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DEFICIENCIES IN OUR HISTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE VERMONT HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY MONTPELIER OCTOBER 16, 1846 BUTLER
Gc 974.3 B97d 1770197
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Gc 974.3 B97D [ADDRESSES DELIVERED BEFORE THE VERMONT HISTORICAL Soc. & THE VERMONT HISTORICAL & ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETYJ
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VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ADDRESSES
DEFICIENCIES IN OUR HISTORY.
AN
ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
VERMONT HISTORICAL -- AND.
ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY,
AT MONTPELIER, OCTOBER 16, 18 16. -
BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, Professor in Norwich University.
MONTPELIER : EASTMAN & DANFORTH. 1846.
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46901-2270
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DEFICIENCIES IN OUR HISTORY.
1770197 AN
ADDRESSES. DELIVERED BEFORE THE VERMONT HISTORICAL AND
ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY,
AT MONTPELIER, OCTOBER 16, 1846,
WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE CHARTER, CON- STITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE SOCIETY, THE VER- MONT DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, JANUARY 15TH, 1777, THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION, 4TH OF JUNE, 1777, AND THE " SONG OF THE VER- MONTERS," IN 1779.
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER, Professor in Norwich University.
MONTPELIER : EASTMAN & DANFORTH. 1846.
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$43 . 9418
Butler, James Davio, 1915-1005.
Deficiencies in our
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Montpelier, October 16, 1816. By Janos Davie Butier Montpelier, Eastman & Danforth, 1846. . ..
title: Tommont hist. SOC. Address?3. :
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1. Vertsont historical society. 1. Title.
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ADDRESS.
Fellow Citizens of Vermont:
'THE life of old nations is memory. In the old world travellers daily behold great events and the scenes of thein-not only commem- orated by monuments, but canonized by chapels and altars.
Young nations live in hope rather than in memory. ( While press- ing forward to those things which are before, they forget those which are behind. ) This truth finds many exemplifications in our history.
A circular was recently sent to every town in Vermont that was incorporated when our State independence was declared, requesting information concerning the 71 signers of that declaration. It was vouchsafed only one answer. Our declaration of State independence was never published in this State until last summer, and then only in fugitive newspapers. The papers of our first and most memorable Governor were sold to a pedlar with paper rags
The cannon taken (in defence of our frontier) at Bennington lie unclaimed at Washington. The maps, captured at the same place, were used as curtains until all, save one, perished. The grenadiers' arms and drum there taken, and presented as a trophy to our State council were received with a promise that, according to the donor's request, they should be kept in the council-chamber as a memorial of the glorious action fought at Wallumscoik. But this tropby has been vilely thrown away.
Properly speaking we have no rostrum. A rostrum is a speaker's stand begirt with memorials of vanquished foes. We have none.
Facts such as these prepare us to expect a universal apathy in re- gard to our history, and move onr special wonder that we can boast so many historians, and several worthy of no common praise.
It is no great discredit to our historians that they are in many re- spects deficient, since they were forced to make brick without straw, the collections needful for the adequate execution of their task, which are still imperfect, not having been fairly begun, when most of our chroniclers wrote.
It is simply because no one else could be found to stand in the gap, that I venture to appear before you at this time, inasmuch as I must appear to the same disadvantage with our historians. I have, indeed, bad access to sources of knowledge which were hid from their eyes ;
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but I have enjoyed this privilege only a few days, and under the double pressure of ministerial und professional labors, as well as with one foot on the cradle, in the judgement of many a much greater impediment.
'The subject which I would invite you to consider, is certain defi- ciencies in our State histories.
'The controversy of Vermont with New York has never been de- scribed as its merits, and the richness of materials regarding it, demand. I have drawn up a list-which, pardon me, I do not mean to read-of fifty questions concerning it which demand elucidation. No historian hints-what every historian should have clearly shown -- that that struggle was not merely about the price of land, but a conflict between New England and New York principles-those of the Puritan and of the Patroon ; - between our township system, with local elections and taxes, and New York centralization.
I am constrained to pass in utter silence, however, the manifold short-comings of our writers in respect to our relations to all our sister States.
The part Vermont took in the Revolution is rather shadowed forth than distinctly traced by our historians.
They clann for us indeed a share in the taking of Ticonderoga, as well as in the siege of St. Johns ; in the battle near Bennington, and perhaps in the taking of Burgoyne.
But, though much is said of battles as far off as Braddock's defeat, instead of a distinctive account of Vermont's military career, her ex- ploits are so blended with those of the continentals, or so imperfectly detailed, as to lose all individuality.
As to the capture of Ticonderoga, it is said, men from Connecticut came to Vermont to engage Ethan Allen in the business. It is not hinted that Allen had ever before thought of such a project, even in his dreams. What is the fact ? Allen's own testimony is, that when the men from Connecticut arrived in Bennington, he and other offi- cers of the Green Mountain Boys were already deliberating upon a project for surprising that fortress ; thongh whether such a measure would be agrecalde to Congress or not, they could not for certain determine.
A full month before any step was taken in Connecticut, for seizing Ticonderoga, an agent, recently dispatched through Vermont to Montreal, thus wrote the committee of correspondence in Boston :
" March 29, 1775.
" One thing I must mention to be kept as n profound secret. The port of Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible, should
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hostilities be committed by the king's troops. The people of the New Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business ; and in my opin- ion, they are the most proper persons for this job.
" This will effectually curb this province, and all the troops that may be sent here."
. This last particular, the importance of Ticonderoga as the key alike of New England and Canada ; the usefulness of the cannon there taken, at the siege of Boston and elsewhere ; its having been thought worth sacrificing thousands of lives ; its being surprised by men destitute of bayonets, of a single bayonet, -- are particulars which one wonders our historians have not made more prominent, since all but one-sixth of those, who effected the surprise, were Green Mountain Boys, and this was the first offensive exploit in the war of our Independence.
The readiness of the Vermonters for the Revolution, even before hostilities began, is indubitable, but is not made manifest in our his- tories.
Among Slade's State papers, indeed, there is an assurance from the Vermonters given to New Hampshire and Massachusetts four weeks before the affray at Lexington, that "they shall always be ready for aid and assistance to those States, it, by the dispensations of Providence, they should be called thereto." I have found no allu- sion to this assurance in any history.
But the preparation of heart in Vermont for hostilities is attested by more particular evidence even than this. Seven weeks before the 19th of April, Ethan Allen wrote a leading man in Connecticut, promising a regiment of Green Mountain Boys in case of war. This letter is still extant in manuscript.
More than half a year before the war of the Revolution began, a rumor that the British had stain six men, and seized a depot of pow- der, electrified New England. A chronicler of those times says : " The heads of the Bennington body, of 2000 armed men, forthwith gave out orders that they should get ready to march."
Allow me next a glance at the invasion of Canada. None of our later historians give due credit to the diplomatic address of our Fay and Ira Allen, which contributed to the capture of the British fleet. After the fall of Montgomery, Gen. Wooster, who was sent for, to the command of the forces besieging Quebec, in despair of other assistance, wrote thus to Warner in Vermont : (2, 162 :) " Let me hey of you to collect immediately as many men as you can, and somehow get into this country, and stay with us till we can have relief from the colonies. Let your men be sent on by teu;, twenties,
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thirties, forties or fifties, as they can be collected." Within eleven days from the writing of this letter at Montreal, in the dead of win- ter, Green Mountain Boys were on their march for Quebec. In about two months the force of effective inen before that city was al- most doubled by reinforcements under Warner. But for this sea- sonable relief, the retreat from Canada might have been a rout, or our whole army there have been forced to capitulate, (or, to use a phrase very common soon after, might have been Burgoyned.)
Some of our histories mention the arrival of twenty-seven men from Massachusetts before Quebec. They are all silent respecting -what it much more behoved them to relate-ten tines as many recruits from our own State. Nor do they, with one exception, so much as once mention the name of Warner in all their notices of the winter campaign in Canada.
In relation to Allen's attack on Montreal, our historians say that Brown was, hy some means, prevented from co-operating with Allen as he had agreed to do. The question, by what means, still remains unanswered. The answer to it might show that the blaine of Allen's finding captivity for himself, when he sought the capture of Mou- treal, is not to be charged solely to his own fool-hardiness.
Our State histories say nothing of the supplies forwarded from Bennington to Ticonderoga, in 1776, at a time when, but for such assistance, that fortress might have been lost.
The next day, after receiving a call for flour, the Committee an- swered, that, without an hour's delay, they had sought for wheat, and found 1000 bushels ; would send on what was ground forthwith, and the rest as soon as it could be manufactured. They add these words to the commander at Ticonderoga : " It is difficult to transport what we have already on hand ; for our militia, even before we received your letter, asking assistance, left us ahnost to a man, marched, and have doubtless joined you hefore this.
This relief was afforded at a crisis when the tories about Albany cut off all hopes of succor from that quarter, and when the troops at Ticonderoga had bread for but sixteen days, and were expecting to be blockaded.
Our historians say that on the evacuation of Ticonderoga, our Council of Safety resolved to raise all the troops they could to act against Burgoyne.
None of them, however, save Ira Allen, tell us how, with an empty treasury, they could raise an army, as it were, by a stamp of the foot. The secret of this miracle-a regiment made ready for war in a fortnight-was an expedient proposed by Ira Allen himself, (at
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sunrise, after a night spent in devising ways and means, ) namely : to confiscate instantly all the property of all tories, except such arti- cles as humanity required for their families.
But even Allen fails to bring out fully the alacrity and energy of our fathers during this critical campaign. A man in Connecticut writes, that agents of Vermont had come thither to buy arms to the . amount of £4000; and, failing to obtain them, had gone further- with what success is to this day unknown. The militia of this State were chiefly at Ticonderoga, yet Warner writes : " I should be glad if a few hills of corn unhoed should not be a motive sufficient to de- tain men at home." Such was the rally that St. Clair, a few days after, writes thus : " The Vermont Convention have given such proofs of their readiness to concur in any measure for the public safety that it would be impertinent to press them now.
Our historians would have made it plainer what part Vermont had in the taking of Burgoyne, if they had described more fully how sac- rificingly she removed or destroyed all crops, cattle, and carriages, that were in danger of being seized for his use, and thus took off his chariot wheels. They might have shown the revolution in Bur- goyne's feelings effected by the battle of Bennington, and the part Vermont was thought by him to have played in that action, had they contrasted two of his letters, one written just before, the other just after that battle. Aug. 12, he writes to the commander of the expe- dition against Vermont : " Try the affections of the conntry-cross the mountains to Rockingham and Brattleboro'-bring me 1300 hor- ses or more." Did he know by instinct that this State was a nursery of good horses ?
August 20, eight days afterwards, he writes : "The Hampshire grants in particular, a country unpeopled and almost unknown in the last war, now abounds in the most active and most rebellious race of the continent, and hangs like a gathering storm upon my left."
Truly he needed not send again to try the affections of such a country !
The exertions of Vermont against Burgoyne are liable to be under- rated, because our histories pass in silence the false rumors which then extensively prevailed, and had all the effect of realities. Ti- conderoga was evacuated by unanimous vote of a full council of war. It was reported by more than one that he could tell when that for- tress was sold, and for how much. One hundred and twenty-eight cannon were there lost. This number was exaggerated to 300. No artillery men were there slain or captured. It was rumored that none of them escaped. The British built no fortification in Castle.
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MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
moment be busy at its work of death ; while the bosoms of all were burning to seize the sword or musket and fly to their re- lief or mingle in the common defence of their endangered coun- try. Any further proceedings with the subject on hand, at such a moment was soon found to be impossible, and the greater num- ber began to clamor for an immediate adjournment. But while 'a few, who had shared less than others in the panic, or were more deeply impressed with the importance of accomplishing an object, at this time, now so nearly attained, were vainly attempting to resist the current, till time was gained for reflection, an un- wonted darkness, as if by special interposition of Providence, fell suddenly upon the earth. The lightnings began to gleam through the dark and threatening masses of clouds that had enveloped the sky, and the long, deep roll of thunder was heard in every quarter of the heavens, giving warning of the severe and protracted tem- pest, which now soon burst over them with a fury that precluded all thought of venturing abroad. The prospect of being thus confined to the place for some hours, if not for the whole day, taking from the movers all inducement for immediate adjourn- ment, they now began to take a cooler view of the subject ; and soon, by common consent, the business on hand was resumed. The reading of the Constitution was finished, and, while the storm was still howling around them, and the thunders breaking over their heads, that instrument was adopted and became the supreme law of the land. * One thing more, however, remained to be done ; and that was to constitute a provisional government to act till the one pointed out by the Constitution could be established. This was now effected by the appointment of that small body of men, 13 in number, it is believed, since known as THE OLD COUNCIL OF SAFETY OF VERMONT, and noted alike for the re -. markable powers with which they were invested, and the remark- able manner in which those powers were exercised : For from the
*This Constitution was never submitted to the people for ratification, but by general consent acquiesced in without that usual formal ty.
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MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
nature of the case, and the emergency in which these men were called to act, they were almost necessarily invested with the ex- traordinary combination of legislation, Judicial and Executive power. But this power, absolute and dictatorial as it was, they never abused, nor exercised but for the public good, and in this they were cheerfully sustained by the people, who felt that they were thus not only sustaining the cause of Freedom, but the laws which were of their own providing, and which they were now anxious should be strictly obeyed .*
To that unique assembly, whose origin we have just described, we now propose to introduce our auditors at its most interesting and important session. In obedience to the order of the Con- vention, they had promptly assembled at Manchester, and here, conscious that the eyes of all were turned anxiously upon them in expectation that they would provide for the safety of their in- fant State, whose now fearfully menaced destinies had been committed into their hands, they commenced the worse than Egyptian task devolving on them-that of making adequate pro- visions for the public defence, while the means were almost wholly wanting. For with scarcely the visible means in the whole settlement, in its then exhausted and unsettled condition, of raising and supporting a single company of soldiers, they were expected to raise an army ; without the shadow of a public Treasury, and without any credit as a State, and without the power of taxing the people, which, by the Constitution just adopt- ed, could only be done by a legislature not yet called, they were required to do that for which half a million was needed. Such were the difficulties by which they were met at the outset-diffi- culties, which, to men of ordinary stamina and mental resources, would have been insurmountable. But the members of the Old
*The council of safety continued to exercise all these powers till March 1778, when it was superceded by the legislature, then first convening, in all its civil functions, while those relating to war were transferred to a new body appointed by the legislature, called the Board of War.
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drew all the national spades and pickaxes, and the enemy's vessels were cruising on the lake.
Particulars such as these are not the pomp and pride of war ; but they are worthy to be known, though unrecorded by our historians.
Let us next remark certain deficiencies in our histories with regard to the tories-the worst foes of our fathers.
From the best histories of Vermont one would scarcely believe there was such a class of men, for their name is seldom mentioned- never by Thompson, with manifest reference to Vermont. Doubt- less they were fewer than the British hoped when they struggled so perseveringly, by threats and promises, to make Vermont a crown- province-and than Governor Morris feared, when he thus wrote to Congress, (3. 319 :) " Disagreeable as it may be to tell or to hear this truth, yet a truth it is, that very many of those villains-the Ver- . monters-only want a New England reason, or, if you like the ex- pression better, a plausible pretext to desert the American States, New Vermont among the rest."
Yet, in a single act of the Legislature, there is a list of 108 tories from twenty-nine towns. Half the men in Strafford and Thetford fled to Burgoyne-others repaired to the British on their march to Bennington. The expenses of war and government were, in a great part, defrayed by the avails of tory estates, though sold at a sacrifice by auction.
Records are not wanting of tories that were laid under bonds, or imprisonment, for concealing arms and ammunition-for spying out the nakedness of the land and betraying it to the enemy ; of some that were banished-of others overtaken and killed as they were fleeing. The most unique punishment to which they were subjected was decreed by the Council at Bennington, in January, 1778, after this fashion : " Let the overseer of the tories detach ten of them, with proper officers to take the charge and march them in two dis- tinct files, from this place, through the Green Mountains, for break- ing a path through the snow. Let each man be provided with three days provisions. Let them march and tread the snow, in said road, of suitable width for a sleigh with a span of horses. Order them to return, marching in the same manner, with all convenient speed, (4. 32.) Let them march at six o'clock to-morrow morning,"- early rising.
The practice of confiscating the property of tories originated in Vermont, though it was imitated by most other States. In vain did the sufferers endeavor to take advantage of certain stipulations in their favor in the terms of Burgoyne's surrender. Our fathers de-
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cided that none could he so benefitted but those who were at that tine in his camp. Toryism snapped asunder the bands of society. It said, " Trust ye not in any brother, for every brother may utterly supplant." It tended to make life here what it was in France during the Reign of Terror-the infinite conjugation of the verb suspect. How many were wrongfully suspected ! How many were filled with revengefulness !
Our histories can never do justice to those to whom we owe our independence till they tell us, as they have not yet done, how unfal- teringly they braved intestine war-personal, as well as public, enmity.
Our histories relate few Indian depredations during the Revolution. The burning of, now and then, a single house-the capture of a few prisoners, usually two or three at a time, and the destruction of Royalton-are the substance of their accounts. There was little more to relate.
But much more was to be expected, and was expected. The In- dians had desolated so many towns in New Hampshire and Massa- chusetts, and three times attacked the first settlement in Vermont, though in the extreme south of the State,-why should they not fall with redoubled fury and frequency upon those who were more in their neighborhood, and had even ventured as near them as New Haven and Newbury ? They were stimulated to attack our fron- tiers by Johnson's and Carlton's intrigues, and appeals to their hopes and their fears. They were enticed to the same enterprise by the arts of fugitive tories, burning for revenge and plunder-eager to show them the way to slaughter. Doubtless our possession of Ti- conderoga, at first, and afterwards the cutting of Hazen's road, tended to curb their ravages ; but other circumstances, though they have eluded the research of our historians, contributed, perhaps, even in a greater degree, to the safety of our frontiers. I will glance at one or two. As we have already seen, our preparations for defence were more efficient than represented in histories.
At the outset of the Revolution Ethan Allen dispatched messen- gers to win over the Indians-at least, to nentrality. At the same time he sent them a characteristic letter in this style :
" I know how to shoot and ambush like Indians. My foes stand all along close together, rank and file. My men and your men shall eat and drink together, and fight together against those who first be- gan to kill us. If you wish to remain in peace, you need not fight. But come and sce ns. I will give you whatever you want-bread, knives, tomahawks, paint, belts, blankets, money, rum."
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Thus and by other means, many Indians were induced to come to Newbury throughout the war, some to settle in that region-many to get presents-many to trade, and some to enter our service as scouts und spies.
Some of the Indian chiefs who come to Newbury were sent to Washington's army, and there treated with marked attention, as well to gain intelligence from them, as to convince them of our power and good will. Other chiefs furnished with a list of questions for which they were to procure answers, were sent as spies into Canada, and the intelligence thus procured was highly valued by Gates, Schuyler and Washington. On the whole, Indian incursions may not have done us more harm, than the information they furnished, as to the disposition of the Canadians, the forts, forces, reinforcements, sup- plies, measures and projects of the enemy did us good.
Though a hundred letters are extant concerning our relations to the Indians at this time, I must content myself with one extract from one written by General Bailey at Newbury, many years after the close of the war :
"I could not with safety leave the frontier where I was settled and join the army. I thought I could be of more service to our cause by securing an extensive frontier from the depredations of the Canada Indians, which by making friendship with them I effected, for at least 200 miles.
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