22 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



DECREES OF COSVZNTIO.V. 



MILITARY ASSOCIATION. 



BAKER TAKEN. 



s^er — hideous groans ; and at the same 

 time the two divisions exhibited their 

 hats on the points of their guns, which 

 made them appear much more numerous 

 than they really were. The sheriff and 

 his posse seeing their dangerous situation, 

 and not (says Ira Allen^ being interested in 

 the dispute, made a hasty retreat, without 

 a shot being fired on (>itiier side. 



The New York claimants finding that 

 the militia of Albany county could not be 

 relied upon to act against the settlers, 

 they now sought to accomplish their ob- 

 ject by other means. By making favor- 

 able offers of titles under New York to 

 some prominent individuals on the grants, 

 by conferring offices on others, and by 

 encouraging persons from New York to 

 settle upon the unoccupied lands which 

 had been granted by New Hampshire, 

 they lioped to divide the people, and ren- 

 der the New York interest predominant. 



To thwart these plans of their enemies, 

 committees of safety were organized in 

 the several towns, and a convention of 

 the settlers on the grants was assembled, 

 which decreed, among other things, that 

 no officer from New York should be al- 

 lowed, without permission of the commit- 

 tee of safety, to carry any person out of 

 the district of the Nev.- Hampshire grants, 

 and that no surveys should be made, nor 

 lines run, nor settlements made under 

 New York, within the same. The viola- 

 tion of this decree was to be punished at 

 the discretion of a court formed by tlie 

 committees of safety or elders of the peo- 

 ple. At the same time the civil officers 

 were to be allowed to exercise their j)rop- 

 er functions in collecting debts and other 

 matters not connected with the contro- 

 versy. 



To carry out these measures, and be in 

 readiness in case of emergency, a mili- 

 tary association was formed, of which 

 Ethan Allen was appoi-nted Colonel Com- 

 mandant ; and Seth Warner, Remember 

 Baker, Robert Cochran, Gideon Warner, 

 and some others, were appointed Cap- 

 tains. Under these, the people of the 

 grants armed, and occasionally met for 

 military exercise and discipline, Of this 

 organization Gov. Tryon was apprized 

 early in 177i2, by a letter from John 

 Munro, in wliicli he says : " The rioters 

 have established a company at Benning- 

 ton, commanded by Capt. Warner, and 

 on new j^ear's day his company was re- 

 viewed, and continued all day in military 

 exercise and firing at mnrks." 



In pursuance of the New York policy 

 before mentioned, settlements were made 

 in the western parts of R.upert and Paw- 

 let by persons who had armed themselves 



in defiance of the New Hampshire gran- 

 tees. In October, 1771, Ethan Allen, 

 Remember Baker, and Robert Cochran, 

 with six others, inhabitants of Rupert, all 

 well armed, proceeded to warn off the 

 intruders, who, finding opposition vain, 

 fled to New York, and the log houses 

 which they had erected " were pulled 

 down, laid in heaps, and burned with 

 fire." 



Alexander McNaughton, a New York 

 justice of tlie peace, upon' this issued a 

 warrant for the apprehension of the per- 

 sons above mentioned as rioters, but at 

 the same time wrote to the governor of 

 New York that their situation among the 

 mountains was such that no sheriff or 

 constable could take them ; and recom- 

 mended that a reward be offered for their 

 apprehension. Accordingly, on the 27th 

 of November, the governor, by advice of 

 his council, put forth a proclamation, 

 offering a reward of £20 each for the ap- 

 prehension off Cochran, Allen, Baker, and 

 the six others. 



In February, 1772, the sheriff of Alba- 

 ny county came to Rupert with the gov- 

 ernor's proclamation, but did not succeed 

 in taking any of the persons concerned in 

 the alleged riotous proceedings. On his 

 return, he reported to the governor that 

 the rioters had retired, but from the con- 

 duct of those at home, not concerned in 

 the riot, " he found the greatest appear- 

 ance of a determined resolution not to 

 submit to the government, and this he 

 found partciularly verified by the conduct 

 of eiglit or nine, Vi'ho were armed with 

 guns and clubs, in which manner they 

 came to the house of one Harmon near 

 Indian river, where he then was, and 

 from their conduct it plainly appeared 

 ichat thcij intended.'^ 



Shortly after this John Munro, the New 

 York justice already mentioned, moved 

 by the hope of the reward and the desire 

 of notoriety, resolved to attempt the cap- 

 ture of one of the most prominent of the 

 rioters. Having assenibled ten or twelve 

 of his friends and dependants, on the22d 

 of ]\Iarch, 1772, be/ore daylight, being 

 Sunday morning, he proceeded to the 

 house of Remember Baker in Arlington 

 for the purpose of arresting him. Baker 

 was awalccncd by tlie breaking open of his 

 door, and the entrance of anumber of men 

 armed with swords and pistols. The in- 

 truders rushed upon him with savage fury, 

 wounding him by a cut across the head, 

 and also on the arm, with a sword. His 

 wife too was barbarously wounded by a 

 sword cut across the head and neck, and 

 one of his boys also, then about 12 years 

 old. Baker being overpowered and bound 



