68 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Pakt II. 



ISRIDGEMAN S FUIIT. 



CAPT. MELVIN. 



IMII.ITARV ROADS. 



Indian allies were alwaj's involved. Dur- 

 inor their continuance, the frontier Eng- 

 lish settlements were frequently broken 

 up, and the inhabitants either massacred 

 or carried into captivity. Some account 

 of tiieso transactions in the vicinit)^ of 

 Vermont has already been given in the 

 first cliajjter. But as very few settlements 

 were made within our limits while Cana- 

 da was in possession of the French, the 

 first settlers of Vermont suffered less from 

 the incursions of the Indians than those 

 of some of the other states. 



Bridgcmaii's Fort* 

 We have already mentioned that the 

 inhabitants of Vernon were attacked and 

 several of thein slain by the Indians, in 

 174G, and that ijridgeman's fort was taken 

 and destroyed by them the next year. 

 This place again received a hostile visit 

 in IT.j.j. On the 27th of July, of this 

 year, Caleb Hovre, Hilkiah Grout, and 

 Benjamin Gaffield were way-laid and fired 

 upon by a pnrty of Indians, as they were 

 leturnuig from tiicir labor in tiie field. 

 Howe was killed, GafHcld was drowned 

 in attempting to ford the river, and Grout 

 escaped unhurt. The Indians then pro- 

 ceeded to Bridgeman's fort, wiiich had 

 been rebuilt, where they made prisoners 

 of the families of these three men, con- 

 sisting of tlieir wives and eleven children, 

 being all the persons in the fort. These 

 were all carried to Canada, where they 

 were doomed to suffer a lon^ and cruel 



* Tlus foil is now sUiulin^ in Vernon. This 

 fort and others so often niftntionod in the accounts 

 of the Iniiian wiirs, were [iroperly block-houses. 

 They were constructed of hirge squared timber 

 locked together at the corners in the manner of a 

 common log cabin, aiiil covered witb a root, with 

 jiort-holos for firing upon the assailants. They 

 Berved only as protection against musiieiry. 



captivity. Most of them, however, were 

 afterwards redeemed and returned to their 

 friends. 



In 17.56, as Captain Melvin, at the head 

 of about 120 men, was marching through 

 the wilderness from Charlestown, New 

 Hampsliire, to Hoosic fort, and when in 

 the southerly part of Newfane, which was 

 then uninliabitcd, he was fired upon by a 

 large ])arty of Indians, who were lying in 

 ambush. A severe conflict ensued, in 

 which botii parties suffered considerably 

 in killed and wounded. Melvin's party 

 was at length overpowered by numbers, 

 and was obliged to leave the fteld in pos- 

 session of the enemy. Melvin and sev- 

 eral of his number made their escape and 

 arrived safely at fort Dummer. The next 

 djvy he returned to the battle ground with 

 a party from fort Duramer. I'he Indians 

 were not to be found, but the bodies of 

 those who were slain were collected and 

 buried. 



At the time of the American Revolution 

 the number of Indians residing in the vi- 

 cinity of Vermont was greatly diminished ; 

 and as the Americans, at the commence- 

 ment of that struggle, got possession of 

 the military posts along lake Champlain, 

 these fvw liad, for a while, no opportunity 

 to molest our settlements. But when tjie 

 American army retreated from Canada in 

 1776, and tlie British had secured to them- 

 selves the command of lake Champlain, 

 our western borders were wholly at the 

 mercy of tlie enemy, and continued so 

 during the remainder of the war. All the 

 settlements in the vicinity of the lake 

 were broken up, and the settlers retired 

 with their families to the southward. Tlie 

 frontier military posts were at Castleton 

 and Pittsford, on the west side of the 

 mountains, and at Barnard, Corinth, New- 

 bury, and Peach:iin, on the east side, 



I)uring the last French war, a military 

 road had been opened from Charlestown 

 to Crown Point, which was now very 

 beneficial to the Americans, and early in 

 the spring of 1776, General Bailey was 

 ordered to open a road from Newbury, 

 through the wilderness, to St. Johns, for 

 the purpose of facilitating Ihe conveyance 

 of troops and provisions into Canada. He 

 had opened the road six miles above 

 Peacluim, when the news arrived th.nt our 

 army had retreated from Canada, and the 

 undertaking was abandoned. But in 

 1771), Gen. Hazen was ordered to Peach- 

 am witli part of a regiment, for the pur- 

 pose, as was said, of completing the road 

 begun bv Bailey, so that an army might 

 be sent through, for the reduction of Can- 

 ada. But this was probably only a feint 

 for dividing the enemy and preventing 



