USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > History of East Haven > Part 17
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"While on their passage across the sound, as day- light appeared, Captain Morris recognized one of his captors as a man who had lived in the town of East Haven, and had been for a time in his employ. Turn- ing to him with the same commanding air and tone of authority that he was wont to assume when occa- sion demanded it and which few men ever wielded with more effect, he exclaimed, 'And is it you, J! What do you mean, sir, by this treatment?' The tory, cower- ing at the captain's rebuke, replied, 'You shan't be hurt, Squire, you shan't be hurt.' 'Hurt,' retorted the squire, 'What do you call such treatment as this?
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Dragging a man from his bed, in the dead of the night, tearing him from his family, plundering his house, exposing him, half-clad, to the air of the cold night, in an open boat, is this no hurt, sir?' His son, taking courage from this bold tone, and seeing its effect, cast his eye upon the plunder, and discovered among it his father's coat, and threw it to him in the other end of the boat. It was a time of more than ordinary solicitude on the part of the son for his family, his wife being in delicate health, and profit- ing by the lesson of his captors, he availed himself of a dark night to effect his escape. The effort cost him many perils and hardships, but was in the end successful. Captain Morris was subsequently liber- ated on his parole." [Morris Gen.]
The British now pulling oar for the shore were about 1,500 men, composed of the 23d Regiment, the Hessian, Landgrave, and King's American regiments and two pieces of cannon. As soon as the boats were within range, the fieldpiece, which a company of East Haven patriots had hauled to the beach at Morris Point and was masked, opened fire. When half a mile from shore, the line of boats divided, one division put- ting into Morris Cove. On account of the well-served battery of three guns on Black Rock Fort (now Fort Hale) they were compelled to land near where the Grove House wharf is now built. General Tryon it appears landed here, and from the top of the Palisades directed the storming of the Rock Fort. The other line of boats landed on the beach east of the outer rocky point, and as it landed, an officer hailed the shore, shouting, "Disperse, ye rebels !" and the next moment fell back into the boat dead, from the fire
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of this detachment, who were armed with rifles. This was the first enemy killed on the East shore; he was Adjutant Watkins of the King's American regiment. As soon as life was extinct, they buried him near the Old Lighthouse. In fact that is what they did with all those killed on the East shore. It seemed to be their object to conceal their loss from the patriots as soon as possible, and their dead were buried along their line of march. The main body after forming on the beach and throwing out skirmishers, one party going along the Fowler Creek meadows, east side, and the other along the beach, protected by a section of marines and sailors in Morris Cove, took up its march. As the advance guard of this division approached the Morris mansion, they were frequently fired upon, and this grand old manor house, built of stone, was the first to be consigned to the flames, together with the barns and all other buildings.
When the alarm guns called to arms, great fear and consternation seized all, as it was evident that rapine and murder would mark every step. The first thing to be done was to send the women and children, with what valuables could be best collected and transported, to a place of safety. Those who possessed horses quickly saddled and loaded them with bags of house- hold goods, while others filled oxcarts with the same, driven by the mothers or older children, while the fathers and older sons seized their guns, to go forth to harass and annoy the enemy.
The time of preparation was so short that many heard the whistling of bullets from the guns of the enemy. The experience of one family is nearly the same of all those fleeing to some place of supposed
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safety. "Captain Morris and his men made every effort to secure such loose or movable property as could be conveyed to secret places in the short time allowed for such work. Some were hidden in ditches, some in a bushy swale, and some were carried to the woods whither the stock had been driven, excepting the swine, which took fright at the discharge of muskets, and breaking out of the sty took shelter in a field of rye. They remained at the house as long as prudence would permit, securing the property. His last act before leaving was to spread a table with refreshments and luxuries for their entertainment, with the hope of rendering them more favorably dis- posed toward himself, and thus saving his buildings.
"Being now about to leave he cast a glance out of the door, and saw a company of redcoats, within a stone's throw, advancing towards the houses. 'They are upon us,' he exclaimed; and with his hired men made their retreat under cover of the house, until they gained a stone wall. By this time the house was no longer between them and the enemy and a rapid fire was immediately opened upon them. The stone wall protected them, until they reached a pair of bars in the wall; as they passed this, they were greeted with a shower of bullets, but escaped all injury. One of the balls struck a rail just above Mr. Morris' head and grooved out its center. The rail remained in its place on the farm till 1845, when that portion showing the mark of the ball was placed with the Connecticut His- torical Society of Hartford. He now escaped into the woods just beyond, and finally joined his family. His house, barns, and buildings for the manufacture
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of salt and cider, and for storing goods, were burned, inflicting a loss of more than £1,235.
"A short time after the war, Captain Morris had occasion to visit the state prison, and to his surprise discovered among the prisoners the man who betrayed him at the time of his capture by the British. 'What! is it you, J?' he exclaimed, 'and have you come to this?' Not another word was spoken; but calling to. mind the noble revenge prescribed in the gospel, he drew from his pocket a golden coin, and saw the tory brush away a tear as he received it." [Morris Gen.] This same fellow was engaged in a raid on the house of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton, in Bethany, Connecticut, with five others, headed by a British officer, five of whom were caught, tried, convicted and sentenced to Newgate prison.
The march from the Point to the Palisades was rapid and destructive. The Pardee houses, and one belonging to the brother of Captain Morris were fired, and destroyed; Jacob Pardee's house was held for a short time as Tryon's headquarters. The Pardees had barely time to throw into an oxcart their valuables, which they buried in Bridge swamp, a few rods north- east of Jeddy Andrews' house. The enemy destroyed everything in their wake; but several of them had fallen and were hastily buried in the thick woods just off the road. The earthworks on Beacon Hill and at Black Rock Fort were the only obstacles that this powerful land and sea force had to oppose them. The enemy did not get possession of the Rock Fort until its brave defenders had expended all their ammuni- tion. The fort was stormed by Tryon's land force, and at the same time their shipping drew up and attacked
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it from the harbor. The fort had only 19 men, under the command of Lieutenant Bishop, and three pieces of artillery, yet was defended as long as reason or valor dictated, and then the patriots spiked and dis- mounted the guns, and retreated northward, but were outnumbered and captured, when not far distant. Everything in the Cove was now in blazing or smok- ing ruins, and the advance guard of the main body was marching up what is now Townsend avenue, a road of only two rods width thickly set on each side with bushes, stone, and in some places a Virginia rail fence, forming an excellent covert, from which the patriots were firing on the enemy with much execution.
The next house after leaving the Cove was Mr. Joseph Tuttle's, standing opposite the present Town- send homestead. Mr. Tuttle owned the farm extending from Black Rock to Beacon Hill, which he sold to the Townsends in 1709. Mr. Tuttle and his eldest son, Josiah, a lad not yet seventeen, were in the fort defend- ing it; both were now prisoners of war. His son was a regularly enlisted soldier, having joined Captain Phineas Bradley's company when only sixteen years and four months old. The British on both sides of the harbor were led by Joshua Chandler's sons. William led those on the West side, and Tom, those on the East side. Chandler was acquainted with Mr. Tuttle and knew the ground well, having hunted it over, often, with the boys on the East side. On coming to his house, Chandler told the officer this was Tuttle's house, and pointed him out. The officer told Mr. Tuttle they would burn his house and everything surrounding it, if he would not lay down his arms, and promise he would not take them up again. He replied, "Not for
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all the gold in the British kingdom." A shout rang out, "Run the rebel through." He raised his right hand high above his head and said, "By all the laws of civilized warfare you are bound to protect your prisoners." The officer then asked, "What are you fighting for, any way?" "God and my right," was his reply. The same shout rang out the second time. The officer, waving his sword, said, "No, you cannot do that; that is the King's motto, and you cannot do it, but he will get his rights in the old hulk Jersey."
Our troops were forced back step by step. Some of the East Haven patriots had fallen back on the road east of Prospect Hill; others remained with the main body, fighting and disputing every inch of the way, and keeping up a galling fire upon the British from bushes and hedges in front and flank; and from this point there was continual slaughter until the earth- works on Beacon Hill were carried. The patriot forces were about equally divided, some in the road, and some in the fields, keeping back the skirmishers and sending an occasional volley into the advance guard, always with effect. There were two fieldpieces, under the gallant Lieutenant Pierpont ; these would open a rak- ing fire, and then be rapidly hauled back by the brave patriots, and then moved to a new position, each shot making a swath through the ranks of the invaders.
The Tuttle house, barns, outhouses and fields of ripened grain were now in a fierce blaze. On the site of the present residence of Mr. Asa L. Fabrique, the British met with a severe check. At this point was a clump of bushes and towards the road a brush hedge. About 40 of the patriots masked themselves behind this hedge. Below, our troops were hard pressed, as
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the enemy's cannon were better served, and it was decided to make one more stand, fire, and fall back up the road to the intrenchment on Beacon Hill, where they had sent their cannon. As the enemy followed, the party behind the fence were to welcome them with a shower of leaden hail, and then fall back to the hill. The stand was made when the enemy were mid- way between the Mitchell and Townsend houses. The order was given to fire, which they did with consider- able effect. A general stampede took place as agreed upon; but Adam Thorp of North Haven said "he would not run another step for all Great Britain." He loaded and fired his piece and the next instant fell, pierced with many bullets. He was the first one of the patriots killed from the East side, of whom we have any record. Afterwards the spot was marked with a stone thus inscribed: "Here fell Adam Thorp, July 5th, 1779." His great-grandson, Sheldon Thorp, says he was buried in North Haven.
This check brought the whole division to a halt, and after the smoke had cleared away, the patriots were seen retreating toward the hill, and the division advanced at double quick. The advance guards had passed the patriots in the bushes, when Captain Bradley said, "Wait till you see their eyes, then fire and run." This was done with great effect. The street was strewn with killed and wounded. The patriots, who fell back to the hill, were pursued by the British in hot haste; they lost one of their field pieces, but the other now opened upon the enemy, causing them to halt under the depression of the hill, out of range, a few rods north of Mr. E. J. Upson's resi-
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dence. There lying flat on the ground, out of harm's way, they rested, till reinforcements came up; the hill was stormed, the patriots falling back, some north- wards towards the ferry, others to the heights, and to Saltonstall. The fighting on the East side was now practically over, but the burning and devastation by the British continued to the water's edge. The dead were many, buried in the rye lands on the west side of the road, north of the Tuttle home; the spot being burned over, the locality of the graves was not dis- covered. Many wounded soldiers were seen being taken to the boats, and carried on board the fleet, and it was supposed that the dead were removed, in order to hide their great loss.
The next house north of the Tuttle house was that of John Woodward, Sr., which they burned, with all the out-buildings; the site was where the old Wood- ward mansion stands, now owned by C. Edward Woodward. General Tryon made Beacon Hill his headquarters, sending one detachment north to Tuttle's Hill (now the site of the reservoir of the New Haven Water Company) and another to the lower ferry, now called Tomlinson's bridge.
The next house on the line of march was that of John Woodward, Jr. (the site of the present residence of Collis B. Granniss), which they also burned. After pillaging and burning this house, their march was towards the lower ferry, kept by Henry Freeman Hughes. His house was directly opposite the brick residence of the late Samuel Forbes, on what is now Forbes avenue. It happened at this time that two of Mr. Hughes' sons, John and Daniel, had gone into the country to Simsbury, to
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visit their brother, who had removed thither a year previous. Their object was to see the country with the intent to each buy a farm if sufficiently pleased. On the alarm of the approach of the British, his only daughter, Abigail, and John's wife filled bags of the valuables of the house, and placing them on a horse, fled to the woods, where they remained over night. This took the remaining horse, and left nothing to propel the scow ferry boat. The enemy came rushing on to the ferry. Mr. Hughes was alone with his invalid wife, who was a cripple, and had not walked a step for years. She was greatly alarmed, and fear- ing she would be taken and killed persuaded him to desist from his purpose of fleeing.
The advance guard rushed into his fields of grain and corn, trampling and destroying both. They broke open and scattered his flour and sugar, pitched his pork about with their bayonets, and let out his molasses and rum till his cellar was shoe deep with the mixture. They also abused him, one soldier piercing his ear with a bayonet. When the officers came up, while the blood was still trickling down on his shoulder, he went out and asked protection. They said: "Are you a friend to King George?" He replied, "I am." Then they told him no further violence would be done, and placed a guard around his house. From this cir- cumstance, his brother-in-law, Joseph Tuttle, before mentioned, called him a tory, which the family justly resented and denied.
Mr. Hughes did not keep a store, but like many other men in the maritime towns of Connecticut was interested in West India shipping, and he kept staple groceries and provisions on hand, for his own use, and
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the accommodation of those who did not wish to cross the ferry to New Haven. His house always afforded accommodation for those who desired it, when pre- vented from crossing by adverse winds or tides; or, having spent the day in travel, wayfarers would pass the night with him before entering the city.
Mr. Jehiel Forbes' stone mansion was the next place upon which the British wreaked their vengeance. After breaking and destroying everything possible, they burned out the interior, leaving only the blackened walls of this beautiful home. The next house to be destroyed was Mr. Elam Luddington's-a new house just completed, standing on the site nearest the water's edge on the north side of the road. Mr. Luddington was the fourth heaviest loser by this invasion. The next and last house to be destroyed was Capt. Timothy Tuttle's, standing on the shore south of Forbes avenue where a small stone house now stands. The walls of this house were stone, so it was not entirely destroyed. Captain Tuttle was a brother of Joseph Tuttle. Gurdon Bradley of East Haven had a sloop lying at a wharf in front of Captain Tuttle's house, which they also burned. They had now reached the water's edge, and there was nothing more they could burn and destroy. Every house and building from Morris Point to Tomlinson's bridge had been swept by the flames, excepting the Hughes house, which they now made officers' quarters.
General Tryon sent a detachment to occupy the vil- lage of East Haven, but the enemy's advance only reached the "Stone Meetinghouse," which they ran- sacked for plate, and then fell back to the hill, near the present residence of L. F. Richmond, Esq.
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Several shots were exchanged between the patriots and British, for when the old Bradley house (the site of the present Levi Bradley home) was taken down, many bullet holes were found in the timbers.
When the patriots retreated from Beacon Hill they were pursued in hot haste by some British skirmishers, and Chandler Pardee, a son of Mr. Jacob Pardee, was shot on the fresh meadows, a ball entering one lung, and he was left on the field for dead. Soon after he was taken to the Governor Saltonstall house, where Dr. Hubbard extracted the ball, and he recovered to tell the story while a prisoner in New York, to the same party of soldiers who had left him dying, as they sup- posed, on the field.
Not far from the place where Pardee fell lived Mr. Samuel Tuttle, who with his neighbors had marched to meet the foe. Satisfied the day was lost, he returned home and started with a cart load of household effects to conceal in a quarry, east of the Pardee's or upper ferry, near the home of William Day. While Tuttle and Day were storing away their goods, the Chandler Pardee pursuers passed Mr. Tuttle's house, which they set on fire. Mrs. Tuttle rushed out with her children into the tall grass. She saw the regulars aiming their muskets, when she called to her children "to lie down in the grass, and say their prayers, as they had but one minute to live." The next instant the whole volley went over their heads. The pursuers passed on, and the neighbors put out the fire with water from the brook. This party made a circuit of the peat meadows and, coming back, found Day and Tuttle, and made them prisoners. They slaughtered Tuttle's cattle; Day being an Englishman, they permitted him to
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escape, after he had shown them a spring of water, in the rear of Mr. G. E. Lancraft's house, saying, "When I am drinking, I can't see all that passes." Tuttle was carried to New York, where he was paroled after six months.
The detachment sent to what is now Reservoir Hill found the fieldpiece used on Beacon Hill; this the patriots had hauled there on their retreat, fired a num- ber of times, but finally spiked and rolled down the hill into the bushes near Mr. Roswell Lancraft's house, now called Burwell street. This was sent on board the fleet. This detachment busied themselves with roasting an ox on the hill in the evening, which was distributed among the different corps. On the site of the present N. W. Kendall mansion, forty different animals were slaughtered, with pigs and poultry in great abundance, all of which were sent on board the fleet. After the enemy had left, Mr. Isaac Pardee took from this hill the sheep and cattle skins and had them tanned. The detachment sent to Ferry Hill, now near Quinnipiac bridge, seemed to destroy little, as there was only one house on the line of their march ; and for some reason they did not burn that which is still stand- ing, on South Quinnipiac street, No. 332, for the last sixty years known as the Goodyear house.
The condition of affairs in the harbor at a little after two o'clock in the afternoon when General Tryon reached Beacon Hill was about this: A line of British ships lay anchored the whole length of the bay, with springs on their cables, and guns run out on both sides, ready to belch forth fire and destruction as soon as the expected order should be given to fire the town. General Tryon kept chiefly on the East side; but
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crossed over to New Haven before sunset, holding a council of war with General Garth and Commodore Collier. The council now found their losses in officers and men had been heavy, and the patriots, better armed than they expected, had made a stubborn resist- ance; that the country around New Haven being hilly, it was not safe to go any farther inland for forage; that large reinforcements, with heavy cannon, were actually occupying high ground about the north part of the city and that the militia were coming in from all directions. The harbor was shoal, and many of the vessels at this time, 8 P. M., were touching bottom, and one large vessel did actually lie on her broadside guns, just out of water. It was decided to hold the north and west part of the town over night, with the balance of the tired and drunken soldiers, who were collected on the Green, having been commanded to lie on their arms all night. General Garth fearing his men would become too drunk to remain safe on shore, proposed to Tryon to go on board that night, but Tryon refused.
Affairs at 9 P. M. July 5th were in the worst possible condition, as the British soldiers were mostly all drunk and lying in the open air on the Green, sur- rounded by a few sober ones, who stood guard to keep them from getting more rum. The officers were at a banquet at the house of Joshua Chandler, the father of William and Tom, who acted as pilots for the British. At one o'clock in the morning of July 6th the troops were ordered to parade, and the tories were notified of the departure. About forty people left with the British, the Chandlers among the number. It is well they did, for had they remained not one of
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the three would have lived to see the setting sun. The enemy was in a constant state of alarm, and were all concentrated within a hollow square of sentinels for the night. It has since been believed, that had the patriot militia known the state of things they could have come into town about midnight and made the whole division prisoners. The withdrawal of the British from the town has been described as partaking of the ridiculous-the drunken, reeling soldiers trying to keep in line, carts and wagons and even wheel- barrows being used to get them to the boats. Drunk- enness has not been ascribed to the enemy on the East side, and certainly they did not appreciate, or appro- priate, Mr. Hughes' rum, which they let out in his cellar with his molasses.
On the morning of the 6th of July they called in their outposts and the march of the main body began before sunrise. Some of the troops went directly to the shipping, others who were sober enough crossed the ferry and joined General Tryon's division on Beacon Hill, and the whole body left the hill about noon Tuesday. As the last boat shoved off from the East Haven shore, the Pardee house at Morris Cove, in which officers had been posted, was standing. This boat was ordered back to fire the house, and every house from Morris Cove to lower ferry, except one in which officers had been quartered, was burned. It seems that when the last ship left the pier, she fired several shots at the town, as a parting salute, while sailing down the bay, and as she was passing Black Rock Fort, which had been re-occupied by the patriots, as well as the earthworks on Beacon Hill, she rounded to and fired a whole broadside at the fort. Many
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balls bounded as far as Beacon Hill, one of which struck Isaac Pardee, aged twenty-two, severing his head clear from the body. He was just ascending the hill, on the street side, with Mr. Smith of South End, having gone to a spring to bring water. Smith says they heard the report of the firing; he turned with Pardee to look, saw the ball and dodged it but it carried away Pardee's head. Pardee and Thorp are the only ones of those who were killed of whom any record is given. Chandler Pardee of the East side was wounded but recovered. If there were any wounded or killed at Black Rock Fort, no record has been made of it, so far as is known. The estimate made of the enemy's losses during the invasion sums up two hundred in killed, wounded and missing. As to the missing, it is an established fact that many Hessians deserted and remained in New Haven, choosing honor- able trades and becoming good citizens. There were certainly several of the British killed and wounded while landing, also others in the woods north of Morris Cove and back of Prospect Hill, where they were quickly buried. East Haven patriots said the loss was heavy after Thorp fell.
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