USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. By Hiland Hall > Part 49
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Israel Smith, was one of the commissioners in the Vermont act of 1789, for settling the controversy with New York. He was born at Suf- field, Conn., April 4, 1759. He graduated at Yale college in 1781, studied law and was admitted to the bar in this state in 1783. He resided first at Rupert, but removed to Rutland about 1791, when he was elected a repre- sentative in congress, and he was reelected in 1793. He was also again elected in 1801. He was chosen senator in congress in 1803, which office he resigned on being elected governor of the state in 1807. Soon after his election as governor, his health began to decline and he died at Rutland, December 2, 1810.
John Smith, who was sentenced to death without trial by the New York riot act of 1774, is described in the act as "John Smith late of So- cialborough, yeoman." He had settled in Rutland under the New Hamp- shire charter of 1761, and when the New York claimants under the pat- ent of Socialborough issued in 1771, in disobedience of the king's order, came to take possession of his farm, lie resisted them, for which offence he was thus condemned to execution. IIe was the first town clerk and the first representative of Rutland in the general assembly, and was a re- spectable and peaceable citizen.
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Paul Spooner, was a physician, his early residence in the state being at Hartland, from which he removed to Hardwick after the year 1790. He was a member of the state council four years from 1778, then lieuten- ant governor until 1786, judge of the Supreme Court for nine years ending in 1788, and was an agent of the state to the continental congress in 1780, and again in 1782. He enjoyed the confidence and respect of his contemporaries, but a particular account of him has not been obtained. He is believed to have been well educated, and to have had a good profes- sional reputation.
Gen. John Stark .- Gen. Stark's connexion with the revolutionary history of Vermont has been quite fully stated in the preceding pages and will not be again repeated. Nor is it intended to give more than a very brief notice of him. He was of Scotch descent and was born at London- derry, New Hampshire, August 28, 1728. He served with reputation as a partisan leader in the Indian and French wars, fought bravely at the head of his regiment of militia at the battle of Bunker Hill, and commanded the van of the right wing at the battle of Trenton. After the battle of Ben- nington in 1777, he was commissioned brigadier general by congress. He continued in active service through the war, and in 1781 commanded on the northern frontier with his head quarters at Saratoga, as already stated in this work. He died at Derryfield, now Manchester, N. H., May 8th, 1822, at the advanced age of 93.
Peleg Sunderland, is described in the New York riot act of 1774, of which he was an intended victim, as "late of Socialborough in the county of Charlotte, yeoman." He was a noted hunter and had been active with Allen, Warner and others, in resisting the New York claimants. In J. H. Graham's Descriptive Sketches of Vermont, published in London, in 1797, he gives the following account of the naming of Onion river. "A Mr. Peleg Sunderland in 1761, in hunting for beaver on this stream lost his way, and was nearly exhausted with fatigue and hunger, when a party of Indians fortunately met him, and with great humanity relieved his wants, and saved him from perishing. Their provisions were poor ; but what they had they freely gave, and their kindness made amends for more costly fare. Their whole store consisted of onions, and Mr. Sunderland then gave to the stream, near which he was so providentially preserved, the name of Onion river, which it has retained ever since." Mr. Thompson in a note to page 197 of his Gazetteer, makes the name to be derived from the Indian word Winooski, which signified Onion. I do not pretend to decide which is correct in regard to the origin of the name, or whether either is. When John Brown, Esq., in the early spring of 1775, was sent to Canada by the Boston committee of safety, for the purpose of guarding against danger from that quarter in case of the commencement of hostilities by the British forces at Boston, which was speedily antici- pated, he obtained from the committee of the New Hampshire Grants, the assistance of two companions and guides, of whom Peleg Sunderland was one. Of his services on that occasion we have an authentic account. At the session of the legislature commencing in February, 1787, he, de- scribing himself as of Manchester, presented a petition in which he stated
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among other things, " that sometime in thic montli of March, 1775, he was called upon and requested by the grand committee at Bennington to go to Canada as a pilot to Maj. John Brown, who was sent by the provincial . congress as a delegate to treat with the Indians in that province respecting the then approaching war, which service the petitioner performed at his own expense and charge, and was out in said service twenty-nine days, and has never received any compensation therefor, and has no place to look for redress except it be to your honors." Upon this part of Mr. Sunderland's petition, the committee of the assembly reported as follows : "It is sufficiently proved to your committee that the petitioncr did go to Canada by order of the authority, to pilot the said Maj. Brown, as set up in said petition, therefore it is the opinion of your committee that the petitioncr receive out of the state treasury, cight pounds and fourteen shillings, in hard money orders, for his services." The report was accepted and a bill was passed accordingly. Maj. Brown in a letter from Montreal dated March, 29, 1775, says, "two men from the New Hampshire Giants accompanied mne over the lake, the one was an old Indian hunter ac- quainted with the St. Francis Indians and their language, the other was a captive many years among the Caughnawaga Indians." The former was doubtless Sunderland, and the other was probably Winthrop Hoyt. (About Hoyt sec Am. Archives, vol. 2, p. 734 and 892, fourth series, and Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. 4, p. 896.) From this letter it appears that these guides of Maj. Brown werc of essential service to him in communicating with the Indians. Sunderland was as truc to the cause of his country against the common cnemy, as hc had been to the settlers against New York.
Ira Allen in his history gives the following account of an occurrence in which he borc a part. "In the spring of 1782, a loyalist officer, out of Canada, having raised seventeen recruits in the county of Albany, set out to conduct them to Canada; he supposed it was safer to pass through Vermont than to continue in the state of New York. They were fur- nished with some stores at the Roaring branch in Arlington. As they were putting them into their knapsacks in the silent watches of the night, Lieut. William Blanchard passing that way fell in amongst them ; they made him prisoner. On their march towards Canada, they also fell in (at Manchester) with Sergt. Ormsby, who shared thic samc fate with Blanchard. To prevent aların they struck off the road immediately, and took to the woods. The next morning early, Maj. Ormsby was apprised of the situation of his son and his fellow prisoner, and the route the enemy had taken. The major despatched an express to Col. Ira Allen to inform him of the circumstance, as the colonel at that time commanded a regi- ment of militia in that neighborhood. In the meantime, the major di- rected Capt. Sunderland to pursue the enemy with a party of men. The captain took his hounds with him, who by their scent, followed the tracks of the enemy and thus proved faithful guides to the party. Col. Allen on thic receipt of this intelligence posted full speed to Manchester, sent to Capt. Eastman of Rupert to raise a party of men and waylay in a certain pass in the mountain, where he took the whole party and released Lieut. Blanchard. Capt. Sunderland came up a few moments after, when the sagacity of his hounds was amazingly perceptible, by their going up and smelling to the fect of the prisoners." The account then states that the
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prisoners were brought before the governor at Sunderland, and ordered to Bennington jail, from which they were afterward sent to Canada and exchanged for Vermonters who were prisoners with the enemy. Allen's History, p. 230, 231.
The Hon. John S. Pettibone, now living in Manchester, remembers when quite young, to have seen Sunderland, who he thinks was a man of influence and of good standing and character. In a letter to the author he speaks of him as follows: " He was a great hunter, and feared neither bears nor tories. I am sure he took as muell pleasure in chasing and capturing the latter as the former. I should think a bear would come down from the tree when he found Sunderland was there, as readily as the coon would at the name of Capt. Martin Seott." Judge Pettibone had often heard the story of the capture of the tories from the mouths of those concerned in it, and which substantially agrees with that of Mr. Allen. Jonathan Ormsby, the young sergeant who was made prisoner by the tories was afterwards killed by the smugglers in the Black Snake en- counter near Burlington in 1808. See Thompson's Vt., p. 95.
An examination of the Manchester records shows Captain Sunderland to have resided in that town until the year 1791, to have been the owner of real estate and other property and to have possessed the confi- dence of his townsmen. In 1787 he was appointed at the head of a committee of three to draw instructions for the town representatives to tlie assembly. On another occasion he was one of a committee on the subjeet of the school lands of the town, and his name appears on the records on other important occasions. The date of his removal from Manchester, or the time and place of his death has not been ascertained. He was evidently a man of intelligence, as well as of activity and enterprise, and of respectable standing in society.
Isaac Tichenor, who was prominent in the latter part of the New York controversy, was born at Newark, N. J., February 8, 1754, and educated at Prineeton College, then under the presidency of the cele- brated Dr. Witherspoon, for whom and whose memory he always had the highest veneration. He graduated in 1775, and while pursuing the study of law at Seheneetady, N. Y., he was early in 1777 appointed assistant to Jacob Cuyler, deputy commissary general of purchases for the northern department, having for his field of service an extensive portion of the New England states. In the performance of liis official duties he came to Ben- nington the 14th of June, 1777, and was there superintending the collec- tion of supplies for the army during the principal part of the summer of that year. On the 13th of August, he left Bennington with a drove of cattle for Albany, and returned the 16th by way of Williamstown, arriving on the battle ground about dark, just as the fighting had ceased. From this time his residence was in Bennington when not in actual service in the commissary department. About the close of the war he commenced the practice of law and soon became active in public affairs. He represented the town in the general assembly in 1781 and for the succeeding three years, was agent of the state to congress in 1782, and was the same year appointed by the legislature to visit Windham county and advocate the elaims of the state with the friends of New York in that seetion, in which enterprise
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he was in some degree successful. He was a member of the state coun- cil for five years from 1787, was one of the commissioners named in the act of 1789, for adjusting the controversy with New York, was a judge of the supreme court for five years from 1791, and in 1796 was chosen a senator in congress to supply thie vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Moses Robinson, and also for the succeeding six years, which place he resigned on being elected governor in October, 1797. He held the office of governor for ten consecutive years until October 1807, when Israel Smith was his successful competitor. He was however elected again in 1808, making his whole term of service in the executive chair eleven years. In 1814 he was again chosen senator in congress, which office he held for six years, term- inating March 3, 1821, when he retired from public life. Gov. Tichenor died December 11, 1838, leaving no descendants. He was a man of good private character, of highly respectable talents and of accomplislied manners and insinuating address. His fascinating personal qualities ac- quired for him at an early day the sobriquet of the " Jersey Slick," by which he was long designated in familiar conversation. He was a federalist in politics, and his popularity was such that he was elected governor for several successive years after his party had become a minority in the state.
Sir William Tryon, succeeded Lord Dunmore as governor of New York July 8, 1771, and held the office until the king's government was superseded by that of the revolution. He was however absent from the province on a visit to England from April 7th, 1774, to the 25th of June, 1775, during which time, Lieutenant Governor Colden exercised the office. The character and conduct of Gov. Tryon prior to and during the period of his actual administration have been sufficiently described in the body of the work. See pages 103-109, 138 - 148, 166 - 168, 157, 158, 180.
He left New York and went on board a man of war in the harbor, in October 1775, but returned to the city on its evacuation by Gen. Washing- ton in September 1776, and continued the king's nominal governor until March 1780, when he resigned his commission and went to England. While he continued to hold the office of governor, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and in his military capacity commanded several marauding expeditions to Connecticut, burnt Norwalk and Fairfield, and committed many other depredations in which he fully maintained the re- putation which he had already acquired of having the propensities and feelings of a savage barbarian. He died in London, January 27, 1788.
Ebenezer Walbridge was born at Norwich, Conn., January 1, 1738, settled in Bennington about 1765, where he died October 3, 1819. He was a lieutenant in Col. Warner's regiment of Green Mountain Boys before Quebec in the winter of 1776, was an officer in the battle of Bennington, was colonel of the regiment of militia of that town and vicinity in 1781, was with his regiment at Castleton, in October, 1781, on the threatened invasion by St. Leger, and with the other principal military officers, was entrusted with a knowledge of the secret negotiations with Canada, of which the conduct of St. Leger relating to the death of Sergeant Tupper, was a consequence. Ile also commanded the troops before whom the militia of New York fled from San Coick, December following. IIe
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was afterwards brigadier general. He was two years a representative in the assembly, and for eight years, commencing in 1780, a member of the state council. He was an enterprising business man, and was concerned in erecting and putting in operation the first paper mill that was built in the state, in 1784.
Col. Seth Warner was born in Roxbury, then Woodbury, Conn., May 17, 1743, came to Bennington to reside in January, 1765, and remained there until the summer of 1784, when being in failing health he returned to his native town where he died the December following, in the forty- second year of his age. The life of Warner is so interwoven with the early history of Vermont, that little need be added to what has been already said of him in the body of this work. In the controversy with the New York land claimants, he was always active, and uniformly successful in whatever he undertook. As a military leader he was honored and con- fided in by the people of the state, above all others, and his bravery and military capacity appear to have been always appreciated by intelligent officers from other states with whom he-served. In the disastrous retreat from Canada in the spring of 1776, he brought up the rear, and he was in command of the rear guard on the evacuation of Ticonderoga, by which he was involved in the action at Hubbardton. At Bennington he was with Stark for several days before the battle, and was his associate in planning the attack upon Baum's entrenchments and in carrying it into execution ; and it was by his carnest advice, and contrary to Stark's first impression, that Breyman was immediately opposed, without first retreat- ing to rally the scattered American forces. Stark, in his official account of the battle, was not the man to overlook the valued services of lis asso- ciates. In his official letter to Gates he says that Warner marched with him to meet the enemy on the 14th, and of the battle of the 16th : " War- ner's superior skill in the action, was of great service to me." Contempo- raneous histories confirm the account given by Stark. Gordon, in his History of the Revolution, takes a similar view of the services of Warner, and Dr. Thatcher in his journal, in commencing his account of the action, says : " On the 16th, Gen. Stark, assisted by Col. Warner, matured his arrangements for the battle," and then describes it conformably to Stark's account of it.
The late Hon. D. S. Boardman of Connecticut, who in his youth often saw Warner, speaks of him as follows: "Col. Warner was of noble personal appearance ; very tall, not less than six feet two inches ; large framed, but rather thin in flesh, and apparently of great bodily strengthi. His features were regular, strongly marked, and indicative of mental strength, a fixedness of purpose, and yet of much benevolent good nature, and in all respects both commanding and pleasing. His manners were simple, natural and in all respects entirely free from any kind of affectation, social, and at once both pleasing and dignified; and when engaged in relating the events of' his life, bothi military and ordinary, he displayed no arrogance. but interwove in his narrative a notice of such incidents as showed love of adventure, and at the same time his love of fun." See N. Y. Historical Magazine, vol. 4, p. 201.
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Warner was distinguished for his cool courage, and perfect self-posses- sion on all occasons, and for the entire confidence with which he always inspired his associates and those under his command.
It is to the credit of the state of Connecticut that its legislature has caused a neat and substantial granite monument to be erected over War- ner's remains at Roxbury. It is an obelisk about twenty-one feet in height with appropriate base, plinth, die and mouldings, with the following in- scriptions :
East (front) side .- " Col. Seth Warner of the army of the revolution, born in Roxbury, Conn., May 17, 1743 ; a resident of Bennington, Vt., from 1765 to 1784; died in his native parish December 26, 1784."
North side .- " Captor of Crown Point, commander of the Green Mountain Boys in the repulse of Carleton at Longeucil and in the battle of Hubbard- ton; and the associate of Stark, in the victory at Bennington."
South side .- " Distinguished as a successful defender of the New Hamp- shire Grants; and for bravery, sagacity, energy and humanity, as a partisan officer in the war of the revolution."
West side .- " His remains are deposited under this monument, erected by order of the general assembly of Connecticut, A.D. 1859."
Col. Warner came to Bennington a single man, was married a year or two afterwards to Hester Hurd of Roxbury, and settled in the north-west- erly part of the town. He was a near neighbor of James Breakenridge, his house being on the corner opposite the present district school house, at Irish Corner. The house erected by him was standing though in a very dilapidated condition until the fall of 1858, when it was destroyed by fire. This residence of his was to the westward of that of Breakenridge and withiin less than a mile of New York line, on the outskirts of the settle- ment, where he appears to have lived in security throughout the New York controversy, notwithstanding numerous indictments were found against him as a rioter and large rewards were offered for his apprehension. This freedom from attack is to be accounted for by the terror with which his boldness and resolution and that of his brother Green Mountain Boys in- spired liis land claiming enemies, coupled with the well known fact that a great majority of the inhabitants of the bordering county of Albany sympathized with him in his hostility to the unjust demands of the specu- lators, and would sooner aid in his rescue, than in his capture.
Warner was for so long a time engaged in the defence of the New Hamp- shire Grants, and in defence of his country in the revolutionary war, that his attention appears to have been wholly diverted from his own private concerns, and he died insolvent leaving his family destitute. It is scarcely necessary to say that a sensational story published in Harper's Magazine, some years since, and extensively copied in other publications, to the effect that Gen. Washington had generously relieved the homestead of the colonel's widow from the incumbrance of a mortgage of over nine hundred dollars, is pure fiction. The writer must have been imposed upon by some pretender. In October 1787, on the petition of Mrs. Warner representing her destitute condition, the legislature of Vermont granted to her and her children two thousand acres of land in Essex county, which was then supposed to be valuable, but which turned out to be of little worth. See a copy of Mrs. Warner's letter to Dr. Williams, and her petition to
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the assembly of October, 1787, in the appendix to the address of George F. Houghton, Esq., before the legislature of Vermont, Oct. 28, 1848. Sec further in regard to Col. Warner in that address, and also in the life of Warner by Daniel Chipman, Middlebury, 1848.
William Williams, held the rank of colonel in the militia in 1777, and with a portion of his regiment was at the battle of Bennington, and is entitled to a share in the honors of the victory. He is mentioned by Stark in liis official letter to Gates, as marching with him to meet the enemy. He was an early settler in Marlborough, but in 1777 resided in Wilmington. He afterwards removed to Canada where he died in 1823. He had served with reputation in the French war, and appears to have enjoyed the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens, both in military and civil capacity.
James, Duke of York, to whom New Netherland was granted in 1664, was son of Charles the first, who was beheaded by his subjects in 1649, was younger brother of Charles the second, and was born October 15, 1633. He was an exile on the continent with his brother and returned with him to England on his restoration in 1660. On the death of his brother the 6th of February, 1685, he succeeded to the crown with title of James the second. Being a Roman Catholic, and attempting the es- tablishment of that religion in England, he was almost universally dis- trusted by all other denominations, who united in inviting William, Prince of Orange, from Holland, who landing in England with a powerful army, was welcomed by the people, and with Mary his wife, a daughter of James, were crowned king and queen in February, 1689. James had previously fled to the continent, and he died in France, September 16, 1701. On his accession to the thirone in 1685, the province of New York which had been his private property while lie was duke of York, became, by the operation of law, annexed to the crown, and was ever afterwards treated like other national domain. See ante p. 17 and 18.
James Duane, the leading antagonist of the settlers and claimants under the New Hampshire title, and of whom much has been said in the body of this work, was born in the city of New York, February 6, 1733, studied law and became eminent in his profession. He married a daugli- ter of Col. Robert Livingston, the proprietor of Livingston's Manor, and thus became identified with the landed aristocracy of the province. He hield the New York title to large tracts of lands which interfered with the previous grants of New Hampshire, and was attorney for most, or all of the other New York claimants. He was very active in his endeavors to overthrow the New Hampshire title, and thus incurred the severe dis- pleasure of the settlers. He espoused the whig cause in the revolution, was a delegate in congress from New York during nearly its whole period, and in that body exerted an unfavorable influence against the Vermonters, and a like influence in the New York legislature of which he was also a member. In 1784, he was appointed mayor of the city of New York, and in 1789 judge of the United States district court of New York, which office he resigned in 1794, and removed to Schenectady where he resided
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