Chittenden

BARNET, Samuel

Vermont Historical Magazine, No XI, October 1867, p 484

Samuel BARNET was a soldier in the Revolution, and one of Washington's 
guards. After the war he left Newbury [Orange County, Vermont] and settled 
in Bolton [Chittenden County, Vermont]. He found the land covered with a 
heavy growth of timber, which could only be cleared with great difficulty. 
As in other towns at that time, the first thing to be done was to build a log 
cabin, and make a little clearing, where he could plant a patch of corn, and 
sow a few turnips. The next was a "plumping mill." This was made by 
selecting a large stump, and keeping a little fire on the top till it burned 
out a hollow like a mortar. A heavy plunger was then attached to a long 
spring pole, in such a manner that when the operator pulled it down upon the 
corn in the mortar, the spring pole would lift it out. In such mills the 
corn was prepared for bread. It is remarkable that they never pounded more 
than enough for one meal at a time; so the sound of the plumping mills were 
heard in the morning pounding corn for breakfast cake, then at noon, and 
again it heralded the supper hour, and was musical to the pioneers, for the 
sound of these mills could be heard a long distance, and the settlers 
scattered here and there found its echo among the hills a more cheerful sound 
than the howling of wolves.

Soon after Mr. BARNET came to Bolton, the crops were cut off by the frost, 
and the sufferings of the settlers from hunger were great. They had to eke 
out their scanty supplies by digging roots, and boiling herbs, as well as by 
hunting and fishing. It was in this year that Amos PALMER took heads of rye 
as soon as they were filled, and dried them by the fire, and then he, with 
his wife and children, "rubbed it out in their hands," blowed away the chaf 
with their breath, and when they had got a peck Mr. PALMER carried it on foot 
nine miles to Gov. CHITTENDEN's mill [in Williston, Chittenden County] and 
had it ground. He came home in the night, and had to stop three times to 
divide his peck of rye meal with his half-starved friends.

In 1814 the sound of the cannons at Plattsburgh [Clinton County, New York] 
were distinctly heard in Bolton, and as it resounded through the valley, it 
awoke the spirit of '76 in the breast of every man. Mr. BARNET was one of a 
large company that marched from Bolton as soon as they heard the sound. They 
were organized into a company by Capt. John PINCO [hard to read - could be 
PINEO], at the old stage house kept by James WHITCOMB; and being all ready at 
sunset, they marched all night, and took a sleep at Burlington [Chittenden 
County] the next morning, and sailed for Plattsburgh. Mr. BARNET, with 
others of the Revolutionary soldiers, formed a company called the Silver 
Greys.

When the battle was over, and the enemy had left Plattsburgh, as Mr. BARNET 
was about to take the boat to go home, he said in the language of one of old, 
"Now, Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen 
Thy salvation." In four weeks from this time he [Samuel BARNET] died in the 
sixty-eighth year of his age. [The battle of Plattsburgh was fought in early 
September of 1814. Most sources give 11 September 1814 as the date, but it 
was more likely fought over a period of a few days, ending on 11 September. 
If Samuel BARNET died four weeks after the battle, he would have died in 
October 1814. The battle of Plattsburgh is said to be significant in that it 
ended the threat of renewed British rule.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly