USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Sharon > A history of the town of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn., from its first settlement. > Part 4
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* Town Meeting, Dec. 30, 1763. Voted, That in order to con- sider of a motion for building a new meeting house, and for some
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1824 it was taken down, and the present brick church was erected in its place.
In the latter part of July, 1770, the Rev. George
other business, not finished, this meeting be adjourned to the third Tuesday in January next.
Town Meeting, Sept. 16, 1766. Voted, That we will build a meeting house near the present meeting house, the precise spot to be afterwards determined, only that it be not thirty rods from the present house; said house not to be under the following dimen- sions, viz. 60 feet in length, 40 in width, and 25 feet post, the whole affair to be under the direction of a committee hereafter to be chosen ; said committee not to begin to build, till in their judg- ment they have got enough subscribed to finish it.
Voted, That if any person, or persons, shall subscribe who may, within the space of twenty years next coming, be made a distinct ecclesiastical society, or be added to any other ecclesias- tical society, he or they shall be refunded their proper proportion of what they shall so subscribe, by those who shall remain in the possession of said meeting house, which proportion shall be after a deduction of a fiftieth part for every year before they are set off, then the remainder to be paid back as aforesaid.
Voted, That Doct. Simeon Smith, Messrs. Ebenezer Gay, and Stephen Sears, he a committee for the purposes aforesaid.
Town Meeting, Dec. 9, 1767. Voted, That the old meeting house is granted to the committee who are appointed to erect and finish the new meeting house, to be improved or disposed of to- wards finishing the new meeting house, so as not to deprive us of meeting in it until the new one is fit to meet in.
December 19. 1768. It being represented to this meeting that stoves are frequently left in this meeting house with fire in them, whereby it is much exposed to be burnt ; the town taking this matter into consideration, agree and vote, that no stove shall be left in this meeting house, with or without fire in it, and suffered to remain there after the meeting shall be dismissed at night, or through the night, on the penalty of ten shillings for a stove so left, to be recovered of the person or persons that shall leave the same, according to law.
Voted, That young people should not sit together, males and females, in the same pews or seats in the galleries, and that our informing officers shall be allowed to sit where they choose in the galleries, for their observation of their behavior who sit there.
Voted, That we will now proceed to choose a committee to seat our meeting house, when the seats shall be made in the body of the house. Doct. Simeon Smith, Stephen Sears, Ebenezer Gay, Joseph Landers, Jr., John St. John, Charles Gillet, and Samuel Elmer, were chosen a committee for the purpose aforesaid.
4*
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Whitfield, a celebrated itinerant minister of the Church of England, passed through the town on a preaching tour. He had proceeded up the North River as far as Albany and Schenectady, preaching in all the towns and villages on the route, and returning, preached at Great Barrington, Norfolk, Salisbury* and Sharon. There was considerable opposition to his being per- mitted to preach in the meeting house, but the influ- ence of Parson Smith prevailed, and the doors were opened. An arrangement had been made for him to preach in the orchard of Mr. Jonathan Gillet, direct- ly opposite the meeting house, and now owned by George Skinner, in case he should be refused admis- sion to the usual place of worship. An immense con- gregation, from this and the neighboring towns, as- sembled on the occasion, and that all the hearers might be well accommodated with seats, extensive scaffolds were erected around the house. His text, was the words of our Saviour addressed to Nicodemus,- " Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again." He discoursed upon the doctrine of the new birth with the most astonishing power and eloquence. The concluding words of the sermon were a quota- tion, with a little variation, from the last verse of the fourth chapter of Solomon's Songs ; " Awake O north wind, and come thou south, blow upon this garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my Beloved come into this garden, and eat his pleasant fruits."-
* The meeting house in Salisbury, at that time, was small, and to accommodate the immense number of hearers which came to- gether on the occasion, Mr. Whitfield preached in the open air .- The meeting was holden in an orchard, now owned by William C. Sterling, Esq., on the side of the hill a little north of the pres- ent residence of that gentleman. The late Dr. Hamilton informed Governor Smith, that on his way to this meeting, while descend- ing the hill south of Furnace Village, and full half a mile from where Mr. Whitfield then stood, he heard him distinctly, an- nounce his text in these words, " Turn ye to the strong holds, ye prisoners of hope."
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Many from this town went, the next day, to hear him preach at the red meeting house in Amenia, N. York, and some followed him for two or three days in suc- cession, to hear the word of life from this devoted minister of the cross .*
* These were among the last labors of Whitfield. While on this tour he suffered much from the asthma, the disease which very soon after terminated his life. He spent the night previous to his preaching here, with Parson Smith, and such was the alarming severity of the disorder then upon him, that it was thought very doubtful, by those who watched with him, whether he could sur- vive the night. He attributed his restoration to such a comforta- ble state of health as that he was able to preach the next day, to the kind nursing of Madam Smith, for which he expressed the most deep-felt gratitude. It was, probably, in allusion to his own precarious situation, that he opened the public exercises on the following day by reading the following version on the third psalm, by Dr, Watts. Its appropriate bearing upon his own fee- ble condition, will be readily seen.
1. O Lord, how many are my foes, In this weak state of flesh and blood ; My peace they daily discompose, But my defence and hope is God.
2. Tired with the burdens of the day, To thee I rais'd an evening cry ; Thou heard'st when I began to pray, And thine almighty help was nigh.
3. Supported by thine heavenly aid, I laid me down, and slept secure ; Not death should make my heart afraid, Though I should wake and rise no more.
4. But God sustained me all the night ; Salvation deth to God belong : He raised my head to see the light, And makes his praise my morning song.
Mr. Whitfield died in about two months from this time, at Newburyport, Mass.
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CHAPTER VIII. .
Events of the Revolutionary War.
WE have now arrived at the period of the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War. The citizens of Sharon, almost without exception, partook largely of the feeling which pervaded the whole country, at the commencement of the struggle. Parson Smith, like the other clergymen of the day, was a most ar- dent and decided whig; and his personal influence contributed, not a little, to lead the public mind in the right channel. In his public ministrations, too, there was mingled much of the stirring patriotism of the times. In the prayers which were offered, and in the praises which were sung, there were interspersed many allusions to the tyrannical edicts of the British King, and to the degraded and suffering condition of the colonies. Hymns were written, and music was . composed, which were used for public worship on the Sabbath, the effect of which would seem to be, to stir up martial, rather than devotional feelings, and to ex- cite in the worshippers, the deepest hatred of their oppressors. The following stanza was the commence- ment of one of the hymns which was frequently sung for Sabbath worship :-
" Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And slavery clank her galling chains, We fear them not, we trust in God, New England's God forever reigns."
The intelligence of the battle of Lexington was brought to Sharon on the Sabbath, and Mr. Smith, at the close of the morning exercises, announced it from the pulpit, and made some remarks tending to arouse the spirit of the congregation to firmness and to re- sistance. Immediately after the congregation was
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dismissed, the militia and volunteers, to the number of one hundred men, paraded on the west side of the street, south of the meeting house, and prepared to march immediately to the scene of action. David Downs, Esq., was Captain, James Brewster Lieuten- ant, and David Gould, Ensign. After further delib- eration, however, it was determined to send Lienten- ant Brewster to Litchfield, to enquire more fully into the accuracy of the intelligence, and whether the ser- vices of the militia would be required immediately .- Lieut. Brewster* performed this mission, and learning that the British had returned to Boston, and that no pressing necessity existed for further military aid, it was determined not to march, until further hostile movements on the part of the enemy should render it necessary.
The General Assembly was forthwith convened, and a large military force raised. One' company was raised in Sharon and its vicinity. Samuel Elmore received a Major's commission, and also had the com- mand of this company. Amos Chappell was the lieu- tenant.
'The only survivors of this company are Thomas Heath and Adonijah Maxam. Deacon Isaac Cham- berlain, Capt. Sylvanus Gibbs, and Mr. Ebe Everitt, lately deceased, were also members of this company, as were William Gray, Samuel Lewis, Jr., and David Goff. This company was attached to a regiment which marched to the northward in 1775, for the con- quest of Canada, under General Montgomery. Before St. Johns was taken, it was determined, by Colonels Allen and Brown, to make an attempt upon the city
* This young gentleman was at this time a clerk in Colonel Gay's store. He was orignally from Windham, and came to Sharon in A. D. 1770, with his mother, who was the second wife of Captain Caleb Jewitt. He died, much lamented, of a consump- tion, on the 22d day of February, 1777.
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of Montreal with a few volunteers, if they could be obtained. The troops were paraded, and Allen march- ed in front of the Connecticut line, and invited volun- teers to join him. Of the soldiers who belonged to Sharon, Adonijah Maxam, David Goff, William Gray and Samuel Lewis, stepped forward, and offered to share in the perils of the expedition. It was arranged between Allen and Brown, that the latter should land on the island, below the city, while Allen, with about eighty men, should land above the city, and there wait until they should hear the firing from Brown's party, when they were to rush on to the attack. Allen crossed the river St. Lawrence with his - detachment on the evening of the 24th of September, on a raft, and waited in the expectation of hearing the firing from Brown's party through the whole night, but he waited in vain. For some reason the expedition on Brown's part had failed, and the morning light found Allen altogether in the power of the enemy. This rash adventurer, however, determined to defend him- self to the last extremity against the seven or eight hundred men that were brought against him, and he fought until twenty-five of his men were killed, and seven wounded, when he and his brave associates, in- cluding Maxam, Goff, Gray and Lewis, from Sharon, and one Roger Moore, of Salisbury, were compelled to surrender. They were loaded with irons, and sent to England, for the avowed object of receiving the sentence and punishment of traitors. The threat of retaliatory measures, however, on the part of the Americans, prevented such summary proceedings against them, and after being kept in close confine- ment, in England and Ireland, during the winter, the prisoners just named were brought back to New York in the spring of 1776. They were confined, during the summer, in an old church, with a large number of others, who had been taken during the campaign, at Fort Washington, and other places. From this place
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they contrived to make their escape, by digging be- neath the under-pinning of the building. They had been habited in sailor's clothes during their captivity, and on this account they were less liable to be detect- ed. They divided into two parties, Maxam and Moore forming the one, and Gray, Goff and Lewis, the other. The three latter very soon found means to land on Long Island, and from thence passed over the Sound to the Continent, and returned to their friends in Sha-
ron. Maxam and Moore had more difficulty. They were two or three days in the city before they found it possible to leave it, and after landing on Long Island they suffered much from hunger. After travelling several days, they found means to embark on the Sound, and to reach Saybrook. Their return to Sha- ron astonished their friends, who having learned from Gray and his comrades the circumstances of their es- cape from confinement, and having heard nothing fur- ther from them, had concluded that they had been re- taken by the British. The only survivor of this band of sufferers, is Mr. Adonijah Maxam, who now at the age of eighty-eight years, enjoys a good degree of bo- dily and mental activity.
In the campaign of 1775, Parson Smith went with the army to the northward, as Chaplain to Col. Hin- man's regiment, and spent several months in the ser- vice.
There was one soldier from Sharon, who joined the expedition led by General Arnold through the wilder- ness of Kennebec, to Canada, whose name was Alex- ander Spencer. He died, however, on the march, from sickness.
The exigencies of the times calling for a large army at the commencement of 1776, a large number of men, more than one hundred, enlisted from the town of Sharon. One company marched for Canada. It was commanded by Captain David Downs, already men- tioned. The first lieutenant was Adonijah Griswold,
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and the second lieutenant was David Doty. The on- ly survivors of this company, which was a large one, are Joel Chaffee and Adonijah Pangman, of Cornwall. Charles Gillet, another member of the company, was killed near The Cedars, so called, by a party of In- dians in ambush, as he was riding along the road, having gone out on some business connected with his duty as commissary. The other soldiers raised in Sharon for the campaign of 1776, were distributed among three other companies, and all marched for New York, against which an attack by the British was now apprehended. Of one company, Dr. Simeon Smith was captain ; of another, Elijah Foster was cap- tain ; and of the third, Nathaniel Hamlin was lieu- tenant. These companies were in the campaign of 1776, under General Washington on Long Island and in the vicinity of New York, and shared in the fa- tigues and perils of that disastrous period. David Wood, Nathaniel Buel, Josiah Coleman, Jabez Jen- nings, Asahel Somers, John Randall, Jr., and Thom- as Ackley were taken prisoners at Fort Washington, of whom Wood and Ackley died during their captiv- ity, and Buel and Coleman on their return. The British having obtained possession of New York, Gen- eral Washington determined to make an effort to dis- lodge them during the winter which followed the un- fortunate campaign of 1776. For this purpose a large military force was raised in the fall of that year for two months service, and one company was enlisted in Sharon. William Boland was captain, Hezckiah Frisbie, lieutenant, and Azariah Griswold, ensign .- As the period of enlistment was so short, there was no difficulty in filling the company. The only survi- vors of this company are Messrs. Adonijah Maxam and Thomas Heath. New York was not attacked, and the company was discharged at Kingsbridge, at the expiration of their term of service.
The forces which had hitherto been called into the
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service, were raised on the authority of the State .- To provide for the campaign of 1777, Congress un- dertook to raise an army, which was called the Conti- mental army ; and of this army, two regiments, Swift's and Bradley's, were raised in the western part of Con- necticut. Of one company, David Strong was ap- pointed lieutenant, and he enlisted a number of re- cruits, one of whom, David Goodrich, was killed at the battle of Brandywine, in the subsequent campaign. Of another company, Reuben Calkin was lieutenant, and a number of men enlisted under him. There are none now remaining of either company.
A large depot of provisions and military stores had been established at Danbury, and in the month of April, an expedition was sent out from New York to destroy them. It was commanded by Major General Tryon, of the British army, and consisted of two thou- sand men. They landed at a place called Compo, in the south-west part of the town of Fairfield, and pro- ceeding through the towns of Weston and Redding, reached Danbury, and effected their object, which was the destruction of the stores. The most active meas- ures were taken to spread the alarm through the adja- cent country, and to collect the militia to repel the invaders. On the evening of the 26th of April, a mes- senger arrived in this town bringing the intelligence, and requiring the immediate marching of such forces as could be collected, to meet the enemy. The bell commenced tolling, and it was kept tolling through the night, and it was a night of great terror and so- lemnity. Colonel Ebenezer Gay, who then com- manded the militia in this vicinity, gathered together as many troops as could be collected on so short no- tice, and marched for the scene of action ; and on the morning of the 28th reached Danbury, and finding that the British had retreated, pursued them. 'The route which the British had taken on their retreat, 5
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brought them on the west side of the Saugatuck River, which empties into the Sound a mile or two west of Compo, where their fleet lay. They were intercept- ed in their attempt to reach the bridge over this stream, by General Arnold, who was then in command of a few regular troops, and were guided by some to- ries to a fording place, a little higher up,-and it was while they were marching up on the west side of the stream to reach this fording place, that they were first observed by the troops from Sharon, who were endeav- oring to reach the bridge, and to join the corps under Arnold. As the British marched by them on the low grounds which border on the river, Adonijah Maxam, who had not forgotten the injuries which were heaped upon him while a prisoner in England, begged permis- sion of the commanding officer to steal down the hill from the left flank and shoot a few of them. He was strictly forbidden, however, to execute this perilous undertaking. The British marched by unmolested, and our troops took undisputed possession of the bridge. The enemy came down on the east side of the river, and having taken ground a little to the east of the bridge, fired upon our men who were stationed there. Arnold, perceiving the danger to which his men were exposed, brought his artillery to bear upon the new position of the enemy, and firing upon them over the heads of such of his men as were upon the bridge, soon drove them beyond the reach of his can- non. They took new ground a little to the south-east of their first position, and it was determined to attack them there with small arms. A few regular troops un- der Arnold, commenced the action with great bravery, and our men at the bridge were ordered to join them. They marched up the hill with a good degree of reso-
lution, to sustain the regular troops. As they came within the reach of the enemy's musketry, however, some one, and it was never known who, cried out re- treat. As this word was uttered, Lieutenant Samuel
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Elmer, Jr.,* perceiving the effect it was producing, and the trepidation which was taking hold of his com- rades, stepped up on a stone wall, and cried out, " for God's sake, men, don't retreat, don't run, march up the hill and drive them off." He had barely uttered these words, when he was shot through the body .- The only words he spoke afterwards, were addressed to his uncle, Mr. George Pardee, who was near him : " Uncle George," said he, " I am a dead man." A general retreat of our men followed : and the British, being left unmolested, marched to their shipping, and sailed for New York.
A large depot of provisions had been established in this town early in the war. The store-house stood a little west of Nathaniel Berry's, on the old road that formerly ran through his land before the present turn- pike road was established, and a guard was constantly kept at the depot during the war. The fate of the stores at Danbury, caused much apprehension for the safety of those here. There were frequent alarms, and the citizens frequently collected in arms to de- fend the public property at the store-house. On one Sabbath day, during the sermon, Jonathan Gillett, who lived directly opposite the meeting house, came out of his house, during the public service, and pro- claimed with a loud voice that the British were com- ing. A dense smoke was seen rising beyond Tower Hill, a mountain in the State of New York, a few miles south-west of Sharon, and the belief was general that the enemy was at hand. Parson Smith was fore- most in exhorting the people to firmness and resist-
* This brave young officer, was a son of Colonel Samuel El- mer, and a lieutenant in the New York line of the continental ar- my. He had returned home on a short furlough the very day the intelligence of the invasion of Danbury was received in Sharon, and was one of the first to volunteer to drive off the enemy. He was buried on the spot where he was killed, by two of his com- rades, soon after the battle. His body was afterwards removed to the burying yard at Green's Farms, where it reposes to this day.
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ance, and he entreated them to stand firm, not only as soldiers of the cross, but as soldiers of their country and of liberty. The alarm, however, proved to be groundless.
The approach of a large British army from Cana- da, under General Burgoyne, and the expedition up the North River under General Vaughan, filled the whole country with terror and despondency, and fre- quent alarms were spread, requiring the constant and active duty of the militia. 'The tories, too, in Dutch- ess county, New York, where they were numerous, took courage from the prospect of success which the progress of the British arms afforded, and embodied themselves into a formidable force. Information was brought to this town during the summer, that four hundred of them had assembled at Carpenter's, as it was then called, now Washington Hollow, and that they were threatening destruction to all the whigs in the neighborhood. An expedition was immediately set on foot to break up the gang. Volunteers, to the number of fifty or sixty, immediately assembled .- They marched immediately for the Hollow, and were joined by others in their progress, so that when they arrived at Bloom's Mills, which is about four miles north of the Hollow, their numbers amounted to two hundred men. 'There they encamped for the night, and marched the next morning to attack the tories .- They found them paraded in the meadow, just north of the public house, and marching up with spirit, fired upon them. The tories fled immediately, and as ma- ny as could, made their escape. About thirty or forty of them, however, were made prisoners, and brought to this town and locked up in the old church, at the head of the street. They were taken to Exeter, in New Hampshire, where they were kept in close con- finement for two years. This proceeding broke up the gang, and no further trouble was had from this class of persons during the war.
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A company of light horse, which belonged to Sharon and its vicinity, were kept on duty through the whole summer of 1777, on the North river, watching the motions of the enemy in that quarter. It was com- manded by captain Dutcher of Salisbury, and David Boland of Sharon was the cornet of the company. The smoke of burning Kingston was distinctly seen from our mountain when it was destroyed by the Hessian troops. 'The only person from this town now living, who belonged to captain Dutcher's company, is Adonijah Maxam.
A large number of men marched from this town under the command of colonel Gay to the northward, to oppose the progress of Burgoyne's army, and shared in all the conflicts which preceded its surrender .* John Hollister, one of the soldiers from this town, was killed at the battle of Stillwater, on the 7th of October.
The intelligence of the surrender of Burgoyne's army was received here under circumstances which produced a deep impression. Nothing had been heard respecting the state of affairs at Saratoga, ex- cepting that two severe battles had been fought, with- out any very decisive result. This state of uncertain- ty produced extreme anxiety regarding the issue of the campaign, and many trembled at the prospect of defeat and disgrace to the American arms. The firmness and confidence of parson Smith, however, never for- sook him, and he did every thing in his power to rouse the drooping spirits of his people. On Sabbath the day of October, he preached a sermon from Isaiah xxi. 11, " Watchman, what of the night, the
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