USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 13
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of nineteen to sail to the Penobscot, where the whole fleet was defeated, run ashore and captured. The United States govern- ment paid to New Hampshire twelve thousand pounds for the loss of the Hampden.
A small island opposite the city of Portsmouth and belong- ing to Maine was originally called Withers Island from the name of its first owner, Thomas Withers. In the time of the Revolution it was known as Langdon's island, and here, at its north end, John Langdon laid the keel of the Continental frigate "Raleigh," March 21, 1776. She was launched just two months later but remained during this year in the river, commanded by Thomas Thompson of Portsmouth. She had thirty-two guns and a crew of one hundred and sixty men. The next year she sailed for France, having a fight with the "Druid" of fourteen guns on the way. In 1778 the Raleigh returned, laden with military stores, accompanied by the "Alfred," which was cap- tured by two British warships, the Raleigh being too far away to give help. For this her commander was criticized and re- moved from command. Then Captain John Barry took charge and sailed as a convoy to two merchant ships. Two British frigates, one of fifty, the other of twenty-eight guns, sighted her and a running fight followed. To avoid capture the Raleigh was run ashore on Wooden Ball Island, about twenty miles from the Penobscot river and was set on fire. The British extinguished the fire, got her afloat and afterwards used her in the navy. Ten of the Raleigh's crew were killed and wounded, some were captured and a few escaped.
The "Ranger" was built on Langdon's Island, now called Badger's Island, on the same blocks and ways used for the "Raleigh." This was the first American ship to be coppered. The famous John Paul Jones took command of her in June, 1777. She had eighteen guns and one hundred and forty-five men, and she sailed for France on the first day of November, carrying the news of Burgoyne's surrender and capturing two brigantines on her way across the ocean. Captain Jones said she was the best of all the ships he ever commanded. The next year she captured several prizes, and her flag received the first salute in Europe given to an American flag. At Whitehaven, in the north of England Jones captured a fort, spiked the guns and set the shipping on fire. Then he fought and captured the
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"Drake" off the coast of Ireland, a ship that had more guns and men than the "Ranger." In this engagement Samuel Wallingford of Sommersworth, Lieutenant of Marines, was killed. Returning to Brest with her prizes the "Ranger" was put under the command of First Lieutenant Thomas Simpson of Portsmouth and returned to the Pascataqua to be refitted, capturing several prizes on the way. Captain Simpson was a brother-in-law to John Langdon. In March, 1779, the "Ranger" sailed again, accompanied by the "Warren" and "Queen of France," commanded by Commodore J. B. Hopkins. Within three weeks more than eight prizes were taken, including one ship of twenty guns and another of eighteen, laden with stores for the British army. All this happened along the Atlantic coast. Returning to Portsmouth she sailed again the same year, with the ships "Queen of France" and "Providence," all under command of Commodore Abraham Whipple. They captured eleven merchantmen out of a fleet off the banks of Newfound- land and got eight of them to Boston, valued at a million dollars. In 1780 the "Ranger" with other ships was surrendered to the British, together with the land forces at Charleston, South Caro- lina, by General Lincoln.
There were Portsmouth and Kittery men with John Paul Jones on the "Bon Homme Richard" in the fight with the "Serapis" and on other ships with that noted commander. The "America," the largest ship built in America up to that time and the only battleship built in the United States during the Revolution, was begun on Langdon's Island in 1777 and launched November 5, 1782. This ship was presented to the French government by Congress, to replace their battleship "Magnifique," which had been lost near Boston.
This is by no means a complete account of the ships of war and privateers sent out from the Pascataqua. They were manned principally by men from Portsmouth and Kittery and the record of the American Navy in the Revolution fully equaled, if it did not excel, that of the army.6
6 The facts narrated above were gathered from Lieut. Remick's Kittery and Eliot in the Revolution and from Potter's Military Hist. of N. H.
Chapter VII AN ALMOST SUCCESSFUL SECESSION
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Chapter VII
AN ALMOST SUCCESSFUL SECESSION.1
Conditions in New Hampshire Grants at Outbreak of the Revolution-Rival Claims of New Hampshire and New York-Their Settlement More Seeming than Real-Revolt against Crown Reopens Question of Bound- ary and Jurisdiction-New Hampshire Organizes Provisional State Government-Assembly Substituted for Royal Governor-Towns as Political Units not Recognized in Representation-Disaffection of Towns East of the River with New Government-Refuse to Elect Delegates to the Assembly-Grants West of River Revolt against New York --- Declare Independence and Form State of Vermont with the Connecticut as Eastern Boundary-Scheme for New State West of Mason Line and East of Green Mountains-Union with Vermont Sought by Grants in New Hampshire-Four Parties with Diverse and Conflicting Aims- Exeter, Dresden, Bennington, and New York-First Union of New Hampshire Towns with Vermont-Bennington Party Accomplishes Its Dissolution-Intrigue and Counter Intrigue-Proposal that New Hamp- shire Extend Jurisdiction over All the Grants-Second Union with Ver- mont Accomplished-All Parties Appeal to Congress-Delays of Con- gress Lead to Serious Conflict of Authorities in Cheshire County-Final Plan of Settlement Proposed by Congressional Commission-General Washington Writes Governor Chittenden-The Union Dissolved-The Connecticut River Becomes the Boundary-The Lost Cause, a Winning Cause-The Principle of Town Representation so Strenuously Con- tended for by the Grants Recognized.
T HE revolt of the Province of New Hampshire against the Crown in 1775, reopened a controversy concerning jurisdic- tion and boundaries, which had seemingly been settled by order
1 This chapter was written by William Frederick Whitcher, who has given special study to the subject treated. Mr. Whitcher was born in Benton, August 10, 1845, son of Ira and Lucy (Royce) Whitcher. He was educated at Tilton Seminary and Wesleyan University, graduating at the latter institution in 1871. As a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church he held pastorates at Newport and Providence, R. I., and New Bedford, Mass. Later he joined the editorial staff of the Boston Traveller and became editor-in-chief after four years. In 1892 he became literary editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser. In the spring of 1898 he removed to Woodsville, N. H., where he became editor and proprietor of the Woodsville News. He represented Haverhill in the legislature of 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907 and 19II, and in the Constitutional Convention of 1912. Was trustee of N. H. State Library, 1903-12. He is author of a Hist. of Conventry-Benton and numerous articles of a genealogical and historical character.
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of the King in Council, July 30, 1764. It concerned the status of the New Hampshire Grants both east and west of the Connecti- cut River. The boundaries of the original province of New Hampshire, known as the Mason Grant, were definitely fixed, commencing on the seaboard three miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack river, thence up that river by the north line of Massachusetts sixty miles, thence to a point on the Piscataqua river sixty miles above its mouth, thence by that river to the sea. The true course of the Merrimack was, however, at that time, 1629, misunderstood, and to remedy this misunderstanding, the present northern boundary of Massachusetts was established by the King in Council in 1739. The Mason Grant as thus fixed was bounded on the south by the Massachusetts line extending west sixty miles from the seaboard, thence on a line known as the Mason line to the former sixty mile point on the Pisca- taqua, thence to the southern boundary. The settlers on the Grant were under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts until 1679, when a president and Council were appointed by Royal Com- mission to govern the province, and this government, arbitrary in its nature, was continued without substantial change until the outbreak of the Revolution. The grant to the Council of Plymouth in 1620 of lands included between the 40th and 48th degrees of north latitude was not limited by any western boundary, and Massachusetts and Connecticut claimed indefinitely to the west- ward. New York, by the grant of 1663, was bounded on the east by the Connecticut river. A dispute arose between these colonies, which was settled by a royal commission in 1664, by the establishment of the present line twenty miles east of the Hudson river. A re-grant of New York, ten years later in 1674, again named the Connecticut river as the eastern boundary, but Massachusetts and Connecticut by exclusive occupancy of the territory to the line established by the commission in 1664, still claimed to this line which was acquiesced in finally by New York.
Up to the time that Benning Wentworth was appointed governor of the province of New Hampshire in 1741, all the territory north of the Massachusetts line, east of New York, south of Quebec and west of the Mason line remained ungranted and under the immediate jurisdiction of the Crown. The com-
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mission issued to Wentworth, July 3, 1741, described the prov- ince as "bounded on the south side by a curve pursuing the course of the Merrimack river, at three miles distance, on the north side thereof, beginning at the Atlantic ocean, and ending at a point due north of a place called Pautucket Falls, and by a straight line drawn from thence due west across said lines till it meets with our other governments; and bounded on the east side by a line passing up through the mouth of Piscataqua har- bor, and up the middle of the river to the river of Newichawan- nock, part of which is now called Salmon Falls river, and through the middle of the same to the furthest head thereof, and from thence two degrees westerly, until one hundred and twenty miles be finished from the mouth of Piscataqua harbor aforesaid, or until it meets with our other governments." The vital phrase in this description is this: "till it meets with our other govern- ments." All previous commissions for the government of New Hampshire had included only the old Mason grant of 1629. Governor Wentworth assumed that his jurisdiction included all the ungranted territory between the Mason line and the King's other provinces, New York on the west and Quebec on the north. His commission authorized and commanded him to grant townships in the new territory in the King's name, and to incorporate the grantees into bodies politic in powers and privileges equal to those enjoyed by Massachusetts and Connecticut towns.
Governor Wentworth claimed jurisdiction over the terri- tory eastward of a continuation northward of the line between Massachusetts and Connecticut on the east and New York on the west, and in obedience to the instructions in his commission proceeded to grant townships west of the Connecticut river. The first was that of Bennington, the charter being dated Jan. 3, 1749. It is significant that this grant was in the extreme southwestern corner of the territory claimed by the New Hamp- shire governor. Correspondence ensued between the New Hampshire and New York governors. In reply to a letter of Governor Wentworth to Governor Clinton of New York as to the eastern boundary of New York, the latter wrote under date of April 9, 1750, that the letters patent from Charles II. to the Duke of York expressly granted all the lands from the
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west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware Bay. Governor Wentworth replied under date of April 25, 1750: "This would be entirely satisfactory to me, had not the two charter governments of Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay ex- tended their bounds many miles to the westward of said river; and it being the opinion of his Majesty's Council of this govern- ment, whose advice I am to take on these occasions, that New Hampshire had an equal right to claim the same extent of western boundaries with those charter governments, I had in consequence of their advice before your letter came to my hands granted one township due north of the Massachusetts line of the contents of six miles square and by measurement twenty- four miles east of the City of Albany; presuming that this gov- ernment was bounded by the same north and south line with Massachusetts and Connecticut before it met with his Majesty's other governments. It will therefore give me great satisfaction, if at your leisure you can inform me by what authority Connecticut and Massachusetts governments claimed so far to the westward as they have settled; and in the mean- time I shall desist from making any further grants on the west- ern frontier of my government that may have the least proba- bility of interfering with your government."
Governor Clinton replied that the claim of Connecticut was founded upon an agreement with New York, made in or about the year 1684, afterwards confirmed by King William, and that the Massachusetts government at first possessed themselves of those lands by intrusion, and, through the negligence of New York had continued their possession. He suggested that Governor Wentworth recall the grant of Bennington and that failing this he would feel obliged to have the matter laid before his Majesty. Governor Wentworth replied that it would be impossible for him to recall the grant, but acquiesced that he would with pleasure submit to a reference of the matter to his Majesty.
Notwithstanding his disclaimer of intention of making other grants on the disputed territory until the matter was settled, the New Hampshire governor did issue fifteen grants before the outbreak of the French-Canadian war in 1754, and after the Conquest of Canada in 1759, during the period from January 8, 1760 to June 15, 1764, he issued no less than one hundred and
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eighteen charters for towns on the west side of the river and fifteen or more on the east side. In many of these new towns settlement was begun, and in some cases proceeded rapidly.
New York persisted in its claim to jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut river, but made no grants of territory, pend- ing adjudication of the dispute by his Majesty, her governor contenting himself with warning off the settlers under the Wentworth grants. There were proclamations and counter proclamations, representations and counter representations to the home government, until the matter was settled by an order of the King in Council, dated July 20, 1764, decreeing the west bank of Connecticut river to be the dividing line between the two provinces. Governor Wentworth and his successor con- tinued to make grants east of the river where the jurisdiction of New Hampshire was undisputed, until the revolt against royal authority.
The grantees of the larger number of the townships on the west side of the river and of a considerable number on the east side were from Connecticut, with a lessor number from Massachu- setts and Rhode Island. The present names of New Hampshire towns in the Connecticut valley, and of Vermont towns are indic- ative of the residences of these grantees, and of the localities from which in many instances the first settlers came. There was a predominance of the Connecticut element in the population, and the Connecticut idea of the town as the unit of government became the dominant idea. The towns existed by charter from the Crown through its representative, the royal governor, and these charters conveyed liberal powers. New Hampshire was without charter ; the authority of the governor was derived solely from royal commission. The new towns were remote from the seat of provincial government at Portsmouth, the sparseness of their population increased their danger from Indians, and they were left for their development and security largely to their own resources. It was but natural that, imbued with the spirit and idea of local self-government, with which no superior authority dared to interfere, these towns developed a system of government, purely democratic in its features, making them in very truth little republics. By very force of circum- stances these towns were compelled to assume, each in its
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individual capacity, nearly every function of civil government. Indeed it was this spirit of independence which was used by New York as an argument in urging the home government to give New York jurisdiction to the Connecticut, since New York would be more likely than New Hampshire to restrict the inde- pendence of these little chartered republics.
The transfer of the Grants west of the river to the jurisdic- tion of New York was obnoxious to the settlers. The New York government was a centralized system, having little place for a town system. Again when New York claimed that the order in Council of 1764 was retroactive and served to invalidate the titles of the settlers to their lands under the Wentworth char- ters, a spirit of uncompromising hostility was aroused, espe- cially on the west side of the Green mountains, and systematic evictions of the settlers from their lands and homes were begun. On the east side, there was less hostility, the power of New York being much less felt. Indeed many of the towns, in order to provide for future contingencies, secured in addition to the charters under which they had been settled new charters or grants from New York, thus avoiding trouble and confirming them in their titles to their lands and homes.
The revolt of the colonies against the Crown gave the people of the Grants, under the jurisdiction of New York, their opportunity to free themselves from that jurisdiction, which they were not slow to seize. They had already organized Com- mittees of Safety, determined bands were under arms, styling themselves Green Mountain Boys, and at the commencement of hostilities against the royal authority a company of these under the leadership of Ethan Allen had marched against Ticonderoga and had captured that fortress, together with Crown Point, from the British garrisons. As early as April II, 1775, a Convention of the Committees of Safety of Cumberland County-that part of the Grants south of Windsor and west of the Green Moun- tains, met at Westminster and voted that it was the duty of the people of the Grants in the interest of self-preservation "to wholly renounce and resist the administration of the govern- ment of New York." This was followed by other conventions ; one at Dorset, January 16, 1776, which addressed to Congress a remonstrance against further submission to New York, and
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prayed that they might act independently as a separate district, in order that they might render the most efficient service pos- sible in the common cause against Great Britain. Through the influence of New York in Congress, submission to New York was recommended by that body until the issue between the Colonies and Great Britain should be decided. Another conven- tion met at Dorset, July 24, 1776, and still others by adjourn- ment, at which resolves in favor of the formation of a new state were passed, until the convention with a large representation from all sections of the Grants met at Westminster, January 15, 1777, and published a declaration to the effect "that they would at all times act as a free and independent state, capable of regulating their own internal police; that they had the sole exclusive right of governing themselves in such manner as they should choose not repugnant to the resolves of Congress; and that they were ready to contribute their proportion to the com- mon defence." The name of New Connecticut was adopted for the new state. Delegates were appointed to convey this declara- tion to Congress, with a petition for representation in that body on an equality with other states. The opposition of New York, however, caused Congress to delay action on the petition. An adjourned Convention was held at Windsor at which the name of Vermont was adopted for the new state, a committee ap- pointed to draft a constitution, and a new convention called to meet at Windsor, July 2, to act upon the report of the Commit- tee. This Convention met and adopted the constitution, ad- journing, however, till December in order to perfect and revise it in minor matters. The first election of officers under it was held March 4, 1778, and the state government of Vermont was fully organized on the 12th of the same month.
All this time a spirit of unrest and dissatisfaction had pre- vailed in many of the Grants on the east side of the river. From the very beginning there had been little in common be- tween the government at Portsmouth and the Grants. The settlers were largely from Connecticut, adherents of the religious sect prevailing there, while those from Massachusetts came at a time when a long conflict between the assembly and the executive had resulted in a deep-rooted prejudice on their part against both the executive and the judiciary. Among their
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leaders were many educated men, graduates of Yale and Har- vard, radical in their ideas of civil government. In Connecticut the right of suffrage was held sacred, and under the Connecticut charter the people had the privilege of electing annually all their officers. Church and state were blended, the town was the parish, and ministers were called and settled by church and town meeting. Where, as in Connecticut, the great mass of the people were of the same religious faith and practice, the system worked most satisfactorily, and the Connecticut idea had been adopted by many of the settlers who came from Massa- chusetts. The prevailing theory among the settlers in the Connecticut valley on both sides the river was that a practically universal right of manhood suffrage, and the town system of government pure and simple were the best security for liberty and happiness, and the remedy for political ills. The govern- ment at Portsmouth was little more than a name to the settlers in the Coos country. Governor Wentworth issued charters on terms so liberal as to encourage settlement and then left these settlers and their towns pretty much to themselves, except to see that rents and taxes were paid. Representation in the Provincial Assembly was at the pleasure of the Governor, and the towns outside the Mason Grant with their well-known radi- cal democratic proclivities were given scant attention, and it is not to be wondered at that they paid little attention to enact- ments in which they had no voice. The government at Ports- mouth was well nigh absolute in its character. Destitute of a charter, the power of the Provincial Assembly had from the first been little more than that permitted by the Royal Governor and its chief business seems to have been simply to register his decrees. Only four towns were represented in the first Provin- cial Assembly in 1680, and the electors who were to choose representatives were expressly named in the precepts issued. Towns were added from time to time until in the last Assembly elected in 1775, forty-three were represented while upwards of one hundred were ignored and had never been permitted a voice in legislation at all. In all the region west and north of the watershed between the Merrimack and the Connecticut only three towns had ever had delegates admitted to seats. Some of the towns had chosen delegates, but they were denied ad-
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mission on the ground that they had been elected without a precept from the governor, and so illegally. The leading men of the province were aristocratic merchants and professional men of the seaboard county of Rockingham, who had grown rich by special favor of the government, and they were not disposed to share such powers as were permitted them by the Royal Governor with the leaders of the newer communities. In the Assembly which met May 4, 1775, members presented them- selves from Plymouth, Orford and Lyme, Grafton county towns, elected in response to the King's writ issued by the Governor, but they were unanimously refused seats on the ground that the House had not given its assent to the writ. A controversy arose between the Governor and the House, and on the refusal of the latter to rescind its action relative to these three mem- bers, the Governor, July 28, sent a message from Fort William and Mary whither he had retired, adjourning the Assembly to September 28. Events were moving rapidly and before the 28th of September Governor Wentworth had left the Province never to return.
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