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proceeded to Berkshire county, Mass., where they obtained the aid of some influential citizens, and forty or fifty volunteers were added to their small force. The expedition then advanced to Bennington, Vt., where it was joined by Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and nearly one hundred volunteers. The little army, consisting of about one hundred and fifty men, thus raised,

but continued to hold them as prisoners of war. Gov. Skeen, Maj. Skeen, and Maj. French, were taken from Hartford to West Hartford, on an order of the Assembly, for their better security-they boarded in the family of widow Hooker in West Hartford about a year, at their own expense. Gov. Skeen had his family with him. They were often insulted by our inhabittants as enemies of the colony, and narrowly escaped tar and feathers by his neighbors at West Hartford, for his insults offered the inhabitants. In May, 1775, the General Assembly directed the committee of the pay table, to give orders on the Treasurer of this colony for the payment of all persons who had actually expended moneys, or given their written obligations therefor, or for personal service in obtaining possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point; also for men and provisions used in taking and securing said fortresses, by any inhabitants of this colony, or others employed by them for that purpose. Two years after, viz. in May, 1777, Samuel Holden Parsons, Esq., informed by his memorial to the General Assembly of this State, that in April, 1775, himself, together with Col. Samuel Wyllys, Silas Dean, Esq., and others, did undertake surprising and seizing the enemy's fort at Ticonderoga, without the knowledge of said Assem. bly, and for that purpose took a quantity of money from the Treasury, and gave their notes and receipts for said money, all which had been expended in said service; and prayed the Assembly to cancel said notes and receipts so given to the Treasurer, which amounted to the sum of £810. The persons who signed said notes, &c., were said Parsons, Dean, Wyllys, Samuel Bishop, Jr., William Williams, Thomas Mumford, Adam Babcock, Joshua Porter, Jesse Root, Ezekiel Williams, and Charles Webb; which sum was directed to be charged over to the General Government.

At this early period of the war, (May 11, 1776) the Americans were jealous and alarmed at the rustling of every leaf, and watchful of every movement. At this time it was the custom of the blacks, as it had been for years previous, and continued to be, some time after the war closed, for the negroes in Connecticut, in imitation of their masters, to elect a negro for their Governor, who by them, was uniformly treated with great attention, and by their respect for him, he never failed to get his title of Governor when addressed by his colored brethren. Cuff was at this time their Governor, and had held the office for ten years, and on the 11th day of May, aforesaid, he resigned his office to John Anderson, a negro servant of Gov. Skeen, which resignation and appointment were in the words and figures following, viz.:

"Hartford, 11th May, 1776.

"I Governor Cuff of the Niegro's in the province of Connecticut, do Resign my Govermentshipe, to John Anderson Niegor Man to Governor Skene.

marched to Castleton, where a military organization took place and Ethan Allen, a native of Connecticut, was appointed commander, James Easton, of Berkshire, second, and Seth Warner, an officer from Connecticut, third in command. After detaching a small force to take possession of Skeensborough, the remainder marched directly to a point opposite to Ticonderoga,

"And I hope that you will obeye him as you have Done me for this ten year's past, when Colonel Willis' Niegor Dayed I was the next. But being weak and unfit for that office do Resine the said Governmentshipe to John Anderson. "I: John Anderson having the Honour to be apointed Governor over you will do my utmost endevere to serve you in Every Respect, and I hope you will obey me accordingly.

JOHN ANDERSON Governor

over the Niegors in Connecticut.

Witnesses present,

The late Governor Cuff, Hartford,

Quackow,

Petter Wadsworth,

Titows,

Pomp Willis,

John Jones,

Fraday."

May, 1776. At this appointment the citizens of Hartford became alarmed Gov. Skeen was at once suspected of being concerned in his negro's election with some design upon the citizens of the State. Therefore the Governor and Council of the colony, convened at Hartford, took the subject into solomn consideration, and appointed a committee to investigate the subject, of which Jesse Root, Esq, was chairman; the committee took with them a constable and immediately repaired to Gov. Skeen's lodgings, found his door locked, and the governor absent. One of the committee remained to guard his room while the others proceeded after him, and found him returning home, and brought him before the committee, and on enquiry whether he had carried on any correspondence with our enemies; he answered he had sacredly kept his engagements in his parole, and had no papers but his own private papers, and offered his keys to the committee to examine his papers. He was asked if he had any previous knowledge of the negroes electing his servant governor of the negroes, or had any hand in effecting said election-which he denied, except a few words that passed between a Mr. Williams and his negro, which he supposed was mere sport, and had no hand in bringing it to pass directly or indirectly. He was enquired of, if he gave his negro money to make a feast for the negroes-he answered that he gave him a half-joe to keep election, but that he knew nothing of the treat at Knox's; that on Friday, he heard his negro was chosen governor, and was fearful it might excite jealousy, and even avoided speaking to him to avoid suspicion, and declared upon his honor, he had no papers about him.

The committee then proceeded to examine the negro governor, who stated

where, after obtaining the assistance of Nathan Beman, a young man, for a guide, and waited the return of Capt. Phelps from the fort, &c., a select body, amounting to only eighty-three men, assaulted on the morning of the 10th of May, the fortress of Ticonderoga, and captured it without the loss of a man.*

A large quantity of ordnance and military stores were obtained by this exploit. The officers and forty-seven were privates taken prisoners.

that one Sharper, a negro man first mentioned to him about being governor. and that he informed the negroes, if they would elect him, he would treat them to the amount of $20, and it had cost him $25, but declared that no regular officer or soldier had spoken to him on the subject; that there was no scheme or plot, and that he had done it as a matter of sport, and intended no injury to the country, but had the curiosity of seeing an election; that he had been informed the negroes chose a governor annually, and thought he would set up for it. He stated that he got his $25 by going in a vessel on the lakes, where he had certain perquisites of his own.

The committee made many other enquiries of Gov. Skeen and his servants, together with the captain, (Delaplace). And ex-Governor Cuff stated that he had been advised to resign his office to Skeen's negro by some of his black friends and some of the regulars, and that he appointed him without an election as some of them declared they would not have a tory for a governor. On Friday night after the election, the negroes had a dance and entertainment at Mr. Knox's, in Hartford, at an expence of 50s., which was paid by others, and Gov. Skeen's negroes were not allowed to pay any thing. This bill was paid by Majors French and Dermet; which facts were stated to the Governor and Council by Jesse Root, Esq., Chairman, May 22, 1776.

* Joseph Allen, the father of Col. Ethan Allen, was born in Coventry, in this State, and when young he married Mary Baker, of Roxbury, then a society of Woodbury, Connecticut, at which place they resided until the birth of their two eldest children, of which Ethan is supposed to be one of them. Joseph Allen then removed his family to Litchfield, from Litchfield he again removed to Cornwall or Salisbury, from which place several of the sons with Ethan emigrated to Vermont, in the early part of the settlement of that territory.

Capt. Seth Warner, (afterwards Col. Warner) was the third in command in the taking of Ticonderoga, though he did not cross the Lake and reach Ticonderoga until after Col. Allen, with his 83 men were in full possession of it. Col. Allen sent Capt. Warner with a detachment of men to take Crown Point, who were met at Crown Point by Capt. Remember Baker with his company, and united with Capt. Warner in taking the post.

Col. Allen, and Captains Warner and Baker were all born at Roxbury, then a society in Woodbury. After the close of the war, Col. Warner returned to his farm in Roxbury, on which he remained until his death. He was interred at Roxbury, over whose remains was erected a marble table, on which is inscribed a short history of his valorous deeds in the revolution.

This, the first offensive military operation of. the revolutionary war, was of great importance to the colonies. Besides furnishing a large supply of arms, it opened to them the entrance into Canada.

The honor of the first conquest, made by the colonies, belongs chiefly to Connecticut. She also had to sustain the burthen of maintaining her acquisition, although the captured posts were within the jurisdiction of the colony of New York. One thousand men, under the command of Col. Hinman, were sent from Connecticut, in the summer of 1775, to garrison the forts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

NOTE. The following is an account of moneys advanced and paid out of the public Treasury of Connecticut, for the benefit and defence of the colonies in the year 1775 to Nov. 18th, 1775.

To the militia marched in the Lexington alarm, £7,824 6 6; in reducing and securing the fortresses at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, £1,511 5 0; raising, and advanced for wages to the eight regiments, £49,330 4 5; for supplying said troops with stores and provisions, £56,951 8 2; for equipping said troops with arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, £1,213 4 8; for supplying the battalion of riflemen on their march, £297 9 0; fitting out two armed vessels, £1,415 0 0; for raising troops for defence of the sea coast, mounting cannon, and erecting the battery at New London, £930 8 6; for procuring powder, lead, flints, three thousand stands of arms, &c., £7,563 19 7; to supply loss of blankets and arms at Bunker Hill, £204 9 7; to non-commissioned officers and soldiers of militia for special attendance on military discipline, per order of Assembly, October, 1774, £5,152 4 0; to expense of the special session of the Assembly, &c., £2,216 19 8; for post riders and expreses, £345 3 5; for various services, transportation, &c., £2,094 18 10. Total amount, £137,051 1 5.

NOTE. When the news of the Lexington alarm reached Gen. Putnam, he was ploughing in his field. So anxious was he for the fight, that he stopped his team and left them in the unfinished furrow, without even taking off the yoke from his oxen, went to his house, bid farewell to his wife, mounted his horse and started for Lexington and Boston.

THE SPIRIT OF THE YEAR 1774.

THE great object in the year 1774, by those who supposed war with the mother country was inevitable, was to form public opinion in favor of war with Great Britain; to do which, it became necessary to inform the people of their just rights, by

The following scraps of Historical Facts are inserted for preservation.

In December, 1774, Gen. Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, in Massachusetts, who was one of the leaders of the royalists, boldly espoused the cause of the King, by forming an association of tories in that and other colonies, under a constitution or compact, of six articles, to which, the signatures of such as united in said association were subscribed, which was openly published in the newspapers in Boston, Hartford, and other places.

1st. That they would on all occasions with their lives and fortunes, stand by and assist each other, in defence of life, liberty and property, when attacked or endangered by any body of men, riotously assembled under any pretence or authority not warranted by the laws of the land.

2d. To mutually support each other in the free exercise of their undoubted rights to liberty, in eating, drinking, buying, selling, (Tea) communing and acting, what, with, whom and as they pleased, consistent with the laws of God and the King.

3d. That they would not acknowledge or submit to the pretended authority of any Congresses, committees of correspondence, or other unconstitutional assemblies of men, but to oppose the forcible exercise of all such authority at the risk of their lives.

4th. That they would to the utmost of their power, promote and encourage, when called, and enforce obedience to the rightful authority of King George the 3d, and of his laws.

5th. That when the person or property of any so associated should be invaded by any committees, mobs or unlawful assemblies, that notice being given, would forthwith repair properly

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