The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-05-15
BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.
The First Meeting to Organize Re-
sistance to the Kings Authority.

The First Meeting to Organize Re-
sistance to the Kings Authority.
TOOK PLACE ON DUMMERsT0N COM
MON
As the Result of 1t Leo ard Spauldlng was
Let out of Goal s'WIihout Key or Luck
Plckero
Dummerston in I'LL was town by the
name of Fulham, in the county OF Cum
berland and province of New York.
April 18th there were A families in the
town. The name of their heads were
Asa Holgate, Capt. John Kathan, John
Kathan, ir., Samuel Allen, Alexander
Kathan, Daniel Kathan, Charles Daven-
port, Isaac Miller, Hosea Miller, Ebene
ger Haven, Josiah Boyden, John Scott,
Joseph Hildreth, Aaron Brooks, Rufus
Sergeant, Daniel Sergeant, Jacob Thomp-
son, Joseph Temple, John Frizel, Bar
zillai Rice, Samuel Houghton, Enoch
Cook, Samuel Wiswell, Samuel Dutton,
ir., Ezra Robinson, Samuel Dutton,
Emery Robinson, Benjamin Gould,
Thomas Boyden, Charles Hart, Cyrus
Houghten, Shepherd Gates, John Kill
bury, william Miller, Thomas Clark,
Joseph Hildreth, jr., Aaron Brooks, jr.,
Jonas Duncan, Seth Dutton, Nathaniel
French, Joshua Walton, Joseph Herrick,
Benjamin Jones, Silas Rogers, Cornelius
Jones.
Asa Holgate was constable. Nathaniel
French lived actually in Brattleboro, but
SO near the line that he was counted in
both towns. There was one black man.
The proprietors of all the Equivalent
Lands located in the province of Massa-
chusetts Bay, as recompense TO the
colony of Connecticut for what the prov
ince had located in the colony, met on
the first Wednesday, Ills, at the Green
Dragon tavern in Boston, to organize
and divide the lands. The tract on the
west side of Connecticut river, comprls-
ing substantily what is now Brattle-
bOro, DummerstOn and Putney, fell TO
Lieut.. Gov. William Dummer, William
Brattle, Anthony Stoder and John
White. This was all called Dummers-
ton after Gov. Dummer, the senior pro-
prietor. The part now Dummerston was
chartered by the name of Fullum, by the
governor of the province of New HamP-
shire, Dec. 26 1853, when marlborough
anu IullltN NtIC dlHO Ilittl lNl ~ ''S
sometimes called Fulham, and some
times Fulham district in Dummerston,
and began to be called at times Dunn
merston. Finally, by preference and
usage of the inhabitants, it came to be
called Dummerston altogether, as Draper
came to be called Wilmington and Cum
berland Nottingham.
The inhabitants of Fulham chafed
sorely under the rule of the province of
New York, and sympathizcd strongly
with those opposing the actions of the
British crown which led to the Revolu-
ton. They were carefully watched by
the adherents of New York in Westmin--
stef and other towns. Lieut. Leonard
Spaulding had come from Putney, and
lived on what is still called Spaulding
mill, and was an ardent patriot. The
Quebec bill pending in parliament would
ix the established religion of England
upon Canada, and might be a step to-
wards fixing it upon all the British prov
inces in America. Spaulding was heard
to say that if the king had signed the
Quebec bill he had broken his corona
ton oath. This reached the ears of
Cream Brush, the kings attorney general
for Cumberland county, and other au-
thOrities, and was regarded worthy OF
punishment. A warrant was issed for
mis- arrest, and placed in the hands of
Sheriff William Patterson of Hinsdale,
now Vernon, for service. With two
deputies, Benjamin Gorton and Bildad
Easton, the sheriff, on October 2Sth, l164,
attempted the arrest, but required the
help of another man before succeeding.
Spaulding was taken before Judge Noah
Sabin of Putney, and William Willard
and Ephraim Ranney of Westminster,
justices, who committed him to goal
at Westminster for trial. This was Ie-
garded by the inhabitants of the town rs
public matter. On the following day
a majority of them met ''near the house
of Charles Davenport on the Green and
made choice of sundry persons to serve
as committee of correspondence to
Join with the other towns OF respectable
bodies of people the better to
secure and protect the rights and privil-
eyes of themselves and fellow creatures
from the ravages and embarrassmcnts Of
the British tyrant and his New York and
other emasaries." The green was the
present Dummerston common. They
chose DR.. .SolomonHarvcy,w who sometimes
subscribed himself practitioner of
Physic," John Butler, Jonathan Knight,
Josiah Boyden and Daniel Gates such
committee, who went to Westminster
and tried in various ways to procure
Lieut.. Spauldings release by the author
tiles, without avail Tired of this, they
conferred with the men of their way OF
thinking in other towns as to the best
course to take.
On the 9th of November enough OF
these men to overcome opposition assem-
bled with this committee at Westmin.
ster, made an opening in the goal, which
was of wood, large enough to permit the
prisoner to come forth. They congratu
lated him on his freedom, and dispersed
lduietly to tn sir homes. DR.. Harvey was
town clerk of Fulham, and placed an ac
count of the proceedings in the towr
records. which states that the committed
found sit necessary to be assisted by &
Large Concourse of their freeborn Neigh
bors and bretherin, Consisting of the i'll
Ihabitants of DummerstOn, Putney, Gull
ford. Halifax and Draper who discovered
a patriotic Zeal and true heroic foTtitud
on the important OccasiOn;" that tn
brave sons of freedom whose patienc
was worn out with the inhuman insult
of the imps of power grew quite sick o
diving after redress in Legal way an
finding that the Law was only made us
of for the Emolument of its Creture
and the imisaries of the British tyrant
resolved upon an Easyer Method and az
lcOrdingly opened the goal without Ke
.. or Lock picker and after Congratulatin
! Mr.. Spaulding upon the recovery of hi
! freedom Dispersed Every man in peas
to his respective home or place of abod'
The afforegoing is a true and short rel
ton of that Wicked affair of the Ne
. York Cut throatly, Jacobitish, Hig
/ Church, Toretical minions of George IL
third, the pope of Canada, and tyrant I
Britain. Per Solomon Harvey Tow
= Clerk"
The inhabitants of the town did N,
stop here. At a meeting held on Il
23rd of November at the house of EnoC
Cook, which must have been warned
about the time of the release of Lieu
Spauldihg, they, after choosing Sc
mon Harvey, Ebenezer Haven al
Hosea Miller delegates to Il
county congress, ''2dly Voted that Il
Assessors assess the town in diseretio
ary sum of money sufficient to procu
100 W.T. of Gunpowder, 200 W.T. of Lead al
300 flints for the town use, which WI
proposed to be procured with Potai
salts. 3dly Voted that Josiah Boyd'
and Thomas Clark be a committee to I
. ceiye the Salts and procure the articl
above mentioned"
The Continental Congress, on the 20