USA > Connecticut > A history of Connecticut, its people and institutions, pt 1 > Part 15
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Though King Philip's war was in progress, the govern- ment prepared to resist, and sent troops to garrison Say- brook and New London. Captain Thomas Bull was in command at Saybrook, and June 9, 1675, he saw an armed fleet approaching the fort. By command of the colonial authorities Captain Bull told Andros that the English
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needed no help against Indian foes. On the morning of July 12, Andros asked leave to go ashore for a conference with the officers. This was granted and he landed with his suite. Bull met Andros on shore and bluntly told him that he was instructed to resist the invasion. Bull knew the charter of the Dudley government of 1664 had named the Connecticut River as the eastern boundary. He also knew Connecticut never surrendered anything unless compelled. Andros bade his clerk read aloud the two papers which gave him his authority, and Bull told the clerk to forbear. The latter persisted, and the captain commanded "For- bear!" in a tone which Andros did not choose to resist. Admiring the coolness of the Connecticut officer, Andros said, "What is your name?" "My name is Bull, sir," was the answer. "Bull!" replied the governor. "It is a pity your horns were not tipped with silver."
This game of bluff worked well, and matters quieted down for a while until the discussion of the boundary was opened afresh in 1682, and New York claimed twenty miles east of the Hudson, on the ground that the royal commissioners had said that the Mamaroneck River was "twenty miles every- where from the Hudson." If Connecticut would not allow this, New York threatened that she would claim all the territory to the Connecticut River. Commissioners of the two colonies met in 1683, and came to an agreement that the Byram River, between Rye and Greenwich, should be the western boundary of Connecticut; or from Lyon's Point at the mouth of the Byram River up the stream to the wading place, thence north northwest eight English miles, thence east twelve miles parallel to the Sound, and thence in a line parallel to, and twenty miles distant from, the Hudson River. It was further agreed that New York should receive from Connecticut along the remainder of her western boundary as much as Connecticut took from New York at Greenwich and along the Sound. This deprived Connecticut of Rye - a loss severely felt. Connecticut has Greenwich, Stamford,
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Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, and a part of Wilton to which New York yielded all claim. In return New York received a strip one and three-quarters miles and twenty rods wide along the west side of Connecticut, which is parallel to and twenty miles distant from the Hudson River. This was called the Oblong or Equivalent Tract, containing 61,440 acres. In 1855, as most of the old landmarks had been removed or destroyed, it became necessary to establish the boundary lines, and there was a special reason for this in the fact that people along the line had evaded paying taxes to either state. The commissioners established the boundary to the last angle, but on that to the Massachusetts line there was a difference of opinion. New York wished to find the old and traditional line, and Connecticut desired to sur- vey a new line. A line was run, but it differed from the other by forty-two rods at the widest part, made a differ- ence of twenty-six thousand acres, and New York refused to yield. The matter rested until 1859, when new com- missioners were appointed, who made a new survey, and Connecticut would not yield. Then New York empowered her commissioners to survey and mark with monuments a mile apart the line as fixed by the survey of 1731, but Con- necticut would not agree to the line thus marked. In 1878, there was again a dispute and the commissioners came to a decision December 5, 1879, whereby the western boundary of Connecticut was established on the old line of 1731, and the twenty-six thousand acres was given up to New York. In exchange the southern boundary was carried into the Sound six hundred feet south of Byram's Point, then south- east three and a half miles, then northeast to a point four miles south of New London lighthouse, thence through Fisher's Island Sound, as far as said states are coterminous. This was ratified by the states, and Congress confirmed the ratification in 1880.
It consumed more than a century and a half to settle the northern boundary. In 1642, Massachusetts em-
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ployed two "mathematicians," Woodward and Saffery, to run the line according to the charter. These highly ingenious men began operations by finding a point "three English miles on the south part of the Charles River, or of any or every part thereof" from which to survey a line toward the Pacific; preferring a boat trip to a tramp through the woods among wolves and Indians, they sailed around Cape Cod and up the Connecticut River to a point which they believed to be of the same latitude as at the starting- point. They erred on the safe side for their employers and gave Massachusetts a strip of Connecticut eight miles wide. There was no end of dispute over this, and in 1695, Con- necticut had a survey made, to the result of which Massa- chusetts objected, and Connecticut people continued to settle in Enfield and Suffield on disputed lands. Different sets of commissioners went over the question, and the only reason why there was no appeal to the crown was the heavy expense. There were petitions and threats, and until the Revolution, Connecticut continued to govern Enfield, Suffield, and Woodstock, while Massachusetts levied taxes without collecting; sending notices of fast days and elections, claim- ing as late as 1768, that she had not given up jurisdiction; warning the towns not to pay taxes to Connecticut. In 1793, both states appointed commissioners to ascertain the boundaries of Southwick and west to New York, also east of the Connecticut River. They reported that the line was nearly all correct, except a tract of two and a half miles square at Southwick which Massachusetts thought that she should have to compensate for the towns she had lost. This was refused by Connecticut in 1801. In 1803, Massa- chusetts was willing to compromise, and the following year it was arranged that Connecticut should keep a slice of Southwick, and Massachusetts hold land west of the pond in that town,-the same indentation into Connecticut re- mains to-day.
The eastern boundary seemed for a long time hopeless.
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Rufus Choate said of it at one of its stages: "The com- missioners might as well have decided that the line between the states was bounded on the north by a bramble bush, on the south by a bluejay, on the west by a hive of bees in swarming time, and on the east by five hundred foxes with firebrands tied to their tails." Connecticut claimed all the Narragansett country to the Bay by the conquest of the Pequots; and Massachusetts on the ground of her assistance to Connecticut. Both regarded Rhode Island as a nonentity. In 1658, the New England commissioners assigned the Mystic River as the boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut, giving Rhode Island and the eastern part of Connecticut to Massachusetts. The Connecticut charter in 1662, carried that colony to the Bay. In 1663, Rhode Island secured, through its agent in London, a charter which assigned the Pawcatuck River from mouth to source, and thence due north to the Massachusetts boundary as its western line. Confusion followed with proclamations, arrests, and bitter controversies until 1703, when commis- sioners were again appointed, who agreed that the boundary should be the middle channel of the Pawcatuck River, from salt water to the branch called Ashaway, and thence in a straight line north to the Massachusetts line, through a point twenty miles due west of the extremity of Warwick Neck. Contentions followed till 1727, when the Privy Coun- cil recommended that the agreement of 1703, should stand; and except for a slight straightening in 1840, it is the bound- ary between the states, established after sixty-five years of quarreling. It was fortunate for Rhode Island to be able to appeal to England, and the victory was just.
Another controversy gave the colony trouble for years, the case of the cession in 1639, by the Mohican Indians of New London County and parts of Windham and Tolland counties. Uncas deeded this tract, the famous Norwich tract, to thirty-five proprietors; it covered nine square miles, and in 1640, a deed was drawn between Uncas and the
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colony. The deed is ambiguous, but it states that Uncas parted with his whole country, except the planting ground, for five yards of cloth and a few pairs of stockings. This was done with the consent of Major John Mason, the chief adviser of the Mohicans.
Other sales and grants were made by Uncas and other Mohicans until, in 1680, of the eight hundred square miles, the extent of the original Mohican country, only a small portion remained in possession of the Indians. The Mason family acted as trustees of the Mohicans, and the case was in litigation for almost a century. The decision was repeat- edly rendered, supporting the colony in the possession of the lands; and appeals were repeatedly made by the Mason family. In 1743, commissioners from New York and New Jersey confirmed the original decision sustaining the conten- tion of Connecticut; an appeal was taken to the king's Privy Council, which decided in favor of the colony. The decision was reached January 15, 1773, when the Mason appeal was dismissed, and the judgment of 1743, affirmed.
Connecticut was not only under a strain to secure her boundaries, she was called on to help her neighbors; and when, in 1669, New York was threatened by the French and Indians, Governor Leisler wrote to her neighbor on the east, asking for troops. Captain Bull led a contingent to Albany, another force went to New York, and later, Connecticut joined the rest of New England and New York in an expedi- tion against Canada, which proved a failure. Another call came for help in 1693, and Governor Treat sent a body of troops to the defense of Albany. It was about that time that the liberties enjoyed so long were threatened by the arrival of Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, the new governor of New York, who came from England with a commission to command the whole militia of Connecticut and the neighbor- ing provinces. The Assembly, September I, 1693, voted that Major-General Fitz John Winthrop intercede with the king, and William Pitkin was sent to interview Governor
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Fletcher; the latter made no impression on the martial governor. On October 26, Fletcher reached Hartford and demanded the surrender of the militia, and ordered that it be summoned under arms. The officers called the train- bands together. With the soldiers before the Assembly House, the Assembly insisted that Fletcher's demands were not consistent with their charter. In Fletcher's name, Colonel Bayard sent a letter to the Assembly setting forth the object of the visit: not to interfere with the rights of the province, but merely for the recognition of the king's abstract right to control the military force; and he tendered to Governor Treat a commission in Fletcher's name to command the militia. He said also that he would issue his proclamation to the people, and would then be able to dis- tinguish the loyal from the disloyal.
The train-bands were arranged in due order, Captain Wadsworth was walking up and down in front of the com- panies, when Fletcher approached to within hearing distance and ordered his commission and instructions to be read. The moment Bayard began to read, Captain Wadsworth commanded the drums to beat, drowning the voice of the herald. "Silence!" said Fletcher, in a tone of authority. When the beating subsided Bayard again began to read the commission. "Drum, I say, drum!" said Wadsworth, and again the voice was lost in the drum-beat. "Silence, silence!" shouted the New York governor. " Drum, drum, I say!" repeated Wadsworth; and then turning to Fletcher he said, "If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment!" At that point, Fletcher withdrew. To show her loyalty under the charter, the Assembly voted a tax of a penny a pound to raise soldiers, and fifty bushels of wheat from every county, and the amount was paid Fletcher for defense of Albany. Winthrop was sent to England to make a full statement of the situa- tion to the king's attorney and solicitor-general, who re- ported favorably concerning the action of Connecticut, and
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the king approved. It was voted to place one hundred and twenty men at the disposal of the governor of New York, and that the remainder be under the direction of the governor of Connecticut. In 1703, Governor Dudley of Massachu- setts called for troops to aid in the war with the Indians on the east, and four hundred troops were raised. General Phineas Lyman was an able officer in later campaigns.
There was a long struggle to retain the powers granted by the charter in opposition to the Board of Trade, which for forty years sought to carry out the plan of a union of the colonies. Charges were made against Connecticut of piracy, contraband trade, and other crimes, and Gershom Bulkley's "Will and Doom" played a part in the proceedings; there were also complaints of the treatment of the Mohicans. Governor Dudley supported the movement, and was seconded by Governor Cornbury of New York. Connecticut was represented by Sir Henry Ashurst, who, knowing that it was a struggle for cherished privileges of the colony, secured two of the best advocates in England, and these men argued the case effectively, insisting that a copy of the charges should be sent to the governor of Connecticut, with a request for answers to each allegation, and also that Dudley and Corn- bury be required to forward proofs in legal form. In due time a letter arrived from Ashurst telling the colony that it was the opinion of the crown that the colony should con- trol militia and money. This was not the last attempt to weaken the force of the charter, and a good deal could be said from the imperialist point of view, for the attempt to unite the colonies to the crown was not pure tyranny and maliciousness. From the standpoint of Connecticut the issue was a happy one, and though the colony entered the eight- eenth century burdened with debts incurred in the struggles for herself and her neighbors, the debts were of slight mo- ment in comparison with the institutions and discipline which sixty years of alertness, resoluteness, and poise had developed.
CHAPTER XIII
THE UNITED COLONIES OF NEW ENGLAND
W HILE the colonies of New England were all animated by a spirit of extreme independence, which often found expression in jealousy verging sometimes almost on hostility, there was a time when it seemed wise to form a confederacy. The nearness and hostility of the Dutch settlements, ner- vousness about the action of the mother-country, and the fear of the Indians brought about a league of the four colo- nies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. There was a population of twenty-three thousand five hundred souls, of which number Massachu- setts had fifteen thousand, Plymouth and Connecticut three thousand each, and New Haven two thousand five hundred. There were several reasons why it seemed best to form the confederation, for despite the growth, energy, and optimism of the settlements, their condition was precarious for years. The Pequots had been swept away, but the colonists were surrounded by undesirable neighbors: Mohawks were not distant, Dutch were meddlesome, and Narragansetts powerful. In August, 1637, during the war with the Pe- quots, some of the Connecticut leaders suggested to the authorities at Boston the expediency of a form of union, and the next year Massachusetts submitted a plan, but Connecticut objected, because it permitted a mere majority of the federal commissioners to decide questions. In 1639, Hooker and Haynes went to Boston and discussed the pro-
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posal, but Plymouth and Massachusetts disagreed over the boundary line, and the needed covenant was postponed. At a General Court held at Boston, September 27, 1642, letters from Connecticut were read, "certifying us that the Indians all over the country had combined themselves to cut off all the English." Anxieties also arose from the Dutch at that time, hence the Connecticut proposal was favorably received, and was referred to a committee to consider it. At the next General Court at Boston, May 10, 1643, a com- pact of confederation, drawn up in writing, was signed by commissioners from Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven. The settlements of Gorges and Mason at Piscataqua and the beginnings of Rhode Island were denied admission,-the former, because they "ran a different course from us both in their ministry and administration," and the latter, because they were regarded as "tumultuous" and "schismatic."
It was natural that men who had so much in common, who had come hither with similar purposes, should wish to form a league for mutual helpfulness and defense, yet they got along better by living in different colonies, because men of their positive views needed considerable room. They thought more of one another because miles of forest separated them, yet they were all Englishmen of solid common sense, who saw that in union there is strength. It is suggestive of their independence of judgment, and of an event one hundred and thirty-five years later, that they did not ask permission of their home government. After a preamble which said "we live encompassed with people of several nations and strange languages," that "the savages have of late combined themselves against us," and that "the sad distractions" in England prevented advice and protection thence; the paper states that the colonies wished to maintain "a firm and perpetual league of friendship and amity, for offense and defense, mutual advice and succor upon all just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the truth and
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liberties of the gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare."
The first two articles bound together the four colonies under the name of The United Colonies of New England. The third provided that they be self-governing. The fourth ordered that levies of men, money, and supplies for war should be assessed on the colonies, in proportion to the male population between sixteen and sixty. By the fifth, upon notice of three magistrates of an invasion, the rest were to send relief; Massachusetts to the number of one hundred men, and each of the others, forty-five, "suf- ficiently armed and provided," and if more were needed the commissioners were to convene. By the sixth, a board of commissioners, consisting of two men from each colony, was to "determine all affairs of war or peace leagues, aids, charges, and numbers of men for war, division of spoils, receiving more confederates, and all things of like nature." The concurrence of six commissioners should be conclusive; failing in this, the matter was to be referred to the legisla- ture of each colony, and the concurrence of the four was to bind. The commissioners met once a year, and as much oftener as necessary. The six other articles ordered that the president should have "no power or respect" except "to take care and direct"; that action should be taken to pro- mote peace and justice between the colonies and toward the Indians, and the extradition of runaway slaves and fugitives from justice; that whenever any colony violated the alliance, the others should determine the offense and remedy.
The two defects in the constitution were that the federal government had no authority to act on individuals, and thus no power to coerce; and the equal number of votes allowed the colonies was plainly unjust, since the population of Massachusetts was greater than that of the other three colonies combined. The commission, with such men as Haynes, Hopkins, Mason, Winthrop, Eaton, and Ludlow on the board, increased the military force of the colonies, and
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helped to solve puzzling questions about boundaries, pay of soldiers, tax on corn and beaver, and union of Connecticut and New Haven.
The last annual meeting of the confederation was held in Hartford in 1664. The conditions leading to the forming of the commission had to a large degree passed away; the surrender of New Amsterdam to the Duke of York had re- lieved the colony of her Dutch neighbors; Indians within the colonies were friendly, and for six years the meetings ceased, but in 1670, a convention was held in Boston, and new articles of confederation adopted. Power for offensive war was given to the several legislatures, and a fiery debate was had over the apportionment of military forces and supplies. In the days of its prosperity, the confederation was of some use in concentrating and combining the military strength of the colonies; and in time of trouble, it sometimes brought relief and satisfaction to people tempted to be dis- couraged. To say that it helped much to prepare for the union of a century later suggests more exercise of imagination than use of facts.
CHAPTER XIV
EARLY MANUFACTURERS AND COMMERCE
IT is impossible to think of the ancestors of the Connecticut as we know it as other than interested in manufacturing and trade. As we have seen, one of the inducements the Indians urged, when they invited the settlers to come hither, was the opportunity for trade. Since there were no roads in the beginning, and Sound and rivers offered many con- venient outlets for their products, ships and shipbuilding began to interest the people at an early date. The larger vessels had three masts, whose principal sails were extended by yards slung to the middle, and often small vessels which would not now deserve the term. The Mayflower, a large ship for its day, registered only one hundred and twenty tons. There was a two-masted vessel called the "ketch," square-rigged like those just described, and also having a fore-and-aft mainsail. There were also schooners with two topsails, and there were full-rigged brigs. The smaller boats were generally sloop-rigged, with one stout and not very high mast, a very large topsail and mainsail. The vessels were well-built and strong, and slow sailers, with low decks, high waist, and less sharpness in the bow than now, but they were good sea boats, and varied from fifty to two hundred tons. They made two, and some- times three, voyages a year to the West Indies. They often stayed long in a port to pick up a cargo, sending boats far along the coast or inland to gather sugar, molasses, and rum
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from the large estates, and on these excursions sailors some- times contracted fevers. Shipbuilding was a laborious trade, as there were no appliances for bending timbers by steam; and logs were converted into planks by having one man beneath in a pit, the other above; bolts, spikes, and nails were shaped by the blacksmith; pins with a broad- axe. The first man in Wethersfield to build a ship was Samuel Smith, in the year 1649, and for many years sloops, schooners, and brigs were built there, on both sides of the river. The launching was a popular event, at which there was a liberal supply of Santa Cruz rum, and balls were often held in the evening. A diary of a Glastonbury man of October 30, 1794, says: "Went to launching of a ship of five hundred tons; not less than three thousand persons were present." When vessels sailed, it was the custom to have prayers offered in the churches for their safe return; and on their coming to port, thanks were given for their safety.
Owing to lack of knowledge of the coast and dangers from freebooters, especially in times of war, it was regarded a risky thing to go from New Haven to Boston; Nicholas Augur, one of the earliest physicians of New Haven, and interested also in commercial ventures, being about to sail for Boston, made his will. A few years later, when returning home, he was wrecked on an island off Cape Sable, and died there. The first mention of commerce between New Haven and Barbadoes was in 1647, when salted beef was exchanged for sugar. Salted fish was early an article of export-the famous alewives or alewhorps, whose many bones became tender by the time they reached the West Indies. In 1680, there were but twenty-six vessels in the colony-four ships, three pinks, two barks, six ketches, and eleven sloops. Hartford had a sloop of ninety tons, which traded with England; Middletown a ship of seventy tons; New Lon- don the brigantine Dolphin of eighty tons. These were engaged in European and West India trade. The ton- nage tax was fifteen shillings, paid annually as a town tax.
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