USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110
When Governor Tryon received intelligence of these proceedings he imme- diately, on the IIth of August, 1772, wrote a letter of bitter reproach to the inhabitants of the grants, and commanded them forthwith to put Colonel Reed's tenants "into re-possession of their lands and tenements." Whereupon the committees of the several towns met in Manchester, and on the 27th of the same month addressed a determined, but conciliatory answer to the gov-
102
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
ernor, in which they contended that as the occurrences which grieved him had taken place before the alleged delinquents had learned of the pending negotia- tions for peace, they had not broken their faith. Moreover, the tenants of Colonel Reed were the aggressors, and they therefore refused to re-possess them. In the same letter they expressed their unalterable determination neither to break articles of public faith, insult governmental authority, nor abandon their property to the mercy of New York land-jobbers. Although a reply was respectfully requested to this communication, Governor Tryon did not comply, and the attempted reconciliation served only to embitter the more the enmity that existed between the inhabitants of the grants and the government of New York. The next expedient to which New York resorted was to appoint several of the prominent New Hampshire settlers to office, for the purpose of buying them over to the interests of New York. Whether this attempt would have met with any encouragement from individuals will never be known, whatever may be the presumption, for on the 21st of October, 1772, a convention which assembled at Manchester decreed that no person on the grants should accept or hold any office under the authority of New York. It also decreed that "no person should take grants or confirmation of grants under the government of New York."
Colonel Reed did not submit without a struggle to the forcible eviction of his tenants from the territory around the lower falls on Otter Creek. In July, 1773, he induced a number of Scotch immigrants, who were recent arrivals in New York, to accompany him to Otter Creek for the purpose of re-taking the property of which he had been dispossessed. The New Hampshire settlers were a second time compelled to leave the place, and Colonel Reed repaired the mill and left the Scotchmen on the land with instructions to keep posses- sion and extend the improvements. Upon receiving intelligence of these things, Allen, Warner, Baker, and a number of others at once repaired to the place and compelled the miller to break the mill-stones into small fragments with a hammer and throw them down the falls. They then bade him not to repair the mill again, " on pain of suffering the displeasure of the Green Mountain Boys." The Scotch settlers, who had not yet removed their families, declared, when they learned the nature of the controversy, that they had been deceived, relinquished all claim to the territory, and settled on the Mohawk River.
To insure this settlement against further intrusions from New York, Allen and his colleagues built a small block-house at the falls, which they garrisoned with a few men and which thereafter afforded ample protection against the Yorkers. At this time, as will be seen in a subsequent chapter, a number of settlements had been established along the Winooski or Onion River, and a small number in other parts of the territory now embraced within the limits of Chittenden county. Indeed, a few settlers were living in Shelburne who de-
103
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
rived the title to their lands from New York grantees; but so long as they did not manifest an unfriendly disposition they were suffered to remain. As early as the fall of 1770 Allen and Baker had found and taken prisoners a surveying party (accompanied by thirteen Indians), under a Captain Stevens from New York, who were surveying under the authority of that province on the sites of Burlington and Colchester. They were released on promising not to return. To guard this portion of the New Hampshire grants from the future inroads of the Yorkers, Allen and Baker and their men erected a block-house at the falls in Colchester, with thirty-two port-holes in the upper story, and provided it well with arms and ammunition, which fortified the settlers sufficiently until they abandoned the settlement, in 1776.
The second expulsion of Colonel Reed's tenants from the lower falls on Otter Creek stimulated Governor Tryon to apply to General Haldimand, com- mander-in-chief of the provincial troops, for a force to defend the possessions of the claimants under New York; but the general questioned the propriety of employing regular troops for that purpose, and refused compliance.
The vicinity included, for the most part, in the present town of Clarendon was settled by people who generally favored the jurisdiction of New York, those living to the south holding their lands under deeds from Colonel Henry H. Lydius, who claimed his title under Governor Pownal, of Massachusetts. Their township was called Durham. The northern portion, which included a part of the present town of Rutland, was known as Socialborough. Some of the leading men of these districts had accepted offices from the government of New York, and in other ways, particularly by being implicated in a number of disturbances which had arisen in that quarter, had rendered themselves ob- noxious to the " resentment " of the Green Mountain Boys. In the fall of 1773, therefore, Allen and Baker raised a force of one hundred men and repaired with them to the land of the " Durhamites," with the purpose of com- pelling them to recognize the claims of the New Hampshire grantees. On the advance of this force the New York office-holders fled in terror, and while Allen and his men remained several days and breathed out threatenings against the insubordinate Durhamites, these laid before the New York Governor and Council the story of their sufferings from the outrages of what they denomi- nated " the Bennington mob." That government, regarding the Green Mount- ain Boys as a band of lawless rebels, proceeded in their determination to crush the power, which they so greatly underestimated, by the adoption of measures " the most minatory and despotic of anything which had ever appeared in the British colonies."
On the 5th day of February, 1774, several resolutions were passed by a committee of the General Assembly, denouncing what they termed the lawless and riotous proceedings of "the Bennington mob," and, among other things, desired the governor to offer, by proclamation, a reward for the arrest of the
104
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
ringleaders in these transactions, and their confinement in the jail at Albany. They further recommended the passage of a law which should more effectually suppress riotous and disorderly proceedings and bring the offenders to condign punishment.
Upon learning of the measures proposed by this committee, the general committees of the various townships assembled at the house of Eliakim Wel- lers, at Manchester, on the Ist of March, 1774, and adjourned to the third Wednesday of the same month at the house of Jehial Hawley, in Arlington. Here they drew up a sketch of the controversy previous to this time, and requested the government of New York not to proceed to further extremities until the determination of his majesty's will. They then resolved to stand by their friends and neighbors who had been indicted, at the expense of their lives and fortunes; and that every preparation be made, and that the inhabit- ants hold themselves in readiness, at a minute's warning, to aid and defend their friends who, for their activity in the great and general cause, were falsely denominated rioters. It was also agreed that they should act only on the defensive, and should encourage the execution of the laws in civil cases, and in criminal prosecutions that " were so indeed." Meantime the General Assem- bly of New York was proceeding to consummate the resolutions of February 5th. On the 9th of March they passed a law which, by its sanguinary and despotic sanctions, extinguished in the breasts of the inhabitants of the grants all hope of a peaceful settlement of the controversy. Among other things it enacted that if any person or persons should oppose any civil officer of New York in the discharge of his official duty, or burn or destroy the grain, corn, or hay of any other person, which should be in an inclosure ; or if any persons " unlawfully, riotously, or tumultuously " should meet together to the disturb- ance of the public peace, and with force demolish or pull down, " or begin to demolish or pull down," any dwelling house, barn, stable, grist-mill, saw-mill, or out-house within either of the counties of Albany or Charlotte, he or they should be adjudged guilty of felony, and should suffer death " without benefit of clergy." Perhaps the most extraordinary features of the act were clauses which permitted prosecutions of crimes committed on the grants to be con- ducted in the county of Albany, and empowered the courts to award execution against such as should be indicted for capital offenses, who should not surrender themselves in conformity to the order of the Governor and Council, in the same manner as if they had been convicted on a fair and impartial trial. At the same time the governor of New York issued a proclamation offering a reward of fifty pounds each for the apprehension of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sunderland, Sylvanus Brown, James Breckenridge, and James Smith, whom they deemed to be the instigators of the opposition.
These despotic measures were regarded by the settlers with scorn and con-
105
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
tempt. "Instead of palsying, they tended to nerve the arm of resistance." In answer to them the settlers drew up a remonstrance, dated on the 26th of April, 1774, and signed by Ethan Allen and six others, in which they portray the character of the government, in part, in the following language : " By leg- erdemain, bribery, and deception they have extended their dominions far and wide. They have wrangled with and encroached upon the neighboring gov- ernments, and have used all manner of deceit and fraud to accomplish their designs. Their tenants groan under their usury and oppression, and they have gained, as well as merited, the disapprobation and abhorrence of their neigh- bors. The innocent blood they have already shed calls for Heaven's vengeance on their guilty heads ; and if they should come forth in arms against us, thou- sands of their injured neighbors will join with us, to cut off and exterminate such an execrable race of men from the face of the earth.
" We therefore advertise such officers, and all persons whatsoever, that we are resolved to inflict immediate death on whomsoever may attempt the same [the arrest of the alleged rioters] ; and provided any of us or our party shall be taken, and we have not notice sufficient to relieve them ; or whether we relieve them or not, we are resolved to surround such person or persons as shall take them, whether at his or their own house or houses, or anywhere that we can find him, or them, and shoot such person or persons dead. And, fur- thermore, we will kill and destroy any person or persons whomsoever that shall presume to be accessory, aiding or assisting in taking any one of us, as aforesaid ; for by these presents we give any such disposed person or persons to understand that although they have a license by the law aforesaid to kill us, and an 'indemnification ' for such murder from the same authority, yet they have no indemnification for so doing from the Green Mountain Boys ; for our lives, liberties, and properties are as verily precious to us as to any of the king's subjects ; but if the governmental authority of New York insist upon killing us, to take possession of our . vineyards,' let them come on ; we are ready for a game of scalping with them, for our martial spirits glow with bitter indignation and consummate fury, to blast their infernal projects."
It will be borne in mind that the bitterness of feeling between the govern- ment of New York and the settlers on the New Hampshire grants was con- fined chiefly to the settlements on the west side of the mountains; partly because a greater proportion of those on the east side cheerfully acquiesced in the jurisdiction of New York and re purchased their lands under charters from that province, and because they were separated by the great natural barrier formed by the mountains themselves, and were therefore not persecuted to the point of desperation by the avaricious land-speculators who kept alive the ani- mosity which they had enkindled. But when the affairs of the British colonies began to assume an alarming aspect under the inimical policy of Great Britain, they who lived in the vicinity of the Connecticut were found to be in sympathy
106
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
with the more belligerant colonies from which they had emigrated, rather than with the royalist province by which they had been forcibly adopted. It was. on the 5th of September, 1774, that a convention of delegates from most of the provinces was held in Philadelphia for the purpose of consulting upon the most feasible measures for the common safety. New York withheld its assent to the measures recommended by this body, which in the other provinces, for the most part, were so thoroughly adopted as to result in a practical suspen- sion of royal authority.
On the 13th of March, 1775, the stated session of the court for the county of Cumberland was to have been convoked at Westminster. The inhabitants of the county being dissatisfied with New York because she had steadily refused to adopt the resolutions of the Continental Congress, and finding their efforts. to dissuade the judges from holding this court of no avail, took possession of the court-house at an early hour for the purpose of preventing the officers of the court from entering. These soon made their appearance armed with guns, swords and pistols, but finding their commands and threats regarded with equal disdain, retired to their quarters. In an interview then held between the peo- ple and Judge Chandler, they were assured that they would not be molested before morning, when the court party should come in unarmed, and hear what they had to lay before them. Contrary to this assurance, the sheriff and officers of the court, attended by an armed force, repaired to the court-house at about eleven o'clock at night, and demanded admittance. Meeting with refusal the party fired into the house, killing one William French, and wounding several others. The wounded men and a few others who did not escape were thereupon seized and thrown into prison. The news of this massacre was immediately cir- culated throughout the grants, and within eighteen hours after its occurrence a large force of armed men had collected at Westminster. An inquest on the body of the man who had been killed resulted in a verdict of murder, committed by the court party. Several of the officers were made prisoners and confined in the jail at Northampton, Mass., but were afterward released on the applica- tion of the chief justice of New York. These transactions aroused the spirit of opposition to New York on the east side of the mountains. A convention of committees from the several townships was held at Westminster, on the 1 1th of April, 1775, and a number of bold resolutions were adopted which plainly in- dicated their sentiments with reference to the oppressions of New York. A committee was also appointed, of which Ethan Allen was a member, to remon- strate to the court of Great Britain against that province, and to petition his. majesty " to be taken out of so oppressive a jurisdiction, and either annexed to. some other jurisdiction or incorporated into a new one."
On the 19th of this month was spilled, at Lexington, the first blood of the Revolutionary War; but the partial relief thus afforded the settlers on the New Hampshire grants only served to convince them of the necessity of a more complete and definite political organization, in order to maintain more
107
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
effectually the stand they had taken against the province of New York, and to render more efficient assistance to their countrymen in the contest with Great Britain. In the fall of 1775, therefore, several of the most influential men on the grants visited the American Congress, then sitting at Philadelphia, to pro- cure their advice with reference to the best course of action by the inhabitants of the grants. They did not succeed in getting the voice of the Congress as a body, but on their return to the grants they issued a number of circulars, which put forth as the opinion of several of the leading members of Congress that the inhabitants should at once form a temporary association, and put on foot such incipient measures as the exigencies of their situation demanded. Accordingly, a convention of delegates from the several towns was held at Dorset, on the 16th of January, 1776, which drew up a petition and address to Congress, re- citing briefly the history of the controversy with New York, and avowing their attachment to the cause of the colonies, but at the same time declaring their unwillingness to be in any way held subject to the authority of New York, or to be called upon in any emergency as inhabitants of that province.
The congressional committee to whom this petition was referred reported that the petitioners be advised to submit for the present to the government of New York, at least in all matters pertaining to the contest with the mother country ; without permitting such submission to be construed, however, to affirm the authority of New York, when the present trouble should be ended, or in anywise relinquishing their claims to the titles of their lands. Heman Allen, the agent by whom this petition was forwarded to Congress, deeming the report of the committee unfavorable to the grants, obtained leave to withdraw the petition, thus preventing Congress from coming to any decision upon the subject. This took place on the 4th of June, 1776, just one month before the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence.
To ascertain the opinion of the inhabitants of the grants, as to the best manner of extricating themselves from the increased embarrassment produced by the Declaration of Independence, it was determined that a general conven- tion should be called ; and circulars were accordingly addressed to the different towns inviting them to appoint delegates. Thirty-five towns complied with this request, and the delegates appointed by them assembled in convention at Dorset, on the 24th of July, 1776. It was resolved that an association should be formed for the defense of the liberties of the country ; and further, that all such inhabitants of the grants as should in any manner associate with the pro- vincial government of New York, or submit to its authority, should be consid- ered enemies of the common cause. On the 25th of the following September this convention met again by adjournment, and unanimously resolved " to take suitable measures, as soon as may be, to declare the New Hampshire grants a free and separate district." On the 16th of January, 1777, the same body, having met by adjournment on the previous day, published the following dec- laration : -
108
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
" This convention, whose members are duly chosen by the free voice of their constituents, in the several towns on the New Hampshire grants, in public meeting assembled, in our own names, and in behalf of our constituents, do hereby proclaim and publicly declare, that the district of territory comprehending, and usually known, by the name and description of the New Hampshire grants, of right ought to be, and is, hereby declared forever hereafter to be, a free and independent jurisdiction or State ; to be forever hereafter called, known, and dis- tinguished, by the New Connecticut, alias Vermont."
This Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted by the con- vention. They next drew up a petition to Congress, in which they announced that they had declared the territory theretofore known as the New Hampshire grants, free and independent, possessing the right to regulate their own inter- nal policy in any manner not repugnant to the decrees of Congress. Affirm- ing their devoted attachment to the common cause and their willingness to contribute their full contingent of the means and forces levied on the colonies, they prayed, in closing, that their independence might be acknowledged by Congress, and that the delegates from Vermont might be admitted to a part in the deliberations of that body. This declaration and petition was duly signed and was presented to Congress by Jonas Fay, Thomas Chittenden, He- man Allen and Reuben Jones.
These spirited proceedings of the people of Vermont, though secretly ap- plauded by New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, were regarded by New York as the outbreak of treason and rebellion against the lawful authority of that State ; wherefore, on the 20th of January, 1777, the convention of New York addressed one communication to Congress, and on the Ist of March following, a second, in which they denounced the several petitions and declara- tions of Vermont as resulting from the intrigues and arts of unprincipled men, and as not having emanated from the desires of the mass of the inhabitants of that controverted district. They affected to be deeply wronged and injured by the appointment by Congress of officers in the disaffected portion of their State without their approval, and demanded the recall of commissions given to Colonel Warner and the officers under him, representing his influence and ser- vices to the country as in every way without weight or value.
Meanwhile the organization of the internal government of Vermont was rapidly assuming a definite and practical form, calculated to clothe the State with force and dignity among the other colonies. In April, 1777, a communi- cation was received from Thomas Young, a distinguished citizen of Philadel- phia, in which he stated that it was the opinion of a number of the leading members of Congress that if Vermont should at once proceed to adopt a constitution, and appoint delegates to Congress, they would be admitted to a seat in that body without hesitation. Affixed to this communication was a resolution which Congress had passed on the 15th of the previous May, recom-
109
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
mending to the several members of the united colonies which had no govern- ment sufficient to meet the exigencies of the times, the adoption of such government as would be likely to conduce most to the well-being of the inhabit- ants. This communication alarmed the Council of Safety of New York, which addressed a letter to the president of Congress deprecating the giving counte- nance to "the revolters," and urging Congress to adopt an appropriate resolution on the subject. On the 23d of June one of the delegates from New York laid before Congress the communication of Thomas Young, and succeeded in having it and the several petitions and addresses from New York and Vermont referred to a committee of the whole. On the 30th of June this committee passed several resolutions, among which it was affirmed that the inhabitants of New Hampshire grants would not be justified in their declaration of independence, and that the petition of Vermont to be recognized as an independent State and admitted to a part in the deliberations of Congress should be dismissed. They further resolved that the communication of Thomas Young was deroga- tory to the honor of Congress, that it was a gross misrepresentation of the congressional resolution to which it referred, and that it was calculated to mislead the people to whom it was addressed. While the transactions which led to the adoption of these resolutions were in progress, the inhabitants of Vermont were engaged in forming a constitution for the regulation of the civil government. On the first Wednesday of June, at Windsor, the same conven- tion which had proclaimed the independence of Vermont appointed a com- mittee to draft a constitution for the State, and requested the several towns to appoint delegates for a convention to be held at Windsor on the 2d of July following, to discuss and adopt said constitution. While the convention of the 2d of July were deliberating upon the constitution which the committee had submitted to their consideration, they received the news of the evacuation on the 6th of July, of Ticonderoga, by the American troops. The alarming intel- ligence carried consternation to the hearts of all the patriots, and particularly those who lived on frontiers so exposed as Vermont. At first the conven- tion determined upon leaving Windsor, but were delayed by a thunder storm, and occupied the interim in finishing the constitution, which was then reading, paragraph by paragraph, for the last time. This done they appointed a Coun- cil of Safety to act during the recess, and adjourned. Previous to adjourn- ment, however, the convention had provided that the election under the constitution should take place in December, 1777, and that the representatives then chosen should meet at Bennington in January, 1778. Owing to the distraction caused by the advance of Burgoyne, however, the constitution was not printed in time for use in December, in consequence of which the Council of Safety again assembled the convention, on the 24th of December, at Wind- sor, when they revised the constitution, and postponed the day of election to the first Tuesday of March, 1778, and the meeting of the Assembly to the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.