USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Windsor > The birthplace of Vermont; a history of Windsor to 1781 > Part 27
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In spite of the warmth of Duane's committee report and in spite of its unyielding tone the committee reached the risky conclusion that probably the Phelps letter and the Hoisington code did not accurately reflect the sentiments of the people of Cumberland County as a whole. Therefore, while the con- vention deemed it advisable to send to Cumberland County an investigating committee to report the actual conditions, Duane recommended that the requisition for the Rangers be forthwith honored. His concluding words are as follows: " And, lastly, that they represent to the committee of the said County of Cumberland the wisdom and propriety of a revision of the said letter, and of an unreserved submission of the said county to the jurisdiction of this state, so that all cases of distrust may subside and the harmony which is so essential at this im- portant conjuncture may be fixed on the surest foundation."
Five hundred copies of Duane's report were ordered printed for distribution in Cumberland County, the money for Hois- ington's Rangers was appropriated, two thousand flints were
-
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provided for Cumberland County and an investigating com- mittee, consisting of Captain John Sessions and Colonel Joseph Marsh, with delegate John Taylor, of Albany County, was appointed. To this committee Major Simon Stevens was soon added as a fourth member.
Although, as already pointed out, Colonel Joseph Marsh had left for home before the debate on the Phelps letter, he was well aware of the disturbance which that letter had pro- voked in the minds of the delegates. In fact, it appears from what follows that the Phelps letter had prevented his secur- ing for Cumberland County a supply of arms which he had been asked by his constituents to obtain. Colonel Marsh, it seems, on his way to Hartford had passed through Putney and had fully reported to Chairman James Clay, of the Cumber- land County Committee, the mess which had been stirred up in the New York Convention by Charles Phelps's communica- tion. The situation appears quite clearly in the following cir- cular letter addressed by Clay under date of September 26 to the members of Cumberland's County Committee in the sev- eral towns:
"Gentlemen :
"Colon Williams has Earnestly Requested me to Call the County Committee and the field offiserers together, in order to Procure Arms for those that haint got none, which the County Committee have Already Don in their Instructions to our Delegates, and Colon Marsh informs me he was Like to get a grant of money from the Provincel Congress sufficient to procure three Hundred Arms for the Benefit of the County and should have got them had it not been for that Letter which Mr Phelps and some others Did Prevail upon the Com- mittee to send to New York, together with some other in- formations they have Received, which made them believe that we were agoing to Revolt from them, since which they will Do nothing for us, untill they can be assured that we have no such intent.
"Now, by the advice of a number of the members of the County Committee, I earnestly Request that you would call your town together that you may know their minds as a body,
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or as individuals, wheather they Intend to Revolt from the State of New York or not, and be Pleasd to send the Proceed- ings of your Town to Westminster by your County Committee at their next setting on the first Tuesday of November next that the County Committee may be able to send to the Pro- vincal Congress the minds of the Inhabitants of this County in this Important affair. I Beseach of you and of every mem- ber of this Community to act Candidly and uprightly in an affair of such importance as this, at this Critical Time. Your Complyance with the above Request will greatly oblige a number of the County Committee and your Humble Servant Putney, Sept' 26: 1776.
James Clay Chairman
"To the Sub Committee in the Town of " 1
Clay reported subsequently that although he sent a notice in the above form to every town "Desiering them to meet as above said" only four towns held meetings.2 This lack of re- sponse could hardly have been due to indifference: more likely it was due to disinclination to make a definite announcement on a subject of such delicacy and on which the conflicting opinions had bred dissensions among the inhabitants them- selves. Thanks to the light-fingered audacity of John Taylor, who tore down and pocketed the notice or warning of Marl- borough's Town meeting, we have a specimen of the form of written notice used in the few towns where meetings were convened.
"A Notyfication
"To Notify the freeholders of the Inhabitants of this town to meet at the Dwelling house of Mr. Jonas Whitny on the 15th of Oct. Curent at 12 o'clock in the Afternoon To Chuse a moderator to order said meeting, To consider the contents of a letter from the Chairman of the comitte of this County Directed to the sub-comitte of this Town Requesting to know the mind of this town on acct of Revolting from New York. To hear the report of Capt. Whitmore from the Convention at Dorsett.
14 Doc. Hist., pp. 555-556.
2 4 Doc. Hist., 556.
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"This above being requested by the committee of this town to me, I Do hereby appoint the time and place aforesaid. Dated at New Malborough, Oct. 4, 1776.
William Mather, Town Clerk."
(Endorsed) "This notification was taken from the side of a public house at New Marlborough by me.
John Taylor." 1
Hertford (Hartland) faced the situation in town meeting and reported back to Chairman Clay as follows:
"Sir: Agreeable to your request of Sept' 26, 1776, we have called the Town together to know their minds relative to a Separation from the State of New York. We find the major part for a Separation on the principle of first applying to the State of New York for it before it be carried to the Continen- tal Congress.
Hertford, October 29th 1776.
Aaron Willard William Gallup Paul Spooner
Committee of sd Town of Hertford."
Halifax presented a different view which was expressed by the following vote of the townsmen:
"Put to vote: Who Present are for Setting up a New State in this Difficult and Distressing Time, and who for continuing through the present Troubles still to the State of New York ? Voted to continue still to the State of New York, as above. Nemine Contradicente."
Although Windsor held a town meeting at this time, the warning contained no reference to a secession from New York nor do the minutes of the meeting disclose that the subject was brought up. The meeting was a special one, called at the request of a number of the inhabitants, to consider several subjects, viz., to see if the town would choose a new Committee of Safety "in the Room and Steed" of the existing committee; to see if the town would erect a quarantine hospital for small-
11 N. Y. Calendar Hist. Manuscripts (Revolutionary), p. 487.
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THE BIRTHPLACE OF VERMONT
pox cases; to see if the town would investigate the dilatory conduct of the tax collectors; to see if the town would order that a copy of all warnings for town meetings be "sent and sett up in the Back part of the Town."
The real purpose of the meeting concerned the Committee of Safety. Since the end of the preceding year the committee had been composed of Colonel Stone, Thomas Cooper, Cap- tain Dean, Deacon Thomson, Ebenezer Curtis, Ebenezer Hoisington, and William Smead, of whom Curtis and Hoising- ton had been designated as county committeemen. It will be recalled that one of the last acts of the Dorset Convention had been the passage of a resolution that no person should be admitted to vote in choosing committees of safety, except such as should sign the association drawn up by that conven- tion. How many of the people of Windsor had then sub- scribed to that association is unknown. Colonel Nathan Stone undoubtedly had not signed it, had no regard for it, and had not the slightest intention of repudiating his allegiance to New York or allying himself with such a rickety scheme as that of setting up a separate state. Yet here was Colonel Stone hold- ing the position of chairman of Windsor's Committee of Safety, and here was Ebenezer Hoisington just back from Dorset with the knowledge that according to "progressive" ideas Colonel Stone was neither eligible to the office nor entitled to vote at an election. So Ebenezer Hoisington decided to measure his strength against Windsor's chieftain.
This proved to be Colonel Stone's last successful stand as the leading citizen of Windsor.
The meeting was held on October 14. Deacon Thomson, who was probably in alliance with Ebenezer Hoisington, was chosen moderator. The situation must for a time have looked promising for the "New State" idea, but when the votes were counted it developed that Colonel Stone was triumphantly returned to the leadership of the Committee of Safety, and that Hoisington, Deacon Thomson, Ebenezer Curtis, and Wil- liam Smead were dropped. The new committee consisted of Colonel Stone, Richard Wait, Thomas Cooper, Captain Dean, and Captain John Packard. The election over, the meeting adjourned without disposing of any other matter save the
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question of putting up a duplicate notice of town meetings in the back part of the town. The favorable action on that im- portant item showed that the west or "back" part of the town, consisting of what is now West Windsor, had already an appreciable number of settlers.
It was perhaps at this time that Colonel Nathan Stone pre- pared and began securing signers to the parchment memorial addressed to "The Honorable the Provincial Congress of the State of New York." 1 In spite of the memorial's bearing a date in the year 1777, the recitals suggest the possibility if not the probability that the document was prepared late in the year 1776. It sought to assure the New York Congress or Convention that the subscribers desired no separation from New York. It requested the New York Convention to impress such sentiments on the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. A postscript indicates that the memorial had long been with- held from delivery, so as to avoid raising a local contention which might injure the cause of the American Revolution. This circumstance may account for the memorial's being dated on January 3, 1777, or June 3, 1777, even though its actual execution took place the previous year. There is no evidence that Colonel Stone or anybody else ever forwarded the paper to the New York Convention.
These are the subscribers to the memorial: [First column: mainly Hertford (Hartland) residents] Robert Morrison, Aaron Willard, Simeon Alvord, Jonathan Burk, John Barrell (or Bar- rett), William Patterson, John Laiton, Timothy Lull, Ephraim Minor, Phinehas Killam, John Goulding, Caleb Shaw, Samuel Rust. [Second column: mainly Windsor residents] Nathan Stone, Joseph Barrett, Zedekiah Stone, Jeremiah Bishop, John Brown, William Smead, junior, John Packard, John Benjamin, Thomas Waitt, William Hunter, Benjamin Bishop, Jonathan Peirce, James Fletcher, Richard Wait, Joseph Woodruff, Wil- liam Darling, Reuben Dean, William Smead, Caleb Stone, Jonathan Hodgman, Elisha Hubbard, Jeremy Dwyer, Peter Taylor, Jacob Hastings, Matthew Hammond, Joseph Powers, Elnathan Strong, Joseph Moulton, Samuel Messer, Elihu
1 This paper was advertised for sale at auction by C. F. Heartman, at Metuchen, N. J., on February 22, 1927.
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Newell, Thomas Hunter, Ezekiel Hawley, Benjamin Wait, Eldad Hubbard, Matthew Patrick, Francis Beatty, Joseph Hodgkins, Benoni Patrick, Lot Hodgman, John Lumbard.
In each of the two columns of signatures occur two erasures. In the second column, just above Eldad Hubbard's name, there are fairly plain indications that the signature of Watts Hubbard, junior, had been affixed. The marks beneath Joseph Barrett's name suggest the remains of Andrew Naughton's signature. Both Watts Hubbard, junior, and Andrew Naugh- ton, as appears elsewhere, were charged with being loyalists. This circumstance may point to the character of the two men whose signatures were erased in the column of Hartland sign- ers. The names of Zadock Wright and Titus Simonds come quickly to mind.
The Windsor list gives a clear idea of the momentary party division. Since it lacks such names as Ebenezer Hoisington, Ebenezer Curtis, Thomas Cooper, William Dean, Hezekiah Thomson, and Steel Smith, we may infer that these men al- ready were active in the secession movement, which presently drew to its support most of the signers of Colonel Stone's memorial.
John Taylor's letter reporting the conditions in Cumberland County as he found them in the autumn of 1776 is a contribu- tion to the history of the times. Though Mr. B. H. Hall pro- nounced it "neither accurate nor particular," 1 it has the ear- marks of truth and is indisputably interesting. Through no wisdom on Taylor's own part he found himself on his tour of inspection in the company of two sagacious and well-informed colleagues in the persons of Colonel Joseph Marsh, of Hart- ford, and Captain John Sessions, of Westminster. Moreover, these two residents of Cumberland County were men of char- acter and probity. A committee thus constituted was unlikely to stray far from the true facts, although possibly unable to ferret out all the secret plottings that then were going on. Taylor's letter, which is addressed under date of November 3, 1776, to the then president of the New York Committee of Safety follows.
1 History of Eastern Vermont, p. 276.
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Albany, Nov. 3d, 1776.
Sir: In Compliance with an order and resolve of the Con- vention I repaired to Cumberland County, to unite with Mr. Sessions and Col. Marsh, to carry into execution a resolve of the 4th ultimo. I met these gentlemen though without the resolution referred to, owing to Mr. Stevens's delay, who was to carry the reports, etc.
The attack on our fleet on Lake Champlain occasioned the militia's being called out, which rendered it impossible to col- lect the sense of the people until affairs were more settled.
It was thought advisable that the report of the Convention should be dispersed through the counties and a proper time fixed by Col. Marsh and Mr. Sessions (who would appear the best judges) for taking the matter up, that I should be ad- vised of the same, and attend accordingly.
It is reported Col. Warner has said he was advised to peti- tion Congress to have the New Hampshire Grants set off as a new state by Mr. Adams, one of the Delegates.
The people are much divided, some for a new State, some for joining Hampshire, others Massachusetts, many for re- maining under New York. I endeavored to dissuade them from persisting in such idle and delusive schemes which would meet with the approbation of such only as were fond of changes and rather choose to live under no government, as the con- duct of the most industrious in this affair has too plainly evinced heretofore.
The chairman of the Committee of Cumberland disapproves of the letter sent by their delegates; it was carried by a ma- jority in their house, though few out of doors knew a word of it. It was framed by a certain Mr. Phelps, the oracle of them parts, who I understand is very busy in this affair.
From what I have heard among those people I am led to believe they will remain no longer under the State of New York than they can help.
Mr. Sessions advanced five hundred pounds to Major Hois- ington of the rangers; the remainder I am of opinion he will keep in his hands until he hears from Convention.
The enclosed I took down at a Tavern in New Marlborough. The inhabitants on my return accused me of being guilty of a
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desperate mean act. They could not proceed to business for want of a notification as the town clerk had no other minutes.
I am sir, with great respect,
Your most obedt humble servant
To Pierre Van Cortlandt Esq. John Taylor
The enclosure which Taylor mentions was the notice of Marlborough's town meeting1 called pursuant to Chairman Clay's request. Another paper which Taylor probably trans- mitted was a memorandum of Abner Seeley's item of news which has already been mentioned. The attack on the Ameri- can fleet on Lake Champlain, alarming enough in itself, was supposed by the settlers to be but a step leading to an attack by the land forces under General Carleton. Apprehension on this score was uppermost in the minds of the inhabitants of the Grants at the time of Taylor's investigation.
It will have been perceived that the Phelps letter had the effect of fixing the attention of the New York Convention on Cumberland County and creating the belief that in that part of the New Hampshire Grants the thought of revolt and se- cession had gained the greatest headway. In further justifica- tion of that belief one might cite Cumberland County's repu- tation for disorder resulting from the Nathan Stone rebellion and the Westminster affray-one the earliest and the other the most violent of any of the serious outbreaks against New York's authority. Beyond this, the defection in Cumberland had at least the appearance of involving an entire county of considerable area, of older settlements, and, probably, of more substantial and prosperous individuals than were to be found in other parts of the Grants. The defection in Albany and Charlotte Counties, on the other hand, involved only the frac- tion of those large counties that lay upon the Grants. For the time being the New York Convention overlooked or perhaps were not fully cognizant of the fact that the settlers on the Grants on the west side of the Green Mountains were more nearly unanimous for secession and had been more constant and active than the inhabitants on the east side in fomenting rebellion. The latter considerations (which were dwelt upon
1 Pages 316-317.
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in the formal report submitted by Taylor's committee in Jan- uary, 1777) subsequently gained a somewhat exaggerated im- portance in the minds of the New York authorities. This revised view of the case the Vermont historians have gener- ally accepted to the extent of mistakenly ascribing to the west side inhabitants practically all of the credit or discredit for a complete breach with New York during the stressful days of the American Revolution.
CHAPTER XXXV THE REVOLT HANGS FIRE
GOVERNOR HILAND HALL is probably correct in his opinion1 that it had been the expectation of the Dorset Convention on adjourning to meet at Westminster on October 30, 1776, that at the adjourned session there would be a definite and formal rupture with New York. "But when the meeting came, the inhabitants of the territory were in great alarm and confusion in consequence of the destruction of the American naval force on Lake Champlain and an expected attack by Carleton on Ticonderoga. . . .
7, 2 Governor Hall also states that a large number of the settlers had been called to the defence of that fortress and the frontier, so that the Westminster session in October was brief and its attendance thin.3
As a matter of fact, but seventeen delegates reported at the three days' session of the convention of the New Hampshire Grants, which opened at Westminster on October 30. Only six of these delegates came from west-side towns. Captain Joseph Bowker, of Rutland, who had acted as chairman at Dorset, was again in the chair. In the absence of Doctor Jonas Fay the delegates appointed Captain Ira Allen, of Colchester, as the clerk of the meeting, and thus gave him his first prom- inence as an official in the New State movement. Ebenezer Hoisington, who in spite of having been deposed as one of Windsor's committee of safety, still held his post as a delegate to the New Hampshire Grants Convention, was on hand as Windsor's representative. Again Windsor was the most north- erly town on the east side of the Green Mountains to send a delegate.
The very first matter of business to be taken up by the con- vention after the choice of a clerk, was to send a committee to Doctor Elkanah Day, the secretary of the Cumberland County Committee of Safety, and get the records pertaining to the sending of county delegates to the New York conven-
1 Early History of Vermont, p. 235.
21 Collections Vt. Hist. Soc., p. 34.
& Id.
324
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tion. These records included, of course, not only the record of votes cast and the credentials of the delegates, but the Hois- ington code of instructions and the Phelps letter. The second matter of business was the appointment of a Committee on Programme. Nothing else took place on the first day and nothing on the second day, except to invite Chairman Clay and Secretary Day of the Cumberland County Committee to attend the session as guests.
The Committee on Programme, consisting of Ebenezer Hoisington, Joshua Webb, Ira Allen, William Fitch, and Doc- tor Reuben Jones, made its report on the morning of Novem- ber 1. "It is the opinion of this Committee," says the report, "that by reasons of the incursions of the Enemy, and that the Militia of this State have lately been called and are now going to the relief of their distressed Brethren at Ticonderoga and the Northern frontiers of this State, and that several of the Members of this Convention are more immediately called on to the relief of their families, &c., which has so far taken up our attention and the attention of the People at large that we have not collected the full sentiments of the People." On the strength of this convenient, reasonable, and probably truthful excuse the committee advised that it was unwise to complete the contemplated petition to the Continental Congress or to fill up the committee to present it. The report which James Duane's committee had submitted to the New York Conven- tion on October 2, received the attention of the Committee on Programme, and they recommended not only that it be an- swered but that the answer be accompanied by a pamphlet setting forth the advantages of forming the New Hampshire Grants into a separate State. This pamphlet, the committee thought, should be printed and distributed among the inhabi- tants forthwith. Besides the pamphlet the committee advised the publication of a "manifesto" in the newspapers, "setting forth the reasons, in easy terms, why we choose not to connect with New York."
The convention adopted this report and selected Colonel William Marsh, Ira Allen, and Solomon Phelps1 to draft the
1 Solomon Phelps, son of Charles Phelps, was a troublesome lawyer of Cum- berland County. He seems not to have been a delegate to the Convention.
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answer, the pamphlet, and the manifesto. The convention also directed the three men last named, together with Doctor Jonas Fay, to draw a petition to be sent to the New York Convention, requesting approbation of the plan for setting up the New State. It will be recalled that this suggestion of applying to New York had already received favor. Prob- ably it came up again in consequence of the fact that nothing in that direction had actually been done, and also because some of the towns, such as Hertford (Hartland), had favored it. As a matter of fact, no such petition ever was presented, and probably those who had the running of the proceedings never intended anything of the sort.
The convention appointed a committee, on which General Jacob Bayley was named as a member, to go through Cum- berland and Gloucester Counties, get signatures to the asso- ciation, and spread the news of the convention's transactions. Evidently General Bayley was still the serious factor to deal with. In the hope that General Bayley might be won over, Lawyer Solomon Phelps was asked to write him a letter, "de- siring him to assist the above committee." The convention then adjourned to meet at Westminster on the third Wednes- day of January, 1777.
Four days after the adjournment of the New Hampshire Grants Convention, the Committee of Safety for Cumberland County met at the same place. Ebenezer Hoisington could hardly have had time to get home to Windsor and back again for the first day's session on November 5. Perhaps he, like several of the other committeemen, was late, for we find that on the first day there was "not a Sufficient Coram to Proceed to Business." He was there, however, on November 6.
It must have been a somewhat ticklish position in which Ebenezer Hoisington now found himself. As a delegate to the "General" Convention he had gone as far as anybody in taking the initial steps towards secession from New York, yet, only a few days later, he appeared as a county committeeman of a New York County. In the same predicament were four other men of Cumberland County.
After a day and a half spent in judicial matters, among which was the entry of an order to deport the pestiferous Solomon
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Phelps from Westminster to his home town, the Committee of Safety for Cumberland County was nearly rent asunder over the question of what to do about the letter of June 21 drafted by Charles Phelps and sent by James Clay as chairman of the Cumberland County Committee of Safety to the New York Convention. To the majority of the Committee of Safety, in view of the report on that letter made by James Duane's committee to the New York Convention, it now seemed best that the letter be withdrawn. Here arose a storm. By a scant majority the motion to withdraw the letter prevailed, and thereupon Ebenezer Hoisington and six other committeemen bolted the meeting.1 Before so doing they prepared and signed a written protest setting forth their views. This paper, by reason of one suggestion it contains, is worth giving.
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