Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-09-24
Gov. Philip Skene.

Philip Skene was never citizen of our
state, but his history for several years is
so intimately interviewer with that of
South Western Vermont, as co-celonist,
neighboring manufacturer, friend, Yorker,
tory, and would-be-governor, that our local
history would be defective unless furnished
with sketch of his life.
The grandson of John Skene of Hal
yaIds in Fifeshire, Scotland, he enters the
British army in 1889, is in the expedition
against Portobello that year; at the taking
of Carthagena in l74l in the battle of
Fonteroy in l744; in the battle of
Culloden in l746 spectator of the bat
tie of Laffeld in l747 and arrives in Amer
lea in 1856.
On the I'd of February, 1857, he is
promoted to the command of comrany
in the 9th or Inuiskilen Regiment of
Foot, under Lord Loudou in July, 1853,
is wounded in the unfortunate attack by
Lord Howe upon Ticonderoga on the
3lst of July, 1859, is appointed Major Of
a Brigade, by General Amherst, and in
October Of that year he is left in charge
of Crown Point with orders to strengthen
the military fortifcations there.
1t is in this last station that his adven-
| lures first seem blended with those of our
predecessors, for now ceasing to be mere
soldier, his active habits, quick observa-
ton and strong Judgment, familiarze him
/ with the valuable timber, fertile soil and
numerous water privileges of the sur
rounding territory-he sees, IN fancy, the
the narrow placid lake vexed with the
keels and whitened with the sails of a
coming commerce; hears the sounds of the
saw and anvil and the busy hum of social
industry along its banks. Encouraged by
/ General Amherst he exerts himself, and
10 he sees the reality before him in +
hamlet Of thirty families, numbering ner
haps l9O persons, at the head of Lake
Champlaln, near the site of the present vii.
lage of Whitehall.
but an European soldier, stationed in
America during the fierce struggles for co.
lonlal agg andizement, by the rival houses
OF Hanover aud Bourbon could not al
ways indulge in the halcyon pursuits, Of
the piping times of peace" In 1862,
okene Is ordered to join the expedition
against Martinico and Havana, and in the
stormlng of the Castle Moro, he signalizes
himself by being among the first to enter
the imminent deadly breach.n He re.
| turns to New York i. 1853, looks aitel
the interests Of his infant settlement, goes
to England, and in I765 obtains a patent
Tor a large tract Of land, under the name
OF Skenesborough. But ere long his req
lment IS or'ered to Ireland; to avoid
leaving America in May, 176S, he ex-
changes INTO the 10th, foot; but another or
der may come, ordering that regiment
away, and to escape all future trouble of
the kind, he sells out of the army in Dec.
lI69, and in l770 establishes his resi-
dence as citizen at Skenesborough. The
next live years constitute the palmv
days OF hls colonial ommunity-peace
prevails, industry dourishes, rude plenty
abounds; the population increased 10 sew
eral hundred. Skene's foresight and ex
ecauve ability develope themselves in sub
stantal aud useful improvements. He
opeas a road to Salem and Bennington.
afterwards known as ''Skene's Road.''
builds mills for saving timber and forges
Tor smelling iron, and it was said. a grist
mill, stone barn, one hundred feet long.
and an extensive dwelling house.
In the collisions between the Workers
and the Green Mountain Boys, he does not
seem to have been conspicuous, vet on the
24th OF August, IVA, Gov. T'vron. bv
advice of his Majesty's Council, directs
Philip Skene, John Munro, Patrick Smith
and John McComb, justices of the Peace for
the county of Albany, to try Cochran
and fourteen other armed men, for violent
ly assaultlng and dispossessing Donald
Mcintyre and other complainants. of
lands granted by New York and i'm
proved by them, near Argyle.
Soon comes a contest about the location
oil the county bui dIngs in the new county
OF Charlotte, that included what had been
the northern part of the old county of AL
bany,and extended from the Green Noun