USA > Vermont > The story of Vermont (1889) > Part 3
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Of course the government of New York was not inactive during these developments. Allen, Baker and others were denounced as felons, and a reward of twenty pounds offered for their apprehension. It is related of Allen that on hearing of this action he made a wager that he would ride to Albany, drink a bowl of punch and return unharmed. This he did in the middle of the day with much bravado and ostentation, though the sheriff was in town and knew of his presence. Soon after this the " Yorker,"
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John Munro, with a party of adherents desirous of turning an honest penny, surprised Captain Remem- ber Baker in his bed and took him prisoner. They dealt very roughly with him and even with his wife and fourteen-year-old son. All three were severely wounded in the mêlée Captain Baker was thrown into a sleigh and driven with all speed toward Albany, but rescued by his neighbors. Not long after this encounter Munro attempted the capture of Seth Warner. But that intrepid partisan, who was mounted at the time, dealt Munro a blow with his sword and escaped. Then appeared on the scene the majesty of the law itself in the person of Sheriff Ten Eyck of Albany. With a strong body of troops he marched east from Troy prepared to enforce the New York titles. But the royal gov- ernor of New York came very near to faring no better than did a certain " King of France " who marched up and then down again. For he was met by a resolute band of Green Mountain Boys, fully prepared to battle for their homes. Ten Eyck saw that they were determined and deemed it wisest not to fight. So a temporary truce was patched up.
This, however, was soon broken under a misun- derstanding. Allen, having taken prisoner a surveyor named Cockburn, angrily broke his in- struments and warned him under penalty of death
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not to return to Vermont while the negotiations were pending. At about the same time a number of Scotch tenants of one Colonel Reid were placed by him upon land which he had taken from the granters. The " Boys" resented this invasion of their "rights " and when the colonel had left his lands, pounced down upon the "invaders"; the Scotchmen were again driven off and a block-house was built upon the Winooski to protect the settlers.
To these occurrences the Durham campaign was a fitting companion. The settlers in Durham had bought their land of one Lydius of Albany. The accounts describe him as an Indian trader and the heir of that Dominie Lydius, to whom Dominie Dellius of Albany assigned his famous claim to a good portion of the State of Vermont, granted in 1696 for the "Annuall Rente of one Raccoon Skinn." This claim was two years later declared excessive and invalid by the New York Legislature. It became a fruitful source since of contentions. The best authorities agree that Lydius got his land on the strength of a treaty made with the Indians and confirmed by Governor Shirley of Massachu- setts. Whatever the merits of Colonel Lydius' original title, the residents of Durham were desir- ous of making their claims to rightful possession absolutely secure. They therefore applied to New York for a patent. This was issued in 1772 and
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was in direct disobedience of the king's orders in council forbidding the Governor of New York to issue further grants until authorized to do so.
The application for a New York patent enraged the Green Mountain Boys. They knew that the people of Durham naturally sided with the New Yorkers to whom they were bound by a common interest and they resolved by the picturesque if lawless methods of their organization, to convert the Durham folk to the true faith in the validity of New Hampshire's title.
With this intent Allen and Baker led the " Ben- nington Mob " of one hundred men upon Durham. Their excesses were made, in 1774, the subject of complaint to the legislature by the Durham people. It was because of this and other troubles that the legislature of that year named Allen, Baker, War- ner, Robert Cochrane, Peleg Sunderland, Silvanus Brown, James Brackinridge and John Smith as the leaders of the mob and empowered the gov- ernor and council to issue a proclamation ordering them to surrender within seventy days. The gov- ernor accordingly offered one hundred pounds re- ward each for the arrest of Allen and Baker and fifty pounds each for the others named. At the same time the legislature, by a close vote, passed an act decreeing the outlaws " to be adjudged, deemed, and (if indicted for a capital offence hereafter to
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be committed, to be convicted and attainted of felony." It further decreed that the accused should " suffer death as in cases of persons convicted and attainted of felony by verdict and judgment with- out benefit of clergy," if they did not give them- selves up within seventy days. It is said that Allen, upon hearing of this, laughed loud and long and asked, " How will the fools manage to hang a Green Mountain Boy before they catch him?"
The question was a pertinent one. The com- mittees of the several townships promptly met and resolved to defend, against the officers of the law, those " who, for their merit in the great and gen- eral cause, had been falsely denominated rioters," adding that in all civil processes and legitimate criminal ones they were ready to aid the author- ities to enforce the law. The outlaws themselves issued a proclamation threatening death to any one who should be tempted by the reward to try to de- liver them up for punishment. Matters were clearly approaching a crisis beneath the shadow of the vert monts.
But by this time greater events were impending. Resistance to tyranny was moving all the colonies ; acts as well as desires were hastening forward the war which was to free the provinces. Though re- mote from the centres of organized opposition to the Stamp Act and to military despotism, the
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Green Mountain Boys were fully aware of the diffi- culties which were arising between the people and the king. So it came to pass that the cause of the grantees, which had all along been the popu- lar one, became more and more identified with that of the colonists, while the cause of the New York authorities became the cause of the king's, whose servants they were. An event was now to occur which emphasized still more this distinction.
The next session of the New York court for the county which then embraced Southern Vermont, was to be held at Westminster, for so the old town- ship of "No. I" had been rechristened by New Hampshire. Criminal proceedings against the leaders of the riotous Green Mountain Boys were to be expected, as well as other acts inimical to the interests of the settlers. These therefore resolved that the court should not sit. The Whigs, as the popular party had now come to be known, occu- pied the court house with one hundred men. The night before the court was to be opened the sheriff's posse demanded admittance. It was re- fused. On the assurance that no attempt would be made to enter the building before morning, the larger part of the people's guard retired, leaving only a small force armed with clubs. Scarcely had they withdrawn when the sheriff returned
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with his posse. Being again refused admission he gave the order for the firing of a volley.
The result was disastrous to the people's party for when the smoke cleared away it was found that William French and Daniel Houghton were fatally wounded. Others also were wounded though less seriously. About twenty of them were imprisoned. Among these was the dying French.
The court was opened in the morning and ad- journed to three o'clock. Before that hour the judges, the sheriff and his posse all were fleeing from the wrath of the people. Pursued by the enraged crowd, now numbering five hundred armed men, they were brought in one by one and impris- oned in the very room where they had so re- - cently confined the de- .. fenders of the court house. A rude court was improvised and two of the judges, the clerk, the sheriff and his deputy and four others were held for trial for the murder of William French ; the others were allowed to depart on bail to appear THE JUDGES JUDGED. 1
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when wanted. The people's prisoners were soon after released, ostensibly for trial, by Judge Hors- manden at Albany. To this, however, they were never brought. But it was long before court was held again at Westminster.
The following epitaph was placed above William French's grave :
IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM FRENCH SON OF MR. NATHANIEL FRENCH WHO WAS SHOT AT WESTMINSTER MARCH YE 13TH 1775 BY THE HANDS OF CRUEL MINISTEREAL TOOLS OF GEORGE YE 3D IN THE COURTHOUSE AT A II A'CLOCK AT NIGHT IN THE 22D YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Here William French his Body lies For Murder his Blood for Vengeance cries King Georg the third his Tory crew tha with a bawl his head Shot threw For Liberty and his Country's Good he Lost his Life his Dearest blood.
What the Boston martyrs were to Massachusetts William French was to the Green Mountain Boys. His death was indeed a sacrifice "for Liberty and his Country's Good." It was never forgotten in the coming struggle against the Crown.
The population of Vermont had increased very rapidly during these troubles. At the outbreak of
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the Revolution their number must have been about twenty thousand. One main reason for this rapid increase undoubtedly was that many of the original New Hampshire grantees, fearing that their titles would become valueless, hastened to dispose of their lands at attractively low figures. Indeed it is stated that some of them sold farms under the express stipulation that the settlers should not be required to pay anything if the title should prove worthless. This may have been the case in a few instances - an affidavit referring to the matter was submitted to the New York Legislature at the time - but certainly was not in many. It is probable that a sincere belief in the grantees' rights induced many to settle in Vermont just as, many years later, the slavery-hating men of the North and East poured into " Bleeding Kansas " to save her for freedom.
Nor was the increase of population wholly de- pendent upon immigration. Sons and daughters were in those days numerous in every well-regulated Vermont household. Ethan Allen was one of seven strong brothers. In the township of Guilford in 1772 there were eighty-two families with three hundred and ninety-three children, an average of nearly five to a household. Three families had eleven children each and six out of the eighty-two had nine each. These sturdy settlers were men of
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character and determination. They had little, but
were much. They built huts in the woods by
themselves, to which, when the winter snow came, they dragged on sledges their wives, children and household effects. Sometimes they took up their residence in summer and camped out while the log hut was building. Having so toiled for their humble
homes they were ready to defend them against what they considered illegal confiscation and against the aggressions of the king. They were made of stern stuff, these pioneers; they have left
their mark and influence upon their time and ours.
Historians of the present day are generally agreed that the cause of the New Hampshire Grants against New York was a just one and that its success was a triumph of right. So long as the territory remained uninhabited, it was hard to say which colony of the three which first claimed Vermont had the best right to possession, if, indeed, either of the three could be said to possess any right at all to lands which no one used or occu- pied save the Indians, their ancient owners. The vast royal grants of that day were issued to and by men ignorant of the country; they were based upon maps ludicrously inaccurate, and were very vague and contradictory in their phrasing. In- stances of such boundary disputes were very fre- quent. Massachusetts claimed that its western.
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boundary was the Mississippi; sometimes indeed the modest proprietors of the Bay Colony asserted that their western possessions were stopped only by the Pacific Ocean. New York's charter, as we have seen, covered New Jersey on the west and half of the land already granted to the Connecticut colony on the east. These carelessly drawn grants were everywhere a fruitful source of trouble.
But if there was little to choose between the rival claims of grasping royal governors, the question became a wholly different one when for the first time an actual body of settlers occupied the land, building houses, mills and churches upon it, clear- ing away the forest and cultivating the soil. These men were the first to establish any rights in the country which most moralists would concede. Filching splendid empires from the Indians by royal charter without payment did not establish a moral right to the new country, but as between the rival claimants of Vermont the choice certainly lay with New Hampshire under whose auspices the first work was done to make it habitable and of value.
Certainly, in what may be considered the strict legal sense, the settlers had the best of the ar- gument. The subject of right is one of much com- plexity but in the early stages of the quarrel prece- dent and the common understanding of the matter were upon the side of the settlers, while the fact
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that Governor Wentworth was expressly commis- sioned to grant townships across the Connecticut strengthened their claim. It is no less true that every township grant issued by New York after 1767 was a direct violation of the king's orders in council.
But New York clung resolutely to the grants, even through the distractions of the Revolution. The Green Mountain Boys dealt and received many hard blows in defence of their asserted rights and gained for themselves undying fame as picturesque but patriotic partisans. But the Revolution came only as an entr'acte. After the triumph of the colonies the old dispute again arose and the final settlement of the difficulty was not reached for more than forty years after the granting of Bennington township, and sixteen years after the outbreak of the great war for national liberty.
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CHAPTER III.
THE FIGHT FOR LIBERTY.
"Molly Stark" Cannon captured at Bennington.
HE story of the capt- ure of Fort Ticonde- roga by the intrepid Ethan Allen and his eighty-three men is one of the most pop- ular of American tra- ditions. It will never be forgotten by young and old Americans.
It does not detract from the glory of that exploit that the project seems to have occurred almost simultaneously to the patriot leaders in three dif- ferent and widely separated places. A victory so bold in execution need not claim entire originality of conception to insure itself a place in history.
As a matter of fact, the credit of first proposing the expedition seems to belong to Connecticut. So early as April, 1775,* that colony appropriated
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. It is c'aimed that at an even earlier date, on February the twenty-first, 1775, Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield in the Massachusetts colony, wrote to Joseph Warren at Boston suggesting the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, but the move made by Connecticut was the earliest decisive action - ED.
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three hundred pounds for the expenses of an ex- pedition against Ticonderoga, in the organization of which Benedict Arnold, Silas Deane and Samuel H. Parsons were leading spirits. A few troops were raised and sent North. These were rein- forced by others from Western Massachusetts. " To the North!" was the rallying cry, and the command of the whole expedition was given to Colonel Easton, who joined the troops at Pittsfield.
On the third of May the little command reached Bennington; here the Green Mountain Boys had already gathered in considerable numbers. It was found that Ethan Allen had raised the larger num- ber of the troops. He was therefore made com- mander of the united party. Seth Warner had joined the expedition with a personal following that was less than Easton's, and he yielded to that officer the second place. There was no jealousy or contention among these three patriotic soldiers, but bad blood was soon caused by the arrival of Arnold from Massachusetts. He displayed a com- mission from the Committee of Safety of that State by virtue of which he claimed the command. He had no troops, but his commission authorized him to raise them, and the easy method of taking those already collected by Allen, Easton and Warner was quite to his taste. He found in Allen, how- ever, a spirit as imperious as himself. The chief
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of the Green Mountain Boys would yield what he esteemed his rights to no man and Arnold was obliged to content himself with accompanying the expedition with a colonel's rank, but without command.
These details arranged, the expedition marched to the shore of the lake, as Allen and his advisers had planned. Arriving there on the ninth of May a hasty search was made for boats to carry them across. Only enough were secured to transport Allen, Arnold and eighty-three others; when these had been safely ferried over to a point well below the fort it was so near morning that it was evident that the darkness would not last until Warner and the remainder of the force could be brought across. Rather than abandon the attempt Allen soon de- cided to push on with his present force, and making an address of memorable brevity he asked every man who was willing to follow him into the fort to poise his firelock. Every weapon was raised in an instant and the stealthy march began.
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A sleepy sentinel at the gate snapped his fusee at Allen; the piece missed fire. Another made a cut at a Continental officer with his bayonet; he was quickly disarmed. No noise disturbed the sleeping garrison; the interior of the fort was gained. Then amid the ringing echoes of his men's victorious huzzas Allen appeared at Captain
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Delaplaice's door demanding the surrender of the fort.
" By what authority ?" asked the commander, rubbing his eyes and still holding in his hand his undonned uniform.
" In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Con- tinental Congress," replied Allen.
There could be no parleying; Allen stood with drawn sword before the commandant's door. Dela- plaice yielded to the inevitable and Ticonderoga fell. The fortress was surrendered with fifty pris- oners and considerable stores of war material. Its possession had cost Great Britain dearly; not a life was lost by the Green Mountain Boys in its capture.
The fortress of Crown Point yielded as readily to Captain Seth Warner. Arnold, who had marched by Allen's side into Ticonderoga, was afterward placed in command of a schooner captured at Skenesborough by a detachment of Vermonters. With her he took a British corvette. From end to end Lake Champlain was under rebel control and the king's power was broken.
The news of these triumphs of the colonial cause was almost the first that greeted Congress upon its assembling, for that body was not in session at the time of Allen's famous appeal. Nor, when it did hear the news, did its members exhibit overmuch
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joy or readiness to profit by the success of the Green Mountain Boys. After all their trouble, danger and enterprise, Congress passed a resolu- tion half apologizing for the seizure and directing the removal of the captured war material to a post at the southern end of Lake George. This order caused great anger in the grants. It was finally
PARSON ALLEN'S APPEAL.
reversed and a strong force was sent from Con- necticut to whose custody Allen gracefully yielded the forts.
The capture of Ticonderoga left the road appar- ently clear for the invasion of Canada. An expe- dition organized for that object was placed under
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the command of General Schuyler. In his illness however the leadership devolved upon General Montgomery. The enterprise was reasonably suc- cessful at first and Montreal was taken. A regi- ment of Green Mountain Boys under Seth Warner bore themselves with conspicuous valor in this cam- paign. Ethan Allen was somewhat chagrined at the choice made by the Vermont soldiers, of Warner for commanding officer instead of himself. But he accompanied the regiment as an unattached officer and was sent among the Canadians with the mission of assuring them that the invasion was not designed to harm them or abridge their lib- erties, but rather to bring them benefits.
The mission was one foredoomed to failure. The population of Canada was mainly French; the peo- ple neither sympathized with nor understood the aspirations of the Colonists, and their own special grievances against Great Britain had been removed some years before by the recognition of the Cath- olic religion in Canada. This act won for King George the title of the " Pope of Canada " among the English colonies, and was no slight factor in determining their revolt.
Allen gathered a few recruits and with them made a mad attack upon Montreal before that city had been invested by Montgomery. Naturally he found the task of taking a city a vastly different
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matter from the surprise of Ticonderoga. His force was speedily dispersed and he himself was taken prisoner. The town soon after yielded to a military assault by a sufficient force under Mont- gomery, but its capture was the last gleam of sun- shine upon the campaign. The fall of Montgomery before Quebec checked the effort to take Canada, and the Continental Army had some difficulty in regaining a place of safety, the Vermont regiment of Seth Warner doing good service in covering the retreat.
Ethan Allen by his own act had fully justified the preference shown for Warner as a military leader. His rashness deprived the colonies of his really valuable services and inflicted upon himself great discomfort. For to be a prisoner of war was in those days no slight matter. The doughty leader of the Green Mountain Boys was confined first in Ireland, next in England, then at Halifax, then on Long Island and finally in New York. Here he was one of the charges of the infamous provost Cunningham, who crowded his prisoners so that they had to turn in bed by platoons and at the word of command. His exchange for a British colonel was finally effected but by that time the former stalwart figure was much broken in health by confinement and suffering.
Many stories are told of Allen's imprisonment ;
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how he once saved a platoon of prisoners from being shot by stepping between them and the firing squadron; how he boasted that never mother bore seven such sons as he and his brothers, and was wittily reminded by a British officer of Mary Mag- dalene who also was delivered of seven devils; how he barely escaped having his eyes gouged out in a fight with a fellow prisoner at New York. It is prob- able that some of these tales have grown by telling. Certainly not all that are told of him can be true. He lived out his life in public sight scarcely a cent- ury ago, yet he is already a legendary character. But as the impression conveyed by the tales of his romantic career is reasonably true alike to his known character and to the times in which he lived, it is to be hoped that the youth of Vermont may long love to listen to them.
It may not be literally true that he once had a sound tooth pulled in order to reassure a lady shrinking from the forceps that it did not hurt at all - but he was capable of such a useless show of fortitude. His drinking bout with Rivington, the Tory printer of New York, probably never occurred precisely as the latter, poking sly fun at the tall gaunt Vermonter in his tattered regimen- tals, tells the tale-yet Allen was certainly not the man to remember over a bowl of punch that he had come to the office of his vis-à-vis to kill him.
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There may be some mistake somewhere in the account of his escaping a sergeant and file of Brit- ish soldiers by getting them all drunk, pouring meanwhile his own brimming goblets into the loose neck of his shirt-but there are known instances of equal coolness on his part. There is no doubt that he was in favor of confiscating the property of his Tory brother Levi and declaring him a traitor, and but little doubt that he refused to fight a duel with Levi when challenged, saying that he would not fight with a traitor. He was not a military genius, but he was a remarkable man.
Four weeks before the battle of Lexington the Vermont Committee of Safety had offered to send a strong force of troops to Boston, but had been advised on no account to do so, but rather to sow and plant, not alone for their own necessities, but as much as possible. The wisdom of this advice became apparent in the year which followed the failure of the invasion of Canada.
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