USA > Vermont > Orange County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time > Part 10
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In November, 1775, Major Robert Rogers came into Newbury under circumstances which excited alarm to all who knew the character and present relations of the man. He had chosen a time when Bayley, Kent, and others who might know him were away, and made himself friendly to the American cause, mingled intimately
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THE REVOLUTION-CONTINUED.
with the people, and found out all he could about the resources of the country. It was discovered that several Indians were lurking in the woods at the same time, and that Rogers had visited Col. Porter, and other prominent tories. Bayley returned somewhat unexpectedly, and knowing that Rogers held a command in the British army, sent to arrest him, but he had made his escape, disguised, it is said, as an Indian.
One of the first acts of the session at College Hall, was a resolve to strike a blow at the tories. On the 7th of August, Col. Porter, Col. John Taplin, David Weeks, and Jacob Fowler were arrested and brought before the Committee of Safety. After a hearing, Taplin, Weeks and Fowler were allowed to go on bail, but Col. Porter was sent to Exeter under guard, and confined in jail for some time. These resolute measures alarmed the tories, and suppressed, for a time, their machinations.
In September, 1776, several men from here enlisted in regiments from other states, which were sent to the Hudson. One of these was Peter Powers, the minister's eldest son, who died at New York on the 30th of that month, and is buried there.
In December, a number of men who belonged to Chase's regi- ment were sent to New York, to re-inforce Capt. Joshua Howard's company, in Gilman's regiment.
It will be understood that during the whole war, there were frequent calls for men on short terms of service for particular purposes. Many of the militia were upon the rolls of Bedell's regiment, and remained at home, except when called into actual service, when they were transferred to some company on the field. In Capt. John G. Bayley's company, "guarding and scouting," in Col. Peter Olcott's regiment, from April, 1777, to May, 1779, there were eighty-five men, and their terms of actual service, in that company, ranged from twenty days to two months and nine days, during the two years. But in the course of those two years, the great majority, perhaps nearly all, of that company, served in one or more campaigns, as members of other companies and regiments, in actual service. Several of them, like Nehemiah Lovewell, Robert Johnston, Frye Bayley and Jacob Kent, were enrolled as privates in the "home guards" (to borrow a modern phrase) while, at the same time, holding commissions and executing them, as officers, in regiments on the field. This dual connection renders the computation of the actual service of many revolutionary soldiers almost impossible.
At the beginning of 1777, the British ministry determined to crush the insurrection in America in one decisive campaign. Gen. John Burgoyne was ordered to assemble an army in Canada, advance by way of Lake Champlain and the Hudson, while Gen. Clinton was to ascend the river from New York with an over- whelming force, and thus sever New England from the other
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colonies. The campaign was well planned, and had it been as skilfully carried out, the war might have ended. It was known months in advance that great preparations were going on in Canada for an invasion of New England. It was believed at first, that the expedition was intended to march to Boston by way of Coos. The Committee of Safety sent urgent messages to the authorities imploring men and ammunition.
On February 26, Gen. Bayley wrote to the president of the New York Provincial Congress as follows,-
"NEWBURY, February 26, 1777.
Sir-We have lately sent scouts to St. Francis and Missisquoi, and find by the former that the enemy in Canada determine to survey the passes to this country, at least soon. From Missisquoi that General Carleton has confined Mr. Metcalf to Montreal, who has moved his family and moveables from Missisquoi. I suppose that Lieut. Hoisington's men should be ordered to duty under some commander. I am continually employed in the Service, but have no Pay, and am willing as long as I can live without Begging-the time is now come.
I had in Pay 60 men from the 1st of July to the 10th of September at ten Dollars per month and supplied them, which were the only soldiers in this Quarter. During this time I was Desired by Committees of this and Neighboring States to do this Service (they were men I had hired to make the road to Canada.) I must Desire you to consider my Case-and grant me relief by paying the roll offered you by my clerk, Mr. William Wallace, as I cannot do justice to the American Cause without. The militia are now on their march from this County. I am obliged to advance Marching Money and I am
Gentlemen, Your Most Obedient Humble Servant, JACOB BAYLEY *. "
On the following day, February 27, says Col. Frye Bayley's journal, "an express came from Gen. Schuyler to take every fifth man in the militia to go to Ticonderoga." This was on Saturday. On Monday the militia met at Robert Johnston's inn, where the draft was made and on the next day the men were mustered in and set out. No record of their names can be found.
On the 28th of May, the Council of Safety, at Kingston, N. Y., sent a message requesting Gen. Bayley to order a company of rangers from Gloucester and Cumberland counties, to march to Kingston, in Ulster Co.t On the 14th of June, Bayley wrote to the Council, in remonstrance to this order, as stripping the frontier of men and arms, which were much needed for present defense, and there was no money to advance to the men.# On the 29th of June, Burgoyne arrived at Ticonderoga, with a brilliant army of eight thousand British and Germans, besides many Canadians and Indians. He there issued a proclamation in which he promised rewards to those who joined his army, protection to those who remained quiet, and extermination to all who resisted. He threatened to unloose all the northern
*Documentary Hist. of N. Y., I. 641.
¡N. Y. Archives, I., p. 153.
*Ibid, p. 156.
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Indians, many of whom had joined his army, upon the settlements. This proclamation was circulated throughout the country. On Sunday morning, July 7, one of them was found nailed to the door of the meeting-house in Newbury. In many places, the tories were exultant, and gave people much trouble. In Strafford and vicinity about thirty went over to the enemy. But in Coos the vigorous measures which had been taken by the Council of Safety had over-awed the disaffected. Joseph White and his son and perhaps one or two more, disappeared for a few months, and were supposed to have been in the enemy's camp. The threats of an Indian war, instead of terrorizing the people, produced the opposite effect, and aroused all New England to resistance. But it took time to gather the militia and mean- while Burgoyne pursued his way unchecked to the Hudson. On the 6th of July; Ticonderoga was evacuated, and all its stores fell into the hands of the enemy, and the retreating forces were routed with great loss at Hubbardton. Skenesborough, now Whitehall, fell, and the British reached the Hudson on the 29th of July. Fort Edward was abandoned, and the Americans fell back to Saratoga, and then to Stillwater, at the mouth of the Mohawk.
Burgoyne believed himself secure and expected in a few days to form a juncture with Clinton. But being in need of supplies, he sent Col. Baum with two pieces of artillery and eight hundred British and Hessians, with a body of Canadians, Indians and tories, to sieze the military stores at Bennington. We all know the result of that expedition. The records are so incomplete that we do not know how many Newbury men were at Bennington. Nehemiah Lovewell was there, and probably one or two of the Chamberlins, as some of that family usually contrived to be on hand where any fighting was going on. Bayley was at Castleton on that day, but arrived soon after. So did others from Newbury, who helped guard the prisoners. Dr. Samuel White served as surgeon, but is not believed to have reached the field till the next day. Several men who fought at Bennington settled here afterwards, notably Thomas Mellen, whose narrative of the battle is one of the best accounts of it which we have. There were also some men from Newbury, who were in Capt. Thomas Johnson's company at Mount Independence, and who enlisted in other companies, and did service later in the campaign. Their muster roll is lost.
The shortness of the terms of service for which many, perhaps most, enlisted, was a great source of weakness to the American cause all through the war. Many of the New Hampshire men enlisted for only a month, their terms expired after the battle, and the men went home to secure their crops. Some of them returned to join the army at Saratoga.
6
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.
The battle of Bennington has been considered the turning point of the revolutionary war. But work remained to be done before the capture of Burgoyne was accomplished. Money was very scarce, and the means for the equipment of the army were furnished by private citizens. John Langdon, of Portsmouth, pledged all his property. Jacob Bayley, of Newbury, mortgaged his farm. Hardly a town in New England, settled at that time, but has its patriotic incident connected with the Burgoyne invasion.
Mr. Perry says that nearly all the able-bodied men of Newbury went to the seat of war. Col. Thomas Johnson, who was serving as aid to Lincoln, was in command of most of the Newbury men at the capture of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. After the surrender of the latter, Col. Johnson was in command of an escort of troops which was to take about one hundred prisoners to Charlestown, which he did, treating them with great kindness. Among the officers was a Mr. Spardain, whom he afterwards met while himself a prisoner in Canada.
Meanwhile, the investment of Burgoyne was proceeding and troops were being hurried to Saratoga. Gen. Bayley was active and untiring in his efforts to secure men and supplies. On the 21st of September, he wrote from Castleton, "We request that all the militia above Charlestown and eastward march with horses, bringing flour and beef to serve one month. I think every man of spirit will turn out. Pasturing good and plenty." Col. Jacob Kent was sent to Coös to engage the militia. His diary says that his regiment left Coös on September 25th, Thursday, reached Pawlet on Monday, and Saratoga on Wednesday, September 31st, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne, October 17, 1777. It is not certain how many Newbury men were at Saratoga. The muster roll of Capt. Frye Bayley's company is given in the Appendix. This company served from September 23d, to October 27th. Their travel was two hundred and seventy miles .* It does not appear that any men were lost from this company. It did good service, however. One of its exploits was the capture of fifteen boats loaded with supplies for Burgoyne's army. These boats had passed down the Hudson, and had moored for the night on the further side of the river. Bayley determined to capture the boats, and called for volunteers. Bartholomew Somers, of Ryegate, and a man from New Hamp- shire, swam the river, secured one of the boats unobserved, and re-crossed the river. Bayley and as many men as could get into the boat, crossed the Hudson, and found that the men in charge, suspecting no danger, had gone on shore to eat their suppers. The boats were secured without alarm being given, and were all safely brought to the American side of the river.
*Muster roll at Montpelier.
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Had this history been written, as it should have been, seventy years ago, it would have collected many personal reminiscences of that campaign, from the lips of men who marched from Newbury, and had their part in that memorable affair. David Johnson gathered a few anecdotes in his lifetime, which he transmitted to Rev. Grant Powers. One of them, the exploit of Ephraim Webster, and another, in swimming across Lake Champlain with dispatches, is well known, and is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. This is not the place to give a detailed account of the expedition of Burgoyne. Our narrative mainly concerns itself with those who were left behind. It is said that at one time there were but six able-bodied men left in Newbury, and these included the minister and Dr. Smith. The women did the field work, and had to bear the suspense as they could. It must have been ten days before the great news came to Coös, how that Burgoyne had been hemmed in at Saratoga, and had, after fighting bravely, been compelled to surrender.
The battle of Saratoga is considered by historians, as one of the decisive battles of the world. Before that event it was believed that the Americans would struggle to little purpose against Great Britain. But in a few months it was known all over Europe, that the great expedition of Burgoyne had met with disaster, and that, in the backwoods of America, a British army had been compelled to deliver up its arms. We all know what followed. It should be a matter of local pride that in that remarkable series of events, the men of Newbury bore a commendable part.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-CONTINUED.
A TIME OF QUIET .- PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT .- CORINTH .- TOPSHAM .- BAYLEY, LOVEWELL, AND POWELL .- ALARMS .- TORIES .- BEDELL'S JOURNEY TO CANADA -- STORE-HOUSES .- THE HAZEN ROAD .- THE STORY OF TAMALEK.
seems probable that a comparative degree of peace and prosperity existed at Coos for two or three years after the surrender of Burgoyne. The disastrous failure of that expedition secured peace upon the frontier for a short time. The British in Canada were in no condition to renew the attempt to invade New England. Burgoyne had set out upon his expedition with a well-trained and fully-equipped army, and had been completely overthrown. A second invasion, though often threatened, was never begun. The interval of comparative peace enabled the inhabitants to establish themselves more securely in their possessions, and to extend the bounds of the settlement.
We have seen that clearings had been begun on several farms at West Newbury before the revolutionary war. By the year 1780, it is believed that some thirty families had settled in that part of the town, all away from the river road. It is probable that between 1777, and 1780, Col. Robert Johnston built a sawmill on his mill lot, a tract of one hundred acres, granted him as a bounty for building a mill at the falls, where the road to West Newbury from the village crosses Hall's brook. This lot lies east of, and adjoining, the hundred-acre lots.
About that time, certainly before 1780, Jonathan Butterfield built a grist-mill on Hall's brook at the same falls where Mr. Runnels' mill is now, but on the other side of the stream.
In the summer of 1777, Ezekiel Colby, from Newbury, began a settlement in Corinth, where his family was soon joined by others. Col. John Taplin and his sons removed thither, and became citizens of influence.
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Reuben Page, a younger brother of John Page of Haverhill, who had served five terms in the revolutionary war, settled near the corner of Newbury, in Corinth, about 1780. In that year, the first sawmill was built in that town. Col. Thomas Johnson states that there were about forty families in Corinth in 1782.
In 1781, Thomas Chamberlain removed from the Ox-bow to a part of Topsham, then, and for some years later, claimed by Newbury. He was soon joined by Thomas McKeith, from Ryegate, and Samuel Farnham. The road from the river in Newbury to these remote settlements was the one that passes the schoolhouse on Rogers' hill. The part beyond the late Harrison Cheney's was abandoned many years ago, but this was the only outlet which the first settlers in Topsham and Corinth had for some years.
But although the country seemed peaceful, the leading men were apprehensive that hostilities would break out again, and they were soon reminded that it was only a truce and not a permanent peace.
In December, 1777, Capt. Frye Bayley and Capt. Nehemiah Lovewell, of Newbury, and John Powell, of Strafford, were sent from Newbury to Montreal, to escort one Capt. Singleton, who had been here to negotiate for an exchange of some prisoners. They took but three days' provisions, expecting by that time to reach settlements. They were overtaken by storms, their provisions gave out, and they suffered greatly from cold and hunger during their journey, which lasted ten days. On their arrival, their flag was disregarded, and they were thrown into prison where they remained several months. Bayley returned to Boston by way of Halifax, October 8, 1778.
During the years which followed 1777, the frontiers were kept in a state of continual and increasing alarm. This was in accordance with the policy of the authorities in Canada, which had several motives. One of them was to prevent the enlistment of men from Coös for service elsewhere; another, to keep people from settling here, and a third, to make the inhabitants think that their security lay in making peace with Canada.
The tories in Newbury and Haverhill plotted ceaselessly, but were restrained from actual violence by the wiser heads among them. Some of them were idle and dissolute persons who went as far as they dared without putting themselves in actual danger. Their number was very small, compared with those who embraced the patriot cause, and they confined themselves to the perpetration of a multitude of petty annoyances. It was common for some of them to go about after dark and frighten any solitary family by unearthly noises in the night. Another device was to go upon the hills behind Cow Meadow and raise the Indian war-whoop. The settlers lived in constant dread of their lives from these lawless people, and feared that they would gain courage from such
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cowardly actions as frightening women and maiming cattle, to murder and arson. Really nothing of the kind ever occurred, and no one was murdered, and no house was burned by the tories at Coös, so far as we know. It is probable that much of this immunity was due to the influence of Col. Asa Porter. His sympathies were with the royal cause, but his humane and liberal views forbade any violence, and he knew how to lay a strong hand upon the lawless.
It was believed by Gen. Bayley and the other leaders at Coös, that the time was favorable for another invasion of Canada, and that there would be no peace on the frontier, as long as the tories were sustained by hope from that quarter. On the 13th of October, 1778,* he instructed Col. Bedel to go to Upper Coös, and take proper men to go into Canada, and bring back all the intelligence which they could gather. The points upon which he solicited their inquiries were :- What forces were in Canada; the condition of the garrisons; the general sentiments of the people, and of the clergy toward the American cause; the disposition of the Indians, and whether there had been good or bad crops that season. They were also to buy all the moose skins, moccasins, and snow-shoes they could collect, and to engage the Indians to bring to Newbury all the skins and moccasins they could obtain, when the fall hunt was over. The information obtained inspired the belief, that if a sufficient force was sent into Canada to insure protection, the inhabitants would rise and throw off the British yoke. Preparations began at once for another invasion of Canada. A large storehouse was built at Haverhill, and a great quantity of military stores was collected there .; Cattle were bought and killed, their meat salted down, and the hides taken to the tan-yard. Many Indians came to Newbury, with skins to sell, and the more expert. of them were employed in making snow-shoes. Military stores were brought to Newbury, and quantities of shoes, blankets and the like, were placed in a building which stood where Dea. Sidney Johnson's barn now stands, on the Ox-bow. The medical stores and more valuable goods were deposited in the southwest corner room in Col. Thomas Johnson's house, and in the chamber above it. In December, a party of men was sent to Peacham, to begin where Bayley left off in 1776, and open the road to Canada.
In April, 1779, Col. Hazen was directed to move his military stores to Pcacham, and sent a letter to the selectmen of all the towns along the river, whose purport will be understood by the following extract from the town records :- "At a meeting held at the State House in Newbury at the request of Colo. Moses Hazen to see if the town of Newbury will repair the old Rode to
* New Hampshire War Rolls, IV., 276.
1 Bedel Papers, p. 93.
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Ryegate, or look out a new one, and also provide carriages to move his military stores to Peacham," it was voted, "that Colo. Moses Little, Thomas Chamberlain, Thomas Johnson, Robert Johnston, Josiah Page, and Colo. Lovewell be a committee to look out and lay a rode from Gen. Bayley's mill on Harriman's brook, to Wells River, at or below Whitelaw's mills, and make a return to the selectmen immediately." This road which was then made through the woods, was the "old road" which turned to the right at the top of the "saw-mill hill," and may easily be followed, until it comes out on the present road near where Henry G. Rollins now lives. It afterward became a public road, and was abandoned about 1842, when the road was laid out near Harriman's Pond. The road which Bayley had begun in 1776, was continued by Hazen through the towns of Cabot, Walden, Hardwick, Greensboro, Craftsbury, Albany, and Lowell, to a notch in the mountain in Westfield, still called Hazen's Notch.
A large portion of Bedel's regiment was ordered to Peacham to construct this road, which also built blockhouses at Peacham and other places, which were garrisoned during the war. Work was discontinued on the military road the last of August, the reports of forces being dispatched from St. Johns to capture the constructing party, hastening the abandonment. The road was never of any use from a military point of view, but it greatly aided the settlement of the towns through which it passed, and the road is called the Hazen Road to this day. There was never any intention of invading Canada at that time, and the whole affair of building the road and accumulating supplies was only a strategem to deceive the Canadian authorities and prevent their sending any troops from Canada to New York. Notwithstanding the failure of this expedition to Canada, Gen. Bayley and the other leading men at Coös believed that the proposed invasion was only postponed, and exerted themselves to persuade Washington and his generals that the only safety for New England lay in the subjugation of Canada, and until that should be accomplished, in the stationing of a strong and well-drilled force at Coös to guard the frontier.
There exist among the Washington papers many letters from Bayley, conveying the information gathered by his spies in Canada, regarding another expedition forming there and urging immediate action. By the beginning of 1780, the Coös country had become populous, and the great meadows yielded abundantly. The plunder of such a region offered a great temptation to the British in Canada, and it seemed a matter of common prudence to secure the safety of the Connecticut valley. But the British were never able to form another expedition in Canada, strong and well enough equipped, to promise success after the failure of Burgoyne.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.
Mr. Powers devotes considerable space to the narrative of an Indian feud, to which he assigns no date, but which is believed to have occurred about 1779. As his account differs in many particulars from those of Mr. Perry and David Johnson, it is only worth our while to give the main facts. Toomalek, whom Johnson calls Tamalek, a son of the wife of Captain Joe, was one of the Indians employed as scouts by Bayley, and who seems to have displayed traits of courage and fidelity, possessed some of the worst Indian characteristics of cruelty and revenge. He murdered a young Indian girl, the wife of one Mitchell, at the foot of the hill where the river turns north, at the upper end of the Ox-bow. A few years later he quarrelled with Mitchell and killed him. For both these he was acquitted by the Indian court, under the influence of one John, a savage Indian who had domesticated himself at Coos. Later he murdered Pial, son of John, in Haverhill. For this last crime he was condemned by Indian law, and shot in the court-house at Newbury, John being the executioner. His body was buried by Joe and Mary. About twenty-five years ago, the skeleton of an Indian was dug up near the site of the old court- house, which was believed to be that of Tamalek.
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