May 2
Oh!  fallen is the valiant arm,
The mighty son of war is low!
                    -Mrs. Margaret (Miller) Davidson.

1777 At Danbury, Conn., Major General David Wooster of the Connecticut militia, who was mortally wounded in the defense of Danbury against Tryon, passed away.  In 1775, Allen Smith, a settler in Plattsburgh as early as 1786, with his foster-brother, Reuben Sanborn, Jr., enlisted at Waterbury in Wooster's regiment, serving with it in the Canadian campaign and being discharged at Montreal the next year.

1807 Elijah Root was born in the town of Georgia, Vt. Compelled to depend entirely upon himself, he early learned the ship carpenter's trade and later, became engineer of the "Phoenix," on which boat in 1832 (the year of the cholera) while at Whitehall, occurred the first death in this country from that dreadful disease.  It was due chiefly to Mr. Root's example and firmness that the panic stricken crew were kept together.  During forty-three years (1838 to 1881) Mr. Root held the government office of Inspector of boilers and machinery on all vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam. He died in Shelburne, Vt., in 1883.

1815 At "The Ark," a hotel kept by David Douglass at the foot of River street, the first election of village officers was held.  The trustees chosen were:  William Bailey, Jonathan Griffin, John Palmer, Reuben H. Walworth, Levi Platt, Samuel Moore, Eleazer Miller, Clerk, Gilead Sperry.

1897 The funeral services of the late Horace L. Jewett, colonel of the 21st Infantry, U. S. A. and commanding officer at Plattsburgh Barracks, were held.  The interment was with military honors in the Post cemetery.  Colonel Jewett was a veteran of the Civil War and member of the Order of the Cincinnati.

 Today In the Champlain Valley History