USA > Vermont > Outlines of the geography, natural and civil history and constitution of Vermont. Also the Constitution of the United States. with notes and queries > Part 11
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Questions.
What is one great means of the wealth and virtue of a people ? What is the principal occupation of the people of the state ? What trades are needed in every place ? Are factories in operation in the state ? What other opportunities for employment ?" Who are gen-
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF VERMONT. 149
erally employed as teachers ? What professions are necessary ? How many physicians find employment ? What is said respecting lawyers and ministers ? How have railroads benefitted the people ? What productions are transported to the large cities ? How are many men employed since the introduction of railroads ? Of what advantage are railroads and telegraph wires?
LESSON XVI.
Hardships and sufferings of the first settlers.
Children and youth of the present time ought to have some knowledge of the hardships and sufferings endured by those who first entered into the wilderness of Vermont, in order to provide homes for their offspring. A little more than one hundred years ago, the Indians were the only hu- man inhabitants of the beautiful valleys, plains and hills of Vermont. Though we now see comfortable houses and other buildings around us, roads leading in almost every direc- tion; and in many parts of the state, long trains of railcars drawn rapidly onward by the locomotive or engine ; all these changes have taken place within the age of some who are now living. Less than a century since, nearly all the hills were covered with the tall trees of the primeval forest ; wild beasts roamed wherever they pleased, with none but the Indians or the hunters to disturb them. To change a wild wilderness into beautifal farias and cultivated fields, to make roads and build bridges, and erect houses in a wil- derness, requires great labor and hardship.
Many of the first settlers were poor, very poor. Some by misfortune had lost their property in the older states, and came to the wilderness of Vermont, because lands were cheap, and they could obtain though for a farm for the same sum a few acres would cost elsewhere. Others came, when they were young, to obtain firms where a small amount of purchase money would be sufficient. A few who were per- sons of wealth, excited by a spirit of enterprise, removed to the wilderness, and bore the privations of a new settlement.
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The trials that were experienced, arose from several causes. One was a scarcity of provisions ; another, the want of roads, and great distance from neighbors and mills ; a third, the Indian cruelties and depredations ; a fourth, the war of the Revolution, and the difficulties with New York. These things caused a sum of sufferings, of which the youth of the present generation can form but faint ideas.
I shall give a few particulars, illustrating the trials from the causes above mentioned, and some others, and select such as took place in different parts of the state. In some in- stances several things were united to produce hardships and suffering.
Sufferings vectsioned by the Indians.
During the wars of Great Britain and France, the In- dians who lived in Canada, and some others, were employed by these nations to assist in enrying on their wars. While Canada was owned by the French, chat nation was fre- quently engaged in wars with the colonics, and Indians were employed by them for the same purposes. During these wars settlements were forming in Vermont, and it was often the case, when only a few families bad . animen vd in a new town, that they were exposed to all the viles of Indian warfare. The Indians were well acquainted with the woods, and would Inrk around to obtain a favorable op- portunity, either for killing the cattle or plundering houses and taking prisoners. The following stories will illustrate their manner, and the sufferings they occasioned.
Vernon, in the sontheast corner of the state, was settled before the middle of the last century. 1 20it was built, called Bridgeman's fort, to defend the inhabitants from the Indians. In 1755 a party of hadise af ard made in attack on the people outside the fort. . h. Chleb home, Hilkiah Grout, and Benjamin Gafficht, had been hoeing corn in the meadow, and were returning about tunset to the fort where their wives were. The Indians fired on them, and killed Howe, who was riding with two sons behind him. After scalping him they took his two sons prisoners. Mr. Grout escaped unhurt. Mr. Gefiell was drowned in at-
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tempting to ford the river. The Indians then proceeded to the fort. The women within had heard the guns, and were much terrified. Hearing the Indians at the gite, they sup- posed their husbands had come, and joyfully opened it, when " in rushed the hideous Indian party," and took them all prisoners. Nothing was now before them but a miserable captivity or immediate death. The former was their lot. Mrs. Gaffield had one child, Mrs. Grout three, and Mrs. Howe seven ; the oldest eleven years, the youngest six months. The Indians set fire to the fort, and started with the women and the children for Canada. During eight days the Indians obliged these women and children to travel through the forest to Lake Champlain. Children four or five years old traveled all this distance on foot, without any suitable food. They were carried afterwards hom one place to another, and their sufferings from hunger were in- conceivable. Mrs. Ilowe's babe was taken from her the next winter, and her children separated. All the anguish of a mother's heart was borne by her, in addition to want of comfortable shelter, food, and clothing for herself. After much suffering most of the prisoners were ransomed and returned ...
Settlements were commence.l at Peacham, just before the Revolutionary war. Soldiers were stationed there for con- siderable time. On the morning of the 8th of March, 1781, after the soldiers had left the forts and blockhouses that had been built, the enemy came and took several prisoners . Colonel Elkins, then a youth, was carried to Canada, and with one hundred and fifty others sent to England and con- fined in " Mill Prison," where they remained till exchanged for Cornwallis' troops in 1782. A number of others were taken from Peachain, a part killed and sealed, anla prut carried to Canada and imprisom.l.
Royalton, on White river, was settled in 1771. In 1776, a party of three hundred, mostly Indians, attacked this in- fant settlement. They commenced their work of phuider and destruction at the house of Mr. Jolm Hutchinson, who
* Fav a particular account in the ". American Preceptor."
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lived near the present line of Tunbridge. After taking him and his brother prisoners, they went to the house of Mr. Robert Havens, and killed Thomas Pember and Elias But- ton. They then attacked the house of Mr. Joseph Knee- land, and took him with three others prisoners ; then went to Mr. Curtis', taking him and two others. After they came to the river, small parties were sent out in different direc- tions to plunder, burn houses, and take prisoners. Daring the day they killed one hundred and fifty cattle, all the sheep and hogy they found, burned twenty houses and as many barns, took twenty-five prisoners, and killed two persons. They then hastened off with their booty. !
In some instances the Indians were more desirous of plunder, than anything else. Men sometimes fled into the woods when they approached, and the women frequently stayed in the house. They visited the house of a Mr. Stone, in Bridport, on lake Champlain. Mr. Stone escaped to the woods. They took everything in the house that was valu- able, then killed the best hog and carried it off. At another time Mrs. Stone saw them coming, and had time to throw " a few things out of the window into the weeds, pat some things into her bosom, and sit down to carding. The Indi- ans, after taking what they could find elsewhere, came about Mrs. Stone and the children, apparently suspecting that she had something concealed about her." One stood with a tomahawk over her head, and another thrust his hands into her bosom, on which she struck hima with her card in his face, and obliged him to desist. On this an ohl Indian burst into a laugh at his companions, and cried out " good squaw, good squaw."
So great was the fear of the Tudians, that the hooting of hunters often gave alarm, and in some instances the mistake was not discovered till the panic hed extended by several towns, and the people had ile a considerable distance. The following story will illustrate this : In 1780 two men were at work in a remote part of Athens, in Windham county, and heard as they supposed the yells of savages. " They quit
* See " Steele's account of the burning of Royalton, " for other particulars.
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their work and spread the alarm as fast as possible. The peo- ple, affrighted almost out of their senses, hurried away with their women and children in as much haste as possible." One family " left their oven heating and oxen chained to a tree." The report was spread around that the town was destroyed by the savages. In other towns the people rushed to arms. Some were busy all night in preparing their guns and am- munition. The fear of the merciless foe drove sleep from all. But it all proceeded from the shouting of a hunter. The mistake was corrected and the people returned to their habitations.
The following was one of the devices for safety from the attack of savage Indians : A Mr. Stevens and family, who lived in Salisbury, and widow Story and children, who had retreated several times to Pittsford for safety, contrived at length to make a hole in the bank of Otter Creek, for the purpose of security against the savages. The passage would admit the entrance of but one person at a time, and led to a room mnade large enough for lodging. To this room they went in the dusk of the evening, by the aid of a canoe, and left it in the twilight of the morning. Here many a night they passed in security, which otherwise would have been spent in sleepless anxiety.
Wild Beasts.
Fear of wild beasts, while large forests existed in the state, produced much imaginary and some real suffering. Bears were very common, and sometimes very bold. The boldness of these animals on some occasions is illustrated by an event in the town of Allison. Mr. John Strong moved his fam- ily into that town in February, 1776. He had erected a rude hut of logs in which they lived. During an evening in September, while Mr. Strong and some of his neighbors had gone to Albany to procure provisions, Mrs. Strong and her children, sitting about the fire, heard a noise at the door. "Looking towards it, she saw the blanket, which served in- stead of a door, raised up, and an old bear protruding her head into the room."
A pan of milk was on the table, and a camp kettle of
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samp had just been taken from the fire, intended for supper. The sight of the fire caused the bear to start back. " Mrs. Strong caught the baby, and sending the older children to the lott, she followed and drew the ladder after her. The floor of this loft was made by laying small poles close to- gether, which gave ample opportunity to see all that was passing below. The bear, after reconnoitering the place several times, came in with two cubs. They first upset the milk that had been placed on the table for supper. The old bear then made a dash at the pudding pot, and thrust- ing in her head swallowed a large mouthful, and filled her mouth with another, before she found it was boiling hot. Giv- ing a furious growl she struck the pot with her paw, upset- ting and breaking it. She then set herself up on end en- deavoring to poke the pudding from her mouth, whining and growling all the time. This was so Indicrous, the cubs sit- ting up on end, one on each side, anl wondering what ailed their mother, that it drew a loud laugh from the children above. This seemed to excite the anger of the beast more than ever, and with a roar she rushed for the place where they had escaped up aloft. This had been covered up when Mrs. Strong drew up the ladder, and now commenced a struggle ; the bear to get up, and the mother and children to keep her down. After many fruitless attempts, the bear gave it up, and toward morning moved off. After Mr. Strong's return, a door made from slabs split from the bass- wood, and hung on wooden hinges, gave security from like inroads in future." # But few, if any, of the first settlers were seriously injured by bears. But a very painful event did occur from an attack of wolves. Soon after Bemmington was settled, " several young ladies returning on a winter's night, from a quilting frolic, were pursued by a pack of wolves. They sought refuge in some trees, and had hardly secured themselves among the lower branches, before the fierce animals were howling beneath them. Suddenly the limb on which one of the party, Caroline Mason by namne, was standing, broke beneath her weight, and she fell scream-
* See " Vermont Quarterly Gazetten.":
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ing among the hungry beasts below, which quickly tore her in pieces and devoured her."-Rev. P. H. White.
Scarcity of Provisions.
Poverty and scarcity of provisions caused much suffering to many of the early settlers. The following account, which the writer had from a widow of the town where he lived, will serve as an illustration. " We removed," she said, "to Lunenburg, when the town was very new. We had a large family of children, and were very poor. Provisions could not be obtained, and no one knows what I endured, to see my children often vomiting around me for mere faint- ness, and then I was obliged often to send them to bed without one mouthful of food. There was no road to St. Johnsbury but by marked trces, and I have set up more nights to boil salts than I am years old. My husband car- ried them to St. Johnsbury on his back, (at least fifteen, but probable then twenty miles) to get something to eat. I was obliged to make baskets, and turn every way, to keep my children from starving to death."
The following account will illustrate the hardships of an- other family. Mr. Samuel Eaton settled in Johnson in 1784. He had fought the battles of his country, and like many of the heroes of the Revolution, was very poor, with a large family depending on him for support. Hle loaded his seanty furniture on an old horse, and with his family traveled sixty or seventy luiles through the woods, by the help of marked trees, to his new home. For some time he depended on hunting and fishing to support his family.
When Guildhall was fist settled, the inhabitants suffered much from want of provisions, as well as from tories and In- dians. They were obliged to transport their provisions, in ca- noes, up the Connecticut river, a di-vince of one hundred and fifty iniles. These canoes were obliged to pass up the " fifteen mile falls."
When Marlboro was first settled, by a Mr. Whitmore, he was obliged to bring his provisions on his back, from Deer- field, Massachusetts, a distance of ahont twenty-five miles.
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He was absent laboring at his trade most of the winter of 1765, and his wife spent it alone, with the exception of her little daughter, and once seeing some hunters. She cut down trees to obtain browse for the cattle, and thus kept them alive during the winter.
Want of roads and distance of mills.
In addition to the distresses occasioned by other things, many were the hardships from the, sources. Calais, in Washington county, was settled in 1789. Mr. Wheelock and family proceeded from Montpelier in the following man -- ner : Ile drew his bed, and a son two years old, upon a hand-sled. Mra. Wheelock walked and carried her babe four months old. The distance was eleven miles, and the snow two or three feet deep. For one or two years they brought their grain a distance of thirty miles, and after- wards were obliged to go fifteen to a mill. In the winter they put several bags on the neck of one ox, and drove the other one forward to break the path for the one with a load.
Mr. Ashbel Shepherd and family removed to Greensboro, Orleans county, in 1789. Ile was obliged to bring provi- sions from Newbury, about forty miles distant. Sixteen miles he drew it on a hand-sled, the snow being three or four feet deep. He had cut hay in an open meadow three miles distant, and drew it on a hand-sled to keep his cow.
Dissensions.
In some towns, during the difficulties with New York, the people were so divided in their opinion as to give rise to much controversy and misery. A part favored the New York claim, and considered themselves under the government of that state. Others were friendly to the independence of Vermont, and were detenained all should submit to the government of the new atato. " Both parties had their committees, and the Yorkers, although in authority, could not govern the town; yet in connection with the tories, prevented anything being done under the direction and
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government of the new state. About this time all was con- fusion and terror. All went armed to defend themselves against their enemies ; Vermonters and whigs against Yorkers and tories. Each party said to their friends, in the language of Scripture, ' come over and help us.'" " In such a distressed and wretched situation were the people of Guilford at that time, amounting to two thousand six hun- dred inhabitants. Relatives and neighbors were at war with each other. Physicians were not allowed to visit the sick without a pass from the several committees. Handbills from all quarters inflamed the minds of the people. Social order was at an end, and club law about going into operation, when, luckily, in the summer of 1783, Colonel Ethan Allen arrived in town, with one hundred Vermonters from Ben- nington. Allen made proclamation to the people, as follows : 'I, Ethan Allen, declare that unless the people of Guil- ford peaccably submit to the authority of Vermont, the same shall be made as desolate as were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.' On the arrival of those troops, the tories, but few in number, were silent; but the Yorkers were roughly handled. Having fired at Allen and his troops when coming into town, he was determined to humble them. Some were made prisoners, others put under bonds for their good behavior, and all obliged to procure good supplies and quarters for has troops. The constable found it an easy mat- ter to collect his taxes under Colonel Ethan Allen's ' martial law,' and was not very serupulous about the sum assessed in the tax-bill. Produce, horses, cattle and sheep, and whatever could be found belonging to the most violent Yorkers, was taken without weight or measure. Hon. Stephen R. Bradley and Ira Allen succeeded the Colonel, and quartered with come troops in town for several months. bringing the Yorkers to submission.
" In the winter of 1784, the troops having left the town, the former seeues were revived. Captain Elijah Knights was sent from Rockingham with a company of . new state troops to quell the insurrection, by orders from General S. R. Bradley. Knights arrived in Guilford in the month
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of January, when the snow was about four Ket deep, upon a level. On the fifth of March, while pursuing the Yorkers in their flight before him to Massachusetts, a skirmish en- sued near the south line of the state, in which the Yorkers lost one killed, D. Spicer, and some woanded. Captain Knights, hearing that an army was coming front Massachu- setts to revenge the death of Spicer, retreated in great haste to Brattleboro. Afterwards, in 1784, the town, re- Jieved from martial law, had a meeting, when the Yorkers chose Hugh Stowell, moderator, but they adjourind without doing any business. From this time to 1791, both parties held public and secret meetings. The Yorkers, though they had the town books, dared not enter their records in them. During this confusion and jealousy one party stole the records of the other and hid them, together with their own, and many deeds and proprietors' papers, under the earth in the pound, where they remained till none of them could be read. During that time the Yorkers, having been so closely pursued by the civil and military authority of Vermont, fled to New York and settled on the grants made to the New York sufferers." :
Before the Revolutionary war the people of Vermont did not suffer so much from the tyranny of the officers of the king of England, as the people of Massachusetts and some of the other provinces, but did not entirely escape. From the time of the Boston massacre, March 5th, 1770, there had been a growing dislike to the conrze of the government of George III.
The decisions in the courts were often such as to awaken violent opposition among the people. At Westminster, in the county of Cumberland [now Windhamnj, a difficulty arose March 13th, 1775, between the citia us and the offi- cers of the king's court, at that place. The Meif .. . one officer of the king, resorted to violence and fired upon the citizens, by which a young man was killed. The epitaph on his tombstone will show the spirit of the people at that time :
* See Thempson's Gazetteer. Guilford
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EPITAPH !. " In memory of WILLIAM FRENCHI, Son to Mr. Nathaniel French, Who Was Shot at Westminster, March ye 13th, 1775, by the hands of Cruel Ministereal tools of George ye 3d, in the Cort llouse, at 11 a clock at night in the 22d year of his age.
Here William French his body lies, For Murder his blood for Vengeance eries, King George the third his tory crew Tha with a bawl his head Shot threw For Liberty and his Country's Good, He Lost his Life his Dearert Blood."
"This," says Deming, " was the first blood shed in the American Revolution.'
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the country, and the basis of all its institutions. All officers, from the president down to the constable, ure controlled by It ; and no laws, state of na- tional, are of any binding force, if they conflict with its require- ments. It declares what are the rights of the people, what are the powers of the government, and in what manner those powers are to be exercised. Every citizen ought, therefore, to be well ac- quainted with it, that he may know his rights, and may be capable of judging whether the government is, in any instance, exceeding its powerr.
PREAMBLE.
WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfeet union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our- selves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Cox- STITUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The Constitution was adopted by the people ; not by the states. This distinction is important to be observed. The great rebellion of
\ What is said of the Constitution of the United States? What supremacy has it over officers, and over other lawe? What does it declare ? Why ought every citizen to be well aquainted with it?
What six objects are stated in the preamble to be sought by the adoption of the Constitution ?
By whom was the Constitution adopted? What was attempted
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CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
1861 was an attempt to establish, by force of arms, the principle that the Constitution was adopted by the states, and that any state might, therefore, at its own pleasure, retract the arsent which is had given, and secede from the union. That it was adopted by the people and not by the states, is evident from the explicit language of the preamble-" We, the people of the United States," and from the historical fact that the ascent of the people was given by Con- ventions which they chose for that express purpose. In accordance with this view, the Government, in its attempt to suppress the re- bellion, made no effort to coerce the revolting states, but exerted its power directly on the persons who were engaged in the rebellion.
The absolute necessity of " a more perfect union " was made evident by the great evila which attended the imperfect unions that had before existed. During the carly part of the Revolutionary war, the colonies were held together only by the bond of a common danger, and a common cause. As between themselves, they were separate and independent nations ; and as such were too weak to contend with their powerful enemy. Articles of confederation were therefore adopted, and a new untion was formed, by the name of the United States of America. These articles were adopted by the states, not by the people. But the union thus formed proved in- sufficient to answer the purposes of a national government. It could not levy taxes, collect revenue, regulate commerce, engage in war, nor do any other important governmental act, without the consent of the states. To remedy these evils, by the establishment of a more vigorous form of government, the Constitution was adopted.
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