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UC-NRLF B 4 402 361
Revolutionary Characters of New Haven
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ
REVOLUTIONARY CHARACTERS OF NEW HAVEN
THE SUBJECT OF
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
General David Humphrevs Branch. No. I
A limited edition has been published, and copies may be had for two dollars per volume, postage paid, by remitting that amount to SEYMOUR C. LOOMIS, Chairman Publication Committee, 69 Church Street, New Haven, Conn.
AND
Catalogue of the Officers and Members of Gen. David Humphreys Branch Since its Organization
NEW HAVEN, CONN. Published by the General David Humphreys Branch, No. 1 Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution
REVOLUTIONARY CHARACTERS OF NEW HAVEN
THE SUBJECT OF
ADDRESSES AND PAPERS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
General David Humphreys Branch, No. I Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution
ALSO
List of Men so far as they are Known from the Territory Embraced in the Town of New Haven, Connecticut, who Served in the Continental Army and Militia and on Continental and State Vessels and Privateers, and those who Rendered other Patriotic Services during the War of the Revolution, and a Record of Known Casualties; together with the Location of Known Graves in and about New Haven of Patriots of
1775-1783
AND
Catalogue of the Officers and Members of Gen. David Humphreys Branch Since its Organization
NEW HAVEN, CONN. Published by the General David Humphreys Branch, No. I Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution
COPYRIGHT 19II BY THE GENERAL DAVID HUMPHREYS BRANCH, NO. I OF THE CONNECTICUT SOCIETY SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
PRESS OF THE PRICE, LEE & ADKINS CO., NEW HAVEN, CONN.
E 263 C5 564
Y'S
F.THE.A
IER
HUM
AVI
EN.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
BY VOTE OF THE GENERAL DAVID HUMPHREYS BRANCH, NUMBER ONE, CONNECTICUT SOCIETY, SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, PASSED FEBRUARY FIRST, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND TEN, THIS VOLUME WAS AUTHORIZED. ARRANGED AND EDITED BY A SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION APPOINTED. FOR THAT PURPOSE.
SEYMOUR C. LOOMIS, Ex-Officio, GEORGE F. BURGESS, GEORGE H. FORD, EARNEST C. SIMPSON, WILLIAM S. WELLS.
May, 1911.
CONTENTS
PAGE
JAMES HILLHOUSE
7
SERVICES IN HONOR OF EZRA STILES 17
EZRA STILES 19
THE DEFENSE OF NEW HAVEN 31
DAVID WOOSTER.
39
COL. JOHN TRUMBULL, THE PATRIOT AND ARTIST 47
NOAH WEBSTER 55
GEN. DAVID HUMPHREYS 59
THE EARLY CAREER OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 73
BUNKER HILL DAY.
LIST OF MEN FROM NEW HAVEN KNOWN TO HAVE SERVED THE REVOLUTION CAUSE 97
KNOWN CASUALTIES II2
KNOWN PRISONERS. II4
LOCATION OF KNOWN GRAVES, IN AND ABOUT NEW HAVEN, OF SOLDIERS AND PATRIOTS. II5
LIST OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE GEN. DAVID HUM-
PHREYS BRANCH SINCE ITS ORGANIZATION 119
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
HON. JAMES HILLHOUSE 7
EZRA STILES, LL.D. I7
NEW HAVEN GREEN IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 3I
SKETCH OF THE INVASION OF NEW HAVEN, JULY 5TH, 1779, DRAWN BY PRESIDENT STILES 33
MAJOR-GEN. DAVID WOOSTER
39
THE GEN. DAVID WOOSTER HOUSE 43
COL. JOHN TRUMBULL 47
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, JULY 4TH, 1776. 51 THE NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE. 55
AUTOGRAPHIC LETTER OF GEN. WASHINGTON, INTRODUCING COL. HUMPHREYS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, UNITED STATES MINISTER TO FRANCE, DATED JUNE 2, 1784 .... 65 THE BENEDICT ARNOLD HOUSE 73
THE DEATH OF GENERAL WARREN AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
HON. JAMES HILLHOUSE.
JAMES HILLHOUSE
BY GEORGE HARE FORD.
Address delivered before the Gen. David Humphreys Branch, Connecticut Society, Sons of the American Revolution, 1902.
James Hillhouse was descended from an ancient and noble family in the North of Ireland, near Londonderry, where their estates 250 years ago were large and important and various members of the family were distinguished by having received degrees from the famous University of Glasglow in Scotland. The Hillhouse name appears among the signatures of an address to William and Mary, and one of the family was Mayor of Londonderry.
The original American Hillhouse, Reverend James, came to this country and settled in New Hampshire in 1719; afterwards at Montville (meaning Hillhouse) between New London and Norwich. Cotton Mather refers to him as, "The hopeful young minister lately arrived in America." His son, James Abraham, the foster father of the subject of our sketch, graduated from Yale in 1749, and became a dis- tinguished lawyer in New Haven. He built and resided in the large and stately old mansion, now known as Grove Hall.
Having no children, and his brother William (the father of our James) having many sons, James was adopted by his Uncle, and at the age of seven was installed in the old big but childless home, corner of Whitney Avenue and Grove Street, where he resided the greater part of his life. He inherited his Uncle's or foster father's fortune and the Aunt's property. The combined real estate he thus acquired covers a large section beyond Grove Street towards Whit- neyville, including Prospect Hill, an extensive part of which is now owned by Yale University.
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James Hillhouse
The father, William, was a striking character in the Connecticut Legislature, where he served during one hun- dred and six semi-annual sessions. The picturesque descrip- tion of the man as left by his grandson, James A. Hill- house, the poet (son of James), who resided in the Hill- house mansion in Sachem's Woods, is as follows :
" Venerable image of the olden days, stupendous shoe buckles, long gold headed cane kept only for great occasions, conspicuous watch fob; high and classical forehead, heavy eyebrows, lifted only long enough to express an opinion and then relapsing. As the oldest man on the Governor's Council, he sat at his right. At his leave tak- ing and retirement at 80 years there was not a dry eye among the Council Board. At this advanced age it was his custom to journey to and from Hartford on horseback; and he was Major of the second regiment of Cavalry. On Christmas Day it was his custom to roast an ox and distribute it to the needy. Applications were received with care and discretion, the individual representing then what our 'Board of Charities' on a more extended scale stands for to-day."
Young James was in Hopkins Grammar School in 1771 with Roger Sherman and David Wooster. He was promi- nent in advocating and encouraging a movement toward the formation of the city of New Haven which culminated in 1784. He was a student in Yale in 1773. President Dwight, father of the President Dwight of our day, then a tutor, saw in him the elements of his after greatness, took great interest in the stripling, and it is said that Hillhouse referred in after life with great emotion to President Dwight as his great benefactor. While in college his name appears with that of Nathan Hale as one of the actors in the Linonian Society plays.
The uncle and foster father died in 1775. Anticipating the ambitions of his foster son and nephew, he forbade him to leave his studies and embrace the cause of the Continen- tal Army, which at that time was engaging the attention of many of the young men. They afterwards became famous in the contest following.
Upon the records of the first meeting for the organiza- tion of the Second Company of Governor's Foot Guard in 1774, as well as upon the application of the State Legisla-
1
9
James Hillhouse
ture for a charter, the following winter, appears the name of James Hillhouse. There was a division of opinion in those days, on the political situation, and when a few months later the news of the Lexington alarm reached New Haven, and this company, of which he was a member, under Bene- dict Arnold, applied for permission to march to Cambridge, the authorities opposed it and refused not only the applica- tion but ammunition. Arnold and his command, however, took the keys, secured the ammunition and marched to Lex- ington under the name of the New Haven Cadets. Not being permitted to use the charter name, three weeks afterward all but twenty returned to New Haven. Arnold remained, receiving an appointment to another command in the army.
Hillhouse was entrusted by Governor Trumbull to pro- mote the enlistment of a Brigade in "A stirring appeal," "to all friends of American freemen, urging them to go forward without hire or reward and never lay down their arms until they have driven every invader from the land."
The year 1779 found him the third commander of the Second Company of Governor's Foot Guard; and on the morning of the 5th of July when the British landed on our shore, summoning his own men and such volunteers as had presented themselves, including a body of students with President Daggett of Yale at their head, he marched his command across the causeway and meadows at the West River Bridge and attacked the advance guard of the Eng- lish Army. It was in this engagement that Adjutant Camp- bell was shot and killed, on Milford Hill, by a soldier named Johnson, in Hillhouse's command.
The records, plans or map of that campaign show Hill- house and his band of 150 followers as resisting an army of 1,500 men under Gen. Tyron, and in close contact with the enemy, delaying them for hours, and enabling the citizens of the town to remove and secrete much of their valuable property and prepare for further resistance. Gen. Garth with his forces having entered the city from the east side, Madame Hillhouse, who was known as an adherent of the
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James Hillhouse
King and Church of England, by extending hospitality to the British officers, preserved the Hillhouse home from destruction ; but when they discovered that her adopted son and nephew was leading the resistance on the other side of the town, the situation for her was most perilous. She ad- mitted the fact, however, but assured them that the house and property were hers and that she could not control the impetuosity and ardor of the young man.
It may be interesting here to note that Aaron Burr on the 5th and 6th of July while visiting in New Haven, or- ganized and commanded, temporarily, a body of men that assisted in the resistance.
The courageous act of Captain Hillhouse in leading the young men of New Haven in defence of their homes con- firmed their confidence in his ability and increased admira- tion of his character, and the following year he was elected to the State Legislature and re-elected until called to a seat in the Council of the Governor, and the next year there- after, at the age of 32, he was elected to the second Congress of the United States.
He was re-elected to the third and fourth Congress; then chosen to complete the unexpired term of Oliver Ells- worth, who had resigned his seat in the Senate for the Chief-Justiceship of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was returned to the Senate for the second, third and fourth time, making a continuous service of nearly 20 years in Congress. Upon the election of Thomas Jefferson as President, he was chosen presiding officer of the Senate.
In Congress he was called the "Sachem" from his strong Indian complexion and features, and his favorite toast was: "Let us bury the hatchet;" and he was jok- ingly accused of always having a hatchet concealed under his papers. From this title of "Sachem" was derived the name of Sachem Street and Sachem's Woods, which cross and finish that beautiful avenue, Hillhouse Avenue, the pride of our city, which is crowned with the dignified Hillhouse
II
James Hillhouse
mansion (where the latter days of Hillhouse were spent), and at the foot of which stands our master piece of simple and refined art, The New Haven His- torical Society Edifice (the gift of Henry F. English), so appropriately set on the site of the old Robert Newman barn, where was held the first formal and official gather- ing of the members of the Davenport-Eaton colony, and where the "fundamental agreement" was discussed, adopted and signed in November, 1638. This avenue was laid out by Hillhouse in 1792, 105 feet wide through the Hillhouse farm; afterwards it became as now lined on either side by the homes of wealth and learning of this collegiate city; and with its majestic elms forming a tree arched aisle of world-wide fame. No one contributed more than James Hillhouse to making this the "City of Elms," and he originated that idea and devoted years of his life to bringing the small trees from off his farm between this city and Meri- den, and planting them in rows along our streets, setting out many of the trees with his own hands, assisted by a boy who held the trees, or drove the stakes, while Hillhouse shoveled in the dirt. That boy afterwards lent additional lustre to the name of Yale College and the "City of Elms": he became Yale's President, Jeremiah Day!
Hillhouse's first efforts in this direction, it is said, were directed to Temple Street, and when Senator Wade Hamp- ton of South Carolina visited New Haven, he arrived before he was anticipated, and found Senator Hillhouse working the road with well trained oxen. Hampton was much interested in the work that was in process and spoke to the negro Tom, who was driving the oxen, remarking: "See, Tom, how those oxen work! They know more than you do." "Oh, Mas'r," said the negro in reply, "Dem oxen has had a Yankee bringin' up."
His endeavors in planting the trees were discouraged by his neighbors and ridiculed, as philanthropic efforts of good citizens frequently are, and frequently have been, one man remarking to him: "Hillhouse, you will never live long
I2
James Hillhouse
enough to see those trees amount to anything." His reply was : "If I don't someone else will." This was characteristic of his whole life: "He lived for others."
He had a voice in getting names to the new streets laid out after the defining of the original nine squares. It was always a regret with him that he did not insist in carrying the streets running east straight through to Mill River.
Through his efforts and under his direction and that of his associate, Pierpont Edwards, the public square, or New Haven Green was leveled and enclosed with a fence at a cost of $2,000.00, which was paid for by private subscrip- tion and without expense to the City; and the fence, although of wood, remained for the first half of the nine- teenth century, and then was sold to the town of Milford to be utilized around their square. The present fence was erected in 1846.
The inviting and encouraging of strangers to locate at New Haven was not overlooked; this endeavor corre- sponded to the work now undertaken by the Committee on New Enterprises of the New Haven Chamber of Com- merce, though the work to-day is much wider in its scope. As far back as 1784, immediately after the charter of the City was secured, at a City Meeting held in the Statehouse, Hillhouse was appointed chairman of a com- mittee on Hospitality, "To welcome and assist all strangers coming to reside in New Haven, and cultivate their ac- quaintance, so that their residence may be rendered as agree- able and eligible as possible." A few years later he advo- cated the removal of graves from the back of Center Church, and the purchase of the tract on Grove Street for a cemetery, "To be laid out in family lots with larger and better arrangement for the accommodation of families ; and by its retired situation calculated to impress the mind with the solemnity becoming the repository of the dead." Pre- vious to this time it had been the custom to bury the dead in the rear of the church or the churchyard. Mainly through his efforts he interested thirty others and purchased the plot
I3
James Hillhouse
on Grove Street and established the Grove Street Cemetery, the wisdom and judgment of which work is recognized and appreciated by a grateful community today. This is said to have been the first public cemetery in the world laid out in family lots, the Pere LaChaise in Paris which was among the first of European cemeteries of this character not being opened until 1804, or eight years later. At that time, the new departure was an exceedingly unpopular measure and it was used against him as a weapon in political campaigns for twenty years afterward.
About 1815, the New Haven Register took the lead in appealing to the people for a Constitutional Convention. In the summer of 1818 the last vigorous effort was made and the Federal candidate opposing the Register candidate was James Hillhouse. The fierceness of the opposition may be discerned in a paragraph copied from one of the papers issued during the Campaign in which he is referred to as "A most desperate and ferocious prosecutor of the most desperate and ferocious deeds. God forbid that the destroyers of the sepulchres of our fathers should ever receive the suffrage of our sons." How history repeats its- self, for the strongest advocate for a Constitutional Con- vention the past few years has been the New Haven Register! And again after a period of over eighty years its representative is sent to a Constitutional Convention. Yet, we can congratulate ourselves that in the twentieth century the choice of Colonel Osborn was practically a unanimous one, and exempt from the usual unfortunate strife that attends the election for a public office.
Hillhouse's thought and foresight are explained in the following quotation from a speech of his while in Congress. He said :
" The office of President is the only one in our government clothed with such powers as might endanger liberty, and I am not without apprehension, that at some future period they may be exerted to over- throw the liberties of our country."
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James Hillhouse
He thus describes an election going on at that time :
" In whatever direction we turn our eyes, we behold the people arranging themselves for the purpose of commencing the electioneering campaign for the next President and Vice President. All the passions and feelings of the human heart are brought into the most active operation. The electioneering spirit finds its way to every fireside, pervades our domestic circles, and threatens to destroy the enjoyment of social harmony. The candidates may have no agency in the busi- ness. They may be the involuntary objects of such competition with- out directing or controlling the storm. The fault is in the mode of election, in settling people to choose a King. The evil is increasing and will increase until it shall terminate in Civil War and despotism."
This declaration naturally excited much comment. But how pertinent the prophecy as we, who enter the twentieth century find on reviewing his predictions and how far they have been realized.
Hillhouse was called upon by his fellow citizens upon all occasions of ceremony for some form of public service. He delivered an oration in honor of General Lafayette at a Memorial service held in 1834. As early as 1782, he was elected Treasurer of Yale College. The college at that time being in need of funds, his diplomacy was demon- strated in his suggesting that the Governor and Lieuten- ant Governor of the State be made members of the Corpora- tion of the college; and an appropriation of $40,000.00 was secured from the State and expended under his direction, from time to time, for new and much needed buildings. He continued in this office, uninterrupted, for 50 years, until his death in 1832, which long service in itself was a most remarkable record in the history of any one man or any one college.
The original grant of Northern Ohio to the State of Connecticut known as the Connecticut Reserve, including the land on which the City of Cleveland now stands, amounting in all to 3,300,000 acres, had been sold to a com- pany of capitalists by the State, the proceeds from the in- terest derived to be applied to the support of the public schools, the fund being known as the first School Fund. In
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James Hillhouse
1809 the Fund seemed in danger of being lost entirely to the State. The Legislature of that year abolished the Board of Managers, and turned to Hillhouse as the only man who could solve the difficulty, creating for him the office of School Fund Commissioner. To accept this office he re- signed from the United States Senate and devoted fifteen years of his life to this work, and without litigation or ex- penses for counsel he restored the Fund to safety, increas- ing its value from $1,000,000 to $1,700,000. To accom- plish this, it is said that he sometimes travelled 50 to 75 miles per day in a sulky or on horseback with his famous horse "Young Jim." Once followed by two ruffians at night with $20,000.00 in his possession, he went at full speed for 30 miles, saving the amount, but permanent injury resulted to his faithful horse. Every boy and girl in Connecticut who enjoys the advantages of public school education is indebted to James Hillhouse for saving and preserving the School Fund. Livermore in his Republic of New Haven speaks of him as the foremost citizen of his day.
His pastor, Rev. Doctor Bacon, describes him, as "Tall, long limbed, light in motion and light in step; firm, he seems like some Indian chief of poetry or romance, as Massasoit or King Philip of our early history, as fancy pic- tures them." Dr. Bacon refers to him as the indefatigable nursing father of the school fund of Connecticut, and throughout a long and eventful life, a beautiful example of the public spirited citizen." In all his 50 years of participa- tion in public affairs, there was scarcely an effort made for local improvement in which he was not a leader of the movement.
Hillhouse was a man untiring in his labors, hopeful under all difficulties, unmoved by the temptations that sur- round a public life; firm, intelligent, thoughtful, sweet and kindly, he proved courageous and patient, full of good, wise and noble impulses. Captain James Hillhouse was a man the like of whom does not appear in every generation.
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James Hillhouse
His zeal and energy were expended in efforts to benefit his time, and that to follow. Always disinterested and free from personal motives he seemed to have no thought of personal glory, financial or political. His unceasing ex- ertion for his town, his city and his country were the result of labors that knew no weariness.
"But in those hours when others rest, Kept public cares upon his breast."
In December, 1832, while engaged in reading his college correspondence he arose and went to his bedroom, lying down quietly on his bed; shortly afterwards his son having occasion to speak to him went to his room, but the old man was asleep: quietly and gently the Angel of Death had touched this honored old man, who from early youth to old age had been an active laborer in every concerted effort to advance New Haven to its present proud position. It was truly said at his funeral "He aimed at the public good, and lived for his country."
The virtues of our forefathers do not belong entirely to the ages of the past, but they are ours by inheritance; and while the stage coach and the flint-lock are superseded and any attempt to reinstall them would be like efforts to call back the candlelight and the spinning wheel, charming but not practical, yet the patriotism and unselfishness of these notable men of former days can be admired and appreciated as well in this century as two centuries ago. Therefore, do we not honor ourselves as Sons of the American Revolu- tion in recalling their deeds and perpetuating the memories of such a soldier and such a patriot of local and national fame as James Hillhouse.
EZRA STILES. LL.D. President of Yale College 1778-1795.
SERVICES IN HONOR OF EZRA STILES
AT THE
GROVE STREET CEMETERY IN NEW HAVEN
Introducing the speaker, Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, Chief Justice of Connecti- cut, upon the occasion of the exercises held at the grave of Ezra Stiles, on June 14, 1908, Seymour C. Loomis, President of the Branch, made the following remarks on Ezra Stiles, the Patriot.
Not all who served the Revolutionary cause carried a musket or a sword. Among the patriots were those, who by their example, writings, public speeches and their counsel, nobly and effectively promoted and served their country's welfare. One of the few, who were elected hon- orary members of the Society of the Cincinnati, when that organization was first formed, was Ezra Stiles. He was born at North Haven in 1727, and descended from the Stileses of Windsor. He was the President of Yale College during the principal part of the Revolutionary war, having been chosen in 1777, inaugurated in 1778, and continued in office until his death in 1795. The col- lege, though relatively of equal influence as at present, consisted then of only one hundred and thirty-two under- graduates, and its faculty beside the president, of a pro- fessor of divinity, Naphtali Daggett, a professor of mathe- matics and natural philosophy and three tutors.
President Stiles was in office at the time New Haven was invaded by Tryon in 1779, and assisted much by his counsel and exhortations in its defense. He was of deli- cate health and unable to withstand much physical hard- ship, but his heart and his mind were true to his country. He was the friend and adviser of Gov. Trumbull. He had studied for the law, which he practiced for about two years; then entered the ministry and was settled at Newport in Rhode Island. He refused to be considered
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