Address commemorative of the Life 
 and PuMlc Services of 
 Brig. -Gen. Jacob F^yley 
 
 By Edwin A. Payley 

 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 
 

 
 An Address 
 
 Commemorative of the Life 
 
 and 
 Public Services 
 
 OF 
 
 Brig.- Gen. Jacob Bay ley 
 
 1726-1815 
 
 A Founder of the State of Vermont. 
 A Neglected Patriot of the Revolution. 
 
 Delivered before the Vermont Historical 
 Society in the Hall of Representatives in the 
 Capitol at Montpelier, Vermont, on January 
 28, 1919, by Edwin A. Bayley Esq., of Lexington, 
 Massachusetts, a descendant from General Bayley 
 in the Fourth Generation.
 
 F 
 
 Brigadier-General Jacob Bayley 
 
 Mr. President, Members and Guests of the Vermont Historical 
 Society: 
 
 I wish to express my appreciation for the invitation of 
 the Society to address this meeting and I am glad to believe 
 that the invitation came from the desire of the Society to 
 honor the memory of one of the pioneer founders of this 
 beautiful, green mountain State, a man to whom I am proud 
 to trace my name and lineage. 
 
 I desire to congratulate the Society upon having re- 
 cently completed fourscore years of corporate existence, 
 during which it has rendered great and enduring public 
 service, the value of which can neither be adequately meas- 
 ured or expressed. 
 
 I would further congratulate the Society on having 
 
 ifl within the last few months established itself in its new and 
 
 commodious quarters where it will be better able to continue 
 
 g its important work; such ample housing accomodations for 
 
 its library and museum furnished by the authority of the 
 
 (Q State is a public recognition, not only of the valuable ser- 
 
 vices rendered by the Society, but also of the efficient leader- 
 ship and untiring efforts of its highly respected president 
 now in the chair. 
 
 ~ At a time like the present when the world is resounding 
 
 with praises for recent deeds of patriotic devotion to the 
 
 v ideals of liberty, justice and independence, it seems pe- 
 
 culiarly fitting for this Society to honor the memory of one 
 of the founders of this State, whose self-sacrificing and pa- 
 triotic services for those same ideals, rendered nearly a 
 century and a half ago, have never been generally understood 
 nor properly recognized. 
 
 In attempting to perform the duty to which your 
 invitation calls me, I fully realize that I am in no way re-
 
 4 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 lieving myself of any filial obligation to the memory of 
 Brig-Gen. Jacob Bayley, for I fully concur in the confes- 
 sion that, 
 
 "They who on glorious ancestors enlarge 
 Produce their debt instead of their discharge." 
 
 Judged by the record of his public services in civil and 
 military affairs, General Bayley earned a distinction which 
 was excelled or even equalled by comparatively very few 
 men of his time residing within the limits of this State; 
 this is a strong statement, yet it is amply warranted from a 
 study of the history of that period, and therefore renders 
 the neglect from which his memory has so long suffered all 
 the more difficult to explain or to excuse. 
 
 To properly estimate the life and services of any public 
 man it is necessary to understand the history of the times 
 in which he lived and the relation in which he stood to the 
 important events which make up that history; I therefore 
 invite you to review with me as briefly as possible the long 
 and eventful life of General Bayley and its relation to the 
 history of that period. 
 
 The last half of the eighteenth century is recognized by 
 historians as a most epoch-making period on this continent, 
 for it witnessed the establishment not only of the final 
 supremacy of England over France through the French and 
 Indian War but also of the independence of the American 
 Colonies through the War of the Revolution. 
 
 General Bayley's active life covered substantially the 
 whole of that important period; he was born on the nine- 
 teenth day of July, 1720, in that part of "Quid" Ncwbury, 
 Massachusetts, which is now included in the town of West 
 Newbury, where the site of his birthplace is marked by a 
 memorial tablet suitably inscribed, erected some years ago 
 by the Historical Society of that town. He was a descend- 
 ant in the fifth generation from John Bayly, a weaver by 
 trade, who emigrated from Chippenham, in the County of
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 5 
 
 Wiltshire, England, in the year 1635 and settled on what is 
 now known as "Bailey's Hill" at Salisbury Point in the town 
 of Amesbury, Massachusetts. 
 
 General Bayley was the eighth child of the family of 
 nine children of Joshua and Sarah (Coffin) Bayley, the latter 
 was the daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Atkinson) Coffin, 
 all families of high standing and influence in their com- 
 munities. Several of Joshua Bayley's children beside Jacob 
 attained positions of unusual prominence, influence and 
 usefulness, two of his sons, Abner and Enoch, graduated 
 from Harvard College and both became ministers; two of his 
 daughters, Judith and Abigail, married, respectively, Deacon 
 Stephen Little of Newburyport and Col. Moses Little of 
 West Newbury, who were brothers, and members of a 
 prominent and influential family. 
 
 There in "Ould" Newbury General Bayley's youth was 
 spent and there his deeply religious and strongly patriotic 
 character was formed. He was energetic, self-reliant and 
 public spirited and early assumed the serious responsi- 
 bilities of life; at the age of eighteen years he united with 
 the church and soon after his nineteenth birthday, he married 
 Prudence Noyes, a daughter of Ephraim and Prudence 
 (Stickney) Noyes, who during their long wedded life of 
 sixty-four years was ever his faithful and efficient helpmate. 
 
 Shortly after their marriage the young couple moved 
 to that part of the town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, then 
 known as "Timberlane", which was presently organized as 
 the town of Hampstead, New Hampshire, and which was 
 their home for the next seventeen or eighteen years. 
 
 The records of the town of Hampstead show that 
 General Bayley soon won the confidence and respect of his 
 fellow-townsmen, for at the first meeting after the organi- 
 zation of the town, in the year 1749, when he was only 
 twenty-three years of age, he was elected a member of the 
 Board of Selectmen and subsequently was re-elected several 
 times.
 
 6 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 The outbreak of the French and Indian War, in the year 
 1755, found General Bayley eager to answer the call of his 
 country and marked an important turning point in his life, 
 for it was the beginning of his distinguished military career. 
 
 He promptly volunteered his services in the New Hamp- 
 shire militia and served throughout the War, being pro- 
 moted for meritorious service, from Lietuenant to Captain, 
 Lieut-Colonel, and finally Colonel, which appointment he 
 received in his thirty-third year. 
 
 As Captain of his Company in the year 1757, he was 
 with the besieged forces which so stoutly defended Fort 
 William Henry on the shores of Lake George, where he 
 narrowly escaped massacre at the hands of the treacherous 
 Indian allies of the French forces under General Montcalm. 
 
 He was in command of his Company in the victories 
 won at the battles of Ticonderoga and Crown Point in the 
 year 1759, and the following year, as Colonel, lie took part 
 in the successful campaign which ended in the siege and 
 capture of Montreal, which practically closed the active 
 fightingof the War in the northeastern section of the country. 
 
 After the fall of Montreal, General Bayley, with some 
 of his officers returned to their homes in southeastern New 
 Hampshire by way of an old Indian trail, which led down 
 through that part of the Connecticut Valley then known 
 as "Lower Coos"; one of their camping places on that home- 
 ward trip was on or near the "Great Ox-Bow", in what is 
 now the town of Newbury in this State. We can easily 
 imagine that the expansive meadows, rich in their virgin 
 fertility, divided by the sweeping bends of the winding 
 Connecticut and surrounded on all sides by a background of 
 hills and mountains covered with primeval forests, appealed 
 to them more strongly than any locality they had ever 
 before seen, and then and there General Bayley and his 
 associate officer, Capt. John Ilazen, determined to secure 
 grants of those inviting lands and immediately set about 
 carrying that purpose into effect.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 7 
 
 Particularly interesting in this connection is a letter 
 written by General Bayley under date of September 30, 
 1762, while he was on duty at Crown Point, to his brother- 
 in-law, Col. Moses Little of Newbury, Massachusetts, in 
 which he requested the latter to purchase a stock of cattle 
 for him and have them driven to "Coos", where he stated 
 he already had a winter's supply of hay cut for them, add- 
 ing, "I have forty families now ready to move on the town; 
 I presume to go up myself in the spring if I am well." 
 
 The following year he secured title to those lands by a 
 charter from the Province of New Hampshire, bearing the 
 date of May 18, 1763, which covered a tract six miles square 
 on the west side of the Connecticut River and to this town- 
 ship he gave the name of "Newbury" in honor of the town of 
 his birth in Massachusetts. 
 
 His removal to this new settlement during the next year 
 marks another important turning point in his career, for he 
 then became a pioneer on the frontier of the northern wil- 
 derness of New England, in the settlement, protection and 
 development of which he was destined to play a most con- 
 spicuous part; his coming and the important services which 
 he was to render have been comprehensibly and somewhat 
 quaintly described by Rev. Grant Powers in his interesting 
 "Historical Sketches of the Coos Country", in the following 
 language : 
 
 "He (General Bayley) had been from the first the prin- 
 cipal mover in the settlement. His influence was felt in 
 every proceeding, and now he had come to bless himself 
 and to save much people alive, in the approaching contest 
 between Great Britain and her Colonies." 
 
 General Bayley's extensive farm included nearly three- 
 quarters of what has long been known as the "Great Ox- 
 bow", so-called from the shape of the broad, sweeping bend 
 made by the Connecticut River at that point; about his 
 home centered the activities of the new settlement; in his 
 house on June 12, 1764, was held the first town meeting in
 
 8 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 Newbury and at that meeting he was chosen first selectman ; 
 in his house also the settlers gathered in September of that 
 year to organize their first church, of which he was elected 
 one of the first two deacons, an office which he continued to 
 hold during the remainder of his life, and there also, the 
 regular church services were held until the building of a 
 little log meeting-house nearby. 
 
 The isolated location of this settlement at its beginning 
 and the rapid growth and development of the vicinity are 
 shown in a letter written by him in October, 1768, in which 
 he said, 
 
 "Tis but seven years since I struck the first stroke here, 
 at which time there was not one inhabitant on the River for 
 seventy miles down, none Eastward for sixty miles, none be- 
 tween us and Canada, and now almost all the lands are settled 
 or settling in almost every town on the east side of the River." 
 
 It was during this period that Dartmouth College was 
 established at Hanover, New Hampshire, and General 
 Bayley's generous interest and public spirited efforts in 
 connection with the selection of its location deserve parti- 
 cular mention. About the year 1767, Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, 
 who had been for some years conducting a school at Lebanon, 
 Connecticut, known as "Moor's Indian Charity School," 
 desired to remove it to some location on the frontier, where 
 it would be able to assist more directly in the education of 
 the Indians. John Wentworth, then Provincial Governor 
 of New Hampshire, secured the removal of the School to 
 some place within that Province, its definite location to be 
 determined by a committee. 
 
 General Bayley at once became very much interested; 
 he visited Pres. Wheelock and offered to contribute one 
 thousand acres of land if it was located with ten miles of 
 Newbury, and subsequently he accompanied President 
 Wheelock when the latter visited the various locations which 
 were being considered. Mutters seemed to progress favor- 
 ably and largely through General Bayley's efforts and in-
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 
 
 fluence the selection of North Haverhill, New Hampshire > 
 directly opposite Newbury, seemed assured; deeds of a large 
 number of acres of land in Newbury and Haverhill were 
 executed and delivered into the hands of a committee of 
 three, of whom General Bayley was one, to await Pres. 
 Wheelock's acceptance. 
 
 The granting of the charter to the College in the year 
 1769 served to intensify the rivalry over its location, and 
 early in the following year Gen. Bayley personally offered, 
 in addition to his previous subscription of land, to erect a 
 building two hundred feet long, for the use of the College on 
 the land already donated in Haverhill. Finally, however, 
 other considerations prevailed and in July, 1770, Hanover 
 was selected, but even then he would not give up and wrote 
 Pres. Wheelock a kind and loyal letter, in which he offered 
 to raise the funds for the construction of all the buildings 
 needed to establish the College, provided its location could be 
 changed to Haverhill. 
 
 We are now approaching the most important period of 
 General Bayley's public life, covering, as it does, the active 
 and prominent part he took in the organization of the State 
 of Vermont and the distinguished military service which he 
 rendered during the War of the Revolution. 
 
 The history of the founding of this State is largely the 
 history of the territory known as the "New Hampshire 
 Grants." These "Grants" comprize the land extending 
 from the northern boundary of Massachusetts on the south, 
 to Canada on the north, bounded on the east by "Mason's 
 Grant" so-called, (on a line running north and south 
 through New Hampshire, about twenty miles east of the 
 Connecticut River) and on the west by a line extending 
 from the northwest corner of Massachusetts to Lake Cham- 
 plain, and thence northward along the Lake. Those 
 boundaries, except on the easterly side, are substantially 
 coincident with the present boundaries of this State.
 
 10 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 The Province of New Hampshire claimed sovereignty 
 over the whole of this territory; the Province of New York 
 also claimed title to a large portion of it, and when, in the 
 year 1749, Bcnning Wentworth, then the Colonial Governor 
 of New Hampshire, granted a charter of a township adjoin- 
 ing the New York boundary line (which later became the 
 town of Bennington, Vermont), the Province of New York 
 immediately disputed New Hampshire's claim and a con- 
 troversy was precipitated which lasted for more than thirty 
 years, until the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. The 
 bitterness of this controversy reached such a state that it 
 came to be referred to as "The War of the Grants" and its 
 immediate effect upon the inhabitants of The Grants equalled, 
 if not exceeded, that of the Revolutionary War itself. 
 
 The authorities of the Province of New York despairing 
 of reaching any amicable settlement and thoroughly aroused 
 at what they regarded as the alarming and unjust encroach- 
 ment of the Province of New Hampshire, quietly and 
 shrewdly appealed to the King of England to establish the dis- 
 puted boundary line between the two Provinces; as the result 
 of this appeal the King, by Proclamation issued on June 
 20, 1764, duly declared: 
 
 "The western banks of the Connecticut River to be the 
 boundary line between the said two Provinces." 
 
 Instead of settling the rising controversy this Royal 
 Decree served rather to intensify it, for the Province of New 
 York construed it to operate as a forfeiture of all lands cov- 
 ered by the charters previously granted by the Province of 
 New Hampshire, and forthwith began action to dispossess 
 the settlers then holding title under them. 
 
 As might be expected, such a course aroused active 
 resistance among the settlers throughout the Grants and 
 divided them into parties, or factions, according to the 
 course they believed should be pursued in order to relieve 
 the unfortunate and complicated situation.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 11 
 
 One of these factions known as "The Bennington Party", 
 was largely composed of settlers residing in the southwestern 
 part of The Grants, who were influenced chiefly by hostility 
 toward New York, and a desire to establish an independent 
 state, which would comprise the lands between the Con- 
 necticut River and the eastern boundary of New York, with 
 the seat of government west of the Green Mountains ; among 
 the leaders of this faction were Thomas Chittenden, who 
 became the first governor of Vermont, and the three Allen 
 brothers, Ira, Ethan and Heman, who were the leaders of 
 the famous "Green Mountain Boys." They were practical 
 politicians, able, bold and resourceful. 
 
 Another faction, known as "The New Hampshire 
 Party", comprised those settlers residing east of the Green 
 Mountains, who, in consequence of their scattered and un- 
 protected situation, were opposed to establishing an inde- 
 pendent state and favored annexation with the Province of 
 New Hampshire; of this party, General Bayley was the 
 acknowledged leader. The patriotism and loyalty of its 
 members have never been called into question, and their 
 service along the northern frontier in protecting southern 
 New England has never been fully understood nor appreciated. 
 
 There was a third faction, known as "The College 
 Party", which, for a few years, was a powerful factor, first 
 against the Provincial Government of New Hampshire, 
 and later against the Bennington Party; the purpose of the 
 College Party was to organize the territory between the 
 Green Mountains on the west and Mason's Grant on the 
 east, into an independent state, with the seat of government 
 at or near Hanover, in the valley of the Connecticut. This 
 party derived its name from the fact that its leaders were 
 officers in or closely associated with Dartmouth College; 
 they may well be described as intellectual statesmen, ag- 
 gressive and well-educated, but unable to cope successfully 
 with the practical politicians at the head of the Bennington 
 Party.
 
 12 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 There was also a fourth faction, known as "The New 
 York Party", or "Yorkers." The members of this faction 
 comprised the settlers who favored the sovereignty of New 
 York and a division of The Grants at the line of the Green 
 Mountains; its membership, however, was never large, nor 
 its influence great. 
 
 The settlers throughout The Grants fully realized that 
 the titles to the lands, held by them under the charters 
 granted by the Province of New Hampshire, were placed in 
 jeopardy by the Royal Proclamation above referred to. 
 General Bayley at once became very active in his efforts to 
 protect the settlers and secure a remedy for this embar- 
 rassing situation, and the records of the town of Newbury 
 show the following entry relating to the matter: 
 
 "May, 1765, the Proprietors met to consult what meas- 
 ures to take in consequence of the King's Proclamation de- 
 claring the west bank of the Connecticut River the dividing 
 line between New Hampshire and New York." 
 
 As time passed on there was a growing sentiment 
 among the settlers east of the Green Mountains in favor of 
 the annexation of that portion of The Grants to the Province 
 of New Hampshire, and General Bayley, as the leader of 
 the New Hampshire Party, was very active in this object. 
 At first the New Hampshire Party had the active support 
 of John Wentworth, then the Provincial Governor of New 
 Hampshire, but later his sudden and at first unexplained 
 change of mind caused much anxiety among the settlers in 
 the eastern part of The Grants and finally led General Bayley 
 to secure a new charter for the town of Newbury from the 
 Province of New York, in order to protect the settlers in 
 the titles to their lands. The complicated situation in 
 which General Bayley found himself is shown in a letter 
 which lie wrote to Pres. Wheelock under the date of January 
 15, 1771, from which I quote the following:
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 13 
 
 "You, sir, was pleased to promise your assistance that 
 lands on the west side of the Connecticut River might be 
 ceded back to New Hampshire, and depend upon it, your 
 advice is wanted by this unstable people. Temptations 
 and threats are made use of. I am writing Governor Went- 
 worth on the affair, but what shall I write! If I appear 
 active for New Hampshire, where is my credit in New York ! 
 If that sinks we have a separate (Bennington) party, who I 
 may particularly say are avowed enemies to the cause of 
 Christ, at least by practice, by which means we are tied up, 
 but God overrules all things, and deliverance will come to his 
 people some way most to His glory." 
 
 In his reply under date of January 22nd, Pres. Wheelock 
 wrote : 
 
 "I should act out of character if I should move anything 
 in the affair, nor is there need that I should, since you who are 
 the most proper man are already embarked in it. I wish 
 you success and pray God to give you the desire of your 
 heart." 
 
 A few days later Pres. Wheelock received a letter from 
 Governor Wentworth under the date of January 31, 1771, 
 in which the Governor wrote: 
 
 "The appointment of a new Governor of New York is a 
 happy circumstance for the aggrieved inhabitants of the con- 
 testing river claims. If they are wise they will eagerly em- 
 brace the opportunity in furnishing a proper petition to ac- 
 complish their purpose." 
 
 And two months later, in March 1771, we find that General 
 Bayley was actively and successfully circulating a petition 
 through the valley towns to secure their reannexation to 
 the Province of New Hampshire. 
 
 The change in the attitude of Governor Wentworth in 
 this matter is clearly set forth in a statement made by General 
 Bayley to Asa Benton, of Thctford, Vermont, early in the 
 year 1773, which I quote as follows: 
 
 "When Governor Wentworth came to the first com- 
 mencement at Dartmouth College in August 1771, he visited
 
 14 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 me at my home in Newbury and while there he appeared 
 to be very jealous to get the lands on the western side of the 
 Connecticut River added to the Province of New Hampshire 
 and desired my assistance in the affair, and when he took his 
 leave of me, he gave me his hand and added that he would use 
 his utmost efforts to recover the aforesaid lands. About two 
 months afterwards I received a letter from Governor Went- 
 worth in the following tenor, namely that I must make the 
 best terms I could with New York for he could do no more 
 to help me toward getting into the Province of New Hamp- 
 shire. 
 
 I was very much surprised and disturbed and immediate- 
 ly went to Portsmouth to ascertain from the Governor why 
 he had so suddenly changed his mind, but I could not get the 
 satisfaction from him that I desired and expected. He put 
 me off and seemed cold and indifferent." 
 
 General Baj'ley, as might well be expected, was very 
 much perplexed and disturbed by the change in Governor 
 Wentworth's attitude, and returning to Newbury laid the 
 situation before his people. It appears that after due con- 
 sideration they concluded that the wisest course was to 
 accept and make the best of what seemed to be the inevitable, 
 and accordingly at a town meeting held on November 20, 
 1771, it was voted: 
 
 "To send agents to New York to acknowledge their 
 jurisdiction and that Jacob Bayley, Moses Little and Ben- 
 jamin Whiting should be agents to act together, or singly, as 
 occasion served, with each other." 
 
 Moses Little, it will be remembered, was General 
 Bayley's brother-in-law, and although not an actual resident 
 of Newbury he was one of the grantees named in its charter, 
 and a man of prominence and influence in the Province of 
 Massachusetts. Benjamin Whiting was the town surveyor 
 of Newbury. 
 
 In pursuance of this vote General Bayley sot out upon 
 his mission to New York, probably in the following Decem- 
 ber or January. On his way he visited southwestern Ver- 
 mont and then 1 met and conferred with the Aliens, Chit-
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 15 
 
 tenden and other leaders, who strongly urged him to join 
 with them in resisting the authority of New York. General 
 Bayley, however, did not believe that such a course was 
 advisable and gave as his reason that the people of his sec- 
 tion were poor and far from aid and could not, from their 
 remoteness, act in conjunction with the people of south- 
 western Vermont. 
 
 Upon his arrival in New York he was met by the Gov- 
 ernor's Secretary; the following is General Bayley 's own 
 statement of that meeting: 
 
 "The Governor's secretary smilingly said: 'What, you 
 are come now; now you are obliged to come, for your gover- 
 nor has come before you and now you are come.' Says I, 
 'What do you mean by your governor's coming? I don't 
 understand you.' 'Why,' says he, handing me a letter, 
 'you may see what I mean/ the contents of which ran thus: 
 That if the Governor of New York would grant patents to 
 the Governor of New Hampshire of those five hundred acre 
 lots which old Governor W T entworth had reserved for himself 
 in every town on the western side of the River when he gave 
 charters of said towns, then he, namely Governor Went- 
 worth, would be contented to resign his claims to those towns 
 and would exert himself no more to have them revert to the 
 Province of New Hampshire." 
 
 As the result of that interview General Bayley believed he 
 had discovered the cause of Governor Wentworth's sudden 
 change of heart with reference to the re-annexation of The 
 Grants. to New Hampshire, and his subsequent disclosure 
 to his friends of what he had learned called forth the charge 
 by the Governor that General Bayley had wilfully misrep- 
 resented the purport of his letter; that such was not the fact, 
 and that General Bayley's statement was entirely correct and 
 justified, is shown by the letter itself, of which fortunately, 
 I am able to present the following complete copy:
 
 16 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 "December 14, 1771. 
 To His Excellency, Governor Try on, New York: 
 
 I beg leave to entreat your friendship to me, which may 
 in some degree relieve a misfortune lately thrown upon me. 
 The late Governor of this Province, Benning Wentworth, 
 Esq., at an advanced age, and extremely debilitated with 
 infirmity, was prevailed upon to destroy his will and make a 
 new one some time after, to the utter disinheriting of myself 
 and every other relation he had. Many particular circum- 
 stances aggravated this event. During his administration 
 were granted by him many townships of Crown Lands, both 
 on the east and west sides of the Connecticut River, in each 
 of which was one lot of five hundred acres reserved, w r hich 
 he intended as a grant to himself. The impropriety of this 
 mode was often represented to him, but he still persisted 
 until my arrival, when he thought it best to desire some more 
 valid security, but through delay natural to old age he neg- 
 lected acquiring it. Since his death all those lots that are 
 in this province have been granted to his majesty's subjects, 
 being esteemed only reservations and insufficient to convey 
 any property to him. If the lots in like circumstances that 
 have fallen into the Province of New York are yet ungranted 
 and it is consistent with your intentions, I should be happy 
 in soliciting such recovery, as being effected through favor, 
 which permit me to assure your Excellency, I shall rejoice to 
 cultivate and establish with the greatest attention. I am, etc. 
 
 JOHN WENTWORTH." 
 
 This letter clearly shows that the change in the Gov- 
 ernor's attitude and his renunciation of any claim favoring 
 the re-annexation of The Grants to New Hampshire, was 
 due to his desire to secure for himself charters of those 
 lands located within The Grants which his uncle and pre- 
 decessor, Benning Wentworth, had reserved, but had not 
 secured actual title to. Governor Wentwortlrs cupidity has 
 thus left him in a very unenviable, if not dishonorable, posi- 
 tion, but inasmuch as he placed himself there, as the fore- 
 going letter proves, he is entitled to very little sympathy, 
 and his attempt to defend his own reputation by his un- 
 warranted charge against General Hayley, simply recoils 
 upon himself and injures no one's reputation but his own.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 17 
 
 After such a reception at the Governor's office, General 
 Bayley realized that he was placed at quite a disadvantage, 
 nevertheless he would not yield to any discouragement, and 
 on February 6, 1772, he presented to Governor Tryon and 
 his Council the petition for a new charter for Newbury. 
 So well did he conduct the matter that within two weeks, 
 on February 19th, it was agreed that the new charter should 
 be granted which securely confirmed the validity of the 
 titles of the settlers to their lands. In this charter, which 
 bears the date of April 13, 1772, General Bayley 's name 
 again heads the list of proprietors and thus, for the second 
 time, he became "The Father of Newbury." 
 
 The object of his trip having been thus successfully ac- 
 complished, he hastened to return home where we may well 
 believe the news of the new charter brought great general 
 satisfaction and relief. The expense of securing the charter, 
 which was considerable, was borne by General Bayley and 
 after it was issued and delivered he kept it in his possession 
 for sixteen years before recording it, apparently fearing for 
 its safety if it left his custody. In this connection, one of 
 the indirect effects of his trip deserves particular mention, 
 as it doubtless exerted a strong influence upon General Bay- 
 ley's future course and the proper recognition of his position 
 in the affairs of the State; this was the confirmation of the 
 unfavorable opinion which he and others in his locality held 
 of some of the leaders of the Bennington Party, whom he 
 found to be very outspoken free thinkers and avowed dis- 
 believers of the Bible. Although General Bayley was far from 
 being a religious fanatic, or even an emotional Christian, he 
 nevertheless was a man of a deeply religious nature with a 
 strong reverence for the Bible and its teachings and he was 
 naturally averse to allying himself with a party largely 
 dominated by men holding such religious ideas as he found 
 were held by some of the most influential leaders of the 
 Bennington Party.
 
 18 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 A few years previously, in 1768, the Province of New 
 York had divided The Grants into two counties, Benning- 
 ton on the west of the Green Mountains and Cumberland 
 on the east, with Newbury as the shire town of the latter; 
 in the year 1770 Cumberland County was divided on a line 
 running east and west between the towns of Norwich and 
 Hartford (Vt.), the name of Cumberland being; still re- 
 tained by the southerly portion, and the name Gloucester 
 being given to the northerly part, and when, in the year 1772, 
 the Province of New York established the Inferior Court of 
 Common Pleas for Gloucester County, General Bayley was 
 appointed judge of the new court, which position he held 
 continuously for the next five years. 
 
 As time ran on the settlement of The Grants went 
 rapidly forward, but the jurisdiction of New York grew more 
 and more arbitrary and unsatisfactory, and it became clear 
 that sooner or later the territory must be organized into an 
 independent province, or be divided between the Provinces 
 of New Hampshire and New York, or annexed to one of them, 
 and a definite move was made in this matter in January 1775, 
 when the Bennington Party called a convention of the resi- 
 dents of The Grants to meet at Manchester. Several other 
 conventions were held during that and the following year, 
 but only a few of the settlers in Cumberland or Gloucester 
 Counties took any part in them. The members of these 
 conventions earnestly sought the cooperation of General 
 Bayley. but he did not believe that the time had come for 
 The Grants to be organized as an independent state, and he 
 neither had the time nor the inclination to attend these 
 conventions, for he was continually occupied in enlisting 
 men and furnishing equipment for the "rangers" in guarding 
 and scouting. From the beginning of the Revolutionary 
 War he became the chief bulwark of the Colonial cause 
 along the northern frontier, and he fully realized that its 
 protection, upon which the safety of southern New England 
 depended, rested almost entirely upon him.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 19 
 
 During this period, for better public protection, com- 
 mittees of safety were organized in many of the towns along 
 the Connecticut Valley; these were under the direction of a 
 central committee, of which General Bayley was Chairman, 
 with headquarters at Newbury. 
 
 It soon became apparent that the public safety required 
 a commanding officer over all the militia of the frontier and 
 river towns, and since the patriotism, ability and military 
 experience of General Bayley were well known, he was, in 
 August, 1776, duly commissioned by the Provincial Congress 
 of the State of New York, Brigadier-General of Gloucester 
 and Cumberland Counties. During a part of that year he 
 was with the Continental Army at Boston; General Wash- 
 ington, who was also there, was very desirous of establish- 
 ing a shorter military road from eastern New England to 
 Canada than the one then used by the way of Lake Cham- 
 plain; from General Bayley he learned that a much shorter 
 route could be laid out through the Coos country, and soon 
 after, General Bayley, with the approval of his commander - 
 in-chief, began laying out such a route from Newbury to 
 St. Johns, Canada, a distance of about one hundred miles, 
 over which it was believed that troops could be sent to Can- 
 ada more quickly by ten days than by the way of Lake 
 Champlain. After this road had been partially constructed 
 for a distance of fifteen or twenty miles northward from 
 Newbury, work was temporarily interrupted by the report 
 that Canadian troops were advancing down the line of the 
 proposed route to attack the frontier. Three years later, in 
 1779, the construction of this road was continued through 
 to the northern part of Vermont under the immediate di- 
 rection of General Hazen, and although it was never much 
 used for military purposes, it was of great assistance in the 
 settlement of that region, and is known as the "Bayley- 
 Hazen Military Road." Its starting point in Wells River 
 is now marked by a granite and bronze tablet suitably 
 inscribed.
 
 20 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 The great need of funds to provide for the equipment 
 and maintenance of the Colonial troops and General Bay- 
 ley's own self-sacrifice is shown in a letter addressed by him 
 to the New York Provincial Congress, dated February 26, 
 1777, in which he stated that the only soldiers in his locality 
 were those under pay from him, whom he employed to 
 construct the military road above mentioned, and that he 
 was in great need of funds to provide for the protection of 
 the northern frontier ; referring to himself, he said : 
 
 "I am continually employed in the service, but have 
 no pay, and am willing as long as I can live without begging." 
 
 When the necessary funds were not forthcoming Gen- 
 eral Bayley continued to draw on his own private means, 
 even to the extent of mortgaging his farm. 
 
 The year 1777 was an exceedingly active one through- 
 out The Grants. In January a convention met at West- 
 minster which adopted a declaration of independence by 
 which The Grants renounced the sovereignty of the Province 
 of New York. The convention also selected a committee 
 of five, which included Thomas Chittenden, Heman Allen 
 and General Bayley, to serve as delegates to present the 
 proceedings of the convention to the Continental Congress, 
 and there negotiate in behalf of the new state. 
 
 About this time New York ordered throughout The 
 Grants an election of provincial officers under its constitu- 
 tion; the Bennington Party, in opposition to this move on 
 the part of New York, and with its customary adroitness 
 circulated copies of the New York constitution throughout 
 The Grants, the effect of which upon the sentiment of the 
 inhabitants is well shown in a letter addressed by General 
 Bayley to the New York Assembly under the date of June 
 14, 1777, in which he stated his position as follows: 
 
 "Gentlemen : I acknowledge the receipt of an ordinance 
 from you for the election of governor, lieutenant-governor, 
 and senators and representatives, etc., but I am happy to
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 21 
 
 think that our people will not choose to sit in the State of 
 New York. The people before they saw your constitution 
 were not willing to trouble themselves with a separation from 
 New York, but now, almost to a man, are violently for it." 
 
 Conditions had now reached a crisis and General Bayley felt 
 that the time had come when a decision must be made be- 
 tween the jurisdiction of New York and the establishment of 
 an independent state, and at a town meeting held at New- 
 bury on June 23, 1777, it was voted "to be separate from the 
 state of New York and formed into a state by the name of. 
 Vermont", and also, "to accept the independence voted in 
 the convention held at Westminster on January 15 with the 
 amendments and that Gen'l Jacob Bayley and Reuben Foster 
 be delegates." General Bayley 's letter above mentioned and 
 the action of his town were practically a renunciation of his alle- 
 giance to the State of New York, and his approval of the estab- 
 lishment of The Grants as an independent state. He took his 
 seat in that memorable convention, which met at Windsor, 
 on July 2, 1777, which considered and adopted a constitu- 
 tion for the new state of Vermont. One of the important 
 provisions of the new constitution was the appointment of 
 a Council of Safety, which should administer the affairs of 
 the new state until a permanent government was organized 
 under the constitution. 
 
 This Council embraced the three functions of Gover- 
 nor, Council and General Assembly, and was all powerful 
 until the election of officers provided for by the constitu- 
 tion, which was to be held the following March; it was notable 
 not only for the authority with which it was invested, but 
 also for the character of the twelve men who composed it : 
 at its head was Thomas Chittenden, soon to become the first 
 Governor of the new State; Ira and Heman Allen, brothers 
 of Ethan, were both members, as was also General Bayley, 
 who was chosen at the personal solicitation of President 
 Chittenden, for the reason, as the latter stated, that General 
 Bayley was "the strongest man east of the mountains."
 
 22 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 This high estimate of General Bayley's ability must be re- 
 garded as of very great weight, coining as it did from such a 
 contemporary as President Chittenden, with whose course 
 and ideas it was well known General Bayley had at times 
 little sympathy. 
 
 While these important political events were transpiring 
 in the new state of Vermont, the Revolutionary War was 
 being aggressively pushed. In recognition of General 
 Bayley's important military services throughout the terri- 
 tory under his command, he was commissioned by General 
 Washington, in the year 1777, Commissary-General of the 
 Northern Department of the Colonial Army. In July of 
 that year General Burgoyne, who had been advancing 
 southward from Canada with a strong force of British, 
 attacked and captured Fort Ticonderoga and was planning 
 to fight his way down the Hudson and thus cut off New Eng- 
 land from the rest of the colonies, "the gravity of the situa- 
 tion was everywhere fully realized and General Bayley and 
 all other Colonial officers were straining every nerve to 
 marshall a sufficient force to prevent the success of this 
 plan of the British. Events moved rapidly, and on August 
 15th the Battle of Bennington was fought and won, adding 
 the name of John Stark to the long line of American heroes. 
 General Bayley was at Castleton on the day of the battle, 
 but immediately proceeded to Bennington and shared in 
 the inspiration of that important victory. 
 
 It was imperative that the Colonial forces should follow 
 up the advantage which had been gained and every avail- 
 able man was rushed to the front. The urgency of the sit- 
 uation and General Bayley's hope of early success were shown 
 in a letter written by him to Col. Morey, of Orford, New 
 Hampshire, under date of September 22, 1777, from which 
 I quote the following: 
 
 "You and all the militia eastward must turn out and 
 with horses and one month's provisions, which will, I hope, 
 put an end to the dispute this way."
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 23 
 
 His hope was happily fulfilled, for the advance of the Col- 
 onial forces could not be withstood and General Burgoyne 
 was forced to retreat to Saratoga, where, on October 17th, 
 after an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the brilliant but 
 treacherous Benedict Arnold, he was obliged to surrender. 
 General Bayley, in command of his regiment, took part in this 
 battle and contributed to the important victory there won. 
 
 Saratoga is recognized as one of the decisive battles of 
 history and its far-reaching effect upon the Colonial cause can 
 scarcely be over-estimated, and while the war continued for 
 nearly three years, the subsequent fighting was largely con- 
 fined to the southern portion of the Colonies and New Eng- 
 land was relieved in a great measure from its previous 
 strain and anxiety. 
 
 In March of the following year the state of Vermont was 
 organized under its new constitution, which provided for a 
 government through a Governor, a Lieutenant-Governor, a 
 Council of twelve members and a General Assembly of 
 Representatives; General Bayley w r as elected a member 
 of this first Governor's Council, which combined the func- 
 tions and powers of both a Governor's Council and a Senate. 
 
 During that same year General Bayley, with the Lieut- 
 enant Governor and five others, were constituted a "Court of 
 Confiscation", which was empowered to seize and order the 
 sale of the real and personal estate belonging to the British 
 sympathizers or Tories, whose attitude toward the Colonial 
 cause was particularly offensive to the patriotism of the citi- 
 zens in general; and during that same year General Bayley 
 was also appointed Judge of the Probate Court of the Newbury 
 District. 
 
 The second election under the constitution occurred in 
 September of that same year and General Bayley was again 
 elected a member of the Governor's Council. The Assembly 
 of that year established a Supreme Court for the County of 
 Gloucester and General Bayley was appointed Chief Judge 
 of the new Court.
 
 24 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 Through the influence of the Bennington Party, which 
 at that time had gained control of the Vermont Assembly, 
 the towns on the east side of the Connecticut River, which had 
 been admitted to Vermont against the opposition of the 
 Bennington Party, were denied and deprived of certain 
 powers and privileges, which were enjoyed by the other 
 towns of the state and which those east-side towns claimed 
 were guaranteed to them by the act of the union. This 
 course of the Bennington Party aroused the opposition not 
 only of the College Party, but of the residents generally of 
 the Connecticut Valley and as a result the representatives 
 of the east-side towns withdrew from the Assembly; with 
 them went also the representatives of several of the towns on 
 the west side of the River, who shared in the resentment 
 aroused by the unjust course of the Bennington Party. 
 Among those representatives of the west-side towns were 
 the Lieut. -Governor and General Bayley, and at a town 
 meeting held in Newbury in 1778 the town by vote approved 
 of the action of its representatives in withdrawing from the 
 Assembly; a convention of the seceding towns was im- 
 mediately called to meet at Cornish, New Hampshire, 
 where action was taken favoring a return of the River towns 
 in Vermont to the state of New Hampshire, or as an alter- 
 native, a union of the River towns in New Hampshire with 
 the state of Vermont. 
 
 General Bayley was a very active member of this con- 
 vention and was one of a special committee of two, who were 
 appointed to prepare and present to the New Hampshire 
 Assembly a petition embodying this proposal. 
 
 The Bennington Party exerted every effort to counter- 
 act this movement, but was only partially successful, for 
 the New Hampshire Assembly recommended: 
 
 "That New Hampshire should lay claim to the jurisdic- 
 tion of the whole of The Grants lying west of the River, but 
 allowing and conceding, nevertheless, that if the Honorable 
 Continental Congress should permit them to be a separate
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 25 
 
 state, as now claimed by some of the inhabitants thereof, by 
 the name of ' Vermont', New Hampshire would acquiesce 
 therein." 
 
 Action upon this recommendation was delayed until the 
 following session, which was to assemble in June 1779, and 
 meanwhile the Cornish Committee were requested to as- 
 certain the sentiment of the residents on the west side of 
 the River ; this was found to be favorable to the recommenda- 
 tion, and accordingly the claim was formally made by the 
 New Hampshire Assembly. 
 
 It will be readily understood that the state of Vermont 
 was thus placed in an exceedingly embarrassing situation, 
 for New York and New Hampshire each claimed the whole 
 of the territory, while Massachusetts also put in a claim for a 
 strip along the southern border; Congress seemed indifferent 
 and the feeling between the rival parties in the state had 
 become very intense and bitter. 
 
 The leaders of the Bennington Party were greatly 
 angered by the persistent claims of the adjoining states, 
 and despairing of the immediate recognition of the state of 
 Vermont by Congress through any course heretofore pur- 
 sued, they proceeded to develope a scheme which they hoped 
 would force the final recognition of the state; this plan 
 embraced the carrying on of secret negotiations with General 
 Haldimand, the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in 
 Canada, the ostensible object of which was to detach Ver- 
 mont from the United States and annex her to Canada under 
 the British Dominion. At first only eight men in Vermont 
 were in the secret, and these included the leaders of the 
 Bennington Party; with this object in view they agreed upon 
 a truce with the British, by which the troops of the latter 
 were withdrawn from western Vermont, and the Colonial 
 forces in that part of the State were disbanded with the 
 expectation on the part of the British that Vermont was 
 presently to be annexed to Canada. This was certainly 
 a bold and desperate scheme. The negotitaions were
 
 26 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 carried on for nearly four years, from 1779 to 1783; there was 
 a large amount of correspondence and some of the letters 
 written by the leaders of the Bcnnington Party to the British 
 authorities in Canada appeared to indicate that they were 
 in fact ready to turn Vermont over to Canada. It is little 
 wonder, therefore, that General Bayley and his associates 
 in the Connecticut Valley, who were not parties to the secret, 
 and who had for a long time entertained a strong aversion for 
 some of the leaders of the Bennington Party on account of 
 their infidel beliefs, should, in consequence of the apparent 
 character of these negotiations, distrust their patriotism. 
 General Bayley's views upon this situation were well 
 shown in a letter written by him under date of November 6, 
 1780, in which he said: 
 
 "All the force that can be spared from Canada is at 
 Crown Point and Onion River; and though they have been 
 for six weeks in that quarter, and it has been in their power 
 to distress the people on The Grants west of the mountains, 
 yet not a man killed or captivated, nor a house burnt; but 
 look on this side, where people are opposed to the people on 
 the west, in their extravagances they burn, kill, and cap- 
 tivate, and have been and now are watching to destroy this 
 and other places on these rivers." 
 
 The same feeling of suspicion and some of the reasons 
 why he advocated annexation with New Hampshire and his 
 fixed determination regarding his own course, w r ere clearly 
 shown in a remarkably strong and patriotic letter written 
 by him to President Weare of the New Hampshire Assembly, 
 under date of November 22 of the same year, from which I 
 quote the following: 
 
 "I understand General Allen has made peace for Ver- 
 mont till that time (February 1781) but as we do not own 
 that state we shall be their only butt. If the United States 
 and you in particular do not take notice of such treasonable 
 conduct we had better let this cause drop. If you had the 
 jurisdiction of the whole Grants which I am sure you could 
 if you only desire it, the country would be safe; but if you
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 27 
 
 split at the (Connecticut) river you keep all in confusion, 
 
 while the matter hangs in suspense the enemy 
 
 may take possession, then where is your State! For my part 
 I am determined to fight for New Hampshire and the United 
 States as long as I am alive and have one copper in my hand, 
 but if our exertions are not greater and more effectual, 
 another year will end the dispute (and) not in our favor." 
 
 It appears that at this time General Bayley believed that 
 a public sentiment in favor of a union with the British Gov- 
 ernment in Canada was spreading throughout the Grants, and 
 it was imperative that the Colonial forces should make some 
 open and aggressive move in order to counteract this grow- 
 ing British sentiment ; for this reason he was strongly in favor 
 of an invasion of Canada, and was willing to risk his own life 
 in the attempt as appears in the following additional quota- 
 tion from the foregoing letter: 
 
 "The United States suffer themselves to be attacked 
 front and rear and on the flanks; Did Burgoyne get clear 
 when that was the case with him? Our chariot is in the 
 mire. Praying to Hercules or France without putting to 
 the shoulder with all our might will not do. This frontier 
 is the only one for five hundred miles west remaining. It 
 is near the enemy. It is of great importance to you as well 
 as to the other New England states and the cause is general. 
 Shall we forever be on the defensive and yet not be able to 
 defend ourselves as it is impossible we should while Canada 
 is in the hands of the enemy? Shall we not make an at- 
 tempt on Canada, that harbor of spoils, thieves and rob- 
 bers? I must confess the cause is sinking so fast in my view, 
 I am willing (as I see no other remedy) to make the attempt 
 if I run ten chances to one to die in the attempt." 
 
 How firmly convinced the British authorities in Canada 
 were with reference to what they believed the real purpose 
 of the western Vermont leaders was in their negotiations with 
 General Haldimand, and General Bayley's relation to the 
 situation were clearly stated in a secret report made to 
 General Haldimand by one of the British commissioners. 
 This report bears the date of September 30, 1781, and from 
 it I quote as follows :
 
 28 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 'I beg leave to trouble you with a few remarks of my 
 own founded on the closest observation and scrutiny that 
 I was able to make on the words and actions of Messrs. 
 Allen and Fay while I was with them. I am fully of the opin- 
 ion that Messrs. Chfttenden, Allen and Fay, with a number 
 of the leading men of Vermont, are making every exertion in 
 their power to endeavor to bring about a reunion with (the 
 British) government and that at least one-third of the popu- 
 lace sincerely wishes for such a change. 
 
 But I find that Congress are much alarmed and have 
 lately, at great expense, employed a number of emissaries 
 in Vermont to counteract, underhand, whatever is doing for 
 (the British) government. The principal of those are Gen- 
 eral Bayley, Colonels Charles Johnson, Morey, Brewster 
 and Major Childs on the Connecticut River. 
 
 This Junto, of which General Bayley is the soul, are en- 
 deavoring to set the populace against their present leaders 
 by insinuating to them that they are Tories and intend to 
 sell Vermont, etc. 
 
 I believe that Congress intend to bring the populace of 
 Vermont to a general vote \vhether they will relinquish their 
 present claim or not, at which time they hope, by the influ- 
 ence of Bayley's party, to turn out the present leaders and 
 at least have their own creatures appointed, whom they will 
 endeavor to support by establishing a considerable force 
 somewhere on the frontiers of Vermont next spring. Messrs. 
 Allen and Fay have very sincerely acknowledged to me their 
 embarrassment and their fears that the populace could not 
 be easily gained, and in a very sensible manner pointed out 
 the difficulties and dangers attending such an attempt, while 
 the rebellious part of the populace, however few, had reason 
 to suspect so much more assistance from the southward 
 than the friends of (the British) government could at present 
 expect from the northward; they observed that so long as 
 these motives emboldened the former and depressed the 
 latter, there would be but little hopes of success. They, 
 however, requested (as the last resource)that General Haldi- 
 mand would issue a proclamation pointing out in a very par- 
 ticular manner the privileges he was authorized to grant 
 Vermont. This proclamation they hoped would be accept- 
 able to so large a part of the people that by the ensuing spring, 
 with the assistance and protection of General Haldimand,
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 29 
 
 they could effectually establish a British government, but, 
 if this failed, they know of no other method at present." 
 
 General Bayley's feelings during this period are further 
 shown in a letter written by him to General Washington, 
 dated April 10, 1782, in which, referring to the correspond- 
 ence with General Haldimand, he said: 
 
 "I must say the correspondence of Vermont with the 
 enemy was not to deceive them, but was actually designed to 
 destroy the United States, the question, whom did they mean 
 to deceive Congress, or the enemy?" 
 
 and again in another letter to General Washington, under 
 the date of May 30, of the same year, he said : 
 
 "Major James Rogers has been in here and has gone 
 back satisfied that most of the leading men in Vermont will 
 not oppose the British government. I believe he will not 
 find it true; although many are gone back, this town and 
 some adjacent stand fast." 
 
 and again writing General Washington under the date of 
 September 16, of the same year, speaking of the need of funds 
 and how he had impoverished himself, he said : 
 
 "If it is consistent, I wish some gentleman at Boston 
 might be appointed to settle the account, as it is very ex- 
 pensive for me to go to Philadelphia; have nothing left but 
 my farm, but what I have advanced for the public; even my 
 time as much as though I had been the whole time in the 
 army since the present war. I have not received anything 
 for my time (and I think it well spent if I have done any 
 good), but little for my advancements." 
 
 Colonel Thomas Johnson of Newbury, a neighbor and 
 firm friend of General Bayley and an ardent patriot, who had 
 been captured and kept a prisoner in Canada during a por- 
 tion of the time covered by the Haldimand correspondence, 
 had an opportunity to learn the belief of some of the British 
 authorities in Canada regarding the matter, which led him 
 to share in the strong suspicion of the patriotism of the
 
 30 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 leaders of the Bennington Party; this clearly appeared in a 
 letter written by him to General Washington under the date 
 of May 30, 1782, in which he reported certain information 
 which he obtained while he was a prisoner of war, from which 
 I quote the following: 
 
 "I soon contracted an intimate acquaintance and con- 
 versation with leading men in that quarter and obtained a 
 particular state of the affairs of Vermont, and found that 
 Ira Allen and others had twice been into Canada and that two 
 Flags had been sent from Canada into Vermont ; and that the 
 outlines of a Treaty were then actually formed between 
 them, namely: That Vermont should be a Charter Govern- 
 ment, similar in most respects to Connecticut, yet more lib- 
 berty on the side of the State; that they should be pro- 
 tected by government whenever necessary; that Ira Allen 
 was then daily expected in again to complete the matter. 
 
 I found, likewise, that this plan was agreed upon with 
 
 Ethan Allen before he left the British During the 
 
 carrying on of the aforesaid expeditions, it was agreed by 
 the Aliens, etc., on the part of Vermont, that they would lay 
 still and give them no trouble as the Officers had often told 
 me. Thus Ethan Allen did at Castleton, in the fall of the 
 year 1780, when the British destroyed Fort George, Fort Ann 
 and many of the inhabitants in that quarter, and came 
 round within one day's march of the place where Allen lay 
 with near a thousand men, and suffered them all to pass on un- 
 molested, when at the same time I heard many of the Officers 
 often say that Allen might easily have cut them off, if he 
 would, but he had agreed to the contrary. The rehearsal 
 of these actions of the infernal villains is enough to make my 
 blood run cold in every vein." 
 
 The causes which inspired the writing of the foregoing 
 letters served to still further arouse the efforts of General 
 Bayley in behalf of the United States and against the pro- 
 posed scheme of the union of Vermont with Canada, all of 
 which made him particularly offensive to the British; that 
 he was so regarded is shown in a letter written to Pres. 
 Weare of the New Hampshire Assembly by Moses Dow of 
 Haverhill, New Hampshire, under the date of June 16, 1782, 
 in which he stated that:
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 31 
 
 "Governor Chittenden had received an account that all 
 Newbury but three or four had voted to make application to 
 New Hampshire to be received and protected, and that 
 General Bayley was very active in the matter; that an ur- 
 gent request had been sent to General Haldimand by some 
 of the British sympathizers, entreating him in the most 
 urgent and pressing manner to send immediately and take 
 General Bayley off the ground, as he kept this part of the 
 country in a tumult and confusion, and unless he was taken 
 away General Haldimand could not carry his plans into 
 effect." 
 
 In consequence of this well-founded belief, a reward of 
 five hundred guineas was offered for the capture of General 
 Bayley, "dead or alive", and a carefully-planned but in- 
 effectual attempt to surprise him at his home in June, 1782, 
 only failed through the timely warning given to him by Col. 
 Thomas Johnson. The incident, I think, is well worth re- 
 repeating here: 
 
 It appears that for several days some British soldiers 
 had been lurking in the vicinity of General Bayley's home for 
 the purpose of effecting his capture; on the afternoon of the 
 day of the proposed attempt, Gen. Bayley and some of his 
 men were plowing on his meadow. Colonel Johnson, who 
 was at home on parole after his capture by the British, be- 
 came aware of this plan and was determined, at all hazards, 
 to prevent his friend from falling into the hands of the Bri- 
 tish; fearing on account of his own safety to personally 
 give him warning, Col. Johnson wrote this brief and non- 
 committal message on a slip of paper: 
 
 "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson", 
 
 which he folded and handed to a friend directing him to 
 cross the meadow and drop the paper in the sight of General 
 Bayley, near where he was to pass. This was done; General 
 Bayley received the warning, and after plowing a little 
 longer, directed his men to stop work and look after them- 
 selves, as he was going across the River. That very even-
 
 32 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 ing the British surrounded General Bayley's home and 
 captured the inmates, but he was safe among his friends in 
 Haverhill. 
 
 The history of those troublous times, which I have 
 briefly outlined, was nearing a peaceful conclusion. The 
 end of the Revolutionary War was near at hand and the 
 powerful influence of General Washington was exerted to 
 clear up the embarrassing situation with reference to the 
 recognition of the State of Vermont; Congress declared that: 
 
 "The relinquishment by Vermont of all demands or 
 jurisdictions on the east side of the west bank of the Connec- 
 ticut River and west of a line twenty miles east of the Hudson, 
 was an indispensable preliminary to the State's recognition," 
 
 and finally in June, 1782, the Vermont Assembly decided to 
 accept this declaration as an ultimatum and voted to dis- 
 solve the union with any territory outside of the limits pre- 
 scribed by Congress. 
 
 In view of the foregoing references to the suspicions 
 entertained and expressed by General Bayley, and other 
 leaders of the Xew Hampshire party regarding the patriotism 
 of the leaders of the Bennington Party, I feel that it is only 
 fair to state that while there certainly appeared to be just 
 and ample grounds for such suspicions, a clearer under- 
 standing of the whole situation satisfactorily explains the 
 course pursued by the leaders of the Bennington Party; 
 their object was the organization of The Grants as an in- 
 dependent state and when that had been accomplished, the 
 delay of Congress in recognizing the new state induced 
 them to pursue the course which they did, in the hope of 
 forcing that recognition, and there is good ground for the 
 belief that the substance, at least, of the Haldimand cor- 
 respondence was transmitted to Congress by the leaders of 
 the Bennington Party, with the hope that it might assist 
 them in their purpose.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 33 
 
 I am glad to believe that the suspicions regarding the 
 patriotism of the leaders of the Bennington Party were not 
 well founded, and that throughout that trying period their 
 allegiance to the United States was earnest and sincere, and 
 that it was true of them all, as Ethan Allen stated with 
 reference to his own allegiance, in a letter written by him to 
 Congress, from which I quote as follows : 
 
 "I am resolutely determined to defend the independence 
 of Vermont, as Congress are that of the United States, and 
 rather than fail, will retire with the hardy Green Mountain 
 Boys into the caverns of the mountains and wage war with 
 human nature at large." 
 
 With the ending of the Revolutionary War and the 
 War of the Grants, the causes of danger, disagreement and 
 suspicion were removed and General Bayley at once re- 
 sumed his prominent position in the affairs of the new State. 
 In October 1783, he was appointed Chief Judge of the Orange 
 County Court and the following year he was elected as the 
 representative from Newbury to the General Assembly. 
 In 1786 he was elected to his former position as a member of 
 the Governor's Council and thereafter for seven consecutive 
 years he was annually re-elected; during the same year, 
 1786, he was appointed Chief Judge of the Orange County 
 Court and served continuously until 1791. He was also 
 elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, which 
 met in 1793. 
 
 His long and distinguished public career closed with the 
 expiration of his term as a member of the Governor's Coun- 
 cil in the year 1794; he had passed his sixty-eighth birthday 
 and had earned his release from the labor and turmoil of 
 further public service. It is also true that the financial 
 expenditures which he had made and the losses which he had 
 suffered for the public welfare, and for which he never re- 
 ceived any return, left him, for the remainder of his life, a 
 poor man. In his retirement among his family and friends 
 in Newbury, his life flowed quietly on for twenty years.
 
 34 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 He died on March 1, 1815, in the eighty-ninth year of his 
 age, carrying with him to the end the confidence and esteem 
 of all who knew him ; his burial place is in Ox-Bow Cemetery, 
 nearby his Newbury home, overlooking the beautiful 
 meadow and the winding river which first attracted him 
 so strongly to that locality. 
 
 Although I have made a careful search, I have been 
 unable to find a picture of him, and consequently the fol- 
 lowing description given by Mr. Wells, in his "History of 
 Newbury, Vt.," will prove all the more interesting: 
 
 "In person he was about middle height, a stature not 
 exceeded by any of his sons or grandsons, with a muscular, 
 well-knit frame capable of great endurance, and the lineament 
 of his countenance could easily be traced in his descendants." 
 
 The following is a summary of his many public positions : 
 Besides the town offices which he held in Hampstead and New- 
 bury (seven years as selectman and more than twenty times 
 as moderator), his activity in wider fields included his ser- 
 vice through the French and Indian War as Lieutenant, 
 Captain and Colonel; through the Revolutionary W T ar as 
 Brigadier General and Commissary General of the Nor- 
 thern Department of the Colonial Army. He was the founder 
 of Newbury, Vermont, securing its first charter from the 
 Province of New Hampshire (1763) and its second charter 
 from the Province of New York (1772); he was a delegate 
 to the New York Provincial Congress (1777); a member of 
 two Vermont General Assemblies (1777-1784); a member of 
 the Council of Safety, which for the time being, governed 
 the state of Vermont (1777); a member of the Court of Con- 
 fiscation (1778); Judge of the Inferior Court of Common 
 Pleas for five years (1772-1777) ; Judge of the Probate Court 
 of Newbury District; Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of 
 Gloucester County (1778); Chief Judge of Orange County 
 Court for six years (1783, 1786-1791); a member of two 
 Vermont Constitutional Conventions (1777, 1793); a dele-
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 35 
 
 gate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia (1777) 
 and a member of the Governor's Council for ten terms 
 (1778, 1786-1794). Such a long record of varied and im- 
 portant public service marks General Bayley as a man of 
 extraordinary ability, prominence and usefulness and fully 
 entitles him to be ranked as one of the very foremost men 
 in the founding and early history of this state. 
 
 In this connection it will be instructive to consider the 
 estimates placed upon his services by various disinterested 
 writers, who have been careful students of the history of 
 his time. Coffin in his "History of Newbury, Mass.," 
 speaking of General Bayley's services, says : 
 
 "These positions involved sacrifices of an extraordinary 
 character, and many anecdotes might be related of his ex- 
 ploits, hair-breadth escapes, encounters with the enemy, 
 Indians and Tories; his constant vigilance to escape scouts 
 sent from Canada to take him, for whom a reward of five 
 hundred guineas had been offered, dead or alive; by means 
 of spies he acquired important intelligence of the enemy in 
 Canada and rendered great service with his purse, person and 
 pen at and before the surrender of Burgoyne, where he was 
 engaged with two or three of his sons; he made a treaty of 
 friendship with the St. Francis Indians, and by his kindness 
 to them won their attachment, and many of the tribe were 
 of great service to the colonies during the Revolutionary War ; 
 he sacrificed a large estate in the service of his country, for 
 which he never received any compensation, and was equally 
 distinguished for his talents, his patriotism and his piety." 
 
 A descendant of Governor Chittenden has well des- 
 scribed General Bayley as "One of the neglected patriots 
 of the Revolution." 
 
 Wells, in his "History of Newbury, Vt.," estimates 
 General Bayley as follows: 
 
 "He had great talents and his usefulness to the American 
 cause was very great ; it is believed that losses which he suffer- 
 ed by his service to the patriot cause amounted to sixty 
 thousand dollars, for which, notwithstanding his applications 
 to Congress, he received no return; he sacrificed all his estate
 
 36 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 to pay his debts and died a poor man; he has been well called 
 'The Father of Newbury' and his services to the town and 
 the church can hardly be over-estimated; his influence with 
 the Indians doubtless prevented many disasters to the 
 frontier, and his sacrifices in behalf of the American cause 
 contributed toward the establishment of her colonies; his 
 fame will always be great in this town, but by the present 
 generation even of his descendants, the services which he 
 rendered are very imperfectly understood; his sphere of 
 operations was narrow, but in it no man could have accom- 
 plished a more durable work ; his loyalty to the patriot cause 
 was never questioned and his course during the war has never 
 needed apology or required vindication ; it is unfortunate for 
 his fame that he took the course which he did regarding the 
 motives and influence of the Aliens, Governor Chittenden 
 and the other leaders of the Vermont cause; had he under- 
 stood their plans and acted with them, his name would have 
 gone into history second in fame to that of no man in Ver- 
 mont." 
 
 Coming from such authorities the foregoing estimates 
 of General Bayley must be regarded as competent and de- 
 served. While his fame has suffered as above suggested, 
 any student of the history of those times will admit that 
 General Bayley had strong and natural grounds for his 
 suspicion of the patriotism of the western Vermont leaders. 
 When, however, the peace and independence of his country 
 were finally established and the safety and protection of the 
 inhabitants of the frontier were fully assured, he was loyal 
 and broad-minded enough to forget the differences which 
 had once separated them, and to join heartily with them in 
 the upbuilding of the new state, in which they all were 
 leaders. 
 
 Little can be added to the comprehensive estimates of 
 his life from which I have above quoted, and I will only 
 summarize his character and services as follows: 
 
 He was a pioneer of strong, unselfish purpose; 
 
 A patriot of uncompromising fidelity; 
 
 A soldier unstained by personal ambition; 
 
 A citizen ever devoted to the public good.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL JACOB BAYLEY 37 
 
 While he lacked the fire of a Sam Adams, his patriotism 
 was equally deep and strong, and not less severely tested; 
 although he never possessed the swaying eloquence of a 
 Patrick Henry, nevertheless, he easily won and maintained 
 the confidence of those who knew him ; while he did not have 
 the genius for government of a Jefferson, yet his counsel 
 was wise and his judgment sound; and although his name is 
 not conspicuously linked with the chief command in any 
 great battle, nevertheless his untiring and self-sacrificing 
 services in raising, equipping and maintaining the militia 
 throughout the large district under his command contributed 
 very materially to those successes which gave to the names 
 of others undying glory and fame. 
 
 More than a century has passed since his death, and 
 the United States, for which he fought with a patriotic self- 
 sacrifice and devotion which knew neither limit, variable- 
 ness, nor shadow of turning, is today the foremost nation 
 of all the world; this State, which he helped to organize, 
 and with the early history of which he was so closely and 
 prominently identified, is today the home of happy and 
 prosperous thousands, while thousands more now residing 
 beyond its borders, cherish it with its green hills and fertile 
 valleys as the dearest place on earth, and the town of New- 
 bury, which he founded, loved so well, and served so long 
 and faithfully, is today one of the most picturesque in all 
 the famous valley of the Connecticut, its meadows are 
 the most beautiful and fertile, its intervales the most in- 
 viting for homes, commanding a view of meadow and river, 
 of hill and mountain of surpassing natural beauty, affording a 
 continuing proof of the foresight of the one who, more than 
 a century and a half ago, while it was still an unbroken 
 wilderness, chose it for his home, and for nearly half a cen- 
 tury wisely directed its growth and development. 
 
 In concluding, it is a pleasure to be able to state that 
 the most prominent event in the celebration in 1912 of the 
 one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of
 
 38 THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 Newbury, Vermont, was the dedication to the memory of 
 General Bayley of a large, impressive, granite monument, 
 which was erected by his descendants in grateful memory of 
 his distinguished public services, and which will serve 
 through the coming years to inspire in all who interpret 
 its true significance a patriotic devotion and self-sacrifice 
 for the public good, such as ever actuated his life. 
 
 Deeply appreciating the interest and attention of this 
 audience, I feel that I cannot better close this tribute than 
 by using the words of another, which so aptly epitomize 
 General Bayley's life and character, and which, also, well 
 express an increasing need of our own times: 
 
 "God give us men! A time like this demands 
 
 Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; 
 
 Men whom the lust of office does not kill; 
 
 Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
 
 Men who possess opinions and a will ; 
 
 Men who have honor; men who will not lie; 
 
 Men who can stand before a demagogue 
 
 And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; 
 
 Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog 
 
 In public duty and in private thinking."
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 Form L-9-15i-3,'34 
 
 UNIVERSITY of Cf JFORNiA 
 
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 LIBRARY
 
 Binder 
 
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 Stockton, Calif 
 
 PAT. JAN. 2). 1908 
 
 
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