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M. L.
PROPERTY OF HOLMES SCHOOL DARIEN, CONN.
Gc 974.6 B51h v. 1 1450878 Vols
1 YPPE 3750
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
Couro
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01150 4872
PROPERTY OF HOLMES SCHOOL DARIEN, CONN.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/historyofconnect01bing
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
(Courtesy Conn. Devel. Comm.)
HARTFORD-MURAL OF THE SIGNING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS OF THE CONNECTICUT COLONY IN 1638, STATE LIBRARY AND SUPREME COURT
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
BY
HAROLD J. BINGHAM, Ph.D.
VOLUME I
PROPERTY OF HOLMES SCHOOL DARIEM, CONN,
5/11 LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY (Incorporated) NEW YORK WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
COPYRIGHT LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY (Incorporated) 1962
1450878
PUBLISHERS' FOREWORD
W HEN DR. BINGHAM began the labors of research and compilation that have resulted in these impressive volumes, he wrote in part as follows:
The writing of a history of Connecticut entails a dual responsi- bility: that of portraying the state's contribution to the growth of the United States, and that of illuminating the unique characteristics of the state's development.
Connecticut's influence has extended beyond the rock-laden hills of its countryside. The state has made significant contributions to rep- resentative government, although its solutions to public problems have seldom been novel. In national politics, the electoral count has made Connecticut's political power comparatively slight, yet its leadership and contributions have assured the state of political influence. A cos- mopolitanism in art and letters has added to its prestige in political and non-political matters. The Connecticut craftsman has been unexcelled and Yankee notions have been necessities of American households for generations. Indeed, wherever Yankees have been, Connecticut culture has persisted.
The record of early Connecticut has been carefully studied. Schol- arly monographs record and interpret the state's history to 1865, and local histories add color to the story. However, as the Federal Union became more firmly established, and as the national government in- creased in importance, there was a lessening of interest in local history. The record for the later period, then, is not so complete. It is intended in this study to maintain a balance, in scope and emphasis, of the old and the new Connecticut .-
That the plan and program thus outlined have been followed with a rare power of analysis and gift of pleasing expression is, we believe,
Goodspeed "37.50 %.9.68 Hems, Ink", 2581-1.2,5:21
X
PUBLISHERS' FOREWORD
obvious. So absorbed did the author become in his challenging task that the publication date had to be advanced, resulting, we are certain, in a degree of accuracy and appraisal that more than counterbalances the adjustments necessary to give him the time required for the satis- faction of his scholarly standards. Where the results of political and social trends are not fully apparent he has refrained from judgments and opinions, the proper attitude of his profession. Each generation views, reviews, and revises the interpretations of past movements and events, and at the point where guiding perspective is lost, the historian's work finds its conclusion.
The publishers wish to express their appreciation of the high de- gree of interest and cooperation extended the author and themselves by the scholarly fraternity, the advisers, and the public, and present what they feel to be a valuable contribution to Connecticut's historical literature.
THE PUBLISHERS
Table of Contents
VOLUME I
CHAPTER
PAGE
I
The Land and the Traders 1
II The Settlement of Connecticut 17
III The Basis of Government 41
IV Expansion and Conflict 62
V The Economic Order
85
VI Saints and Sinners
122
VII Educational Institutions and Intellectual Development
148
VIII
The Legend of Liberty The Frontier, 1690-1739 175 204 226
255
XII XIII
Connecticut in the Revolution
282 306
XIV
The Aftermath of War
340
XV Federalism at High Tide
373
XVI
The Jeffersonian Challenge
405
XVII
An Era of Political Transition, 1817-1827 426
448
XIX
The Ingenious Yankee 465
XX
Social Changes, Early Nineteenth Century
503
VOLUME II
XXI
Education and Intellectual Development in the Early Nineteenth Century 531
XXII
The Rise of the Republican Party 554
xi
IX
X
The Religious Dissent
XI
Connecticut in the War Years, 1739-1763
The Period of Protest and Petition
XVIII
The Jacksonian Impression
xii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
XXIII The Civil Conflict 580
XXIV
The Period of Readjustment 610
XXV The Aggregation of Capital, Banking and Insurance . 630
XXVI The Power of Wealth and Industry, Railroads and Industry 652
XXVII
Agriculture, Labor, and the Foreign-born
679
XXVIII
The Growth of the City 718
XXIX
Republican Years
749
XXX
Citizen and Soldier, World War I
778
XXXI The Business Man's Community 797
XXXII
The New Deal in Connecticut
843
ADDENDUM
XXXIII The Home Front in World War II
(1)
XXXIV
Connecticut After the War (25)
XXXV
The Challenge at Mid-Century (49)
XXXVI
The Middle Way (65)
XXXVII
"The Middle of the Road" (89)
XXXVIII
A Measure of Reform (111)
XXXIX
The Current Scene
(133)
List of Illustrations
VOLUME I
PAGE
East Hartland-Great Boulder Deposited by Ice Sheet, and Easily Teetered Slightly
3
Farmington-Red Sandstone Monument Erected in 1840 in the Riverside Cemetery in Memory of Tunxis Indians
8
Norwalk-Site of Old "Fruitful Spring," Treasured by Settlers Three Centuries Ago and Referred to in Earliest Records. Located Under Old Beech Tree at Edge of Marsh Between Shorehaven Golf Course and the Sound
13
Middletown-Tercentenary Log Cabin, 1935
18
New London-Home of John Winthrop, Built of Stone in 1646. (A Copy.) Winthrop School Now Stands on Site
22
Wethersfield-Great Elm, Planted in 1758. Largest Tree in Connecti- cut, Now Gone
28
New London-Winthrop's Mill, Built in 1650. The Winthrop School at Right, 1935
34 43
Woodbury-Glebe House
Old Saybrook-Tomb of Lady Fenwick, Cypress Cemetery. She Died in 1648
49
Windsor-Tomb of Rev. Ephraim Huit, Oldest Tombstone in the State, Dated September 4, 1644
59
Ansonia-Richard Mansfield House, Owned by the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society 64
Stamford-Home of the Stamford Historical Society, Built About 1730 68
75 Essex-Pratt's Smithy
xiii
xiv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Norwalk-Governor Fitch House, South Side
87
Lebanon-The Trumbull War Office
91
Guilford-Whitefield Stone House, Built in 1639 by Rev. Henry Whitefield, Now the Henry Whitefield State Historical Mu- seum 97
Stamford-Captain Webb's Tavern, Used as Headquarters by Gen- eral Lee in the Revolutionary War 105
Cornwall Hollow-General John Sedgwick Monument 110
Montville-Monument in Honor of Lieut. Thomas Leffingwell in Fort Shantok State Park 115
East Lyme-Thomas Lee House and Little Boston School ( Oldest Schoolhouse Still Standing in Connecticut )
124
Cromwell-One of the Middletown Upper Houses, Built by the Kirby Family 150 Years Ago 131
Brooklyn-Home of Gen. Israel Putnam 137
Hartford-South Congregational Church 141
North Branford Church
144
The First School House in Hartford-1642
151
New Haven-First Schoolhouse Built in 1644 "On the Market Place
Near Where the United Church Now Stands." (Redrawn from Old Print Loaned by Wilbur F. Gordy to Mr. Mills )
154
Plainfield Academy
159
Madison-Historical Society
166
Ridgefield-Keller Tavern
177
Hartland Hollow, Hartland-Jonathan Miller Tavern
182
Pomfret-Putnam Wolf Den on the Day Wolf Was Present (1902) Greenwich-Putnam Cottage Built in 1731, Originally Knapp's Tav- ern, Scene of Putnam's Escape from British, Photo 1934 193
187
Buckingham-Congregational Church and Old Burial Ground 199
Columbia-Old Congregational Church and Meeting House on the Green 228
Hebron-St. Peter's Church ( Episcopal)
23]
Cheshire Church 233
New Haven-Center Church 240
Harwinton Church (Destroyed by Fire, 1950) 243
XV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Rocky Hill-Congregational Church
249
New Haven-Soldiers and Sailors Monument atop East Rock,
Honoring the Men of Four Wars 257
Bethany-Tan Bark Mill of Revolutionary War Period and Later. Posed in 1935 265
Redding-Putnam Monument in Putnam Memorial Camp Ground (1935 Photo) 271
Storrs-Congregational Church
284
Enfield-Church on the Green
288
Winsted-Revolutionary Cannon at Winchester Historical Society, 1936
308
Coventry-Nathan Hale Monument and Homestead
315
Mystic Seaport-Schaefer's Spouter Tavern and the Charles W.
Morgan as Seen Through the Doorway of the Fishtown Chapel
325
Warren-Congregational Church and Old Meeting House 342
Norwalk-School Built about 1835 on East Avenue 350
358
Fairfield-Old Academy Built in 1904-Used by Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter, D.A.R. 366
Litchfield Church
383
Montowese Baptist Church, North Haven
Hartford-Governor's Foot Guard at Trinity Arch 399 407
Norwich-Norwich Free Academy
413
Glastonbury-Main Street
415
Fairfield-Powder House, Used to Store Munitions, War of 1812
422
West Avon-Rural School
428
Cromwell-St. John's Church
436
Greenwich-The Putnam Cottage
441
Stonington-Old Stone Lighthouse, No Longer Used
450
Meriden-Curtis Memorial Library
456
Hartford-Trinity College 467
New Haven
East Haddam-Shad Fishing, Connecticut River
480
Colchester-Old View of Bacon Academy
374
Stamford-First High School, One Room Used in 1873
393
xvi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Stonington-Fishing Scene
481
Hartford-Albany Turnpike Poster (A Copy) 483
Mystic Seaport-Samuel Buckingham House 485
Farmington-Three of Piers Where Farmington Canal Crossed the
Farmington River. The Flood of August 19, 1955, Took Down Two of Them 487
New Hartford-Gorge at Satan's Kingdom, 1902. Two Railroad Lines Came Through Here, Both Now Gone
491
Chester Ferry
495
South Glastonbury Ferry
497
New Haven 505
Abington-Public Library Built in 1885. A Two Room Building, One Used for Library, One for School 509
Sharon-Home of Admiral Thomas Hart, Photo 1952 517
West Torrington-John Brown Birthplace, a Rare Picture 523
New Britain-Elihu Burritt Memorial
526
VOLUME II
Hartford-Old State House, Main Street
533
New Britain-Central Connecticut State College
536
Storrs-Churches, Chapels and Synagogue, University of Connecti- cut 538
Danbury-Administration Building, Danbury State Teachers Col- lege
545
North Canton-Post Office, Built in 1800
555 561
New Haven
Bridgeport
566
Middletown
572
Clinton, Town Hall
582
New Britain-Center of City West Hartford 585 588
Fairfield, Town Hall
591
New Haven 594
Torrington-Main Street, North from Center of Business District 597
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xvii
PAGE
Fairfield-Southport Harbor
603
New Haven
611
Bridgeport
618
Manchester
620
Saybrook Point Light House or Lynde Light (1935 Photo)
623
Meriden
626
Meriden-City Hall
632
Hartford-Wadsworth Atheneum
635 639
Hartford-Municipal Building at Right, Travelers in Background ..
641
Bridgeport
645
Hartford
653
New Haven-Port Area
Barkhamstead-Bell Portable Saw Mill as the Valley Was Being Cleared for Barkhamstead Reservoir 656
Danbury-Surgical Products Division, American Cyanamid 659
Robertsville-Union Chair Factory 662
Riverton-Lambert Hitchcock Chair Factory, Photo 1935 665
Thompsonville-Scene in Bigelow Sanford Carpet Company, Inc., Plant
666
Naugatuck-Scene in United States Rubber Company Synthetic Rubber Plant 669
Stamford-First Iron Foundry, Built in 1830; Later the First Woolen
670
Greenwich-Industrial View, Showing Electrolux Corporation
Manchester-Cheney Bros., World's Largest Silk Mills 674
681
Danbury-Fair Grounds
683
Canton Center-A. L. Mills in a 1902 Tobacco Scene
687
Putnam
693
Danielson
Groton-Photo Taken at 10,000 Feet, with New London in Fore- ground
695
Middlefield-John Lyman Orchards 699
701
Roxbury-Village Scene
Mill, Afterward Diamond Ice Company 673
Meriden-First Horse Car to Come Through Colony Street. (Taken from Home Bank Window, 1887)
689
xviii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Manchester-Showing Wide Main Street
705
Unionville-Richards Bridge over Farmington River, Built in 1895,
Washed out in Flood, August 19, 1955 709
Middletown 712
New Milford-Bridge over Housatonic River, Completed 1954
719
Norwalk-Merritt Parkway on an August Sunday Afternoon in 1944. Gasoline Rationing the Cause 721
Greenwich-Scenes in Bruce Park
723
Meriden-Undercliff Hospital Administration Building
727
Farmington Canal Boat "De Witt Clinton," from a Poster of the Time
729
Hartford
731
Plainville-Last Trolley on the Bristol-Plainville Line. Next Run Was Made by Bus, July 17, 1935
New Britain-New YMCA Building
Meriden-The Bradley Memorial Home
Hartford-Bushnell Park
Hartford-Bushnell Park
Greenwich-Old Greenwich Library, from Binney Park
North Haven-Martha Culver Memorial Library
Hartford-State Library and Supreme Court
Norwich
New London
Waterbury
761 767
Waterbury
Danbury-The War Memorial Building
New London-Coast Guard Academy
Hartford-State Office Building
Hartford-Skyline View
Hartford
811
Bridgeport-Statue of P. T. Barnum at Seaside Park
818
Waterbury 823
Hartford Hospital 829
Rocky Neck Beach State Park Views
835
733 735 737 739 741
743 744 751 755 759
Norwich-Norwich State Hospital
769 780 783 790 799
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xix
New London Harbor Light ( 1935 Photo)
845
New London
847
Colchester
851
Milford-Town Office Building
859
Waterbury
861
Willimantic
865
Watertown
869
Stafford Springs
871
Simsbury
875
Middletown
878
881
Moosup
Torrington-Heart of Business District, Prior to 1955 Flood
885
Advisers
W. E. ATTWOOD, JR. DR. CREIGHTON BARKER JAMES BREWSTER WHITNEY L. BROOKS CYRIL COLEMAN CHARLES K. DAVIS LEWIS A. DIBBLE WARD E. DUFFY ADMIRAL JAMES FIFE, U.S.N. (Ret.) CARL G. FREESE WILLIAM M. Goss GEORGE F. GREEN DR. MATTHEW GRISWOLD
J. C. HULLETT EDWARD INGRAHAM PHILIP A. JOHNSON SHERMAN R. KNAPP BERNHARD KNOLLENBERG DWIGHT C. LYMAN
JOHN LYMAN WILLIAM M. MALTBIE WILLIAM J. PAPE EDWIN PUGSLEY MISS MARCELLA R. PUTNAM
WILLIAM H. PUTNAM ALBERT S. R.EDWAY HON. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF
L. S. ROWE
L. TRACY SHEFFIELD ODELL SHEPARD PHILIP B. STANLEY HERMAN W. STEINKRAUS
EVARTS C. STEVENS MALCOLM P. TAYLOR DR. HERBERT THOMS DUDLEY L. VAILL DR. ALBERT E. VAN DUSEN
DR. HERBERT D. WELTE SANFORD H. WENDOVER
Chapter I The Land and the Traders
W HEN ADRIAN BLOCK, in the spring of 1614, piloted his recently-built American yacht, the Restless, through the nar- row passageway which he named Hellgate and into Long Is- land Sound, he became the first European to discover Connecticut. His report of his exploration and observation of the coastline and rivers of Connecticut increased the interest in the New World and provided a general knowledge of the natives and natural environment. Even to an experienced explorer such as Block, nature revealed only the finished backdrop. The evidences of the incredibly long period of preliminary construction were discovered and studied by subsequent generations1 and supplement the explorer's observations.
The Natural Setting
The record of the rocks indicates a drama of undetermined length in which the prologue spoke of the decline of ancient hills; the first act, during which the land was bounded by a bay on the West and by an ocean on the East, of mountain making; the second act, during which the general topography of the state was determined, of leveling and of lava flows; and the third, which included the period of glaciation, of altering detail. Each of these acts, to which geologists refer as the pale- ozoic, mesozoic, and cenozoic periods, was shorter than that which had preceded. Atmosphere, heat, water, and ice acted upon the rocks chem- ically and mechanically as agents of disintegration. The extent to which these disruptive forces were withstood varied with the rocks' strength. In these variations, for the most part, lies the story of the major geological and physiographic features of Connecticut.2
2
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
The Sound was not always the Great Bay, as Block called it. During the glacial epoch the level of the sea was lowered as water was taken from it to form ice sheets, and the Sound was, perhaps, a valley through which rivers had flowed. Had this condition prevailed in the time of Dutch and English settlement, considering the Yankee's ability in bound- ary disputes, it would have considerably extended the area of Connecti- cut. When the ice melted, however, water returned to the sea, the lower Connecticut Valley was submerged, and Long Island Sound and the present southern Connecticut shoreline were formed. Since then, the sea has accomplished only a slight amount of straightening by which it has made, from New York to Rhode Island, the relatively regular shoreline which Block followed as he explored areas about the Sound.3
As he pointed the Restless in a north-northeasterly direction, Block passed along the indented coastline which forms the southern boundary of the Western Upland. one of the three major topographic areas of the state. This area is drained by the systems of the Housatonic and the Farmington Rivers, whose valleys are separated by divides of land, ap- proximately 200 feet in height, which extend in a slightly northeasterly direction into a series of elongated hills. These rise gradually to a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet, except Bear Mountain, which rises 2355 feet above the sea. The Western Upland is the highest region in the state, partly because it has been less affected by erosion and partly because the underlying rocks are more resistant.4 These hard rocks crop out along the water's edge from the East River to the Norwalk River, a distance which Block logged as 24 miles. There, where he reckoned the Great Bay to be 12 miles wide, he observed a group of islands which lie from one to two miles off the mainland and which range up to one mile in length and one-third mile in breadth. Constant erosion has reduced their height to scarcely more than twenty feet.5
When he explored the area to the east, Block passed between the present sites of Fairfield and Stratford along the largest area of flat land along the shore. He continued past the abandoned sea cliffs nearby to the site of West Haven where the first signs of the Connecticut Lowland appear. This second major topographical area of Connecticut divides the previously discussed Western Upland from the Eastern Upland. From New Haven, the Lowland extends to the northern boundary of
3
THE LAND AND THE TRADERS
the state and increases in width from eight to twenty miles. This Low- land of Connecticut is interrupted frequently by low hills from 100 to
(Courtesy Conn. State Lib.)
EAST HARTLAND-GREAT BOULDER, DEPOSITED BY ICE SHEET, AND EASILY TEETERED SLIGHTLY
200 feet in height, and, occasionally, by sharp unreduced ridges. One of these ridges, Talcott Mountain, divides the Lowland into unequal parts. The western part is drained by the Farmington River to the north and by the Quinnipiac to the south, and the eastern part is drained by the Connecticut River. Of these, only the Quinnipiac emp-
4
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
ties into the Sound in the Lowland region, for nature altered the course of the Farmington so that it merges with the Connecticut and altered the course of the Connecticut so that its mouth was placed further to the east.6
Block noted the river which the natives called the Quinnipiac as being "about a bow shot wide" and of a depth of three and one half fathoms at high water. When the first settlers arrived, they found it of "sufficient depth for all the ordinary purposes of commerce." An ex- plorer's name for an area is likely to be descriptive of its natural surround- ing and the Dutch names of "Royenberg" for the river and of "Roden- berg" for the settlement identified the abundance of red sandstone which is characteristic of the whole of the Connecticut Lowland. The rounded rocks of the area are cemented together by a composition, largely red oxide of iron, which fills the chinks between the grains of rock.7
As he proceeded along the shoreline from New Haven east to Guilford, Block passed what was later described as Connecticut's "rock bound coast." Although beyond Guilford the nature of the shore changes abruptly and sandy beaches appear, hard granite-like rocks are generally characteristic of the Eastern Upland. This third major topographical area of Connecticut lies to the east of a line which extends in general from Branford northward to Middletown, Rocky Hill, Man- chester, and on to the state line. From the broadly indented shoreline, the land rises to the northern boundary of the state, where the general level of the divide is from 800 to 1000 feet in height, while the prin- cipal river valleys are reduced to 500 to 700 feet above sea level. There are included within this region of moderately high hills more than two dozen separate groups of rock formations. The rocks of the area were once deposited as sediments but have been greatly altered by the sub- terranean action of heat and water, by the chemical action of percolating waters and vapors, and by fusion and solidification. The area is drained primarily by the Thames, far to the east, and by the Connecticut, which enters the Upland below Middletown and cuts across the southwestern corner of the region to enter the Sound at Saybrook.8
Block recorded the distance from New Haven to the Fresh River, as the Dutch called the Connecticut, as being 24 miles. The Restless was
5
THE LAND AND THE TRADERS
turned into the river, and its sails were rigged to catch full wind to en- able it to leave the shallow mouth and head north, for the current was swift and to the southward. Shades of pink and red intermingled with grays and greens along the shore to mark the presence of granite-like rocks. The river extends in a north-northwesterly direction to Hig- ganum and there turns northward to Cobalt, where it turns at a 90 degree angle before passing through the last of the narrow gorges of crystalline rocks. Then it rejoins its ancient course in the Lowland Valley.9
Block followed the course of the river past Hartford to the vicinity of the falls at Enfield. The river at Hartford was described as being more than five feet deep. From that point the Connecticut follows a crooked course for thirty miles in a northerly direction. Here, if one considers the description in Johannes de Laet's New World to have been based on Block's journal, Block navigated the distance with some difficulty to a point where the river became rocky and quite shallow. The rapids further to the north suggest that at some ancient time the valley was perhaps filled and the stream forced to make a new way for itself across the country until it dropped again into its former stream or into a valley of another stream, thereby forming falls or rapids. Wa- terfalls are common to Connecticut, and, like the lakes, are of compara- tively recent origin as measured by geological time.1ยบ
Connecticut might be termed a land of lakes. It has been estimated that at the beginning of this century there were more than 1000 lakes in the state and it has been conjectured that there were at least that many at the time of the first settlement. The lakes owe their existence chiefly to the fact that Connecticut was in the path of the glacial advance which greatly altered the landscape as it retreated. Subsequently, when rain fell, it did not find established channels to carry it to the sea, and the water remains in the hollows while the streams are being re-estab- lished. The Connecticut River, it has been suggested, was sufficiently large to be only slightly affected by the period of glaciation.11
From the rocky river bed above Hartford, Block retraced his route down the river to the Sound and headed in the direction of the Thames River. This portion of the shore is fairly even, and, although boulders are not lacking, they are in comparatively small numbers. Between
6
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
them, there are the long sweeping crescent beaches characteristic of a region composed alternately of resistant and non-resistant materials. As he approached the Thames, which the Dutch called the Siccanamos after the Chief of the Indians living in the area, Fisher's Island came into view. At the Thames was found "a good roadstead behind a sand point about a half league [11/2 miles] from the western shore in two and a half fathoms of water" which permitted ships to navigate about fifteen or eighteen miles up the river.12
From the Thames to the Pawcatuck River, Fisher's Island is so near the shoreline that it serves to break the force of the large waves, and the boulders at the water's edge serve as a bulwark against their further advance. Block apparently followed the shoreline to Watch Hill and beyond, as it is noted in the translation of the Latin version of de Laet's New World that "the mainland forms a crooked prominence in the shape of a sickle, behind which an inlet receives a small stream that flows from the east," which, for that reason, was named East River by the Dutch. After coming out of the inlet, Block next visited Montauk Point and the island which bears his name. He then left the Connecticut vicinity, voyaging from the Sound to Narragansett Bay, Martha's Vine- yard. and Cape Cod before he returned to Holland to make the report which was to stimulate interest in the New World.13
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