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A
HISTORY
OF
CONNECTICUT.
BY
ELIAS B. SANFORD.
QUI TRANSTULIT SUSTINET.
HARTFORD : S. S. SCRANTON AND COMPANY. 1887.
COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY S. S. SCRANTON & CO.
RAND AVERY COMPANY, F.LECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS, BOSTON.
1706884
PREFACE.
TT has been my endeavor, in writing this book, to tell the story of Connecticut in a way that would be interesting, both to young and old. I trust it will meet the approval of the teachers in our public schools, who have felt the need of a history of the State suitable for use in the classroom, and for general reference ; and I also indulge the hope that it may be helpful in making this history better known in the homes of our Commonwealth. My work has been that of selection rather than discovery. The materials at hand have been so abundant, that I could give but little space to many interesting episodes. By placing notes at the end of the chapters, which I have made short, I have sought to throw light on the text, that would explain matters that might otherwise have been obscure.
To those who may think I have given undue attention to the period of the French wars, I would commend the words of Dr. Bushnell, in his " Historical Estimate of Connecti- cut," where he says, "We are accustomed to speak of the wars of the Revolution; but these earlier wars, so little remembered, were far more adventurous, and required stouter endurance."
The facts contained in this volume have been gathered from many sources. Besides a large number of town and
2010-01 - CHIL#D'AC
vi
PREFACE.
county narratives, I have constantly consulted the histories of Trumbull, Hollister, Barber, Atwater, Palfrey, Bancroft, and Lodge. I desire, however, in this connection, to make special mention of the published volumes of the Colonial Records of the State, which have made available the most valuable and exact sources of historical information. Con- necticut has been fortunate in the services rendered by J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., and Mr. Charles J. Hoadley, in editing these records.
It remains for me to express my thanks to those who have so kindly given me personal assistance. I am under great obligation to Mr. VanName, the efficient librarian of Yale University ; and Mr. Hoadley, our State librarian, who has called my attention to facts of peculiar interest. Henry Holt & Co. of New York, Brown & Gross of Hartford, the Rev. Edward E. Atwater of New Haven, and others, have extended favors in the matter of maps and illustrations that are gratefully acknowledged.
In conclusion, I make mention, with peculiar feeling, of the kindness of my friend, Mr. Joseph R. French, principal of the Skinner School, New Haven, at whose suggestion this work was undertaken, and who has aided me in many ways during its progress.
WESTBROOK, May 27, 1657.
E. B. SANFORD.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER AGE
I. THE INDIANS OF CONNECTICUT 11
II. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT . 15
III. THE PEQUOT WAR . 21
IV. FIRST SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAVEN. - ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTIONS BY THE NEW HAVEN AND CON- NECTICUT COLONIES .
29
V. THE FOUNDING OF NEW TOWNS. - TROUBLE WITH INDIANS 36
VI. THE CIVIL AND DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS . 40
VII. THE NEW-ENGLAND CONFEDERACY. - DEATH OF
MIANTONOMO
44
VIII. TROUBLES WITH THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS. - THE PURCHASE OF SAYBROOK. - FARMINGTON IN- CORPORATED .
49
IX. DISCOVERY OF AN INDIAN PLOT. - LAW REGARDING TOBACCO. - NEW LONDON FOUNDED . .
55
X. UNCAS AND THE NARRAGANSETTS. - GOVERNOR STUYVESANT AT . HARTFORD. - NORWALK AND MIDDLETOWN SETTLED 59
XI. STAMFORD AND FAIRFIELD THREATENED BY THE DUTCH. - NORWICH SETTLED. - JOHN WINTHROP
ELECTED GOVERNOR . 63
XII. THE STORY OF THE REGICIDES 68
XIII. THE UNION OF THE NEW-HAVEN COLONY WITH CONNECTICUT 75
XIV. EDMUND ANDROS, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. - ANDROS AT SAYBROOK. - KING PHILIP'S WAR . 80
vii
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
XV. REPORT TO THE ENGLISH BOARD OF TRADE. - BOUNDARY TROUBLES. - DEMANDS OF EDWARD RANDOLPH 87
XVI. ANDROS ASSUMES AUTHORITY. - HIDING OF THE CHARTER . . . 93
XVII. GOVERNMENT RESUMED UNDER THE CHARTER. - GOVERNOR FLETCHER AT HARTFORD . 97
XVIII. COLONIAL PROSPERITY. - ASHURST DEFENDS THE CHARTER RIGHTS OF THE COLONY. - MOHEGAN CONTROVERSY . . 102
XIX. PUBLIC EDUCATION. - YALE COLLEGE FOUNDED. - POPULATION AND TRADE . 108
XX. LIFE OF THE PEOPLE 115
XXI. SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS. - MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. - FUNERAL SERVICES. - NEGRO SLAVERY . 122
XXII. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE PEOPLE. - SAB- BATH OBSERVANCE. - SOCIAL, PLEASURES. 127
XXIII. THE EVOLUTION OF THE TOWNS 133
XXIV. PERIOD OF THE LAST FRENCH WARS, 1714-1748 . 139
XXV. PERIOD OF THE LAST FRENCH WARS, 1748-1755 . 148
XXVI. PERIOD OF THE LAST FRENCH WARS, 1756-1757 . 156
XXVII. PERIOD OF THE LAST FRENCH WARS, 1758 . 161 XXVIII. PERIOD OF THE LAST FRENCH WARS, 1759-1763 . 167 XXIX. REVOLT OF THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE STAMP ACT . . 173
XXX. DETERMINATION OF THE PEOPLE TO RESIST TAX- ATION. - BOSTON PORT BILL. - BATTLE OF LEX-
INGTON. - THE CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA 181
XXXI. THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL .
· 1SS
XXXII. CONNECTICUT TROOPS AT CAMBRIDGE. - INVASION
OF CANADA .- DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 196
XXXIIL. BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. - NATHAN HALE. - SURRENDER OF FORT WASHINGTON. - BUR-
GOYNE'S SURRENDER . 203
ix
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
PAGE
XXXIV. BURNING OF DANBURY. - THE FIGHT AT RIDGE- FIELD. - SURRENDER OF FORT MONTGOMERY. - THE ENCAMPMENT AT REDDING . 211
XXXV. MASSACRE AT WYOMING. - BRITISH ATTACK NEW HAVEN. - BURNING OF FAIRFIELD AND NORWALK .
219
XXXVI. WASHINGTON AT HARTFORD AND WETHERS- FIELD. - ARNOLD BURNS NEW LONDON. - MASSACRE AT FORT GRISWOLD .
· 225
.
XXXVII. CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLU- TION. - JONATHAN TRUMBULL. - THE ADOP- TION OF THE UNITED-STATES CONSTITUTION. -SALE OF WESTERN LANDS. - DEATH OF WASHIINGTON .
232
XXXVIII. CONNECTICUT AT THE DAWN OF THE NINE- TEENTH CENTURY. - THE WAR OF 1812. - DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AT ESSEX. - BOMBARDMENT OF STONINGTON. - THE HART- FORD CONVENTION . 240
XXXIX. ADOPTION OF THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION OF CONNECTICUT. - THE GROWTH OF PHILAN- THROPIC ENTERPRISES. - TEMPERANCE. - THE ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION 247
XL. CONNECTICUT IN THE CIVIL WAR, 1860 254
XLI. SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. - ENLISTMENT OF TROOPS. - CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND, 1862 .
261
XLII. BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. - CALL FOR TROOPS. - ANTIETAM AND FREDERICKSBURG, 1862 . . 264
XLIII. BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. - GETTYSBURG. - PORT HUDSON. - ANDERSONVILLE. - RE- ENLISTMENT OF TROOPS, 1863 269
X
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER
XLIV. BATTLE OF DRURY'S BLUFF. - SPOTTSYLVANIA. - DEATH OF SEDGWICK. - BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. - PETERSBURG, 1864 . 273
XLV. BATTLES OF WINCHESTER AND CEDAR CREEK. - CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER. - ASSAULT ON THE FORTS NEAR RICHMOND. - SURRENDER OF LEE. - CLOSE OF THE WAR, 1864-65 278
XLVI. ERA OF INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
284
XLVII. CONNECTICUT IN LITERATURE . 296
XLVIII. THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF CONNECTICUT 302
XLIX. YALE UNIVERSITY . 309
L. WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
316
LI. TRINITY COLLEGE 319
LUI. CONNECTICUT IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION . 322
LIII. BOUNDARY-LINES AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF
CONNECTICUT
329
APPENDIX.
THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF CONNECTICUT . 335
THE TOWNS, CITIES, AND BOROUGHS OF CONNECTICUT 340
GOVERNORS OF CONNECTICUT 355
SENATORS FROM CONNECTICUT IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES . .
. 357
BRIEF SKETCHES OF CONNECTICUT REGIMENTS AND THEIR
SERVICES IN THE CIVIL WAR . 358
INDEX .
.
. 371
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER I.
1614.
THE INDIANS OF CONNECTICUT.
YOON after Henry Hudson explored the beautiful river that bears his name, Adrian Block, another Dutch navi- gator, followed him on a trading-voyage. He had loaded his ship with bear-skins, and was about to sail homeward, when the vessel caught fire, and he was com- pelled to land on the island where the city of New York now stands.
During the following winter his men built a small, yacht ; and in the I spring he sailed through Hellgate, and, skirting the shore, discovered the Housatonic, which he A BARK OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. called the river of Red Hills. From thence he sailed east, and entered the Connec- ticut River, which he explored for some distance. He saw parties of Pequots, and found an Indian tribe near the site of Wethersfield, and another just above Hartford. The Dutch traders, for a number of years after this, made fre-
11
12
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1614.
quent trips along the shore of the Sound, and carried on a brisk trade with the Indians in furs. They also visited the charming valley through which flowed the river whose Indian name, Connecticut (Long River), was to designate the commonwealth, the foundations of which were soon to be laid in this wilderness.
The territory included in the present boundaries of the State was, at this time, occupied by small bodies of Indians who were connected with independent tribes that were gen- erally hostile to every other.1 River Indians 2 was the name given to the Red men who dwelt on the banks of the Con- necticut. Very little is known of those who lived in the forests west of the river; 3 but the eastern part of the State was the home of two powerful tribes, the Pequots and the Mohegans.
With the exception of the meadows which here and there bordered the larger streams and the shores of the Sound, the hills and valleys were covered with a dense forest growth. The Indians cleared a few places for their hunting-grounds ; and the grass that grew in these spots was burned, with ARROW . HEAD. the underbrush of the forests, by fires that were kindled for this purpose, in the autumn.
Many of the Indians, living in small collections of wig- wams, were accustomed to remove twice a year ; in winter seeking sunny and sheltered spots, and at other seasons visiting the shores of the Sound and the banks of the larger streams and lakes. Wild animals were numerous in the forests, and birds and water-fowl were abundant.
The Indian men were tall, athletic, and graceful in their movements, but lacked endurance. The skins of wild ani- mals furnished their dress ; and the chiefs wore costly and beautiful belts of curiously wrought shells, of varied colors.
13
THE INDIANS OF CONNECTICUT.
1614.]
Proud and haughty in bearing, they cherished a cruel and implacable spirit towards their enemies ; and, never asking mercy when captured by their foes, they suffered the most excruciating torments with stoi- cal composure. When they were not upon the warpath, they ARROWS. spent their time in hunting, fish- ing, and lazy enjoyment. The women did all the heavy manual labor, turning the sod, planting the corn, and crush- ing it, when harvested, with a stone pestle in a hollowed rock.
The furniture of the wigwams, besides blankets of skins, consisted of a few cooking-vessels of wood and stone, knives fashioned of shells, and axes and chisels made of stone. The HATCHET AND CLUB. weapons used in hunting and war- fare were wrought with much skill and care. Sassafras was the favorite wood for making bows, that were strung with the sinews of the deer or with hempen strings. Reeds from the swamps largely furnished the arrows, that were loaded with pieces of flint, stone, or bone sharpened to a point. Their most cruel weapon, the tomahawk, was a short club of hard wood terminat- ing in a heavy knob.
Besides fish and game, the natives ate the nuts, roots, and berries which grew wild. CANOE. Indian corn was a favorite article of food ; and they also raised the squash, the pump- kin, and the bean. A hoe made of a clam-shell or a moose's shoulder-blade was the only implement they employed in their work in the field. In fishing they used hooks made
14
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1614.
of the sharpened bones of fishes or birds. Their lines and rude nets were fashioned of the twisted fibres of the dog- bane or the sinews of the deer.
They cooked their meat by roasting it before a fire on the point of a stick, and also by broiling it on hot coals or stones. Sometimes they boiled it in their vessels of stone. Corn was prepared in several ways ; and, when boiled alone, was called hominy, and when mixed with beans, succotash.
Morally and intellectually, the Indian was degraded and stupid. The ties of family and parental affection were feeble and easily broken. The men were lazy and improvi- dent, and the women were the miserable slaves of these brute lords of creation. Altogether, the Indians, whom our fathers found in the wilds of Connecticut, were a low and savage race.
1 INDIANS were numerous at Sims- bury, New Hartford, and Farmington. Along the shore of the Sound, there were small tribes; at Guilford, Bran- ford, and New Haven. Near the mouth of the Housatonic River, they built a strong fort as a defence against the Mo- hawks. There were two clans in Derby . the one at l'augusset, about four miles below the mouth of the Naugatuck Kiver, erected a strong fort. At Milford and Stratford the Indians were numerous. There were several tribes in Stamford, and two small clans in Norwalk. The neighborhood about Woodbury was a favorite resort of several tribes. The number of Indians in Connecticut at the time of its settlement, was probably about sixteen thousand.
3 RIVER INDIANS. They were small bands scattered at different points along the river. They suffered from the at- tacks of the Mohawks from the Wert, and the Pequots from the East. For this reason they were anxious to have the
English come into the valley. They sent some of their number all of the way to Boston to ask for help against the Pequots, and promised to give the English land if they would come and live among them. This visit called the attention of the colonists for the first time to Con- neetieut.
3 THE INDIANS in the western part of the State were tributary to the Mo- hawks. If they neglected to pay their tribute, the Mohawks would plunder, destroy, and carry them away captive. The cry " A Mohawk ! a Mohawk !" was sufficient to arouse the greatest alarm and fear. After the English came, the In- dians in this neighborhood, if they could .not take refuge in their forts, would flee into the homes of the settlers; but the Mohawks would pursue, and sometimes kill them in the presence of the family. If the doors were shut, they would not attempt to open them by force ; and they never did the least injury to the Eng- lish.
15
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.
1631.]
CHAPTER II.
1631-1636.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.
D
URING the year 1631, eleven years after the landing of
the Pilgrims, an Indian sachem visited the governors of the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies, and urged them to send Englishmen to commence settlements in the valley of the Connecticut. Without making any promises, Governor Winslow of Plymouth was so much interested in the description which the sachem gave of the country, watered by this beautiful river, that he soon afterwards visited it.
In the following year, other parties from Massachusetts made a more extended exploration of the valley. Previous to this, the Dutch had been satisfied to carry on their trade with the Indians without taking formal possession of any land. When they saw that the English were proposing to do this, they sent a company of men to build a fort, named " Good Hope," at Suckiag (Hartford), and also arranged for the purchase of the land along the river. By this time the Pilgrim pioneers were ready to begin their settlement in the valley. Having prepared the frame of a house, they put it on board a little bark, and sent it around to the river, from Plymouth, in command of William Holmes. When they came to the fort, the Dutch hailed them, and asked them where they were going. Holmes replied, " We are going up the river to trade." The Dutch threatened to fire into them
16
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1633.
if they did not stop ; but the brave Pilgrims told them to fire away, and sailed on.
They set up the trading-house near the mouth of the Tunxis (Farmington) River, and were soon busy trading in furs with the Indians. When the Dutch governor at Fort Amsterdam (New York) heard how the Pilgrims had sailed by the fort at Suckiag, he was very angry, and sent a com- pany of seventy soldiers to destroy their trading-house. They found, however, that it was defended by a band of men determined to fight for their rights ; and they retired, leaving the Englishmen in peaceable possession.
The reports brought back to their friends and neighbors in Massachusetts, by those who visited the valley of the Con- necticut, led to the agitation of further plans for its settle- ment. In many ways the time seemed favorable. The strength of the Indian tribes had been weakened by a dread- ful pestilence, by which they had died by hundreds. The crafty and cruel Pequots, finding that the Dutch were ready to mete out to them a stern punishment for the murder of some of their traders, while their hereditary enemies, the powerful Narragansetts, were eager to fight them, concluded that it was best for them to be on good terms with the Eng- lish. They promised to submit to their control, and ex- pressed a wish that Englishmen should come to Connecticut.
At this time the English population of New England, numbering about two thousand, was confined to the vicinity of Boston and Plymouth. Now that the Indians seemed peaceable, and ready to welcome them, some of the people, living near Boston, thought it would be to their advantage to emigrate to the river whose fertile meadows would afford better pasture for their cattle and richer soil to till.
There were many who opposed this plan, thinking it would weaken the colony ; and. before the consent of the General Court was obtained. there was much excitement and carnest discussion. The most influential advocate for emigration
17
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.
1634.]
was a minister of great eloquence and ability, the Rev. Thomas Hooker.1 While the matter was still under debate, a few restive men banded together, in the fall of 1634, and set out for the Connecticut valley, and settled at Pequag (Wethersfield), where they spent the winter in rude log huts.
In May, of the following year, Hooker and his friends renewed their request ; and leave to remove was reluctantly granted them by the General Court. During the summer quite a number of people from Watertown joined their friends, who had already settled what is now Wethersfield. Several persons connected with the congregation of the Rev. John Wareham 2 of Dorchester selected, for their home, a point on the river, not far from the Plymouth 3 trading-house, and here laid the foundations of the town of Windsor.
In October a company of about sixty men, women, and children, from the neighborhood of Boston, came through the wilderness to the Connecticut River. The march was tedious, as they brought not only their household goods, but their cattle, horses, and swine. They were detained some time, in building rafts for crossing the river ; and before they could get their log huts erected, they were overtaken by an early winter. Most of those who came in this company settled at Suckiag (Hartford).
During the autumn of this same year, an important settle- ment was made at the mouth of the Connecticut, that was entirely distinct from those in the upper part of the valley. John Winthrop, jun., the son of the famous governor of the Massachusetts Colony, followed his father to New England in 1631. He soon returned to England, and was given a commission by Lords Say and Brook, and other distinguished men, to begin a settlement for them at the mouth of the Connecticut River. Men and money were placed at his dis- posal ; and Lion Gardiner,4 an able engineer, was engaged to assist in the enterprise.
18
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1634-5.
Winthrop arrived at Boston in October. Learning that the Dutch were preparing to take possession of the mouth of the river, he sent a company of twenty men in a small vessel, who reached there the last of November. Early in Decem- ber a sloop, which the Dutch governor had sent from Man- hattan, arrived at the river ; but the English had already got two pieces of cannon on shore, and would not let the Dutch- men land. Governor Winthrop arrived, soon after, bringing Lion Gardiner, who was expected to direct the work of building a fort, and laying out the site of a future city. In compliment to its two noble patrons, the settlement was called Saybrook.5
The winter opened early, and proved a terrible and severe one to the settlers in the upper valley. The river was frozen over by the middle of November ; and the vessels laden with beds, clothing, and provisions, for the Hartford settlers and others, were lost off the Atlantic coast. Benumbed with cold, famine soon stared them in the face. Delicate women and children suffered for the necessities of life, and strong men were dismayed. Some crossed the river, and waded through the pathless snow to Massachusetts ; and a band of seventy persons went down the river to Saybrook, hoping to find the vessels with provisions from Boston. About twenty miles above the fort, they met a small vessel caught in the ice. They were able to cut her loose, and after a dan- gerous voyage arrived at Boston.
The winter, as it passed, brought increasing suffering and loneliness to those who still remained in the settlements. When their supply of food was exhausted, they were unable often to secure any game, and had to subsist, in part, upon the ground-nuts which they dug from the banks of the river, and acorns found beneath the snow. They endured with brave hearts the privations of the winter, and eagerly wel- comed the first approach of spring with its promise of seed- time and harvest. Before the end of May quite a number of those who had left the settlements returned.
19
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.
1635.]
" About the beginning of June, Mr. Hooker, Mr. Stone, and nearly one hundred men, women, and children, took their departure from Cambridge, and travelled more than one hundred miles through a hideous and trackless wilderness to Hartford. They had no guide but their compass, and made their way over mountains, through swamps, thickets, and rivers which were not passable but with great difficulty. They had no cover but the heavens, nor any lodgings but those that simple nature afforded them. They drove with them a hundred and sixty head of cattle, and by the way subsisted on the milk of their cows. Mrs. Hooker was borne through the wilderness upon a litter. The people carried their packs, arms, and some utensils. They were nearly a fortnight on their journey." 6 It is pleasant to recall that they formed their first impressions of their wilderness-home in the month of song and flowers ; and we can imagine how cordial was the welcome they received from those who had come before them, old friends and neighbors not only in Massachusetts, but in England.
There was still further emigration from Massachusetts in the following year. William Pynchon led a party from Rox- bury to the great meadows, some miles above Windsor, called by the Indians, Agawam. They gave the name of Spring- field, to the settlement, in honor of Mr. Pynchon's old home in England.
1 THOMAS HOOKER was born at Mar- field, England, July 7, 1586. He was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, where for some time he was a Fellow. After leaving Cambridge, he preached for a while in London and its vicinity ; and in 1626 he became assistant minister at Chelmsford. Faithful to the dictates of conscience, he was silenced in 1630 for nonconformity, against the protest of forty-seven ministers in which they certi- fied " that they knew Mr. Hooker to be or- thodox in doctrine, honest in his life and conversation, peaceable in his disposi-
tion, and in no wise turbulent or fac- . tious." After a brief retirement, in which he was kindly provided for by his friend the Earl of Warwick, he determined to leave his native land, and seek a home in Holland. Mr. Hooker remained in Hol- land three years. The emigration of the Puritans from England to New England was increasing, and among those who planned to go were many of Mr. Hooker's old friends. They desired him to accompany them as their spirit- ual guide; and after spending a short time in England, he sailed for Boston
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