USA > Vermont > Encyclopedia, Vermont biography; a series of authentic biographical sketches of the representative men of Vermont and sons of Vermont in other states. 1912 > Part 4
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Allen, colonel of the Green Mountain Boys, and now in the first flush of his fame as the hero of Ticonderoga, expected to be chosen as a matter of course to lead the new regiment; and he was much chagrined, accordingly, when, in July, 1775, the convention from the towns to name the officers elected Warner to the command by a vote of 41 to 5. The New York government, however, failed to send Warner his commission, and it was left to General Montgomery, after the regi- ment's arrival in Canada, to order him to act as colonel and that he be obeyed as such. Moreover, New York, repenting of her short-lived magnanimity toward the settlers in the Grants, renewed her de- nunciations of Warner, and endeavored to persuade the Continental authorities to disband the regiment; yet it was but little more than a year after this that New York was relying mainly on Warner and this regiment for the protection of her own frontiers-an arduous and exhausting service which they cheerfully rendered.
When the invasion of Canada was finally begun in the fall of 1775, Warner joined it within three days. Montgomery,
besieging St. John's, which was defended by some 700 troops under the command of Colonel McLean, promptly sent him with a part of his men to the St. Law- rence and vicinity of Montreal to watch the motions of the enemy. With 300 men he repulsed General Carleton when the latter attempted with 800 men to join McLean and raise the siege. Warner watched the British as they em- barked from Montreal, permitted them to approach very near the south shore of the river, and then poured a hot fire into them, throwing them into disorder and compelling a retreat. It was well and gallantly done. After this success, he erected a battery at the mouth of the Sorel to command the passage of the St. Lawrence and block up Carleton in Mon- treal. Carleton managed to escape down the river to Quebec, and Montgomery took possession of Montreal November 13. But General Prescott, attempting to escape with a number of armed vessels loaded with provisions and military stores, was captured at the mouth of the Sorel with 120 men. Warner also com- manded at an action at Longueil, for which Montgomery commended his bravery and prudence.
November 20, as the regiment was too miserably clad to endure a winter's cam- paign, Montgomery discharged it with peculiar marks of respect. But the men had hardly reached home when General Wooster wrote Warner, telling of the desperate straits the invading army was in after the repulse at Quebec, and the sickness and desertions from which it was suffering, and urging him to raise a body of men and hasten to their support. "Let them come," General Wooster wrote, "by tens, twenties, thirties, forties or fifties, as fast as they can be prepared to march." Eleven days afterward Warner was again marching a regiment northward. The men had become habituated to turn out at his call, and they loved him as few officers are loved by their soldiers. He was affable and familiar with the humblest private without sacrificing any of the dig- nity necessary to command. The cam- paign was an extremely distressing one. The troops, even the freshly-armed Green Mountain Boys, lacked comfortable cloth- ing, barracks, and provisions. Warner was placed in command of the rear guard,
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ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[WARNER
and did good service in covering the re- treat, picking up the wounded and dis- tressed and keeping generally only a few miles ahead of the British advance, who pursued closely from post to post. He brought off most of the invalids, and ar- rived at Ticonderoga a few days after the main column.
July 5, 1776, shortly after the final abandonment of Canada, Congress re- solved, on a report of the board of war, to organize a regiment of regular troops for permanent service, to be under com- mand of officers who had served in Can- ada. Warner was appointed colonel of this regiment which was raised chiefly in Vermont. Warner was at Ticonderoga with his regiment through the remainder of the campaign of 1776, and did some efficient service in protecting that post.
In the campaign of 1777, Warner went to work with his accustomed activity to meet the coming invasion of Burgoyne. He issued a stirring appeal to all Ver- monters, and wrote, July 2, from Rut- land to the convention at Windsor that an attack was expected at Ticonderoga, and urging that all men who could pos- sibly be raised be forwarded at once. "I should be glad," he said, "if a few hills of corn unhoed should not be a motive sufficient to detain men at home." He reached Ticonderoga July 5, in season to assist in its defense; but morning had revealed the red coats of a British out- post in possession of the heights of Mount Defiance which commanded the fort, and General St. Clair and his council of war resolved to abandon the post that night, before Burgoyne's investment was com- pleted.
Under cover of the darkness, as much of the military stores as possible was em- barked in bateaux and sent for safety to- ward the head of the lake; and the gar- rison began its evacuation, in what was intended to be profound silence and se- crecy, across the floating bridge which had been constructed to the eastern shore. Unfortunately, at the last moment one of the officers, anxious to leave behind as little as possible to fall into the enemy's hands, incautiously set fire to his quarters, and the flames, suddenly illuminating the night. not only disclosed to the British the movements of the Americans, but threw the garrison itself into a panic. The
retreat became a headlong flight. Some semblance of order having been at last restored, the fugitive garrison advanced to Hubbardton, where a short rest was al- lowed, whereupon St. Clair with the main body of the troops proceeded toward Castleton, leaving Warner in command of the rear guard, consisting of his own regiment, together with a New Hampshire regiment under Colonel Hale, and an- other from Massachusetts under Colonel Francis, with orders to remain there till all stragglers should have come in.
Meanwhile, the retreat of the Ameri- cans having been discovered, General Frazier with his brigade set out in pur- suit, followed after an interval by a con- siderable body of German troops under General Riedesel. Marching through the heat of the July day, Frazier arrived within a short distance of Warner's po- sition, where he halted for the night. Ad- vancing in the early morning of the 7th, he attacked the Americans about sunrise. Then was fought the battle of Hubbard- ton, the only real battle ever fought on Vermont soil. Colonel Hale, however, had withdrawn his regiment, which he af- terward surrendered without a blow to a small force of the enemy whom he en- countered. Thus Warner and Francis were left, with some 800 men, to meet the attack of the much larger force under Frazier. For a time the accurate and deadly fire of the Americans held the enemy at bay; but Francis, in command of the Massachusetts regiment, fell, shot through the breast, and his men began a disorderly flight, which Warner attempted in vain to arrest. The arrival of the Ger- man troops made further resistance im- possible, and Warner and his men, the only remnant of the rear guard, succeeded in making their escape to the woods, and afterward found their way to Castleton. The result of this engagement subjected Warner to considerable criticism. Not only had St. Clair at Castleton, six miles away, failed to furnish any assistance, but he wrote to Schuyler that "the rear gnard stopped rather imprudently six miles short of the main body." The fact remains, however, that Warner simply obeyed orders, and but for the desertion of the New Hampshire and Massachusetts men might have made a much more stub-
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THE FOUNDERS
WARNER]
born resistance, and even repulsed Frazier's attack.
Burgoyne, in the meantime, slowly con- tinued his advance toward Saratoga. His progress was, however, much retarded by the fact that Warner, having somewhat recuperated his regiment, had joined forces with General Stark, at the head of a body of New Hampshire troops. Stark, no longer in the Continental service, had refused Schuyler's request to bring his men to join the Continental army. In- stead, the combined Vermont and New Hampshire forces hung on the outlying flank of the invading army, and not only rendered Burgoyne's advance more cautious and dangerous, but made possible the brilliant American victory at Benning- ton. Burgoyne's provisions were running low, and it was decided to send a detach- ment to seize supplies which the Ameri- cans had stored at Bennington. This de- tachment consisted of eight hundred men under Colonel Baum, a veteran German officer, to be supported, if necessary, by an additional force under Lieutenant- Colonel Breymann. Warner himself had hurried on in advance of his regiment at the first tidings brought by his admirable scouting service of the approach of the British. He was with Stark two days be- fore the battle, aided in planning the at- tack on Baum's intrenchments, and rode about the field with the general early in the fight. But so many of his regiment were off on scouting duty that, owing to a heavy rain, it was midnight on Aug. 15 before they arrived within a mile of Ben- nington. Their ammunition was wet, and a considerable part of the next day was exhausted before they could reach the scene of the battle. They arrived, how- ever, most opportunely, just as Breymann had come with reinforcements for the British, after the day had once been won by the Americans, who were now scat- tered about in search of plunder. It was by Warner's earnest advice, and against Stark's first impression, that the fresh troops were at once thrown against Brey- mann, instead of an attempt being made to reform the whole army in a new line of attack. Warner put himself at the head of his regiment, pushed the fight with a fire and dash that made the Ameri- cans irresistible as soon as the other troops could be formed in line and
brought into action, and swept Breymann and his battalion off the field in complete rout. The battle was planned and fought with a degree of military talent that would have done no discredit to any serv- ice in Europe, and Stark in his official report expressed his particular obliga- tions to Warner, "whose superior skill was of great service." His brother, Jesse, was killed in the battle.
Warner was with Gates throughout the rest of the campaign, and after the sur- render of Burgoyne he was in constant service along the Hudson and elsewhere. He commanded an expedition to Lake George Landing, by which the vessels in which Burgoyne might have escaped were captured. In April, 1778, he was ordered to Albany, leaving Vermont without pro- tection. Schuyler sent him on a particu- lar command into Yessop's Patent, which he executed with skill and address. It was not a field for brilliant achievements, but for vigilance, energy, and cool judg- ment in guarding against Indian incur- sions, watching the Tories, gathering in- formation, and protecting communica- tions. His bravery and military capacity came to be highly regarded by the officers of the Continental army. He was wounded from an ambush of Indians in September, 1780, when the only two of- ficers with him fell dead by his side; and with his eonstitution undermined by his constant exertions and exposures, he re- turned to Bennington toward the close of the war a dying man, with poverty to crown his misfortunes. Never a business man or thoughtful for money matters, he had taken no interest or part in the land speculations that made most of the Ver- mont leaders wealthy. The proprietors of several towns had voted him land as a reward for his services, but most of it was sold for taxes, and he never received any benefit. The neglect of his affairs and other tax sales while he was fighting for his country had nearly used up what little possessions he had, so that before his death his wife was forced to appeal for charity to the helpless Congress. In 1777 the Legislature had granted him 2,- 000 acres in the northwest part of Essex county, supposing it would be valuable. but he never realized mueh from it.
Colonel Warner was not at any time in the secret of the Haldimand negotia-
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ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[WARNER
tions, but like most people believed that something wrong was going on between the British and the Vermont authorities, and was very indignant about it, becoming estranged from his old associates on ac- count of it. He went with a Bennington committee to Arlington, in 1782, to pro- test to Governor Chittenden against the sending of prisoners that had been taken in war to Canada, threatening to raise a regiment to overtake and bring them back. There was an altercation. and a reply from the governor, substantially telling him to mind his own business, that Colonel Allen's regiment which had taken the prisoners was able to protect them, and that there would soon be seen a gen- erous return of prisoners from Canada- which proved to be the fact.
Colonel Warner returned to Roxbury, Conn., in the summer of 1784, and died there at the age of forty-one. He was long sick; and his last few months were clouded by fits of insanity. The burial was with all the honors of war. In 1859 the state of Connecticut caused a neat and substantial monument, an obelisk of Quiney granite, about 21 feet high, to be erected over his grave.
But for over a century and a quarter no memorial of him existed in the state which he so splendidly served. On Ben- nington Battle Day, Aug. 16, 1911, how- ever, a monument in his memory was un- veiled at Bennington Center, on the grounds of the Bennington Monument Association-Vermont's first public recog- nition of her debt to her most brilliant soldier of the Revolution.
GOVERNORS OF VERMONT
The following is a complete list of the governors of Vermont, with dates of service :
Until 1870 elections for governor were held annually; since then. have been held biennially.
Thomas Chittenden.
.. 1778-89 John Mattocks
1843-44
Asahel Peck. 1874-76
Moses Robinson . . . 1789-90
William Slade.
1844-46
Horace Fairbanks
1876-78
Thomas Chittenden*
1790-97 Horace Eaton
1846-48
Redfield Proctor. 1878-80
Paul Brigham;
Carlos Coolidge.
1848-50 Roswell Farnham .. 1880-82
Aug. 25 to Oct. 16, 1797
Chas. K. Williams
1850-52 John I. Barstow.
1882-84
Isaac Tichenor 1797-1807
Erastus Fairbanks
1852-53
Samuel E. Pingree 1884-86
Israel Smith
1807-08
John S. Robinson.
.1853-54
Ebenezer J. Ormsbee.
1886-88
Isaac Tichenor
1808-09
Stephen Royce.
1854-56
Wm. P. Dillingham.
1888-90
Jonas Galusha.
1809-13
Ryland Fletcher
1856-58
Carroll S. Page.
1890-9:2
Martin Chittenden.
1813-15
Hiland Hall. .
1858-60
Levi K. Fuller
1892-94
Jonas Galusha.
1815-20 Erastus Fairbanks
.1860-61
Urban A. Woodbury.
1894-96
Richard Skinner
1820-23
Frederick Holbrook.
1861-63
Josiah Grout.
1896-98
C. P. Van Ness.
1823-26
J. Gregory Smith ..
1863-65
Edward C. Smith. 1898-1900
Ezra Butler
1826-28
Paul Dillingham.
1865-67
Wm. W. Stickney.
1900-02
Samuel C. Crafts. 1828-31
John B. Page.
1867-69
John G. Mccullough
1902-04
William A. Palmer 1831-35
Peter T. Washburnf
1869-70
Charles J. Bell.
1904-06
Silas H. Jennisont
1835-36
George W. Hendee§
1870
Fletcher D. Proctor.
1906-08
Silas H. Jennison.
1836-41
John W. Stewart. 1870-72
George H. Prouty 1908-10
Charles Paine ..
1841-43 Julius Converse. 1872-74
John A. Mead. 1910-12
*Died Aug. 25, 1797.
#Lieutenant-governor, acting governor on the death of Governor Chittenden.
¿Lieutenant-governor, governor by reason of no election of governor by the people or the Legislature.
[Died in office, Feb. 7, 1870.
§Lieutenant-governor, governor by reason of the death of Governor Washburn.
CHITTENDEN, THOMAS. Governor 1778-89, 1790-97. Born East Guilford, Conn., Jan. 6, 1730; died Williston, Aug. 25, 1797; son of Ebenezer, and descended from a Welsh family, one of whose mem- bers, Moses, was an officer in Cromwell's own regiment. Worked on his father's farm till 18; then shipped on a voyage to the West Indies; was captured by a French cruiser, England and France be- ing then at war; was landed, moneyless and friendless, on one of the islands, and experienced much suffering before finally reaching home. At age of twenty mar- ricd Elizabeth Meigs; removed to Salis- bury, Conn .; became man of influence there, was colonel of militia, and repre- sented town six years in the colonial As- sembly. Came to Vermont 1774; settled at Williston, when there was scarcely a house or road in that region; upon American retreat from Canada, 1776. took refuge in Massachusetts, but soon bought
farm in Arlington; lived there, and for a short time at Pownal and at Danby, until after close of the Revolution; then returned to Williston. At Arlington worked with the Allens and Matthew Lyon to rid the town of the strong Tory element there, until nearly every royalist either submitted or was driven out of town; was first president of committee of safety at Bennington; member of conven- tion at Dorset, Sept. 25. 1776. to consider the independence of the state; at West- minster convention was member of the committee which drafted the "Declaration of Independence of the New Hampshire Grants"; at Windsor convention was mem- ber of the committee which framed the state constitution ; was chosen member and pres- ident of the council of safety. upon which devolved the management of the state's af- fairs, executive, legislative, and judicial. until a constitutional state government should be established. He possessed much
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ENCYCLOPEDIA VERMONT BIOGRAPHY
[ROBINSON
of that poise of mind and character which distinguished Washington; that judicial temperament which reserves judgment until the evidence has been carefully weighed; keen insight into human na- ture; rare diseretion and great sagacity in practical matters; these qualities, to- gether with his previous legislative ex- perienee. his command of affairs, and the leadership to which he had rapidly risen among the settlers, made him the natural choiee as first executive of the new state; he was elected governor of Vermont March 12. 1778; was thereafter annually reelected until his death. with the single exception of the year 1789, when, hav- ing become involved in the popular sus- pieion surrounding the conduet of Ira Allen as state treasurer and surveyor-gen- eral. and being aeeused of using his of- ficial position for the furtherance of Al- len's land speculations, he failed to obtain a majority of the votes, and, there being no cleetion by the people, Moses Robinson was chosen governor by the Legislature; but in 1790, a settlement of his aeeounts having shown that Allen had advaneed a certain amount of money to the state and that the alleged fraudulent conveyance of land to him was merely in payment of such loan. Chittenden was absolved from blame in the transaction, and was again elected governor. The chief events of his sue- cessive administrations were the long eon- troversy with New York, New Hamp- shire, and Massachusetts over their re- spective claims to Vermont territory, in- cluding the matter of the East and West Unions; the long-continued efforts to in- duce the impotent and vacillating Con- tinental Congress to recognize Vermont as an independent state; her final admission into the Union by the Federal Congress in 1791; the Haldimand negotiations, in which the governor took a leading part; and the legislation of 1781-85 by which property titles, much confused from con- flicting grants and repeated sales, fore- closures, and confiscations, were finally established on a basis of substantial equity. The East Union was first formed in 1778; 16 towns east of the Connceti- cut. having probably in mind the higher tax rates existing in New Hampshire, asked to be brought under Vermont juris- diction, and the Vermont Legislature, dis- regarding New Hampshire's rights in the matter, formally annexed them; but the
following year, relying upon a promise by Congress to recognize her as an inde- pendent state provided she would abandon her elaims to these towns, she relinquished all authority over them; this promise not having been kept, however, and New Hampshire and New York continuing to press their pretensions to Vermont terri- tory, she retaliated in 1780 by not only reestablishing the East Union, but also by annexing that part of New York lying east of the Hudson River and ad- jacent to her own western boundary, the people there, restive under the patroon system, having mueh in common with her own inhabitants; this was known as the West Union; but two years later at the friendly suggestion of General Washing- ton in a letter to the governor, both Unions were dissolved; and Chittenden enjoys the unique distinction of being the only Vermont governor under whom a session of the Vermont Legislature was held on what was properly foreign soil, which occurred at Charlestown, N. H., in 1781.
ROBINSON, MOSES. Governor 1789- 90. Born Hardwick, Mass., March 20, 1741 ; died Bennington, May 26, 1813; son of Samuel Robinson, one of the early set- tlers in the Grants. Is said to have been educated at Dartmouth College. Married Mary Fay, and, after her death, Susan- nah Howe. First town elerk of Benning- ton 1762, and served as such 18 years; a colonel of militia in 1777, and present at St. Clair's evacuation of Ticonderoga; in the same year became a member of the council of safety, which directed the af- fairs of the state until the election of a state government the following March; from that time until 1785 a member of the governor's council, whose functions were praetieally those of the present state senate; also, the first chief justice of the state supreme court, from the organiza- tion of that court until 1789; in 1782 an agent for the state before the Continental Congress; and one of the commissioners who finally settled the controversy with New York. Governor Chittenden being suspected of having, with the consent of a portion of the council, fraudulently granted certain public lands to Ira Allen, and having lost for the time being much of his popularity, the vote for governor in 1789 stood as follows: Chittenden,
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THE GOVERNORS
TICHENOR]
1,263; Robinson, 746; Samuel Safford, 478; for all other candidates, 378; and, there being no election by the people, Robinson was chosen governor by the General Assembly; defeated for reelection in 1790 by Chittenden. Upon the admis- sion of Vermont into the Union in 1791, he was elected U. S. senator for the full term of six years, Stephen R. Bradley being elected for the short term; a fol- lower of Thomas Jefferson, he opposed the Jay treaty with England, not only in the senate, but at public meetings in Ver- mont; and, becoming convinced that the state at large was strongly Federalist and that he did not voice the will of a ma- jority of the people whom he represented, he resigned his seat in October, 1796, and was succeeded by Isaac Tichenor. the Federalist leader. Robinson's only fur- ther public service was as member of the General Assembly in 1802.
BRIGHAM, PAUL. Acting governor from Aug. 25 to Oct. 16, 1797. Born Cov- entry, Conn., Jan. 17, 1746; died Norwich, June 15, 1824. Rose from the ranks to be captain in the Connecticut militia; was three years in the Continental service; fought at Germantown, Monmouth, and elsewhere. . Came to Vermont 1781, and settled at Norwich; rose to prominence in Windsor County; was successively high sheriff, judge of probate, assistant judge and chief judge of the county court; rep- resented Norwich in the General Assem- bly 1783, 1786, and 1791; was presi- dential elector 1792; delegate to the con- stitutional conventions of 1793, 1814, and 1822; one of the four major-generals of militia in 1794; for several years a mem- ber of the governor's council; lieutenant- governor 1796-7; became acting governor on the death of Governor Chittenden in 1797. Originally a Federalist, he drifted gradually into the Jeffersonian ranks, yet served as lieutenant-governor 1797-1813, and 1815-20, with both Federalist and Democratic governors.
TICHENOR, ISAAC. Governor 1797- 1807, 1808-9. Born Newark, N. J., Feb. 8, 1754; died Bennington, Dec. 11, 1838. Graduated from Princeton, then known as the College of New Jersey, under the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon; studied law at Schenectady, N. Y., where he was in 1777 appointed an assistant to com-
missary-general Cuyler in buying supplies for the northern department of the Con- tinental army; on this duty came to Ben- nington in the summer of that year, and remained there and in that vicinity col- lecting the supplies whose accumulation tempted the fatal expedition of Burgoyne to Bennington; had just left, Aug. 13, with a drove of cattle for Albany when the tidings of that expedition were re- ceived; returned by way of Williams- town, reaching the field at dusk on the evening of the 17th, the day after the battle; decided to settle in Bennington, and this was his home when not in actual service in the commissary department; in the line of his duty he incurred heavy pecuniary responsibilities, which em- barrassed him through a large part of his life. About the close of the war began the practice of law in Bennington; was town representative in 1781-84; speaker of the House in the General Assembly 1783; and an agent to Congress in 1782; in that year was sent by the Legislature to Windham County to urge the claims of the new state on the people, many of whom still favored the claims of New York, and quell the disturbances there, and the mission had considerable effect, though severer measures were necessary later; was a commissioner under the act of 1789 to determine the terms of settle- ment with New York. He had been steadily growing in reputation among the Vermont leaders, and the peculiar value of his services with his plausible, persua- sive ways added much to his prominence; was a judge of the supreme court from 1791 to 1796, and chief justice the last two years, when, on the resignation of Moses Robinson from the U. S. Senate. he was chosen to fill out the latter's un- expired term; was reeleeted the next year for a full term of six years, but he was also elected governor that fall, and re- signed the senatorship to accept. He had then become the recognized Federalist leader of the state, and the canvass for the governorship had been a sharp one between him and the Anti-Federalist and other candidates. The death of Governor Chittenden had loosed the restraint upon partisanship so long exercised by him. and the result of the election was no choice by the people for governor; but Tiche- nor was elected by the Legislature by a large majority ; served eleven years in all
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