[2] He held a variety of essential positions, including Surveyor of Lands in the greater Simsbury area in 1772 and 1783.
After the war, he was selected as Justice of the Peace for Hartford County in 1782, Judge of Probate in 1787, and Major-General of the Militia, 1796-1799.
In November 1787, the meeting picked him and Daniel Humphrey Esq., as delegates for the Convention of the State of Connecticut, set to convene in Hartford in January and vote on whether or not to adopt the federal constitution.
They were directed to oppose it, but "one of the delegates though voting as instructed by the town, took occasion to state that his personal convictions led him to favor the proposed constitution."
The committee considered the advisability of taking Fort Ticonderoga, then occupied by the British, and in which there was stored a large amount of heavy artillery and other war implements.
Sent out to reconnoiter the southern part of Lake Champlain, he stopped overnight at a farm house some little distance from Fort Ticonderoga.
Early the next morning, Phelps gained entrance to the fort disguised as a peddler seeking a shave.
[1] "Pretending that his object was to get shaved, he avoided suspicion, and had an opportunity to ascertain the construction, strength, and force of the garrison.
And he had the good fortune to elude detection, though as it afterwards appeared, his presence had began [sic] to excite mistrust before he left the garrison.
Phelps, upon seeing a portion of the exterior wall in a dilapidated condition, remarked that it would afford a feeble defense against the rebels, if they should attack in that quarter.
The boatman suspected that Phelps was a rebel, but he feared the man's superior strength, so did not try to return him to the fort.
Phelps returned safely to his command, and reported the intelligence he had gained to General Ethan Allen.