Infantry; Col. William Paulding and staff of officers and the
Twenty-fourth U. S. Infantry; Captain William T. Littebrant and staff
of officers and the Fifteenth U. S. Cavalry; Brigadier-General J.
H. Lloyd and staff of officers of the Third Brigade of the National
Guard, New York; Col. James W. Lester and staff of officers and
enlisted men of the Second Regiment of the National Guard, New York;
Col. John I. Pruyn and staff of officers and enlisted men of the
Tenth Infantry of the National Guard, New York; and the Canadian
Military Organizations heretofore referred to and the Flotilla,
comprising the torpedo boat _Manley_ and two steam cutters named
_Plattsburgh_ and _Burlington_, respectively, under command of Lieut.
G. W. Steele, Jr., with Midshipman Gerard Bradford second in command,
and L. O. Armstrong, with his company of 150 Indians, descendants
of the tribes originally occupying the Champlain valley, were
important factors in the military, naval and pageant features of the
Tercentenary Celebration contributing materially to its success. The
maneuvering of these troops in the Champlain valley was suggestive of
the military expeditions and fierce engagements that characterized
its history for nearly two hundred years after the discovery of the
lake by Samuel Champlain.
This Commission takes this occasion to acknowledge its obligations
in this direction to the commissioned and other officers and
members of these various military organizations as well as to the
Brigadier-General, Major-General and other officers and members of
the National Guard of New York, who took part in the celebration and
in the dedicatory ceremonies of the two memorials in July, 1912.
The Commission is also grateful to Hon. Robert Bacon, former
Ambassador to France, to Paul Fuller, Jr., Secretary of
Franco-American Committee, to Hon. Frank S. Witherbee, President and
to the members of the Lake Champlain Association, to President John
H. Finley of the College of the City of New York, to Hon. McDougall
Hawkes, Chairman of the American Board of the French Institute in
the United States, to Hon. Charles B. Alexander, to former Senator
William A. Clark of New York, to Hon. A. Barton Hepburn, President of
the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York and to all others,
who assisted in the entertainment of the French Delegation on their
visit to this country in April-May, 1912.
Acknowledgment is also made of the entertainment of the members of
the Preliminary Champlain Commission by the Hon. and Mrs. Nelson W.
Fisk at their home at Isle La Motte on September 7, 1907, and of the
transportation of the members of that Commission on the _Valcour_,
owned by Hon. Joseph C. Sibley, to Burlington in the afternoon of
that day, where they were entertained by the Ethan Allen Club in the
evening. Representative Sibley also placed his yacht, _Valcour_, at
the disposition of the Commission during the week of the Celebration.
It will also be remembered that Mr. and Mrs. Stephen H. P. Pell
entertained President Taft and other distinguished guests at their
home at Ticonderoga on July 6, 1909, and also the French delegation
on May 3, 1912.
Commissioner and Mrs. Walter C. Witherbee entertained members of the
Commission at their beautiful home at Port Henry on July 5, 1909.
Through the courtesy of Col. Robert M. Thompson, accommodations were
provided by him for entertainment of members of the Commission at
Ticonderoga on July 5 and 6, 1909.
Commissioner Howland Pell entertained the members of the Commission
at his reconstructed Germain Redoubt at Ticonderoga on May 3, 1909.
Hon. John R. Myers of Rouse’s Point supervised the transportation of
the participants in the Indian pageants during the celebration and in
other ways aided the Commission in its labors.
Frank H. Severance, secretary of the Buffalo Historical Society, was
secretary of the Preliminary Lake Champlain Commission and prepared
two historical papers, which appeared in the First Report of this
Commission. In these respects and otherwise he rendered important
services to this Commission.
The Notes on the Archæology of the Champlain valley, contained in the
Appendix of this volume, by Prof. George H. Perkins, Ph.D., state
geologist of Vermont, is a valuable contribution to this Report and
is gratefully appreciated by the members of this Commission.
The typographical excellence of the First Report of this Commission
elicited general commendation and the State Printers, J. B. Lyon
Company of Albany, New York, have spared no pains in the presswork of
this Final Report to insure its general excellence.
The exhaustive analytical Index to the First Report and also that to
the Final Report, prepared by Charles Alexander Nelson, A. M., will
greatly facilitate their usefulness for historical and other purposes.
The members of the Commission were among the invited guests of the
Hudson-Fulton Commission during that memorable celebration.
All these were gratefully appreciated as well as all other things
done and courtesies shown to the Commission by the people of the
Champlain valley in their enthusiastic support of the project of
suitably celebrating the discovery of the lake.
In concluding their work, the Commissioners take this occasion to
express their appreciation of the generous support and wide publicity
given to the Tercentenary project by the Press of this Country and of
Canada, which contributed much to the popular interest shown in this
commemorative celebration.
III. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION
If the Tercentenary Celebration has awakened a deeper popular
interest in the history of the Champlain valley, and as a result of
that a broader and more profound appreciation of the principles of
civil and religious liberty underlying our American institutions,
and of the heroic sacrifices made by the founders of this government
to insure its perpetuity, then the members of the Commission and the
people of the state may feel well repaid for all efforts put forth in
its prosecution.
In the various papers and addresses of the celebration frequent
allusion was made to the important events occurring in the several
epochs of the history of Lake Champlain, and many of these were
elaborated upon at some length. It was not possible, however, to do
more.
The critical history of the Champlain valley is yet to be written.
For three centuries it has been the arena wherein have occurred many
crucial events affecting the evolution and the character of American
institutions.
Ira Allen in his “Natural and Political History of the State of
Vermont,” Francis Parkman in his various historical works, Hon.
Lucius E. Chittenden in his addresses and public papers, Peter S.
Palmer in his “History of Lake Champlain,” and in his “History of
the Battle of Valcour on Lake Champlain,” Winslow C. Watson in his
“History of Essex County,” his “Pioneer History of the Champlain
Valley” and his “Men and Times of the Revolution,” Thomas Hawley
Canfield in his “Discovery, Navigation and Navigators of Lake
Champlain,” Zadock Thompson in his histories of the State of Vermont
and in his “Northern Guide,” Hiland Hall in his “History of Vermont,”
Winslow C. Watson in his “Military and Political History of Essex
County,” [N. Y.] in the “History of Essex County,” [N. Y.] by H. P.
Smith, in the papers entitled “The First Battle of Lake Champlain,”
by George F. Bixby, Rev. Joseph Cook in his “Historical Address at
the Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of Ticonderoga,” and in
other addresses and writings, Walter H. Crockett in his “History
of Lake Champlain,” and others, have given much of the history of
the successive periods, although the works of some of these are
necessarily too limited to include a complete history of the region
in all its amplitude and in all its details.
In the papers and proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, as
well as in the “Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the
State of New York” and the “Documentary History of the State of New
York,” and in other transcripts of documents in foreign and American
archives, and in the Military Records of the United States, France,
Great Britain and Canada may be found much material relating to the
history of Lake Champlain. There will be found in such libraries as
the State Library at Albany, the State Library at Montpelier, the
library of the Ticonderoga Historical Society, the libraries at Port
Henry and at Plattsburgh, as well as in the library at Middlebury
College and in the library of the University of Vermont, at
Burlington, Vt., in the Collections of the New York State Historical
Association, the New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island
and other State Historical Societies, and in the libraries of Ottawa,
Montreal and Quebec, maps, charts, documents and other material
relating to the region. The foreign material is confined principally
to events occurring prior to 1783, except such British and Canadian
documents as relate to the War of 1812.
The correspondence between the Colonial Governors and military and
naval officers in America, including General Jeffrey Amherst and
General John Burgoyne, with William Pitt and other representatives of
the home government, throws much light on the events of the British
period from 1758 to 1783. Other historical writings and standard
histories may also be consulted with profit.
Since the conclusion of the War of 1812 the history of the Champlain
valley has been that of a record of the settlement, the agricultural
and mineral development of the territory bordering on the lake, and
of an active transportation and commercial business done on the
lake until the construction of railroads paralleling it on either
side, which checked the volume of transportation by water as well
as the active passenger service that had been done by steamers for
three-quarters of a century. The completion of the barge canal
between the Hudson and Lake Champlain may to some extent restore the
volume of transportation on the lake.
From pre-historic times the Champlain valley has been one of the
thoroughfares of successive nations occupying the region, inviting
alike to discoverer, trader, pioneer, warrior and traveler. It was
but natural that its circumjacent shores and beautiful islands should
become the homes of sturdy men, breathing the ozone of the mountain
air wafted down into the valley, and possessing an independence and
resolution found in such men as the Allens, the Warrens, the Bakers,
and the Chittendens. It was this spirit which moved Ira Allen to
incorporate in the first constitution of Vermont, adopted July 2 to
8, 1777, a mandatory provision providing for a common school in each
town, a grammar school in each county, and a university in the state,
and afterward he gave all his property to found the University of
Vermont.
The conditions obtaining in the Champlain valley during the
Tercentenary Celebration were thus picturesquely but aptly described
by Dr. Hamilton Wright Mabie, the Tercentenary orator at Ticonderoga,
in the Outlook of July 31, 1909:
* * * Never were conditions more favorable for such a celebration
as that planned in honor of Champlain’s discovery. Barring one day,
the weather was perfect. Refreshing breezes swept through the gaps
between the soft blue domes on either side of the lake, tempering
the ardor of the sun’s rays, while the air was of that crystalline
clarity, which exhilarates and draws from man involuntary
exclamations of gladness for the fact of mere existence. Each day
a pageant of great, snowy clouds swept across the deep blue sky,
adding to the dreamy charm of the background of the celebration.
The spectator’s manipulation of the pigments of language is not
so perfect as was Turner’s of paints; but he wishes it were, in
order that he might convey an impression of the changing lights
and shadows and tints, which presented new combinations of color
with every passing moment. From the moment the rays of the rising
sun shot through the notches in the Green Mountains, informing the
visitor that he or she must be up and doing if the event of the
day was to be witnessed, until the golden afterglow had ceased to
define the rounded heights of the Adirondacks and the amethystine
tints of the mountain sides had deepened into the black shadow of
night, each hour had a fresh temptation for the artist.
IV. REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF THE CHAMPLAIN REGION
Out from that valley have come a host of statesmen: Stephen A.
Douglas, Samuel Prentice, Solomon Foote, Silas Wright, Samuel S.
Phelps, Jacob Collamer, Robert S. Hale, William A. Wheeler, Chester
A. Arthur, George F. Edmunds, John M. Thurston, born at Montpelier,
August 21, 1847, and U. S. Senator from Nebraska, 1895 to 1901;
Matthew H. Carpenter, born at Moretown, December 22, 1824, U. S.
Senator from Wisconsin, 1869 to 1875, and from 1879 to February
25, 1881; Jacob M. Howard, born at Shaftsbury, July 10, 1805,
representative in Congress from Michigan from 1841 to 1843 and U.
S. Senator from 1862 to 1871; William Pitt Kellogg, born at Orwell,
December 8, 1831, U. S. Senator from Louisiana, 1868 to 1874; Leslie
M. Shaw, born at Morristown, Vt., November 2, 1848, Governor of
Iowa in 1898 to 1902, and became Secretary of U. S. Treasury on
February 1, 1902, under President Theodore Roosevelt; Alexander
W. Buel, born in Rutland in 1813, representative from Michigan in
Congress from 1849 to 1850; Selucius Garfielde, born at Shoreham,
December 8, 1822, and representative from Washington Territory in
the 41st and 42d Congresses; Josiah B. Grinnell, born at New Haven,
December 22, 1821, and representative from Iowa in the 38th Congress;
Joseph Ketchum Edgerton, born in Vergennes, February 16, 1818, and
representative from Indiana in the 38th Congress; J. Allen Barber,
born at Georgia, Vt., member of the first Constitutional Convention
of Wisconsin and representative from Wisconsin in the 42d and 43d
Congresses; Lucien B. Caswell, born at Swanton, Vt., representative
from Wisconsin in the 44th-47th Congresses; Joel Turrel, born at
Shoreham, Vt., February 22, 1794, and representative from New York in
Congress from 1833 to 1837; John Fassett Follett, born in Franklin
County, Vt., and representative from Ohio in 48th Congress; Stephen
C. Millard, born at Stamford, January 14, 1841, representative
from New York in the 48th and 49th Congresses; John M. Parker, born
at Granville, N. Y., June 14, 1805, and representative in Congress
from 1855-9; Aaron F. Perry, born at Leicester, Vt., January 1,
1815, representative from Ohio in 42d Congress; Ossian Ray, born
at Hinesburgh, Vt., December 13, 1815, and representative from New
Hampshire in the 46th and 47th Congresses; Almon H. Read, born at
Shelburne, Vt., June 12, 1790, representative from Pennsylvania in
Congress from 1842-1844; John Gilbert Sawyer, born at Brandon, Vt.,
June 5, 1825, and a representative from New York in the 49th and 50th
Congresses; Philetus Sawyer, who spent his youth in the Adirondacks,
was a representative from Wisconsin in the 39th and ten succeeding
Congresses, and in 1881 elected to the United States Senate and
re-elected in 1887, where he served with great distinction; George
Willard, born at Bolton, Vt., March 20, 1824, and a representative
from Michigan in 43d and 44th Congresses; Joseph W. Babcock, born at
Swanton, Vt., March 6, 1850, and representative from Wisconsin in
the 53d to the 60th Congresses; Martin J. Wade, born at Burlington,
Vt., October 20, 1861, and representative from Iowa in the 58th
Congress; George Edmund Foss, born at Berkshire, Vt., July 2, 1863, a
representative from Illinois in the 54th to 62d Congresses; Eugene N.
Foss, born at West Berkshire, Vt., September 24, 1858, representative
from Massachusetts in Congress in 1910, and Governor of Massachusetts
since 1910, and such diplomats as John A. Kasson, George P. Marsh,
Levi P. Morton, Edward J. Phelps, and such journalists as James R.
Spalding, founder of the New York _World_, Jeremiah Evarts, father of
William M. Evarts, and scores of others. Some of these, however, were
not born in the valley, but they received their early impressions
from conditions existing there, while attending college or spending
their youth in that invigorating atmosphere. Among such was Henry J.
Raymond, who took his course at the University of Vermont, and became
founder of the New York _Times_ and representative in Congress during
the Lincoln administration.
In the Congressional representation of the Champlain valley
occur the names of many distinguished citizens: Peter Sailly of
Plattsburgh, representative in Congress in 1804, who enjoyed the
confidence of President Thomas Jefferson and who appealed to the
Secretary of the Treasury in August, 1813, to prevent the further
destruction of property on the west side of the lake, where, he
said, “there is not a military post nor a soldier to be seen”; Hon.
Reuben H. Walworth of Plattsburgh, representative in Congress in
1821-1823 and Chancellor for the State from 1828 to 1848; General
Henry H. Ross of Essex, representative in the 19th Congress and on
General Macomb’s staff at the battle of Plattsburgh; Hon. Augustus
C. Hand of Elizabethtown, representative in Congress in 1839-1840;
Hon. William Slade of Middlebury, representative in Congress from
1831 to 1843; Hon. Lemuel Stetson of Plattsburgh, representative in
the 28th Congress and later County Judge of Clinton County; Hon.
Orlando Kellogg of Elizabethtown, a representative in the 30th, 38th
and 39th Congresses, and an intimate friend of President Lincoln;
George R. Andrews of Ticonderoga, representative in Congress,
1849-1850, and later Justice of the Supreme Court; George A. Simmons
of Keeseville, one of the most eminent lawyers in the State at that
time and representative in Congress in 1853-1855; Hon. Frederick
E. Woodbridge of Vergennes, representative in Congress for several
terms; Hon. Robert S. Hale of Elizabethtown, N. Y., representative
in Congress in 1865; Hon. George W. Palmer of Plattsburgh,
representative in the 35th and 36th Congresses; Judge Homer E.
Royce of St. Albans, Vt., representative in Congress and later
Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont; Hon. John W. Stewart
of Middlebury, Vt., representative in Congress and United States
Senator; Hon. Henry G. Burleigh, representative in the 48th and 49th
Congresses; Judge Horace Henry Powers of Morrisville, Vt., Chief
Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont and representative in Congress
from 1890 to 1900; John H. Moffit of Plattsburgh, representative in
the 50th and 51st Congresses; Hon. John M. Wever of Plattsburgh,
representative in the 52d and 53d Congresses; Hon. Wallace T. Foote,
Jr. of Port Henry, representative in the 54th and 55th Congresses;
Richard Keese, representative in the 20th Congress; Orange Ferris,
representative in the 40th Congress; John Rogers, representative in
the 42d Congress; John Hammond, representative in the 46th and 47th
Congresses; Roswell G. Horr, representative in the 46th, 47th and
48th Congresses; and others.
Honorable Azariah C. Flagg of Plattsburgh was Secretary of State in
1826, and State Comptroller in 1834, and Hon. John F. O’Brien of
Plattsburgh was Secretary of State from 1903 to 1907.
Hon. St. John B. L. Skinner of Clinton County was Postmaster-General
under Andrew Johnson.
Among the early settlers, who located in Plattsburgh, were Judge
Zephaniah Platt, formerly of Poughkeepsie, member of the first
Provincial Congress of New York and a member of the Convention
called to consider the Federal Constitution and the advisability
of its adoption; Judge Melancton Smith, a native of Queens County,
member of the First Provincial Congress of New York from Dutchess
County and an opponent of Hamilton and Livingston in the Convention
called to consider the advisability of the ratification of the
Federal Constitution; and Judge Thomas Treadwell, a member of the
First Provincial Congress of New York and of the Convention called
to formulate the First State Constitution, who was also a member of
the Convention called to consider the Federal Constitution and the
advisability of its adoption.
In a later period, it will be remembered that Hon. Matthew Hale, Hon.
Francis Lynde Stetson, Hon. John I. Gilbert, Hon. Richard L. Hand,
and others were natives of the Champlain valley.
Many judges have been natives of the Champlain valley. Some of them
have served in the courts of Vermont and New York, but more have
become residents of other states, and there filled judicial positions
in the state and Federal Courts. It would be interesting to record
the names of all such judges who had their birth in the Champlain
valley, if space permitted. We must content ourselves, however, with
giving the names of a few. The first of these to occur to one is
Samuel Nelson, born at Hebron, N. Y., November 10, 1792, who was a
member of the State Constitutional Conventions of 1821 and 1846, a
Justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1831 to 1845, and a
Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1845 to 1872,
one of the longest judicial tenures ever held by a judge in this
country.
The following may also be mentioned: Chancellor Reuben H. Walworth,
Samuel Hand, Judge of the Court of Appeals, Judges, John C.
Churchill, William Sweetland, John Lynde, Charles Henry Phelps,
Aldace F. Walker, Wheelock G. Veazey, William P. Kellogg, Henry
Chipman, Pliny Moore, John M. Parker, George Martin, Mark Skinner,
Charles L. Benedict, John Alexander Jameson, Melville A. Sheldon,
Eugene E. Sheldon, Walter C. Dunton, Perry G. Ellsworth, Joseph
Potter, S. Alonzo Kellogg, Chester B. McLaughlin, Winslow C. Watson,
Albert C. Barnes, Henry T. Kellogg, Jesse Walker, Thomas H. Noonan,
John H. Booth, and John B. Riley.
Only a few of the lawyers, who were natives of the Champlain valley,
can be mentioned out of the great number that have gone forth to take
up their residences elsewhere. Many of them have located in New York
and other Atlantic states, although a goodly number have located in
the Central and Western states, and are among the persons heretofore
mentioned as holding, or who have held official positions.
In addition to such, however, may also be mentioned George L. Clarke,
Hon. Smith M. Weed, Hon. George M. Beckwith, Hon. Robert D. Benedict,
Hon. Thomas F. Conway, Elroy N. Clark, Charles W. Waterman, George
Murray Wright, John C. Clark, Hon. John J. Allen, James M. Gifford,
William L. G. Smith, Hon. Benjamin E. Hall, Charles E. Shaw, James
B. Ross, Hon. Henry W. Hill, member of the New York Constitutional
Convention of 1894 and State Senator from 1901 to 1911, Julius H.
Seymour, George W. Alger, Adelbert W. Boynton, Hon. Daniel Roberts,
Charles C. Farnham, Samuel B. Botsford, Harold J. Adams, Hon. Lucian
L. Shedden, Oliver D. Barrett, Rome G. Brown and Charles F. Blair.
Among the natives of the Champlain valley who entered the Army and
Navy during the Civil War and since that time were Gen’l Wm. F.
Smith, Gen’l George J. Stannard, Gen’l William Wells, Col. Frank
Palmer, Col. George F. Nichols, Lieut. Matthew M. Standish, Gen’l
Stephen Moffitt, Col. John Hammond, Rear-Admiral John W. Moore,
Commodore A. V. Wadhams, Admiral George Dewey, and many others, who
maintained the high standards of efficiency and bravery exhibited
by those who a century earlier participated in the engagements at
Ticonderoga, Bennington and Saratoga, and in the naval engagements of
Valcour and Plattsburgh Bay.