USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Windsor > The birthplace of Vermont; a history of Windsor to 1781 > Part 42
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On or about the fifteenth day of March, 1779, as the criminal complaint filed in the Superior Court of Cumberland County by State's Attorney Noah Smith alleged, Colonel Stone at Windsor did "utter and publish, in the hearing of many good and faithful subjects of this State, these reproachful and scan- dalous words of the 'authority,' to wit, God damn you (mean- ing the High Sheriff of said county, John Benjamin Esq.) and your Governor (meaning his Excellency the Governor of this State) and your Council (meaning the Honorable Council of this State); which opprobrious language was a violation of the law of the land."
Mr. B. H. Hall, in his History of Eastern Vermont, states
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that this criminal prosecution against Colonel Stone was founded on a new statute which made it a penal offence to " defame" or "slander" any person or to defame any court of justice or the sentence or proceedings of the same or any of its magistrates, judges, or justices in respect to any act or sentence.1 It would seem, however, that another statute which made it a misdemeanor to "swear profanely, either by the holy name of God, or any other oath; or sinfully and wickedly curse any person or persons," might fit Colonel Stone's la- mentable conduct. Yet since the maximum fine prescribed under the latter statute was but six shillings for each offence and since Colonel Stone cursed only fifteen persons in the ag- gregate, it is hard to see how the Superior Court before which he pleaded guilty could figure up a penalty of twenty pounds. That sum, together with two pounds, twelve shillings costs, Colonel Stone was sentenced to pay.2 Perhaps the learned judges took unto themselves authority from a higher source than mere statute law, for in the following month, in another case, the same Court rendered a judgment "by virtue of authority granted to this superior court, grounded on the sure and unerring word of God." Under the statute punishing "defamation" there was no limit, except the discretion of the court, as to the fine that could be imposed.
John Benjamin, after this triumph over the profane member of the Church of England, "got religion" himself. On the third anniversary of the Declaration of Independence he be- came a member of the Congregational Church of Christ in Windsor. His character, unfortunately, had not been perma- nently reformed, and it was not many years before he was sen- tenced to excommunication.3 It must be remembered that this was a period of rough life and rough manners. "The state of society," as the Reverend E. H. Byington wrote, "was very different from what it is at present. It required all the watchfulness of the church to keep back a portion of its mem- bers from practices that were scandalous. There was no in- stance of excommunication during this period [1779-1784],
1 B. H. Hall's History of Eastern Vt., p. 331.
2 Slade's State Papers, p. 552.
3 History of the First Cong. Church in Windsor, p. 51.
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but sixteen written confessions were read before the congre- gation and accepted by the church. Six of these were confes- sions of drunkenness, three of breaking the Sabbath, three of profane swearing, and four of violations of the seventh com- mandment. . The difficulty was not so much that the standard within the church was lower than at present, but that the standard outside the church was lower." 1
Windsor seems to have taken notice of Colonel Stone's transgression. At the town meeting on March 22 it was voted that the town should "take the Publick Rights into their care." This meant probably that the lands reserved for the first set- tled minister, the schools, the glebe for the Church of England and for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in For- eign Parts had best be in the charge of somebody other than the erring Colonel Stone. The committee chosen to relieve Colonel Stone of his responsibilities consisted of Captain Wil- liam Dean, Ebenezer Hoisington, Richard Wait, Thomas Cooper, and Ebenezer Curtis. It does not appear that the committee ever did anything-perhaps for the reason that Colonel Stone refused to be ousted.
Fortunate, indeed, was Windsor in this year to secure two resident pastors, one of whom, at least, was eminently suited to the peculiar needs of the community. The Reverend David Tullar, a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1774, came to Windsor in his twenty-ninth year and was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in the East Parish on March 3, 1779. Whatever may be said of the narrowness of his religious views, he was firm for discipline and order. The little church of thirty-nine members acquired upwards of forty recruits during his pastorate. Over them all he ruled with sternness and success. Deacon Hezekiah Thomson, Ebenezer Curtis, Ebenezer Hoisington, Steel Smith, Watts Hubbard, senior, and Elisha Hawley are mentioned by Mr. Byington as the leading members. Mr. Tullar acquired from Gideon Cowles the prop- erty on the west side of the town street, extending from what is now the foot of the Common Hill south to the churchyard. In this conspicuous and fairly central location he was well placed for the exercise of influence in the community. On the
1 Id., pp. 11-12.
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day of his ordination there was also ordained as pastor of a newly formed Congregational society in the West Parish the Reverend Pelatiah Chapin.
The forming of two societies of the same denomination in a single township, though foreshadowed by the decision to divide the town into two parishes, bespoke the waste, the disunion, and the unnecessary duplication of effort which have charac- terized Vermont in many departments throughout its history. Windsor, which in 1779 could barely keep one pastor and church, thus undertook to support two of each. Another di- vision in religious matters came to the surface on March 26, when Steel Smith's son Roswell and Deacon Thomson's son Joseph withdrew from the East Parish Congregational Church "to build with the Baptists." As early as the autumn of 1781 a group of church members living in the west part of the town proceeded logically to burden the community further by build- ing a meeting-house for the West Parish.1 This last item makes it evident that in point of population the West Parish of Wind- sor was approximating that in the East Parish.
Among the many statutes enacted at the legislative session of February, 1779, was one for forming and regulating the militia. Under this statute the State was divided into five districts, with one regiment of militia to be raised in each district. The fact that three of these districts were on the east side of the Green Mountains indicates that the popula- tion between the Connecticut River and the Green Moun- tains still considerably exceeded that on the west side of the
1 Among the manuscripts relating to the Adams family of the West Parish, in the possession of Mrs. Henry M. Morgan, was found the following undated memorandum:
"The names of those persons that agreed to pay Mr. Thomas Adams for the frame of the Meeting house & Look to the Society for their pay together with the sums, viz.,
" Lieut. Cummins £0-15-0 Maj. Benj. Wait £6- 0-0
Lieut. Leavens 0-40
Mr. Amos Kendall 2- 0-0
Mr. Jeremiah Bishop 2- 0-0
Capt. Joel Ely 1-10-0
Capt. Saml. S. Savage 2- 0-0
Capt. Richard Wait 1- 0-0
Mr. Joseph Barrit 1-10-0
Mr. Joseph Woodruff
1- 0-0"
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State. Under this statutory provision Windsor was grouped with towns lying north of Westminster and south of Norwich in the third regimental district.1 Another product of the ses- sion was the statute prescribing town brands for horses. Each town was to have its own design. Windsor's was an equilateral triangle on a horizontal base. This branding statute is impor- tant as showing the names of all the towns which the Assem- bly considered then within the State or at least all those worth legislating for. They numbered but sixty-three in all, of which twenty-seven were on the west side of the Green Mountains and thirty-six on the east.2 No town east of the Connecticut River was included in the application of either of these statutes.
During the year 1779 Ethan Allen maintained his dictator- ship in State affairs with increased versatility. No sooner had the Legislature formally dissolved to his satisfaction the union with the sixteen New Hampshire towns, than he announced the result by a personal note to Meshech Weare, in which the use of the pronoun "I" bore eloquent testimony to Ethan Allen's personal control of Vermont. "I hope," he admonished President Weare, "your government will vigorously exert their authority to the East Banks of the River, for I consider the schism on both sides to be equally against both governments, and therefore both should join to suppress it. I have this fur- ther reason for the exertion of Government, as I am confident that Argument will be lost with them, for the heads of the Schism at large are a Petulant, Pettefoging, Scribbling sort of Gentry, that will Keep any Government in hot water till they are Thoroughly brought under by Exertion of authority." 3
So much impressed was Ethan Allen with the virtue of force in the settlement of political controversy that he now con- cluded to have himself commissioned as a regulator of the southeast corner of Cumberland County, where allegiance to New York still survived. By a fortuitous chain of events and a cunning seizure of opportunity, his stroke in this quarter appeared almost justifiable. General James Clinton had asked Chittenden for recruits. To meet the requisition Vermont pro- ceeded to draft with marked partiality the men whose sym-
1 Slade's State Papers, pp. 305-312.
$ 1 Gov. & Coun., p. 431.
2 Id., p. 365.
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pathies were inclined towards New York. These had no greater zest for army service than their neighbors, and they made a fine show of resisting the draft on the ground that they could not recognize the authority of the new State. The story of draft evasion, of attachments and rescues, is admirably told in B. H. Hall's History of Eastern Vermont, at pages 333 to 345. Here was just the cue that Ethan Allen wanted. Having se- cured from Chittenden a written order to raise a body of one hundred men,1 he marched with this force into Cumberland County, took into his custody thirty-six prisoners, held them at Westminster until they could be tried, lectured the State's Attorney and the Court on their duty in the premises, and succeeded in securing the conviction of several of the culprits and the imposition of substantial fines. The town of Wind- sor, in the person of Sheriff John Benjamin, lent its support to the prosecution. For four days he was in attendance at Westminster with a posse comitatus he had spent five days in raising.2
No dictator ever more completely or with greater versatility discharged the manifold functions of government than Ethan Allen. He held the purse-strings through his brother Ira, who was the State Treasurer and soon to be chosen Surveyor-Gen- eral of the public domain. The Legislature had done Ethan Allen's bidding in October and February. He assumed on fre- quent occasions the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs. He took charge of the War Department on May 6, took the field in command of the forces, and then saw the business through by directing the operation of the Department of Justice. His brother Ira, with unconscious humor, wrote that "as the peo- ple seemed inclined for a popular government, the constitution was so made" 3; but for all practical purposes, in the year 1779 the government of Vermont was a dictatorship unrestricted by any constitution and with Ethan Allen as sole authority. Perhaps he alone appreciated the farce and mockery of laws, courts, and public officers when, in the Westminster Court House on the 27th day of May, 1779, he recited Pope's couplet
1 1 Gov. & Coun., pp. 299-300.
3 Allen's History of Vt., p. 108.
2 Goodrich's Vt. Soldiers, p. 791.
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"For forms of government, let fools contest; Whate'er is best administer'd, is best." 1
All hands now repaired again to Windsor, where an ad- journed session of the Legislature was scheduled for June 2. Here came, triumphant, Ethan Allen to receive his reward. Here came Sheriff John Benjamin, only to find himself with- out honor in his own country. Here, on the first day of the session, appeared Alden Spooner from Dresden, to deliver to the authorities the first edition of Vermont's statutes, fresh from his press, and to collect his pay. On June 4 Captain Steel Smith received seven pounds sixteen shillings for "distributing laws." 2 Strange as it may seem, it appears to have been the fact that, except for the Constitution, Vermont had been ad- ministering her government since July 8, 1777, entirely with- out a printed code of her own.
Ethan Allen, acting his part before the Legislature most courteously, permitted the Assembly to approve the conduct of Vermont's Board of War, consented to the appointment of a committee to give thanks to the Governor and Council for raising and sending the posse comitatus to Cumberland County (although it did not appear that the Council had had the slightest connection with the enterprise), and then, with these pleasing preludes out of the way, had himself elevated to the post of Brigadier-General of the Militia, while his brother Ira was made Surveyor-General. These were not his only rewards. Since he was attending the session "by the Desire of the Govr. & Council" he received cash compensa- tion for his services in legislation, although he had not been elected to the Assembly. This generous precedent helped his pocketbook on several subsequent occasions.3 At this same session were laid definite plans for dividing the ungranted townships not only among deserving Vermonters but among enterprising residents of other States and influential army offi- cers whose interested sympathy, thus stimulated, might be of political advantage to the new State in its contest with
1 B. H. Hall's History of Eastern Vt., p. 343.
2 39 Vt. State Papers MS., pp. 16-17.
3 2 Gov. & Coun., p. 25.
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the Congress, New York, Hew Hampshire, and Massachu- setts.1
One of the choicest products of the summer session at Wind- sor was Governor Chittenden's proclamation of pardon to every convict in Vermont, except those guilty of capital of- fences. Since the latter class probably included not a single actual case, the proclamation might well answer the definition of a general jail delivery. Its quaint language, which occasion- ally approached the preposterous, is believed to have been the literary effort of Stephen Row Bradley, who had recently ap- peared in Vermont as a lawyer, with something of a hit to his credit as counsel for the group of defendants prosecuted by Ethan Allen at Westminster. What fear or contrition led the Legislature to order the proclamation does not appear. It is true that among those just convicted at Westminster were such decent individuals as John Sessions, Micah Townsend, Eleazar Paterson, and others of nearly equal standing and character. The personal respectability of these men, the doubts as to the justice and propriety of their conviction, the de- sirability of winning them over to the Vermont side if that could be accomplished, the futility and expense of keeping them in jail-these and similar considerations may have weighed with the Legislature in voting the proclamation of pardon. Whatever good impressions might have been pre- sumed to arise from this act of executive clemency by itself were nearly, if not quite, offset by the passage of a particularly bloody statute at Windsor on June 3, whereby any person who claimed to act as a public officer within the State under any authority except that of Vermont or the Continental Con- gress might for persistent offending be flogged on the naked back, have his right ear cut off and nailed to a post, and be branded on the forehead with the capital letter C.2
Besides the elevation of Benjamin Wait to Vermont's "Board of War," Windsor received in 1779 another honor from the new State in the appointment of Ebenezer Curtis as a com- missioner for the sale of confiscated estates in the towns of
1 General Sullivan considered it bribery (8 Gov. & Coun., p. 409). Roger Sherman, who was offered grants, was too wise to accept.
2 Slade's State Papers, pp. 389-390. See also 2 Gov. & Coun., p. 187.
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Windsor, Reading, Hertford (Hartland), and Woodstock. The favor with which Major Wait had come to be regarded among the new State politicians led him to other triumphs. He aspired to and secured the place of Esquire Thomas Cooper as Windsor's junior assemblyman for the autumn session of the Legislature. This position won, the Council was wise enough to appoint him High Sheriff for Cumberland County in the room of John Benjamin. Major Wait was not backward at taking opportunities in the way of land grants, which pres- ently were bestowed on those close to the State government. With Ethan Allen and Colonel John Strong he served as a committee of three to advise the Legislature on the township grants that should be made. In some of these early essays at private gain out of the public resources he was the collector of fees or treasurer.
On the very day that Vermont's Legislature opened its June session at Windsor the Continental Congress at Philadelphia under the constant pressure of dispatches from Governor Clin- ton finally awoke to the propriety of taking cognizance of the doings of the Vermontese. Although probably not fully ad- vised of Ethan Allen's display of military force in Cumberland County the Continental Congress actually showed enough vigor to appoint a committee consisting of five members- Oliver Ellsworth and Jesse Root, of Connecticut, Timothy Edwards, of Massachusetts, Samuel Atlee, of Pennsylvania, and John Witherspoon, of New Jersey-to visit the "District known by the name of New Hampshire Grants," find out why a part of the inhabitants were in a state of rebellion against the respective jurisdictions of New York and New Hamp- shire, and take prudent steps to promote adjustment. Obvi- ously the committee was primarily to study conditions on both sides of the Connecticut River.
The prospects of the committee's accomplishing something were gratifying to William Floyd, Gouverneur Morris, John Jay, and James Duane, who, as New York's delegates to the Continental Congress, wrote an optimistic letter thereon to Governor Clinton.1 The triviality and balderdash of some Congressional investigations as known to Americans of the
1 5 Clinton Papers, pp. 9-10.
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twentieth century were then undreamed of. The members of congressional investigating committees in 1779 had never con- ceived of using their opportunities chiefly in a manner to in- sure their own re-elections or for gaining newspaper headlines or fattening the Congressional Record. In spite of this the committee to visit the Grants could hardly have been more feeble in its action. It never functioned as a body. Atlee and Witherspoon came to Bennington for only a momentary visit and left for Albany in season to miss entirely Ellsworth and Root, who also tarried but briefly.1 Atlee and Witherspoon seem to have regarded their mission only as that of pacifiers for the time being.2 To get the information asked by Congress does not appear to have occurred to the committee as their business, although they incidentally learned something.3
Ethan Allen, who seems to have divined that the congres- sional committee would return to Philadelphia either empty- handed or possessed of facts that might be damaging to Ver- mont, secured a commission from the Vermont Council at Windsor on June 12 for himself and Doctor Jonas Fay to wait on the Continental Congress forthwith.4 The two were in Phil- adelphia on July 2, on which date, according to Governor Hall, they submitted Vermont's new statute book, Chittenden's proc- lamation of pardon, and a few other items.5 The visit was pos- sibly useful to Vermont in its tendency to keep Congress inac- tive since the letter addressed by Ethan Allen and Jonas Fay to Congress on July 1 shows that the writers were alive to the fact that Vermont was gaining through the procrastination of Congress.6 The visit also gave General Allen a chance to sat- isfy himself of the truth or falseness of his own recent asser- tions that two-thirds of the members favored Vermont's inde- pendence.7
The Continental Congress now was favored by a memorial from a convention held at Lebanon, New Hampshire, on July 27. This memorial, written with superior skill and signed by former Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Marsh, Colonel Elisha Payne, Colonel Peter Olcott, Colonel Jonathan Chase, and
1 Id., p. 109. 2 1 Gov. & Coun., 441. 3 5 Clinton Papers, p. 114.
$ 1 Gov. & Coun., p. 305. 5 H. Hall's Early History of Vt., p. 294.
6 2 Gov. & Coun., p. 169.
7 5 Clinton Papers, p. 64.
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Professor Bezaleel Woodward, was accompanied by a letter written by Joseph Marsh, as chairman. These papers, printed at length in volume II of Governor and Council, at pages 170 to 174, presented with force and dignity the argument that if there was to be an independent State between the jurisdictions of New Hampshire and New York, it ought to include all the so-called New Hampshire Grants on both sides of the Connec- ticut River. Wholly apart from the merits of its proposals, the paper had the advantage of being subscribed by men of substance.
The year 1779 saw an unusual amount of brief-writing and pamphleteering on the part of Vermont in addition to the papers we have already noted. Among these brochures are a letter dated at Norwich, July 19, 1779, signed by Ira Allen, but perhaps the joint production of Ethan Allen and himself1; A Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Government of New York,2 by Ethan Allen, and Vermont's Appeal,3 by Stephen R. Bradley. The two latter were pub- lished as separate documents, and, if one judges from the printed texts, with the express sanction of Vermont's Council; but it is significant that the Council's minutes themselves fail to show any resolution authorizing the publication of the Ethan Allen pamphlet. Although these two were documents of size and weight and replete with history, they seem to have been without much effect outside the circumscribed circles in which Vermont sentiment was already flourishing.
The need for resorting to political pamphleteering and cir- cularizing-if ever there was such a need-was more marked than usual in 1779. The New State project, while vigorously started, seemed to be losing momentum. Instead of securing more perfect unanimity of support in the region known as Vermont, the new government was still deeply torn by dissen- sions. Chittenden's proclamation of pardon had not converted the recalcitrants in the southeast: the element in the north- east, with General Bayley, Joseph Marsh, and Colonel Olcott
1 1 Gov. & Coun., pp. 436-441. Although possessed of a certain adroitness, the mercenary tone of this paper and its affected reference to "the Deity" reflect little credit upon the composer or composers.
2 Id., pp. 444-517.
3 2 Gov. & Coun., pp. 200-222.
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at its head, was still firm for a union with towns east of the . Connecticut. The worst feature of these schisms from Ver- mont's standpoint was that the Continental Congress, having got wind of them and having reached the belief that Vermont was tottering, became bold enough to take an almost decided stand in recommending that Vermont, New York, New Hamp- shire, and Massachusetts alike refrain from exercising juris- diction over any unwilling subjects, and suspend granting any unappropriated lands or selling any confiscated estates on the New Hampshire Grants until Congress should render a judg- ment. This exhibition of something like a congressional spine came on September 24,1 somewhere near contemporaneously with the publication of Ethan Allen's Vindication.
The congressional resolutions were not what John Jay or George Clinton regarded as "very spirited or pointed,"2 but Jay at least thought them satisfactory under all the circum- stances.3 He appreciated the view entertained by a good many members that the function of the Continental Congress was that of "opposing the tyranny of Britain and afterwards of establishing our independence," and did not include "author- ity to interfere in the particular quarrels of any State."4 He had heard it suggested, moreover, that harsh measures might induce Vermont to join forces with the British.5 Altogether, he felt that for Congress to have gone further at the moment would have been impolitic although possible.6 Moderate as was the stand of Congress, the politicians of the State of Ver- mont were thrown into alarm.
At the meeting of Vermont's newly elected Assembly at Manchester in October, "nine-tenths" of the members, if we may believe Ira Allen, "were for suspending the sale of con- fiscated property and the granting of lands till after the 1st of February, the time assigned by Congress to examine into the disputes. . . . "7 Governor Chittenden, in his speech at the opening of the Legislature on October 14, showed the white feather by recommending a suspension of the enforce- ment of the barbarous statute enacted at Windsor in June
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