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7. A short time previous to the arrival of the Ply- mouth colony a. mortal sickness had prevailed among the natives, by which the country, in the neighborhood
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.. .. PEQUOD WAR. ! !!
of their landing, had been almost divested of inhabi- tants. But the natives, who remained, welcomed the English with demonstrations of joy, and seemed dis- posed to admit the new comers into their country upon friendly terms. But the repeated acts of injustice: and extortion on the part of the settlers, and the astonishing rapidity with which their settlements were extending over the country, at length aroused the jealousy of the Indians, and in 1630, a general conspiracy was formed by the Naragansets and other tribes, the object of which was the total extermination of the English. The settlers however, were seasonably informed of the -plot and their vigorous preparations to defeat it, ef- fectually deterred the Indians from attempting its exe- cution. ..
.. 8. But soon after this event, the English -settlers were involved in a war with the Pequods, a powerful tribe of Indians, who inhabited the northwestern parts of Connecticut. This war was prosecuted with vigor on both sides, but was terminated in 1637, by the complete overthrow of the Pequods. Seven hundred of the Indians were slain, some fled to the Mohawks, by whom they were treacherously murdered, and the Pequods who remained in the country and the other tribes of Indians were so much terrified at the prowess of the English as to be restrained from open hostilities for nearly forty years.
SECTION III.
French and English Colonies-Transactions in the vi- cinity of Vermont from 1638 to 1705.
1. Although both the French and English colonies had long been in the habit of furnishing the Indians [with arms, ammunition, provisions and clothing, when
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
going to war either among themselves, or with an opposite colony ; yet previously to the year 1689, no expedition had ever been fitted out in one colony for the express purpose of aiding the Indians in their depredation upon another. This year it was resolved by the French to attempt, by the aid of the Canada Indians, the conquest of the province of New York, which had now been for some time in possession of the English. They looked upon this course as the only effectual method of subduing their most inveterate and troublesome enemy, the Iroquois.
2. It was proposed that a large body of Canadians and Indians should march by the way of lake Cham- plain, and fall upon Albany and the other northern `settlements ; and that the city of New York should be at the same time attacked by a fleet, ordered for that purpose from France. But while preparations were making and before the arrival of the fleet, the Iroquois made a descent upon Canada, plundered and burnt Montreal and broke up most of the frontier settlements. Frontenac, the French general, was so much disheart- ened by these calamities, that he relinquish' d the hope he had entertained of conquering New York, but he considered some attempt against the English settle- ments indispensable, in order to revive the drooping spirits of the Canadians and Indians.
3. Two parties were therefore sent out. One of these, under the command of Seur Hortel, on the 18th of March, 1690, succeeded in destroying the fort at Salmon falls in New Hampshire, where they slew 30 of the English and took 54 prisoners, whom they carried to Canada. The other party, consisting of 200 French and 50 Indians, commanded by D. Aillebout, set out from Montreal in the beginning of January, and, proceeding by the way of lake Champlain, di- rected their march towards Schenectady, a settlement on the Mohawk river, 14 miles northwest from Albany. But on account of the length of their march through deep snows in the midst of winter, they were reduced
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MASSACRE AT SCHENECTADY.
to such extremities by hunger and fatigue, when they arrived in the vicinity of this place, that they thought seriously of surrendering themselves to the English as prisoners of war. They, however, sent forward their spies, who reported, on their return, that the inhabi- tants were in no apprehension of danger-that the soldiers were few and undisciplined, and that the place was in no condition for defence.
4. Encouraged by this intelligence, the party moved forward, and on the 8th of February, 1690, at 11 o'clock in the evening, they entered the village of Schenectady, and separating into small parties appeared before every house at the same time. Never was a place more completely surprised. Without the least apprehension of danger the inhabitants had just retired to their beds, and, while their senses were locked in the sound- est sleep, the terrible onset was made. A general shriek aroused the place, and to many it was the shriek of death. The terrified and bewildered inhabitants attempted to rise from their beds, but they rose only to meet the tomahawk, which was lifted for their des- truction. The whole village was instantly in flames; and to add to this heart rending scene, the infernal yell of the savage was incessantly commingled with the shrieks and the groans of the dying.
5. In this massacre no less than 60 persons perish- ed ; and 27 were taken prisoners and carried, by the French and Indians into captivity. They, who escaped the hands of the enemy, fled nearly naked, towards Albany through a deep snow, which had fallen that very night. Of those who succeeded in reaching Albany, no less than 25 lost some one, or more, of their limbs by the severity of the frost. The news of this awful tragedy reached Albany about day break and spread universal consternation among the inhabitants. The enemy were reported to be 1400 strong, and many of the citizens of Albany advised to destroy the city and retreat down the river towards New York. But Col Schuyler and some others at length succeeded in
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
rallying the inhabitants, and a party of horse soon set off for Schenectady. Not thinking themselves suffi- ciently strong to venture a battle, the enemy were suffered to remain in the place till noon, when, having destroyed the whole village, they set off for Canada with their prisoners, and with 40 of the best horses loaded with the spoils.
6. On the first of May following, commissioners from the several English colonies met at the city of New York for the purpose of concerting measures for the common safety and defence. Here it was agreed that the conquest of Canada would be the only effec- tual means of securing peace and safety to their frontiers, and it was recommended that vigorous efforts be made for the accomplishment of that object. Two " expeditions were therefore planned ; one under Sir William Phips, which was to proceed against Quebec by water, and the other under John Winthrop, which was to be joined by the Iroquois, and, proceeding by the way of lake Champlain, was to attack Montreal. The latter expedition was abandoned on account of the lateness of the season and the refusal of the Iro- quois to join it, and the one under Phips proved un- successful.
7. In the summer of 1691, Col Schuyler put himself at the head of a party of Mohawks, who were a tribe of the Iroquois, and, passing through lake Champlain and the western borders of Vermont, made a succuss- ful eruption upon the French settlements on the river Sorel, in which were slain 300 of the enemy ; a number exceeding that of his own force. In January, in 1695, a party of six or seven hundred French and Indians marched by the way of lake Champlain and at- tacked the Mohawks in their own country. Intelligence of these transactions no sooner reached Albany, than Schuyler, at the head of 200 volunteers, hastened to their relief. Several engagements ensued, in which Schuyler had the advantage, and the enemy were soon compelled to make a hasty retreat to Canada.
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DEERFIELD DESTROYED.
8. These reciprocal depredations were continued till the treaty between France and England, in 1697, put an end to hostilities and restored peace to the colonies. But this peace was of short continuance. War was again declared in Europe in 1702, and in this the colonies were soon involved. During this war the frontiers of New England were kept in continual alarm by small parties of the enemy and suffered se- verely. The town of Deerfield in Massachusetts had been settled some years and was at this time in a very flourishing condition : but being the most northerly settlement on Connecticut river, excepting a few fami- lies at Northfield, the French and Indians devoted it to destruction.
9. In the winter of 1704, a party of about 300 of the enemy under De Rouville set out upon an expe- dition against this ill fated place. They proceeded up lake Champlain to the mouth of Winooski, or Onion river, and following up that stream, they passed over to Connecticut river. Proceeding down the Connecticut upon the ice, they arrived in the vicinity of Deerfield on the 29th of February. Here they concealed them- selves till the latter part of the night, when, perceiving that the watch had left the streets and that all was quiet, they rushed forward to the attack. The snow was so high as to enable them to leap over the for- tifications without dificulty, and they immediately separated into several parties so as to make their attack upon every house at the same time. The place was completely surprised, the inhabitants having no suspi- cions of the approach of the enemy till they entered their houses.
10. Yet surprised and unprepared as they were, the people of Deerfield made a vigorous defence ; but were at length overpowerd by the enemy. Forty seven of the inhabitants were slain, the rest captured and the village plundered and set on fire. About one hour after sunrise the enemy hastily departed ; and, although pursued and attacked by a party of the En-
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
glish they succeeded in escaping to Canada, where they arrived with their prisoners and booty after a fatiguing march of 25 days. For several years after the destruction of Deerfield, the frontiers, both of Canada and the New England provinces, were one continued scene of massacre and devastation.
SECTION IV.
French and English Colonies .- Transactions in Vermont and its vicinity, from 1705 to 1749.
1. The merciless depredations upon the frontiers of New England still continuing, it was again deter- mined, in 1709, to attempt the conquest of Canada. The plan of operations was very similar to that devised in 1690. Quebec was to be attacked by water, and an army of provincial troops was, at the same time, to proceed by the way of lake Champlain and reduce Montreal. But the failure of Great Britain to furnish a fleet for the enterprise against Quebec, and the mortal sickness, which prevailed among the troops collected at Wood Creek and designed to act against Montreal, defeated all their plans, and the army raised was consequently disbanded. The failure of these designs against Canada, again left the English frontiers exposed to all the horrors of Indian warfare.
2. The next year the English colonies fitted out an expediton against the French settlements at Acadia, and encouraged by their success, they now began to meditate another attempt upon Canada. The same plan of operations was adopted, which on two former occasions they had been unable to carry into effect .- Quebec was to be invested by water, and Montreal was to be at the same time assailed by an army, which was to enter Canada by the way of lake Champlain.
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EXPEDITION AGAINST NORRIDGEWOK.
The fleet designed to proceed against Quebec was therefore collected and equipped at Boston, and the army, which was to reduce Montreal, was collected at Albany ; and the most sanguine hopes of success prevailed throughout the colonies. But all these hopes were blasted in one fatal night. The fleet sailed from Boston on the 30th of July, 1711, and just as it entered the St Lawrence, it encountered a storm in which eight of the vessels were wrecked and more than a thousand of the men perished.
3. The army designed to enter Canada by the way of lake Champlain, had advanced but a short distance from Albany, when they received the disheartening intelligence of the disaster, which had befallen the fleet. They immediately returned ; the expedition was given up and the army disbanded. Thus terminated the third attempt at the conquest of Canada, leaving the frontiers still exposed to the inroads of a merciless foe. A peace was, however, concluded in Europe between Great Britain and France about this time, which put an end to the contest between their colonies in Ameri- ca, and during the next year treaties of peace were made with most of the hostile Indian tribes. But the peace with the Indians was of short continuance. They had long been jealous of the growing power of the English, and were ready to seize upon, the most trifling injury as a pretext for the renewal of hostilitics.
4. From the year 1720 to 1725, a very destructive war was carried on between the eastern Indians and the New England provinces. The French and En- glish were at this time at peace ; but the French mis- sionaries, and the governor of Canada himself, were actively employed in instigating the Indians to hostili- ties. In the progress of this war the English made a successful expedition against the Indian town of Norridgewok, where they slew the Jesuit missionary, Ralli, and 80 Indians, and destroyed the town; and it was during this war, in the year 1724, that the first civilized establishment was made, within the present limits of Vermont, by the erection of fort Dummer. 3
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
5. To the year 1725, a long peace succeeded, not only between France and England, but also between the colonies and the various Indian tribes. But the colonies, during this time, were not inactive."They were busily employed in advancing their out posts, extending their settlements and preparing for future emergencies. The English had established a trading- house at Oswego in 1722. In 1726, the French, in order more effectually to secure to themselves the trade with the natives, launched two vessels on lake Ontario and repaired their fort at Niagara. In 1731, the French came up lake Champlain and established themselves in the present township of Addison in Vermont, and about the same time erected a fortress upon a point of land on the west side of the lake and nearly opposite, which they called St Frederick, but which afterwards took the name of Crown Point.
. 6. The country along lake Champlain, where these establishments were made, belonged to the Iroquois Indians, but was claimed by New York and was granted in 1696 to one Dellius, a Dutch clergyman at Albany. By the English colonies, the proceedings of the French were observed with much solicitude ; yet on account of the internal divisions in the province of New York, no effectual measures were taken to pre- vent them. Thus were the French permitted to make their advances towards the English settlemerts, and upon lands claimed by the English, to erect a fortress, which would enable them to prosecute their future expeditions against the frontiers of New York and New England, with facility and safety.
7. In 1744, Great Britain and France were once more involved in war, which soon extended to their colonies and their Indian allies, when the English began to experience in the depredations of the enemy, their extreme folly in permitting the French to es- tablish themselves at Crown Point. Hoosuc fort, at Williamstown, in Massachusetts and near the south- west corner of Vermont, was at this time, the most
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DEFENCE OF HOOSUO FORT.
northerly post of the English in the western part of New England. Against this place an army of about 900 French and Indians under M. de Vaudriel pro- ceeded from Crown Point in August, 1746, and on the 20th of that month appeared before the fort. The garrison consisted of only 33 persons, including women and children, and was commanded by Col Hawks, who after a vigorous defence of 28 hours, and having expended all his ammunition, surrendered to the ene- my. Hawks lost but one man, while more than 40 of the assailants were either slain or mortally wounded ; and he supposed that, had he been well supplied with ammunition and provisions, he should have been able to have defended the fort against all the assaults of his numerous enemy.
8. The English had, at this time, extended their settlements as far northward along Connecticut river as Number Four, now Charleston, in New Hampshire, and had erected several small forts on the west side of that river, in the vicinity of fort Dummer. Among these were Bridgeman's and Startwell's fort in Vernon Ver- mont, formerly a part of the township of Hinsdale New Hampshire. Bridgeman's fort was attacked the 24th of June, 1746, by a party of 20 Indians, who killed two of the English, wounded one and took several prisoners, but were finally repulsed. They, however; succeeded the next year, in taking and destroying this fort, in killing several of the inhabitants, and in carry- ing a number of others into captivity.
9. In 1747, the settlement at Number Four was abandoned by the inhabitants, and the fort at that place was garrisoned by 30 men under the command of Capt. Phinehas Stevens. On the 4th of April, a party of 400 French and Indians under M. Debeline surrounded this fort and commenced an attack by firing upon it on all sides. This proving ineffectual, the enemy next endeavored to burn the fort by setting fire to the fen- ces and huts around it and by discharging flaming arrows upon it. Not succeeding in this, they next prepared a wheel carriage which they loaded with
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
faggots, and by pushing this before them, they endeav- ored by it to set fire to the fort while it protected them from the fire of the garrison.
10. All these attempts were, however, defeated by the vigilence and bravery of Stevens and his men, and at length an interview took place between the two commanders. At this interview Debeline boasted of his superior numbers, expressed his determination to storm the fort, and described in glowing colors the horrid massacre, which would ensue if the fort was not surrendered without further resistance. To all this Stevens coolly replied ; " I can assure you that my men are not afraid to die." After this interview the attack was renewed with much spirit, and, after continuing · it for three days without success, the French comman- der proposed to Stevens that he would abandon the siege and return to Canada on condition that the gar- rison would sell them provisions for the journey. This Stevens absolutely refused, but proposed to give them five bushels of corn for every captive for whom they would leave a hostage, until they could be brought from Canada. The enemy, not relishing these condi- tions, after firing a few guns, withdrew, leaving Stevens in peaceable possession of the fort.
11. In this siege Stevens lost not a man, and had but two men wounded. The loss of the enemy was not ascertained, but must have been very considerable. And so highly was the gallantry of Stevens on this occasion esteemed by Sir Charles Knowles, a British naval officer then at Boston, that he presented him an elegant sword; and from this circumstance the township, when it was incorporated, received the name of Charlestown. During the remainder of the war, which did not entirely cease till 1749, the New England frontiers, were continually harrassed by small parties of Indians, but no considerable expeditions were undertaken either by the French, or English colonies,
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COLONIAL CONVENTION.
SECTION V.
French and English Colonies-from 1748 to 1756. Brad- dock defeated-the French defeated at fort William Henry. -
.1. By the treaty concluded between Great Britain and France, in 1748, at Aix la Chapelle, the controversy respecting claims in America, was to be referred to commissioners appointed by the sovereigns of the two nations. These commissioners met at Paris in 1752, and labored for some time to establish the claims of their respective courts; but they found it impossible to.come to an agreement on the subject, and soon after the two countries were again involved in war, in which their colonies, as usual, shortly after participated.
.... 2. In 1754, a convention of delegates from the seve- ral English provinces, convened at Albany, for the purpose of devising some general and efficient plan of operations in the struggle which was about to ensue. Here it was resolved to apply to the British parliament for an act constituting a grand legislative council to be composed of delegates from the several legislative assemblies in the colonies, and subject to the negative of a president-general, appointed by the crown. But this plan of union had the singular fortune to be re- jected both by the colonies and the mother country. By the colonies it was supposed to give to the crown prerogatives which would endanger their liberties, and by the king, it was supposed to concede to the colo- nial assemblies, rights and powers which he was by no means prepared to acknowledge.
3. It was on the 4th of July, 1754, that the above plan of American union was agreed to by the conven- tion, and it is worthy of remark, that this plan was consummated, July 4th, 1776, just 22 years from that day, by the declaration of American. Independence. During the deliberations of the convention and the 3*
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
interchange of views and opinions between the colo- nies and the mother country, the colonies themselves were making every preparation for the defence of their frontiers. In the beginning of the year 1755, Governor Shirley convened the assembly of Massachusetts, and communicated to them a plan, which he had formed, for the reduction of the French fortress at Crown Point. The assembly readily concurred and commis- sioners were sent to the neighboring provinces to re- quest their assistance and co-operation.
4. Col Johnson, of the province of New York, was appointed to command this expedition and all the northern colonies were engaged in making preparations for it, when Gen. Braddock arrived in Virginia with two Irish regiments. A convention of the several governors and commanders in the English colonies, was therefore immediately assembled at Albany, in which it was determined that, during the summer, four different expeditions should be undertaken against the French ; namely ;- one under the direction of Brad- dock against fort Du Quesne, one under Shirley against Niagara ; one under Johnson against Crown Point, and one under Cols Monckton and Winslow against the French settlements in Nova Scotia.
5. Braddock set out for fort Du Quesne on the 20th of April, with 22,00 men and marched forward confident of victory and fame, but, disregarding the advice of his officers and unaccustomed to American warfare, he fell into an ambuscade of about 400 French and Indians, by whom he was defeated and slain. The regular troops were thrown into the ut- most confusion by the unexpected onset and fiendlike yells of the savages, but the Virginia militia, which Braddock, had disdainfully, placed in the rear, being trained to Indian fighting, continued unbroken and, by the prudent management of George Washington, then a Colonel of the militia and Aid to Braddock, so effectually covered the retreat as to save a part of the army from destruction. - .
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TICONDEROGA FORTIFIED.
. 6. The army, designed for the reduction of the fort at Niagara, effected nothing, except the strengthening of the fortifications at Oswego. Johnson, having collected five or six hundred provincial troops at Albany, for the expedition against Crown Point, sent them forward, under the command of Gen. Lyman, to the carrying place between the Hudson and lake George, where they erected fort Edward. Johnson did not leave Albany till the 10th of August, and the latter part of that month he advanced 15 miles beyond fort Edward and encamped near the south end of lake George.
7. Shortly after his arrival at this place, he received intelligence from his scouts that the French had taken possession of Ticonderoga, which commanded the communication between lake George and lake Cham- plain. Johnson was aware of the importance of this post, and hastend his preparations that he might move forward and dislodge the enemy. But before his batteaux and artillery were in readiness, the French had erected fortifications sufficiently strong to defend themselves against surprise, or an easy conquest.
8. Alarmed by the exaggerated account of the English force assembled at lake George, and designed for the reduction of the fort at Crown Point, Baron Dieskau hastened forward to its defence with a considerable army of French and Indians. But having ascertained that an immediate attack from the English was not to be expected, he resolved to move forward and attack the English in their camp, and, if successful, proceed further and perhaps get possession of Albany and Schenectady. He embarked his army, consisting of 18,00 men, in batteaux and landed at South bay, which is near the south end of lake Champlain. Here he learned from an English prisoner that fort Edward was almost defenceless, and that Johnson's camp at lake George was protected neither by entrenchments nor by cannon.
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