USA > Vermont > Bennington County > History of Bennington County, Vt. : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 29
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assembled with the apparent design of opposing the sheriff, Mr. Breckenridge gave them for answer that he had no further concern with the farm, "and that the township had resolved to take the same under their protection and that they intended to keep it." This, the mayor told him, was a mere evasion, which would not excuse him from the consequences that might ensue, " but that whatever blood should be spilled in opposing the king's writ would be required from his hands." After more discourse it was agreed that Mr. Breckenridge should have some further communication with his friends, that the mayor and his party should return to the bridge, where they should be in- formed in half an hour of the result of his conference.
At the end of half an hour the sheriff, who had now reached the bridge with his whole party, was notified by a message from the settlers that the possession would not be given up, " but would be kept at all events." Where- upon the sheriff gave orders for the posse to march forward to the house. But only a small portion of them could be persuaded to move, and most of those with much apparent reluctance. The men comprising the sheriff's party had by this time obtained an inkling of the kind of reception they were likely to meet, and were unwilling to expose their lives in a cause in which they had no interest, and of the justice of which they were not well assured. In fact a majority of them disapproved of the conduct of the speculators and sympa- thized with the settlers in their defense of their possessions.
The sheriff and those who accompanied him on approaching the house held a parley with the leaders of the settlers in which Counselor Robert Yates endeavored to persuade them to desist from any opposition to the execution of the writ. He told them in substance that the jurisdiction of the govern- ment of New York over them was undoubted, and that although the king had power "to allow, establish or change the jurisdiction as often as he pleased, yet that when once his majesty had divested himself of the right of soil, any dispute that should arise between subject and subject about the right could only be determined by the courts of justice when such controversies arose." Mr. Yates says: "They readily acknowledged that they were under the pres- ent jurisdiction of New York, and that they were the king's loyal subjects, but insisted that they had been very ill used in the trials for their lands, by reason that the proofs they offered were rejected by the court," and declared that " they had lately received from their agent in England the strongest assurance that their differences would soon be determined in their favor, and that he had advised them in the meanwhile to hold their possessions until such deci- sion, which they were resolved to do." It appearing evident that the New York arguments, however plausible, were not to be accepted by the Benning- ton tribunal, the sheriff seized an ax and going towards the door of the house threatened to break it open. Immediately the party in the field percieving his movement, presented their pieces towards him, upon which he came at once
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to the conclusion that in his position " discretion was the better part of valor," and retired.
On returning to the bridge the sheriff, doubtless to save himself from blame, made a formal demand of the posse to accompany him five miles further into the township of Bennington, to aid him in taking possession of the farm of Mr. Josiah Fuller, but as no one seemed inclined to venture farther in that direc- tion it was concluded to omit that part of the programme of the expedition from Albany. "The power of the county " was allowed to evaporate, and the men composing it dispersed with all commendable speed to their several homes, thus leaving the settlers in the quiet occupation of their property, and illus- trating the truth of the quaint apothegm of Allen, after the trials at Albany, " that the gods of the valleys were not the gods of the hills."
It is scarcely possible to overestimate the importance in the New York con- troversy of this discomfiture of the sheriff and his posse. It not only gave con- fidence to the New Hampshire claimants in their ability to defend their pos- sessions, but seemed to convince their opponents that the feelings of the body of their own people were in unison with those of the settlers, and that any at- tempt to gain possession of the disputed lands by calling into public action the civil power of the province would necessarily prove unavailing. This defeat of the New York claimants was the entering wedge that eventually severed the New Hampshire Grants from a province to which they had been, without their knowledge, annexed to the arbitrary will of the Crown. Here, in fact, on the farm of James Breckenridge, was born the future State of Vermont, which, struggling through the perils of infancy, had, by the commencement of the gen- eral revolution, acquired the activity and strength of adventurous youth ; had by its close reached the full stature of manhood, and which not long afterwards became the acknowledged equal of its associate American republics."
From the Connecticut Courant, published in April, 1772, in referring to the above, we quote : "Providence has hitherto mightily protected Bennington and the northern settlements from the policy and ravages of New York, when the invisible posse made their appearance at that town last summer. God over- ruled it for good; for the sheriff's party, when they saw the industry of the people, and were informed how they firstly purchased the lands and paid their money for the same to one of his majesty's governors, the generality of the sheriff's party declared that they would rather be accessory to oppose the sheriff than to disposses the people."
Among the first military companies raised in the grants to oppose the New York government was one in Bennington, and they soon assumed the name of "Green Mountain Boys," in derision of a threat of the governor of New York " that he would drive them into the Green Mountains." At the head of this company was placed Seth Warner as captain, and it is stated with authority "that on the first day of January, 1772, a number of men were under arms at 33
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. the house of' Seth Warner of Bennington, when the men honored the said War- ner as their captain, Tubbs as their lieutenant, and Nathaniel Holmes as en- sign, by firing about his house, etc." Another account by John Munro, in a letter to the New York governor, Tryon, states that "the rioters had estab- lished a company at Bennington, commanded by Captain Warner, and that on New Year's day his company was reviewed and continued all day in military exercise and firing at marks." The companies raised in the towns were formed into a military association of which Ethan Allen was made colonel, and he and Warner did efficient service for years in the different parts of the grants with squads of picked men from the ranks in protecting the settlers, and warning those who would get a foothold to abstain from disloyal acts, and with threats or with force drive the most offensive meddlers in the interest of the Yorkers beyond the disputed territory. These squads or bodies of men were variously called by their opponents, " rioters," "the mob," "the Bennington mob," etc.
With such men as Seth Warner and Ethan Allen at the head of the mili- tary organizations, and their co operation and advice in the deliberations which were going on at the "Catamount Tavern," with the Robinsons, the Wal- bridges, the Saffords, the Jays, the Scotts, the Deweys, the Fassets, and many others, the interests of the settlers were in no danger of being neglected, as there was resolution and courage behind to carry out any measures which, with the caution and foresight evinced by Warner and others, should be adopted. The Committee of Safety held meetings in this tavern, which was situated in front of the dwelling of J. V. Merrill in Bennington Center; the block of gran- ite in the road, standing in line of the old front door, a little south of which, and near the walk, "stood the sign-post, twenty-five feet high, surmounted with the sign, upon which was a catamount's skin stuffed, and grinning towards New York." Here Dr. Samuel Adams, of Arlington, for offensive language and deserting the cause of the settlers was sentenced "to be tied in an arm-chair, and hoisted up to the sign, and there to hang two hours as a punishment merited by his enmity to the rights and liberty of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants." . The sentence was duly executed amid the merriment and applause of a large concourse of people, and the doctor dismissed with the admonition "to sin no more." The disgrace attending such an exposure "had a salutary effect on the subject and upon many others."
Stephen Fay, or "Landlord Fay," as he was familiarly called, it is supposed built this tavern before the year 1770, as his name appears upon the town rec- ords as a citizen as early as August 20, 1766, he being "added to the commit- tee to take care of the prudentials," etc. The headquarters of the opponents of New York continued for a long period to be in Bennington, and this Green Mountain tavern, kept by Mr. Fay, was the place where the leaders met and their plans were devised and matured. Upon the marble mantle over the fire- place in one of the rooms was cut the words "Counsel Room," designating it as
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the room where matters of importance to the settlers and the future State were discussed and acted upon. Since the burning of the building this mantel has fallen into the possession of George W. Robinson, and is a richi Revolutionary relic.
The New York claimants henceforth proved to be no match for the settlers under New Hampshire, who flocked into the territory and occupied the lands and while the leaders which the town furnished, often accompanied by some of its best men, were operating in the more northern localities even to its northern limit, expelling the invaders, the inhabitants here besides being ever watchful of, and frequently called upon to defend their rights, were clearing and cultivat- ing their farms, building roads and bridges, and attending to their educational and religious interests. The population of the town continued to increase, and at the commencement of the Revolutionary War the leaders here were pre- pared in their minds and with men to resist the arbitrary measures of the Brit- ish Crown and parliament. They kept themselves informed of the operations going on upon the lakes and the northern frontier, and held themselves in read- iness to co-operate with others, if need be, in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, an important post, when the momentous time should present.
By previous arrangement they were speedily organized, when an agent from "Samnel Adams and Joseph Warner, of the Boston committee," arrived in Bennington to muster a force for the enterprise. They were soon on their way, accompanied by fifty men who had joined from Connecticut and Massachusets. Colonel Allen as commander, and Captains Warner and Herrick were from Bennington, and on the morning of May 10, 1775, Delaplace, the commander, gave up the garrison, it being demanded by Allen "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Captain Warner who had been sent with a company to capture Crown Point was also successful, and there fell into his hands a large number of cannon and smaller arms. On the 23d of June ot the same year Colonel Ethan Allen and Captain Seth Warner, having been ap- pointed for the purpose at a meeting of officers at Crown Point, were intro- duced to the Continental Congress, sitting in Philadelphia, where they stated their views of the military situation, and with reference to the raising of men for the army ; whereupon it was " Resolved, That it be recommended to the con- vention of New York that they, consulting with General Schuyler, employ in the army to be raised for the defense of America, those called Green Mountain Boys, under such officers as the said Green Mountain Boys shall choose." They laid the matter before the "convention of New York," which after deliberation, somewhat disturbed by their acquaintance with these men as members of the "Bennington mob," etc., ordered a body of troops not exceeding five hundred men, officers included, be forthwith raised; that they elect all their own officers except field officers; that General Schuyler be requested to advise what per- sons it will be most proper to be appointed as field officers, and that their corps
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of officers consist of one lieutenant-colonel, one major, seven captains and four- teen lieutenants." Though men with such spirit and daring as was possessed by Ethan Allen were needed in those days, and we are unable to see how his bold, independent, and sometimes adventurous conduct could be dispensed with, and are led to feel it could not be; still the calm judgment of the " com- mittees of the several townships assembled at Dorset," who of all others knew best the relative fitness of these grand men for the position, resulted in the choice of Seth Warner for lieutenant colonel by a vote of forty-one to five. Samuel Safford was selected as major, and these nominations were confirmed by the New York Congress. Among others from this town in different capaci- ties were Wait Hopkins, as captain, and John Fassett, jr., lieutenant.
The policy of invading Canada had been urged by Allen, and now, being left out as an officer in the regiment, he offered his services to General Schuy- ler as a volunteer, to be employed in a way, as he says, "that he should be considered as an officer the same as though he had a commission, and should as occasion might require, command certain detachments of the army." He was sent by General Schuyler into Canada to promote the friendship of the in- habitants, and impress upon them "that the design of the army was against the English garrisons, and not the country, their liberties, or religion." Being suc- cessful in his undertaking, he was afterwards employed by General Montgom- ery to make another tour for the same object. While on his way to St. Jolins with a volunteer force of about eighty men on the morning of the 25th of Sep- tember, he arranged with Major Jolm Brown, who headed a party of about two hundred Americans and Canadians, to make an attack upon Montreal, which he thought might be easily taken by surprise. Brown with his men was to cross the St. Lawrence above the city, and Allen, having added about thirty to his force, was to cross early the next morning, then from a signal to be given by Brown, they were to make the attack. Had Brown succeeded in carrying out his part of the plans agreed upon, the result might have been different, but as it was, a force of "forty regular troops, several hundred English settlers and Ca- nadians, and some Indians, then in Montreal, came out against Allen," and he was taken prisoner with thirty-eight of his men, after a brave fight which lasted about two hours, several being killed and wounded on both sides, and until most of the Canadians had deserted him. He with the other prisoners were placed in irons and sent on board a man-of-war to England. "This attempt of Allen was censured by both Montgomery and Schuyler as rash and impru- dent, and complained of it as having an unfavorable effect upon the cause of the colonies among the Canadians and Indians."
We next hear of Colonel Seth Warner, at Longuiel on the St. Lawrence, effectually resisting General Carlton's landing with about a thousand troops with which he had embarked with the hope of raising the seige of St. Johns, in conjunction with Colonel McLean. At the head of "about three hundred
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Green Mountain Boys and some New York troops he opened upon them such an incessant fire of musketry and grape shot from one cannon under his com- mand, they were thrown into great confusion and soon retreated and gave up the attempt," This discomfiture and repulse of General Carlton, and by it Mc- Lean being obliged to retire to Quebec, Colonel Warner proceeded to erect a battery at the mouth of the Sorel, to command the St Lawrence, and thus block up Carlton at Montreal, but he very soon abandoned the city, going down the river to Quebec, and General Montgomery took possession of it on the 13th of November. Warner's men having served as volunteers, and being too poorly clothed to endure a winter campaign in so cold a climate, were honorably discharged on the 20th of November, 1775, and returned to their homes.
A good thermometer of the fortunes of the colonies as against the Britishi forces at this time and during the war is the correspondence of the command- ers of their armies with Seth Warner, with reference to his raising men and bringing them with promptness at various times to different points for service anywhere on the line of military operations from Albany to Quebec. "On the 5th of July, the day after the ' Declaration of Independence,' on the report of the board of war, Congress resolved to organize, under its own authority, a regiment of regular troops for permanent service, of which regiment Seth Warner was appointed colonel, and Samuel Safford lieutenant-colonel." The career of Colonel Seth Warner has been thus dwelt upon to give in some measure an idea of the vast importance his services were to the town, the grants, and the colonies. It has been well said, " he possessed a vigorous in- tellect, and was gifted with an uncommon share of self possession, qualities which enabled him to gain and retain the confidence of all persons within the pale of his influence. He never wrote anything for the public eye. He was modest and unassuming. He was always cool and deliberate, and in his sound judgment as well as in his energy, resolution and firmness all classes had the most unlimited confidence."
While the events which have been recorded were being enacted, others had been transpiring in which many of the inhabitants of the town of Benning- ton had taken an active and important part, either as leaders, advisers or agents, or in the more humble though not the less momentous duties pertain- ing to the common citizen, of the soldier, bearing the heat and burden of the day; all answering to their country's call, either in the field, the council room or the assemblies of the people. James Breckenridge had, in 1772, been ap- pointed with Jehial Hawley of Arlington to go to London to induce the king to confirm the New Hampshire charters. On the 11th of August, 1773, Allen and Warner with Remember Baker of Arlington, having over one hundred armed men with them, came upon the farm of one Colonel Reid, a Yorker, in the vicinity of Middlebury, and ordered some Scotchmen who had settled as
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his tenants to depart, as Reid was not the rightful owner of the land. A short time only was given them to leave, and then their huts were burned to the ground. When Allen was asked his name that it might be reported to Col- onel Reid, he replied, "it was Ethan Allen, captain of the mob." In Novem- ber, 1773, Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and Robert Cochran took their places upon "a judgment seat," as it was designated, crected by some of the " mob," in Durham, now Clarendon, and Benjamin Spencer, a New York magistrate was ordered to stand before them and to remove his hat. The judges found him guilty of the several offenses charged, and ordered the roof of his house to be removed, "provided Spencer would declare that it was put on again under the New Hampshire title, and should purchase a right un- der a charter of that promise." The roof was removed " with great shouting and much noise and tumult," and Spencer "discharged on his further promise not to act as magistrate." About this time Samuel Tubbs with Nathan Spen- cer and Phillips Perry acted as judges when Jacob Marsh esq. of Arlington was accused by Seth Warner and Remember Baker, the latter insisting that the punishment should be the infliction of the " beech seal." This advice was not followed, but the sentence was given that he should encourage settlements of lands under the New Hampshire charters, and should not act as a justice un- der a New York commission, "upon pain of having his house burned and re- duced to ashes, and his person punished at their pleasure."
On the 9th of March, 1774, Governor Tryon issued a proclamation, offer- ing a reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehension of Ethan Allen, and fifty pounds for that of Seth Warner and James Breckenridge with others. The governor and council were then empowered to make an order that if the offenders did not within seventy days after the publication of said order in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, surrender themselves, they were " to be adjudged, deemed, and if indicted for a capital offense hereafter to be per- petrated, to be convicted and attainted of felony, and shall suffer death as in cases of persons convicted and attainted of felony, by verdict and judgment, without benefit of clergy," and the courts were authorized and directed "to award execution against such offender so indicted for a capital offense in the same manner as if he liad been convicted or attainted " in said courts respec- tively. Jonas Fay, clerk of a convention held in Manchester the 12th and 13th of April, 1774, certified to a resolution that whoever should presume to take a commission of justice of the peace from the New York government, should "be deemed an enemy to their country and the common cause." Benjamin Hough of Socialbourgh, now Rutland or Pittsford, paying no heed to the resolution, he was sentenced by Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and others as his judges, "to be tied to a tree and receive two hundred lashes on the naked back, and then as soon as he should be able, should depart the New Hampshire Grants and not return again till his majesty's pleasure should be known in the premises,
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on pain of receiving five hundred lashes." The sentence was immediately ex- ecuted, and a passport signed by Allen and Warner given him for the inhab- itants to let the said Huff move "free and unmolested towards the city of New York, he behaving as becometh."
It was during this year, 1774, that Ethan Allen published a lengthy review of a paper given to the public under the authority of the New York Assembly, attempting to justify the course taken by the colony of New York, in relation to its eastern boundary on Connecticut river. The facts he presented as to New York's early claim of jurisdiction, " and of the strength of the title of New Hampshire during the period in which its charters were granted, together with its exposure of the avaricious and inequitable conduct of the New York City speculators, was such as to produce a very favorable impression on the public, especially in New England." The injustice done the settlers was made to appear so plainly, and the fear of those who ventured to assist in the at- tempts to get possession of their lands, lest they should be made examples in the peculiar modes of punishment resorted to, that it was with great difficulty men could be found to prosecute their incursions ; and in September General Gage, their military commander-in-chief, was applied to by advice of the New York council for the aid of the regular troops. He declined to furnish any, as the British ministry had done before upon a similar application. When Lieu- tenant-Governor Colden appealed front this decision to the English ministry Lord Dartmouth informed him that he did not " at present see sufficient ground for the adoption of such a measure." This was the third and last effort of the New York claimants to obtain the aid of the king's regular troops to enforce their titles. The settlers were much pleased with the result, but there was enough of those sympathizing with the New York speculators who had ob- tained a foothold in different localities to keep the inhabitants on the alert, de- vising ways and means to keep them under subjection or to compel them to leave the contested lands.
Early in the spring of 1775 the Assembly of New York, on motion of the speaker, "voted an additional reward of fifty pounds each for the apprehension of and confining in any jail in the colony Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, being rioters named in the act of the last session."
By arrangement of a council of the committee of war at Castleton, Cap- tain Samuel Herrick with a party of thirty men, on the 9th of May 1775, was to take into custody Major Skene and his party at Skenesborough, now White- hall, to aid in the capture of Ticonderoga, which was accomplished the next day.
On the 20th of July, 1775 Nathan Clark as chairman of a convention in Dorset, " certified to the list of officers named for the battalion," to be raised upon the recommendation of the Continental Congress.
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