USA > Vermont > Grand Isle County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 19
USA > Vermont > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 19
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Second Vermont Battery .- Berkshire, Albert Johnson.
Third Vermont Battery .- Bakersfield, Byron K. Oakes, Hiram G. Pearsons, Henrich W. Raspil. Fairfax, Peter Bentch, George Minor, Peter Minor. Georgia, Henry Bullock, Joseph J. Turner, George Tebo. Montgomery, Frederick Lapoint. Richford, Silas B. Carr, Ahira Heath, Hiram E. Rogers, Parker C. Thomas. St. Albans, Oliver Cherrier, Andrew Swallow.
Frontier Cavalry .- Bakersfield, Stephen C. Houghton. Fairfax, Will- iam McNeal. Fairfield, William A. Burrows, jr. Highgate, Cornelius T. Frink. Sheldon, Eleazer Broe, Ellery J. Wilder. Swanton, Rufus L. Barney, Clarke H. Blake, Hotia W. Farrar, Daniel Manahan.
In United States Navy .- Fairfield, Albert Minor. Fletcher, Cyrus O. Blake, Don W. Blake. Georgia, Israel Fountain, three years; John J. Parker, three years ; Eugene J. Ranslow, one year; Armede B. Tatro, one year; Lewis Young, one year. St. Albans, George W. Bogue, Charles E. Clarke, Nelson P. Guard, Edwin L. Kemp, Robert McCarroll, Homer E. Rand. Swanton, Levi Morse, Philander Winters, both one year.
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WAR OF THE REBELLION.
United States Army .- Swanton, Henry Jersey.
Fifty- fourth Massachusetts Colored Regiment .- St. Albans, Peter Brace, William A. Davis, Daniel Prince, Isaac Prince. Swanton, Will- iam Charity.
Not accounted for .- St. Albans, Oliver Fortune, company H, Third Regiment ; Peter Govan, company A, Fifth Regiment ; John Sutton, company B, Sixth Regiment; Charles J. Wells, company C, Sixth Reg- iment.
Veteran Reserve Corps. - Enosburgh, Lewis Bonah. Fairfax, Charles H. Hickok. Fletcher, Charles Adams, Peter Martin, Francis Young. Franklin, George W. Loverin. Georgia, Napoleon Bertram, jr., Gilbert Brunell, Sirrill Brusseau, Michael Carroll, Patrick Carroll. Highgate, John Glover. St. Albans, John Bain, James A. Butler, Jo- seph Douglass, jr., Eli Hibbard, Samuel Reed, Charles W. Weaver.
Grand Isle County, Miscellaneous .-- Enrolled men who furnished sub- stitutes : Alburgh, Jed P. Ladd, Gilbert Gonjeaw ; furnished under draft and paid commutation, H. C. Adams, Ichabod N. Clark, Elex- ander Griggs, Myron Niles, Benjamin H. Reynolds; procured substi- tutes, Chauncey Bohannon, Thomas Chilton, C. N. Goodrich, George Reynolds, Sumner J. Rockwell, Elias Starke, James Young; credited, nine men ; in First Corps, Joseph Bonner, Elijah Norris. Grand Isle, furnished under draft and paid commutation, Hiram F. Hoag; pro- cured substitutes, Edward Gordon, Daniel M. Hatch, Henry Phillips, Hiram Tobias ; entered service, Tindley M. McComber ; First Corps, Richard C. Cheeseman. Isle La Motte, furnished under draft and paid commutation, Ira A. Hall, Almon Rarey ; in navy, Edward Ryan ; credited, not named, three men; entered service, John P. Price. North Hero, furnished under draft and paid commutation, Frederick Harton ; procured substitutes, Flavius J. Haven, Charles Hyde, Henry C. Mooney ; in navy, Riley Dodds; in Veteran Re- serve Corps, Hanan Wheeler; credited, not named, four men. South Hero, furnished under draft and paid commutation, Hiram E. Ferris ; drafted, Joseph La Rose; procured substitutes, Walter Martin, Calvin McBride, John B. Robinson, Ralph T. Stinehour, Joseph Girard, Gra- ham Phelps; in service, Edmund H. Hart; credited, not named, five men.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
Unassigned Recruits .- Bakersfield, Otis Baker, William McClarty. Berkshire, Joel Bashaw, John Bonah, Peter Collins, Thomas Dougan, Lu- cius McClarty, John Murray, Edward Lavoy, Mathew Walker. Enos- burgh, Alexander Bruce, George Clark, Henry H. Davis, Lewis Peo, jr., Eli F. Wetherby, Charles Witherell. Fairfax, John Drinkwine, Mitchell Trombly, Albert N. Vibbert, Nelson Vibbert, Charles James. Fairfield, Jacob Clark, Wesley M. Mitchell, William Symonds. Fletcher, Zeno Shepardson. Franklin, Levi Green. Georgia, Joseph Gabree, Michael Ryan. Highgate, John E. Bradley, Thomas Casey, Webster Johnson, Peter Lazonne. Montgomery, William Hendricks. Richford, Gilbert R. Gross, Oliver Cherrier. Sheldon, Frank Gurtin, Turnus Masterinon, Abraham Tibbits, Dorastus Wright. St. Albans, Charles R. Ames, Na- poleon Cross, Peter Jordan, Samuel Reed, Michael Rider, James Ross, Walter A. Sharp, James Somers. Swanton, Joseph Burdois, Joseph Brown, James Dorand, Alfred Hendrickson, Albert Juat, William H. Moritts, Wallace Sartwell, Jeremiah Vanslette.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE ST. ALBANS RAID-THE FENIAN RAID.
IN July, 1863, S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy of the so called Confederate States of America, sent twenty-seven commissioned officers and forty petty officers to Canada to organize an expedition against Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay, in the state of Ohio, for the purpose of releasing several thousand Confederate prisoners of war there held by the United States government. These persons arrived in the Canadian province before the 20th of December, 1863, and began to organize plans for making incursions on the northern states. Among the leading men engaged therein were C. C. Clay, jr., George N. San- ders, Beverly Tucker, John Porterfald, Jacob Thompson, J. Wilkes Booth, Dr. Blackburn, Bennett H. Young, Bennett G. Burley, John Y. Beal, and others. They organized what they called the Provincial Army of the Confederate States of America, which included in their
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THE ST. ALBANS RAID.
numbers between thirty and forty thousand Confederate soldiers who had sought asylum in Canada. Their plans were to commit depreda- tions on the northern frontier by a system of terrorism so as to call back the Union army to protect the loyal homes of the region, and by breaches of neutrality on the part of Great Britain to involve the United States and that power in warfare, hoping thus to secure the independ- ence of the Southern Confederacy. To this end they planned to capt- ure American vessels on the northern lakes : to assassinate President Lincoln and his cabinet and other leading Union men; to send infected clothing into northern cities ; to poison northern aqueducts ; to burn and plunder northern cities and villages; and such other like acts. These things to a certain extent were accomplished by the expedition to Lake Erie, by the assassination of Mr. Lincoln by Booth, by the like attempt against the life of Secretary Seward, and by the performances of Drs. Blackburn and Beal, for which the latter was hanged, and by Bennett H. Young and his associates in the raid upon St. Albans.
This conspiracy was fully established by the evidence taken in " the trial of the conspirators for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln before a military commission over which General Hancock presided, which resulted in the hanging of Mary E. Surratt, David E. Herold, George A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, and the imprisonment of O'Laughlin, Spangler, Arnold and Dr. Mudd for life. But this paper is designed to be restricted to that part of the "Great Conspiracy " known as the St. Albans Raid, which occurred on the 19th of October, 1864, under Lieu- tenant Bennett H. Young. On that memorable day at about the same hour that Sheridan was pursuing the rebels at the battle of Cedar Creek, and a company of St. Albans boys were hotly engaged with the rebels, about three o'clock in the afternoon, parties of from three to five per-
. sons, numbering in all from twenty to fifty persons, in the form and appearance of a military array, took forcible and armed possession of a part of the village of St. Albans. They were armed with large navy revolvers, concealed under a loose coat, and had belts and traveling bags or haversacks thrown across their shoulders.
They made a secret and simultaneous attack upon the three banks in the village, closed the outer doors, and made prisoners of those inside. In the First National Bank Albert Sowles, the cashier, was present.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
One of these strangers approached the counter on the other side of which he was standing. As he came up to the counter he suddenly drew a large navy revolver, cocking and presenting the same said : " If you offer any resistance I will shoot you dead; you are my prisoner." At this moment two other similarly armed strangers came into the bank, one of them remaining at and guarding the door, while the other passed behind the counter where Mr. Sowles was standing, went to the iron safe in rear of his position, and commenced stuffing in his pockets bank bills, bonds, treasury notes and other securities. After filling his own pockets he threw other bonds, notes, securities and other private papers across the counter to his confederates on the other side, who took them and filled their pockets in like manner. Mr. Sowles was greatly intimidated and considered his life in danger. While these things were going on one of the party said, " we represent the Confed- erate States of America, and we come here to retaliate for acts commit- ted against our people by General Sherman. He said it will be of no use to offer any resistance, as there are a hundred soldiers belonging to our party in your village. He said you have got a nice village here, and if there be the least resistance to us, or any of our men are shot, we shall burn the village. He said these are our orders, and each man is sworn to carry them out."
They took $58,000 from this bank. The cashier was taken prisoner and placed under guard in the public park in front of the banking house. As they were marching out of the bank William H. Blaisdell came up and caught hold of one of the guard and threw him down to the ground. Two of the party rushed back, one of them shouting, "shoot him, shoot him," giving his directions to the man under Blais- dell. They then placed Blaisdell under guard.
These men were Joseph McGrority, Alexandar P. Bruce and Caleb McDowell, the latter a nephew of the late Senator Crittenden of Ken- tucky, General John Nason, over eighty years of age was in the bank, but his deafness prevented his hearing what was said; and he said to Sowles, " What gentlemen are those ? It seems to me they are rather rude in their behavior." Upon this one of the raiders said, "Shoot the old cuss," but another said, " No, he is an old man."
At the St. Albans Bank similar occurrences took place, at which time
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THE ST. ALBANS RAID.
Cyrus N. Bishop, cashier, and Martin A. Seymour were present. Mr. Bishop inquired "what is your programme ?" Upon which they re- plied that they were Confederate soldiers from General Early's army ; that they had come here to rob us and burn our town, and they had it under their control at that moment. They then said they would ad- minister the Confederate oath to Mr. Bishop, and compelled him to raise his right hand and take the oath; and further made him swear that he would not give an alarm or fire upon the Confederate soldiers. At the same time they threatened Mr. Seymour's life, and administered a sim- ilar oath to him. Samuel Breck, a customer of the bank, came in, and they took his money and made him prisoner. They took from this bank $73,522. Mr. Bishop afterward identified three of the gang in open court, who gave their names as Thomas B. Collins, Marcus Spear, and Squire Turner Tevis.
At the Franklin County Bank M. W. Beardsley, cashier, and one Jack- son Clark, a wood sawyer, were present, and the treatment of these men was extremely brutal in character. They covered them with re- volvers and said, " We are Confederate soldiers. We will blow your brains out if you stir an inch." They robbed the bank of $70,000, and put Beardsley and Clark into the vault of the bank and shut two sets of iron doors which inclosed the vault, and turned the bolts from the out- side, and then told them they were going to burn the building. In about twenty minutes Beardsley and Clark were liberated by Dana R. Bailey and J. R. Armington. William H. Hutchinson was the only person identified at this bank.
The occurrences in the public streets immediately after the plunder of the banks were best described by Captain George P. Conger, an old veteran of the cavalry service, who had just returned from the South, and who had seen many raids of more serious nature in Virginia. He says: " On that day I saw a great crowd of people around the Ameri- can House and one of the banks. I met Stephen Basford running his horse towards me, and he said, ' What is going on down street ? There are men with pistols, taking horses from the stables'; and he wanted to know what it all meant. I said to him it is a regular raid. I then jumped from my wagon and soon met Lieutenant Young. He said : 'Are you a soldier? ' I said no, and he then said, ' You are my prisoner.'
27
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
I walked with him, and when we got opposite the Franklin County Bank Young said 'Halt!' and said to his orderly, 'You take him across the street,' where there were a number of men under guard. I got away from them, ran down Lake street, and halloed to the people, 'Bring on your arms for a fight, there is a regular raid on St. Albans.' I began to rally the people and fire-arms began to come in. The band saw the arms coming and they began to move north; then Lieutenant Young fell in the rear with his orderly. He said, 'Keep cool boys. Keep cool.' Loren Dowing said, ' Here is a rifle, sure fire and well loaded.' I snapped it three times at Young, but it did not go off. I followed on, when Young and his orderly both fired at me twice. He then said, ' Keep cool boys,' a second time. His command at this time were all on horse- back. I then overtook them again with a large number of citizens op- posite the Tremont House and tried to fire. Then the firing began on both sides, and continued a running fire all through the streets until the band was driven out of the village towards Canada.
" While this firing was going on Elinas J. Morrison was shot in the bowels and died of his wounds October 22, 1864. Lieutenant Young claimed afterwards that the ball was intended for E. D. Fuller, who was trying to fire a revolver at them from behind one of the large elm trees opposite the Tremont House. C. H. Huntington was also shot by Young while walking in the streets, and was in a critical condition for several weeks. Leonard Bingham was also wounded in the abdomen. The American House was set aflame with Greek fire in several places, as well as the store of Victor Atwood, upon which water had but little effect, and it had to be hewn out with axes in order to arrest it.
"Captain Conger and his pursuing party followed the marauders into Canada, where they captured a number of them on Canadian soil, but were compelled to release them to the provincial authorities. Among the pursuers were Wilder Gilson and Stephen Conger. The former shot one of the raiders in the back while on horse, and he was helped by his comrades and only after much trouble reached Canada. Young Conger kept up the pursuit on horseback and wounded several of the invaders, one of whom afterwards died in Montreal.
"General Dix telegraphed Redfield Proctor, who forwarded the mes- sage by Officer L. A. Drew to Colonel Benton, of St. Albans, and thence
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THE ST. ALBANS RAID.
by Drew to Captain Conger at Frelighsburgh, Canada, as follows: 'Send all the efficient force you have and try to find the marauders who came from Canada this morning. Put a discreet officer in command, and in case they are not found on one side of the line pursue them into Canada if necessary and destroy them.'
" On receipt of this despatch the pursuing party, by the aid of Cana- dian officials, succeeded in capturing fourteen of the number on Canadian soil and securing $86,500 of plunder, which was placed in the hands of Canadian officials as evidence against the raiders, which was afterwards, by the treachery of Judge Coursal, the Canadian judge, given up to the rebels or their agents in Canada for which the Canadian government made but a partial restitution.
" The news spread with the rapidity of lightning throughout the land, and threw consternation into the homes and villages along the entire northern frontier, contiguous to the province of Canada, especially on the borders of Vermont, where it was expected the attacks would be re- newed, carrying all the horrors of war to our very homes and firesides.
" At this time the Vermont legislature was in session, and after a council of war Governor Smith telegraphed Lord Monck, governor- general of Canada, as follows : 'A party of raiders from the province of Canada have invaded this state, have robbed all the banks at St. Albans, killed several citizens, and are plundering and destroying property.' On the 2Ist of October Lord Monck replied: 'Your telegram has been re- ceived. You need entertain no apprehension that the law will not be impartially administered. An able magistrate, Judge Coursal, of Mont- real, has charge of the case.'"
The writer, for want of space, has given not more than a mere outline of this great and important event at St. Albans, but while the material exists which would fill a volume further mention must be reserved for some future occasion when wider latitude and greater space can be given. The reader of history will remember the conspiracies to assassin- ate Egdon, the king of Moab, resulting in his destruction-that of Morat, the French Revolutionary leader, sharing the same fate-that of Guy Fawkes to blow up and destroy the English Parliament, though of no greater scope and importance in their results than this great conspir- acy, have each been given a record in history which will perpetuate
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
them through all its annals. It may not be presumptuous then to con- jecture that this conspiracy, though its details are not fully known, will yet be ranked in importance as one of the greatest conspiracies ever known, attempting in part to subvert and destroy a great government and throw it into slavery. Caesar's bloody garment threw Rome again into slavery, but all the machinations of slavery conspirators, of which this raid was a prominent one, did not destroy this great Republic.
THE FENIAN RAID.
In the year 1866, on the Ist day of June, there suddenly appeared in the shire town of Franklin county a large body of some three hundred or more strange men, both old and young. They came unbidden, and their coming was not expected until their arrival was a fact. And they were a motley crowd, unprepossessing in appearance, poorly clad in the main, looking somewhat rough and uncanny, yet they offered no affronts nor injuries to person or property of the residents. They came from the south by rail, and the trains arriving later brought large re-enforce- ments to their ranks, of persons of much the same general appearance and manners as the first arrivals. They did not patronize the hotels of the village, but were fed with provisions supplied by their apparent leaders and purchased at the shops and markets of the village.
This strange and unexpected arrival did not fail to create great excite- ment among the people of the village, but it produced no fear or con- sternation among them, for it soon became known that this formidable force of invaders constituted the right wing of the Army of Ireland, and that the purpose of the troops was to overthrow the British rule in the Canadas, and thus avenge the wrongs heaped upon the suffering people of Ireland by the English government. Such being the avowed object of the leaders, the people felt reassured as to the character of the un- wonted gathering, and whatever of alarm might at first have existed was soon dispelled, and one and all of the population became interested in future proceedings, for the average Vermonter does like fun.
During its brief sojourn in St. Albans the army camped on the green, while those that could found shelter from the night air in some friendly barn or out-building. All told, the force numbered some 1,200 men ; but they were not armed while here that night and on the next morn-
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THE FENIAN RAID.
ing they dispersed, marching without order or form toward the north and east. But the army had arms and uniforms, although they may not have donned the latter These were concealed in various towns of the county, noticeably in Fairfax and Fairfield, and possibly elsewhere. And it appears that through some mistake or misunderstanding much of their fund of equipments never reached them, but remained where deposited until after the remarkable raid was over and passed into his- tory.
On Wednesday, the 6th of June, the army concentrated and rendez- voused in the quiet town of Franklin; and although its approach was heralded throughout the locality, the people there were somewhat dis- quieted and looked carefully to the security of their movable property ; even, it is said, the fowls sought the topmost branches of the tallest trees. The army remained over night in this town, (the people there, however, were satisfied with a short visit,) lodging as previously in barns and wherever else they could find shelter from the wind and rain, for as usual on occasions of importance it rained that night in Franklin, but on the morning of the 7th the commanding officer ordered an advance into Canada. On reaching British soil the army was addressed by the commander, General Spear, who enjoined upon the men that they re- spect the women and children and do them no injury, but urged upon them the importance of their campaign and his full confidence of its ul- timate success. About seventy rods across the line was established the headquarters of the army, and here within convenient reach of the United States territory the troops camped. On the 8th a detachment made a descent upon Frelighsburgh, plundered several stores, for the men were hungry, fired a few shots, and removed the flag from the Brit- ish custom- house at the place. This was the first aggressive attack on the part of the Army of Ireland, and it was successful in a measure, as the plunder captured temporarily satisfied the hunger of the troops. At this time all Franklin and hundreds from other towns were up along the line enjoying the fun, for such it was to them.
But notwithstanding the temporary success of its arms the invaders were not satisfied with their situation and a feeling of discontent per- vaded the whole army. Their leader saw this and called a council of war, at which it was decided best to abandon further invasion ; but the
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
worthy commander, in order to show his own courage and confidence, called for volunteers to step from the ranks and remain with him, to which only sixteen men responded. Now commenced the return march to St. Albans, a tramp the men performed with greater dispatch than was exhibited on their northward journey ; and they arrived at the vil- lage line just in time to fall into the hands of the United States troops, which had been sent to this point to enforce the neutrality laws and pre- vent riot and disorder on the part of the insurgents The presence of the United States troops, under the command of the hero of Gettysburg, General Meade, had the effect of completely reassuring the local peo- ple and removed all apprehension of danger to their property, fowls in- cluded, from the famous Army of Ireland. But General Meade and his command did more than merely preserve order: through him the strag. glers were furnished transportation by rail to their homes, much to the satisfaction of the people of the village. More than this, the United States troops remained some two weeks encamped on the park green, and the Third Artillery band daily discoursed excellent music to the great enjoyment of the people of the locality.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BENCH AND BAR OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
O properly unders and and fully appreciate the history of the judici-
ary of any commonwealth, and the worth and attainments of the magistrates and practitioners at its bar, some knowledge of the origin and development of the machinery and spirit of this branch of govern- ment is necessary.
The sentiment is commonly expressed that the judicial system of Ver- mont is largely copied or derived from the common laws of England, and slightly from the civil law of the continent. In many respects this is true, and resemblances may be traced therein ; there are certain changeless principles running throughout the laws of every state and nation from the time of Moses to Elizabeth. The statute and common
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THE BENCH AND BAR.
laws of England are the recognized fundamental principles upon which were based the legislative and constitutional enactments of this com- monweatlh, although directly the constitution of Vermont was molded and based upon that of the state of Pennsylvania. But, unlike Penn- sylvania and in striking dissimilarity to every other state in the Union, the early history of Vermont discloses so much of " individual personal independence that we are not surprised at a bold and fearless disregard of precedent, nor that a territory that presented the most notable exam - ple of independence of any of the states of the Union should establish a state and conduct its affairs for fourteen years before she was received into the Union, with no help from others, admitting no allegiance to others, and no obligations save those assumed when her leaders pledged their lives and fortunes to assist the older states to cast off the British yoke. In every department of government they were a law unto them- selves."
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