History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 21

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 21

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There were also during the war several detachments enlisted in Stratfield for service at a distance. One

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

of these took part in Arnold's expedition against Canada, and before its departure for the scene of action was mustered in the door-yard of Rev. Mr. Ross, where all knelt down while the clergyman in- voked the divine blessing upon them and their enter- prise.

In August, 1776, the Stratfield Train-Band joined Washington's army in New York for a brief term of service. It was attached to Silliman's Connecticut Brigade, and was officered by Capt. Thaddeus Bennett and Lieuts. Edward Burroughs and Josiah Lacey. The company suffered much from sickness, from the effects of which Licut. Burroughs and Private Ichabod French died, and sundry others were obliged to be discharged as unfit for service. Two of these, David Sherman and Stephen Sterling, were unable to make their way home until Abijah Sterling went down to their relief. He found them in a barn near Harlem, unable to move, and brought them home in his chaise, going on foot himself and leading his horse all the way. Both were eventually restored to health.

The Stratfield Train-Band narrowly escaped capture with its brigade when New York was evacuated by Washington, the order for retreat uot having been re- ceived in time. It took part in the battle of White Plains, and soon afterwards was mustercd out, its term of enlistment having expired. A few months after the discharge Josiah Lacey raised a company for the Continental army, and was commissioned as its cap- tain. Its term of service was three years, and it formed a part of Col. Philip Bradley's regiment, in Huntington's brigade.

With the exception of parties called out hastily in sudden emergencies, and as speedily disbanded when the danger was over, the foregoing were probably all the military companies recruited in Stratfield during the Revolution.

In the early part of the year 1777 great suffering was caused in Stratfield by the terrible scourge of smallpox, introduced by a party of exchanged pris- oners who had been landed at Stratford Point under a flag of truce. The horror of this complaint can be but faintly conceived by us at the present day. Vac- cination was unknown, and those who had contracted the disease were shunned even by their friends and nearest neighbors. People were afraid to travel upon the highway past the dwellings where the red flag showed the presence of the dreaded infection. The guard at the harbor forsook their posts, business was suspended, and yet, in spite of all precautions, the number sick at one time in Stratford township was estimated at six hundred persons.

In May, 1777, Timothy Wheeler and twelve other residents of Stratfield petitioned the Legislature for relief, and a few weeks later another petition was signed by Rev. Robert Ross and twenty-one others. In this it was stated that the condition of affairs had become insupportable; that the people were desper- ate, and even threatened to pull down the infected

houses and shoot the sufferers if the plague could be stayed in no other way.

By direction of the Legislature, Gen. Silliman, of Fairfield, took the matter in hand, and by the use of vigorous sanitary measures (though hardly such ex- treme ones as the petitioners threatened) the ravages of the discase were finally checked.

During the whole war the people of this place, in common with those of other towns along the coast, were exposed to constant alarms, occasioned by real or anticipated attempts of the enemy to land and burn their dwellings and plunder their property. The British fleet having control of Long Island Sound, and many of the able-bodied men being ab- sent in the Continental army, every strange sail ap- proaching the shore was viewed with apprehension and its movements carefully watched. The first at- tempt of the kind was unsuccessful. In March, 1777, seven British vessels anchored off Mill River (now Southport), and twelve or fourteen boat-loads of men tried to effect a landing, but were repulsed by the militia on shore, among whom was a company from Stratfield, commanded by Capt. Abijah Sterling and Lieut. Nathan Seeley.

Six weeks later, April 25, 1777, a fleet of twenty- six sail appeared at Compo Point and landed a force of two thousand men, commanded by the infamous Tryon, the Tory Governor of New York. Their des- tination was Danbury, where there was a depot of military stores belonging to the Continental army. At Redding Ridge, on the following morning, Tryon's light-horse wounded and captured a young American, Lambert Lockwood by name, who was bearer of a letter from Col. Cook, the officer in command at Dan- bury, to Gen. Silliman, of Fairfield. The messenger perhaps owed his life to the fact that he was recog- nized by Tryon, to whom he had rendered some assistauce several years before, when the Governor's carriage had broken down in passing through Nor- walk. After the Revolution, Mr. Lockwood removed to Bridgeport and lived here for many years, a suc- cessful merchant, a leading member of the Congrega- tional Church, and a prominent man in local affairs generally.

The story of the raid upon Danbury, the burning of the towu by the invaders, and their disastrous re- treat, will be found in another part of this volume.

Two years later, in the month of July, 1779, Tryon made another descent upon the defenseless towns of the Connecticut coast. With an imposing force of forty-eight vessels and about three thousand soldiers, he first pillaged New Haven and then set sail for Fairfield. The weather was foggy, so that the ap- proach of the fleet was not perceived on shore until it came to anchor off the town. Then, of course, an alarm was raised, bells were rung, guns fired, and ex- presses despatched to Stratfield, Stratford, Milford, and all the neighboring towns for such aid as could be afforded. The British column disembarked on the

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western shore of the town, at a place called Kenzie's Point, and marched up the beach until opposite the court-house, severely galled the while by the artil- lery-fire from a little fort on Grover's Hill, overlook- ing Black Rock Harbor, which was held that day by Lieut. Isaac Jarvis with a force of only twenty-thrce men. Meanwhile, the village militia company had formed on the green, and by a lively musketry-fire and several charges of round-shot and grape kept the invaders in check for a short time, when they were forced to retreat to Holland Heights, leaving the town in full possession of the British. During the next twenty-four hours every house in the village, whether the property of Whig or Tory, was plundered from cellar to roof-tree, and everything that could not be carried off was broken or destroyed. Several inof- fensive citizens were killed, and the handful of women and children who remained in the place, though not treated with actual violence, were exposed to indig- nity and insult. The few protections granted by Tryon were disregarded by his men, and when shown were rudely snatched away and torn in pieces. To- wards nightfall the town was set on fire by Tryon's orders. Rev. Dr. Dwight, afterwards a resident of Greenfield Hill, thus describes the scene :

" While the town was in flames a thunder-storm overspread the heavens just as night came on. The conflagration of near two hundred houses illumined the earth, the skirts of the clouds, and the waves of the Sound with a union of gloom and grandeur at once awful and magnificent. At intervals the light- ning blazed with a livid and awful splendor. The thunder rolled above; beneath, the roaring of the fires filled up the interval with a deep and hollow sound. Add to this the sharp sound of muskets oc- casionally discharged, the groans here and there of the wounded and dying, and the shouts of triumph, then place before your eyes crowds of the miserable sufferers, mingled with bodies of the militia, taking from the neighboring hills a farewell prospect of their property and their dwellings, their happiness and their hopes, and you will form a just but im- perfect picture of the burning of Fairfield."

Among those most active in carrying the torch were a number of Tory refugees, who had accompanied Tryon upon this expedition. Besides dwelling-houses, stores, etc., the court-house, jail, school-house, and two churches were destroyed, Mr. Sayre, the Episco- pal missionary for Fairfield and Stratfield, pleading in vain with Tryon to spare any portion of the town. Mindful of former experiences, Tryon did not attempt any movement inland upon this occasion, but re-cm- barked before a sufficient force of Americans could be collected to offer him battle.

Throughout the whole Revolution the people of our shore-towns had to suffer not only from actual inva- sion and the destruction of their property by organized bodies of troops, but also from marauding attacks by small parties of Tories and refugees from Long Isl-

and. On one occasion a whole congregation was sur- prised at Darien while engaged in worship upon the Sabbath, and, after being plundered of every article of value, the Rev. Moses Mather, D.D., with his dea- cons and the male members of his church, fifty in number, went that Sunday on a sailing-party to Long Island, from whence they were all subsequently trans- ferred to a British prison in New York. Sometimes the attack was made at night, as was the case in May, 1779, when Gen. Silliman's house on Holland Heights was broken into by a party guided by one Glover, a Newtown Tory, who had been employed as carpenter by the general, and was consequently familiar with the premises. Gen. Silliman's gun missed fire, and he and his eldest son were both seized, hurried to the water's edge, and forced to embark for Long Island. This successful raid of the Tories of course occasioned some excitement here, and, as the Americans held no officer of rank who could be exchanged for Gen. Sil- liman, it was decided to attempt to kidnap Judge Thomas Jones, of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, a leading Tory, whose residence was at Fort Neck, on Hempstead Plain, L. I. For this pur- pose a party of twenty-five volunteers, commanded by Capt. David Hawley, set out from this harbor one evening in November, 1779. Landing at Stony Brook, they concealed their boats in the bushes, and after a toilsome night-march over by-roads and through the woods reached their destination just forty-eight hours from the time they started.

There was a ball at the residence of Judge Jones that evening, and no one will wonder that the old gentleman was reluctant to leave the festive scenc, with its music and pleasant company, for a fifty-mile tramp on a frosty night through woods and swamps, with the prospect of a prison at the end of the route, but his visitors would take no denial. On their way back, the party passing near the camp of a royal regiment, the judge coughed loudly to attract the attention of the sentinels, nor would he be silent until Capt. Hawley threatened him with instant death. The march was a severe one, and several members of the party straggled, through fatigue, and were captured by the enemy's light-horse; but the main body reached their boats and crossed in safety to Black Rock with their prisoner. Invited to dine with Mrs. Silliman, Judge Jones did not display the urbanity which under other circumstances he might have manifested, but is said to have been reserved and sullen in his demeanor. He was ordered to Mid- dletown for confinement, but after a few months was exchanged for Gen. Silliman.

Our record of Revolutionary incidents would be in- complete without further reference to the services of the gallant naval officer already mentioned, Capt. David Hawley, of Stratfield.

Early in the war Capt. Hawley sailed to the West Indies for a cargo of gunpowder, which upon his re- turn was divided between the towns of Stratford and

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Fairfield, a part of it being stored for a time in Nichols' tavern, on North Avenue. In March, 1776, he sailed again from Stratford in command of a pri- vateer sloop, but was captured when four days out by the British man-of-war " Bellona." Large induce- ments were offered him by his captors to change his allegiance and act as pilot to the British fleet, but these were firmly declined. He was taken to Halifax, but after a captivity of only two weeks made his es- cape with eight companions in a small boat, and at length found his way back to Connecticut. In Aug- ust, 1776, Capt. Hawley was commissioned by the Legislature to raise a naval detachment for service upon Lake Champlain, and a few months later he took part in the disastrous action fought upon this lake between the British and American flotillas. After this affair Long Island Sound was his cruising- ground, and, besides capturing Judge Jones, we find him in May, 1777, and again in August of the same year, bringing a number of prizes into Black Rock Harbor. After the war Capt. Hawley resided in Bridgeport until his death, in 1807. He built on the corner of Water and Gilbert Streets the first brick house erected within the city limits.

One of his neighbors was Stephen Hull, who was one of the party that conducted the unfortunate Maj. André from the place where he was apprehended, to Washington's headquarters. After the war Mr. Hull settled in Bridgeport, where he built a house on the corner of Main and Wall Streets, on the site of the building now owned and occupied by the Connecticut National Bank.

Another neighbor was Major Benjamin Muirson Woolsey, whose home was on the east side of Main Street, a little north of the Bridgeport National Bank. He was a Tory from Long Island, served during the war as an officer in the cavalry regiment called the Queen's Rangers, and was one of the pursuers of Gen. Putnam, when the latter made his famous ride down the stone steps at Greenwich. At the close of the war he went to New Brunswick, where he held the rank of major in the militia, but subsequently re- turned and settled in Bridgeport,-or Newfield, as it was then called,-and engaged in the dry-goods and milling business. Major Woolsey received a pension -said to have been a crown a day-from the British government for his services. He died in 1813, aged about fifty-six years.

Another royalist of note, referred to in thic petition copied above, was David Mathews, the Tory mayor of New York, who in June, 1776, was arrested for com- plicity in a plot for the assassination of Gen. Wash- ington. More than a hundred and fifty Torics, many of them persons of wealth and good social position, were concerned in this villainous scheme, which was originated by Governor Tryon, then a refugee upon the British man-of-war " Asia." Washington once disposed of, in the opinion of the conspirators the dream of independence indulged in by the colonial

leaders would be at an end. The royalists of the province would rise in a body, blow up the maga- zines, take possession of the fortifications around New York, and welcome the royal forces with open arms, while the colonial troops, confused, disheart- ened, and without a leader, would either disband and return to their homes or fall an easy prey to their powerful and well-disciplined enemy. Thus in course of a few weeks the rebellion would be crushed, the king would have his own again, royalists like Tryon would be recompensed for all their trials from the confiscated estates of enemies of the Crown, while noted rebels like Hancock, Samuel Adams, and others would be either compelled to flee the country, or else reap the just reward of their treason. Such were the dreams of the conspirators, nor did they omit to take measures to carry them into action. Mayor Mathews, whose country-seat was at Flat- bush, near the anchorage of the "Asia," was the messenger through whom Tryon communicated with the Tories in New York, while two of the soldiers at Washington's headquarters had been corrupted, and had agreed to abduct or murder their distinguished leader as might be most convenient.

Just as the plot was ripe for execution it was dis- covered, and all the principal parties concerned in it save Tryon were arrested and tried before a military commission. Thomas Hickey, a member of Wash- ington's body-guard, was found guilty, and on the 28th day of June, 1776, was hung in the presence of several thousand spectators. It was the first military execution of the Revolution, and the place where the gallows was erected was a field in what were then the suburbs of New York, adjoining the camp of the bri- gade of Col. Huntington, of Connecticut. Mayor Mathews and twelve others were sent for safe keep- ing to Litchfield, Conn. Notwithstanding the serious nature of the accusation against him, his parole was taken, and he was allowed to reside in the family of Major Moses Seymour, great-grandfather of Messrs. Edward W. and Morris W. Seymour, of this city. In the course of a few months Mathews violated his parole and escaped to the British lines on Long Island, crossing the Sound by night, probably in a small boat putting out from this harbor. His escape led to the stationing of a guard at the harbor's mouth, as already noted.

The statement is sometimes made that Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, of New Jersey, was the only clergy- man whose name was affixed to the Declaration of Independence, but as residents of Bridgeport we ought to know that a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of that instrument was in early life settled here in the work of the gospel min- istry. Lyman Hall, born at Wallingford, in this State, in 1724, and a graduate of Yale College in 1747, was on Sept. 27, 1749, ordained in Stratfield, and settled over the church in that place, now the First Congregational Church of Bridgeport. The old

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meeting-house on North Avenue often re-echoed the sound of his voice, and upon the church records may be seen his autograph,-an exact fac-simile of that ap- pended to the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Hall remained in Stratfield a little less than two years. He was dismissed June 18, 1751, and probably removed to Fairfield where, on the 20th of May fol- lowing, he married Abigail, daughter of Thaddeus Burr, Esq. Mrs. Hall died July 8, 1753. Following is a copy of her epitaph :

" Here lies buried the Body of Mrs. Abigail Hall, wife of Lyman Hall, M.A., Daughter of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., died July 8th, 1753, aged 24 years.

Modest, yet free, with Innocence adorn'd, To please and win by Art and Nature join'd, Benevolent and wise, in virtue firm, Constant in Friendship, in Religion warm, A Partner tender, unaffected kind,

A lovely form with a more lovely mind. The Scene of Life, tho' short, sh''improved so well, No charmers in human form cou'd more excell. Christ's Life her copy, His pure law her Guide, Each part she acted, perfected, and dy'd."

Mr. Hall must have remained in Fairfield for some years after her death, judging from several entries upon the town records,-viz. :

" Amos, a negro male child under care of Lyman Hall, born June 7, 1755. Died December 8, 1756."

" Primus, a negro child under care of Lyman Hall, &c., born June 7, 1757."

The records of the County Court also show that Ly- man Hall, of Fairfield, as oue of the executors of Thaddeus Burr, deceased, appeared as plaintiff in a lawsuit, Feb. 6, 1758.

Mr. Hall had many noble traits of eharaeter, and the hope expressed by the eouneil in dismissing him from the ministry at Stratfield-that "a door of use- fulness might be opened to him elsewhere"-was sig- nally fulfilled. He emigrated to Georgia, aud éom- meneed the practice of medieine in that remarkable New England colony which settled the parish of St. Johns.

Early in the year 1775, impatient at the attitude of Georgia, which had for six months been hesitating and vacillating whether to join the other eolouies in the contest for liberty or to stand aloof, and had even refused to send representatives to the Continental Congress, the parish of St. Johns eleeted Dr. Lyman Hall as a delegate on its own account. He presented his credentials and took his seat upon the 13th of May, so that "on that day Cougress was composed of the representatives of the twelve united colonies aud Dr. Hall, the deputy for the parish of St. Johns."

The patriotie spirit of this little community had a salutary effeet upon its neighbors, and in a short time there were four representatives in Congress from Georgia, of whom Dr. Hall was one, and in this ca- paeity in the following year lie subscribed his uame |

to the Declaration of Independence, in connection with which it will go down to posterity.

His subsequent career can be summed up in a few words. A representative in Congress until 1780, his property was confiscated by the British when they occupied Georgia in 1782, and in the following year he was chosen Governor of the State. He died in October, 1790, aged about sixty-six, leaving a good estate to his widow, his only son having died some time before. A few years ago the State of Georgia erected a monument to his memory, and gave the handsome stone that had been placed over his grave soon after his decease, by his widow, to the town of Wallingford, Conn., where it now stands. It bears the following inscription :

" Beneath this stone rest the remains of THE HONBLE LYMAN HALL, Formerly Governor of this State, Who departed this life the 19th of October, 1790, In the 67th year of his age. To thee, so mourned in death, so loved in life,

The childless parent and the widowed wife With tears inscribes this monumental stone That holds his ashes and expects her own."

It is much to be regretted that a complete list of all the Revolutionary soldiers from this place was not made at an earlier date, for the omission can now never be supplied. Below are mentioned what few names I have met with :

FROM RECORDS OF FIRST CHURCH.

Bennett, Thaddeus, captain, died Jan. 21, 1777.

Burroughs, Edward, lieutenant, died Sept. 14, 1776, æt. 42.

Fayerweather, Nathaniel, "died of smallpox in the army," December, 1778.

French, Ichabod, died "in camp at New York," September, 1776.

Hawley, Maj. Aaron, died July 23, 1803.

Lemon, George, "killed on Long Islaud," July, 1781.

Odell, Isaae, sergeant, died Feb. 22, 1826.

Seeley, Nathan, lieutenant, died Sept. 29, 1777. Sherwood, David, died Aug. 31, 1826, æt. 72.

Wells, David, "died in Continental army," Oeto- ber, 1777.

MUSTER-ROLL OF HARBOR GUARD.

This company was stationed upon Burroughs' wharf, at the foot of State Street, as already noted. Follow- ing is a copy of its muster-roll in the year 1781 :

Officers. - Lieutenant, William Hall; sergeant, Isaae Patchin ; corporal, Joel Parislı ; elerk, Samuel Freneh.

Enlisted Men .- Ichabod Beardsley, Josiah Burritt, Sherman Burritt, Seth Bulkley, Thomas Cooke, James Crawford, Ebenezer Gregory, James Gregory, Wild- man Hall, Joseph Hawes, Ebenezer Hawley, William Hubbell, Lyman Knapp, John MeKenzie, Salmou Patehen, John Porter, Denton Seeley, Gideon Wells, Zeehariah Wheeler.

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Another aceount mentions two additional members of this guard,-viz., Gideon Hawley and Elijah Peet. It is not likely that all of those who were members of the guard resided here exeept during their term of serviee. Some of them were undoubtedly from other towns.

ADDITIONAL LIST.

Most of the following are referred to incidentally in the valuable series of historical artieles by the late Isaae Sherman, published in the Bridgeport Standard in April, 1866. The names of some of the members of the " Householders," or home-guard, are included, though it is not likely that they saw much service :

Beardsley, Abijah, ensign.

Brothwell, Joseph, lieutenant in Householders.

Burroughs, Stephen, captain in Householders.

Fairchild, Nathan. His widow was a pensioner. Gregory, Ezra, was a pensioner.

Hamilton, James, lieutenant in Householders.

Hawley, David, captain of privateer.

Hubbell, Hezekiah, captain in Householders.

Hubbell, Salmon, lieutenant; was at the battle of Stony Point, etc.

Laeey, Daniel, eaptain of coast-guards.

Lacey, Josiah, eaptain in Continental army. Seeley, Nathan, lieutenant in Householders. Sherman, Isaac, died in the army, aged eighteen. Sherman, David, member of Stratfield Train-Band. Sterling, Abijah, eaptain in Householders.

Sterling, Stephen, member of Stratfield Train-Band. Strong, Joseph, clerk of Householders.

Wordin, William, captain in Houscholders.

EPITAPHS.

(From the cemetery on Park Avenue, since removed to Mountain Grove Cemetery.)

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 21

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572