USA > Vermont > Windham County > Guilford > Official history of Guilford, Vermont, 1678-1961. With genealogies and biographical sketches > Part 8
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After the cases were disposed of, and during a recess of the court Attorney-General Kemp called upon Allen, and told him that the cause of the settlers was desperate, and urged him to go home and
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persuade his Green Mountain friends to make the best terms they could with their new landlords, the New York grantees, reminding him of the saying sometimes used to salve the consciences of despots, to the effect that "Might makes right." To this Allen replied, "The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." and when asked by Kemp, the King's attorney, what he meant, Allen replied, "Come up to Bennington, and we will show you." But it seems that when in the comparatively short space of a dozen years Allen's status of the down-trodden and oppressed had become reversed, and he assumed the role of Power, supported by self-asserted Authority, his ideas of Might and Right also underwent a simultaneous and complete re- versal, and he conclusively demonstrated this by asking the military authorities of Vermont to place at his disposal armed troops for the express purpose of aiding him in confiscation and conversion of hard earned property of hardy settlers who had been found guilty of no crime, had not been tried or even arrested, but were merely suspected of seditious behavior, and this against questionable authority of a self-erected State, which Congress had for five years refused to recog- nize as a state, and continued to so refuse for nine years more, and which, until such recognition, was the lawful territory of the state of New York, to which it had belonged for one hundred and eighteen years.
Guilford Raided by the Vermonters: Of the two hundred troops for which Allen asked, General Fletcher desired Colonel Stephen R. Bradley, of Brattleborough, to raise one half in his regiment, either by volunteers or by draft; to supply them with provisions for three days, and march them "so as to rendezvous them at Landlord Arm's in Brattleborough, on Monday evening next, in order to advance to Guilford on Tuesday morning."
The plans were perfected and the raid made with complete success. Allen's four hundred armed horsemen and his Sodom and Gomorrah speech had been most potent and effective arguments. No opposition was made to the sheriff and his posse of two hundred, armed and equipped, urged on by the vigorous, if profane, commands of Ethan Allen, who was now engaged in the most despicable, unwarranted and unlawful of all his strange and strenuous career.
The people of Guilford fled at his approach, leaving everything at the mercy of these emissaries of Vermont justice and authority. Upon these humble and unprotected homes the Vermonters descended, tak- ing in the name of the state whatever pleased their fancy. To their everlasting shame be it said; They drove off one hundred and fifty head of cattle, and sheep and hogs unnumbered. They entered barns filled with the season's produce, threshed out the grain and carried it
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away. Not satisfied with plundering the premises they attempted to further intimidate the owners by leaving warrants for them, with messages informing them that should they be arrested they would be bound up for trial or committed to jail. History has not preserved to us the names of those whose farms were despoiled upon this particular occasion, neither do we know by just what routes the posse came and went, but the gross injustice of this outrage, while partially com- pensated for by the subsequent payment by Vermont of $30,000 in which the Guilford sufferers shared, has always remained in the memories of the Guilford families of that period, and of their descend- ants to this day, as a stigma upon the name of Ethan Allen which time can never efface.
On Saturday, September 14th, the court adjourned without date, but was reconvened in special session at Marlborough on September 17th. There were still Guilford men to be given lessons in deport- ment. Indictments were drawn and respondents arraigned. The rescue of the cow upon May 10th had not been sufficiently atoned for.
Hezekiah Broad, Daniel Lynde, Joshua Lynde and Samuel Melendy all pleaded guilty to the charge of that grievous offence:
Broad was fined £ 12; Daniel Lynde £ 4; and Melendy £ 3. Each was also assessed the costs of his prosecution, and was required to enter into a recognizance to the amount of £ 50 to be of good behavior until the 1st day of February, 1783. Joshua Lynde was fined £ 2 and costs. Simeon Ferrell and Isaac Weld confessed to the acceptance of commissions as ensign and lieutenant, respectively, in the Guilford militia. Weld was fined £ 2.10 shillings and costs, Ferrell £ 2 and costs, and was required to recognize in the sum of £ 50, to be forfeitted in case he should not act with propriety during the next four and one half months.
The First Regiment of Vermont Militia which went upon an expedition to Guilford to assist the Sheriffs from September 6th to September 20th, 1782 was in charge of field and staff officers as follows:
Stephen R. Bradley, Colonel; Charles Kathan, Lieutenant-Colonel; Elkanah Day, Jr., Adjutant.
One company, comprising of thirty five officers and men, under Captain James Clay, were paid for one days service each. One Com- pany of fifteen officers and men, under Captain Joseph Briggs, were paid for two to five days each. One company of six officers and men, under Isaac Andrews, were paid for three to five days each. Captain Squire How commanded a Company of Horse, number not given. The officers received pay for four days each. One company of fifteen officers and men under Captain Zadock Everest, received pay for six days each.
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One company under Captain Matteson, number not given, received pay for four days each.
One company from Westminster, comprising of eighteen officers and men under Captain Benjamin Whitney were paid for two to five days and thirty miles travel each. One company from Athens, com- prising of thirty four officers and men under Ezra Chaffee "did muster and march towards Guilford," and were paid for one to two days each. One company from Dummerston, under Captain Jason Duncan, marched in part, to Guilford, seven men from that company drawing pay for one to four days each. Captain Duncan's full company com- prised of sixty three officers and men. Two officers from Captain Ebenezer Wood's Company, Lieutenants Joseph Wickwire and Simeon Harmon, drew pay for four days and fifty miles travel each in the expedition to Guilford. A company of seventy nine strong, under Captain Josiah Fish, assisted by four Lieutenants, seven Sergeants and two Corporals, received pay for from two to eleven days each, and from twenty to thirty four miles travel. The captain drawing sixty four miles traveling fees.
The Field and Staff Officers of the First Regiment of Militia in an Expedition to Guilford to assist the sheriffs were allowed for service as follows: Col. Stephen R. Bradley, from September 6 to September 20; Lieut. Col. Chas. Kathan, from Sept. 7 to Sept. 15; Adjutant Elkanah Day, Jr., from Sept. 7 to Sept. 15.
On the 11th of September Joel Bigelow had left for Poughkeepsie, then the seat of the New York government, for the purpose of in- forming Governor Clinton of the operations in Guilford of Allen and his force of Vermonters. Having reached his destination he made a deposition concerning the transaction, which was immediately trans- mitted to the New York delegation in Congress, together with a letter from Governor Clinton, urging early consideration of the matters, to which the delegation replied on September 20th stating that they believed that Congress would be induced to interpose im- mediately. The messenger by whom the dispatches were sent being without sufficient funds to meet the expense of any considerable sojourn in Philadelphia, left there before Congress, which was engaged with matters of great importance, could take up the Vermont matters.
On September 27th Governor Clinton wrote Sheriff Jonathan Hunt, warning him of the dangerous consequences of his action in the Guilford foray, and suggesting that his actions were in direct opposition and contempt of the recommendations of Congress, where- upon Hunt immediately resigned his office, apparently doubting either the legality or the justice of the Vermont course of procedure against the Yorkers.
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The Execution of the Decree of Exile: On October 4th, 1782, the four chief offenders against the Vermont authority, Timothy Church, William Shattuck, Henry Evans and Timothy Phelps, whose estates had been confiscated by the court, were taken from the jail at West- minster, where they had been since September 9th, and taken across the Connecticut River into New Hampshire by Samuel Avery, a deputy Sheriff, accompanied by a strong guard, who released them with the warning that they would incur the penalty of death should they ever return to Vermont. On October 14th Shattuck and Evans ap- peared at Poughkeepsie and presented to Governor Clinton a com- munication from the committees of Guilford, Brattleborough, Halifax and Marlboro, reciting their version of the affair, which was at once forwarded to Congress by Shattuck and Evans, who proceeded to Philadelphia for the purpose and laid their petition before Congress on the 28th of October.
Congress gave them no aid, evidently regarding the matter as too trivial and tiresome to warrant their attention at a time when all were engaged in the strenuous work of the time in solving the many great problems necessarily attendant upon the as yet uncertain result of the Revolutionary War. Shattuck and Evans with Charles Phelps of Marl- borough, who was in Philadelphia on a similar errand, were unable to meet their expenses and through the courtesy of the New York delegation a loan of one hundred dollars was effected upon the credit of the state of New York for their relief and Shattuck and Evans set out upon their return home on November 19th.
On October 24th 1782, a resolution was passed by the Vermont Assembly directing the Sheriff of Windham County to make sales of the estates in that county confiscated to the use of the State and that he accept in payment therefore Due-Bills, Pay-Table Orders and hard money. The sheriff was directed to sell property sufficient to meet all the expenses of the force which invaded Guilford, to be levied in pro- portion to the crimes and abilities of the delinquents. About Novem- ber 12, 1782 Congress defeated a resolution recommending that New York revoke all commissions, civil and military, issued to persons residing in the District called Vermont. The only vote in favor of the resolution being that of Rhode Island.
Henry Evans, with the courage of his convictions, disregarded the warning of death, and returned to Guilford on December 1st, where he was most gratefully welcomed by his associates, whom he found in a situation most broken and uncertain. On December 15th, Major Shattuck also returned to his home in Halifax, when he learned that the Vermont officers had determined to take posession of the property of Daniel Shepardson of Guilford or pull his house down. Shattuck, still full of courage, resolved at once to help his friend and neighbor
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and on the 17th held a consultation with a number of his friends who agreed to stand by him, but early the next day, the 18th, they learned that the Vermonters had captured Timothy Church, another of the banished, who had returned to his home in Marlboro. Shattuck thereupon changed his plans and went to Guilford, where he raised two companies of men and with their help endeavored to arrest Col. Benjamin Carpenter, late Lieutenant-Governor, and his neighbor, Major Shepardson with the intention of holding them as hostages for Church, who was subject to the death penalty on his return from banishment.
Carpenter and Shepardson, however, were not to be found and the party entered their dwellings, seized their arms, which they took with them, and committed other depredations of which we have no detailed descriptions. The result of this expedition not being very satisfactory, Shattuck and his party made another sally on the night of December 20th, and captured John Bridgman, one of the judges of the Windham County court and took him to Guilford, releasing him the next day on condition that he was to visit the states attorney, the governor and the Council, for the purpose of procuring the freedom of Col. Church. He was to return to captivity by January 2, 1783 if his mission failed.
With two companies of Guilford men under arms the situation was most grave and fearing an immediate civil war, Col. John Sergeant of the Vermont militia, ordered several companies in his regiment to assemble at Brattleborough. On the night of December 23d the Yorkers received information to the effect that the Vermonters were about to attack them. Shattuck placed his men in ambush and awaited their approach, but the Vermont militia while on the march toward Guilford suddenly discovered six men coming toward them, whom they supposed to be the advanced guard of a hidden enemy, but who were in reality members of the Vermont faction, coming to reinforce them. Without waiting to learn this fact the Vermonters scattered in all directions, so effectually dispersed that they did not discover their error in time to correct it during that day. On the following day they sent a messenger to the Yorkers, with proposals for peace and a conference was agreed to.
An agreement had been drawn up by the Vermont party and signed on the 20th by two of their representatives, Zadock Granger and Simeon Edwards, in readiness for the time when the Yorkers might accept its provisions. It rehearsed the reasons which actuated the parties thereto; referred to the dispute about the right of jurisdiction as being the cause of the trouble; alluded to the probability of the settlement of the dispute by Congress, and strongly deprecated the hostile measures being pursued by the friends and neighbors who were in arms against each other; expressed a desire to prevent further
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mischiefs and miseries and to ensure peace and the public good. It provided that the New York element should disperse their forces, to rise no more against Vermont unless first disturbed by the new states men and on the further condition that either Col. Church or Judge Bridgman should return by the 2d of January, 1783. Upon their part the Vermonters engaged that they would exert themselves to the utmost to prevent the people of Vermont from molesting the New York party; promised to notify Capt. Joseph Peck, of the Guilford company of New York militia, should any force be sent by the Ver- monters against them before February 1, 1783 and bound themselves to urge Governor Chittenden to respect this agreement and to let matters rest in accordance therewith.
Judge Bridgman went to Governor Chittenden, but could induce neither him nor the Council to advise as to the course which he should pursue, so after nine days useless effort he applied for a renewal of his parole, which was granted on January 2d, 1783, but a second applica- tion to the authorities was equally fruitless and on January 18th his parole was again extended to continue during the pleasure of Gover- nor Clinton. The policy of Governor Chittenden toward the Yorkers was severe in the extreme and differed in this respect from the attitude of many of the Vermonters, who believed in a more pacific course. Chittenden was a most astute and politic leader, but seems rather more harsh and severe in some instances than circumstances would seem to warrant. On account of a defect in vision he was sometimes ungraciously referred to as "One Eyed Tom." As an example of his peculiar disposition it is related that in a letter from him to Col. Bradley, concerning Timothy Church, and the course to be pursued following the latter's return after banishment, and whom Col. Bradley had sent, under a strong guard to Gov. Chittenden, the latter replied to Col. Bradley approving his conduct in arresting Church, stating that the Superior court would be called immediately for Church's trial, when the governor hoped that justice would be done him. Also saying that twelve pounds of powder had been sent Bradley as he had re- quested, and that "as to sending or ordering a standing force to Guil- ford, I had rather hang them (the Yorkers) one by one until they are all extirpated from the face of earth." He also expressed the hope that Church's trial would have a good effect upon his connections.
Four days later, December 28th, Church petitioned Vermont for a pardon and reinstatement to freedom and privileges.
The several towns still owing allegiance to New York met in convention at Guilford on the 17th of January following and ap- pointed Daniel Shepardson, of this town as their agent and bearer of dispatches to Governor Clinton, asking the latter to point out the most advisable course to pursue, which might displease their op-
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ponents as little as possible, and still be of advantage to themselves. By the same messenger a letter by Henry Evans, one of the banished, who was now at his home unmolested, was sent to the governor, corroborating the other messages in the statement that the Vermonters refused to comply with the directions of Congress, passed upon the 5th of December previous (1782) to the effect that the proceedings of the Vermonters were "highly derogatory to the authority of the United States, and dangerous to the confederacy, etc.," and "that the people inhabiting said district claiming to be independent be, and they hereby are required, without delay, to make full and ample restitution to Timothy Church, Timothy (Charles) Phelps, Henry Evans, William Shattuck and such others as have been condemned to banishment and confiscation of estate, or have otherwise been deprived of property since the first day of September, last, for the damages they have sus- tained by the acts and proceedings aforesaid, and that they be not molested in their persons or properties, on their return to their habitations in the said district.
The resolutions further provided "That the United States will take effectual measures to enforce a compliance with the aforesaid resolutions, in case the same shall be disobeyed by the people of the said district.
"That no persons holding commissions under the State of New York, or under the people of said district claiming to be independent, shall exercise any authority over the persons and property of any inhabitants of said district, contrary to the forementioned resolutions of the 24th of September, 1779, and the 2d of June 1780 and
"That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted to Thomas Chittenden, Esq., of Bennington, in the district aforesaid, to be communicated to the people thereof." Only two states, Rhode Is- land and New Jersey, voted against the resolution.
In the preamble to the foregoing resolution passed by Congress it was recited that it appeared to Congress that the people inhabiting the district of country on the west side of the Connecticut River, commonly called the New Hampshire Grants, and claiming to be an independent state, in contempt of the authority of Congress, and in direct violation of their resolutions of September 24th, 1779 and of June 2, 1780, did proceed to exercise jurisdiction over the persons and property in said district, banish sundry inhabitants, confiscate property, levy fines, etc.
The status of Vermont at this time was that of a self-asserted re- public, seceded from New York. Congress still refused to recognize it as a sovereign state, and it was independent only by its own declara- tion. Its attitude toward Congress might well have been regarded as treasonable, but the country could ill afford internal dissensions during the revolutionary period.
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A statement of the action of Congress taken on December 5th, 1782, was forwarded by General George Washington to Governor Chittenden, who at once replied at length, complaining because the Vermont side of the matter had not been presented in the hearing before Congress, and intimating that its ex parte action was obnoxious to the Vermont government, which claimed the same inherent right of sovereignty which the Colonies had professed in their Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, and were now defending by the sword. Governor Chittenden further suggested that Vermont was in actual possession of the disputed territory, and in the exercise of power there, and that New York and Congress were far off. Appear- ances indicated that the Vermonters considered possession to be at least nine points of the law, and proposed to retain it unless overcome by superior physical force. They prepared a Remonstrance addressed to Congress, which was adopted by the Vermont Council January 10, 1783, setting forth their claims at great length and considerable vehemence, which was received in Congress on February 4th, and was characterized as "indecent, and tart," but was finally referred to a committee. Rumors were in circulation to the effect that Vermont was about to join with Great Britain in its cause against the Colonies, and for a time the Yorkers, whose numbers had dwindled to a minority in all towns of Vermont save Guilford, were encouraged by considerable accessions to their numbers, especially in the town of Putney, where forty returned to their allegiance to New York, whose partisans felt so certain that Congress would aid them in their contentions, that they undertook to redress their grievances as occasion permitted.
Paul Nichols, of Guilford, repaired to Bennington in an attempt to regain possession of a gun and quantity of ammunition, which had been taken from his house at the time of the raid the preceding September, but Samuel Robinson, to whom he applied, denied that anything had been taken from Nichols, and his journey was of no avail. Charles Phelps, of Marlborough, met with no better success, when, supported by three of his friends as a bodyguard, he demanded the restoration of his effects; his demands were ridiculed; he was in- formed that his sword, which had been taken from his son's bedroom, was in possession of a Dummerston man, who had sworn that Phelps should never have it except as it would be run through his body. He was also informed that a warrant was out for his arrest, and that he was liable to be taken at any time, so for greater security he removed from Marlborough to Guilford, the stronghold of the Yorkers, where he remained several months, and after his return to Marlboro he came back to Guilford several times for a brief sojourn when conceal- ment or regard for his personal safety seemed to make this course advisable.
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For similar reasons William Shattuck of Halifax, another of the banished Yorkers, also took up his abode in Guilford early in 1783, but did not remain here long, and in the latter part of February was sent to Philadelphia with dispatches to Congress.
Timothy Church had been seized on December 22d, previous, by a party of armed men acting under the authority of Vermont, and taken to Westminster, where he was handcuffed and placed in jail; on the following day he was carried in irons to Arlington, where his shackles were removed and he was taken before Governor Chittenden, who ordered him again ironed and placed in Bennington jail, where for the first half week he was kept in irons day and night, then for four days more he was ironed only during the daytime, and finally his shackles were removed entirely. The report was sent out to the effect that he was to be executed, and he was advised to prepare for death.
After a month and a half of this precarious existence he derived some comfort from the presence of Timothy Phelps, sheriff of Cumber- land county under the authority of New York. In their extremity they addressed a memorial to Governor Clinton, General Washington and the Continental Congress, which so much exasperated the jailer that he refused to supply Col. Church with food, but his loyal friends, the "good people of Guilford", although much impoverished by their political opponents, contributed liberally for the relief of their friend, and the money sent by them was sufficient to supply his wants during the remainder of his confinement.
During the month of February, 1783, the Assembly had passed an act granting pardon to Timothy Church, conditioned upon his paying all costs of his trial and imprisonment, and Col. Church, tired of prison, applied to Governor Chittenden for his release. He was in- formed that to obtain his discharge he would be required to furnish bonds to secure the payment to the State of Vermont of £ 20.10s. for costs of trial, and £ 4.11s. for seven weeks board in jail. To these terms he finally consented, and was released on May 16th, when he returned to his home in Brattleboro.
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