USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Windsor > The birthplace of Vermont; a history of Windsor to 1781 > Part 38
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Judging by the great number of offices filled by the votes of the townsmen, the Windsor meeting was well attended. As on previous occasions, Captain William Dean was the Mod- erator. Ebenezer Curtis succeeded himself as Town Clerk. No less than five Selectmen were elected, viz., Lieutenant Thomas Cooper the first, Major Ebenezer Wood the second, Ebenezer Curtis the third, Deacon Hezekiah Thomson the fourth, and Jacob Hastings the fifth. Ensign Steel Smith be-
1 John Chipman Gray, Introduction to Restraints on Alienation.
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came Town Treasurer, while Lieutenant Elisha Hawley and Joel Ely, junior, were chosen Constables. At this meeting there were also elected four Grand Jurors, six Highway Sur- veyors, four Tythingmen, four "Hog-howards" or "Hog- reeves," four Fence Viewers, five Listers, two Collectors, one Sealer of Weights, one Sealer of Measures, two "Deer-reeves," two Branders, and two Pound-Keepers. The elections to the offices of Selectman, Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, and Grand Juror seem to have been made by ballot. Nothing appears as to the method of selection in other cases. The town voted "that hogs shall be shut up the ensuing year," that "horses should not run at large upon the Common," 1 that a previous vote2 to alter the place of the ferry be reconsidered, and that "the Preliminaries of Confederation between this and the Other Side of the River is acceptable to the Town." Windsor thus went on record as favoring the proposed union with the neighboring New Hampshire towns.
Among new names to gain currency through the distinction of elevation to local office one notes in the record of the meet- ing, beside Major Wood's, the names of Thomas Wilson as Highway Surveyor, John Adams and Silas Bannister as Hog- howards, Joseph Barrett as both Hog-howard and Tything- man, Samuel Stow Savage and Jonathan Burt as Listers, and Jerahmeel Cummins as a Brander. Younger members of the Smith, Hoisington, Smead, and Ely families had come to man's estate and were recognized as worthy of the suffrages of their neighbors. Generally the elders were not wholly put aside. The discrimination against the Stones, the Hubbards, and Alexander Parmelee is as understandable as it was marked. They and their families had not yet purged themselves of New York allegiance and had not become warm New Staters.
The case of Watts Hubbard, junior, had been for some time a matter of notoriety. At least as early as the summer of 1777
1 By the word "Common" was meant all lands within the township not then allotted to individual owners. It did not refer to one particular parcel.
2 The vote referred to was passed March 3, 1778. Colonel Jonathan Chase, of Cornish, as owner of the Cornish-Windsor ferry, had been greatly annoyed by Vermont interference with his business. The reconsideration voted on April 9 indicated a realization that it would be well for Vermont to cultivate good rela- tions with the people of New Hampshire.
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the case was mentioned by Thomas Chittenden, who trans- mitted "evidence" therein to General Benjamin Lincoln. Un- like Andrew Naughton, who was sent from Windsor to the Westminster jail and subsequently went to Canada; also un- like Titus Simonds and Zadock Wright, of Hertford (Hart- land), who joined Colonel John Peters's corps of Loyalists, Watts Hubbard, junior, stayed at Windsor, more or less of a prisoner-some of the time under bail bonds furnished by his father with the help of Captain Zedekiah Stone or Alexander Parmelee and suffered the seizure and confiscation of his personal property to the tune of seventy-eight pounds, fifteen shillings, and sixpence.1 The nature of the charge or charges against him is not clear. That the case had a political aspect is to be inferred from the fact that Chittenden had reported it to General Lincoln and that the subsequent trial took place either before one of the "Special Courts" or the "Courts of Confiscation" appointed at the March session of the legisla- ture. These courts and the "Commissioners' Courts," as ap- pears by letters preserved among the Clinton Papers, assumed jurisdiction not only in dealing with Loyalists but in adminis- tering discipline to men whose only misbehavior seemed to have consisted of adherence to the government of the State of New York.2 In some instances the culprits were denied a trial by jury.3
Hubbard left an interesting although not a contemporane- ous account of his own trial. When Vermont's first Council of Censors to be appointed under the Constitution was engaged during the summer of 1785 in reviewing the operations of the State government for the first septenary then just ended, he addressed to the censors a memorial calling attention to the procedure of the tribunal which had pronounced judgment upon him in the spring of 1778. His communication was as follows:
"To the Honble Council of Censors for the State of Vermont now convened at Norwich the Petition and Remonstrance of Watts Hubbard, Jun. Sheweth
1 Memorandum of Ebenezer Hoisington as Commissioner of Sequestration. MS. in Vt. Secretary of State's office.
2 Public Papers of George Clinton, vol. 3, pp. 552-553, 564. $ Id., p. 550.
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"That the said Watts without just cause was arrested by virtue of an illegal and unconstitutional Precept and brought before an unconstitutional Court in the Town of Windsor in the State of Vermont on the 19th day of May, 1778, at which time he was subjected to a trial by a jury to which he was de- nied the Priviledge of making any Chalenge, without the Lib- erty of producing a single Witness to make his Innocence ap- pear or of defending himself by himself or Counsel. The re- sult of which was a Judgt. for Imprisonment & confiscation of Property, which proceedings though in this Instance they af- fect an individual only, in their tendency affect every Citizen of the State and are a flagrant violation of the Constitution.
"Wherefore your Petitioner prays for an examination into the same & that such a public observation may be made thereon by the said Council as shall be adjudged most suit- able and as in duty bound shall ever pray.
Norwich, 3d June, 1785 Watts Hubbard Junr" 1
Although Hubbard's bail bond of March 25, 1778, had re- quired his appearance before the Special Court for the half Shire of Westminster (Judges John Shepherdson, Stephen Til- den, Hubbell Wells, Hezekiah Thomson, and Nathaniel Rob- inson) it is not entirely clear whether that court or the Court of Confiscation for Cumberland County, composed of Lieu- tenant Governor Marsh and six east-side members of the Council, is the one by which he was tried. The "Special Courts," however, did have jurisdiction of cases of "enemical Conduct." 2
There is to be found in a subsequent development in Hub- bard's case an indication that his offence was merely unwill- ingness to acknowledge the supremacy of Vermont's author- ity, for on his application to the Council, in October, 1778, to be relieved of further imprisonment, that body "Resolved that on his making & subscribing a proper acknowledgment & paying all the cost that has arisen on acct. of his former Tryals, Guards and imprisonment, & Taking the Oath of Alle- giance to this State, he be discharged & enjoy all his Estate
1 Manuscript petition in Vt. Secretary of State's office.
2 See reference to Mattison's Case, 1 Gov. & Coun., p. 279.
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Except what has already been Taken from him & sold." 1 He seems to have obtained his release without fully meeting the Council's conditions. The last entry in reference to his case that is found in the Council's minutes was made on February 26, 1779, when a "warrant" was given to "John Benjamin Esq' Sheriff to oblidge Watts Hubbard jr. to pay and satisfy the Judgment of Council in October last at Windsor, or Con- fine him to Certain Limits, & in case he the said Hubbard Break over said Limmits on Conviction thereof before any Justice of the peace to Whip him on the naked back not Ex- ceeding 20 Stripes nor Short of 10 Stripes." 2 Doubtless this sort of moral suasion had the effect of making a good Ver- monter out of Watts Hubbard junior and inducing him to make a handsome contribution to the State treasury.
The stories of the twentieth century espionage and secret service during the Great War are hardly to be distinguished from some of the methods employed by Vermont's courts and Council at this period. Under date of April 10, 1778, Governor Chittenden and his Council commissioned Captain Ebenezer Wallace with two assistants to search the woods for enemies, spies, etc., and gave Captain Wallace power to call out the militia with instructions "to administer an oath of secrecy to the persons whom you shall take to your assistance" and to secure any other person or persons "whom you may judge to be Enemies to this or the United States of America." 3 There is little wonder that with such powers and discretion given to individuals the situation became very dangerous for any ex- posed or unprotected New York sympathizer who happened to be possessed of property. Pelatiah Fitch, of Brattleborough, wrote to the Governor of New York that the persons and properties of the friends of New York "are exposed to the lawless Invasion of a rude Rabble or the exasperated Leaders of an imperfect unsettled Government. . . . The authority of Vermont have lately confiscated and sold many valuable Estates and doubtless will continue the practice as long as their necessities require it and they can find the least pretence for so doing."
11 Gov. & Coun., pp. 281-282.
2 Id., p. 290.
3 1 Gov. & Coun., p. 251.
4 Papers of George Clinton, vol. 3, p. 511.
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The "necessities" to which Pelatiah Fitch referred were, of course, those incidental to the successful establishment and operation of any government. There must be revenues. The machinery for assessing and collecting taxes had not then been perfected in Vermont. Unpleasant as taxes always are, they were particularly to be dreaded in a region of such little unin- cumbered wealth as Vermont then possessed. Collection diffi- culties in the sections where loyalty to New York prevailed were obviously not yet surmountable. It is small wonder, then, that the line of least resistance lay in the direction of plundering the possessions of those who were politically hos- tile to the new State, either as United Empire Loyalists or as Revolutionary patriots with New York sympathies. Ira Allen wrote comprehensively of Vermont's enemies-the British at the north, the government of New York to the southwest, and "also a number of people of good sense and large property in the southeast part who had leagued with the junto of New York against the new State." As to the matter of taxation, he explained that "it was thought good policy," both because of internal differences and to make the new government pop- ular, "not to lay any taxes on the people but to raise a suffi- cient revenue out of the property confiscated and the un- granted lands." Thus, as he naïvely pointed out, "those who joined the British were benefactors of the State, as they left their property to support a government they were striving to destroy." Enemy property not only paid the State's expenses but brought the State new friends and citizens who were glad to migrate from other States that were burdened by war taxes into a new jurisdiction where there were no taxes to pay.1
To strengthen further the powers of the new State, the legis- lature at its adjourned session in June passed an Act of Ban- ishment against so-called Tories. Under this statute were cre- ated what were called the Commissioners' Courts, to impose sentences of exile on alleged British sympathizers, and to ap- propriate for public use their assets. Vermont had thus promptly organized three separate tribunals, with important functions as revenue collectors: first, the Special Courts which had authority to discipline those who were politically irregu-
1 Allen's History of Vt., p. 111.
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lar, but not meriting banishment; second, the Courts of Con- fiscation, to seize, condemn, and devote to public use the real estate of those who had gone over to the British; and, third, the Courts of Commissioners with authority to sentence to exile those who under the Banishment Act of June, 1778, were adjudged Tories. For common civil causes between man and man and for criminal proceedings other than prosecutions for political crimes or misdemeanors, the only tribunals seem to have been the Special Courts, until local justices of the peace who were commissioned by the Council-one justice for each town-had been elected under a statute passed in June. Windsor's first Vermont justice of the peace was the town's senior selectman, Thomas Cooper, who thus became entitled to the addition of "Esquire" to his name. Over all these courts both the Council and the Assembly assumed a some- what uncertain but extensive supervision or appellate juris- diction. No court except the Courts of Confiscation and the Council left any records.
In addition to being a sort of capital of the new State, the town of Windsor at this time felt the gusts of political contro- versy on every side. Just across the Connecticut River on the east centered the group of New Hampshire towns that sought annexation to Vermont. To the north and west of Windsor, on the Vermont side, the sentiment for the new State was generally strong, but with this distinction, namely, that the northern neighbors insisted on admitting the New Hampshire towns into Vermont's jurisdiction, while the west- ern interests generally viewed such a plan with disfavor. Im- mediately to the south was Weathersfield, the northern out- post of New York sentiment, dominated by Hilkiah Grout, in whose tavern at Winchester, New Hampshire, the Windsor proprietors had held their first meeting in the year 1761. Grout possessed the confidence of the New York adherents in the townships to the southward, was a man of character and courage, was inured to the dangers of Indian warfare, and had been mentioned to Governor Clinton as a proper appointee for the office of Sheriff of Cumberland County under New York's government. Pursuant to the unanimous vote of a town meeting held at Brattleborough on May 27, 1778, the mod-
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erator wrote to Governor Clinton, "recommending Major Hil- kiah Grout, of Weathersfield, in this County, as a Person well attached to the Government of New York State and as the most proper of any in the County that we have heard of who are willing, in this difficult day, to accept of the Sheriff's office." 1 Fortunately for the safety of Major Grout he did not receive an appointment. Five weeks later the chairman of the committees of Hinsdale (Vernon), Guilford, Halifax, Brattleborough, Putney, Westminster, Rockingham, Springfield, and Weathersfield advised Governor Clinton that Major Grout "by his Situation is much exposed to ill-treatment by the New States Men" and "has chosen to decline serving in that office
at present. "' 2 Although Major Grout in another capac- ity presently showed his willingness to face danger, his knowl- edge of what had befallen Watts Hubbard, junior, was a suffi- cient warning to avoid unnecessary affronts to the "New States Men" in Windsor.
The prospects of Vermont even then were by no means free from uncertainty. Serviceable as had been several of her offi- cials, there was an absence of outstanding or commanding leadership. With all due respect to those men of Vermont who by long tenure of office finally attained places in Vermont his- tory no other leader of Ethan Allen's force or dominance had then appeared. One can therefore appreciate the rejoicing at Bennington on May 31, 1778, when Ethan Allen, having ob- tained his release in exchange for the release of an imprisoned British officer, returned to the New Hampshire Grants. Pre- vious to rejoining his Vermont friends, he had been wise enough to call on General Washington and to pay his homages to the Continental Congress. He not only succeeded in im- pressing Washington with the belief that he was a sincere and ardent American patriot, but received from Congress the honor of a brevet as colonel in recognition of his sufferings as a prisoner of war. Canny politician that he was, he knew full well that the reception accorded him by General Washington and the Congress would exalt him in the eyes of his neighbors at home and would eventually help to prosper the career of the new State. Incidentally, while at Philadelphia, he ob-
1 Public Papers of George Clinton, vol. 3, p. 365. ? Id., pp. 511-512.
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tained assurances that Congress did not look with disfavor on Vermont's aspirations, and he appears to have advised Chittenden by letter that "no ill is likely to happen to this State by authority of Congress." 1
On June 9, 1778, Vermont's Council ordered that a "Con- gratulatory letter to Colo Ethan Allen on his arrival from Captivity" be drawn. On the same day he was commissioned as public prosecutor (State's attorney) in a criminal case in which one David Redding, a soldier in the Queen's Loyal Rangers, had been charged with "enemical conduct against this and said United States." 2 So well and enthusiastically did Ethan Allen discharge the duties of that assignment that in two days' time he was able to exhibit for the edification and delight of the countryside a public hanging at Bennington, which considerably enhanced his popularity as a leader and public benefactor.3 So that there might be the fullest enjoy- ment of the spectacle, the legislature, then in session there, recessed from noon to 5 P. M. on the day of the execution.4
1 Letter addressed by Thomas Chittenden to Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Marsh, Major-General of the Vermont Militia (apparently misdated April 29). 1 Gov. & Coun., 257.
? 1 Gov. & Coun., pp. 263-264.
3 Of late, under color of effort to give full measure of recognition to Ira Allen's services and in the apparent belief that his place in Vermont's history has been kept in the shade by Ethan Allen's prominence, there has developed a tendency to rate the younger brother as the more consequential character of the two. An early comparison of the two Allens may be found in John Phelps's Family Memoirs, in which Ethan is described as a man to whom secrecy was foreign, while Ira is charged with duplicity if not treason. This view of the brothers is highly superficial. If their dealings with British negotiators be the test, there is nothing to choose between the two brothers in the matter of slipperiness. While one can believe that Ethan Allen could not keep a secret, a more striking char- acteristic of his was that he loved the theatrical or dramatic-especially when he occupied the center of the stage-and he presented such an appearance of genuineness that the casual observer or hearer would not question his sincerity. He was a far more accomplished actor than Ira, who, even when entirely truth- ful, could not assume a manner of perfect candor. The fact is that, quite apart from an appraisal of the value of their respective services to Vermont, Ethan Allen was a considerably broader personage than Ira Allen, possessed far more courage, far more independence and initiative of thought and action than his brother, and was endowed with qualities of leadership that Ira Allen lacked. Under Ethan's guidance and, to a limited extent, under the guidance of others, Ira was an efficient performer and achieved much; but it is not in the records to rank him above Ethan Allen as a Vermont character.
" Slade's State Papers, p. 271.
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Ethan Allen must have had reason some two years later, when his own fidelity to the American cause was marked with strange irregularity, to think with mixed feelings of his part in hanging David Redding.
Another matter worthy of Ethan Allen's attention came to a head on the morning of the day that Redding was hanged. A committee appointed the day before to canvass the result of the referendum on the question of admitting New Hamp- shire towns into union with Vermont reported to the legisla- ture that thirty-seven Vermont towns were favorable to the union and only twelve opposed.1 Thereupon the legislature immediately passed a bill incorporating as a part of Vermont the sixteen New Hampshire towns that had petitioned for ad- mission and granting a like privilege to any other New Hamp- shire towns, contiguous to the sixteen, that might similarly apply.2 The passage of this act, fraught with far-reaching po- tentialities, was the feature of the Bennington legislative ses- sion. The statute next in importance, although not mentioned in the journal, was Vermont's first Banishment Act to which we have already referred and which provided for the expulsion of the "tories," or " disaffected persons." In the minutes of the fortnight's session it is noticeable that Captain Ebenezer Cur- tis, of Windsor, was perhaps the busiest of all the assembly- men. He served on no less than twelve committees. For mak- ing a copy or copies of Vermont statutes he received on June 18 the sum of two pounds fourteen shillings and sixpence.3 Since Representative Thomas Cooper's name appears not even once, it is therefore not unlikely that he was absent for the whole of the adjourned term.
Under the Banishment Act of 1778, as administered by the Special Courts or Courts of Commissioners, Ethan Allen be- came a factor. In the month of July he was busy in deporting and exiling victims to the enemy's lines. In vain did some of them claim that they were steadfast American patriots whose only offence was their allegiance to the State of New York in- stead of to the State of Vermont. Ethan Allen brought as many as eight unhappy culprits of this description from Ben-
2 Id., pp. 91, 271.
1 Slade's State Papers, p. 271.
3 39 Vt. State Papers MS., pp. 10-11.
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nington to the fort at Albany under sentence of banishment to the British.1 Writing to General Gates under date of July 15, 1778, he enthusiastically reported that Vermont had sen- tenced to banishment no less than seventeen of these "Attro- tious Villains." 2 He seems to have found both General Stark and General Gates complaisant to the point of willingness to assist him in carrying out this sort of business, since he was probably able truthfully to represent it as being performed under color of law. Even General Washington, when the practices had been called to his attention by Governor Clin- ton, perceived that the matter was too serious for him to decide, and so passed it along to Congress. Washington was humane enough in the meantime to order that the prisoners be held at Fort Arnold "in an easy confinement" rather than turned over to the enemy.3
The success of Ethan Allen in cases of the foregoing de- scription, coupled with the favor which Stark and Gates had showed in abetting him, made in Allen's immediate neighbor- hood an abundant crop of Vermont sentiment, even in spots where the soil had seemed unpromising. If the time was not yet ripe for him to take the Vermont Banishment Act as a harvesting tool into other parts of Vermont, the tales of his effective work in and around Bennington spread quickly to the east side of the Green Mountains and produced appreci- able effect. Having sufficiently banished and proselyted, he next turned his hand to his old trade of manifesto writing.
The proclamation which Governor Clinton had sent to the Grants under date of February 23 had not been answered in print or in writing in a manner satisfactory to Ethan Allen. Accordingly that vigorous debater prepared a paper which he labeled "An Animadversary Address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont, with Remarks on a Proclamation, under the hand of his Excellency, George Clinton, Esq., Governor of the State of New York. By Ethan Allen." Dated August 9, 1778, Allen had this document printed in pamphlet form at
1 3 George Clinton Papers, pp. 552-553.
2 MS. letter among Duane Papers, N. Y. Hist. Society.
3 Id., pp. 571-572.
0
--
ETHAN ALLEN
From the statue at the entrance to the Capitol at Montpelier, Vermont
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Hartford.1 It is one of his breeziest and at the same time one of his most forceful productions. Although Clinton's luckless proclamation had become a mere man of straw for Allen's vigorous knock-down pen, the Vermont chieftain artfully de- scribed the proclamation as still a living thing that was calcu- lated to "deceive woods people." Allen, even if he knew but little, knew his "woods people." He reasoned rightly that they would be refreshed and invigorated by his bombast, logic, and humor. He knew that they would look to him as their real leader, if in addition to his public service in displaying hangings and deportations he could also supply his constitu- ents with spicy literature on topics of vital importance. At no stage of his stormy career did Ethan Allen conduct himself with more dash and brilliancy than in the few months after his return from captivity when, on finding his New Hampshire Grants converted into a rickety state surrounded by dangers and with no strong leader in command, he placed himself at the head of things and took personal control.
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