USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 17
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After the disastrous issue of the battle at Bennington the British army re- mained for some time inactive in their camp opposite to Saratoga, in expectation of the approach of Colonel St. Leger, who had been sent round by Lake Ontario for the reduction of Fort Stanwix, toward the head of the Mohawk River. But that officer had been obliged to abandon the project because of the dishearten- ing defection of Indians forming his force. This event gave General Gates who had succeeded Schuyler, time to fortify and strengthen his camp.
In the mean time General Lincoln, commander of a body of New Hamp-
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
shire militia, determined, by a diversion of the enemy, to divide their forces, and cut off their supplies. He therefore proceeded from Manchester to Paw- let, and thence, on the 13th of September, dispatched Colonel Brown at the head of 500 men to release the American prisoners which were collected at Lake George, and destroy the British stores at that place. The attention of the enemy was to be arrested by the movements of Colonel Johnson, who led the same number of men at the same time toward Ticonderoga. Colonel Woodbridge also proceeded to Fort Edward by the way of Skeenesborough and Fort Ann. The plan succeeded. By the 18th of September Brown had surprised every out-post between the north end of Lake George and the main fortress at Ticonderoga. Mount Hope and Mount Defiance had come into the hands of the Americans, who had also taken 200 bateaux, one armed sloop. and several gun-boats, and 293 prisoners, besides liberating more than 100 of their more unfortunate countrymen.
On the 12th of September the army of Gates had encamped on a spur of hills jutting out nearly to the Hudson, known as Behmus's Heights. On the 13th and 14th the army of Burgoyne, with its splendid train of artillery,. crossed the Hudson at Schuylerville by a bridge of boats, and advanced to- ward the Americans. The camp of the latter had been made very strong .. The Hudson cut off all approach from the right, and a high ridge of hills from the left; while the lines were admirably protected by a breastwork. Realizing the disadvantage of his position, and that he could not advance further without dislodging the Americans, Burgoyne moved his army on the 19th, as on former days, in three columns ; the artillery, protected by Riedesel and the Brunswick troops, took the road along the river on the left ; Fraser made a circuit to the ridge on the left of the Americans ; while Burgoyne himself led the center across a ravine to a field on Freeman's farm. The front and flanks of the several columns were accompanied by swarms of Tories, Canadians and Indians. Gates ordered out Morgan's riflemen and the light infantry, who put a picket to flight a little after one o'clock, and then retired before the division of Bur- goyne. Morgan now led his force through a wood and fell unexpectedly upon the left of the central division. As soon as the firing was heard the advance parties of both armies pushed forward to the battle. Reinforcements contin- ually added to the strength and determination of both sides, and the engage- ment became general. The battle waged without intermission for three hours, promising victory first to one side and the next few minutes reversing the scene to the advantage of the other. There was no manœuvering - regiment fought against regiment, and man against man. Both armies displayed the most obsti- nate courage. The British would be driven from the cannon or position which they had just taken, and would rally and re-take it by their superiority with the bayonet ; only to be repulsed by a deadly fire from the wood. Before sundown it seemed as if the troops of Burgoyne would be routed ; they wavered; when
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THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
Riedesel appeared with more than a regiment, and charged the Americans on their right flank. As evening drew near these took their wounded and a hun- dred captives, and quietly withdrew within their lines. This indecisive and accidental battle irretrievably crippled the British force. Their loss exceeded six hundred ; while that of the Americans, including wounded and missing, was not more than 319. The condition of Burgoyne now grew rapidly more perplexing. The Americans broke down the bridges which he had built in his rear ; cut off to a great extent his supplies, and so swarmed in the woods as to baffle his most studious attempts to gain a just idea of their situation. His hospital was cumbered with no fewer than 800 sick and wounded men. He was obliged to retrench the soldiers' rations one-third. While his army was declining in number that of Gates was being constantly re-enforced. General Lincoln arrived on the 22d, and was followed by two thousand militia. The Indians left Burgoyne in great numbers, and many of them were, by the influ- ence of Schuyler, and against the judgment of Gates, joined to the American camp.
From the 20th of September to the 7th of October the armies lay near each other, and engaged in continual skirmishes. On the 7th Burgoyne determined to make a grand reconnoissance, and if the Americans were not to be safely at- tacked, to concert a plan of retreat. The hour for the beginning of operations was set at eleven o'clock in the morning, in order that night might intervene to cut short any possible disaster. Burgoyne placed himself at the head of a force consisting of 700 men of Fraser's command, 300 of Breymann's, and 500 of Riedesel's, and took with him Phillips, Riedesel, and Fraser. They entered a field about half a mile from the Americans, where they formed in line, " and sat down in double ranks, offering battle." Their artillery consisted of eight brass pieces and two howitzers. Their left was protected by the grenadiers under Ackland, stationed in the wood; the Brunswickers held the center ; while the right, which was skirted by a wooded knoll, was formed by the light infantry and an English regiment, under Fraser. A foraging party were to be sent from the right into a wheat-field, and the Canadians, provin- cials, and what Indians remained, were to get upon the American rear. The camp of Gates contained ten or eleven thousand soldiers, well armed and eager for battle. In concurrence with the advice of Morgan, both flanks of the enemy were to be simultaneously attacked. Accordingly the action began about four o'clock in the afternoon, and was continued with obstinate and un- abating fury until night. The result was a triumphant victory for the Ameri- cans. Some of the entrenchments of the British were carried by the patriots sword in hand, and their troops were at last compelled to retreat to their camp. Compared with that of the Americans, their loss was very severe. Colonel Breymann, General Fraser, and several other officers were killed, and Sir James Clark, Major Williams, and Major Ackland were wounded and made prison-
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
ers. Besides these, the Americans took 200 prisoners, nine pieces of cannon, and a large quantity of ammunition and camp equipage.
Nothing could now save Burgoyne but a retreat to Canada, and that he re- solved to attempt. To his dismay he soon discovered that the Americans had so completely surrounded him as to cut off all hope of retreat, and on the 13th of October he called a council of war, in which it was agreed to propose a capitulation. On the following day Major Kingston secured a suspension of hostilities, and on the 15th and 16th, articles of capitulation were agreed to and were left until the 17th for signature. On the night of the 16th Burgoyne re- ceived intelligence that a body of British troops were coming up the Hudson to his aid, and as the articles of capitulation were not yet signed, he proposed to suspend the execution of it, in the hope of a favorable issue. His council decided against him.
Gates was also advised of the approach of the British on the Hudson, and on the morning of the 17th had everything in readiness to begin an attack. At nine o'clock, which was the hour fixed for the signing of the articles, Col- onel Greaton went to Burgoyne for his signature, under instructions to return in ten minutes with or without the same. The convention was signed. A body of Americans marched into the lines of the British to the tune of Yankee Doodle, while they marched out and laid down their arms, with none of the American soldiery to witness the spectacle. Their number, officers and all, was 5,791 ; there were besides 1,856 prisoners of war, including the sick and wounded, which Burgoyne had abandoned to the Americans. The total loss of the British in the northern campaign was near ten thousand.
In this manner were the vauntings and boastful threats of Burgoyne brought to naught. The war was now nearly at an end in Western Vermont, and though the deserted settlements of the towns in this part of the State were not again inhabited until about the close of the Revolution in 1783, they were in- sured against further inroads, and waited as quietly for the coming husband- man as if the tempest of war were already subsided and the reign of peace begun. Ethan Allen, who was captured, as we have seen, in a battle near the fort at Montreal, was, on the 6th of May, 1778, exchanged for Lieutenant John Camp- bell, and after waiting upon Washington at Valley Forge, returned to Vermont and received the well-earned ovations of the Green Mountain Boys. The saga- cious negotiations of the diplomats of Vermont secured the western frontier of the State against invasion from the north, and the avocations of peace resumed activity. Aside from the skirmishes indicated in the early part of this chapter, the territory embraced within the present limits of Chittenden county was but a distant spectator of the bloodshed of the Revolution. Captain Fas- sett, holding a commission under Gates, while the American troops were stationed at Ticonderoga, occupied with his men, for a time, a block-house on Onion River, in the southwestern part of Jericho, but from cowardice
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
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abandoned his post and exposed the few settlers which had not yet removed, to the depredations of the enemy. Had he remained it is not improbable that the banks of the Winooski would have witnessed feats of battle equal to the engagements at Hubbardton or Bennington ; but the strides of peaceful prog- ress have won the county a happier distinction. Truly, " Peace hath her vic- tories no less renowned than war."
CHAPTER VI.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
The Old County of Albany-Charlotte-Bennington-Washington and Rutland-Addison -Chittenden - Civil List of Chittenden County - County Buildings -- Court-Houses and Jails.
B UT a little more than one hundred years ago the tract of land embraced within the present boundary lines of Chittenden county was a wild and uninhabited portion of the county of Albany, in the province of New York, a county of greater territorial extent than the present State of Vermont. Under the liberal charter granted to the Duke of York by his brother, the king of Great Britain, that province claimed the Connecticut River as her eastern boundary. On the 3d of July, 1786, the county of Cumberland was incor- porated upon the east side of the mountains, thus considerably diminishing the jurisdiction of Albany county. Previous to that time the limits of the latter county were indefinite in the extreme. By the Treaty of Paris, and the proc- lamation of George III, establishing the southern boundary of Quebec and the northern boundary of New York, her limits on one side were fixed. Before the incorporation of the county of Cumberland her jurisdiction extended as far east, it has been said, as there were any Christian inhabitants; while her western boundary extended to the Delaware River, and toward Western New York as far as any white people resided. Her southern limits were designated by a line from the west side of Connecticut to the Delaware River, at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania. In those days Albany was the shire town and the most northerly seat of justice in the county. The determined resistance of the inhabitants of the " New Hampshire Grants " at a later period, as has been recorded in a previous chapter, so effectually obstructed the course of what the authorities of New York were pleased to call "justice," that on the 12th of March, 1772, in order "that offenders may be brought to justice, and creditors may recover their just dues," a new county, by the name of Char- lotte, was set off from Albany county. The boundaries allotted to the county of Charlotte commenced on the Green Mountain range, near the southeast corner of the present township of Winhall; thence northerly in a direct line to
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
a point at the east base of Camel's Hump mountain; thence northeasterly direct to the south end of Lake Memphremagog, and on in its course to the province line, which it intersected a few miles east of the lake, in the township of Derby ; thence due west to the St. Lawrence River, which it struck near the Indian village of St. Regis; thence southerly in a straight line to the Mo- hawk River, about ten miles above Schenectady ; thence down the Mohawk to the Hudson, up the Hudson to the mouth of Battenkill, and up the Battenkill, following the south branch to a point near its source, to the southwest corner of the old town of Princeton, as chartered by New York; thence to the south- east corner thereof, and thence in a direct line to the place of beginning.
Skeenesborough (now Whitehall) was constituted the shire town of the county of Charlotte, and Philip Skeene, the Tory, was the first chief judge of the Court of Common Pleas. But fearing the persuasion of the "Bennington mob," and being refused the protection of his majesty's military force, he removed the sessions of the courts to the house of one Patrick Smith, near Fort Edward. The jurisdiction of the county was never recognized by the New Hampshire grantees, who practically nullified its decrees and judgments by forcibly expelling all officers who attempted the execution of the same.1
On the 16th of January, 1777, Vermont was declared to be a free and in- dependent State, and the new Legislature proceeded to divide the territory into counties, regardless of the pretensions of the State of New York. On the 11th of February, 1779, they erected the county of Cumberland on the east side of the mountain, and Bennington on the west; both extending from Massa- chusetts to the province of Quebec. Bennington was bounded on the west by the west line of the State up to the line of Canada ; thence east on said line fifty miles; thence southerly in a direct line to the northeast corner of Worces- ter ; thence southerly on the east line of Worcester, Middlesex and Berlin to the southeast corner thereof; thence on a straight line to the northwest corner of Tunbridge, and thence to the southwest corner thereof ; thence in a straight line to the northwest corner of Bradford ; 2 thence in the westerly line of Brad- ford and Bridgewater to the southwesterly corner thereof; thence southerly in a straight line to the northeast corner of Shrewsbury, and thence to the south- east corner thereof; thence west to the northeast corner of Wallingford; thence southerly on the east lines of Wallingford, Harwick, Brumley, Winhall and Stratton to the southeasterly corner of the latter; thence southerly on the west line of Somerset to the southwest corner thereof; thence southerly to the northwest corner of Draper; thence southerly in the west lines of Draper (now
1 To keep up a show of jurisdiction over this section of the country, the State of New York, how- ever, as late as March 7, 1788 - even after the county of Chittenden was incorporated - passed an act rebounding the counties of Cumberland and Gloucester, and dividing the county of Charlotte into two counties, by the name of Washington and Clinton. We then, under New York authority, formed a part of the county of Clinton-but that authority was a dend letter .- See Statute Laws of New York, IIth session, pp. 133-136 ; Hall's Eastern Vermont, p. 555. 2 Barnard.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Wilmington) and Cumberland (now Whitingham) to the north line of the Mas- sachusetts Bay ; and Bennington and Rutland were constituted half shires of the county.
The inhabitants north of the present county of Bennington were not satis- fied with this arrangement, because of its inconvenience, and upon their petition, on the 8th of November, 1780, the Assembly and Council passed an act establishing the county of Washington, with the following boundaries: Be- ginning at the southwest corner of Pollet; thence north on the west line of this State to latitude forty-five degrees ; thence on Canada south line to the northwest corner of the county of Gloucester (formerly known by the county of Cumberland) ; thence south on Bennington county line (formerly so called) to the northeast corner of the town of Bromley (Peru) ; thence west to the first mentioned bounds. On the recommendation of the Council, this act was to be printed, but not put upon record until after the next session of the As- sembly. This was held at Windsor, and there, on the 13th of February, 1781, a new bill was passed, by which the name of Washington was changed to Rut- land. The boundaries just described were not disturbed for four years, eight months and five days, during which time the courts were held at Tinmouth. During this period, too, Abraham Ives, of Wallingford, sheriff of the county of Rutland, sold large quantities of land at public vendue ; many titles in Chit- tenden county still depending for their origin on those sales. The sales were conducted very loosely, not at all in conformity with the requirements of the law, and often in circumstances calculated to excite suspicion, as in the sale of lands now included in the town of Mendon,1 where by collusion with Jonathan Parker, of Rutland, the sale, which was advertised for a day specified, actually began just after midnight on the morning of that day, the consideration being merely nominal. The courts were forced by the necessity of the case to estab- lish the sales as valid, though Ives was obliged to resign his office and flee.
The population of the county of Rutland had by this time begun to increase very rapidly, especially along the streams and the shore of the lake, and con- venience and the interest of parties demanded a division of the county. Ac- cordingly, on the 18th of October, 1785, a new county, by the name of Addi- son, was set off from Rutland county, and its boundaries established as follows : " Beginning at the northwest corner of the township of Orwell; thence run- ning eastwardly on the north line of Orwell, Sudbury, Brandon and Philadelphia, and then so far east as to intersect the west line of the first town that is bounded in its charter on some town or towns which are dependent for their original bounds on Connecticut River; then northerly in the westwardly line of the several towns that are dependent on the Connecticut River, as aforesaid to the south line of the province of Quebec, which is the north line of this State ; then westwardly on said line through Missisquoi Bay, etc., to the center of the
1 This did not occur, however, until 1804.
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
deepest channel of Lake Champlain; then southwardly in the deepest channel of said lake till it intersects a west line from the northwest corner of said Or- well ; then east to the bounds began at."
The towns of Addison and Colchester were made half shires, and the courts were to be held on the first Tuesday of March and the second Tuesday of No- vember. Only one term of the court was held at Colchester before another subdivision was made, and by act of the Legislature, on the 22d of October, 1787, the county of Chittenden was established. It then embraced all the ter- ritory between the north lines of Ferrisburgh, Monkton, Bristol, Lincoln and Warren, and the province line ; was bounded on the west by the west line of the State, which followed the deepest channel of the lake, passing east of the Four Brothers and west of Grand Isle and Isle La Motte, and on the east by the west lines of Northfield, Berlin, Montpelier, Calais, Woodbury, Hardwick, and Greensborough to the northwest corner thereof, and then in the most direct course on town lines to the north line of the State. A still further increase of population and litigation necessitated the reduction of the extent of the county ; and on the 5th of November, 1792, Franklin county was incorporated on the north. On the 20th of October, 1794, Starksboro was taken from this county and annexed to Addison ; on the 9th of November, 1802, South Hero and adjacent islands went toward the formation of the county of Grand Isle; on the Ist of November, 1810, the towns of Mansfield, Stowe, Waterbury, Dux- bury, Fayston, Waitsfield, Moretown, Middlesex and Worcester, were taken from the county of Chittenden and employed in the formation of Jefferson, now Washington county. In 1839 the western part of the town of Mansfield was set off from Washington county and annexed to Underhill in this county.
The proceedings of the early courts are set forth in the chapter devoted to the history of the Bench and Bar. The following civil list of the county since its formation in 1787, was kindly furnished by T. C. Pease, the present city clerk of Burlington.
From 1778 to 1835 inclusive, the executive branch of the State government consisted of the Governor and Council. In the latter year the State Senate was instituted and the Council discontinued. The following citizens of Chittenden county have been governors of Vermont: Thomas Chittenden from 1778 to 1796 inclusive, excepting the year 1789, when, there being no choice, Moses Robinson was elected by the Legislature; Martin Chittenden, 1813 and 1814; Cornelius P. Van Ness, 1823 to 1825 inclusive ; Asahel Peck, 1874 to 1876 inclusive ; John L. Barstow, 1882 to 1884 inclusive.
Following are the names of counselors resident in the county : Ira Allen, Colchester, 1778 to 1785 inclusive; John Fassett, Burlington, 1787 to 1794; Noah Chittenden, Jericho, 1801 to 1811 ; William C. Harrington, Burlington, 1812 to 1813; John C. Thompson, Burlington, 1827 to 1830; William A. Gris- wold, Burlington, 1833 to 1834; George P. Marsh, Burlington, 1835.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Representatives in Congress from this county have been as follows: Martin Chittenden, Williston, 1803 to 1813 ; Heman Allen, Colchester, 1817 to 1819; Ezra Meech, Charlotte, 1819 to 1827 ; George P. Marsh, Burlington, 1843 to 1849.
The only member of the United States Senate from Chittenden county is the present senator, George F. Edmunds.
1787.1-Chief judge, John Fassett; assistant judges, John White and Samuel Lane ; county clerk, J. Knickerbocker ; sheriff, Noah Chittenden ; State's attor- ney, Samuel Hitchcock; judge of probate, John McNeil; treasurer, Stephen Lawrence.
1788 .- Same as 1787.
1789 .- Chief judge, John Fassett ; assistant judges, John White and John McNeil; county clerk, Martin Chittenden; sheriff, Noah Chittenden; State's attorney, Samuel Hitchcock ; judge of probate, John McNeil ; register of pro- bate, Isaac McNeil; treasurer, Stephen Lawrence.
1790 .- Chief judge, John Fassett; assistant judges, John White and John McNeil ; county clerk, Martin Chittenden; sheriff, Stephen Pearl; State's attor- ney, Samuel Hitchcock; judges of probate (three districts), Mathew Cole, Jonathan Hoit, Timothy Pearl; register of probate, Isaac McNeil ; treasurer, Stephen Lawrence.
1791 .- Chief judge, John Fassett; assistant judges, John White and John McNeil; county clerk, Martin Chittenden ; sheriff, Stephen Pearl; State's at- torney, William C. Harrington ; judges of probate, Mathew Cole, Jonathan Hoit, Timothy Pearl; register of probate, Isaac Pearl ; treasurer, Stephen Law- rence.
1792 .- Chief judge, John Fassett; assistant judges, John White and John McNeil; county clerk, Martin Chittenden ; sheriff, Stephen Pearl ; State's at- torney, W. C. Harrington ; judges of probate, Mathew Cole, Jonathan Hoit, Timothy Pearl ; register of probate, Isaac McNeil; treasurer, Stephen Law- rence.
1793 .- Chief judge, John Fassett; assistant judges, John McNeil, Martin Chittenden ; county clerk, Solomon Miller; sheriff, Stephen Pearl ; State's at- torney, W. C. Harrington ; judges of probate, Mathew Cole, Jonathan Hoit, Timothy Pearl; register of probate, Isaac McNeil; treasurer, Stephen Law- rence.
1794 .- Chief judge, Ebenezer Marvin ; assistant judges, John White, Mar- tin Chittenden ; county cierk, Solomon Miller; sheriff, Stephen Pearl ; State's attorney, W. C. Harrington ; judges of probate, Mathew Cole, Jonathan Hoit, Timothy Pearl, Ebenezer Crafts; register of probate, Isaac McNeil; treasurer, Stephen Lawrence.
1795 .- Chief judge, Ebenezer Marvin ; assistant judges, John White, Mar-
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