The Bayley–Hazen Military Road was a military road that was originally planned to run from Newbury, Vermont, to St. John's,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, not far from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. The southern , running from Newbury to Hazen's Notch near the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

, were constructed between 1776 and 1779 during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Portions of the road's route are used by modern roads today. The road is named for the principal proponents of its construction. Jacob Bayley and

Moses Hazen Moses Hazen (June 1, 1733 – February 5, 1803) was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he saw action in the French and Indian War with Rogers' Rang ...

were among the founders of Newbury and nearby

Haverhill, New Hampshire Haverhill is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,585 at the 2020 census. Haverhill includes the villages of Woodsville, Pike, and North Haverhill, the historic town center at Haverhill Corner, and the dis ...

, and Hazen also had property interests at St. John's. The idea for the road featured prominently in several proposals (promoted primarily by Hazen to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...

) for invasions of Quebec by

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

forces following the failed 1775 invasion.

Background

After hostilities in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

ended in 1760, several veterans of that war founded the communities of Haverhill and Newbury on either side of the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

in the far north of the British

province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was nam ...

. The land on the west side of the river was the subject of disputes between New Hampshire and the

province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...

, and was known then as the

New Hampshire Grants The New Hampshire Grants or Benning Wentworth Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the colonial governor of the Province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The land grants, totaling about 135 (including 131 towns), were made o ...

; this territory eventually became the state of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

First construction

Work to develop the road occurred first in 1776. General George Washington, to support the Continental Army's 1775 invasion of Quebec, asked Thomas Johnson, a local landowner, to blaze a trail to St. John's on the

Richelieu River The Richelieu River () is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. It was formerly kno ...

near Montreal that army regiments could use to reach the area. On March 26, 1776, Johnson and four men set out through the snow, covering the to St. John's in 11 days. Several Continental Army regiments made their way along this trail that year, prompting Washington to order construction of a road. Jacob Bayley and 60 men constructed, apparently at Bayley's expense, about (into present-day

Peacham, Vermont Peacham is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 715 at the 2020 census. History In 1763, Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire gave a charter for the region to a group of proprietors, and the town was gi ...

) until rumors arrived that a British army was coming down the trail to stop them. The construction was abandoned amid concerns of invasion in the small communities. (Only a small company of

Canadien French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

s came down the trail as far as Peacham.)Wells, pp. 76–77 It is unclear whether Bayley was ever repaid for this work.

Second construction

Moses Hazen, then colonel in the Continental Army, was directed by Washington in the spring of 1779 to renew construction of the road. His regiment and that of Colonel

Timothy Bedel Timothy Bedel (1737 – February 24, 1787) was a soldier and local leader prominent in the early history of New Hampshire and Vermont. Bedel was born in Salem, New Hampshire. During the French and Indian War he served as a lieutenant in the New Ha ...

worked on the road throughout the summer of 1779, extending it through the present-day communities of Cabot,

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...

, Hardwick,

Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

, Craftsbury, Albany, and Lowell.

Blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s were also constructed along the route, at Peacham, Cabot, Walden, and Greensboro (on a site still called Block House HillJill L. Baker and Patricia L. Haslam,
History Space: Search for the Greensboro blockhouse
, ''

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'', Dec. 9, 2017). Work was abandoned when the road reached the place now known as Hazen's Notch in Westfield, again on rumors that the British were sending a force to stop the construction work. In addition, decision-makers came to the realization that a road could just as easily be used for a British invasion of the Thirteen Colonies.

Revolutionary War uses

Even after construction was abandoned on the road, the blockhouses on the route were manned, and occasionally subjected to minor skirmishes and scouting actions. The road was apparently identified by the British for use in raiding expeditions in 1780; the raid against Royalton and other small Vermont communities may have included Peacham and nearby communities as targets. Strong local militia may have deterred the raiders from making an attack there. Jacob Bayley was also targeted by the British for kidnapping; at least one attempt was made using the road, which failed as Bayley was alerted to the plan. In 1781, the Greensboro blockhouse was attacked "by Indians"; two scouts were killed. A memorial stone was erected near the site 160 years later.

After the war

The road was the only road in the area, and became a route for migration and development of the

Northeast Kingdom The Northeast Kingdom (also, locally, "The Kingdom" and abbreviated NEK) is the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Vermont, approximately comprising Essex County, Vermont, Essex, Orleans County, Vermont, Orleans and Caledonia County, Vermont, ...

of Vermont. Little evidence of the original road exists, as much of its route has been taken over by state and local roads, but there have been reports of archaeologists locating isolated sections of

corduroy Corduroy is a textile with a distinctively raised "cord" or wale texture. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between them. Both velvet and corduroy derive from fu ...

Notes

References

* *{{cite web, url=http://www.electricscotland.com/History/ryegate/9.htm, title=History of Ryegate, Vermont; Chapter IX, accessdate=2007-06-11

Bayley Hazen Military Road The Bayley–Hazen Military Road was a military road that was originally planned to run from Newbury, Vermont, to St. John's, Quebec, not far from Montreal. The southern , running from Newbury to Hazen's Notch near the Canada–United States bo ...