USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 15
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On the 8th of November another proprietors' meeting was held (their num- ber now increased to thirty) at the same place, when deeds of partition were issued to the individuals for the lots drawn by each. At this meeting it was also voted that Daniel Chase and William Haight be appointed to draw lots for the balance of the survey not then appropriated. In this second partition several of the great lots were subdivided by lines drawn from east to west, and renumbered.
On the 23d of February, 1763, the proprietors met at the building before mentioned, in Beekman precinct, Duchess county, and appointed William Smith, Nehemiah Merritt and Abraham Wing, trustees to partition out the re- maining undivided lands.
13I
FROM 1763 TO THE REVOLUTION.
In the course of the summer of this year (1763) a little progress was made towards the first permanent settlement of the town, as fully appears in the his- tory of Queensbury in later pages of this work-progress that was destined ere long to be disastrously interrupted by the clash of arms and the din of battle in the Revolutionary struggle, previous to the triumph of liberty and the reign of peace that followed.
These pioneers who penetrated the wilderness where fields were still reek- ing with the signs of recent bloody strife may well be counted among the early heroes of their country ; and their heroism was yet to be tested and honorably sustained before their descendants could peacefully enjoy their possessions.
CHAPTER XI.
FROM 1763 TO THE REVOLUTION.
The New Hampshire Grants Controversy -English Oppression of Colonists-The Sons of Liberty -The Stamp Act-Its Repeal-Obnoxious Parliamentary Action-The Liberty Pole Assault-Signals of the Revolution.
LB ET us now return to the important events occurring elsewhere in the coun- try between the peace of 1763 and the outbreak of the great struggle that gave America her independence. In the year just mentioned the boundary line between New York and New Hampshire became the subject of much contro- versy. The territory in dispute was what is now comprised in the State of Vermont, lying between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain. Con- troversies had previously arisen growing out of the indefinite character of their charters, between New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut; but the bound- aries were finally adjusted by negotiation and compromise. The line between these States was fixed upon as extending north and south twenty miles east of the Hudson River. New Hampshire, regardless of justice or title, insisted up- on a continuation of this line as her western boundary, and by the year 1763 her governor had issued one hundred and thirty-eight townships in grants to settlers. Against all this New York entered vigorous protest, and in Decem- ber, of the year named, Governor Colden issued a proclamation claiming ju- risdiction to the Connecticut River and commanded the sheriff of Albany county to return the names of all persons who, by virtue of the New Hamp- shire grants had taken possession of lands west of the Connecticut River. This was followed by a counter proclamation by the governor of New Hampshire. In the following year the question was referred to the crown and a decision rendered that the Connecticut River should form the boundary between New York and New Hampshire. Thereupon the government of New York declared
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
the grants by New Hampshire illegal, and insisted that the settlers on those grants should either surrender or repurchase the lands. This demand was op- posed by the settlers, whereupon the New York government granted the lands to others, who obtained judgments in their favor by bringing ejectment suits in Albany.
Although carrying us out of chronological order in recording events, the con- clusion of this controversy may as well be detailed here. The civil officers of New York were opposed by force in their attempts to eject the settlers and the New York Assembly passed an act declaring such resistance to be felony. A procla- mation was issued, also, by Governor Tryon, who succeeded Lord Dunmore (Colden's successor) in 1771, offering a reward for the apprehension of Ethan Allen and other conspicuous offenders. This was followed by a burlesque proclamation offering a reward for the arrest of the governor of New York. The matter neared a crisis in the spring of 1775, when New York sought to establish courts in the disputed territory; the officers were prevented from entering the court-house, upon which they collected a force, fired into the building, killing one man and wounding others. Some of the officers were then arrested and lodged in jail. The Revolutionary outbreak caused a cessation of these disputes ; but in 1777 the inhabitants of the disputed territory held a convention at Windsor and declared the " grants " an independent State with the name of Vermont. They at the same time addressed a petition to Congress setting forth their motives for action and asking admission to the confederacy of independent states and seats for delegates to Congress. This petition was disposed of by resolutions, one of which declared "that the independent gov- ernment attempted to be established by the people styling themselves the in- habitants of the New Hampshire grants can derive no countenance or justifica- tion from the act of Congress declaring the united colonies to be independent of the crown of Great Britain, nor from any other act or resolution of Congress." The discord was revived and so antagonistic to New York and the colonial authorities at large did the settlers on the grants become, that it is believed they secrectly negotiated with the British to become a colony under the crown ; this feature of the controversy will be hereafter alluded to. After the ratifica- tion of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, Congress offered to admit the new State, but with curtailed boundaries; this offer was rejected and for ten years it remained outside of the Union. Finally on the Ioth of January, 1791, a convention at Bennington adopted the National constitution, and Vermont, having agreed to pay to the State of New York $30,000 for territory claimed by that State, was admitted to the Union.
During the progress of these events and those described in Chapter IX the British parliament continued its arbitrary and oppressive course towards the American colonists. But the time arrived when unquestioning submission to such measures could no longer be exacted. The people were heavily bur-
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FROM 1763 TO THE REVOLUTION.
dened with the expenses of the late war, the results of which gave to England a large extent of territory; yet, almost before the smoke of the battles had cleared away, the English ministry began devising plans to tax them for a revenue without their consent. In 1764 a proposition was submitted to the House of Commons for raising revenue in the colonies by the sale of stamps. Contrary to promises the stamp act was passed in March, 1765. By its pro- visions no legal or commercial documents were valid unless made upon stamped paper, upon which a price was placed according to the nature of the document. This act was bitterely denounced throughout the colonies and particularly in New York, and resistance determined upon. The "Sons of Liberty "I were organized and meetings held to devise plans of opposition to the obnoxious act. On the 7th of October a convention of delegates from the different colonies was held in New York city and continued in session two weeks. A declara- tion of rights was adopted and petitions and memorials sent to parliament, in which the principles that governed the colonies during the Revolution were clearly foreshadowed.
The stamp act was to take effect on the Ist of November; but as the date drew near, excitement increased, and on that day flags hung at half mast, bells were tolled and other funereal demonstrations made. Governor Colden became alarmed and refused to issue any of the stamped paper, leaving the ugly duty to his successor, Sir Henry Moore, then on his way from England. The new governor soon saw the folly of attempting to oppose the will of the people in that direction. The final result was the destruction of a large quan- tity of the odious paper by the Sons of Liberty, and the repeal of the stamp act in March, 1766. This action was not, however, due to the good will of parliament, nor to the appeals of the colonists, but to the solicitations of Lon- don merchants who had been deprived of their American trade through a union of colonial merchants who pledged themselves to cease importations from England.
" From the time of the stamp act riots, occasional gatherings of Whigs as- sembled at Fort Edward among whom were numbered such representative and influential names as the Bradshaw, Moss, Baker and High families of Kings- bury ; the Bitleys, Sherwoods, and Durkees, of Fort Edward, the Paynes, Parkes and McCreas of the yet unnamed district on the west side of the Hud-
1 In 1735 the radical opponents of the royal governors were called Sons of Liberty ; but the name was not often heard until after Colonel Barre made his memorable speech in the House of Commons (1765). In reply to an assertion by Charles Townshend that the colonies had been nurtured into strength by the indulgence of the home government, Barre made a scornful denial, saying that the only care that had been exercised had been in sending weak and unfit men to rule over them - " men whose behavior on many occasions had caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them." The organization was composed chiefly of ardent young men, who had nothing to lose by their course, with whom people of consideration did not affiliate, though they generally favored the acts of the Sons. They finally spread over the colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia, and became the most radical leaders in the growing quarrel with England, and promoters of the war that followed.
I34
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
son ; so that when the beacon fires of the Revolution burst forth, the lines of political opinion were sharply drawn and defined and it was known at the outset through a wide range of neighborhood, who were the friends as well as foes of the general opposition to and uprising against British misrule."1
Rejoicing over the repeal of the stamp act had scarcely died away, when Parliament again stirred up discontent among the colonists by other unjust and oppressive acts. The Assembly was called upon by the governor to concede to the demands of the ministry in furnishing supplies for the soldiers in New York city ; this created a good deal of animosity and led to hostility between the Sons of Liberty and the troops. The Assembly, moreover, subsequently refused to comply with the request of the ministry to make provision for the soldiers, for which action parliament declared the legislative powers of the As- sembly annulled.
In 1767 a bill was passed by parliament imposing a duty on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painter's colors imported into the colonies. This action caused re- newed excitement and in the following year the Assembly of Massachusetts addressed a circular to the other colonies soliciting their co-operation in de- fending the common liberties. This so offended the ministry that a letter was sent to the colonial governors forbidding their assemblies to correspond with that of Massachusetts. This mandate was absolutely opposed and disobeyed, with declarations on the part of the New York Assembly of its inherent rights in the case, denunciations of parliament and other evidences of refraction ; the Assembly was thereupon dissolved by the governor. But the people sustained their representatives and returned most of them to the new Assembly of 1769.
The English merchants, who were suffering from the non-importation agree- ment of the American dealers, now joined their petitions to those of the colo- nists for the repeal of the obnoxious custom-house act. A circular letter as- sured the people in response that the duties should be removed at the next session of parliament on all articles except tea. This was something, but the principle of the right of the mother country to tax the colonies remained, and the promises of parliament were far from satisfactory. Animosity and hostil- ity, moreover, continued between the soldiery and the Sons of Liberty. Ar- rangements having been perfected by which the soldiers' supplies were guar- anteed, coming, too, largely from the resources of the colonists, the troops still did not hesitate to make manifest their disdain for, and hostility towards the people. On the evening of the 2d of January, 1769, they made their second assault on the liberty pole of the Sons of Liberty in New York, and charged upon the opposing citizens, drove a party of them into a tavern which was a pop- ular resort, and broke in the windows and destroyed the furniture. On the even- ing of the 16th they sawed down the pole, cut it in pieces and piled them in front of the obnoxious hotel. A resolution of the citizens followed, to the effect that
1 HOLDEN'S History of Queensbury.
135
FROM 1770 TO 1775.
all soldiers found in the streets after roll-call should be dealt with as enemies to the peace of the city. This resolution was ridiculed in handbills posted by the soldiers, and two or three of the latter were arrested in the act of posting them. While conducting the soldiers to the mayor's office the citizens were attacked by a party of twenty troops and a skirmish ensued in which . several citizens, some of whom had not participated in the mêlée, were wounded. Other affrays occurred the next day in which the soldiers generally got the worst of it. The mayor then issued a proclamation forbidding them to leave their barracks unless in company of a non-commissioned officer, and order was partially restored.
It is commonly held that the battle of Lexington was the first conflict of the Revolutionary struggle. But, although this skirmish in the streets of New York may be looked upon as a comparatively insignificant affair, still there was bloodshed, and it was the actual beginning of the great conflict, five years be- fore the guns of Lexington were heard.
CHAPTER XII. FROM 1770 TO 1775.
Governor Colden's Successor - Old Troubles Renewed - A large Cup of Tea -Congress and its Declaration of Rights - Impending War - The British March to Lexington - Paul Revere's Ride - The Battle on the Green - Retreat of the British - Preparations for the Capture of Crown Point and Ticonderoga - Ethan Allen's Command - Arnold's Arrival and its Consequences - Plan of the Expe- dition - Capture of Ticonderoga - Surrender of Crown Point - Reassembling of Congress - Con- gressional Vacillation - Allen and Arnold's Naval Exploit - Indian Action in the Revolution - The Canadian Invasion - Montgomery's Initial Movements - Allen's Capture- Carleton's Plan for Relief of St. Johns - Its Failure -Capture of St. Johns and Montreal by Montgomery - Arnold's Wonder- ful Expedition - Montgomery ¡before Quebec - Demand for its Surrender and the Reply - Mont- gomery's death and Failure of the Attack - A Disastrous Retreat - Charlotte County Created - Mil- itia Affairs.
IN October, 1770, Lord Dunmore succeeded Colden as governor and brought with him royal approval of the act authorizing the issue of colonial bills of credit. The duties had, meanwhile, been removed from all articles ex- cept tea. Colonial affairs were going on more smoothly. On the 18th of July, 1771, William Tryon was commissioned governor and Lord Dunmore transferred to Virginia. The old differences finally again came to the surface. The East India Company, having suffered severely through the imposition of the American duty on tea, petitioned Parliament in 1773 to abolish the tax, offering at the same time to submit to double the amount of that duty as an exportation tariff. This was refused, but, instead, the ministry agreed to favor
.
1
I36
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
the company by a special act allowing them to ship their teas to the American colonies free of duty as an export, while still enforcing the importation duty ; in other words the determination was clearly shown that the assumed right to tax the colonists in any way, or all ways, was not to be relinquished under any circumstances. The India company now loaded their ships with teas, appointed consignees for their reception and expected a ready sale at the low prices that could now be made. Their reckoning failed. The Sons of Liberty met and re- solved that the obnoxious article should not be landed in the province under any pretense. The tea commissioners, in submission to the popular will, re- signed. The first cargo arrived off Sandy Hook in April, 1774, whence the pilot, acting under his instructions from the vigilance committee, refused to bring the ship to port. In the mean time Captain Chambers, of another vessel, a professed patriot, sailed his ship into the harbor. When threats were made of a purpose to search his cargo, he admitted that he had tea on board which he had brought over as a private venture. His chests were thereupon hoisted on deck and given a salt water plunge bath. The vessels were sent on return voyages. In the mean time a cargo of tea had arrived in Boston harbor ; the vessel was boarded by the patriotic sons of that city and the chests emptied into the sea.
The English ministry were now so enraged at the outcome of the tea tariff, in connection with other measures of resistance, or disloyalty, as it was there termed, that they resolved to at once subjugate the country. One of the steps towards this end was the adoption of the infamous "Boston port bill," the pur- pose of which was to practically close the Boston harbor and thus destroy the trade of the city. The people throughout the colonies were in earnest sympa- thy with their Massachusetts friends, aware that similar ruinous measures might be in store for themselves. Public meetings were held for the consideration of the common grievances and among movements for protection the restora- tion of the non-importation agreement was urged and the assembling of a co- lonial congress.
A congress was called and met on the 5th of September, 1774, adopted a declaration of rights, and agreed upon a petition to the king and an appeal to the people of Great Britain and Canada. An adjournment was then taken until the following May. The New York Assembly was the only one that did not sanction these congressional proceedings; but instead, addressed a remon- strance to parliament, which was, of course, treated with disdain.1 The New York Assembly adjourned on the 3d of April, 1775, and never met again. Its refusal to appoint delegates to the congress gave much dissatisfaction and a
I On the 12th of January, 1775, at a cabinet council, it was declared there was nothing in the proceedings of Congress that afforded any basis for an honorable reconciliation. It was therefore re- solved to break off all commerce with the Americans ; to protect the loyalists in the colonies ; and to declare all others to be traitors and rebels. - LOSSING.
I37
FROM 1770 TO 1775.
provincial convention of county representatives was called by the people to perform that duty.
The Americans had long felt their critical condition and foresaw that an appeal to arms must, doubtless, follow. A quantity of military stores had been collected by them at Concord, Mass. To destroy these, General Gage sent a detachment of British regulars on the 18th of April, 1775, from Boston, where he had between three thousand and four thousand troops. But Paul Revere made his famous ride to Concord and aroused the people to the men- aced incursion ; and when, early on the following morning, the detachment reached Lexington, they found the militia drawn up on the public green. The British officer ordered them to disperse; but the order was not heeded, and the regulars fired. Eight of the "minute men " were killed and several wounded ; the remainder were dispersed and the British pressed on to Con- cord. There the militia had gathered from all directions; the stores were secreted and the invaders were given a warm reception, causing them to re- treat. As they fell back towards Lexington they were disastrously harassed by the colonists, who killed many of their number, shooting from behind fences, buildings and trees. It is probable that the whole detachment might have been cut off, but for the fact that reinforcements met them near Lexington ; but the retreat was continued and many more regulars fell by the sharp shoot- ing of the citizens. The whole country was aroused and the revolution was begun in earnest.
The next event of importance, and one that bears more directly upon the history of Warren county and vicinity was the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. According to Dr. Holden, " After the close of the French war, or at least as early as the year 1767, the fort at the head of Lake George was partially dismantled, and abandoned as a military post; the forts at Ticonder- oga and Crown Point being of more massive character, were considered an adequate protection on a frontier no longer threatened by the annual incursion of the savages. At this time the only occupants of this post were a retired in- valid officer of the British army, Captain John Nordberg and two men supposed also to have belonged to the army, and who were possibly pensioners of the crown. There are reasons for supposing that one of these was John McComb, and the other Hugh McAuley whose name subsequently appears in the records, and who was the ancestor of the McAuley family, of the town of Queens- bury."1 General Frederick Haldimand had been left in command on Lake Champlain. He had already announced to the British government in 1773 that the fort at Crown Point was entirely destroyed, while that at Ticonderoga was in a "ruinous condition," and that both could not "cover fifty men in winter." Ethan Allen, who had been conspicuous in his opposition to New York in the New Hampshire grants trouble, and was declared an outlaw and
1 History of Queensbury.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
a hundred and fifty pounds offered for his arrest, was one of the brave spirits who first took up arms against the oppression of Great Britain. He was found at Bennington by the force which had been collected in Connecticut and Mas- sachusetts with the design of descending upon the works at the two fortified points on Lake Champlain. The expedition numbered about forty volunteers when it reached Bennington, where Allen's powerful influence and enthusiastic assistance were secured. On the 7th of May a band of brave men numbering two hundred and seventy (all but forty-six being " Green Mountain boys," as Allen's followers were termed) had assembled at Castleton. At this inoppor- tune time Benedict Arnold appeared on the scene, bearing a commission from the Massachusetts committee of safety, dated May 3d, clothing him with au- thority to effect the same purpose for which the other force was destined. A conflict for the command ensued, which was finally terminated by the refusal of the volunteers to march except under the command of Allen. Arnold re- luctantly accompanied the expedition as second in command.
Noah Phelps, one of the Massachusetts committee, entered the fort at Ti- conderoga in pretended quest of a barber, and thus gained definite knowledge of its condition. Captain Herrick was ordered to Skenesborough, whence, after the capture of the younger Skene and the stores there accumulated, he was to join Allen at Ticonderoga. Douglass was ordered to Panton to secure boats for transportation of the force. The committees of Albany and New York appear to have declined any part in these operations.
Allen's force marched with as much secrecy as possible to the eastern shore of the lake, posted pickets on all roads leading to Ticonderoga, to cut off pos- sible conveyance to the fort of intelligence of the movement, and there waited a day and a night for the arrival of the boats. Finally with the few boats that were at hand Allen resolved to attempt the passage; and on the night of the Ioth eighty-three men embarked at Hand's Point and landed about a mile north of the fort. Dawn was approaching and the commander realized to the fullest the importance of prompt action. He had been furnished with a guide in the person of young Nathan Beman, son of a patriot of Shoreham, who had a perfect knowledge of the works gained during his boyhood.
Allen, in a low and earnest voice, addressed his little band, inspiring them with the importance of their mission and the glory of its success, and then told them that all who accompanied him must go voluntarily, and ordered all who were ready to poise their firelocks. Every musket was instantly raised. After again pacifying Arnold, who assumed to the leadership, by agreeing that they should advance together, Allen and Arnold took the lead, with young Beaman, and the column filed up to the sallyport of the fortress. The sentinel snapped his gun as they approached and retreated through the covered way, closely followed by the Americans, who drew up on the parade in two lines, each facing the barracks. Their shouts awakened the garrison and Captain de la
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