SUBSEQUENT OPERATIONS OF VERMONT TROOPS.
General Lincoln determined to make a demonstration in Burgoyne's rear,
and moved forward from Manchester to Pawlet. On the 13th of September he
dispatched Colonel Brown[76] with Herrick's regiment and some militia to
cross the lake, and take the outposts of Ticonderoga and the works on
Lake George. Colonel Warner was ordered to move toward Mount
Independence with a detachment of Massachusetts militia, and Colonel
Woodbridge, with another detachment, was sent against Skenesborough and
Fort Anne. Captain Ebenezer Allen, with a party of rangers, was to take
Mount Defiance, and then rejoin Brown and Herrick to attack Ticonderoga
together with Warner.
Brown crossed the lake in the night, and pushed over the mountain to the
foot of Lake George, arriving there the day before the contemplated
attack. Here he captured an armed sloop, 200 longboats, and several
gunboats, with 293 soldiers and 100 American prisoners taken at
Hubbardton. These were provided with arms just captured, and they took
their place in the ranks of their compatriots. As the Americans moved
forward in the darkness of the following evening, they were guided by
three hoots of an owl, repeated at intervals from various points. This
was the preconcerted signal of the sentinels, who so well simulated the
mournful notes of the bird of night that the British sentries only
wondered why so many were abroad, and the noiselessly moving troops
sometimes thought the owls had conspired to lead them astray. Brown
gained possession of Mount Hope and a block-house near the old French
lines.
Captain Allen and his men scaled the steeps of Mount Defiance till a
cliff was reached which they could not climb. Allen ordered one of his
men to stoop, and, stepping on his back, got to the top, where only
eight men could stand without being discovered by the enemy. His men
swarmed after him "like a stream of hornets to the charge," he wrote,
and all the garrison fled but one man, who attempted to discharge a
cannon at the storming party. "Kill the gunner, damn him!" shouted
Allen, and the man fled, match in hand, with his comrades down the
mountain road, and all were captured by Major Wait, posted at the foot
to intercept them. Allen, who had never fired a cannon, now tried his
hand and eye at this unaccustomed warfare, with good effect. He trained
a piece of ordnance on a distant barrack and killed a man, then drove a
ship from its moorings in the lake, and proclaimed himself commander of
Mount Defiance.
Colonel Warner reached the neighborhood of Mount Independence early next
morning.[77] Joining his force with Brown's, they demanded the surrender
of Ticonderoga, but the commander, General Powel, declared his
determination to defend it to the last. The Americans opened fire upon
the fort, and for four days ineffectually hammered the walls with
cannon-shot. It is not easy to understand why the position they had
gained on Mount Defiance did not prove as advantageous to them as it had
been to the British. They withdrew to the foot of Lake George, and then,
embarking on the captured gunboats, attacked Diamond Island, where a
quantity of stores was guarded by two companies of British regulars and
several gunboats. The Americans were repulsed with some loss. They
retreated to the east shore, where they burned their boats, and then
crossed the mountains to Lake Champlain, and presently rejoined Lincoln
at Pawlet.
Until the regular organization of the government of the State in the
following March, the Council of Safety, in whom rested all the authority
of the State, attended faithfully to the varied necessities that arose
during those troubled times. It was diligent in forwarding to the
generals of the army all information, received through scouts and spies,
of the condition and movements of the enemy, and always, by word and
deed, was ready to aid the common cause by every means in its power.
When General Gates urged reinforcements, his letter was dispatched by
expresses to all parts of the State where men could be raised, and in
response the recruits flocked in to swell the force which was encircling
the doomed army of Burgoyne. September 24, President Chittenden wrote
Gates: "Several companies have passed this place this Morning on their
March to your assistance," and desired to be informed of any wants the
council might relieve.
The British army was at Saratoga, ill-supplied with provisions, and
unable to advance or retreat. Without hope of relief, on the 13th of
October Burgoyne made overtures to General Gates which resulted on the
17th in the surrender of his entire army, reduced since its departure
from Canada to less than 6,500 men, including more than 500 sick and
wounded.
When the news reached Ticonderoga, the troops stationed there at once
prepared to retreat to Canada. The barracks and houses there and at
Mount Independence were burned. All the boats not needed for the
embarkation of the troops were sunk with their cargoes, and the cannon
spiked or broken. It was gloomy autumnal weather when, in a few open
boats, the garrison slunk back through the "Gate of the Country." The
present plight of the poor remnant of Burgoyne's splendid army was a
sorry contrast to the proud advance of the gallant host that had passed
these portals in the brightness of summer. No beat of drum nor strain of
martial music now marked their passage, but in silent haste they pursued
their way, in constant fear of attack whenever they approached the
shores, that now were as sombre in their scant and faded leafage as the
dreary November sky that overhung them.
The doughty and aggressive Captain Ebenezer Allen harassed their rear
whenever opportunity was given for striking a blow. With a little force
of fifty men of Herrick's Rangers, he took forty-nine prisoners, more
than a hundred horses, twelve yokes of oxen, three boats, and a
considerable quantity of stores.
Among the chattels taken by him were a slave woman, Dinah Mattis, and
her child. Faithful to his convictions of the injustice of slavery, he
set them free, having first obtained the consent of his Green Mountain
Boys, among whom all captured property was to be divided.
Herrick's regiment was dismissed with the thanks of the council for
"good services to this and the United States," and warm acknowledgment
of its services from General Gates. Warner and his Continental regiment
were on the Hudson with Gates's army, and Vermont was again without an
armed force.
Ticonderoga, during the abortive planning of a Canadian invasion, was
occupied for a time by a small garrison under Colonel Udney Hay.
Otherwise the dismantled fortress remained for months in the desolation
of ruin and desertion.
No longer menaced by the presence of the enemy, the inhabitants of
Vermont, who had fled on Burgoyne's approach, returned to their homes,
and made a late harvest of such crops as had not been destroyed,
gathering, in almost winter weather, the scant remnants of their corn
and hay.
The people who had been driven from their homes were so destitute of
grain, both for food and for seed, that the council prohibited, under
heavy penalties, the transportation of any wheat, rye, Indian corn,
flour, or meal out of the State without a permit, excepting Continental
stores.
Suffering privations that can now be scarcely understood, these people
struggled through the long and bitter winter, never losing hope nor
courage, though the gaunt wolf of hunger was often at their doors, and
the future was as vague as the storm-veiled border of the encircling
forest.
The Council of Safety was kept busily employed in providing for the
defense of the frontier; in passing judgment upon Tories who were
imprisoned, banished, or fined; in issuing orders for the disposal of
their property, and permits to persons under suspicion to remain on
their farms, or to visit certain points and return,--to some who had
taken "the Oath of Fidellity," the liberty of the town, or a permit to
pass to another place, they "to Behave as Becometh." "Comfort Canfield
is permitted to go to Arlington to see his sick wife and return in
thirty hours;" another is to go and "take care of his children and to
return within six days;" Henry Batterman, a German soldier, is allowed
to go to Colonel Simonds till further orders; Henry Bulls, who had
joined the enemy in "Infamous Captain Samuel Adams's company," is
permitted, on taking the oath of allegiance to the States of America, to
pass to his farm in Manchester, there to remain, "he behaving as
becometh a friend to his Country." There are orders to procure sides of
leather from "Marshes Fratts;"[78] to transport "berrils of flour" to
Colonel Herrick's regiment; to the Commissioners of Sequestration to
seize the property of "Enimical Persons," and sell the same at vendue.
Mary Reynolds is permitted to send for her "Gray horse and keep him till
further orders." The wives of Captain Adams and Captain Sherwood are
allowed to pass to their husbands at Ticonderoga, "necessary clothing
and beds" allowed. Captain Nathan Smith is to "march to Pawlet on
horseback with the men under his command and there receive a horse Load
of Flours to Each man and horse;" and Captain Wood is ordered to take
charge of the same, and "without one minute's loss of time" proceed to
Pawlet and thence to Colonel Warner. When he returns he is to take
"especial Care that the Horses and Bags be returned to their proper
owners." It appears that two of the men did not return the horses, and
were apprehended for horse-stealing, and were sentenced by the council
to be made a public example of, "to Deter people from such vicious
practices," each to receive thirty-nine lashes on the naked back, at the
liberty pole. This sentence was revoked and a fine substituted upon
their making restitution. Five teams are dispatched to bring off the
plunder secured by Colonel Brown. Colonel Herrick receives the thanks of
the council for his spirited behavior in "his late noble enterprise,"
and in the same letter is informed there are thirty pairs of shoes ready
for him at Shaftsbury. One order directs Benjamin Fassett to repair to
Pownal, and bring from some of the Tories who had gone to the enemy, or
otherwise proved themselves enemies of the country, "a Load of Saus for
the use of the Hundred prisoners" at Bennington. He is "to leave
sufficient for their families," and it appears that the Tories were
generally treated with quite as much leniency as they deserved. Among
the many curious orders is one issued in January, 1778, on application
of General Stark to Captain Samuel Robinson, Overseer of Tories, "to
detail ten effective men under proper officers, to march in Two Distinct
files from this place through the Green Mountains to Col. Wm. Williams
Dwelling-house in Draper Alias Wilmington within this State who are to
March & Tread the Snow in s^d Road to suitable width for a Sleigh or
Sleighs with a Span of Horses on Each Sleigh, and order them to return
Marching in the Same manner to this place with all convenient
Speed."[79]
A midwinter invasion of Canada was contemplated by Gates, to be
commanded by General Lafayette. The Vermont Council of Safety took
active measures to raise 300 men for this expedition, or one to act in
conjunction with it under General Stark. A bounty or "encouragement" of
ten dollars was offered to each man enlisting to serve till the last day
of April following unless sooner discharged. Colonel Herrick was to
command the force, and the officers were to be from those who had served
in his regiment of Rangers. The council also engaged to furnish
twenty-five sleighs for the use of the expedition, and to afford every
assistance in its power in "Collecting Hay, Provisions and Transporting
Flour." But while the unrecognized State of Vermont responded so
promptly to the call, the project fell through for lack of men. Not more
than 1,200 could be collected, most of whom were poorly clad and as
poorly armed.
When the news of its abandonment was received by the council, orders
were issued to stop enlistments; yet those already engaged were
requested to "Take a Short Tour for the defense of the frontiers;" and
almost the last act of the council was to instruct Captain Ebenezer
Allen "to take post with such recruits at New Haven Fort,[80] to keep
out proper Scouts to reconoitre the woods, to watch the movement of the
enemy and Report them to this Council or officer Commanding the Troops
in the Northern Department."
On the 12th of March, 1778, while the Council of Safety was holding its
last session, a brave little band of Green Mountain Boys was defending a
block-house in Shelburne against the attack of a party of Indians
commanded by a British captain named Larama. There were but sixteen of
the Vermonters, including their captain, Thomas Sawyer, and Moses
Pierson, to protect whose possessions here they had marched ninety miles
through the wintry wilderness, while their assailants numbered
fifty-seven. The block-house was set on fire by the enemy, but
Lieutenant Barnabas Barnum went outside and extinguished the flames,
though the daring act cost him his life. One of the defenders, who was
struck in the arm by a ball, was so exasperated by the hurt that, when
he had bound up the wound with a handkerchief and again taken his place
at a loophole, he would at every discharge of his gun give it a spiteful
push, as if to accelerate the speed of the ball, while he roared, "Take
that for my arm!" After a hot fight of two hours, the enemy retreated,
were pursued, and two of them captured. Twelve were killed, among whom
were the British captain and an Indian chief; and three of the
Vermonters fell in the gallant defense.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] The same officer who so unaccountably failed Ethan Allen at
Montreal. He was one of the first to plan the capture of Ticonderoga, an
ardent patriot, and an officer of unquestioned bravery.
[77] Ira Allen, who never misses the chance of a fling at his brave
kinsman, says, "He moved so extremely slow that he saved his own men,
and hurt none of the enemy."
[78] Vats.
[79] _Governor and Council_, by E. P. Walton.
[80] The block-house built by Ethan Allen at the lower falls on Otter
Creek in 1773.