The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-11-10
MATT B JONES MAKES
INTERESTING ADDRESS
Is Speaker at Public Meeting of Vermont His
torlcal Society In Hall Of House of Rep
resentatives And Discusses the Subject
THE Making Of Hill Town" In An In
forming And Illuminating Style

and his father kept a tavern on the
Boston-Albany highway, where sold
iers in the French wars were wont to
linger as they journeyed to and fro.
We picture him as a lad lying of a
winter evening before the great fire.
place in the living room, while in the
dim light of the flames the father and
his guests, with mugs of steaming
flip in hand, related tales of war;
fare, suffering and heroism that sent
the youngster shivering to his attic
bed.
Environment Plays Part.
Truly environment played large
part in his development, for his ac-
tive career began in 1855, when, as a
! boy of IS, he marched under Shirley
on the ill-starred expedition to reduce
Niagara. Through the long winter at
Oswego he saw more than half his
comrades die of hunger and of cold,
and in the spring he, with the surviv-
ors, was a victim of the superior gen.
eralship of Montcalm. Compelled by
his Indian captors to run the gaunt-
let, and rescued from them by a
Frenchwoman who hid him under a
cask in her cellar, he was finally sent
to France a prisoner of war, but in
sight of it's very shores the transport
on which he sailed was captured by
british man-of-war and he was
brought back to his native land. He
was with Amherst at Louisbourg in
1853. and after the fall of that for
tress returned with those troops which
the commander led to reinforce Abb
ercrombie at Lake George, where, UNI
til the close of the war, he served
as ensign in a company of Robert
Rogers Rangers, and in that match
less corps of frontier fighters bore his
full share of hard and perilous eXper-
fence in conflict with the Indians and
| Frenchmen.
In Terrible Suffering
He participated in the terrible suf-
fering of the expedition that crushed
the st. Francis Indians, and, after the
fall of Montreal, his company, with
one other was detailed to take pos
session of Detroit and other outposts
in the Western wilderness. From De-
troit he was sent in command of only
20 men to bring in the French garri-
sons from the territory around the
southern end of Lake Michigan, a
service that was successfully perform
ed in dead of winter, but at the cost
of intense suffering.
/ At the age of % he was veteran
of 40 skirmishes and battles, but had
received no hurt.
The war ended he married, and, with
his girl wife, pushed out to the from
tier town of Windsor, Vermont to
make himself a home. Here he prompt
ly allied himself with the Green
Mountain Boys, taking a leading part
in their struggle on the east side oil
the mountains.
,aDtaIn IN rlrst Company.
Upon the outbreak of the Revolu-
tiOn he became captain of the frs
company of Hoisington's Rangers
and during the Bennington campaign
was made a major in Samuel Her
ricks regiment, leading the detach
ment that in September, 1177 cut Bur
goyn'e lines of communication at Ii
conderoga. Two years later he wa:
: chosen a member Of the Vernon
, Board of War, and so continued un
, til the close of the Revolution. Dur
, ing the dark years of 1780-17S1 hi
was in command of forces on the
northern frontier of the State, and il
t 1888. with rank of colonel, he com
manded the little regiment raised
t Governor Chittenden's request to en-
= force Vermont authority among thu
= New York sympathizers in the south
easterly portion of the State.
, For seven years he was the Sherif
of his county, an office that was theI
{ little less than military, and in 1856
aided by company of militia from
his own regiment, he dispersed tn
mobs that had gathered to resist thu
: action of the courts in Windsor coun
ty. but at the cost of wounds that in
capacitated him for many weeks
Sat as Sole Delegate.
He sat as sole delegate from Wind
sor in the convention that adopted ;
constitution for the new State of Yer
mont, and represented his town 10
several years in the General Assem-
bly, then created. He had just re
signed the highest military office II
the gift of his State that he might FREE
himself for his fresh struggle will
the Wilderness, and ranked high am
ong the founders of the little republic
that was still knocking ineffectuall!
at the doors of the Union. He wa
withal a Christian gentleman, will
virtues proven by the test of harsl
experience pioneer of the type tina
has throughout our history made tn
words of William Stoughton, spokel
, in 1858, still ring true; God sifte'
whole nation that he might Sent
choice grain into the wilderness"
Pushed Into Forest.
And now he turned his back upol
} the certainty of an honorable old ag
/ spent in such comfort as the time
, could afford, and pushed out into tn
| primeval forest to clear up farms TO
himself and his children in town
r ship that had been granted to hin
Z and his associates some years earlier
Here gathered around him oil
= fneighbors and companions-in-arms, a.
upright God-fearing people, VIII
builded well the foundations OF tn
little municipality. For more than
generation he lived among them, TN
father of the town, the leader in ever
sense, honored by all who knew hin
until at tn ripe age of sc he was gath
cred to his fathers, and slept upo
: the little hillock where his stron
, arms had rolled up his first rude car
in. ~
, The town settled rapidly. The Ian
was fertile and the men who cam
early persuaded their relatives an
friends to join them; in fact neari
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