USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. By Hiland Hall > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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HISTORY OF VERMONT,
FROM ITS
DISCOVERY TO ITS ADMISSION INTO THE UNION IN 1791.
BY
HILAND HALL.
ALBANY, N. Y .: JOEL MUNSELL. 1868.
.
.
-
Hilund Hall
$17,50 % .- 6-18 fr.0.14755 P 8.54.8
1
1818096
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.....
TO THE
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
THIS VOLUME
IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
--
PREFACE.
The purpose of the author is to treat more fully than has yet been done by any writer, of the discovery, explora- tion and settlement of Vermont; of the adverse claims to the lands occupied by the settlers, and of the origin and character of those claims ; of the necessity under which the early inhabitants were placed of forming themselves into a separate and distinct community, in order to main- tain their titles and preserve their property; of their earnest and valuable services against the common enemy during the revolutionary war; and of the obstacles they encountered in organizing a new state government, and in establishing and maintaining its independence. His aim is to embody facts, and to state them with his views in intelligible language, without making any pretensions to literary merit.
Among those to whom the author is indebted for inform- ation and ready access to papers and documents on the subjects of his inquiries, his acknowledgments are specially due to Benjamin H. Hall, Esq., of Troy, author of the History of Eastern Vermont; to E. B. O'Callaghan, LL.D., of Albany; the HIon. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford; the Rev. Pliny H. White of Coventry, President of the Vermont Historical Society ; the Hon. Charles Reed, of Montpelier; the HIon. James H. Phelps, of Townshend : Henry Hall, Esq., and Henry Clark, Esq., of Rutland.
NORTH BENNINGTON,
September, IS6S.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I .- 1609 - 1765. PAGE. Settlement of Vermont, and conflicting claims to its territory, 1
CHAPTER IT .- 1497-1662.
European discoveries, grants of territory and colonization, - 6
CHAPTER III .- 1662 -1683.
The Charter of New Netherland by King Charles the second to the Duke of York, -
17
CHAPTER IV .- 1664-1786.
The Eastern boundary of New York on Massachusetts, - 29
CHAPTER V .- 1741-1764.
The Eastern boundary of New York on New Hampshire, -
43
CHAPTER VI .- 1749 -1765.
The Eastern boundary of New York on New Hampshire, continued, - 54
CHAPTER VII .- 1664-1775.
Character of the New York colonial land grants,
65
CHAPTER VIII .- 1763-1766.
The settlers and claimants under New Hampshire.
55
CHAPTER IX .- 1766-1767.
Application of the settlers to the crown for relief, and order in council
in their favor, - - 85
CHAPTER X .- 1769 - 1775.
Violation of the King's order of July, 1767, by the New York gov- ernors
- 98
1
-
1
CONTENTS.
viii
CHAPTER XI .- 1766-1771. PAGE.
Collisions between the New Hampshire and New York claimants, - 112
CHAPTER XII .- 1771-1772.
Collisions between New Hampshire and New York claimants - con- tinued, - - 127
CHAPTER XIII .- 1772-1773.
Negotiations, publications and collisions - Right of revolution against oppression, - 142
CHAPTER XIV .- 1772-1773.
Condition of affairs on the east side of the Green mountain - Second appeal to the king and favorable report of the Board of Trade, - 154
CHAPTER XV .- 1773.
Conflicts of the Green Mountain Boys with Col. Reid's tenants, and with claimants under the patents of Socialborough and Durham, 164
CHAPTER XVI .- 1774.
The New York act of outlawry against Allen and others, - - 178
CHAPTER XVII .- 1774-1775.
Punishment of Yorkers, and the Westminster massacre, 187
CHAPTER XVIII.
The capture of Ticonderoga, 197
CHAPTER XIX .- 1775.
Regiment of Green Mountain Boys and invasion of Canada, - - 208
CHAPTER XX .- 1776.
Military affairs, and petition of the New Hampshire grants to congress, for relief against the New York jurisdiction, - - 219
CHAPTER XXI .- 1776.
Measures for forming a new state, - 229
.
CHAPTER XXII .- 1777.
Measures for organizing a separate state government, 238
-
CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER XXIII .- 1777. PAGE.
Vermont in resisting the invasion of Burgoyne in the campaign of 1977, - 254
CHAPTER XXIV .- 1778.
The new state government in full operation, - 271
CHAPTER XXV .- 1779.
Progress of the controversy with New York,
284
CHAPTER XXVI .- 1779-1780.
Engagement of congress to hear and decide the controversy, - 296
CHAPTER XXVII .- 1780.
The hearing of the controversy in congress, 306
CHAPTER XXVIII .- 1780-1781.
Invasion from Canada, a truce, and preparations for the future defence of the state, - 319
CHAPTER XXIX .- 1780-1781,
Governor Clinton prevents a settlement of the controversy with Ver- mont, by threatening to prorogue the assembly, - 329
CHAPTER XXX .- 1780-1781.
Encroachments of Vermont on the territories of New Hampshire and
New York, - 337
CHAPTER XXXI .- 1781.
Resolutions of congress for admitting Vermont into the union on her relinquishing her newly claimed territory, 346
CHAPTER XXXII .- 1781.
Negotiations with Canada, for the exchange of prisoners, and to pre- vent the invasion of the state, - 359
CHAPTER XXXIII .- 1781 -1782.
Favorable effects of the Canada negotiation on the state and country, 373
B
x
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIV .- 1783. PAGE.
Proceedings of congress favorable to Vermont, - - 384
CHAPTER XXXV .- 1782.
Disturbances in Windham county, and military affairs, 391
CHAPTER XXXVI .- 1782.
Vermont in congress - Hostile resolves of Dec. 5, 1782, . 403
CHAPTER XXXVII .- 1782-1783.
Vermont and congress on the resolutions of December 1783 - They are not to be enforced, - - 418
CHAPTER XXXVIII .- 1783-1784.
End of the resistance to the authority, and independence of Vermont, 427
CHAPTER XXXIX .- 1784-1791.
Vermont from the peace with England until the admission of the state into the Union in 1791, - 438
APPENDIX NO. I.
Biographical Sketch - Allen, Ebenezer, 451
66 Allen, Ethan, - 451
66 Allen, Heman, 454
66
Baker, Remember,
456
66
Banyar, Goldsbrow,
456
66
Bowker, Joseph,
456
Bradley, Stephen R.,
457
66
Breakenridge, James,
457
Brown, Silvanus,
457
Brownson, Gideon,
457
66
66
Brownson, Timothy,
458
Chipman Nathaniel,
458
Chittenden, Thomas,
458
Clark, Nathan, 459
66
Clinton, George, 459
66
66
Cochran, Robert, 460
Colden, Cadwallader, 462
1
Allen, Ira, 454
CONTENTS.
xi
Biographical Sketch - Dewey, Rev. Jedediah,
462
Duane, James,
475
66 Dunmore, Governor,
462
66
Fassett, John,
463
66
Fay, Jonas,
463
66
Fay, Joseph, -
464
66
Fletcher, Samuel, 464
.
66
Jacob, Stephen,
465
Kempe, John Taber, -
466
66
Moore, Sir Henry, -
466
Munro, John,
466
Paine, Elijah,
466
66
Robinson, Moses,
467
Robinson, Samuel, Senior,
467
Robinson, Col. Samuel,
468
..
Safford, Samuel,
468
Smith, Israel,
468
6.
Smith, John, -
468
Spooner, Paul,
469
Stark, John,
469
16
66
Sunderland, Peleg,
469
66
Tichenor, Isaac,
471
66
Tryon, Sir William, -
472
Walbridge, Ebenezer, 472
66
Warner, Seth, -
473
66
Williams, William, 475
York, James Duke of, 475
APPENDIX NO. 2.
The king's commission to Governor Wentworth of June 3, 1741,
476
APPENDIX NO. 3.
Orders of the king about Fort Dummer, and lands in New Hampshire west of Connecticut river, - 477
APPENDIX NO. 4.
Lieut. Gov. Colden's proclamation of April, 1765, containing a copy of the king's order of July 20, 1764, extending the eastern boundary of New York to Connecticut river, - 478
APPENDIX NO. 5.
The king's order of July 24, 1767, forbidding further grants by New York,
- 480
Herrick, Samuel, 465
465
Jones, Reuben,
66
PAGE.
xii
CONTENTS.
APPENDIX NO. 6. PAGE. Bill of exceptions in ejectment suit, Small against Carpenter, June, 1770, 481
APPENDIX NO. 7.
Examination of "the State of the Right of New York to extend east- ward to Connecticut river," of 1773, . 482
APPENDIX NO. 8.
Colonel John H. Lydius and his title to Vermont lands, - 495
APPENDIX NO. 9.
Dr. Thomas Young and the name Vermont, - 497
APPENDIX NO. 10.
Letter of Governor Chittenden to General Washington of November
14, 1781, on the Canada negotiations, - - - 500
APPENDIX NO. 11.
Instructions of New Jersey to her delegates of Nov. 1, 1782, - ยท 504
APPENDIX NO. 12.
Arnold's commission from the Massachusetts committee of safety of
May 3, 1775, - - 505 -
APPENDIX NO. 13.
Distribution of $30,000 paid by Vermont among the New York land claimants, - 506
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
CHAPTER I.
SETTLEMENT OF VERMONT AND CONFLICTING CLAIMS TO ITS TERRITORY.
1609-1665.
Approach of civilized men - The Dutch, the French and the New England Puritans-Fort Dummer --- Territorial claims of Massachusetts-Boundary dispute of that province with New Hampshire - Lands granted by Gov- ernor Wentworth - French war -Settlements under New Hampshire - Transfer of jurisdiction to New York - Lands regranted by New York, and under what claim.
THE state of Vermont, as an independent commonwealth, strug- gled into existence through a double revolution. The early inhabitants of the state revolted against the province of New York, to which the territory had been annexed by the arbitrary will of the king, and they united with their brethren of the other colonies in their armed resistance to the demands of the mother country. It is my purpose to inquire into and state the eauses which produced the former revolution, and to take some notice of its progress, from its commencement to its final consummation in the acknowledgment of the independence of the state by New York, and its consequent admission as a member of the federal union.
At the close of the French war which terminated in the conquest of Canada in 1760, the territory now the state of Vermont, with a trifling exception, was an uninhabited wilderness. Civilization, how- ever. had long been gradually, though slowly, approaching it.
In 1609, Henry Hudson had sailed up the river which bears his name, and as early as about the year 1620, the Dutch had established themselves at Albany. That place had, however, been occupied principally. as a post for carrying on trade with the western Indians, and so tardy had been the progress of settlement, that at the end of one hundred and forty years the northern frontier of the province
1
2
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
of New York, east of the Hudson, was along the banks of the Hoosick river, within about thirty miles of that city.
Simultaneously with the first visit of the Dutch to Hudson's river, Champlain the French governor at Quebec, had ascended the St. Lawrence and Sorel into the lake which bears his name. and as early as 1646, the French Jesuits had discovered that beautiful body of water now known as Lake George, and had given it the name of St. Sacrament. In 1730, a few individuals or families, came up the lake from Canada, and established themselves at Chimney point in the present township of Addison, and built a block house and wind mill. The next year troops were sent out who erected on the oppo- site side of the lake Fort Frederick, afterwards known as Crown Point. At a later date the French built a fort at Ticonderoga. They claimed that the territory of New France, by rights of dis- covery and exploration, included both lake St. Sacrament and Cham- plain, and the governors of Canada made extensive grants of land along both shores of the latter lake. It does not, however, appear that settlements for purposes of cultivation were made by the French other than in the vicinity of those forts. They were not very exten- sive and were abandoned on the approach of the English under General Amherst in 1759.1
Southerly and easterly of the territory of Vermont were the Puritan settlements of New England. As early as 1636. these enterprising pioneers had commenced a settlement at Springfield on the Connecticut river ; eighteen years later they had begun a town at Northhampton ; by the year 1670 had founded Deerfield; and in 1714, a previous settlement which had been made at Northfield and broken up by the Indians, was permanently renewed. Northfield - embraced both sides of Connecticut river, and bordered on the pre- sent states of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Westerly from Springfield the progress of the Massachusetts emigrants had been less rapid. Although they had founded West- field, ten miles west of Connecticut river by the year 1666, it was as late as 1730, that they had crossed the range of mountains and established themselves in the valley of the Housatonic at Sheffield. and Stockbridge, near the western border of the province. In the year 1744, the government of Massachusetts had erected a fort on the Hoosick river between the present villages of North Adams and Williamstown, called Fort Massachusetts, and sometimes Hoosick fort, and before the close of the French war in 1760, some progress
1 Swift's, History of Addison County, chap. IV.
3
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
had been made in the settlements of Pittsfield and Lanesborough, and perhaps of one or two other towns in the northerly part of the present county of Berkshire.1
The first permanent occupation of any of the territory of Vermont by civilized men was in 1724, when a block-house, named Fort Dummer, was built on the Connecticut river at Brattleboro. It was erected by the colony of Massachusetts for the better protection of the settlers at Northfield and its vicinity against the incursions of the French and Indians from Canada, and garrisoned by a few men, their number varying from five to thirty or more, as the proper secu- rity of that section of the province seemed from time to time to demand. It was supported principally, if not wholly, by Massachu- setts, and was occupied as a military post during the continuance of the Indian and French wars.
The government of Massachusetts had always claimed that the . province extended much further north than the present limits of that state, and included a large portion of the territory now in New Hampshire and Vermont; and, in accordance with that claim, had early in the eighteenth century made grants of land on both sides of Connecticut river within such territory. In 1715 a tract of about forty-four thousand acres, covering a portion of the present Vermont townships of Putney, Dummerston and Brattleboro, had been granted to the colony of Connecticut, as an equivalent for lands which had been previously granted by Massachusetts, and which on running the line between the two provinces were found to fall within the limits of Connecticut, which " equivalent lands," as they were called, were, the succeeding year, sold and transferred by Connecticut to Win. Dummer, afterwards lieut. governor of Massachusetts, Anthony Stoddard, Wm. Brattle and John White. On the 19th of Nov., 1736, in pursuance of a vote of the general court of Massachusetts, a township, designated as number one, was laid out between the great falls and the equivalent lands, comprising the present township of Westminster. Vernon, which formed a portion of Hinsdale, and also Guilford, and perhaps other townships, were likewise granted by Massachusetts, at an early day.2
In 1740, a long pending controversy between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, about their respective limits. was decided by the crown in favor of the latter, by the establishment of the present
' Holland's History of Western Massachusetts.
" Hall's Eastern Vermont, chap. I. Statistics of the American Associa- tion, vol. I, p. 13-21.
4
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
northern line of Massachusetts, as the boundary between them; of which controversy and decision, a more full account will be given hereafter. The next year Benning Wentworth was appointed governor of New Hampshire, and in his commission from the king, . his province was declared to extend westerly until it should meet his majesty's other governments.1
The western boundary of New York had always, both in England and America, been generally understood to be a line running from the western limits of the colony of Connecticut on Long Island sound, northerly to Lake Champlain ; and upon the determination of the boundary controversy before mentioned, it was not doubted in New England, that New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts. was bounded westerly by that line, and that the former thus included the territory now Vermont. In accordance with this understanding Governor Wentworth. in 1749, granted the township of Bennington six miles square situated six miles North of Massachusetts line, and twenty miles east of Hudson's river ; and he subsequently, from time to time, made other similar grants west of Connecticut river up to the year 1764, when the whole number of townships which had been granted by him was about one hundred and thirty.2 But the exposure of the territory to Indian depredations had prevented very extensive settlements until after the conclusion of the French war, which terminated in the month of September, 1760, by the capture of Montreal and the formal surrender of the province of New France to the English arms. With the exception, indeed, of a few small tracts which had been cleared and partially cultivated, under the immediate protection of Fort Dummer at Brattleboro and of some private block houses on the banks of the Connecticut in the towns of Hinsdale (now Vernon), Putney and Westminister. the territory still remained an unbroken forest. It had, however, been frequently traversed by the men of New England in their expedi. tions to the theatre of war in the vicinity of Lakes George and Champlain, and the fertility of its soil had become familiarly and favorably known to them. No sooner, therefore, was the territory opened for safe occupation by the conquest of Canada, than a strong desire pervaded the New England colouies to emigrate to it. Several townships were accordingly occupied under the New Hamp- shire charters, in the spring of 1761, and settlements continued thereafter to be rapidly made.
Belknap, Farmer's Edition, p. 257. American Statistics, vol. I. p. 26. Iowa of Cang, Oct. 8, 1787. Doc. Ilist. New York, vol. 4, p. 532.
2 Slades' Vermont State Papers, p. 13.
5
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
On the 20th of July, 1764, the king by an order in council placed the settlers under the government of New York, by declaring "the western bank of the river Connecticut, from where it enters the province of Massachusetts bay, as far north as the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude, to be the boundary line between the two provinces of New Hampshire and New York." 1 . This change of jurisdiction, which had been made without the consent or knowledge of the settlers, though not pleasing to them, would no doubt have been quietly submitted to, if nothing further had been demanded. But the lieutenant governor of New York and his council held that the king's order, not only conferred on them the powers of govern- ment as far eastward as Connecticut river, but was in effect a declara- tion of the crown that such had always been the rightful extent of their jurisdiction. As a consequence of this retrospective interpretation of the order in council, they declared that all the grants which had been made by Wentworth, as governor of New Hampshire, having been of lands not within his province, were absolutely null and void. They thereupon treated the settlers as trespassers upon the king's do- main, and the lieutenant governor proceeded to grant the lands anew to others. This conduct of the New York government towards the settlers and claimants under New Hampshire, was the sole cause of the long and bitter controversy which followed, and which ended in the separation of the territory from that province. The grounds, therfore, on which the rulers of New York sought to justify their measures against the settlers, will deserve a particular and careful examination.
-
That the words " to be the boundary," in the connexion in which they were used in the king's order, were designed to have any further meaning, than that such should be the boundary from that time forward, must at best be very doubtful. Indeed, the construc- tion that would limit the operation of the order to the future, would seem to be the most natural. But its true construction could be of very small importance, for the declaration, even of the king, could not alter the fact of history, whatever it might have been. The New York rulers did not in truth appear to place much reliance upon their critical exposition of the words " to be," but asserted an earlier title to the territory, under the charter of King Charles the second to the Duke of York, in 1664, which title they declared to be " clear and undoubted." A particular examination of the char- aeter of this charter claim, will therefore be necessary, and the sub- jeet will be pursued in a future chapter.
' Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. 4, p. 574, Appendix, No 4.
6
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
CHAPTER II. GRANTS AND COLONIZATION OF TERRITORY.
1497-1662.
Colonization by the Dutch and English -Their conflicting claims to terri- tory -The English claim from Labrador to Florida, and deny any right in the Dutch - Different classes of English colonial governments - Grant of the first and second colonies of Virginia in 1606 - Of New England to the council of Plymouth in 1620 -Grant by that company to Massachu- setts in 1627 with territory extending to the Pacific -Colonies of Ply- mouth, Connecticut and New Haven - New England confederacy - Boundary treaty between their commissioners and the Dutch governor of New Netherland at Hartford in 1650, and its ratification by the States General of Holland - Charter of Connecticut by King Charles in 1662, . including New Haven and reaching west to the Pacific.
N TEW York was originally settled by the Dutch under the name of New Netherland, and was conquered by the English in 1664. The charter of King Charles, by virtue of which the territory of Vermont was afterwards claimed by the rulers of New York to con- stitute a part of that province, had been issued to the Duke of York, a few months previously, in contemplation of such conquest. The charter was undoubtedly designed to embrace the Dutch colony as it then existed, and without any intention of the king to interfere with existing rights under previous grants of the English crown. A knowledge of the extent of that colony, at that time, will there- fore be necessary in order to determine the proper effect to be given to the language of the charter in regard to boundaries, and in decid- ing what were subsequently the extent and limits of the province of New York. A proper understanding of this matter, will require some account of the origin and progress of colonization by both the Dutch and English, prior to that period.
It has been previously stated, that Henry Hudson, sailing under the authority of the Dutch, had, in 1609, discovered and partially explored the river which bears his name. That enterprising com- mercial people soon opened a trade for furs with the natives along that river, and about the year 1614, established a trading post on an island near the present site of Albany, and another on Manhattan island. This trade gradually increased in activity and importance, and in 1623, settlements for purposes of cultivation were commenced near the ocean, under the direction of the Dutch West India com- pany, to which, by a charter from the United Netherlands, had been
7
EARLY HISTORY OF VERMONT.
granted a monopoly of trade to the African and American continents. The Dutch from Manhattan, which afterwards bore the name of New Amsterdam, and subsequently that of New York, made an early exploration of Long Island sound, and of the coast further eastward; and they claimed that New Netherland extended from Delaware bay to Cape Cod, especially embracing the river Connecticut, which they named Versch, or, Fresh river. This claim was always denied by the English government, who as early as 1621 " having been informed that within the year past the Hollanders have entered upon some parts of North Virginia, by us called New England, and there left a colony, and given new names to the several ports apper- taining to that part of the country, and are now in readiness to send for their supply six or eight ships," instructed Sir Henry Carlton, their embassador at the Hague, to represent to the States Gene- ral that his majesty had " many years since by patent granted the quiet and full possession of the whole precinct unto particular persons," and to require of them "that as well those ships as their further prosecution of that plantation be stayed." Which representa- tion and request were accordingly made, but without any other apparent result, thian information from the States General that the matter had been properly referred, and would be inquired into. The English, however, ever afterwards insisted that the Dutch of New Netherland were intruders upon territory which belonged to them, 1
The English claimed the whole of North America, from Labrador to Florida, by virtue of its prior discovery by the Cabots under their authority in 1497, and of subsequent explorations and efforts to colonize it, though their claims had to some extent been interfered with by the occupation of Canada by the French, and New Nether- land by the Dutch. By the English constitution, the title to all the lands belonging to the natives was vested in the king, who might grant them at pleasure. The king also exercised the power of creat- ing corporations by charter, and prior to this grant of King Charles to the duke, extensive portions of North America had been granted by the crown, cither to individuals or to corporations thus consti- tuted. The charters to corporations not only passed the title of the crown to the lands they described, but also conferred on the grantees certain powers of government over the people that should thereafter inhabit them. Some of the king's charters to individuals also con-
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