The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-09-11
STORY OF EARLY VERMONT.

dwelling within her borders.
"Her forests were unwasted and unshorn,
Save where the wild path of the tempest had
torn"
At this time, or a little before, rumors
reached the ears of Governor Benning
Wentworth of New Hampshire, that the
government of New York was claiming
that this fair portion of his province was
within the limits of her boundary line;
and he made bold to drive a stake, so to
speak, far away in the wilderness, where
he believed the boundary line to be, and
that there might be no doubt-in the
minds of New Workers, at least-who
did it, marked his name on it. That is,
he chartered and located a township of
land on a line twenty miles east of Hud-
sons river and named it Bennington.
This was in 1749, and little later on in
the season he wrote a polite letter to
Governor Clinton of New York in which
he said that he had 1t in command
from His Majesty the King to make
grants of unimproved lands within his
government to such persons as would
Oblige themselves to improve the same;
that applications were making for some
townships to be laid out in the western
part of it, and that wishing to avoid, as
far as he could, interfering with the
government of Governor Clinton, he en-
closed a copy of his commission from
the King and desired to be informed
how far north of Albany, and how
many miles east of Hudson's river his
Governor Clinton's) government, by his
majesty's commission, extended
Governor Clinton's answer was, THAT
this province (of New York; is bounded
eastward by Connecticut river. "This was
news to Governor Wentworth, and while
continuing the correspondence with
Governor Clinton about this matter of
the boundary line, he also continued the
granting and locating of townships
within his government, east of the
twenty-mile line, aforesaid, to the sturdy
yeomanry of his own province and that
of Massachusetts,, Rhode Island and
Connecticut, who were induced by the
low price of land and fertility of the soil,
to emigrate thither in great numbers, so
that by the time the question had been
settled, or rather passed upon by the
home government in England as to juris-
diction, and where the boundary line
should be between the two provinces,
the settlers ON the "Grants'-as Yer
mont was then known and called-had
become so numerous that they took this
matter of jurisdiction and boundary
line into their own hands and keeping
and set up government for themselves,
and, in the words of one of their num-
Der, "defied all the world" New York in
particular, to whom jurisdiction over
the territory had been assigned by the
home government, and on the strength
of this decision-granting jurisdiction
New York assumed and claimed the right
to regrant all the lands, and at once en-
tered upon the work of doing it, grant
ing, surveying and locating not only
townships, but plantations and farms
without regard to present occupants. 1t
was about A. d. 1866, when this was
undertaken, and it was not long, it may
well be imagined, before the present oc-
cupants before alluded to-a brave and
resolute set of men-were on the war
path.
They organized as Green Mountain
Boys, with grand committee of master
spirits, having headquarters at the stake
afore- mentioned, Bennington, the beauti-
full of our day, where justice was adj
ministered to such New Workers and
their adherents as were found trespass-
ing on lands within the grants. This
committee was in session and in active
service for many years. Their mode of
furnishing intruders and malcontents
was novel and effective and withal
amusing. 1t was while in attendance
upon these duties as member of the
Grand committee, that Ethan Allen, in
the month of May, IT'S, with company
of his followers, was joined, here at
Bennington, by a small band of patriotic
men from Connecticut and Western
Massachusetts,, and went on with them
as their captain to the capture of Fort
Ticonderoga, which was surrendered
with all its munitions of war, the latter
so greatly needed and welcomed by the
American army encamped here in Cam
bridge. This surrender was demanded
in the name of the Continental Con-
gress, which convened for the first time
that very day far away in Philadel.
phia.
Time would fail me to tell of the Bat
tie of Bennington, fought two years
later, and of the other stirring scenes
and events that occurred within and neal
the borders of this right loyal but not
royal State during all these early years
of her history, when the song of her sons
was-in the words of our beloved Whit
tier in his younger days:
"Let Clinton and Ten Brook with brides in theil
hands,
Still seek TO divide us. and parcel our lands:
The warp is of feathers-the filling OF tart
Does the odd Bay State threaten, does Con
gress complaint
Swarms Hampshire in arms on our borders again
Bark the war-dogs Of Britain aloud on the lake
Let 'em come; what they can, they are welcome
to take.
What seek they among us7 The pride Of Ou
wealth
Is comfort, contentment, and labor and health,
And lands which, as Freemen, we only hav'
trod,
Independent of all. save the mercies of God"
l would fain here close my narrative
but my mind reverts to the pleasant
scenes l so recently witnessed at the
gathering of the clans" at this same
Bennington of old, in commemoration Of
those events that TRANSFERRED century
and more ago, and cannot refrain. from
giving expression to the sensations anC
pleasures l experienced as the story o.
them all was so graphically and touch
ingly retold by that gifted and cultured
son of Vermont, the orator of the day
whom remember as so fair and comely
in his younger days, and now in mature
manhood as attractive IN appearance a
of old, and there gathered before him
spellbound as it were by his fascinating
narrative, were many of Vermont
favored sons, at home and abroad, known
to me in years gone past, now recognized
as showing age like myself, though still til
active in the duties and pursuits of life
Nor did fail at times to look away
that bright sunny day, from the scenes
Immediately before me upon the sur
rounding country, its mountains ant
meadows, hills, valleys and fields al
dressed in living green, so grand, beauti
full and inspiring to me now living by tn
sea.-G. B. r. in Cambridge Tribune.
The nou,ticed her feet and pouIticed her head