History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 9

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

less, we may well believe that the general outlines of this history, as they have been sketched in the preceding pages, will not be essentially changed by any future discoveries ; and yet, who knows ?

CHAPTER III.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.

Discovery and Voyage of Champlain-French Forts and Settlements-Occupation of this County-Seigniories Annulled-War Between French and English -- Expeditions Against the French-Massacre of Fort William Henry-Campaign of 1758-Attack on Fort Ticonderoga- Events of 1759-Rogers's Expedition-Reduction of Montreal.

F `OR more than one hundred years after the discovery of the American con- tinent by Christopher Columbus, in 1492, this beautiful Champlain valley lay concealed from sight of the civilized peoples of the earth. In 1534 James Cartier, in the service of France, discovered the gulf and river to which he afterward gave the name of St. Lawrence. In the following year he returned with three ships, which he left at anchor between the Island of Orleans and the shore, and ascended the St. Lawrence two hundred miles farther with his boats, to the Indian town of Hochelaga, to which he gave the more euphonious name of Mont-Real (Mount-Royal). Two days afterward (October 4, 1535) he de- parted, and passed the winter with his party at the Island of Orleans. In 1540 Cartier visited Canada the third time and attempted to found a colony; but the attempt resulted disastrously.

In the year 1603, Samuel de Champlain, a nobleman of France, visited the several places which Cartier had described, and returned to his country filled with the burning zeal of an explorer, determined to procure assistance and establish a colony. In 1608 the French court fitted out a fleet and placed it under his command. He arrived at Quebec in the early part of July. Here he remained until the following spring, clearing the land, building houses, and preparing the soil for cultivation. Learning from the Indians, the Algonkins, who inhabited the territory north of the St. Lawrence, that there was a large body of water to the south between them and a powerful tribe of Indians, the Iroquois, who were their enemies, he resolved to explore it. He set out on the 10th of April, 1709, in his chaloupe, accompanied by several of his friends and a number of Indians in their birch-bark canoes, and arrived at the Falls of Chambly in June. Here he was joined by a war party of sixty Algonkins and Hurons. All but two of his French companions left him, however, and he was obliged to trust to the fidelity of his copper-colored friends during the rest of his journey. Notwithstanding these discouragments he pushed on, passing the

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.

Falls of Chambly by carrying the canoes, baggage, and arms around them. On the 2d of July he left the rapids, stayed that night at St. Theresa, nine miles above the falls, and on the morning of the 4th of July entered the lake to which he afterward gave his own name.

The lake was known among the aboriginal Indians as Pe-Tonbonque, or "The Waters which Lie Between," viz., between them and the Iroquois; the Iroquois themselves called it Caniaderi-Guarunte, that is, the " Lake that is the Gate of the Country ;" while the Dutch and English called it Corlear, after a Dutchman, from Schenectady, who was drowned in its waters near Fort Cassin in 1665.

It has become well settled by circumstantial evidence that Champlain, on his first voyage up the lake, landed on the site of the present city of Burling- ton. In the second volume of his history of his voyages, page 196, he says, referring to his advance from St. Johns: "Continuing our route upon the west side of the lake, I saw on the east side very high mountains capped with snow. I asked the Indians if those parts were inhabited? They answered 'Yes, and that there were in those parts beautiful valleys and fields fertile in corn, with an innumerable variety of other fruits, and that the lake extended close to the mountains, where canoes could go.'" He says further that other mountains. were soon discovered south upon the west side of the lake, which the Indians informed him were in the land of their enemies. On page 195 he says that he- found upon the shores in the vicinity of the lake large chestnut trees, which were the only ones he had seen "since his first voyage to this country."

The mountains referred to in the first sentence of the foregoing quotation are undoubtedly Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump, while the statement that the lake extended close to the mountains, where canoes could go, means noth- ing if it does not refer to the Winooski River. Champlain does not, however, distinctly say that he crossed to this side of the lake. But as the entire west side constituted the hunting-ground of the Iroquois, who came down from their country beyond Lake George, it is scarcely to be believed that he and his party would venture farther south on that side than the mouth of the Ausable River, or the south end of Valcour Island, but rather that they would cross to this side, which afforded a far better view, and placed them at a safe distance from their enemies. This opinion is corroborated by the statement that chest- nut trees were found upon the shore; for there is but one place on either side of the lake about which such a statement could be made, viz., on land now known as the Van Ness farm, on the brow of the hill in Burlington, just south of the meadows upon the Winooski. Moreover, the mountains "south upon the west side of the lake" could not have been seen from the west.

" Thus," says an able writer, in the Vermont Historical Magasine,1 "be- fore the Dutch had commenced their settlements upon the island of Manhat-

1 Thomas H. Canfield.

HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

tan, or Hendrick Hudson had discovered the noble river which bears his name, before the Mayflower, with her cargo or Puritans, had landed at Plymouth, or John Smith had explored the coasts of Massachusetts, had the western borders of Vermont been discovered and the waters of Lake Champlain been explored by Samuel de Champlain. This channel thus opened formed the great high- way between the Algonkins and Iroquois, as well as for the French and Eng- lish between Montreal and Fort Orange, and for a century and a half after be- came the theatre of the most savage and cruel wars between the great Indian tribes ; and some of the most bloody battles recorded in history, between the French and English, were waged near these waters long before the struggle of the colonies for their independence commenced."

It is a good example of the irony of history that the nation which honored rather than profited herself by the discovery and first settlement of this teem- ing valley, should so soon see the fruits of her enterprise in the possession of her enemies. France, with all her versatility of genius, could not withstand the overpowering spirit of colonization which has raised the British flag in every clime of the earth. The first civilized establishment within the limits of Vermont was made by the French on Isle La Motte, in the year 1665, when Captain de la Mothe built a fort about a mile from the north end of the island, on the west shore, and named it Fort St. Anne. It was intended to serve as a rendezvous and protection of the French from the attacks of the Indians. This was the first building erected in the Champlain valley. The island was called " La Mothe," in honor of the captain.

There is considerable evidence that a French settlement existed on Col- chester Point about as early as on Isle La Motte. The Fort St. Anne, or La Motte, as it was soon called, was undoubtedly occupied by the French for many years as a garrison, and the island was occupied by them for near a century. It appears that in the spring of 1666 a party of ten or twelve men and two French officers were killed by the Mohawks while out hunting, whereupon Captain de Sorel left the fort with a force of about three hundred men, to chastise the "barbarians." Not long after M. de Tracy, governor of New France, embarked with an army of 1,200 men in three bateaux and birch - bark canoes, from Fort St. Anne, with the purpose of terrifying into submis- sion all the rude inhabitants of the valley of the Mohawk, and the communities of Iroquois in Western New York. To return to the probability of the exist- ence of a French settlement on Colchester Point: when the town of Colchester was first settled the remains of a fortification and of other buildings were plainly visible on the point, and, even at that early date, bore the marks of great antiquity. On the farm originally settled by Benjamin Boardman were found the bottom of an old chimney and the remnants of the walls of a few old build- ings. One plot on this place had the appearance of having served years be- fore as a garden, and contained rows of decayed white and red currant bushes.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.

On the south beach of the extreme point, within a few years, could be seen the foundations of two ancient buildings, evidently erected for military pur- poses. It is not possible, from written or traditionary account, to tell the date or origin of these old works. The most probable explanation is that the French occupied this point at the time that they extended their line of fortifi- cations into Lake Champlain. Such occupation would be most consonant with the general purpose of those adventurous explorers. They were determined to fortify and hold every part of the valley which would render them secure in their excursions from Canada to the Mohawk valley against the Iroquois. To have spent the vast amount of means and labor upon fortifications on Isle La Motte and at the mouth of the Sorel River, however important those points might be, without establishing a trading settlement at so safe and convenient a situation as Colchester would betray a lack of sagacity which cannot be charged against the people of France at that period. Colchester Point was one day's journey south from Isle La Motte, and was the most convenient place for the next post in their line of progress up the lake. It commanded a more extended prospect, and was therefore a more advantageous position as an out- post for observing the movements of an enemy than any other point on the lake. Further testimony in support of this theory is found in the fact that Colchester Point was named on the first English map of the lake, published soon after the close of the French War, as Windmill Point. The custom of the French at that early day, of erecting windmills for the grinding of their grain, at every point on which they established a settlement, is too well known to be described at length in this place. Moreover, what reason can be assigned for giving the point that name, more plausible than that a windmill either then, or at an earlier period, stood there.

In the history of the town of Colchester, contributed to the Vermont His- torical Magazine by the Hon. David Read, the Hon. John W. Strong, of Addison, is quoted as authority for the statement that his wife's grandfather, Dr. E. Tudor, had in his lifetime spoken of a block-house at Burlington, which he had seen at the time of the invasion and conquest of Canada by the En- glish. It is more than probable that he intended Colchester Point, which at that period could hardly be distinguished from the site of Burlington. Dr. Tudor was a trustworthy witness with reference to the time and scenes of which he spoke, for he took part in the capture of Quebec by Wolfe, and returned from that memorable battle by the way of Lake Champlain.

Indeed, the proof is so abundant and convincing that the French did estab- lish a settlement on Colchester, that the mere recitation of the evidence is alone sufficient. The only question that can be raised is concerning the date of this settlement. The evidence does not, in legal phrase, preponderate in favor of either of the two possible dates, viz .: At the time of the erection of Fort St. Anne, or more than half a century later, when the French constructed Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point, and built their village at Chimney Point, in 1731.

HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

During the long interval of peace that succeeded the Treaty of Utrecht the French quietly extended their settlements on both sides of the lake, from the northern to the southern extremity, in the belief that their possessions would remain undisputed. In accordance with this belief they granted broad seigniories throughout the valley, which were surveyed and laid out, and in many instances settled by families, or rather communities, from France. That immense tract of fertile land afterward successfully colonized by William Gilli- land, and now comprising the thriving towns of Essex and Willsborough, on the western border of the lake, was regarded by the French as one of their most precious possessions. The point to the south of the present village of Essex was inhabited by a wealthy Frenchman, and cultivated so thoroughly as to prepare the way for the English settlers of a later date. The most impor- tant settlement was at Chimney Point, and extended for several miles along the lake. The remains of this old village are still faintly visible, but are fast dis- appearing beneath the relentless plowshare of the farmer. Fort St. Frederic, as before stated, was erected in the year 1731 ; and the streets and cellar pits of a seemingly prosperous village are quite distinctly traceable on Crown Point to-day.

One of these grants or seigniories, belonging to Captain de la Peirere, which was created on the 7th of July, 1734, commenced at the mouth of Onynouski (Onion) River, and extended each way one league and three leagues back, thus comprising the southern part of the present town of Colchester, the north line running east from the head of Ouynouski, or Mallet's Bay. An- other seigniory, created on the 30th of April, 1737, and granted to Lieutenant- General Pierre Raimbault, adjoined the tract of Captain De la Peirere on the north, and extended four leagues north and south and five leagnes back. There is no evidence, however, that the lands were occupied under these grants, unless the settlement before mentioned was made at this period. The grants of the French, like those of their English successors, contained a condition that a settlement should be made under them within a given time, under pain of forfeiture, and the grant of Captain De la Peirere was afterward declared for- feited to the crown of France for non-compliance with this condition. On the 27th of September, 1766, the grant to General Raimbault was conveyed by his heirs in Montreal to Benjamin Price, Daniel Robertson and John Liv- ingston, for the consideration of 90,000 livres. This conveyance, it will be observed, was made after the conquest of Canada, the cession of that country and its dependencies to the British crown, confirmed by the treaty of Paris in 1763, and pending the litigation concerning the validity of the titles to these French seigniories before the king and council of England. New York at the same time claimed jurisdiction over this territory, and made large grants to her retired officers and soldiers, many of whom proceeded to settle under them. In this tripartite controversy it was but natural that New York and England,

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.

then bearing to each other the relation of a colony and the mother country, should unite against the common enemy. Thus, through the skill and elo- quence of Edmund Burke, who was employed to support the New York titles, the French seigniories were annulled.

In 1744, when England and France were again involved in war, the En- glish began to feel, in the depredations of the enemy and their savage allies, their folly in having permitted them to establish themselves at Crown Point. The war was prosecuted in a feeble and indecisive manner until 1749, the New England frontiers being continually harassed by small parties of Indians, with- out the stimulus of any considerable expeditions either by the French or En- glish. By the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, the controversy between the belligerent countries respecting claims in America was to be referred to com- missioners appointed by the sovereign powers of the two nations. The com- missioners met in Paris in 1752; but, after laboring for some time to establish the rights of the litigants, were forced to abandon the subject, and the coun- tries were once more involved in war. It is a remarkable fact that this com- bination of events gave birth to the conception of a union of the British colo- nies in America, which was consummated by the Declaration of Independence. On the 4th of July, 1754, a convention of delegates from the several colonies was held at Albany for the purpose of devising some general and efficient plan of operations in the impending struggle. The deliberations resulted in a reso- lution to apply to the British Parliament for an act constituting a grand legis- lative council, to be composed of delegates from the colonial assemblies, the proceedings of which were to be subject to the negative of a president-general appointed by the crown. The plan, however, was rejected by both the colo- nies and the mother country; the former fearing that it conceded to the crown prerogatives which would jeopard their liberties, and the latter supposing it to clothe the colonial assemblies with powers which it was by no means prepared to acknowledge. It is furthermore a singular fact that the Declaration of In- dependence was promulgated exactly twenty-two years after the colonial union was proposed by this convention.

Early in the year 1755 Governor Shirley convoked the Assemby of Massa- chusetts, and communicated to them a plan which he had formed for the re- duction of the French fortress at Crown Point. The plan met the approval of the Assembly, and the co-operation of the neighboring colonies was solicited. While the colonies were preparing for this expedition, General Braddock ar- rived in Virginia with two Irish regiments. Thereupon a convention of the sev- eral governors and commanders in the English colonies, was called at Albany, by which four expeditions against the French were planned for the following summer; one under Braddock, against Fort Duquesne; one under Shirley, against Niagara ; one under Colonel Johnson, against Crown Point; and one under Colonels Monckton and Winslow, against the French settlements in

HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

Nova Scotia. The first expedition, owing to the fool-hardy disdain of General Braddock for the advise of those who were familiar with Indian modes of war- fare, ended in disaster. The forces designed for the reduction of the fort at Niagara effected nothing beyond the strengthening of the fortifications at Os- wego. Johnson placed General Lyman in command of the five or six hundred provincial troops, which he had collected at Albany for the expedition against Crown Point, and sent him forward to the site of the present village of Fort Edward, where they erected the fort from which the village takes its name. Johnson left Albany on the roth of August, and shortly after pro- ceeded fifteen miles beyond Fort Edward, and halted near the south end of Lake George. Here he received intelligence from his scouts that the French had taken possession of Ticonderoga, which commanded the communication between Lakes George and Champlain. Before he could prepare his artillery and bateaux for the purpose of advancing and dislodging the enemy, they had erected fortifications competent for a defense against surprise or an easy conquest. The exaggerated accounts of the force assembled at Lake George and threat- ening the reduction of Crown Point, hastened the arrival of Baron Dieskau to its defense with a numerous army of French and Indians. Designing to fore- stall their attack, he immediately embarked his army of 1,800 men in bateaux, and landed at South Bay, near the south end of Lake Champlain, where he was informed by an English prisoner that Fort Edward was practically defense- less, and that Johnson's camp at Lake George was unprotected by either en- trenchments or cannon. He therefore directed his march towards Fort Ed- ward, with the design of attacking it, but was forced, through the resistance which his army opposed to the plan, to proceed towards the English camp at Lake George, which they deemed the more easy of conquest, supposing that muskets would be the only arms employed againt them. A general engage- ment ensued, in which the French were worsted, Dieskau receiving a mortal wound. They were attacked in their retreat by a detachment from Fort Edward, and again dispersed in every direction. The total loss of the English in these several engagements was 130 killed, and sixty wounded, among the former being Colonel Williams, the founder of Williams College ; Major Ashley, and Captains Ingersoll, Porter, Ferrel, Stoddard and M'Ginnes, while Colonel Johnson was wounded. About forty of the Indians belonging to Johnson's army were slain, among them being Hendrick, a distinguished Mo- hawk sachem. The loss of the French was much heavier, and was estimated at about 700 killed. Johnson, deterred, it is said, by fear, from pursuing the enemy, devoted the remaining period of the campaign of 1755 to the erection of a fort at the south end of Lake George, which afterward received the name of Fort William Henry. The years 1756 and 1757 were disastrous to the English. Notwithstanding the considerable re-enforcement of the English troops at Albany and Fort William Henry, by forces and officers from Eng-

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.

land, their vacillating and inactive course enabled the French under Montcalm to prosecute their affairs with energy and success. They took and demolished the forts at Oswego, and captured 1,400 prisoners, 120 pieces of cannon, four- teen mortars, a large quantity of ammunition, military stores and provisions, and also two sloops and 200 bateaux. As early as the 20th of March, 1757, Montcalm attempted to take Fort William Henry by surprise, but was re- pulsed by the garrison, and several of his men killed. A few weeks later Colonel Parker, who was sent down the lake in command of a detachment of four hundred men, to attack the advanced guard of the French at Ticonderoga, was decoyed into an ambuscade of French and Indians, who fell upon him with so much impetuosity that not more than two officers and seventy pri- vates of the entire detachment escaped. This success stimulated Montcalm into another attempt at the reduction of Fort William Henry. In pursuance of this design he collected all his forces, amounting to 10,000 men, regulars, Canadians and Indians, at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Meanwhile General Webb, successor to Lord Loudon in the command of the English forces, wish- ing to inspect the works at Lake George, and determine the force and condi- tion of the enemy on Lake Champlain, selected Major Putnam with two hun- dred men to escort him to Fort William Henry, whence, soon after, Putnam started to reconnoiter the enemy at Ticonderoga. Before he reached the North- west Bay on the western shore of Lake George, he discovered a body of men on an island, and hastened in one of his three boats to convey the information to Webb. Webb reluctantly permitted him to return for the purpose of bring- ing back the other boats, and, if possible, of making further discoveries. This time he was observed and pursued, but effected his retreat to the fort. Webb thereupon, with an injunction of secrecy to Putnam, ordered him to make preparations to escort him immediately to Fort Edward, and, on the next day, repaired thither, despite the respectful remonstrance of Putnam. On the day following he dispatched Colonel Monroe, with his regiment, to enforce the gar- rison at Lake George. On the day after Monroe's arrival, Montcalm appeared upon the lake in command of the French and Indians, and with little opposi- tion effected a landing and at once laid siege to the fort. In response to a letter form Montcalm, urging the surrender of the fort before any of the Indians. were killed and their unmastered passions inflamed beyond the power of resist- ance, Colonel Monroe replied that as the fortress had been intrusted to him he felt bound by his honor and his duty to defend it to the last extremity. The garrison, which was about 2,500 strong, made a gallant resistance ; while Mon- roe sent frequently to Fort Edward for aid, Webb remained inactive and seemingly indifferent, and on the eighth or ninth day of the siege, after hav- ing retracted a permission to General Johnson to relieve the garrison with the provincial regiments and Putnam's rangers, after they had already proceeded three miles towards the lake, he wrote to Monroe that he could render him no-

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 9

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054