USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A pictorial history of "Raynham" and its vicinity. > Part 5
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The Town of New Haven having this day erected a Beacon on Indian Hill at East Haven, now Beacon Hill about a mile and a half southeast of the town, and ordered us their committee to give public notice thereof, we now inform the public in general and the neighboring towns in particular that the Beacon will be fired on Monday evening next, the 20th instant at 6 o'clock ; all persons are then desired to look out for the Beacon and take the bearings of it from their respective abode, that they may know where to look out for it in case of alarm, which will be announced by the firing of three cannon. If our enemy should attack us, and we be under the necessity of making use of this method to call in the assistance of our bretheren, we request that all persons who come into town will take care to be well armed, with a good musket, bayonet and cartridge box, well filled with cartridges, under their proper officers, and repair to the State House, where they will receive orders from Col. Fitch, what post to take. The Ministers of the several parishes of this and the neighboring towns are requested to mention to their respective congregations the time when the Beacon will be fired.
PHINEAS BRADLEY, - Commissioners.
NEW HAVEN, 14th Nov., 1775.
ISAAC DOOLITTLE, JAMES RICE,
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The following extraet from the Columbian Register of Oet. 4th, 1814, informs us how Fort Wooster was construeted :
" This work has progressed with great rapidity, and is now nearly completed. The inhabitants of the neighboring towns deserve and receive the thanks of the public for volunteering their aid in this patriotie labor.
On Wednesday and Thursday last one hundred men from Cheshire, under the direction of Andrew Hull, Esq., labored with great industry and effort at the fortifications, for two days; on their return through the eity in wagons with musie playing, they were saluted with a discharge of artillery and cheered by the citizens who had eolleeted in great numbers at the publie square.
On Thursday one hundred men from the Town of North Haven, under the direction of their Reverend pastor, Dr. Trumbull,* the venerable historian of Connecticut, 80 years of age, volunteered their services and spent the day in the same patriotie work. This aged minister addressed the throne of grace, and implored the divine blessing on their undertaking.
On Friday, the same number of men from Hamden, under the command of Capt. Jacob Whit- ing, with great industry, laboured at the same work, and were saluted and eheered by the citizens on their return.
The inhabitants of the Town of Meriden, with a patriotism not exceeded by their neighbors, have volunteered their aid for Wednesday next.
It is confidently hoped, that our fellow citizens of other towns in this vieinity, and our own eitizens, will in the course of the present week, complete the works which are now nearly finished. Parties who are willing to give their assistance in this preparation for the common defenee, are desired to give notice to the committee of the time when it will be agreeable to them to give their attendance. The enemy is hovering on the coast - where the next blow will be attempted no one can tell. Preparations to repel invasions eannot too speedily be made."
NOTE- William Kneeland Townsend, as a very young man, assisted the New Haven Volunteers at the building of the fort named Fort Treadwell after Governor Treadwell of Connecticut and later Fort Wooster after Major- General David Wooster, the patriot martyr of the Revolution ; and could a more appropriate site be selected for Wooster's monument than within the ramparts of this ancient fort.
Sheldon B. Thorpe, Esq., mentions the Fourth Connecticut Militia garrisoning Forts Wooster and Hale during the latter part of the last war with England. Part of these troops served in a light battery which patrolled a portion of the time the west shore below New Haven City, and they were finally quartered in Fort Wooster on Beacon Hill while this defense was building. John Bassett was chief gunner and Mr. Thorpe informs us he has frequently heard Mr. Bassett say, he fired the first cannon from this earthworks at its completion (not at the enemy, but for practice). These soldiers' services were not voluntary like the builders of the fort ; but were members of the State Militia and were drafted and most of them received pensions after the war.
The principal burying place of the Quinnipiack Indians is situated on the land of the Misses Woodward and a few rods west of the Indian fenee, remnants of which showing its outline are still extant on the northeast part of Fort Wooster Field, dividing the parsonage lands and How lot from the aforesaid field.
This place of burial deserves more than casual mention, as it may again prove, as former exami- nations have, a mine of wealth to those in search of archaeological relics.
From these graves many relies of the Stone age (now in my possession) have been taken, and men living testify to their having assisted at excavations when many objects of extraordinary interest were exhumed.
The late Rev. Stephen Dodd, who was for many years minister of the Congregational Society (stone church), East Haven, informs us, that "the burial place of the Quinnipiack Indians is on the northeast slope of the hill on which Fort Wooster stands. Some of the graves have been levelled by the plough, but many of them are yet visible." He also says : "In the year 1822 I examined three of these graves. At the depth of about three feet and one-half the sandstone appears in which the bodies were laid without any appearance of a wrapper or inelosure. They all lay in the direction of the southwest and northeast, the heads towards the west. Of two of them the arms lay at the side. The other had the arms aeross the body after the manner of the white people. The larger bones and teeth were in a sound state. The thigh bones of one measured 19 inches in length, the leg bone 18 inches, and the arms from the elbow to the shoulder
* He commanded a company of North Haven men in the Revolutionary.
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13 inches. By measuring the skeletons as they lay, this one, it was concluded, was that of a man six feet and a half high."
"No articles of any description appeared with the bones. It is said that about fifty years ago some of these graves were opened and a number of Indian implements of war and kitchen were found in them. Few Indians have been buried here within a century past."
Mr. Dodd adds : "The Indians had a Fort on the hill near the burying ground and from that circumstance it was called Fort Hill."
Prof. J. D. Dana of Yale College says : In 1836 he went with Mrs. Whepley's son (of Hill- house Avenue), and opened two graves on Beacon Hill (northeast slope), and took therefrom two skeletons of persons, now to be seen (only the skulls remain), in the Medical College. No coffins, or implements for war or chase were found.
The late Dr. Levi Ives says : While a medical student he and others with him examined the Indian graves on Fort Wooster Hill. This occurred about the year 1836. The party consisted of Dr. Totten, John Atwater and himself, all medical students. They opened thirteen graves from which was taken bones and trinkets. One leg which had been broken and connected with a ligament, he kept for years as a curiosity, also a skull broken as if by a tomahawk blow. These he finally gave to Dr. Francis Bacon of this city for his collection.
In twelve of the graves nothing but bones were exhumed, but in one, which was probably a chief's, a skull with scalp and hair in a good state of preservation, was found. The hair was long, straight and black, had several tailor's timbles tied to it. He also found in this grave a copper pot and glass and pewter vases. Mr. William Woodward ordered the visitors off and forbade their dig- ging up his land, but when told they were Prof. Silliman's students he allowed them to remain.
Mr. Horace Day says he went with Prof. Dana of Yale College to examine the Indian graves on Beacon or Fort Wooster Hill. They asked permission of the owner, Mr. William Woodward, who loaned them a spade and shovel. They commenced excavating in the northeast corner of Fort Wooster Lot (on the sonth side of the fence running east and west) in a gravelly soil, and dug to the depth of between three and four feet. Two skeletons were found sitting with their faces to the rising sun. Mr. Day carried the bones home in a large handkerchief ; the next morning when he went to look at his Indian, nothing remained but a set of teeth. The remains were of a middle aged adult.
A few feet from the flag staff on Fort Wooster (Beacon Hill), is a red sandstone (coppertipped), marked by the United States Coast Survey, and on this spot about 1840 I remember stood the last beacon in full view from the north window of the house where I was born. This beacon was on a pole set firmly in the ramparts of the fort and on its top about twenty feet from the ground was a large sheet iron cage-shaped ball painted black and set so as to show in line with the arched gateway of Fort Hale, and was a landmark when in range for vessels bound into New Haven Harbor to avoid the shoal water off Savin Rock. If the vessel drew more than six feet of water the black-topped chimney of the Townshend House was brought to bear over another landmark which was a very con- spicuous object.
This beacon succeeded the old beacon and keepers' house which was inside the fort, a print of which was found in the Totten House, corner of Meadow and West Water Streets, sketched by Nathaniel Jocelyn in 1814, and as our artist was most truthful in all his efforts I herewith give a description.
It was a striped mast and topmast 40 feet high from the ground with a yard 20 feet long, crossed rigged ship-shape and halyards, rove to hoist balls by day and lights by night on each yard arm, above or below as laid down in the code, as shown in this print of the Telegraphic Signals annexed.
It is eminently fit to here give an abridged biography of Major General Wooster, the distin- gnished soldier, sailor and martyr of the American Revolution.
David Wooster was born at Stratford, Conn., March 2d, 1710-11, the youngest son of seven children of Abraham and Mary (Walker) Wooster, of a highly respectable family.
Very little is known of his boyhood. He was educated with care and joined the church at Stratford in 1732, and graduated at Yale in 1738, and when the Connecticut Colony built at Middle- town its first war vessel, the "Defense," a "Guard-a-Costa " fitted and armed to cruise against Spanish pirates, in 1739, he was appointed 1st Lieutenant, under Captain George Phillipes, by the Connecticut Assembly, and soon after, in 1742, to the Captaincy, and cruised for some time between
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the Capes of Virginia and Cod, and while on this service he often ran his vessel into New Haven Harbor for supplies, and to meet the lady whom he afterwards married, March 6th, 1755. She was Mary, eldest daughter of President Clap of Yale College, a woman who was well suited to encounter the perilous times which were approaching.
In 1742 we find him at New London in command of the "Defense," of 100 tons, when he is ordered to lay his vessel up and discharge the men, and he seems to have had interest in the " Defense " until May, 1746, when we find a petition of David Wooster, late Commander of the " Defense," for remuneration for services.
It was on June 18th, 1744 (consideration £800), Captain Wooster was deeded the Old Homestead on George street, facing College street, in New Haven, where he resided for a while, and later, after the French and Indian Wars, he built the famous Mansion (now standing) on Wooster street, which was sacked by British soldiers, July 5th, 1779, under the command of Captain Boswell of the Guards, who were stationed there to protect this property, by orders of General Garth, and many valuable historical and family papers were carried off to the enemy's ships and later a portion were secured from the waters of Long Island Sound by crews of whale boats cruising in the Continental service, and left in the custody of Captain Morris, where Pres. Stiles writes he found fragments.
The Connecticut Assembly, in Feb. 1745, for the expedition against Cape Briton, raised five hun_ dred men, divided into eight companies, and Captain Wooster was appointed to the command of one company. These troops in eight transports were conveyed by the sloop of war "Defense," and sailed from New London, April 4th, 1745, and meeting at sea the united fleets of the Northern Colonies of one hundred sail, anchored off Louisburg, where they found the West India fleet, Admirals Warren and Townsend, on the 30th following. The Colonial Expedition was commanded by Gen. (afterward) Sir William Pepperell of Maine, and second in command was Gen. Roger Woleott of Connecticut (Yale, 1747), and afterward a signer of the Declaration of Independence. After the capture of this stronghold of the French, in consideration of the gentlemanly deportment of Captain Wooster, he was appointed to the command of a cartel ship, and sailed with trophies and prisoners for France for exchange, and thence went to London, where he was received with extraordinay exalta- tions, at Court, and his portrait adorned the pages of magazines and the elief places of entertain- ment. He received a Captain's Commission in a regiment in His Majesty's Service, of which Sir William Pepperell was made Colonel. Soon after his return from England, he procured from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts a charter (dated Nov. 12th, 1750, and of Masonry, 5750), under which Hiram Lodge of New Haven was organized, and Wooster appointed its first Master. About 1748, Captain Wooster we find on half pay in the recruiting service. In 1756 he was appointed Colonel of the 2nd Regiment, and sent to Crown Point, and served through the whole of the French and Indian Wars. He was a Deputy from New Haven 1757-58-59 and 1760. After the war he became a prosperous merchant in New Haven, and also held office in his Majesty's Collection of Customs for the Port of New Haven. On the approach of war with England he renounced his half pay and at a special session of the Connecticut Assembly, April, 1775, was commissioned Major Gen- eral of the Colony force (Israel Putnam and Samuel Spencer Brigaders), from his approved ability, well known courage and great experience. He was immediately sent to guard New York, and with his Continental force drove Governor Tryon and lris Secretary, Colonel Fanning, on board the frigate "Asia " for refuge, and while protecting another state, the Continental Congress appointed Wash- ington General-in-Chief, and as Wooster had not a friend at Conrt, Israel Putnam was made Major General, which Wooster submitted to without protest. He was sent to Canada soon after, and after the fall of Montgomery, was Chief in Command, and was so badly treated by General Schuyler, who ranked him, that he asked for an investigation, and the committee appointed Aug. 17, 1776, reported " that nothing censurable or blameworthy appeared against Brig. Gen. David Wooster." On the 27th of April, 1777, while in New Haven, two thousand of the enemy landed at Norwalk, and marched on Danbury and destroyed military stores. With Gen. Arnold he met the enemy with his militia, and while rallying his men at Ridgefield, Sunday morning, April 27th, a musket ball from a tory broke his spine, just as he called out, "Come on, boys, never mind such random shots." He was carried to Danbury, where he died Friday, May 2d, 1777, in the 67th year of his age, and was buried in the village grave yard.
HASSLAR'S SURVEY CAMP.
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HASSLAR'S SURVEY CAMP
Herodotus mentions the ebb and flow of the tides, and nearly all nations since his time have observed their plienomena, and, as the science of marine chart-making advanced, the flow of the waters of the earth attracted by the sun and moon while making their daily revolutions, has been taken account of, and as a result precautions have been taken against perils to navigators approaching the coast.
The United States Government, with its enormous sea and inland tonnage, in 1807 made its first effort to establish a National Coast Survey. Jefferson recommended an appropriation of $150,000, which was accordingly made by Congress. Secretary Albert Gallatin solicited opinions from the first scientific men of the world as to the best methods of constructing the proposed work, numerous plans were submitted, and that of Frederick R. Hasslar, a Swiss, who had made a trigonometrical survey of his own country, was adopted and lic was appointed by our Government to superintend the execution of his own plan.
His purpose was to determine the geographical position of certain prominent points along the coast by astronomical and trigonometrical methods and to connect these lines so as to form a basis upon which the nautical survey of the channels, shoals and shore approaches could be made.
In 1810 Hasslar was sent to Europe to procure instruments and, the war coming on and other delays occurring, active operations were prevented until 1817, when a beginning was made near New York, but soon after the work was stopped, on account of lack of funds, and remained dormant until 1832, when the Coast Survey was re-established with Hasslar in charge.
About 1838 Hasslar commenced the Topographical and Hydrographical Survey of the Southern section of the coast of New England and New York and, until the year 1842, he was personally pres- ent in the field with several parties making a complete survey of the region about Long Island Sound. Abont May 1, 1839, Hasslar selected for his camp a prominent knoll on the " Raynham " estate, then within the town limits of East Haven and contiguous to the east shore of New Haven Harbor. The site was elevated and one of advantage, with a creck at its foot, a spring of clear water near by, sur- rounded by shade trees with a clear outlook over the region he was then surveying, while affording a rocky foundation on which to mount his delicate instruments.
His entry on this site, the property of the late William Kneeland Townsend, was without regard to the ordinary rules of courtesy. He came with his wagons and camp equipments, entering upon the site which he had arbitrarily selected, and with his two score of men, some of whom came in boats, erected a flag staff for a signal beacon. He proceeded to pitch his camp of some dozen tents with his own at the head, and the cooking tent at the end, digging holes and building a stone fire place and the cooking at once commenced for the party. The site selected being a choice spot and directly in front of the family residence, became a source of annoyance to the owner, who, after waiting a suitable time for the person in charge of the party to make some explanation, Mr. Townsend himself visited the camp and suggested that in occupying lands for surveying purposes it would be no more than common courtesy to announce the intentions.
To this Hasslar replied, saying : "I am Hasslar. I have come to survey this region, and if you want to know about it, go to the United States."
His answer was so arrogant and his manner so insulting that Mr. Townsend withdrew and never had a word more with him or his party. Suffice it to say that when Hasslar's party broke camp, which was towards the end of summer, they left the pretty, green sodded knoll broken, the fence down and the place in a state of wreckage and debris in all directions.
Hasslar, I remember well. He was tall and of good proportions, had large prominent features, wore a broad brimmed drab hat, much like a Mexican ranchman. His overcoat was long and dark with side pockets and liglit color, his broad white shirt collar turned over his overcoat collar and ticd with a black silk handkerchief in a square knot, gave him a picturesque appearance.
He was a man of great ability, and taught our coast survey officers their business, laying the foundation for the finest and most complete survey of any country in the world. He died in 1843.
The New Haven party was called the 1st Party. The following gentlemen were attached to it : Lieut. H. H. BELL, U. S. N. Mr. ROBT. J. LIVINGSTON.
Lieut. HENDERSON, U. S. N. Mr. FURGUSON.
Lieut. W. H. SWIFT, U. S. A. Prof. HENRY L. WHITING,
Lieut. MUMFORD, U. S. A.
U. S. Coast Survey.
THE SHELL FISH INDUSTRY.
As the shell fish industry of New Haven Harbor has interest, brief mention may be made of it. The shell fish were an important diet of the early settlers during the long New England winters.
The immense deposit of oyster, clam and mussel shells found at Oyster Point, the Oyster Shell fields and the Quinnipiack Village site near the Red Rock gives abundant evidence of prolific growth and the extensive use made by the natives long before the arrival of the whites. The oyster was not only meat for the natives, but its shell, which has been found several inches long, was a good imple- ment to cultivate their plantations of corn and beans. These vegetables when cooked and mixed together were called "Soccotash " by the Indians, who taught the Europeans how to prepare it.
The clam was not only a valuable food, but its shell was made into money called sewan (wampum) and became a currency that the English, Dutch and French found most useful in traffic with the Indians and between themselves. The town records from the earliest settlement make frequent mention of these bivalves, and during the first century after the arrival of Europeans all mortar used in masonry was from oyster and clam shells burned into lime, specimens of which may be found at this date in old structures showing its wonderful tenacity.
It is a remarkable fact that about a century ago the oyster growth east of the Hudson River suddenly disappeared, save in a few localities, one of which is the Quinnipiack River above the Red Rock Ferry, where the residents of the Dragon Bank collected at low tides considerable quantities which were placed in beds or parks in the river to develop for market ; and this cultivation formed a nucleus for what is now one of the most interesting shell fish industries on this section of the coast.
It may be in place to mention here that some years previons to 1860 the famous French savant Monsieur de Coste, assisted by the late Captain DeBroca of the French Navy, and at the time Director-General of the port of Havre, successfully experimented (which the writer was an eye witness to) along the Atlantic Coast of France with shells, tiles and brush for the collection during the spawning season of the fry or spat, and published a voluminous report, now in my possession, on this industry. Subsequently in the summer of 1862 Captain de Broca was ordered by the Emperor Napoleon III, to visit the United States and report on the American oyster, and it was the author's privilege to introduce this gentleman to several parties who were at the time extensively engaged in oyster culture, and while in New Haven to accompany him on several visits to our harbor plantations, viz : Morris Cove, the Beach, Black Rock and Crane's bars, and the Quinnipiack River. It was during one of these visits that M. de Broca suggested using shells and brush as a stool for the spat to set on. This suggestion I at once acted upon ; and on one occasion was called a lunatic for following the suggestions of a "Frog-eating Frenchman who had the cheek to come to New Haven and teach our oystermen how to grow oysters." The experiment was followed by others, and the result can be seen by a visit to the Peabody Museum at Yale College, or in Ernest Ingersoll's report on the Oyster Industry in the Tenth Census of the United States.
The author's earliest recollection of the oyster was of his father, the late William K. Townsend, purchasing Morris Cove oysters which he laid down (for family use) in a tidal creek fed by springs on his property at " Raynham," and later, being part owner in the schooner "Mary and Martha," Captain Abijalı Moulthrop Munson, a cargo of Virginia oysters was bought while the vessel was homeward bound from Baltimore and brought to Fair Haven about the end of March, 1835, and being late in the season it was decided best for all concerned to lay the oysters down in Morris Cove where Mr. Morris had held oyster grounds near his wharf and well protected from the wash of the sea and by a boundary of stones and stakes with marks of owner. Here in Morris Cove the cargo was laid down, and when the first autumn month with an R came these Virginia oysters had increased in size at least one-third and in flavor not to be excelled by any on the coast, and those not stolen were sold at good profit. The planting stimulated others and has been followed with success, and was the first planting of Virginia oysters in Morris Cove that we have any record of.
RUINS OF FORT HALE,
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FORT HALE.
This most interesting fortification with lands that belong thereto, with consent of the United States Government has been lately imparked, and has much of historical interest recorded in the annals of New Haven Colonial and State History. The fortification built on trap rock of basaltic formation, and in early times, may have been surrounded by water, and during southwest gales the natural dykes or beach from it to the Palisades in Fort Hale Park must have been constructed from sand and pebbles carried up with southwest winds, and so may the northern beach or dyke have been built to King's Island, nature so constructing a barrier which has kept out winds and tides, allowing the meadows to grow where shoal water formerly existed. This theory is based on the knowledge that freshets and high tides have forced a passage through the " beach " at Sandy Point which was until then a long sandy point, dry at high tide with vegetation growing thereon. In 1829 this debris was carried into the harbor, forming the Pardee Bar, and a portion was carried further and distributed along the shore above King's Island, and the action of the winds and tides has distri- buted this debris of sand and shells as far north as " Cranes Bar," half a mile distant.
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