Lamoille County,
Vermont
and the War of 1812
The yoke of the mother country having been thrown off, the
American colonies rapidly advanced in progress. Vermont expanded into a free
and independent State, and was finally annexed to the Union, March 4, 1791.
In the mean time, the French nation, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, had arrived
at the zenith of military glory, and was giving England great cause for fear
and trembling. England, in turn, seeming to forget that her American
offspring had arrived at maturity, and was able to protect its own
institutions, continued her acts of tyranny. Looking upon herself as
mistress of the ocean, during her wars with Napoleon, she utterly
disregarded the rights of the United States as a neutral nation. Her
cruisers would stop and search American vessels, and seize such able-bodied
seamen as were needed, on the pretext that they were British subjects. An
American frigate, not in a condition to resist, having been subjected to
this indignity, almost within sight. of an American port, after receiving
several broadsides for denying the right of such search, the President
issued a proclamation ordering all British ships-of-war to quit the waters
of the United States. Congress also laid ad embargo on American vessels,
detaining them at home, but afterwards substituted a non-intercourse act,
prohibiting trade with Great Britain. All intercourse between this State and
the people of Canada was prohibited, without a permit from the governor,
under a penalty of $1,000.00 fine and imprisonment at hard labor in the
State penitentiary for the term of seven years.
Notwithstanding all this, England persisted in her offensive course. All
hopes of obtaining concessions on the impressment question from her were at
length abandoned. George III., who was still on the throne, had become
insane, and the men who had managed affairs, were as short-sighted as his
advisers had been forty years before, whose folly had provoked the
revolution. Longer submission to their arrogant claims was deemed unworthy
of a free nation, and war was therefore formally declared by the United
States, June 18, 1812. The majority of the people of Vermont considered the
declaration of war rash and imprudent, believing that the required issue
could have been brought about by legislation; but notwithstanding this
feeling, the general assembly of the State passed the following resolution:
"The constituted authorities of our country having declared war between the
United States and Great Britain and dependencies, it is our duty as
citizen's to support the measure, otherwise we should identify ourselves
with the enemy, with no other difference than that of locality. We therefore
pledge ourselves to each other and to our government, that with cur
individual exertions, our example and influence, we will support our
government and country in the present contest, and rely on the great Arbiter
of events for a favorable result."
Both Lamoille and Orleans counties were well represented in this contest,
and sustained with honor the. reputation of their State. During the autumn
of 1813, a large drove of fat oxen, containing one hundred head, was
purchased, principally in New Hampshire and upon the borders of the
Connecticut river, under pretense of furnishing the troops at Burlington and
Plattsburgh, but, arriving at Walden, or Hardwick, turned their course
towards Canada. Information was soon given to the officers of the
government, and the cattle were pursued, and overtaken at or near the Canada
line, seized and returned. Arriving at Johnson, in this county, near night,
they were yarded for refreshment. About two o'clock the following morning,
an express arrived from Craftsbury, that a collection, or mob, some seventy
in number, were on their way to retake the drove. An immediate call was made
for the militia to arm, to protect them, which was organized under the
command of a Captain Thompson of the army, then on recruiting service here,
and sentinels stationed around the yard, with strict orders that no one
should pass the lines, on peril of death. About day-light the mob drew near
the village, w:-,en, discovering the position of the guard, they made a
halt, rather than an attack, and learning that warrants were being made for
their arrest, dropped their weapons, which were principally clubs and
pitchforks, and hastily made their retreat. The oxen were driven to
Burlington and disposed of as they were assumed to have been purchased.
Subsequently, information was received that a large train of teams were on
the road, loaded with dry goods from Montreal, in transit to Boston. Two or
three officers of the customs were soon in readiness to seize the teams and
goods, which cost their owners some $13,000.00 in Montreal. The officers,
with some assistance, met the teams, some short distance from the village of
Johnson, and ordered them to surrender, but the party, some fourteen men,
showed fight, and attempted to pass. The road at that place being narrow,
one of the horses in the front team was shot down, which blocked the road,
and, after a severe contest, two or three of the smuggling party being
severely wounded, they surrendered their teams and goods to the officers,
who conveyed them to Burlington, and delivered them to Mr. VanNess,
collector. The day following the seizure, some forty suits were served on
the officers and their assistants for assault and battery; the goods were
subsequently bonded by Mr. VanNess, and the suits withdrawn; and it was
reported, and probably truly, that before the goods arrived at Boston, peace
was proclaimed, which caused the goods to be sold at a less price than they
were bonded.
To the county of Orleans the war proved to be very injurious; not because of
any devastation actually suffered, or of any severe draft upon the
inhabitants to act as soldiers. But the fear of evil was in this case almost
as great an injury as the actual experience of it would have been. The
county was on the extreme northern frontier, and thus exposed, not only to
ordinary border warfare, but to be penetrated to the very heart by the
defenseless route of Lake Memphremagog, and Black and Barton rivers. While
the war was merely apprehended, the people kept up good courage, and
constructed in several places stockade forts by way of defense. But no
sooner had hostilities begun, than a panic seized the settlers. Stories of
Indian atrocities were the staple of conversation, and there was a general
belief that the tomahawk and scalping-knife would again and at once commence
their work of butchery. A general flight took place. Many cultivated farms
were abandoned;. cattle were driven off and such portable property as could
most easily be removed was carried away. Some of those who left the country
never returned, and those who did eventually come back, were impoverished
and discouraged. In almost all of the towns, however, enough of the more
courageous inhabitants remained to keep possession of the territory, and to
maintain in a small way the institutions of civilization. Parties of United
States soldiers were stationed at North Troy, and at Derby Line, and a sense
of security gradually returned to the people.
In the summer of 1814, the British, having concentrated 14,000 men near the
foot at Lake Champlain, undertook an invasion of, the States, somewhat on
the plan of Burgoyne in 1777. There had been skirmishing throughout the
season; but when, in August, most of the American troops were transferred to
the Niagara frontier, Gen. Prevost improved the opportunity to march upon
Plattsburgh. Here Gen. Macomb, in command of the Americans, had made all the
preparation in his power for a vigorous defense; but he had only 2,000
efficient men, and lacked ordnance, while his works were still incomplete.
Commodore McDonough had also strained every nerve to make ready for the
British fleet, which was to act in conjunction with the army. His flag ship
was launched within forty days from the time the timber used in its
construction was standing in the forest. Despite all his exertions, however,
in the number of his vessels, guns, and men, he was inferior to the enemy.
The British army, having reached Plattsburgh, was there held in check by
Macomb, who, strengthened by the brave militia of Vermont and New York, had
taken a position on the south side of the Saranac river. But the fate of the
battle was to be decided on the water. On the 11th of September, the British
flotilla drew near to Plattsburgh, and McDonough joined the battle, after
having on the deck of his vessel invoked the blessing of God upon his cause.
Two hours of terrible fighting resulted in a victory for the Americans as
signal as had been that of Perry on Lake Erie. The British commander, who
had boasted that with his flag-ship alone he could whip the whole Yankee
fleet, was killed, and his entire squadron struck. Thus ended the battle of
Plattsburgh Bay, one of the greatest naval engagements of the world. The
British commissioners, at first unreasonable, lowered their tone after the
battle of Plattsburgh and the subsequent battle of Baltimore, and on the
24th of December, 1814, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, in Belgium,
ending the war. The soldiers, so far as we have been able to learn, who went
from these counties to serve their country, will be found incorporated with.
the several town sketches, and to their pages we refer the reader for
further mention of the events of those stirring times.
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Lamoille Co., VT
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Lamoille Co., VT
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