USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 3
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1775.
fensive, and also encourage due execution of law in civil cases, and also in criminal prosecutions that are so indeed; and also that we will assist, to the utmost of our power, the officers appointed' for that purpose."
It will be noted that the above resolutions still held out the hope of accommodation. But the New York legislature, influenced perhaps by the speculators, and irritated by the dis- position of the settlers under New York grants, proceeded to pass a law in accordance with the resolutions of their committee. Governor Tryon was absent in England, whither he had repaired to lay the difficulties which he encountered before the royal government ; and Cadwallader Colden, at that time very old, was acting governor of the province. The law which the wisdom of New York devised was a curiosity in American legis- lation. Whether it ever could have received the sanction of the crown is doubtful; nor do we know with what propositions for the settle- ment of the difficulty Governor Tryon returned to America; for on his arrival, which did not take place until 1775, he found more engrossing and important business than the quarrels of land- jobbers with the Green Mountain Boys.
The territory west of the Green Mountains, in which the malecontents principally resided, was divided into two parts, one of which formed the county of Charlotte, and the other was an-
43
SANGUINARY LAWS.
1775.]
nexed to Albany. The new law applied ex- clusively to those counties. It enacted that if any person opposed a civil officer of New York in the discharge of his official duty, or willingly burned or destroyed property, or being riotously assembled proceeded unlawfully to the destruc- tion of buildings, such offences should be ad- judged felony without benefit of clergy, and the offenders should suffer death as felons. It made it the duty of the governor to publish in the public papers, and to cause to be affixed in public places by the sheriffs, the names of any persons indicted for capital offences, with an order com- manding the surrender of themselves within seventy days. In case of their non-appearance within the seventy days they were to be adjudged guilty, and the courts might award execution against them in the same manner as if they had been convicted, and death be inflicted without benefit of clergy. All crimes committed on the New Hampshire grants were by this act per- mitted to be tried by the courts of the county of Albany ; and the neglect to obey the summons to surrender themselves was equivalent to convic- tion. By this law the dangerous duty of serv- ing process on the Green Mountain Boys was sought to be evaded, and they were summoned to appear for trial, or convict themselves by refusal.
At the same time a new proclamation was is- sued, offering a reward of fifty pounds, or two
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1775.
hundred and twenty-two dollars, each for ap- prehending Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and six others who were regarded as the most prominent leaders among the malecontents. The effect of these measures was what might have been an- ticipated. The acknowledgment which the terms of the law virtually made, that New York was unable to enforce it, caused the measure and its abettors to be looked upon with contempt; and nerved the resistants to a fixed determination to meet death rather than submit. Past experience had convinced them that the people of New York had no desire to support the government, and the conduct of the New York militia had shown how little disposed their fellow-citizens were to aid the officers. The Green Mountain Boys gained in the moral strength which is con- ferred by public sympathy, and the ferocious sign of the Bennington hostelry glared still upon their oppressors.
Indeed, that sign furnished no inapt emblem of the whole business. Just as were the claims of the mountaineers, an air of solemn farce seems mingled with their proceedings, as we, secure in our rights, look back upon their wrongs and their strange manifestoes of defiance. If the law above noticed was a marvel in its way, the answer of the mountaineers, in conven- tion adopted, was no less remarkable. It out- heroded Herod.
45
1775.]
GREEN MOUNTAIN MANIFESTO.
-
It denounced in language which evinced a de- termination to be very severe, the character of the land-jobbers and their government, and thus depicted their doings :- " By legerdemain, bri- bery, and deception, they have extended their dominions far and wide. They have wrangled with, and encroached upon the neighbouring governments, and have used all manner of de- ceit and fraud to accomplish their designs. Their tenants groan under their usury and op- pression ; and they have gained as well as merit- ed the disapprobation and abhorrence of their neighbours. The innocent blood they have already shed, calls for Heaven's vengeance on their guilty heads ; and if they should come forth in arms against us, thousands of their injured neighbours will join with us to cut off and ex- terminate such an execrable race of men from the face of the earth.
"We, therefore," says the manifesto, "ad- vertise such officers, and all persons whatsoever, that we are resolved to inflict immediate death on whomsoever shall attempt the apprehension of the persons indicted as rioters. And pro- vided any of us, or our party, shall be taken, and we have not sufficient notice to relieve them, or whether we relieve them or not, we are re- solved to surround such person or persons as shall take them, whether at his or their own house or houses, or any where that we can find
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1775.
him or them, and shoot such person or persons dead. And furthermore, we will kill and destroy any person or persons whomsoever, that shall presume to be accessory, aiding or assisting in taking any of us as aforesaid; for, by these presents, we give any such disposed person or persons to understand, that although they have a license by the law aforesaid to kill us, and an indemnification for such murder from the same authority, yet they have no indemnification for so doing from the Green Mountain Boys, for our lives, liberties, and properties are as verily precious to us as to any of the king's subjects. But if the governmental authority of New York insists upon killing us, to take possession of our vineyards, let them come on; we are ready for a game of scalping with them; for our martial spirits glow with bitter indignation and consum- mate fury to blast their infernal projects."
It does not appear that any collision oc- curred between the parties who had fulminated such furious threats against each other. The absence of Governor Tryon may have had some influence in preventing the parties from proceeding to extremities. Other steps were in progress to allay the difficulty. Colonel Philip Skeen, an English officer, , who owned large tracts on Lake Champlain, went to England with a view to obtain the erection of a new pro- vince out of the Hampshire grants. He had
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SKEEN'S MISSION.
1775.]
the countenance of many of the inhabitants; and made some progress in his mission, for he wrote to a friend that he had been appointed governor of Crown Point and Ticonderoga. It is much to be regretted that this step had not been earlier taken, that it might have been per- fected before the breaking out of hostilities be- tween the colonies and the mother country. That event nipped Colonel Skeen's plan in the bud; but the future. state of Vermont, esta- blished after much dispute, was the carrying out of his plan. Had it been consummated before the war, there would have been four- teen states in the original American confede- ration.
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1773.
CHAPTER IV.
The tenure of the royal judges in the colonies-Governor Hutchinson and the Massachusetts legislature-Petition for the removal of Chief Justice Oliver-His impeachment- Oliver sustained by Hutchinson-Appointment of counsellors by the crown-The opening of the Massachusetts courts of law obstructed by the people-Sympathy of the Green Mountain Boys-Possession taken of Westminster court house-Its surrender demanded by the sheriff of New York -The building fired into-Subsequent disposal of the pri- soners-Westminster convention renounce the government of New York-Colonial disputes with Great Britain-Battle. of Lexington-Population of Vermont-War of the Revolu- tion.
THE events which we have narrated took place principally, if not entirely, on the western side of the Green Mountains. The inhabitants of that district were more exposed than their east- ern neighbours to contact with the New York authorities. As a border population, with the hardihood and courage of frontier life, has also its rudeness and rough essentials, and as the western pioneers of Vermont had provocations which might well have influenced men of higher culture, we are not to wonder at their fierce and furious resolutions and manifestoes, or to be surprised at their summary application of forest law.
But while the inhabitants of the townships
49
TENURE OF THE JUDGES.
1773.]
nearer New Hampshire remained comparatively inactive, it is not to be supposed that they lacked sympathy with the men upon whom fell the brunt of the encounter. And although some of the townships near the Connecticut River repur- chased their grants, it was done with a tacit if not with a verbal protest. The injustice was felt ; and when the time arrived for action the eastern settlers showed that they were not insen- sible to wrong, or disposed always to submit to what they regarded as tyranny.
The question of the tenure of the offices of the judges in the provincial courts was mooted in Massachusetts before the outbreak of hostilities. The point on which issue was joined was the manner in which their salaries should be paid. To render the governor and the judiciary inde- pendent of the people, provision was made for the payment of their salaries from England, or by the commissioners of the revenue from the customs' receipts. The mode had hitherto been to vote their salaries in the house of representa- tives ; and the people resolutely refused to sub- mit to the change. The governor they could not reach, except by indirect acts of retaliation ; and these they felt justified in, since it was upon his suggestion that the change was made. At the session of the legislature in 1772, when Governor Hutchinson declined to receive his salary from the province, he asked that the Pro-
5
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1773.
vince House, which had been often used as a resi- dence for the chief magistrate, should be re- paired and put in order for the reception of his family. The legislature replied that the building was intended for the governor of the province, who had heretofore received his support by order of the colonial legislature, but as Governor Hutchinson declined a salary offered by the pro- vince, and chose to be supported by the British government, they did not feel obliged to be at any charge for his accommodation. On a subsequent occasion, when the governor proposed to give a public dinner to the commissioners of the re- venue, the people of Boston, in town meeting assembled, voted that if he desired Faneuil Hall for that purpose he should not have it.
But with the judges a more direct course was pursued. The house requested them to decline receiving their salaries from England. Three of them complied, and expressed their readiness to receive it from the province as heretofore. But Mr. Oliver, the chief justice, said he did not dare to decline it, without leave first obtained from the king. The house thereupon voted him unfit to hold the office of judge, and prayed the governor to remove him. The governor refused to act in the premises, alleging that the power of removal belonged to the crown. The house then proceeded to impeach Judge Oliver of high crimes and misdemeanors, but the governor still
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THE COURTS OBSTRUCTED.
1772.]
refused to act. The people then in several of the counties, refused to take the usual oaths as grand jurors, when the courts were in session, until assured that the obnoxious judge would not be present. Another difficulty soon arose. Some of the judges were appointed to the council, as the upper branch of the legislature was then called ; the crown assuming the right of appoint- ing counsellors, whereas they had hitherto been elected by the house. The people of Boston regularly drawn, refused to act as jurors, but the panel was filled otherwise, and the business proceeded. At this stage of the contest, in some of the inland counties, the judges and officers were prevented from occupying the court houses -the people blocking up the entrances, and by sheer dead weight and pre-occupation, keeping them out. No forcible entry was attempted, and the delay of judicial action was submitted to by the obnoxious judges.
The pulse of the other New England colonies beat with Massachusetts. Vermont was settled chiefly by emigrants from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut ; men who, from their adventurous spirit, would have an alacrity of resistance to oppression ; and who, in the contests of the two royal governors of New Hampshire and New York had been sufferers in fact, while the governors suffered in dignity. The oppressive acts of New York would have
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1775.
made them resistants had all the rest of New England been loyal ; and we are not, therefore, to wonder that the example of Massachusetts in relation to the obnoxious judges in that province, found ready imitators in the New Hampshire grants. The royal authority was suspended, after the continental congress of 1774, in nearly all the colonies, New York and Georgia alone withholding their formal sanction to the doings of the congress. In the latter province, the personal influence of the governor restrained the , legislature from overt adhesion. In New York the loyalists were numerous, and the legislature was a moderate or " compromise body." Though petitions and addresses were adopted, similar in tone to the doings of the continental congress, the province nominally maintained its loyalty, after the other provinces, except Georgia, were formally committed.
But the example of Massachusetts brought matters in the New Hampshire grants to a crisis. The people, sympathizing with their New Eng- land friends and kindred, felt painfully their forced connection with New York, a province with whom they now seemed to have less sympathy than ever. The regular term of the court for the county of Cumberland, was to have been holden in March, 1775. Efforts were made to dissuade the judges from holding the court. Of course, while they held their
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THE PEOPLE FIRED UPON.
1775.]
commission, they would not consent to identify themselves with the rebellious party. They pro- ceeded in their official course, and the inhabit- ants of Westminster and the adjacent towns, followed the Massachusetts precedent, and took possession of the court house. The judges did not, however, follow the wise example of their brethren in the Bay State, who prudently with- drew before the pressure of the people. The judges appeared before the house attended with an armed posse, and commanded the crowd to disperse. Nothing more serious than hard words passed at this time, and the judges, sheriffs, and posse withdrew.
Negotiations now took place between the lead- ers of the people and the judges. A quasi armistice was agreed to, by which the people were to keep possession of the court house until morning. At that time the judges would come without their armed posse, and be admitted, to hear what the resistants might offer in defence of their course. Contrary to this understanding, after lulling the vigilance of the people, the sheriff and his followers came to the court house at midnight and demanded admittance. Being refused, they fired into the building, and by this treacherous act killed one man, and wounded several more. The wounded men, and some others who were seized amid the terror and con- fusion, they committed to prison. It was well
5*
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1775.
for the attacking party that this outrage was not committed on the western side of the mountains, in the province proper of the Green Mountain Boys.
The news of this outrage flew apace. At an early hour the next day a crowd. had collected. A coroner's jury was impanelled ; a verdict of murder was returned against the officers, several of whom were arrested. Notwithstanding the exasperation of the multitude, it does not ap- pear that any violence was done to the prison- ers, who were conveyed to the jail in Northamp- ton, in the province of Massachusetts. Upon application of the chief justice of New York, they were released, and returned home. Massa- chusetts could claim no jurisdiction in the case, and their committal to a prison in that province was manifestly illegal; though to seek their punishment in the jurisdiction of New York would have been fruitless. Now the settlers east of the mountains made common cause with their brethren. A meeting was convened in West- minster, on the 11th of April, at which was passed the following resolve : "that it is the duty of the inhabitants wholly to renounce and resist the government of New York, until such time as the lives and property of the inhabitants may be secured by it ; or until such time as they can have opportunity to lay their grievances be- fore his most gracious majesty in council, with a
1
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DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION.
1775.]
proper remonstrance against the unjustifiable conduct of that government, together with a humble petition to be taken out of so oppressive a jurisdiction, and either annexed to some other government, or erected and incorporated into a new one, as may appear best for the inha- bitants."
While the people of the New Hampshire grants were in this state of excitement, events occurred which gave their thoughts a new di- rection, or rather which gave them, in the same direction, a higher object; and which led their spirit of resistance beyond New York, to contend with the power from whom the authorities as- sumed to derive their right to oppress. On the 19th of April, 1775, occurred the battle of Lex- ington ; and while some of the higher spirit- ed men in Vermont were taking measures for armed resistance against the authorities of New York, the news of this first blood shed in the contest with Great Britain reached the excited settlers. "By presenting new scenes, and greater objects," says Dr. Williams, the historian of Vermont, " this event seems to have prevented either party from proceeding to hos- tilities ; and turned their attention from their particular contest to the general cause of Ame- rica. The attention of all orders of men was immediately engaged; local and provincial con- tests were at once swallowed up by the novelty,
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1775.
the grandeur, and the importance of the contest that opened between Britain and America."
At this date, 1775, the population of Vermont is estimated by Mr. Thompson, author of the Gazetteer of Vermont, at 20,000. The popu- lation had grown up by immigration in fifteen years ; for in 1760, there were not more than three hundred people in the territory. These settlers were fully qualified for the service they were afterward to perform. Schooled amid pri- vations and difficulties, they were trained to perform the important part which they sub- sequently supported in the war of the Revo- lution.
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REPRISALS PROPOSED.
1775.]
CHAPTER V.
Benedict Arnold-The surprise of Crown Point and Ticonde- roga recommended-Arnold commissioned and authorized to attempt it-A detachment of volunteers organized in Connec- ticut for the same purpose-Form a junction with Ethan Allen and a party of Green Mountain Boys-Meeting with Arnold -Appointed second in command-Disputes between Arnold and Allen-Capture of Ticonderoga-Of Crown Point- Of Skeensboro -St. John's surprised by Arnold - Ap- proach of the British-Congress provides for the restitu tion of the captured property-Massachusetts and the continental congress-Surrender of authority to the latter-George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the colonial forces-Powers assumed by congress -- Petitions and addresses to Great Britain-Judicious conduct of the English parlia- ment in respect to Canada-Ticonderoga and Crown Point efficiently garrisoned.
THE courage and patriotism of the Green Mountain Boys were now offered a wider field than that in which they had hitherto been exer- cised. The struggle with Great Britain had commenced in earnest; and as General Gage had taken the initiatory steps of hostility, by the seizure of warlike stores, the colonists thought it a proper retaliation to possess themselves of the posts and munitions belonging to and occu- pied by the crown. The importance of the fortifications on the Champlain route from New York to Canada, suggested movements in Con-
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1775.
necticut and Massachusetts, with a view to their reduction ; and although these movements were simultaneously made, they were undertaken with- out concert. Be ct Arnold, who, in the early part of the Revolutionary war, distinguished himself as an able and courageous officer, called the attention of the Massachusetts committee of safety to the fortresses of Crown Point and Ti- conderoga. Arnold belonged by birth and re- sidence to Connecticut, and was thus aware of the quantity of munitions at these points, and of the state of the defences. He had been a dealer in horses, and subsequently a trader and shipmaster in New Haven. He repaired to Boston on the breaking out of hostilities, in com- mand of a company of volunteers ; and upon his representations of the state of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, he received a colonel's com- mission, with authority to raise a regiment in Vermont for the enterprise.
Meanwhile, certain gentlemen in Connecticut set the same plan on foot. They knew that the garrisons were then feeble at both points, and the fortifications dilapidated, and hastened to secure the two places before they should be put in a better posture of defence. A loan of eighteen hundred dollars was obtained of the legislature, powder and ball were procured, and the Connecticut party, of forty men, set forward to communicate with Ethan Allen. Seth Warner,
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ARNOLD AND ALLEN.
1775.]
who had figured in the Green Mountain pro- ceedings with Ethan Allen, readily acted with his old chief in this new enterprise. The affair altogether appears to have been conducted with great address and promptitude. The attacking party were advised of all the turns and passages of the works at Ticonderoga, by Captain Noah Phelps, one of the Connecticut volunteers, who introduced himself into the fort, and professing great clownishness and simplicity, examined the place with the eye of a veteran.
Arnold had, meanwhile, joined Allen at Castle- tón. He came attended only by a servant, · having failed to obtain recruits, since Allen and Warner, men known to the settlers, had been before him. Arnold would have assumed the command, but to this the Green Mountain Boys would not submit. A council was called, and Arnold's commission was examined. He was permitted to join as a volunteer, but Allen was also elected and commissioned colonel, and Ar- nold was recognised under his Massachusetts commission as second in command.
On the evening of the 9th of May, Colonel Allen arrived at Orwell, with two hundred and seventy men, all except forty of whom were Green Mountain Boys. Some difficulty was found in procuring boats, but the people of the vicinity fell readily into the spirit of the enter- prise. Two young men, who overheard in bed
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1775.
what was going forward, corrupted the boatmen of Major Skeen with that potent ammunition, a bottle of rum, and inveigled the unconscious men into the service, boat and all. They dis- covered their mistake when, at Shoreham, the point of embarkation on the Vermont side, they were put under guard as prisoners of war. Other boats were also procured, but all were only of sufficient capacity to transport eighty men at one trip. Here again the dispute for precedence between the two colonels was renewed. Arnold demanded the honour of leading the men into the fort. Allen refused to suffer it; and the dispute was settled by a compromise that both should enter together, but that Allen should enter on the right, and have the command.
Just before daybreak on the 10th of May the first party of eighty-three men landed on the shore near Ticonderoga. The hour requiring expedition, if a surprise was to be attempted, Allen decided to proceed at once, without wait- ing for the residue of his men. He made a short harangue to his party, which he concluded by saying: " I now propose to advance before you, and conduct you in person through the wicket gate; but inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt, I do not urge it on any one contrary to his will. You that will undertake it volunta- rily, poise your firelocks." Not a man hesi- tated.
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