THE HISTORY OF VERMONT. CHAPTER I. EXPLORATIONS. RAIDS. FIRST SETTLEMENT. WAR PARTIES. 1. First Exploration.-Samuel Champlain entered the lake that now bears his name, July 4, 1609. He came from Quebec, where he had made a settlement the year before and where he had wintered. He was accompanied by two Frenchmen and sixty Indians of the Algonquin race. The party worked slowly up the lake and at the end of three weeks met a larger band of Iroquois Indians near Ticonderoga, whom they fought and defeated. Champlain's party then hastened back to Canada with booty and prisoners. While on this expedition Champlain saw and explored a portion of Vermont. It was the first exploration of the State by white men, 2. The Indians. Fort St. Anne.When North America became known to Europeans, it was occupied by several families of Indian tribes. One of these families, the Algonquin, inhabited the chief part of New England and Canada. Another family, the Iroquois, had their chief seats in New York. The valley of Lake Champlain was disputed territory through which war parties often passed. Champlain settled among the Algonquins and gained their friendship. They would assist him to explore Lake Champlain only on condition that he would assist them against their enemies, the Iroquois, in case they met them. Champlain and his two white companions aided the Algonquins in the battle near Ticonderoga. The Iroquois had never before seen white men nor fire-arms, which proved very destructive to them. From this time the Iroquois were bitterly hostile to the French and made frequent raids upon them. For protection against the Iroquois the French built forts along the Richelieu River and one, Fort St. Anne, on Isle La Motte in Lake Champlain. This was built in 1666 and was the first point occupied by white men in Vermont. Soon after their alliance with the French the Algonquins began, or renewed, a settlement near the Lower Falls of the Missisquoi River, now called Swanton Falls, which was continued with one short interruption till the settlement of the town by the English after the close of the Revolutionary War. No other so permanent Indian settlement has been known in Vermont since its discovery by Champlain. 3. Expedition against the Mohawks.-At the beginning of October, 1666, a force of twelve hundred French and one hundred Indians was encamped near Fort St. Anne, on its way to chastise the Mohawks, a tribe of the Iroquois. They passed up Lake Champlain and Lake George, crossed to the Mohawk Valley and reached the Indian villages which were surrounded by triple palisades, while within were raised platforms for the discharge of arrows and stones against an attacking enemy and water tanks made of bark for protection against fire. There was also a supply of axes and saws of steel purchased from the Dutch at Albany, and a great stock of corn and beans stored for winter. The capture of these villages would have cost the French heavily, if the panicstricken Indians had not fled on their approach. SITE OF OLD FORT ST. ANNE, ISLE LA MOTTE. After burning the villages with all their stores and taking possession of the country in the name of the king of France, the army returned to Canada. 4. Raid against Schenectady.-In 1689, England and France were at war, and the Governor General of Canada had been directed to attempt the conquest of the English colonies. So in January of the next year a force of French and Indians starting from Montreal and passing through lakes Champlain and George, attacked, pillaged and burned Schenectady, N. Y. They killed many of the inhabitants and retired with much plunder and many prisoners. 5. First English Expedition.--Early in the following spring the New York authorities sent Capt. Jacob De Warm to build a small fort at what is now Chimney Point in Addison, and about midsummer an expedition of English and Indians sailed down Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to the neighborhood of Chambly. From this place they marched through the woods against La Prairie on the St. Lawrence, opposite Montreal. They killed a few settlers and took some prisoners. They killed many cattle and burned the houses and barns outside the fort. On their return the party stopped at Fort St. Anne, then unoccupied, and at a little stone fort, probably that at Chimney Point. This was the first English expedition through. Lake Champlain. and 6. Raid against Deerfield.-England France were at war (known as Queen Anne's war) again in 1704, and in the early part of that year a party of French and Indians was sent from Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, the Winooski, White and Connecticut rivers against Deerfield, at that time one of the frontier towns in Massachusetts. The town was protected by a palisade, and a watch was kept at night, but the watchmen retired at daybreak. The snow was drifted high against the palisade and was covered with a strong crust. The enemy climbed over the palisade soon after the watchmen had withdrawn and distributed themselves through the town. At a given signal they attacked all the houses at once. The surprise was complete. Many of the inhabitants were killed, more than one hundred were taken prisoners, and the town was burned. The work was quickly done. When the sun was an hour high the journey to Canada had begun. A dreary prospect was before the captives as they started northward from their still burning homes. The Rev. John Williams, pastor of Deerfield, and his family were among the captives. The family consisted of Mr. Williams, his wife and seven children and a man servant and a maidservant, both colored. The maid-servant and two of the children were slain at the door of the house. The |