The Green Mountain Boys

by Philip H. Smith

The Green Mountains,[A] from which the state takes its name, run lengthwise through the central portion, about midway between the Connecticut River on the east and Lake Champlain on the west. The sides of these mountains are clad with the perpetual verdure of their hardy evergreens, the verdant mosses and winter grasses clinging to their towering summits. The principal streams, rising among these mountains and following the natural declivities, find their way into this river and lake, except those flowing northerly into Lake Memphremagog.

It was not until after the conquest of Canada that any considerable settlements were effected in the territory now known as Vermont. Situate about midway between the French districts on the River St. Lawrence and the New England settlements along the Atlantic coast, it had very naturally become the battle-ground of the contending powers, and a lurking place of their respective Indian allies. The early colonists of Massachusetts and Connecticut, in their frequent expeditions against the French in Canada, and while traversing these woods as hunters and scouting parties, had become familiar with the fertility of the lands between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain. As soon as the danger attending their settlement was in a measure removed, by reason of Canada and New England coming under the same King, swarms of emigrants from the adjacent colonies poured into the country, and the most available and valuable portions were immediately taken up; and, as though by magic, the wilderness developed into fruitful fields, and gardens flourished where the wild rabbit had made its home. At the beginning of the Revolution the population was estimated at from twenty to thirty thousand.

If not to be governed at all is to be governed well,—and so it would seem to be in this instance,—the remarkable exemption of the State of Vermont from taxation at the close of the Revolution, as compared with other States, added to the fertility and cheapness of the land, attracted settlers from many of the older communities, resulting in large additions to population and resources.

CHAPTER II.
ORIGIN OF THE LAND TROUBLES.

Vermont, as has been well said, was born in the midst of tumult and the clash of arms. No other State, we can safely affirm, came up out of such tribulation. Her experience is that of a people exposed to the avarice and greed of officials who scruple not to use the necessities of their helpless subjects as a means of securing their own selfish ends.

It was in pursuance to instructions from his Britannic Majesty that Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, proceeded, in 1749, to grant lands on the west side of the Connecticut River, in the present State of Vermont, to such persons as would settle and cultivate the same. After the declaration of peace between France and England, Wentworth ordered that a survey be made of the river for sixty miles, and that three tiers of townships be laid out on either side. In 1764 about one hundred and forty townships had been granted to New England settlers.

The lands went under the title of the “New Hampshire Grants,” numbering sixty-eight proprietors, each grant being six miles square, the Governor reserving to himself five hundred acres at the corner of each township. There were also reserved four public rights, viz.: one to the society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts; one for a perpetual glebe to the established Church of England; one for the first settled minister of the Gospel in town; and one for the support of a school. The patentees, that is to say, the possessors, were after ten years to pay ninepence sterling per annum on each hundred acres as quit-rent to his Majesty.

In addition to the five hundred acres at the corner of each township, Governor Wentworth received fees and other emoluments in his official capacity in making these grants. But he was not always to pursue this career of pecuniary prosperity. Other scheming brains, jealous of his rapidly accumulating fortune, sought to deprive him of his monopoly of land giving. This menace lay in the persons of Cadwallader Colden, Lieut.-Gov. of New York, and some associates composed of lawyers and land speculators of New York city.

As an initiative, Lieut.-Gov. Colden issued a proclamation to the settlers on the west bank of the Connecticut, Dec. 28, 1763, arrogating to the government of New York sole jurisdiction over the territory, founding the claim on the grant made by Charles II to the Duke of York in 1664 and 1674, embracing among other parts “all the lands from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of the Delaware Bay.” Colden at once commenced making grants of land in his newly acquired territory, and by the first of November following, his patents covered a large portion of the lands occupied by the settlers who had just paid for their titles to the Governor of New Hampshire.

Gov. Wentworth now issued a counter proclamation intended to inspire confidence in the grants from New Hampshire, and exhorting the people to be diligent in clearing up their lands, and not be intimidated by the threats of New York. The latter province thereupon made application to the Crown for a confirmation of its claims, falsely and fraudulently averring that such an arrangement would meet the wishes of the people of the territory in dispute. These claims were confirmed by Great Britain in July, 1764.