IG 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



BENNINGTON. 



BKNNINGTOK. 



is fts follows, viz : '■'■Voted., that each man 

 that owns the rights in the east range of 

 riglits in the town of Bennington sliall 

 have the liberty of removing tlie easterly 

 half mile of said rights over to the u-est 

 side in said town opposite to tJiem" If, 

 as this vote would seem to indicate, tlie 

 west line of the town was removed, it 

 had the effect to add a strip of lialf a mile 

 in width and about fifty in length to the 

 state, — the west line of Bennington hav- 

 ing been the basis of the surve3's of all 

 the western towns, from Pownal north 

 to Poultney river. In June, 1765, a Capt. 

 Campbell, in attempting to survey " the 

 old patent," as that of Walloomscoik was 

 called, came on the land of Samuel Rob- 

 inson, where he was met by him and 

 others in his employment, and forcibly 

 driven olf. Robinson, with two others, 

 was indicted for a riot in the court at Al- 

 bany, was arrested and after being con- 

 fined two months in Albany jail, was re- 

 leased on the payment of a fine. This 

 was the first of that series of indictments 

 with which the settlers were harrassed for 

 many years. In the fall of 17(iG Capt. 

 Robinson went to England as an agent 

 for the settlers on the grants, where he 

 died the succeeding year.* The Yorkers, 

 considering their claim under " the old 

 patent" as standing on stronger grounds 

 of equity than those under more recent 

 grants, prosecuted it with more zeal ; 

 and the New Hampshire men, believing 

 that the success of their antagonists un- 

 der that claim would be the forerunner of 

 success in all the others, resisted it with 

 equal vigilance and ardor. Several efforts 

 iiad been made to survey the patent, but, 

 for some reason or other, they had proved 

 unsuccessful. In the fall of 1769 a re- 

 newed attempt, with a large party, was 

 made, but with no better success than 

 before. It liappened, whether acciden- 

 tally or otherwise, cannot now he known, 

 that on the very day the survey was to 

 be undertaken, a large number of the in- 

 habitants had assembled on the farm of 

 James Breakenridge, to assist in harvest- 

 ing his corn. While they were thus em- 

 ployed, the surveyors made their appear- 

 ance. A long conversation ensued, which, 

 Avithout the a])plication of force, resulted 

 in the abandonment of the attempt, on 

 the part of the surveyors. It is probable 

 they saw reason to apprehend danger if 

 they persevered, and tlierefore desisted. t 

 The result of the trials at Albany inJulv, 

 177(1, gave new confidence to the Wal- 

 loomscoik proprietors, who undertook an- 

 other survey the following September, 

 hut the surveyors were met by a number 



* See pan second, page 19. f ILiid. page 20. 



of the settlers, and threatened so decisive- 

 ly with violence in case they continued 

 their work, that they were very willing 

 to abandon it. This produced another 

 complaint to the governor and another 

 proclamation for apprehending rioters, 

 among whom were named Simeon Hath- 

 eway, Moses Scott, Jona Fisk, and Silas 

 Robinson, who are described as "princi- 

 pal authors and actors in said riot." On 

 the 2r)th of November, the Slieriff of Al- 

 bany county, by the aid of "the infamous 

 John Munro," as he is called in Ethan 

 Allen's publications, succeeded in arrest- 

 ing Silas Robinson, and in hurrying him 

 ofF to Albany before his neighbors could 

 come to fiis rescue. Robinson was in- 

 dicted as a rioter and confined in jail till 

 October of the next year, when he was 

 released on bail.* Since the recovery of 

 judgment in ejectment by the Walloom- 

 scoik proprietors against James Breaken- 

 ridge, the sheriff of Albany county had 

 made several unsuccessful essays to put 

 the plaintiffs in possession of the lands 

 recovered. It was therefore determined, 

 by the advice of the governor and council, 

 that the posse, or in other words the militia 

 of Albany county, should be called out to 

 aid the sheriff in executing his writ. Early 

 in July, 1771, an attempt was made to ear- 

 ly this determination into effect, the result 

 of which has been given in part sec- 

 ond, pacre 21. About this time one Haz- 

 zard Wilcox, who lived in Hoosic, on 

 Walloomscoik patent, undertook, with 

 several others, to build a house in the ex- 

 treme northwest corner of Bennington, 

 on the forty acres which were within the 

 acknowledged limits of the patent. They 

 built the body of the house with logs, and 

 had raised the rafters, but tlie " Hamp- 

 shire men" drove off the party, tore down 

 the house, and cut up and burnt the ma- 

 terials. This Wilcox, who was an active 

 " Yorker," afterwards became a tory, in 

 the first year of the war, and when some of 

 his neighbors undertook to break into his 

 house and arrest him, he struck one Per- 

 ry violently on the. breast ^with a heavy 

 piece of wood, and killed him. Upon 

 which Wilcox Hed and never returned. 

 These were the last attempts of the York- 

 ers to take forcible possession of lands in 

 Bennington. But their attempts were 

 often made in other places ; and as the 

 inhabitants of Bennington had been first 

 assailed by the land jobbers and had suc- 

 cesfully resisted them, they were nat- 

 urally looked to for counsel and aid by 

 the settlers in other towns ; and this 

 counsel and aid were promptly given. The 

 opposition to New York became known 



'k:cc' piirt second, page 21- 



