USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Bennington > Memorials of a century. Embracing a record of individuals and events, chiefly in the early history of Bennington, Vt., and its First church > Part 10
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The following paragraph from the " History of Eastern Vermont," by Benjamin H. Hall, describes the serious divis- ion of feeling in Guilford (a town next to the Massachusetts line, and the easternmost but one in Southern Vermont) : -
" Houses were divided, -the father upholding the jurisdiction of New York; the sons maintaining the supremacy of Vermont. Friendships the most intimate were disturbed. The word neigh- bor carried no meaning with it beyond the idea of contiguity. The physician could not visit his patient in safety unless protected by a pass. The minister of the gospel failed to enforce the doc- trine of Christian charity on the hearts of men who knew none for one another." 1
It was in this state of things that, in the summer of 1783, General Ethan Allen was directed to call out the militia for enforcing the laws of Vermont, and for suppressing insur- rection and disturbances in the county of Windham (south- east county). Allen proceeded from Bennington at the head of one hundred Green Mountain Boys, and on his
1 p. 500.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
arrival at Guilford he issued the following proclamation, concluding it (with an oath) as follows : -
"I, Ethan Allen, declare that unless the people of Guilford peaceably submit to the authority of Vermont, the town shall be made as desolate as were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah."
These trials made the settlers here very determined, com- pacted them together, set them irresistibly against the ju- risdiction of New York, caused all tories to become very odious in their sight, and bore them onward through incon- ceivable difficulties and hardships to the goal to which, under Providence, they were surely tending, - that of an independent State.
In this struggle the settlers exhibited some rare qualities of a superior understanding and character. With all their rude energy they were still more remarkable for shrewdness and tact, which failed not unfrequently to be identified as such, because it was clothed with a naive simplicity ; and yet it went as unerringly to its chosen mark, as ever did Locksley's arrow in the romance of Walter Scott. Full of interest are the accounts of their success in keeping the English forces from invading us on the north, for two years, and when we were in a manner defenceless, by simply per- mitting the English general Haldimand to believe that they could be cajoled to sell their country to the British crown ; and yet all the time the fire of patriotism burned as brightly on their altars as did the flame of their devotion to their more narrow interests as a commonwealth.1 They kept the
1 The inhabitants of the Grants felt that they could not consistently join an association with the province of New York, so they formed and subscribed an association of their own in the following words: "We, the subscribers, in- habitants of the district of land, commonly called and known by the name of the New Hampshire Grants, do voluntarily and solemnly engage, under all the ties held sacred amongst mankind, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, to de- fend by arms the United States against the hostile attempts of the British fleets and armies, until the present unhappy controversy between the two countries
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SHREWDNESS AND MODERATION.
surrounding country, and every Tory and Yorker within their bounds, under fear of being hung and quartered by them if caught in any act of dereliction to their cause. " And yet during the whole controversy not a single life was taken by them, not a person was permanently maimed, and there is no evidence that a gun was ever aimed and dis- charged at any one."1 Thus they were considerate of the rights and peace of others, although determined to main- tain their own.
The New York government intimated a purpose to stop further hostile proceedings, though proposing to continue colonial jurisdiction over them, they grounded arms at once, and held public rejoicings over the pros- pect of peace. At a later period of the controversy, when they had a fair prospect of being able to incorporate with their declared new State all the towns up to the Hudson River on the west, and over the Connecticut River half way into New Hampshire as it now is on the east, upon the first intimation from Congress that they would be approved by that body if they would abandon the new acquisitions, they let them go; and when New York State offered to close the controversy upon their payment of thirty thousand dollars, they promptly accepted the terms.
But severely as they were, for more than a quarter of a century of unscrupulous and powerful opposition, put to the test, they triumphantly proved to the world that it was not in them to seriously yield the rights or advantages which were vital to their independence, and to their nobly doing
shall be settled." Subscribed by forty-nine of the fifty members of the conven- tion held at Cephas Kent's, in Dorset, July 24, 1776, of which Captain Joseph 'Bowker, of Rutland, was chairman, and Jonas Fay, of Bennington, clerk; thirty-one towns on the west side of the mountains and one on the east side being represented by fifty-one delegates. - Early History Vermont, pp. 231, 2. The warrant for this convention was signed by James Breakenridge, Simeon Hathaway, and Elijah Dewey, - all Bennington men.
1 Early Hist. Vermont, p. 161.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
as men and citizens. They, therefore, organized their companies of Green Mountain Boys, appointed general con- ventions of the towns, and town councils of safety, and their far-famed State council of safety, adopted a dec- laration of State independence, enacted laws for themselves, and put in operation the complicated machinery of an inde- pendent State government.
There is not space here to go much into the details of this vigorous and effective struggle of more than a quarter of a century. The hardy settlers were armed at all points. They drove away the New York surveyors, even when these came supported by the sheriff and his posse ; if a comrade was stealthily spirited away, when made aware of the fact, they mounted horse and hurried to the rescue, and that not without success ; if a "Yorker" was discovered among them, they applied the Beech Seal,1 or some other effective chastisement. They sent able men to Albany to remonstrate there against the proceedings of New York, and, had they been permitted, to plead the causes of their people in the courts there. They sent agents to the court of Great Britain. When the question of their admission as a State into the Federal Union had become a question for Congress to act upon, and they were successfully opposed for years by the powerful influence of New York in the Federal councils, they sent petition after petition and their foremost men to represent their cause occasionally or con- tinuously at Philadelphia.
1 The moderation and justice of the settlers have been referred to, and that the severe language and threatenings were not so much for actual execution as for rhetorical effect. With regard to the application of the beech-seal : "This mode of punishment by the beech-seal, though much talked of and abundantly threatened, was not often executed. There are, in fact, not more than two or three well authenticated instances in which it appears to have been inflicted." __ Hall's Early Hist. Vermont, p. 162. See also his further remarks to show that the Green Mountain Boys were not peculiar in inflicting corporal punishment upon their adversaries, and that the colony of New York was "at that time by no means an exception to that practice."
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THE LENGTH OF THE STRUGGLE.
The continuance of this struggle was prolonged through a period of twenty-six years,-1764-1790. While they were fighting the battles of American independence, they were denied a place as a State among the United States.1
1 The declaration of Vermont Independence was issued under date of Jan. 15, 1777. " The vote of convention to be an independent State, and the declaration of independence accordingly, was decisively brought about at last doubtless by the Declaration of American Independence. When the colonies declared them- selves free of the British Crown, it was felt by the Vermont settlers that there no longer remained any earthly power recognized by the parties as a superior possessing the right of deciding the controversy between themselves and New York." - Gov. Slade in State Papers, p. 65. " Every part of the United States was, at that period, contending against oppression ; and every consideration that could justify the proceedings of Congress was a reason why the people of Ver- mont should take that opportunity effectually to guard against their former suf- ferings." - Williams.
CHAPTER XI.
LAND-TITLE CONTROVERSY, CONTINUED.
O add to all their other difficulties, there sprang up in the course of them a protracted, painful, and very critical controversy with New Hampshire, and parties interested with New Hampshire in making the towns between the Green Mountains and Con- necticut River a part of that State. There is not space here to notice that controversy further than to say that it had required the utmost possible vigor and address of the settlers to prevent it from finally destroying their hopes of becoming a State.
Bennington was, throughout this controversy, the head- quarters of the opponents of New York ; the place where their plans of operations were generally devised, and whence issued their resolves and orders, and a large share of the physical force which carried them into effect.1 Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, who bore a conspicuous part in the struggle, resided here.
Ethan Allen, being on one occasion in Albany, to aid, if an opportunity was granted, the defence in the eject- ment suits, it is related that before he left Albany he was called on by the Attorney-General, who told him that the cause of the settlers was desperate, and urged him to go home and persuade his Green Mountain friends to make the best terms they could with their new landlords, remind-
1 For the composition of the Vermont Council of Safety (originally numbering twelve-(Gen. Stark),- and some notice of its spirit and measures, see Early Hist. Vt., pp. 258, 9.
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THE BREAKENRIDGE FARM.
ing him of the proverb, that might often prevails against right. Allen coolly replied to them, that the gods of the val- leys were not the gods of the hills; and when asked by Kempe, the king's attorney, to explain his meaning, he only added, that if he would accompany him to Benning- ton the same would be made clear.
When James Breakenridge's farm, at one end of the town, and Dr. Fuller's at the other, were singled out to be forcibly wrested from their occupants and placed in the power of the New York speculators, the citizens of the town voted to take the farms of Breakenridge and Fuller under the protection of the town, and to defend them against the New York officers at all hazards. This resolve they effectually and thoroughly executed ; particularly, the attempt to obtain forcible possession of Mr. Breakenridge's farm was so systematically and deliberately organized, and yet so completely defeated, that it discouraged attempts of the like kind thereafter. The sheriff made a general summons of the citizens of Albany to accompany him, so that when he started on his expedition he found himself at the head of over three hundred variously armed men, of different occu- pations and professions, and he received additions to his numbers by new levies on the way; but with all the sheriff found "the gods of the hills" too strong for " the gods of the valleys." 1
Remember Baker, of Arlington, opposed to New York, was assaulted, with his family, in his house, before day- light Sunday morning, by John Munro, Esq., a New York justice, and ten or twelve of his friends and dependents, and forcibly carried off. News of the transaction was conveyed by express to Bennington. Ten men immedi- ately mounted their horses, got upon the track of the banditti, intercepted them, and rescued Baker. The
1 See a graphic account of this important affair in Early Hist. Vt., pp. 124-126.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
names of the men were as follows : Gen. Isaac Clark, Col. Joseph Safford, Maj. Wait Hopkins, Col. David Safford, and Messrs. Timothy Abbott, Stephen Hopkins, Elnathan Hubbell, Samuel Tubbs, Ezekiel Brewster, and Nathaniel Holmes. (The men are designated by their subsequent titles.)1
There was at one time a gleam of hope from Albany, entertained, as before alluded to, by the settlers. A com- mittee consisting of the Rev. Mr. Dewey and others wrote a communication, and Ethan Allen and others also wrote a letter. These were conveyed by Capt. Stephen Fay and his son, Dr. Jonas Fay, to Governor Tryon ; they had received a safe-conduct for this purpose from the New York Gover- nor. They were kindly received by him, and the letters they bore appear to have had much weight with him at the time; so much so that the council recommended and His Excellency approved the suspension of all prosecutions in behalf of the crown, on account of crimes with which the settlers stood charged, until the pleasure of the king should be known, and also suspension of civil suits. This slight favorable turn moved the universal joy in Bennington and vinicity. A vast concourse of people assembled at the meeting-house in Bennington to give expression to the general satisfaction. It was, however, shortlived; the gleam of sunshine soon disappeared.
This was July 15, 1772. The year before military or- ganizations were formed in the several townships west of the mountains, for forcible opposition, when necessary, to the New York patentees ; one company was formed in Bennington, with Seth Warner as captain ; the whole body of companies when acting together were commanded by Ethan Allen as colonel. In defiant contempt of a reported threat of the Governor of New York that he would " drive
1 Early History of Vermont, p. 137.
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PROCLAMATION OF THE SETTLERS.
the opposers of his government into the Green Mountains," this military body took the name " Green Mountain Boys." The place where in Bennington the councils of the leaders were held, the Council of Safety, was the Green Mountain Tavern kept by Capt. Stephen Fay. It had for its sign the stuffed skin of a catamount, with teeth grinning toward New York, and hence came to be called the Catamount Tavern. Mention has been made of negotiations by Ver- mont statesmen, with other parties and powers, about the questions in controversy, and particularly at Philadelphia.
Prominent among them were Bennington men such as Jonas Fay, Moses Robinson, Isaac Tichenor, etc.
At the convention of the towns west of the Green Mountains, at the house of Cephas Kent, in Dorset, Jan. 16, 1776, at which it was voted " to represent the particular case of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants to the honorable Continental Congress by remonstrance and petition," Dr. Jonas Fay was chairman of the committee to prepare the petition ; Lieut James Breakenridge, Capt. Heman Allen, and Dr. Jonas Fay were appointed to pre- sent the petition to Congress,- one of the most important documents to which this great controversy gave rise. Sim- eon Hatheway, Elijah Dewey, and James Breakenridge were appointed a committee with power to warn a general meet- ing of the committees on the Grants when they shall judge necessary from southern intelligence.
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NOTES TO THE ABOVE TWO CHAPTERS.
" And we now proclaim to the public, not only for ourselves, but for the New Hampshire grantees and occupants in general, that the spring and moving cause of our opposition to the government of New York was self-preservation; namely, first, the preserva-
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
tion and maintenance of our property; and, secondly, since that government is so incensed against us, therefore it stands us in hand to defend our lives. For it appears, by a late set of laws passed by the legislature thereof, that the lives and property of the New Hampshire settlers are manifestly struck at. But, that the public may rightly understand the essence of the controversy, we now proclaim to these lawgivers, and to the world, that if the New York patentees will remove their patents, that have been subse- quently lapped and laid on the New Hampshire charters, and quiet us in our possessions, agreeably to His Majesty's directions, and suspend those criminal prosecutions against us for being rioters (as we are unjustly denominated), then will our settlers be orderly and submissive subjects of government. But be it known to that de- spotic fraternity of lawmakers, and law-breakers, that we will not be fooled or frightened out of our property."1 " At a general meeting of the committees for the townships on the west side of the Green Mountains, it was resolved, April 14, 1774, that for the future every necessary preparation be made, and that our inhabi- tants hold themselves in readiness, at a minute's warning, to aid and defend such friends of ours, who, for their merit to the great and general cause, are falsely denominated rioters. But that we will not act anything, more or less, but on the defensive; and al- ways encourage due execution of law in civil cases, and also in criminal prosecutions that are so indeed, and that we will assist, to the utmost of our power, the officers appointed for that pur- pose."
" On the farm of James Breakenridge the first serious attempt was made by the New York State Government to forcibly dispos- sess the occupants, and to divide up the property amongst New York claimants ; and here they met with their first serious discom- fiture ; and this was their last attempt of that kind. Here, in fact, on the farm of James Breakenridge, was born the future State of Vermont, which, struggling through the perils of infancy, had, at the commencement of the general Revolution, acquired the activity and strength of adventurous youth, and at its close reached the full stature of manhood; and not long afterward had become the acknowledged equal of its associate American republics." 2
1 Remonstrances of Ethan Allen and others. - State . Papers, page 49. See also proclamation of Gov. Clinton. - State Papers, pp. 82-4.
2 Vermont Hist. Mag.
145
ADMISSION OF VERMONT INTO THE UNION.
'An Act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union.
The State of Vermont having petitioned the Congress to be ad- mitted a member of the United States, -
Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, and it is hereby en- acted and declared, That on the fourth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, the said State, by the name and style of the State of Vermont, shall be received and admitted into this Union, as a new and entire member of the United States of America.
FREDERIC AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN ADAMS, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate.
Approved Feb. 18, 1791.
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
President of the United States.
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Y
at d ed ic
CHAPTER XII.
THE BENNINGTON BATTLE.
" Pliant as reeds where streams of freedom glide, Firm as the hills to stem oppression's tide." 1
IT is the aim of this part of the volume to view the bat- tle from the Bennington stand-point, and at the same time to preserve the truth of history ; and the relation of the battle to general history will be presented at some length.
I. ANXIETY IN THE COUNTRY PREVIOUS TO THE BAT- TLE. - At the surrender of Ticonderoga by St. Clair, July 6, 1777, the anxiety of the country became universal. We had failed, under the brave and lamented Montgomery, to carry Quebec by storm. We had abandoned Crown Point. Our little navy, though handled with utmost spirit and res- olution, had proved itself unable to resist the vastly supe- rior strength of the British flotilla on Lake Champlain. We had, by mortifying negligence 2 in not fortifying Mt. Defi-
1 Motto of the first paper printed in Vermont, 1781 .- Thompson.
2 " July 5. - It is with astonishment we find the enemy has taken possession of an eminence called Sugar Loaf Hill, or Mt. Defiance, which, from its height and proximity,completely overlooks and commands all our works at Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence. This mount, it is said, ought long since to have been fortified by our army; but its extreme difficulty of access, and the want of a sufficient number of men, are the reasons assigned for its being neglected." "July 14. - The abandonment of Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence has occasioned the greatest surprise and alarm. No movement could be more unexpected, nor more severely felt, throughout our army and country. The disaster has given to our cause a dark and gloomy aspect." Generals Schuyler and St. Clair are
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DISASTERS.
ance, which commanded Ticonderoga and Mt. Independ- ence, lost what was regarded, under the circumstances of the country at that time, as the bulwark of the North. The main body of our army, fleeing eastwardly into the New Hampshire Grants, had been hotly pursued by the enemy, and its rear-guard, under Warner and Francis, at- tacked at Hubbardton, and, though men never fought more bravely, Riedsell's advance with his Germans had decided the day against us. In our flight thence southward, being joined by that portion of the army which had charge of bag- gage and army stores, - and which had successively aban- doned Skenesborough and Fort Ann, - Fort Edward, Moses Creek, Saratoga, were in a brief time occupied and then surrendered by our wasting troops.
Serious reverses in other parts of the country intensified the alarm. Public fasts were observed in some States.
spoken of in this entry as severely suspected, or, at least, complained of. " Time and calm investigation must determine." - Thacher's Military Journal. Palmer vindicates Schuyler and St. Clair from blame. " Both Schuyler and St. Clair were severely and unjustly censured; " but says also, "That a great error was committed in relying upon the supposed strength of the position at Ticon- deroga, cannot be denied." - Palmer's History of Lake Champlain. Irving is an admirer of Schuyler .- Irving's Life of Washington. Bancroft appears to be about right. "Meantime the Britishi were never harried by the troops with Schuyler, against whom public opinion was rising. Men reasoned rightly, that, if Ticonderoga was untenable, he should have known it, and given timely orders for its evacuation; instead of which he had been keeping up stores there to the last." - Bancroft, Vol. Ix., p. 372.
Even Washington was oppressed by the tidings from Ticonderoga. He wrote to General Schuyler, on hearing of the disaster : " The evacuation of Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence is an event of chagrin and surprise not apprehended nor within the compass of my reasoning." He said, " As matters are going, Burgoyne will have little difficulty in penetrating to Albany." " Sir William Howe was promptly notified that Burgoyne had precise orders to force a junction with the army in New York."- Bancroft. "The rapid progress of General Burgoyne on the side of the lakes, and the unaccountable conduct of their (American) com- manders in abandoning Ticonderoga, were events so alarming and unexpected that they could not fail to perplex their counsels, and considerably impede their defensive preparations in other parts." - An Impartial History of the War in America, etc. London, 1787. " There are many long faces, for the key of North America is lost and gone."
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
" At Albany, it is said, the people ran about as if dis- tracted, sending off their goods and furniture; and this feeling pervaded the entire northern and eastern part of New York, and the adjacent portions of Vermont and Mas- sachusetts."1 The region of the New Hampshire Grants was profoundly stirred. The Rev. Mr. Noble, in his Wil- liamstown centennial address, speaking of a dwelling-house then building (1777), - the Smedley house, - says, "The roof of it was no sooner in place than the house was crowded in every part by families flying from the terrors which darkened the whole region north and west of us, as the cloud of war rolled on from Canada to Lake George and Saratoga." East of the mountains the people of several towns crossed the Connecticut. In Stockbridge, Mass., they were "greatly burdened with people who had fled from the New Hamp- shire Grants." The settlers along the lake, and as far down as Manchester, had either submitted to Burgoyne and taken his protection, or were abandoning their posses- sions and removing southward.2
Gen. Howe had beaten us on Long Island and at New York, - taking forts, men and magazines, - and had also gotten possession of New Jersey, and Newport in Rhode Island.3 Though this able British general spent much time contriving and executing manœuvres with his army and na- vy to deceive us as to his real intentions, Gen. Washington · did not suffer himself to be successfully imposed upon, and entertained no doubt that his real design was to secure Gen. Burgoyne's junction with himself, by way of Hudson River.4
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