Chap. 4. 



CIVIL POLICY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 



69 



EXPEDITION AGAINST NEWBURY. 



BURNING OF ROYALTON. 



them from sending their whole force up 

 the lake. Hazen, however, continued 

 the road 50 miles above Peacliam, throutrh 

 the towns of Cabot, Wakleii, Hardwick, 

 Greensborouffh, Craflsbury, Albany, and 

 Lowell, and erected block houses at sev- 

 eral places along the route. This was a 

 great convenience to the settlers who 

 came into these parts after the war, and 

 is known at this day as the '■'■Hazen Road.'' 

 It terminated near a remarkable notch in 

 the mountain in Westficld, and which 

 has since been called Hazen s JVotch. 



During the continuance of the war, the 

 frontier towns were fre(iucntly alarmed 

 by the appearance of Indian scouting par- 

 ties in their neighborhood, but the inhab- 

 itants were seldom molested. Their dwel- 

 lings were, however, occasionally plun- 

 dered, and sometimes men were taken 

 prisoners, and a few, at different times, 

 were killed, but the women and children 

 were not usually injured, and never mas- 

 sacred as in former wars. In 1777, the 

 Indians killed two men in Brandon, took 

 several of the inhabitants prisoners, and 

 burnt their dwellings. On the 9tli of 

 Auo-ust, 1780, they took tJiree men in 

 Barnard, whom they carried to Canada ;* 

 and in October of the same year, they 

 made a successful expedition against Roy- 

 alton, a thriving settlement on White 

 river, which then consisted of about 300 

 inhabitants. 



I'liis expedition was designed against 

 Newbury, on Connecticut river, for tlie 

 object, as was supposed, of capturing a 

 Lieutenant Whitcomb, who in July, 1776, 

 while on a scout, had wantonly shot Gen- 

 eral Gordon, a British otlicer, between 

 Chambly and St. Johns, and robbed him 

 of his watcli and sword. The British 

 deeply resented this attack as unworthy 

 of an ofiicer, and were desirous of getting 

 Whitcomb into their power. The party, 

 consisting of about 300 men, mostly In- 

 dians, was commanded by one Horton, a 

 British lieutenant. Wliile proceeding up 

 Winooski river, they fell in with several 

 hunters, by whom they were told that the 

 people of Newbury were expecting an at- 

 tack, and were vi-ell prepared for defence. 

 This information induced them to turn 

 their attention towards Royalton. 



They accordingly proceeded up Ste- 

 vens' and jail branch, and down the first 

 branch of Whit(> river, to Tunbridge, 

 where they lay in their encampment dur- 

 ing the Sabbath, and on Monday morning, 

 it being the 16th of October, they com- 



* Some further account of tlicse, and other similar 

 transactions, will be found in part third, in tlio ac- 

 counts of Barnard, lirandon, Btulpotl, and other 

 towns. 



menced their depredations at the house of 

 Mr. John Hutchinson, who lived near the 

 line between Tunbridge and Royalton. 

 After making Mr. Hutchinson and his 

 brother Abijah prisoners, they proceeded 

 to the house of Mr. Robert Havens, where 

 they killed Thomas Pember and Elias 

 Button. They tlien went to the house of 

 Jose])h Kneeland, took him and liis fath- 

 er, and Simeon Belknap, Giles Gibbs and ' 

 Jonathan Brown. Proceeding thence to 

 the house of Mr. Elias Curtis, tliey made 

 him and John Kent and Peter Mason 

 prisoners. , 



Thus far the busirJess was conducted 

 with the greatest silence, and the prison- 

 ers were forbid making any outcry upon 

 pain of death. They at length arrived at 

 the mouth of the branch, where they 

 made a stand, while small parties pro- 

 ceeded in different directions to plunder 

 the dwellings and bring in prisoners. By 

 this time the alarm had become general, 

 the inhabitants were flying for safety in 

 every direction, and the savages filled the 

 air with their horrid yells. One party ex- 

 tended its ravages down the river into 

 Sharon, took two prisoners and burnt sev- 

 eral houses and barns. Another party 

 proceeded up the river, made prisoner of 

 David Waller, a young lad who lived with 

 General Stevens, plundered and set fire 

 to the General's house, and advanced in 

 that direction about three miles, killing 

 the cattle and plundering and setting fire 

 to the buildings as they passed. 



After completing their work of destruc- 

 tion, they returned with their booty to 

 the place wliere they commenced their 

 attack in the morning. From this place 

 they proceeded across the hill to Ran- 

 dolph, where they encamped for the night 

 on the second branch of White river. In 

 the course of the day they had killed two 

 persons, taken 2-5 prisoners, burnt up- 

 wards of 20 houses,- and about the same 

 number of barns, and killed about 1.50 

 head of cattle, and all the sheep and hogs 

 that fell in their way ; having suffered no 

 loss themselves, and scarcely met with 

 any opposition. Surprised, affrighted and 

 scattered from one another, the inhabi- 

 tants could take no steps for their defence ; 

 the alarm, however, soon spread, and a 

 number of men immediately marched from 

 Connecticut river, and the adjacent towns. 

 By evening they amounted to several hun- 

 dreds, and were collected at the place 

 where the attack was first commenced. 

 Here they organized themselves, and 

 chose for their commander a captain John 

 House, who had served several campaigns 

 in the continental army. 



Early in the evening, House began his 



