USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 19
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tions of Mason for his relief frightened the foe into peace and submission. At another time he was sent with arms and men to the assistance of the Long Island Indians, against Ninigrate, the powerful sachem of the Nahan- ticks, who threatened them with extirpation. This service he gallantly per- formed ; but only two years afterwards was compelled to appear again on that Island with a band of soldiers in order to chastise the very Indians, mischiev- ous and ungrateful, whom he had before relieved.
We find him, at the same time, and for several years in succession, hold- ing various public offices, all arduous and important. He was Indian agent, Indian umpire, and the counselor of the government in all Indian concerns ; captain of the fort, justice of the peace, and empowered to hold courts as a judge; a member likewise of two deliberative bodies, the Connecticut Legis- lature and the Board of Commissioners of the United Colonies ; major-general of the militia at home, and the acting commander in all expeditions abroad. In 1660 he was chosen deputy governor, to which office he was annually re-elected for eight years, five under the old form and three under the king's charter, which united Connecticut with New Haven. The same year he was actively employed, in conjunction with Mr. Fitch and others, in effecting the settlement of Norwich, and also in purchasing of the Mohegans a large tract of land, in behalf of the colony. At this time, also, for nearly two years, he performed all the duties of the chief magistrate of the colony-Winthrop, the governor, being absent in England, engaged in negotiations respecting the charter.
Thus the life of Mason on this continent may be distributed into four portions. The first was given to Dorchester, and the remainder in nearly equal parts to the three towns in Connecticut that he assisted in planting- lieutenant and captain at Dorchester, five and a half years; conqueror of the Pequots, magistrate and major at Windsor, twelve years: captain of the fort, and commissioner of the United Colonies at Saybrook, twelve; Deputy Gov- ernor and Assistant at Norwich, twelve. He was not chosen Deputy Governor after 1668, but continued in duty as an Assistant, and was present for the last time at the election in May, 1671.
Of the original band of Norwich purchasers, Mason was one of the earliest laid in the grave. He died January 30, 1671-72. According to Trum- bull, he was in the seventy-third year of his age. His last hours were cheered by the prayers and counsels of his beloved pastor and son-in-law, Mr. Fitch. Two years before, he had requested his fellow-citizens to excuse him from all further public services on account of his age and infirmity ; so that the close of his life, though overshadowed by suffering from an acute disease, was unharrassed by care and responsibility. There is no coeval record that points out his burial-place, but uniform tradition and current belief in the neighbor- hood from generation to generation leave no reason to doubt that he was interred where other inhabitants of that generation were laid, that is, in the Post and Gager burial ground, or first cemetery of Norwich.
From early times, Norwich commerce prospered, since it was the natural outlet for a considerable farming region and, at the same time, had an excel- lent position at the head of the Thames. Live stock, provisions, lumber, were exchanged at the West Indies for sugar, molasses and rum.
Shortly after the Revolution, Norwich citizens owned over forty vessels engaged in commerce. From the "Norwich Packet" (editor Jonathan Trum- bull), we get some idea of the business in the town. The merchants com- bined shrewdness with industry. The adventurous spirit of the early settlers
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was not lacking. New industries were starting up. The original settlers had laid out their plots "up town," two miles from the "landing." But with the development of commerce and industry came an increase in the activity of the people of "Chelsea" (the landing). Business interests came to be stronger than the farming interests. The city of Norwich, with its center near the landing, had been incorporated in 1784 as a first step in this growth, and by the middle of the nineteenth century "Norwichtown" had become one of its suburbs.
During the Revolutionary War, Norwich, while not subject to imme- diate danger, as was New London, was nevertheless very active in assisting the Revolutionary troops and in furnishing its own quota. As an interesting extract we quote from Miss Caulkins :
Detachments from the Continental army frequently passed through Nor- wich. In 1778 a body of French troops, on the route from Providence to the South, halted there for ten or fifteen days, on account of sickness among them. They had their tents spread upon the plain, while the sick were quartered in the court-house. About twenty died and were buried each side of the lane that led into the old burying-yard. No stones were set up, and the ground was soon smoothed over so as to leave no trace of the narrow tenements below.
General Washington passed through Norwich in June, 1775, on his way to Cambridge. It is probable that he came up the river in a packet-boat with his horses and attendants. He spent the night at the Landing, and the next day pursued his journey eastward. In April, 1776, after the evacuation of Boston by the enemy, the American troops being ordered to New York, came on in detachments by land, and crossing the Shetucket at the old fording- place below Greenville, embarked at Norwich and New London to finish the route by water. General Washington accompanied one of the parties to Norwich and met Governor Trumbull by appointment at Col. Jedediah Hunt- ington's, where they dined together, and the general that evening resumed his route to New York, going down to New London by land.
The inhabitants also had an opportunity of seeing Lafayette, Steuben, Pulaski, and other distinguished foreigners in our service. There was some who long remembered the appearance of the noble Lafayette, as he passed through the place on his way to Newport. He had been there before, and needed no guide; his aides and a small body-guard were with him, and he rode up to the door of his friend, Col. Jedediah Huntington, in a quick gallop. He wore a blue military coat, but no vest and no stockings; his boots being short, his leg was consequently left bare for a considerable space below the knee. The speed with which he was traveling and the great heat of the weather were sufficient excuses for this negligence. He took some refresh- ment and hastened forward.
At another period he passed through with a detachment of two thousand men under his command, and encamped them for one night upon the plain. In the morning, before their departure, he invited Mr. Strong, the pastor of the place, to pray with them, which he did, the troops being arranged in three sides of a hollow square.
Nearly fifty years afterwards, August 21, 1824, the venerable Lafayette again passed through Norwich. Some old people, who remembered him, embraced him and wept; the general wept also.
At one time during the war the Duke de Lauzun's regiment of hussars
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was quartered in Lebanon, ten miles from Norwich. Col. Jedediah Hunting- ton invited the officers to visit him, and prepared a handsome entertainment for them. They made a superb appearance as they drove into town, being young, tall, vivacious men, with handsome faces and a noble air, mounted upon horses bravely caparisoned. The two Dillons, brothers, one a major and the other a captain in the regiment, were particularly distinguished for their fine forms and expressive features. One or both of these Dillons suffered death from the guillotine during the French Revolution.
Lauzun was one of the most accomplished but unprincipled noblemen of his time. He was celebrated for his handsome person, his liberality, wit, bravery, but more than all for his profligacy. He was born in 1747, inherited great wealth and high titles, and spent all his early years in alternate scenes of dissipation and traveling. He engaged in no public enterprise till he came to America and took part in the Revolutionary contest. The motives which actuated this voluptuous nobleman to this undertaking are not understood, very probably the thirst for adventure and personal friendship for Lafayette. He had run the career of pleasure to such an extent that he was perhaps willing to pause awhile and restore the energy of his satiated taste. Certain it is that he embarked in the cause of the Americans with ardor, bore priva- tions with good temper, and made himself very popular by his hilarity and generous expenditure.
After Lauzun returned to Europe he became intimate with Talleyrand, and accompanied him on a mission to England in 1792, where one of his familiar associates was the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. On the death of his uncle, the Duke de Biron, he succeeded to the title, quarreled with the court, and became a partisan of the Duke of Orleans. Afterwards he served against the Vendeans, but being accused of secretly favoring them, was condemned, and executed the last day of the year 1793. Such was the future stormy career of this celebrated nobleman, who as already mentioned, in the midst of friends and subordinates, enjoyed the banquet made for him by Colonel Huntington. After dinner the whole party went out into the yard in front of the house and made the air ring with huzzas for liberty. Numerous loungers had gathered around the fence to get a sight of these interesting foreigners, with whom they conversed in very good English, and exhorted to live free or die for liberty.
As to the effects of the Revolution on Norwich, Miss Caulkins says:
After recovering from the first stunning blow of the Revolution, the inhabitants of Norwich were not only alert in turning their attention to various industrial pursuits, but engaged also in the brilliant chance game of privateer- ing. The war, therefore, while it exhausted the strength and resources of neighboring towns that lay exposed upon the seacoast, acted like a spur to the enterprise of Norwich. New London, at the mouth of the river, was depressed in all her interests, kept in continual alarm, and finally, by the blazing torch of the enemy, almost swept from the face of the earth; but Norwich, securely seated at the head of the river, defended by her hills and nourished by her valleys, planting and reaping without fear of invasion or loss, not only built new shops and dwelling-houses, and engaged with spirit and success in a variety of new manufactures, but entered into ship-building, and boldly sent out her vessels to bring in spoils from the ocean.
In 1781 and 1782 the town was overflowing with merchandise, both trop- ical and European. New mercantile firms were established-Daniel Rodman, Samuel Woodbridge, Lynde McCurdy, and others-and lavish varieties of fancy texture, as well as the substantial products of almost every climate, were
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offered for sale. The shelves and counters of the fashionable class of shops displayed such articles as superfine broadcloths, men's silk hose, India silks, blonde lace, Damascus silks, taffetas, satins, Persians, and velvets, gauzes, and chintzes. These goods were mostly obtained by successful privateering.
Another class of merchandise, generally of a cheaper kind, and not dealt in by honorable traders, but covertly offered for sale in various places or distributed by pedlers, was obtained by secret and unlawful intercourse with the enemy.
The coast of Connecticut being entirely girdled by Long Island and New York, and the British and Tories having these wholly under their control, it was very difficult to prevent the secret intercourse and traffic of the two parties through the Sound. In the latter years of the war especially, a corrupt, underhand, smuggling trade prevailed to a great extent, which was embold- ened by the indifference or connivance of the local authorities, and stimulated by the readiness of people to purchase cheap goods without asking from whence they came. Remittances for these goods must be made in coin, therefore they were sold only for cash, which, finding its way back to the enemy's lines, impoverished the country. Thus the traffic operated against agriculture and manufactures, against honest labor and lawful trade. More- over, it nullified the laws and brought them into contempt.
Against this illicit traffic a strong association was formed at Norwich in July, 1782. The company bound themselves by solemn pledges of life, fortune and honor to support the civil authority; to hold no intercourse, social or mercantile, with persons detected in evading the laws; to furnish men and boats for keeping watch in suspected places, and to search out and break up all deposits of smuggled goods; such goods to be seized, sold, and the avails devoted to charitable purposes.
The vigorous manner in which this company began to carry out their principles caused great commotion in the ranks of the guilty parties. Sus- pected persons suddenly disappeared ; sales were postponed; goods which before had been openly exposed withdrew into cellars and meal-chests, or were concealed in barns under the hay, and in hollow trees, thickets, and ravines. Several seizures were made during the season, but the treaty of peace soon put an end to this clandestine traffic, and the association had but a brief existence. Its object, however, was creditable to the patriotism and efficiency of the inhabitants, and a list of the signers gives us the names of sixty-eight prominent men who were on the stage of life at the close of the war, and all within the bounds of the present town.
The following is a list of the members of the Association against Illicit Trade: Samuel Abbott, Elijah Backus, Ephriam Bill, Jonathan Boardman, John M. Breed, Shubael Breed, Samuel Capron, Eliphalet Carew, Joseph Carew. Simeon Carew, Thomas Coit, William Coit, John Crary, Jacob De Witt, Michael Dumont, Thomas Fanning, Jabez Fitch, Joseph Gale, Joseph Peck, Andrew Perkins, Jabez Perkins, Jabez Perkins, Jr., Joseph Per- kins, Joseph Perkins, Jr., Erastus Perkins, Hezekiah Perkins, Levi Perkins, Daniel Rodman, Theophilus Rogers, Zabdiel Rogers, Ransford Rose, Joseph Howland, Andrew Huntington, Eliphalet Huntington, Jonathan Huntington, Joshua Huntington, Levi Huntington, Simeon Huntington, William Hubbard, Russell Hubbard & Son, Ebenezer Jones, Joshua Lathrop, Rufus Lathrop, Christopher Leffingwell, Benajah Leffingwell, Jonathan Lester, Elihu Marven, John McCall, Lynde McCurdy, Seth Miner, Thomas Mumford, Nathaniel Niles, Robert Niles, Timothy Parker, Asa Peabody, Nathaniel P. Peabody, Andre Tracy, Jr., Mundator Tracy, Samuel Tracy, Asa Waterman, Samuel Wheat, Joseph Whitmarsh, Benajah Williams, Joseph Williams, Jacob Witter,
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Dudley Woodbridge, Samuel Woodbridge, Alexander Youngs.
In January, 1781, the inhabitants were divided into forty classes to raise forty soldiers, which was their quota for the Continental army; and again into twenty classes for a State quota to serve at Horseneck and elsewhere. A list of persons in each class was made out, and each taxed in due proportion for the pay and fitting out of one recruit, whom they were to procure; two shirts, two pairs of woolen stockings, shoes, and mittens were requisite for every soldier; arms and uniforms were furnished by the State or country. Each soldier's family was in charge of a committee to see that they were supplied with the necessaries of life, for which the soldier's wages to a certain amount were pledged. The whole number of classes this year to produce clothing was sixty-six. In 1782 only thirty-three classes were required.
In 1783, instructions were given to the representatives to use their influ- ence with the Assembly to obtain a remonstrance against the five years' pay granted by Congress to the officers of the Continental army. The manifesto of the town on this subject was fiery, dictatorial, and extravagant. A few paragraphs will show in strong relief the characteristics of the people- jealous of their rights, quick to take alarm and sensitively watchful over their cherished liberties :
Where is the free son of America that ever had it in idea when adopting the Articles of Confederation to have pensions bestowed on those characters (if any such there be) whose virtue could not hold them in service without such rewards over and above the contract which first engaged them?
For a free people, just rising out of a threatening slavery into free shining prospects of a most glorious peace and independence, now to be taxed without their consent to support and maintain a large number of gentlemen as pensioners in a time of universal peace is, in our view, uncon- stitutional and directly in opposition to the sentiment of the States at large, and was one great spoke in the wheel which moved at first our late struggle with our imperious and tyrannical foes.
Further instructions were given at the same time to the representatives to urge upon the Assembly the necessity of keeping a watchful eye upon the proceedings of Congress, to see that they did not exceed the powers vested in them, and to appoint a committee at every session to take into consider- ation the journals of Congress, and approve or disapprove, applaud or censure the conduct of the delegates.
Norwich has the questionable distinction of being the birthplace of Benedict Arnold. We quote from Dr. Hurd's History :
The painful task now devolves upon the writer to chronicle some of the leading events in the career of one whose baseness has been unequaled since the day that his prototype betrayed his master for thirty pieces of silver. The faithful historian will be just to all; hence no attempt will be made to remove the stain which has long tarnished the history of this fair section of country. Benedict Arnold descended from an honorable Rhode Island family, where one of his ancestors, bearing the same name, held the office of Governor for fifteen years. Two brothers of this family, Benedict and Oliver,
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removed from Newport to Norwich in 1730. The elder Benedict, the father of the traitor, soon became engaged in business, and not long after his arrival in Norwich, married Mrs. Hannah King, whose maiden name was Lathrop. Benedict, the subject of this sketch, was born in Norwich, January 3, 1741. Early in life he was apprenticed to Dr. Lathrop, a druggist in Norwich, with whom he remained during his minority. He subsequently embarked in the same business in New Haven, and while there became the captain of a com- pany of militia. After the battle at Lexington he made a hasty march to Cambridge at the head of his company, and volunteered his services to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. With the rank of colonel in the Con- tinental army, he joined Ethan Allen and assisted in the taking of Ticon- deroga in May, 1775. In the expedition against Quebec, in the autumn and winter of 1775, he took a leading part. Having been wounded at Quebec and at Saratoga, his disability was of a character to render him unfit for active field service, and he was consequently, by Washington, placed in command at Philadelphia after the place had been evacuated by Clinton in 1778. He was at this date a major-general in the Continental army. While in Philadelphia he lived in a style far above his means, and his haughty and overbearing manner involved him in a quarrel with the authorities of Pennsylvania, who accused him before Congress of abusing his official posi- tion and misusing the public funds. After a long delay he was tried by a court-martial and was sentenced to be reprimanded by the commander-in- chief. Washington performed this disagreeable task as delicately as possible, but did not lose his confidence in Arnold. While in Philadelphia, Arnold married the daughter of Judge Shippen, a Tory, which connection enabled him to communicate without discovery with the British officers. He opened a correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, signing himself "Gustavus."
In the meantime, at his earnest solicitation, he was appointed by Wash- ington, in August, 1780, to the command of West Point, the strongest and most important fortress in America. He sought this command with the deliberate intention of betraying the post into the hands of the enemy. In compliance with a previous understanding, Arnold and Major André met at Haverstraw, on the west bank of the Hudson, September 22, 1780, and arrange- ments were fully completed for an easy conquest of the fortress by the English.
On his return to the city of New York, André was arrested as a spy at Tarrytown, was tried by court-martial, and sentenced to be executed by hang- ing. He suffered the penalty of his crime October 2, 1780. When it became known to Arnold that Andre had been arrested, he fled from West Point in the utmost haste, and in his flight took passage to New York City in the "Vulture," a British sloop-of-war. He was immediately made a brigadier- general in the British service, which rank he preserved throughout the war as a stipulated reward for his treachery.
Norwich had one signer of the Declaration of Independence, and many men famous in Revolutionary times. General Jedediah Huntington was a leader in the country.
He was born, August 4, 1743, in Norwich, where he was prepared for a collegiate course, and graduated at Harvard College with distinguished honor in the class of 1763. The high social rank of his family is indicated by the order of his name on the college catalogue, it being the second in the list of his class, above that of John Quincy. The master's degree was also con- ferred on him by Yale College in 1770. After leaving college he became asso-
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ciated with his father in commercial pursuits, and was engaged in this busi- ness when the Revolutionary cloud began to lower, and he soon became noted as a Son of Liberty, and an active captain of the militia. The bursting of the storm found him ready, and just one week from the firing of the first shot at Lexington he reported at Cambridge with a regiment under his com- mand, and was detailed to occupy Dorchester Heights. After the evacuation of Boston by the British he marched with his army to New York, and enter- tained the commander-in-chief on the way at Norwich.
During the year 1776 he was at New York, Kingsbridge, Northcastle. Sidmun's Bridge, and other posts. In April of that year he assisted in repuls- ing the British at Danbury, Connecticut, assailing the enemy's rear, and effect- ing a junction with his fellow-townsman, Benedict Arnold.
In July he joined General Putnam at Peekskill with all the Continental troops which he could collect, and in the following September was ordered to join the main army near Philadelphia, where he remained at headquarters, at Worcester, Whippin, Whitemarsh, Gulph Hills, etc. In November, on receiving information of the enemy's movement upon Red Bank, he was de- tached with his brigade, among other troops, to its relief, but Cornwallis had anticipated them. Having shared the hardships of his companions in arms at Valley Forge through the winter of 1777-78, he, together with Colonel Wigglesworth, was in March appointed by the commander-in-chief "to aid General McDougal in inquiring into the loss of Forts Montgomery and Clin- ton, in the State of New York, and into the conduct of the principal officers commanding these posts." In May he was ordered with his brigade to the North river, and was stationed successively at Camp Reading, Highlands, Neilson's Point, etc. In July he was a member of the court-martial which tried Gen. Charles Lee for misconduct at the battle of Monmouth, and in September he sat upon the court of inquiry to whom was referred the case of Major André. In December, 1780, his was the only Connecticut brigade that remained in the service. On the 10th of May, 1783, at a meeting of officers, he was appointed one of a committee of four to draft a plan of organ- ization, which resulted in their reporting on the 13th the constitution of the famous Society of the Cincinnati. On the 24th of June, Washington writes that the army was "reduced to a competent garrison for West Point; Patter- son, Huntington and Greaton being the only brigadiers now left with it, be- sides the adjutant-general." General Huntington was also one of the founders of West Point Academy.
On returning from the army he resumed business in his native town, and was successively chosen sheriff of the county, State treasurer, and delegate to the State Convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States. In 1789 he was appointed by President Washington collector of customs at New London, then the port of entry for Eastern Connecticut and Connecticut River, which office he retained under four administrations, and resigned shortly before his death.
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