Jacques CARTIER, a distinguished French explorer and navigator,
in the service of France, in 1535 entered the great gulf of Canada, to
which he gave the name of St. Lawrence, sailed through it and up the river
of the same name which he called the "River of Hochelaga," and explored
the country as far as the city of Montreal, ascended Mt. Royal, from which
he was the first white man to gaze upon the magnificent prospect which
continues to delight the tourist, and was the first to behold in the panorama
stretched before him a part of the territory of the Green Mountain state.
In 1540 CARTIER again visited Canada and made an abortive attempt to found
a colony. No further attempt was made to establish a settlement for more
than half a century.
In 1608 Samuel CHAMPLAIN, a French nobleman, with others, founded
a colony at Quebec. Champlain, restless for adventures, and equally anxious
to make further discoveries in the new world, waited only for spring, and
an opportunity, to enter upon a long cherished plan of explorations with
the high hope of finding a way to China.
The French had made friends with the native tribes of Indians that
dwelt along the St. Lawrence, and in the adjacent country, and had astonished
them with the deadly execution of fire-arms, and were regarded by them
as a superior order of beings.
In the last part of the autumn he was visited by an ambitious young
chief from the vicinity of Ottawa (then unknown), who prevailed
upon Champlain to join him in the spring in an expedition against his enemies,
the Iroquois, "The Five Nations," composed of the Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, who were their deadly enemies, and of
whom all the other Indian tribes stood in mortal fear. Impatient of waiting
for his western allies, he set out a little past the middle of May with
only a band of the tribe of the Montagnais, but as he moved up the St.
Lawrence he was joined by his more powerful allies, the Herons and Algonquins,
with a chief from each nation. Few of them had ever seen a white man, and
they viewed the steel-clad strangers in speechless wonder. After the ceremony
of smoking, feasting, and speech making Champlain was obliged to return
with them to Quebec, as they were determined to see the wonders of their
architecture, the fame of which had penetrated the whole region.
On the 28th day of May the expedition' set off, Champlain in a small
shallop carrying himself and ten others, armed with guns similar to modern
carbines. They passed up the St. Lawrence, entered the mouth of the "River
of the Iroquois," so-named by Cartier sixty years before, now the Richelieu.
Here his ease-loving warriors encamped for two days, hunted, fished, and
again feasted, and regaled their French allies with fresh venison and wild
fowl -- and quarreled, too. About three-fourths took to their canoes and
paddled towards home.
Champlain and the remnant of the party pushed on until they reached
impassable rapids. Here he learned the value of an Indian's word. He had
been promised that his shallop would pass without obstruction. But nothing
daunted he sent back the shallop, and all but two of his men, who volunteered
to go with him, and proceeded with the Indians, who lifted the canoes to
their shoulders and carried them to the smooth stream above. Their forces
consisted of sixty warriors with twenty canoes.
The Indians observed something of military system; some were in
front as a van-guard of the main body, and as they were proceeding up the
river a party was in the forest hunting for the subsistence of the whole,
so as to husband their supply of parched corn, until they were in the vicinity
of their enemies, when hunting would be impracticable. Thus they proceeded;
camped on the shore at night, until they passed the islands composing Grand
Isle county, when they became sensible that they had entered the enemy's
country and were on dangerous ground. They now moved only in the night,
and lay all day concealed in the thick forest. If they did not fall in
with their enemy on the lake to which Champlain gave his name, then known
as the lake of the Iroquois, their destination was by way of Lake George
and across the country to some Indian settlement on the Hudson river. But
they were spared so long a journey. The night of June 29th they embarked
at twilight from the west shore of the lake, near the site of Crown Point;
they descried a flotilla of Iroquois canoes about ten o'clock in the evening.
Each recognized his mortal enemy, and their mingled war-whoops made "night
By common consent the battle was deferred until daylight, when the
allies, confident of their success, marched with steadiness to the conflict.
They opened their ranks, and Champlain and his two friends passed to the
front, with their carbines. The astonished Iroquois stared at the unwonted
sight in amazement. The guns were leveled and discharged; two of the chiefs
fell dead. The brave Iroquois stood firm, and filled the air with their
arrows; but the fire-arms continued their deadly work; their terrific reports
quailed their stout hearts; they broke and ran, and the victory was won.
Thus the French foolishly rushed into war with the mightiest and most powerful
Indian confederacy the world ever beheld, and engendered a hatred on the
part of the Iroquois that descended to generations then unborn, and eventually
led to the annihilation of many of the Canadian tribes, and the weakening
and dissolution of the Iroquois as the great confederation of the Six Nations.
This deplorable expedition was the first exploration and discovery by white
then of the Iroquois country and their lake of the same name, now the beautiful
In their passage up the Champlain lake the Indians, representing
the Huron and Algonquin nations, informed Champlain that not only the lake
but the country both sides of it belonged to their enemy, the powerful
and dreaded Iroquois, and especially pointed out the country at the east
as having rich valleys where the Indians raised good corn. There is indubitable
evidence that the Iroquois lived here, besides the testimony of their enemies,
and their often-repeated claims for compensation for their domain, urged
upon the legislature of Vermont. The resources of this "goodly heritage,"
Vermont, which these Indians claim was "given to their forefathers by
the Supreme Spirit forever," were such as to make it desirable. The
moose and deer abounded, the mountains' rocky caverns were the homes of
numberless bears, and the lakes and ponds were the homes of the otter and
beaver. The shimmering lakes, sinuous rivers, and sparkling mountain streams
swarmed with the speckled trout; and the mountains stood like giant sentinels
to protect their winter homes in the thick wooded valleys from the fierce
It is admitted by the local historians who have mentioned the subject
that at that time all of that part of Vermont west of the eastern range
of the Green Mountains was in the possession of the Iroquois, but not permanently
inhabited by them. Yet we find that they were so permanent that they built
villages and cultivated its rich valleys; and we conclude they were as
permanent as their Indian habits ever make them. Temporarily, and for short
periods only, they may have moved across the country if on a thoroughfare,
to escape the devastation incidental to a war of hostile tribes; but were
back again as soon as the cause was removed.
The further evidences that they were here at as late a date as 1735
or 1740 are the facts that the location of their villages, corn fields,
and other signs were the undeniable testimonials that they left behind
them. To be sure this was an outpost on their territory, and in all probability
not so densely populated as the more central portion of the nation. The
same occurs with the whole of the civilized world.
There was an Indian village in East Montpelier, on the Winooski,
opposite the mouth of Kingsbury Branch, that contained as many as twelve
fireplaces, which were distinctly marked. These consisted of pavements
made of small stones driven into the ground, and from one to two yards
in diameter. Above, on Kingsbury Branch, about half a mile, was a corn
field of an acre. Near this corn field an iron axe was found, of prehistoric
manufacture, so far as we know. This curious relic is deposited in the
state cabinet of antiquities. This field in the primeval forest was found
when Montpelier was first settled, overgrown with poplar trees about thirty
or forty feet high, that were estimated to have been growing from thirty
to thirty-five years.
Down the Winooski at the confluence of a small brook that flows
through the "NORCROSS" farm was another Indian village, but only the sites
of very few lodges could be distinguished, but relics were found. The village
was on the east side of the Winooski. Opposite there was an Indian corn
field of about three-quarters of an acre, with unmistakable signs that
it had been cultivated at no remote period. This ground was also covered
with such a growth of poplar as before described, and surrounded by primeval
Down the Winooski, about half a mile, at a location known as
"Lightning Ridge," was a "Kitchen Midden," (the Dutch name for a
location for a clam-bake,) which contained a cart-load of clam shells.
And by the way, Winooski river abounds in large pearl-bearing, edible clams.
The above place was clearly a feasting place of the Indians.
Still down the Winooski about seventy five rods, on its northerly
bank, is a sandy hillock about twenty feet high, surrounded by swamp, and
contains an area of one-third of an acre, which shows signs of having been
a fortification. On this were found Indian relics, and boiling-stones which
were heated by the squaws and alternately thrown into their wooden vessels
to boil the succotash, meat, etc. Between this hillock and Lightning Ridge
an earthen urn was found, which was preserved by Arthur DAGGETT, but is
lost. Its counterpart may be seen in the state cabinet. And forty rods
below, at the confluence of Corliss brook, on the north side of the river
and west side of the brook, is a little promontory, the site of another
"Kitchen Midden," with a pile of clam shells as large as a hay-cock.
On the farm of Hon. S. S. KELTON, on the river, were other Indian relics,
etc.) A mile further down, near a venerable old elm tree, which bears
the mark, nearly overgrown, of the old canal survey, is another "Kitchen
Midden." Just in the edge of Middlesex, on the Winooski, are still
evidences of another Indian village, corn field, and burial-place, where
Indian weapons were found.
In Woodbury numerous Indian relics have been found, and the site
of their present cemetery is the location of an Indian corn field. This
town contains over twenty natural ponds, and consequently was famous hunting
ground. This was the home of the beaver and otter. That "Prince of the
Red Men," Captain Joe, and his wife, Molly, frequented these lakes.
On the farm of Willard CUTLER, late of East Montpelier, in the near
vicinity of a pure spring, in a sheltered nook, several Indian hatchets,
and a small cannon ball, of three or four pounds weight, were found. The
ball and one of the hatchets are in the state cabinet for preservation.
On the farm now occupied by Mr. PARKER, in East Montpelier, a neighbor
of George DAVIS, was a well defined Indian clearing, near the brook, and
beaver meadow. On the brook just named was the scene of an unwitnessed
tragedy, probably about 1790. The pioneer and hunter of Berlin, Jacob FOWLER,
had a line of traps on this brook, and on visiting them on several occasions
he found that some one had plundered his fur. At his next visit an Indian
was on the ground just in advance of him, and FOWLER discovered him in
the act of robbery. They discovered each other simultaneously, and each
took shelter behind a huge pine tree; the situation resolved into a case
of the death of one of the parties. Suffice it to say, FOWLER was the victor.
From what is conceded, (that the Indians owned the territory
known as Western Vermont,) and the facts herein presented, we conclude
that the Indians not only owned the territory, but that it was also their
[This conclusion is strengthened, in our opinion, by the researches of
Mr. Charles H. HEATH, of Montpelier, who has devoted considerable time
and attention to the study of the Indian occupancy of this region.]
For a period of sixteen years there was a controversy between the
authorities of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, relative to the boundary
line between the provinces, and a contest kept up in regard to the control
of the territory in the vicinity of Fort Dummer and that on the opposite
side of the river in Hinsdale. Finally, on the 5th of March, 1740, George
II decreed that the line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts should
be surveyed in accordance with certain special instructions, and in 1741
the line was run by Richard HAZEN, and found to leave Hinsdale and Fort
Dummer to the north; whereupon the king recommended the Assembly of New
Hampshire to care for and protect the settlers about Fort Dummer. From
this royal recommend Gov. Wentworth, of New Hampshire, naturally supposed
that the king recognized the jurisdiction of New Hampshire as extending
to the same point west as Massachusetts, namely, a point twenty miles east
of the Hudson river; and accordingly, on the application of William WILLIAMS
and sixty-one others, January 3, 1749, he chartered a township six miles
square, in what he conceived to be the southwestern corner of New Hampshire.
This town was named Bennington, after Gov. Benning WENTWORTH, the first
town in Vermont to receive a royal charter.
As early as 1763 Gov. WENTWORTH had granted as many as 138 townships
of six miles square, lying west of tire Connecticut, and the population
in the territory, which had now come to be known as the New Hampshire Grants,
had become quite large. This prosperity and growing power New York could
not quietly brook. So, during that year, Lieut-Gov. TRYON, of that province,
laid claim to the territory, by virtue of a grant made by Charles II to
the Duke of York, in 1664, which included "all the land from the west
side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay." Finally,
on application of the government of New York, it was decided by George
Ill., in council of July 10, 1764, that the "western bank of the Connecticut
river should thereafter he regarded as the boundary line between the Province
of New York and Province of New Hampshire." The colonists were
surprised and displeased at this decision, but peaceably submitted to it,
supposing that it merely effected a change of the jurisdiction to which
they were subject; and the government of New Hampshire, which at first
remonstrated, soon acquiesced in the decision. But on the 10th of April,
1765, Gov. COLDEN issued a proclamation, giving a copy of the order of
the king, changing the boundary of the territory, and notifying "His Majesty's
subjects to govern themselves accordingly." He also at once proceeded to
grant the lands to others than the New Hampshire claimants, and when the
latter applied to the New York government for a confirmation of the grants
they already held, such enormous patent fees were demanded as to make it
impossible for them to comply. It was well known in New York that these
lands had long been granted by New Hampshire, that they were actually occupied
under such grants, and that the new patents were procured in utter disregard
of the rights and claims of the settlers. It was also well known by them
that the king, in commissioning Benning WENTWORTH governor of New Hampshire,
had described his province as reaching westward "until it met his other
government," thus bounding it westerly by New York and that the eastern
boundary of New York was a line twenty miles easterly from Hudson river,
extending from Lake Champlain south to the western line of Massachusetts,
was proven by statements in the charter of the Duke of York, upon his accession
to the throne of England, in 1685. But notwithstanding all this, New York
insisted that not only was the jurisdiction changed thenceforward, but
also that the grants made were vacated, and the titles acquired under them
were made void. The settlers were required to repurchase their lands, which
some of them did, though the majority of them peremptorily refused. The
lands of such were granted to others, who brought actions of ejectment
in the New York courts, where they invariably obtained judgments against
the original proprietors. It was found, however, that it was easier to
obtain judgments than it was to enforce them. The officers who attempted
to serve the writs of possession were forcibly resisted, and sometimes
In 1769 the king prohibited the governor of New York from issuing
any more grants "until His Majesty's further pleasure should be made
known." Meanwhile civil disturbances and open defiance to the New York
authorities continued to such an extent that, in 1774, a law was passed
by that province, ordering the surrender of all offenders, under the penalty
of death. In reply, the people of the grants returned a public letter,
threatening death to any who should aid in arresting any of her citizens.
About this time a plan was made for the formation of a royal province,
but the Revolutionary war soon joined the two provinces in a common cause,
so that their personal quarrel gradually raged less furiously. In 1789
New York acknowledged the independence of Vermont, and endeavored to adjust
all matters of dispute, having previously made grants to those who had
suffered by adhering to her allegiance, while Vermont, in turn, paid into
the treasury of New York thirty thousand dollars.
Of Washington County, Vt. 1783-1899,
and Published by Hamilton Child,
By William Adams.
Journal Company, Printers and Binders.
N. Y.; April, 1889.
by Karima Allison, 2003