that Willoughby should be tied to a tree and flogged if he did not leave the place. A few days later, on May 21, Samuel Pease, a Con- stable from Albany, came with orders to arrest Thomas French on a charge of rioting. When the town was entered the Constable's party was met by "a number of rioters," two of whom carried guns, the others being armed with clubs, and a shot was fired at them out of the woods. When French's house was reached a much larger party of "rioters" was found, the members of which vowed that the Constable should carry no man out of town, but that if he did happen to carry one of them to jail that building would not be allowed to stand three weeks; and in addition to the foregoing threat they cursed the "rascally Yorkers." It appears that Constable Samuel Willoughby made another attempt to serve executions, going to Benning- ton, where he stayed the night of May 23. On the fol- lowing morning he found that his horse had been shot and killed. Justice of the Peace John Munro secured affidavits concerning the "rioting," to which reference has been made, and sent them to Goldsbrow Banyar at Albany, hoping that the authorities might be able to do something speedily to prevent "riotous behavior." In a letter accompanying the affidavits he said: "Every person that pretends to be a friend to this government is in danger of both life and property." He observed that every act of friendship shown to the people in that region "seems to raise their spirits as if the whole gov- 338 HISTORY OF VERMONT ernment were afraid of them. They assemble them- selves together in the right time and throw down all the Yorkers' fences, etc., as we are called, and drives the cattle into the fields and meadows, and destroys both grass and corn, and do every mischief they can think of." During the summer of 1771, William Cockburn, a deputy of the New York Surveyor General, was sent to survey the New York grant known as Socialborough and divide it into lots. This township comprised the New Hampshire grants of Rutland and Pittsford, chartered by Governor Wentworth ten years earlier, and occupied by settlers. In a letter written by Mr. Cock- burn from Albany, to James Duane, the principal pro- prietor of Socialborough, he related some of his experi- ences. He had begun the survey but was stopped by James Mead and Asa Johnson, acting in behalf of the settlers in Rutland and Pittsford, and was threatened with shooting. In his letter he said "Your acquaintance Nathan (perhaps Ethan) Allen was in the woods with another party blacked and dressed like Indians, as I was informed." The people of Durham (Clarendon) assured Cockburn that these men, probably Allen and his party, intended to murder the surveyor and his asso- ciates if they did not leave, and advised him to abandon his task. He learned of a plan to convey his party to Danby and so on to the south, adding, "by all accounts we should not have been very kindly treated." For that reason he informed Mr. Duane: "I found it vain to persist any longer as they were resolved at all events to stop us." When Cockburn gave assurance that he RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 339 would survey no more in those parts he was allowed to proceed along the Crown Point Road, as he observes, "with the hearty prayers of the women, as we passed never to return." Samuel Gardenier purchased of James Delancy of New York City three hundred and ten acres of land in what was known as the Walloomsack Patent, and found one Ichabod Cross settled on a part of the property, holding it under a New Hampshire title. Some ar- rangement was made between Gardenier and Cross, according to a deposition by Gardenier, whereby he secured possession, but his neighbors evidently were in sympathy with Cross, and frequently the new owner found his fences thrown down. One morning in August, 1771, about two hours before daybreak, Gar- denier was called to the door and was surrounded by eleven men, some of them disguised with blankets, like Indians, others with handkerchiefs or women's caps on their heads. They were armed chiefly with sickles and clubs, one man having a pistol. After some discussion Gardenier was given a fortnight to give up the papers executed to him by Cross. He was threatened, accord- ing to his version of the affair, that "if he did not do as he was ordered, they would come the next time Devil like and times should be worse for him." Just before the two weeks' limit expired Gardenier fled and thus escaped a visit from one hundred men. Some of them were disguised with wigs, horses' tails, women's caps, etc. They were armed with clubs, pis- tols, guns and swords and searched the premises for Gardenier. Later, his fences were broken down and 340 HISTORY OF VERMONT some of them burned, his haystacks overturned in the mud, and threats were made by the "rioters" that if any of the settlers holding New Hampshire titles were sent to jail, "they would raise a mob and go in a body to Albany, break open the jail there and take them out of jail." The New York Council minutes for September 30, 1771, show that a deposition taken the second day of September, of that year, declares that on the night of August 2 a number of men came to the deponent's house, turned the deponent, his wife and children out of doors, and pulled the house to the ground. Seth Warner of Bennington was said to be the "Captain of the mob." The name of the deponent is not given, nor is his place of residence mentioned. Holders of military grants issued by New York in the present town of Rupert attempted to occupy such lands in June, 1771, but were driven off by a consider- able number of men led by Robert Cochran of that town, who became one of the active leaders of the Green Moun- tain Boys. Two brothers named Todd had begun work on a lot in the western part of Rupert, owned by Robert Cochran under a New Hampshire title. Charles Hutchison, formerly a Corporal in a Highland regiment, began the construction of a log house in Rupert on land previously granted by Governor Wentworth, and John Reid had commenced the clearing of land in Pawlet, and had erected a rude shelter. On October 29, 1771, Ethan Allen, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran and six others drove the Todds from RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 341 their work, informing them that they would permit no man to settle there under a New York title. Hutchison, in a deposition before Justice Alexander McNaughton, described the visit of the same party in the following words : "There assembled nine men who call themselves New Hampshire men about the de- ponent's house which he had built on said lot and the deponent observing all having fire arms and attempting to demolish his house he left his work, came and eventually desired them to stop, whereupon one sirnamed Allen, another Baker, and one Sevil, with Robert Coch- ran and five other names unknown to the deponent said that they would burn it, for that morning they had re- solved to offer a burnt sacrifice to the gods of the world in burning the logs of that house. That then they kindled four fires on the logs of the house, said Allen and Baker holding two clubs over the deponent's head commanded him to leave that land and not say one word to them. That if ever he returned he should be bar- barously used. That the fires being kindled said Allen and Baker insolently said to the deponent — 'Go your way now and complain to that damned scoundrel your Governor'." According to the deposition, Allen and Baker poured "horrible curses" upon the King, the Governor, the Council, the Assembly and the laws, declaring that if any Constable attempted to arrest them they would kill him, and that if any of them were put in jail they would break it down and rescue him. The deponent was in- formed that the "rioters" boasted that on short warn- ing they could raise many hundreds of New Hampshire 342 HISTORY OF VERMONT men to prevent any Yorkers from settling on their lands. The same day of the affair at Hutchison's, Reid's shelter was destroyed, and the deposition stated that eight or nine more New York families were driven off by New Hampshire sympathizers. It appears that John Reid was a Constable, and he was directed by Justice McNaughton "forthwith to call a competent number of His Majesty's good subjects in your vicinity to arms," and apprehend the rioters. Evidently Justice McNaughton did not have much con- fidence in the prowess of Constable Reid, for the same day he wrote Colonel Fanning, saying he had "issued warrants to apprehend the New Hampshire rioters and traitors, but their number and situation on the moun- tains is such that I am of the opinion that no Sheriff or Constable will apprehend them." Therefore he came to the conclusion that it would be "highly necessary for His Majesty's peace" that the Governor should offer a reward "for apprehending those abominable wretches." In compliance with an order of the New York Coun- cil, dated November 27, 1771, Governor Tryon issued a proclamation on December 9, offering the sum of twenty pounds for the apprehension of Allen, Baker, Cochran, Sevil and five other persons charged with felony and rioting. A counter proclamation followed, aimed at James Duane, a prominent New York attorney, active in the proceedings against the settlers on the New Hamp- shire Grants, and against Attorney General Kempe, which was issued as a burlesque on Governor Tryon's proclamation, the text of the document being as follows : RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 343 Twenty-five Pounds Reward "Whereas, James Duane and John Kempe, of New York, have by their menaces and threats greatly dis- turbed the pubHc peace and repose of the honest peasants of Bennington, and the settlements to the northward, which peasants are now and ever have been in the peace of God and the King, and are patriotic and liege subjects of George III. Any person that will apprehend these common disturbers, viz, James Duane and John Kempe, and bring them to Landlord Fay's at Bennington, shall have fifteen pounds for John (James?) Duane and ten pounds for John Kempe, paid by "Ethan Allen Dated Poultney, "Remember Baker February 5, 1772. "Robert Cochran'' It is evident that Governor Tryon's proclamation only intensified the resentment felt against the New York authorities. Justice of the Peace John Munro, writing to Governor Tryon on February 17, 1772, told of the formation of a militia company at Bennington, with John (Seth?) Warner as its commander, and said that on New Year's day the company was reviewed and "con- tinued all day firing at marks." Commenting on the state of public opinion, Munro observed: "I find that every act of indulgence which the Government offers is rejected with disdain, and by the best information I can get they are determined to oppose the authority of this Government assigning for reason that should they com- ply it will weaken their New Hampshire title, and they shall lose all their lands, for this reason they shall fight 'till they die'; however if this Bennington was well drest 344 HISTORY OF VERMONT I presume all the rest will fall of course and that the Government will be restored to peace." Doubtless there were many others who were ready during the next ten or fifteen years to join very heartily in Esquire Munro's opinion that it would be eminently satisfactory to them- selves and exceedingly helpful to their cause, ''if this Bennington was well drest." Sheriff Ten Eyck, in a letter to Governor Tryon, read before the New York Council March 26, 1772, men- tioned his inability to arrest any of the rioters and de- clared that he found "the greatest appearance of a deter- mined resolution not to submit to the Government." Justice Munro was not ready to concede that the arrest of the rioters was impossible, and with much care he laid his plans for the capture of Remember Baker. Two days before the arrest was made Bliss Willoughby, under pretence of a friendly business call, went to Baker's house, and observing that the Green Mountain leader "was somewhat careless and secure," made his report to Munro. Baker lived about one mile east of the present village of Arlington. A little before daylight, on the morning of March 21, 1772, Justice Munro, Constable Stevens, and a party surrounded Baker's house, and after a des- perate struggle succeeded in overpowering Baker, and after binding him he was placed in a sleigh and the party started for Albany, Baker was severely wounded, one thumb being cut off. Mrs. Baker received a severe wound from a sword cut and their little son is said to have been injured. RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 345 Two neighbors, Caleb Henderson and John Whiston, attempted to stop the sleigh carrying Baker, but did not succeed in releasing the prisoner, and Whiston was cap- tured. Henderson escaped and gave the alarm, the news being sent by messenger to Bennington. Munro and his party, having driven about sixteen miles, stopped at Sancoick, N. Y., to rest. This halt proved fatal to Munro's plans to lodge in Albany jail one of the chief rioters of the New Hampshire Grants. As soon as the news of Baker's arrest reached Bennington ten men mounted their horses and rode at great speed to the ferry across the Hudson River at what is now the city of Troy. Learning that Munro and his prisoner had not passed there, the rescuing party turned back toward Arlington, and proceeded six or seven miles before meet- ing Baker and his captors. The approach of the Ben- nington men struck terror to the hearts of most of the New York party, and to quote from Munro's report, "they all ran into the woods when they ought to have resisted." Munro and two Constables were detained but later were released. Baker was so exhausted from loss of blood that it was necessary, after his wounds were dressed, for one of the rescuing party to ride on the same horse with him to keep him from falling. On the way back they met another rescuing party, probably from Arlington. Mr. Breakenridge's house in Ben- nington was reached at two o'clock the next morning, the party having travelled more than sixty miles in twenty- four hours. The attempt to imprison Baker, and the harsh treat- ment inflicted upon him, still further embittered the 346 HISTORY OF VERMONT people of the New Hampshire Grants against New York. Writing soon after the Baker episode, Munro informed the New York Governor that the rioters "are Hsting men daily, and ofifer fifteen pounds bounty to every man that joins with them, and thus strike terror into the whole country ; that they have too many friends in the country owing to self interest, and that he is afraid of the con- sequences every moment, as he cannot find any Justice or one officer now that will act or say against them." To this the writer added the information that "he is almost wore out with watching." In view of the fact that Bliss Willoughby played the part of spy upon Baker before Munro's attack upon him, it is not altogether surprising to read in a communica- tion from Governor Tryon to the New York Council a report from Justice Munro to the efifect that on May first Remember Baker and others went to Willoughby's house "and cut him in a barbarous manner." In April, 1772, news was received in Bennington to the effect that Governor Tryon and a detachment of British troops was proceeding by way of the Hudson River to Albany "in order to subject or destroy the Green Mountain Boys." This report was given credence because regular troops had been used in the province of New York to quell an outbreak regarding land titles. The Committee of Safety met the officers of the Green Mountain Boys and consulted regarding proper measures to be taken. Ira Allen, writing of the effect of this report upon the Committee of Safety, said: "They found matters had come to a crisis that compelled them either to submit and become tenants of the land jobbers RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 347 of New York, or to take the field against a royal Gov- ernor and British troops ; either seemed like the forlorn hope. Having reflected on the justice of their cause, the hardships, expense of money and labor they had been at in building and cultivation, they therefore unani- mously resolved that it was their duty to oppose Gov- ernor Tryon and his troops to the utmost of their power (and thereby convince him and his Council that they were punishable by the Green Mountain Boys) for dis- obeying His Majesty's prohibitory orders of July, 1767." Two cannon and a mortar were brought to Benning- ton from a fort at East Hoosick (Williamstown), and powder and ball were also supplied. Ira Allen is authority for the statement that the older persons among the people of the Grants advised sending a flag of truce to the Governor to inquire if some compromise were not possible. The militia objected to this plan on the ground that such an act would indicate pusillanimity, and would show a confidence in the Governor of which he was unworthy. Instead of sending a flag of truce to the Governor, the military leaders sent to Albany a person not under indictment as a rioter, to observe the Governor and his principal officers, to obtain all possible information as to the strength of the military force, their order of marching and when they would leave Albany. Having accomplished this he was to return, join six other good marksmen, and they were to form an ambuscade in a wood through which the royal troops must march. Having observed the Governor, the marksmen were to 348 HISTORY OF VERMONT fire at him, one after the other, until he fell from his horse, then raise an Indian war whoop and retire. If the enemy continued the march they were to attempt an- other ambuscade and try to kill two or three of the chief officers. The messenger, on his return, reported that the British troops which had received marching orders were to re- lieve the garrisons at Oswego, Niagara and Detroit, and that Governor Tryon was not with them. In comment- ing on this episode Ira Allen said: "The Governor and his land jobbers soon got information of this prepara- tion ; and they were both intimidated and convinced that the Green Mountain Boys would fight even the King's troops if sent to decide the titles of land and to dis- possess the inhabitants who rescued them out of a state of nature. This alarm answered every purpose that a victory possibly could have done, without shedding blood." This deliberate plan by a handful of pioneer settlers to ambush the British troops and to kill the royal Gov- ernor, seems almost incredible, but it is given on the authority of one of the greatest of Vermont's early lead- ers, who was familiar with all the public afifairs of that period. It afifords a striking illustration of the des- perate courage of the Vermont pioneers, and the length to which they were willing to go to defend their property from invasion and seizure. Soon after the capture and release of Remember Baker, Sergt. Hugh Munro secured the services of a surveyor named Campbell and some chain bearers and accompanied them to Rupert for the purpose of survey- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 349 ing a tract of land there. According to a New York account the party was seized by Robert Cochran and his associates, who conducted them to a tribunal "as if they had really been malefactors" ; deliberated upon their course, and decided to chastise them. Munro and the chain bearers were beaten severely, and the deputy sur- veyor was whipped, but less severely than his associates. It is said that Cochran boasted that he was a son of Robin Hood and would follow the mode of life of the famous outlaw. The surveying party was conducted several miles, and dismissed with the warning that a repetition of this offense would be punished by death. Ira Allen says that Munro was "an old offender." After being tried he was ordered to be whipped on his naked back. He was then tied to a tree and given three separate whippings, and after each chastisement he fainted. His wounds were dressed and he was banished from the New Hampshire Grants. According to Allen's account a convention of settlers had adopted a resolution to the effect "that no officer from New York be allowed to carry out of the district of New Hampshire Grants any person without permission of the committees of safety or the military commanders." New York land surveyors were forbidden to run any lines within the Grants, and transgressors of the rule were to be punished according to the judgment of a court chosen from the elders of the people or the mili- tary commanders. Punishment sometimes consisted in whipping the prisoner severely with beech twigs, not easily broken, which left on the back of the offender evidences of the punishment, which the Green Mountain 350 HISTORY OF VERMONT Boys, with a grim humor, called the "Beech Seal." In addition to the whipping, the penalty of banishment sometimes was added. After describing Hugh Munro's punishment, Allen declared: "These severities were used to deter people from endangering their lives and to prevent aid being given to the land claimants of New York; they proved to answer the purpose and the Green Mountain Boys soon became the terror of their adversaries. When the Sherifif's officers came to collect debts they were used with civility, and the cause of the people was explained ; in this way the strength of the enemy was weakened, and the cause of the settlers gained strength and credit." About this time Seth Warner and a companion named Sherwood went to the house of John Munro to secure Remember Baker's gun, which was not taken when Baker was rescued from his captors. Munro refused to deliver it, and seizing the bridle of Warner's horse ordered a Constable and several bystanders to arrest him. Warner drew his cutlass and struck Munro over the head, felling the magistrate to the ground. Al- though the blow was so severe that the weapon was broken, the injury inflicted did not prove to be a dan- gerous one, the weapon being dull. An illustration of the temper of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants at this time is afforded by the action of the pro- prietors of the town of Poultney, who voted Warner, on May 4, 1773, one hundred acres of land in that town, "for his valor in cutting the head of Esquire Munro, the Yorkite." m o CQ H a RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 351 Evidently the news of the preparations made by the people of Bennington to resist by force the rumored attack by the King's troops, and the plan to shoot the royal Governor, brought forcibly to the mind of Gov- ernor Tryon the importance of making some effort to conciliate the exasperated settlers on the New Hamp- shire Grants, and on May 19, 1772, he addressed a com- munication to "the Rev. Mr. Dewey, and the inhabitants of Bennington, and the adjacent country on the east side of Hudson's River." The Governor chided the people for "the many violent and illegal acts" they had com- mitted, hinted that a continuation of such a policy might cause the interference of royal authority but expressed a desire on his part and that of the Council to examine into the grounds of their "behavior and discontent, with deliberation and candor, and as far as in us lies to give such relief as the nature of your situation and circum- stances will justify." He promised full security and protection to any persons whom they might send to present their views, with the exception of Allen, Baker, Cochran, Sevil and Warner. He suggested as suitable persons Rev. William (Jedediah) Dewey, James Break- enridge and Mr. Fay, particularly commending Mr. Dewey. In the same letter he assured the people that the decision of the King not to annex the Grants to New Hampshire was final. A reply signed by Rev. Jedediah Dewey and others, dated June 5, 1772, was forwarded to Governor Tryon. It expressed satisfaction at the opportunity afforded of presenting the case of the people of Bennington and the adjacent country before the Governor, set forth their 352 HISTORY OF VERMONT rights to the lands they held, and rehearsed their griev- ances. This reply included the following statement: "We flatter ourselves, from the candor of Your Excel- lency's favorable letter that you will be friendly disposed toward us; and we most earnestly pray and beseech Your Excellency would assist to quiet us in our posses- sions till His Majesty in his royal wisdom shall be graciously pleased to settle the controversy. Should Your Excellency grant this our humble request, our sat- isfaction would be inexpressible." The earnestness of this appeal from the harassed settlers, determined at all hazards to defend their homes, but expressing a passionate longing for peace, is not lacking an element of pathos. Capt. Stephen Fay and his son Dr. Jonas Fay were appointed agents to represent the settlers on the Grants, and they proceeded to New York, where they related their grievances to the Governor and Council. These grievances were set forth in an able and forceful man- ner in a communication which they presented, signed by Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker and Robert Cochran, who had been declared unacceptable as agents to present the views of the settlers to the New York authorities. This statement is a notable one, coming as it did, from men who had had little or no literary training. It contained a vigorous argument for the rights of the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, and exhibited great boldness in maintaining these rights. After describing the sufifering caused by the eject- ment of settlers, the statement declared : "Things hav- ing come to this pass, the oppression was too great for RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 353 human nature, under English Constitution, to grope under. * =k * Laws and society compacts were made to protect and secure the subjects in their peace- able possessions and properties, and not to subvert them. No person or community of persons can be supposed to be under any particular compact or law, except it pre- supposeth that that law will protect such person or com- munity of persons in his or their properties ; for other- ways the subject would, by law, be bound to be acces- sory to his own ruin and destruction, which is incon- sistent with the law of self preservation." Protesting against the "set of artful and wicked men" who had concealed the truth from the Governor, and explaining that they were poor people, at a great dis- tance from the seat of government, "fatigued in settling a wilderness country," and having little opportunity of presenting their grievances, the letter continues: "If we do not oppose the Sheriff and his posse, he takes immediate possession of our houses and farms ; if we do we are immediately indicted rioters, * * * and it comes to this at last, that we must tamely be dispossessed or oppose officers in taking possession; and as a neces- sary step, oppose taking of rioters, so called, or run away like so many cowards, and quit our country to a number of cringing polite gentlemen, who have, ideally, possessed themselves of it already." After relating the manner in which the New York authorities had disobeyed the orders of the King relative to regranting the lands already granted by New Hamp- shire, the letter says : "They style us rioters for oppos- ing them, and seek to catch and punish us as such, yet 354 HISTORY OF VERMONT in reality themselves are the rioters, the tumultuous, dis- orderly, stimulating faction, or, in fine, the land rob- bers; and every violent act they have done to compass their designs, though ever so much under pretence of law, is, in reality, a violation of law. * * * "We do not suppose, may it please Your Excellency, we are making opposition to a government as such; it is nothing more than a party, chiefly carried on by a number of gentlemen attorneys (if it be not an abuse to gentlemen of merit to call them so) who manifest a surprising and enterprising thirst of avarice after our country; but for a collection of such intrigues to plan matters of influence of a party, so as eventually to be- come judges in their own case, and thereby cheat us out of our country, appears to us so audaciously unreason- able and tyrannical that we view it with the utmost de- testation and indignation, and our breasts glow with a martial fury to defend our persons and fortunes from the ravages of these that would destroy us; but not against Your Excellency's person or government." The letters from the settlers were referred to a com- mittee of the Council, which reported the first day of July. In this report emphasis was laid on the kindness and forbearance shown, and the decision was reached that "the right of the New York patentees was incon- trovertible," and that the settlers had no real cause for complaint. The committee concluded, however, that in order to afiford all the relief possible, and in order to show "Great tenderness for a deluded people," all prose- cutions on behalf of the Crown should be suspended until the King's pleasure should be known, and that RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 355 during the same period the recommendation should be made to the owners of contested lands that they sus- pend all pending suits growing out of land controversies. This report having been adopted by the Council, the agents returned to Bennington. A public meeting was held at the meeting house in Bennington on Wednesday, July 15, "a numerous con- cource of the inhabitants of the adjacent country" being present. The result of the mission to New York was received with much favor, peace was recommended for the whole of the New Hampshire Grants, and the agents were given a vote of thanks for their diligence. The cannon brought to Bennington to be used against Gov- ernor Tryon's expected invasion was fired in his honor. Captain Warner's company fired a salute of three vol- leys, and healths were drunk in honor of the King, Gov- ernor Tryon, the Council of New York, and the Hart- ford Courant report says that to the other toasts was added one to the confusion of Duane, Kempe, and their associates. The large gathering on this occasion in- cluded persons from neighboring provinces, which indi- cates that some New York neighbors may have been present to add to the harmony of the meeting. Governor Tryon wrote again on August 11, 1772, to the people of Bennington and vicinity, expressing his satisfaction at "the grateful manner" in which the news of the action of the Council had been received. In the same letter, however, he expressed his displeasure at the dispossession of several New York settlers in the Otter Creek valley and demanded that the people of the Grants reinstate, forthwith, families evicted. 356 HISTORY OF VERMONT Ethan Allen, acting as clerk for a committee of the inhabitants of Bennington and the adjacent region, on August 25, 1772, replied at considerable length to Gov- ernor Tryon's letter, setting forth that the New York settlers, dispossessed on Otter Creek, had driven off set- tlers holding title under grants from New Hampshire before establishing themselves there. The letter de- clared that this act was "a notorious breach of the Tenth Commandment of the Decalogue, which says 'Thou shalt not steal'." Allen argued that to reinstate the New York settlers would be "apparently immoral, and most flagrantly cruel and unjust." The letter further declared that the people whom Allen represented in- tended strictly and religiously to adhere to two proposi- tions: "Firstly, the protection and maintaining our property ; secondly, to use the greatest care and prudence not to break the articles of public faith or insult govern- mental authority." Two days later, on August 27, a general meeting of a committee representing the towns of Bennington, Sun- derland, Manchester, Dorset, Rupert, Pawlet, Wells, Poultney, Castleton, Pittsford and Rutland, was held at Manchester, at which time Allen's reply to Governor Tryon was read and approved. This reply was consid- ered by the New York Council, "highly insolent, and deserving of sharp reprehension," and the Council ad- vised the Governor that the opposition had become so formidable that the aid of regular troops was needed for its effectual suppression. Governor Tryon on October 7 wrote Lord Hills- borough, asking in a vague and indirect way for the aid RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 357 of royal troops. He declared that the New Hampshire proprietors who had offered to confirm their titles under New York authority upon payment of half fees, "are very importunate, and begin to be so much sowered and disgusted that there is much reason to apprehend as they find the Bennington people and the adjacent country daily increase in strength and uninterrupted by Govern- ment, they will soon reject any offers from this country, and combine in opposition to this province; besides, the partition line between this Government and Massa- chusetts Bay being still unsettled, by the aid of those borders the opposition may reasonably be expected to be very formidable, too much so for militia forces to encounter." Lord Dartmouth replied to this communication in a letter which was virtually a rebuke, declaring that the military force "ought never to be called in to the aid of the civil authority, but in cases of absolute and unavoid- able necessity, and which would be highly improper if applied to support possessions, which, after order issued in 1767 upon the petition of the proprietors of the New Hampshire townships, may be of very doubtful title." When Ira Allen and Remember Baker, accompanied by five men, made their first visit to the town of Col- chester, they found at the lower falls of the Winooski River a New York surveying party of eight men under command of Benjamin Stevens, Deputy Surveyor of Lands. According to evidence laid before the New York Council by Stevens, the New York party were without provocation stripped of their property and effects, insulted and threatened, and the petitioner John 358 HISTORY OF VERMONT Dunbar thrown into the fire, bound and burned, and otherwise beat and abused in a cruel manner. Ira Allen states that "they were released without any trial or cor- poral punishment on account of the subsisting negotia- tions and they promised not to return again." Allen also relates in his "History of Vermont" that during the friendly correspondence between Governor Tryon and the people of Bennington and vicinity, Wil- liam Cockburn, a New York surveyor, who had been compelled to leave the vicinity of Rutland and Pitts ford the previous year because he had attempted to make sur- veys there, was privately sent to make additional sur- veys within the Grants. By traversing the wilderness Ira Allen was able to discover Cockburn's destination, and Seth Warner, Remember Baker and a party went in pursuit. The surveyor was found in Bolton. He was tried by court martial, declared guilty, his surveying in- struments were broken, and he was banished from the district on pain of death if he returned. Allen says: "The correspondence then going on between the Gov- ernor (Tryon) and the people for the restoration of peace and friendship, saved Mr. Cockburn a severe whipping." Capt. David Wooster, later a Major General in the Continental army, held a New York grant for three thousand acres in what is now the town of Addison, located not far from the fort at Crown Point, N. Y. Learning that several families had settled on land he claimed to own, asserting their right to do so, by virtue of a New Hampshire grant, he visited the place in Sep- tember, 1772, providing himself both with writs of eject- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 359 ment and leases for those who would acknowledge him as their landlord. These leases were rejected, Wooster testifying in a deposition that the settlers, thirteen in number, "declared they would support themselves there by force of arms, and that they would spill their blood before they would leave the said lands; whereupon the deponent proceeded to serve two declarations of eject- ment on two principle ringleaders, and thereupon some of their party presented their firelocks at the deponent, declaring it should be death for any man that served a declaration of ejectment there, but the deponent being well armed with pistols proceeded to serve said eject- ments, notwithstanding they continued their firelocks presented against him during the whole time. That after the deponent had served the said ejectments, they declared with one voice that they would not attend any court in the province of New York respecting their lands, and asked the deponent how he would get posses- sion after he had got judgments against them, who re- plied he should bring the High Sheriff to put him in possession, to which they replied they would suffer no Sheriff to come upon the ground, to which the deponent replied that if they resisted the civil officer he would apply for the assistance of the regular troops which were hard by, as it was their duty to assist the civil authority, and that it was high treason for them to fire on His Majesty's troops, to which they answered that if His Majesty's troops came to assist the civil officer to put any men in possession there, they should have hundreds of guns fired at them, and that they further said it was the universal agreement of the people in 360 HISTORY OF VERMONT that country, as the deponent understood in its whole extent from north to south, to defend themselves by force of arms, in opposition to every attempt in support of the titles to lands there under the province of New York and that they could raise multitudes of men for that purpose, sometimes mentioning a thousand, sometimes two thou- sand, and sometimes five hundred men." Col. John Reid received from Governor Dunmore of New York a grant of seven thousand acres of land situated on both sides of Otter Creek in Panton and New Haven, this land having been granted about ten years earlier by Governor Wentworth. When Colonel Reid came into his new possessions, he drove off settlers holding lands under New Hampshire Grants, captured a saw mill, one hundred and thirty saw logs and fourteen thousand feet of pine boards, according to Ethan Allen's letter to Governor Tryon, and by the aid of a man named Buzzell, so terrified twelve inhabitants of New Haven that they abandoned their possessions. Soon after the original settlers rallied and were able to secure posses- sion, but later they were attacked by Reid's steward with an armed party and driven off. Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and more than one hundred armed men appeared at Reid's settlement on August 11, 1773, and notified the Scotch emigrants who had recently arrived there that the land did not belong to Colonel Reid, and warned them to depart. The huts of the settlers were burned and the mill demolished, the millstones being broken. Some of the affidavits furnished in connection with this affair give a vivid description of the occurrence. RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 361 although couched in rather unusual language. On the day following this Otter Creek episode James Hender- son wrote to a Mr. Mackintosh at Crow^n Point as fol- lows: "Our Houses are all Brunt Down. The Grist mill is All Put Down. The Mill Stones Brock and Throns in To The Crick, The Corn is all Destroed By There Horses, and When it Was Proposed That We Should Build houses and Keep Possion, They Threat- ened to Bind some of us To a Tree and Skin us Alive. Therefore we think its imposable To us To Live hear in Peace." Evidently the conclusion reached was abundantly justified by the facts, as cited. According to the affidavits, after the millstones had been broken and thrown into Otter Creek, Remember Baker came out of the mill with the bolt cloth in his hand, which he cut into pieces with his sword and dis- tributed among his associates as trophies of victory. Being asked for his commission, Baker held up his mutilated hand showing where a thumb had been cut off in the fight with Munro's party, and this he called his commission. Other depositions tell of burning houses, stacks of hay and corn sheds; and that when Baker was asked if he did not think the Governor and Council of New York would take notice of "such doings," replied that "he despised everything they could do; that their (his) people could assemble a great number of men in arms and that they could live in the bush and were resolved never to allow any person, claiming under New York to settle in that part of the province." 362 HISTORY OF VERMONT It appears that the "New England Mob," as one de- position described the party, was at the Otter Creek set- tlement two days; that there were present one hundred and ten persons, according to one deponent; that they destroyed six houses, or huts, and the mill, broke the millstones, and destroyed most of the wheat, corn and hay "in a riotous and mobbish manner." It appears that Ethan Allen commanded one party and Remember Baker another, the latter arriving on the morning of August 12. Lieut. Adolphus Benzel, Inspector of Woods, Forests and Unappropriated Lands on Lake Champlain and in Canada, writing from Crown Point on September 27, 1773, informed Governor Tryon that John Readers had been "most inhumanly beaten," first with a large hickory stick and afterwards with birch rods on his bare back, compelling him to beg for his life; and that Allen and Baker were present at the flogging. The New York officials did not make good progress in their attempts to enforce their decrees. As early as April 11, 1772, Justice of the Peace Benjamin Spencer of Durham, a New York township, which included much of the present town of Clarendon, informed Mr. Duane that the settlement of the town had been hindered by the riotous spirit of the New Hampshire men. In the course of his letter he said: "You may ask why I do not proceed against them in due course of law, but you need not wonder when I tell you it has got to that ; they say they will not be brought to justice by this province and they bid defiance to any authority in the province. * * * One Ethan Allen hath brought from Connec- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 363 ticut twelve or fifteen of the most blackguard fellows he can get, double armed, in order to protect him, and if some method is not taken to subdue the towns of Ben- nington, Shaftsbury, Arlington, Manchester and those people in Socialborough and others scattered about the woods, there had as good be an end of the government." Writing again to Mr. Duane in May, 1773, he informed him that "the tumults have got to such a height, both in Socialborough and from Bennington to Manchester, that I cannot travel about to do any lawful business, indeed I cannot with safety travel two miles from home." A little later Justice Spencer formed a more intimate acquaintance with Ethan Allen and his "blackguard fellows" as the result of a visit. According to a deposi- tion made by Spencer, corroborated by the statements of others, on the night of Saturday, November 20, 1773, the door of his house was broken down, and Ethan Allen, Remember Baker and others entered the room where he was sleeping, compelling him to dress and hastening the process by a blow on the head with a gun. Spencer was then taken to the house of Thomas Green, about two miles distant, where he was kept under guard until the following Monday morning. At that time, escorted by a party estimated by Spencer to number from one hun- dred and thirty to one hundred and fifty men, he was taken back to his home. Upon their arrival Remember Baker erected what was called the judgment seat, and after Ethan Allen had addressed the assemblage, Allen, Baker, Seth Warner and Robert Cochran took their seats as judges. The prisoner was required to remove his hat and stand before them. He was then charged 364 HISTORY OF VERMONT with applying to the New York government for a title to lands and with inducing other persons to do likewise ; with consenting to act as a Justice of the Peace con- trary to the orders and rules established by the settlers of that region; with issuing a warrant against a New Hampshire settler for a trespass ; and with using his in- fluence to induce people to render obedience to the gov- ernment and laws of New York. Baker and others, it is said, insisted that the prisoner should be whipped, but this was not done. Not having a New Hampshire title, Spencer's house was adjudged a nuisance and was set on fire. He declared in his deposition that the party set the house on fire in two places "and soon after broke and took the roof entirely ofT with great shouting of joy and much noise and tumult." It was said that Allen and Baker declared with curses that "they valued not the government nor even the Kingdom." Crean Brush, from the Grand Committee on Griev- ances, reported to the New York Assembly on February 4, 1774, that a "number of lawless persons calling them- selves the Bennington Mob" had seized, insulted, and terrified magistrates and other civil officers, rescued prisoners for debt, assumed military commands and judicial powers, burned and demolished houses, beat and abused the persons of many of His Majesty's subjects and expelled them from their possessions, "and put a period to the administration of justice, and spread terror and destruction throughout that part of the country which is exposed to their oppression." It was recommended, therefore, that a proclamation be issued offering a reward for the apprehension of the RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 365 ringleaders of the mob. This report being accepted by the Legislature, Governor Tryon, on March 9, 1774, offered rewards of one hundred pounds each for the arrest of Ethan Allen and Remember Baker, and fifty pounds each for apprehending Seth Warner, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sunderland, Silvanus Brown, James Breakenridge, and John Smith. When the news of the action of the New York authori- ties reached the Grants, a meeting of the committees of the towns west of the Green Mountains was held on March 1, 1774, at the residence of Eliakim Wellers, at Manchester, and was adjourned to the third Wednesday of March at the house of Capt. Jehiel Hawley, in Arling- ton. A committee of seven was appointed to prepare resolutions in answer to the action of New York. Hav- ing prepared a report, it was signed by Nathan Clark, chairman, and Jones Fay, clerk, and it was published in the Connecticut Courant at Hartford, and in the Nezv Hampshire Gazette at Portsmouth. The resolutions called attention to the fact that all the troubles and difficulties of the settlements had been due to "an unequal and biased administration of law." Objection was made to permitting the New York offi- cials to set themselves up as "great sticklers for good order and government," when they did not hesitate to violate the orders of the King, and some of them had acted as judges in cases in which they were personally interested. Declaring, their loyalty to the King, whom they recog- nized as their "political father," they expressed their re- liance upon him for the protection of the property; and, 366 HISTORY OF VERMONT having purchased their property in good faith, they an- nounced their determination to maintain these grants "against all opposition" until His Majesty's pleasure should be known. They declared that their only resist- ance to government was *'the law of self preservation, which the law of God and nature enjoins on every intelli- gent, wise and understanding being." It was asserted that attempts to indict their friends and neighbors as rioters were "contrary to the good and righteous laws of Great Britain." Therefore, it was resolved by the convention: "That as a country we will stand by and defend our friends and neighbors so indicted at the expense of our lives and fortunes. * ^ * That for the future every neces- sary preparation be made, and that our inhabitants hold themselves in readiness at a minute's warning to aid and defend such friends of ours, who, for their merit to the great and general cause are falsely denominated rioters ; but that we will not act anything more or less than on the defensive and always encourage due execution of law in civil cases, and also in criminal prosecutions that are so indeed." On March 9, 1774, the same day that Governor Tryon offered rewards for the apprehension of the leaders of the men of the New Hampshire Grants, the New York Legislature passed an act "for preventing tumultuous and riotous assemblies in the places therein mentioned, and for the more speedy and effectual punishing the rioters," and its cause was said to be "a spirit of riot and licentiousness" that had prevailed in parts of the counties of Charlotte and Albany. Very stringent regu- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 367 lations were adopted, to be applied where three or more persons were assembled "riotously and tumultously." Any person hindering or obstructing the proclamation to disperse any person improperly assuming judicial power; confine, assault or beat a civil officer, or terrify, hinder or prevent such officer from performing his duties; burn or destroy grain, corn or hay in any en- closure; with force demolish or begin to demolish any dwelling house, barn, stable, gristmill, sawmill or out- house, in either of the said counties, should be adjudged guilty of felony and suffer death without benefit of clergy. It was further enacted that as Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sun- derland, Silvanus Brown, James Breakenridge and John Smith were the principal ringleaders in the riots and dis- turbances, they should be ordered to surrender them- selves within the space of seventy days after the first publication of the order in the Nezv York Gazette and Weekly Mercury. The penalty for failure to comply with this order was that they be adjudged attainted of felony, and suffer death without benefit of clergy. Under ordinary circumstances the publication of such a barbarous statute might be expected to produce a reign of terror, but the people of the New Hampshire Grants, and their outlawed leaders, went about their business as usual. The story is told that after a price was set upon his head, Ethan Allen rode into Albany in daylight, alighted at a public house, called for a bowl of punch, drank it, mounted his horse and rode away, although a large crowd had assembled. While the story lacks posi- 368 HISTORY OF VERMONT tive proof of its authenticity, Allen's boldness, and the fact that the settlers on the Grants had many friends in Albany, lends an air of plausibility to the tale. The seven outlaws responded in a vigorous remon- strance, which bears evidence of having been written by Ethan Allen. The document opens with a declara- tion that the cause of opposition to the government of New York is a determination to defend the lives and property of the settlers. It is stated that the settlers will be orderly and submissive to government if the New York patentees will remove their patents, if the settlers are quieted in their possessions, and if prosecutions for rioting are suspended, but adds significantly: "Be it known to that despotic fraternity of law makers and law breakers that we will not be fooled or fright- ened out of our property. * * * If we oppose civil officers in taking possession of our farms we are by these laws denominated felons; or if we defend our neighbors who have been indicted rioters, only for de- fending our property, we are likewise adjudged felons. In fine, every opposition to their monarchial government is deemed felony, and at the end of every such sentence there is the word death, the same as though he or they had been convicted or attainted before a proper court of judicature : The candid reader will doubtless observe that the diabolical design of the law is to obtain posses- sion of the New Hampshire Grants, or to make the people that defend them outlaws and so kill them when- ever they can catch them. "Those bloody lawgivers know we are necessitated to oppose their execution of laws when it points directly at RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 369 our property, or give up the same, but there is one thing which is a matter of consolation to us, viz. : that printed sentences of death will not kill us when we are at a distance, and if the executioners approach us, they will be as likely to fall victims to death as we; and that per- son, or country of persons are cowards indeed if they cannot as manfully fight for their liberty, property and life as villains can do to deprive them thereof. * * * "As to forming ourselves into military orders and assuming military commands, the New York posses, the military preparations, oppressions, etc., obliged us to it. Probably Messieurs Duane, Kemp and Banyar of New York will not discommend us for so expedient a prep- aration, more especially since the decrees of the 9th of March are yet to be put in execution ; and we flatter our- selves upon occasion we can muster as good a regiment of marksmen and scalpers as America can afiford; and we now give the gentlemen above named together with Mr. Brush and Col. Ten Broeck, and in fine all the land jobbers of New York, an invitation to come and view the dexterity of our regiment; and we cannot think of a better time for that purpose than when the execution- ers come to kill us. * * * "But as the Magistrates, Sheriffs, Under-Sheriffs, Coroners and Constables of the respective counties that hold their posts of honor and benefit under our bitter enemies, we have a jealousy that some of them may be induced (to recommend themselves to those on whom they are dependent, and for the wages of unrighteous- ness offered by proclamation) to presume to apprehend some of us, or our friends: We therefore advertise 370 HISTORY OF VERMONT such officers, and all persons whatsoever, that we are re- solved to inflict immediate death on whomsoever may attempt the same. And provided any of us or our party shall be taken, and we have not notice sufficient to relieve them, or whether we relieve them or not, we are re- solved to surround such person, or persons, whether at his or their own house or houses, or anywhere that we can find him or them, and shoot such person or persons dead. And furthermore that we will kill and destroy any person or persons whomsoever, that shall presume to be accessory, aiding or assisting in taking any of us as aforesaid ; for by these presents we give any such dis- posed person or persons to understand that although they have a license by the law aforesaid to kill us ; and an 'indemnification' for such murder from the same authority, yet they have no indemnification for so doing from the Green Mountain Boys; for our lives, liberties and properties are as verily precious to us, as to any of the King's subjects, and we are as loyal to His Majesty or his government, as any subjects in his province; but if the governmental authority of New York will judge in their own case, and act in opposition to that of Great Britain, and insist upon killing us, to take possession of our vineyards, come on, we are ready for a game of scalping with them; for our martial spirits glow with bitter indignation and consummate fury to blast their infernal projections." This declaration is remarkable for the vigor and forcefulness of its English as well as for the boldness and defiance of its tone. Probably no better illustra- tion is to be found of the daring spirit, one might truth- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 371 fully say the reckless daring, which the people who set- tled the Green Mountain region exhibited in their de- fence of their rights and liberties and their passionate love of freedom. In order that the people of neighbor- ing colonies should understand the merits of the con- troversy, Ethan Allen, in 1774, prepared a pamphlet of more than two hundred pages, entitled "A Brief Narra- tive of the Proceedings of the Government of New York Relative to Their Obtaining the Jurisdiction of that Dis- trict of Land to the Westward of Connecticut River" and it was printed at Hartford, Conn. Ira Allen says that "by this book and others the cause of the people became of public notoriety through the colonies, as the newspapers were in every part circulat- ing these proceedings, which soured the minds of the people much against the British Government, as it was generally supposed that the Governor and Council of New York were countenanced by Government." Soon after the passage by the New York Legislature of the act providing for the offering of rewards for the apprehension of Ethan Allen and his associates, Benja- min Hough, an Anabaptist preacher, who had secured lands under the New York grant of Socialborough, re- turned to the Grants, having accepted an appointment as Justice of the Peace. On his petition the New York Legislature had taken action against the so-called "rioters," and had advocated the passage of the drastic laws to which allusion has been made. On his return he was served with a notice of the Manchester resolu- tions of April 12, 1774, to the effect that until the King's pleasure was known any person taking a commission 372 HISTORY OF VERMONT from the government of New York would "be deemed an enemy to their country and the common cause, and warned against attempting to act as a magistrate." He paid no heed to these warnings but was loud in his de- nunciation of rioters. In order to make an example that should serve as a warning to others, he was seized by about thirty persons on the morning of January 26, 1775, placed in a sleigh and carried to Sunderland, where he was kept in confinement until January 30, the delay being due to the fact that Ethan Allen and Seth Warner had been summoned from Bennington but had not arrived. These two leaders and Robert Cochran, Peleg Sunderland, James Mead, Gideon Sawyer and Jesse Sawyer acted as judges. Ethan Allen accused the prisoner of entering complaint to the New York authori- ties concerning the punishment of Benjamin Spencer; of discouraging the people from joining the cause of the Green Mountain Boys; and of accepting the offer of magistrate under the jurisdiction of New York. Hough admitted these charges to be true. Thereupon he was sentenced to be tied to a tree and to receive two hun- dred lashes upon his naked back, and that as soon as he was able to leave he should depart from the New Hamp- shire Grants and not return, the penalty for violation of the order being five hundred lashes. This penalty was inflicted and after receiving treatment from a physician he was sent on his way to New York, having received a certificate signed by Allen and Warner to the effect that he had received "full punishment" for crimes committed. Not all the punishments decreed were of such severity as that inflicted upon Hough. Dr. Samuel Adams of RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 373 Arlington had been a friend of the New Hampshire set- tlers until about the end of the year 1773, when he began to advise his neighbors to purchase lands under a New York title. Refusing to heed warnings to desist from his course, he armed himself with pistols and other weapons and announced that he would silence any man who attempted to molest him. He was soon arrested and taken to the Green Mountain Tavern at Bennington. Now the tavern had for a sign a stuffed catamount, sur- mounting the signboard twenty-five feet from the ground, the animal being represented in the act of show- ing its teeth to New York. Doctor Adams, having been heard by the Committee of Safety, was sentenced to be tied to an arm chair and hoisted to the sign of the catamount, there to be suspended for the space of two hours. This sentence was carried into effect to the amusement of a large number of spectators, and it is said that "this mild and exemplary disgrace had a salu- tary effect on the doctor and many others." Judged by ordinary standards the course of the Green Mountain Boys in resisting New York authority, in set- ting up their own tribunals of justice, in inflicting the "beech seal" and other punishments with great severity, in evicting New York settlers and destroying their prop- erty, was one of great violence and lawlessness, but con- ditions were not ordinary but extraordinary. The land trials at Albany in 1770 had demonstrated that justice could not be obtained, that their property rights would not be protected, that New Hampshire titles would not be recognized in New York courts, notwithstanding the fact that this policy was in direct violation of the orders 374 HISTORY OF VERMONT of the British Government. Either the settlers under New Hampshire titles must abandon all they possessed; pay to the New York authorities exorbitant fees for new grants which many of them were unable to do; or hold their homesteads by force until, as they hoped, a final decision in the matter should be rendered by the King. The last of these methods was chosen, with a full knowledge that in a measure, at least, it was a policy of revolution; and subsequent events justified the course adopted by the settlers. Under the circumstances this policy was the only one that promised the possibility of the protection of the rights of this people, and to the ordinary observer the outlook for ultimate success must have appeared exceedingly unpromising. Yet so effec- tually did they intimidate the New York party that Ben- jamin Hough declared under oath on March 18, 1775, that "neither the said Sheriff (of Charlotte county) or his oflficers dare to venture within the district where the rioters live without express leave from the leaders of the mob." Long before this Attorney General Kempe had learned the meaning of Ethan Allen's phrase, "The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." It is worthy of note, however, that, although violence was used, in all this controversy no lives were taken. In view of the extreme provocation, the injustice of the New York ofBcials and the heavy odds against the New Hampshire Grants, it may be considered remarkable that their methods were not more violent. It became increasingly evident that it would be extremely difificult if not impossible to bring this district under the authority of New York. As early as Sep- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 375 tember, 1769, twelve Connecticut clergymen, mission- aries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which held a right of land in almost every township granted by Governor Wentworth, peti- tioned Sir William Johnson to use his influence to secure the appointment of Partridge Thatcher as the first Gov- ernor of the new government which it was expected would be erected out of Governor Wentworth's Grants west of the Connecticut River. Of course, nothing came of this request as it does not appear that such a plan was seriously considered at the time. Ira Allen states in his "History of Vermont" that in 1774 a plan was formed by Ethan Allen, Amos Bird and other prominent persons, aided by Col. Philip Skene, to establish a new royal colony, which should include the region known as the New Hampshire Grants and a por- tion of the province of New York west of Lake Cham- plain and north of the Mohawk River, extending to the Canadian border, or the forty-fifth parallel of latitude. Skenesborough, the county seat of Charlotte county, was to be the capital of the new province. The plan in- cluded the appointment of Colonel Skene as Governor. He was a retired officer who had been granted a large tract of land at the south end of Lake Champlain, where a settlement of considerable importance had been estab- lished. The post of royal Governor was an honorable and sometimes a lucrative one, and the prospect of obtaining it appealed to Colonel Skene, who, at his own expense, went to London to solicit the position. He secured the appointment of Governor of the garrisons of Crown 376 HISTORY OF VERMONT Point and Ticonderoga, which was considered the first step in his campaign. He was next advised to secure petitions to the King and Privy Council to the effect that the estabhshment of such a colony would restore harmony in this disturbed district and afford convenience in the administration of justice in a department extensive and remote from the seat of government. Resolutions were adopted at Westminster, April 11, 1775, by com- mittees representing Cumberland and Gloucester coun- ties, asking that they "be taken out of so oppressive a jurisdiction and either annexed to some other govern- ment, or erected and incorporated into a new one." n this movement had been inaugurated at some other time than the outbreak of the revolt of the colonies against Great Britain it might have afforded a con- venient avenue of escape from a very difficult situation. Ira Allen remarks that had Colonel Skene succeeded in the establishment of a new royal colony in the region "the people who had settled under the royal grants of New Hampshire would have been quiet." The re- verberation of the guns fired at Lexington and Concord, however, shattered the fabric of Colonel Skene's dream of a royal colony of which he should be the Governor. When he returned a little later to America it was not as ruler of a new province, but as a prisoner of war, in custody of people determined to do their own governing. The overshadowing importance of the war with Great Britain checked the fierceness of the land controversy with New York, and though it smouldered for years, blazing up from time to time, never again was it des- RESISTANCE TO NEW YORK AUTHORITY 377 tined to be fanned into as fierce a flame as that which had been kindled during the period immediately preced- ing the outbreak of the American Revolution. Chapter XII THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE THE conditions prevailing during the three or four years immediately preceding the beginning of the American Revolution differed radically in the eastern and the western portions of the present State of Vermont. In the western portion, the settled region of which included what is now known as Bennington and Rutland counties, a part of Addison county, and a few isolated settlements in Chittenden county, the authority exercised by the province of New York was very slight. An occasional arrest was made by New York officers, but to a considerable extent the towns in this section were a law unto themselves. This does not mean that a state of anarchy or disorder prevailed in the ordinary affairs of life. Town officials and committees of safety conducted such affairs of government as seemed to be necessary. The opposition to New York, which prac- tically nullified the authority of that province in the set- tled region west of the Green Mountains, grew out of the attempt of the provincial government to take from the settlers lands granted under New Hampshire char- ters, and to regrant them to others under a New York patent. Because the inhabitants resolutely defended their property rights and defied the New York officials, the machinery of the provincial government could not be put into operation where the Green Mountain Boys held sway. In the eastern portion of what is now Vermont, the settled region included the present counties of Windham and Windsor, known as Cumberland county, and a part of Orange county, then included in Gloucester county, which was sparsely settled. In the region lying between 382 HISTORY OF VERMONT the Connecticut River and the Green Mountains, New York had not attempted to deprive the pioneer settlers of their lands and give them to others. Not a few of the towns had obtained new charters from New York, and here the machinery of provincial government was in full operation. Courts had been established, county officials appointed, and representatives elected to the General Assembly. Communication was difficult across the range of the Green Mountains, and the oppression and injustice suffered by the people of Bennington and vicinity did not prevail to any great extent in Cumber- land and Gloucester counties. It was much more con- venient for New York grantees to secure titles to lands in the valleys of the Battenkill and Otter than in the valleys of the Connecticut River and its tributaries. In the first instance there was no mountain barrier to cross, nor was it necessary to pass through Massa- chusetts, a province in which dwelt many persons finan- cially interested in the New Hampshire Grants. In one portion of this region the inhabitants, smarting under a sense of outrage, had been driven to the point of revo- lution. In the other portion no accumulated grievances had engendered a spirit of hate toward the New York government. The impression should not be gained, however, that entire satisfaction was given by the new county govern- ments of Cumberland and Gloucester. When the former county was first erected in 1766, the act estab- lishing it was vetoed by the King. In 1768 the Gov- ernor and Council reestablished the county, a measure of doubtful validity, and one that some of the people THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 383 feared might call forth a repetition of royal disapproval. It must be remembered that the settlers in these East Side towns were people of New England ideas and train- ing and the New York method of appointing county officers by the Governor and Council was not altogether pleasing to men accustomed to the election of most of their public servants. The county officials were too numerous for a sparsely settled region and the burden of maintenance was heavy. Complaint was made that the jury service was excessive. Large fees were re- quired for a confirmation of New Hampshire land titles. All these matters combined to arouse some friction and dissatisfaction. In the spring of 1770, Joseph Wait, Benjamin Wait (the founder of Waitsfield), Nathan Stone and Samuel Stone, all of Windsor, were arrested on a precept from the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, but they were rescued by a body of armed men. In May of this year, Sheriff Daniel Whipple of Cumberland county, with a posse of twelve or fifteen men, went to Windsor to re- arrest these persons. On the way they met a company variously estimated from twenty-seven to forty persons, armed with guns, swords, pistols and clubs, led by Nathan Stone and Joseph Wait. Refusing to accede to Sheriff Whipple's order to disperse, the rioters over- powered the sheriff's posse, holding its members as prisoners for several hours. A party of about thirty men armed with walnut clubs, and led by Nathan Stone, who carried a sword, entered the court house at Chester, the county seat, on June 5, 1770. Stone, claiming to act in behalf of the public, 384 HISTORY OF VERMONT demanded of the court its right to sit in a judicial capacity, and denied the authority of New York to erect Cumberland county. Stone and his companions also requested that John Grout, who appears to have made himself obnoxious to those not in sympathy with the New York party, be- debarred from the practice of law. This request being denied without the presentation of further evidence, and the confusion and tumult being so great that violence was feared, court was adjourned. The same day two men proceeded to the house of the Clerk of the court, and in the presence of some of the judges took Grout as a prisoner. He was transported to Windsor, where he was detained, an attempt being made to secure his promise not to practice law in the county. After six days of confinement, Grout made his escape. A party of seventy or eighty persons from New Hampshire, on January 27, 1772, crossed the Connec- ticut River to Putney, broke open the door of Jonas Moore's house, and took certain effects of Leonard Spaulding, which had been committed to Moore's keep- ing, Moore having recovered judgment against Spauld- ing. These and other episodes indicated considerable dissatisfaction with the court. Cumberland county was divided into eighteen dis- tricts, and Crean Brush was appointed Clerk and Surro- gate of the county. Brush was a native of Ireland, who had emigrated to New York City. He had been licensed to practice law, and had recently removed to Westmin- ster. Chester not proving altogether satisfactory as a shire town, the supervisors of Cumberland county, on THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 385 May 19, 1772, chose Westminster as the county seat. Westminster, one of the first Vermont towns to be set- tled, was the most populous town in the county when the census of 1771 was taken. The village was situated on a broad plateau overlooking the Connectictit River. A street ten rods in width had been laid out, intended as a training field as well as a roadway and in the middle of the King's Highway, as the street was called, the church had been erected. On the east side of the street, near the church, a court house was built, follow- ing the transfer of the county seat from Chester to Westminster. The building was erected of hewn tim- ber, was about forty feet square, and the gambrel roof was surmounted by a cupola. Double doors were placed at either end of a broad hall, ten or twelve feet in width, which extended through the center of the build- ing. In the north half of the lower story were two rooms used as a jail, and across the hall were a kitchen and barroom, under the supervision of the jailer. The court room occupied the second story, which was an unfinished room, the rough beams remaining exposed to view. This building stood until 1806, when it was taken down. Within its walls was held the convention which declared on January 17, 1777, that the district known as the New Hampshire Grants, "of right ought to be, and is hereby declared forever after to be considered as a separate, free and independent jurisdiction or State." Later in the same year, in the same court house, was held a convention of the friends of New York govern- ment opposed to the formation of a new State. 386 HISTORY OF VERMONT The opposition to British authority which began to manifest itself actively throughout the American colonies in 1774, did not show any noteworthy activity that year in the region west of the Green Mountains, for the very good reason that the controversy with New York was so acute that it attracted the entire attention of the people, although the letters and papers setting forth the claims of the Green Mountain Boys at times breathed a spirit of defiance to Great Britain. Following the formation in New York City, on May 16, 1774, of a committee of correspondence of fifty members, designed to learn the sentiments of the people of the province concerning Great Britain's attitude toward her American colonies, Isaac Low, its chairman, addressed a letter of inquiry to the supervisors of Cum- berland county. According to documents of that period, this letter, "through ignorance or intention," was kept a private matter until September. Rumors of the re- ceipt of this letter began to be "whispered abroad," and reaching the ears of Dr. Reuben Jones of Rockingham, and Capt. Azariah Wright of Westminster, two ardent Whigs, as the opponents of the British policy sometimes were called, they took steps to give the widest possible publicity to the report. As a result a meeting was called in each town, and committees were appointed to wait upon the Supervisors at their September session to inquire as to the truth of the rumor that certain papers had been received that ought to be laid before the towns of the county. The Supervisors made many excuses, "Some plead ignorance, and some one thing and some another." The committee which called upon THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 387 them would not consent that any return should be made to the New York committee until all the towns in the county had received the letter. As a result of the cir- culation of the letter from Mr. Low a county conven- tion was called to meet at Westminster on October 19. A request was made of Col. Thomas Chandler, Town Clerk of Chester, by several inhabitants of that town, ''to call a town meeting to know the minds of the people, whether they are willing to choose a committee to make report to said Committee of Correspondence and whether the people will stand for the privileges of North America or whether they are willing to consent to re- ceive the late acts of Parliament as just or whether they view them as unjust, oppressive and unconstitutional." At a town meeting held in Chester on October 10, five persons were chosen to attend the county convention at Westminster, and the following resolutions were adopted : "That the people of America are naturally intitled to all the priviledges of free born subjects of Great Britain, which priviledges they have never forfeited. "That every man's estate honestly acquired is his own and no person on earth has a right to take it away with- out the proprietor consent unless he forfeit it by some crime of his committing. "That all acts of the British Parliament tending to take away or abridge these rights ought not to be obeyed. "That the people of this town will joyn with their fellow American subjects in opposing in all lawfull ways every incroachment on their natural rights." 388 HISTORY OF VERMONT The Cumberland County Convention met in the court house at Westminster on October 19 and was in session two days. A record of this meeting was pubUshed in Holt's New York Journal in June, 1775, by which it appears that Col. John Hazeltine of Townshend was chosen chairman. Mr. Low's letter, the Boston Port Bill, the act laying a duty on tea, and other acts of the British Parliament were read and debated. A commit- tee consisting of John Grout of Chester, Joshua Webb of Westminster, Dr. Paul Spooner of Hertford (Hart- land), Edward Harris of Halifax and Maj. William Williams of Marlboro, were appointed a committee to consider the subjects debated and report to the meeting. On the second day of the convention the committee reported, stating that the people of Cumberland were "situated here in a corner, at a considerable remove from the populous civilized parts of the country," reviewing the hardships experienced by the pioneers in settling the country, and expressing surprise that by act of Parlia- ment "all Americans are deprived of that great right of calling that their own which they by their industry have honestly acquired." The report further declared that "He who has nothing but what another has power at pleasure lawfully to take away from, has nothing that he can call his own, and is, in the fullest sense of the word, a slave — a slave to him who has such power." Resolutions were prepared, declaring, "That as true and loyal subjects of our gracious Sovereign, King George the Third of Great Britain, &c., we will spend our lives and fortunes in his service." THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 389 "That as we will defend our King while he reigns over us, his subjects, and wish his reign may be long and glorious, so we will defend our just rights as British subjects against every power that shall attempt to de- prive us of them, while breath is in our nostrils, and blood in our veins. "That considering the late acts of the British Parlia- ment for blocking up the port of Boston, &c., which we view as arbitrary and unjust, inasmuch as the Parlia- ment have sentenced them unheard, and dispensed with all the modes of law and justice which we think neces- sary to distinguish between lawfully obtaining right for property injured, and arbitrarily enforcing to comply with their will, (be it right or wrong) we resolve to assist the people of Boston in the defence of their liber- ties to the utmost of our abilities. "Sensible that the strength of our opposition to the late acts consists in a uniform, manly, steady and deter- mined mode of procedure, we will bear testimony against and discourage all riotous, tumultuous and unnecessary mobs which tend to injure the persons or properties of harmless individuals; but endeavor to treat those per- sons whose abominable principles and actions show them to be enemies to American liberty, as loathsome animals not fit to be touched or to have any society or connection with." The New York Committee of Correspondence was thanked "for the notice they have taken of this infant colony," and the chairman was directed to forward to Isaac Low of New York the resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, with an explanation of the delay 390 HISTORY OF VERMONT in replying to his letter. A committee was chosen to correspond with other committees of correspondence "of this province and elsewhere," consisting of Joshua Webb, John Grout, John Sessions of Westminster, Maj. William Williams and Capt. Jacob (Joab) Hoisington of Woodstock. Lieut. Leonard Spalding of Dummerston was ar- rested on October 28, on a charge of high treason, and after being overpowered by a posse of three or four men was committed to jail at Westminster. In the "Relation" prepared by a committee of which Dr. Reuben Jones was clerk, dealing with the Westminster Massacre, it is stated that "one man they put into close prison for high treason ; and all that they proved against him was that he said if the King had signed the Quebec bill, it was his opinion that he had broke his coronation oath." The Quebec bill established the laws of France, abolished trial by jury, denied the right of assembly and established the Catholic religion. Among those respon- sible for the arrest of Spalding were Sheriff William Paterson, Crean Brush, Noah Sabin, and others. On the day following the arrest a majority of the people of Dummerston, or Fulham, as it was called at that time, met on the green and chose a committee of correspondence consisting of Solomon Harvey, John Butler, Jonathan Knight, Josiah Boyden and Daniel Gates, "to joyne with other towns or respectable bodies of people, the better to secure and protect the rights and privileges of themselves and fellow creatures from the ravages and imbarrassments of the British tyrant and his New York and other immesaries." Being THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 391 assisted by "a large concourse of their freeborn neigh- bors and bretherin" of Putney, Guilford, Halifax and Draper (Wilmington), the people of Dummerston for- cibly released Lieutenant Spalding, after he had been imprisoned eleven days. Dr. Solomon Harvey, one of the Whig leaders, was Town Clerk of Dummerston, at this time, and he entered upon the town records a de- scription of the episode, which leaves no doubt regard- ing the sympathies of the writer, which declares that, "The plain truth is, that the brave sons of freedom whose patience was worn out with the inhuman insults of the imps of power, grew quite sick of diving after redress in a legal way, and finding that the law was only made use of for the emolument of its creatures the immesaries of the British tyrant, resolved upon an easyer method, and accordingly opened the goal (jail) without key or lockpicker, and after congratulating Mr. Spalding upon the recovery of his freedom, dispersed every man in peace to his respective home or place of abode. The afforgoing is a true and short relation of that wicked affair of the New York, cut throatly, Jacobitish, high church, Toretical minions of George the Third, the Pope of Canada and tyrant of Britain." If the zealous doctor was as resourceful in his choice of remedies as he was in the selection of epithets, he must have been a very skilful practitioner. John Hazeltine, chairman of the first Cumberland County Convention, on November 13, issued a call for a second convention to be held at Westminster, notices being sent to the various towns of the county. At a meeting held at Chester on November 28, two delegates 392 HISTORY OF VERMONT were elected and were instructed to endeavor to procure from the convention a vote of thanks to the Continental Congress "for their good services." They were also directed to try to secure the adoption of instructions to their representatives in the New York Legislature, Crean Brush and Samuel Wells, to favor choosing deputies to attend the Colonial Congress to be held in Philadelphia the following May. On the same day a meeting was held in Dummerston, which voted that the town be assessed "in a discretionary sum of money, sufficient to procure 100 weight of gunpowder, 200 weight of lead, & 300 flints, for the town use." This tax was to be paid in potash salts. A Congress, which was composed of delegates from twelve American colonies, had assembled at Philadelphia in September, 1774, and had voted to suspend commer- cial relations with Great Britain until certain offensive acts of Parliament were repealed. An association was formed which delegates joined, and it was recommended that all the colonies adopt the articles of agreement, one article being a pledge to have no dealings or intercourse with any colony in North America which should not accede to the articles of association. This agreement was adopted by all the colonies but New York, in which a Tory majority controlled the Legislature. The second Cumberland County Convention was held at Westminster on November 30, and according to a report made by Dr. Reuben Jones all the resolves of the Continental Congress were adopted, the delegates agree- ing "religiously to adhere to the non-importation, non- consumption, non-exportation policy agreed upon at THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 393 Philadelphia, also to have no dealings with any Ameri- can province that failed to accede to, or violated, such agreement or association." A motion was made to appoint a committee of inspection, "to observe the con- duct of all persons" in regard to the resolutions of the Continental Congress. Objection was made, it is said, by a justice and an attorney, probably by Justice Samuel Wells of Brattleboro, and John Grout, a Chester attor- ney; and the appointment of such a committee being "much spoken against," according to Doctor Jones' re- port, "and looked upon by them as a childish, imperti- nent thing, the delegates dare not choose one." The people of Dummerston decided that they would have a committee of inspection, and at town meeting a com- mittee of seven men was chosen, headed by Dr. Solo- mon Harvey. This committee removed two of the town assessors from office, and disarmed one man who was suspected of being a Tory. Col. John Hazeltine sent out a call, on January 30, 1775, for a third Cumberland County Convention, to be held at Westminster on February 7. On that date dele- gates from twelve towns assembled, and Colonel Hazel- tine once more was elected chairman. The committee was in session three days. A committee of correspond- ence representing twenty-one towns was chosen, to be kept informed of the proceedings of the friends of lib- erty in the colonies. This committee consisted of rep- resentatives from Westminster, Putney, Dummerston, Brattleboro, Guilford, Hinsdale (Vernon), Halifax, Marlboro, Draper (Wilmington), Newfane, Town- shend, Kent (Londonderry), Chester, Rockingham, 394 HISTORY OF VERMONT Springfield, Weathersfield, Windsor, Hertford (Hart- land), Hartford, Woodstock and Pomfret. Dr. Paul Spooner of Hertford, Joshua Webb and Abijah Lovejoy of Westminster, Dr. Solomon Harvey of Dummerston and Capt. Francis Whitmore of Marlboro were ap- pointed monitors to the committee of correspondence. At this convention a protest to the New York Legis- lature was authorized, objecting to the "great expense and heavy burdens" imposed by the additional courts lately established. Mention was made of the incon- venience of calling from home at each quarterly session of court more than seventy farmers to act as grand and petit jurors, their compensation being insufficient to pay their expenses. Complaint was made concern- ing the wages of the county members of the Legislature, and the excessive fees charged by attorneys, which were declared to be "very burthensome and grievous." The petitioners asked for fewer terms of court, a smaller number of jurors, smaller court fees, and other reforms. It will be seen from the reports of these Westminster conventions, and the action of individual towns, that the people of Cumberland county were generally in hearty sympathy with the American colonies in their opposition to the colonial policy of Great Britain. New York, however, had refused to unite with the other American colonies, in the non-importation agreement, and this fact, together with the sympathy shown by New York officials for the British Government, made the rule of the province irksome to many of the towns in the Connecticut valley. The Cumberland county court officials, chosen by the New York Legislature, were THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 395 known to be in sympathy with the British policy rather than that of the Continental Congress. This fact, to- gether with the growing dissatisfaction with the burden imposed by the sessions of the courts, led to a movement to prevent the holding of the court. In the report, or "Relation" prepared by the commit- tee of which Dr. Reuben Jones was clerk, to which ref- erence already has been made, it was stated that, "Some of our court would boldly say that the King had a just right to make the revenue acts, for he had a supreme power; and he that said otherwise were guilty of high treason, and they did hope that they would be executed accordingly. The people were of opinion that such men were not suitable to rule over them: and, as the General Assembly of this province would not accede to the association of the Continental Congress, the good people were of opinion that if they did accede to any power from or under them, they would be guilty of the breach of the 14th article of that association, and may justly be dealt with, accordingly, by all America. When the good people considered that the General Assembly were for bringing them into a state of slavery, (which did appear plain by their not acceding to the best method to procure their liberties, and the executive power so strongly acquiescing in all that they did, whether it was right or wrong;) the good people of said county thought it time to look to themselves. And they thought that it was dangerous to trust their lives and fortunes in the hands of such enemies to American liberty; but more particularly unreasonable that there should be any court held; since, thereby, we must accede to what our Gen- 396 HISTORY OF VERMONT eral Assembly had done, in not acceding to what the whole continent had recommended ; and that all America would break off all dealings and commerce with us, and bring us into a state of slavery at once. Therefore in duty to God, ourselves, and posterity, we thought our- selves under the strongest obligations to resist and to oppose all authority that would not accede to the re- solves of the Continental Congress. But knowing that many of our court were men that neither feared or re- garded men, we thought that it was most prudent to go and persuade the judges to stay at home." Acting in accordance with this policy about forty ''good true men" went from Rockingham to Chester on March 10 to urge Col. Thomas Chandler, the Chief Judge, not to attend court. Judge Chandler agreed that under existing conditions it would be for the good of the county not to hold a session of court at that time. He declared, however, that there was one murder case that must receive attention, but if the people objected to further court business no other cases would be heard. One member of the party expressed the opinion that Sheriff Paterson would bring armed men to Westmin- ster, and that there would be bloodshed, but Judge Chandler gave his word of honor that no arms should be brought against the people of the county. He agreed to go to the county seat on March 13, and the visiting delegation informed him that they would wait on him at that time if he had no objection. He informed them that their company would be very agreeable and thanked them for their civility, as they took their departure. THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 397 There was much discussion among the Whigs regard- ing the best method of preventing a session of the court. It was understood that Judge Noah Sabin, one of the Associate Judges, and many of the minor court officers were strongly of the opinion that court should be opened as usual. One of the Judges, Col. Samuel Wells, was attending the New York Legislature as one of the mem- bers from Cumberland county. It was finally agreed by the Whigs that the court should be permitted to assemble, when reasons should be presented showing why a session ought not to be held. A report having reached Westminster on March 10 to the effect that the court would take possession of the court house March 13, post a strong guard at the doors, and prevent the opponents of the court party from entering, it was deter- mined to take possession of the court house before armed guards were stationed, "being justly alarmed by the deceit of our court," as a contemporary record says, and "determined that our grievances should be laid be- fore the court before it was opened." Williams in his "History of Vermont," written less than twenty years after this period, said that at that time "the courts of justice which were held under the royal authority in all the adjacent provinces were either shut up or adjourned without doing any business." As it became evident that a determined effort would be made to hold court, preparations were made by both par- ties to bring men to Westminster. On Sunday, March 12, Sheriff Paterson went to Brattleboro and persuaded about twenty-five men to accompany him to Westmin- ster the following day to aid in preserving the peace and 398 HISTORY OF VERMONT suppressing any tumult that might arise. The members of this party carried only clubs as weapons, but they were joined by others on the way, including fourteen men with muskets. On the afternoon of the same day that the Brattle- boro party arrived, a party of Whigs came from Rock- ingham. Calling at the home of Capt. Azariah Wright, they found the house too small to accommodate them, and adjourned to the log school house across the street to consult as to the best manner to prevent the court from sitting. Arming themselves with clubs from Cap- tain Wright's woodpile, they proceeded toward the court house, being joined on the route by some of the people of Westminster, similarly armed. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when this party, numbering approximately one hundred men, en- tered the court house with the intention of holding it until the court came in the following morning, in order to forestall what was supposed to be the plan of the Tory party, to take possession of the building and prevent the Whigs from laying their grievances before the Judges. Very soon after they had entered, about five o'clock, according to a statement of the Judges, Sheriff Pater son, at the head of a company of about sixty men, armed with guns, pistols, swords and stones, appeared before the court house, and halting about five yards from the door, he ordered the men assembled within that edifice to disperse. No answer being made the Sheriff read the King's proclamation in a loud voice, and with an oath declared that if they did not disperse in fifteen minutes he would ''blow a lane" through them. Demanding en- THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 399 trance to the court house, he was refused "with threats and menaces," according- to the statement of the Tory- party. While refusing to disperse, the occupants of the court house informed the Sheriff's posse that they might enter if they would disarm, but not otherwise. One of the Whig party went to the door and asked the men assembled outside if they had come for war, assuring them that he and his associates desired peace, and would be glad to hold a parley with them. Samuel Gale, clerk of the court, thereupon drew a pistol, and holding it up exclaimed: "Damn the parley with such damned ras- cals as you are ; I will hold no parley with such damned rascals but by this," flourishing his weapon. Others of the Sheriff's party used harsh language, and volun- teered the cheerful information that the Whigs assem- bled in the court house "would be in hell before morn- ing." After a little the Sheriff's posse withdrew a short distance and held a consultation. Three of the occupants of the court house at this time went out and endeavored to treat with their opponents, but the only response made was that they would not talk with "such damned rascals," and the court party soon withdrew. Judge Chandler came into the court house about seven o'clock in the evening, and he was asked if he and Judge Sabin would consult with a committee in regard to the expediency of convening court the following day. Judge Chandler said he could not discuss "whether His Majesty's business should be done or not, but that if they felt themselves aggrieved, and would apply to them in a proper way, they would give them redress if it was in their power." Being reminded that he had promised 400 HISTORY OF VERMONT that no arms should be brought, Judge Chandler replied that they were brought without his consent, that he would take them away, that the Whigs might remain in the court house undisturbed until morning, when the court would come in, without arms, and hear such griev- ances as might be presented. The Judge then with- drew. The Whigs went out of the court house, chose a committee to draw up a list of subjects to be brought to the attention of the court in the morning, and after the report was read it was adopted without opposition. Relying on the promise that they would not be disturbed during the night in possession of the court house, a con- siderable number of them went to their homes or to neighboring houses for the night, leaving a guard in the county building. Sheriff Paterson, meanwhile, assembled as many Tory sympathizers as possible, Norton's tavern, the inn patronized by the Royalist party, being the rallying place. Here they discussed the action of the "rebels," and drank deeply, it is said, of John Norton's liquors. Leaving the town in small parties, and proceeding stealthily, they arrived at the court house about eleven o'clock at night. The sentry at the door gave the alarm and the guard manned the doors. Dr. Reuben Jones, one of the Whig party participat- ing in the affair, in his "Relation" of the proceedings, describes the episode as follows : "Immediately the Sheriff and his company marched up fast, within about ten rods of the door, and then the word was given, take care and then fire. Three fired immediately. The word fire was repeated. 'God damn ^ 1^ T^ ^w > o U O -? -'ill''' THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 401 you, fire' ; 'send them to hell,' was most or all the words that were to be heard for some time; on which there were several men wounded. One was shot with four bullets, one of which went through his brain, of which wound he died next day. Then they rushed in with their gims, swords and clubs, and did most cruelly mammoc several more; and took some that were not wounded, and those that were, and crowded them all into close prison together, and told them that they should all be in hell before the next night, and that they did wish that there were forty more in the same case with that dying man. When they put him into prison, they took and dragged him as one would a dog; and would mock him as he lay gasping, and make sport for them- selves at his dying motions." In a statement, entitled "A State of the Facts," pre- pared by the Judges and court officials on the day follow- ing this contest, it was declared regarding the night attack that the Sheriff "brought the said posse before the court house again, and then again demanded en- trance in His Majesty's name, but was again refused in like manner as before. Whereupon he told them that he would absolutely enter it, either quietly, or by force, and commanded the posse to follow close to him, which they accordingly did, and getting near the door he was struck several blows with clubs, which he had the good- ness in general to fend off, so far at least as not to receive any very great damage, but several of the clubs striking him as he was going up the steps, and the rioters persist- ing in maintaining their ground, he ordered some of the posse to fire, which they accordingly did. The riot- 402 HISTORY OF VERMONT ers then fought violently with their clubs and fired some few fire arms at the posse, by which Mr. Justice Butter- field received a slight shot in the arm, and another of the posse received a slight shot in the head with pistol bullets; but happily none of the posse were mortally wounded. Two persons of the rioters were dangerously wounded (one of whom is since dead) and several others of the rioters were also wounded, but not dangerously so. Eight of the rioters were taken prisoners (includ- ing the one which is since dead) and the wounded were taken care of by Doct. Day, Doct. Hill and Doct. Chase, the latter of which was immediately sent for on purpose. The rest of the rioters dispersed, giving out threats that they would collect all the force possible and would re- turn as on this day to revenge themselves on the Sheriflf and on several others of the posse." As a result of this conflict, William French of Brat- tleboro, shot with five bullets, died in jail before the morning of March 14 had dawned, while his captors, served with liquor by Pollard Whipple, who acted in the dual capacity of jailer and bartender, mocked and jeered at the sufferings of the dying man. Daniel Houghton of Dummerston was mortally wounded, and died nine days later. Most of the wounded were taken to the home of Capt. Azariah Wright. Among the most seriously injured were Jonathan Knight of Dum- merston, shot in the right shoulder with a charge of buckshot, a man named White of Rockingham, who was seriously w^ounded by a bullet in one knee, and Philip Safford of Rockingham, who received several sabre cuts on the head inflicted by Sheriff Paterson. THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 403 On Tuesday morning, March 14, the Judges opened court at the appointed hour, although great excitement prevailed in the town, but the only business transacted was the preparation of a statement regarding the mur- derous affair of the night previous, which was signed by Judges Thomas Chandler and Noah Sabin, Assistant Justices Stephen Greenleaf and Benjamin Butterfield, Justice of the Peace Bildad Andrews and Samuel Gale, Clerk of the court. Adjournment was taken to three o'clock in the afternoon at which time another adjourn- ment was taken, this time to the second Tuesday in June. No doubt the Cumberland county court expected the tumult to subside before the time should come for the summer term to convene, but before two months had passed new conditions had arisen in America which put an end to His Majesty's judicial system in a region much more extensive than that embraced in the county of Cumberland. Immediately after this affray, known as the West- minster Massacre, messengers were sent out in every direction to carry the news and to summon aid. The militant Dr. Reuben Jones rode bareheaded to Dummer- ston. By Tuesday noon, March 14, more than four hun- dred armed men had assembled in the broad street of Westminster, nearly two hundred of them coming from New Hampshire. Capt. Azariah Wright had called out the militia of Westminster, Capt. Stephen Sargent led his company from Rockingham, Capt. Benjamin Bellows brought his company from Walpole, and others came from Guilford. With the arrival of this force the Whigs were able to release from the jail their associates 404 HISTORY OF VERMONT placed under arrest when the court house was taken, and the Judges, other court officials and adherents of the Tory party were placed under arrest, being confined in the court room with a strong guard. This chamber showed plainly the nature of the conflict that had taken place the night before. There were blood stains in the hall and on the stairs, and the timbers showed the marks of the bullets that had been fired. Visitors were per- mitted to come in, four or five at a time, to observe the imprisoned court officials. As the Whigs continued to gather, their indignation increased. Some advocated pulling down or burning the court house. Others demanded that the Judges be brought out and compelled to "make acknowledgment to their satisfaction." Only the firmness of Captain Bel- lows, a man of great influence and strength of character, prevented the adoption of violent measures. On Wed- nesday morning, March 15, Dr. Solomon Harvey of Dummerston arrived with a considerable number of men, and with four of Sheriff Paterson's posse, who had been captured as they were going home. Accord- ing to an account printed in Holt's Nezv York Journal, ''The roads and passages were guarded with armed men, who indiscriminately laid hold of all passengers against whom any of the party intimated the least sus- picion, and the mob, stimulated by their leaders to the utmost fury and revenge, breathed nothing but blood and slaughter against the unfortunate persons in their power." A coroner's inquest was held on Wednesday to deter- mine the cause of the death of William French, and it THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 405 was reported ''that on the thirteenth day of March instant, WilHam Paterson Esq., Mark Langdon, Chris- topher Orsgood, Benjamin Gorton, Samuel Night and others unknown to them, assisting with force and arms, made an assault on the body of the said Wm. French and shot him through the head with a bullet, of which wound he died, and not otherwise." On Wednesday evening, Capt. Robert Cochran arrived from Bennington with a band of about forty Green Mountain Boys, fully armed. As the party marched up the street Cochran asked those whom he supposed to be Tories, why they did not take him and obtain the reward of fifty pounds offered by Governor Tryon for his appre- hension. He declared loudly his intention of seizing some of the men who had aided Sheriff Paterson, and with a zeal greater than his knowledge of Scripture he an- nounced his purpose to ascertain "who was for the Lord and who was for Balaam." On Thursday morning, March 16, there had assembled "five hundred good martial soldiers, well equipped for war," to quote again from Dr. Reuben Jones' "Relation." Others had assembled who were in sympathy with the Whigs, but were unarmed. Some of this company were from Massachusetts. The num- ber assembled being so great, it was determined to appoint a large committee, a part of which was made up of persons not residing in Cumberland county. This committee examined the persons accused of responsi- bility for the massacre, so-called, and decided that they should be confined in the Northampton, Mass., jail until a fair trial could be secured. Others less guilty were 406 HISTORY OF VERMONT compelled to give bonds with security to John Hazeltine, to appear at the next court of oyer and terminer and were then released. Judge Thomas Chandler, Deputy Sheriff Beldad Easton, Capt. Benjamin Burt, Thomas Sergeant, Oliver Wells, Joseph Willard and John Morse, were released on March 17, after giving bonds to appear at the time appointed for trial. Judge Noah Sabin, Assistant Justice Benjamin Butterfield, Justice of the Peace William Willard, Sheriff William Paterson, Deputy Sheriff Richard Hill, Clerk Samuel Gale, Wil- liam Williams, and a man named Cunningham were ordered to be confined in the jail at Northampton, Mass. No charges were found against Thomas Ellis, and he was released. The prisoners were taken to North- ampton, on Sunday, March 19, guarded by twenty-five men commanded by Capt. Robert Cochran, and by an equal number under command of Captain Butterfield of New Hampshire. The prisoners were committed to jail on March 23 and were confined there about two weeks. A writ of habeas corpus issued by Chief Justice Hors- manden permitted their removal to New York, where they were released without being brought into court for trial. Two messengers sent from Brattleboro with news of the conflict at Westminster arrived at New York on March 21, and informed the Cumberland county mem- bers of the Legislature, Col. Samuel Wells and Crean Brush, what had occurred. Governor Colden sum- moned his Council and the depositions of the messengers, Oliver Church of Brattleboro and Joseph Hancock of Hopkinton, Mass., were taken. These depositions THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 407 together with a message from Governor Golden, dealing with "the dangerous state of anarchy and confusion which has lately arisen in Cumberland county," were sent to the Legislature on March 23. One week later, on March 30, by a vote of fourteen to nine, in committee of the whole house, it was advised that provision should be made "to enable the inhabitants of the county of Cum- berland to reinstate and maintain the due administration of justice in that county, and for the suppression of riots." The regular sessions having been resumed, on motion of Crean Brush, and after an exciting debate, the sum of one thousand pounds was appropriated, by a vote of twelve to ten, "to be applied for the purposes enumerated in the report." The funeral of William French, the first victim of the Westminster Massacre, was held on March 15, fol- lowing the coroner's inquest. It was attended by the militia of the surrounding country and this young man of twenty-two was buried with military honors in the Westminster burial ground, near the spot where the body of the other victim of the Massacre, Daniel Houghton, was to be laid a few days later. Over the grave of William French was erected a stone bearing the following inscription : "In Memory of William French Son to Mr. Nathaniel French Who Was Shot at Westminster March ye 13th 1775 by the hands of Cruel Ministerial tools of George Ye 3d in the Corthouse at 1 1 o'clock at Night in the 22d year of His Age. 408 HISTORY OF VERMONT "Here William French his Body lies For Murder his blood for vengance cries King Georg the third his Tory crew tha with a bawl his head Shot threw For Liberty and his Countrys Good he lost his Life his Dearest blood." In one corner of the old gravestone was a bit of lead, supposed to be one of the bullets which entered French's body. In 1877, on the occasion of the centennial of Ver- mont independence, measures were taken for the erec- tion of a monument over the grave of William French. On September 17, 1902, a granite boulder, on which had been placed a bronze marker, was dedicated on the site of the old court house, by the Brattleboro Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. One of the points in dispute regarding the Westmin- ster Massacre has to do with the weapons used by the Whigs. Dr. Reuben Jones, in his "Relation," says that when the Tories first approached the court house on the afternoon of March 13, that "we in the house had not any weapons of war among us, and were determined that they (the Tories) should not come in with their weapons of war except by the force of them." In the statement prepared by Judge Chandler and his asso- ciates, it was asserted that "the rioters" fired "some few fire arms at the posse." In preparing his "History of Eastern Vermont," B. H. Hall made a thorough investi- gation of this matter. Theophilus Crawford testified that the Whigs had not "so much as a pistol among them," and related that one or two persons on the way THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 409 to Westminster were obliged to lay aside the weapons they carried. Azariah Wright, a grandson of Capt. Azariah Wright, informed Mr. Hall that "there were no arms carried by the Liberty party except clubs which were obtained by the Rockingham company at my grand- father's woodpile," having obtained this information from Solomon Wright, his father, a boy of twelve or thirteen years at the time of the Westminster Massacre. The affair at Westminster, in its inception and in its execution, clearly foreshadowed the long struggle for independence, so soon to begin. Only grievances so serious that no remedy was left save revolution would justify a forcible interference with the holding of the courts. There is no reason to doubt that the people of Cumberland county had just cause to be dissatisfied with the judicial system provided by the royal province of New York; but local grievances were overshadowed by the larger issues which had stirred the American Colo- nies so deeply, and it is probable that the oppressive acts of the British Parliament had as much to do with arousing the militant spirit of the men of Cumberland county, who took possession of the court house at West- minster on that March afternoon in 1775, as did abuses in the local administration of justice. The result of the shots fired by Sheriff Paterson's posse in the midnight contest for the possession of this frontier court house speedily became apparent. The rapidity with which armed men poured into Westminster from every quarter, eager to wreak vengeance upon court officials and their partisans, has been likened to a gathering of the Scottish clans. It represented a re- 410 HISTORY OF VERMONT markably efficient mobilization for a sparsely settled country, with few roads. Among the developments arising from the Westminster Massacre were the prac- tical ending of New York rule in Cumberland county, a closer union of the eastern and western settlements of the New Hampshire Grants, and the deepening and intensifying of popular hostility to British rule which was to blaze forth at Lexington less than five weeks later. It has been asserted that the deaths of William French and Daniel Houghton at Westminster constituted the first bloodshed of the American Revolution, but the facts hardly seem to warrant this claim. Of its importance, there can be no doubt. It represented deep-seated hos- tility to the New York provincial government, and to British authority, but it was not war in the sense in which the conflicts between armed American citizens and British troops at Lexington and Concord demand the use of that term. It may be classed more properly with the Boston Massacre of 1770 than with the battles of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, being one of a series of events that almost inevitably led to war, and must be classed with the preliminary events of that great conflict. The uprising at Westminster against the authority of the province and the Crown was approved generally throughout Cumberland county, and in some of the larger towns public meetings were held to express this sentiment. Although the people of Guilford had voted their willingness to remain subject to the laws of New York, they directed the local Committee of Safety to THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 411 decide whether those who held commissions from Gov- ernor Tryon should retain or resign them. Evidently popular opinion was changing at this time, for on April 7 the town voted, ''That we recommend to all those persons in this town who have received commissions under Governor Tryon, that they resign said commis- sions, or erase their names out of a certain covenant, signed by the body of the people, to mitigate or soften the minds of the people." A meeting of committees representing the people of Cumberland and Gloucester counties was held at West- minster on April 11. Maj. Abijah Lovejoy of that town was chosen as the presiding officer and Dr. Reuben Jones of Rockingham was elected clerk. The following resolutions were adopted: "Voted as our opinion. That our inhabitants are in great danger of having their property unjustly, cruelly and unconstitutionally taken from them by the arbitrary and designing administration of the government of New York; sundry instances having already taken place. "Voted, as our opinion. That the lives of those in- habitants are in the utmost hazard and imminent danger, under the present administration. Witness the mali- cious and horrid massacre of the 13th ult. "Voted, as our opinion. That it is the duty of said inhabitants, as predicated on the eternal and immutable law of self-preservation, to wholly renounce and resist the administration of the government of New York, till such times as the lives and property of those inhabitants may be secured by it ; or till such time as they can have opportunity to lay their grievances before His most 412 HISTORY OF VERMONT gracious Majesty in Council, together with a proper remonstrance against the unjustifiable conduct of that government; with a humble petition, to be taken out of so oppressive a jurisdiction, and, either annexed to some other government, or erected and incorporated into a new one, as may appear best to the said inhabitants, to the royal wisdom and clemency, and to such time as His Majesty shall settle this controversy. "Voted. That Colonel John Hazeltine, Charles Phelps, Esq., and Colonel Ethan Allen be a committee to prepare such remonstrance and petition for the pur- pose aforesaid." Evidently the people of Cumberland and Gloucester counties had reached the point where they desired, either to be annexed to New Hampshire, or were ready to join the inhabitants west of the Green Mountains in forming the new province, of which Colonel Skene hoped to be made Governor. The new note of hostility to the New York Government, and the choice of Ethan Allen, who had shown no little ability in penning remonstrances, to aid in preparing a petition to the British Government praying for relief from the irksome rule of New York, shows how the Westminster Massacre was bringing to- gether in sentiment the eastern and western portions of the New Hampshire Grants. Delegates from nine New York counties assembled in New York City on May 23, 1775, and organized a Pro- vincial Congress. On the following day John Williams and William Marsh appeared as delegates from Char- lotte county, and were admitted. They represented two towns now included in New York, and the towns of THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 413 Arlington, Manchester, Dorset, Rupert, Pawlet and Wells, now in Vermont. It is a noteworthy fact that this is one of the few instances when the towns west of the Green Mountains were represented in any New York assembly. Dr. John Williams, however, was a resident of White Creek, N. Y., and William Marsh afterward became a Tory and his property was confiscated, so that this region was not represented by the men who usually acted and spoke in its behalf. Cumberland county did not receive notice of the pro- vincial Congress in time to send delegates, and on June 6 a county Congress assembled at Westminster, which the records call "a full meeting." John Hazeltine was chairman of the Congress and of the Committee of Cor- respondence. The object of the meeting was said to be "that the sense of the people in said county of Cum- berland should be fully known with regard to the hostile measures that are using by the British Parliament to enforce the late cruel, unjust, and oppressive acts of the said British Parliament through the British colonies in America." Resolutions were adopted as follows: "That the late acts of the British Parliament passed in order to raise a revenue in America are unjust, illegal and diametrically opposite to the Bill of Rights, and a fundamental principle of the British Constitution, which is, 'that no person shall have his property taken from him without his consent'. "That we will resist and oppose the said acts of Par- liament, in conjunction with our brethren in America, at the expense of our lives and fortunes, to the last 414 HISTORY OF VERMONT extremity, if our duty to God and our country require the same. "That we think it needless to pass many resolves exhibiting our sentiments with regard to the unhappy controversy subsisting between Great Britain and America. Let it suffice therefore, that we fully acquiesce with what our brethren have lately done at New York, in their late association; and it is hereby re- solved that the late association entered into at New York is perfectly agreeable to the sentiments of the free holders and inhabitants of this county, and that they fully acquiesce in the same. "That this county is at present in a very broken situa- tion with regard to the civil authority. We therefore sincerely desire that the advice of the honorable Con- gress may be by our delegates transmitted to us, where- by some order and regularity may be established among us. We therefore should take it as a favor if the honor- able Congress would particularly recommend to us in this county some measures to be pursued by us, the in- habitants of the same; for we are persuaded their advice would have great weight to influence our people univer- sally to pursue such measures as would tend to the peace, safety, and good order of this county for the future. "That we, the inhabitants of this county, are at pres- ent in an extremely defenceless state with regard to arms and ammunition. We sincerely desire the honor- able Provincial Congress would consider us in this re- spect and from their generosity and goodness would do what in them lies for our relief in the premises. We THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 415 have many brave soldiers, but, unhappily for us, we have nothing to fight with." The boldness and determination shown in these reso- lutions are proof that in no part of America was the opposition to British oppression stronger than in the New Hampshire Grants. It is not easy to determine the number of men who went to Boston from towns now included in Vermont, as soon as the news of the battle of Lexington was re- ceived, but it is a matter of record that several volun- teered their services. Wells' "History of Newbury" says that on the evening of the day on which the news of the battle of Lexington reached that town, Nehemiah Lovewell, Peter Johnson and Silas Chamberlin started for the seat of w^ar. Messengers brought the news of the battle to Rockingham, and parties of volunteers hurried to Lexington and Cambridge, Mass., some on foot and some on horseback. Men on both sides of the Connecticut River were organized in a New Hampshire regiment, which was commanded by Col. James Reed. This regiment constituted a part of the force that held the rail fence at the battle of Bunker Hill. A company of Liberty men had been organized at Rockingham, with Stephen Sargent as captain, some time between the years 1768 and 1774. Benjamin Everest of Addison repaired to Ethan Allen's headquarters as soon as the news of the battle of Lexington was received. Several of the young men of Marlboro, among them Jonathan Warner and Nathaniel Whitney, started for the scene of the con- flict as soon as the news from Lexington was received, and it is probable that similar conditions prevailed in 416 HISTORY OF VERMONT many other Vermont towns, which have not been made a matter of record. Mr. King of Brattleboro and his two sons, William and Gushing King, while hoeing corn, heard the news of the battle of Bunker Hill two days after it occurred. They stopped work, leaned their hoes against a stump, went to Boston and enlisted in the American army. These men served through the war and returned seven years later to find their hoes where they had left them in the summer of 1775. The first settlers of Jamaica claimed that they heard the sound of the can- non fired at Bunker Hill. It is known that on July 12, 1775, seven men from Townshend were serving under General Washington at Roxbury, Mass. At a town meeting, held at Marlboro, May 22, 1775, to consider the impending war with Great Britain, the following resolutions were adopted : "Resolved, we will, each of us, at the expense of our lives and fortunes, to the last extremity, unite and oppose the last cruel, unjust and arbitrary acts of the British Parliament passed for the sole purpose of raising a revenue. "Resolved, we will be contented and subject to the Hon. Gontinental Congress in all things which they shall resolve, for the peace, safety and welfare of the Ameri- can Colonies." At a town meeting held in Mooretown, later known as Bradford, May 1, 1775, it was voted "to raise a town stock to be kept in the treasury, one pound of powder and a dozen flints, to each man in said town of Moore- town, from 16 years to 80." THE WESTMINSTER MASSACRE 417 A meeting of freemen, freeholders and inhabitants of the city and county of New York, was held April 29, 1775, shortly after the battle of Lexington, and the following declaration or "general association," (in which Bennington is inserted), was adopted and was trans- mitted for signatures to all the counties of the province: "Persuaded that the Salvation of the rights and liber- ties of America deposed under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants, in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its safety and convinced of the necessity of preventing the anarchy and confusion which attend a dissolution of the Powers of Government, we the free- holders and inhabitants of the town of Bennington, on the New Hampshire Grants in the County of Albany and province of N. York being Greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene now acting in the Massachusetts bay do in the most solemn manner resolve never to bee Slaves; and do associate under all the ties of religion, honour and love to our Country do adopt, and endeavor to carry into execution whatever Measures may be recommended by the Continental Con- gress or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention for of preserving our Constitution and opposing the execu- tion of Several Arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great Britain and America on Constitutional principles, which we most ardently desire can be obtained; and that we will in all things follow the advice of our general Com- mittee Respecting the Purposes aforesaid, the preserva- 418 HISTORY OF VERMONT tion of Peace and Good order, and the Safety of individ- uals and Private Property." There are records showing that the document was signed in several towns in what is now the State of Vermont, and presumably it was signed in other towns concerning which no record now exists. The Force Archives contain a list of twenty-one sign- ers in Weathersfield, and in that town three persons refused to sign. There were fifty-one signers in Spring- field and the same number in Townshend, this number being all the men in town on July 12, 1775. The orig- inal copy of this "association" signed by thirty-eight men of Bennington, is one of the prized possessions of the Vermont Historical Society. Chapter XIII THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA HOSTILITY to British authority in New England during the spring of 1775 was not confined to the passage of resolutions, but rather showed itself in a series of aggressive acts. The Massachusetts Congress adopted a resolution on February 15, 1775, directing a Committee to open correspondence with the Canadians and northern Indians in the hope of keeping them neutral in the impending contest. John Brown, of Pittsfield, Mass., was chosen an agent to proceed to Canada on this business, and he was provided with the necessary letters and documents, signed by Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren. He was ordered to "estab- lish a reliable means of communication through the Grants." Late in February he set out on his errand, going first to Albany, N. Y., and thence to Lake Cham- plain. Brown secured as guides Peleg Sunderland, one of the active leaders of the Green Mountain Boys, a veteran hunter, acquainted with the St. Francis Indians and their language; also Winthrop Hoyt, for many years a captive in the Caughnawaga country. The journey was exceedingly difficult. The ice in Lake Champlain had broken up early that year. The lake and its tributary streams were swollen, and much of the sur- rounding country was flooded. Attempting to make the trip in a boat, the craft was driven against an island, where the party was frozen in for two days. The Indians and Canadians were reached, at last, and were found to be well disposed toward their New England neighbors. 422 HISTORY OF VERMONT While in Montreal, Brown wrote to Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren, of the Boston committee of corre- spondence, under date of March 24, in part as follows : "One thing I must mention to be kept a profound secret. The fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possi- ble, should hostilities be committed by the King's troops. The people on New Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business, and, in my opinion, they are the most proper persons for the job. This will effectually curb this Province and all the troops that may be sent here." On March 29 he wrote to Adams and Warren from the same place: "I have established a channel of corre- spondence through the New Hampshire Grants, which may be depended on." If the Green Mountain Boys had "engaged to do this business," the matter must have been discussed more than two months before the fortress was taken, probably at the time Sunderland was engaged as a guide. It was a natural thing that the first thoughts of the people of New England, with the possibility of an armed conflict in mind, should turn to Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Lake George, where not a few of them had received warlike training in a very practical military school. It is not possible to say with absolute precision of any man, or body of men, that he, or they, first sug- gested the capture of these fortresses. It was the obvious thing to do as a matter of safety, and must have occurred to many people in this anxious period preced- ing the actual outbreak of hostilities as a wise and prudent policy; but John Brown and his friends on the New^ Hampshire Grants appear to have as good a title THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 423 as any to the distinction of being among the earliest to consider in serious fashion the capture of these British posts. Immediately after the battle of Lexington the prin- cipal officers of the Green Mountain Boys and the lead- ing citizens of the New Hampshire Grants met at Ben- nington to discuss the situation. The peril of the set- tlers in the valleys of the Otter Creek and Winooski was discussed, and it was agreed that unless Ticon- deroga and Crown Point were taken from the British, these posts would be reinforced and strengthened, mak- ing necessary the abandonment of the isolated farms in the Champlain valley. "While these matters were deliberating," says Ethan Allen, in his Narrative, "a committee from the Council of Connecticut arrived at Bennington, with advice and directions to carry into execution the surprise of those garrisons (Crown Point and Ticonderoga), and, if pos- sible, to gain the command of the lake." Capt. Benedict Arnold, of New Haven, Conn., on April 26, met Col. Samuel H. Parsons, a member of the Connecticut Assembly, on the way from Massachusetts to Hartford, and mentioned the conditions existing at Ticonderoga. The next day Colonel Parsons, Col. Samuel Wyllys, and Silas Deane, a member of the Con- tinental Congress, taking as associates Thomas Mum- ford, Christopher Leffingwell, and Adam Babcock, met in Hartford to consider the possibility of the capture of the Lake Champlain fortresses. Having decided that the project was feasible, they obtained three hundred pounds from the colonial treasury upon promising to 424 HISTORY OF VERMONT account for this sum to the satisfaction of the colony. It should be remembered in this connection that Con- necticut for all practical purposes was a self-governing- province. The idea that the people on the New Hampshire Grants were the "most proper persons for this job" seems to have been the opinion of these Connecticut patriots, as well as that of John Brown, of Pittsfield. The sinews of war having been secured, Noah Phelps and Bernard Romans, an engineer, were directed to proceed to the Grants and left on Friday, April 28. Capt. Edward Mott, Epaphras Bull, and four others fol- lowed the next day, and overtook Phelps and Romans at Salisbury, Conn., where the party was increased to sixteen and a quantity of powder and ball was pur- chased. At Sheffield, Mass., two men were sent to Albany, "to ascertain the temper of the people." Travelling all day Sunday, a practice not customary in those days, the Connecticut men arrived at Pittsfield on Monday, May 1. Here they were joined by Col. James Easton, an inn keeper, Captain Dickinson, and John Brown, whose recent Canadian trip made him a valuable associate. It had been thought best, in order that suspicion should not be aroused, to raise no considerable body of men until the Grants were reached, but owing to the scarcity of provisions in that region, and the poverty of the Green Mountain settlers, upon the advice of Brown and Easton a few men — about forty — were raised in the hill country of the Berkshires. While these men were being enlisted, Heman Allen was sent forward to THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 425 acquaint his brother Ethan with the project on foot. In passing it should be said that the claim sometimes made to the effect that John Hancock and Samuel Adams were associated with the Connecticut leaders in organizing this expedition does not appear to be well founded, although it is probable that Adams was familiar with the general plan. After raising a small party of recruits, Easton and Mott left Pittsfield for Bennington. On the way they met a courier riding in haste — an express, to use the phraseology current at that time — sent out to inform them that a man had arrived from Ticonderoga who said that the garrison at the fort had been reinforced, and the soldiers were on their guard, and advising against proceeding further with the expedition. Mott and Easton refused to abandon the expedition, the for- mer declaring that with the two hundred men they pro- posed to raise he would not be afraid "to go round the fort in open light," adding that the rumors of evil the messenger brought "would not do to go back with and tell in Hartford." At Bennington they found those of their party who had preceded them unw^illing to place any credence in the alarming rumor concerning Ticon- deroga, Mr, Halsey and Mr. Bull stoutly asserting that "they would go back for no story until they had seen the fort themselves." A council of war was summoned at the Catamount Tavern in Bennington, famous as the favorite rendez- vous of Ethan Allen and his associates. The leader of the Green Mountain Boys needed no urging to under- take this task. It was an enterprise that appealed 426 HISTORY OF VERMONT powerfully to his adventurous and patriotic nature; and no Scottish chieftain ever set out with greater ardor to assemble his clansmen, than did Ethan Allen, as he started northward to summon the sturdy pioneers, who acknowledged his leadership. The Connecticut and Massachusetts men, securing a small quantity of pro- visions, followed Allen to Castleton. Meanwhile Noah Phelps and Ezra Hickok had been sent to reconnoitre at Ticonderoga. Williams' "His- tory of Vermont" says that Phelps disguised himself as one of the poor settlers living in the vicinity and went to the fort under pretence that he wanted to be shaved, inquiring for the barber. His awkward appearance and simple questions made it possible for him to observe con- ditions and depart unmolested, according to this early historian. This story is also told in Thompson's "Ver- mont." Hinman's "Connecticut in the Revolution," however, tells a different tale. According to this account Phelps proceeded from the southern part of Lake Champlain in a boat, stopping for the night at a tavern near Fort Ticonderoga. He was assigned to a room adjoining one in which the officers of the garrison were giving a supper party, the festivities lasting until a late hour. The Con- necticut spy, listening intently, heard the officers discuss the unrest prevailing in the colonies, and the condition of the fortress. Very early the next morning Phelps gained admission to the fort for the purpose of being shaved. While returning through the fort the com- manding officer walked with this traveller, and discussed with him the movements and purposes of the rebellious THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 427 subjects of the King. Observing that a part of the wall was in a dilapidated condition Phelps remarked that it "would afford a feeble defense against the rebels in case of an attack." Captain Delaplace volunteered the in- formation that a breach in the walls was not the greatest misfortune, as all the powder was damaged, and that before it could be used it was necessary to sift and dry it. Phelps, being ready to depart, employed a boatman to row him down the lake in a small boat, entering the craft under the guns of the fort. Before he had gone far he urged greater speed, and was asked to take an oar, but declined, saying he was not a boatman. How- ever, after rounding a point of land, which screened them from sight of the fort, Phelps took an oar without any invitation and rowed with such vigor that the boat- man exclaimed, with an oath, "You have seen a boat before now, sir." The suspicions of the man from the fort were aroused, but Phelps being the larger and more powerful of the two, prudence was considered "the better part of valor," and no attempt was made to take the mysterious stranger back to Ticonderoga, all of which was related by the boatman to Phelps after the surrender of the fort. This latter account makes no mention of any disguise, or any attempt to play the fool. The commanding officer evidently supposed that he was conversing with an intelligent and loyal British subject. It is by far the more plausible story of the two. Phelps arrived at Castleton the evening of May 9. Almost immediately after the arrival of the Connecti- cut and Massachusetts party at Bennington, the roads to 4-28 HISTORY OF VERMONT Fort Edward, Lake George, Skenesborough, Ticon- deroga, and Crown Point were guarded, and steps were taken to summon the Green Mountain Boys for the cap- ture of the two forts. Among the messengers sent out by Allen to warn the men living on isolated farms that their presence at Castleton was urgently needed, was Samuel Beach, a blacksmith, and a prominent and active member of this band which ruled the Grants. In his "History of Shoreham" Goodhue says that "Beach went on foot to Rutland, Pitts ford, Brandon, Middlebury, Whiting, and Shoreham, making a circuit of sixty miles in twenty-four hours." This is one of the remarkable episodes of the American Revolution, and one that never has received the publicity or the praise that it deserves. The ride of Paul Revere was a holiday excursion com- pared with the journey of Samuel Beach. Consider for a moment the nature of the task. Every step must be taken on foot, through a country practically without roads, an expanse of forest broken only at long intervals by a little clearing. The messenger must climb steep hills, thread his way through the valleys, avoid swamps, and cross unbridged streams. He must know where the scattered homesteads lay, make many a detour to reach them with no unnecessary loss of time, pausing to ex- plain his errand. As night fell, still he must hold to a course not easily followed by daylight, and pause to arouse each family from sleep. A journey of sixty miles on foot in a single day, over good roads, with a summons to battle to deliver, would be considered a feat of which a modern athlete might boast ; but it is an insignificant performance when com- THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 429 pared with the exploit of this early Revolutionary courier. Mrs. Julia C. R. Dorr, the Vermont poet, has written of the journey of Beach in a poem entitled "The Armorer's Errand." She says of the hero: "Blacksmith and armorer stout was he, "First in the fight and first in the breach, "And first in the work where a man should be." Of the errand itself the poet writes: "He threaded the valleys, he climbed the hills, "He forded the rivers, he leaped the rills. "While still to his call, like minute men "Booted and spurred, from mount and glen, "The settlers rallied. But on he went "Like an arrow shot from a bow, unspent, "Down the long vale of the Otter to where "The might of the waterfall thundered in air ; "Then across to the lake, six leagues and more, "Where Hand's Cove lay in the bending shore, "The goal was reached. He dropped to the ground "In a deep ravine, without word or sound. "And sleep, the restorer, bade him rest "Like a weary child, on the earth's brown breast." Headquarters were established at the tavern of Zadock Remington, in Castleton, on Sunday evening. May 7. On Monday one hundred and seventy men had gathered there. That day the Committee of War met at the farmhouse of Richard Bentley, Edward Mott acting as chairman, and formulated a plan of campaign. After 430 HISTORY OF VERMONT debating various possible methods of procedure, and considering the manner of retreat in the event of a re- pulse, it was voted that on the following afternoon, May 9, Capt. Samuel Herrick, with thirty men, should be sent to Skenesborough to capture Major Skene, his party, and last, but by no means least, his boats, which should be brought during the night to Shoreham, for use in transporting troops to Ticonderoga. The re- mainder of the men at Castleton, then about one hun- dred and forty, were to proceed to Shoreham to a point opposite the fort. Captain Douglass was sent to Crown Point to see if he could arrange, with the aid of his brother-in-law, who lived there, some strategem for renting the boats at the fort, belonging to the British army. It was also voted that Col. Ethan Allen should command the expedition against Ticonderoga, as the promise had been made by Mott that the men should serve under their own officers. Allen having received his orders from the committee, left for Shoreham to meet at Mr. Wessell's house, by agreement, some men who were to come there. The same evening there appeared at Castleton Col. Benedict Arnold, who had received from the Massa- chusetts Committee of Safety, at Cambridge, May 3, authority to command a body of men to be raised in the western part of the colony, not exceeding four hundred, for the purpose of capturing Ticonderoga. He was to have a sufficient armament and garrison to defend the post, and take back to Massachusetts such stores and artillery as might be useful to the army. Arnold, how- ever, did not stop to raise the four hundred men author- THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 431 ized. There is a strong probability that he had heard of the expedition under Connecticut auspices, and, fear- ing that the fortresses would be taken without his aid, made haste to the rendezvous at Castleton. When Arnold arrived he was accompanied only by a body servant. Without a soldier raised under his Massachusetts commission, he demanded that the com- mand of the expedition be turned over to him, assert- ing that the force assembled had no proper orders. The pioneers who had assembled in haste for the serious busi- ness of capturing the King's forts were in no mood to yield to such a demand. Mott, chairman of the Com- mittee of War, at the time was a mile and a half away with the Skenesborough party, but was sent for, and on his arrival told the lone colonel that the soldiers assembled were raised on condition that they should be commanded by their own officers, and the whole plan was explained to Arnold. Nevertheless, as Mott says, he "strenuously contended and insisted upon his right to command them and all their officers." This demand created the greatest indignation among the volunteers, and they threatened to abandon the expe- dition then and there and leave for their homes. This hasty action was prevented by the exertions of the offi- cers, and, an incipient mutiny was quelled for a time. Still determined to have the honor of the chief com- mand, Arnold set out the next morning to find Allen. The whole party followed fearing that their leader would yield to the demand that he relinquish the command, but Allen declined to accede to the request. Allen and Easton assured the men that Arnold should not com- 432 HISTORY OF VERMONT mand them, but that in any event their pay should be the same. The response to this statement, according to Mott, was that "they would damn their pay, and say that they would not be commanded by any others but those they engaged with." Resuming the business of the expedition, the party left Castleton, going by way of Sudbury to the old Crown Point Military Road. This route they followed through Whiting, and reached the lake shore at Hand's Cove, in Shoreham, about two miles north of Ticon- deroga, after dark on the evening of May 9. This route, about twenty-five miles long, was taken rather than the one through Benson, seven or eight miles shorter, be- cause there was less probability of discovery. More- over, the place where they reached the shore was a wooded ravine, where they were concealed from view. According to Allen's account he now had "230 valiant Green Mountain Boys," and it is known that thirty-nine or forty men had been raised in western Massachusetts. Colonel Easton says there were about two hundred and forty men. There is a little uncertainty, however, re- garding the exact size of the force assembled. The great need now was boats. The eflfort to secure means of transportation by water had not been success- ful, and when Hand's Cove was reached no boats were in waiting. Captain Douglass had gone for a scow in Bridport owned by a Mr. Smith. On his way he stopped at the home of a Mr. Stone, in Bridport, to secure the aid of a man named Chapman. The family had retired for the night, but was aroused. Two young men, James Wilcox and Joseph Tyler, sleeping in a chamber, over- THE CAPTURE OE TICONDEROGA 433 heard the conversation and immediately decided to secure, if possible, Major Skene's large rowboat off Willow Point, on the Smith farm, in the northwest part of Bridport, known to be in charge of a colored servant who had a fondness for "strong waters." Dressing hastily they took their guns and a jug of New England rum as bait for the Negro, and enlisting the aid of four companions they started on their errand. Arriving at the shore, they hailed the boat, telling the story of being on the way to join a hunting party at Shoreham. The jug of rum was exhibited and they offered to help in rowing the boat. The temptation proved sufficiently alluring, the boat was brought over, and Jack and his two companions proceeded on their way with the pas- sengers, only to find that the hunting party at Shoreham was the kind that made prisoners of war. About the same time Captain Douglass arrived with a scow, and a few small boats also had been collected. The number of boats assembled was very inadequate and morning was fast approaching. It was decided, therefore, to wait no longer, but to proceed with the means of transportation at hand. The impression gen- erally given is that one trip was made to carry those who captured the fort. Ira Allen declares, however, in his history that "by passing and repassing they got over about 80 men by the dawn of day." The exact number participating in the attack, according to Ethan Allen, was eighty- three. A landing was made about a half mile from the fort. Once more Arnold claimed the right to command. "What shall I do with the damned rascal, put him under 434 HISTORY OF VERMONT guard?" exclaimed Allen, in exasperation. Amos Cal- lender advised that the two men enter the fort side by side, and this course was agreed upon, Arnold marching at Allen's left hand, according to Ira Allen's account of the capture. William Gilliland, founder of West- port, N. Y,, has also asserted that he was the means of settling the dispute between Allen and Arnold. Ethan Allen, however, was the commander, and the authority was not divided with Arnold, or any other man. James Easton was second in command, and Seth Warner, who had been left behind at Hand's Cove, was the third officer in rank. The hour was now about four o'clock, and the day was breaking. The men were drawn up in three lines and, according to his own statement, Allen addressed his little band as follows: ''Friends and fellow soldiers: You have for a number of years past been a scourge and terror to arbitrary powers. Your valor has been famed abroad, and acknowledged, as appears by the advice and orders to me from the General Assembly of Connecticut to surprise and take the garrison now before us. I now propose to advance before you, and, in person, conduct you through the wicket gate; for we must this morn- ing either quit our pretensions to valor, or possess our- selves of this fortress in a few minutes; and, inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt, which none but the bravest of men dare undertake, I do not urge it on any contrary to his will. You that will undertake voluntarily, poise your firelocks." Every gun was raised, Nathan Beeman, a lad living opposite the fort, and familiar with all the surroundings, THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 435 acted as guide. Facing to the right, with Allen at the head of the center file, and Arnold by his side, the little force advanced to a wicket gate, which had been left open wide enough for two men to enter abreast. The men swarmed through rapidly, while some in their eager- ness scaled the wall on either side of the gate. A sen- tinel posted at the wicket snapped his fusee at Allen, but the gun missed fire. Allen ran toward him and the sol- dier retreated hastily through the covered way into the parade, gave a shout, and ran under a bomb proof. Edward Mott, in a letter to the Massachusetts pro- vincial Congress, describing this scene, said: "Our men * * * jj^ ^j^e most courageous and intrepid manner darted like lightning upon the guards, so that but two had time to snap their firelocks at us." The New England soldiers rushed in quickly, formed in a hollow square on the parade ground, and gave three hearty cheers, which some persons have described as Indian war whoops, thus arousing the sleeping garrison. A sentry made a pass at one of the officers with a bayonet, and inflicted a slight wound. Allen drew his sword to kill the soldier, but changed his mind, dealing a blow which cut the man on the side of the head, but did not wound him severely, whereupon the sentry dropped his gun and asked for mercy, which was granted. Allen demanded of the frightened captive where the quarters of the commanding officer, Capt. William Delaplace, of His Majesty's Twenty-sixth regi- ment, were to be found. A stairway in front of the barracks on the west side of the garrison, leading to the second story, was pointed out. Allen ascended this 436 HISTORY OF VERMONT stairway, and in a stentorian voice threatened to sacri- tice the wliole garrison unless the Captain came forth in- stantly. Thereupon the surprised commandant appeared at the head of the stairs clad in his shirt, with his breeches in one hand. Allen demanded that the fort be delivered instantly. The British Captain asked by what authority the surrender of the fort was demanded, and the Green Mountain leader replied: "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." "Damn it! What, what does this mean," stammered Delaplace, but Allen interrupted him, and with a drawn sword held over the head of the British officer called for an immediate surrender of the garrison. With the Americans already in possession there appeared to be no opportunity of successful resistance, and the fort was surrendered. While the parley between Allen and Delaplace was going on, acting under the orders of other officers, sev- eral of the barrack doors had been beaten down and about a third of the garrison was imprisoned. Accord- ing to Colonel Easton's report there was "an inconsider- able skirmish with cutlasses or bayonets, in which a small number of the enemy received some wounds." All this was accomplished in ten minutes, without loss of life or the infliction of any serious wound. Thus, on the very morning that the Continental Con- gress was to assemble in Philadelphia, its authority was invoked by the leader of a band of men, most of whom acknowledged the jurisdiction of none of the thirteen American colonies, to take possession of a fortress that bulked large in the minds of the people of two continents. THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 437 Allen says of this occasion: "The sun seemed to rise that morning with a superior lustre; and Ticon- deroga and all its dependencies smiled on its conquerors, who tossed about the flowing bowl, and wished success to Congress, and the liberty and freedom of America." Seth Warner and the remainder of the party left at Hand's Cove soon arrived, and joined in the general rejoicing. The captured troops included Captain Delaplace, Lieutenant Feltham, a conductor of artillery, a gunner, two Sergeants, and forty-four rank and file, besides women and children. The officers captured at Ticon- deroga were sent to Connecticut in the charge of Messrs. iiickok, Halsey, and Nichols, reaching Hartford, May 16. The other prisoners reached the same place two days later in the charge of Epaphras Bull. The ammunition and stores captured at Ticonderoga included about one hundred and twenty iron cannon, from six to twenty- four-pounders, fifty swivels of dif- ferent sizes, two ten-inch mortars, one howit, one cohorn, two brass cannon, ten tons of musket balls, three cart loads of flints, thirty new carriages, a considerable quantity of shells, one hundred stands of small arms, ten casks of poor powder, a warehouse full of materials for boat building, thirty barrels of flour, eighteen barrels of pork, and a quantity of beans and peas. One of the Ticonderoga cannon was known as "the Old Sow from Cape Breton" and probably was one of the prizes taken by the British at Louisbourg during the French and Indian War. 438 HISTORY OF VERMONT The first surrender of a British fortress, and of British troops as prisoners of war, in the long struggle lor American independence, including the first lowering of His Majesty's colors, was made to Ethan AUen and his Green Mountain Boys, and in the history of the mili- tary affairs of the United States the capture of Ticon- deroga heads the list as the first important aggressive movement to be crowned with victory. It is true that Ticonderoga at this time was a fortress "of broken walls and gates," but it was by no means wholly indefensible. Had life insurance policies been in vogue in this region in the year 1775, the eighty-three men who proposed, under prevailing conditions, to capture Ticonderoga would not have been considered good risks. This fort was one of the great prizes for which France and Great Britain had contended, only a few years before, in a series of campaigns. In the public mind it represented the might and the power of Britain as surely as Gibral- tar and Halifax have represented the strength of the empire in a later day. The news of its capture by a little band of untrained farmers was evidence to the Mother Country that the rebellion was, indeed, a serious matter. The tidings of Ethan Allen's victory cheered every patriot heart throughout the length and breadth of the American colonies, and its importance as an en- couragement to those who sought to throw off the yoke of British oppression cannot be over estimated. To the general public it seemed that if Ticonderoga could be taken, all things were possible. The assertion is frequently made that Allen did not demand the surrender of Ticonderoga in the historic THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 439 phrase, "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Con- tinental Congress," but rather in profane and vulgar language. All the trustworthy evidence, however, goes to show that the expression quoted actually was used. Allen gives the phrase in his "Narrative," published at a time when the great majority of the men who partici- pated in the capture were living. It is given by his brother, Ira Allen, who was one of the Ticonderoga party, in a history written several years after Ethan's death. It is quoted by Williams in his "History of Vermont," published while survivors of the Ticonderoga expedition were still living. It is also given by Good- hue in his "History of Shoreham," and an aged survivor of the immortal eighty-three told that author that Allen used the words "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Certainly this is better evidence than can be adduced for any other version, and ought to satisfy all fair minded critics until an equal balance of testimony can be brought against it. Immediately after the capture of Ticonderoga, John Brown was sent as a messenger to acquaint the Conti- nental Congress that in the name of that body this British post had been captured. Just a week after the surrender by Delaplace, Brown arrived at Philadelphia with the rather startling information of the success which had attended Allen's expedition. Apparently Congress was not overjoyed at the news of this bloodless victory. Such an important step as the capture of the King's fortress of Ticonderoga almost took away the breath of the members, and they adopted resolutions, seeking to justify the act, by declaring that they had 440 HISTORY OF VERMONT "indubitable evidence" of a design formed by the British Government to invade this region, in which event the stores and cannon would have been used against the people of the colonies. It was directed that an inven- tory be taken of the articles captured in order that, as the resolution reads, "they may be safely returned when the restoration of the former harmony between Great Britain and the colonies so ardently wished for by the latter, shall render it prudent and consistent with the overruling law of self preservation." All of which indi- cates how little the majority of the members of Con- gress realized the nature and extent of the conflict upon which the colonies had entered. The first news of the capture of Ticonderoga to reach the British authorities at Boston was communicated to General Gage, commanding His Majesty's forces, by means of a letter written by Dr. Joseph Warren to John Scollay, dated at Watertown, Mass., May 17, a copy of which was procured by Gage and forwarded to Lord Dartmouth, at London. The capture of Ticonderoga was not the full measure of the American victory. As soon as Warner and his belated troops arrived at the fortress they expressed a desire for a share in the conquest. To Warner, there- fore, was assigned the task of taking Crown Point, which was garrisoned by a sergeant and twelve men. In a report to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, written May H, Colonel Arnold tells of the return of a party which had started to take Crown Point, having met with head winds, and says the expedition was "entirely laid aside." This statement clearly is untrue, No. I represents the memorial liglit tower erected at Crown Point, N. Y., by the States of Vermont and New York, in Commemoration of the three hnndredth anniversary of the discovery of Lake Champlain by Samuel Champlain. Nos. 2 and 3 are pictures of the ruins of the Crown Point fortress erected by General Amherst. Nos. 4 and 5 show glimpses of the fortress at Ticonderoga, N. Y., as restored by a modern architect THE CAPTURE OK TICONDEROGA 441 for the best evidence goes to show that on the morning of the very day on which this was written, May 11, Crown Point was taken. Allen had sent w^ord to Capt. Remember Baker, who was at the Winooski River settlement, to bring his com- pany, and Warner and Baker arrived before Crown Point about the same time. Baker had met and cap- tured two small boats on the way to St. Johns to give notice of the capture of Ticonderoga. The date of the taking of Crown Point seems to be fixed beyond question, as May 11, by a report to Gov- ernor Trumbull, the Council, and General Assembly of Connecticut, dated at Crown Point May 12, and signed by Seth Warner and Peleg Sunderland, in which they say : "Yesterday we took possession of this garrison in the name of the country — we found great quantities of ordnance, stores, etc, — very little provision." The spoils at this fort included nearly two hundred pieces of can- non, three mortars, sundry howitzers, fifty swivels, etc. Capt. Samuel Herrick, who had set out for Skenes- borough with about thirty men, before the capture of Ticonderoga was undertaken, reached that settlement in safety and captured Maj. Andrew Philip Skene, son of the would-be Governor Skene, about fifty tenants, and twelve Negroes, also a schooner which was rechristened the Liberty, and several boats. The care of the Skene estate was entrusted to Capt. Noah Lee. Captains Oswald and Brown, with fifty men enlisted under Colonel Arnold's authority, arrivt^d at Skenesborough about this time, and joined Herrick's party, reaching Ticonderoga May 14. 442 HISTORY OF VERMONT Amos Callender, of Shoreham, with a small party, captured Fort George, at the southern end of Lake George, without opposition, the fort being held by Cap- tain Nordberg of the Sixtieth regiment and a very slender garrison. The day following the capture of Ticonderoga, Ethan Allen notified the Albany Committee of Safety, not hitherto counted among his friends and admirers, that he had taken the fortress. He warned them of the prob- ability that Governor Carleton of Canada would exert himself to retake the post and added: "I expect imme- diate assistance from you, both in men and provisions. * * * I am apprehensive of a sudden and quick attack. Pray be quick to our relief and send five hun- dred men immediately; fail not." Writing to the Massa- chusetts authorities the same day, he said: "I expect the colonies will maintain this fort." On May 12 Allen wrote to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, opening his letter with this statement : 'T make you a present of a Major, a Captain, and two Lieutenants in the regular Establishment of George the Third." Then he proceeded to tell of the plan to seize the King's armed sloop, which was cruising on the lake, and added, "I expect lives must be lost in the attack, as the commander of George's sloop is a man of courage." A council of war was held, says Ethan Allen in his "Narrative," and it was decided that Arnold should command the schooner captured at Skenesborough, while Allen should command the bateaux, in an effort to take the British sloop. The schooner sailed from Ticon- deroga on Sunday, May 13, but owing to contrary winds, THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 443 Crown Point was not reached until Monday night, May 14. Arnold, chafing under the delay, with thirty men embarked in a smaller boat and started for St. Johns, leaving the command of the schooner to Captain Sloan. While beating against the wind a mail boat from Mon- treal w^as seized, and an exact list of all the King's troops in the Northern department, amounting to seven hun- dred, was captured. On Wednesday, with a good breeze, the schooner made better time, and overtook Arnold, who was taken on board. When within thirty miles of St. Johns the wind fell and the vessel was becalmed. It was now eight o'clock in the evening, and unwilling to wait for a sailing breeze Arnold ordered two small bateaux, manned by thirty- five armed men, to be fitted out. By hard rowing all night St. Johns was reached at six o'clock Thursday morning. The party stopped about half a mile south of the town, concealing themselves in a small creek, and sent forward one of their number to reconnoitre. While waiting for an opportunity to fight British troops they fought great swarms of gnats and mosquitoes, and waited with impatience for their scout to return. When he arrived he brought the information that there w^as no suspicion of the approach of Arnold's party but that news had reached St. Johns of the capture of Ticon- deroga and Crown Point. The party started at once for the fort and landed about sixty rods from the barracks, marching briskly upon the place. The small garrison retreated into the barracks, but surrendered without opposition. A Ser- 444 HISTORY OF VERMONT geant and twelve men were taken — one authority says fourteen prisoners were captured — together with their arms and some small stores, the King's sloop with a crew of seven men, two brass six-pounders, and four bateaux. Five bateaux were destroyed so that not a single boat was left at St. Johns for the use of the King's troops. At this time a fine breeze from the north sprang up and two hours after their arrival Arnold and his de- tachment were able to weigh anchor and start on the homeward trip aboard the sloop which was re-christened the Bnterprise. The captain of the King's sloop had gone to Montreal, and was expected every hour with a detachment for an expedition to Ticonderoga and with guns and carriages for the ship. At Fort Chambly, thirteen miles to the north, a Captain and forty-nine men were stationed, and it was thought likely that they might reach St. Johns at any moment. Arnold, therefore, was moved to write to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety regarding his exploit, that "it seemed to be a mere interposition of Providence that we arrived at so fortunate an hour." A few miles south of St. Johns, Arnold met Allen and his party, going north. There is much discrepancy regarding the size of Allen's force in accounts given by different authorities. In one report Arnold says that Allen had one hundred and fifty men, while in a later one he reduces the number to eighty or one hundred. Ira Allen says the party consisted of sixty men, while an officer, whose name is not given, but who kept a diary of the expedition, says Allen had ninety men. The two THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 445 parties saluted as they met, three volleys being fired. Allen and his companions went on board the sloop, where they drank "several loyal Congress healths." Allen was determined to proceed to St. Johns and hold the ground gained. Arnold considered this "a wild impracticable scheme," but as Allen persisted in advancing, he was supplied with provisions. Continu- ing northward, Allen encamped opposite St. Johns. The next morning he was attacked by two hundred regular troops under Captain Anstruser, a discharge of grape shot being fired from six field pieces. Allen re- turned the fire, but finding that the British force was too large to resist with any hope of success he reembarked in haste, leaving three men behind. It was planned to lay an ambush for the enemy, but having been practically without rest for three days and nights, the men were so overcome by fatigue and sleep that it was necessary to abandon the idea. Arnold's party reached Crown Point May 18 and Ticonderoga, May 19. Allen and his men arrived at Ticonderoga on the evening of May 21. The captured British sloop was fitted with six can- non and ten swivels, and Major Skene's schooner with four guns and six swivels. The capture and destruction of the boats at St. Johns was an important military movement, for it delayed any attempt to recapture the Lake Champlain fortresses, which were in no condition to withstand a serious attack for many months following their capture. Chapter XIV THE ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY No account of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, and the events immediately foUowing the surrender of that fortress, can be complete that ignores the controversy that arose between Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold over the command of the troops and the post. Undoubtedly, for many years fol- lowing the War for Independence, Arnold was not given the credit that was his due for the capacity and the courage that he displayed; nor is it strange that his traitorous conduct long blinded men to his deeds that deserve admiration. On the other hand, there has been a disposition on the part of some historians to belittle the part taken by Allen, and to exalt Arnold at the expense of the Green Mountain leader. This is particularly true regarding the capture of Ticonderoga, where an attempt is made to show that Arnold shared the command with Allen, and there is a broad hint that Arnold was more zealous than any other leader in the capture of the fort- ress. If any event of the American Revolution is well- authenticated, it is that Ethan Allen was the commander of the expedition that captured Ticonderoga, on May 10, 1775. It is proved by the official reports; by the testimony of those participating in the battle; by the newspaper accounts of the period; and last, but by no means least, by the statement of Captain Delaplace, the commandant of the captured fort, who was in a position to know with certainty the identity of the officer to whom he surrendered. Arnold's efforts to secure the command, begun at Castleton, and renewed before the attack upon the fort- 450 HISTORY OF VERMONT ress, again were manifested soon after Ticonderoga was taken. He challenged Allen's authority to command, and insisted that the chief position was his by right. This demand angered the soldiers to such a degree that they paraded, ''and declared that they would go right home, for they would not be commanded by Arnold," according to the testimony of an eye witness. The men were pacified by a promise that there should be no change in commanders, Arnold being informed that as he had raised no men he could not expect to command those raised by other officers. This was before the arrival of the Massachusetts men who came with Captain Herrick by way of Skenesborough. As Arnold insisted that he was the only officer having "legal orders to show," Edward Mott, chairman of the Committee of War for this expedition, wrote an order directing Ethan Allen to keep (not take) the command of the garrison of Ticon- deroga and its dependencies until he received further orders from the colony of Connecticut or the Continental Congress. Arnold's regimental memorandum book shows that he felt much chagrin at his failure to secure the command. On May 11 Allen reported the capture of the fort to the Massachusetts Congress, signing his name as "Com- mander of Ticonderoga." Writing to Governor Trum- bull, of Connecticut, on May 12, he signed the com- munication as "at present commander of Ticonderoga." Did he, at this time, consider his tenure of office in- secure ? Capt. Elisha Phelps, commissary of the Ticonderoga expedition, a brother of Capt. Noah Phelps, writing to ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 451 the Connecticut Legislature, May 16, reported "a. great quarrel with Col. Arnold who shall command the Fort, even that some of the soldiers threaten the life of Col. Arnold." Barnabas Deane, in a letter written to his brother Silas, June 1, tells of a recent visit to Crown Point, where he found "a very critical situation," owing to the differ- ences between Allen and Arnold, ''which had risen to a great height." He said that "Col. Allen is cooled down some since his unsuccessful attempt at St. Johns." Mr. Deane declared that he and Colonel Webb, who accompanied him, "had an arduous task to reconcile matters between the two commanders at Crown Point, which I hope is settled for the present. Col. Allen made a public declaration that he would take no command on himself but give it up entirely to Col. Arnold until mat- ters were regulated and an officer appointed to take command." Deane reported that Arnold had been fired upon twice, and that a musket had been presented at his breast by one of the opposition party, with a threat to "fire him through" if he refused to comply with orders given. It was represented that some of the Connecticut people were hostile to Arnold, whom Deane praised highly, say- ing that had it not been for him "no man's person would be safe that was not of the Green Mountain party." He fails to add that there would have been no "Green Moun- tain party" had it not been for Arnold's consuming ambition to command an expedition which other men had raised and financed. Deane appears to have been strongly prejudiced against Allen and his associates, and 452 HISTORY OF VERMONT he intimated in his letter that "their design appears to me to hold those places (the forts) as a security to their lands against any that may oppose them." Subsequent events proved this ridiculous charge to be baseless. On May 14 Arnold wrote to the Massachusetts Com- mittee of Safety: "Mr. Allen's party is decreasing, and the dispute between us is subsiding." It is probable that many of the Green Mountain Boys left the fort soon after its capture. On May 23 Arnold wrote: ''Col. Allen's men are in general gone home." They had re- sponded to an emergency call, leaving their families un- protected. It was the season for plowing and planting, and the extreme poverty of the people, to which allusion already has been made, was an urgent reason why the volunteers should leave the camp for the farm at the earliest possible moment in order that the raising of crops might not be delayed. In writing to the Albany Committee of Safety from Ticonderoga, on May 22, Arnold signed himself as com- mander, and in a letter written the following day he used the title of commander-in-chief. It is significant that in a letter written at Crown Point, May 26, to the Connecticut General Assembly, dealing with a missive sent to the Indians by a council of officers, Allen signed himself simply, "Colonel of the Green Mountain Boys." Arnold was also at Crown Point that day, and was issuing orders. Writing to the Continental Congress from Crown Point, May 29, Arnold says: "Some dispute arising between Col. Allen and myself prevented my carrying my order into execution until the 16th." In a letter ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 453 written the same day to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, he says: "Colonel Allen has entirely given up command." Allen was at Crown Point on May 29, as a letter written that day to the Continental Congress shows. As early as May 27 the Massachusetts Congress alluded to fears expressed by Arnold that attempts were being made to injure his character, and he was informed that he would have an opportunity to vindicate his con- duct. On June 1 the Massachusetts Congress expressed regret that Arnold should make repeated requests that a successor should be appointed, assured him that that body had the greatest confidence in his "fidelity, knowl- edge, courage, and good conduct," and advised him "at present" to dismiss the thought of giving up the com- mand of the Massachusetts forces on Lake Champlain. On June 4 Allen, with Colonel Easton, wrote a letter to the Canadians from Ticonderoga and signed himself "at present the principal commander of this army." This may have been simply a determination on the part of Allen to make at least a show of reasserting his right to command; or it may have been due to a weakening of Arnold's authority, soon to be entirely overthrown. About a week later, on the tenth day of June, eighteen officers at Crown Point, including Colonel Easton, Maj. Samuel Elmore, of Connecticut, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Ira Allen, and others, united in an address to the Continental Congress regarding affairs, and named Ethan Allen, Warner and Baker a committee to consult with Congress. The document concludes as follows: 454 HISTORY OF VERMONT "Colonel Allen has behaved in this affair (referring presumably to the capture of Ticonderoga) very singu- larly remarkable for his courage and must in duty recommend him to you and to the whole Continent." This address would seem to indicate that Allen had a considerable following at that time among the officers at the Lake Champlain forts. Arnold wrote to the Continental Congress from Crown Point on June 13, signing himself as commanding officer. In his letter he discussed a proposed Canadian expedi- tion, and added parenthetically and significantly, "no Green Mountain Boys." The Massachusetts Congress, on June 14, appointed a committee consisting of Walter Spooner, Jedediah Foster, and James Sullivan, to investigate conditions at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, including Arnold's con- duct. This committee was given power to discharge Arnold, if, in its judgment, it was proper to do so. Evidently charges of a serious nature had been brought against Arnold to warrant an investigation of his con- duct with power given to the committee to discharge him. The provincial Congress had sent Col. Joseph Henshaw to Hartford instructing him, in the event that Connecticut had arranged for garrisoning Ticonderoga, to go to the fort, with orders for Arnold to return to Massachusetts, settle his account, and be discharged. Colonel Henshaw learned that Connecticut had sent Colonel Hinman with a thousand men to hold Ticon- deroga until New York was ready to relieve him. Hen- shaw did not go to Ticonderoga himself, however, but ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 455 sent a letter acquainting Arnold with the turn events had taken. When Hinman arrived at Ticonderoga Arnold re- fused to recognize the Connecticut Colonel as his superior officer. Instead, he transferred the command of Ticon- deroga to Captain Herrick, from whom Hinman's men were obliged to take orders. If they refused to submit they were not permitted to pass to and from the garri- son. Such was the condition of affairs which the Massachusetts investigators found upon their arrival at Lake Champlain. The committee reported, as a result of its investigations, that a mutiny arose among some of Arnold's men, "which seemed to be attended with dangerous symptoms" ; but they were able, with the aid of Judge Duer, of Charlotte county, to quell it. Edward Mott, chairman of the Committee of War which made the plans for the capture of Ticonderoga, wrote Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, at some length regarding this incident. According to his account the Massachusetts committee went to Crown Point with orders that Arnold should turn over the com- mand to Colonel Hinman, which he positively refused to do. The committee thereupon discharged Arnold from the service. The refusal to yield the command to Hinman is corroborated by the committee's report to the provincial Congress, which says: "Your Commit- tee informed the said Arnold of their commission, and, at his request, gave him a copy of their instructions; upon reading of which he seemed greatly disconcerted, and declared he would not be second in command to any person whomsoever." 456 HISTORY OF VERMONT Mott further reported that the committee were re- fused the privilege of speaking to Arnold's soldiers ; that Arnold and some of his men went on board the vessels, threatening to go to St. Johns and deliver the boats to the British; that Arnold disbanded all his troops but those on the vessels ; that those who tried to communicate with Arnold were ill treated, being fired upon with a swivel gun and small arms after they came away from the vessels in a bateau. Later, Mott secured permis- sion from Colonel Hinman to make an attempt to settle the difficulty. Colonel Sullivan, of the Massachusetts committee. Lieutenant Halsey, Judge Duer, Mott, and a party of men to row the boat, proceeded to Arnold's vessels, as Mott tells the story, reaching there at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. On going aboard they were treated like prisoners, being guarded until evening by men with fixed bayonets. It is recorded that Colonel Sullivan "was much insulted while we were on board the vessels, chiefly by Mr. Brown, one of Colonel Arnold's Captains." After being released, a report of the indig- nities inflicted was made to Colonel Hinman, who ordered Lieutenant Halsey with twenty-five men to re- turn to the vessels, get what men he could to join him, and bring one or more vessels to the fort. The next day the matter was settled. Arnold resigned his command on June 24. In his letter of resignation he said that the action of the pro- vincial Congress in dealing with him was a most dis- graceful reflection on him and the body of troops he commanded. Soon after his resignation he returned to New Haven, Conn. ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 457 It is not strange that Gen. Philip Schuyler was moved, on July n, to write the Continental Congress concern- ing this affair as follows: "The unhappy controversy which has subsisted between the officers at Ticonderoga relative to the command has, I am informed, thrown everything into vast confusion. Troops have been dis- missed, others refuse to serve if this or that man com- mand. The sloop is without either Captain or pilot, both of which are dismissed or come away. I shall hurry up there much sooner than the necessary preparations would otherwise permit, that I may attempt discipline amongst them." From such information as may be obtained it would appear that Arnold did most of the commanding at both Ticonderoga and Crown Point after the first few days following the capture, until the Massachusetts com- mittee appeared, refitting the captured boats, repairing barracks, sending one party to the mouth of the Winooski River, and another toward St. Johns. In all of Allen's correspondence he appears to have made no attack upon Arnold; but as much cannot be said for Arnold, whose letters refer in uncomplimentary terms to Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, as illustrated by the remark in a letter to the Massachusetts Com- mittee of Safety that "Colonel Allen is a proper man to head his own wild people, but entirely unacquainted with military service." There is much to admire in the dashing bravery and undoubted capacity shown by Benedict Arnold later in this war. It is also true that his capture of the sloop at St. Johns displayed skill and courage, and his conduct of 458 HISTORY OF VERMONT affairs at the Champlain forts during parts of May and June showed activity and ability of no mean order; but the Ticonderoga chapter of Arnold's career, taken as a whole, is a discreditable one. History is able to give, and will give, the man his just due for his brilliant exploits at Quebec, in the naval battle on Lake Cham- plain, and at Saratoga, without the necessity of attempt- ing to rob Ethan Allen of his well-earned laurels or to defame the memory of the sturdy pioneers who rallied to the standard of the Green Mountain leader in the early days of May, 1775. The history of the Ticon- deroga expedition shows Arnold's inordinate ambition; his desire to secure the chief command, and the greatest glory, no matter how irregular might be the means employed; a disposition to bear false witness against his rivals in his letters and reports; and insubordination when deprived of power that foreshadowed his traitor- ous conduct at West Point at a later day. These quali- ties of the man cannot be excused or ignored unless one prefers to offer an attorney's brief for Arnold, rather than to present historical facts in an impartial manner. With the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, military operations on Lake Champlain practically were at a standstill for several months. Soon after the news of the taking of these forts was received, the Continental Congress "earnestly recommended" the removal of the military stores and ordnance to a post to be established at the southern end of Lake George. This was a propo- sition showing such an amazing lack of military fore- sight, and one that aroused such a storm of protest throughout New England, that it deserves more than ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 459 passing notice ; for it shows very clearly what the people of that region, at that time, thought of the strategic importance of Lake Champlain and its fortresses. As early as May 27, 1775, the Massachusetts Con- gress informed the Continental Congress that "if that post (Ticonderoga) is abandoned the whole of Lake Champlain will be abandoned to Canada, and the com- mand of the water will amazingly facilitate all such descents upon these colonies, whether greater or less, which Administration shall see fit to order. But if that post should be held by the Colonies, all such attempts for the destruction of the Colonies may be vastly obstructed, if not wholly defeated." On May 29 the Massachusetts Congress sent a letter to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, dealing with the proposed abandonment of the Champlain forts, which read in part, as follows : "We cannot conceal from the General Assembly of your colony that we should be to the last degree agitated if we really supposed that the said resolution of the General Congress touching Ticon- deroga and said posts on Lake Champlain, was their ultimatum, and that they would not reconsider that reso- lution. * * * "The maintaining that post is not only practicable and, under God, in the power of the colonies, but of inexpressible necessity for the defence of the Colony of New York and all the New England colonies. * * * In the view of a post of observation, we beg leave to observe that all movements from Canada, intended against New England or New York, by the way of Lake Champlain whether by scalping parties or large bodies. 460 HISTORY OF VERMONT whether in the winter or open seasons of the year, may ahnost certainly be discovered so seasonably as that the blow may be generally warded off; whereas, if the post at William Henry be the only one kept, it is probable that three-fourths of the attempts on the frontier of New York and New England by Champlain will never be known until executed. * * * If we abandon the post at Ticonderoga the enemy will infallibly seize it; and in that case, what annoyance can we give Canada by the way of Champlain by means of a fortified post at William Henry? * * * We beg leave just to hint that a fortified station on the easterly side of South Bay, on Lake Champlain, opposite to Ticonderoga or Crown Point, or still further on, affords great advantage for the maintaining of Ticonderoga, and defending the settlements on the easterly side of Lake Champlain, and there is artillery enough to spare to other places; and if we abandon the land between the Lakes George and Champlain we shall give the enemy an opportunity to build at or near the points; and by that means we shall lose the whole of Lake Champlain, and the shipping we now have on that lake, by which we can command the whole of it and keep the enemy at a distance of a hun- dred miles from our English settlements near Otter Creek, etc. ; but if that fortress should be maintained we shall have those very settlements to support it, which will not be half the charge that it would be to maintain a sufficient number of soldiers so far from their homes. We have there four or five hundred hardy men with families, who, if those grounds should be abandoned, will be driven from their settlements and leave the The "Old Daye Press" owned by the Vermont Historical Society, on which was printed the first book pubh'shed in North America, north of Mexico, and the iirst Vermont news- paper. ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 461 Massachusetts and New Hampshire people naked, with- out any barrier, and exposed to the Canadians and savages, who will have a place of retreat at the point as they had almost the whole of the last war. By abandon- ing this ground we give up an acquisition which cost immense sums of money, the loss of many lives, and five campaigns. "As to the expense of maintaining a fortress at Ticon- deroga, this colony will not fail to exert themselves to the utmost of their power." The Massachusetts committee sent to investigate afifairs at Ticonderoga and Crown Point during the Allen-Arnold controversy informed Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, that in their opinion "the abandoning the posts on Lake Champlain would probably prove the utter ruin of the New England Governments." A letter from the New Hampshire Congress to the Continental Congress, dated June 2, says : "A late order of your respectable Congress for the demolition of the fortress of Ticonderoga, and removal of the artillery from thence, has very much damped the expectation of the people in this colony, arising from the security our frontiers hoped to receive by the check the Canadians and savages might receive in any incursion on us by a good garrison there. * * * Our new settlements extended on Connecticut River for a hundred miles, are very defenceless in every respect, and under terrible apprehensions from the accounts of the warlike prepara- tions making in Canada against the colony." The letter then asks that the order be reviewed and counter- manded. The New York Congress was informed of 462 HISTORY OF VERMONT the request made, and the statement is made that "we esteem that fortress (Ticonderoga) to be a place truly important to the welfare of all these Northern Colonies in general and to this Colony in particular." Naturally Ethan Allen was greatly disturbed by the suggestion that the post which he and his men had taken should be abandoned, and on May 29 he wrote the Con- tinental Congress on this subject, saying: "1 am * * * much surprised that your Honours should recommend it to me to remove the artillery to the south end of Lake George, and there to make a stand; the consequences of which must ruin the frontier settle- ments, which are extended at least one hundred miles to the northwest from that place. Probably your Honours were not informed of those settlements which consist of several thousand families who are seated in that tract of country called the New Hampshire Grants. "The misfortune and real injury to those inhabitants by making the south end of Lake George the northern- most point of protection will more fully appear from the following consideration, namely : It was at the special request and solicitation of the Governments of the Prov- ince of the Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut that those very inhabitants put their lives into the hand of their Governments, and made those valuable acquisi- tions for the Colonies. By doing it they have incensed Governor Carleton and all the ministerial party in Can- ada against them ; and provided they should, after all their good service in behalf of their Country, be neglected and left exposed, they will be of all men most consummately miserable." ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 463 Allen proceeded to point out the immense advantage the possession of the lake would give if an aggressive Canadian policy were pursued, thus "forming the frontier near the country of the enemy." Benedict Arnold also addressed the Continental Con- gress on this important subject, in a letter dated May 29, in which he said: "I must beg leave to observe, gentlemen, that the reports of Ticonderoga's being abandoned have thrown the inhabitants here into the greatest consternation. There are about five hundred families to the northward of Ticonderoga, who, if it is evacuated, will be left at the mercy of the King's Troops and Indians, and who have, part of them, joined the Army, and cannot now remain neuter, to whom a re- move would be entire ruin, as they have large families and no dependence but a promising crop in the ground. I need not add to this, gentlemen, that Ticonderoga is the key of this extensive country, and if abandoned, the enemy, and to continued alarms, which will probably leaves a very extensive frontier open to the ravages of cost more than the expense of repairing and garrison- ing it." Perhaps the most vigorous of all the protests against abandoning Ticonderoga was made by Joseph Hawley, called the "Nestor of the Massachusetts patriots," who, writing to Joseph Warren from Northampton, June 9, said: "I heartily wish that every member of our Con- gress, yea, every inhabitant of the Province, had a true idea of the infinite importance and consequence of that station (Ticonderoga). If Britain, while they are in hostility against New England, hold that post, they will 464 HISTORY OF VERMONT by means thereof be able to do more to vanquish and subdue us from that quarter than they will be able to do in all other parts of the Continent ; yea, more than they could do in all other parts of the globe. If Britain should regain and hold that place they will be able soon to harass and waste by the savages, all the borders of New England eastward of Hudson River and southwest of Lake Champlain, and the River St. Lawrence, and shortly, by the Lake Champlain, to march an army to Hudson's River to subdue the feeble and sluggish efforts of the inhabitants on that river, and so connect Mon- treal and New York; and then New England will be wholly environed by sea and land, east, west, north and south. The chain of the Colonies will be irreparably broken; the whole Province of New York will be fully taken into the interest of the Administration; and this very pass of Ticonderoga is the post and spot where all this mischief may be withstood and arrested; but if that is relinquished or taken from us, destruction must come in upon us like a flood. "I am bold to say (for I can maintain it) that the General Congress would have not advised to so destruc- tive a measure if they had recommended and prescribed that our whole Army, which now invests Boston should instantly decamp, and march with all the baggage and artillery to Worcester, and suffer Gage's army to ravage what part of the country they pleased. Good God! what could be their plan. If they intend defence, they must be unacquainted with the geography of the coun- try, or never adverted to the matter. The design of seizing that post was gloriously conceived; but to what ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 465 purpose did our forces light there, if they are now to fly away from there. Certainly to no good purpose, but to very bad and destructive purposes; for by this step General Carleton is alarmed. Whereas if the step had not been taken, his proceedings might have been slow and with some leisure; but now, if he is worthy of com- mand, he will exert himself to the utmost and proceed with dispatch. If we maintain the post, the measure of taking it was glorious. If we abandon it, the step will turn out to have been a destructive one." Congress, heeding the protests that were made, de- cided to maintain the post at Ticonderoga, overwhelm- ing evidence of its importance being furnished from many sources. In November, 1775, the task of transporting to Bos- ton, for use in the siege of that town, some of the can- non captured at Ticonderoga. was assigned to Col. Henry Knox. The American army before Boston lacked the heavy ordnance needed and no foundries for making cannon were available. Late in November Washington wrote General Schuyler that he was in very great need of powder, lead, mortars, cannon, and nearly all kinds of artillery stores, and urged that all that could be spared from Ticonderoga be sent to him at Boston. On November 27, Knox, who was at New York, wrote to Washington "I shall set out by land tomorrow morning for Ticonderoga, and proceed with the utmost dispatch, as knowing our whole dependence for cannon will be from that post." Knox caused forty-two "exceedingly strong" sleds to be made, and with eighty 466 HISTORY OF VERMONT yoke of oxen the guns were taken to Lake George, and thence to Albany. While crossing the Hudson River on the ice, one of the cannon fell into the stream, but it was recovered the next day with the assistance of the people of Albany. The route followed was by way of Great Barrington, Mass., and Springfield, to Boston. At the end of ten weeks Knox reached Boston with fifty-five cannon, and received the congratulations of General Washington. An interesting incident of this expedition was the meeting on a stormy winter night, in a little cabin on the shore of Lake George, between Knox and a young British officer who had been taken prisoner at St. Johns. He was being taken to Lancaster, Pa., to be held for exchange, and by chance on this night shared, not only the same cabin, but the same bed with Knox. This British captive was John Andre. Had Knox been per- mitted to read what the future held in store for himself and his companion, he would have learned that later in this war just begun, there would fall to his lot the sad duty of sitting as one of the judges at a court martial, and condemning to death as a spy, implicated in Arnold's treason, this charming young officer whose con- versation he found so enjoyable. Thus it will be seen that the capture of the post of Ticonderoga made it possible to supply Washington with the artillery so necessary for conducting a successful siege. Without the guns from Ticonderoga it is at least possible that the British would not have been driven from Boston. Had Washington failed in this enter- ALLEN-ARNOLD CONTROVERSY 467 prise, perhaps the American Revolution would have been simply an American rebellion. But this possibility con- stitutes one of the "ifs" of history. Chapte^r XV THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN ONE of the immediate effects of the outbreak of hostilities between the American colonies and Great Britain was an easing of the strained rela- tions that had existed for several years between the people of the New Hampshire Grants and the colony of New York. On June 2, 1775, Ethan Allen wrote a long letter to the New York provincial Congress, advocating the immediate invasion of Canada, in which he expressed the belief that he could raise "a small regiment of rang- ers," chiefly in Albany and Charlotte counties, provided New York would grant commissions and make the neces- sary financial arrangements. Realizing, no doubt, the peculiar position in which he was placed, an outlaw with a price on his head, asking a place in the military service of the government that had outlawed him, he added this paragraph: "Perhaps your honors may think this an impertinent proposal. It is truly the first favor I ever asked of the government, and if it be granted I shall be zealously ambitious to conduct for the best good of my country and the honor of the government." In compliance with the recommendation of a council of officers, held at Crown Point June 10, Ethan Allen and Seth Warner set out for Philadelphia bearing a letter from Maj. Samuel Elmore of the Connecticut forces, chairman of the council, addressed to the Presi- dent of Congress, the advice of that body being desired in regard to the peculiar position of the officers and men at Ticonderoga. The records of the Continental Con- gress show that on June 23 this letter was delivered to Congress, and being informed that the bearers of the letter. Colonel Allen and Capt. Seth Warner, were at 472 HISTORY OF VERMONT the door, and had something of importance to communi- cate, it was ordered that they be called in. Only a little more than a month had elapsed since Congress had been surprised and somewhat shocked, probably, by news of the capture of the important posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by these leaders of the Green Mountain Boys. It requires no stretch of the imagination to be- lieve that Allen and Warner were the objects of a lively curiosity; and to believe, further, that such information as these men had to offer was communicated chiefly by Ethan Allen. After Allen and Warner had withdrawn, the letter they had brought and the information they had given were taken under consideration, and it was resolved, "That it be recommended to the Convention of New York, that they, consulting with General Schuyler, employ in the army to be raised for the defense of America, those called Green Mountain Boys, under such officers as the said Green Mountain Boys shall choose." It is hardly to be supposed that the members of the Con- tinental Congress were ignorant of the controversy that had existed between the Green Mountain Boys and the colony of New York. If this supposition is correct, then Allen and Warner must have made a very favor- able impression upon Congress, or their recent military exploit must have made a profound impression upon that body, to call forth such a recommendation. In transmitting to the New York provincial Congress the resolution above mentioned, President John Han- cock observed: "As the Congress are of opinion that the employing the Green Mountain Boys in the Ameri- THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 473 can army would be advantageous to the common cause, as well on account of their situation as of their disposi- tion & alertness, they are desirous you should embody them among the troops you should raise." It was in- timated that they would serve only under officers of their own choosing. While many New Yorkers could testify to the alertness of the Green Mountain Boys, to ask that they be embodied as a part of the militia required a somewhat sudden readjustment of opinion on the part of members of the provincial Congress. Apparently Allen and Warner had no hesitation in proceeding from Philadelphia to New York City, ignor- ing entirely the act of outlawry passed the previous year. The letter of President Hancock and the resolution of the Continental Congress which accompanied it, were read in the provincial Congress Saturday, July 1, and it was "ordered that Col. McDougall, Mr. Scott and Col. Clinton be a committee to meet and confer with Messrs. Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, and report the same with all convenient speed." Speedy action does not appear to have been convenient, and it was the fourth day of July, just a year before the Declaration of Inde- pendence was adopted, that consideration of this letter and resolution was resumed. At that time the some- what ominous announcement was made that "Ethan Allen was at the door and desired admittance." It was moved by Isaac Sears, known as the most active Whig in New York City, that Allen "be permitted to have an audience of this board." After debating the question the motion was carried, nine counties with eighteen votes being recorded in the affirmative, and three counties. 474 HISTORY OF VERMONT casting nine votes, being recorded in the negative. The counties opposing admission were New York, Albany and Richmond, and their opposition is said to have been due to the fact that many of their citizens held New York titles to lands in the possession of the Green Moun- tain Boys. Allen and Warner being admitted, the former sub- mitted a partial list of officers for a regiment of Green Mountain Boys, consisting of seven companies. This list was made up as follows: Field officers, Ethan Allen, Seth Warner ; Captains, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran, Michael Veal (Micah Vail), Peleg Sutherling (Sunderland), Gideon Warren, Wait Hopkins, Heman Allen; Adjutant, Levi Allen; Commissary, Elijah Bab- cock; Doctor and Surveyor, Jonas Fay; First Lieu- tenants, Ira Allen, John Grant, Ebenezer Allen, David Ives, Jesse Sawyer. This was a remarkable episode. Allen and Warner were the most active leaders of the opposition to New York authority in the New Hampshire Grants, and they had succeeded thus far in nullifying the grants made by New York Governors in the disputed territory. They had forcibly ejected New York claimants, burned their buildings, beaten their partisans with many stripes, punished officials who tried to enforce the New York authority, and at the very moment they were under sen- tence of death imposed by the government of the prov- ince. Notwithstanding these facts they had the audacity to demand that the armed body which had been a terror to New York officials be made a portion of the provincial military service. A year previous to this date nothing THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 475 could have appeared more wildly improbable than a scene like this. Allen and Warner having retired without losing their heads, either literally or figuratively, it was voted that in consequence of a recommendation of the Continental Congress, "a body of troops not exceeding five hundred men, officers included, be forthwith raised of those called Green Mountain Boys." It was provided that they should elect all their own officers but field officers and that General Schuyler obtain from them the names of the persons most agreeable to them for field officers. These officers were to consist of a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major, seven Captains and fourteen Lieutenants, and these troops were to be considered an independent body. A letter written to the New York provincial Congress by Ethan Allen on July 20, assured that body that he would '*use his influence to promote a reconciliation between the government and its former discontented subjects on the New Hampshire Grants." Due notice having been given, "the committees of the several townships on the west side of the range of Green Mountains" met at Dorset on July 27, at the inn of Cephas Kent, where important history was to be made at a later date, in order to nominate field and other officers for the regiment recommended by the Continental Congress and authorized by the New York provincial Congress. Nathan Clark of Bennington was elected chairman, and John Fassett of the same town was chosen clerk. Proceeding to the choice of officers, Seth Warner was chosen Lieutenant Colonel by a vote of forty-one to five 476 HISTORY OF VERMONT for Ethan Allen. Samuel Safford was the choice for Major by a vote of twenty-eight to seventeen, and the re- maining officers were selected ''by a great majority." They were as follows: Captains, Weight (Wait) Hop- kins, Oliver Potter, John Grant, William Fitch, Gideon Brownson, Micah Vail, Heman Allen ; First Lieutenants, John Fassett, Ebenezer Allen, Barnabas Barnum, David Galusha, Jille Bleaksley (Blakeslee), Ira Allen, Gideon Warren; Second Lieutenants, Johan (John) Noble, James Claghorn, John Chipman, Philo Hard, Nathan Smith, Jesse Sawyer, Joshua Stanton. It was natural that Allen should feel disappointed and humiliated at being defeated for the position of com- manding officer of the Green Mountain Boys. He had been their intrepid leader in defending their landed possessions from the encroachments of the New York claimants with sword and pen, and his exploit in captur- ing Ticonderoga had made his name known beyond the boundaries of the American colonies. His disappoint- ment was expressed in a letter to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut in the following words : "Notwithstanding my zeal and success in my coun- try's cause, the old farmers on the New Hampshire Grants, who do not incline to go to war, have met in a committee meeting, and in their nomination of officers for the regiment of Green Mountain Boys who are quickly to be raised, have wholly omitted me; but as the commissions will come from the Continental Congress, I hope they will remember me, as I desire to remain in the service." He added in a postscript to the letter : "I find myself in the favor of the officers of the army and THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 477 the young Green Mountain Boys. How the old men came to reject me, I cannot conceive, inasmuch as I saved them from the encroachments of New York." That considerable feeling was aroused over the de- feat of Allen is indicated by a letter written by General Schuyler to the New York Congress on August 20, in which he said: "Reports prevail that the controversy between Allen and Warner is carried to such length that few men will be raised." Jared Sparks asserted that a quarrel arose between Allen and Warner, which caused dissensions among the people and retarded the enlisting of the regiment. It is not easy, after the lapse of nearly a century and a half, to determine the causes which led to the decisive defeat of Ethan Allen. Vermonters of that early period, a majority of whom had come from Connecticut, brought with them from that colony a quality of caution and conservatism, which is still a marked characteristic of the people of the Green Mountain Commonwealth. There was a quality of rashness in Allen that was to show itself in his operations before many months had passed, with which his associates no doubt were familiar, which may account for the choice of the quieter and more prudent Warner as the leader of the Green Moun- tain Boys. This may be said by way of explanation without minimizing in any degree the value of the serv- ices which Ethan Allen rendered to Vermont. New York did not propose to leave the choice of officers for the Green Mountain Boys entirely to their own selection, and the provincial Congress authorized General Schuyler to appoint field officers, a Lieutenant 478 HISTORY OF VERMONT Colonel and a Major for this new regiment. Schuyler having declined to perform this task, the provincial Con- gress, on September 1, 1778, proceeded, by a vote of fifteen to six, to elect the men nominated at Cephas Kent's Inn at Dorset — Seth Warner as Lieutenant Colonel and Samuel Safiford as Major. Five votes were cast against Warner and four votes against Safford. The New York Congress adopted a resolution request- ing Commissary Peter T. Curtenius to purchase coarse green cloth in order to provide a coat for each member of the regiment of Green Mountain Boys, red cloth for facings, and to procure two hundred and twenty-five coats of a large size. He was also ordered to purchase material for two hundred and twenty-five tents for the same regiment. The provincial Congress, on Septem- ber 1, notified General Schuyler that it could see no method for supplying the Green Mountain Boys with arms or blankets. On August 23, Warner had visited General Schuyler at Albany to consult with him regard- ing clothing and blankets for his regiment, and as its members could not take the field without some money for the purchase of blankets, Schuyler advanced five hundred pounds to Warner to be deducted from the regi- mental pay. In a letter to the provincial Congress re- lating his action in this matter General Schuyler observed in regard to his determination not to appoint field officers for the Green Mountain Boys: "The peculiar situation of these people and the controversy they have had with this colony, or with gentlemen in it, renders that matter too delicate for me to determine." THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 479 On May 16, 1775, less than a week after the capture of Ticonderoga by the Green Mountain Boys, and less than a month after the battle of Lexington, the organ- ization of a military force was begun in what is now the eastern portion of Vermont, with the recruiting of a company of minute men by Thomas Johnson, one of the pioneer settlers of Newbury. The company as first organized numbered forty-six, most of them being New- bury men, although a few were enlisted from Barnet. A letter dated at Westminster, June 9, 1775, signed by William Williams, Benjamin Wait and Joab Hoising- ton, and addressed to Hon. P. V. B. Livingston, presi- dent of the New York provincial Congress, offered their services in defence of the province and America. In this letter they asked that Major Williams should be appointed Colonel, Major Wait, Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Hoisington, Major, of a regiment of "good, active, enterprising soldiers," which it was hoped might be raised in Cumberland county. Evidence of the apprehension of danger in the Con- necticut valley is reflected in a letter written by Jacob Bayley of Newbury, June 29, 1775, to inform the New York provincial Congress that he could not occupy the seat in that body to which he had been elected, saying: "Considering our distance, and the danger we might be in of a visit from Canada, thought best that I do not yet attend until we were prepared to meet with an enemy at home. I am taking what pains I can to be prepared with arms and ammunition, but as yet to little purpose; am still apprehensive of danger from Canada, and can- not be absent." 480 HISTORY OF VERMONT The Northfield, Mass., Committee of Correspondence, writing to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety at Cambridge, called attention to the fact that there were two small cannon, four-pounders, belonging to the colony, which has been left at Fort Dummer, and one "double fortified" cannon, also a four-pounder, at the same place, belonging to New Hampshire. It was sug- gested that if these cannon were not needed on the east- ern frontiers that they be conveyed to the army in Massa- chusetts. Col. Timothy Bedel of New Hampshire, with three companies of rangers, left Haverhill on September 7 to join General Schuyler. Several Newbury men enlisted in the regiment. At the same time part of a company marched under command of Captain Vail of the Green Mountain Boys, this force having been raised by Lieu- tenants Allen and Scolley. Col. Israel Morey, writing the New Hampshire Committee of Safety from Orford, said: ''Lieutenant Allen of the Green Mountain Boys brought express orders for Colonel Bedel to march im- mediately. I think he has acted himself much to his honor in pushing the companies forward. Mr. Allen has enlisted a company of about forty-five men nigh here." One of the strong men of the upper Connecticut valley was Jacob Bayley of Newbury, a natural leader of men, who had served with honor in the French and Indian War. A letter written by him to the New York Con- gress, under date of October 20, gives a little picture of the sentiment of Gloucester county. A packet had been sent to him, evidently containing for signature, blank ^^J A,'>t/^^ % .4.- Facsimile of letter in which Ethan Allen announced the capture of Ticonderoga. The original is owned by L. E. Woodhouse of Bur- lington, Vt. THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 481 forms of the Articles of Association adopted at New York shortly after the battle of Lexington, these articles expressing loyalty to the American cause. In his reply Bayley said : "Long before we heard of a Congress at New York, we all to a man signed an Association, agree- able to the Continental one." In this letter he explains that militia regulations are being carried out according to the plans of the Continental Congress, and alludes to local regulations made "at the command of the president of our little Congress, assisted by the chairman of each district committee." A document found in the proprietors' records of New- bury, in Jacob Bayley's handwriting, states that many of the people in the Connecticut valley "being destitute of a regular command," desired that he should take the com- mand as a Brigadier General. In accordance with this desire he called upon the regimental commanders upon each side of the Connecticut River as far as the Massa- chusetts line for a return of their several companies. He recommended that each company have an alarm post, and that each man equip himself with snowshoes. In his opinion if an attack should be made by the enemy it would be made at Otter Creek and Coos, and he advised the troops "to look well to the passages into the upper part of Windsor and Hartford." Wells, in his "His- tory of Newbury," fixes the date of this document about the end of 1775. In November, 1775, Maj. Robert Rogers, a noted leader in the French and Indian War, visited Newbury, in the absence of General Bayley, and professing friend- ship for the American cause, gained considerable in for- 482 HISTORY OF VERMONT mation. It was learned, however, that he had visited several prominent Tories, and that he held a command in the British army. General Bayley, returning unex- pectedly, attempted to secure the arrest of Rogers, but the latter escaped, it is said, in the disguise of an Indian. The Committee of Safety of Cumberland county, at a meeting held October 18, 1775, elected as delegates to the New York provincial Congress, Maj. William Wil- liams and Dr. Paul Spooner, and at the same time the committee recommended military officers as follows: Col. James Rogers to be Brigadier for the Cumberland, Gloucester and Charlotte brigade. Upper Regiment — Capt. Joseph Marsh, First Colonel ; Capt. John Barrett, Second Colonel; Lieut. Hilkiah Grout, First Major; Capt. Joel Matthews, Second Major; Timothy Spencer, Adjutant; Amos Robinson, Quartermaster. Lower Regiment — Maj. William Williams, First Colonel; Maj. Jonathan Hunt, Second Colonel; Lieut. John Norton, First Major ; Oliver Lovell, Second Major ; Arad Hunt, Adjutant; Samuel Fletcher, Quartermaster. Regiment of Minute Men — Capt. Joab Hoisington, First Colonel; Seth Smith, Second Colonel; Joseph Tyler, First Major; Joel Marsh, Second Major; Timothy Phelps, Adjutant ; Elisha Hawley, Quartermaster. Dr. Paul Spooner presented this list to the New York authorities when he took his seat as a member in the provincial Congress, December 20, 1775. Early in December protests against some of the proposed officers were made in Putney, Westminster and Fulham (Dum- THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 483 merston), on the ground that they were unfriendly to the cause of American liberty. Samuel Stevens wrote the New York Congress on December 18, requesting that no commissions be issued to militia officers until the public mind was clearer. In his letter he asserted that two conventions had been held, one in September, and another about three weeks pre- vious to the date of his letter, and each convention had nominated field officers, adding the observation: "If they are all commissioned, about one-third of the men in the county will be officers." The New York Committee of Safety, on January 4, 1776, considered the list of field officers recommended for Cumberland county, also petitions against certain officers of the Lower Regiment, and ordered that com- missions be made out for the Upper Regiment and the Regiment of Minute Men, as recommended in the list previously given. It was ordered that a field meeting be held by the county committee to nominate officers after "full and sufficient notice" had been given. Dr. Paul Spooner was granted leave of absence January 10, 1776, "to en- deavor to restore unanimity and harmony" in Cumber- land county, and the treasurer of the Provincial Con- gress was directed to advance him twenty pounds on the credit of the county for the expenses of the trip. A letter from Benjamin Carpenter, chairman of the Cumberland county committee, dated at Westminster, February 1, 1776, in describing the results of a "pretty full meeting" of the Committee of Safety of the county, said : "We hope the dissensions and animosities which 484 HISTORY OF VERMONT have heretofore been so prevalent in the county will, in a great measure, subside." The nominations for field officers for the Lower Regiment were as follows : First Colonel, William Williams; Second Colonel, Benjamin Carpenter; First Major, Oliver Lovell; Second Major, Abijah Lovejoy ; Adjutant, Samuel Minor, Jr. ; Quarter- master, Samuel Fletcher. These nominations were con- firmed by the Provincial Congress, February 24. This regiment consisted of companies from Brattleboro, Ful- ham, Guilford, Halifax, Putney and Westminster. The Committee of Safety of Cumberland and Glouces- ter counties appointed a committee of three from their numbers to nominate a Brigadier General and a Brigade Major, and at a meeting held at Windsor, May 22, 1776, Col. Joseph Marsh acting as chairman, Jacob Bayley was nominated for Brigadier General and Simon Stevens for Brigade Major. At a meeting of the Cumberland County Committee of Safety, convened at the court house at Westminster, June 11, 1776, twenty towns were represented by thirty- four delegates. In addition to the transaction of busi- ness of a judicial and civil nature, provision was made for the organization of minute men and the enlistment of soldiers for the Canadian expedition. A meeting of the Committees of Safety of the counties of Cumberland and Gloucester was convened July 23, with eighteen delegates representing fifteen towns. It was resolved that two hundred and fifty-two men be raised in the counties of Cumberland and Gloucester "as scouting parties to range the woods," for the joint defence of both counties, these men to be divided into THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 485 four companies. The pay of the officers and privates was to be the same as that allowed Continental troops. A bounty of twenty-five dollars was to be allowed each non-commissioned officer and private upon his passing muster. In lieu of rations there was to be allowed to each Captain sixteen shillings, to each Lieutenant four- teen shillings and to each non-commissioner officer and private ten shillings per week. Each officer and private was to furnish himself with a good musket or firelock, powder horn, bullet pouch and tomahawk, blanket and knapsack. The companies of rangers in the two counties of Gloucester and Cumberland were to be under the com- mand of a Major to be appointed by the convention and this commanding officer was to march to the relief of any of the neighboring counties or States upon "a mutual application" from the county committees of such coun- ties or States, or upon application from the Continental officer commanding in the Northern Department, but the important reservation was made "that such Conti- nental officers do not call those companies out of the said three counties of Cumberland, Gloucester and Char- lotte." The following day Joab Hoisington was elected Major of the Rangers to be raised in Gloucester and Cumberland counties. The Captains of the four com- panies of Rangers were Benjamin Wait, John Strong, Joseph Hatch and Elkanah Day. Captain Day re- signed, and Abner Seeley was elected on October 23, 1776, to fill the vacancy. A significant note of the weakening of the New York ties in the counties of Gloucester and Cumberland is 486 HISTORY OF VERMONT shown in resolutions adopted August 1, 1776, providing that the militia of the counties of Charlotte, Cumber- land and Gloucester should be formed into two separate brigades, "Anything in the resolution of the Provincial Congress of this colony (New York) on the 22nd day of August last past to the contrary notwithstanding." The Charlotte county men were to form one brigade, and the men from Gloucester and Cumberland counties were to form another. For the two counties last named, Jacob Bayley of Newbury was chosen Brigadier Gen- eral, and Simon Stevens of Springfield, Major of the brigade. The idea of invading Canada followed, almost imme- diately, the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. When Ethan Allen made his first journey to St. Johns, after the capture of the King's sloop by Arnold, on May 18, he forwarded a letter directed to "Mr. James Morrison and the merchants that are friendly to the cause of liberty in Montreal," asking for assistance and cooperation. He requested that they send to him at St. Johns, "forthwith and without further notice," pro- visions, ammunition and spirituous liquors to the amount of five hundred pounds. Allen also opened correspondence with the Indians at an early date. Writing from Crown Point on May 24, 1775, he addressed a letter "to our good brother Indians of the four tribes, viz. : the Hocnawagoes, the Swagaches, the Canesdaugans and the Saint Fransa- was," (probably the Caughnawaga, the Oswegatchie, the Canandaigua, and the St. Francis tribes, of New York and Canada, respectively), and sent the message THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 487 by Capt. Abraham Ninhaus of Stockbridge, as "our ambassador of peace." In this letter Allen explained the nature of the conflict between Great Britain and the American Colonies, and added: "I was always a friend to Indians, and have hunted with them many times, and know how to shoot and ambush like Indians, and am a great hunter. I want to have your warriors come and see me and help me fight the King's regular troops. You know they stand all along close together, rank and file, and my men fight so as Indians do, and I want your warriors to join wath me and my warriors, like brothers, and ambush the regulars; if you will, I will give you money, blankets, tomahawks, knives, paint, and anything that there is in the army, just like brothers, and I will go with you unto the woods to scout; and my men and your men will sleep together and eat and drink together. "^ * * But if you our brother Indians do not fight on either side, we will still be friends and brothers; and you may come and hunt in our woods, and come with your canoes in the lake, and let us have venison at our forts on the lake, and have rum, bread, and what you want, and be like brothers." In Allen's letter to the Continental Congress, written May 29, he declared that if he had had five hundred men with him at St. Johns he could have advanced to Mon- treal. He added: "Nothing strengthens our friends in Canada equal to our prosperity in taking the sover- eignty of Lake Champlain; and should the colonies forthwith send an army of two or three thousand men, and attack Montreal we should have little to fear from 488 HISTORY OF VERMONT the Canadians or Indians, and would easily set up the standard of liberty in the extensive province of Quebeck, whose limit was enlarged purely to subvert the liberties of America. Striking such a blow would intimidate the Tory party in Canada the same as the commencement of the war at Boston intimidated the Tories in the colonies. They are a set of gentlemen that will not be converted by reason but are easily wrought upon by fear. Advancing an army into Canada will be agree- able to our friends, and it is bad policy to fear the re- sentment of an enemy." Congress was unwilling at this time to authorize such an aggressive act as the invasion of Canada. Subse- quent events, however, showed that Allen was right in urging an immediate invasion of the province as a prudent military movement. Jared Sparks, in his "Life of Gouverneur Morris," calls attention to the fact, that, although Allen's letter was not well received by Con- gress, yet within two and one-half months an expedition was sent into Canada "on grounds precisely similar to those stated by Allen." He adds: "His advice, as events turned out, although looked upon at the time as wild and visionary, was the best that could be followed." The British force under Carleton's command at that time was small, and had Allen's advice been followed it is probable that Canada could have been captured with comparative ease. Allen wrote to the New York Congress on June 2: "I will lay my life on it that with fifteen hundred men and a proper train of artillery, I will take Montreal. Provided I could be thus furnished, and if an army THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 489 could command the field, it would be no insuperable diffi- culty to take Quebeck." At this period the Canadians were inclined to be friendly to the Americans, and Carle- ton could not easily enlist men for his army. William Gilliland, of Westport, N. Y., writing to the Continental Congress on May 29, called attention to a British post at Point au Fer, on the west side of the lake, seven miles south of the Canadian boundary line, w^here a large stone house was built during the summer of 1774. There were strong ball proof brick sentry boxes at each corner commanding every inch of ground about the house. In these sentry boxes, and in the large, dry cellar under the house, were forty-four port- holes. Gilliland urged that by throwing up a breast- work around the stone house and providing a few can- non for defence, it might be used with great effect as a fortification to check any British advance up the lake. He added: "I must beg leave to observe to you that there are now in these parts a very considerable number of men under the command of Mr. Ethan Allen, as brave as Hercules, and as good marksmen as can be found in North America, who might prove immediately service- able to the common cause were they regularly embodied and commanded by officers of their own choice, sub- ordinate to whoever has or may be appointed com- mander-in-chief or to the instructions of the Grand Con- gress. These men, being excellent wood rangers, and particularly acquainted in the wilderness of Lake Cham- plain, would, in all likelihood, be more serviceable in these parts than treble their number of others not having these advantages, especially if left under the directions of 490 HISTORY OF VERMONT their present enterprising and heroic commander, Mr. Allen." Ethan Allen's strong desire to invade Canada is shown in a letter which he wrote to Governor Trumbull of Con- necticut, from Bennington, under date of July 12, in which he said: "Were it not that the Grand Conti- nental Congress had lately incorporated the Green Mountain Boys into a battalion, under certain regula- tions and command, I would forthwith advance them into Canada and invest Montreal, exclusive of any help from the colonies; though, under present circumstances I would not, for my right arm, act without, or contrary to orders." Meanwhile conditions at Lake Champlain were slowly shaping themselves for an aggressive movement, although celerity of action was needed to ensure suc- cess ; but speed could not be expected when the American people were slow in reaching the conclusion that a Canadian invasion was desirable. Colonel Hinman of Connecticut, in command of Ticonderoga, had not shown himself to be an efficient or forceful officer. The Massachusetts committee, at the time of their visit to the forts, had appointed Colonel Easton as commander of their provincial troops at Lake Champlain, under Hinman. John Brown was desig- nated as Major, and Jonas Fay, as Surgeon. General Schuyler was directed, by order of Congress, to assume command of the district including Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and when he arrived at the lake on July 18, he was greatly distressed over the conditions he found. Provisions were short and Schuyler considered THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 491 that there had been "a very considerable waste or embezzlement." On the very day of Schuyler's arrival at Ticonderoga he wrote Washington in disgust, and almost in derision, of what he considered Hinman's incompetence. The Connecticut Colonel evidently had simply waited for the arrival of his superior officer, without taking any aggres- sive attitude. Schuyler draws a graphic picture of his arrival at the landing place at the north end of Lake George at ten o'clock the night before, only to find the guards sound asleep. An investigation showed a great shortage of ammunition, not a nail or other materials for boat building, and the fact that the troops were very poorly armed. Schuyler began work with vigor, repaired the saw- mills, and endeavored to get together the supplies so urgently needed. He complained that Connecticut had made such generous allowance for her troops that the fact was likely to breed dissatisfaction among the sol- diers from other colonies. Fifty milch cows had been sent up for the Connecticut regiment at a time when the pasturage was very short for the working oxen and fat cattle intended for beef for the troops, owing to what Schuyler called "the severest drouth ever known in this country." These cattle were ordered back to New England. Jeremiah Halsey had been appointed by Colonel Hin- man "Commodore of all armed vessels and crafts on Lakes Champlain and George," a high sounding title for a fleet consisting of one schooner and one sloop. In a letter to Benjamin Franklin, Schuyler wrote that when 492 HISTORY OF VERMONT he arrived at Ticonderoga he did not find craft suffi- cient to move two hundred men. Halsey was soon superseded as "Commodore" by James Smith, of New York, who took command of the sloop Enterprise, which vessel, he said, was ''of very little use to the service." James Stewart was given command of the schooner Liberty. Very soon after the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the expeditions of Allen and Arnold to St. Johns, General Carleton, the British commander in Canada, sent all the troops he could spare to fortify St. Johns. From Quebec he had obtained all the ship carpenters he could procure, and under the direction of Capt. Zachary Taylor they had proceeded to build vessels to replace the sloop and bateaux captured or burned by Arnold. Naturally General Schuyler feared an attack by way of Lake Champlain and he informed General Washing- ton that there was danger of an attack "from the Missis- que Indians." In order to gain more accurate informa- tion Maj. John Brown was sent from Crown Point July 24 with four men on a scouting expedition and arrived in Canada on July 30, after a most fatiguing march, part of the way through a vast swamp. Brown was pursued and surrounded, but escaped by jumping out of a rear window of a house. He was followed for two days, but by the help of friendly Canadians he escaped. He returned by way of Missisquoi Bay, where he obtained a small canoe, and on August 10 reached Crown Point. Brown reported that there were about seven thousand troops in Canada. There were three hundred at St. THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 493 Johns, fifty at Quebec, and the others were distributed at various posts, including Montreal and Chambly. He found the Canadians friendly, and in a report to Gov- ernor Trumbull he declared: "Now, Sir, is the time to carry Canada. It may be done with great ease and little cost, and I have no doubt but the Canadians would join us." Schuyler bent his energies to the building of boats, and on August 23 was able to report that he had craft sufficient to move above thirteen hundred men with twenty days' provisions. Two flat bottomed boats, sixty feet long, had been built, each capable of carrying five twelve-pounders; but, unfortunately, there was a lack of gun carriages. After much efifort troops were assembled for a Cana- dian expedition. On August 25 an officer at Ticon- deroga wrote that there were about twelve hundred men at that post. In describing conditions he said that there was an abundance of salt and fresh provisions and that the soldiers were allowed each day a gill of rum and as much spruce beer as they could drink, "so that they have no occasion to drink the lake water, it being reckoned very unhealthy." The idea that the lake water was unhealthy, or poisonous, which prevailed for a consider- able time, is said to have been due to the appearance at certain times of a white scum on the surface, which gave forth an offensive odor under the direct rays of the sun. More than the spruce beer, however, was needed to make the men healthy. Schuyler wrote to Washington on August 6 that the troops "are crowded in vile bar- racks which, with the natural inattention of the sqldiery 494 HISTORY OF VERMONT to cleanliness had already been productive of disease." On August 14, one hundred and forty-six men were sick in Hinman's regiment, and forty-eight out of one hun- dred and ninety-six in Colonel Easton's regiment. The troops sickened rapidly. There was a lack of tents and hospital stores, and Schuyler gave to the regimental sur- geons the supply of wine which he had brought for his own table, the General being accustomed to good living. From July 20 to September 25, seven hundred and twenty-six men were discharged on account of illness. Before General Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga, Capt. Remember Baker had been employed on a scouting expedition at the northern end of Lake Champlain. His service in the French and Indian War, and his activity as a leader of the Green Mountain Boys, had added experience to a naturally bold and resolute character, which fitted him well for such a task. The first scout- ing expedition covered a period from July 13 to July 25, during which two of his men were taken prisoners. Either at this time or later Baker was employed by General Schuyler on a scouting expedition to Canada, "with express orders not to molest the Canadians or Indians." As there is a record to show that Baker met James Stewart, commanding the schooner Liberty, on August 3, "at Vandelowe's, the Frenchman's," at the northwestern extremity of Lake Champlain, it may be presumed that this was Baker's second expedition into the enemy's country. Some information on this subject is given in a deposition of Peter Griffin, a soldier in Colonel Easton's regiment, in which he tells of leaving Crown Point on August 12, and falling in with Captain THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 495 Baker, Griffin and a St. Francis Indian, went on a scout- ing expedition to St. Johns. Returning to Windmill Point, in the present town of Alburg, Griffin set out for Crown Point on August 24 and Baker proceeded down the Sorel (or Richelieu) River, the outlet of Lake Champlain, to Isle aux Noix, "and did determine to intercept the scouts of the regulars there," according to Griffin's deposition. Schuyler asserted later that this expedition was undertaken without authority from him, and that Baker was accompanied by five men. According to Ira Allen's account of this affair. Cap- tain Baker's purpose was to discover the movements of the British troops at Isle aux Noix. Proceeding cautiously, he landed in a bay four miles above that island during the night, and in the morning went to a point of land, from which he could see the island and the river for some distance. Meanwhile, a party of five Caughnawaga Indians discovered Baker's boat, and started in it for St. Johns. Stationing his men behind trees, Baker hailed the Indians as they approached, and in a friendly manner asked that they give up the boat, saying there was no war between the Indians and the Americans. As they gave no indication of complying with his request. Baker ordered them to return his boat, threatening to fire on them if they refused. Perceiving that one of the Indians in the boat was about to fire. Baker sought to anticipate this action by firing first, but his musket missed fire owing to the sharpness of his flint, and putting his head from behind the tree, which served as a protection, in order to hammer his flint, he received a shot in the forehead which killed him in- 496 HISTORY OF VERMONT stantly. Baker's men thereupon fired, killing two of the Indians, and fled. The Indians returned, cut ofif the head of their victim, and set it on a pole at St. Johns. The British officers bought the head and interred it with the body. It so happened that a part of Colonel Bedel's New Hampshire regiment encamped at Winooski Falls, the home of Captain Baker, on the night that word was received of the death of this brave Green Mountain leader. General Schuyler was greatly agitated over this affair, not so much at the death of Captain Baker, as he was over what he called the latter's "imprudence," which he feared would alienate the Indians, a Canadian corre- spondent having informed him that some of the Caugh- nawagas had joined the British troops at St. Johns, on account of this skirmish. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs explained the matter to a congress of the Six Nations held at Albany early in September, "in order to put out the flames which this unhappy affair could not help kindling," according to a letter written by a resident of Albany, in which he said that the affair "was prodigiously misrepresented here at first." The death of Baker occurred between August 24, when Griffin, the soldier who accompanied him to St. Johns, left for Crown Point, and August 31, when Gen- eral Schuyler wrote the Commissioners of Indian Affairs concerning the affray. Baker was only thirty-eight years old at this time. Concerning his loss, Ira Allen says: "Captain Baker was the first man killed in the Northern department, and being a gentleman universally respected, his death made more noise in the country than THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 497 the loss of a thousand men towards the end of the Ameri- can war." Gen. Richard Montgomery, second in command under General Schuyler, arrived at Ticonderoga August 17, to organize an expedition for the invasion of Canada, and on August 28 the first division of the army em- barked at Ticonderoga, proceeding to Crown Point. Here they remained until August 30, and that day went as far as Westport, where they camped for the night at the settlement of William Gilliland, who furnished some of the boats for the expedition, and conducted General Montgomery down the lake, with which the former had become very familiar during a residence of ten years on its shores. Gilliland had raised a company of minute men, of which he was chosen Captain. Twenty of the men had been recruited from the tenants on his estate and fifteen had been enlisted in Shelburne on the eastern shore of the lake, Moses Pierson, of that town, being a Lieutenant in the company. The party proceeded as far as the Four Brothers Islands on August 31, and the next day reached Isle La Motte, stopping at a fine sandy beach, after passing the high point of the island. Here Montgomery waited for General Schuyler, who had been detained by an Indian conference at Albany. Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga August 30, being much indisposed, but he followed the army, arriving at Isle La Motte on September 4. On the same day the army proceeded to Isle aux Noix, in the Richelieu River, one of the French strongholds taken by the British in 1760. Schuyler issued a declaration to the people of Canada on September 5, sending it out by Col. Ethan Allen and 498 HISTORY OF VERMONT Major Brown, and advanced toward St. Johns. Fire was opened from the fort, and as the troops landed to intrench they were attacked from ambush by Indians and regulars. The American loss was four killed, three mortally wounded, and seven wounded, including two officers. The enemy were repulsed with a loss of five Indians killed and four wounded, and several British soldiers wounded. Schuyler called a council of war, on the morning of September 7, and it was decided to return to Isle aux Noix to await the arrival of the artil- lery. Here fortifications were thrown up and a boom was placed across the channel of the river. Schuyler was ambitious to lead the army of invasion in person, but his condition of health made this impos- sible. His illness resulting from a bilious fever and a violent attack of rheumatism, compelled him to abandon the expedition, and on September 16 he was put into a covered boat and returned to Ticonderoga. About an hour after his departure from Isle aux Noix he met Col. Seth Warner with one hundred and seventy Green Mountain Boys, this detachment being as he said, "the first that had appeared of that boasted corps." This is one of the little touches that indicates that General Schuyler had not forgotten the days when the Green Mountain Boys were used for purposes other than in- vading a foreign country. Ethan Allen had arrived in advance of Warner's regi- ment. About September 20 another company of Green Mountain Boys, numbering seventy men, joined their comrades. About one hundred men of Colonel Bedel's New Hampshire regiment arrived the night of Septem- THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 499 ber 16. When Colonel Bedel left Haverhill on Sep- tember 7, he was accompanied by a portion of a com- pany under command of Captain Vail of the Green Mountain Boys, raised in part by Lieutenant Allen, probably Lieut. Ira Allen. Without any regular officer's commission, Ethan Allen had accompanied the army to Isle aux Noix, at the request of the officers, and had been sent out by General Schuyler to the French-Canadian people "to preach politics," as Allen expressed his mission, seeking to win them to the American cause, to which, at first, they were favorably disposed. Allen set out from Isle aux Noix September 8 and proceeded to Chambly. The Canadians there were found to be of a friendly disposition, guarded him with armed men night and day, and escorted him through the woods. According to his report, "Many Captains of militia and respectable gentlemen of the Canadians" visited him and conversed with him. He sent a mes- senger to the chiefs of the Caughnawaga Indians, de- manding the reason why some of the numbers of that tribe had taken up arms against the American colonies. It is hardly to be supposed that this is the policy Gen- eral Schuyler would have pursued, judging from the nervousness and anxiety the commander of the North- ern army displayed over the fatal "imprudence" of Remember Baker. Instead of resenting this demand, however, two chiefs were sent to Allen to explain that such action was contrary to the orders given by the tribal authorities. A general council was held, and a 500 HISTORY OF VERMONT wampum belt and beads were sent to the Green Moun- tain leader, which were delivered with due ceremony. The principal difficulty that Allen encountered was the impression that the American army was too weak to protect the Canadians from the power of Great Britain, and he summed up the temper of the people in these words: "It furthermore appeared to me that many of the Canadians were watching the scale of power," an observation the wisdom of which subsequent events abundantly justified. To overcome this attitude of in- decision, Allen urged the importance of the capture of St. Johns as speedily as might be possible, and returning to Isle aux Noix on September 14 was able to deliver his report to General Schuyler before the latter left on his return to Ticonderoga. He also assisted General Mont- gomery "in laying a line of circumvallation round the fortress of St. Johns," to quote from his "Narrative." About this time James Livingston, an influential Canadian friend of the American colonies, wrote Gen- eral Schuyler saying: "Yesterday morning I sent a party each side of the river (Richelieu), Col. Allen at their head, to take the vessels at Sorel, if possible, by surprise." Evidently this was not possible. He added: "We have nothing to fear here at present, but a few seigneurs in the country, endeavoring to raise forces. I hope Col. Allen's presence will put a stop to it." Allen's activities continued after General Schuyler's departure, and on September 20 he wrote General Mont- gomery from St. Ours: "I am now in the parish of St. Towrs (St. Ours), four leagues from Sorel, to the south ; have 250 Canadians under arms ; as I march, they ygayy t -ta is^vgw | G > 14 P-, W pq THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 501 gather fast. There are the objects of taking the vessels in Sorel, and General Carleton; these objects I pass by to assist the army in besieging St. Johns. If that place be taken, the country is ours; if we miscarry in this, all other achievements will profit but little. I am fearful our army may be too sickly, and that the siege may be hard ; therefore choose to assist in conquering St. Johns, which of consequence conquers the whole. You may rely on it that I shall join you in about three days with five hundred or more Canadian volunteers. I could raise one or two thousand in a week's time, but will first visit the army with a less number, and if necessary will go again recruiting. Those that used to be enemies to our cause come cap in hand to me; and I swear by the Lord I can raise three times the number of our army in Canada, provided that you continue the siege; all de- pends on that. * * >ic 'pj^g glory of a victory which will be attended with such important consequences will crown all our fatigues, risks and labours; to fail of victory will be an eternal disgrace, but to obtain it will elevate us on the wings of fame." The enthusiastic tone of this letter would indicate that Colonel Allen himself was somewhat elevated, in anticipation, "on the wings of fame," by the reception accorded him by the Cana- dian people. General Montgomery wrote on September 19: 'T have sent Colonel Allen to Chambly to raise a corps. Thus far Allen's efiforts had been successful, and Gen- eral Carleton wrote Lord Dartmouth that the American emissaries "have injured us very much." 502 HISTORY OF VERMONT Having passed through all the parishes on the Riche- lieu River to its mouth, Allen followed the St. Lawrence River to Longueuil, nearly opposite Montreal. On the morning of September 24, he set out with a guard of about eighty men for Laprairie, from which place he in- tended to proceed to General Montgomery's camp. He had advanced less than two miles from Longueuil when he met Col. John Brown, who desired to have a private conversation with him. Entering a house, a conference was held, in which Brown proposed, according to Allen's ''Narrative," that if Allen would return to Longueuil, procure canoes and cross the St. Lawrence River a little north of Montreal, he (Brown) would cross a little south of the town with nearly two hundred men, and they could make themselves "masters of Montreal." Allen's party consisted of about one hundred and ten men, thirty English-Americans having been added to his numbers. The greater part of the night was spent in transporting the men across the river, only a few canoes being available, and the stream being wide at this point. Soon after daybreak on the morning of Septem- ber 25, Allen posted guards with orders to permit no persons to pass along the highway. Waiting until the sun was two hours high for the signal that Colonel Brown had landed on the other side of Montreal, which was to be three huzzas on the part of his men, the un- welcome truth dawned upon Allen that Brown had failed to cooperate with him, and that he was in an ex- ceedingly perilous position. He had canoes sufficient to transport only a third of his men, and an attempt to recross the river would be discovered, and the men left THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 503 behind almost certainly would be captured. Therefore, he determined to defend himself to the best of his ability, and dispatched two messengers asking for aid, one being sent to Colonel Brown and another to Thomas Walker at Assomption, who was a friend of the American cause. Certain persons approached the guards, pretending to be friends, but were made prisoners. Unfortunately for Allen one of these escaped and exposed the weakness of the attacking party. There was a great tumult in Montreal when it was reported that an American force was at the gates of the city, according to Allen's ''Narrative," and General Carleton is said to have made preparations to embark on the British ships, with other government officials, but the news brought by the spy who had escaped from Allen's detachment, put a different aspect upon affairs. Carleton assembled the inhabitants in the Champ de Mars and a force was organized under Major Campbell for the defence of the city. According to Allen, this force "consisted of not more than forty regular troops, together with a mixed multitude, chiefly Canadians, with a number of English who lived in town, and some Indians; in all to the number of five hundred." James Livingston said General Prescott engaged a number of people in the suburbs at a half a joe per man to go out against Allen. Encouraging his men to defend themselves bravely, and expressing the hope that help would come soon. Colonel Allen made the best possible disposition of the few men under his command. Richard Young, with a detachment of nine men as a flank guard, was posted 504 HISTORY OF VERMONT under the cover of the bank of the river. The enemy began the attack between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, firing from buildings, behind woodpiles and in ditches. The fire was returned, the engagement con- tinuing for some time without decisive results. At length about half the British force attempted a flank movement on Allen's right, which he attempted to check by ordering John Dugan, with about fifty Cana- dians to make a stand at a ditch, and prevent the prog- ress of the flanking movement. Instead of opposing the enemy, Dugan's party on the right and Young's detach- ment on the left, took to their heels, leaving Allen with only about forty-five men, some of whom were wounded. He retreated about a mile, being hard pressed by his pur- suers. Of this experience Allen says: ''I expected in a very short time to try the world of spirits; for I was apprehensive that no quarter would be given to me, and therefore had determined to sell my life as dear as I could." According to the Ainslie Journal the British loss in this afifray was four killed and three wounded, two of those killed being Major Garden of the Royal American regiment and Alexander Patterson, a Montreal mer- chant, who was mortally wounded. Seeing that there was no chance of success against such overwhelming odds, Allen called to an officer with whom he had exchanged shots, a natural son of Sir William Johnson, that he would surrender, provided he would be treated with honor and assured of good quar- ters for himself and men. This promise was made, and was confirmed by another officer. The surrender was THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 505 made, and included thirty-one effective men and seven wounded. Shortly after he had handed his sword to the officer whom he addressed, a naked, painted Indian, whose features, Allen says, expressed "malice, death, murder, and the wrath of devils and damned spirits," attempted to shoot him. Seizing the officer to whom he had sur- rendered, Allen used him as a shield, whirling round and round, and protecting himself until help came. The prisoners were taken to the barracks at Mon- treal, a distance of two miles, or more. On the way Allen conversed with some of the regular officers, who expressed their pleasure at seeing him, to which Allen replied that he would have preferred to meet them at General Montgomery's camp. Arriving at headquar- ters, Allen was brought before General Prescott. When this officer learned that his prisoner was the man who captured Ticonderoga, he flew into a towering rage, shaking his cane over the head of the captive, and calling him many abusive names. Allen was not the man to endure such treatment with meekness, although a pris- oner, and he shook his brawny fist in the face of General Prescott, telling him "that was the beetle of mortality for him if he dared to strike" ; that he would do well not to cane him, for he was not accustomed to such treat- ment. Prescott then ordered a sergeant's command with fixed bayonets to come forward and kill thirteen Cana- dians included among the prisoners. As they were wringing their hands in terror, Allen stepped in front of the condemned men, and told General Prescott to kill 506 HISTORY OF VERMONT him if anybody must be killed, as he was responsible for their taking up arms. With an oath Prescott replied: ''I will not execute you now, but you shall grace a halter at Tyburn." Allen was then taken on board a ship of war, the Gaspee, and confined in irons. The few Ameri- cans wounded were taken to a hospital and the other prisoners were shackled together in pairs, like criminals, and put on board vessels lying in the St. Lawrence River. Brook Watson, a British merchant, afterward Lord Mayor of London, who had professed to be a friend of the American cause, but whose friendship Ira Allen doubted when he conducted him from Crown Point to the Canadian border in June, 1775, wrote to John Butler on October 19: "Colonel Allen, who commanded this despicable party of plunderers (they were promised the plunder of the town) was with most of his wretches taken. He is now in irons on board the Gaspee. This action gave a sudden turn to the Canadians, who be- fore were nine-tenths for the Bostonians." This is rather an illuminating description of the attitude of the Canadian people. The comments made by various American leaders on Allen's ill-starred attack is not without interest. Colonel Warner, writing to General Montgomery from Laprairie, September 27, said: "His (Allen's) defeat hath put the French people into great consternation. They are much concerned for fear of a company coming over against us. Furthermore, the Indian chiefs were at Montreal at the time of Allen's battle, and there were a number of the Caughnawaga Indians in the battle THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 507 against Allen, and the people are very fearful of the Indians." In writing to General Schuyler on September 20, Gen- eral Montgomery lamented '*Mr. Allen's imprudence and ambition, which urged him to this affair single handed, when he might have had a considerable reinforcement." General Schuyler, always rather inclined to be touchy when the Green Mountain Boys were mentioned, wrote to John Hancock, on October 15, saying: "I am very apprehensive of disagreeable consequences arising from Mr. Allen's imprudence. I always dreaded his im- patience of subordination; and it was not until after a solemn promise, made me in the presence of several offi- cers, that he would demean himself properly, that I would permit him to attend the army ; nor would I have consented then had not his solicitations been backed by several officers." On October 26, General Washington wrote to General Schuyler as follows : ''Colonel Allen's misfortune will, I hope, teach a lesson of prudence and subordination to others who may be too ambitious to outshine their gen- eral officers, and, regardless of order and duty, rush into enterprises which have unfavorable effects to the publick and are destructive to themselves." The truth of the old adage, "Nothing succeeds like success," cannot be controverted, but the converse of the saying is equally true. Because Allen failed, he has been condemned with general unanimity of opinion for his rashness, his overweening ambition, and his lack of subordination. While there may be an element of jus- tice in the verdict there is also the possibility that it 508 HISTORY OF VERMONT contains no small degree of injustice. It is true that Allen was impulsive, enthusiastic, somewhat inclined to boast fulness, and probably by no means a stranger to rashness. He had never had the benefit of training in the army during the Colonial wars, like some of his con- temporaries, but he had had the benefit of an experience in the border warfare against New York that sharpened his wits, and with his natural qualities of leadership he might, under favorable circumstances, have been a powerful aid to the American cause if his career in the War for Independence had not been ended so soon after its beginning. There are two or three important facts in connection with this episode that historians generally have overlooked. The first is, that, according to Allen's story, the inception of the idea of attempting the capture of Montreal should be credited to Col. John Brown and not to Allen. Brown proposed the plan, and Allen acquiesced in it readily, and, it may be presumed, joy- fully. Moreover, it is not unreasonable to presume that had Brown kept his part of the compact, Montreal might have been captured. Brown had a larger force than Allen, and with Montreal in a state of terror, and at- tacked on two sides, its capture would have been far from difficult. Ira Allen's insinuation that there was something dishonorable in Brown's action cannot be accepted, in the light of Brown's subsequent patriotic service, but his failure to notify Allen of his change of plan was a neglect that proved costly. Very likely Allen was ambitious, but admitting the truth of this accusation, it may be observed with safety THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 509 that he was not an original sinner in that respect, and the evil did not die with him. Naturally he desired to restore the prestige damaged by his defeat for the posi- tion of commander of the regiment of Green Mountain Boys, and the taking of Montreal would have accom- plished this purpose, and would have added new honors to the fame already won. If Montreal had been captured on this particular Sep- tember morning, history would have had little to say of Ethan Allen's rashness, and the exploit would have ranked with his capture of Ticonderoga. If Allen is justly charged with rashness, then he paid dearly for his error, for presently he sailed out of the St. Law- rence River, a prisoner loaded with irons; and at the same time sailed out of the current of the events of the American Revolution, which made great names for many of the men who participated in that contest. The capture of Fort Chambly situated about six miles north of St. Johns, on October 18, by Colonel Brown and James Livingston, with a force of about fifty Amer- icans and three hundred Canadians, went far to ofifset the efifects of the capture of Allen upon the fluctuating temperament of the Canadian people. Boats had been piloted past St. Johns in the darkness, bringing a few nine-pounders, and with these such good execution was done that Major Stafford surrendered, with eighty offi- cers and men, and a quantity of provisions and ammuni- tion. The siege of St. Johns, conducted by General Mont- gomery, did not make rapid progress. There was con- siderable sickness among the American troops, and be- 510 HISTORY OF VERMONT tween July 20 and September 25, sixteen men of Colonel Warner's regiment were discharged on account of illness. Soon after their arrival the Green Mountain Boys and a detachment of Colonel Hinman's regiment were commanded by Colonel Bedel of New Hampshire. Col. Seth Warner was stationed at Laprairie the latter part of September, and writing to General Montgomery from that place on September 27, he said: "If I must tarry here I should be glad of my regiment, for my party is made up with different companies in different regi- ments." He was also stationed at Longueuil, three leagues east of Laprairie, and two miles from Montreal, and evidently received his regiment, as official records show that at Longueuil he commanded the Green Moun- tain Boys and two companies of the Second New York regiment. The British forces at Montreal made frequent attacks on Warner's position, and shots were exchanged almost daily. On October 20, Montgomery wrote to Schuyler : "Colonel Warner has had a little brush with a party from Montreal. The enemy retired with the loss of five prisoners and some killed. Some of the prisoners (Canadians) are dangerous enemies, and must be taken care of." These attacks continuing, Warner made several ap- plications to Montgomery for some field pieces, but failed to receive them. At length the officers united in a petition for two field pieces, and they arrived late on Sunday evening, October 30. This was a fortunate circumstance, for the very next day. General Carleton and St. Luc la Corne, a leader of savage tribes, with Ca- THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 511 nadians, and one hundred Indians, in thirty- four boats, attacked the Americans at Longueuil "with great resolu- tion." (Some accounts say there were eight hundred troops.) The purpose of the British forces was to effect a landing, unite with Colonel McLean who had collected a few hundred Scotch emigrants and taken post at the mouth of the Richelieu River, and march to St. Johns with the intention of raising the siege. Perceiving the approach of the enemy, Warner, who had about three hundred men under his command, dis- patched Captain Potter's company to a point nearly opposite Grant's Island, where after a short skirmish they were able to prevent an attempted landing of Indians, the savages losing four men killed and three prisoners. Meanwhile a party of the enemy, taking ad- vantage of wind and current, approached Longueuil, expecting to make a landing, but a force posted by War- ner at the river's edge opened so effectively upon the boats with grape shot from the two field pieces and well directed musketry fire, that Carleton believed reinforce- ments must have been received, and he retreated to Mon- treal. Not a man of Warner's party was killed or wounded. About fifty of the attacking party were killed and wounded, some reports making the list of casualties still greater. Five Indians were slain. Three Cana- dians and two Indians were taken prisoners. Colonel McLean therefore abandoned his post at the mouth of the Richelieu and returned to Quebec. The following morning, November 1, Capt. Heman Allen, an older brother of Ethan Allen, was sent to Gen- eral Montgomery's headquarters at St. Johns with dis- 512 HISTORY OF VERMONT patches and the three prisoners taken before his arrival, with the welcome news. The American commander sent a flag of truce to Major Preston, commandant at St. Johns, accompanied by an account of the defeat of General Carleton by Colonel Warner, and mentioning the name of one of the prisoners taken, a man of impor- tance. Major Preston requested that hostilities might be suspended, and that the prisoner mentioned might be permitted on his parole of honor, to come into the fortress and remain two hours. The request was granted and negotiations were begun which led to capitu- lation on November 2. About five hundred regular troops and one hundred Canadians were surrendered, Lieut. John Andre being among the prisoners who were ordered to Reading, Lancaster and York, Pa. A large quantity of military stores was taken, including seven- teen pieces of brass artillery and a considerable number of iron cannon. Thus Warner and his Green Mountain Boys not only had valiantly repulsed a force twice their number, led by the British commander in Canada, but the news of their victory had proved to be the magic key which un- locked the important fort at St. Johns, after a stubborn resistance to its besiegers. It was an exploit that de- serves far more credit than it has received. Less than two weeks later, the Americans took posses- sion of Montreal. The Indians and the Canadian militia deserted, the townspeople were frightened, and with less than one hundred and fifty soldiers the com- mander could not hope to make an adequate defence, therefore he made his plans for escape. On November THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 513 13, the American soldiers marched into the city. Carle- ton had attempted to reach Quebec, but was wind bound near Sorel, where the Richelieu River discharges the waters of Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence. Meanwhile Colonels Brown and Easton had erected a battery at Sorel, and a gunboat had arrived from St. Johns, which interfered naturally with the progress of the British commander toward Quebec. Therefore Dr. Jonas Fay of the Green Mountain Boys wrote a spirited letter demanding an immediate sur- render of the fleet without any destruction of those on shipboard, and declaring that the Americans were strongly posted at Sorel. Col. James Easton signed the letter and Lieut. Ira Allen, under protection of a white flag, carried the message on November 15 to General Carleton on his flagship in the St. Lawrence. He was followed by Colonel Brown and Doctor Fay, with a second flag, and a truce was concluded until the follow- ing morning. During the night Carleton concealed in a small birch canoe, under some straw, succeeded in get- ting past Sorel, and so reached Quebec. The next day the British fleet was surrendered and returned to Mon- treal, where the fortunes of war made General Prescott a prisoner. No longer could he shake his cane over Ethan Allen or any of his fellow Americans, and curse them as rebels. Warner's regiment was honorably discharged from the service by General Montgomery, November 20. In Daniel Chipman's "Memoirs of Col. Seth Warner," it is said that the reason for this discharge was that they were "too miserably clothed to endure a winter campaign 514 HISTORY OF VERMONT in that severe climate." General Schuyler complained, however, in his correspondence with John Hancock that the term of enlistment of Warner's men did not expire until the end of December, and that they took advantage of a promise made to the Connecticut troops by Mont- gomery that all those who w^ould follow him to Mon- treal should have leave to return, this promise being made on account of hesitancy to advance further on account of the approach of winter. General Sullivan, in a letter to the New Hampshire Assembly, intimated that the Green Mountain Boys under Warner thought they had been ill used by General Montgomery. Whether this refers to the delay in getting cannon for use at Longueuil, or to some other cause, does not appear. While General Montgomery and his army were con- ducting the siege of St. Johns a further attempt upon Canada was made by a force under the command of Benedict Arnold, which left Massachusetts about the middle of September, sailing to the mouth of the Kenne- bec River. Proceeding up the valley of that stream they crossed the carrying place to the head waters of the Chaudiere and descended to the St. Lawrence valley, arriving there early in November. The hardships and suffering endured on this awful march through the wil- derness were almost incredible. By the narrowest of margins did the army escape actual starvation. Only indirectly does the story of Arnold's Canadian journey have a bearing upon Vermont history. The commander of the detachment which brought up the rear of Arnold's army was Lieut. Col. Roger Enos of the Con- necticut regiment, who became a prominent citizen of THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 515 Vermont following the close of the American Revolu- tion, and whose daughter Col. Ira Allen married several years later. Finding that there was a shortage of provisions, only three days' supplies being left, and being one hundred miles from the English settlements and fifteen days march from the French-Canadian inhabitants, a council of war was called, at which it was decided to turn back, without orders to that effect. Colonel Enos proposed to go forward without his men, but his officers protested against such action. This course on the part of Colonel Enos and his officers brought forth severe censure. Washington ex- pressed his surprise and by his direction Enos was placed under arrest. A court of inquiry held at Cambridge, Mass., November 29, 1775, was made up of Major Gen- eral Lee, president. Brigadier General Greene, Brigadier General Heath, Colonel Nixon, Colonel Stark, Major Durkee, and Major Sherburne. This court decided as follows: "The court are of opinion, after receiving all the information within their power, that Col. Enos' misconduct (if he has been guilty of misconduct) is not of so very heinous a nature as was first supposed, but that it is necessary for the satisfaction of the world and for his own honor, that a court martial should be immediately held for his trial." The court martial was held at headquarters at Cam- bridge, December 1, 1775, its presiding officer being Brigadier General Sullivan. After deliberation the court was unanimously of the opinion that Colonel Enos "was under a necessity of returning with the division 516 HISTORY OF VERMONT under his command, and therefore acquit him with honor." In a statement issued April 28, 1776, General Sullivan expressed the opinion, "that had Colonel Enos with the division proceeded it would have been the means of causing the whole detachment to have perished in the woods for want of sustenance." A statement was also issued "to the Impartial Publick" concerning Colonel Enos' case, by General Heath, Col. John Stark, Samuel H. Parsons and twenty-two other officers, vindicating his character, and declaring him to be a "prudent, faith- ful officer, and deserves applause rather than censure." Colonel Enos on January 18, 1776, asked permission of General Washington to resign his commission. The afifair was one which aroused much controversy, but the decision of the court martial must be considered the fairest possible judgment of a disputed matter. Although the progress of the American cause for a time seemed very encouraging, following the taking of St. Johns and Montreal, the conquest of Canada was far from being an easy task. Quebec offered a stubborn re- sistance. In the early morning hours of the last day of the year 1775, in a blinding snow storm, an attempt was made to take Quebec by assault. Ira Allen and Robert Cochran, both officers from the New Hampshire Grants, were selected by General Montgomery to make an attack on Cape Diamond to draw the attention of the enemy from other points. To them was also committed the important duty of sending up sky rockets, which were a signal for attacks by detachments led by Montgomery, Arnold and Colonel Livingston. Delayed by the fierce- ness of the storm, suspecting their Canadian guide of THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 517 treachery, they pressed on and carried out their instruc- tions. The attempt to capture the city failed dis- astrously. General Montgomery, one of the most capable officers produced during the war, was mortally wounded, and died in the arms of Capt. Aaron Burr. General Arnold, who had joined forces with Montgomery, was severely wounded and was carried from the field. Gen- eral Morgan fought in the storm and the cold with his detachment until half of his men were killed, and then surrendered. The remainder of the American army re- tired up the St. Lawrence River about three miles, and there spent the remainder of the winter, enduring great suffering and privation. Gen. David Wooster succeeded to the command of the American army in Canada upon the death of Mont- gomery, and the task that confronted him was one that might have taxed the capacity of a soldier possessed of far greater natural ability for command than that with which Wooster had been endowed. There was imme- diate need of more men. General Wooster wrote to Col. Seth Warner on Jan- uary 6, 1776, telling him of the unsuccessful attack upon Quebec and the death of General Montgomery, and say- ing that "in consequence of this defeat our prospects in this country are rendered very dubious, and unless we can quickly be reinforced, perhaps it will be fatal, not only to us, who are stationed here, but to the colonies in general, especially to the frontiers," an argument which appealed to the people of the New Hampshire Grants. Wooster told of the tendency of the Canadians to ally themselves with the winning cause, and added : "I have 518 HISTORY OF VERMONT sent an express to General Schuyler, General Washing- ton and Congress, but you know how far they have to go, and it is very uncertain how long it will be before we can have relief from them. You, sir, and the Green Mountain corps are in our neighborhood; you all have arms, and, I am confident, ever stand ready to lend a helping hand to your brethren in distress. I am sensible that there was some disagreement between you and Gen- eral Montgomery. Poor man ! he has lost his life fighting valiantly for his country; but why do I mention any- thing about disagreement between you; I know that no private resentment can hinder your exercising every faculty to vindicate the rights and privileges for which we are nobly contending; therefore, let me beg of you to collect as many men as you can, five, six, or seven hundred, and if you can, and somehow or other, convey into the country, and stay with us till we can have relief from the Colonies. You are sensible we have provisions of all kinds in abundance, and the weather is not fright- ful as many have imagined. "You will see that proper officers are appointed under you, and both officers and soldiers shall be paid as the other Continental troops. It will be well for your men to set out as fast as they are collected, not so much mat- ter whether together or not, but let them set out, ten, twenty, thirty, forty or fifty, as they can be first col- lected, for it must have a good effect on the minds of the Canadians, to see succor coming in. You will be good enough to send copies of this letter or such parts of it as you think proper, to the people below you. I cannot but think our friends will make a push into the country. THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 519 and am confident you will not disappoint my most fer- vent wish and expectation in seeing you here, with your men, in a very short time. Now is the time for you to distinguish yourselves, of obtaining the united applause of your grateful countrymen, of your distressed friends in Canada, and your very great friend and servant." The exigencies of war had made some sudden and radical transformations. Between two and three years previous to the penning of this appeal to Colonel War- ner, Capt. David Wooster had taken a New York Sheriff into the town of Addison, and had served writs of eject- ment on the settlers under the New Hampshire charter, claiming that his New York patent was the more valid title. The Green Mountain Boys had proceeded to tie the sheriff and the Captain to a tree and to threaten them with the beech seal. And now the same man, promoted to the rank of General, was appealing in the most cordial terms to the Green Mountain Boys for aid. The episode may well form a companion picture to Allen and Warner appearing before the New York Assembly. Schuyler wrote John Hancock on January 14, 1776, "I have sent Colonel Warner to throw into Canada whatever number of men he can procure upon what are commonly called the New Hampshire Grants; and, in order to encourage them to march without delay, I have offered forty shillings, lawful money, as a bounty to the men, and a month's pay to the officers, and an allowance of one-sixth of a dollar per day from their leaving home until they can receive Continental provisions." There is evidence to show that Warner responded promptly to the appeal made by Wooster. On January 520 HISTORY OF VERMONT 18, Washington wrote Schuyler, expressing the hope that Arnold would be joined soon by "a number of men under Colonel Warner, and from Connecticut, who, it is said, marched off directly on their getting intelligence of the melancholy affair." General Sullivan, on the same day, wrote the New Hampshire Assembly: "Colonel Warner, with his Green Mountain Boys, marched immediately to join the party which they had left." Schuyler wrote on January 22: "Colonel War- ner succeeds fast in sending men to Canada." Writing to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut on January 23, 1776, Schuyler said: "Part of the troops which I directed Colonel Warner to raise are already so far advanced that I believe they will reach St. Johns today or tomorrow. I believe the whole under Colonel War- ner's command will amount to seven hundred; he thinks more." Warner wrote Schuyler from Bennington on January 22 : "My prospect in raising men seems very encourag- ing, one hundred and upwards I have sent forward; a number more is to march soon. I have twelve com- panies raising. * * * Two companies more I ex- pect to raise." On March 5 only four hundred and seventeen of Warner's men had arrived in Canada, and both Schuyler and Wooster expressed dissatisfaction that the number was not larger. It was also asserted that upwards of one hundred New Hampshire men had enlisted in Warner's regiment. Schuyler had insisted that in order to get the bounty offered to Warner's troops a regiment of seven hundred and twenty men must march by February 1. Later he > < o THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 521 agreed to furnish another bounty if the men who marched after February 1 would "engage to remain in the service in Canada, or procure others in their stead, for the ensuing campaign, unless sooner discharged." Warner's regiment was one of the first to arrive in Canada to reinforce the troops stationed there, and it participated in the operations around Quebec during the months that followed. During this period many of Warner's soldiers contracted smallpox and some of them died. Learning that affairs were going badly in Canada, the Continental Congress appointed a commission to make an investigation, hoping that the Canadian people might still be won over to the American cause, and join the army of invasion in opposition to British rule. This commission consisted of Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. They were accompanied by Mr. Carroll's brother. Father John Car- roll, later the first Roman Catholic Archbishop in the United States, much being expected from his influence with the Catholic population of Canada. Early in the spring the party left Philadelphia and proceeded to Albany, where the hospitality of General Schuyler's home .was extended, the General making preparations for the remainder of the journey. A bateau carried the party through Lake George, and six yoke of oxen drew the boat over the portage to Lake Champlain, where two boats were provided, Ticonderoga being reached late in April. These bateaux were thirty-six feet long, eight feet wide, with square ends and rigged with a mast for a blanket sail. An awning was used as a substitute 522 HISTORY OF VERMONT for a cabin. Each boat was manned by thirty or forty soldiers. A stop was made at Crown Point, and another at the house of Peter Ferris, on the east side of the lake, in Panton, where the night of April 24, 1776, was spent. Leaving at five o'clock the next morning a severe gale was soon encountered, and it was necessary to stop in what is now the town of Essex, N. Y., at the home of one of William Gilliland's tenants. Proceeding on the journey, Montreal was reached on April 29. Travelling in an open boat, and sleeping under an awning, or in a rude forest hut during April weather in this north country, was not an agreeable experience for Benjamin Franklin. He was then seventy years old and was not in robust health, although the most impor- tant part of his life work remained to be done. Father Carroll was not able to aid the American cause as he had hoped to do, and the commission accomplished little, therefore the priest and Doctor Franklin left Montreal on May 11, and returned by way of Lake Champlain, reaching Ticonderoga early in June. The other commissioners returned later. The reverses of the American army and the lack of hard money were obstacles too serious to permit the accomplishment of any services of material importance by this, or any, special commission. During the winter Arnold continued the siege of Quebec with only about four hundred men fit for duty. Late in January, 1776, reinforcements arrived, recruit- ing the strength of the besieging force to nine hundred and sixty men, of whom less than eight hundred were fit THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 523 for duty. In a short time smallpox broke out, adding greatly to the sufferings already experienced. Gen. John Thomas arrived May 1 and took command of the army before Quebec, which now numbered about nineteen hundred men, and this force soon was increased to three thousand soldiers. At this late period Congress had seen the necessity of reinforcing the Canadian army. General Sullivan was given command of the new brigade, Stark and Wayne being among the officers. The smallpox proved a more dangerous enemy than the British soldiers. Of the three thousand men before Quebec all but about nine hundred at one time were ren- dered unfit for duty by the disease. Finding the army in no condition for aggressive serv- ice, lacking provisions, and learning that heavy rein- forcements of British troops were expected soon. Gen- eral Thomas retreated in haste to the mouth of the Richelieu River, abandoning artillery, stores, baggage, and some of the sick. Here he was stricken with small- pox, and being removed to Chambly, died there on June 2. The command now devolved upon Gen. John Sulli- van. The British army, meanwhile, had been rein- forced by the arrival of thirteen thousand men under General Burgoyne. Schuyler had found it a difficult matter to collect and forward by way of Lake Cham- plain provisions for three thousand men. After Sulli- van's arrival the army in Canada needed daily twelve thousand pounds of pork and the same amount of flour. The pork was obtained but the average daily shipment of flour did not exceed two thousand pounds. 524 HISTORY OF VERMONT A council of officers was called, which advised a re- treat. On June 14, therefore, General Sullivan aban- doned his position at Sorel, and set out for St. Johns. The next day Arnold, who had been in command at Montreal, left that city with his troops, marching across country to Chambly. Burgoyne followed the retreating Americans, but was ordered not to risk anything until he was reinforced. Determined to save their remain- ing artillery and stores, the Americans, many of them still weak and ill from the effects of smallpox, plunged into the water, and by sheer strength of muscle drew more than one hundred heavily loaded bateaux over the rapids of the Richelieu, working often up to their waists in the water. Three vessels, three gondolas, and all the boats that could not be brought away, were burned. As the advance guard of the British army entered Chambly, the American rear guard marched out. The retreating army under Sullivan reached St. Johns on June 17, about half of the troops being ill, and all of them ragged and hungry. Taking such things as could be transported, they applied the torch to the fort and barracks, secured such boats as they needed, destroyed all craft they did not need for the conveyance of the troops, and pushed on to Isle aux Noix, reaching that post on June 18. On this day Gen. Horatio Gates was appointed to command the forces in Canada, an empty honor indeed, and one which circumstances made it im- possible to accept. While at Isle aux Noix General Sullivan wrote to Gen- eral Washington, saying: "I find myself under an absolute necessity of quitting this island for a place THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 525 more healthy, otherwise the army will never be able to return, as one fortnight longer in this place will not leave us well men enough to carry off the sick, exclusive of the publick stores, which I have preserved thus far. The raging of the smallpox deprives us of whole regi- ments in the course of a few days, by their being taken down with that cruel disorder. But this is not all. The camp disorder rages to such a degree that of the regi- ments remaining, from twenty to sixty in each are taken down in a day, and we have nothing to give them but salt pork, flour and the poisonous waters of this lake. I have therefore determined, with the unanimous voice of the officers, to remove to Isle La Motte, a place much more healthy than this, where I have some hope we shall preserve the health of the few men we have till some order is taken respecting our future movements." Writing to Washington again from Isle aux Noix, June 25, Sullivan said: *'I shall today remove from this infectious place to Isle La Motte, which I should have done before now, had not too many of our batteaus gone forward with the sick to Crown Point." Another letter contains the information that the sick sent from Canada to Crown Point amounted to upwards of three thou- sand men. According to a letter written by Dr. Samuel J. Meyrick, surgeon of a Massachusetts regiment, the sick left Isle aux Noix on June 20, and arrived at Crown Point on June 25. It was proposed that one thousand men should go from Isle aux Noix to Isle La Motte, the greater part of the way by land, while the remaining troops should be transported to that place in bateaux. Isle La Motte had 526 HISTORY OF VERMONT been a sort of half-way-house between Ticonderoga and Canada since the invasion of the northern province was begun, and provisions had been deposited there that had never gone farther toward Canada. It is evident that the stay of the army at Isle La Motte was not a long one, for a letter from General Sullivan to John Hancock, written from Crown Point on July 2, announced that the Northern army had arrived at that place from Isle La Motte on the previous evening. Bancroft says that the voyage to Crown Point was made "in leaky boats which had no awnings, with no food but raw pork and hard bread or unbaked flour." Col. John Trumbull, son of Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, and later a famous painter, writing of this period, said : "My first duty upon my arrival at Crown Point was to procure a return of the number and condi- tion of the troops. I found them dispersed, some few in tents, some in sheds, and more under the shelter of miserable brush huts, so totally disorganized by the death or sickness of officers that the distinction of regi- ments and corps was in a great degree lost; so that I was driven to the necessity of great personal examina- tion, and I can truly say that I did not look into tent or hut in which I did not find either a dead or dying man. I can scarcely imagine any more disastrous scene, except the retreat of Bonaparte from Moscow. * * * j found the whole number of officers and men to be five thousand, two hundred, and the sick who required the attentions of an hospital were two thousand, eight hun- dred (2,800)." THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 527 As early as May 31, General Arnold had written General Gates: "I am heartily chagrined to think we have lost in one month all the immortal Montgomery was a whole campaign in gaining, together with our credit, and many men, and an amazing sum of money." Now, at the end of another month, the situation seemed still worse. An army of invalids had returned from an unsuccessful invasion. One of the most promising American officers, perhaps the most promising, with the single exception of Washington, had fallen before the walls of Quebec. Apparently the campaign had ended most ingloriously. And yet, Sullivan's retreat had been a masterly one. At least, the campaign had de- layed the invasion of the American colonies by the British forces in Canada, and had given the troops ex- perience in warfare of a very practical nature. If the American invasion had been begun a little earlier, in accordance with the pleadings of Ethan Allen, or if the campaign once begun had been pressed with greater vigor, then, possibly, Canada might have become a por- tion of the American nation when independence was de- clared at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The defeat of the American army was hard enough to endure, but the ravages of disease made it a still more pitiable object. When the sick were ordered from Isle aux Noix to Crown Point, some regiments did not con- tain a sufficient number of healthy men to row them away, and other regiments were called upon to furnish oarsmen. Sullivan wrote John Hancock on July 2: "To give you a particular account of the miserable state of our troops there (at Crown Point) and the numbers 528 HISTORY OF VERMONT which daily keep dropping into their beds and graves, would rather seem like the effect of imagination than a history of facts." He adds: "I have ordered all the sick to be removed at a distance from the other troops, that the sight of such pitiful objects may not disperse the rest." John Adams described the Northern army at this time as "disgraced, defeated, discontented, dispirited, undis- ciplined, eaten with vermin, no clothes, beds, blankets, nor medicines, and no victuals but salt pork and flour." Although the army remained only about ten days at Crown Point, being removed to Ticonderoga, they left behind as a grim reminder of their encampment there, three hundred freshly made graves. A hospital was established at the head of Lake George, to which the smallpox patients were removed. About the time of the arrival of the army at Crown Point, Governor Trumbull of Connecticut wrote John Hancock that "the smallpox is a more terrible enemy than the British troops, and strikes a greater dread into our men who have never had it." A little later, on July 29, Governor Trumbull drew this picture of the army on Lake Champlain: "There are now 3,000 sick and about 3,000 well ; this leaves near 5,000 to be accounted for; of these the enemy have cost perhaps LOOO — sick- ness another LOOO — which leaves near 3,000; in what manner they are disposed of is unknown. Among those who remain there is neither order, subordination, or har- mony, the officers as well as men of one colony insult- ing and quarrelling with those of another. * * * ^ reform is absolutely necessary; the soldiers are ragged, THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 529 dirty, and many lousy; clothing greatly wanted — some destitute of sufficiency to make themselves comfortable and decent to appear." Not only was the condition of the Northern army miserable, and the country at large discouraged by the failure of the Canadian expedition, but absolute terror prevailed in the more northerly settlements of the New Hampshire Grants. The situation was forcibly stated by Governor Trumbull of Connecticut in a letter to the President of the Continental Congress, in which he said : "I have received information by several persons that the inhabitants on the New Hampshire Grants, on the northern frontier of the province of New York, are in the highest consternation on the retreat of the army from Canada, from an apprehended attack of the sav- ages. Some of their settlements are breaking up, and all are in danger of being soon deserted. Should they fall back on the older plantations, the enemy would derive great advantages from their improvements and build- ings, to fall on and distress the frontiers; and the in- convenience they may bring with them, and the terror they will spread, may produce the most unhappy con- sequences. May I not venture to suggest the expediency of raising a battalion of troops, in the pay of the Con- tinent, upon those Grants? The inhabitants, inured to hardship, and acquainted with the country, may rival the Indians in their own mode of making war, will sup- port that frontier, and leave the more interior settle- ments at liberty to assist in the general defence of the Colonies. If they are not put under pay, their poverty is such they can hire no laborers to carry on their farm- 530 HISTORY OF VERMONT ing business in their absence. Should they go out as militia without pay, the failure of one crop would effec- tually break up their settlements." This action on the part of Governor Trumbull may have been in response to an appeal made to him by David Galusha, chairman of a committee of people of the New Hampshire Grants, and forwarded to Connecticut by Capt. Samuel Herrick, in which it was stated that the messenger would describe "the wretched situation the northern frontiers on the New Hampshire Grants are at present in." The letter continues: "We would acquaint Your Honor that we view our present situation to be distressing, and our present hope of relief very uncertain. We are much concerned for the preserva- tion of the lives of the inhabitants in particular, and the safety of the county in general. We are not willing to breed any confusion by proposing a method contrary to rule, but are willing to furnish any number of troops in our power on application." The advice and encour- agement of Governor Trumbull was asked in the per- ilous situation, a very natural proceeding, as a large proportion of the settlers of this region, particularly in the western portion, were emigrants from Connecticut, and had kept in close touch with the people of that province. A petition from a committee representing the inhab- itants of the New Hampshire Grants was presented to General Sullivan by Col. Thomas Chittenden and Capt. Heman Allen, saying: "We are greatly alarmed at the retreat of our army out of Canada and the news of the savages killing a number of our men on the west side of Lake Champlain; in consequence of which events the THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 531 frontier settlements are removing their families into the country; but the inhabitants thus remaining, being greatly desirous that the frontier settlements should be protected, and anxious to return and secure their crops, we earnestly beg and entreat Your Honour to send a guard to Onion River, or some other place which Your Honour shall think most advantageous to the army and inhabitants. We are much alarmed on account of our unhappy situation, and would express our great concern for the invaded liberties of the Colonies in general. We have a number of good woodsmen, well acquainted with firearms; and should Your Honour, in your wisdom, think proper and give leave, we would immediately raise a battalion of effective men for the defense of the United Colonies, and the frontiers of New Hamp- shire Grants in particular. And likewise earnestly de- sire that Your Honour would give orders that our frontier towns, which are destitute, may be supplied with ammunition, as Your Honour shall think proper." This petition was signed by Joseph Woodward, Josiah Bowker, Zebulon Mead, John Smith, Jonathan Faucett (Fassett), Charles Brewster, Thomas Tuttle, Thomas Rice, Elkanah Cook, Joseph Smith, lieber Allen, John Smith 2nd, James Claghorn and William Post, as a Committee of Safety for several towns on the New Hampshire Grants. In transmitting the foregoing petition to John Han- cock, General Sullivan observed that "Colonel Warner offers to raise a regiment to protect that quarter (Onion River). This I could not consent to, as I have no such authority; but beg leave to recommend it to Congress, as those men are much better calculated for this purpose 532 HISTORY OF VERMONT than any others, as they have such a thorough knowl- edge of the country." General Sullivan declared that he had sent Colonel Winds and one hundred and fifty men to take post at Onion River until the pleasure of Congress could be learned. He added : "The reason of my sending a chief Colonel with so small a detachment is because he cannot do duty anywhere else for fear of the smallpox; this is also the case with most of the men who are with him." In a letter to General Washington, dated July 2, Gen- eral Sullivan said he had given every assistance in his power to remove the inhabitants from the frontier, and mentioned the stationing of Colonel Winds at Onion River to guard that region until he could write Generals Washington and Schuyler. He added: "Doubtless they will make some order upon it, which I hope will be that Colonel Warner, of the Green Mountains, shall raise men for that purpose, as I think those men much better calculated to defend that part of the country than any others." The people of Panton, on July 3, appealed to General Gates, at Ticonderoga, for protection, and on the fol- lowing day sent a letter of thanks to Gates for sending Captain Hay to confer with them. The petitioners de- sired that "the standing stock of our farms" should be appraised, so that any losses might be borne by the whole community, in proportion to the value of each individual's property. A request was made that a fort or forts might be erected into which the people of that township might retire every night. They were ready to put themselves under the command of any officer that might be designated, until the crops were harvested. THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 533 providing they were not called to go farther north than Onion River, or farther south than Ticonderoga. It is evident that General Gates made a good impression upon the Panton committee, as the letter concludes as follows: "Permit us to wish that Your Honour may be long continued in the chief command over us, as the easy access the distressed find to your ear is a convinc- ing proof you will do everything in your power to ren- der us as happy as the present situation of affairs will admit of." The Poultney Committee of Safety, of which Heber Allen, a brother of Ethan and Ira Allen, was a member, applied to General Gates, on July 29, by Lieut. Josiah Grout, "for fifty weight of powder and one hundred and fifty weight of lead, for a town stock," on the ground that other frontier towns had applied for such aid from the Continental stores. Their strength, patriotic senti- ments and political conditions were succinctly stated in these two short sentences: "We are upwards of fifty, able to bear arms when called for. We are for liberty in general, and don't know that there is one dam'd Tory in this town." A council of general officers, consisting of Generals Schuyler, Gates, Sullivan and Arnold, transmitted to Congress, on July 8, resolutions declaring that it was advisable to raise six companies from among the inhab- itants on the east side of Lake Champlain, each com- pany consisting of one Captain, two Lieutenants, three Sergeants, three Corporals and fifty privates. It was stated that Colonel Warner and others had represented that the people of the region mentioned would be com- pelled to leave their homes unless a body of men should 534 HISTORY OF VERMONT be stationed on the east side of the lake, north of the settlements, "to prevent the incursions of the savages," and expressed a willingness to raise a body of men for the Continental service. Nathan Clark wrote General Schuyler from Man- chester, July 16, enclosing the proceedings of the com- mittees of the several towns on the New Hampshire Grants, at which time officers were nominated to raise the six companies previously suggested. The request was made that Colonel Warner should command the officers with Maj. Samuel Safford second in command. The list of officers appointed to raise men for the sev- eral companies included six Captains, Wait Hopkins, Samuel Herrick, Jonathan Fassett, Ira Allen, Lemuel Clerk (Clark), and Thomas Ransom. News did not travel rapidly in those days, and when some of the foregoing appeals were made it was not known that on July 5, the day following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, upon recommenda- tion of the Board of War, the Continental Congress had voted to raise a regiment ''out of the officers who served in Canada," and that the following officers should be appointed : Colonel, Seth Warner ; Lieutenant Colonel, Samuel Safford; Major, Elisha Painter; Captains, Wait Hopkins, John Grant, Gideon Brounson, Ayiather Angel, Simeon Smith, Joshua Stanton (Abner) Seeley, Jacob Vorsboorong. Ira Allen wrote to the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, from Onion River, July 10: "I learn you are alarmed at the retreat of our army out of Canada. Can assure you the savages have killed and scalped a num- ber of men by the river La Cole, on the west side of THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 535 Lake Champlain. When they will visit us or you is uncertain. Advise you to look sharp and keep scouts out, but not to move except some families much remote from the main inhabitants. Last Saturday was at Crown Point with General Sullivan. He assured me he would do all in his power to protect the frontier settlements. I proposed a line of forts by the river to Cohos (Coos). He said he believed that to be the best place and made no doubt but it would be done. He immediately ordered Colonel Waits and two hundred men to this place, here to remain and grant all protection to the inhabitants." In a letter written to Governor Trumbull of Con- necticut about this time, following an allusion to a peti- tion from the inhabitants of Onion River, reference is made to a communication from General Schuyler in which it is stated that he (Schuyler) with Generals Gates and Arnold, were to set out Tuesday morning. The hope is expressed that ''their presence may have a happy effect towards affairs in that quarter." This would seem to indicate that Generals Schuyler, Gates and Arnold had gone to Onion River. Col. Joseph Wait wrote Colonel Hurd from Onion River, on July 20, saying that when he was ordered there with two hundred men he had expected to be sta- tioned at that place until fall and to have built some stockade forts along that river and down the opposite side of the mountain range to Newbury; but other or- ders having been issued, he expected to join the army again in five or six days. Eleven inhabitants of Onion River petitioned General Gates, on August 6, asking for assistance, saying that one family, consisting of five persons, had been cap- 536 HISTORY OF VERMONT tured, and expressing a desire for a guard to permit the harvesting of their valuable crops, or aid in the removal of their families. If Colonel Winds had been stationed at Onion River earlier in the season he had not remained there long, as he wrote General Gates from Shelburne, on July 15, saying he was there by permission of General Sullivan, with twenty-six men, and he had built a stock- ade fort for the safety of himself and the inhabitants. It is possible that the term Onion River was broad enough to include the region as far south as Shelburne, as a petition from the people of that town, dated July 19, 1776, mentions the fact that Colonel Winds and fourteen men obtained leave from General Sullivan to stop there, which obviated the necessity of the imme- diate abandonment of the settlement upon the retreat of the American army from Canada. Acting in con- junction with Colonel Winds, the settlers built a stock- ade fort, evidently at what is now known as Shelburne Harbor, as the petition declared that "the place where the fort stands is a very good harbor," and reference is made to the fact that boats often are obliged to put in there to avoid "sudden gusts in the summer." The petition says: "We, the inhabitants, being but few in number, and having considerable large crops of wheat and other grain in the ground, besides stocks of cattle, we hereby beseech that His Excellency would be gra- ciously pleased, if he thinks it consistent with the good of the service, to let some of the men who were there go back again, or some others as a small guard." Among the signers were Moses Pierson, James Logan and Lod- wick Poter (probably Pottier). THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 537 Ten of the inhabitants sent a petition to Genefal Gates, on August 6, 1776, telling of the capture by the enemy of 'Xodowick Potter, one of our neighbors," who was carried away with his wife and children some time the previous week, and urgently requested that a guard be sent, for their protection, saying that the gathering of a large harvest had just been commenced. This was on the same day on which the inhabitants of Onion River appealed to General Gates for a guard. Not only the inhabitants of the Champlain valley, but also the people of the Connecticut valley east of the Green Mountains, were alarmed at the retreat of the American troops from Canada. At a meeting held at Dartmouth College, July 5, 1776, delegates were present from Lyme, Hanover and Lebanon, on the east side of the river and Thetford, Norwich and Hartford, on the west side of the river. At this meeting it was voted to raise fifty men exclusive of officers, to go to Royal ton and fortify a post there, "and scout from thence to the Onion River and Newbury," and to appoint a committee of three to build and supply such post; to raise two hundred and fifty men, exclusive of officers, to go to Newbury, "to fortify, scout and guard them for three months." Colonels Bayley, Johnson and Olcott were appointed a committee to direct the affairs of the New- bury department. A letter from Colonel Plurd to the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, dated July 7, 1776, contained the following information : "By several persons I have met with on the road coming from Coos, and by the last intelligence I can collect, I find the inhabitants there, especially those on and near the Connecticut River, from 538 HISTORY OF VERMONT the Upper to the Lower Coos, are much more alarmed and apprehensive of danger from the enemy than we imagine; several families are already removed and re- moving from thence." The Continental Congress was not unmindful of the appeals for aid for the northern frontier of New Eng- land, and, as previously mentioned, it voted to raise a regiment "out of the officers who served in Canada." All, or nearly all of these officers, were men of the New Hampshire Grants. This regiment, according to the resolution authorizing its enlistment, was to be raised on the same terms as that which Colonel Dubois had been authorized to raise. These terms were that the regiment was to be raised for three years, or during the war; that the officers should be ''such as have served with credit in Canada" ; that no officer was to be commis- sioned until his company was raised and armed; and that the arms for the soldiers were to be paid for "by the Continent." According to Matthew Lyon the authorization of the Continental regiment to be commanded by Warner, practically put a stop to recruiting for the six com- panies authorized by General Gates, to be raised in the New Hampshire Grants for the protection of the north- ern frontiers, and which organization it had been planned that Warner should command. Matthew Lyon had been named as a Second Lieutenant in one of the six companies and had raised some men, but finding that only two companies and a part of another had been recruited, and that the business was "falling into su- pineness," he asked and received permission from Gen- eral Gates to enter Warner's Continental regiment. THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 539 Colonel Warner wrote from Albany to the President of the Continental Congress, on October 4, protesting against the delay in settling his accounts, evidently for the Canadian campaign, and saying ''the repeated de- lays I have met with are a great prejudice to the raising of the new regiment for which I have orders. Some of the men who were in service the last winter's campaign are in great necessity for their pay." Not much information is available concerning the part taken by the regiment of Green Mountain Boys during the later phases of the Canadian campaign. In his "Memoirs of Col. Seth Warner," Daniel Chipman says : "Warner took a position exposed to the greatest danger and requiring the utmost care and vigilance. He was always in the rear, picking up the wounded and diseased, assisting and encouraging those who were least able to take care of themselves, and generally kept but a few miles in advance of the British, who closely pursued the Americans from post to post. By calmly and steadily pursuing this course, by his habitual vig- ilance and care, Warner brought off most of the in- valids, and with this corps of the diseased and the infirm, arrived at Ticonderoga a few days after the main army had taken possession of that post." Colonel Bedel wrote to General Gates on July 13 that he had just received intelligence from the frontier towns on the Connecticut River, "that the inhabitants there are in general in great terror on account of the savages, and a great number of them have left their farms with their families; some remain, making stockade forts round their houses to defend themselves. And as the savages from St. Francis &c. are the only ones near them at 540 HISTORY OF VERMONT present, I am in a great measure, inclined to think that I could in a short time raise such a number of them as would be able to defend that part, as the savages from other parts would never venture that way when they found friendly savages protecting us." The determination of a council of general officers, held on July 7, to abandon Crown Point, aroused much opposition, although a small force was maintained there until autumn. On July 8, the day following the decision to abandon Crown Point, Col. John Stark and twenty other field officers, respectfully protested to General Schuyler against such a policy, saying that Crown Point could not be retaken ''without an amazing expense of blood and treasure." In their opinion such a step would open a plain and easy passage for the enemy "into the heart of the four New England governments and fron- tiers of New York" ; and also "must occasion the retir- ing of hundreds of families from their farms and quit- ting their crops of grain which would be much more than sufficient to maintain themselves, and drive them upon other towns, which must occasion a consumption of whatever could be spared for the public source, if n3i a famine amongst them." Concerning this matter General Washington in a forceful manner wrote to John Hancock on July 19, saying: "I confess the determination of the council of general officers on the 7th to retreat from Crown Point, surprised me much ; and the more I consider it th^ more striking does the impropriety appear. The reasons assigned against it by the field officers in their remon- strance coincide greatly with my own ideas and those of Lake Dunmore and Aloosalamoo [Mountain — -t THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 541 the other general officers I have had an opportunity of consulting with, and seem to be of considerable weight — I may add, conclusive." Writing the same day to General Gates, Washington called Crown Point "a key to all these colonies," and added these significant words: "Nothing but a belief that you have actually removed the army from Crown Point to Ticonderoga, and demolished the works at the former, and the fear of creating dissensions and en- couraging a spirit of remonstrating against the conduct of superior officers by inferiors, have prevented me, by advice of the general officers from directing the post at Crown Point to be held till Congress should decide upon the propriety of its evacuation. * * * j niust, how- ever, express my sorrow at the resolution of your coun- cil, and wish that it had never happened, as everybody who speaks of it also does, and that the measure could yet be changed with propriety." A rather sharp correspondence followed between Washington and Schuyler concerning the practical aban- donment of Crown Point by the American forces. The story of the part taken by the people of the New Hampshire Grants in the Canadian campaign would be incomplete without reference to the military road which Gen. Jacob Bayley attempted to build from the Con- necticut River to Canada. Writing from Newbury, November 24, 1775, to his brother-in-law. Col. Moses Little, concerning Canadian affairs, General Bayley ad- vocated the building of a road by which St. Johns might be reached more easily, and in this letter alluded to the fact that in October, 1773, Bayley, Little and "Esquire 542 HISTORY OF VERMONT Stevens" sent out a surveying party, which marked a road from Newbury to Missisquoi Bay, two-thirds of the distance to St. Johns, according to Bayley's estimate. Frye Bayley, Abiel Chamberlin and Silas ChamberHn left Newbury on February 1, 1776, on snow shoes over the proposed route for Montreal, bearing a letter to Gen- eral Wooster. On the sixth day out they reached Mr. Metcalf's, at or near what is now the village of S wanton, and observed that this route was "the best country for a road either of us ever saw." On the seventh day they reached St. Johns, and on the eighth day they arrived at Montreal, remaining there two and one-half days. A stop was made at Mr. Metcalf's settlement on the way back, and Newbury was reached on February 18. Gen- eral Bayley wrote General Washington on April 15 at some length concerning the proposed road, saying: "It will appear that the cost of making the road will be saved in the soldiers marching home from Canada, at the close of the present campaign, as it will save six days' pay and provisions for all that live eastward of Connecticut River." He added: "If I can be of any service to the American cause in cutting the proposed road, or any other way, I am ready. I should think one hundred picked men from this army or elsewhere will be enough to be employed in that business." It was estimated that the distance from Portsmouth, N. H., to St. Johns was ninety-three miles shorter by way of Newbury than by Charlestown, N. H. (Number Four), and Crown Point; from Boston to St. Johns eighty-two miles nearer by way of Newbury than by way of Crown Point; from Hartford, Conn., to St. THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 543 Johns, eighty-six miles nearer by way of Newbury than by way of Albany. The reply of General Washington, dated April 29, is of sufficient importance to give in full. He says : "I received your favor of the 23rd instant, with Mr. Met- calf's plan, and Captain Johnson's journal of the route from Newbury to St. Johns. The representation that was transmitted to me by the hands of Colonel Little, I had sent to Congress. Mr. Witherspoon has been since sent to examine or explore a route; but I hear he is still at Cohoos. The time of the Congress is so taken up with many objects of consequence that it is impossible for them to attend to everything; and as it is of impor- tance that every communication with Canada should be made as free as possible, it is my opinion and desire that you set about the road you propose as soon as pos- sible. As you must be the best judge who to employ, you will please to take the whole upon yourself. We cannot, at this time, spare soldiers, you must therefore engage such men as you know will do the business faith- fully and well. As to their wages, you must agree with them on the most reasonable terms, and I doubt not that you will, in this and every other instance, serve your country with integrity, honour and justice. As you go on, you will, upon every opportunity, keep me advised, and I will provide for the expense, which you will be careful in making as light as possible." P. S. '*l send you by Mr. William Wallace two hun- dred and fifty pounds, lawful money, to begin with." The Continental Congress voted, on May 10, 1776, "That as the road recommended by General Washington 544 HISTORY OF VERMONT to be opened between the towns of Newbury, on Con- necticut River, and the province of Canada, will facili- tate the march and return of the troops employed in that quarter, and promote the public service, the General be directed to prosecute the plan he has formed respecting the said road." Having received General Washington's orders on May 17, General Bayley called together the Committees of Safety of Haverhill, N. H., and Newbury, on May 18, and consulted with those committees regarding the wages to be paid, and the amount was fixed at ten dol- lars per month. On May 21 two men were sent out to engage laborers for two or three months and the neces- sary utensils and supplies were purchased in Hartford, Conn. Having heard of the retreat from Quebec, Gen- eral Bayley thought it might be advantageous to the Continental army to cut a bridle path over which men and cattle might pass, before the wagon road was com- pleted, and on May 27 he ordered ten men to perform this task. Col. Thomas Johnson, with several men, was detailed to blaze out the road. They were followed by James Whitelaw of Ryegate, who surveyed the route, and Gen- eral Bayley with his party of laborers performed the work of road building. The road began in the north- eastern part of the town of Newbury, at the present location of Wells River village, and passed through the towns of Ryegate, Barnet and Peacham. The construc- tion work had been carried about six miles beyond Peacham, probably to a point in the town of Cabot, THE CANADIAN CAMPAIGN 545 when scouts came in with news that Canadian troops were advancing along the trail blazed out for this road. The road builders hastily abandoned their task and it was not resumed until the summer of 1779. The itemized account which General Bayley submitted to General Washington showed that one hundred and ten men were employed forty-five days each. With the provisions furnished each man received daily half a pint of rum. The total amount of the bill submitted was nine hundred eighty-two pounds, six shillings, five and a half pence, lawful money. Committees of Safety from Bath and Haverhill, N. H., and Bradford met at General Bayley's house to make plans for the protection of the people of the vicinity. The inhabitants of Peacham and Ryegate came to Newbury for protection. Most of the settlers from the Upper Coos region fled to Haverhill or to Con- cord, N. H. Joseph Chamberlin, with a scout of ten men, was sent out to look for the enemy, but no trace of the Canadian soldiers was found, and the settlers soon returned to their homes. General Bayley desired to keep in the Continental service sixty men enlisted by him for road building operations, for guarding the frontiers and for scouting purposes. The New Hampshire Committee of Safety, on July 18, asked General Bayley, in the event that the Continental troops were disbanded to enlist fifty men under the pay of that colony, to serve until December 1. The general result of the retreat from Canada was to leave the people of the New Hampshire Grants in a 546 HISTORY OF VERMONT condition of alarm, and this was particularly true of that portion of the people occupying the northern fron- tiers. Conditions, however, were to be worse before they were materially better. z i^^ifTTT^rr^