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BENNINGTON

Chapter XX.1

 

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, pages 241-264

 

 
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BENNINGTON WITH THE VILLAGES OF BENNINGTON CENTER. BENNINGTON, AND NORTH BENNINGTON.2


PERAPS the inhabitants of no town in the State of Vermont have wielded so great an influence in molding its fair character, religiously and politically, as that of Bennington. Certainly its occupancy by a band of settlers, firm in their convictions, and loyal to their ideas of establishing "a faith's pure shrine," as well as the love of home and country exhibited in their early struggles for their political rights, went far to give tone and quality to its institutions; and the peculiar and interesting development and consummation of their early trials and efforts has worthily drawn out the admiration and respect of all. The territory of which this town was a part belonged to the crown of England, and it was the first township chartered by Benning WentWorth, then his Majesty's governor of New Hampshire, and bears date January 3, 1749, and was called Bennington from his own baptismal name.

The unsettled state of things attending the prosecution of the French War begun about 1752, and which terminated in the ceding of the Province of Canada to the British Crown in September, 1760, had acted as an embargo on the peopleing of this New England frontier, and although two other towmships now included in Bennington county had been chartered, emigration had not commenced, and only began soon after the close of the war. At this time the township and the county contiguous was an unbroken wilderness, and had been traversed only by the Indians belonging to tribes inhabiting the State of New York on the west, in their hunting excursions and warlike expeditions to the settlements in the adjourning provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The courses taken by the Indians were generally along the rivers and smaller streams, and one of the routes at an early day was up the Hoosick River into Massachusetts and across the mountain to Deerfield and hamlets below there, and it may not be improbable that this country of which we are speaking was many times hunted and fished over by the "red men of the forest."

For the better protection of the frontier towns of Massachusetts, Fort Dummer had been built and located where now is Brattleboro, which fort was found on the settlement of the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, to be located within the limits of the latter State; and there had also been two forts built called East and West Hoosick; the one situated near the village of North Adams and the other near that of Williamstown, about half a mile west of the present college buildings.

Bennington is situated near the southwest corner of the State, about thirty miles from the city of Troy, with which it is connected by the Fitchburg, and Bennington and Rutland Railroads, formerly the Troy and Boston, and Vermont Western. It is rich in its agricultural, mineral, manufacturing and mechanical productions, and was for many years the largest and most wealthy town in the State. Its taxable property in 1781 was more than double that of any other town, excepting Pownal and Shaftsbury, and it continued to exceed that of any other until after the year 1820, when Rutland, Windsor and Burlington began to compete with it. The charter though dated January 3, 1749, was not issued till March, 1750. It was of a township six miles square, lying six miles north of the Massachusetts province line, and twenty miles east of Hudson's River, divided into sixty-four equal shares. In conformity to the governor's order it was surveyed in November, 1749, by Mathew Clesson, surveyor, and as the grant had been previously made, the charter when issued bore the date of the grant, with the following careful description from actual survey, viz.: "Beginning at a crotched hemlock tree marked W. W., six miles due north, or at a right angle from said province line, said angle commencing at a white oak tree in said province line marked M. ‡. ‡. O. J. T., which tree is twenty-four miles east from Hudson's River, allowing one chain in thirty for swag, (which allowance is made through the whole following survey) and from said hemlock tree west ten degrees north, four miles to a stake and stones, and from said stake and stones north ten degrees east six miles to a stake and stones; and from thence east ten degrees south six miles to a stake and stones, and from thence south ten degrees west six miles to a stake and stones, and from thence west ten degrees north two miles to the hemlock before mentioned."

The statement, made under the direction of the New York authorities giving an account of the proceedings of the settlers under New Hampshire, published in 1773, and since copied into a newspaper in this State, was erroneous and without foundation, in which it is stated that the charter was of a township twenty-four miles east of Hudson River and that the inhabitants, finding it upon a mountain, "by no better authority than a vote of their town meeting presumed to extend it westward within seventeen instead of twenty-four miles from that river."

Of the sixty-four shares into which the town was divided, only two were set apart for public purposes, viz.: one for schools and one for the first settled minister. Governor Wentworth was named as the grantee of two shares and the remaining sixty were to such a number of different persons, most or all of whom resided in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and who probably obtained the grant as a matter of speculation, as none of them are believed to have located here.3

George II. was now king of England, and the charter was issued in the name of the sovereign, he being the party purporting to make the grant, and there was reserved to him "all the white and other pine trees fit for masting our royal navy;" and also a yearly rent for the first ten years of one ear of corn, if demanded, and after the expiration of that time a rent of one shilling proclamation money for every one hundred acres, payable at the council chamber at Portsmouth on the 23d of December annually.

The charter also conferred on the future inhabitants of the township the powers and authority belonging to New Hampshire corporation towns, and designated the last Wednesday of March in each year as the day for forever holding their meetings for the choice of town officers. This demand of the charter was faithfully and regularly carried out for nearly a century, but it being found more convenient to hold their meetings at an earlier day in the month, and as there is no power but the State government to complain of the violation of the charter, it does not appear probable that the town is in any danger of being deprived of its corporate privilege by such change. As before intimated, emigration into this town began after the close of the French war, and the settlement was commenced in the spring of 1761. The men of the New England provinces who had participated largely in that war had frequently passed over it in their expeditions against the French and Indians, and becoming well acquainted with its soil, and being impressed by the attractiveness of the country, had imbibed a strong desire to settle upon it. The territory bcing now opened for safe occupation the tide of emigration set strongly towards it from the New England provinces.

It has been handed down, as worthy of credence, that the selection of Bennington for the first settlement on the west side of the mountain was as follows: Captain Samuel Robinson of Hardwick, Mass., had served during several campaigns in his official capacity, in the army in the French war. His returning route from Lake George was up the Hoosick River to Williamstown, thence across the mountain to the Connecticut. But on one occasion mistaking one of the branches of the Hoosick for the main stream, he and a few companions found they were approaching the mountain without passing the Hoosick Forts. They had in fact ascended the Walloomsac instead of the Hoosick, and were within the limits of Bennington, where they encamped over night, and the next morning pursued their way southerly to Williamstown. Captain Robinson being much pleased with the land he had accidentally passed over, returned home with a determination to begin a settlement upon it. He repaired to New Hampshire and made purchases of a considerable portion of the township rights, and arranged among his friends and acquaintances for associate emigrants to accompany him to the new country.

The first emigration to the town consisted of the families of Peter Harwood, Eleazer Harwood, Samuel Pratt and Timothy Pratt, from Amherst, Mass.; Leonard Robinson and Samuel Robinson, jr., from Hardwick, Mass. The party, including women and children, numbered twenty-two. They came on horseback across the moimtain by the Hoosic Forts and through Pownal, bringing their household goods on their horses, and arrived in town June 18, 1761. During the year other families, to the number of twenty or thirty, came into town, among whom were those of Samuel Robinson, sen., and John Fassett, from Hardwick, Mass.; Joseph Safford, John Smith, John Burnham, and Benjah Rood, from Newint, Conn.; Elisha Field, and Samuel Montague, from Sunderland, Mass.; James Breckenridge, Ebenezer Wood, Samuel and Oliver Scott, Joseph Wickwire, and Samuel Atwood. During the winter (January 12) occurred the birth of the first child born in town, Benjamin, son of Peter Harwood, who died January 22, 1851, at an advanced age, and is remembered as a worthy and intelligent citizen.

This, the first year of the settlement, was one of great privation and hardship, as shelter must be provided from the weather in a country where boards for building could not be obtained, and nothing used but what could be fashioned with the ax from the trees of the forest. Huts, with logs for walls, poles and brush or bark for roof, with the earth for floors, were speedily constructed. The clearing of land was immediately commenced, and as much as could be prepared was sown to fall grain, the seed for which was brought upon horses for many miles, as also provisions for sustenance until crops could be raised. As early as April 9, 1761, there appears, in a tavern bill of Samuel Robinson, esq., at a tavern in Charlemont, Mass., which is about half-way on the route from Hardwick, a charge for wheat, from which it seems not improbable he was on his way to this place in advance of his associates, to make arrangements, so far as he might, for their comfort and convenience. During the fall and winter preparations were going on for more extensive planting and sowing the coming spring, and their efforts seemed providentially aided, as the season was unusually mild, and winter's cold held off to an uncommonly late period.

Those who had purchased the rights of the original grantees were termed proprietors, and they held meetings before the township was organized, and for years afterwards they located and built roads, taxing themselves heavily for this purpose. Some of the proprietors who were not suited with their original selection settled boundary lines between one proprietor and another, as well as lines outside of the whole and bounding the town grant. Some who found their land situated on the east side of the township desired to be located on the west side, and such changes were made at the proprietors' meetings. Samuel Robinson, esq. was moderator of the first proprietors' meeting of which there is a record, and John Fassett was clerk of the propriety which was held on February 11, 1762. At this meeting the minutes read : "Chose Deacon Joseph Safford, esq., Samuel Robinson, John Fassett, Ebenezer Wood, Elisha Field, John Burnham, and Abraham Newton a committee to look out a place to set the meeting-house," and at an adjourned meeting, the 26th of the same month, the location of the meeting house was agreed upon and determined by the following vote, viz.: "The northeast corner of the right of land, number 27, as near the corner as may be thought convenient." The proprietors at this meeting also "voted to give Esquire Samuel Robinson and Deacon Joseph Safford five acres of land, with the privilege within the said five acres to build a corn-mill on, and forty dollars in case it be built by the first day of August next," and further "voted to give forty dollars to any on the east side of the town that should build a saw-mill by the first day of September next." Thus we see inducements were being oftered early, and preparations made for the grinding of grain they hoped to raise from a more extensive sowing and planting during the coming season, and to secure the means of working up their logs into lumber, so much needed for their comfort and convenience in the construction of habitable tenements. The same records inform us that these two enterprising men had completed the saw-mill by the 16th of June following,
and on that day the proprietors voted forty dollars to Esquire Samuel Robinson and Deacon Joseph Safford "to build a grist-mill where they have built a saw-mill and they are to have it done by the first of September next," thus extending the time for building the grist mill one month from that limited in the first vote. The grist-mill was completed in the required time, and was located where the south knitting-mill of the Cooper Mfg. Co. now stands, the saw-mill having been built on the west side of the stream. This grist-mill had the extraordinary privilege of taking as toll three quarts to the bushel, being one pint more than was allowed to other mills. Though built by the two men named, they became known as the Samuel Safford Mills by the settlers, in referring to them as the eastern terminus of the road from Bennington Center, and for a century was thus termed, and until the mills were abandoned for such purposes. This portion of the town remained, with few additions, for years, the several incoming families selecting homesteads somewhat remote from each other, while other parts were being settled and comparatively much greater improvements were being made. A vote was also taken at the same time, to give the like sum of forty dollars to anyone who would build a saw-mill on the west side of the town by the first day of next September. It is understood that James Breckenridge and Thomas Henderson erected a saw-mill, within the time named, on the stream west of the Island, at the place now called Bennington Falls, formerly Paper Mill village, it being a portion of the Walloomsac River which divides a little above for the west part of the town. Interesting minutes, in a meager way, were kept of these meetings, some of which have been preserved. A small collection of eight-inch square leaves in the form of a home-made writing book, now nearly a century and a half old, can be seen and read, as it is bound in the first part of the first volume of the town records.

The first town meeting was held March 31, 1762, at the house of John Fassett, at which the following officers were chosen, viz.: Samuel Montague, moderator; Moses Robinson, town clerk; Samuel Montague, Samuel Scott, James Breckenridge, Benajah Rood, and Joseph Wickwire, selectmen; Deacon Joseph Safford, town treasurer; Samuel Robinson, jr., and John Smith, jr., constables; Deacon Safford, and Elisha Field, tithingmen; Peter Harwood, and John Smith, jr., haywards; Samuel Atwood, and Samuel Pratt, fence viewers; Timothy Pratt, and Oliver Scott, deer-rifts. These officers were then required to be appointed by the laws of New Hampshire. The duty of tithing men was to preserve good order in the church during divine service; of haywards to impound cattle and swine found running at large contrary to law; and of deer-rifts to look to the preservation of deer during the season in which the killing of them was prohibited. Thus the settlement was organized into a little republic, acknowledging fealty to New Hampshire, by which its existence as a portion of the province had been recognized, not merely by granting its land, but in officially permitting it to exercisc political and municipal rights, by the appointment of Captain Samuel Robinson as a justice of the peace, his commission bearing date February 8, 1762. Among the acts of municipal legislation executed at this first meeting of the town was that of offering a bounty for the destruction of venomous serpents, recorded in the following words, viz.: "Voted that any rattlesnake that is killed in Bennington shall be paid two coppers, the persons bringing in the tail." From the language of this vote it would seem that the rattlesnake was to have the coppers, though it may, perhaps, be reasonably presunied that they were intended for the person who should kill it. This is rather a rare specimen of inaccuracy of language in the town records, they having in general, from the beginning, been kept not only in a fair hand, but in plain intelligible style, and without very frequent violations of grammatical propriety.

The affairs of the town were now managed with much skill and wisdom, and though both branches of its government, the one under the control of the proprietors, and the other under the management of officers elected at town meetings, were maintained in their different spheres, there was little or no conflict of interest. The clearing of land, the preparing of the soil and raising of crops, and the providing of better accommodations for shelter and living went rapidly forward, and the succeeding years of 1762, '63 and '64 were those of success and prosperity with the settlers.

As has been said "a place to set the meeting-house," had been already selected in accordance with a vote at a proprietors' meeting, and at another, May 9, 1863, it was "voted to raise six dollars on each right of land in Bennington for building a meeting-house and school-house." This would raise a tax of three hundred and eighty-four dollars on the sixty-four rights of land in the township; and the same year the town voted to raise twelve pounds towards supporting a school "to be kept in three parts of the town." It is not known just when the first meeting house was built, but it was occupied during or before the year 1766, and stood a little south of midway between the site of the present one and the Walloomsac House in Bennington Center, the east and west and north and south roads running each side of it. As late as October 22, 1768, this minute is upon the town records: "This may notify all persons who have signed a subscription for building a meeting-house in this place to meet at said meeting-house, to see if they will do anything further toward
the finishing of the said meeting-house. To see if they will lay out the pew ground, and dispose of the same by public vendue." A subscription list, still later, in 1774, for the further finishing of the meeting-house was circulated, with the agreement that any extra amount necessary for the repairing should be paid proportionally by the subscribers, and if more was raised than was required it should be deducted from the subscription. The size was fifty by forty feet, with no steeple, standing lengthwise north and south, with an addition on the east side of a porch twenty feet square. On three sides were galleries, the pews being the old style square ones, and over the pulpit was suspended a sounding-board, then considered a necessary appendage in a meeting-house. This, the first church in the State, had been organized December 3, 1762, from members of churches who had previously to emigrating here been connected with churches at their former homes. From the minutes of the record of organization is the following: "The Church of Christ from Hardwick, and the Church of Christ from Sunderland join together, and after prayer agreed upon and voted: "That said church from Hardwick and said church from Sunderland join together and become one body, or Church of Christ in Bennington. At the same time others united with the church who had come from other towns of Massachusetts and Connecticut. So far as the names have been preserved there was a total of fifty-seven members at its organization, showing there had been a large immigration up to this time.

A call was given Rev. Jedediah Dewey of Westfield, Mass., "to the work of the ministry among us," by the church and society, at a meeting May 24, 1763, and in the fall he removed here and became the pastor. In the meantime the church in Westfield joined with the church at Bennington by action of its delegates, on August 14, 1763, in council at Westfield, by solemn vote, signifying their consent to become one church under the pastoral charge of Rev. Jedediah Dewey. This action greatly strengthened the church, and in
successive entries at short intervals, the records show frequent and oftimes large additions to it. Rev. Dewey was respected and beloved by the people of the town, and is believed to have exerted a large influence in their secular as well as spiritual affairs.

As early as in October, 1764, a military company was formed in town, of which an authentic roll was found among the papers of the late Captain Elijah Dewey, as follows, viz.: "Muster roll of the first company of militia in the town of Bennington, organized October 24, 1764. Officers. — John Fassett, captain; James Brcckenridge, lieutenant; Elisha Field, ensign. Warrant officers. — Leonard Robinson, first sergeant; Samuel Safford, second sergeant; Ebenezer Wood, third sergeant; Henry Wallbridgc, fourth sergeant. Rank and file. — Benjamin Whipple, first corporal; John Wood, second corporal; Samuel Pratt, third corporal; Peter Harwod, fourth corporal. Music. — Benjamin Story, drummer. Military compay, 1764. — Timothy Abbott, John Armstrong, Libbeus Armstrong, Samuel Atwood, John Burnham, W. N. Burnham, John Burnham, jr., David Barnard, Levi Castle, Nathan Clark, Nathan Clark, jr., Asa Clark, Nathan Clark, third, Isaac Clark, Cornelius Cady, Johnson Cleveland, Robert Cochran, Samuel Cutler, Isaac Davis, Elijah Dewey, Enoch Eastman, David Fassett, John Fassett, second, Jonathan Fassett, Josiah Fuller, Thomas Henderson, Zachariah Harwood, Abraham Newton, George Pengry, Timothy Pratt, Silas Robinson, Moses Robinson, Joseph Richardson, Daniel Rood, Benajah Rood, David Safford, Joseph Safford, Johathan Scott, Matthew Scott, Moses Scott, Oliver Scott, Phineas Scott, Samuel Scott, John Smith, Daniel Scott, John Smith, jr., Joseph Smith, Thomas Smith, Elijah Story, Thomas Story, Samuel Stubbs, Joseph Wickwire, Samuel Wright.

"(Signed) Samuel Robinson, Clerk."

The above list is supposed to embrace all the able-bodied men then in town between the ages of eighteen and sixty. 

In the fourth volume of the "Documentary History of New York," at page 588, is a hst of the persons settled in Bennington prior to June 1, 1765, prepared by recollection by Samuel Robinson, esq., in New York City, in December of that year, and furnished the governor of that province, Mr. Robinson bgin in New York as the agent of the settlers. This list contains the following names not found on the foregoing military roll, viz.: George Abbott, Hezekiah Armstrong, Elkanah Ashley, Benjamin Atwell, Benjamin Brownson, Eliphalet Collins, Rev. Jedediah Dewey, Jonathan Eastman, Barnabas Harman, Simeon Harman, Eleazer Harwood, Jacob Hyde, John Holmes, John Holmes, jr , Samuel Montague, Jedediah Merrill, John Pratt, Silas Pratt, Samuel Robinson, esq., Ebenezer Robinson, Joseph Rudd, Stephen Story, Gideon Spencer, Samuel Sweet, Benjamin Warner, Daniel Warner, Seth Warner, Benjamin Whipple. Of these Samuel Robinson, esq., Samuel Montague, and perhaps two or three others, were among the earliest settlers, but who from age or for other reasons had not been enrolled in the military company. The residue were doubtless new comers.

On a petition of the settlers to the king, dated November, 1766, are found the following names not on either of the previous lists, viz.: "Joseph Barber, Robert Cochran, jr., Jonathan Carpenter, Nathaniel Dickenson, M.D., Stephen Fay, Nathaniel Holmes, Nathaniel Holmes, jr., Samuel Hunt, Elnathan Hubell, Israel Hurd, Weight Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins, Daniel Mills, Joseph Robinson, Nathaniel Spencer, Henry Wallbridge, jr., Joseph Willoughby."

On a petition to the governor of New Hampshire, dated October, 1769, the following new names are found among the Bennington petitioners, viz.: " Ebenezer Allen, Cornelias Cady, jr., Reuben Colvin, Brotherton Daggett. Elijah Fay, Benjamin Fay, Joseph Fay, Nathaniel Fillmore, Jesse Graves, Simeon Harman, jr., Jacob Hyde, jr., Daniel Harman, Simeon Hathaway, Thomas Jewett, Ebenezer Lyman, Josiah Noble, Seth Porter, Joshua Reynolds, Jonathan Scott, jr., John Stewart, Azel Warren, Reuben Warner, Isaac Warren,
Elijah Wood."

There were other inhabitants of the town whose names are not found on either of the foregoing petitions. The following are on the town records, viz.: "In 1768 Jonas Fay, Robert Cochran, second; in 1769 Samuel Herrick; in 1770 Ebenezer Walbridge; in 1771 Charles Cashman; in 1772 Elnathan Hubbell, jr., David Haynes, Moses Hurd, Roswell Mosely, and in 1774 Jesse Tinney, Zepheniah Branch, Benjamin Webb and Eleazer Hawks."

Many others were here prior to the commencement of the Revolution in 1775, among whom were the following: "Thomas Abel, Nathaniel Brush, Samuel Blackmer, Jeremiah and Calvin Bingham, John Brackett, Eleazer Edgerton, William Henry, Joseph Hinsdill, John Kinsley, and John Weeks. Besides these several of the sons of the early immigrants to the town had grown from childhood to manhood, and become active members of society, viz.: The Robinsons, Staffords, Deweys, Harwoods, Hubbulls, Harmans, Walbridgcs, and many others."

It will be necessary in order to understand the bearing of much that will follow in the part taken by the settlers in the difficulties with reference to their land titles, to give the situation somewhat at length. "The lands of the settlers had been granted by charters issued in the name of the king of Great Britain, purporting to be by his authority, and evidenced by the signature and seal of the governor of New Hampshire, one of his majesty's royal provinces, and the farms which they occupied had been fairly purchased and paid for. It was the doctrine of that day that the ungranted lands of the country belonged to the Crown, and as the lands in question were universally believed to be within the province of New Hampshire, it had not occurred to the purchasers that any question could arise in regard to their titles. Such question was, however, made, and the controversy which it produced was of a novel and interesting character.

The first public intimation given to the settlers that their claim under New Hampshire might be called into question was from a proclamation issued by Mr. Colden, lieutenant-governor of New York, on the 28th of December, 1763, in which he claimed jurisdiction, by virtue of an old grant to the Duke of York, of the territory to the north of Massachusetts, as far east as Connecticutt River, and "commanding the sheriff of the county of Albany to return to him the names of all persons who had taken possession of lands under New Hampshire Grants."

To quiet the settlers and give encouragement to other emigrants, Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, issued a proclamation setting forth the right of New Hampshire to the lands, and recommending "to the several grantees and claimants under that government to be industrious in clearing and cultivating their lands agreeable to their respective grants," and commanding "all civil officers under that government to be diligent in exercising jurisdiction in their respective offices as far westward as grants of land had been made by the government of that province, and to deal with any person or persons that might presume to interrupt the inhabitants or settlers on said lands, as to law and justice appertained." This counter proclamation had its intended eflect, and the settlements on the grants progressed with new vigor, that of Bennington not behind the others.

But the government of New York not choosing to rely upon the doubtful title which it had set up to those lands under the grant to the Duke of York, made application to the Crown for a confirmation of their claim. This application was said to have been supported by a petition purporting to be signed by a large number of the settlers on the New Hampshire Grants, (at this time there had been settlements in Arlington, Manchester, Pownal, and other towns in the vicinity, as also on the east side of the mountains) representing that it
would be for their advantage to be annexed to the colony of New York; and on the 20th of July, 1764, an order was obtained from the kin;,' in council, by which the "western bank of the River Connecticut from where it enters the province of the Massachusetts Bay," was declared "to be the boundary line between the two provinces of New Hampshire and New York."

The people on the "New Hampshire Grants (by which name the territory now Vermont began to be called), regarded this order in council as merely extending the jurisdiction of New York in future over their territory, and had no apprehension that it could in any way affect the title to their lands. But the governor of New York gave another construction to the order, contending that it had a retroactive operation, and decided not only what should thereafter be, but what had always been the eastern boundary of New York, and that consequently all the grants made by the governor of New Hampshire were void. The governor of New Hampshire at first remonstrated against the change of jurisdiction, but finally acquiesced in it, and left the settlers to make such terms as they might with the new government under which they had been thus involuntarily placed."

The settlers were not disposed to have any serions difficulty with regard to the jurisdiction of New York over what was now termed the "Hampshire Grants," which had been fixed by order of the Crown, though they would much prefer the institutions of New Hampshire, with which they were acquainted, to those of New York. They had hitherto been allowed to meet annually and elect their own local officers, and make their own municipal regulations. Most of these matters in New York were under the control of provincial legislation,
superintendence of the governor and council, and officers appointed by them.

The division of the old province of New York into large tracts called manors, patents, etc., owned by landlords or patrons, with all cultivating the soil as their tenants, subject to the payment of quit rents, alienation fees, etc., did not at all accord with their ideas of independence and personal equality. These grants contained a large quantity of fertile lands, much of which had been highly improved, and the desire of the governor of New York to derive a pecuniary profit from them, was a temptation he could not resist.

The order was made on the settlers by proclamation to give up their charters and repurchase their farms and lands from the province. A few of the towns near Connecticut River complied, but most of them, including Bennington and the other towns in the county of Bennington, refused. The governor now made new grants of the towns to his friends, among whom were members of his council, judges of the court, many of the members of the bar and of the Colonial Assembly. The relation this favored class of grantees held to the government gives a well founded reason why the claim of New York to the lands was afterward prosecuted with so much zeal. Measures were now taken to have the lands surveyed, with a view of disposing of them as the property of the new grantees. Such proceedings were very distasteful to the settlers, and the surveyors were in different ways hindered in their business and compelled to leave the grants. It is said that one of the surveyors when attempting to run a line across the farm of Samuel Robinson was attacked by him with a hoe and driven off. For this Robinson was apprehended and after being confined two months in Albany jail, was released on payment of a fine. The efforts of the sheriff of Albany county, whose jurisdiction extended to the Connecticut river, as it was claimed, in his attempts to arrest those who were indicted, were generally unsuccessful, and the settlers, who had full confidence in the justice of their cause, were led to remonstrate with the Crown, as they were continually being annoyed by the New York authorities.

Samuel Robinson was appointed at a convention of several towns with Bennington, the agent to present the remonstrance to the king. He reached England in the winter of 1766-7, and on presenting his case to the Crown the favorable light in which it was received augured a fair prospect of success. On the 20th of July, 1767, he obtained an order of the king, forbidding the governor of New York, "upon pain of his majesty's highest displeasure, to presume to make any grant whatever of any part of the lands in controversy until his majesty's further pleasure should be known concerning the same." The sickness of Mr. Robinson and his death from smallpox in October of the same year ended for the time being further negotiations on this matter.

At this time and previously the warnings of town meetings in Bennington, as recorded on the town records, were signed by the selectmen, aiul directed to the constable, who gave notice to the people, and were all headed "Province of New Mampshire, ss.," etc., showing that the inhabitants still claimed to be under that province. From 1770 until the establishment of the constitution of Vermont in 1778, the warnings were simply dated at Bennington, indicating that they held themselves independent of all authority but their own.

Among those who had come into the town before this was Seth Warner, a young man of good judgment and character, who was to develop and become an advisor and champion of the settlers, holding their confidence through their long grievances, and eventually to be the acknowledged and honored leader in the military affairs of the State. He entered actively into the struggles of the settlers, and with such a balanced mind and clear head, never rash but always ready, that he made himself seemingly indispensable in the long continued
contest.

Enough has been told to give even the stranger an insight into the merits of this great controversy, and to enlist the strongest sympathies with those who were defending their families, their homes, and their firesides against the unscrupulous efforts of the New York colonial officeholders. With their continued exertions in protecting their property the settlers made great progress in clearing the land and cultivating their fields, and in education and religious advancement.

Petitions had been from time to time sent to the govcrnor of New Hampshire, asking for his interposition in their bchalf, and stating that writs of ejectment had been issued to obtain posscssion of thcir farms, and that the grantees under New York were running out their lands by order of that government.

In the fall of 1769, when a number of the people were assisting James Breckenridge, near what is now called "Irish Corners," in harvesting his corn, a party of surveyors came upon the farm and appeared to be running a line across it. Mr. Breckenridge with Samuel Robinson entered into conversation with them, who stated they were acting under the authority of New York to divide among the proprietors the patent of "Wallumshaik."4 They forbid further surveying, stating that they protested against it to preserve their legal rights. Force was not used, but doubtless would have been, had not the party retired. One of the proprietors of the patent petitioned the governor and council of New York, saying that the officers for dividing the patent had been "riotously opposed by sundry persons, and prevented by their threats from executing the trusts reposed in them." Upon this a proclamation was issued by the governor "for apprehending and securing the principals and ringleaders;" and at the next January term of the Albany courts, among those indicted as rioters were the Rev. Jedcdiah Dewey, Joseph Robinson, Elijah Fay, Thomas Henderson, Ebeezer Robinson and John Stewart, none of whom, however, were arrested or brought to trial.

In October, 1770, a proclamation was issued "for apprehending Simeon Hathaway, Moses Scott, Jonathan Fisk and Silas Robinson, as authors and actors in the late riot, and to insist that the governor had orders from the king to protect the New York claimants with his whole power and authority." One of these, Silas Robinson, who lived about two miles north of Bennington Center, was arrested on the 29th of November, by a party headed by the sheriff of Albany county and one John Munro, a friend of the " Yorkers" then residing in Shaftsbury Hollow near White Creek. The party came upon him unexpectedly when alone, and returning with great rapidity, before any notice to his neighbors could be given, they succeeded in taking him to Albany where he was confined about a year, when he was released upon bail.

A crisis seemed now to be approaching. The result of the actions of ejectment which had been brought and were expected soon to come to trial in Albany, was not anticipated with pleasure, though they were determined to appear and make the best defense they should be able to. Ethan Allen appeared about this time, coming to this town from Salisbury, Conn. He was about thirty-two years of age, an athletic man, of strong intellect, and, though without much early education, of considerable general information. He was bold, with great confidence in his own abilities, and possessing a better acquaintance in New England and New York than most of the people his aid was welcomed, and he was employed as an agent in defending the suits against the settlers. These suits were against persons in other towns of the grants, besides those residing in Bennington. He made preparations, going to New Hampshire for copies of papers, employed an eminent counselor from Connecticut, Mr. Ingersol, and in June, 1770, appeared before the court at Albany with the defendants. The documents presented by the settlers to substantiate their titles, including the charter and deeds from the original proprietors, were rejected by the court as of no validity, as they presupposed that the boundary of New Hampshire might extend westward of the Connecticut River, which would not be allowed by a New York court or jury. As all the suits of ejectment were based upon the same construction of the grants, these decisions which were adverse to the defendants, were taken as a precedent for the balance, the settlers abandoning further defense, though other cases were called and decided against without opposition.

After Allen left the court it is said some of the officials interested in the New York grants, one of whom was the king's attorney-general for the colony, made it convenient to see him, and while endeavoring to convince him that his cause was desperate and could not be maintained, reminded him of the proverb, that "might often prevails against riglt." To this, Allen in one of his characteristic speeches, replied, "the gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." Carrying the interview still further, Kempe, the king's attorney, in asking an explanation of his language, was told that the meaning would be made plain if he would accompany him to Bennington.

On the return of Allen and his friends, after the unfavorable results in the Albany courts, the finding was spread through the grants, creating great uneasiness, but the inhabitants of Bennington immediately assembled and formally determined to defend their rights, if necessary by force, and together resist all encroachments upon the lands held under titles from the governor of New Hampshire. This was a bold step, and was entered upon with a settled purpose, and in this determination they were seconded by the settlers of other towns of the grants. Suits which were now brought were not defended in the Albany courts, but when the sheriff and magistrates came to execute writs of possession and remove the occupants from their lands they exhibited that tact and courage which proved more forcible and effective in establishing their rights than any arguments, however well put, they could present in Albany.

A town-meeting was called in Bennington, to consider the grave situation and see what should be done. It was determined that until a final decision of the controversy by the king the lands of the defendants should not be surrendered; that the execution of writs of possession should, if necessary, be resisted with force; and that the farms of James  Breckenridge, in the west part of the town, and Josiah Fuller, in the southeast, against whom judgments had been obtained, should be taken under the special protection of the town,
a committee being appointed to see that they were effectually defended.

The importance of still another attempt to get possession of and divide the lands of James Breckenridge, made on the 19th of July, 1771, which proved unsuccessful, is the excuse for giving a somewhat lengthy account of it. Whenever the sheriff went to execute his writs, Munro says, he was "opposed by a number of armed men who had shut themselves up in the defendants' houses, and threatened to blow his brains out if he proceeded." Accordingly it was resolved that the posse comitatus, the militia of the county, should be called to the aid of the attending officer. "Sheriff Ten Eyck, left Albany the l8th, in command of about three lumdred variously armed men of different callings, among whom was the mayor, several alderman, and four eminent counselors-at-law. They remained over night at Sancoick, a little west of North Hoosick, having had some additions on the way, and took up their line of march the next morning for the residence of Mr. Breckenridge, some six or seven miles away." The settlers had been informed of the coming of the sheriff and his posse, and were prepared to receive them. The farm-house was situated about a mile from the New York line, at the foot of a slight ridge of land running east and west, then covered with woods; along the southerly side of which ridge ran the road, by which the posse would naturally come. In the woods, so far behind the ridge as to allow their heads
and the points of their muskets to be obscurely seen among the trees from the road, were posted nearly one hundred well armed men. Across a cleared field to the southeast of the house, in sight and within gunshot of it was another somewhat smaller body of armed men. The house itself had been prepared against an assault by strong barricades for the door and loopholes in the walls from which to fire upon the assailants, and within it were eighteen resolute men, well supplied with the proper means of defense, and provided with a red flag, to be hoisted from the chimney to notify their friends without whenever their assistance should be needed. The family of Mr. Breckenridge had taken up their temporary abode at a neighbor's, and in this condition the settlers calmly waited the approach of their adversaries.

When the advance of the sheriff's party reached the bridge across the Walloomsack half a mile to the northwest of Breckenridge's, they found it guarded by "six or seven men in arms who said they had orders to stop them." However, after some conversation, it was agreed that a few of the party might pass for the purpose of seeing Mr. Breckenridge, upon condition that no man should cross until their return. These, headed by Mayor Cuyler, were then conducted near Mr. Breckenridge's house, where they found some twenty or thirty others. On being inquired of why so many men were assembled with the apparent design of opposing the sheriff. Mr. Breckenridge gave them for answer that he had no further concern with thc farm, "and that the township had resolved to take the same under their protection and that they intended to keep it." This, the mayor told him, was a mere evasion,
which would not excuse him from the consequences that might ensue," but that whatever blood should be spilled in opposing the king's writ would be required from his hands." After more discourse it was agreed that Mr. Breckenridge should have some further conmunication with his friends, that the mayor and his party should return to the bridge, where they should be informed in half an hour of the result of his conference.

At the end of half an hour the sheriff, wIkj had now readied the bridge with his whole party, was notified by a message from the settlers that the possession would not be given up, "but would be kept at all events." Whereupon the sheriff gave orders for the posse to march forward to the house. But only a small portion of them could be persuaded to move, and most of those with much apparent reluctance. The men comprising the sheriff's party had by this time obtained an inkling of the kind of reception they were likely to meet, and were unwilling to expose their lives in a cause in which they had no interest, and of the justice of which they were not well assured. In fact a majority of them disapproved of the coflict of the speculators and sympathized with the settlers in their defense of their possessions.

The sheriff and those who accompanied him on approaching the house held a parley with the leaders of the settlers in which Counselor Robert Yates endeavored to persuade them to desist from any opposition to the execution of the writ. He told them in substance that the jurisdiction of the government of New York over them was undoubted, and that although the king had power "to allow, establish or change the jurisdiction as often as he pleased, yet that when once his majesty had divested himself of the right of soil, any dispute that should arise between subject and subject about the right could only be determined by the courts of justice when such controversies arose." Mr. Yates says: "They readily acknowledged that they were under the present jurisdiction of New York, and that they were the king's loyal subjects, but insisted that they had been very ill used in the trials for their lands, by reason that the proofs they offered were rejected by the court," and declared that "they had lately received from their agent in England the strongest assurance that their differences would soon be determined in their favor, and that he had advised them in the meanwhile to hold their possessions until such decision, which they were resolved to do." It appearing evident that the New York arguments, however plausible, were not to be accepted by the Bennington tribunal, the sheriff seized an ax and going towards the door of the house threatened to break it open. Immediately the party in the field percieving his movement, presented their pieces towards him, upon which he came at once to the conclusion that in his position "discretion was the better part of valor," and retired.

On returning to the bridge the sheriff, doubtless to save himself from blame, made a formal demand of the posse to accompany him five miles furthcr into the township of Bennington, to aid him in taking possession of the farm of Mr. Josiah Fuller, but as no one seemed inclined to venture farther in that direction it was concluded to omit that part of the programme of the expedition from Albany. "The power of the county" was allowed to evaporate, and the men composing it dispersed with all commendable speed to their several homes, thus leaving the settlers in the quiet occupation of their property, and illustrating the truth of the quaint apothegm of Allen, after the trials at Albany, "that the gods of the valleys were not the gods of the hills."

It is scarcely possible to overestimate the importance in the New York controversy of this discomfiture of the sheriff and his posse. It not only gave confidence to the New Hampshire claimants in their ability to defend their possessions, but seemed to convince their opponents that the feelings of the body of their own people were in unison with those of the settlers, and that any attempt to gain possession of the disputed lands by calling into public action the civil power of the province would necessarily prove unavailing. This defeat of the New York claimants was the entering wedge that eventually severed the New Hampshire Grants from a province to which they had been, without their knowledge, annexed to the arbitrary will of the Crown. Here, in fact, on the farm of James Brcckenridge, was born the future State of Vermont, which, struggling through the perils of infancy, had, by the commencement of the general revolution, acquired the activity and strength of adventurous youth; had by its close reached the full stature of manhood, and which not long afterwards became the acknowledged equal of its associate American republics."

From the Connecticut Courant, published in April, 1772, in referring to the above, we quote: "Providence has hitherto mightily protected Bennington and the northern settlements from the policy and ravages of New York, when the invisible posse made their appearance at that town last summer. God overruled it for good; for the sheriff's party, when they saw the industry of the people, and were informed how they firstly purchased the lands and paid their money for the same to one of his majesty's governors, the generality of the
sheriff's party declared that they would rather be accessory to oppose the sheriff than to disposses the people."

Among the first military companies raised in the grants to oppose the New York government was one in Bennington, and they soon assumed the name of "Green Mountain Boys," in derision of a threat of the governor of New York "that he would drive them into the Green Mountains." At the head of this company was placed Seth Warner as captain, and it is stated with authority "that on the first day of January, 1772, a number of men were under arms at the house of Seth Warner of Bennington, when the men honored the said Warner as their captain, Tubbs as their lieutenant, and Nathaniel Holmes as ensign, by firing about his house, etc." Another account by John Munro, in a letter to the New York governor, Tryon, states that "the rioters had established a company at Bennington, commanded by Captain Warner, and that on New Year's day his company was reviewed and continued all day in military exercise and firing at marks." The companies raised in the towns were formed into a military association of which Ethan Allen was made colonel, and he and Warner did efficient service for years in the different parts of the grants with squads of picked men from the ranks in protecting the settlers, and warning those who would get a foothold to abstain from disloyal acts, and with threats or with force drive the most offensive meddlers in the interest of the Yorkers beyond the disputed territory. These squads or bodies of men were variously called by their opponents, "rioters," "the mob," "the Bennington mob," etc.

With such men as Seth Warner and Ethan Allen at the head of the military organizations, and their co operation and advice in the deliberations which were going on at the "Catamount Tavern," with the Robinsons, the Walbridges, the Saffords, the Jays, the Scotts, the Deweys, the Fassets, and many others, the interests of the settlers were in no danger of being neglected, as there was resolution and courage behind to carry out any measures which, with the caution and foresight evinced by Warner and others, should be adopted.
The Committee of Safety held meetings in this tavern, which was situated in front of the dwelling of J. V. Merrill in Bennington Center; the block of granite in the road, standing in line of the old front door, a little south of which, and near the walk, "stood the sign-post, twenty-five feet high, surmounted with the sign, upon which was a catamount's skin stufted, and grinning towards New York." Here Dr. Samuel Adams, of Arlington, for offensive language and deserting the cause of the settlers was sentenced "to be tied in an arm-chair,
and hoisted up to the sign, and there to hang two hours as a punishment merited by his enmity to the rights and liberty of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants." The sentence was duly executed amid the merriment and applause of a large concourse of people, and the doctor dismissed with the admonition "to sin no more." The disgrace attending such an exposure "had a salutary effect on the subject and upon many others."

Stephen Fay, or "Landlord Fay," as he was familiarly called, it is supposed built this tavern before the year 1770, as his name appears upon the town records as a citizen as early as August 20, 1766, he being "added to the committee to take care of the prudentials," etc. The headquarters of the opponents of New York continued for a long period to be in Bennington, and this Green Mountain tavern, kept by Mr. Fay, was the place where the leaders met and their plans were devised and matured. Upon the marble mantle over the fire-
place in one of the rooms was cut the words "Counsel Room," designating it as the room where matters of importance to, the settlers and the future State were discussed and acted upon. Since the burning of the building this mantel has fallen into the possession of George W. Robinson, and is a rich Revolutionary relic.

The New York claimants henceforth proved to be no match for the settlers under New Hampshire, who flocked into the territory and occupied the lands and while the leaders which the town furnished, often accompanied by some of its best men, were operating in the more northern localities even to its northern limit, expelling the invaders, the inhabitants here besides being ever watchful of, and frequently called upon to defend their rights, were clearing and cultivating their farms, building roads and bridges, and attending to their educational and religious interests. The population of the town continued to increase, and at the commencement of the Revolutionary War the leaders here were prepared in their minds and with men to resist the arbitrary measures of the British Crown and parliament. They kept themselves informed of the operations going on upon the lakes and the northern frontier, and held themselves in readiness to co-operate with others, if need be, in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, an important post, when the momentous time should present.

By previous arrangement they were speedily organized, when an agent from "Samnel Adams and Joseph Warner, of the Boston committee," arrived in Bennington to muster a force for the enterprise. They were soon on their way, accompanied by fifty men who had joined from Connecticut and Massachusets. Colonel Allen as commander, and Captains Warner and Herrick were from Bennington, and on the morning of May 10, 1775, Delaplace, the commander, gave up the garrison, it being demanded by Allen "in the name of the Great
Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Captain Warner who had been sent with a company to capture Crown Point was also successful, and there fell into his hands a large number of cannon and smaller arms. On the 23d of June of the same year Colonel Ethan Allen and Captain Seth Warner, having been appointed for the purpose at a meeting of officers at Crown Point, were introduced to the Continental Congress, sitting in Philadelphia, where they stated their views of the military situation, and with reference to the raising of men for the army; whereupon it was "Resolved, That it be recommended to the convention of New York that they, consulting with General Schuyler, employ in the army to be raised for the defense of America, those called Green Mountain Boys, under such officers as the said Green Mountain Boys shall choose." They laid the matter before the "convention of New York," which after deliberation, somewhat disturbed by their acquaintance with these men as members of the "Bennington mob," etc., ordered a body of troops not exceeding five hundred men, officers included, be forthwith raised; that they elect all their own officers except field officers; that General Schuyler be requested to advise what persons it will be most proper to be appointed as field officers, and that their corps of officers consist of one lieutenant-colonel, one major, seven captains and fourteen lieutenants." Thoueh men with such spirit and daring as was possessed by Ethan Allen were needed in those days, and we are unable to see how his bold, independent, and sometimes adventurous conduct could be dispensed with, and are led to feel it could not be; still the calm judgment of the "committees of the several townships assembled at Dorset," who of all others knew best the relative fitness of these strand men for the position, resulted in the choice of Seth Warner for lieutenant colonel by a vote of forty-one to five. Samuel Safford was selected as major, and these nominations were confirmed by the New York Congress. Among others from this town in different capacities were Wait Hopkins, as captain, and John Fassett, jr., lieutenant.

The policy of invading Canada had been urged by Allen, and now, being left out as an officer in the regiment, he offered his services to General Schuyler as a volunteer, to be employed in a way, as he says, "that he should be considered as an officer the same as though he had a commission, and should as occasion might require, command certain detachments of the army." He was sent by General Schuyler into Canada to promote the friendship of the inhabitants, and impress upon them "that the design of the army was against the English garrisons, and not the country, their liberties, or religion." Being successful in his undertaking, he was afterwards employed by General Montgomery to make another tour for the same object. While on his way to St. Johns with a volunteer force of about eighty men on the morning of the 25th of September, he arranged with Major John Brown, who headed a party of about two hundred Americans and Canadians, to make an attack upon Montreal, which he thought might be easily taken by surprise, Brown with his men was to cross the St. Lawrence above the city, and Allen, having added about thirty to his force, was to cross early the next morning, then from a signal to be given by Brown, they were to make the attack. Had Brown succeeded in carrying out his part of the plans agreed upon, the result might have been different, but as it was, a force of "forty regular troops, several hundred English settlers and Canadians, and some Indians, then in Montreal, came out against Allen," and he was taken prisoner with thirty-eight of his men, after a brave fight which lasted about two hours, several being killed and wounded on both sides, and until most of the Canadians had deserted him. He with the other prisoners were placed in irons and sent on board a man-of-war to England. "This attempt of Allen was censured by both Montgomery and Schuyler as rash and imprudent, and complained of it as having an unfavorable effect upon the cause of the colonies among the Canadians and Indians."

We next hear of Colonel Seth Warner, at Longuiel on the St. Lawrence, effectually resisting General Carlton's landing with about a thousand troops with which he had embarked with the hope of raising the seige of St. Johns, in conjunction with Colonel McLean. At the head of "about three hundred Green Mountain Boys and sonic New York troops he opened upon them such an incessant fire of musketry and grape shot from one cannon under his command, they were thrown into great confusion and soom retreated and gave up the attempt." This discomfiture and repulse of General Carlton, and by it McLean being obliged to retire to Quebec, Colonel Warner proceeded to erect a battery at the mouth of the Sorel, to command the St Lawrence, and thus block up Carlton at Montreal, but he very soon abandoned the city, going down the river to Quebec, and General Montgomery took possession of it on the 13th of November. Warner's men having served as volunteers, and being too poorly clothed to endure a winter campaign in so cold a climate, were honorably discharged on the 20th of November, 1775, and returned to their homes.

A good thermometer of the fortunes of the colonies as against the British forces at this time and during the war is the correspondence of the commanders of their armies with Seth Warner, with reference to his raising men and bringing them with promptness at various times to different points for service anywhere on the line of military operations from Albany to Quebec. "On the 5th of July, the day after the 'Declaration of Independence,' on the report of the board of war, Congress resolved to organize, under its own authority, a regiment of regular troops for permanent service, of which regiment Seth Warner was appointed colonel, and Samuel Safford lieutenant-colonel." The career of Colonel Seth Warner has been thus dwelt upon to give in some measure an idea of the vast importance his services were to the town, the grants, and the colonies. It has been well said, " he possessed a vigorous intellect, and was gifted with an uncommon share of self possession, qualities which enabled him to gain and retain the confidence of all persons within the
pale of his influence. He never wrote anything for the public eye. He was modest and unassuming. He was always cool and deliberate, and in his sound judgment as well as in his energy, resolution and firmness all classes had the most unlimited confidence."

While the events which have been recorded were being enacted, others had been transpiring in which many of the inhabitants of the town of Bennington had taken an active and important part, either as leaders, advisers or agents, or in the more humble though not the less momentous duties pertaining to the common citizen, of the soldier, bearing the heat and burden of the day; all answering to their country's call, either in the field, the council room or the assemblies of the people. James Breckenridgc had, in 1772, been appointed with Jehial Hawley of Arlington to go to London to induce the king to confirm the New Hampshire charters. On the 11th of August, 1773, Allen and Warner with Remember Baker of Arlington, having over one hundred armed men with them, came upon the farm of one Colonel Reid, a Yorker, in the vicinity of Middlebury, and ordered some Scotchmen who had settled as his tenants to depart, as Reid was not the rightful owner of the land. A short time only was given them to leave, and then their huts were burned to the ground. When Allen was asked his name that it might be reported to Colonel Reid, he replied, "it was Ethan Allen, captain of the mob." In November, 1773, Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and Robert Cochran took their places upon "a judgment seat," as it was designated, erected by some of the "mob," in Durham, now Clarendon, and Benjamin Spencer, a New
York magistrate was ordered to stand before them and to remove his hat. The judges found him guilty of the several offenses charged, and ordered the roof of his house to be removed, "provided .Spencer would declare that it was put on again under the New Hampshire title, and should purchase a right under a charter of that promise." The roof was removed "with great shouting and much noise and tumult," and Spencer "discharged on his further promise not to act as magistrate." About this time Samuel Tubbs with Nathan Spencer and Phillips Perry acted as judges when Jacob Marsh esq. of Arlington was accused by Seth Warner and Remember Baker, the latter insisting that the punishment should be the infliction of the "beech seal." This advice was not followed, but the sentence was given that he should encourage settlements of lands under the New Hampshire charters, and should not act as a justice under a New York commission, "upon pain of having his house burned and reduced to ashes, and his person punished at their pleasure."

On the 9th of March, 1774, Governor Tryon issued a proclamation, offering a reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehension of Ethan Allen, and fifty pounds for that of Seth Warner and James Breckenridge with others. The governor and council were then empowered to make an order that if the offenders did not within seventy days after the publication of said order in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, surrender themselves, they were "to be adjudged, deemed, and if indicted for a capital offense hereatter to be perpetrated, to be convicted and attainted of felony, and shall suffer death as in cases of persons convicted and attainted of felony, by verdict and judgment, without benefit of clergy," and the courts were authorized and directed "to award execution against such offender so indicted for a capital offense in the same manner as if he had been convicted or attainted" in said courts respectively. Jonas Fay, clerk of a convention held in Manchester the 12th and 13th of April, 1774, certified to a resolution that whoever should presume to take a commission of justice of the peace from the New York government, should "be deemed an enemy to their country and the common cause." Benjamin Hough of Socialbourgh, now Rutland or Pittsford, paying no heed to the resolution, he was sentenced by Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and others as his judges, "to be tied to a tree and receive two hundred lashes on the naked back, and then as soon as he should be able, should depart the New Hampshire Grants and not return again till his majesty's pleasure should be known in the premises, on pain of receiving five hundred lashes." The sentence was immediately executed, and a passport signed by Allen and Warner given him for the inhabitants to let the said Huff [?] movc "free and unmolested towards the city of New York, he behaving as becometh."

It was during this year, 1774, that Ethan Allen published a lengthy review of a paper given to the public under the authority of the New York Assembly, attempting to justify the course taken by the colony of New York, in relation to its eastern boundary on Connecticut river. The facts he presented as to New York's early claim of jurisdiction, "and of the strength of the title of New Hampshire during the period in which its charters were granted, together with its exposure of the avaricious and inequitable conduct of the New York
City speculators, was such as to produce a very favorable impression on the public, especially in New England." The injustice done the settlers was made to appear so plainly, and the fear of those who ventured to assist in the attempts to get possession of their lands, lest they should be made examples in the peculiar modes of punishment resorted to, that it was with great difficulty men could be found to prosecute their incursions; and in September General Gage, their military commander-in-chief, was applied to by advice of the New
York council for the aid of the regular troops. He declined to furnish any, as the British ministry had done before upon a similar application. When Lieutenant-Governor Colden appealed from this decision to the English ministry Lord Dartmouth informed him that he did not "at present see sufficient ground for the adoption of such a measure." This was the third and last effort of the New York claimants to obtain the aid of the king's regular troops to enforce their titles. The settlers were much pleased with the result, but there was enough of those sympathizing with the New York speculators who had obtained a foothold in different localities to keep the inhabitants on the alert, devising ways and means to keep them under subjection or to compel them to leave the contested lands.

Early in the spring of 1775 the Assembly of New York, on motion of the speaker, "voted an additional reward of fifty pounds each for the apprehension of and confining in any jail in the colony Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, being rioters named in the act of the last session."

By arrangement of a council of the committee of war at Castleton, Captain Samuel Herrick with a party of thirty men, on the 9th of May 1775, was to take into custody Major Skene and his party at Skenesborough, now Whitehall, to aid in the capture of Ticonderoga, which was accomplished the next day.

On the 20th of July, 1775 Nathan Clark as chairman of a convention in Dorset, "certified to the list of officers named for the battalion," to be raised upon the recommendation of the Continental Congress.

An extended notice for a convention of the settlers to be held the first Wednesday of January, 1776, had been given, but on account of the absence of Colonel Warner and some others the meeting was postponed, and a warrant for one to be held at Dorset on the 16th of the same month was issued and signed "by order of Moses Robinson, Samuel Robinson, Seth Warner, and four others." The convention voted "to represent the particular case of the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants to the honorable Continental Congress by remonstrance and petition." Doctor Jonas Fay was one of the committee to prepare the petition, and Lieutenant James Breckenridge and Doctor Jonas Fay with Captain Heman Allen were selected to present it to Congress; and it was voted that Simeon Hathaway, Elijah Dewey, and James Breckenridge be a committee" to warn a general meeting of the committees on the grants when they shall judge necessary from southern intelligence," and others north were appointed with like power "when they should judge necessary from northern intelligence." The petition stated, "we are called on this day by the Committee of Safety of the county of Albany to suppress a dangerous insurrection in Tryon county. Upwards of ninety soldiers were on their march within twelve hours after receiving the news, all inhabitants of one town inhabited by your petitioners, and all furnished with arms, ammunition, accouterments, and provisions." "The ninety men were from Bennington and they joined General Schuyler at Albany, who marched for Johnstown, where the insurrection occurred."

It seemed necessary that another convention be called at Dorset to hear the report of the proceedings of Congress on the last petition, which was accordingly notified by a warrant signed by Simeon Hathaway, Elijah Dewey, and James Breckenridge, the committee appointed previously "to act upon southern intelligence," and of which Jonas Fay was clerk. A resolution was adopted advising the field officers already nominated, one of whom was Colonel Moses Robinson "to see that their men be forthwith furnished with suitable arms, ammunition and accouterments, etc., agreeably to a resolve of the Continental Congress."

Jonas Fay was clerk at the adjourned meeting on the 25th of September, 1776, at Dorset, and "measures were taken to have the association entered into at the previous meeting, to resist by force of arms the fleets and armies of Great Britain, presented for signatures to all the inhabitants of the grants and the association; this signed was to be returned to Dr. Jonas Fay, clerk of the convention, before its next sitting." It was also voted to build a jail "for securing Tories," and a committee was appointed to locate and superintend its construction. At this meeting Dr. Jonas Fay, with others, was appointed" a committee to draw a petition to send to the honorable Continental Congress," to be reported to a committee to examine the same; and "Nathan Clark, esq. and Colonel Scth Warner, with one more, were selected to make the examination," and Dr. Jonas Fay was made one of the delegation to present the petition to Congress.

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1 This chaptcr, exclusive of that portion that rclatess to the village of Bennington, was prepared for this volume by Henry D. Hail, esq., of North Bennington.

2 The story of the early times of Bennington is familiar to many, yet to the masses it will be mostly new. The writer, though aware it has been so often and so well told, has concluded the best way to meet the present demand is to condense as much of it as possible within the prescribed limits of this article, leaving space for other things which should receive attention. In its compilation and arrangement frequent reference has been made to and extracts taken from "Hall's Early History of Vermont," "Jenning's Memoirs of a Century," "Vermont Historical Magazine," "Williams's History of Vermont," and "Butler's and Houghton's Addresses before the Vermont Legislature."

3 In accordance with the provisions of the charter, the purchasers divided off acre homesteads near the center of the town, to the number of sixty-four for a village plot, and then
divided the remainder into sixty-four equal parts, casting lots for the same. Under this division and distribution the different rights were conveyed and have since been held.

4 Upon this "patent," much the greater portion of which was within the acknowledged bounds of New York, and had been granted lonig before that of the township of Bennington, was located the farm of Mr. Breckenridge. The provisions of the grant had not been fultilled, and for other reasons it did not carry with it a valid title to the land.

 

Aldrich, Lewis Cass, editor; History of Bennington County, Vt. © 1889, p. 241-264

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