UNIONS DISSOLVED.
Vermont kept small garrisons in the forts at Rutland, Castleton, and
Pittsford, and the militia in readiness to turn out in force when
required, while two companies of rangers patrolled the frontier to watch
the movements of the enemy. Her troops responded promptly to calls to
act against the common enemy, as was proved when, to intercept the
marauding force of Sir John Johnson, which had been ravaging the Mohawk
Valley, Governor Clinton marched with the militia of Albany to Lake
George, and sent an express to the commanding officer at Castleton to
meet him at Ticonderoga with such force as he could muster. A day later,
Ebenezer Allen, now major of the Vermont rangers, sent him word that he
had arrived at Mount Independence with more than two hundred men, and
was expecting a hundred more to join him, trusting that the governor
would furnish boats to transport them across the lake. Johnson slipped
by to the northward and escaped, but Clinton wrote to the New York
delegates in Congress that the punctuality of the "militia of the Grants
in complying with his request with 240 men did them great honor."
When, early in October, 1780, the British, as already stated, came up
the lake with eight large vessels and more than a thousand men, their
designs were against New York and not against Vermont, as the British
policy was then to favor Vermont, with a view to future operations. Fort
Anne was taken, and Fort George shared the same fate after the greater
part of its garrison, consisting of eighty men of Warner's Continental
Regiment under Captain Chipman, had been killed or captured by a
superior force of the enemy, which they encountered when expecting to
meet only a scout that had driven in one of their messengers sent to
Fort Edward.
Marking its course with destruction, this invasion of the enemy created
such a panic on the New York frontier that but few men could be raised
there to oppose it. In this alarm, Governor Clinton so far acknowledged
the existence of the "ideal Vermont State" as to direct an officer to
write to Governor Chittenden for assistance.[87] He was immediately
answered that the militia of the State were at the North, but the
militia of Berkshire, which had been sent for, would be forwarded on
their arrival.
Before the pacific intentions of the British were known, the militia of
Vermont were called out. They immediately mustered at Castleton under
General Ethan Allen, and the assembly, then in session at Bennington,
adjourned, that the members might take the field. Vermont, late in
October, agreed to the truce, when her militia were dismissed, save a
small force of scouts.
During the progress of this invasion occurred the last important
incursion of the Indians within the limits of Vermont. While Carleton's
force swept with purposed harmlessness past the western border of
Vermont, an expedition set forth against Newbury, on the Connecticut,
with the putative object of capturing a Lieutenant Whitcomb, who, while
scouting on the Richelieu some years before, had mortally wounded and
then robbed the British General Gordon. The force was commanded by
Lieutenant Horton of the British army, seconded by a Canadian named La
Motte, aided by one Hamilton, an escaped prisoner of war, who had been
in Newbury and Royalton on parole of honor during the previous summer.
It consisted of 300 men,[88] all but seven of whom were Indians. It is
probable, from this preponderance of the savage element in its
composition, that the real purpose of the expedition was the rapine
which it so successfully accomplished.
Guided by old warriors, who had often followed this ancient warpath of
their people in the days when their onslaughts were the constant dread
of the New England frontiers, the party took its way up the Winooski,
past tenantless houses and deserted farms, on whose broad intervale
meadows the timid deer now grazed undisturbed. Then it came to where
the wild stream wound through the unbroken wilderness; now among the
frost-painted forest of deciduous trees, and now in the black shade of
evergreens. Among the great pines that then clad the narrow valley,
where now stands the capital of the State, they overtook and made
prisoners two hunters from Newbury. These told the leaders that the
people of their town were expecting an attack, and were prepared for it.
Upon this they turned southward, and, following a branch of White River,
on the 16th of October fell upon Royalton and neighboring towns.
The attack was at first conducted in perfect silence, till the alarm of
it spread among the inhabitants; then the infernal clamor of the
warwhoop resounded among the hills that had so long been strangers to
its echoes, giving to the panic another terror.
Burning, pillaging, and making prisoners as they swooped with the
celerity of falcons upon one and another isolated homestead or
defenseless hamlet, they killed four persons, captured twenty-five
others, and destroyed quantities of stock and garnered harvests.
As they drew off with prisoners and booty, Mrs. Hendee, the brave young
wife of a settler, followed them, so earnestly pleading for the release
of her little son that he was restored to her; and, upon her further
entreaty, nine other small lads were set free.
The alarm soon reached the settlements on the Connecticut, and a force
of 250 men were mustered, and, under command of Captain House, began a
vigorous pursuit of the enemy in the night. Before daybreak they came up
with the rear-guard of the marauders, who fired upon them, wounding one
man. The fire was returned with better effect, killing one Indian and
wounding another. The Indians then sent a prisoner to House with a
threat that, if they persisted in the attack, the captives would all be
immediately killed.
While the pursuers were deliberating on this message, the enemy
retreated to the Winooski, and, following the river to its mouth, there
embarked for Canada, whither they went unmolested. When they arrived at
Montreal, the prisoners were "sold for a half Joe each," says Zadock
Steele in his "Indian Captive." Most of them were exchanged and returned
to their homes in the following summer, but Steele, who was imprisoned
with others taken elsewhere, did not escape until two years after his
capture. After three weeks of starved and weary wandering through the
wilderness, first on the western shore of Lake Champlain, then crossing
at Split Rock on a raft, and then along the eastern shore and up Otter
Creek, he and his two comrades reached the fort at Pittsford.
Other towns, during the war, were visited by small bands of British and
Indians that did little injury, and during the Haldimand negotiations
they probably had orders from the British generals not to molest the
inhabitants.
Late in the fall of 1780, Vermont endeavored to form a union with the
neighboring States for the mutual defense of the frontiers, as well as
to secure from them an acknowledgment of her independence. Governor
Chittenden, in November, wrote to Governor Clinton, making a formal
demand on New York to relinquish her claim to the jurisdiction of
Vermont, at the same time proposing that New York should unite with
Vermont against the British forces, especially such as should invade the
frontiers of the two States from Canada. A similar letter was sent to
each of the other claiming States. Massachusetts complied with the
request. New Hampshire took no definite action; and when Governor
Clinton acquainted the legislature with this demand, he characterized it
as "insolent in its nature, and derogatory to the honor of the State."
The legislature, however, was disposed to adjust a quarrel which it was
evidently useless to prolong. Resolutions were reported, which, though
affirming the right of New York to the control of Vermont, declared it
was inexpedient to further insist on such right, and provided for the
appointment of commissioners to confer with commissioners from Vermont,
with full powers to adjust terms for the cession of the territory to
Vermont. The report was adopted by the Senate with but one dissenting
vote, and the question of considering the resolutions received the
affirmative vote of the House. Upon this, a message was received from
Governor Clinton threatening to prorogue the House if it should agree
to carry these resolutions into effect. This threat put a stop to the
proceedings, which promised to end the long and bitter controversy.
General Schuyler was a member of the Senate, and, convinced of the
futility of attempting to coerce Vermont into submission to New York,
and that Congress would not come to a decision in favor of his State, he
took an active part in forwarding the conciliatory measures. Governor
Clinton's obstinate opposition to them, against the calm judgment of the
wise and patriotic Schuyler and the desire of the legislature of his
State, can only be accounted for by his bitter enmity to the intensely
democratic people of Vermont, and the fact that he and members of his
family were claimants under New York of grants of large tracts in the
disputed territory.
Vermont had already appointed agents to wait upon the legislators of New
York, to agree upon and establish the line between the two States; but
when news of the failure of the pacific measures was received, the
council decided neither to send the agents to Albany nor to "write any
further to the General Assembly of New York at present."
The intercepted letter from Lord George Germain afforded evidence that
the British ministry were making overtures to the people of Vermont, and
were somehow persuaded that they were disposed to accept them. Alarmed
by this aspect of the affair, Congress was stirred to some favorable
action, but made it an indispensable preliminary to the recognition of
Vermont's independence and her admission to the Union that she
relinquish her claims to lands and jurisdiction beyond her original
limits.
Vermont, having formed the unions, her legislature being in session at
Charlestown,[89] and her newly elected lieutenant-governor being a
resident of the East Union, refused to break the compact, or submit the
question of her independence to any power, but was willing to refer the
question of her boundaries to commissioners mutually chosen, and when
admitted to the Federal Union would submit any such dispute to Congress.
The action of Congress called forth a protest from New York, and her
delegates were instructed to oppose all such measures.
There now arose imminent danger of serious collisions in both unions.
There was a probability that the government of New Hampshire was about
to take measures to compel the submission to its authority of those who
had joined Vermont; and Governor Chittenden wrote to General Paine, the
lieutenant-governor, to call out the militia east of the Green Mountains
to assist the sheriff, and, if New Hampshire made an attack with an
armed force, to repel force by force. General Paine sent a copy of his
orders to the president of New Hampshire, and informed him that he
should carry them out if New Hampshire began hostilities; at the same
time commissioners were sent to the Assembly of New Hampshire to
attempt an amicable arrangement of the matter. New Hampshire gave her
revolted citizens forty days in which to return to her, and thus armed
conflict was averted.
At the same time there were more serious disturbances in the Western
Union. Colonel Van Rensselaer of Sancoik, acting under authority of New
York, had arrested at New City (now Lansingburg) a colonel of the
Vermont militia, who presently escaped. Not long afterwards Van
Rensselaer himself was arrested and taken to Bennington, where,
according to his own statement, he was well treated and soon discharged.
Other arrests were made by both parties, all of whom were residents of
the union, and who, gathering in arms near Sancoik, for a while
threatened each other. The adherents of Vermont so greatly outnumbered
those of New York--only about eighty strong--that the latter did not
dare to attack them, and the New York commander, Colonel Yates, applied
in December, 1781, to General Gansevoort at Albany for reinforcements.
Governor Chittenden now called out the militia of the original territory
of Vermont, and Colonel Walbridge marched from Bennington with his
regiment to Sancoik. Colonel Yates at once withdrew his force, and, on
his retreat, met General Gansevoort, who, after an unsuccessful endeavor
to obtain a detachment from General Stark at Saratoga, was marching into
the disturbed region with eighty men, all that he had been able to raise
from four regiments, one of which furnished only the colonel and one
private. General Gansevoort demanded by what authority and for what
purpose Colonel Walbridge invaded the territory of New York; and
Walbridge answered that he had come to protect those who held allegiance
to Vermont, and, though he did not desire warfare, he would not be
answerable for the consequences if the liberty and property of such
persons were interfered with. Finding his insignificant and indifferent
force confronted by 500 Green Mountain Boys, who were very much in
earnest, General Gansevoort wisely withdrew, and left "those turbulent
sons of freedom" masters of the bloodless field.
Thus, most fortunately, no actual hostilities in either quarter resulted
from these threatening demonstrations. But the fire was only covered,
not quenched, and its smouldering embers were ready to burst into a
blaze of fratricidal war whenever fanned by the first mischievous wind.
That this did not happen was due to the wise and kindly advice given by
Washington in a letter to Governor Chittenden, dated January 1, 1782.
Admitting that Congress had virtually acknowledged the right of Vermont
to independence in its late action, and its willingness to confirm it,
provided the new State was confined to her originally claimed limits, he
strongly urged the relinquishment of Vermont's claims to the East and
West Unions. "You have nothing to do but withdraw your jurisdiction to
the confines of your own limits, and obtain an acknowledgment of
independence and sovereignty."
When the Vermont Assembly met at Bennington in February, Washington's
letter was laid before it and had the immediate effect of bringing about
the measure which it advised. On the 22d the claims of Vermont to
jurisdiction beyond the original limits of the New Hampshire Grants were
formally relinquished, and, having made such compliance with the
resolutions of Congress, four delegates were appointed by the assembly
to negotiate the admission of the State, two of the delegates being
empowered to take seats in Congress as representatives of Vermont upon
her admission.
Before Congress was apprised of this action, resolutions were proposed
in that body that if, within one month after notification, Vermont
complied with the resolutions of August, she should at once be admitted
into the Union, but that non-compliance with them would be considered a
manifest indication of her hostility to the United States, whose forces
should then be employed against her inhabitants, and her territory be
divided by the line of the Green Mountains between New Hampshire and New
York. But the resolutions were not adopted, and the Vermont delegates
presently arriving at Philadelphia officially informed Congress of the
action of the legislature.
The matter was referred to a committee of five, which reported on the
17th of April. Its sense was that, as Vermont had fully complied with
the requirements of Congress, her recognition and admission had become
"necessary to be performed;" and it submitted a resolution recognizing
and acknowledging Vermont as a free, sovereign, and independent State,
and authorizing the appointment of a committee to treat with the Vermont
delegates upon the terms of admission.
Notwithstanding all this, Congress again resorted to the policy of delay
by which it had so long evaded a settlement of this controversy, and
motions to consider the report were successively made and rejected.
The Vermont delegates were indignant at such treatment, and after
addressing a letter to the president of Congress stating the confident
hope of recognition which had induced Vermont to relinquish her unions,
expressing their disappointment at the delay of Congress, and setting
forth the critical situation in which Vermont was now placed, left
unaided to oppose invasions of the enemy from Canada, they shook the
dust of Philadelphia from their feet, "expecting to be officially
acquainted when their attendance would be necessary."
There was a universal feeling in Vermont that the legislature had been
duped by Congress into weakening the State. The people lost faith in the
promises and resolutions of Congress, and there were frequent
expressions of bitter feeling against it. A member of the legislature,
gossiping with neighbors at the mill while their grists were grinding,
declared that Congress had no business to interfere with the unions of
Vermont; and when a noted adherent of New York expressed a different
opinion, he cursed Congress roundly. "Curse Congress! Haven't we waited
long enough on them? A pox on them! I wish they would come to the mill
now. I would put them between the millstones or under the water-wheel!
They have sold us like an old horse! They have no business with our
affairs. We know no such body of men!" Another prominent worthy, who was
in the secret of the Haldimand correspondence, said, "We're fixin' up a
pill that'll make the Yorkers hum." Another declared in a public house
that, "as long as the King and Parliament of Great Britain approved of
and would maintain the State of Vermont, he was determined to drive it,
and so were its leaders."[90]
There was a settled determination to maintain the independence of the
State and to ask no favors of the vacillating Congress, though the
legislature, that nothing might be wanting on their part, at its next
session appointed agents empowered to arrange terms of admission to the
Union.
FOOTNOTES:
[87] Clinton afterwards denied giving any authority to this demand on
the State of Vermont.
[88] H. Hall, Z. Steele's _Indian Captive_.
[89] _New Hampshire in the East Union._
[90] B. H. Hall's _Eastern Vermont_.