History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes, Part 8

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 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Forts Dummer and Massachusetts, works of considerable strength, and containing small garrisons, were furnished with a few pieces of ordnance. The other works being diminutive block-houses, or stockaded dwellings, bearing the names of their occupants, were made defensible against musketry. These were Sheldon's and Burk's garrisons at Bernardston, on Connecticut river; Morrison's and Lucas's, at Colrain ; Taylor's, Rice's, and Hawks's, at Charlemont ; Goodrich's and Williams's, at Pontoo- suck; and defences at Williamstown, Sheffield, and Blanford. Some of them were provided with swivels and small forces under subaltern officers. In other places, less exposed, slighter fortifications were established, some at the expense of the

trators of the acts ascribed to them .- See documents in office Sec. State N. Y., in Colonial MSS. De Lancey, 1754, vol. lxxix.

ـر

HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1754, 1755.

inhabitants, and some at the expense of the province. Capt. Ephraim Williams was, as in the preceding war, appointed commander of the line of forts. His rank was raised to that of major. Deerfield was made the dépôt for the commissary stores, and a small force was stationed to protect them. The office of commissary was given to Major Elijah Williams. The fort at Charlestown, which had been built by Massachusetts, but which now lay within the boundaries of New Hampshire, required a protecting force. Governor Shirley wrote to Go- vernor Wentworth recommending its future maintenance to the New Hampshire Assembly, and applications of a like nature were made by the inhabitants of Charlestown. The Assembly, as in former years, refused to listen to these requests. Peti- tions were then sent to the General Court of Massachusetts, and as a proof of the importance of the post at Charlestown, the petitioners stated that the attacks of the enemy had been sus- tained at that place, on ten different occasions, during the space of two years. Mention was also made of the sufferings which the inhabitants had endured by the loss of their cattle and provisions. Massachusetts again sent soldiers for the de- fence of the town, and a guard was continued there and at Fort Dummer until the year 1757. On the 19th of September the command of the latter station was given to Nathan Willard, with the rank of sergeant, and until June, 1755, the garrison numbered eight men. So effectually had these preparations been made, and so well were they perfected, that the incursions of the enemy ceased almost immediately. The settlers again enjoyed a temporary security, and at the close of the year it was deemed safe to lessen several of the garrisons at the smaller forts."*

The inhabitants of Westminster who were few in number and but poorly protected, being alarmed by the capture of the Johnsons at Charlestown, had removed to Walpole immediately after that event. Here they were accommodated at the house of Col. Benjamin Bellows until October, when they returned to Westminster. There they tarried until the February following, when the Averill family moved to Putney, which town, on the 26th of December, 1753, had been granted and chartered by Benning Wentworth. Fort Hill, which had been erected before the Cape Breton war, had now gone to decay and was mostly demolished. The settlements in the immediate vicinity

* Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 263-265. Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 290, 29].

FORT AT THE GREAT MEADOW.

1755.]

were in consequence undefended and insecure. For their mu- tual safety, the inhabitants of Westmoreland, New Hamp- shire, joined with the inhabitants of Westminster and Putney, and in the year 1755 built a fort on the Great Meadow, on the site of the house lately occupied by Col. Thomas White, near the landing of the ferry. The fort was in shape oblong, about one hundred and twenty by eighty feet, and was built with yellow pine timber hewed six inches thick and laid up about ten feet high. Fifteen dwellings were erected within it, the wall of the fort forming the back wall of the houses. These were covered with a single roof called a " salt-box " roof, which slanted upward to the top of the wall of the fort. In the centre of the enclosure was a hollow square on which all the houses fronted. A great gate opened on the south toward Connecticut river, and a smaller one toward the west. On the north-east and south-west corners of the fort, watch-towers were placed. In the summer season, besides its customary occupants, the fort was generally garrisoned by a force of ten or twelve men from New Hampshire.

The only inhabitants on the Great Meadow at the beginning of the year 1755, were Philip Alexander from Northfield, John Perry and John Averill with their wives and fami- lies, and Capt. Michael Gilson a bachelor, his mother and his two sisters. On the completion of the fort, several of the inhabitants of Westmoreland crossed the river and joined the garrison. These were Capt. Daniel How, Thomas Chamber- lain, Isaac Chamberlain, Joshua Warner and son, Daniel War- ner, wife and son, Harrison Wheeler, Deacon Samuel Minott, who afterward married Capt. Gilson's mother, and Mr. Aldrich and son .* At the close of the French war, all who had re- moved from Westmoreland, returned, with the exception of Deacon Minott. During the summer Dr. Lord and William Willard joined the garrison. Several children were born in the fort, but the first child born within the limits of the town of Putney is supposed to have been Aaron, son of Philip Alex- ander. His birth took place before the fort was built, and there is a tradition that Col. Josiah Willard, in commemoration of the event, presented to the boy a hundred acres of land, situated about half a mile east of Westmoreland bridge. The father

* The son was afterward General George Aldrich. He died at Westmore- land, N. H., in the year 1807.

HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

[1755.

of Capt. Daniel How and the father of Harrison Wheeler died in the fort. Both were buried in the graveyard in Westmore- land on the other side of the river. Religious services were for a long time observed among the occupants of the fort, and there the Rev. Andrew Gardner, who had previously been chaplain and surgeon at Fort Dummer, preached nearly three years. The Great Meadow, at this time, was not more than half cleared, and its noble forests of yellow pine, with here and there a white pine or a white oak, presented an appearance which is seldom to be met with at the present period, in any part of the state. Col. Josiah Willard, who owned the Mea- dow, gave the use of the land as a consideration for building the fort and defending it during the war. The land was por- tioned out to each family, and the inhabitants were accustomed to work on their farms in company that they might be better prepared to assist one another in the event of a surprise by the enemy. There was no open attack upon the fort during the French war, although the shouts of the Indians were often heard in its vicinity in the night season. On one occasion they laid an ambush at the north end of the Meadow. But the settlers who were at work on an adjacent island, were so fortunate as to discover the signs of their presence, and avoided them by pass- ing down the river in a course different from that by which they. had come .*

The expeditions which were planned by Gen. Braddock, in conjunction with the Colonial Governors, against Fort Du Quesne, Niagara, and Crown Point, at the beginning of this year, served to a certain extent to defend the frontiers from the incursions of the enemy. Major Ephraim Williams, who dur- ing the year 1754 had taken charge of the western line of forts in Massachusetts, was appointed to the command of a regiment in the latter expedition. Capt. Isaac Wyman succeeded him as commander of Fort Massachusetts. Simultaneous with these extensive operations, measures were taken by Massachusetts to render more effectual the defence of her borders. Garrisons were strengthened, new levies of soldiers made, the people in exposed towns were required to go armed when attending public worship, and it was made the duty of the militia officers to see that this order was observed.+

* MS. Historical Sermons, preached at Putney on Fast Day, 1825, by Rev. E. D. Andrews.

+ " The monthly pay of the troops on the frontiers, established by the govern-

PARTISAN CORPS AND RANGERS.

1755.]

But the feature which characterized in a peculiar manner the warfare of this year, was the system introduced in the conduct and management of the partisan corps. The govern- ment of Massachusetts had offered a large bounty for every " Indian killed or captured," and to gain this reward, did these ranging parties engage in what were commonly known at the time as " scalping designs." Their field of operation extended from the Connecticut to the Hudson, and from the Massachu- setts cordon to the borders of Black river, in Vermont. Each company consisted of not less than thirty men, and of none but such as were able-bodied and capable of the greatest endur- ance. Sometimes they marched in a body on one route, and again in two or three divisions on different routes, or as ordered by their officers. The commissioned officers kept a journal of each day's proceedings, which was returned at the close of the march, to the commander-in-chief of the forces, after having been sworn to before the Governor of Massachusetts, or one of his Majesty's justices of the peace. No bounty was given until the captured Indians, or the scalps of those killed, were deli- vered at Boston to persons appointed to receive them.

Compared with the life of the ranger, that of the frontier settler was merely the training school in hardship and endur- ance. In the ranging corps were perfected lessons, the rudi- ments of which are at the present day but seldom taught; and the partisan soldier of the last century, though unskilled in the science of warfare, was an equal match for the resolute Indian, whose birthright was an habituation to daring deeds and wasting fatigue. The duties of the rangers were " to scour the woods, and ascertain the force and position of the enemy ; to discover and prevent the effect of his ambuscades, and to ambush him in turn ; to acquire information of his movements by making prisoners of his sentinels ; and to clear the way for the advance of the regular troops." In marching, flankers preceded the main body, and their system of tactics was embodied in the quickness with which, at a given signal, they could form in file,

ment of Massachusetts, June 11th, 1755, was as follows. Marching forces : Cap- tain, £4 168. ; Lieutenant, £3 4s. ; Sergeant, £1 14s .; Corporal or Private, £1 68. 8d. Garrison forces: Captain, £4; Lieutenant, £3; Sergeant, £1 10s .; Cor- poral £1 88 .; Drummer, £1 8s .; Centinel, £14s .; Armourer at the westward, £3."- Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 267.

In addition to the regularly established garrisons, guards were stationed at Greenfield, Charlemont, Southampton, Huntstown, Colrain, and Falltown, to pro- tect the inhabitants while gathering their crops.

HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

[1755.

either single or otherwise, as occasion demanded. In fighting, if the enemy was Indian, they adopted his mode of warfare, and were not inferior to him in artifice or finesse. To the use of all such weapons as were likely to be employed against them they were well accustomed, and their antagonist, whoever he might be, was sure to find in them warriors whom he might hate, but could not despise. As marksmen none surpassed them. With a sensitiveness to sound, approximating to that of instinct, they could detect the sly approach of the foe, or could mark with an accuracy almost beyond belief, the place of his con- cealment. Their route was for the most part through a country thickly wooded, now over jagged hills and steep mountains, and anon, across foaming rivers or gravelly-bedded brooks.

When an Indian track was discovered, a favorable point was chosen in its course, and there was formed an ambuscade, where the partisans would lie in wait day after day for the approach of the enemy. Nor were mountains, rivers, and foes, the only obsta- cles with which they were forced to contend. Loaded with pro- visions for a month's march, carrying a musket heavier by far than that of a more modern make, with ammunition and appurte- nances correspondent ; thus equipped, with the burden of a porter, did they do the duty of a soldier. At night, the place of their encampment was always chosen with the utmost circumspection, and guards were ever on the alert to prevent a surprise. Were it summer, the ground sufficed for a bed, the clear sky or the out- spreading branches of some giant oak for a canopy. Were it winter, at the close of a weary march, performed on snow-shoes, a few gathered twigs pointed the couch made hard by necessity, and a rude hut served as a miserable shelter from the inclemency of the weather. Were the night very dark and cold, and no fear of discovery entertained, gathered around the blazing brush heap, they enjoyed a kind of satisfaction in watching the tower- ing of its bright, forked flame, relieved by the dark background of the black forest ; or encircling it in slumber, dreamed that their heads were in Greenland, and their feet in Vesuvius. If a comrade were sick, the canteen, or what herbs the forest af- forded, were usually the only medicines obtainable; and were he unable to proceed, a journey on a litter to the place whence his company started, or to the point of their destination, with the exposure consequent thereupon, was not always a certain war- rant of recovery, or the most gentle method of alleviating pain.

But the great object was unattained, so long as they did not

THE PARTISAN SOLDIER.

1755.]

return with a string of scalps, or a retinue of captives. When success attended their efforts, the officers and soldiers shared alike in the bounty paid, and strove to obtain equal proportions of the praise and glory. The partisans of the valley of the Con- necticut were mostly from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Some of them had borne for many years the bar- barities of the Indian, and were determined to hunt him like a beast, in his own native woods. Not a few had seen father and mother tomahawked and scalped before their very eyes; and some, after spending their youth as captives in the wigwam, had returned, bringing with them a knowledge of the Indian modes of warfare, and a burning desire to exert that knowledge for the destruction of their teachers. To men in this situation, a bounty, such as was offered by the government of Massachusetts, was sufficient to change thought into action, and it did not require the eye of a prophet to foresee the result. Great were the dan- gers they encountered, arduous the labor they performed, pre- eminent the services they rendered, and yet the partisan soldier has seldom been mentioned but with stigma, and his occupation rarely named but with abuse. This may be due, in some part, to the deviation from the usages of civilized warfare, which was sanctioned by the use of the scalping knife. Still the impartial reader should bear in mind the circumstances and the times which are under review. He should remember the barbarity of the enemy, the principles of natural justice, or the law of retalia- tion, the emergencies which were constantly arising, and the necessity which compelled the partisan to fight the Indian on his own terms. Let these considerations be indulged, and the rendering of a juster verdict in future, will show that discrimina- tion has been allowed to take the place too long held by prejudice and scorn .*

Although the greatest precautions had been taken to render the frontiers secure against the enemy, yet the year 1755 bore on its record as large a share of disasters as any which had pre- ceded it. Early in June, a party of Indians attacked a number of persons, who were at work in a meadow in the upper part of Charlemont, Massachusetts, near Rice's fort. Capt. Rice and Phineas Arms were killed, and Titus King and Asa Rice, a lad, were captured, and taken to Canada, by the way of Crown

* Reminiscences of the French War, Concord, 1831; pp. 4, 5. " Rules for the Ranging Service," in the Journals of Major Robert Rogers, London, 1765; pp. 60-70. Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 266-268.

HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT.

[1755.

Point. King was afterward carried to France, thence to Eng- land, whence he at length returned to Northampton, his native place. An account of some of the depredations which were made at this period in New Hampshire, is given by Hoyt, in the following paragraph : " In the month of June, a man and boy were captured at New Hopkinton, but immediately after re- taken by a scouting party. The same month an attack was made on a fort at Keene, commanded by Capt. Sims; but the enemy, after some vigorous fighting, were driven off. On their retreat they killed many cattle, burned several houses, and captured Benjamin Twichel. At Walpole they killed Daniel Twichel, and another man, by the name of Flynt." On the 17th of August, at noon, the Indians in large numbers at- tempted to waylay Col. Benjamin Bellows of Walpole, and a party of thirty men, while returning from their labor. Failing in this undertaking, they attacked the fort of John Kilburn, " situated near Cold river, about two miles from the present centre of the town of Walpole, on the road to Bellows Falls, the exact spot being said to be just where two apple trees, very visible on the east of the way-side, now bear the fruits of peace." It was bravely defended by the owner and his son, John Peak and his son, and several women, who finally compelled the enemy to retire with considerable loss. Peak was mortally wounded in the assault .*

On the 27th of June, t the most disastrous affair that occurred during the season on Connecticut river, took place at Bridg- man's Fort, on Vernon meadow, a short distance below Fort Dummer. On the spot where the original fort stood, which was burned by the Indians in 1747, another of the same name had been erected soon after, and being strongly picketed, was con- sidered as secure as any garrison in the vicinity. It was situ- ated on low ground, near elevated land, from which an easy view of its construction and arrangements might be had. From the manner in which the attack was planned, and from the stra- tegy therein displayed, it is supposed that the Indians, availing themselves of the opportunity afforded by the high ground, had previously viewed the place, and by listening at the gate, had discovered the signal by which admittance was gained to

* Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 266-269. A full account of this fight is given in Appendix E.

+ Some writers have named July 27th, as the day on which this event occurred. Contemporaneous MSS. corroborate the date given in the text.

CAPTURE OF BRIDGMAN'S FORT.

1755.]

the fort. On the morning of the day in which the attack was made. Caleb How, Hilkiah Grout, Benjamin Gaffield, and two lads, the sons of How, left the fort and went to work in a corn- field, lying near the bank of the river. Returning a little before sunset, they were fired upon by a party of about a dozen Indians, from an ambush near the path. How, who was on horseback with his two sons, received a shot in the thigh, which brought him to the ground. The Indians, on seeing him fall, rushed up, and after piercing him with their spears, scalped him, and leaving him for dead, took his two sons prisoners. Gaffield was drowned in attempting to cross the river, but Grout fortunately escaped.

The families of the sufferers who were in the fort, had heard the firing but were ignorant of its cause. Anxiously awaiting the return of their companions, they heard in the dusk of evening a rapping at the gate, and the tread of feet without. Supposing by the signal which was given that they were to re- ceive friends, they too hastily opened the gate, and to their surprise and anguish, admitted enemies. The three families, consisting of Mrs. Jemima How and her children, Mary and Submit Phips, William, Moses, Squire and Caleb How, and a babe six months old ; Mrs. Submit Grout and her children, Hilkiah, Asa, and Martha, and Mrs. Gaffield with her daugh- ter Eunice, fourteen in all, were made prisoners. After plun- dering and firing the place, the Indians proceeded about a mile and a half and encamped for the night in the woods. The next day they set out with their prisoners for Crown Point, and after nine days' travel reached Lake Champlain. Here the Indians took their canoes, and soon after, the whole party arrived at the place of destination. After remaining at Crown Point about a week, they proceeded down the lake to St. Johns, and ended their march at St. Francis on the river St. Lawrence. Mrs. How, after a series of adventures, was finally redeemed with three of her children, through the intervention of Col. Peter Schuyler, Major, afterwards Gen. Israel Putnam and other gentlemen, who had become interested for her welfare on account of the peculiarity of her sufferings and the patience with which she had borne them. Of the other children, the young- est died, another was given to Governor de Vaudreuil of Canada, and the two remaining ones, who were daughters, were placed in a convent in that province. One of these was afterwards carried to France, where she married a Frenchman named Cron Lewis, and the other was subsequently redeemed

HISTORY OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

by Mrs. How, who made a journey to Canada for the express purpose of procuring her release. Mrs. How afterwards be- came the wife of Amos Tute, who was for several years one of the coroners of Cumberland county. She was buried in Vernon, and her tombstone epitomizes her varied life and ex- ploits, in these words.

Mrs Jemima Tute

Succeffively Relict of Meffts

William Phipps, Caleb Howe & Amos Tute

The two firft were killed by the Indians

Phipps July 5th 1743

Howe June 29th 1755

When Howe was killed, fhe & her Children

Then feven in number

Were carried into Captivity

The oldeft a Daughter went to France

And was married to a French Gentle- man

The youngeft was torn from her Breast

And perished with Hunger

By the aid of fome benevolent Gent"

And her own perfonal Heroifm

She recovered the reft

She had two by her laft Hufband Outlived both him & them

And died March 7th 1805 aged 82 Having paffed thro more viciffitudes

The grave of Mrs. Jemima Tute.

And endured more hardfhips .

Than any of her cotemporaries

No more can Savage Foes annoy

Nor aught her wide fpread Fame Deftroy*

On the morning after the attack on Bridgman's Fort, a party of men found Caleb How still alive, but mortally wounded. He was conveyed to Hinsdale's Fort, on the opposite side of

* A more detailed account of the adventures and sufferings of Mrs. Howe, who has been called the "Fair Captive," may be found in Belknap's Hist. N. H. iii. 370-388, and in the "Life of General Putnam " in Humphrey's Works, pp. 276- 279.

ATTACK AT HINSDALE'S FORT.

1755.3

the river, where he soon after expired. He was buried about half a mile from the fort, in the middle of a large field, and a stone erected to his memory is still standing, inscribed with this record :-

Jn Memory of M™ Caleb How a very Kind Companion who Was Killed by the Jndea ns June the 27th 1755. in the 32 year Of his age. his Wife Mrs Jemima How With 7 Children taken Captive at the Same time.

The Grave of Caleb How.

At the close of three years' captivity, Mrs. Gaffield was ran- somed and went to England. The fate of her daughter, Eunice, is uncertain. On the 9th of October, 1758, a petition, signed Zadok Hawks, was presented to the General Court of Massa- chusetts, praying them to use their influence to obtain the release of Mrs. Grout, the petitioner's sister. At that time, she and her daughter were residing with the French near Mon- treal, and her two sons were with the Indians at St. Francis. It is probable that their release was not long delayed, as one of the sons a few years later was a resident of Cumberland county.

But this was not the last of the incursions of the enemy. On the 22d of July, at about nine o'clock in the morning, a party of Indians attacked four of the soldiers of Hinsdale's Fort, and three of the settlers residing there, as they were cutting poles for the purpose of picketing the garrison. At the time of the attack they were not more than a hundred rods distant from the fort. Four men were on guard, and three were on the team. They had drawn only one stick when the enemy fired - upon them, and having got between them and the fort endea- vored to keep them from reaching it. Of the soldiers, John Hardiclay * was killed and scalped on the spot. His body was terribly mangled, both breasts being cut off and the heart laid open. Jonathan Colby was captured, and the two others, Heath

* In the letter of Col. Ebenezer Hinsdell, this name is written Hardway .- N. H. Hist. Coll., v. 254.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of eastern Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the close of the eighteeth century with a biographical chapter and appendixes, Part 8

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