USA > Vermont > Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, to which are prefixed the records of the General Conventions from July 1775 to December 1777, Vol. I > Part 15
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Mr. Bayard's resolution was debated through the 22d of February, when the vote was taken-yeas 49, nays 45 ; not two thirds. and there- fore the resolution failed.
At the second session of the Sixth Congress occurred an election of President of the United States by the House of Representatives. The electoral votes were declared on the 11th of February, 1801, by which it. appeared that THOMAS JEFFERSON and AARON BURR had each received .. . majority, but that, as the number of votes for each was equal, no choice had been made by the people. The House of Representatives therefore on that day proceeded to ballot for President, and it balloted from day to day until February 17. Through thirty-five ballotings there was no elec- tion, and on each of the thirty-five the vote of Vermont was divided, Mr. Lyon voting for Jefferson, and Mr. Morris for Burr. On the thirty- sixth ballot Mr. Morris withheld his vote and Mr. Lyon voted for Jeffer- son, thus giving the vote of Vermont to Jefferson, which was sufficient to elect him. In Maryland, however. four opponents of Mr. Jefferson cast blanks, so that the other four members cast the vote of that state for Mr. Jefferson. Lyon on one occasion said, on a disagreement with Jef- ferson-" I made him, and I can unmake him !" This was assuming overmuch, as Lyon's vote would have been connted as nothing if Morris had not withheld his. The vote of either Vermont or Maryland would have elected Jefferson, but both were permitted by the Federalists to be east for him on the advice of Alexander Hamilton, as a choice of evils, he much preferring Jefferson to Burr. This event made the hostility be- tween IIamilton and Burr from thenceforth deadly, in fact ending in the death of Hamilton at the hand of Burr.
On returning from Congress in March, 1801, Mr. Lyon found his exten- sive business in Vermont much embarrassed, and moreover his political foes were lying in wait for him with fresh annoyances : he therefore re-
1 A third count was for aiding and abetting in the publication of the matter eited in the first and second counts.
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moved to Kentucky, the twin brother of Vermont by birth into the Union. He served two years, 1802-3, in the legislature of that State, and as a member of Congress eight years, 1803 to 1811. Nov. 13, 1811, he petitioned Congress to refund the fine of $1000 and costs ($1060.90) imposed on him under the sedition act, and after a delay of nearly thirty years, July 4, 1840, an act was passed refunding to his heirs the amount, with interest from February 1799. The House passed the bill by nearly a unanimous vote-yeas 124, nays 15.
In 1812 he contracted with the United States to construct gun-boats at his ship-yard on Cumberland river, to be delivered at New Orleans. Some were wrecked on the way, others were not completed in time, and on the whole the undertaking was disastrous. In 1820 he was appointed, under Monroe's administration, a factor with the Cherokee Indians in Arkansas, and on the organization of that territory he was elected first delegate to Congress, but he did not live to take his seat. He died, near Little Rock, Aug. 1, 1822, in the 76th year of his age.
Chittenden Lyon, son of Matthew, and grand-son of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, served in both branches of the legislature of Kentucky, and then eight years in Congress, ending March, 1836, when he voluntarily retired. He died in November, 1842. It is hardly possible that another instance can be found where a father has been elected to Congress from three different states and been succeeded in the same office by a son. Rev. Asa Lyon, member of Congress from Vermont, and Lucius Lyon, member and Senator in Congress from Michigan and a native of Ver- mont, were in no degree related, it is believed, to the family of Matthew Lyon.
However valuable to the state the services of Matthew Lyon may have been in the many public offices he filled, it may be doubted whether his influence as an enterprising and energetic business man was not even more valuable. He was daring in his enterprises, and had he either neglected polities and given his intellect and skill to business, or given less attention to business and more to culture in law and statemanship, he might have been an eminently successful man. In the History of Fair- haven, by Andrew N. Adams, it appears that Lyon's first store was built in 1791 ; Lyon's tavern house prior to 1787, and a private residence after- ward; Lyon's Iron Works [smelting, &c. ] were built in 1785-twice burnt but are still in operation ; Lyon's Paper Mill was started in 1790 or '91, (in which, almost a century ahead of the rest of the world, he manu- factured paper from basswood)-burnt twice, but still in operation ; the first grist-mill was built by Col. Lyon and Ager Hawley, and still another previous to 1795-a tannery annexed, which was converted into a slate mill, and with the grist-mill seems to be now in operation : Lyon's saw- mill was also the first, in 1783, and the power is still used ; in 1797 Lyon had another saw-mill, which he sold in 1800-burnt in 1833, and not re- built. To this must be added that Col. Lyon established a printing-office, and started the third newspaper in Vermont, The Farmers' Library, in
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Council of Safety-Introduction.
1793, which was continued under different names and proprietors (in the Colonel's interest) until 1798. He left his marks elsewhere in Vermont, and when he removed to Kentucky he carried with him a printing-office, and established a newspaper in that state, adding the tanning busi- ness, iron-works, and gunboats as has been seen. He was on the whole, probably, more useful to the public than to himself or his family, which, Chittenden Lyon excepted, seems to have been generally un- successful.
MOSES ROBINSON was son of Samuel Robinson, senior, the pioneer settler of Bennington, who went in Dec. 1765 as agent of the New Hampshire Grantees to petition the king for relief against the govern- ment of New York, and died in London, Oct. 27, 1767. Samuel was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1705, son of Samuel Robinson, who was born in Bristol, England, in 1668, and claimed descent from Rev. John Robin- son, "the father of the Independents," who was pastor of " The Pil- grims" before they sailed from Holland in the "Mayflower," in August, 1620.1 Moses Robinson was born in Hardwick, Mass., March 26, 1744, and came to Bennington with his father in 1761. He was the first town clerk, chosen in March 1762, which office he held nineteen years. As colonel of militia, he was with his regiment at the evacuation of Ticonde- roga and Mount Independence in July 1777. He was a member of the Council of Safety, 1777-8, and Councillor eight years, to Oct. 1785. In 1778 he was appointed as chief justice, to the bench of the Supreme Court, and he served on the bench from 1778 to 1783-4, and again from 1785 to 1788-9, in all ten years, when he was elected governor by the General Assembly.2
On the admission of the state to the Union in 1791, Mr. Robinson was one of the first two U. S. Senators, serving till June 1, 1796. Gov. Robinsou was a man of piety of a marked type. On one occasion when absent from home settling an estate with others and being delayed in the business, he proposed to spend the time in a prayer-meeting, which was agreed to; and in another prayer-meeting, having invited two deacons successively, but in vain, to lead in prayer, the governor undertook that duty himself, be- ginning by this frank confession : "(). Lord ! thou knowest we have come up here this afternoon to worship Thee, and we are cold and luke- warm as it were,-I fear at least some of us are!" It is recorded that he was very wealthy, and "liberal to the cause of religion corresponding to his ability." He united with the church, of which Rev. Jedediah Dewey was pastor, June 20, 1765, and was elected deacon May 22, 1789, which
1 Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. I, pp. 244, 269.
2 The votes of the freemen in 1789 were for Thomas Chittenden 1263, Moses Robinson 746, Samuel Safford 478, all others 378-no election. Robinson was elected in Joint Assembly Oct. 9, and Gov. Chittenden, as presiding officer, was requested to inform him of his election .- Vt. Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. II, p. 484.
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Council of Safety-Introduction.
office he held until his death, May 26, 1813. In death he was triumphant. A witness of the scene (wife of Gen. David Robinson) said of it : "if she could feel as he did. it would be worth ten thousand worlds."-See Early History, p. 467 ; Memorials of a Century, Bennington. pp. 233-236.
Doctor PAUL SPOONER appears first in Vermont history as a dele- gate from Hertford [ Hartland] in a convention at Westminster. Oct. 19, 1774, called to condemn the tea act, the Boston port bill, and other kind- red measures of the king and parliament of Great Britain. Doet. Spooner was one of a committee which made a written report expressing surprise that the king and parliament should dare to assert "a right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." and to take, "at their pleasure, the properties of the king's American subjects without their consent." "He who has nothing," said this committee, "but what another has power at pleasure lawfully to take away from him, has nothing that he can call his own, and is, in the fullest sense of the word, a slave-a slave to him who has such power: and as no part of British America stipulated to settle as slaves, the privileges of British subjects are their privileges, and who- ever endeavors to deprive them of their privileges is guilty of treason against the Americans, as well as the British constitution." He again appeared as a delegate at a convention of whigs at Westminster, Feb. 7, 1775, and was secretary. Still again, June 6, 1775; he was delegate at a Cumberland county Congress, [so called.] and was chosen one of three delegates to represent the county in the New York Provincial Congress. He served as such for the remainder of the session which commenced May 23, 1775, was re-elected Nov. 7 and served in the session which commenced Nov. 14. May 5, 1777, he was chosen sheriff of Cumberland county under New York, but declined accepting the office in a letter dated July 15. Just one week before writing that letter he had been ap- pointed one of the Vermont Council of Safety, which office he accepted, and he was appointed deputy secretary thereof in the absence of the sec- retary, Ira Allen. He was member of the first Council under the consti- tution, and was re-elected five times, serving from 1778 till October 1782, when he was elected lieutenant governor, and annually re-elected until 1787. Twice he was agent from Vermont to Congress, in 1780 and again in 1782. For nine years he was a judge of the supreme court, in 1779 and 1780, and again from 1782 to 1788. During the same period, in 1781 and 1782, he was judge of probate for Windsor county. He removed from Hartland to Hardwick, and was the first town clerk of the last named town, elected March 31, 1795. He was also its first representative in the General Assembly, and served as such three years, in 1797, 1798 and 1799, "He is believed," said HILAND HALL, "to have been well edu- cated, and to have had a good professional reputation."-See Eastern Vermont ; Early History of Vermont ; and history of Hardwick in Vt. Hist. Mag., vol. I.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
JULY 8 TO AUGUST 15, 1777.
As late as March 18, 1788, according to JOSEPH FAY, the first secre- tary (IRA ALLEN) had the minutes of the proceedings of the above period in his possession. Nevertheless, these minutes have never come into the possession of the State, nor can they be found elsewhere : they are therefore now to be supplied, imperfectly no doubt, from the state- ments in Ira Allen's History, with such copies of letters, circulars, and orders of the Council as can be obtained from other sources.
On the adjournment of the Convention at Windsor, July 8, 1777, Ticon- deroga had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Warner had been defeated at Hubbardton, and Burgoyne's splendid army was advancing into New York on the western border of Vermont with all possible speed. The most energentie labors of the Council were demanded instantly. and the board proceeded direct to Manchester, where Warner had fixed his head- quarters with a remnant of his regiment. 1
1I. Allen's History in Vt. Hist. Soc. Col., vol. I. p. 383. One source of alarm was in the probable effect of the following document :
[From Vt. Historical Society Collections, Vol. 1.]
By Lieutenant General JOHN BURGOYNE, commanding an army and fleet of Great Britain, against the revolted Provinces of America. To the inhabitants of Castleton, of Hubbardton, Rutland, Tinmouth, Pawlet, Wells, Granville [N. Y.] with the neighbouring districts : also the districts bordering on White creek, Cambden, Cambridge, [N. Y.,] &c. &c., &c.,
You are hereby directed to send from your several townships deputa- tions, consisting of ten persons or more from each township, to meet Colonel Steene at Castleton, on Wednesday, July 15th, at ten in the morn-
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Council of Safety-July 8 to Aug. 15, 1777.
A quorum of the members at least was present, and the Council was organized as follows :
THOMAS CHITTENDEN, President. JONAS FAY, Vice President. IRA ALLEN, Secretary.
[From Vt. Hist. Soc. Collectlons, vol. I.]
IN COUNCIL OF SAFETY, STATE OF VERMONT, Manchester, 11th July, 1777.
Gentlemen,-The inclosed is a Copy of General St. Clair's Letter to the Convention of this State, by which you will learn his request to the Militia of your state. No further accounts have arrived since the date of the enclosed except that there are Small Scouting Parties foraging in the Woods. You will Learn the Provision General Schuyler has made for the protection of this State, and you will naturally understand that when we cease to be a frontier your State must take it. Would beg your advice and assistance for the good of the whole, and have the honor to be,
Gentlemen, with respect, Your most Obdt and Very Humble Servant. By order of the Council.
IRA ALLEN. Secr'y. N. B .- News has this moment come to hand that General How, with his army, have got up North River as far as Tappan near the Highlands. and that the inhabitants are moving out of Albany. We hear General Washington is with his army in high spirits watching the motion of the Enemy. I. ALLEN.
The Honble the Council of Safety N. Hampshire State.
[From Vt. Hist. Soc. Collections, Vol. 1.]
IN COUNCIL OF SAFETY, STATE OF VERMONT, Manchester, 15th July. 1777.
Gentlemen,-This State in particular seems to be at Present the object of Distruction. By the surrender of the fortress Ticonderoga a Com- munication is opened to the Defenceless inhabitants on the frontier, who having little more in present store than sufficient for the maintenance of their Respective Families, and not ability to immediately remove their effects, are therefore induced to accept such Protections as are offered them by the Enemy : by this means Those Towns who are most Conti- guous to them are under necessity of Taking such Protection, by which the next Town or Towns become equally a frontier as the former Towns before such Protection, and unless we can obtain the assistance of our friends so as to put it immediately in our Power to make a sufficient stand against such strength as they may send, it appears that it will
ing, who will have instructions not only to give further encouragement to those who complied with the terms of my late manifesto, but also to communicate conditions upon which the persons and properties of the disobedient may yet be spared.
This fail not to obey, under pain of military execution.
Head Quarters, at Skeensborough House, July 10th, 1777.
J. BURGOYNE.
By order of His Excellency the Lieutenant-General,
ROBT. KINGSTON, Secretary.
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Council of Safety-July 8 to Aug. 15, 1777.
soon be out of the Power of this state to maintain a frontier. This coun- try, notwithstanding its infancy, seems as well supplied with provisions for Victualling an army as any Country on the Continent, so that on that account we cannot see why a stand may not as well be made in this State as in the State of New Hampshire, and more especially as the in- habitants are Heartily Disposed to Defend their Liberties. You, Gentle- men, will be at once sensible that Every such Town as accepts protection are rendered at that instant forever incapable of affording us any further assistance, and what is infinitely worse, as some Disaffected Persons eternally Lurk in almost every Town, such become Doubly fortified to in- jure their Country. Our Good Dispositions to Defend ourselves and make a frontier for your State with our own, cannot be Carried into execution without your assistance. Should you send immediate assistance we can help you, and should you neglect till we are put to the necessity of taking protection, you Readily Know it is in a moment out of our power to as- sist you. Laying these Circumstanees together will I hope induce Your Honors to take the same into consideration and immediately send us your Determination in the Premises.
I have the satisfaction to be your Honors' Most Obedi and very Humbl Servt.
IRA ALLEN, Secr'y. By order of Council, The Honorable the Council of Safety, STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
P. S .- By express this moment received we learn that between 3 & 4 thousand of the Enemy are Fortifying at the town of Castleton. Our case calls for immediate assistance. I. ALLEN.1
1 This was sent to the Massachusetts Council also. The reported for- tification at Castleton was one of a multitude of rumors growing out of the panic, when everybody was inclined to believe the worst.
The reply of the President of New Hampshire, and the orders to Stark referred to, were as follows :
Letter from MESHECH WEARE. President of the State of New Hampshire, to IRA ALLEN, Secretary of the State of Vermont.
[From Slade's State Papers, page 80.] EXETER, July 19, 1777.
SIR,-I was favored with yours of the 15th inst. yesterday by express, and laid the same before our general court, who are sitting.
We had, previous thereto, determined to send assistance to your state. They have now determined, that a quarter part of the militia of twelve regiments shall be immediately dranghted, formed into three battalions, under the command of Brig. Gen. JOHN STARK, and forthwith sent into your State, to oppose the ravages and coming forward of the enemy; and orders are now issuing, and will all go out in a few hours to the sey- eral colonels for that purpose. Dependence is made that they will be supplied with provisions in your State: and I am to desire your conven- tion will send some proper person or persons to Number Four. [Charles- town, N. H., ] by Thursday next, to meet Gen. STARK there, and advize with him relative to the route and disposition of our troops, and to give him such information as you may then have, relative to the manœuvres of the enemy.
In behalf of the council and assembly, I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
MESHECH WEARE, President.
IRA ALLEN, Esq., Secretary of the State of Vermont.
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Council of Safety-July 8 to Aug. 15, 1777.
[From Vt. Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. I.]
IN COUNCIL OF SAFETY. STATE OF VERMONT, Manchester, 15th July, 1777.
To all Militia Officers whom it may Concern :
This is the second and perhaps the last express we may be able to send you from this Post. Your immediate assistance is absolutely necessary. A few hundred Military Troops to be joined to our present strength would greatly add to our present encouragement, as by late information we Learn that a large Scout of the Enemy are disposed to take a Tour to this post ; the inhabitants, with their families, cannot be quieted with- out an assurance of the arrival of Troops directly for their assistance. You will Please to let us know your determination without delay.
The Continental Stores at Bennington seem to be their present aim. You will be supplied with provision here on your arrival. Pray send all the Troops you can Possibly Raise ; we can Repulse them if we have assistance.
I have the honor to be your Most Obdt Humbl Servt. By order of Council, IRA ALLEN, Sec'y.
On the same day, Allen communicated the alarming rumor as to Cas- tleton to Gen. PHILIP SCHUYLER. This letter is not in any of the Ver- mont collections. Its tenor can be gathered from Schuyler's reply :
FORT EDWARD, July 16, 1777.
Sir - It gives me great pain that I am not in a capacity directly to answer your letter of the 15th inst. As an officer of the Honorable the Congress, who represents the thirteen United States of America. I can- not with propriety take notice of a fourteenth state, unknown in their confederacy. In order that the public service may not suffer, I shall however answer your letter, which, for the reasons already assigned, I am under the necessity of doing in your private capacity.
That the enemy should fortify at Castleton is to me exceedingly un- accountable. It is certain that a considerable body of their troops with General Burgoyne are at Skeensborough ; that from corroborated infor- mation a body of them have gone to Ticonderoga, to come by the way of Lake George.
It is doubtless extremely difficult to move the inhabitants that lie nearest the enemy, but I should hope that Colonel Warner, supported
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, Saturday, July 19th. 1777.
To Brigd Gen' Jno Stark,-You are hereby required to repair to Charles- town. Nº 4. so as to be there by 24th-Thursday next, to meet and confer with persons appointed by the convention of the State of Verment rela- tive to the route of the Troops under your Command, their being sup- plied with Provisions, and future operations-and when the Troops are collected at No. 4, you are to take the Command of them and march into the State of Vermont, and there act in conjunction with the Troops of that State, or any other of the States. or of the United States, or sepa- rately, as it shall appear Expedient to you for the protection of the Peo- ple or the annoyauce of the Enemy, and from time to time as occasion shall require, send Intelligence to the Gen' Assembly or Committee of Safety, of your operations, and the manœuvers of the Enemy.
M. WEARE.
Stark refused to act under the continental officers.
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Council of Safety-July 8 to Aug. 15, 1777.
by the militia under Colonel Simmonds which I have ordered to join him, and with that of the State of New Hampshire, and such as can be col- lected from the more Southern parts of what are commonly called Grants, would be able to effect this business in a very great measure.
The enemy, by the last accounts, are not above six thousand ; and if it be true that they are disposed of as I have mentioned, the body at Castle- ton cannot be considerable. I have ordered such persons as are going to the enemy for protection, to be seized and sent prisoners to me. Three have been delivered to me and I have sent them to jaol in Albany. I think it would be right to adopt a similar conduct, especially to those who are not yet so much in their power as to be obliged to accept pro- tection from them.
I have delivered Captain Fitch a Proclamation of which I wish you to make copies and distribute them in the Country nearest the enemy.1 P. SCHUYLER.
Of this period IRA ALLEN wrote as follows :
The Council of Safety then attended to the affairs of the government, but their situation was very unpleasant, as the Constitution had only de- clared the district to be a free state : but the Government was not or- ganized, as the Constitution was not fully completed, and near three quarters of the people on the west side of the Green Mountains were compelled to remove, and the rest were in great danger. It was they who principally supported the title of the New Hampshire Grants, against the unjust claims of New York, and their removal would expose the settlers on the east side of the Green Mountains to an invasive war, both from the Savages and the British ; besides, the late proceedings of Congress had been partial towards New York, and against Vermont ; the people of the new State had reason to expect no favour from the Committee of Safety of New York, as its members were in fact com- posed of the old sycophants of the late Government, which they pru- dently deserted. Gain and dominion were objects of the first conse- quence to some of the Committee of New York, and the citizens of the New State were conscious that they would take every sinister and possi- ble step to divide the people, and would not be dissatisfied with any mis- fortune which befel them, even by the common enemy.
The Council of Safety had no money or revenue at command, their powers and credit were not extensive, and all expresses were supported at their private expence : yet, in this situation, it became necessary to raise men for the defence of the frontiers, with bounties and wages ; ways and means were to be found out, and the day was spent in debat- ing on the subject ; Nathan Clark, not convinced of the practicability of raising a regiment, moved in Council, that Mr. Ira Allen, the young- est member of Council, and who insisted on raising a regiment, while a majority of the Council were for only two companies, of sixty men each, might be requested to discover ways and means to raise and support a regiment, and to make his report at sun-rising on the morrow. The Council acquiesced, and Mr. Allen took the matter into consideration. Next morning, at sun-rising, the Council met, and he reported the ways and means to raise and support a regiment, viz. that the Council should appoint Commissioners of Sequestration, with authority to seize the goods and chattels of all persons who had or should join the common enemy ; and that all property so seized should be sold at public vendue,
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