History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes, Part 24

Author: Hall, Benjamin Homer
Publication date: 1858
Publisher: New york : Appleton
Number of Pages: 828

USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 24

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"_ - -dip their napkins in his sacred blood ; Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

* Calvin Webb, of Rockingham, whose retentive memory supplied several facts which have been, and others which will be recorded, and who was nearly eight- een years old when the events above narrated occurred, has said : "At the time of the Court-house affray, I lived in Westminster, but was not present at the scene. Heard of it the next day from a little man, familiarly known as Hussian Walker, a mighty flax-dresser, who was in the engagement. Soon after this I started off in company with several other youngsters, whose names I have forgotten. Many people were going in the same direction. It was about the middle of the day when I reached the Court-house, and soon after my arrival, I saw the body of French, who had been shot the night before. A sentry was stationed to guard the corpse, as it lay on the jail-room floor. The clothes were still upon it, as in life. The wounds seemed to be mostly about the head ; the mouth was bloody, and the lips were swollen and blubbered."

Joshua Webb, the father of Calvin, was for several years a merchant or trader, at Union, Connecticut, but failing in business removed to Ashford, an adjoining town, where he continued a few years, being engaged in paying his debts and settling his affairs. In October, 1765, he came to Westminster, and was employed by the town to teach school the succeeding winter. The house which he occupied was " a large, open building," and the school was probably the first kept in West- minster. In the spring of 1766, having sent for his wife and children, young Calvin among the number, he with them took up his abode in Rockingham, where he resided a year. Displeased with the locality he went back to West- minster, and hired of Col. Benjamin Bellows a tract of land in the north part of the town, which had been previously improved by one. Farwell, and is now known as "the Church farm." There he lived ten years. At the expiration of this period, he bought a farm and built him a house at Rockingham, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1808. He was very active in the forma- tion of the new state of Vermont, and was a member of the Dorset Conventions of September 25th, 1776, and January 15th, 1777. On the latter of these occa- sions, the district of Vermont was declared free and independent. He afterwards represented the people of Rockingham in the state Assembly, during the years . 1778 and 1783, and was the first clerk of that town.

His son Calvin was born at Union, July 31st, 1757, and having removed with his father to the " New Hampshire Grants," became a citizen of Rockingham at the time of his father's removal to that town. Here, he passed the remainder of his life, respected by all who knew him. His death occurred in the year 1854. The assistance obtained from him and acknowledged in this note, was communi- cated in the winter of 1852. Although the narrator was then in his ninety-fifth year, yet his mental faculties appeared unimpaired, and the vividness with which he would describe the scenes of his youth, bore evidence to the strength of the impressions which the mind receives in its early freshness.

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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

[1775.

And, dying, mention it within their wills, Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy," Unto their issue."

Although the courts had been stopped, yet the spirit of law had not fled from the county. A coroner's jury was assembled to inquire into the cause of the death of French, and the pro- ceedings on that occasion were conducted in the most solemn and deliberate manner. The original report of the investiga- tion is still preserved, and is in these words :-

"New York

Cumberland County. An Inquision* In- dented & Taken at Westminster the fifteenth Day of March one Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy five before me Timo Olcott Gent one of the Corroners of the County afore Said upon the Veiw of the Body of William French then and there Lying Dead upon the oaths of Thos Amsden John Avorll Joseph Pierce Nathael Robertson Edward Hoton Michal Law George Earll Daniel Jewet Zachriah Gilson Ezra Robenson Nathaniel Davis Nathaniel DoubleDee John Wise Silas Burk Elihue Newel Alex' Pammerly Joseph Fuller Good and Lawfull men of the County afore Said who being Sworn to En- quire on the part of our Said Lord the King when where how and after what manner the Said Wm French Came to his Death Do Say upon their oaths that on the thirteenth Day of March Instant William Paterson Esqr Mark Langdon Cristo- pher Orsgood Benjamin Gorton Samuel Night and others un- known to them assisting with force and arms made an assalt on the Body of the Said Wm French and Shot him Through the Head with a Bullet of which wound he Died and Not Otherways in witness where of the Coroner as well as the Juryors have to this Inquision put their hands and Seals att the place afore Said."

On the same day, he was buried with military honors, his funeral being attended by all the militia of the surrounding country, who paid their final adieu to the ennobled dead in the salute which they fired above his grave. The smoke rolled off from the freshly turned earth, and, as the thunder of the mus- ketry echoed over the beautiful plains of Westminster and reverberating among the distant hills, finally died away into silence ; those determined men who had gathered at the sepul-

Inquisition was intended, same as inquest.

231

SKETCHES OF THE LIBERTY-MEN.

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ture of the first victim to American Liberty and the principles of freedom, vowed to avenge the wrongs of their oppressed country, and kindled in imagination the torch of war, which so soon after blazed like a beacon-light at Lexington and Bunker Hill.

Daniel Houghton, who was mortally wounded during the " massacre," came originally from Petersham, Massachusetts, and previous to his death was a resident of Dummerston. The idea was general, for a time, that he would recover from his injuries, and it is for this reason that his name is not oftener found in connection with that of French. But in the records of Dummerston, the "murthering of William French and Daniel Houghton " is spoken of as an article of history, which was then received without doubt or disagreement, and in the account of a meeting held in that town on the 6th of April, less than a month after the event, is a memorandum of a committee who were appointed to "go to Westminster there to meet other committees, to consult on the best methods for dealing with the inhuman and unprovoked murtherers of William French and Daniel Houghton." Houghton, who was wounded in the body, survived only nine days .* He was buried in the old grave- yard at Westminster, not far from the last resting-place of French. For many years there was a stone, shapeless and unhewn, which marked the spot where he lay ; but even this slight memorial has at length disappeared from its place, and no one can now mark with accuracy the locality of his grave.

Jonathan Knight, of Dummerston, received a charge in the right shoulder, and for more than thirty years carried one of the buck-shot in his body. One White, of Rockingham, was severely wounded in the knee by a ball, and was in consequence for a long time incapacitated for labor.| Philip Safford, a lieutenant of the Rockingham militia, was in the Court-house at the time the attack was made. Most of the Whigs who were in his situa- tion fled by a side entrance after a short conflict with their

* Houghton died at Westminster in a house situated a little northwest of the Court-house, and but a short distance from it. It was then occupied by Eleazer Harlow. Most of those who were wounded were taken to the house of Azariah Wright, and were treated with the most careful consideration by the patriotic captain.

+ After remaining three months at Capt. Wright's house, he was taken to the river on a litter, and was conveyed by water to some place where he could obtain the services of a more skilful physician than was to be had at Westmin- ste ·

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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

[1775.

opponents. But he, determined to depart by a more honorable passage, sallied out at the main door, bludgeon in hand, knocked down eight or ten who endeavored to arrest him, and received in return several severe cuts on the head from a sabre wielded by Sheriff Patterson.

From a deposition made before the Council of New York, by Oliver Church and Joseph Hancock, the messengers who bore the news of the "massacre" southward, it would appear that, after the first volley from the sheriff's party, for the purpose of intimidating the "rioters," the latter returned the fire from the Court-house ; that "one of their Balls entered the Cuff of the Coat of Benjamin Butterfield, Esquire, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said County of Cumberland, which went out of the elbow without hurting him, and another went through his Coat Sleeve and just grazed the skin. That a pistol was discharged by one of the Rioters at Benjamin Butterfield, the Son of the above named Justice Butterfield, so near that the Powder burnt a large hole in the breast of his Coat, and one William Williams received a large wound in the head by one of the Balls discharged by the said Rioters." Another deposition made by John Griffin, contains a declaration that " the Rioters returned a Discharge of Guns or Pistols on their part," and in the statement of the judges, it is asserted that the "rioters fought Violently with their clubs, and fired some few fire-arms at the Posse, by which Mr. Justice Butterfield received a slight shot in the arm, and another of the Posse received a slight shot in the head with Pistol Bullets." The account of one of the newspapers* of the time, is, that the first fire of the sheriff's posse "was immediately returned from the Court-house, by which one of the Magistrates was slightly wounded, and another person shot through his clothes." In another, t it is recorded that " the rioters fired once or twice on the sheriff's party, but did no damage."

As opposed to a part of these assertions, the Whigs declared that they had no fire-arms at the time of the attack, and this statement is substantiated by eye-witnesses, some of whom were, until within a few years, alive, and by a sufficient amount of unbiased evidence. That some of the Court party were wounded in the affray, there is no doubt; but the injuries they received, except those "inflicted by bludgeons," were from

* New York Journal, or General Advertiser: Thursday, March 23d, 1775.

t Essex Gazette, Salem, Massachusetts; vol. vii., March 14th-21st, 1775.

233

TORY DEPOSITIONS.

1775.]

their own friends. The fight, it will be remembered, was car- ried on in darkness. To explain this contradiction in regard to the use of fire-arms by the Whigs, and to furnish a clue to all the other discrepancies which appear in the narrations of the opposing parties, a knowledge of accompanying circumstances is alone requisite. The newspaper press, controlled by those favor- able to royal government, and opposed to revolutionary action, sided with the supporters of established law, regardless of its corrupt administration, and concealed or misrepresented the true causes which were forcing the lovers of liberty throughout the colonies to throw off the burdens which were oppressing them. The depositions, although given under oath, had been previously supervised by the Tory representatives in the Legislature of New York from Cumberland county, and were, no doubt, colored by them in such a manner as to make the cause of the Whigs appear in its worst light. Men, most violent in the measures which they were ready to adopt to suppress the first outbreathings of liberty and right, were not those who would scruple to exaggerate and falsify in order to achieve the ends they had proposed .*

* As testimony corroborative of the position assumed in the text, the following extracts from printed and MS. documents and verbal relations, are presented. In the report of the committee who were chosen by the people of Cumberland county and others, to prepare an account of the affray, occur these words : " We, in the house, had not any weapons of war among us, and were determined that they [the sheriff and his posse] should not come in with their weapons of war, except by the force of them." The testimony of Theophilus Crawford was, that " the Whigs had not so much as a pistol among them," and in proof of the state of feeling previous to the fight, he declared that " a man named Gates, of Dum- merston, started for Westminster, armed with a sword," and that "the people would not let him proceed until he had laid aside the offensive weapon." To the same effect Calvin Webb. "The liberty men had no guns when they first came, but after French was killed, they went home and got them." Azariah Wright, a grandson of the sturdy captain of the same name, who was so active in the cause of the sons of freedom, has written to the author, by the dictation of his father, Salmon Wright, who, a lad of twelve or thirteen, was present at the burial of French, in these words: "There were no arms carried by the liberty party, except clubs which were obtained by the Rockingham Company at my grand- father's wood-pile. There were no Tories wounded, save those knocked down by the club of Philip Safford." When questioned with reference to the asser- tions of Hancock and Church, his language, dictated as before, was this: "In regard to the statements in the Tory depositions, father says they are all fudge ! that there were no weapons carried or used by the liberty men, except the afore-mentioned clubs. This is a fixed fact." Additional proof might be accu- mulated ; but it is probable that enough has been said to satisfy the reader that the only weapons, offensive or defensive, carried by the Whigs, were clubs and staves.

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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

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As furnishing the less important incidents connected with the affray, tradition affirms, that a certain Joseph Temple of Dum- merston, carried his food in a quart pewter basin, which, placed in a kind of a knapsack, was strapped over his shoulders. During the firing the basin was struck twice by the bullets, which left their marks upon it but did not perforate it, and its owner escaped unhurt. This novel life-preserver was kept in the family of his descendants for many years, but finally found its way to that place of deposit of articles valuable for their antiquity, the cart of a tin pedlar. Another brave man of the same town, hight John Hooker, escaped with the loss of the soles of his boots, which were raked off by a chance shot from the enemy. But the discomfiture was only temporary ; the art of the shoemaker was potent to restore the wanting portions, and the boots were afterwards worn by their owner with feelings of pride and satisfaction. Many a man more distinguished but less valiant than John Hooker, has in the time of battle found safety in trusting to his soles, and that, too, in a manner not one half as honorable !

To dignify the events of the 13th of March, the Muses were not ashamed to lend their assistance. The following lines, ex- humed from the brain of an old man, where they had slept undisturbed for more than three quarters of a century, afford not only a rare specimen of Hipponactic composition, but, as far as they go, contain a spirited and concise account of the affray .*

" March ye thirteenth, in Westminster there was a dismal clamor, A mob containing five hundred men, they came in a riotous manner, Swearing the courts they should not set, not even to adjournment, But for fear of the Sheriff and his valiant men, they for their fire-arms sent.

* These lines are supposed to have been the production of John Arms, a young man who resided in Brattleborough, and who was a favorer of the Court party. They were communicated orally by Calvin Webb, of whom mention has been already made. Regarding them as expressing the sentiments of an opposer of the " mob," the eleventh verse furnishes another proof that stout cudgels were the only weapons which the mob carried. Arms is said to have possessed mental qualities of no mean order. Physically, he was not strong, and died young. By a vote of the Council of Vermont passed June 15th, 1782, it appears that John Arms of Brattleborough, who, at the age of fifteen, in the year 1775, joined the "enemies of this and other American States," and afterwards returned and asked pardon, was forgiven "and restored to the privileges of the State " on taking the oath of allegiance. The person referred to in this vote, and the poet of the "Westminster Massacre," are supposed to be identical.

235

THOMAS CHANDLER, JR.

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The Protestants that stood by the law, they all came here well' armed;

They demanded the house which was their own, of which they were debarred. The Sheriff then drew off his men to consult upon the matter,

How he might best enter the house and not to make a slaughter. The Sheriff then drew up his men in order for a battle,

And told them for to leave the house or they should feel his bullets rattle. But they resisted with their clubs until the Sheriff fired,

Then with surprise and doleful cries they all with haste retired.

Our valiant men entered the house, not in the least confounded,

And cleared the rooms of every one, except of those who were wounded."

With one exception the officers of the Court were opposed to any interference on the part of the people. Thomas Thomas Chandler for Chandler Junior, one of the assis- tant justices and a son of the chief judge, held views repugnant to those of his colleagues and superiors. On the day of the outbreak, a large body of the inhabitants of Chester having started to go to Westminster, Chandler was questioned as to the object of their journey. In reply, he stated that they had gone "to petition the Inferior Court of Common Pleas not to sit or proceed on business." Being asked whether it would not have been better had a com- mittee been delegated to proffer the request of the people, he answered, that if those who had gone committed no violence, they could not be indicted for riot, and further remarked, that the court ought not to sit because "the attorneys vexed the People with a multiplicity of suits," the " sheriff of the County was undeserving to hold his office," and " had bad men for his deputies." He also gave it as his opinion, that if the court should attempt to proceed on "business of a civil nature," the people would put a period to the session. So thoroughly was he convinced of the injustice and petty tyranny that had attended the administration of law, that he was " very zealous " that the people should apply the remedies which they subse- quently used with so much effect .*

Of the court party who had been imprisoned, Thomas Chan- dler, the chief judge, Bildad Easton, a deputy sheriff, Capt. Benjamin Burt, Thomas Sergeant, Oliver Wells, Joseph Willard,

* MS. deposition of Elijah Grout, relative to Thomas. Chandler, Jr.

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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

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and John Morse, were released on the 17th, having given bonds with security to John Hazeltine, to appear and take their trial at such time as should be appointed. Thomas Ellis, against whom no charge was found, was set at liberty, unconditioned ; Noah Sabin, one of the side judges, Benjamin Butterfield, an assistant justice, William Willard, a justice of the peace, William Pater- son, the high sheriff, Samuel Gale, the clerk, Benjamin Gorton, a deputy sheriff, Richard Hill, William Williams, and one Cun- ningham, were, by a vote of the committee of the people, reserved for confinement in the jaol at Northampton, Massachu- setts. On Sunday the 19th, these nine prisoners set out on their march, being attended by a guard of twenty-five men under the command of Robert Cockran, and by an equal number, of men from New Hampshire, led by a certain Capt. Butterfield, an inhabitant of that province. Having reached Northampton on the 23d, they were there imprisoned, and re- mained in durance nearly two weeks.

A paragraph in a New York paper of this period, declared that " the gentlemen who had fallen into the hands of the insur- gents " were to be removed by virtue of a writ of habeas corpus from Northampton to that city, where they would be " regularly tried in order to their enlargement." On the 3d of May, they had reached New York, but it is not probable that the offences with which they were charged were ever subjected to a legal investigation. The war of the Revolution had now become a reality, and the causes which produced it began to be merged in the results to which those causes had given birth .*

The news of the affray reached New York on the 21st of March, through the medium of the expresses, Church and Han- cock. The Council were immediately summoned, and were in- formed by Lieutenant-Governor Colden, that " violent Outrages and Disorders" had lately happened in Cumberland county. At his desire, Samuel Wells and Crean Brush were called in, who repeated the statements they had received. By the advice of the Council, the messengers were directed to embody their ac- count in the form of depositions, and the Lieutenant-Governor was requested to send the depositions to the General Assembly then in session, together with a message "warmly urging them to proceed immediately to the consideration" of such measures

* New York Gazette, Monday, April 10th, 1775.

237

MESSAGE FROM THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

1775.]

as would prevent the recurrence of "Evils of so Alarming a Nature," and bring "the principal Aiders and Abettors of such Violent Outrages to Condign Punishment."

The depositions were prepared on the 22d, and having been witnessed by Daniel Horsmanden, the secretary of the pro- vince, were sent on the 23d to the General Assembly, accompa- nied by a message from the Lieutenant-Governor, of which the following is a copy :-

" GENTLEMEN : You will see, with just indignation, from the papers I have ordered to be laid before you, the dangerous state of anarchy and confusion which has lately arisen in Cumber- land county, as well as the little respect which has been paid to the provisions of the Legislature, at their last sessions, for sup- pressing the disorders which have for some time greatly dis- turbed the north-eastern districts of the county of Albany and part of the county of Charlotte .*

"You are called upon, gentlemen, by every motive of duty, prudence, policy, and humanity, to assist me in applying the remedy proper for a case so dangerous and alarming.

"The negligence of government will ever produce a contempt of authority, and by fostering a spirit of disobedience, compel, in the sequel, to greater severity. It will therefore be found to be not only true benevolence, but also real frugality, to resist these enormities at their commencement ; and I am persuaded, from your known regard to the dignity of government, and your humanity to the distressed, that you will readily strengthen the hands of civil authority, and enable me to extend the suc- cour and support which are necessary for the relief and protec- tion of his Majesty's suffering and obedient subjects, the vindi- cation of the honour, and the promotion of the peace and felicity of the colony."

The message, and the papers connected with it, were referred to the consideration of a committee of the whole house. On the 30th, the house resolved itself into a committee of that nature. The message and depositions were again read, and the witnesses were re-examined. By a vote of fourteen to nine, the committee advised that a provision should be made "to enable the inhabit-

* Reference is had to a series of outrages which had been committed on the New York settlers residing west of the Green Mountains, by Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and the "Bennington Mob," as they and their adherents were termed. See Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 891-903.

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HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

[1775.

ants of the county of Cumberland to reinstate and maintain the due administration of justice in that county, and for the sup- pression of riots." The Speaker having resumed the chair, the chairman of the committee presented his report, whereupon Crean Brush moved, "that the sum of one thousand pounds be granted to his majesty, to be applied for the purposes enume- rated in the report." A stirring debate ensued, but the mo- tion was finally carried, twelve voting for and ten against it. Every Whig member present, and several of the ministerial party, voted against the measure, and in the majority of two the vote of the Speaker was included.

On the 3d of April, the last day of the last session of the Ge- neral Assembly of the province of New York, the Treasurer of the Colony, on a warrant from the Lieutenant-Governor or the Commander-in-Chief, and by the advice of the Council, was directed to pay the sum which had been voted for the benefit of the people of the county. Soon after this appropriation had been made, some of the officers of the court presented an account of the expenses which had been incurred by them and persons in their employ, in suppressing the disturbances in the month of March previous. By an order of the Council, the sum of one hundred and ninety-two pounds nineteen shillings and one farthing, the amount claimed, was paid to Samuel Wells, Wil- liam Paterson, and Samuel Gale. This was the first draft made upon the funds which had been set apart for such purposes. Although a few of the sufferers were reimbursed by the appro- priation, yet the general effect upon the county, as far as the control of the conduct of the inhabitants was concerned, was scarcely perceptible.

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History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes, Part 24

Author: Hall, Benjamin Homer Publication date: 1858 Publisher: New york : Appleton Number of Pages: 828

Author: Hall, Benjamin Homer
Publication date: 1858
Publisher: New york : Appleton
Number of Pages: 828