Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume I, Part 23

Author: Morgan, Forrest, 1852- ed; Hart, Samuel, 1845-1917. joint ed. cn; Trumbull, Jonathan, 1844-1919, joint ed; Holmes, Frank R., joint ed; Bartlett, Ellen Strong, joint ed
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Hartford, The Publishing Society of Connecticut
Number of Pages: 600


USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume I > Part 23


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The successor of Governor Wolcott was Thomas Fitch, who occupied the position of Deputy Governor during Wol- cott's administrations. He was born in Norwalk in 1700, and graduated from Yale College at 21. He became a li- censed preacher; but studied law and began practice. He became one of Connecticut's foremost lawyers, and when a member of the Assembly was appointed on a committee with Roger Wolcott, Jonathan Trumbull, and John Bulk- ley to revise the statutes. The task fell entirely upon him, and he devoted six years to the revision; it was published in 1750, and its thoroughness received unlimited praise both in America and England. He had been Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and in the spring of 1754 was elected Gover- nor, his subsequent re-elections covering twelve terms. Gov- ernor Fitch was a candidate for a thirteenth term, but owing to his apparent vacillation in reference to the Stamp Act was defeated. Though strenuously opposed to the law, he took in October 1765 an oath to enforce it, arousing an indignation throughout the colony that resulted in his overwhelming de- feat. This closed his public life, and he lived in retirement till his death at 73, just before the Revolution.


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CHAPTER XXII FOURTH INTERCOLONIAL WAR


I T is not necessary to detail the causes of the final strug- gle between France and England for the possession of the "hinterland" of the Northern Coast Settlements. Neither nation at the outset had any idea of ousting the other from its original basis; but France was determined that the English settlements should not spread west of the Alleghanies and colonize the Great Lake region and the Mississippi basin. Having, therefore, planted a chain of posts with admirable judgment at the vital points- straits, carries and commanding stations in the heart of the territory-she began a second line several miles east, to hem the English settlements closely in. This meant war to a finish as soon as the next great European struggle began; and the signal was given by Frederick the Great attempting to prey on the chaotic Austrian Empire. All Europe flocked into the field, England and France of course on opposite sides ; America was their stake. It seemed an even match, per- haps with the advantage on the side of the French. It is easy now to see that there could be but one result. French America had no population to speak of-perhaps 65,000 in Canada and half as much more elsewhere; it was only a set of forts, and when one of them was captured there was an end to French dominion in the district. Most of the French would not emigrate, and the one class which would-the Hugue- nots-were refused permission by the government. The Eng- lish colonies, on the other hand, numbered over a million, in solid ranks of communities, impossible to dispossess, and sending out a steadily rolling tide of youths who must have farms, be it French or Indians, wild beasts or devils, who stood in the way. The French had the alliance in general of the Indians, for the very reason which made the strength of the English-that the English settlements crowded out the


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Indians, and the French trading posts did not; but if the In- dian alliance had been any real strength, the Indians could not have been thus crowded out, the entire Indian problem would have been altogether different, and the United States might be another Mexico or another India. In the first cam- paign of 1755, Edward Braddock was made commander-in- chief of the forces in America, and a number of colonial gov- ernors met him at Alexandria to frame a plan of campaign. Unluckily the colonies would not carry out the arrangements made. The northern colonies displayed more zeal than the southern in furnishing levies of troops and forwarding the war preparations.


The conference organized three separate expeditions : one against Fort Duquesne at the headwaters of the Ohio, anoth- er to proceed against Niagara, and the third to attempt the capture of Crown Point. The first met with a disastrous de- feat in which Braddock was killed; the second, on hearing of the disaster to the first, retreated without making an effort to accomplish the undertaking to which it was assigned.


The Connecticut Assembly for contingent expenses issued bills of credit amounting to £7,500, and raised a quota of 1,000 soldiers; this, according to her ratio of population, was largely in excess of her sister colonies. She also recruited for reserve service 500 additional volunteers; to equip and pay these troops a new issue of bills of credit for £12,000, at five per cent. interest, was emitted.


The first regiment of Connecticut troops was under Gen- eral Phineas Lyman, and the second was commanded by Elizur Goodrich; these regiments were assigned to the ex- pedition to capture Crown Point, and General Lyman was placed second in command, his senior officer being General William Johnson of New York. The Connecticut troops ar-


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rived at Albany at the end of June, when an advance was made northwards; six weeks were spent on the Hudson and a redoubt was erected at Fort Edward.


The army then proceeded to the southern part of Lake George, where a commodious encampment was laid out ; but while the artillery and stores were promptly forwarded, no attempt was made to fortify the camp. While engaged in these labors, news was brought that the French contemplated an attack on Fort Edward. A force of 1,000 men, under Colonel Williams of Massachusetts, with Colonel Whiting of Connecticut second in command, and two hundred Mohawk allies, were ordered to intercept the enemy. The English force was ambushed by the French and slaughtered, with the loss of their commander; but Colonel Whiting rallied the troops and made a successful retreat to Lake George.


The noise of the battle was heard at the camp, and Gen- eral Johnson made preparations for a general engagement; temporary breastworks were erected. Early in the conflict Johnson received a slight wound and left the field, the com- mand devolving on General Lyman. For five hours the bat- tle raged incessantly; the French regulars were nearly an- nihilated, and their commander, Ludwig August von Dies- kau, received a wound which shortened his life. This was one of the fiercest conflicts then recorded in colonial history. The victory stimulated the colonies to fresh exertions and on Johnson's request for reinforcements, Connecticut in ten days raised, mustered, and equipped two regiments of 750 men each, commanded by Samuel Talcott and Elihu Chauncey. One of Talcott's second lieutenants was Israel Putnam. Now for the first time in the field Connecticut had in active service 2,300 men. Made wise by the battle, a substantial fort was erected on the site of the camp and named William


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Henry. After heavily garrisoning both forts, military op- erations were abandoned for the winter and the balance of the army returned home.


The operations of the Crown Point expedition had been conducted wholly by the provincial army; and while not a single French fort had been subjugated, the army had pene- trated into a virgin wilderness, built two forts, constructed boats, bateaux, and military roads. They gained a complete victory over the enemy, for which, though he had performed but a small part in the engagement, Johnson was knighted. The real victor of the battle was disregarded by the home government, and has hardly been recognized by historians. The man who for five hours commanded the provincial rank and file, that battled against the French regulars and their Indian allies, was Phineas Lyman, a native of Connecticut and a lawyer by profession; not bred to a military life, but during the engagement in the thickest of the fight, and in front of the breastworks issuing his orders with wisdom and coolness. He engaged in other military expeditions that redounded to his credit; but his later life was shrouded in darkness and gloom, and he became broken in spirit and mind.


After the death of Braddock, the chief command of the English forces in America was given to Governor Shirley, who met the colonial governors at New York in December 1755, and military movements were planned for the follow- ing year. An expedition was to proceed against Quebec and French lake fortresses, cutting off the communications of the western outposts and compelling their surrender; these plans, however, were overturned by the English Parliament, which decided to consolidate all the military forces in America under one authority, and appointed John Campbell Earl of


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Loudon commander-in-chief, with powers of a Viceroyship. General James Abercrombie was placed second in command ; forty British and German officers were commissioned to dis- cipline and organize the colonial army, which was augmented by British regulars. This was followed by an open declara- tion of war on the part of Great Britain, on May 17, 1756; and similar action was taken by France.


The attempt to capture Crown Point was to be renewed, and the army rendezvoused at Albany. When General Aber- crombie arrived with his British regulars, the military force amounted to ten thousand troops, of which Connecticut had furnished 2,500, double her quota. The intermingling of the provincial regiments with the British regulars agitated the vexed question of colonial troops being placed under the com- mand of British officers; this was finally settled by the Amer- icans agreeing to proceed with the capture of Crown Point, while the regulars were to be left behind to garrison the forts. So bitter was the Connecticut contingent at the removal of their officers that if this compromise had not been reached, a large number would have deserted their colors and quit the service; this arrangement was vetoed on the arrival of the Earl of Loudon, who granted the request of the New Eng- land troops to retain their officers on their agreeing to co- operate with the British soldiers.


Loudon, with an army capable of subjugating Canada in one season, remained inactive at Albany, passing the time in slandering the provincial troops and threatening attacks on the French, until the summer and fall passed away. At the commencement of winter, after strengthening Forts Edward and William Henry and garrisoning them with regulars, the provincials returned home for the cold season. Throughout Connecticut the people were indignant at the bad policy and


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mismanagement of the campaign, which had started out so ostentatiously.


It was in 1756, according to the following extract, that the Father of his Country first placed his foot on Connecti- cut's soil. Joshua Hempstead, a resident of New London, in his diary which dates from Sept. 8, 1711, to Nov. 3, 1758, and which was published by the New London County His- torical Society in 1901, says under date 1756: "Colln Wash- ington is Returned from Boston & gone to Long Island Pow- er's sloop & 2 Boats to carry 6 horses & his Retnue all bound to Virginia he hath been to advise or be Directed by Gover- nor Shirley who is Chief General of the American forces." This visit of Washington was to obtain a decision from Gen- eral Shirley, to establish a precedent of rank between himself and a Maryland captain; the journey was undertaken with a brother officer and an aide-de-camp, on horseback, attended by black servants in livery. While Governor Shirley decided that Washington was the senior officer, the latter was disap- pointed in not obtaining a royal military commission; his visit was extended to ten days in Boston, where he visited the Massachusetts legislature and heard the plans for military operations discussed.


The British Parliament made great preparations to prose- cute the war in the spring of 1757, and Connecticut brought forth her full complement of soldiers for field duty. The British Viceroy, instead of following up the Crown Point ex- pedition, decided to attack Louisbourg, and sailed from New York for Halifax with an army of 6,000 troops, of which Connecticut's apportionment was 1,400; he was joined at Halifax by a formidable English fleet, but like all of Lou- don's previous efforts, this inept expedition returned to New York without striking a blow against the enemy.


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In the meanwhile the French had been active under the in- trepid Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm de St. Veran, who withdrew his forces from Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and ad- joining stations, and rallying his Indian allies descended on Fort William Henry with 8,000 troops. General Webb was in command of the English forces, and under the escort of Major Israel Putnam with 200 men, made a journey of in- spection from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry. On ar- riving at the latter place, Putnam with eighteen volunteers patrolled the lake, and observing a hostile army approaching, reported to General Webb, expressing the opinion that an assault was intended on Fort William Henry. To the sur- prise of Putnam, he received orders from his commanding of- ficer to return to Fort Edward without delay; this inex- plicable action of General Webb, resting with 4,000 men at Fort Edward, extending to Colonel Monro no assistance dur- ing the siege of Fort William Henry, is unparalleled in American history. The final capitulation of the fort, with honorable terms granted to its brave defenders, its destruc- tion by fire and the horrible massacre-which it is claimed was beyond the control of Montcalm, but which decent care and prevision of his would have prevented-are assignable to the mismanagement of English officers, who owed their po- sition to family or court influence. The victory of Montcalm left the northern frontier unprotected, and there were fears that Albany would be attacked; reinforcements were asked for, and Connecticut furnished an additional 5,000 soldiers. The army, though it now consisted of 20,000 men, passed the balance of the year in inactivity; the disastrous failure had caused discouragement in England.


The campaign of 1758 was opened by a convention at Hartford of colonial governors of New England and New


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York, to meet the Earl of Loudon. The commander-in- chief's overtures for troops for a new campaign were re- ceived coldly by the colonial officials, and they replied that before troops and supplies could be promised, they would be obliged to consult their respective legislatures; this appar- ent subterfuge angered the Earl, but he was soon in receipt of news that owing to a change in the English ministry, he had been superseded by General James Abercrombie. At the head of the new English ministry was William Pitt, the "Great Commoner," who, in correspondence with the pro- vincial assemblies, urged a co-operation to retrieve the dis- astrous losses of the previous year; he stated that his Ma- jesty would send a fleet and an army to defend the rights of his American subjects, and while not making any arbitrary demands, requested that a force of 20,000 men should be raised by the colonies.


The wisdom of Pitt was exhibited, not so much by for- warding British soldiers as by furnishing them with able com- manders, in place of those who had in the past shown neither capacity nor spirit in conducting the warfare. General Aber- crombie was to have the assistance of the brave and amiable Lord George Augustus Howe, who, by his fraternization with the colonists, was to endear himself to the American people. Among the other English officers sent to this coun- try were the able and valiant Jeffrey Amherst and James Wolfe, who were to lead divisions. The Scottish general John Forbes was to have an important command; and a reg- iment was led by the Irish colonel Richard Montgomery, whose brave death at the assault on Quebec in 1775, during the Revolutionary War, has been made the subject of one of the masterpieces of Connecticut's greatest artist.


At a session of the General Assembly held the previous


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year, Ebenezer Silliman, Jonathan Trumbull, and William Wolcott were appointed a committee to confer with a like representation from other colonies, to devise means for closer union amongst the provinces in this crisis. The Governor was instructed to inform the English commander-in-chief that the colony was prepared for an early and successful cam- paign; Connecticut with her usual promptness responded to the Prime Minister's request for a provincial army of 20,000 men, by raising four regiments of twelve companies each, ag- gregating five thousand troops. The volunteers were paid, in addition to their wages, a bounty of £4, and were obliged to equip themselves for the field. The regimental command- ing officers were Phineas Lyman, Nathan Whiting, Eliphalet Dyer, and John Reed. A colonel's pay was £15 per month, and he was allowed £40 for supplying his table and support- ing a chaplain.


The disasters of the past two years had depopulated the colony of able-bodied men, and oppressed the people with an accumulation of taxes. New bills of credit were issued for £30,000 at five per cent. interest; a sinking fund was cre- ated for their redemption, by levying a tax of eight pence on the pound, and an additional tax of nine pence was ordered, to pay the soldiers on their return from the war. The Assembly also appointed a committee to borrow £25,000, to be paid in two years, and a tax was levied of five pence on the pound for its liquidation.


The English ministry planned three campaigns: General Amherst, in conjunction with a fleet, was to capture Louis- bourg; Lord Howe, under the direction of the commander- in-chief, was again to attempt the subjugation of Ticon- deroga and Crown Point, while General Forbes was to re-


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cover the Ohio Valley. The Louisbourg army consisted of 16,000 men, of whom 9,000 were colonial troops.


It was on the morning of July 6 that the march upon Ti- conderoga was begun. The advance guard of the French was soon reached and engaged, and Lord Howe, marching in front, inquired of Major Putnam the cause of the firing; the Connecticut ranger answered, "I know not, but with your Lordship's leave I will see." The nobleman insisted on ac- companying them, and Putnam with one hundred of his men marched in the direction of the enemy; the French were soon met, and at the first fire his Lordship fell dead. Putnam and his little party, assisted by other small companies, engaged in a general combat which resulted in the enemy's retreat, with great loss of life and leaving many captives in the hands of the victors; but the death of Lord Howe cast such a gloom over the army that the intended attack was abandoned.


A second attempt was made on Ticonderoga on July 8; this also was ill managed, and the generalship displayed was so very poor that though the British regulars charged in solid phalanx time after time, they were repulsed with heavy losses. The platoon formation of the regulars caused them to be mowed down like wheat before the scythe; while if the pro- vincials had been placed at the front of the line of attack, their knowledge of woodcraft and Indian fighting might have changed the result. They were in the rear of the regu- lars, and becoming excited and maddened by the shock of the battle, in their hurry and excitement began firing on their British comrades, doing considerable execution before they could be made aware of their mistake; Putnam, who acted as aide, was a great help in checking the impetuosity of the colonials and restoring order. The carnage among the in- vading army was frightful, and the losses sustained by the


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Connecticut troops very severe. There were various weak points in the enemy's extended front, which Putnam and other colonial officers urged Abercrombie to attack. The fort could have been overcome by a siege, but the commander-in- chief, with the same conceit and stubbornness which had ruined Braddock, would listen to no advice, and sounded the alarm for retreat ; his management of the conflict gave him in the army the sobriquet of "Mrs. Nabbycombe." How many of the Connecticut troops were engaged in this action it would be hard to state; the commands of Lyman, Fitch, and Woos- ter were in that vicinity, Putnam belonged to the third regi- ment, and it may be inferred that three or four of the Con- necticut regiments were under fire.


A reconnaissance before Ticonderoga, made by a detailed force under Majors Rogers and Putnam, fell into an ambus- cade in which the English were defeated, Putnam being taken to Montreal as prisoner; the campaign of 1758 ended with the English still outside the walls of Ticonderoga. Their other expeditions had met with success; the fortress of Louis- bourg had surrendered to General Amherst, while by the capture of Fort Duquesne the French power had been broken in the west; the capture of these two strategic points paved the way to the impregnable fortress of Quebec, the key to the successful termination of the war.


At the opening of the following year, the British ministry, having the seacoast and the southern frontier already won, were prepared to invade Canada. Amherst superseded Aber- crombie in command of the army, and took charge of the Eastern forces, with orders to drive the enemy from Ticon- deroga and Crown Point, and to effect a junction with Gen- eral Wolfe, who was to lay siege to Quebec; a third expedi- tion was to attack Fort Niagara, and then proceed by way


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of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to capture Montreal.


The English premier called upon the colonies to raise another army of 20,000. The Connecticut Assembly, while it received Pitt's communication with enthusiasm, felt that the colony had been so depleted of moneys and men by the former campaigns as to be in no condition to raise and equip 5,000 more. After a long debate it was decided that 3,600 men should be raised for the service; this was increased 400 by the zeal of Governor Fitch, and on General Amherst's requesting additional troops another thousand was raised, thereby completing the complement requested by the prime minister. A bounty of £7 was given to each volunteer; and if they were veterans, pay was allowed from the preceding December. The troops were mustered into four regiments, and Phineas Lyman, Nathan Whiting, David Wooster, and Eleazer Fitch were made colonels; Israel Putnam had been exchanged after a captivity of three months, and was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel in the fourth regiment.


The colonial treasury being exhausted, bills of credit for £50,000, bearing five per cent. interest, were emitted, and to liquidate them a tax of ten pence on a pound was levied. The energy of the colonies was aroused, and they vied with each other to lend every assistance to Amherst.


The English army advanced in good order, and on the 22d of July appeared before Ticonderoga; the French after a lit- tle resistance blew up their magazine and retreated to Crown Point. The latter was evacuated Aug. I, and the French troops took refuge in a fort at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. These bloodless victories, at points which on former unsuccessful expeditions had proved occasions for the expenditure of blood and money, showed Amherst that


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the French were concentrating nothward; and he moved cau- tiously. Instead of following up his hitherto successful cam- paign, he stopped to rehabilitate the fortresses at Ticonder- oga and Crown Point, and to construct a fleet to operate on Lake Champlain; the hardships endured by the Connecticut troops during the summer months spent on the lake are in- describable.


The western wing of the army had been successful in cap- turing Fort Niagara; the net was rapidly closing around the French. The final struggle took place on the plains of Abraham, putting Quebec in the hands of the English. Vari- ous attempts were made by the French to recapture this stronghold; but the timely arrival of an English fleet in the spring of 1760 ended the struggle. Even had the French regained Quebec they could not have held it.


The victories of the past year had stimulated the English ministry, and they were determined to complete the subjuga- tion of Canada. The colonies were also ambitious to extin- guish French rule in America; for over half a century they had planned expeditions for the capture of Quebec and Montreal, and now that the former was in the hands of the English, the resources of the colonies were to be utilized in driving the hated popish rival from her possessions in the New World. Connecticut responded bravely to the call of the English ministry for troops, and the legislature voted to raise four regiments of twelve companies, 5,000 in all; these were to be paid and clothed from the treasury of the colony, and the same commanding officers were reappointed, Phineas Lyman receiving the rank of Major-General.




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