USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Pittsford > History of the town of Pittsford, Vt., with biographical sketches and family records > 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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
It would appear that the Green Mountain Boys in their dealings with the Yorkers-as they were called-were governed by a code of laws enacted by their own conventions, were care- ful to have all these faithfully executed, and were ready to mete out to any offending Yorker such punishment as they consid- ered due to the quality of his crime. One of these penalties occasionally, though not often, inflicted was the application of the beach seal,t so termed in allusion to the great seal of New Hampshire, affixed to the grants made by the governor of that province, of which the beach rod well laid on the naked backs of the Yorkers and their adherents, was humorously considered a confirmation .¿
There is one well authenticated instance of the infliction of
* Doc. Hist. of N. Y., Vol. IV., p. 804.
t Allen defines this to be " the chastisement of the New York claimants. with. the twigs of the wilderness, the growth of the land they coveted."
Į Slade, State Papers, p. 36.
90
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
this mode of punishment within the limits of. Pittsford. It appears that a New York surveyor with several assistants was sent into the north part of Socialborough to run out and locate some land in that section of the township. Intelligence of their appearance and object rapidly spread and in a few hours. Col. Cooley at the head of a party of the Green Mountain Boys was in rapid pursuit. They were overtaken and arrested in the swamp a little north of the present residence of Ira Hitch- cock, on land then owned by Stephen Jenner, and taken before three men who acted as judges and after going through the forms of a trial the verdict was to the effect "that the head surveyor should have the application of the beach seal and that his assistants should be discharged on condition that they pledge themselves to offend no more." The surveyor was accordingly tied to a tree, and the beach withe applied to his naked back, or-as the Colonel was accustomed to phrase it-was given a "sound drubbing." The culprit was then warned that if he repeated the offence the punishment would be death .*
The last instance of the infliction of this punishment-so far as we can learn-was on the person of Benjamin Hough a noted New York partisan who resided in the south part of Socialborough. Hough accepted a commission of justice under the New York government, and took a very active part in insti- tuting suits of ejectment against the New Hampshire claimants. He was formally served with a copy of the resolution of the Manchester' convention by which it was declared that "whoever should in the then unsettled state of affairs presume to take a commission of justice of the peace from the New York govern- ment should be deemed an enemy to their county and the common cause." To this he paid no attention but continued his obnoxious career till he was siezed by a body of his neigh-
* We have searched all the records of that period, to which we have had access, to find some account of this transaction, but without success. It is here pub- lished, on the authority of those who have frequently heard Col. Coolcy give an account of it, and no one acquainted with him would doubt his veracity.
91
PUNISHMENT OF HOUGH.
bors among whom were Ebenezer Lyman, Benjamin Cooley and Stephen Mead, and conveyed to Sunderland and there tried for his offences by a court consisting of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sunderland, James Mead, Gideon Warren and Stephen Sawyer. He was found guilty and sentenced "to be tied to a tree, and receive two hundred lashes on the naked back, and as soon as he should be able, should depart from the New Hampshire grants, and not return again, till his majesty's pleasure should be known in the premi- ses, on pain of receiving five hundred lashes."
This sentence was immediately put into execution and then, as a protection against further punishment, he was furnished with the following certificate :
" SUNDERLAND, January 30, 1775. This may certify to the inhabitants of the New Hampshire grants that Benjamin Hough hath this day received the full punishment for his crimes committed heretofore against this country and our inhabitants are ordered to give him the said Hough free and unmolested passport towards the city of New York, or to the westward of our grants, he behaving as becometh.
Given under our hands the day and date aforesaid.
ETHAN ALLEN, SETH WARNER."
Hough departed the next day for New York, where he made an affidavit before Chief-Justice Horsmanden, giving a minute account of the cruel and abusive manner in which he had been treated ; and he petitioned the council for protection against the rioters .*
While this affair was under consideration intelligence was received of an alarming insurrection against the government of New York, on the east side of the Green Mountains in the county of Cumberland, which resulted in the breaking up of
* See Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. IV., p. 897.
92
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
the session of the county court and the arrest and imprison- ment of the sheriff and judges.
The British ministry had for some time been maturing a plan for obtaining a revenue from the American colonies. In pursuance of that plan numerous acts of parliament were passed, so oppressive in their nature as to alienate the affections. of the colonists from the government of Great Britain. In September, 1774, a congress of delegates from twelve of the colonies assembled at Philadelphia, and among other acts. " resolved to suspend all commercial intercourse with the mother country, until the obnoxious acts of parliament should be repealed." This resolution, with other measures of resist- ance, was embodied in the form of an agreement, and sub- scribed by all the members present, and recommended for adoption by all the colonies.
One of the articles of agreement was that they "would have no trade, commerce, dealings or intercourse whatever with any colony or province, in North America, who should not accede to, or should violate the association, but would hold them unworthy the rights of freemen and as inimical to the liberties of their country."
These measures, recommended by Congress, were approved and adopted by all the colonies except New York. The major- ity of the people of Cumberland county, approving of the action of Congress, very naturally felt that they would be justified in renouncing allegiance to a government which they had long disliked, and which had now violated the decrees of Congress, and had, thereby, according to the language of that Congress, become "unworthy the rights of freemen."
In the meantime the excitement, growing out of the arbi- trary demands of the British ministry, intensified by the menac- ing attitude of the King's troops in Boston, became so furious as to disarrange the machinery of all the colonial governments. The courts of justice which had been held under the royal
93
ACT FOR SUPPRESSING RIOTS.
authority, were either suspended or broken up, and a general stagnation pervaded all departments of human industry. A term of court for Cumberland county was appointed to be held at Westminster, on the 14th of March, and as it was known that the members of the court were advocates of the King's. measures, and opposed to the Resolves of the Continental Con- gress, the people felt it their duty to resist their authority and prevent the holding of such an obnoxious court, and hence the outbreak to which allusion has been made .*
Information of this Westminster tragedy was communicated to the New York Assembly, by Lieut .- Gov. Colden, together with the papers relating to the Hough affair, and that body was urged to take effectual measures for protecting His Majesty's suffering and obedient subjects, and for vindicating the honor and dignity of the government. After an animated debate the Assembly resolved "that this house will make provisions for granting to his majesty the sum of one thousand pounds to be applied in enabling and assisting the inhabitants of the county of Cumberland to reinstate and maintain the due administra- tion of justice and for the suppression of riots in said county."
This resolution was followed by another offering a reward, in addition to one that had already been offered, for apprehend- ing and confining in any jail in the colony certain prominent "rioters." Here terminated the efforts of the colonial govern- ment of New York to exercise jurisdiction over the people of the New Hampshire Grants, as the commencement of the rev- olutionary struggle, on the 19th of April following, rendered all further efforts useless.
Allusion has been made to certain conventions which were held at different times during the period we have been contem- plating. These had their origin in a common necessity. The inhabitants of the several townships chartered by New Hamp-
* For a full account of this transaction see " History of Eastern Vermont."
94
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
shire, as soon as they became sufficiently numerous, organized themselves into municipal communities and adopted such rules and regulations as were essential for their local government ; and as their land titles began to be called in question, town committees were chosen, whose duty it was to attend to matters of public interest, and especially to the defence of their prop- erty against the New York claimants.
The committees of the several towns occasionally met in general convention to consult upon matters of common interest and to adopt some general and uniform measures for their pro- tection. As few records of these conventions have been preserved we know little of their proceedings; it is certain, however, that their decrees were regarded and obeyed as laws. At first the execution of these laws appears to have been left to individuals or local communities, but as the powers with which they had to contend became more formidable, a military organization-wider in scope-was resorted to. This consisted of several companies of infantry properly equipped and officered, which was held in readiness to repel invasion or to assist in executing the laws of the conventions. The members of this military corps assumed the name of Green Mountain Boys, in derision or defiance of a threat said to have been made by Gov. Tryon, that he would drive the rebellious settlers into the Green Mountains. This name soon became an honorable appel- lation, and is associated with some of the most brilliant military achievements in the early history of the country.
Whatever expense was incurred in executing the decrees of the conventions appears to have been apportioned among the towns represented therein. Thus in a convention held at Man- chester on the 21st of October, 1772, Jehiel Hawley and James Breckenridge were appointed agents to repair to London and "solicit their petition" to His Majesty for a confirmation of their claims under the grants from New Hampshire .* That the
* Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. IV., p. 802.
95
PETITION FOR COMPENSATORY LANDS.
expense of this mission was apportioned among the towns rep- resented will appear from the following extract from the jour- nal of the General Assembly of Vermont, in October, 1786 :
"A petition signed by Gershom Beach, setting forth that he gave his note in November, 1772, for £75 New York money, being the quota of money for the towns of Rutland, Pittsford and Clarendon, to defray the expense of Messrs. Hawley and Breckenridge to England to obtain a confirmation of the New Hampshire grants, and that the town of Rutland have not paid their quota of said money, and that he is called upon to pay said note ; and praying that he may be authorized by law to collect said money to pay the aforesaid debt; was read and referred to a committee of three to take the same under con- sideration, state facts and make a report. Members chosen Mr. J. Smith, Mr. Cosseen and Mr. Allen."
The early settlers of Pittsford, having a common interest in establishing and maintaing their title to the soil, acted with a good degree of unanimity, in all their efforts to resist the establishment of any claim under the New York patent of Socialborough. But there were a few non-resident Proprietors under the New Hampshire grant, who were quite willing to relinquish their claim, on condition that they could have secured to them a tract of land of equal value in some other part of the royal domain, as will appear from the following petition :
To the Honourable Cadwallader Colden Esquier his Majesty's Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Prov- ince of New York, and the Territories depending thereon in America.
The humble Petition of Samuel Ashley of Winchester in the Province of New Hampshire, Esquire, and his Associates, Sheweth,
That your Petitioners formerly obtained from the Gov- ernment of New Hampshire a Grant of a Township called Shrewsbury, and part of the Township of Pittsford, to the
96
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
Westward of Connecticut River, and that a controversy arising between that Province and New York respecting their Boun- dary, it was finally determined in Favour of the latter by a Royal Decree of his Majesty in Privy Council dated the Twen- tieth Day of July, one Thousand seven Hundred and sixty-four.
That altho' your Petitioners afterwards applied to Sir Henry Moore, Baronet, formerly Governor of this Province in Council for a confirmation of the said Township of Shrewsbury, and part of the Township of Pittsford, and altho' they at first obtained a Resolution in their Favour, yet those lands were afterwards granted to others.
That your Petitioners in the Month of April, One Thou- sand seven Hundred and Seventy-two, applied to his Excel- lency, Governor Tryon for Lands in compensation for their New Hampshire Claims, situate about fifteen miles to the East- ward of Lake Champlain in the County of Charlotte ; and his Majesty's Council conceiving it highly equitable that a reason- able Recompense should be made to your Petitioners for their Losses, were pleased to advise that a Grant should be passed under the Great Seal of this Province to your Petitioners agreeable to the Prayer of their Petition.
That your Petitioners have since at a very great Expence procured a Survey and Return to be made of the said Com- pensatory Lands, which is now in the hands of the Surveyor General.
That such advice was given by his Majesty's said Council in Favour of your Petitioners since the last Instructions to his Excellency Governor Tryon on the subject of the Lands for- merly claimed by New Hampshire was communicated to his- said Excellency, and that since that Period other Grants have passed the seal in his said Excellency's Administration for Lands lying within the District formerly claimed by New Hampshire.
That tho' the Lands so advised to be granted to and sur-
97
PETITION FOR COMPENSATORY LANDS.
veyed and returned for your Petitioners do lay within the said District, yet no part thereof was ever Patented either under New Hampshire or the French Government of Canada, but always remained as it now does, vacant and vested in the Crown.
That your Petitioners humbly conceive it would be a very great Hardship, if in addition to the Misfortunes they have already sustained in loosing the Lands Patented to them by New Hampshire, they should now be doubly distressed by being disappointed in a Compensation, which his present Excellency Governor Tryon, and his Majesty's Council thought so equita- ble, and this the more especially as in a Dependance on the Stability and good faith of the Acts of this Government in their Favour, your Petitioners have actually expended and dis- bursed large Sums of Money in Discovering, Surveying and laying out the said Lands in a very remote Part of the Province.
That your Petitioners humbly hope that their Hard Case will be conceived to be within the equity of his Majesty's Instructions for granting such Lands as are already advised to be granted to and actually surveyed for his Majesty's subjects on the Terms hitherto usual.
That since Granting the said last mentioned Petition several of your Petitioners associates therein named are either dead or removed out of this Province (to wit) Simon Stevens, John Levine and Samuel Stevens.
Your Petitioners do therefore most humbly pray that your Honour will be pleased to order Letters Patent to be passed the Great Seal for Granting to your Petitioners the Lands so advised to be granted to and surveyed for them, and laid down on the Map annexed to Colonel Josiah Willard, and John Wigrains Petition, under the Quit Rents and conditions hitherto usual; That the same may be erected into a Township by the name of with the usual Privileges, and that instead
8
98
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
of the names of the before mentioned Persons who are so dead or removed the following may be inserted in such Letters Patent, (to wit) Samuel Roberts, William Crossley, & John Ryan.
And your Petitioners shall pray & ce.
SAMUEL ASHLEY For himself and his Associates.
Upon the back of this petition was the following endorse- ment :
"1772, May 2d, referred to a committee.
1774, May 6th, read in committee, and referred to his majesty's power to counsel, being restrained by the King's instructions."
Shrewsbury was first granted by the Governor of New Hampshire to Samuel Ashley and his associates. The most of the same territory was afterwards covered by the New York patents of Newry and Durham. Mr. Ashley's name is not found among the original grantees of Pittsford, so that whatever interest he had in this township, must have been obtained by subsequent purchase. It is quite likely, however, that some of Ashley's associates were among the original grantees of Pittsford, but we have no means of knowing. how many, nor who among them became Proprietors by purchase.
99
REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
CHAPTER IV.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point ; Expedition to Canada; Convention of the New Hampshire Grants; Battle of Hubbardton; Pittsford Company Organized; Fort Mott ; Pittsford men taken prisoners.
The Disturbances growing out of the conflicting claims to the New Hampshire Grants, in which the inhabitants of Pitts- ford had been compelled to take part, subsided somewhat for the time being, in consequence of public attention being directed to the more exciting subject of a war with England. However much of personal interest the early settlers of these grants had in an equitable adjustment of the long enduring land-title con- troversy, they were willing to postpone further proceedings in relation to it, in order that they might the better co-operate with their countrymen, in resisting the unjust claims of the British government. And when, on the 19th of April, 1775, the impending war was opened by the conflict at Lexington, when the last flickering hope of a peaceful solution of the diffi- culties with England was extinguished, and the colonies were hastily preparing for the struggle, every nerve being strained to its utmost tension-the people of these grants being in full sympathy with the New England colonies from which they had emigrated, espoused most heartily the common cause and made the needful preparations for aiding in its defence.
It had long been foreseen by the colonies, that in the event of a war with the mother country, it would be very essential for them to possess the important fortresses of Ticonderoga and
100
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
Crown Point. Accordingly on receiving the first intelligence of the battle of Lexington, a number of men in Connecticut procured the necessary funds and set on foot an expedition for the capture of these military posts. On arriving at Bennington they were joined by Col. Ethan Allen who eagerly enlisted in the enterprise and together they proceeded to Castleton, where a council of the committee of war was held to decide upon future operations. It was thought best to send Capt. Noah Phelps, of Simsbury, Conn., to Ticonderoga to examine into its situation and condition and make report to his associates. He passed over the lake in a boat, in the rustic garb of a farmer, and put up at a house near the fort for the night, where several of the officers were collected for a supper party. He listened to their conversation respecting the commotions in the colonies, and the defenceless condition of the post, without taking any apparent interest in what they said.
In the morning he gained admission into the fort for the purpose of being shaved, and having learned the number of men in the garrison and ascertained that their ammunition was damaged, he engaged the boatman to take him across the lake, and returned to Castleton where he reported what he had seen and heard. Allen immediately dispatched Maj. Beach as a messenger to collect men to meet his party at a place since known as Hand's Point, in the town of Shoreham. Beach went on foot to Rutland, Pittsford, Neshobe, (now Brandon,) Mid- dlebury, Whiting and Shoreham, making a circuit of sixty miles in twenty-four hours .*
In passing through Pittsford he called at the residece of Capt. Benjamin Cooley, to whom he delivered the message of Col. Allen. Capt. Cooley at once left his field, seized his gun, and taking with him Isaac Buck, Jr., John Deming, Hopkins Rowley, and Ephraim Stevens, proceeded to the appointed
* Hist. of Shoreham.
101
EXPEDITION TO TICONDEROGA.
place of rendezvous. Allen and his men took the old Crown Point road* in Sudbury, and came to Lake Champlain, at a place since called Hand's Cove, where the men lay concealed from the view of the enemy in a ravine, and where they were joined by the recruits raised by Maj. Beach, among whom were Capt. Cooley and his Pittsford boys. Allen finding here no adequate means of conveying his men across the lake, sent messengers to Bridport and Addison to procure boats. They reached Bridport in the night, and made their object known to a Mr. Stone, in whose chamber a couple of young men were sleeping. He awakened them, when they arose and having received instructions proceeded to the fort at Crown Point and persuaded a negro who had charge of the boats belonging to the garrison to row them as far as Shoreham, where they pre- tended there was to be a squirrel hunt the next day,-promising him as a compensation a jug of rum. The boats did not arrive at the rendezvous until towards morning of the next day. There were two hundred and seventy men in all, two hundred and thirty of whom were Green Mountains Boys, all eager to embark and share in the perils and honors of that daring enter- prise. The boats, however, were insufficient to carry all. Only eighty-three of the two hundred and seventy passed over, leav- ing one hundred and eighty-seven behind. Those remaining expected to be sent for immediately after the landing of the first party, but as they had to row nearly two miles before they reached the shore on the west side of the lake a little north of Willow Point, it began to be light, and Allen therefore deter- mined not to await the arrival of the rest of the men from the other side, but to push on immediately to the attack. They set forward under the guidance of a young man named Beman, about eighteen years old who had spent much of his time at the fort, and was well acquainted with all the passages and buildings, including the quarters of the officers and soldiers.
* The pilot led the company through the wilderness by imitating the notes of the cuckoo.
102
HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
Allen and Arnold* followed by their men proceeded on through a covered passage into the fort, under the direction of Beman. The sentinel, unaware of their approach had not given the alarm, but at sight of the enemy he instinctively snapped his gun at Allen, who parried the weapon with his sword, and struck a blow at the soldier's head which inflicted a wound that would probably have killed him, if the force of the blow had not been abated by collision with a comb which was in the soldier's hair. Allen pushed on to the apartment occupied by Capt. De La Place who was yet in bed, and demanded the immediate sur- render of the fort in the name of powers, for one of which the British commander had little respect however much he might have had for the other.
" With such celerity had the men under Allen entered and paraded themselves in the open area within the fort, while the soldiers were yet sleeping in their barracks, that aroused thus suddenly from their slumbers, no opportunity was offered them to organize, and resistance in such circumstances being impracticable was not for a moment to be thought of. In a few minutes the officers and men were paraded on the square embraced within the walls and surrendered themselves, forty- four in number, to the hero of the Green Mountains."t
In a short time the men who had been left on the opposite side of the lake, under Col. Warner, went over and joined their comrades in celebrating a triumph achieved without the sacrifice of a single life. On the same day Warner was sent with a detachment of men to take Crown Point, which being garrisoned by a sergeant and twelve men only, was surrendered without resistance. Amos Callendar was also sent with a small party of men to take the fort at the head of Lake George which was easily accomplished.
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.