Day with Lafayette in Vermont Jay Read Pember A Day with Lafayette in Vermont Jay Read Pember Woodstock The Elm Tree Press Woodstock Vermont 1912 LAFAYETTE By courtesy of Scribner's Magazine From the painting by Samuel F. B. Morse, 1825, in the Mayor's Reception Room, City Hall, New York A Day with Lafayette in Vermont The tour of General Lafayette across the State of Vermont from Windsor to Burlington, nearly fifty years after the Declaration of Independence and the appointment of the young French marquis by the Continental Congress, in his twentieth year, as a Major General in the army of the Revo- lution, was an event which, without doubt, brought more people, young and old, to the line of the olden time stage thoroughfare from Boston to Montreal through central Vermont than any other event before or since. Between five and eight thousand people are said to have gathered at Windsor, in the early morning of June twenty-eighth, to meet the State's invited guest. At Woodstock, from hill and valley, there turned out a great throng of people in holiday parade and banquet and welcome. About every inhabitant of the town of Barnard was at the " Akins Inn " on the old turnpike in the early afternoon. A line of mounted trumpet- ers heralded the approach to Royalton village. A great company met the cavalcade at East Randolph and more at Brackett's Tavern, the three-story brick " castle " at Ran- dolph Center. Vermont's capital and capitol grounds were under grand illumination. And all the military review, 4 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont speeches of welcome and response, banquets, cannonade and formal greetings in eighty miles distance by special convey- ances from beyond the border to the capital made one memorable day in Vermont. The Marquis de Lafayette was a conspicuous per- sonage in the affairs of his native country. Just before the battle of Waterloo he was vice president of the National Assembly. He retained the respect and confidence of his native France, king, courtiers and citizens alike, longer than any other citizen of that great nation of varying enthusiasms. His reception in the United States in 1824-5 was the grandest ovation ever given by the young Republic. He stood next to Washington in the affections of the American people. Five years after his last visit to America and four years before his death, he took up the command of the National Guard of France, and was the acknowledged leader of the brief revolution of 1 830 which unseated the French king and secured the throne to Louis Philippe, under a constitutional monarchy, instead of to himself, as doubtless he might have done, according to some historians. The Marquis Marie Jean Paul Roche Yves Gilbert Motier Lafayette, accompanied by his son, George Wash- ington Lafayette, and his secretary, Mons. Le Vasseur, having breakfasted at Concord, N. H., Monday, June 27, 1825, arrived at Chase's Tavern in Claremont, N. H., accompanied by a committee of the New Hampshire Legis- lature and by Colonel Cushman and Colonel Austin, aids from the staff of Governor Van Ness. Ten days previously, June 17, 1825, on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument A Day with Lafayette in Vermont 5 was laid. The procession of citizens on that memorable occasion stretched from Boston Common to Charlestown Bridge. The oration of Webster has been memorable ever since. The impressive rite at the monument was performed by the Grand Master of Free Masons, the President of the Monument Association and General Lafayette. The laying of this corner-stone and the laying of the corner-stone of the University of Vermont a few days later are thus linked together. The late hour of arrival at Claremont at ten o'clock in the evening was a disappointing delay to the gunners in charge of the waiting cannon. The entourage was met at Claremont by Major General Mower and aids and a dele- gation from the committee of arrangements at Windsor. At 7.30 Tuesday morning, June 28, Lafayette and suite crossed Cornish bridge and were received in Vermont by the committee of arrangements and by Gen. Asaph Fletcher, sheriff of Windsor County, marshal of the day, and his five assistants. A salute of fifteen guns was fired, bells were rung, the troops saluted, and the air rang with cheers. The honored guest was welcomed in behalf of the citizens of Windsor by Hon. Horace Everett, of Windsor, in a brief address, gracefully acknowledged in response. PROCESSION Gen. Asaph Fletcher Jr., of Weathersfield, Sheriff of Windsor County, Chief Marshal Assisted by Col. L. Bowen, I. Gregory, T. Boynton, J. P. Skinner and V. B. Horton, Aids 6 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont MILITARY ESCORT, in UNIFORM Jefferson Artillery, Windsor, Capt.L. Lull Rifle Company, Hartland, Capt. J. Kelley Light Infantry Company, IVeathersfield, Capt. Clement Under command of LIEUT. -COL. STIMSON OF NORWICH Assisted by Adjt. George Wetherhy of Hartland Springfield Brass Band Committee of Arrangements, in carriage Marshal GENERAL LAFAYETTE Marshal In open carriage Attended by aids of Gov. Van Ness; followed by suite of Lafayette in carriages Lieut. Governor and Members of Council Secretary of State and Speaker of House of Representa- tives Revolutionary Soldiers (about 75), General Officers and Suite, Officers of Army and Navy in uniform, Numbering about two hundred Members of Masonic Fraternity, Clergy, Students of Colleges and Cadets March to Pettes' Coffee House Reception by Gov. Van Ness on elevated platform In front of House Speech of Hon. Horace Everett, of Windsor, and Response of Gen. Lafayette The reply of Lafayette was received with prolonged cheers. The assembly was estimated to number between 5000 and 8000 Breakfast with Gov. Van Ness, principal officers who conducted ceremonies, clergy and citizens u O H Q O O ^ Z cc UJ > < a: UJ a: < CQ UJ X A Day with Lafayette in Vermont Introduction to Revolutionary Soldiers Introduction to Citizens " Every window which commanded a view of the procession reflected the beauty of the Fair of the North, eager to offer some token of respect and welcome " From Windsor to Woodstock Gen. Lafayette and suite were brought in a carriage drawn by six white horses, a finely groomed and equipped cortege from Woodstock, accompanied by the Committee of Arrangements and visiting dignitaries Reaching Woodstock about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, with unfavorable weather, it having rained most of the forenoon, the formal procession was formed near Mr. E. King's under Chief Marshal Lieut. Col. Ransom assisted by Capt. G. W. Rice PROCESSION Military Escort in Uniform Woodstock Light Infantry, Capt. B. F. Mower Pomfret Rifle Company, Capt. Snow Two Companies WoodstocI^ Infantry Capt. Richmond and Capt. ParJ^er Salute by Capt. Warner's Company of Artillery from Barnard Marshal, Sheriff and Escort LAFA YETTE and Suite in open barouche Gov. Van Ness and Suite and Committee of Arrangements in carriages Assistant Marshal, Revolutionary Soldiers and Citizens in line 8 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont The procession moved from King's Corner up Pleasant Street to the White Meeting House. A most elegant and extensive triumphal arch, tastefully dressed with shrubbery and evergreen, was thrown across Elm Street, near the Meeting House, having about two feet above the cap-stone of the arch the name of Lafayette in large gilt letters upon both sides. This was the special design of George P. Marsh, then a recent graduate from Dartmouth and just entering the practice of law from his father's office in Wood- stock, afterwards to attain high station and honors. A part of the military escort was drawn up along the north side of what is now Tribou Park. From Elm Street the procession proceeded along the north side and around the west end of the " Green," to a station opposite the site of the old Eagle Hotel, where a platform had been erected, ornamented by arches and festoons of evergreen and flowers. Here an address of welcome was made by Titus Hutchinson, Esq., chairman of the Committee of Arrange- ments, elected that year one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Vermont. The felicitations of Lafayette in response were brief, alluding to the prosperity observed here and everywhere in Ameriea, and to the interest which Ver- mont had shown in the scenes of the Revolution and to the men, so many of whom survived in a state still young and thinly settled. The distinguished guests of the day were then tendered refreshments at Barker's Hotel. Mr. Robert Barker was then proprietor of the line of coaches running between Woodstock and Randolph Center, with four and six horses to each coach, making eight and ten miles an hour over the old turnpike, by the Winslow Stand, Aiken's Tavern and the old Fox Stand, up hill and down hill, with i^^^^^ -■* ^ -fc-v ^ J m ^KM^^^^^^Bi^^^^B in L VJ ^flnl^l^H^^l '^i™ ■ -i' "-•-*»« ^ "^w^^P^^^^^^^^^^H M L^'' v:i K'ttlH^^^l ^ nl^H^^^H 4I B^3 mM t. ' 1 £^9HI ^MM 1 ^i^^^H H 4 ■r^ h&SIHhh ^^^^^\ 2 Hpl M ^^H|m 1 ^^■1^7 jj HI jg^l •ai^fll HI a: u. o QL Q Z < o -J CO Z I A Day with Lafayette in Vermont no brakes, three times a week, carrying the mail between Boston and Burlington. After refreshments, the General and his son and sec- retary were conducted to the Meeting House, where about two hundred ladies and a small delegation of men were assembled, and the General was introduced by the Chairman of the Committee, and passed through the several aisles, bowing his acknowledgements to the ladies, and hurriedly repaired to the escort of the skilled reinsman of the six white steeds of the morning, and were speeded away over the turnpike to Barnard and Royalton, accompanied by Ver- mont's highest state officer and members of his staff. Along the highland line of travel over the Barnard hills, where there stretches out a magnificent broad landscape to the north and beyond the hills, in the leaf and foliage of a mid-day in June, the progress of the carriages was stopped, and their occupants found that Aikens, of the old Aiken Stand, had gathered pretty much the whole population of Barnard in greeting and glad welcome to the nation's guest. Whether Aikens kept the best of Flemish wane is not cer- tainly known, but it is quite probable that the hostlers brought water to the six white steeds while he of the whip got down from the driver's seat to sample the vintage of mine host Aikens in honor of the custom of those days, while the veterans of '76 were shaking hands with the friend of Washington and the friend of America in arms. Elijah Aikens, or as the tavern sign spelled the name at the time, " E. Akins ", was first selectman of Barnard, and was very zealous and successful in enlisting the whole town in a big demonstration. He was assisted by the other selectmen of the town, Capt. John S. Bicknell, ( " old Captain Bick " ) JO A Day with Lafayette in Vermont and Ebenezer Richmond. It was a great day for Barnard. And it was a great day for " E. Akins " , for Barnard sent him to represent the town at the next session of the Legis- lature. It was also a great day for Elisha Chamberlin, Nathaniel Stevens and Jasper Richmond, for they manned the gun, the pride of Barnard's artillery company, which was then in its prime, said to have been commanded at that time by Capt. ApoUos Warner, whose portly physique gave him the name of " Capt. Pod." It is reported that Lafayette complimented the gunners, saying, " That is a smart gun and is well handled." About two miles from the village of Royalton the escort of Lafayette was met by the Tunbridge cavalry company, commanded by Captain Eaton. Royalton was reached about 2 P. M., and the arrival was announced by a national salute fired by a band of revolutionary patriots. The Tunbridge cavalry company, numbering one hun- dred and three men, equipped with new uniforms, must have presented quite a striking appearance as they lined up on Barnard hill about two miles from Royalton as escort to Royalton, with their bright red coats, ornamented with braid and brass buttons, tall caps wath stiff blue and white plumes, blue pants, white vests, with their swords glistening in the sunlight. A coat and cap and sword worn by one of the cavalrymen is still preserved in Tunbridge, and the wine glass from which the General drank a glass of wine, passed out by the man at the toll gate bar, Mr. Williams, who doubtless permitted the six white horses to pass without challenge, is preserved in Royalton. A large concourse of citizens had been formed in pro- cession, under the direction of Oel Billings, father of Hon. A Day with Lafayette in Vermont 1 1 Frederick Billings, later of Woodstock. Under the marshal- ing of Mr. Billings and several assistant marshals, with two small lads, not quite six years old, at the head, one of whom was Dudley Chase Denison, later one of the most prominent attorneys of Windsor county and member of Congress from Vermont, the procession moved to the front of Colonel Smith's hotel, now the Cascadnac House, and formed in an extensive square. General Lafayette appeared at the open portico and was introduced to the Committee. The address of welcome was made by Jacob CoUa- mer, then an attorney in practice at Royalton and afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court, resident at Woodstock, and Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Taylor. It is reported that the future jurist of the highest state court, in his words of welcome, made allusion to the " thrill of pleasure which, at your condescending visit, vibrates with electric rapidity and sympathetic orison to the most obscure and remote recesses and extremities of our nation." The tradition is that after this vibration the General required a trifle of refreshment at the end of the next mile, the old Fox Stand, the old road-house still standing at North Royalton, but this may be uncertain. About twenty Revolutionary soldiers were introduced at Royalton. Each soldier, after shaking hands with Lafayette, stepped back a few paces and discharged his musket in salute. One unfortunate veteran, whose gun missed fire, is said to have suffered a mortification from which he never quite recovered. General Lafayette exhibited here and at other gatherings along the route a remarkable faculty of remembering and calling by name these soldiers whom he met. 12 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont An exquisite glimpse of memory is preserved from the pen of Mrs. Harriet Collamer Johnson, of Woodstock, then a little girl in the Collamer home at Royalton. " Of all the pictures that hang on memory's walls none is more vivid to me today than the scene of Lafayette's visit to my native village. I stood holding my mother's hand, in the front door of my old homestead, and saw a carriage drawn by six white horses with a venerable gentleman bowing right and left to the crowd." At the village of East Randolph the Tunbridge cav- alry were still on parade as escort, and it is believed that there was an address of welcome by Rev. Wilbur Fisk, which could hardly have been made without response by the honored guest. Some of the old soldiers must have been there to take his hand. Mr. Abner Waldo was specially remembered as one. It is certain that many of those present have told their children what a " big time " they had. But no formal account of the addresses or proceedings can be found. At Randolph Center, at the old-time Brackett Tavern, still standing, a large company gathered, and Lafayette appeared upon the roof of the great porch upon the west front of the three-story brick castle and briefly acknowledged his noisy welcome. It was, of course, in the time of militia companies, and the old gunhouse was still standing at the corner of the Common east of the Meetinghouse, with its gun carriage and cannon and rare old trappings of the horses and the gray painted canvass-covered round-topped powder wagon ( or more correctly a two-wheeled cart, with heavy shafts, for single horse ). One may be sure that the gun car- riage was unlimbered on this occasion and that the cannon THE OLD FOX STAND, NORTH ROYALTON A Day with Lafayette in Vermont 13 made itself heard. It is said that General Lafayette had a special remembrance and desire to meet Mr. Lebbeus Edgerton, one of the old soldiers, then living in the brick house just opposite the castle, afterwards Lieutenant Gov- ernor of Vermont. Rufus Nutting was at this time the pre- ceptor of the Orange County Grammar School, and the students of this venerable old academy were drawn up in line in front of the school building, and the General passed down the line of students, as in review, and in that line was Justin S. Morrill, of Strafford, so many years the honored senator from Vermont, who had not yet thought out the agricultural college appropriations which owe their existence to him. Dudley Chase, later member of Congress from Vermont, was a leading member of the Orange County bar and living in the fine old colonial residence across the street from Brackett's, with the small law office building, then in line with the house. It is said that one sturdy young farmer, descendant from one of the victims of the Royalton raid of 1 780, created quite a bit of merriment in the crowd by inviting the General, if he ever came that way again, to come and take dinner at his house, adding that "Aunt Silvia has never seen the bottom of the pork barrel yet " . Many a guest at the old tavern in later years, summer guests at the " Maple- wood " , assigned to the north-west front chamber, has fancied a night of rest in the room that Lafayette occupied, but which it is doubtful if he ever occupied for ten minutes at a time. Indeed, if all the traditions could be believed, the General had dinner at four different taverns that day and spent the night at three different places and was " enter- tained " at several other road-houses on the way. 14 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont It is claimed by one correspondent that the General returned to East Randolph, and from there proceeded on to Barre and Montpelier. But this seems hardly probable, in view of the long distance actually traveled that day and the fact that to visit the Brackett tavern made the party three miles extra travel, and to return vv^ould add still three more ; and still more improbable is it, for Hon. Warren C. French, of Woodstock, one of the leading attorneys for many years at the Windsor County bar, then a young boy at his father's home a mile north of Randolph Center, often related his seeing the two covered carriages go by his home when it was known that Lafayette was speeding north. Lafayette and suite, with Governor Van Ness and his aids, were met at Barre by the committee of arrangements from Montpelier, at about eight o'clock in the evening and escorted to Montpelier, where they were received by a military escort, the Washington Artillery Company, Captain Joseph Somerby, the Montpelier Light Infantry, Capt. Daniel Baldwin, the Berlin Infantry, Captain Taplin, and a Company of Montpelier boys, about fourteen years of age, Capt. E. P. Walton, a long time resident of Montpelier and a member of Congress from Vermont. The boys were assigned to the post of honor as body-guards of the General and his suite, and the artillery company was organized and served as body- guard of the Governor. The guests of the evening were escorted to the Academy grounds and back to State street and through State street to the State House, where the General, the Governor and his suite were presented at the balcony. The grounds in front of the State House and the windows and balconies of many buildings were brilliantly illuminated, the streets were crowded, the military were THE CASCADNAC HOUSE, ROYALTON A Day with Lafayette in Vermont 15 parading, and the air was charged with enthusiastic welcome. After some light refreshments, there was an address of greeting by Hon. Elijah Paine, then judge of the United States Court for the District of Vermont. One para- graph of the address may well be inserted here. "When you left this country after the war of the revolution, the State of Vermont had but just begun to have a name. At that time almost the whole state was a wilder- ness. Yet we are proud of some of the feats performed in that war by the arms of Vermont. We count upon ourselves as principals in the capture of a whole British army under Burgoyne. " The State of Vermont cannot show you large towns and cities ; but it can show you what is perhaps of as much consequence. It can show you a sober, substantial, intelli- gent and well informed yeomanry." General Lafayette, in response, alluded to the victory of Bennington and to Vermont as the theatre of a most important event, and in closing remarked : — " Sir, I have now accomplished one of the greatest objects of my life ; I have visited the twenty-four states of the Union ; I have been the happy witness of the immense, rapid and ever increasing results of Independence, Republi- can institutions and self government. And you. Sir, and all of you whom I have the pleasure to address, I most cordially congratulate on the public and domestic happiness which is enjoyed by the citizens of Vermont ; and I beg you to accept my affectionate and respectful thanks." The address and the reception in Representative Hall occurred at about ten o'clock in the evening. There was also a review of the military companies and a banquet, with 16 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont toasts, etc., at the dining hall of the earlier Pavilion, then kept by Mr. Solomon Mann, where the present Pavilion now stands. The dining hall was decked with inscriptions, ever- greens at the windows, and festoons of roses. The follow- ing toast was given by Lafayette : — " Vermont, Montpelier and the Green Mountains, from which was early echoed and valiantly supported the Repub- lican cry for Independence and Freedom. May its happy results be more and more enjoyed by the sons of the Green Mountains." Upon the followang morning, Wednesday, June 29, the General was again escorted to the Academy, where the ladies of Montpelier held a reception. The ladies were represented in an address of welcome to the General by Mrs. Erastus Watrous. Another account says that this occurred at the Congregational Church. On behalf of the ladies, the General was greeted " with a cordial welcome to our coun- try, our homes and our hearts. " The General responded very briefly and made special acknowledgement of the words of Mrs. Watrous, the recollection of which would ever be pleasant to him. More greetings took place between the General and old soldiers of the Revolution, \ni\i expressions of deep feeling on the part of the distinguished visitor. With his numerous escort of the morning, the proces- sion passing up the street to the Onion River bridge and down State street, the General with his suite left Montpelier amidst the waving of handkerchiefs by the ladies and the repeated adieus of the men. One of the incidents of the reception at Montpelier is related by Admiral George Dewey, which is that his A Day with Lafayette in Vermont 17 father, Hon. Julius Y. Dewey, then a young man taking note of the doings of the day, with his companions, used often to tell the story of Lafayette's query of this or that old soldier, as the veterans were introduced : . . . " Are you married ? " " Yes." " Ah, happy man." "And you, my friend, are you married?" "No." " Lucky fellow." And this was many years before Americans ever heard of Abraham Lincoln, of whom the same story was often told. Doubtless some great Roman or Egyptian may have indulged in the same sly humor a thousand years ago. General Lafayette not only gave cordial greeting to many of the surviving patriots of the Revolution, in the journey through Vermont, but sought out and inquired for other remembered ones. One incident connected with this Vermont tour of honor should not be omitted here. By virtue of one of those uncivil and uncivilizing statutes of a by-gone century, an old soldier in the army of Freedom and Independence, companion in arms with Lafayette, venerable in years. Gen. William Barton, instead of receiving a pension from his native state or country, was cast into prison at Danville, Vermont, for debt, and not being able to raise " the uttermost farthing " , had been kept in jail for thirteen or fourteen years. It not being convenient for General Barton to leave Danville, he made request to Gen. Isaac Fletcher of Lyndon to present his salutations to Lafayette, whose inquiries of General Fletcher elicited the information as to the situation of his friend in confinement, the result of which was that Lafayette, William Barton, a native of Rhode Island, by a bold exploit made a captive of the person of the British General Prescott, upon the night of July 10, 1777. For this daring feat Congress presented him with a sword and he was made a brevet colonel. He received a grant of land in Vermont. 18 A Day with Lafayette in Vermont from on board the Brandywine, before returning to France, wrote to General Fletcher, enclosing a draft to pay the sums due or demanded by General Barton's creditor, and allowing the Vermont captive to retum to his family in Rhode Island, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. Times have happily changed in Vermont. Upon much broader and higher considerations, how- ever, than this gift to one defender of the country's flag, never repaid to the giver, the tour of Lafayette in the United States, in the splendid rekindling of the patriotic spirit of the whole country, was of grandly immense value to the nation at large. The laying of the comer stone of the south college building of the University of Vermont by General Lafayette, and the reception and splendid entertainment at Burlington, and the trip to Whitehall, New York, make the story of another day. In the corridor of the new Pavilion at Montpelier may be seen a bronze tablet, in commemoration of the visit of Lafayette, bearing this inscription : MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE PASSED THE NIGHT OF JUNE 28TH. 1825 IN THE OLD PAVILION WHICH STOOD HERE THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1903 BARNARD .-.^'■^,Vi LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 711 409 #