USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 29
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with his class at the same time and even attending extra lectures on philosophy, chemistry, mineralogy and astronomy. He was graduated in September, 1817, and for a time continued teaching at the academy in New Haven.
He was expecting to enter the ministry, but physicians induced him to abandon this thought, in the conviction that it would most certainly prove fatal to him on account of his delicate health. He then settled in New Canaan, where he conducted a school from 1818 to 1821. In April, 1821, he removed to Stratford, and there established a boarding school, where he prepared young men for college. On June 9, 1831, he was ordained to the Baptist ministry, and in order to give himself entirely to its work dismissed his prosperous school. He preached in Mil- ford, Stratfield and Bridgeport, and estab- lished a Baptist church in the latter town. Failing health, however, forbade his con- tinuing his ministerial work, and he de- voted much of his time to natural his- tory, always a favorite study. He col- lected a valuable cabinet of ornithological specimens, discovering more species of birds in Connecticut alone than had previ- ously been found in the entire United States by Wilson, the distinguished orni- thologist. He also found more mammalia than had been found elsewhere in New England, and double the number of shells that were supposed to exist there, among them many new species, altogether his conchological collection contained more than two thousand species. His scientific investigations were given in a series of papers on the zoology of Connecticut, prepared for the Yale Natural History Society, of which he had become a mem- ber in 1837, and published in the "Ameri- can Journal of Science and Art," under the title of "Catalogue of the Mammalia of Connecticut." He also contributed to
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that magazine "Catalogues of the Birds, Fishes and Reptiles of Connecticut, with Notes" (1842-43).
Mr. Linsley was married, February I, 1818, to Sophia B., daughter of Colonel William Lyon. He died at Stratford, Connecticut, December 26, 1843.
WARNER, Seth, Soldier of the Revolution.
Seth Warner, a gallant soldier of the Revolution, and whose fame is commemo- rated by a statue in his native State, was born in Roxbury parish, Woodbury, Con- necticut, May 17, 1743. He was a son of Dr. Benjamin Warner, and in 1765 re- moved with his father to Bennington, Vermont, having joined the migration to the New Hampshire grants, and became well known as a hunter and trapper. In 177I he was elected captain of a company of Green Mountain Boys organized to re- sist New York authority, and was out- lawed with their leader, Ethan Allen.
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Seth Warner was appointed second in command of the expedition to Ticon- deroga. Although he was left with the rearguard on the east shore of the lake, while Allen and a small detachment took Fort Ticonderoga, he successfully led the detachment that captured Crown Point. He seconded Allen's efforts to obtain au- thority to make an invasion of Canada, and accompanied him to Philadelphia and Albany to urge the plan before the Con- tinental Congress. A regiment of native Vermonters was recruited, and Warren was elected its colonel, but the New York Congress withheld commissions from the regiment and the Continental Congress upheld the action. When the invasion of Canada was finally begun in the fall of 1775, Warner and his Green Mountain Boys joined General Montgomery, by
whom he was appointed colonel and sent to Montreal to watch the enemy. He de- feated General Carlton in his attempt to raise the siege of Quebec, and command- ed the troops in an action at Longueil. The regiment was discharged November 20, 1775, but Warner recruited another regiment for the relief of the army after the repulse at Quebec, and when the re- treat was made to Ticonderoga he com- manded the rearguard. He was commis- sioned colonel of a regiment of regular troops for permanent service, and was stationed at Ticonderoga throughout the campaign of 1776. In 1777 he raised a battalion of nine hundred Vermonters, and marched them to the relief of St. Clair at Ticonderoga, July 5, 1777. On the evacuation of the post he again com- manded the rearguard, and on being over- taken on July 7, 1777, by Fraser, in com- mand of the British advance, was defeat- ed at the battle at Hubbardston and re- treated to Manchester, where he pro- tected the stores at Bennington and ar- rested Burgoyne's advance by harassing his flanks. He aided in planning the at- tack on Raum's intrenchment during the battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, and led the charge on Breyman's bat- talion that gained time for the American troops to rally and form a new line of battle. He served with General Gates throughout the rest of the campaign ; com- manded the expedition to Lake George landing, and captured the British vessels there. He was ordered to Albany in April, 1778, and sent by Schuyler on a particular command into Yessop's Patent, which he executed with skill and address, guarding against the Indian attacks, watching the Tories, and protecting com- munications. He was wounded from an ambush of Indians in September, 1780, and returned to Bennington. The pro- prietors of several towns had voted him
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land as a reward for his services, but most of it was sold for taxes, and in 1777 Congress granted him two thousand acres in Essex county. In 1782 he was a member of a committee to protest to Gov- ernor Chittenden against the sending of prisoners to Canada.
He died in Roxbury, Connecticut, De- ยท cember 26, 1784, and the State of Con- necticut caused a granite obelisk, about twenty-one feet high, to be erected over his grave.
WADSWORTH, Jeremiah, Legislator, Diplomat.
Jeremiah Wadsworth was born in Hartford, Connecticut, July 12, 1743, son of the Rev. Daniel and Abigail (Talcott) Wadsworth, grandson of John and Eliza- beth (Stanley) Wadsworth, and of Gov- ernor Joseph and Eunice (Howell) Tal- cott. His father was graduated from Yale College, Bachelor of Arts, 1726; Master of Arts, 1729; a fellow of the col- lege, 1743-47, and was pastor of the First Congregational Church in Hartford, 1732-47.
After the death of his father, Jeremiah Wadsworth became the ward of his uncle, Matthew Talcott, a shipping merchant of Middletown, Connecticut, on one of whose vessels he went to sea in 1761 for the benefit of his health, becoming first mate and subsequently master. He mar- ried, November 19, 1764, Mehitabel, daughter of the Rev. William (Yale, Bachelor of Arts, 1709; Master of Arts, 1712 ; tutor, 1713-14, and fellow, 1745-61) and Mary (Pierpont) Russell, of Middle- town, Connecticut, making his home in Hartford, Connecticut, after his mother's death in 1773. He served as deputy com- missary to Colonel Joseph Trumbull, 1775-1777, and upon Colonel Trumbull's resignation in the latter year, was made
commissary-general. He served as com- missary of the French troops until the close of the Revolutionary War, visiting France in July, 1783, to settle his accounts with the French government, and subse- quently traveled in England and Ireland, purchasing foreign materials, which he sold upon his return to the United States in 1784. He was a delegate to the Conti- nental Congress, 1787-88; a member of the State Convention that ratified the national constitution, 1788; was a Fed- eralist representative from Connecticut in the First, Second and Third Congresses, 1789-95; a member of the State Legisla- ture, 1795, and of the Council, 1795-1801.
He was greatly interested in agricul- ture, and introduced many original im- provements for its development. The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Dartmouth Col- lege in 1792, and by Yale College in 1796. He died in Hartford, April 30, 1804.
BARLOW, Joel,
Poet, Diplomatist.
Joel Barlow was born at Redding. Con- necticut, March 24, 1754, the youngest in a family of ten children, son of Samuel Barlow, a respectable farmer. The father died while the lad was in school, leaving just about enough property to defray the expenses of the son's education. In 1774 he entered Dartmouth College, but remained there for only a short time and went to Yale College. While a student there he displayed talent in poetical composition, attracting the notice of Dr. Dwight, then a tutor in the college, whose encourage- ment had much to do with fixing the character of his after life. The Revolu- tionary War was now raging, and young Barlow, burning with patriotism, en- listed as a volunteer in the State militia and went into the field during vacations.
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He is said to have seen active service on several occasions, and to have fought in the battle of White Plains. He gradu- ated in 1778 from Yale College, when he delivered at commencement a poem en- titled "Prospect of Peace."
After leaving college, Barlow engaged for a short time in the study of law, but which he relinquished after a few months, his friends having urged him to qualify for the Christian ministry, with a view to his entering the army as a chaplain. After only six weeks' preparation he was licensed to preach, and at once entered the Revolutionary army as chaplain, being attached to Poor's brigade of Massachu- setts. While in camp he continued to cul- tivate his taste for poetry, writing patri- otic songs, and composing in part his "Vision of Columbus," which afterward formed the basis of his great epic poem, "The Columbiad." He received the de- gree of Master of Arts in 1781 from Yale College, and about the same time married Ruth Baldwin, of New Haven, a sister of Abraham Baldwin, who afterward repre- sented the State of Georgia in the Senate of the United States. Barlow remained in the army until the restoration of peace, when he abandoned the clerical profes- sion and returned to his original inten- tion of practicing law. He settled in Hart- ford, where he became known with Colo- Humphreys, and, with Dr. Dwight and others, was recognized among the "Hart- ford Wits." Barlow now engaged in the publication of a weekly paper in Hartford, the "American Mercury," which afforded him opportunity to exercise his own satiri- cal powers, and give an outlet to that of others of the "Hartford Wits." About the same time he was employed by an association of the clergy of Connecticut to revise Dr. Watts' version of the Psalms, which he did, besides versifying some of the Psalms omitted by Dr. Watts, and
adding some original hymns of his own composition. This volume was published in 1785, and was used for many years as the authorized version of the Congrega- tional churches of New England. Two years later, Barlow published his "Vision of Columbus," which was dedicated to Louis XVI., and editions of which ap- peared in London and Paris a few months afterward. He now abandoned his news- paper venture to open a book store in Hartford, where he sold his own produc- tions with some success. Having become famous as a poet, he abandoned the law, in which he had not been at all successful. He had something to do with the "An- archiad," the principal poem of the "Hart- ford Wits," and on July 4, 1787, he de- livered an oration in which he showed a tendency toward Federalism. In 1788 he was appointed agent of the Scioto Land Company, which had gained possession of several million acres of land in Ohio, and which he was desired to sell in Europe. After passing a short time in England, Barlow went to France, but does not appear to have accomplished much in the way of Ohio land sales. He took an active part in the French revolu- tion, in connection with the Girondists, or Moderate party. He wrote his "Ad- vice to the Privileged Orders," which he took to London in 1791 and there pub- lished. He remained in London nearly two years, associating with West, Cop- ley, Trumbull, and other Americans, be- sides Priestley, Horne Tooke, and other prominent English philosophers and writers. In February, 1792, he published the "Conspiracy of Kings," and in the autumn of the same year wrote an open letter to the national convention of France, these publications bringing him some profit as well as adding to his influ- ence. He became a member of the Lon- don Constitutional Society, and was after-
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ward sent to France with an address to the national convention, on which occa- sion he was complimented with the be- stowal of French citizenship. Meanwhile his political work had been attacked by Burke, eulogized by Fox, and proscribed by the British government, and it thus be- came convenient for him to remain in France. For a time he was in Savoy, where he became a candidate for deputy, but was defeated. While there he wrote his "Hasty Pudding," which is considered one of the happiest of his productions. Returning to Paris, he translated Vol- ney's "Ruins," and engaged in certain speculations which realized for him a handsome fortune.
About the year 1795, Barlow was ap- pointed Consul to Algiers by President Washington, and proved successful in this mission, concluding treaties not only with that country, but with Tunis and Tripoli, and redeeming and returning to their homes about one hundred American captives. He resigned this position in 1797, and for the next eight years resided in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1805, and built a beautiful man- sion near Washington, which he called "Kalorama," and where he continued to reside while his principal work, "The Columbiad," was in process of comple- tion. This was published in 1808, in a handsome volume, embellished with fine engravings, executed in London. It was dedicated to Robert Fulton. In 1811, while occupied in making a collection of historical documents, with a view of writ- ing a history of the Revolution, Barlow was nominated by President Madison to be Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of France. He accepted the mission and exerted all his powers to negotiate with Napoleon I. a treaty of commerce and to arrange for the settlement of the spoli-
ation claims, but without success, being persistently baffled by the intrigues of the French diplomatists. On the invitation of the Duc de Bassano, in October, 1812, to a personal conference with the Em- peror at Wilna, in Poland, he began his journey, during which, from exposure to the inclemency of the season and conse- quent privations, he was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, from which he never recovered. He died on December 24, 1812, at Zarnavica, in Poland.
HUMPHREYS, David,
Soldier, Diplomatist.
David Humphreys, LL. D., to whom belongs the honor of having been the first to secure the rights and privileges of freshmen in the social life of Yale Uni- versity, was born in Derby, Connecticut, July 10, 1752, son of Rev. Daniel Hum- phreys, a minister of the Congregational denomination.
He was graduated from Yale College in 1771. Entering the Continental army as captain under General Samuel H. Par- sons at the breaking out of the Revolu- tionary War, he served upon the staff of General Putnam in 1778, and was ap- pointed aide-de-camp to General Wash- ington in 1780. After the close of the war he was presented, by act of Congress, with a handsome sword in recognition of his gallantry at the siege of Yorktown. He accompanied the commander-in-chief, Washington, to Mount Vernon, and re- mained there for nearly a year. In 1784 he was appointed secretary to Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jeffer- son, who went abroad for the purpose of establishing friendly relations and nego- tiating commercial treaties with Euro- pean nations. After an absence of two years, the greater part of which time was
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spent in London and Paris, he returned, and in 1786 was elected to the Legisla- ture from his native town. Being once more invited to Mount Vernon, he resided there with Washington until 1789, when he went to New York with his illustrious patron, and in 1790 was appointed Minis- ter to Portugal, arriving at his post of duty in the following year. While visit- ing this country in 1794, he was entrusted with the charge of affairs in the Barbary States in connection with the Portuguese Mission, which he held for seven years and until transferred to Madrid as Minis- ter Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain, where he remained until the appointment of his successor, Charles E. Pinckney, in 1802. During the War of 1812 he served as brigadier-general of Connecticut volun- teers, and at the conclusion of hostilities he retired to private life. He had previ- ously imported one hundred Merino sheep, and in his later years he was engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods.
Colonel Humphreys began to compose verses while in college, and during the Revolution he wrote a number of patriotic poems. His poem entitled "An Address to the Armies of the United States" be- came popular in this country, created a favorable impression in England, and was translated into French. He was the author of : "The Happiness of America," a poem on agricultural pursuits ; and the translator of "The Widow of Malabac," a tragedy from the French of La Lierre. He was also concerned in producing the "Anarchiad," which appeared at Hartford about the year 1786, and an edition of which, purporting to be the first ever pub- lished in book form, appeared at New Haven in 1861. While residing in Lis- bon, Colonel Humphreys married Miss Bulkly, a wealthy English lady. He died in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1818.
BUSHNELL, David,
Inventor, Father of Submarine Vessels.
David Bushnell was born at Saybrook, parish of Westbrook, Connecticut, about 1742. He was a descendant of Francis Bushnell, an Englishman, who emigrated to the New Haven colony in 1638 and be- came one of the founders of Guilford. His father was a farmer, and until left an orphan, David followed the same occupa- tion, and then began preparation for col- lege under Rev. John Devotion, pastor of the Congregational church at Saybrook. He entered Yale College in 1771, and stood high in mathematics during his course.
In his freshman year he projected a submarine boat, the first capable of loco- motion of which there is any authentic record, for the purpose of destroying Brit- ish vessels, especially those in the harbor of Boston. The "American Turtle," or "Torpedo," as it was also called, was com- pleted in 1775, the year of Bushnell's graduation, and was built at Saybrook. It was built of oak and bore some resem- blance to two upper tortoise shells joined together, the entrance being at the open- ing made by the swells of the shell at the head of the animal. The vessel was capa- ble of containing air sufficient to support the operator thirty minutes without ris- ing to the surface for a new supply. An oar, formed on the principle of an old- fashioned screw and fixed in the forward part, propelled it forward or backward; at the other end was a rudder. An aper- ture at the bottom, with a valve, admitted water for descending, and two pumps served to eject the water when necessary for ascending. A second oar placed at the top aided the operator to ascend or de- scend or to continue at any particular depth. A water gauge determined the depth of descent, and a compass, marked
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with phosphorus for night use, directed the course of the vessel. The vessel was chiefly ballasted with lead fixed to the bottom, and was provided with small glass windows. The magazine, or tor- pedo, which was carried outside of the boat, above the rudder, consisted of two pieces of oak, hollowed so as to hold one hundred and fifty pounds of gunpowder, with a clockwork percussion apparatus for firing it, and was connected by a line to a wood screw to be driven into the bottom of the hostile ship. The clock- work was set in motion by the detach- ment of the magazine, and the latter would at once float against the ship. Hav- ing demonstrated the practicability of building the vessel, and after a successful trial of the effects of the explosion of gun- powder under water, in February, 1776, Bushnell called the attention of Governor Trumbull and his council to it, and was requested to proceed with his experi- ments. In the same year he explained his project to General Washington, who fur- nished him with money and other assist- ance, although he thought "too many things were necessary to be combined to expect much from the issue against an enemy who are always on guard." Bush- nell met with repeated delays in carrying out his plans, and his first experiment was made not at Boston, but at New York, in August, 1776. The vessel se- lected was the man-of-war "Eagle" (some accounts say the "Asia"), lying off Gov- ernor's Island ; and General Putnam, with others, standing on the wharf at New York, waited with great anxiety for the result. Bushnell's brother, who was to carry out the project, became ill, and Ser- geant Ezra Lee was selected as a substi- tute. The latter reached the "Eagle" about midnight, but owing to the strength of the tide and lack of experience in man- aging the "Turtle," failed to attach the
screw and finally lost the ship. Before he sighted her again, day had dawned and, believing himself to be discovered, he cast off the magazine and put back to New York. An hour later the magazine blew up with great violence, but nowhere near the British fleet. Later two attempts were made in the Hudson river, but with- out tangible results. Failing to obtain further pecuniary assistance, and being out of health, Bushnell abandoned the "Turtle" temporarily, and began to de- vise other means of destroying shipping. In April, 1777, the Connecticut Council authorized him to continue his experi- ments at the public expense, and for two years he was thus engaged in different places. In August, 1777, he made an at- tempt from a whaleboat against the frigate "Cerberus," lying in Black Point bay, near New London, by drawing a magazine against her side by means of a line. The machine was loaded with pow- der to be exploded by a gunlock, which was to be unpinioned by an apparatus to be turned by being brought alongside of the frigate. This machine fell in with a schooner astern of the frigate, and de- molished it, together with three men who were on board. This was the first vessel ever destroyed in such a manner. Com- modore Symonds, of the "Cerberus," at once sailed for New York to give warn- ing of the "secret modes of mischief the rebels were devising." In December, 1777, Bushnell charged several kegs with powder in such a way that they would explode on contact, and set them afloat in the Delaware river, above the British shipping at Philadelphia. Owing to the darkness they were left at too great a dis- tance and were obstructed and dispersed by the ice. One of them arrived off the city on January 5, and blew up a boat containing two boys who had attempted to take it up. Soon afterward, the ap-
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pearance of other kegs alarmed the Brit- ish, and the incident was turned to ac- count by Francis Hopkinson in his famous ballad, "The Battle of the Kegs."
Early in May, 1779, Bushnell, with others, was captured near Norwalk, Con- necticut, by a party of the enemy which had landed at night. He was not recog- nized, and a few days later was exchanged as a civilian. In the summer of that year a corps of sappers and miners was organ- ized in the Continental army, and Bush- nell was appointed one of its captain-lieu- tenants, with commission dated August 2. On June 19, being then at New Wind- sor-on-the-Hudson, he was promoted to captain, accompanied Washington's force to Virginia, and took part in the siege of Yorktown. Returning to the camps on the Hudson, he served until the last troops were disbanded, in December, 1783, being then in command at West Point. The issue of Bushnell's experiments depressed him greatly. His failures were due to a series of accidents ; and, while he did not receive the support he expected from the government, he retained the confidence of those who were acquainted with his work. After the war he returned to Say- brook, but soon sailed for France, and it was supposed that he perished during the revolution of 1792. On the contrary, after some years of travel and business specula- tion, he returned to the United States, set- tling in Georgia. Through his old fellow- soldier, Hon. Abraham Baldwin, about 1796, he became the head of a school of high grade in Columbia county. A few years later he settled in Warrenton and practiced as a physician. Before going to Georgia he had, for unknown reasons, dropped the second syllable of his name, and no one but Baldwin knew him except as "Dr. Bush." He was a member of the Connecticut branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. He left a handsome property
which passed to the children of his brother Ezra, and the news of his legacy was the first information about him his relatives had received for forty years. In 1881, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, published an historical compilation treat- ing of Bushnell and his work, and con- ceded to him the distinction of having originated modern submarine warfare, Fulton's offensive machines being simply a development and improvement of Bush- nell's. Captain Bushnell died at Warren- ton, Georgia, in 1824.
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