USA > New York > Essex County > The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York : and a general survey of its physical geography, its mines and minerals, and industrial pursuits, embracing an account of the northern wilderness > Part 17
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Major Carleton, in the autumn of the same year, proceeded from St. Johns with a formidable fleet, conveying more than one thousand men. He advanced secretly and undis- covered, and on the 10th and 11th of October, with a trifling loss, captured Fort Ann and Fort George. He completely devastated the country along his line of march ; but the marked exemption of the territory of Vermont from these ravages were calculated to excite jealousy and apprehension. This unimportant expedition terminated these hostile incursions of the enemy beyond the fortresses of Champlain.
At this epoch was initiated the enigmatical and extraor- dinary relations, which subsisted for several years between the British authorities in Canada and the government of
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Vermont. The people of the New Hampshire grants had formally declared their independence in 1777, and under the name of Vermont had assumed the attitude and prero- gatives of a sovereign state. Any discussion of the charac- ter of these relations, a subject that has so nearly baffled all distinct and satisfactory explanation, is foreign to our purpose, except as the events were interwoven with the military history of Ticonderoga. A glance at the peculiar posture of Vermont in her domestic and public affairs is necessary, in order to approach a just appreciation of the ambiguous policy of her leaders at this juncture. A differ- ence of opinion even yet exists in legal minds, in reference to the legitimacy of the claims of New York upon the New Hampshire grants. Whatever may have been the strength or validity of these claims, it is certain that a deep and bitter hostility towards New York was the all pervading feeling of the heroic and independent people who occupied the territory in dispute. This sentiment was stimulated by the sincere conviction, that these claims were unjust, and that Vermont had endured great wrong from the grasping injustice and oppression of her more powerful neighbor. To evade the real or imaginary evils which were impend- ing from this source, and to escape the political absorption which they believed was contemplated by New York, was the inexorable determination of the remarkable body of men, who at that period guarded the policy of Vermont. With them, the purpose was paramount to every other consi- deration. The devotion of these leaders, in common with all the population of the grants, to the cause of American independence, through all the early vicissitudes of the contest, had been active and ardent. They now indig- nantly cherished the belief, that their efforts and sacrifices would not yield to them an equal participation in the com- mon blessings which might be secured by the successful issue of the conflict ; that congress had turned a deaf ear to their importunate demands for a recognition of an independent position and political immunities ; that they were threatened with dismemberment by the pretensions of other states, and
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standing alone between these states and an exasperated enemy, they were abandoned, to meet single-handed, the dangers and sufferings of a hostile invasion. The over- ruling law of self-preservation, the astute statesmen of Vermont alleged, justified and even demanded a resort to extraordinary measures, and such as would be warranted by no common emergencies. Their apologists now aver that these men designed, by shrewd diplomacy, to shield the state from the overwhelming assaults of the British army lying upon its borders, and at the same time to secure an ultimate protection from the aggressions of New York. At this time in the light of later disclosures the position will scarcely be controverted, that it was their fixed and deliberate purpose if the exigency arose of deciding in the choice of two great evils, to return to a colonial depend- ence, fortified " by safe and honorable terms " rather than submit to the power of New York.1 The same determina- tion was avowed by Governor Chittenden in 1781, in his official correspondence with Washington.2
At the opening of the year 1780, the political leaders of Vermont were occupying this strange and anomalous posi- tion. In March, Beverly Robinson of New York addressed a letter to Ethan Allen, which was delivered to him at Arlington in the following July by a British soldier dis- guised in the garb of an American farmer. Allen re- ceived and read the letter, and without causing the agent to be arrested, returned an ambiguous verbal answer. Robinson, in this communication, which was couched in the most specious terms, appealed to the known prejudices of Vermont, attempted to influence the popular passions, and to prompt Allen to aid in the subversion of American independence. This document Allen submitted to Go- vernor Chittenden and a small circle of confidential friends. They all concurred in the opinion that no answer should be returned. Robinson not having received a reply in
1 Ira Allen's Political History of Vermont, London, 1798.
2 Ramsey's Washington.
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February, 1781, wrote Allen again, enclosing a copy of the previous communication. The second letter was still more bold and distinct in its language, and the seductive allure- ments to Vermont and to Allen personally it presented. After an interval of almost a year from the reception of the first letter, Allen transmitted both instruments to con- gress. He communicated at the same time to that body, an elaborate vindication of the course of Vermont, urging the acknowledgment of her political existence, and an- nouncing an unalterable and resolute determination to assert her independence. He closed his communication in characteristic energy, with these remarkable words : "and rather than fail, I will retire with the hardy Green Mountain boys, into the desolate caverns of the mountains and wage war with human nature at large." Vermont, in the hour of trial, was not without the influence in congress of earnest and powerful friends. Roger Sherman gave indirectly his countenance to the proceedings of which New York complained, and afterwards with great zeal vindicated the claims of Vermont to political recognition, and El- bridge Gerry pronounced, that " Vermont had a perfect right to her independence." 1
During the summer of 1780, Sir Frederick Haldimand with a large force, resumed the occupation of Ticonderoga. This movement, at that time mysterious and without any apparent motive, was afterwards known to have been dic- tated by the desire of fostering the negotiations with Vermont. He proposed to Ethan Allen, who then com- manded the troops in Vermont, that hostilities should be suspended pending an arrangement for the exchange of certain prisoners. After some actual or pretended hesita- tion, Allen finally decided to accept the proposition, and that a temporary armistice, embracing that part of New York, claimed by Vermont and extending westward to the Hudson, should be established. Ira Allen, a subtle and sagacious politician, and Joseph Fay, were appointed commissioners
1 Life of Gouverneur Morris.
13
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for Vermont with the professed object of effecting the con- templated exchange of prisoners. While this ostensible negotiation was openly pursued, but with singular procrasti- nation, the commissioners were actively engaged with secret emissaries of England in consummating the preliminaries of an arrangement of far higher import. Overtures were submitted by the British agents for the independent organ- ization of the Vermont government, under the royal pro- tection.
These proposals were received by the representatives of Vermont with attention, and, although with no committal in reference to any ulterior action, in a manner that cherished the expectations of the English officials.1 Under the same pretext of exchanging prisoners, Ira Allen, in the ensuing spring, proceeded to the Isle aux Noix, and again the momentous negotiation was resumed. The fact which has been already mentioned should not be disregarded, that during all this period, and to the termi- nation of the war, Vermont was left by congress without protection or defense, and abandoned to oppose with her single strength alone, a British army of ten thousand troops, that continually menaced her frontier. In response to the propositions of the British agents, that the armi- stice should continue ; that the Vermont leaders should gradually prepare the popular sentiment for a return to their allegiance; that Vermont should be clothed with high and peculiar privileges, and that those who might aid in the consummation of this scheme should be approved and rewarded by the most ample royal munificence. Allen conceded the perilous position of Vermont, and admitted that her people had been remiss in the prosecu- tion of the war, from the fear that success might subject them to the government of New York, a result far more deplorable in their view, than the subjugation of the United States by England. While conceding this, he avowed that the hour for action had not arrived.2 These
1 Thompson's Vermont.
2 Stone, II, 199 ; Thompson, 63.
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interviews were extended through a period of seventeen days; and Allen, with an exquisite adroitness, without committing himself or his government, succeeded in effect- ing what was the chief object of this mission, an extension of the armistice, although unable to procure its continuance beyond the approaching session of the Vermont legisla- ture, which was to convene in June following.
While Allen presented to the council a full and public report of his successful arrangement in securing the ex- change of prisoners, all reference in that document to the more important negotiations was studiously avoided. The knowledge of these measures and a participation in them, were limited to eight of the prominent citizens of the state and veiled from the public eye with an art and success only equaled by its duplicity. A surreptitious correspond- ence was maintained through this and the succeeding year, by the Allens as the organs of the Vermont leaders, and the British officials at Ticonderoga. By the agency of British soldiers, secret missives were constantly interexchanged at Sunderland, a distance of sixty miles within the American territory from Ticonderoga, between the Allens and the agents of England. In the darkness and secrecy of one night, letters were deposited at an appointed receptacle, and by the same channel answers were returned the even- ing succeeding. A trifling incident reveals with strong significance the actual relation which existed between the initiated in these measures, and the British government. A band of patriotic citizens proceeding from Manchester, with the design of demolishing the house of a suspected royalist in Arlington, were intercepted at Sunderland, an intermediate town, by Ira Allen and two of his coad- jutors, by whose influence and persuasion they were with reluctance induced to relinquish their purpose. That very night and on the same ground, where this occurrence hap- pened, Allen received a packet from Ticonderoga by the English guard that had been the active medium of this intercourse, and returned an answer.
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In the autumn of 1781, St. Leger ascended the lake with a strong force, and again occupied Ticonderoga. These ex- traordinary and repeated oscillations of large bodies of troops between St. Johns and the Champlain fortresses, now known to have been connected with this negotiation, and intended to facilitate and strenghten it, at that time tended to excite the greatest alarm and agitation not only in Vermont but throughout the whole northern frontier. When they advanced, the militia were suddenly summoned from their homes, forts were armed and replenished, and great inconvenience and expense incurred by both indivi- duals and the government. When they retired mysteri- iously, the apprehensions arose that the movement was designed to disguise other and more important operations. While these events were transpiring on Lake Champlain, an intercepted letter from Lord George Germaine to Sir Henry Clinton, partially disclosed to congress the character and designs of the secret intercourse between Vermont and the English commanders. About the same time, a cir- cumstance occurred in the vicinity of Ticonderoga, which was calculated to confirm the growing jealousy of the people of Vermont in reference to the practices of their leaders and to augment the apprehensions which had long existed.
The agreement for the suspension of hostilities had never been openly proclaimed, and from this cause ori- ginated all the public and private embarrassments to which we have adverted. It was necessary, in order to avert suspicion from the bold game these parties were pursuing, to maintain an apparently hostile attitude. Among these subterfuges a pretended system of patrols between the armies was sustained by each. Between the pickets oc- curred an accidental collision. In the skirmish that fol- lowed, the sergeant that commanded the Vermont party was killed. The body was respectfully interred by the English, and his clothing restored by St. Leger with an open letter to General Enos, the American commander, expressing regret for the occurrence of the untoward cir- cumstance. The facts connected with the secret arrange-
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ments had necessarily been imparted to Enos, and his subordinates, Fletcher and Walbridge. The letter of St. Leger, with private dispatches from these officers, was immediately transmitted to the council of war of Vermont by an agent ignorant of these designing machinations, who promulgated widely the contents of St. Leger's mysterious communication. The popular distrust, which already existed, was aroused by this incident into a vehement sus- picion. The council, who were all initiated in the secret proceedings, on opening the dispatches, discovered that they contained intelligence in reference to the negotiations, which it was not safe to reveal to the public. While they were engaged in examining the papers, a Major Runnals entered the apartment, and demanded in the name of the people, and with warm excitement, an explanation of these events, and why St. Leger should regret the death of an enemy. Ira Allen sought to escape the inquiries by artful evasion; but pressed by the stern determination of the agitated people, he adopted, with his peculiar versatility, the expedient of effecting a personal altercation with Run- nals. Attention was thus for the moment diverted from the council, and an important delay secured, which enabled them to suppress the original documents and to substitute others, simulated and relieved of all their dangerous con- tents. In that form they were submitted to the people by Governor Chittenden, and thus the impending danger of disclosure of these negotiations was temporarily averted. It is asserted that these modified dispatches were prepared by Nathaniel Chipman, who afterwards attained great pro- fessional and political eminence. The position of these men had become eminently perplexing and critical. It was evident that their devious practices could not longer be sustained. These ambiguous relations must be termi- nated, and the country exposed to the invasion of a powerful enemy, or by the unveiling of the transactions, those involved in them would be denounced by congress and probably condemned and repudiated by those who had been deceived by their intrigues. The salutary results they
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professed to have contemplated, would in either dilemma be defeated. At this moment of oppressive doubt and appre- hension they unexpectedly derived relief from a most au- spicious event.
The commissioners of Vermont in the interview of September, 1781, could present no plausible evasion to the final proposition of the British agents, which they insisted upon as an ultimatum, if the armistice was to be maintained. They proposed, that during the approaching session of the Vermont legislature, in October, the British commander should issue a proclamation from Ticonde- roga, declaring Vermont a colony under the crown, and confirming the form of government which had been agreed upon by the negotiators, and that the legislature should accept the overture and adopt the appropriate measures to enforce it.1 The British agents now insisted that the time had arrived for issuing the projected proclamation, and manifested a determination to act. While the affair was in this attitude, a rumor reached Vermont of the surrender of Cornwallis, and imparted such animation to the popular feeling, that Fay, one of the Vermont com- missioners, seized upon the circumstance and addressed a letter to the British emissaries with St. Leger at Ticonde- roga, urging them to suspend immediate action until the truth of these rumors, which must exert so important an influence on the negotiation, might be ascertained. The gates of Ticonderoga had scarcely closed upon the mes- senger bearing this appeal, when authentic intelligence confirming the report, reached the British commander. St. Leger hastened to lower, for the last time, the banner of England on the ramparts of Ticonderoga, and before the setting of the sun, embarked the garrison, and evacu- ated the fortresses on Lake Champlain. Since that period their mouldering walls have reposed in silence and solitude, only disturbed at intervals by the mimicry of war on fes- tal occasions.
1 Thompson's Vermont.
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During the early months of 1782, Haldimand, in repeated efforts, attempted to establish a renewal of these negotia- tions, but his advances were received by Vermont in great reserve and coolness. Ira Allen, in July, proceeded to Canada, still under the pretense of effecting a cartel for the exchange of prisoners. He was received by the Bri- tish agents with a renewal of the same conciliatory propo- sitions, and while he was able to procrastinate a decisive answer, he adroitly succeeded in securing a continuance of the armistice, that conferred advantages so important on Vermont. The intervention of peace terminated all danger from British invasion ; but these secret negotiations were pursued for several years, and were not terminated until Vermont ceased to cherish apprehension from the pretensions of New York.
The historians of Vermont, who are the apologists of these transactions, allege that the men who conducted them, never seriously contemplated a return to the alle- giance of England, except as the only means of avoiding a greater and more detestable tyranny than British domi- nation, the more odious, thatit was nearer, more direct, and tangible ; that the insidious attempts of British emis- saries to tamper with the patriotism of Vermont, was turned against themselves, by artifices, that paralyzed the movements of an army of ten thousand men. The diplo- macy was most consummate and successful, which could thus delude the English officials, and, at the same time, allow just light enough and no more, to fall upon these negotiations, than was calculated to alarm the fears of New York, and to restrain the adverse actions of congress. What would have been the judgment upon these practices by the rigid code of military law, it is now perhaps inop- portune to inquire. Political casuistry will find it difficult to maintain the propriety of the representatives of a patriotic and intelligent people, deceiving the masses on a most vital question, by a deliberate system of artifices and evasion ; or to vindicate either the moral or political integrity of holding clandestine intercourse with a foreign
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enemy ; maintaining negotiations and forming treaties with a public foe, while in professed and solemn alle- giance to a country struggling for liberty and existence. The length to which these secret relations extended, or how definitive the arrangements of the leaders became, will never probably with clearness be revealed.1
The views of Ira Allen himself, justly solicitous for his own fame and security, in regard to these proceedings, are evinced by the fact that he extorted from Governor Chit- tenden and other of his coadjutors, two explicit written de- clarations, in June and July, 1781, recognizing and ratifying his negotiations with the British emissaries.2 No just mind will distrust the early patriotism of these men, and it must always be conceded, that if so unhappy a design as the conditional return to British fealty existed in their minds, it was inspired by a hatred of wrong and oppression, and the law, as they believed, " of self-preservation," the preservation not merely of political rights, but of their homes, and humble fortunes. They detested and opposed foreign tyranny, and the same spirit which stimulated that feeling, rendered them the more sensitive to the persecu- tions of a kindred people, and more determined in their resistance to domestic aggression. Whatever may have been the purposes or action of individual leaders, and these should be generously judged, with regard to their services and sacrifices in the common cause, and subsequent expo-
1 Governor Clinton submitted to the legislature of New York, in 1782, a mass of facts and documentary evidence, in reference to these transactions, which present the action of the Vermont leaders in a most unfavorable light. These papers embraced affidavits from two individuals, detailing circumstances alleged to have occurred at different times and distinct places, tending to establish the existence of a matured arrangement by which Ver- mont was to be formed into an independent colony under the protection of England, and that Vermont was pledged to support, under certain contin- gencies, the British government, with an armed force, under Ethan Allen, consisting of fifteen hundred or two thousand men ; and that she should remain neutral, unless the war should be carried into her own territory. I am not aware that their affidavits, perhaps of doubtful character, were fortified by any further corroboration.
2 The Stephens Papers.
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sitions, the people of Vermont, through all the trying scenes of the revolution, by their patriotic zeal and inextinguisha- ble ardor, vindicated the undesigned eulogium of Bur- goyne, when in bitterness and disappointment, he wrote : " the New Hampshire grants abound in the most active race on the continent, and hangs like a gathering storm on my left." 1
CHAPTER XII.
THE SETTLEMENT, 1782-1849.
The fields which had been cleared and cultivated on the Boquet with so much labor, were abandoned from 1776 to 1784, and after peace restored repose and security, and the settlers returned to their former homes, they found that nature had almost reestablished her empire over the territory. Brambles and weeds infested the land, the roads had become impassable, the fences and bridges were prostrated and decayed. Much of the former toils of the colony were to be renewed.
The personal history of Mr. Gilliland, so intimately interwoven with the settlement and progress of the county, demands attention. In common with an innumerable class of patriots, who had freely lavished their fortunes upon the country in the hour of trial and effort, the peace
1 The student of history will obtain all the elucidation this subject will ever probably receive, by consulting Slade's Vermont State Papers, Almon's Remembrancer, vol. IX, Thompson's Vermont, Allen's Political History, Stone's Life of Brandt, The Haldimand Papers, copies of which have been procured from England and are preserved at Montpelier in two manuscript volumes, the New York Historical Documents, and preeminently, the able and learned Early History of Vermont by Hon. Hiland Hall. This most valuable contribution to American annals has been published since the preceding pages were prepared for the press. Governor Hall has given great research to this obscure question. He seems to have extracted all the import- ant elements of the Haldimand Documents, and presents a very forcible and earnest vindication of both the proceedings and designs of the Vermont statesman, who, with such vast ability, guided the early destiny of that state.
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of 1783 found Mr. Gilliland deeply embarrassed in his pecuniary affairs. The acquisition of an estate of thirty thousand acres upon the borders of Champlain, with the disbursements incident to its improvement, had involved the expenditure of a large amount of his means. He had lived in great comparative affluence and splendor, dis- pensing munificent charities and a generous hospitality. Driven from his home by a protracted war, his estates were wasted, and for several years abandoned and unpro- ductive.
In the progress of the contest he had been reduced almost to indigence and destitution. Arnold, in his progress through the lake, with characteristic rapacity and violence, had ravaged the property of Mr. Gilliland. He appealed to congress for remuneration of his advances, and indem- nity for his various losses, but the exhausted treasury of the country could afford no relief. Returning to his wide possessions, he saw them wasted and desolate. Abandon- ing his long cherished purpose of erecting his property into a manorial estate, he decided to sell his lands in fee. The first purchasers were Joseph Sheldon and Abraham Aiken, of Dutchess county, who went into the occupation of their lots in March, 1784, and were the pioneer settlers under the new arrangement, in the limits of the present town of Willsboro'. During that spring, fourteen other families purchased and occupied farms, and several other individuals bought lots, and commenced improvements.
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