Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 4

Author: Ullery, Jacob G., comp; Davenport, Charles H; Huse, Hiram Augustus, 1843-1902; Fuller, Levi Knight, 1841-1896
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Brattleboro, Vt. : Transcript Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 842

USA > Vermont > Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont > Part 4

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).

He was elected to the Legislature from Arlington, though his "usual home" was in Bennington and his family lived in Sunder- land, and he was allowed to act, though he refused to take the oath expressing belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible and pro- fession of the Protestant religion.

His military service after his release from captivity was confined entirely to his own state. Congress gave him the commission of brevet brigadier-general, but did not call him into the field. Perhaps the reason was the suspicion of his loyalty that soon became rife. The third effort to seduce him was pub- licly known before he knew it. The Legisla- ture made him major-general and comman- der-in-chief of the Vermont militia, and he held the position for two years, but no active service was required except to guard the frontiers. In February, 1780, Col. Beverly Robinson, a Virginia Tory, wrote him a letter alluding to the Vermont feeling over its treat- ment by Congress and inviting a negotiation with the British. The letter was delivered to him on the streets of Arlington in July. Allen showed it to Governor Chittenden and the leading men of the state, and it was decided to pay no attention to it. The next March, however, while the Haldimand negotiation was in full progress, Allen sent the letter, with a duplicate which Robinson had impatiently forwarded, to Congress, with a long screed of his own, well calculated to impress Congress with the idea that it was running a great risk of driving Vermont to the other side by its unjust treatment. He said he was confident Congress would not dispute his sincere attach- ment to the cause of his country, though he did not hesitate to declare that he was fully " grounded in the opinion that Vermont had an indubitable right to agree on terms of ces- sation of hostilities with Great Britain, pro- vided the United States persisted in rejecting her application for a union with them ; for Vermont of all people would be the most miserable were she obliged to defend the in- dependence of the United States and they at the same time claiming full liberty to over-

ALLEN.

turn and ruin the independence of Vermont." He closed with the characteristic words :

" I am as resolutely determined to defend the independence of Vermont as Congress is that of the United States, and rather than fail, will retire with my hardy Green Moun- tain Boys into the desolate caverns of the mountains and wage war with human nature at large."

The Haldimand negotiations are more fully discussed in the sketch of Ira Allen, whose consummate shrewdness conducted them to success. Ethan Allen was in the secret of them all, and at the time had to bear more of the suspicion and odium than any other man, but his part was chiefly that of counsellor, with very little of the active work. There is reason for believing that he told Washington all about them in the begin- ning, and that the policy of protecting Ver- mont by fooling the British had the tacit approval of the country's chieftain. There is no chance for reasonable belief that Allen ever for a moment contemplated treason to the American cause ; he had twice spurned offers when far more alluring. He was con- stantly and carefully looking after the arms and equipments of the state, to keep her in the best condition for defense. In Decem- ber, 1780, even while the charges of treason were getting loudest against him, he was ne- gotiating with Governor Trumbull of Con- necticut for two tons of powder, to resist an invasion from Canada. He offered, April 14, 1781, when there seemed to be a chance that the British could no longer be kept off by diplomacy, in a letter to Governor Clin- ton, his own services and those of two other Vermont officers to defend New York against their cruel invaders.

The only question is whether in his deceit of the British he went beyond the lines of honor. The worst piece of evidence is a letter written to Haldimand, June 16, 1782, and closing with these words : "I shall do everything in my power to render this a British province." The letter was unsigned, but it read very Allenish, and has generally been believed to have been written by him. Allen, as commander of the Vermont army in 1781, concluded a truce with the British forces while the negotiations were in prog- ress, and he got the northern parts and frontier of New York included in it. He reported these doings to Colonel Webster and General Schuyler, and warned the latter of a project to capture his person, assuring him that the "surmises of my corresponding with the enemy to the prejudice of the United States are wholly without founda- tion." Captain Sherwood, who came to Allen's headquarters at Castleton as an en- voy from Haldimand, reported Allen as bar- gaining hypothetically for himself and for

ALLEN.

the state, but the report of his terms con- cludes with this significant condition : “If, however, Congress should grant Vermont a seat in that assembly as a separate state, then these negotiations to be at an end and be kept secret on both sides."

But the wildest reports of his treachery flew about the country. Some of them even represented him at the head of British troops in Canada. The feeling grew at home and finally focussed in an arraignment before the Legislature in November, 1782, for miscon duct in the armistice. This is what appears in the "Governor and Council" minutes as the "Captain Hotchkiss Resolutions." The record is very meagre. Fay and Bradley, who were on his staff at Castleton, testified, and apparently convinced all that nothing improper had been done. Allen resigned his commission, evidently deeply hurt that after all he had done for the people he should be subject to such suspicion ; that, as he said, "such false and ignominious asper- sions" were entertained against him for a moment, and he indignantly left the house, declaring that he would "hear no more of it." The Legislature appointed a committee of two to express the state's thanks for Al- len's services, and then accepted the resigna- tion which Allen had offered "because there was uneasiness among some of the people on account of his command," but he patriot- ically said he would ever be ready "to serve the state according to his abilities," if ever necessary.

The next spring he was chosen general of the brigade of militia, but refused to accept, though with a repetition of his promise to serve the state in an unofficial capacity in case of need. In December, 1781, when New York attempted force to get control of the state, Allen was present with the force of Vermont militia that defeated the project, not nominally in command, but evidently at the request of Governor Chittenden, as his account against the state for that service was allowed.

The rest of his days were passed in pri- vate life, but with recognition on every side as the leader of the state. In 1782 he was called to the field, as he had been two years previously, to quiet the rebellious "Yorkers" in Windham county, and when his party was fired on by ambushed men in Guilford he walked into the town on foot and gave his famous warning that unless the inhabitants of the town peacefully submitted to the au- thority of the state of Vermont he would "lay it as desolate as Sodom and Gomorrah."

When Shay's rebellion was started in Massachusetts, messengers were sent to him offering him the chief command, but he con- temptuously refused it, ordered the messen- gers out of the state, notified the Massachu-

332

ALI.E.N.

setts authorities, and also exerted himself vigorously to prevent the insurgents from making Vermont a place of refuge. Though so long posted as an outlaw, though a leader of revolutionists and a discourser on Imman rights through all his active career, and though seemingly so recklessly extravagant in his talk, he was always the friend of law and order. His revolutionism was only against what was so plainly wrong as to be in ethics and morals illegal.

I11 1787 he moved to Burlington, where he devoted himself to farming. He died, Feb. 12, 1789, at the age of only fifty-one, while on his way home from South Hero, where he had been for a load of hay, and had spent the afternoon and evening previous, at the invitation of Col. Ebenezer Allen, with a party of old friends. On the journey his negro attendant spoke to him several times and received no reply, and on reaching home he was found to be unconscious with apo- plexy. He died a few hours later. He was buried with military honors, and his remains rest in a beautiful valley near the Winooski. The Legislature in 1885 ordered a monu- ment to be erected over his grave, a Tuscan column of granite 42 feet high, and 4 1-2 feet in diameter. A commanding statue of him designed by Mead, of Vermont marble, stands in the portico of the Capitol at Montpelier. Another by the same great sculptor, of Italian marble, is in the Capitol at Washington. The earliest statue of him was modeled by B. H. Kinney, a native of Sunderland, back in the early fifties. It was pronounced by aged people who had seen him, an excellent likeness, but it is still pri- vate property. A fourth statue of heroic size, designed by Peter Stevenson, was un- veiled at Burlington, July 4, 1873, and sur- mounts the Allen monument.

Allen's first wife was Mary, daughter of Cornelius and Abigail (Jackson) Brownson, of Woodbury, Conn. The earlier historians used to say that she died in Connecticut during the war, but on the authority of a remembered statement of Dr. Ebenezer Hitchcock it is now believed that she died in Sunderland about 1783 from consumption, and was buried in Arlington. Some verses in her memory, the only attempt at poetry Allen ever made, were published in the Ver- mont Gazette of July 10, 1783, and are well worth preservation, for his recognition, how- ever skeptical he may have been himself, of the sublime power of the Christian faith in his wife :

Farewell, my friends; the fleeting world, adieu, My residence no longer is with you ; My children I commend to Heaven's care, And humbly raise my hopes above despair; And conscious of a virtuous, transient strife, Anticipate the joys of the next life; Yet such celestial and ecstatic bliss Is but a part conferred on us in this.

ALLEN.

Confiding in the power of God most high, 11th wisdom, goodness, and infinity

Displayed, securely I resign my breath

lo the cold, unrelenting stroke of death,

Trusting that God, who gave me life before,

Will still preserve me in a state much more Exalted, mentally beyond decay,

In the blest regions of eternal day.

No stone was ever erected to her memory. She bore Allen one son and four daughters. The son died at the age of eleven. Two of the daughters died unmarried and one inar- ried Eleazer W. Keyes of Burlington and the other Samuel Hitchcock of Burlington, and was the mother of Gen. E. A. Hitchcock.

Allen was married a second time, Feb. 9, 1784, to Mrs. Frances Buchanan, the widowed daughter of Crean Brush, the Tory, the man who had led in the New York Legislature in passing the act of outlawry against him and procured the reward to be offered for his head. The story of this marriage is romantic and again illustrative of Allen's rough-and- ready audacity. Mrs. Buchanan, who was twenty-two years his junior, and a woman of grace, culture and fascination, was living with her mother in the house of Stephen R. Brad- ley at Westminster, where she frequently met Allen with other leading men of the state, and a sort of friendship, that was still half of antagonism, grew up between these two strong and original natures. Its character may be judged from a remark to John Nor- tin, the ex-Tory tavern keeper at Westmin- ster, who one day said to her: "Fanny, if you marry General Allen you will be queen of a new state." "Yes," she retorted scorn- fully, "if I should marry the devil I would be queen of hell."

But early that February morning Allen drove up with a span of dashing black horses and a colored driver. It was during a session of the Supreme Court, and the judges were at breakfast. He declined an invitation to partake, saying he had break- fasted, and passed without ceremony into Mrs. Buchanan's part of the house, where he found her in a morning gown, standing on a chair, arranging some glass and china on the upper shelf of a closet. After a few moments' playful chat, Allen said : "Well, Fanny, if we are to be married, now is the time, for I am on my way to Arlington." "Very well," she replied, descending from the chair, "but give me time to put on my joseph." Allen led her into the room where the judges, having finished their breakfast, were smoking their long pipes, and accost- ing his old friend, Chief-Justice Robinson, asked him to tie the knot. "When?" said the judge in surprise. "Now," replied Allen. "For myself I have no great opinion of such formality, and from what I can dis- cover she thinks as little of it as I do, but as a decent respect for the opinions of man- kind seems to require it, you will proceed."

ALLEN.

The ceremony reached the point where the judge asked Ethan if he promised to live with Frances, "agreeable to the law of God." "Stop ! stop !" cried Allen, and paus- ing and looking out of the window he added : "The law of God as written in the great book of nature? Yes! Go on !" Without further interruption the service was com- pleted, the bride's trunk and guitar case were placed in the sleigh and the pair driven across the mountain to the general's home. By this second wife there was one daughter and two sons. After his death the daughter entered a nunnery in Canada and died there. The sons were Hannibal and Ethan A., and became officers of the United States Navy. The latter had a son, since well known, Col. Ethan Allen of New York.

Little that Allen wrote has been preserved to the present day. Among his works, besides those mentioned on previous pages, was his " Vindication of Vermont and Her Right to Form an Independent State," a forceful argument of one hundred and seventy-two pages, written in 1779 and published under authority of the Governor and Council. In 1779 also appeared his "Narrative " from which his biographers have all got most of their material. In 1778 appeared his "An- imadversary Address" in answer to Governor Clinton ; in 1780, "Concise Reputation of the Claims of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York to the Territory of Vermont," which he and Jonas Fay had prepared with much care ; and in 1782 a " Defense of the Eastern and Western Unions." In 1774 his most am- bitious pamphlet on the New York contro- versy appeared, a document of over two hun- dred pages and an exhaustive discussion of the historical aspect of the case, showing that prior to the royal order of 1764 New York had no claim to extend easterly to the Con- necticut river. In 1784 he brought out the work on which he expected his fame to rest, his " Oracles of Reason," printed at Benning- ton, which he called a "Compendious Sys- tem of Natural Religion" and consisting as he described it in a letter to St. John de Cre- vecoeur of "the untutored logic and sallies of a mind nursed principally in the moun- tain wilds of America." It was a volume of four hundred and seventy-seven pages, an infidel work, denying the inspiration of the scriptures, but energetic in its expressions of veneration for the being and perfection of the Deity and its firm belief in the immortal- ity of the soul. It was laid a good deal on the same lines as Paine's "Age of Reason," without Paine's caustic style of debate but with a larger and healthier view of things eter- nal. There was a presumptuous tone to it that greatly marred it, and yet much of high ideals, of humanitarian sentiment and of insight beyond things material to things spiritual. He had all his life been in the habit of jotting down

ALLEN.

his thoughts on these subjects, and indeed the work was planned in his youth, and there is reason to believe that some of it was the contribution of Dr. Thomas Young, one of the ablest men of his times, an influential friend of Vermont in later years and the intimate of Allen in his Connecticut days. Both de- lighted in battling against New England orthodoxy, then wrote in conjunction, and it was agreed that the one that outlived the other should publish their stuff. Allen left his manuscript with Young, on going to Ver- mont, and on his release from captivity after Young's death obtained it from the latter's family, and elaborating the material as he had leisure, finally published it. But it was a failure, and a great disappointment to him. The sale was limited, and a large portion of the fifteen hundred volumes burned in the printing office, and it brought on him an op- probrium much like that suffered by Paine.

There have been two theories about Allen, one that he was a hero, the other a humbug, and about them has centered a vast deal of discussion, but all of it fragmentary, without a view in its wholeness of his work or char- acter. That there was a big streak of hum- bug in him is indubitable, and the anecdotes of himself that he tells with most relish are those where he made the humbug work. He was overfull of faith in himself, to the point of vanity and bombast at times. He was often a heavy drinker, and that fact may ex- plain many of the things that showed worst in him. He was also, as Disraeli said of Gladstone, in the habit of getting "intoxicated with the exuberance of his own rhetoric" -- and blasphemy. But after making every allowance, there is no denying his greatness-the greatness of his influence on his times, of the work wrought out by the force of his personality, of the results of what he achieved, as well as attempted, but missed, by the fault of others, and of the greatness that was the foundation of it all, the ideals above and beyond self that guided him. He was too big-minded to ever be mean.

Once when sued on a note he employed a lawyer to have execution stayed a short time. The lawyer, as the easiest way to do this, denied the signature. Allen arose in court in a rage and shouted : "Sir, I did not employ you to come here and lie. The note is a good one, the signature is mine. All I want is for the court to grant me suffi- cient time to pay it."

Another court anecdote, not so creditable and perhaps to be accounted for on the in- toxication theory, Gladstonian or alcoholic, was at the trial at Westminster, in May, 1779, of the thirty-six Workers who had rescued two cows from an officer who had seized them because their owners had re- fused to do military duty on the frontier or

ATJEN.

AJ.J.K.N.

to pay for substitutes. Three had been discharged for want of evidence, and three more because minors. Allen, who was there by order of Governor Chittenden, with one hundred soldiers to support the court, heard of it and strode into court to warn it not to let the offenders ship through its hands. With hat on and sword swinging by his side he began to attack the lawyers. Chief-Jus- tice Robinson said reprovingly that the court would gladly listen to him as a citizen, but not as a military man in military attire. Allen threw his hat on the table and un- buckled his sword, exclaiming, " For forms of government let fools contest ; whate'er is best administered is best." Then, as the judges began whispering together, he added, " I said that fools might contest, not your honors, not your honors." Then he told how he had come fifty miles to support the prosecution of the "enemies of our noble state," and some of them are escaping " by the quirks of this artful lawyer, Bradley ;" and " this little Noah Smith," the state's attorney, "is far from understanding his business, since he at one moment moves for a prosecution and in the next wishes to

withdraw it. Let me warn your honors," and turning to Smith he said, " I would have the young gentleman know that with my logic and reasoning, from the eternal fitness of things, I can upset his Blackstones, his Whitestones, his gravestones and his brim- stones."

The military quality of his theological views in the heat of dispute was shown in his retort to John Norton, the Westminster tav- ern keeper, who said regarding the then new theories of Universalism : "That religion will suit you, will it not, General?"

Allen, who knew Norton to be a Tory, re- plied scornfully : "No ! No ! for there must be a hell in the other world for the punish- ment of Tories.'

In 1778 he complained of his own brother Levi as a Tory, charging that he had passed counterfeit continental money and under the pretense of helping him while a prisoner on Long Island, had been detected in supplying the British with provisions. He stated that Levi had real estate in Vermont and peti- tioned that it might be confiscated to the public treasury. For this Levi challenged him to a duel, but Ethan retorted that it would be disgraceful to fight a Tory.

The eccentricity of his vanity was illus- trated while he was on his way to New York after the capture of Ticonderoga. He stop- ped at Bennington and went into the church where Rev. Mr. Dewey was fervently thank- ing the Lord in his prayer for that victory for our arms. Allen got impatient as these thanks to the Giver of all good were pouring up, and shouted : "Parson Dewey !" No at-

tention was paid to him, but the thanksgiv- ing still went on. "Parson Dewey " again, and again no stop. "Parson Dewey !" Allen thundered the third time, springing to his feet as the minister opened his eyes in as- tonishment. "Parson Dewey, please make mention of my being there ?"'

Another anecdote, ont of the many that have come down, gives a glimpse of his make-up on several of its sides. While he was on his way to England as a prisoner, and in irons, he discovered that the pin or wire that fastened one of the handcuffs was broken, and he extracted the pieces with his teeth, unloosed the bolt, and then freeing that hand soon had the other and his feet at liberty. He replaced the irons before his keeper camc in, but was able afterwards to liberate himself at pleasure. One day the captain ordered him to be brought on deck in order to make sport of him, and as though to frighten a land lubber, said there was a probability of the ship's soon founder- ing, and asked : "If so, what will become of us, especially you, Mr. Allen, a rebel against the King?" "My !" replied Allen, "that would be very much like our dinner hour." "How so?" "I'd be on my way up just as you were going down." The joke was theologi- cal, but founded on the fact that Allen was allowed to come on deck only when the captain went down to his cabin to dine. But the captain was mad, began a regular tirade of abuse, and promised that "all the rebels will soon be in the same situation as yourself." Ethan's choler also arose, and in a twinkling, raising his hands to his teeth, he had the pins and bolts unlocked and the irons thrown overboard, and while the crowd stood paralyzed with astonishment, actually seized the captain and threw him headlong on the deck ; then turning to the affrighted crew he declared in a voice of thunder : "If I am insulted again during the voyage I'll sink the ship and swim ashore."

He had the fondness of a superior mind for the companionship of able men. His early intimacy with Dr. Young was only the forerunner of many like it, and one of the pleasantest was that with the cultured St. John de Crevecoeur, French consul at New York, and after whom he procured St. Johns- bury to be named, as well as Danville and Vergennes after other eminent Frenchmen ; and great men, both of his and latter times, have always admired him, even if they didn't like. John Jay, found his writings to be characterized by "wit, quaintness, and impertinence."

The Englishman, Col. John A. Graham, who wrote a series of letters from Vermont in the last century, found Allen to be an "extraordinary character," possessing "great talents, but is deficient in education ; in all

WARNER.

1180296

WARNER.

his dealings he possesses the strictest sense of honor, integrity, and uprightness."

"A character strangely marked by both excellences and defects," is the verdict of Jared Sparks, whose biography finds him "brave, generous, consistent, true to his friends, true to his country, seeking at all times to promote the best interests of man- kind."

Governor Hall, in his study of him, was impressed with the extent and accuracy of his political information, and with his style of writing, as one to "attract and fix atten- tion, and inspire confidence in his sincerity and justice."

Judge D. P. Thompson's summary at- tributes to him, "wisdom, aptitude to com- mand, ability to inspire respect and confi- dence, a high sense of honor, generosity, and kindness."

Zodack Thompson finds in him "un- wavering patriotism, love of freedom, wisdom, boldness, courage, energy, perseverance," but too much "self-sufficiency and personal vanity."

WARNER, SETH,-The ablest soldier of Vermont's youth, was, like nearly all the leaders of the state's formative period, a native of Connecticut, being born at that part of Woodbury then Roxbury Parish, and now Roxbury, Conn., May 17, 1743, and he returned there to die, forty-one years later. He early joined the movement to the New Hampshire grants, which were begin- ning to be settled after the close of the French and Indian war, and were soon to become the Eldorado of New England agri- culture. He came to Bennington in 1 765, and being a skilled botanist, though he had had only a common school education, and an ardent huntsman, the life was just of the kind to delight him ; judging by his circum- stances, these pursuits absorbed more of his energies than the more prosaic work of farming. He was once or twice a member of the conventions of settlers, though he had little ambition to play a political part. But his quasi-military operations were always useful and in demand in the controversy with New York. His residence in Benning- ton was less than a mile from the New York line, and outside of the settlement, and yet despite the indictments and heavy rewards offered, the Yorkers never succeeded in cap- turing him. Once a New York officer, armed to the teeth, found and attempted to arrest him. Warner attacked and wounded and disarmed the man, but with the spirit of a soldier spared his life. Warner was, in 1771, elected by a convention a captain of one of the companies in the regiment of Green Mountain Boys organized to resist New York authority, and the story of its

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.

Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont, Part 4

Author: Ullery, Jacob G., comp; Davenport, Charles H; Huse, Hiram Augustus, 1843-1902; Fuller, Levi Knight, 1841-1896 Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Brattleboro, Vt. : Transcript Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 842

Author: Ullery, Jacob G., comp; Davenport, Charles H; Huse, Hiram Augustus, 1843-1902; Fuller, Levi Knight, 1841-1896
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Brattleboro, Vt. : Transcript Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 842