USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. By Hiland Hall > Part 28
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Gen. Stark from his arrival at Manchester had received the earnest countenance and support of the Vermont council of safety, in all his movements, and he duly appreciated their patriotic ser- vices. In a communication over his signature addressed to the Connecticut Courant, under date of August 18, 1777, and published in that paper of the 7th of October, he gave a brief account of the active and valuable exertions of that body, for the defence of the frontier, both before and after his reaching the state, concluding his statement as follows : "I cannot therefore in justice omit giving the honorable council the honor of exerting themselves in the most spirited manner in that most critical time."
Gen. Stark's instructions, before mentioned, which in effect author- ized him in his discretion, to act for the defence of the frontiers independently of all Continental officers, having been made known to congress, that body on the 19th of August, passed a resolution declaring such instructions to be " destructive of military subordina- tion and highly prejudicial to the common cause," and requesting
1 Stevens Papers, vol. 3, p. 307. Stark's letter to Gates, of August 22d, in Archives of N. Y. Hist. Society, copy in Vt. Quarterly Gazetteer, No. 2, p. 155. Hist. Magazine, vol. 3, p. 268. Gordon, vol. 2, p. 536-542. Thatchers' Jour., p. 93. Memoir of Stark, p. 47-70. Everett's Life of Stark, in Sparks' Biog., vol. 1, pp. 79-100. Life of Warner, p. 58-73. Burgoyne's Defence in the House of Commons. Appendix 24 and 25.
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the council of New Hampshire at once to revoke them. At Man- chester, Stark had met Gen. Lincoln who had been sent from Still- water by Gen. Schuyler to conduct the militia to the west bank of the Hudson. Stark communicated his instructions and declined obedience on the ground of the dangerous condition in which it would place the people of Vermont, and because he believed Bur- goyne would be more embarrassed in his operations by his remaining on his left than by his joining the army in front. That the instruc- tions under which Gen. Stark acted " were destructive of military subordination," need not be denied. Yet there can be no doubt that his refusal to join Schuyler was founded on the soundest views of the actual state of things, and that it was productive of inestimable benefits to the country. But for this refusal, Bennington would probably have been left defenceless on the approach of Baum, and its capture with its depot of provisions and military stores, might have enabled Burgoyne to perform his anticipated speedy march to Albany. It should be here added that congress, on the 4th of October following, did a tardy act of justice to Stark, by passing a unanimous vote of thanks to him, "and the officers and troops under his command, for their brave and successful attack upon, and signal victory over the enemy, in their lines at Bennington," and by appointing him " a brigadier general in the army of the United States."
Three days after the battle of Bennington, Gen. Gates, who had been appointed by congress to supersede Gen. Schuyler, assumed the command of the northern army. Gen. Schuyler had been in charge of the northern department for the greater part of the time from the beginning of the war. His head-quarters had generally been at Albany or Saratoga, and having seldom or never taken the field in person, he had not succeeded in securing the full confidence of the country in his soldierly capacity, and he was particularly dis- trusted in New England. His aspiring and intriguing successor had greater popularity and larger military experience. Under the inspiriting influence of the recent victory, and the new general's reputed qualifications as a military leader, the militia of the eastern states were speedily rallied to his aid, and after two severe battles, fought and won by his subordinates, he was enabled on the 17th of October following, to compel the submission and receive the sur- render of Burgoyne's whole army.
In bringing about this happy result the people of Vermont con- tributed, in common with their brethren of the other states, their full proportionate share. Besides the aid furnished by the troops
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which they brought into the field, the council of safety, from their local position, were enabled to render useful and important services to the country in various other ways ; such as obtaining for the use of the army early information of the movements and designs of the enemy ; in furnishing supplies and means of transportation in sud- den emergencies, and in the speedy transmission, by means of a corps of expresses, of intelligence to the army, and orders from it to the neighboring states ; for which, and other purposes, the council were in constant communication and correspondence with the com- manding general, as abundantly appears by their journal. Soon after his victory at Bennington, Gen. Stark joined the main army, and Gen. Gates assigned to Gen. Lincoln the command of the forces to the eastward of the Hudson, including those which had been left in the new state, as well as such as had been summoned from Massa- chusetts,who were to rendezvous at Bennington.
About the middle of September, an attempt was made under the direction of Gen. Lincoln, to cut off Burgoyne's communications with Canada by capturing some of the posts in his rear, in which Col. Herrick's rangers bore a prominent part. Col. Johnson with seve- ral hundreds of Massachusetts militia, was sent to threaten Ticonde- roga from the Vermont side of the lake. Col. Brown with five hundred men, composed largely of the Vermont rangers, was to fall upon the enemy's post at the north end of Lake George, and if cir- cumstances promised success, to unite with Johnson in an attack upon Ticonderoga. Col. Brown's part of the plan was well exe- cuted. With but trifling loss he succeeded in releasing over one hundred prisoners who had been captured at Hubbardton, and in taking two hundred and ninety-three of the enemy, destroying one hundred and fifty bateaux lying below the falls in Lake Champlain, and fifty above the falls in Lake George, including seventeen gun- boats and one armed sloop.
About daylight of the morning of Brown's attack, Capt. Eben- ezer Allen with his company of rangers made the perilous ascent of thie steep and craggy rocks of Mt. Defiance, surprising and driving the garrison from its summit, just as a gunner was about to discharge a cannon on the assailants. Allen pointed the gun towards the old fort and fired it in token of his success. Col. Brown sent a sum- mons to the commander of Ticonderoga demanding its surrender, but without effect; and not being in a condition to attack it, he returned with his men by water to Skenesborough, bringing off a considerable quantity of captured ammunition and military stores.
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About this time Gen. Lincoln with most of the militia and also Col. Warner's continental regiment joined the main army under Gen. Gates, and military operations to the eastward of the Hudson were suspended. It was however reserved for the troops of the new state of Vermont to witness the finale of the grand expedition that had a few months previously, in great power and splendor ascended Lake Champlain. After the fate of Burgoyne became known in Canada, Gen. Carleton ordered all the posts south of the province line to be abandoned, and Ticonderoga was evacuated about the middle of November. The rear of the retreating garrison was overtaken by a portion of Herrick's rangers, with the result related in the follow- ing letter from the president of the Vermont council to Gen. Gates.
" State of Vermont. In Council. BENNINGTON, 22 Nov., 1777.
" Dear General : I have the pleasure to inform your honor of the success of our Green Mountain rangers, in harrassing the enemy's rear on their retreat from Ticonderoga, in which Capt. Ebenezer Allen, with fifty rangers, has taken forty-nine prisoners, upwards of one hundred horses, twelve yokes of oxen, four cows and three of the enemy's boats, &c., &c.
" Major Wait, who was sent to take possession of Mount Inde- pendence, found nothing of consequence, excepting several boats which the enemy had sunk, in which there were some provisions. All barracks, houses and bridges were burnt, cannon to the number of forty broken and spiked up. He was so fortunate as to take one French sutler, with rum, wine, brandy, &c. * * I have the honor to be, by order of the council, your honor's most obedient, humble servant,
THOMAS CHITTENDEN, President. Hon. Major General Gates."
Thus ingloriously to the British arms terminated the campaign of 1777, in the northern department.1
1 Jour. Cong., vol. 2, p. 232, 276. Everett's Life of Stark, p. 80, 81. Minutes of Council of Safety in Slade, p. 197 to 240. And in Stevens Papers, vol. 3. Letters of Lincoln, Brown and Chittenden, in Sparks's Rer. Cor. vol. 2, p. 256-535. Ira Allen's Vermont, p. 103-106. Among the prisoners captured by Capt. Ebenezer Allen on this occasion was a negro woman named Dinah Mattis, and her infant child Nancy, whom he, " being conscientious that it is not right in the sight of God to keep slaves," declared
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At the close of the preceding chapter it was stated that printed copies of the resolutions of congress of the 30th of June, 1777, had been forwarded by the New York council of safety for distribution in the "insurgent district." These resolutions it will be remem- bered disclaimed in strong language any participation of congress in the movement for a new state, and sharply censured Dr. Young, of Philadelphia, for promising a vote of congress in its favor. Several packages containing these resolutions, directed to friends of New York in the district, reached Fort Edward, a few days after Gen. St. Clair, with his retreating forces had arrived at that place, and when the country was in the highest state of alarm and confu- sion from Burgoyne's invasion. Gouverneur Morris, who was at that place as one of a committee of the New York council to confer with Gen. Schuyler on public affairs, after obtaining his advice and that of Gen. St. Clair, took the responsibility of opening the packages, and detaining their contents until he should receive further orders from the council. In his justification, he wrote (July 21) at con- siderable lengthi to the council, expressing strong apprehension that the distribution of the resolutions at that critical juncture miglit prevent the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants from render- ing efficient aid against the common enemy, which aid he deemed it of the utmost importance to retain. Feeling as Mr. Morris did, it was perhaps a proper act of prudence on his part, though there was really no occasion for his distrust of the patriotism of the people of the new state. The resolutions had doubtless already reached them, and if they had any effect, it was only to stimulate them to still greater exertions, in order that they might show themselves worthy of the independent position they had assumed, and of the confidence and countenance of their brethren in the other states. On the 31st of July, the council of safety of Vermont issued an address to their constituents, commenting on these resolutions, and showing that they did not in any way comply with the demands of New York as set forth in the papers their delegates had laid before congress, and did not condemn the measures that had been taken to form a new state, but only declared that congress had nothing to do with them.
to be forever free, and caused his certificate of her freedom to be recorded in the town clerk's office of Bennington, where the record is now found. Capt. Allen's deed of freedom, which bears date at Pawlet, Nov. 28, 1777, though claiming no merit as a literary performance, breathes in its language as warm and pure a spirit of philanthropy as the later and more important proclamation of President Lincoln. For a copy of the deed, see Deming's Vermont Officers, p. 184, and Hollister's Hist. Paulet, p. 13.
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This address was published in the Connecticut Courant of Aug. 18, and to it were appended, as evidence of the correctness of their interpretation of the resolutions, copies of the several New York documents before mentioned.
The constitution which had been framed by the convention of July, 1777, provided for the holding of an election under it in the following December, and for the meeting of the assembly in January ; but owing to "the troubles of the war and the encroachments of the enemy," it was found impracticable to have it printed and circulated in season for such an election. The council of safety, in consequence requested the president of the convention to call the members together again on the 24th of December. This was accordingly done, when the time for the first election was postponed until the first Wednesday in March, and the assembly was required to meet at Windsor, on the second Thursday of the same month.
The constitution which was now finally completed, was preceded by a preamble in which the reasons for separating from New York and forming a new government, were stated in some detail, but which, as they have already been substantially given, will not now be repeated.
The constitution was in the main a copy of that of Pennsyl- vania, which had been earnestly recommended as a model by Dr. Thomas Young, the early friend of Vermont, and which was also understood to have the approval of Dr. Franklin and other eminent statesmen. In some important particulars, the Vermont constitution was an improvement upon that of Pennsylvania. This was especially the case in the first section of the. declaration of rights, which announced in formal terms, the natural rights of man, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The convention added to this " glittering generality " a clause as follows : " Therefore, no male per- son born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-one years, nor female in like manner, after she arrives to the age of eighteen years, unless they are bound by their own consent, after they arrive to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts. damages, fines, costs, or the like." Vermont was thus the first of the states to prohibit slavery by constitutional provision, a fact of which Vermonters may well be proud.
The form of government was strongly democratic in its character. The elective franchise was given to " erery man of the full age of twenty-one years " who had resided in the state for one year. Every
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such person was also eligible to any office in the state. The legisla- tive power was vested in a single assembly of members chosen annually by ballot by the several towns in the state. Each town was to have one representative, and those towns having more than eighty taxable inhabitants, were entitled to two. The executive authority was in a governor, lieutenant governor and twelve councillors elected annually by ballot of the whole freemen of the state. The governor and council had no negative power, but it was provided that " all bills of a public nature " before they were finally debated in the general assembly should be laid before the governor and council "for their perusal and proposals of amendment," and also " printed for the infor- mation of the people," and that they should not be enacted into laws until the succeeding session of the assembly. From this provision was excepted " temporary acts " which in cases of " sudden emer- gency " might be passed without being delayed till the next session. The difficulties of a literal compliance with this article were so great that it was found necessary, in the first instance, to treat nearly all laws as temporary, and at the succeeding session to declare them permanent. In practice under this clause of the constitution, bills were allowed to originate in the council as well as in the house of assembly and in cases of disagreement between the two bodies upon any measure the matter was usually discussed in grand committee com- posed of both, the governor presiding. And although the final disposition of any measure was according to the pleasure of the house, the advisory power of the council had a strong tendency to prevent hasty and inconsiderate legislation. This article continued a part of the constitution until it was revised in 1786, when the pro- vision for printing and postponing the passage of laws was expunged, and in addition to the advisory power of the governor and council, they were authorized to suspend the operation of a bill passed by the house until the next session of the legislature, when in order to be- come a law it must be again passed by the assembly.
This article in the original constitution in regard to the miode of enacting laws had been copied literally from the constitution of Pennsylvania, as was also a section which provided for the election by the freemen of the respective counties of "judges of inferior courts of common pleas, sheriffs, justices of the peace and judges of probate," who were to hold their offices " during good behaviour removable by the general assembly upon proof of maladministration." The mode of choosing judges of superior courts was left to the dis- cretion of the legislature, and they were always elected annually by joint ballot of the council and assembly ; and on the revision of the
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constitution in 1786, it was provided that county officers should also be annually chosen in the same manner. This frame of government thus modified, continued in operation long after the state became a member of the federal union, furnishing the people with as much security for their persons and property as was enjoyed by those of other states, and allowing to each individual citizen all the liberty which was consistent with the welfare of others. 1
1 For the constitution of 1777, scc Slade, 241. For that of 1786, see stat- utes of 1787. For a history of the formation of the first constitution, see Chipman's Life of Chittenden. See also Slade, 81, 222, and 511.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
FULL ORGANIZATION OF STATE GOVERNMENT.
1778.
Military operations in 1778-Troops raised and forts built by Vermont to protect the frontiers - Alarms and ravages by the enemy - Overtures by New York in relation to land titles-Their unfair character strengthens the opposition to New York - Election of state officers - Thomas Chit- tenden, governor, his character - Confiscation of tory lands- Return of Col. Ethan Allen from captivity - Trial of David Redding and his execu- tion for "inimical conduct "-Union of sixteen New Hampshire towns with Vermont and its dissolution - Controversy with New Hampshire.
"THE military operations in the northern department during the year 1778, were not of great importance in the revolutionary struggle. A winter expedition was, indeed, planned by the board of war, of which Gen. Gates was president, and was sanctioned by congress, to destroy the enemy's shipping at St. Johns, and perhaps to advance farther into Canada. The command was at first assigned by congress to Gen. Stark, but Gen. Lafayette was afterwards selected by the board of war, and appears to have been assured by Gen. Gates that a force of not less than twenty-five hundred men, including a body of Green Mountain Boys, would be in readiness for him at Albany, properly prepared for the expedition. When he reached that place on the 17th of February, he found scarcely twelve hundred men, and those, from want of suitable clothing and supplies, were in no condition for a winter campaign. There being no pros- pect that the deficiency of men and means could be supplied in time to take advantage of the strong ice on the lake, the expedition, by general consent, was abandoned. Gen. Lafayette appears to have been dissatisfied with the manner in which he had been hurried into the command, when no adequate preparations for the expedition had been made; and there certainly appears to have been peculiar neglect, or ignorance of the actual state of things on the part of the board of war. Although the attempt upon the shipping at St. Johns had been contemplated early in December, it was not until the 10th of February that the council of safety of Vermont was informed of it and was requested to furnish aid. The council immediately issued orders for raising a battalion of six companies of fifty men each, under Col. Herrick, and offered extra bounties and pay for their
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speedy enlistment. Within two weeks afterwards, before the men could be mustered, notice was received that the project of invading Canada had fallen through, and the men who had been enlisted were employed in state service to guard the frontiers.1
The frontier position of Vermont rendered her territory liable to sudden incursions of the British and their savage allies, for which great facilities were afforded by their full command of Lake Cham- plain. A feeling of insecurity very generally prevailed, rendering precautionary measures indispensable. In April, Col. Warner's regiment was ordered to Albany, and the other regular troops at that place were sent to the south, leaving the inhabitants of the new state to their own resources for protection. As a means of defence, a stockade fort was erected at Rutland covering two or more acres of ground, with a block house of hewn logs forming one end of it, raised two stories high. At this fort a constant garrison was main- tained, and from it scouts traversed the country to the northward. Reports of expected attacks by the enemy were not infrequent, when bodies of militia were called out and marched to the frontier, perhaps to find there had only been a false alarm. These alarms kept the people in constant uneasiness, and were extremely annoying and burdensome. The inhabitants who had settled to the north- ward of Rutland had generally withdrawn from their possessions on Burgoyne's invasion. Some of them had, however, returned, trusting for their security either to the promises or to the humanity of the enemy. In November, 1778, a large British force came up the lake in several vessels, and thoroughly scoured the country as far south as Ticonderoga. "Such of the men," says Judge Swift, in his History of Addison County, " as had the temerity to remain on their farms, they took prisoners, plundered, burned and destroyed their property of every description, leaving the women and children to take care of themselves as they could, in their houseless and defenceless condition. Not a town in the county, where any settle- ment had been made, escaped their ravages. The only building in Middlebury, not wholly destroyed, except two or three in the south- east part of the town, which they seem not to have found, was a barn of Col. John Chipman, which had been lately built of green timber, which they could not set on fire, and which they tried in vain, with their imperfect tools, to cut down. The marks of their
1 Secret Jour. of Cong., vol. 1, p. 57-61, 65. Sparks's Washington, vol. 5, p. 264, 530. Sparks's Rec. Cor., vol. 2, p. 72. Irving's Washington, vol. 3, chap. 28 and 29. Minutes of Vt. Council, Feb. 10 and Feb. 25, 1778. Slade, p. 232, 233, 234.
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hatchets on the timbers are still to be seen." This is believed to have been the last actual incursion of the enemy during that year. 1
We now recur to the civil affairs of the new state. Hitherto the men in authority in New York had represented the conduct of the inhabitants who were disaffected towards her jurisdiction as alto- gether factious and unreasonable, styling their claims under the New Hampshire charters as " unjust and iniquitous," and their complaints against the colonial government of New York, as " frivolous pre- tences." Their unconditional submission to her authority, which carried with it a surrender of their lands to the New York claimants, had been uniformly demanded. But the approbation and applause with which the noble exertions of the people of Vermont, during the campaign of 1777, had been received in the other states, and the steadiness with which they were progressing towards the establishment of a regular independent goverment, produced an apprehension in New York that such unconditional submission was not likely to be obtained. This apprehension was manifested in February 1778, by the appointment of a joint committee of the senate and assembly of that state, to take into consideration "the unhappy situation of the good subjects of the state in the eastern district," and by the action of the two houses on the subject. This joint committee reported a series of resolutions, proposing certain terms of accommodation with the inhabitants of that district, in regard to their land titles, which terms were declared to be offered as an inducement to them to submit quietly to the jurisdiction of the state. The resolutions were adopted by both houses, and were made known to the inhabitants by proclama- tion of the governor bearing date the 23d of February, 1778. They were drawn up with great skill and ingenuity and with a seeming candor and fairness, well calculated to produce an impression on those not familiar with the subject, that New York had generously offered all that could reasonably be demanded of her, and that her proffers, if acceded to, would quiet the titles of all the settlers under New Hampshire charters. In this light they have been viewed by some modern writers. Thus Wm. L. Stone, in his Life of Brant, speaks of the proclamation of the governor reciting those resolutions, as " conceived in the most liberal spirit," and of the resolutions them- selves, as "offering to confirm all the titles which had previously been in dispute."
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