USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Salisbury > Historical collections relating to the town of Salisbury, Litchfield county, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
The following original papers, in the possession of the writer, may be of interest in this connection, as showing the method employed in levying on the militia, and the sort of equipment that was considered sufficient in those days :-
[A] To Mr. Abial Camp Clerk of ye first Train Band in Salisbury Greeting. By Virtue of Authority to me Derived from ye Colonel of this Regiment-you are hereby Required to Impress or Detach ye following persons Viz :- Thomas Burchard, Joseph Fitch and Tunis Surdam, to be in Readiness at a minute's Warning to proceed to Lake George when by me called for, or any other officers whom ye Govern- ment shall appoint. You are to give each of them Liberty to Inlist within 24 hours from their Impressment & that they shall be Intitled to a Premium of 18 Shillings Lawfull Money, you are also to give each of them Liberty to provide for themselves half a pound of Powder, one pound of Lead Gun Blankett and other Necessary accoutrements & they shall be Intitled to a Reward according to ye late act of Government in that case made: but if they Refuse or are not able to provide for themselves, you are to
I35
A Brief Military History
Impress ye same, so that each man be Compleat-fail not hereof & make Return to me as soon as may be.
Dated at Salisbury October 28th : 1756 Samuel More Capt" of sd Compy
If either of ye above men are not to be had you are to Detach W:m Vallans Jn: and Alexander Bryan. (Endorsement) October ye 28th A.D. 1756 then by virtue ye within warrent was Impressed the body of ye within named Joseph Fitch and read ye same in his hearing-October ye 29th A.D. 1756 then by virtue of ye within warrent was Impressed of Hez. Camp Jnr one Gun one powder horn and half a pound of powder one bullet Pouch and one pound of bullets and half a dozen of flints-November ye 5th A.D. 1756 then by Virtue of ye within warrent was Impressed one blankit of Isaac Adams and one hatchet of Joshua Jewels. Ye above Sd Service was done on ye above Sd days according to Law Pr me Abiel Camp Clerk ye first training band in Salisbury.
[B] Abstract of a Regimental Order dated 25 October, 1756, under the hand of Joseph Minor, Colonel, addressed "To Captain Samuel Moore Captain of the first Military Company in the Town of Salsbury In ye 13th Regiment in the Colony of Connecticut."
This document is a printed form and directs Capt. Moore to enlist or detach three able-bodied and effective men from his company and to keep them in readiness to march when ordered.
The issuance of this order was pursuant to an act of the General Assembly sitting in New Haven on the second Thursday of Oct., 1756, "that there be forthwith raised and sent forward to our Army at Lake George eight Companies ; each to consist of one Hundred able-bodied and efficient Men, inclusive of Officers."
These troops were to be properly accoutered and voluntary enlistment carried with it a premium or bounty of 18 shillings "to be paid before their Departure out of the Government."
[C] To Capt. Samuel Moore of Salisbury Greeting in his Majesties name-Pursuant to Fresh Orders received from Thos Fitch Esq.re Cap.t Gen11 etc., upon sight hereof you are required to detach one-half of your Company under your command (including those already raised) properly armed and furnished with Provisions for their march & send them with a Serjeant forthwith to the Relief of Fort Edward or the Parts adjacent : to be under the Command of Capt John Marsh of Litchfield who will join them on ye Road or at Fort Edward-and attend such orders they shall receive from me or other their Superior Officers.
Eben Marsh Col.
Dated at Litchfld
, Aug.st 7th 1757.
I36
Historical Collections
[D] To James Landon and Samuel More the Captains of the Respec- tive Military Companies in Salisbury. Pursuant to Orders from the Capt General of the Colony of Connecticutt, you are hereby in his Majesties name, each of you, Commanded to Order all ye men in your respective Companies & all others in the Limits of your Companies yt are able to bear Arms forthwith to muster & hold themselves in Compleat Readiness to march to the Relief of Fort Edward if the same should be attacked, at the shortest warning.
Dated at Litchfield this 13th day of Augt A. D. 1757.
Eben Marsh Col.
In spite of the hardships which the war inflicted on Connecticut and her sister colonies, it was in one way, at least, advantageous to them. The provincial troops, acting in concert with the Reg- ular British Army, soon became familiar with the best military practice of the time, in all its phases from elementary tactics and discipline to strategy and fortification. They were apt scholars and as they became accustomed to the movements of large bodies of troops and the use of artillery, confidence in their ability to wage war in the "regular" manner increased. To be sure some of the English commanders who considered cooperation with "embattled farmers" as beneath their dignity, attempted to belittle them and to slight their officers, but unjust and impolitic as this was, it could not prevent the Americans from obtaining invaluable training, which they put to excellent use twenty years after, against their former instructors.
From the close of the French War, on, the policy of the British Government, or rather that of George the Third who dominated the entire situation, constantly excited hostility in the Colonies. The minor matter of slighting the raw soldiery, soon followed by the major matters of "taxation without repre- sentation," haling Colonial offenders before English tribunals for trial, and other arbitrary measures, fomented revolution.
But just as the abolition agitation, over half a century ago, gave rise eventually to the more important question of the maintenance of the Union, so the pre-revolutionary protests against England's administrative acts led up to the consideration of national independence and were but the popular expression of convictions which the Colonists themselves very likely did not fully analyze.
I37
A Brief Military History
As Professor Fisher clearly shows in his recent original and convincing history* of the period, the irrepressible cause of the Revolution originated in the Reformation itself, which effected a gradual but complete change, not only in the religious but in the political attitude of the masses toward their rulers, throughout a considerable part of Europe. That great movement compelled recognition of the natural law, that is to say the inherent right of men to enjoy personal liberty, and fostered a democratic spirit directly at variance with the feudalistic idea that had so long prevailed there. So in a newer sense, as to time and place, it was this long cherished and insistent desire for self-development, necessitating, theoretically at least, a form of government resting on the consent of the governed, which led these Colonies conven- iently adjacent to each other and increasing more rapidly in pop- ulation than England was, to defy the power of a government too far away, and too inefficient to enforce its policies.
Incidentally, Fisher explodes the theory long held by historians in general, that England profited by her lesson here in ruling her other Colonial possessions. He shows that instead of enlarging their privileges, she restricted them, and although more diplomatic in her attitude to-day, she holds Canada, Australia, and certain other dependencies, for all their premier systems of government, under practically the same parliamentary restraint as obtained here before the Revolution. She has been enabled to do this because in none of these scattered possessions of hers has there ever been a population so strongly united, racially and intel- lectually, as defied her in America one hundred and forty years ago.
So we see the Revolution as the logical climax of a long period of social evolution,-the mental awakening of the Reformation, the resultant non-conformity in England a century or so later, the removal to America of a multitude of people who held advanced ideas about personal liberty, their gradual negation of monarchical privileges and restrictions, and finally the appeal to arms, from which Democracy, like a champion, emerged tri- umphant before an astonished world.
* The Struggle for American Independence, by Sydney George Fisher, Vol. I, Chap. II.
I38
Historical Collections
Granting the logic of the causes and the fitness of the moment, even then the dénouement might have miscarried had the scene of its enactment been unfavorable. On the contrary and appar- ently as part of a predestined arrangement, the natural phe- nomena and vast extent of the colonies afforded a peculiarly advantageous setting for it.
The interior portions of all but three of the thirteen original states are mountainous and history and romance alike have always associated hatred of oppression and indomitable courage with hill-dwelling peoples. Their virility and self-reliance, engendered by the exigencies of rough living, and their intense patriotism are proverbial. So it was for instance with the Thracians, the Swiss, the Welsh and the Highland Scots, who for centuries frustrated their enemies, however numerous and powerful.
In accord with these immemorial attributes the men of Salis- bury and the hill-towns all the way into northern Vermont were quick to resent any abuse of authority, and to support their con- victions at any cost of life or fortune.
It is true that nearly all of the principal leaders of the Revolu- tionary movement lived in the seaports which first felt the effects of foreign interference, but when the time came for England to concentrate her wrath upon these commercial centers, their cry for help was heard in the backwoods and on the uplands, and was not ignored.
Ethan Allen was a typical hill-man, physically robust, choleric and aggressive, and constantly seeking new outlets for his energy. He was living here in the days immediately preceding the pas- sage of the Stamp Act, and was constantly going and coming between this town and the New Hampshire Grants, which he and other Salisbury men were opening to settlement. Another such, though of a more academic cast, was Dr. Thomas Young of Amenia, and later of Boston, one of the foremost propagandists of the Sons of Liberty.
It seems like a sweeping statement, but it is one susceptible of proof, to say that the State of Vermont owes more for its estab- lishment to Salisbury than to any other social unit in the world. In Vermont history there are written, as large as that of Wash-
139
A Brief Military History
ington in Virginia or Trumbull in Connecticut, the names of Genl. Ethan Allen, his older brother, Genl. Ira Allen, Gov. Thomas Chittenden and Chief Justice Nathaniel Chipman. These four all went out from this town, the first three just before the war, and Chipman later after seeing service as a Salisbury soldier. Of lesser men there were dozens who went up to the Grants, not singly with their families, but in parties of families. The draft of the original constitution of Vermont was penned in Lakeville,* and the first meetings of several Vermont towns were held here, prior to their settlement, because so many of their proprietors were resident in this locality.
When we stop to think of the loss entailed upon our town by such waves of emigration as that which swept over Vermont, and others like it, a little later, over western New York and the Con- necticut Reserve in Ohio, it is astonishing that our record is as brilliant as it is that our political status has been so well preserved.
But to return from this digression. The closing of the Port of Boston to commerce, in June, 1774, was in effect the spark that touched off the conflagration that had been so many years a-making.
The May Session of the Connecticut General Assembly drew up a moderate, and indeed loyal memorial, or rather protest against this and similar measures. It was generally approved, as an expression of public sentiment, but events were moving too rapidly for any such deprecatory and pacific attitude to be popular for long, especially here, where New York Tories had long been hated for their interference with the settlement of the Grants, and where the doings of the British in Boston were held to have a direct application to all New England.
On August 22, 1774, Salisbury spread upon her records, still to be seen in the room below us, her own Declaration of Rights. Who penned it will probably never be known, but although the phraseology is tinctured with the florid rhetoric then in fashion, it was no mean quill-driver who wrote it, but some one who knew, as did the author of the Declaration of Independence itself,
* History of Vermont, by Zadock Thompson, Second Part, p. 107.
140
Historical Collections
the impressive effect of mouth-filling periods. The document is unique : I have seen nothing of the kind in neighboring towns, and it is of real value as showing the forwardness of the spirit here, which was thus manifested even before the assembling of the First Continental Congress. The record runs like this :-
Salisbury Aug. 22, 1774.
The Inhabitants of Said Town were convened according to law. Col. Joshua Porter Esq. of said Salisbury being chosen Moderator of said meeting, but having intelligence that his child was very sick, desired to be dismissed from said office.
Voted that Mr. John Everts is Moderator of this meeting.
After reading and deliberating upon the several Acts and Laws denouncing dangerous exertions of Parliamentary Power as well as a partial, absurd and self confuted spirit of Punitive malevolence particu- larly leveled against the Province of the Massachusets Bay and being deeply impressed with the visible declension of Virtue and Rectitude of British Administration which threaten insupportable convulsions to the whole Empire and willing as far as in them lies to ward off the impending Ruin and revive the Expiring Liberties of their Country, adopted the following Resolves viz.
Ist That as touching the Chartered Rights of this Colony and the memorable Act of Blocking up the Port and Harbour of Boston (in its meaning indefinite and contradictory, in its measures inadequate, in its operations arbitrary and cruel) our sense is well defined and with just spirit asserts in the Resolutions of the last honored House of Repre- sentatives-That the sentiments which breathe in every paragraph happily anticipate our own and therefore to enter them on the Records of this town is a publick Testimony of our approbation and justly due thereto.
2nd That in view of the late Act of Parliament regulating or rather destroying the Internal Government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay as an alarming prelude to the total Annihilation of the ancient and unrivaled Glories of the British Constitution as thereby a horrible dart is hurled at the breast of sacred Liberty a precedent established to sanctify the grossest outrages on the Rights of human kind, and a punishing with unparallelled Rigour not a private Individual but a large oppulent and Loyal Province with the loss of its dearest Charter Priviledges without even the formalities of a trial,- That it is therefore the duty of every man who values our Commercial and Political Connexions with Great Britain as the least blessing to unite in all lawful means to effect their total abolition.
3rd That to this end the proposed general Congress of Sage and Virtuous Men from Each Colony will most contribute. In the mean- time we cheerfully leave it to that august convention to say in what manner our mite shall be directed.
14I
A Brief Military History
4th That our poor Brothers of Boston now suffering for us shall share with us the Blessings of our plentiful Harvest. That for the purpose subscriptions be taken in by Hezekiah Fitch Esq., Capt. Elisha Sheldon, Messrs. Luke Camp and Lot Norton and Capt. Samuel Lane.
5th. That as this Town (tho far removed from the principal seat of Action) forms a part of the Reputable Publick and ought to co operate therewith, Col. Joshua Porter and Hezekiah Fitch Esq. Capt. Abiel Camp, Dr. Lemuel Wheeler and Mr. Josiah Stoddard be a committee for the useful purpose of Correspondence with other Committees of this Nature.
6th. That a copy of these Resolves be forthwith transmitted to the Delegates of the General Congress appointed for this Colony.
Io Oct. 1774.
Voted that Capt. Timothy Chittenden be a committee man in addition to the committee chosen on the 22nd day of August last to receive in subscriptions for the poor of the Town of Boston.
Salisbury Dec. 5, 1774.
At a Legal Town Meeting held by adjournment. Whereas by a former meeting it was resolved to adjourn the same till the Rising of the General Continental Congress then sitting that the Inhabitants of this Town might have an opportunity to the Determination of that August Body and the Measures they should recommend to the People of this Continent and having received the Articles of Association agreed upon by them, We do Now Vote Istly that we acquiesce in Accept of the Doings of the late Continental Congress and agreeable to the IIth article of Association Signed by Said Congress appoint Col. Joshua Porter, Mr. Luke Camp, Lieut. Nathaniel Buell, Mr. Lot Norton, Mr. William Beebe, Hezekiah Fitch Esq., and Capt. Elisha Sheldon a committee for the purposes mentioned in Said 11th Article .*
Voted 2ndly that the Doings of said Congress be Recorded at Large on the Records of the Town.
Time does not admit of detailed individual mention of our Revolutionary soldiers: there are one hundred and forty-one of them credited to this town on the military records of the state and a further number, conservatively estimated at fifty, in all likelihood belonged here, but the incompleteness of the records prevents our claiming them, without further investigation.
During the Revolutionary period two hundred and thirty-four electors of Salisbury took the Oath of Fidelity to the state, and from among these loyal men, both those in occasional active service as well as those incapacitated by age or disability, there
* The IIth Article related to non-importation of taxed articles.
142
Historical Collections
were chosen annually, standing Committees of Correspondence, committees to procure clothing for soldiers, to provide for soldiers' families, to inspect provisions and so on, and late in the war, committees to hire, with generous bounties, soldiers for the town's quota.
In passing, we must mention a few of the more prominent men and events. Salisbury men's first active service was in connection with the Ticonderoga enterprise in April-May, 1775. A few days after Lexington, some members of the Connecticut Legislature conceived the idea of capturing Fort Ticonderoga,* and using the armament there for the relief of Boston. Capt. Edward Mott, of New London County, was the leading spirit. Authorized by the Assembly and accompanied by half a dozen volunteers, he proceeded directly to Salisbury where the party was increased to sixteen. The expedition was financed by a number of gentlemen, who gave their personal notes to the State Treasurer to secure the necessary funds .; Among these was Col. Joshua Porter of Salisbury, at that time and all during the war (with the exception of one year) one of our representatives in the Legislature He was also in service at Ticonderoga for twenty-two days, immediately after the capture of the fortress.
Here then is a peg on which to hang our recollections. Prob- ably within a stone's throw of this building was collected the nucleus of the force with which Ethan Allen, both by word and deed, surprised Capt. De La Place, and from what we know of Ethan, I have a lurking suspicion that what he said to the British Commandant was couched in language considerably more familiar and picturesque than the generally attributed order to surrender in "the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress."
Three of the Salisbury volunteers in this expedition were Josiah Stoddard, Levi Allen (a brother of Ethan) and Samuel Blagden. The party proceeded to Bennington, picking up recruits along the line, and was finally augmented by the addition of one hun- dred Green Mountain Boys, with Allen at their head.
Benedict Arnold with a force raised under the authority of Massachusetts was present at the capture, but he acted inde-
* Record of Service of Conn. Men in the War of the Revolution (State pub. 1889), p. 29.
+ Records of the State of Conn., Vol. I, pp. 292-3.
I43
A Brief Military History
pendently, as he refused to serve under Allen, and the credit of carrying out the idea conceived in Connecticut was given to Allen and his men.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the Salisbury contin- gent in the American forces was the number of commissioned officers it contained, serving either in Connecticut Regiments or with the Green Mountain Boys-remarkable because it shows that Salisbury, even then, could produce men of the best type, qualified to command and to share in the conduct of important affairs. This list of thirty-three names is certainly deserving of special notice :-
Col. Elisha Sheldon
Lieut. Timothy Holcomb
Lieut .- Col. Samuel Blagden
Adonijah Strong
Nathaniel Buell
Roger Moore
Joshua Porter
Nathaniel Chipman
Heman Allen
Major Luther Stoddard Capt. Eleazer Claghorn
Richard Bignall
Josiah Stoddard
66 James Holmes
Gamaliel Painter
Daniel Brinsmaid
John Chipman
James Claghorn
Noah Lee
66 Jesse Sawyer
66 Nathaniel Everts, Jr.
66 Ebenezer Fletcher
Surgeon Darius Stoddard
Samuel Lane
Lemuel Wheeler
66 Joshua Stanton
Ensign Nathan Dauchy
David Beebe
Luke Camp
" Timothy Chittenden
66 Samuel Waterous
Ruloff Dutcher (sometimes called of Canaan)
James Skinner
The town's most distinguished Revolutionary soldier was Elisha Sheldon, who served during the greater part of the war as Colonel of the 2nd Light (Continental) Dragoons. This was one of four crack cavalry regiments raised in 1777. Samuel Blagden of Salisbury was Lieutenant-Colonel and Josiah Stod- dard one of the Captains in the same regiment. Several French volunteers of noble birth were also among the officers. Although the regiment was not recruited entirely in Connecticut, it con- tained several Salisbury privates.
I44
Historical Collections
Capt. Josiah Stoddard was one of four brothers, three of whom had varied and interesting careers. He died in service and shortly before his death, a duel which he fought over some military dispute gave occasion to the passage, by the Connecticut General Assembly, of an act to prevent such encounters .* These four brothers were all born, I believe, on the Warner farm near Ore Hill, and the quaint epitaph of one of them, Dr. Darius, may be read to-day, in Town Hill Cemetery.
Speaking of Town Hill reminds me that we just missed being able to enter on our roll of patriots the name of Genl. Richard Montgomery, for whom our Masonic Lodge was named. His tragic death before Quebec was one of the saddest events of the early years of the war. I do not find that he was ever a resident of Salisbury, but the old house that long bore his name was immediately connected with the fortunes of his wife and her family, the Livingstons, who took refuge there in 1777.
Adonijah Strong, afterwards a Colonel in the militia and a Judge of the County Court, was First Lieutenant of Bigelow's Artillery, the first organization in that branch of the service raised in Connecticut. Capt. John Chipman of Salisbury, serving in the Green Mountain regiment, was Commandant at Fort George in 1780, where most of his men were killed or captured, among whom was regimental Quartermaster James Coon, also of Salisbury, who was killed. Capt. Gamaliel Painter of Salis- bury commanded a company in the state's regiment of Artificers, which, as a part of the pioneer and construction corps, did great service on many fields. Capt. Noah Lee and a half dozen Salis- bury men served in Washington's main army at Yorktown and the preceding battles of that final campaign.
It is pleasant to be able to connect Salisbury's participation in the war with events which were not only successful from our standpoint, but which were accomplished only by distinguished gallantry. The capture of Ticonderoga we have noticed as an event eminently successful and affording the American forces arms and supplies, without which it would have been difficult to prosecute the struggle.
* Records of the State of Conn., Vol. II, p. 271.
.
I45
A Brief Military History
Another event illustrative of this daring spirit was the capture of Stony Point in July, 1779. General Wayne, "Mad Anthony," commanded the attack. The fort, with its garrison of some fifteen hundred men, occupied a rocky promontory jutting into the Hudson. The Americans approached with the utmost cau- tion and secrecy, and at midnight, with muskets unloaded and bayonets fixed, charged up the precipitous slopes and before two in the morning occupied the fort. In the right of the two main divisions making the assault marched Capt. Eleazer Clag- horn of Salisbury and his company of Connecticut Light Infantry. "The capture of Stony Point was regarded as one of the most brilliant as well as the most important achievements of the war." Two regiments, in which Salisbury had a representation of about forty men, figured in this event, and some of these same men had spent the previous winter at Valley Forge.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.