The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1862-04-25
CALEDONIA COUNTY.

ne IOlIOWl!iS pa"
.tr county chapter" Of the Caledonia num-
..r Of the lermom UiStorcm Mogoztne'-
10 county chapter was written by Rev
r.omas Goodwillie Of Barnet, as was also the
"a ,s.orv of Barnet, both of which are very in
.....tinc. The history of Barnet alone occu
r.. thirty pages in this work.
Within the present limits of Caledonia
goYnty the towns of Barnet, Ryega:e, Peach
-, and Groton are laid down nearly accord
.,, 10 the New Hampshire surveys. The
.ro.t Of the other parts of the county are sur
,.yeI into townships, which in number, form
.,l location are altogether different from the
..f,r towns now in this county.
On the Connecticut river, above Barnet,
., lqrge township called "Dunmore," in
.ra;ng the whole Of Waterford and a con,
,.erab.e par, of st Johnsbury and Concord.
,laug the Barnet line narrow tract OF land
~, hid down, including parts of Waterford
..I St Johnsbury, and which was inscribed
~, Cargills." North of Dunmore, on the
p,,umpsic river, was "Besborough," includ-
n, the south part of Lyndon and the North
,,rt o. st Johnsbury. On the head branches
the Passumpsic was large tract, includ-
H., Burke and adjacent parts, in which was
,,cribed Thomas Clark 4 Co." North of
P,.cham was "lIilsborough," embracing
playille and parts of Walden and Hardwck.
These are all the towns in this county laid
.ogn on the New York map of l119.
/, is not certainly known at what time this
gar, of the country was discovered by Euro
rrans. It has been known to the New Eng
And settlers for more than a century. Prior
30 this period the Indians owned and occu-
rirl the soil, covered with the forest. The
wilderness was the nome and inheritance OF
these wild men of the woods. Here, they
.ampcd in its valleys, hunted on its noun
ans, and ished in its waters, over which
.aey gled swiftly in their light canoes and
hence, they went forth to war, fighting with
,4yase cunning and cruelty the foreigners
w.o came over the great waters from the
rl>., to dwell in their domains, converting
lie forests into fruitful fields. When it tirs
oc4me known to Europeans the St. Francis
tribe of Indians roamed over this part Of the
country. They had an encampment at New
.4ry and cultivated "the meadows on the
Great Ok Bow. But their principal settle
&ent was in Canada. st. Francis, yillag,
"a the south sile Of the river st. Lawrence
ut lar from the Three Rivers, was the
a-alquarters. The French employed then
Il tAeir wars against the English colonies
With their acquaintance with the country ant
their deadly hatred Of the English, they wert
formidable enemies. From none Of the lndi
N tribes had the provinces of New Hamp
sire suffered SO much. They made their in
clrsions along the river st. Francis and LAX,
NemphremaSog, and thence down the Pas
s.mpsc and Connecticut rivers. This wa
,.eir highway returning from the slaughte
ottar English, with their scalps, prisoners
and p.under They were much distinguished
by the Slaughter and destruction spread a
mong the advanced settlements, the enolmi
y Of their crueltes and barbarities, and tn
lumber Of their scalps and captives.
In the spring of l152 party Of ten OF
'.e,c Indians surprised party of four Ne'
England settlers while hunting on Baker
river n Rumney, " II. One fled, one wa
killed, and the other two were taken prison
crs and carried captive into Canada, to thei
headquarters at st. Francis. One of thes
'aptive> was John Stark, afterwards the ia
nous Gen Stark, who must have been one @
,'e hrst of Europeans to behold this part c
ne country. One of his daughters live
and died in Ryegate, and some of her de
scendaats now reside in Ryegate and Barne
These Two men returned from their captivit
Il Canada in the summer of 1852, and CAV
an account Of the country through which the
Lad passed.
No doubt later and fuller information {
rs part Of the country was given by Majo
-,osers and his rangers upon their return
.,l', by the Passumpsic River and the Coo
Meadows" from their successful expeditio
.tl!aSt the st. Francis Indians in Canad;
h-, the sad fjte of many of these brave VI
unfortunate men, which took place in o!
county. gives a melancholy interest to II
Early history nf this part of the county.
General AMHERST being at Crown Point {
Lake Champlain, carrying on the war again
@e French colonies in 1859, determined
make these Indians, who continued to di
,lrb and distress the frontiers, feel the pow
o; ,he English colonies. For this purpos
On September -, l159, the very day that Il
n,as4sh took Quebec, he appointed Maj
!. gers, brave and experienced officer fro
New Hampshire, who had become famo'
'ot the number, boldness, and success of /
Enterprises to conduct an expedition again
ms bar5arous tribe, carrying the horrors
War unexpectedly into their headquarters
'aaada. Tae night after the orders We
gwen he set out with two hundred men
coats and proceeded down Lake Champlai
IT,: the fifth day after they left Crown Poil
While encamped on the eastern shore of t
axe, keg Of gunpowder accidentally exp
Ne'', woundlng captain OF the royal re-
Ment and several men, who were sent ba
70 Crown Point with party to conduct the
1".s reduced logcrs's force to one hundr
ana iogty-two men, with whom he proceed
. Nissisco Bay, as ordered. Here he CO
Cea-ed his boats among some bushes viii
hung over one of the streams, and left
'Aem provisions sufficient to carry them ba
% Crown Point.
According to orders he left the lake a
edyanced into the wilderness towards
francis village, having left Two n
y watch the boats and provisions, with
Gels that if the enemy discovered them, II
were to pursue the party with expedition a
eve him intelligence. The second event
alter he left the bay these two men overtc
'.e party and informed him that four hui
red French and Indians had discovered
Joats and sent them away with fifty m
while the rest Of the party went in pursuit
he English. Rogers kept this intellige
- himself, but sent away the two rang
WIN a iIIDtapapf aD1 oic 70 ('rT