History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 48

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 48

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" Among this crowd of daring if not effective per- sons there was one who was sufficiently rapid in his manual of arms, however short he may have fallen from being effective. He was poised on a fence the afternoon before, and fired thirty-two shots at the skirmish-line of the advancing British without being touched by a single one of the many bullets sent after him. When his ammunition was gone he held up his cartouch-box to the enemy to show its emptiness, and then left, shouting as he ran these very patriotic words :

"' He that fights and runs away May live to fight another day, But he that is in battle slain Shall never live to fight again.'

" A movement of a body of two thousand men could not be made, of course, without the knowledge of the neighbors. The people of the adjoining districts and villages had been apprised of the arrival of the British in Danbury by the families who had fled from the doomed town. All that Saturday night men were

hovering about the place, looking with hungry eyes for every manifestation from the enemy. No sooner had the line taken up its march than these people knew of it, and, determining the route, sought to an- noy the march all that was in their power to do. One of their acts was to destroy the bridge over Wolf Pond Run, in Miry Brook District. When the enemy reached this place they were obliged to stop and throw over a temporary bridge of rails. This made a delay, and enabled the forces under Wooster to gain headway.

"One historian says that the British marched through Sugar Hollow. This is plausible enough if the force had been an excursion-party hurrying to Ridgefield to take a railway-train, but no military man would be so insane as to take his men through such a defile, where there was every advantage and ample protec- tion for an enemy.

"Gen. Tryon took his people through Ridgebury, having an open country for his skirmishers. He was confident that by making this détour he would mis- lead Wooster, and escape to his boats without serious interruption.

"But Wooster, at Bethel, soon got word of the move and prepared to meet it. Wooster was a resident of New Haven, and was in that city when the news of the enemy landing at Compo reached him. Immedi- ately he started for Danbury with what force he could get there. He was joined on the way by Arnold and Silliman, and the men under their commands. Poor Wooster ! He little realized when he started for this insignificant hamlet that it would become his ever- lasting home, so far as this world is concerned, and that here the only substantial honor he should ever receive would be given.

"Gen. Wooster sent Arnold and Silliman, as we have already indicated, direct to Ridgefield, across the country from Bethel, while he struck out in a more northerly direction, intending to strike the foe before he reached Ridgefield. In this he succeeded. He came upon the enemy while they were breakfasting, about cight o'clock in the morning of that eventful Sunday. He appeared from a piece of woods, and struck a rear regiment with such unexpected force that he captured forty of the men before the command was fairly aware of his presence. He withdrew as rapidly as he came, but shortly after made another dash, while the enemy were in motion, and it was then the fight took place in which he lost his life.

"There are so many conflicting accounts of this engagement that we are powerless to determine which is right. It is not a matter of any moment, however. Wooster and his two or three hundred men were alone in it, as Arnold and Silliman's force were in Ridge- field Village, barricading the road and waiting for a chance to do their share. Out in the country, amid the rocks and the pine scrub lying between Ridgefield Street and Ridgebury church, the brave and ill-fated man was waging the unequal battle. It was at the

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DANBURY.

first of the second attack that he received the fatal wound. The British must have been on the retreat, or his friends would not have been able to recover his person, as he fell where he was shot. The great sash* which he wore was unwound, and, being spread out as a blanket, he was put in it and carried from the field. Then he was placed in a carriage and slowly brought back to Danbury.

" In the Dibble mansion, where Tryon but a few hours before had had his headquarters, the unfortunate general was placed. A local surgeon dressed the wound as well as he was able, and shortly after a more experi- enced man came from New Haven to attend him. The bullet, which is said to have been fired by a Tory, en- tered his back obliquely just as he turned to wave on his men, and, cutting the spinal cord, was buried in his stomach. The nature of the wound precluded recovery even had he received the best skill on the moment. His wife arrived from New Haven, but a delirium had seized him, and he did not recognize her. For three days he lay in the old Sonth Street house, suffering untold agony, and then he fell into a stupor. This was Thursday morning of that eventful week.

"' It was uoted by her who, faithful to the last, nin- remittiugly watched his pillow that during this and the following day (as is frequently the case in the clos- ing scene of an active life) his mind was busied in ex- citing reminisceuce. By the feeble light of flickering reason he was tracing the long and weary pilgrimage, the cruises, sieges, battles, marches, through which he had passed, only to reach his grave. The home of his childhood, the cabin of his ship, the old mansion by the Sound, pass in a blended image before his fading vision. The dash of waves, the rattle of musketry, the roar of cannon, ring confusedly in his deafened ear. His hand cannot respond to the gentle pressure of affection. His breathing grows shorter and shorter, while the icy chill advances nearer and nearer to the heart. As his wife wipes the death-damp from his brow his eyes, hitherto closed, open once more, and in their clear depths, for one glad moment, she discovers the dear, the old, the familiar expression of returned cousciousness ; his lips gasp in vain to utter one pre- cious word of final adieu, and the last effort is to throw on her one farewell glance of unutterable tenderness and love.'t

"On Friday, May 2, 1777, he died. On Sunday the funcral was held. It was a quiet affair, although the body was that of a major-general and of a soldier who for courage and patriotism had no superior. But Dan- bury was sorely afflicted. Many of the houses were in ruius, and nearly all the able-bodied men were away.

"Miss Betty Porter, aged sixteen, daughter of one of the men killed and burned in Maj. Start's house, and

subsequently the wife of Capt. Nathaniel Gregory, grandfather of our Col. Gregory, was at the funeral. She says there were but six men present, and they bore the body to its resting place. The remains were buried in the graveyard on Wooster Street.

" Rev. Samuel Peters, in his quaint work ' A General History of Connecticut,' says, 'David Wooster, the rebel general, Benedict Arnold's old friend and mob- bing confederate, received a fatal ball through his bladder as he was harassing the rear of the royal troops, of which, after being carried forty miles to New Haven, he died, and was buried at the side of David Dexwell, one of the judges of Charles I.'

"The firing of our people upon the British, with the return fire of the enemy, marked as distinctly as sight could have done to the refugees the progress of the march. Besides, there were messengers, in the person of boys, who kept track of the course and reported hourly. Long before the royal column passed Ridge- bury church the people who had fled began to return to the village, some to undisturbed homes, others to smoking ruins. Before night the most of them had got back, although it was not until the next day that all had returned. The parents of the venerable Mrs. Phebe Benedict, who is still abiding with us, went to New Fairfield.

" With the returning Danburians came a host of sight-seers from Redding, Bethel Village, Brookfield, Newtown, New Fairfield, and other places. It was a great spectacle for outsiders, and they flocked here just as people do to the scene of an overwhelming disaster. All that Sunday afternoon the main street and South were full of people, viewing the ruins, sym- pathizing with the sufferers, cursing the enemy, aud delivering opinions of reckless wisdom, as is common with the dear masses in matters they know nothing of. One of these visitors used to relate that the wheels . of his wagon sank above their felloes in the cold grease on South Street, which came from the burnt pork. There were three taverns here at the time, and the business they might have done, had they the liquid facilities, would have been immense.

" Dr. Jabez Starr, grandfather of Mr. Fred Starr, kept one of the taverus. His place stood on the cor- ner of Main and Elm Streets, near where is now The News building. On the approach of the enemy he moved his goods out of town and harm's way. Mr. Starr was the only doctor in Danbury at the time.

" The house now occupied by Nathanich Barnum, a few doors south of The News office, was a tavern at that time. On a sign swinging from a post it bore a copy of the arms of King George IV., which gave the tavern its name. It was kept by John Trowbridge, who was Mr. Barnum's great-grandfather. Owing to its sign it was saved from destruction, but its furniture was piled up in the street and burned. Mr. Barnuni has completely changed the outside appearance of the building, so that to-day it looks but little like it was at that time.

* The sash and sword are now in Yale College.

t Henry C. Deming's oration at the Wooster monument, 1854.

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190

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

"Mr. Trowbridge was a lieutenant in the rebel army. He was away with his regiment at the time. His people removed themselves and what furniture they could get together to Nathan Cornwall's tavern, in Beaver Brook District, the tavern standing on what is now Henry Starr's place. The royal troops did not interfere with the property, but the furniture that was destroyed was the work of Tory neighbors.

"Maj. N. M. Taylor in 1777 lived in a house which stood at the junction of South Street with Dumpling Hill road. On the news of the eoming of the British he hurried home and told his wife to make ready to fly. She was of the genuine Revolutionary material. She had a baking of bread ready for the oven, aud she deelared she would not leave until it was done. Before it was done the enemy eame iuto town, and Taylor's tavern was inundated by soldiers. She told them that she had a batch of bread in the oven, and if they wanted some she would give it to them. Hot fresh bread is a toothsome bit to a soldier, and wheu the bread came out they took it all. Fortunately for Taylor's property, his wife was a good baker, and the soldiers, whose stomaehs had been delighted by her skill, left the building undisturbed.

"Ten years later Mr. Taylor put up a guide-stone in front of his place, which contained the following information :

"' 67 miles to H(artford). 66 miles to N. Y. This stone erected by N. M. Taylor, 1787.'

" Mr. Taylor soou after built the house, uow owned by Martin E. Clark, on South Street at the foot of Main, which was used as a tavern. There is not a Revolutionary building in town that shows less change than this building. It is two stories high, with a tre- mendous garret. His dining-room was then used as the reception-room, with the small bar of those days opening off from it, and now used by him for a milk- room. A part of the second floor was used as a ball- room. Three stone chimneys pierce the roof. One of these at the base is eiglit by eleven feet and five feet square in the garret. The others are nearly as large. Near to this building stood the house of Com- fort Hoyt, Jr., which was burned. John McLean was the most serious sufferer of the lot. His house stood where is now the venerable big double tenement on the south side of Main Street, and which is to-day called by many the McLean place.

" Immediately after the disaster the selectmeu were instructed to present a petition to the Legislature for the relief of the sufferers. Hinman, in his 'War of the American Revolution,' says,-

"'John McLean, Eli Mygatt, and others, selectmen of Danhury, stated to the General Assembly convened at Hartford on the 8th of May, 1777, that the eneury in their incursion into Danbury horned and destroyed the public records of said town, and they apprehended great damage might arise to the inhabitants unless some timely remedy should he pro- vided. The Assembly appointed Daniel Sherman, Col. Nehemiah Beards- ley, Increase Moseley, Lemuel Sanford, Col. S. Canfield, and Caleb Bald- win to repair to Danbury as soon as might be, and notify the iuhabitants of said town, and by all lawful ways inquire into aud ascertain every man's right, and report to the next General Assembly.

"'This committee reported to the Assembly that the British troops had made a hostile invasion into said town, and under a pretense of de- stroying the public stores had consumed witli fire about twenty dwelling- honses, with many stores, barns, and other buildings, and that the enemy on their retreat collected and drove off all the live stock-viz., cattle, horses, and sheep-which they could find, and that the destruction of said property had reduced many of the wealthy inhabitants to poverty. Having notified the inhabitants, they from day to day examined the losses of each sufferer, on oath and by other evidence, and allowed to each his damage at the time said property was destroyed. They found that by reason of the price of articles the inhabitants had heen ohliged to pay large sums over and ahove the valne in procuring the necessaries for their families, that many of them had their teams forced from them to remove the public stores, etc. They gave the name of each sufferer, with his loss allowed, annexed to his name, which amounted to the sum of sixteen thousand one linndred and eighty-one pounds one shilling aud four pence, which report was accepted by the Assembly and ordered to be lodged ou file, to perpetuate tlie evidence of the loss of each person, that, when Congress should order a compensation, to make out the claims of sufferers.

"' On the receipt of this communication the pay-tahle were directed to draw an order on the treasurer for the sum of five hundred pounds in favor of the selectmen of Danhury, as aforesaid, who could not subsist without suclı relief.

"'In 1787 the sufferers in Danbury, having received no further relief, again petitioned the General Assembly of Connecticut, npon wliich peti- tiou Hon. Andrew Adams and others were appointed a committee.

"' The chairman of said committee reported that for want of exhibits and documents they were unable methodically and correctly to state the facts or losses and estimate of damages, and also, for the want of proper certificates from the treasurer and secretary of state, to report what had already heeu done for their relief, but were of opiniou that the houses and buildings and necessary honsehold furniture destroyed by the enemy onght to be paid for hy the State at their just value, and that the only manner in the power of the State, at that time, was to pay the same in Western lands; which report was in October, 1787, accepted by the Honse, but rejected by the Upper House.'

" In 1792 the General Assembly made the award of land. This territory is in Ohio, and has since beeu known as the Western Reserve.

"This list of sufferers, with the amounts of losses, we herewith give, as awarded by the first-named committee.

Mr. John McLean.

$12,462.64

Capt. Ezra Starr.

11,480.00

Capt. Daniel Taylor.

4,932.00

Col. John P. Cook

4,767,50

Major Eli Mygatt

580,30

Capt. James Clark

4 112.62

Major Taylor.

3.504 00

Comfort Hoyt, Jr.

3,258.77

Thaddeus Benedict, Esq ..

2.010.00

Benjamin Sperry

849.00

David Wood.

2,165.24

Joseph Wildman

2,087.00

Dr. John Wood ..

1,970.80

Mattliew Benedict

1,672.50

Rev. Ebenezer White.

1,637.60

Jonalı Benedict.

1,547.50

Matthew Benedict.

1,026.16

Jabez Rockwell

1,189.00

Zadock Benedict.

849.25

"The total loss as thus determined by the com- mittee amounted to nearly eighty-one thousand dol- lars.

" There were two Matthew Benediets, father and son, who figure in the list of losers. The latter, who was great-grandfather of Benediet Brothers, the shoe- dealers, lived where is now the homestead of Mrs. Henry Benedict. It is said that he owned a small hat-shop which was burned by the British, although Francis' 'History of Hatting' says hatting was begun in Danbury in 1780, or three years later than the ad- vent of the British. The senior Matthew lived with

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DANBURY.

Jonah, another son. The junior's estate included the Concert Hall property, which was given by the family to the First Church society for the use of the society. We have not been able so far to locate the residence of either Jonah or Zadock Benedict, who were brothers of Matthew, junior. The former is said to have lived at the lower end of Main Street.

"Still another brother was Noble Benedict, who raised a company of one hundred men at the begin- ning of the war. He was captured in November, 1776, at Fort Washington. Nathan was captured in the Danbury fight, and taken to the Sugar-House prison. Jonah was in his brother's company at Fort Washington, and was captured there. He suffered from the imprisonment to such an extent that it was believed he was dying, and then he was released, beiug brought to Danbury on a litter. In the 'Gene- alogy of the Benedicts in America' it is said he ar- rived here about two weeks before the burning of the village. He and his brother were taken out of the house that dark Sunday morning and tied to trees in the garden, while the house was burned.

" Joseph Wildman lived where now resides Hon. F. S. Wildman. In the award of land to the sufferers he received fourteen hundred acres in Ohio. So little did he value it that he sold it in exchange for a horse. A part of the flourishing city of Sandusky is on that land, and is now worth millions of dollars. The sin- gular sale was made with the right of redemption within thirty years. About a year or so after the ex- piration of that time, and when the property began to be quite valuable, Joseph's heirs unfortunately dis- covered this clause in the deed.

" Benjamin Knapp, who figured so conspicuously as the entertainer of generals, lived until 1834, when he met his death at the heels of a colt in Beaver Brook District. Mr. Amos Morris, who was then in the prime of life and as now a resident there, gave the wounded man shelter. A doctor was called, who saw that the injury was fatal, and recommended that Mr. Knapp be taken home at once. He was comfort- ably placed in a cart, and Mr. Morris brought him home, where he died at the age of ninety-four years. He built the house on White Street, now owned by Mr. Joseph Bell, for his son, Noah Knapp. Benjamin Knapp is remembered by our older citizens as a little old man in knee-breeches and gray stockings. He owned a number of cows, besides the shoe-shop and tannery.

"Samuel Morris, father of the venerable Amos Morris, was an army-teamster. He was employed in drawing the army stores from New Havcu to Dan- bury. His brother, Jacquin, was not equally eminent for patriotism. In fact, Jacquin took advantage of the presence of the British army to join its ranks. He went away with them, aud served through the war. Shortly after that he returned to Danbury on a visit to his mother, who was living in Beaver Brook District. ' " The first intimation of his presence was given to a

little niece, who in crossing the bridge over Still River, near her grandmother's house (and where is now the grist-mill), was startled by the appearance of a man's head from under the bridge. The man, learning who she was, told her to call her father. She did so, and then the stranger revealed that he was Jacquin Morris, the deserting Danburian. He was not immediately recognized by the brother, having changed considerably, but on uncovering his head a bare spot on his scalp, well known to the family, was found, and he was received. He was obliged to keep himself secluded, and during his stay was secreted in the garret of his mother's house. Some years later he made a second visit home, but did not remain long.

" As an offset to this loss Danbury gained three citi- zens-and, so far as we can learn, they were good citizens-in the persons of three deserters from the British army. One of these was Harry Brockleton, who lived in Dumpling Hole, now Mountainville. The others were privates. Thomas Flynn was the name of one of the latter. He settled in South Street.

" The following anecdote of Brockleton is related by Mr. A. B. Hull. He traded a small piece of land for a horse, and the horse for potatoes. His wife, Hannah, said she would make some poetry on the occurrence. Her poetry was :

"' Elixir proprietatis !

Harry Brockleton sold his land for a horse, and his horse for potatoes.'

Harry said he would like to make some poetry, which he did, as follows :

"' As the children of Israel were passing through the wilderness, the Lord sent them manna:

When Harry Brockleton wanted a wife, the devil sent him Hannah.'

"Mr. A. B. Hull, mentioned above, enjoys a dis- tinctiou which can scarcely be claimed by any other citizen of New England or of the country at large. He is about sixty years of age, and yet is the son of a Revolutionary soldier. His father was seventeen years old when the British burned Danbury. He joined iu the pursuit of Tryon through Ridgefield, and was in all the fighting. In escaping one of the dashes of the enemy he found himself back of a rock, in company with two boys a trifle younger than himself, who were having their first experience in battle. While wait- ing there he discovered that a Tory was in a brake near by, watching with ready gun for them to re- appear. Putting his hat on the end of his gun, he pushed it out beyond the rock. Immediately the Tory fired, the bullet piercing the hat. The next in- stant he plunged towards the rock, when the three boys fired simultaneously at him. At the discharge he sprang several feet in the air and came down full length upon his face, but turned in a flash upon his back, and lay there motionless in death. After the battle Mr. Hull's father went over the ground to look for the body. He found it where it had fallen, but it

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

was stark naked. He saw that the three bullets had taken effect in the Tory's body,-one at the na- vel, and the two others at snch angles as to form the letter V.

"During this catastroplie to Danbnry there was an army hospital in existence here. It was established the month before, and was not touchlied by the British. The location was on what is now called Park Avenue, at the junction of Pleasant Street, on the lot now oc- cnpied by Mr. Henry N. Scribner, and just west of his honse. All that property was then owned by Samuel Wildman, grandfather of Mr. Samnel C. Wildman, who leased to the government the land for the use of the hospital. Mr. Wildman lived then in the modernized house on the avenne which stands on the east corner, opposite Mr. Scribner. There are several pear-trecs in this garden which were set out by Samuel Wildman over a hundred years ago, and which now yield abundantly.

" The soldiers who died at the hospital were buried in a plot of ground now forming the grounds on the south side of George Buell's honse on Pleasant Street, near to the corner of the avenne. The soldiers who occupied the hospital were principally French. The place where the dead were buried was held sacred by Mr. Wildman, who would not have it plowed. Some years after it was rented, the tenant, being eitlier ig- norant of the burial or extremely practical in his views, cultivated the ground. His plowshare turned np many bones. Relics in metal of the occupancy of the hospital have been found under the soil in Mr. Scribner's garden.

"The hospital itself was a one-storied building, with a large garret in the steep roof. The first floor was divided into four rooms; the garret was one room. The building was torn down many years ago by Mr. Samuel C. Wildman.

" A volume entitled 'Connecticut During the War of Revolution' furnishes some incidents of interest to Danbury. In fact, Danbury largely figures in the book, much of the matter, however, being the same that we have already presented. The book was com- piled in 1841 by Royal R. Hinman, who was then secretary of state. The matter pertaining to Danbury was furnished to Mr. Hinman by Reuben Booth. We learn from this book that Danbury's grand list in 1775, at the beginning of the Revolution, was . $142,507.66.

"In May, 1777, the month following the burning, Governor Trumbull issued, at the suggestion of the General Assembly, a proclamation. The document is a sorry confession of man's inhumanity to man, especially to his neighbor. It appears from this paper that a lot of shiftless and mercenary wretches took advantage of the appearance of the enemy here to burn the houses and steal the portable property of Danbnrians and others who escaped the raid of the British. The proclamation calls npon these grace- less offenders to immediately restore such property

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 48

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