USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume II > Part 3
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to take command of a party of men to reduce and take pos- session of the garrison of Ticonderoga and its dependencies, and as you are now in possession of the same- You are here- by directed to keep the command of said garrison, for the use of the American Colonies, till you have further orders from the Colony of Connecticut, or from the Continental Congress."
Under this commission, if it may be so called, Allen re- ported to Governor Trumbull, and to the Massachusetts Congress, which body informed Colonel Arnold that, "as the affairs of that expedition began in the Colony of Connecti- cut," the General Assembly of that colony had been asked to take charge of the captured fort.
Seth Warner, who, like Allen was a native of Litchfield County, Connecticut, was unavoidably detained from shar- ing in the honors of the capture of Ticonderoga; but on the same day proceeded to Crown Point in command of a small company, and had the satisfaction of taking that stronghold by surprise. This was not a difficult, though none the less an honorable achievement, as the garrison consisted of twelve men with a sergeant in command. To Arnold be- longs the honor of capturing St. Johns with its simliar gar- rison of twelve men under a sergeant.
Thus the control of the important positions commanding Lake Champlain was accomplished, through the instrumen- tality of Connecticut, without the loss of a single life, and with the result of placing in the control of the Americans some three hundred pieces of artillery and a large quantity of other much needed military stores.
During the special session of the General Assembly in April, 1775, Captain Joseph Trumbull, eldest son of Gov- ernor Trumbull, was appointed Commissary-General for Con-
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necticut. It is quite probable that to him is due, as much as to any one man, the homely but honorable title of the Provi- sion State which Connecticut acquired during the Revolution. His appointment by the General Assembly sent him at once to the scene of action, where supplies for his troops were being purchased and forwarded. The measures taken at this time to organize the Connecticut commissariat attracted the attention of Washington at once upon his arrival at Cam- bridge. His watchful eye and keen military insight recog- nized the importance of this department so thoroughly that it is best to let him speak for himself in an extract from his letter of July 10th to the President of Congress, which reads as follows :
"I esteem it therefore, my duty to represent the inconve- nience which must unavoidably ensue from a dependence on a number of persons for supplies, and submit it to the consider- ation of Congress whether the public service will not be best promoted by appointing a Commissary-General for these pur- poses. We have a striking instance of the preference of such a mode in the Establishment of Connecticut, as their troops are extremely well provided under the direction of Mr. Trumbull, and he has at different times assisted others with various articles. Should my sentiments happily coincide with those of your honors on this subject, I beg leave to recom- mend Mr. Trumbull as a very proper person for this de- partment."
The appointment was immediately made by Congress, and Colonel Joseph Trumbull commenced a career, the difficulties of which neither he nor the great Washington could have foreseen. The reconciling of local jealousies; the conflicts of authority with subordinate commissaries, some under ap- pointment by Congress and others by their own colonies; the
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difficulties of buying supplies without money, all confronted the new Commissary-General. And when, in 1777, the Con- gress adopted an absurd plan for reorganizing the commis- sary department, resulting in the terrible winter at Valley Forge, and placing a control in Congress which should have been left in the field, Colonel Trumbull indignantly resigned, remarking that it should not be said that he would accept a sinecure, or that he was the first pensioner of the Revolu- tion. He died in the following year, broken down by the per- petual strain of cares and fatigues which his faithful service had brought upon him, as truly a martyr to the cause of lib- erty as the soldier who falls in the forefront of battle. In April of this year, 1778, Congress practically reestablished the original organization of the commissary department, and Jeremiah Wadsworth, another Connecticut man, was ap- pointed Commissary-General. We find him commended in several letters written by Washington to the President of Congress, in 1778 and 1779, and though, in the latter year, he thought seriously of resigning, he appears to have re- mained in the service through the war.
It was by no means solely by furnishing men for the ad- ministration of the commissary department of the continental army that Connecticut gained her title as the Provision State. Geographically her situation was such that provisions could be drawn from her more safely and with less liability to mil- itary interference than from any other source. The rich farming lands of the Connecticut valley, and even the more rugged, less productive farms of the hill towns and seaboard towns furnished rich sources of supply in agricultural prod- ucts such as an army needs. The almost uniform loyalty of the people to the common cause, and their zeal in the support of that cause, rendered them, as a people, liberal contribu-
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tors of supplies, though they were often so liberal contribu- tors of men as well that it was, at times, almost literally true that only old men, boys and women were left to till the fields and raise the crops and live stock which were to support the army. The fact that the two Commissaries-General who served through the entire war, except for a short interval of disorganization in the commissary department, were Con- necticut men, gave them peculiar advantages, too, for draw- ing upon the ample resources of their State.
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CHAPTER III CONNECTICUT'S SHARE IN MILITARY OPERATIONS IN 1775
O F the Connecticut men of note who responded to the Lexington alarm, none can be found who reached the scene of action as promptly as that dashing old hero and veteran, Israel Put- nam. In speaking of him at all, it is diffi- cult to untangle the real truth from the mesh of controversy and contradictions in which historians have involved his career. Beginning with his receipt of the first news of Lex- ington, Bancroft informs us that Putnam was, at the time, building a stone wall; but his son, Daniel Putnam, who was an eye-witness, informs us that he left his plow in the furrow, and set off at once. Here again, one historian tells us that he departed for Lebanon, to get directions from Governor Trumbull, and another tells us that the Governor gave him the first news of the Lexington fight. As we go on in his career, these contradictory statements multiply in number and increase in importance, making it a prime necessity for him who would do justice to this worthy patriot and hero very carefully to weigh and sift the evidence regarding the many deeds and exploits of his active and inspiring career.
Certain it is that he reached Concord on the 2 1st of April 1775, for we find him writing from that town on that date, with the information that six thousand men are expected from Connecticut, which number, as we have seen, were promptly mobilized. From that time forward, it is hardly too much to say that he seems to have been the life of the undisciplined, unorganized army whose headquarters were at Cambridge; superintending fortifications, and keeping the raw troops em- ployed in various ways, because, as his son says, "experience had taught him that raw and undisciplined troops must be employed in some way or other, or they would soon become vicious and unmanageable." From this, we find him in
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command of the celebrated night raid on Hog Island and Noddle's Island. We find him, too, at the meetings of the Massachusetts Council of Safety and Council of War, recom- mending the fortifying of Bunker Hill, which General Ward and Dr. Warren oppose, but which Colonels Prescott and Palmer favor. When it was learned that the British, with their constantly arriving reinforcements, intended at once to occupy Dorchester Heights and possibly Bunker Hill itself, the Fabian policy of General Ward gave way to the argu- ments of Putnam and Prescott, and it was decided that one of these two commanding positions should be occupied, fortified, and held if possible. Bunker Hill was chosen, and Prescott, preceded by Putnam, marched on the night of June 16th with one thousand men, and so far carried out his instructions that he threw up earthworks during this night on the neigh- boring position since known as Breed's Hill.
In the battle which followed on the next day, Prescott, in compliance with orders, bravely held the redoubt on Breed's Hill, and Putnam, whose provincial rank made him Pres- cott's superior, directed the movements of the forces outside of Prescott's works, ordering works to be thrown up on Bunker Hill on the morning of the 17th, and directing a rough line of defense to guard against flanking movements of the enemy. At this line was stationed, among others, Cap- tain Thomas Knowlton, with two hundred Connecticut men. The breastworks consisted of a rail and stone fence hastily stuffed with hay and such other material as could be gathered together in the emergency. Putnam's quick eye saw the im- portance of this position, which can hardly be overestimated; for in the first and second advance of the British, the attack on Prescott's redoubt and Putnam's rail fence was simul- taneous. In the third and final advance the attack appears
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to have been directed entirely upon the redoubt, and in the glorious defeat, the retreat which followed was bravely and successfully protected by the forces at this same rail fence, reinforced by three Connecticut companies under Captains John Chester, James Clark and William Coit, who had re- ceived orders to march from Cambridge in the afternoon, and came through Charlestown Neck under a heavy fire which caused some other troops to falter and refuse to ad- vance. Had it not been for the rail fence and its brave de- fenders, the retreat through the narrow pass of Charlestown Neck would have ben cut off, and the result of the battle of Bunker Hill would have been as disastrous to the Americans as to the British.
But it was not alone in the field movements of the battle that Putnam showed his energy and foresight. He seems to have been ubiquitous, and always at the point where he was most needed-now riding post-haste to Cambridge for rein- forcements and supplies, now at the repulse of the first on- set, giving that famous order to his men, "Wait till you see the whites of their eyes before you fire;" and at last vainly attempting, with his tireless energy and spirit, to rally the forces for a final stand on Bunker Hill.
The question, Was Putnam or Prescott in command at this battle, has provoked an amount of discussion which bids fair to rival in volume the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy. General Artemas Ward, who was recognized as the Com- mander-in-chief for the time being, was not on the field, and issued no orders for meeting the attack of the enemy. Until the arrival of General Joseph Warren on the field, Putnam appears to have been the ranking officer, and to have given all the general orders, and to have made all the applications to General Ward for reinforcements. Upon the authority of
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Putnam's son Daniel the statement is made that Putnam ten- dered to Warren the command of the forces, and it is stated that Prescott made a similar tender of the command of the redoubt, both of which Warren declined, and entered the ranks as a volunteer, with the fatal result so well known and so deeply deplored. That there is no evidence of orders is- sued by Putnam to Prescott during the battle does not alter the case, for Prescott had the simple and important duty of holding and defending the redoubt, a duty which he dis- charged so bravely and thoroughly that any orders even from an officer superior in rank, would have been an imper- tinence. All honor is due to both Prescott and Putnam for their share in this momentous battle; and when such honor is compared with the technical military question of official position, the technical question sinks into insignificance.
Another fact which should not be overlooked in the share of Connecticut and her popular hero Putnam in the battle of Bunker Hill, is this: of the sixty-three half-barrels of pow- der which formed the entire supply of the Americans at this battle, thirty-six half-barrels, or more than one-half the entire quantity had been sent from Connecticut by vote of its Council of Safety on the 7th of June. The record, which happens to be in the handwriting of Governor Trumbull, states that it was voted by the Council to send fifty "bar- rels" of 108 lbs. each, "on application from the General Committee of Safety and of Supplies for Massachusetts, and on desire of Brigadier General Putnam on the present emergency for use of the camp at Cambridge and Roxbury."
The Council of Safety which voted this supply had been appointed by the General Assembly in the May session of this year, 1775. It was composed of Matthew Griswold, Eliph-
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alet Dyer, Jabez Huntington, Samuel Huntington, Wil- liam Williams, Nathaniel Wales, jr., Jedidiah Elderkin, Joshua West and Benjamin Huntington, was designated as "a Committee to assist his Honor the Governor when the As- sembly is not sitting," and was clothed with powers practi- cally the same as those of the Assembly, in military and naval affairs. Two of the original members of this council were afterwards signers of the Declaration of Independence. The council was maintained throughout the entire war, and in the "War-office" at Lebanon, now owned, restored and preserved by the Connecticut Society of Sons of the American Revo- lution, more than eleven hundred meetings of this council were held during the Revolution.
On the 13th of July, 1775, this council had before it the delicate task of reconciling Brigadier General Joseph Spencer to his appointment by the Continental Congress as the fifth of eight officers of the same rank. Spencer, then a man of sixty-one, had held a Connecticut commission as first Brigadier General, Putnam being second, and David Woos- ter, a man of sixty-five, being superior in rank to both, with the title of Major General. By the appointment of Con- gress, Putnam was advanced above both these officers, hav- ing been appointed the fourth of four Majors-General, ow- ing to his "successful enterprise at Noddle's Island," the news of Bunker Hill not having been received by Congress at the time of his appointment. Spencer, on learning of the ap- pointment early in July, at once left the army at Cambridge, without even reporting to Washington, and presented himself before the Council of Safety at Lebanon on the 13th of July, when he was with some difficulty persuaded "to return to the army and not at present quit the service as he pro- posed."
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It is quite probable that the jealousy occasioned by Put- nam's promotion had something to do with the attacks upon his character, and the attempts to rob him of his well-earned laurels, which attacks and attempts have survived to the pres- ent day.
Upon the surrender of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and St. John's, Arnold had remained at Crown Point with a garri- son, for the purpose of holding and defending the captured strongholds, and forwarding the supplies which could be spared from them, to the American army. During this time, as we learn from letters which he afterwards wrote to Con- gress, he had carefully investigated the military condition of Canada, and the temper of its people. In his undertakings up to this time, Arnold had suffered two serious disappoint- ments; first by being anticipated by the Connecticut expe- dition in the capture of Ticonderoga, and second, by being superseded by Colonel Hinman of Connecticut in the com- mand of the captured posts, to which event there was added the galling feature of a visit from an investigating committee from Massachusetts to call him to account for his stewardship of the money entrusted to him, and to report on his discharge of his duties. Arnold at once indignantly resigned his Mas- sachusetts commission; and the general opinion at the time was that he had been unjustly, or at least discourteously treated.
Notwithstanding these rebuffs, his restless spirit, quick in- telligence, and patriotism were at once asserted in the pro- posal to Congress of an expedition for the capture of the strongholds of Canada, with the expectation of winning its people over to the cause of independence, and thus presenting to the British a solid front on the part of the American col- onies. The importance of this enterprise, and the necessity
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for speedy action, led to the despatch of an expedition un- der command of General Philip Schuyler, by authority of Congress, early in July, 1775, the command later devolving on General Richard Montgomery, owing to Schuyler's illness. This expedition was to proceed by way of Lakes George and Champlain, with the capture of Montreal as an objective point. Of the Connecticut troops in this expedition we find Colonel Benjamin Hinman's regiment, which was then at Ticonderoga as a garrison, Colonel David Waterbury's regi- ment, which was ordered from New York in a body, General David Wooster's regiment, also ordered from New York, and Captain Edward Mott's company from General Par- sons' regiment. The ranks of these regiments and this single company were terribly thinned by sickness during this campaign.
Meanwhile, Arnold had returned to Cambridge and had held some conversations with Washington regarding this im- portant movement. His familiarity with the situation, and his intelligent and enthusiastic view of the campaign, led Washington to appoint him to take charge of an expedition by an entirely different route from Schuyler's and Montgom- ery's, and with a view to join and co-operate with Mont- gomery in an attack on Quebec. The Continental Congress readily granted to Arnold a colonel's commission for this purpose; and on the 18th of September the entire company embarked at Newburyport destined for the mouth of the Kennebec River, by the line of which river and the Chaudière they were to reach their destination. In this expedition we find, among its eleven hundred men, one company from Gen- eral Spencer's regiment, under Captain Oliver Hanchett. Among the field officers we find Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Enos of Windsor; Major Return Jonathan Meigs of Mid-
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dletown, destined to be made a prisoner at Quebec, and later to rejoin the army to complete an honorable record of ser- vice; Quartermaster Benjamin Catlin of Wethersfield; "Vol- unteer" Eleazer Oswald from the Second Company of Gover- nor's Foot-guards of which we heard at the Lexington alarm ; and "Volunteer" Samuel Lockwood of Greenwich, from the Third Company of Colonel Waterbury's regiment.
The story of the long terrible passage and march up the Kennebec and down the Chaudière, the junction with Mont- gomery, and the failure of the attack on Quebec when victory was almost within their grasp, forms one of the most dra- matic pictures of the Revolution. The often expressed wish that Arnold might then and there have shared the fate of Montgomery, and thus have had his name enshrined among the brightest and bravest of heroes of the Revolution, always finds its echo as we read of his conduct of this expedition, and his share in the storming of Quebec.
The Connecticut men engaged in this expedition met with varying fortunes. Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Enos returned with his division before the destination was reached; and though severely censured at the time, and still pilloried by modern historians, a court-martial over which General John Sullivan presided, fully acquitted him of blame. In reply to attacks upon his character and conduct, he produced a certifi- cate signed by twenty-five field officers, including Brigadier- General William Heath, attesting to his good judgment in returning, and certifying to his good character and military ability. Captain Oliver Hanchett's company was present at the storming of Quebec, and thirty-five members of this company, including Captain Hanchett, were made prisoners at the assault. Major Meigs was also captured, as were staff officers Catlin, Oswald, and Lockwood. Lieutenant
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Samuel Cooper, of Captain Hanchett's company, was killed in this action.
On the 30th of August in this year, 1775, an affair occur- red on the Connecticut coast which has been dignified by the name of the battle of Stonington. Two tenders from the British man-of-war Rose appear to have undertaken the cap- ture of one or more merchant vessels in Stonington harbor, resulting in a passage-at-arms in which four men belonging to the tenders were killed, and one wounded. The tenders put back to the Rose, then lying off Watch Hill, and upon their report, a bombardment of the town was begun. De- tachments from American troops in the vicinity were hurried to the scene, until they reached, according to contemporary reports, the number of eight hundred. The man-of-war Rose on the following day departed from the harbor, and Ston- ington remained unmolested by the British from this time to 1814, when a similar bombardment occurred.
The movements of the British fleet at this time were so threatening to the Connecticut coast that Governor Trum- bull took it upon himself to retain as a coast guard some forces newly levied, advising Washington of this action un- der date of September 5th. Under date of the 8th, a letter was received by Governor Trumbull from Washington order- ing all new levies to be sent at once to Boston, without regard to the movements of the British fleet. This order was imme- diately complied with, although the relations between Wash- ington and Trumbull were strained for a few days owing to the fact that Washington appeared to ignore Trumbull's let- ter of the 5th, and to issue this order presumptively in the way of reproof, to which the governor, after his arduous ex- ertions for the common cause, did not take kindly, as appears by his reply under date of the 15th. Mutual explanations
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followed, and from this time forward only complete accord and increasing confidence appear in the voluminous corres- pondence between Washington and Trumbull.
November, of this year, 1775, was a month of anxiety and interest to Connecticut. The anxiety resulted from the fact that a number of enlisted men at Cambridge left the camp before the arrival of new recruits to fill their places. In a let- ter to Governor Trumbull dated December 2d, Washington speaks feelingly of this occurrence, from which it appears that, upon the representation of the officers of several regi- ments that their men would undoubtedly stay until other forces arrived to take their places, "they were requested and ordered to remain, as the time of most of them would not be out before the 10th [of December], when they would be re- lieved." It was requested by Washington that they should be punished as deserters. These men denied the charge of desertion, claiming that they had completed the term of ser- vice for which they enlisted. There can be no doubt that this might be true in the case of some of these men, and that but a few days of service remained for any of them from the date of their enlistment. The Council of Safety, on receiving the letter from Washington, pronounced their conduct rep- rehensible, and called them deserters, but declined to deal with them as such, owing to the critical condition of the times, in the formation of a new army, in which, as we shall see, Connecticut promptly furnished her quota.
There is no doubt that the men who thus returned home or remained in the army under arrest at the time, received only condemnation and ridicule from all quarters. Of those who escaped, General Greene wrote that they "met with such an unfavorable reception at home that many of them are return- ing to camp already." And in reply to General Washing-
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ton's letter Governor Trumbull wrote expressing "grief, sur- prise and indignation," referring to the custom of the troops in the late war of regarding themselves not holden beyond the time of their enlistment. He closes by saying :
"Your candor and goodness will suggest to your consider- ation that the conduct of our troops is not a rule whereby to judge of the temper and spirit of our colony."
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