YALE UNIVERSrrY
LIBRARY

¦tale Uiiii'crsitj liliiary.

DEFICIENCIES IN OUR HISTORY.

ADDRESS
DEI.IVEHED BEFORE THE
VERMONT HISTORICAL
AND
ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY,
AT MONT PE LIB R,
OCTOBER 16, 1846,
With an appendix containing the cHARTEn,coN-
STITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE SOCIETY, THE VER
MONT DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, JANUARY
15th, 1777, the proceedings of the convention,
4th OF JUNE, 1777, AND THE " SONG OF THE VEE-
monters," in 1779.

BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER.
Professor in JVorwich University.

MONTPELIER :
EASTMAN & DANFORTH,
isie.

DEFICIENCIES IN OUR HISTORY.

ADDRESS
DELIVE, HED BEFORE THE
VERMONT HISTORICAL
"'i AND
ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY,
AT MONTPELIER,

">

OCTOBER 16, 1846.

BY JAMES DAVIE BUTLER,
Professor in JVorwich University.

MONTPELIER :
lASTMAN & DANFORTH-
1846.

ADDRESS.

Fellow Citizens of Vermont:
The life of old nations is memory. In the old world travcUoi's
daily behold great events and the scenes of them — not only commem
orated by monuments, but canonized by chapels and altars.
Young nations live in hope rather than in memory. (While press
ing forward to those things which are before, they forget those which
are behind.) This truth finds many exemplifications in our history.
A circular was recently sent to every town in Vermont that was
incorporated when our State independence was declared, requesting
information concerning the 71 signers of that declaration. It was
vouchsafed only one answer. Our declaration of State independence
was never published in this State until last summer, and then only in
fugitive newspapers. The papers of our first and most memorable
Governor were sold to a pedlar with paper rags
The cannon taken (in defence of our frontier) at Bennington lie
unclaimed at Washington. The maps, captured at the same place,
were used as curtains until all, save one, perished. The grenadiers'
arms and drum there taken, and presented as a trophy to our State
council were received with a promise that, according to the donor's
request, they should be kept in the council-chamber as a memorial
of the glorious action fought at Wallumscoik. But this trophy has
been vilely thrown away.
Properly speaking we have no rostrum. A rostrum is a speaker's
stand begirt with memorials of vanquished foes. We have none.
Facts such as these prepare us to expeet a universal apathy in re
gard to our history, and move our special wonder that we can boast
so many historians, and several worthy of no common praise.
It is no great discredit to our historians that they are in many re
spects deficient, since they were forced to make brick without straw,
the collections needful for the adequate execution of their task, which
are still imperfect, not having been fairly begun, when most of our
chroniclers wrote.
ll is simply because no one else could be found to stand in the gap,
that I venture to appear before you at this time, i-.iasmuch as I must
appear to the same disadvantage with our historians. I have, indeed,
bad access to sources of knowledge which were hid from their eyes j

but I have enjoyed this privilege only a few days, and under the
double pressure of ministerial and professional labors, as well as
with one foot on the cradle, in the judgment of many a much greater
impediment. The subject which I would invite you to consider, is certain defi
ciencies in our State histories.
The controversy of Vermont with New York has never been de
scribed as its merits, and the richness of materials regarding it,
demand. I have drawn up a list — which, pardon me, I do not mean
to read — of fifty questions concerning it which demand elucidation.
No historian hints — what every historian shquld have clearly shown
— that that struggle was not merely about the price of land, but a
conflict between New England and New York principles — those of
the Puritan and of the Patroon ; — between our township system, with
local elections and taxes, and New York centralization.
I am constrained to pass in utter silence, however, the manifold
short-comings of our writers in respect to our relations to all our
sister States.
The part Vermont look in the Revolution is rather shadowed
forth than distinctly traced by our historians.
They claim for us indeed a share in the taking of Ticonderoga, as
well as in the siege of St. Johns ; in the battle near Bennington, and
perhaps in the taking of Burgoyne.
But, though much is said of battles as far off" as Braddock's defeat,
instead of a distinctive account of Vermont's military career, her ex
ploits are so blended with those of the continentals, or so imperfectly
detailed, as to lose all individuality.
As to the capture of Ticonderoga, it is said, men from Connecticut
came to Vermont to engage Ethan Allen in the business. It is not
hinted that Allen had ever before thought of such a project, even in
his dreams. What is the fact ? Allen's own testimony is, that when
the men from Connecticut arrived in Bennington, he and other offi
cers of the Green Mountain Boys were already deliberating upon
a project for surprising that fortress; though whether such a measure
would be agreeable to Congress or not, they could not for certain
determine. A full month before any step was taken in Connecticut, for seizing
Ticonderoga, an agent, recently dispatched through Vermont to
Montreal, thus wrote the committee of correspondence in Boston :
"March 29, 1775.
" One thing I must mention to be kept as a profound secret.
The port of Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible, should

hostilities be committed by the king's troops. The people of' the New
Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business ; and in my opin
ion, they are the most proper persons for this job.
" This will efl'ectually curb this province, and all the troops that
may be sent here."
Thi? last particular, the importance of Ticonderoga as the key
alike of New England and Canada ; the usefulness of the cannon
there taken, at the siege of Boston and elsewhere ; its having been
thought worth sacrificing thousands of lives ; its being surprised by
men destitute of bayonets, of a single bayonet, — are particulars
which one wonders our historians have not made more prominent,
since all but one-sixth of those, who effected the surprise, were Green
Mountain Boys, and this was the first offensive exploit in the war of
our Independence.
The readiness of the Vernionters for the Revolution, even before
hostilities began, is indubitable, but is not made manifest in our his
tories.. Among Slade's State papers, indeed, there is an assurance from
the Vermonters given to New Hampshire and Massachusetts four
weeks before the affi-ay at Lexington, that " they shall always be
ready for aid and assistance to those States, if, by the dispensations
of Providence, they should be called thereto." I have found no allu
sion to this assurance in any history.
But the pieparation of heart in .Vermont for hostilities is attested
by more pj^rticular evidence even than this. Seven weeks before
the 19th of April, Ethan Allen wrote a leading man in Connecticut,
promising a regiment of Green Mountain Boys in case of war. This
letter is still extant in manuscript.
More than half a year before the war of the Revolution began, a
rumor that the British bad slain six men, and seized a depot of pow
der, electrified New England. A chronicler of those times says :
" The heads of the Bennington body, of 2000 armed men, forthwith
gave out orders that they should get ready to march. '-
Allow me next a glance at the invasion of Canada. None of our
later historians give due credit to the diplomatic address of our Fay
and Ira Allen, which contributed to the capture of the British fleet.
After the fall of Montgomery, Gen. Wooster, who was sent for, to
the command of the_ forces besieging Quebec, in despair of other
assistance, wrote thus to Warner in Vermont : (2, 162 :) " Let me
beg of you to collect immediately as many men as you can, and
somehow get into this country, and stay with us till we can have
relief from the colonies. Let your men be sent on by tens, twenties.

6
thirties, forties or fifties, as they can be collected." Within eleven
days from the writing of this letter at Montreal, in the dead of win
ter, Green Mountain Boys were on their march for Quebec. In
about two months the force of effective men before that city was al
most doubled by reinforcements under Warner. But for this sea-
sona[jle relief, the retreat from Cauada might have been a rout, or
our whole army there have been forced to capitulate, (or, to use a
phrase very common soon after, might have been Burgoyned.)
Some of our histories mention the arrival of twenty-seven men
from Massachusetts before Quebec. They are all silent respecting
— what it much more behaved them to relate — ten times as many
recruits from our own State. Nor do they, with one exception, so
much as once mention the name of Warner in all their notices of the
winter campaign in Canada.
In relation to Allen's attack on Montreal, our historians say that
Brown was, by some means, prevented from co-operating with Allen
as he had agreed to do. The question, by what means, still remains
unanswered. The answer to it might show that the blame of Allen's
finding captivity for himself, when he sought the capture of Mon
treal, is not to be charged solely to his own fool-hardiness.
Our State histories say nothing of the supplies forwarded from
Bennington to Ticonderoga, in 1776, at a time when, but for such
assistance, that fortress might have been lost.
The next day, after receiving a call for fiour, the Committee an
swered, that, without an hour's delay, they had sought for wheat, and
found 1000 bushels ; would send on what was ground forthwith, and
the rest as soon as it could be. manufactured. They add these words
to the commander at Ticonderoga : "It is difficult to transport what
we have already on hand ; for our militia, even before we received
your letter, asking assistance, left us almost to a man, marched, and
have doubtless joined you before this.
This relief was afforded at a crisis when the tories about Albany
cut off" all hopes of succor from that quarter, and when the troops at
Ticonderoga had bread for but sixteen days, and were expecting to
be blockaded.
Our historians say that on the evacuation of Ticonderoga, our
Council of Safety resolved to raise all iha troops they could to act
against Burgoyne.
None of them, hovrever, save Ira Allen, tell us how, with an
empty treasury, they could raise an army, as it were, by a stamp of
the foot. The secret of this miracle — a regiment made ready for war
in a fortnight— was an expedient proposed by Ira Allen himself, (at

sunrise, after a night spent in devising ways and means,) namely :
to confiscate instantly all the property of all tories, except such arti
cles as humanity required for their families.
But even Allen fails to bring out fully the alacrity and energy of
our fathers during this critical campaign. A rnan in Connecticut
writes, that agents of Vermont had come thither to buy arms to the
amount of £4000 ; and, failing to obtain them, had gone further—
with what success is to this day unknown. The militia of this State
were chiefly at Ticonderoga, yet Warner writes : " I should be glad
if a few hills of corn unboed should not be a motive sufficient to de
tain men at home." Such was the rally that St. Clair, a few days
after, writes thus : " The Vermont Convention have given Such
proofs of their readiness to coneur in any measure for the public
safety that it would be impertinent to press them now.
Our historians would have made it plainer what part Vermont had
in the taking of Burgoyne, if they had described more fully how sac-
rificingly she removed or destroyed all crops, cattle, and carriages,
that were in danger of being seized for his use, and thus took off his
chariot wheels. They might have shown the revolution in Bur-
goyne's feelings effected by the battle of Bennington, and the part
Vernoont was thought by him to have played in that actibn, had they
contrasted two of his letters, one written just before, the other just
after that battle. Aug. 12, he writes to the commander of the expe
dition against Vermont : "Try the affections of the country — cross
the mountains to Rockingham and Brattleboro' — bring me 1300 hor
ses or more." Did he know by instinct that this State was a nursery
of good horses ?
August 20, eight days afterwards, he writes : " The Hampshire
grants in particular, a country unpeopled and almost unknown in
the last war, now abounds in the most active and most rebellious race
of the continent, and hangs like a gathering storm upon my left."
Truly he needed not send again to try the affections of such a
country !
The exertions of Vermont against Burgoyne are liable to be under
rated, beeause our histories pass in silence the false rumors which
then extensively prevailed, and had all the effect of realities. Ti
conderoga was evacuated by unanimous vote of a full council of war.
It was reported by more than one that he could tell when that for
tress was sold, and for how much. One hundred and twenty-eight
cannon were there lost. This number was exaggerated to 300. No
artillery men were there slain or captured. It was rumored that
none of them escaped. The British built no fortificatian in Gastle-

ton, nor were they there in great force. But the rumor was that
3000 and then 6000 of them were fortifying there, and that with can
non. They never, unjess by scouts, penetrated further east than
Castleton. Tidings crossed the mountain announcing, first, that they
were at Rutland, then nine miles east of it on the road to No. 4, and
still pushing on. Burgoyne never sent a detachment against any
place north of Rockingham. Common fame declared his myrmi
dons on their march for Royalton aod Newbury. Contemporaries
speak of this rumor — driving families by scores, and cattle by hun
dreds, to flee across the Connecticut. No diversion in Burgoyne's
favor was attempted at Boston : he had no intention to cross New
England to Boston ; but both these schemes were firmly believed by
not a few.
Amid rumors such as these, and perhaps others more appalling,
the memory of which may have perished, men's hearts failing them
for looking after those things which were coming, the Green Moun
tain Boys heard a voice ringing in their ears —
*' Leave the harvest to perish on the field where it grows.
And the reaping of wheat for the reaping oifoes ;"
and they were deaf to all other voices.
In describing the operations at Lake George landing, by which the
vessels, in which Burgoyne might have retreated, were captured,
both Williams and Thompson leave Warner's name unmentioned.
But Warner was the commander of that expedition, (3, 729.) Those'
whose names are mentioned — Brown, Woodbridge, and Johnson —
were his subalterns.
Herrick, who was at the head of the Green Mountain Rangers in
this expedition, is also passed in silence by our best historians,
though he was honored with a special letter of thanks, not only from
the Vermont council, but from Gen. Gates at the head of the conti
nental army.
Reading Williams' history in boyhood, I used to wonder what be
came of that thorn in our side — the British garrison in Ticonderoga
— after Burgoyne's surrender. I have not found what I sought in
any other historian. The fact is, that that garrison retreated into
Canada ; but not without forty-nine men of their rear, as well as
horses, cattle, and boats, in great numbers, being taken by fifty Ver
mont Rangers. Forty-nine regulars taken by fifty militia. A fact
like this is worth something to an advocate for the efficiency of
militia. Such were the exertions of Vermont, during this campaign, as to
prevent the Council from getting the new-made constitution printed.

(3. 941.) Other results of the campaign are thus stated by Gov.
Chittenden :
" Though there were plentiful crops on the ground, the inhabit
ants were prevented from securing any considerable part of them.
Before they left the service against Burgoyne, the season was so far
advanced as to put it out of their power to make preparations for a
crop of winter grain on which they had ever had the greatest de
pendence. The principal part of them, therefore, are reduced to an
Indian cake, in scant proportion to the number of their families.
Their sheep and flax having been destroyed by the enemy, or having
otherwise perished, their bellies and backs are become co-sufferers.
" In this deplorable situation they remain firm and unshaken ;
and, being generally well armed and accoutered, are ready in any '
emergency, and on the shortest notice, to face and encounter their
inveterate foe — undaunted."
There is much history, of the domestic or defensive military pre
parations of Vermont, yet unprinted.
Fragmentary notices of forts are, indeed, scattered through our
Gazetteer, under the words Hubbardton, Pittsford, Rutland, Castle-
ton, Bethel, &c. But the system, of which they were a part, is not
explained in our histories. There are manuscript records — of head
quarters in Rutland, often garrisoned by hundreds, — of branch-forts
with palisades or pickets, flankers and barracks for 150 men, — of
scouts reconnoitering the woods, passing from fort to fort, seizing
suspected persons, helping or forcing bold settlers to remove within
the lines of d^efence, — destroying such crops as they could not secure
from the enemy, and continuing their excursions even in winter on
snow-shoes. In this service, it is recorded that one-sixth part of the able-bodied
men (on an average, one from every family) were, at times, em
ployed. When special danger was apprehended, reinforcements
were forwarded on horse-back., Enlistments were encouraged by
tlie bounty of a township of land for each company. Provisions were
obtained by requiring each town to send on thirty pounds of pork
with each recruit— by issuing press-warrants for horses and empty
Wgs, and by causing the highway tax to be worked out as early as
possible, to facilitate the transportation of supplies.
Pittsford was not, as has been supposed, always the most northern
post. In March and April, 1778, a considerable force was posted in
New Haven, (4. 73.) This may have been one of the new line of
forts which Vermont was engaged in erecting when Congress witb-
2 •

10
drew all the national spades and pickaxes, and the enemy's vessels
were cruising on the lake.
Particulars such as these are not the pomp and pride of war ; but
they are worthy to be known, though unrecorded by our historians.
Let us next remark certain deficiencies in our histories with regard
to the tories — the worst foes of our fathers.
From the best histories of Vermont one would scarcely believe
there was such a class of men, for their name is seldom mentioned —
never by Thompson, with manifest reference to Vermont. Doubt
less they were fewer than the British hoped when they struggled so
perseveringly, by threats and promises, to make Vermont a crown-
province — and than Governor Morris feared, when he thus wrote to
Congress, (3. 319 :) " Disagreeable as it may be to tell or to hfear
this truth, yet a truth it is, that very many of those villains — the Ver
monters — only want a New England reason, or, if you like the ex
pression better, a plausible pretext to desert the American States,
New Vermont among the rest."
Yet, in a single act of the Legislature, there is a list of 108 tories
from twenty-nine towns. Half the men in Strafford and Thetford
fled to Burgoyne — others repaired to the British on their march to
Bennington. The expenses of war and government were, in a great
part, defrayed by the avails of tory estates, though sold at a sacrifice
by auction.
Records are not wanting of tories that were laid under bonds, or
imprisonment, for concealing arms and ammunition — for spying out
the nakedness of the land and betraying it to the enemy ; of some
that were banished — of others overtaken and killed as they were
fleeing. The most unique punishment to which they were subjected
was decreed by the Council at Bennington, in January, 1778, after
this fashion : " Let the overseer of the tories detach ten of them,
with proper officers to take the charge and march them in two dis
tinct files, from this place, through the Green Mountains, for break
ing a path through the snow. Let each man be provided with three
days provisions. Let them march and tread the snow, in said road,
of suitable width for a sleigh with a span of horses. Order them to
return, marching in the same manner, with all convenient speed,
(4. 32.) Let them march at six o'clock to-morrow morning,"—
early rising.
The practice of confiscating the property of tories originated in
Vermont, though it was imitated by most other States. In vain did
the sufferers eiideavor to take advantage of certain stipulatione in
their favor in the terms of Burgoyne's surrender. Our fathers de-

11
cided that none could be so benefitted but those who were at that
time in his camp. Toryism snapped asunder the hands of society.
It said, " Trust ye not in any brother, for every brother may utterly
supplant." It tended to make life here what it was in France during
the Reign of Terror — the infinite conjugation of the verb suspect.
How many were wrongfully suspected ! How many were filled
with revengefulness !
Our histories can never do justice to those to whom we owe our
independence till they tell us, as they have not yet done, how unfal
teringly they braved intestine war — personal, as well as public,
enmity. Our histories relate few Indian depredations during the Revolutiop.
The burning of, now and then, a single house — the capture of a few
prisoners, usually two or three at a time, and the destruction of
Royalton — are the substance of their accounts. There was little
more to relate.
But much more was to be expected, and was expected. The In
dians had desolated so many towns in New Hampshire and Massa
chusetts, and three times attacked the first settlement in Vermont,
though in the extreme south of the State, — why should they not fall
with redoubled fury and frequency upon those who were more in
their neighborhood, and had even ventured as near them as New
Haven and Newbury .' They were stimulated to attack our fron
tiers by Johnson's and Carlton's intrigues, and appeals to their hopes
and their fears. They were enticed to the same enterprise by the
arts of fugitive tories, burning for revenge and plunder — eager to
show them the way to slaughter. Doubtless our possession of Ti
conderoga, at first, and afterwards the cutting of Hazen's road,
tended to curb their ravages ; but other circumstances, though they
have eluded the research of our historians, contributed, perhaps,
even in a greater degree, to the safety of our frontiers. I will
glance at one or two. As we have already seen, our preparations for
defense were n^ore efficient than represented in histories.
At the outset of the Revolution Ethan Allen dispatched messen
gers t(i win ovei- the Indians— at least, to neutrality. At the same
time he sent them a characteristic letter in this style :
" I know how to shoot and ambush like Indians. My foes stand
all alopg close together, rank and file. My men and your men shall
eat and drink together, and fight together against those who first be
gan to kill us. If you wish to remain in peace, you need not fight.
But come and see us. I will give you whatever you want— bread,
knives, tomahawks, paint, belts, blankets, money, rum."

12
Thus and by other means, many Indians were induced to come to
Newbury throughout the war, some to settle in that region — many to
get presents — many to trade, and some to enter our service as scouts
and spies.
Some of the Indian chiefs who come to Newbury were sent to
Washington's army, and there treated with marked attention, as well
to gain intelligence from them, as to convince them of our power and
goodwill. Other chiefs furnished with a list of questions for which
they were to procure answers, were sent as spies into Canada, and
the intelligence thus procured was highly valued by Gates, Schuyler
and Washington. On the whole, Indian incursions may not have
done us more harm, than the information they furnished, as to the
disposition of the Canadians, the forts, forces, reinforcements, sup
plies, measures and projects of the enemy did us good.
Though a hundred letters are extant concerning our relations to
the Indians at this time, I must content myself with one extract from
one written by General Bailey at Newbury, many years after the
close of the war :
" I could not with safety leave the frontier where I was settled and
join the army. I thought I could be of more service to our cause by
securing an extensive frontier from the depredations of the Canada
Indians, which by making friendship with them I effected, for at least
200 miles.
"My exertions were such that I was watched and way-laid night
and day, by the enemy from Canada^ — my house rifled, papers de
stroyed, son carried captive, and maltreated, only because he was my
son, and would not discover to them how his father obtained intelli
gence of their movements. To the close of the war, I was employ
ed by Washington to keep friendship with the Indians, and gain in
telligence of the enemy in Canada."
It has lately transpired that President Wheelock interceded in our
behalf, with his former pupil, Brandt, the Indian chief, and that not
without success. Moreover, proof is not wanting that the British
Colonel Johnson was taken prisoner by John Warner, but released
on condition of the Indians being restrained from Vermont. But
our frontier settlementiS, however safe, were by no means secure —
rather out of danger than free from apprehensions. One of our his
torians narrates a panic in Windham County ;— he might have spoken
of another in Windsor County, when the inhabitants along White
River fled, many of them by night, lighted by brands of fire, down
the river to Lebanon; and of ahother in Orange County, (4.107),
when, says an eye witness, families are this moment rushing into

13
Newbury, and for sixty miles they are upon a doubt whether to re-
move or not.
Women yet live who can testify of such days when they lived in
fear of the fate of Miss McRea, the bride of Ft. Edward, that Ger
trude of Wyoming in real life,— when every rustle of a shaken leaf
seemed an Indian tread ; every tree an Indian covert — every window
a mark for his rifle, every hamlet fully assiired that it wassingled out,
above all others, as the victim of the savage.
The relation sustained by our fathers to Indians and tories, as wel'
as their defensive measures having been slightly noticed, and their
conflicts against the British so blended with those of the Continentals,
by our historians — it is not too much to say that the part Vermont
took in the military exploits of the Revolution is yet to be written.
I cannot speak as I would of the negociations with the British in
Canada, which turned the last two years of the war into diplomatic
intrigues, but I must not pass them unnoticed.
The right of Vermont to adopt policy for power, when Massachu
setts and New Hampshire were plotting a Poland-like partition of
her territory, — when every continental soldier turned his back upon
her, — when New York had no voibe save to cry confiscation, — when
an army as large as Burgoyne's was concentrating against her alone,
can scarcely be doubted. But for such a course, the fate of Royal
ton would have been that of all her towns.
Vermont would have yielded to Britain sooner than to New York.
Some have hence taken occasion to say that Vermont was inclined to
yield to Britain, as if because one evil is greater than another the
less evil is a good, — as if because Andre prefered being shot to being
hung we should infer that he wished to be shot.
Our historians have not failed to refute this slander. They have
also related how the negotiations with Canada drove Congress to ac
knowledge the Independence of Vermont, and how they kept an army
as large as Burgoyne's inactive. It might have been added, that a
few soft words rendered repeated invasions, full of sound and fury,
though carried as far as Burgoyne's, so fruitless, as to rssemble
oceans into tempests rocked to waft a feather, or to fulfil an old say
ing in a new sense —
" The King of France with forty thousand men.
Marched up a hill and then — marched down again."
The venerable Chipman, in the life of his yet more venerable
brother, has broken a lance not without a wound, though in his old'
age, against the assailants of our leaders in their graves. From his
reasoning it seems clear, that the Vermont diplomatists never,in all the

14
armistice, professed loyalty to the crown, never lifted a finger to re
concile any man to it, and that nothing has been proved against them
which is inconsistent with their avowed objects, namely, to keep the
British army inactive, and to prevail upon Congress to vote the ad
mission of Vermont into the Union as a 14ih State. This sort of
negative defence of the Green Mountain Chiefs is enough for their
acquital. Another may be made of a more positive character by
means of documents to which our historians do not seem to have had
access. Years before, charges of toryism were brought against Vermont
by those who were not authorized to cast the first stone, and whose
principal reason for thinking her tory was that they had done so much
to make her so.
Our truce with Canada was rather a help than a hindrance to the
last great struggle of the war — the operations against Cornwallis. It
was either unknown to Washington or understood by him to be a
political manoeuvre. In the midst of the armistice he wrote to Stark
commander in the northern department: "I doubt not that your
requisitions to call forth the force of the Green Mountains will be
attended with success." Requisitions, remember, to defend New
York, their bitterest foe. Stark's reply was, that his requisitions
were attended with success, — that upon a sudden alarm five hundred
and fifty mounted men from Vermont joined his troops in a few hours.
Near the beginning of the armistice Schuyler had written to Wash
ington: "It is believed, that large offers have been made the Hamp
shire Grants, but that nothing will induce the bulk of them to desert
the common cause.''
Washington was privy to the secret policy of Vermont for some
time — probably more than a month — before the surrender of Corn
wallis. This fact, stated but by one of our historians, seems to have
been discredited by all the rest. It is established by a letter, long
given up for lost, (but recently discovered,) and so alluded to by our
historians as to excite suspicions that they had never seen it. Wash
ington, therefore, does not appear to have been. perplexed by a Brit
ish officer's apology for killing a Verinonter in a skirmish — an apolo
gy which enraged Gen. Stark and filled Vermont itself from side to
side, with a tempest of indignation.
The only evil suggested by Washington as resulting from our di
plomatic intercourse with the British was encouraging them to over
rate the proportion of tories among us. But what was this encour-
agenient to that they would have taken from the conquest of Ver
mont, which, but for being amused with hopes, they would have ac-

complished.'' The one was sAadoMi the other SKistonce. The height
of their expectation was not greater than the depth of their disap
pointment. The only remaining charge seems to be that our cabinet acted with
bad faith toward the British. But, as the British were the chief suf
ferers by our policy, they would have been first to cry treason bad
there been any treason. They seem to have viewed themselves as
worsted by their own weapon, diplomatic finesse. The falsehoods
told them were not palpable, and will be judged tenderly by those
who hold stratagems are lawful in war, and that it cannot be wrong
to deceive him whom it is right to kill. The Governor of Canada
not discouraged by failures, continued this pen and ink warfare, more
years than Troy was beseiged, and even sent to Burlington an envoy,
who is plausibly supposed to have been his late Majesty, George
the Fourth.
Was it not then wbrth while for our leaders to make themselves
of no repuation for a time, that without drawing a sword, without
thwarting the plans of Washington, without injustice even to our ene
mies, they might avert the extremes! peril.' Luther's words were
half battles, theirs were more.
In all our Histories there is a lack of characteristic minutiae. We
ask for face-to-face details, we receive far off generalties " wheie eve
ry something being blent together turns to a wild of nothing."
Seemingly trifling particulars catch our eyes as we gaze at a land
scape ; they affect the eye-witnesses of events — they bring the light
of other days around us as we listen to the narrative of old age ; —
they are the sparkling fountains — abstractions are the vapid stream.
iSoine writers may have neglected such fragments, deeming it be
neath the diguity of history to stoop and gather them, as if history
like the Pope was never to be seen except gorgeous with trailing
robes, or were to represent nations, as some picture books represent
kings wearing crowns and holding sceptres — even in bed. So far as
the suppression of picture-like details has been a sin of ignorance, it
is to be winked at, but not if it has proceeded from scorning them as
nothing worth. Which of our historians might not profitably copy
the following account of the evacuation of Ticonderoga, albeit it fell
from the lips of a negro: —
"About 11 o'clock on Saturday night, orders were given by our
Colonel to parade. We immediately obeyed. He then ordered our
tents struck and carried to the battery. On doing this, the orders
were to take up our packs and march, which we also did, passed the

16
General's house on fire, marched 20 miles without a halt, and then had
a brush with the enemy."
How shall history hold the mirror up to nature if not by giving ua
the very words of the actors in bye' gone times? Things cannot in
deed be all described, then the world would not contain the books
which would be written, but those parts, the least as well as the great
est, should be sought out, which most nearly produce the effect of the
whole. If the ballad writer be as influential as the legislator, why should
our historians with one consent, refuse us, even in their notes and
appendixes, a single specimen of the popular songs, the Marsailles
hymns, — indicted by Rowley and others — sung at the crisis of our
destiny. Can we learn as much in regard to common schools at an early day
from any of our histories, as from a single remark made to me by a
woman, who had no thought of telling any great thing, that in the
winter of 1780, her brother kept a school in one of the two rooms
in his fathers log house in Sharon, there being then twenty-eight fami
lies in town and that there was no school for five winters afterwards!
Only two of the sixty-eight settlers in Bennington made their mark ;
aW of the 1006 petitioners to King George vvrote their names, and
Elkins, a boy from Peacham, when a prisoner in England, receiving
a shilling a week from Dr. Franklin, paid out four coppers of it for
tuition. Do not facts like these throw light upon the popular iutelligence
and desire of knowledge.'
What incident in our histories shows the inspiriting effect of the
Bennington battle so strikingly as a trifle they all ognit, — a rumor
which straight way ran through New Hampshire, that Burgoyne
himself was taken at Stillwater, — coming events cast their shadows
before. I would not willingly be ignorant that in 1764 there were only about
100 families between the mountains and the river — that a post-boat
from Canada was taken soon after the seizure of Ticonderoga — that
an express could be sent from Newbury to Boston in three days, can
non from Lake George to the same place in seventeen days — that the
Vermont uniform was green with red facings — that rum even when
it rose to f 96, continental money, a gallon, was dealt put in the ra
tions, — that Allen gave Warner 400 acres of land for cutting off the
ear of a Yorker — that each Vermonter after the Bennington battle
received $5 plunder money. Each of these trifles is a little, window
through which we can look into the distant past.

17
The little said in our histories in relation to religion, tends to dis
prove the assertion of Dr. Dwight, that "our first settlers were chiefly
universalists and infidels." There is much to disprove it in the fol
lowing details. Orthodox ministers were early settled in most tovvns;
sermons, longer than we can bear, and as searching were preached at
the opening of every State Convention and Assembly ;— requests for
prayers abound in letters,— pamphlets then printed have beyond all
comparison more allusions to the bible than to all other books tbgeth-
er. When one would put General Bailey on his guard against tory
Iiers-in-wait, he dropped in his path a paper with these words on it.
''The Philistines be upon thee Samson."
The word of God was the law-book for all cases falling under no
statute, and sentences were given according to its enactments. Where
there was no church or preacher, mfeetings were held under trees and
in private houses: such an assemblage delayed one day the burning
of Royalton. My grand mother used to tell me that during the battle
of Bennington, she and many others were met for prayer within the
sound of cannon.
Our writers have not enough availed themselves of vivid particulars
by way of indirect description.
What can give us a better idea what a long struggle was expected
when hostilities began, or how our people rushed to the war, than
these words, written one week after the bloodshed at Lexington from
that quarter to this. " For heaven's sake, pay the closest attention
to sowing and planting ; do as much of it as possible, not for your
own families merely. Do not think of coming down country to fight."
What can draw and color more to the life the want of all things use
ful in war, during Burgoyne's invasion than these words of Stark,
written at his quarters on the Connecticut:
"I am informed that the enemy have left Castleton and have an in-
'ent to march to Bennington. We are detained here a good deal for
bullet moulds, as there is but one pair in town, and the few balls sent
on by the State go but a little way in supplying the whole.''
One pair of bullet moulds! a light visible result significant of how
many tbingj not so visible.
Such incidents, like the rude strokes in charcoal-sketches, produce
more effect than many elaborate line engravings.
The impressiveness of our history is weakened because a thousand
petty circumstances are scattered here and there through a Gazetteer
or through voluminous documents— sometimes in widely sundered ar
chives, like the elementary constituents of Mosaic work instead of

18
being fitly framed together into a life-like picture, as those of the
Frencli Revolution have been by Carlyle.
The-heroio deeds of our forefathers seem not to have been apprecia
ted; sometimes they are mentioned as things of course, or unmention,
ed by our writers, though they are not a whit behind the chiefest
deeds man can boastj
Luther when the Pope burned his books, burned the Pope's bull.
Ill what did he surpass Allen's retorting the setting a price on his
h-ead by New York, with setting a price on the head of a New York
dignitary.' ,
At Bennington, a Green Mountain Boy struck a Hessian officer's
sword from his hand with a stick, and forced him to make his file of
men lay down their arms. How few knovv that hero's name!
We shall always remember two men that swam the Hellespont, —
the one from vanity, the other for personal gratification of another
sort. We are in danger of forgetting a citizen of our own who swam
as broad a strait at Ticonderoga, at midnight, threading his way
through a hostile fleet, not for himself but for his country, — Richard
Wallace — worthy to bear the name of him of Scotland, and to be
equalled with him in renown.
I have sometimes thought our writers particularly oblivious of fe
male heroism as displayed in our history.
A French maid of honor who lost her arm by foolishly thrusting it
in place of a door-bar to protect her queen, is eulogised. A woman
of Vermont suffered the same loss, defending her husband, with the
first weapon that offered against midnight kidnappers, and is passed
over in silence.
French women are praised for digging and trundling barrows to
rear a monument of national fickleness. The similar labors of Ver
mont women striving to take the places of their husbands who were
dying in battle are more than half forgotten.
It is recorded in Scottish history that Knox's daughter would rath
er see him beheaded and catch her head in her apron, than have him
turn papist. It is not recorded in our history what Vermont mother
used her apron to staunch the blood of her wounded son, when both
of them still every moment were exposed to be scalped.
None of our histories mention the name of Hannah Handy, whose
entreaties rescued not only her own children but seven of her neigh
bor's children from going into captivity, after they bad been already
taken over White River, and who dared to cross that river on the
back of an Indian, that she might bring back her jewels. Yet was
she a heroine before finding a parallel for wbotu we shall search long.

19
But as aiinecdotes of Allen were eagerly coveted in his life time by
distinguished Frenchmen, as we are learning that our curled maple
and walnut may compare with mahogany, ami that our marbles may
vie with those of Carrara, which some have crossed an ocean to vis
it, S(^ let us believe that heroes and heroines may not always b«
without honor in their own country, and in ours. Such seem speci
mens of the cardinal deficiencies in our histories as to our part in our
histories of the Revolution, including our conflicts ami our negocia
tions with the British, as to minute details, and as to our heroes and
heroines. These deficiences, and countless others in relation to topics on which
I have no time to touch, have not only been clearly detected by our
Prfesident, but bis labors have accumulated materials for supplying
very many of them. He has gathered together fiagments from lake
to river, from Massachusetts to Canada, — he has spent three months
together in the collections of sister states, or of the general govern
ment ; he has secured correspondents in Canada, and in the person of
his son, he has broken through the Chinese wall of English exclu-
siveness, — he has found laws and journals of the Legislature that
had been given up for lost — he has doubled Thomjison's list of Ver
mont books before its admission to the Union, — he has saved letters
by thousands that were reatly to perish, and that cast each its ray on
the dark past. He has recently added a third to the ponderous tomes
obtained of him by the State two years ago, — he has collected auto
graphs, not to see which with more pleasure than Napoleon's would
cast onirnous conjecture on your patriotism, written in such a hand
as was to be expected from pioneers, but who would look on letters
of gold with half the pleasure.'
Are all desiderata then supplied by the collections of our President?
By no means. Properly speaking he has had to do with only one de
partment — military operations — and that during the Revolution. We
ought to be thankful that he has magnified his oflioe, yet not forget
ful that he has exhausted none of the mines of investigation. A bar
rel full of papers left by the most interesting military charactcter in
our annals lies headed up and unexamined to this day.
The collections of other societies and public offices, whether state,
national or foreign, remain to be examined or re-examined. The
papers of every man mentioned in our history are to be sought for,
and in this search the name of every such man may prove a guide
useful as a clue in a labyrinth. We must seek for sermons, histories,
and biographies, hoards of newspapers, or those thrown away like
autunlnal leaves, journals in manusciipt, letters sent out of the State

20
to those from whom the settlers came forth. A rich mine of these is
doubtless still unopened, fur, among hundreds I have examined, I
have dioouvered only two addressed to women, and none — no not one
— written by a wotnan. But were not woman in those days ready
writers even as now? Proverbially the best letter-writers in all oth
er coiiiiiriea, were they found wanting here ? Did not their letteis
paint the lights and shades of life in this new State, as they have since
portrayed western clearings, as those of busy men, less keen-eyed for
the picturesque and trivial could not, or did not?
Other sources of historical facts will also be opened to us by lucky
accidents, too various to be described or to strange to be predicted.
The gems of sister societies were sometimes found where least looked
for. The original of the world-famed (English) Magna Charta was
found in the hands of a tailor, who was just ready to cut it up for
patterns. One of the most ancient and valuable maps of New
Hampshire, when it extended to the lake, was discovered in a store
house where a pedler had left it when he reaiov.ed his rags, either
through accident, or judging it not worth taking away.
What has been will be.
If such a list of questions as that prepared by the Massachusetts
society were circulated throughout Vermont, township by township,
beyond a doubt many early laws and journals of the Legislature, lung
ago given up as irrecoverably lost, as well as much equally valuable
and more curious information concerning Town Committees and
Committees of Safety, those cradles of our independance, lacking
links of every sort in the chains of our annals, might be rescued from
oblivion. No doubt the drag-net of our research will gather of every kind.
Criticism must therefore have its perfect work, in separating the pre
cious from the vile. The mass of materials must also be classified
according to their nature, the time to which they relate, the place
where they were found, or the purposes for which they may be em
ployed. Many explanatory notes must be appended to the collections made
by our President, or what is a plain path to hini will appear to those
who bhall come after, " a mighty maze and all without a plan."
The fruits of our historical harvests and gleanings ought also to be
garnered up in a chief place of concourse, instead of the corner where
they are now secluded, — even as the treasures of other states are
honored with archives in Boston, Hartford, Concord, New York and
Washington.

21
How beautiful thus to have a section of the past brought safe into
the present and set down before our eyes!
Arrangements are making for |)ublishing the earliest annals of our
fathers. I trust such a publication will soon take away our reproach
of being the only State which has had a Society for a series of years
and yer published nothing, as if our investigations were labor lost, or
were to be hidden in the chaos of a Museum.
The "Historical readings," pui)lished in the State Banner, were
well received. Let us have more of them, a hundred fold. Let our
printers whose types preset ve knowledge, bring forth things old as
well as new.
What Is of more interest than a town history — to each man that
of his own town? No where in Europe did I seek without finding
one. How long shall we desire such histories in vain? What true
patriot loves not his own village?
Who can doubt the capacity of our primitive period to furnish an
anthology of incidents suited for a reading book in common schools!
Such a book would have a greater charm for children than things far
off and \<>n<£ ago. It might developea spirit of research which must
otherwise perish in embryo. Many an unique document which now
appears to them as worthless as the jewel seemed to the barn-yard
fowl, it might lead them to appreciate so that they would say, destroy
it not, for a blessing is it.
The only incident relating to our history, I remember in my school
books, is Howe's captivity, and that was in a book long since anti-
qiiated. Is there nothing, then, in our history such that we may fitly
tell in the ears of our sons, and teach it dilligently to our sons sons !
As a means of securing the ends now suggested we may rejoice
that we have a State Society, albeit as some think, it has but a name.
to live. Should we dispise its low estate, knowing that all beggin-
nings are small? Will it not be a rallying point, nay a magnet at
tracting to itself and binding in union all congenial spirits however
scattered abroad? Is it not suited to be their organ of communica
tion with those like minded elsewhere? Will it not increase their
zeal, by kindling mutual emulation and by so dividing labors that
each man shall have an ocffie in keeping with his taste and opportu
nities. What better expedient can be devised to keep historical in
quiries before the people, as well as to secure the cooperation and
•'contributions of their thousand hands?
Is it not a nucleus, a resevoir into which rivulets without number,
invaluable for its purposes though valuless as to all others, will natu
rally flow?

22
Is it not a company for mutual insurance — not against fire— but
against a loss which can never, by any possibility be repared?
An association, of such a nature and of such aims, should com
mend itself to us all.
Statesmen! Among your motives to scorn delights and live labo
rious days is the hope to leave a name that men shall not willingly let
die — can you be indifferent to what concerns the memory of your
predecessors? Do to them as ye would that posterity should do to
you. Politicians! Will you not welcome our Society, as a little sanctua
ry where no war-whoop of party can be heard,— where the interests
of all parties are one. If you look to dollars and cents, are research
es to be sneered at, which by the iiapersof a single family have ob
tained nine pensions, and which may yet substaniate our claim to
millions from the national treasury?
Scholars! Can you remeinber that Massachusetts has published
scores of volumes to illustrate her history,— that Connecticut, New-
Hampshire, New York, and even Georgia have followed in her foot-
, steps, and blush not that we are behind them all?
Ye that have spoken of plants even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall— that have chronicled every creeping thing that creep-
ethupon the face of th'e earth — can you pass by on the other side
any memorial of the leaves in our history, as if tithingcummin were
the weightiest of matters ?
Rich men! The British Museum has last year appropriated more
than $20,000 to purchase books relating to America. Many of the
rarest works on our local annals are led into captivity to London —
materials, says one, for future Alison's to forge lies from. Will you
only tighten your purse strings while men in deep poverty are strug-
ling to secure for ourselves the documents which may be indispensi-
ble for refuting the half-truths, equivalent to whole falsehoods, which
will be pro|)()unded, regarding our annals, by the parly, or prejudic
ed writers of England'
Let us leave our history to be written by foreigners and it will be
the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted. The New York
account of the taking of Ticonderoga is that " it was surprised by a
detachment of provincials from Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay,"
as if there had no Vermonter raised a finger. The truth is, as we
have seen, .that the first measures for that capture originated in Ver
mont, and that all but one sixth of those engaged in it were Vermon
ters. Our ancestors made themselves of no reputation for you who had

23
done nothing for them. No debt can be more binding on you than to
see to it that justice is done their memory.
Is there no hope of any further aid from the State? Shall not this
State, like so many others, perfect its archives, or shall the only State
that redeemed its revolutionary paper money^ at par neglect to finish
securing even its own laws andjournals, and the records of its courts?
It is not fitting for the State's money to be laid out to help a man
travel in England ; but it is a shame to us that we have not sooner
secured the services of a gentleman who had gained access to the
correspondence during the most critical period of our history, — doc
uments which others had in vain begged leave to examine — and who
would have copied it cheaper and better than any other man. We
have refused him hundreds though we might thus have procured a
better reputation than we can now make of an aspersion which has
been cast on the fame of our fathers. England is now lavishing
thousands upon the same man for his assistance in obtaining docu
ments in which she can feel comparatively but little interest.
Even Georgia has procured the copying of twenty folios regarding
her history in British public offices.
The genius of our history says to us, all and each, that thou doest do
quickly, like the sybil to the ancient king, she year by year brings
with her fewer and fewer antique records, but unlike the sybil de
mands for themian even increasing' price.
I trust our Geological scrutiny will meet with no interruption or
delay, but were we to leave that scrutiny half unfinished, another
generation may renew it, and suffer no evil from our neglect. Geo
logical records are always with us, everlasting as the hills, — they are
graven in the rock forever, we may read them when we will.
The records of our fathers have in part perished with them, —
some of them live in the memories of patriarchs who still stand
among us with eyes undimned and natural force not abated, as if on
purpose that such as hold the pen of the ready writer may still em
balm their sayings. For this end let each of us build over against his
own house and rely on himself as though he were the only laborer.
Let us redeem the time, since if our old men pass away unquestion
ed, no buried Pompeii can be raised from the grave to enlighten our
wilful ignorance. How we lack what we have lost irretrievably!
Many of you have stood in the Massachusetts Senate Cliamber and
seen suspended over the entrance, a gun, drum, sword and cap, tro
phies, not of Lexington, Concord, or Bunker Hill, but of Benning
ton. What would we not give to regain the similar relic,—" those

24
bruised arms hung up for monuments," which we threw away as
nothing worth. It is too late.
But let us be up and doing, each in his own order. Every fact
hitherto undetected, we can glean and garner up by means of the
art preservative of all arts, may be a moiiunient more lasting than
those trophies in Boston, or than any corruptible things, and what
is more, vocal with speech that may be heard through all .«pace and
through all time.

ACT OF mCORPORATION OF THE SOCIETY.
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont as follows :
1st. Henry Stevens, of Barnet, in the County of Caledonia, and Orainel H.
S)nith, Daniel P. Thompson, and George B. Mapsur, of Mohtpelier, in the County
of Washington, — and such other persons as have associated, and may hereafter
associate, themselves with them, for the purpose of collecting and preserving ma
terials for the civil and natural history of the State of Vermont, — are hereby made a
body corporate and politic, by the name of The Vermont Historical and Antiquarian
Society J and, by thkt name, tliey, and their successors, may sue and be sued, and
shall be capable in law to take and hold in fee simple, or otherwise, lands, and ten
ements, and rents and hereditaments, not exceeding, in the whole, the yearly value
of ^2000.00, exclusive of the building or buildings, which may be actually occupied
for the purposes of the, said Corporation ; and they shall also be capable, in law,
to take, receive and hold, personal estate to an amount, the yearly value of which
shall not exceed, the sum of $2000.00, exclusive of the Books, Papers, Memorials,
and other articles, composing the Library and Cabinet of the said Corporation ;
and shall also have poWer to sell, demise, exchange, or otherwise dispose of, all, or
part, of their lands; tenements, hereditaments, and other property, for the benefit of
said Corporation ; and shall also have a Common Seal, which they may alter at
their pleasure ; and shall also have the power to make By-Law?, with suitable pen
alties, not repugnant to the Laws of this State.
2d. The said Corporation shall have power, from time to time, as they may think
fit, to elect a President, and- such other officers as they shall judge necessary ; and
at their first meeting, they shall agree upon the manner of calling future meetings,
and proceed to execute all, or any, of the powers vested in them by this act.
3d. The Library and Cabinet of the said Corporation shall be kept in the Town of
Barnet, In the County of Caledonia.
4th. The said Henry Stevens is authorized to notify the first rneeting of the said
Corporation, by an advertisement thereof, under his hand, for three weeks before
^nch meeting, in any newspaper printed in this State.
Approved Nov. 5, 1838.

FIRST iHEETI.\G OF THE
Vermont Historical aud Awtiquariaii Soeicty,
OCTOBER, 1S4:(>.
Pursuant to kn Act of the Legislature of Vermoni, iiicoiporating Thr. Vermont His
torical and Antiquarian Society, and empowering Henry Stevens- to call the first meet
ing of said Society, the said Stevens having given the notice by said Act required,
the several persons, in said Act incorporated, met at Montpelier on the third Thurs
day of October, A. D. 1840, and elected —
HENRY STEVENS, of Barnet, President.
The same, " Librarian.

D. P. Thompson, ) „ , •
,-, T) TIT > Secreiaiiea.
Geo. B. Mansck, j

As ofiicers of the said Society for the year ensuing ; and Silas H. Jennison, E. A.
Stansbury, I. F. Redfield, D. M. Camp, E. P. Walton, Daniel Baldwin, G. W.
Benedict, Solo. Stodaid, and Norman Williams, associate members; and adopted
the following
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.
Article 1. There shall be a President and two Vice Presidents. It shall be
the duty of the President, and, in his absence, one of the Vice Presidents, to preside
in the meetings, and to regulate the debates of the Society and Council ; to call
meetings of the Council, and extraordinary meetings of the Society, by advice of
Council. The President, or presiding-officer, shall vote in Council, and also have a
casting vote. The Vice Presidents shall, ex-officio, be members of the Council.
Art. 2. There shall be seven Counsellors, exclusive of the President and Vice
Presidents : any four of the whole number shall constitute a quorum. It shall be
the duty of the Counsellors to direct ihe Corresponding Secretaries in the perform
ance of thejr duty ; to present to the Society, for their acceptance, such regulations
and bjfj-laws as, from tipieto time, shall be thought expedient ; to receive donations,
and, with the President, to purchase, sell ui lease, for the benefit of the Society,
real or personal estate ; to draw orders on the Treasury for necessary monies, and,
in general, to manage the prudential concerns of the Society. It shall be the duty of
the Council to inquire concerning the characters of persons, living out of this State,
proper to be elected Honorary Members.
Art. 3. There shall be one Recording Secretary, and two Corresponding Sec
retaries. The Recording Secretary shall be the keeper of the Seal of the Society.
It shall be his duty to attend all meetings of the Society and Council, and to make
and keep records of all their proceedings ; and shall keep on file all literary papers
belonging to the Society, under direction of the Council.
It shall be the duty of the Corresponding Secretaries to receive and read all com
munications made to the Society, and to manage, und^r the direction of the Council,
all the correspondence of the Society.
Art. 4. There shall be a Treasurer who shall give such security as the President
and Council shall require for the faithful performance of his trust. It shall be his

2T
duty to receive and keep all monies and evidences of property belonging to the So
ciety ; to pay out to the order of Ihe President and Conncii ; to keep a record of his
receipts and payments ; exhibit the same to, and settle with, a committee which
shall be annually appointed for this purpose ; and he shall put the money of said So
ciety to interest under the direction of the President and Counoil. <
Art. 5. There shall be a Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, who shall give bonds
to the satisfaction of the President and Council for the faithful performance of his
trust. He shall receive and have in his custody all Booksj Papers, Productions of
Nature, and Works of Art — the property of the Society. These he shall arrange
in classes, and register in a book with a proper description of each article, with the
donor's name, when the same shall be a present. No article shall $ver, on any occa
sion, be loaned or taken from the Museum ; nor shall any book orvother article be
borrowed from the Library, except by a vote of the Council, and then the loan of such
article shall be recorded, and a receipt given therefor by the borrower, engaging to
return the sanje in fqur weeks, or pay a forfeiture, such as by a vote of the Council
shall be affixed.
Art. 6. The stated meetings of the Society shall be — one in Barnet, on the
17th day of January, and, when the same shall fall on Sunday, then the Tuesday fol
lowing ; one in Montpelier on the third Thursday in October, atsuch hours and pla
ces as shall be notified by the Secretary. At the annual meeting in Montpelier, in
October, there shall be chosen, by ballot, all the, officers of the Society to serve dur
ing the following year, and until others are chosen. At this meeting a publi&oration
shall be delivered by, some person to be appointed by the Coimci!.
A KT. 7. Al) nominations for members shall hereafter be submitted to a commit
tee of three for their approbation,; and, if approved by safd committee, the names
of the candidates, with the names of the members who proposed said candidates,
shall be entered in the book of nominations, and the candidates may be ballotted for
at the next meeting of the Society.
Art. 8. Each member shall annually pay into the hands of the Treasurer at the
meeting, In October, $2,00 towards a fund. And every person who shall neglect to
pay said annual tax, and shall suffer him or hereejf to be in arrear for three annual
taxes, after having b^en called on by the Treasurer in person, or by written order,
shall be considered as having abdicated his interest in the Society, and no longer a '
member. Art. 9. All meetings, standing or special,, shall be notified by the Recording
Secretarj', under direction of the President and Council, in one newspaper, published
in Montpelier, fourteen days previous' to the day of the meeting, in which notification
the hour and place of the meeting shall be designated.
AttT. 10. In case of the death, resignation, or removal out of the State, oi either
of the Secretaries, or the Treasurer, or Librarian, the Council shall take charge of
the official books, -papers and effects belonging to the vacated office, giving receipts
for the same, which books they may deliver to some person whom they may appoint
to fill the office until the next meeting of the Society, when there shall be a choice.
Art. 11. This Constitution shall not be altered, or amended, except at the sta
ted meeting in October, and then only by the vote of three fourths of the members
present.

28
BY-LAWS.
1st. The ballots for the election of officers, and the admission of members, shall
be collected by a committee chosen by nomination, who shall assort and count the
votes and make report to the presiding officer ; and he shall declare the result. to the
Society. 2d. Every member, who shall advance $20 to the funds shall be excused paying
the annual tax of .^2.
3d. Every new member shall be notified of his election by a printed letter signed
by the Recording Secretary.
4th. The Secretary shall record', in a book for this purpose, the names of the
members, and the times of their admission.
5th. All books and other articles, belonging to the Society, shall be appraised,
and the price of each article shall be mentioned in the catalogue.
6th. A correct catalogue of the books, and other articles, shall be made out by the
Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, or by a |Committ0E chosen by the Society for this
purpose, which copy shall be kept by the President for the time being ; and, as addi
tions are made to the Library and Museum, they shall be entered on the Catalogue
and c6py thereof. '
7Ui. Every deed, to which the Commion Seal of the Society is affixed, shall be
passed and sealed in Council, signed by the President, and attested by the Secretary.
8th. * There shall be a temporary place of deposit in Montpelier, and in such other
places as the Council shall hereafter direct, for the convenience of those who may be
disposed to present to the Society any article for its Library and Museum. Every
article so deposited, shall, as soorj after as circumsliances will permit, be forwardefl
to the LIbiary and Museiim in Barnet.
SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING.
On the third Thursday of October, A. D. 1846, the Vermont Historical and Anti
quarian Society, agreeably to previous notice, held their seventh annual meeting at
the Court House, in Montpelier ; when the meeting was called to order by the Pres
ident, and the following Officers of the Society were duly elected (or the year en
suing, \iz. . .
HENRY STEVENS, President.
I. P. Redfield, 3 ,,. ,
S. B. COLBT, 'J Vice do.
D. P. THOMPSON, Recording Secretary.
HENRY STEVENS, Librarian and Cabinet Kee|)er.
D. BALDWIN, Treasurer.
E. P. WALTON,' 1
S. H. JENNISON,
I. F. REDFIELD,
D. M. CAMP,
D. BALDWIN,
Alter which the Society adjourned 16 meet at the Brick Church, Oct. 16, to hear an
Address from Rev. J. D. Butler. D. P. THOMPSON, Secretary.

.Counsellors.

29 October 16, 1846.
Society met, and, the I^egisliiture adjourning for the purpose, the members thereof
assembled ;u the Brjck Church, at 3 o'clock, P. M., when, the President and Secre
tary in tlie cliair, Rev. J. D. Butler delivered an Interesting address, illustrating the
importance of preserving the fragmentary and unpublished history of Vermont ; at
the close of whicli, Rev. J. Gridley offered a resolution of thanks to Mr. Butler for
his address— reqnesling a copy for the pre'ss— which was adopted ; and the meeting
adjourned .

The following declaration and accompanying papers vi'ere found
by Mr. Stevens, at Washington among a mass of r'ubbish and were
first iiublished in the Burlington Free Press, the editor of which pa
per very justly remarks that the State is under great obligation to Mr.
Stevens for his services in hunting up and arranging official papers
and other testimony touching the origin, progress, and final consum-
matiouofthe struggle, which resulted in giving to the American
Switzerlaiid the proud individuality of which we so justly boasts. We
hope to see the State do justice to itself, and to Mr. Stevens, by pur
chasing these papers, and putting them in a shape to make them
available to the community at large. When this is done, the world
will be satisfied that the early settlers of Vermont were men of no
comrnon mould. For a mere handful of men to resist the combined
efforts of New York on the one side, and I^ew Hampshire on the
other — to be repulsed, if not rejected, by the home government, and
menaced by a foreign foe, involved the exercise of no common sagac
ity, and an amount of nerve and energy, with which we are not fa
miliar. But so it was. While maintaining an open war with the
neighboring states, they protected the whole line of our frontier, by
keeping on terras with the common enemy, while at the same lime
they rendered more efficient aid to the government which discarded
them than either of the States alluded to. The ofilcial correspond
ence with Washington — some of which is among these interesting
papers — goes to demonstrate this, beyond a doubt.
It is due the honor of the State that sornething be done to sustain
Mr. Stevens in his untiring efforts to bring to light the records of a
State whose early history is more remarkable than that of any other
State of the Union. C. G. E.
Vermont Declaration of Independence.
" In Convention of the Representatives from the several counties
and towns of the New Hampshire grants, holden at Westminster,
January 15, 1777, by adjournment.
Whereas, the Honorable the Continental Congress did, on the 4tb

30
day of July last, declare the United Colonies in America to be free
and independent of the crown of Great Britain ; which declaration
WC3 most cordially acquiess in. And whereas by the said declaration,
the arbitrary acts of the crown are null and void, in America. Con
sequently, the jurisdiction by said crowii granted to New York gov
ernment over the people of the New Hampshire grants is totally dis
solved. We therefore, the inhabitants, on said tract of land, are at present
without law or go\^ernment, and may be truly s^iid to be in a state of
nature ; consequently a right remains to the people on said Grants,
to form a Government best suited to secure their property well being
and happiness. We the delegates from the several counties and towns
on said tract of land, bounded as follows : South on the north line of
Massachusetts Bay ; East, on Connecticut River ; North on Canada
line; West as far as the New Hampshire Grants extends: After sev
eral adjournments for the purpose of forming ourselves into a distinct
separate State, being assembled at Westminster, do make and publish
the following Declaration, viz :
"That we will at all times hereafter, consider ourselves as a free
and independent State, capable of regulating our internal police, in
all ami every respect whatsoever. And that the people of said Grants
have the sole and exclusive, and .inherent right of ruling and govern
ing themselves, in such manner and form as in their own wisdom
shall think proper, not incoii.-istent or repugnant to any resolve of the
Honorable Continental Congress.
Furthermore, we declare by all the ties which are held sacred among
men, that we will firmly stand by and support one another in this our
declaration cf a State, and endeavoring as much as in us lies to sup
press unlawful routs and disturbances whatever. Also we will en
deavor to secure to every individual his life, peace and property,
against aJl unlawful invaders of the same.
Lastly, 'we hereby declare, that we are at all times ready, in con
junction with our brethren in the United, States of America, to do
our full proportion in maintaining and sujiporting the just war, against
the tyrannical invasions of the ministerial fleets and armies, as well
as any other foreign enemies, sei;-t with express purpose to murder
our fellow brethren, and with fire and sword to ravage our defence-
les.s country. '
The said State hereafter to be called by the name of New Connec
ticut." Extract from the minutes. IRA ALLEN, Clerk.
In Convention of the Representatives from the several counties
and towns in the New Hampshire Grants holden at Westminster,
Ibth January 1777, by adjournment, Voted unanimously.
That it is the ardent wish of this Convention that each town in ihe
District would send a Delegate or Delegates, to the next sitting of
this Convention, those towns that have not chose any Delegates to
choose and send. This Convention is adjourned to the first day of
June next, to be held at the Meeting House in Windsor, at nine
o'clock in the morning.
Extract from the minutes. IRA ALLEN, Clerk
•^*Non-residents that have a desire to attend the above Conven-

31
tion, are hereby notified of the same, said Convention was formed to
govern the Internal Police of said District, and if thought pioper, to
form said District into a State.
" " STATE OP VERMONT, ?
In General Convention, Windsor, June 4, 1777. 3
Whereas, this Convention, did attheirsession in Westminster, the
I5th day of January last, among other things, declare the district of
laud commonly called and known by the name of the New Hamp
shire Grants, to "be a free and independent State, capable of regu
lating their own internal police in all and every respect whatsoever,
and that it should be known thereafter by the name of New Connecti
cut." And whereas, by mere accident, or through mistake, the said de
claration alone, was published in the Connecticut Courant, No. 634,
dated March the 17th, 1777, without assigningthe reasons which im
pelled the inhabitants to such separation.
And whereas, this Convention have been informed that a district
of land lying on the Susquehanah River, has been heretofore and is
now known by the name of New Connecticut, which was unknown
to them until some time since the declaration at Westminster afore
said : and as it would be inconvenient in many respects for two sepa
rate districts on this contineat to bear the same name ;
Resolved, therefore, unanimously, that the said district described
in the preamble to the declaration at Westminster, aforesaid, shall
ever hereafter be called and known by the name of Vermont. '
And whereas, the whole body of members which compose this
Convention, consisting of the following personsj viz: Captain Josiah
Bowker, President; Nathan Clarke, Esq., Mr. Simeon Hatheway,
Mr. John Burnam, jun., Jonas Fay, Secretary ; Major Jeremiah
Clark, Mr. Abel Olia, Captain Ebeiiezer Willoughly, Mr. Abel
Benedict, Mr. Joseph Bradley, Mr. Ely Bronson, Mr. Martin Pow
ell, Mr. Thomas Bull, Mr. Cephas Kent, Mr. Moses Robinson 2d.,
Dr. Gams Smith, Captain William Fitch, Captain Jonathau Wil-
lard, Mr. Caleb Smith, Capt. Zebediah Dewey, Mr, Jesse Church
ill, Captain William Gage, Captain Ebenezer Allen, Benjamin Spen
cer, Esq. Mr. Whitefield Foster, Mr. Joseph Smith, Mr. Stephen
PinOe, Mr. John South'erland, Captain Jonathan Fassett, Captain
Josiah Powers, Captain Jere^iiah Powers, Mr. Ganialiel Painter,
Captain Heman Allen, Captian Ira Allen, Colonel Thomas Chitten
den, Mr. William Miller, Dr. William Hall, Col. Benjamin Car
penter, Captain John Barnet, Mr. Isreal Smith, Mr. John Dyer, Mr.
Dennis Locklin, Nathaniel Robinson, Esq., Mr. Joshua Webb, Dr.
Reuben Jones, Mr. Jabez Sea;rjeants, Captain John Coffin, Captain
William Udly, Mr. Ehenezer Hoisington, Captain William Curtiss,
Major Joel Mathews, Captain William Gallop, Mr. Benjamin Em
mons, Mr. Stephen Tiiden, Col. Joseph Marsh, Mr. John Troop,
John W. Dana, Esq., Mr. Asa Whitcomb, Mr. Asa Chandler, Col.
Peter Alcott, Major Thomas Murdock, Mr. Jacob Burton, Joel
Marsh, Esq. Mr. Daniel Gilbert, Mr. Abner Chamberlain, Mr. Fred
erick Smith, Mr. Amos Woodworth, Mr. Amabiah Woodworth, Dr.
Bildad Andress, Mr. Benjamin Baldwin, Mr. John G. D. Bailey,
Captain Robert Johnston. — amounting to seventy-two in nUinber, be
ing all convened at the town house in Windsor, aforesaid, and the
motion being made and seconded, whether the house would pro-

32
ceed to business on the former declaration made at Westminster, in
January, aforesaid, with this alteration only, that instead of New
Connneoticut, the said district should ever be known by the name of
Vermont ? That then the name of the reptesentatives being dis
tinctly and severally called by the Secretary, seventy-one of them
did answer in the words following, viz, " proceed to form ;" at which
time and place the said seventy-one members did renew their pledg
es to each other by all the ties held sacred among men, and resolve
and declare that they were at all times ready in conjunction with
their brethren in the United States, to contribute their full propor
tion towards maintaining the present just war against the fleets and
armies of Great Britain.
That the public may be capable offorming a just idea of the reasons
whicji so necessarily obliged the inhabitants of the district before de
scribed, to declare themselves to be separate and distinct from the
State of New York, the following complaints are hereto subjoined.
I COMPLAINTS.
In the year 1764, the Legislative authority of New York did ob
tain jurisdiction over the before described territory of land, by virtue
of a false representation made by tM late Lieut. Governor Colden,
that for the convenience of trade and administration of justice the
inhabitants were desirious of being annexed to that Government.
They have refused to make re-grants of the same lands to the ori
ginal proprietors and occupants, unless at the exorbitant rate of f 2300
fees for each township, and did enhance the quit rent three fold, and
demanded an inniiediate delivery of the title derived before from
New Hampshire.
The Judges of their Supreme Court have made a solemn declara
tion, that the charters, conveyances, &c., of the lands included in the
before described premises, were utterly null and void, on which said
title was founded.
In consequence of which declaration, writs of possession have
by them issufid, and the Sheriff of the County of Albany sent at the
head of six or seven hundred armed men to enforce the execution
thereof. They have passed an act annexing a penalty thereto, of thirty
pounds, five and six months imprisonment, on any person who should
refuse attending the sheriff after being requested for the purpose of
expcutinj; writs of possession.
The Governors, Duninore, Tryon and Colden, have made re-
grants to several tracts of land included in the premises, to certain
favorite land-jobbers in the Government of New York, in direct re
lation of his Britanic Majesty's special orders in the year 1767.
They have endeavored and many times threatened to excite the
King's troops to destroy us.
They have issued proclamations wherein they have offered lar"-e
sums of money for the purpose of apprehending those persons who
have dared boldly and publicly to appear in defence of their just
rights. They did pass twelve acts of outlawry on the 9th of March, A. D
1774, empowering the respective Jutiges of their Supreme Court, to
award execution of death against those inhabitants in said district,
that they should judge to be offenders, without trial.

33
They have and still continue an unjust claim to those lands, which
greatly retards emigration into, and the setlement of this Slate.
They have hired foreign ti'oops, emigrants from Scotland, at dif
ferent times, and armed them to drive us out of possession.
They have sent the savages on our frontiers to destroy us.
They have proceeded to erect the counties of Cumberland and
Gloucester, and established courts of justice there, after they w ere
discountenanced by the authority of Great Britain.
The free Convention of the State of New York, at Harlem, in
the year 1776, unanimouSily voted, " that all quit-rents fortnerly due
to the King of Great Britain, are now due and owing to this Conven
tion, or such future government as shall be established in this State."
To give truth its due limits, they, the late government of New York,
have spared neither cost or pains, nor been wanting in using every
artful insinuation within the compass of their power; (however un
warrantable by the laws of God or man,) to defraud those inhabi
tants out of the whole of their landed property; and nothing but
consciences void of offence towards God and man, to whose impartial
judgment we appeal, could have induced those inh«ibitants to have
run the risk, and to have undergone the hardships and fatigues they
have borne, for the salvation of their lives, liberties and properties.
In the several stages of the aforesaid o|)pression, we have petition
ed his Britannic Majesty in the most humble manner for^redrPSs, and
have at a very great expense, received several reports in our favor ;
and in other instances wherein we have petitioned the hue Legisla
tive authority of New York, these petitions have been treated with
neglect. We shall therefore only remind the public that our local
situation alone, is a sufficient reason of our declaration of an inde
pendency, and must therefore denounce a separation from the State
of New York, and refer the public to our declaration of being a dis
tinct State, published in the Connecticut Courant the I5th day of
January last, and sincerely wish, that in future a lasting and perma
nent peace may continue between the State of New York and this
with the other United States of America.
By order of Convention, JONAS FAY, Secretary.

« The Song of the Vermonters," 1779.'
Ho— all to the borders I VermonterE, come down,
With your breeches of deer-skin, and jackets of brown ;
"With your red woolen caps, and your moccasins, come
To the gathering summons of trumpet and drum.
Come down with your rifles I— let gray wolf and fox
Howl on in the shade of their primitive rocks ;
Let the bear feed securely from pig-pen and stall ;
Here 's a two-legged game for your powder and ball.
On our South come the Dutchmen, enveloped in grease ;
And, arming for battle, while canting of peace ;
On our East, crafty Meshechf has gathered his band,
To hang up our leaders, and eat out our land.
Ho— all to the rescue ! For Satan shall work
No gain foi his legions of Hampshire and York !
They claim our possessions,— the pitiful knaves —
The tribute we pay, shall be prisons and graves !
Let Clinton and Ten'Broek,| with bribes in their hands.
Still seek to divide us, and parcel our lands ; —
»The political history of Vermont is full of interest. In 1762, New York, by
reason of an extraordinary giant of Charles II. to the Duke of York, claimed a ju-.
rlsdiction over about sixty townships of which grants had been given by the Gov
ernor of New Hampshire, declaring those grants illegal. An attempt was made to
dispossess the settlers, but it was promptly resisted. In 1774, New York passed
a most despotic law against the resisting Vermonters, and the Governor offered a
large reward for the apprehension of the celebrated Ethan Alien, and seven of his
associates. The proscribed persons in turn threatened to "kill and destjoy any
person or pers o ns vv homsoever ihat should be accessary, aiding or assisting in tak-
ing any of them." See Allen^s Vindication, p. 45. Blood was shed at Westminster
Court House, in 1775. Vide R. Jones^ Narrative. In 1777, Vermont declared its
independence. New York still urged her claims and attempted to enforce them with
her militia. In 1779, New Hampshire also laid claim to the whole State of Ver
mont. Massachusetts speedily followed by puuing in ier claims to about two-thirds
of it. Congress, powerless under ihe old Confederation, endeavored to keep
on good terms with all the parties, but ardently favored New York. Vermont
remonstrated warmly. Congress threatened. Vermont published " an appeal to
the candid and impartial world" — denounced Congress, and asserted its own abso
lute independeace. Notwithstanding the threats offered on all sides, the contest
terminated without much bloodshed, and Vermont was admitted into the Union in
1791, after existing as an independent sovereignty for nearly fifteen yesira .— Wi t-
Hams' History of Vermont, fyc.
f Hon. Meshech Weare, Governor of New Hampshire.
X Gov. Clinton, of New York, and Hon. A. Ten Broek, President of the New
York Convention.

36
We 've coats: for our traitors, whoever they are ;
The warp is of feathers — the filling of far .' §
Efoes the " old bay State" threaten ? Does Congress complain ?
Swarms Hampshire in arms on our borders again ?
Bark the war-dogs of Britain aloud on the lake.?
Let 'era come ; — what they can, they are welcome to take.
What seek they among us ? The pride of our wealth
Is comfort, contentment, and labor and health,
And lands which, as Freemen, we only have trod.
Independent of all, save the mercies of God.
Yet we owe no allegiance ; we bow to no throne ;
Our ruler is law, and the law is our own ;
Our leaders themselves are our own fellow-men.
Who can handle the sword, or the scythe, or the pen.
Our wives are all true, and our daughters are fair,
With their blue eyes of smiles, and their light flowing hair ;
All brisk at their wheels till the dark even-fall.
Then blithe at the sleigh-ride, the husking, and ball !
We 've sheep on the hill sides : we 've cows on the plain ;
And gay-tasseled corn-fields, and rank-growing grain ;
There are deer on the mountains ; and wood-pigeons fly
From the crack of our muskets, like clouds on the sky.
And there 's fish in our streamlets and rivers, which take
Their course from the hills to our broad-bosomed lake ;
Through rock-arched Winooski the salmon leaps free,
And the portly shad follows all fresh from the sea.
Like a sun-beam the pickerel glides through bis pool ;
And the spotted trout sleeps where the water is cool.
Or darts from his shelter of rock and of root
At the beaver's quick plunge,*t)r the"an§l'er's pursuit.
And ours are the mountains, which awfully rise
Till they rest their green heads on the blue of the skies ;
And ours are the forests unwasted, unshorn,'
Save where the wild path of the tempest is torn.
^ ' . ' '.
§ The New York sheriffs and those who submitted to.the authority of New York
were often roughly handled by the Green Mountain Boys; The following is from
the journal of the proceedings of the Vermont Council of public safety : — Council of
Safety, 3d Sept. 1777. "   is permitted to return home, and remain
on his father's farm (and if found off to expect thiriy-nlne lashes of the beach seal)
until further orders from this Council." The instrument of punishment was termed
the " beach seal," in allusion to the great seal of New Hampshire affixed to the
grants, of which the beach rod well laid upon tlje naked backs of the " Yorkers"
and their adherents was considered a confirmation.

36
And though savage and wild be this climate oCjgurs,
And brief be our season of fruits and of flowers,
Far dearer the blast round our mountains which raves,
Than the sweet summer zephyr, which breathes over slaves.
Hurra for Vermont ! for the land which we till
Must have sons to defend her from valley and hill ;
Leave the harvest to rot on the field where it grows,
And the reaping of wheat for the reaping of foes.
Far from Michiscoui's wild valley, to where
Poosoomsuck steals down from his wood-circled lair,
From Sbocticook river to Lutterlock town, —
Ho — all to the rescue ! Vermonters, come down !
Come York or come Hampshire, — come traitors and knaves ;
If ye rule o'er our land, ye shall rule o'er our graves ;
Onr vow is recorded — our banner unfurled ;
In the name of Vermont we defy all the world ! \\
II " Rather than fail, I will retire with my hardy Green Mountain Boys to the
desolate caverns of the mountains, and wage war with human nature at large."—
Ethan Allen's Letter to Congress, March 9, 1784.

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