USA > Vermont > History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes > Part 7
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57
GARRISON-LIFE.
1749.]
then how uproariously would the jolliest of the party in some rude couplet give a name to the building, and christen it by breaking the bottle, or climbing to the top, fasten to the gable end the leafy branch, while his companions rent the air with their lusty plaudits !
Great was the pleasure when the watchful eye of the officer detected the drowsy sentinel sleeping on guard. Forth was brought the timber-mare, and the delinquent, perched on the wooden animal, expiated his fault amid the jeers of his more fortunate comrades. When the black night had enshrouded all objects, with what terror did even brave men hear the hos- tile whoop of the Indian, or with what anxious attention did they listen to the knocking of some bolder warrior at the gate of their garrison, and how gladly did they hail the approach of light, driving with its presence fears which the darkness had magnified in giant proportions.
And when thus much has been said of the pleasures and of the better feelings appertaining to garrison-life, all has been said. In many instances the soldier impressed into the service was forced to fulfil an unwilling duty. Sometimes the wife or the mother accompanied the husband or son, and shared volun- tarily his humble fare and hard lot. Yet there was then but little attention paid to the cultivation even of the more common graces of society, and the heart "tuned to finer issues " found but little sympathy in the continuous round of the severest daily duties.
When a war was declared between England and France, the hostile forces of those countries, on the sea or on the land, in decisive battles determined for a time, at least, the condition of either nation. But when the war was proclaimed at Boston, a series of border depredations, beginning perhaps in the slaughter of an unsuspecting family at midnight, varied with numerous petty but irritating circumstances, every act closing with an ambush attack, and a wild foray composing the conclusion, such was the result in the colonies, such was the drama, a drama of tragedy and blood. Cruelty on the one hand begat cruelty on the other, until large sums were paid by the whites for the captive Indian, or for the bloody scalp of the murdered one. And yet, on the part of the English in America, the war was not one of retaliation. They prepared their forts and their garrisons, it is true, and sent forth their scouting parties in every direction ; but by the former means did they attempt to
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58
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1735-1751.
repel the attacks of invaders, and by the latter to drive them without their boundaries. The history of the natural, inherent rights of the Indian, involves an argument too deep for these narrative pages. Still there is no one who can question the right of the settlers to defend their property, though it might be unwittingly placed on the land claimed under the law of nature, by which the Indian demanded as his own territories, those on which he had hunted, and as his streams those in which he had fished, and on which he had paddled his canoe.
Many petitions having been presented to the General As- sembly of Massachusetts, in the year 1735, praying for grants of land on the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, that body, on the 15th of January, 173g, ordered a survey of the lands between the aforesaid rivers, from the north-west corner of the town of Rumford on the latter stream to the Great Falls on the former, of twelve miles in breadth from north to south, and the same to be laid out into townships of six miles square each. They also voted to divide the lands bordering the east side of Connecticut river, south of the Great Falls, into townships of the same size; and on the west side, the territory between the Great Falls and the " Equivalent Lands " into two town- ships of the same size if the space would allow, and if not into one township. Eleven persons were appointed to conduct the survey and division. Twenty-eight townships were accordingly laid out between the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, and on the west bank of Connecticut river township Number One, now Westminster, was surveyed and granted to a number of persons from Taunton, Norton, and Easton in Massachusetts, and from Ashford and Killingly in Connecticut, who had petitioned for the same .*
The terms upon which the grant of Number One and of the other townships, was made, were these. Each settler was required to give bonds to the amount of forty pounds as security for performing the conditions enjoined. Those who had not within the space of seven years last past received grants of land were admitted as grantees; but in case enough of this class could not be found, then those were admitted who, having received grants of land elsewhere within the specified time, had fulfilled the conditions upon which they had received them. The grantees were obliged to build a dwelling-house
* See Appendix C.
.
ERECTION OF MILLS.
59
1735-1751.]
eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least, on their respective house lots, and fence in and break up for ploughing, or clear, and stock with English grass five acres of land, and cause their respective lots to be inhabited within three years from the date of their admittance. They were further required within the same time to " build and furnish a convenient meet- ing-house for the public worship of God, and settle a learned orthodox minister." On failing to perform these terms their rights became forfeit, and were to be again granted to such settlers as would fulfil the above conditions within one year after receiving the grant. Each township was divided into sixty- . three rights-sixty for the settlers, one for the first settled minis- ter, another for the second settled minister, and the third for a school. The land in township Number One was divided into house lots and "intervale " lots, and one of each kind was included in the right of every grantee. As to the remainder of the undivided land, an agreement was made that it should be shared equally and alike by the settlers when divided.
Capt. Joseph Tisdale, one of the principal grantees of. Number One, having been empowered by the General Assem- bly of Massachusetts, called a meeting of the grantees at the school-house in Taunton, on the 14th of January, 1737. A committee was then appointed to repair to the new township for the purpose of dividing the land, according to the wishes of the grantees. They were also required to select a suitable place for a meeting-house, a burying-place, a training field, sites for a saw mill and a grist mill, and to lay out a convenient road. The proprietors held a number of meetings, sometimes at Capt. Tisdale's, at other times in the old school-house, and not unfrequently at the widow Ruth Tisdale's. A sufficient time having elapsed, the allotment of the sixty-three rights was declared on the 26th of September, 1737, and proposals were issued for erecting a saw mill and a grist mill at Number One, which was now familiarly called New Taunton, in remembrance of the town where the majority of the proprietors resided. At the same time, a number of the proprietors agreed to undertake the building of the mills, and by the records of a meeting held July 8th, 1740, it appeared that the saw mill had been built, and that means had been taken to lay out a road from it to the highway. Other improvements were made at this period by Richard Ellis and his son Reuben of Easton, who having purchased eight rights in the new township, built there a
60
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1735-1751.
dwelling-house, and cleared and cultivated several acres of land. Some of the settlers were also engaged at the same time in laying out roads and constructing fences, who, on their return to Massachusetts, received gratuities for their services from the other proprietors .*
The grantees were preparing to make other improvements, having in view particularly the construction of a road to Fort Dummer, when, on the 5th of March, 1740, the northern bound- ary line of Massachusetts was settled. On finding by this decision that Number One was excluded from that province, they appointed an agent on the 5th of April, 1742, to acquaint the General Assembly of Massachusetts of the difficulties they had experienced, and of the money and labor they had expend- ed in settling their grant, and to ask from that body directions by which they might firmly secure their rights, although under a different jurisdiction. The meeting at which this appoint- ment was made, was probably the last held by the proprietaries under Massachusetts, and there is but little doubt that the settlement was abandoned upon the breaking out of the "Cape Breton War."
* At a proprietors' meeting held in Taunton on Tuesday, December 2d, 1740, the following appropriations were made :-
" To Mr. Richard Ellis who in a great measure as to us appears, built a dwell- ing-house, and broke up five or six acres of land, voted to be paid and allowed by said proprietors for both years' service, 1739 and 1740, the sum of £45 0 0 " Voted to be paid Lieut. John Harney for himself and hand in ye year 1739, £10 00
" Voted to be paid James Washburn for his service, and part of the team, £10 00
" Voted to be paid Mr. Joseph Eddy for himself and one hand, and one third part of the team, £15 0 0
" Voted to be paid Seth Tisdale for his labour, 1739, £5 00 ·
" Voted Jonathan Harney ye 2d, to be paid, ·
£500
" Voted to be paid Jonathan Thayer for his service in the year 1740, on said township, £10 00
£100 0 0"
Extract from Records of Township No. 1. under Massachusetts.
In the list of the proprietors of Number One, dated November 19th, 1736, appear the names of Joseph and Jonathan Barney of Taunton. There is a tra- dition that one Barney came to New Taunton as early as the year 1749, that he built there a house, and erected the frame of a saw mill. When driven away by the Indians, it is said that he previously took the precaution to bury the mill irons. A certain stream in the town bore for many years the name of Barney Brook, and Barney Island, in Connecticut river, was for a long time used for farming purposes by the early settlers.
61
NUMBER ONE RE-GRANTED.
1751-1754.]
In the spring of the year 1751 John Averill, with his wife, and his son Asa, moved from Northfield, in Massachusetts, to Number One. At that time there were but two houses in the latter place. One of these, occupied by Mr. Averill, was situ- ated on the top of Willard's or Clapp's hill, at the south end of the main street. The other below the hill, on the meadow, and unoccupied, was probably the house built by Mr. Ellis and his son in 1739. In the house into which Mr. Averill moved there had been living four men, one woman, and two children. The men were William Gould and his son John, Amos Carpenter and Atherton Chaffee. Of these, Gould and Carpenter moved their families from Northfield to Number One during the sum- mer of the same year. The first child born in Westminster was Anna Averill. Her birth took place in the autumn of 1751.
On the 9th of November, 1752, Governor Benning Went- worth, of New Hampshire, re-granted Number One, and changed its name to Westminster. The first meeting of the new grantees was held at Winchester, New Hampshire, in August, 1753, at the house of Major Josiah Willard, whose father, Col. Josiah Willard of Fort Dummer, was at the time of his death, by purchase from the original Massachusetts gran- tees, one of the principal proprietors of Number One .* A subsequent meeting was held at Fort Dummer, in the same year, at which permission was given to those proprietors who had purchased rights under the Massachusetts title and then held them, of locating their land as at the first. Further opera- tions were suspended by the breaking out of the French war, and the families above enumerated were the only inhabitants of Westminster until after the close of that struggle.t
Although the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, as well as that with the Indians at Falmouth, had promised a respite from the bloody scenes of border warfare, yet the government of Massa- chusetts, knowing well the treachery of those with whom they had to negotiate or contend, still retained their forces on the frontiers .¿ Difficulties had already arisen in the eastern quar-
* Deeds conveying to him twelve of the original rights are on record.
+ See Appendix D.
# From the 21st of June, 1750, until the 20th of February, 1752, Fort Dummer was garrisoned with ten men; fifteen were stationed at Fort Massachusetts, and the same number at Number Four. The pay allowed at this period was: to a captain, £2 28. 8d .; to a lieutenant, £1 128. 4}d .; to a sergeant, £1 8s. 1d .; to a corporal, £1 88. Od. ; to a private sentinel, £1 18. 4d.
.
62
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1751-1754.
ters of New England, and from a letter written by Col. Israel Williams on the 31st of July, 1750, it would appear that the Indians were at that time expected also on the western frontier. But the season passed without any interruption from the ene- my. On the 8th of December following died Col. Josiah Willard, who had been for so long a time the able and efficient commander of Fort Dummer, and was succeeded on the 18th by his son Major Josiah Willard, who had formerly had the charge of a garrison at Ashuelot.
Intelligence having reached Boston, in August, 1751, that a number of the Penobscot. tribe had joined the St. Francis In- dians with the design of attacking the frontier settlements, Col. Israel Williams was ordered to apprise the garrisons at Num- ber Four, Forts Dummer and Massachusetts, of their danger. The necessary measures of defence were accordingly taken, and in consequence of this vigilant activity, no incursions were made during this summer. A plan was projected about this period of establishing a military settlement on the rich inter- vals at Coos, extending south from Canada, a considerable dis- tance on both sides of Connecticut river. Many engaged in the enterprise, and in the spring of 1752 a party was sent to view Coos meadows, and lay out the townships. The Indians who claimed this territory, noticing these movements, sent a delega- tion from their tribe to Charlestown and informed Capt. Stevens that they should resist by force any attempt to carry the plan of a settlement into execution. Governor Wentworth having heard of their determination, deemed it best not to irritate them, and the design was relinquished .*
On the 28th of the following April, ten or twelve of the St. Francis Indians surprised four men who were hunting on Baker's river, a branch of the Merrimack. Amos Eastman and the subsequently-distinguished John Stark were made prisoners. William Stark, a brother of the latter, escaped, but David Stinson, his companion, was killed. By the way of Connecticut river and by portage to Lake Memphramagog, the captives were carried to the Indian country. Stark was at first treated with great severity, but was subsequently adopted as a son of the Sachem of the tribe, and was so much caressed by his cap- tors that he used often to observe, "that he had experienced more genuine kindness from the savages of St. Francis, than he
* Powers's Coos Country, pp. 10-13. Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 278, 279.
63
TREATY WITH THE INDIANS.
1752-1754.]
ever knew prisoners of war to receive from any civilized nation."*
In February, 1752, the General Court believing that the fron- tiers were comparatively secure, reduced the garrison at Fort Dummer to five men. In this condition it remained under the command of Josiah Willard, to whom a sergeant's pay was allowed, until January, 1754, when the same body voted that, "from and after February 20th next, no further provision be made for the pay and subsistence of the five men now posted at Fort Dummer, and that the Captain General be desired to direct Major Josiah Willard to take care that the artillery and other warlike stores be secured for the service of the govern- ment." Notwithstanding this vote, the same force and the same commander were continued until the following Septem- ber. The year 1753 was one of comparative quiet. Settle- ments multiplied and immigration increased. But in a coun- try, the power of whose masters had only been checked, no- thing but temporary peace could be expected. A short respite from the barbarities of a savage warfare, was sure to be follow- ed by a long period of melancholy disasters. Nor was the pre- sent instance an exception to the rule. The encroachments of the French on the Ohio, and the renewal of hostilities by the Indians on the frontiers of New England, manifested the pre- sence of a disposition as fierce and warlike as that which had preceded the struggles of former years. On this account the home government ordered the colonies to place themselves in a state of preparation, and counselled them to unite for mutual defence. In compliance with this advice, Governor Shirley proposed to the governors of the other provinces to send dele- gates to Albany, to draw up articles for a protective union and hold a treaty with the Six nations. His proposition was adopted. Delegates from seven provinces met at the convention on the 19th of June, 1754. A treaty was concluded with the Indians, and on the 4th of July, twenty-two years before the Declaration of American Independence, a plan for the union of the colonies was agreed on. Copies of the plan were sent to each of the pro- vinces represented, and to the King's Council. By the pro- vinces it was rejected, " because it was supposed to give too much power to the representatives of the King." It met with a
* Memoir of General Stark, by his son, Concord, 1831, p. 174. Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 260.
64
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
[1754.
similar fate at the hands of the Council, "because it was sup- posed to give too much power to the representatives of the peo- ple." By this disagreement, the colonies were obliged to fall back on their old system of warfare. Each government was left to contend with its enemies as best it might .*
For the defence of Massachusetts and her frontiers, during the year 1754, Governor Shirley, on the 21st of June, ordered the commanders of the provincial regiments to assemble their troops for inspection, and make returns of the state of their forces at head-quarters. The towns in the province were also ordered to furnish themselves with the stock of ammunition required by law. It was not until late in the summer that the enemy renewed their incursions on the frontiers of New Hamp- shire. At Baker's town, on the Pemigewasset river, they made an assault on a family, on the 15th of August, killed one woman, and took captive several other persons. On the 18th they killed a man and a woman at Stevens's town, in the same neigh- borhood. Terrified at these hostile demonstrations, the inhabit- ants deserted their abodes, and retired to the lower towns for safety, and " the government was obliged to post soldiers in the deserted places." At an early hour on the morning of the 30th, the Indians appeared at Number Four, or Charlestown, on Con- necticut river, broke into the house of James Johnson, before any of the family were awake, and took him prisoner, together with his wife and three children, his wife's sister, Miriam Willard, a daughter of Lieutenant Willard, Ebenezer Farnsworth, and Peter Labaree. Aaron Hosmer, who was also in the house, eluded the enemy by secreting himself under a bed. No blood was shed in the capture, and soon after daylight the Indians set out with their prisoners for Canada, by the way of Crown Point. On the evening of the first day, the whole party encamped in the south-west corner of the present township of Reading, in Vermont, near the junction of what is now called Knapp's brook with the Black river branch. On the morning of the 31st, Mrs. Johnson, who had gone half a mile further up the brook, was delivered of a daughter, who, from the circumstances of her birth, was named Captive. After a halt of one day the march was resumed, Mrs. Johnson being carried by the Indians on a litter which they had prepared for her accommodation. As soon as her strength would permit, she was allowed to ride
* Holmes's Annals, ii. 200, 201. Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 260, 261.
65
COMMEMORATIVE STONES.
1754.]
a horse. The journey was long and tedious, and provisions were scanty. It finally became necessary to kill the horse for food, and the infant was nourished, for several days, by sucking pieces of its flesh .*
Captive Johnson was afterward the wife of Col. George Kimball of Cavendish. Upon the north bank of Knapp's brook in the town of Reading, beside the road running from Springfield to Woodstock, stand two stones commemorative of the events above recorded. The larger one is in its proper place, and the smaller one, though designed to be located half a mile further up the brook, whether by accident or inten- tion, has always stood at its side. The stones are of slate, and of a very coarse texture. They bear the following inscriptions.
-August 305-754
Commemorative Stones.
* When they arrived at Montreal, Mr. Johnson obtained a parole of two months, to return and solicit the means of redemption. He applied to the Assem- bly of New Hampshire, and, after some delay, obtained on the 19th of December, 1754, one hundred and fifty pounds sterling. But the season was so far ad- vanced, and the winter proved so severe, that he did not reach Canada till the spring. He was then charged with breaking his parole; a great part of his money was taken from him by violence, and he was shut up with his family in prison. Here they took the small-pox, from which, after a severe illness, they happily recovered. At the expiration of eighteen months, Mrs. Johnson, with her sister and two daughters, were sent in a cartel ship to England, and thence returned to Boston. Mr. Johnson was kept in prison three years, and then with his son returned and met his wife in Boston, where he had the singular ill fortune to be suspected of designs unfriendly to his country, and was again imprisoned ; but no evidence being produced against him, he was liberated. His eldest daughter was retained in a Canadian nunnery .- Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 289, 290. Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 262.
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66
[1754.
HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.
This is near the spot that the Indians Encampd the Night after they took Mr Johnson & Family Mr Laberee & Farnsworth Auguft 30th 1754 And Mrs Johnson was deliverd of her child Half a mile up this Brook.
When troubls near the Lord is kind
He hears the captives Crys He can subdue the savage mind
And learn it sympathy
On the 31st of Auguft 1754 Capt James
Johnson had
A Daughter born
on this spot of
Ground being
Captivated with
his whole Family by the Indians.
But the enemy did not confine their depredations to the fron- tiers alone. On the 28th of August, a party of about one hundred Indians, from the Nepisinques, the Algonkins, and the " Abenaquies of Bekancour" made an attack on "Dutch Hoosac," about ten miles west of Fort Massachusetts. Their first appearance was at a mill which was attended by a few men. Of these, they killed Samuel Bowen, and wounded John Barnard. They then drove the rest of the inhabitants from their dwellings, killed most of the cattle, and set fire to the set- tlement. On the following day San Coick experienced a similar fate. The garrison at Fort Massachusetts was too weak to afford any important aid, and a party of militia from Albany, that had marched to the scene of destruction, did not arrive until the enemy had departed. The loss at Hoosac was stated at "seven dwelling houses, fourteen barns, and fourteen bar- racks of wheat." That at San Coick was about the same. The property destroyed was supposed to amount to " four thou- sand pounds, York currency."*
* Hoyt says: "The depredations were attributed principally to the Schag- ticoke Indians."-Indian Wars, p. 263.
It is more than probable that the tribes mentioned in the text were the perpe-
67
PLANS FOR THE FRONTIER DEFENCES.
1754.]
To put a period, if possible, to these devastating incursions, more extensive means of defence were adopted by Massachu- setts, and the charge of the western frontiers was again given to Col. Israel Williams of Hatfield. His knowledge as a topo- grapher and engineer, enabled him, soon after, to present to Governor Shirley an accurate sketch of the frontiers of Massa- chusetts and New Hampshire, with plans for their defence. He recommended the abandonment of Forts Shirley and Pelham, and the erection of a line of smaller works on the north side of Deerfield river. He further proposed that the old works at Northfield, Bernardston, Colrain, Greenfield, and Deerfield should be repaired, and others built where repairs were imprac- ticable ; that Forts Dummer and Massachusetts should be strengthened and furnished with light artillery and sufficient garrisons ; that fortifications should be erected at Stockbridge, Pontoosuck, and Blanford in the south-western part of Massa- chusetts, and two others to the westward of Fort Massachu- setts, in order to form a cordon with the line of works in New York ; that the fort at Charlestown, being out of the juris- diction of Massachusetts, should be abandoned; that, as in the former wars, ranging parties should be constantly employed along the line of forts, and in the wilderness, now the state of Vermont, and that the routes and outroads from Crown Point should be diligently watched. These plans, with the exception of that recommending the abandonment of Charlestown, were adopted, and a body of troops was ordered to be raised for the western frontiers, to be stationed as Col. Williams should direct.
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