History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 93

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 93

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).

Another class not so violent in their individual conduct, but equally inimical in other respects, were those who, under guise of permits from the English, resided here without molestation from the enemy, and in return for this privilege gave them sufficient and well-timed information of the doings of Americans in this quarter. There were quite a large number of this class among us, and we cannot but deplore the situation of our forefathers, thus situated with spies and villainous Tories in their midst and ready enemies close at hand.

GOVERNOR TRYON'S EXPEDITION TO GREENWICHI.

The attack made upon Greenwich by Governor Tryon, and the escape of Gen. Putnam down the precipice, are the most prominent incidents in the history of the town. It is an exceedingly difficult task for a historian to collect facts merely from tradi- tion, with the assistance of no other record than the official report of the commanding officer and short letters written from a distant part of the county. An officer, when forced to retreat after being almost, or perhaps quite, surprised at an outpost, feels in duty bound to represent the facts in as favorable light as possible, to avoid discouraging the patriots fighting for their country. Putnam, according to his own ac- count, spent but little time in the village while the enemy were here, and the letters are obviously incor- reet in many prominent points. Here is Putnani's account :

" CAMP AT READING, March 2, 1779.

" A detachment from the enemy at King's Bridge, consisting of the Fourteenth, Forty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh British Regiments, one of the Hessians, and two of the new levies, marched from their lines for Horseneck on the evening of the 25th ult. with the intention of sur- prising tho troops at that place and destroying the salt-works.

" A captain and thirty men were sent from our advance lines from Horseneck, who discovered the enemy at New Rochelle in advance. They retired before them undiscovered as far as Ryeneck, where, it growing light, tho enemy observed and attacked them. They defended themselves as well as possible and made their way good to Sawpitts where they took advantage of a commanding piece of ground and made some little stand ; but the superior force of the enemy obliged them to retire over Byram bridge, which they took np, and by that means had an or- portunity of reaching Horseneck in safety.

" As I was there myself to see the situation of the guards, I had the troops formed on n hill by the meeting-house, ready to receive the enemy as they advanced. They came on briskly, and I soon discovered that their design was to turn our flanks and possess themselves of a defile in our rear, which would effectually prevent our retreat. I therefore or- dered parties ont on both Ilanks with directions to give me information of their approach, that we might retire in season. In the mean time a

376

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

column advanced up the main road, where the remainder of the troops (amounting to only about sixty) were posted. We discharged some old field-pieces which were there a few times, and gave them a small fire of musketry, but without any considerable effect ; the superior force of the enemy soon obliged our small detachment to abandon the place.

" I therefore directed the troops to retire and form on a hill a little dis- tance from Ilorseneck, while I proceeded to Stamford and collected a body of militia and a few Continental troops which were there, with which I returned immediately, and found that the enemy (after plunder- ing the inhabitants of the principal part of their effects and destroying a few salt-works, a small sloop, and a store) were on their return. The officer commanding the Continental troops stationed at Horseneck mis- took my orders and went much farther than I intended, so that he could not come up with them to any advantage. I, however, ordered the few troops that came from Stamford to pursue them, thinking they might have an opportunity to pick up some stragglers. In this I was not mis- taken, as Your Excellency will see by the enclosed list of prisoners. Be- sides these, eight or nine more were taken and sent off, so that I cannot tell to which particular regiments they belonged ; one ammunition- and one baggage-wagon were taken. In the former there were about two hun- dred rounds of canister, grape, and round-shot suited to three-pounders, some slow-matches, and about two hundred tubes; the latter was filled with pluuder, which I had the satisfaction of restoring to the inhabitants from whom it was taken. As I have not yet got a return, I cannot tell exactly the number we lost, though I don't think more than ten sol- diers and about that number of iuhabitants, but a few of which were in arms.

" List of Prisoners taken at Horseneck on the 26th ult .- Seventeenth Regi- ment, 15 privates; Forty-fourth do., 5 privates; Fifty-seventh do., 3 pri- vates; Loyal American Regiment, 5; Emmerick Corps, 8; First Battalion of Artillery, 1; Pioneers, I. Total, 38.

"N.B .- Seven deserters from Emmerick's Corps."

The following is from " Barber's Historical Collec- tions of Connecticut," being cxtracts from two letters from Fairfield County, dated March 1, 1779, four days after the occurrence :

" The enemy have made an excursion within four miles of Stamford by the best accounts of about fourteen hundred or fifteen hundred, under the command of Governor Tryon; they reached Horseneck on Friday morning about nine o'clock. At Stamford they were not alarmed till ten o'clock, notwithstanding the enemy was discovered at nine o'clock the preceding cvening by a small guard of Continental troops at East Ches- ter, under the command of Capt. Titus Watson, who were obliged to give way, though they fought on their retreat, and some of them were wounded and taken prisoners. Capt. Watson was closely pursued by a light-horse- man whom he had the good fortune to kill, and by the . . . made his escape. Gen. Putnam was accidentally at Stamford, but the Continental troops were too much scattered to be collected in season to oppose the enemy. About two hundred militia and a few Continental troops fell in with the enemy's rear, just as they were leaving Ilorseneck, about the middle of the afternoon, who killed eight or ten of them and took about fifty prisoners, who had made too free with the liquor they had plun- dered. They destroyed a small salt-work and burnt a schooner which lay at Mianos Creek. They plundered the inhabitants of everything they could lay their hands on, broke windows, etc., and many families were stript of everything lut the clothes they had on; cven the house where Goveruor Tryon had his headquarters was not spared. They re- treated to Rye on Friday evening, and next day to King's Bridge. Their retreat was so precipitate that they left behind two wagons loaded with plunder."

From the above reports, and from twenty or more different accounts, some of which have been landed down by the hottest of the Tories and some by over- zcalous Americans, we have arranged the following account of the expedition, as being the most consistent and reliable. It is necessary that we should contra- dict some accounts, and even dispute some of the facts stated by Gen. Putnam himself. We ask all, there- fore, who would relate the matter in a different man- ner to look upon our account in a spirit of leniency,

remembering that where there is so much disagree- ment all cannot be right.

The headquarters at this time were at the house of Capt. John Hobby. Col. Holdridge, of the vicinity of Hartford, an officer much disliked by the Amer- icans, was in command of the outpost. The house was situated a few feet south of the one now occupied by Henry M. Benedict, Esq., and a small guard-house was erected in the corner of the yard, but a few feet south of Mr. Benedict's western entrance, close by the side of the street, of which the carriage-path ran more than its width farther south than it now does.

Some say that this outpost was at the house of the late John J. Tracy, but this was a hot-bed of Tory- ism, and further, those giving this account say that Putnam arose from the breakfast-table, sprang upon his horse, and rode for Stamford; in which case he could have given no orders to the men who were drawn up by the meeting-house, which he in fact did. We therefore take this account to be a mistake.

On the evening of the 25th of February, 1779, Gen. Putnamı was at Horseneck, quartered with the picket- guard, where it was his custom to come almost every day to gain information of the doings of the enemy below. That evening a ball was held at the house of Moses Husted, Pecksland, on the same site where is now the residence of William A. Husted, Esq. Put- nam attended, taking a lady on his horse behind him, according to the custom of those days. This lady, afterwards Mrs. Rogers, was a daughter of David Bush, of Coscob, living in the same house now occu- pied by George J. Smith, Esq. It was late when he accompanied her home, so that he did not leave her father's residence for Horseneck until nearly daylight on the morning of the 26th. This fact has led many to suppose that his headquarters were at Coscob, which is evidently a mistake.

The day before (the 25tli) a small company of the Continental light-horsemen, under Capt. Titus Wat- son, consisting of about thirty men, had been ordered forward by Putnam to observe the doings of the ene- my. They went down nearly as far as New Rochelle, where, between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, they found the enemy approaching, with Delancy's body of Tories in the van. The Continentals retired before them, but were discovered and come up with. By reason of superior numbers they were defeated, and many of them were killed. The enemy drove them from the stage-road down into Milton, where they managed to keep away from their pursuers, cross- ing the heads of the creeks, many of them hiding in the swamps. A few of them, with Capt. Watson, suc- ceeded in reaching Byram Bridge, which they had time to take up when their pursuers were just in sight. Watson, with one or two others, then rode directly to Horseneck, with the company of Tories in full pursuit. Five of them turned southward and were pursued by a body of the enemy, who came up with one of the fugitives in the lot recently excavated

RESIDENCE OF SOLOMON MEAD ESQ. MAPLE AVENUE GREENWICH FAIRFIELD CO. CONN.

STREET VIEW OF THE RESIDENCE OF SOLOMON MEAD ESO. MAPLE AVENUE GREENWICH CONN.

377

GREENWICH.

by the New York and New Haven Railroad Company, now owned by Capt. Caleb W. Merritt. The soldier was there shot down and the horse inhumanly butch- cred, from which the inclosure has since been known as the "Horse Lot." The other four succeeded in reaching the Myanos in safety, where they were set across by Daniel Banks.

The alarm was given to the picket-guard by Capt. Watson, but there was little or no time to prepare for defense. The enemy had been informed of the weak- ness of the outpost, and advanced steadily for it. Mr. Matthew Mead, then a boy of twelve, was back of his father's house, where Mr. Bush Mead now lives, when he saw them at the top of the hill by Horseneek Brook. His father sent him off, with the other chil- dren and the cattle, back in the lots, where he reached a place of safety. The Americans, warned by Capt. Watson, numbering, according to the various ac- counts, from one to two hundred, having no cavalry, formed in front of the meeting-house and fired a six- pounder three times-which was a signal of alarm -- just as the Tories passed the house of Mr. Matthew Mead. They then were walking their horses, but when they came in sight of Capt. Jolin Hobby's they saw Putnam spring on his horse at the barn with his coat on his arm and ride with full speed to the meet- ing-house, where the Americans were drawn up. They now gave him full chase. He stopped a mo- ment to order his men to retreat to a convenient dis- tance, while he should ride on to Stamford for rein- forcements. Being nearly come up with, he dashed on, and by the time he reached the precipice now known as Putnam's. Hill, the commander of the Tories, Thomas . Merritt, of Westehester County, was within two lengths of him.

The road, before reaching the brink of the preci- pice, then ran nearly cast and west, then turning a short right angle ran north about thirty rods, when it turned directly about and ran south along under the precipiec to about five rods below the causeway form- ing the present road, where it again turned eastward.

Putnam plunged his horse down this steep, which, being overgrown with stunted bushes, presented a wild appearance, at a headlong pace, across the road at the foot of the hill, into the thicket which then lay between the post-road and the swamp, now known as the "Ten Aeres," and pursued a sort of drift-path through the thicket till he was beyond the present residence of Theodore H. Mead, Esq., where he again took to the road. The hill now presents a totally different aspect from what it formerly did, and the hardest part of Putnam's descent was after he crossed the road running along the side of the hill.

Some will have it that he started down the hill from the same point, but took a southeastern course, reaching the road at the foot of the stone steps, where the enemy had full aim at him all the while; others, that he rushed headlong down the seventy-four stone steps placed roughly one above another for the con-

venience of foot passengers, his weight being two hundred and forty pounds. Others, again, claim that he followed the road as long as it ran on the top of the hill, and then set off in a northeastern dirce- tion above the Ten Acres; while the author has been coolly told that he was in no danger of being taken at all, and rode slowly around the hill as other people did. We have carefully traced and examined these different accounts, and have the fullest evidence, by the testimony of eye-witnesses, that the account first given is correct. One of the many balls fired at him by the Tories from the brink of the hill as he passed through the bushes passed through his hat. Old Put on tlris occasion could not refrain from his customary exclamation when in trouble from the Tories, which he shouted as the balls whistled thickly past him : "God cuss ye ! when I catch ye I'll hang ye to the next tree."

Col. Holdridge, who was in command of the Con- tinental soldiers, retreated in an unsoldierlike man- ner to Stanwich, while Putnam intended that lic should retire only a short distance. From the ac- count by the Americans of this officer, who was a Hartford man, he was totally unfit to be a soldier at all, much less an officer.

The citizens hung about the village as near as they dared, hiding in the swamps and by-places during the whole day, taking advantage of every opportu- nity, by some daring feat, to secure prisoners, and even fire upon the enemy.

About an hour after the arrival of the body of Tories, Governor Tryon, with his full force of about twelve hundred men, took full possession of the town. He made his quarters at the house of Mr. Henry Mead, who then kept a public-house on the site of the present residence of Miss Sarah Lewis and Mrs. Mason. The soldiers, meantime, separated themselves into squads and pillaged every house in the neighborhood ; a large body of them visited Coseob, where they destroyed the salt-works, which were upon Bush's Point, a small sloop, and a sloop's store-house.

A party of them also entered the house of Daniel and Joshua Smith, which was situated a little way south of the present parsonage of the Second Con- gregational Society. They found this house deserted by all its inhabitants excepting a deaf old lady, the mother-in-law of Joshua Smith. As they entered they saw her standing at the head of the front stairs. As she could not hear, she disobeycd their orders to come down, which so enraged the soldiers that one of them sprang up stairs and eut her down with his sword. After this murder the house was sct on fire and burned to the ground. This is said to have been the only house wholly burned by the British.

The houses of those who held the enemy's permits were safe from these depredations, but the others were ransacked and plundered of cvery valuable. The wagons brought to carry back the plunder were

378

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

filled to their utmost capacity. After that, every- thing was destroyed. The farmers made granaries of their garrets, and the enemy, after cutting holes through the garret and main floors, shoveled all the grain into the cellars, where the cider-barrels were knocked in and all mingled in one useless mass.

The cider, however, was not all permitted to run upon the ground, but by the middle of the afternoon nearly all the privates had become so drunken witlı it as to be unfit for the least defense, and so little guard was kept by the enemy that an American crept slyly into the orchard by the Henry Mead house, in the midst of the enemy, and fired a ball through the clapboards, which whistled close by Governor Tryon's lead and struck the mantel-piece, from which it re- bounded upon the floor. This startled Tryon so much that he, without waiting for his late dinner, gave im- mediate orders for a retreat. The officers now expe- rienced the greatest difficulty in forming their men. Many were beastly drunk, and a great number inade ir- regular marches, so that the Greenwich men managed to take several prisoners. Though several shots were fired at the enemy before, their first man was killed in the road opposite the cedar-tree a little west of the house of William Knapp. Others were wounded, and the enemy was in a full and disorderly retreat. The Americans so hotly pressed upon their rear that the drivers cut their horses loose from an ammuni- tion- and a plunder-wagon, and rode off after their companions at full speed. The Americans had just taken possession of them when Gen. Putnam, with between one and two hundred Continentals and mil- itia, arrived from Stamford, too late to render any assistance to the inhabitants.

This was an eventful day for Greenwich. Houses, though not burned, were ruined, and in the midst of winter, all provision had been destroyed by the hos- tile army, and the Tories, from that time for about a year, had almost complete mastery of the town. It is absolutely impossible to depict the miseries of the people who, loving the American cause, were obliged to stay here until the next season.

It seems that Putnam, as well as the inhabitants, supposed, from the large number of the enemy, that they were to proceed farther on, to Stamford and Norwalk. Hence, Col. Mead early dispatched Mr. Titus Mead to New Haven to ask of reinforcements of Gen. Silliman. The messenger arrived at New Haven a little before six that evening, and Gen. Silliman im- mediately issued his orders. The following is a copy of the one sent to Woodbury, taken from Cothren's " History of Woodbury :"

" NEW HAVEN, Feb. 26, 1779, 6 P.M.

"GENT.,-Mr. Titus Mead, a man to be depended on, is this moment arriv'd express from Col. Mead, with a message by word of mouth only from Col. Mead, for their circumstances were such that Col. Mead could not write. He says when he left Horseneck (which was early this morn- ing) a Body of about six hundred men and a Body of Horse had pushed up the road into Horseneck, and were on this side of Knap's tavern ; and it was reported that a Body of two or three thousand more were not far

behind. You are therefore directed to muster & march your Regiments forthwith to Norwalk to oppose the enemy, & where you will receive further Orders. Lose not a moment neither by Night nor day.

"G. SELLECK SILLIMAN,

" Brig .- Gen. of Foot and Col. Ct. of Horse. " To COL. MOSLEY & MAJOR BULL, Woodbury.

Of course the early retreat of the enemy rendered the execution of this command of no avail.

The Tories now soon became possessed of the en- tire town. Their headquarters were a part of the time at the house of Mr. Abraham Mead, where Mr. Oliver Mead now resides. This, now being the neu- tral ground, was plundered by both friends and foes ; and poor and sickening indeed was the lot of those who were obliged to stay here.

RIVINGTON'S PRESS.

Some time during the war a paper was published in the city of New York by one Rivington. This paper was professedly and to all outward appearance devoted to the British interests. It was afterwards, however, known to have aided the Americans much, and was under the control of Washington himself. The hostile appearance of the sheet, however, de- ceived the Americans as well as their enemies, and about half a dozen Greenwich men resolved that the press should be stopped ; they stole into the city, de- stroyed the press, and bagged the type, which they brought off with them from the very midst of a watch- ful enemy. Messrs. Andrew and Peter Mead were the principal men of the expedition. It is said that they only of the company were able to carry the bags of type from the printing-office to the street and throw them across the backs of their horses. After the type was brought to Greenwich it was totally destroyed, except enough to print each of the company's names, which the veterans kept for a long time in memory of their exploit.

THE KING STREET SKIRMISH.

One great disadvantage which the people were sub- jected to during the whole war was the absolute want of bayonets. Few companies could be found wholly armed with these valuable weapons. But Lieut. Mosher was the commander of a small company of men who were amply provided with them. This company may have been larger, but consisted of only eighteen soldiers at the time here mentioned. Seven of them were from the farm of Gen. Pierre Van Cort- land, of Cortlandtown, about half a dozen of them from Greenwich, and the remainder from the vicinity of the town of Harrison. On the 4th of December, 1781," Capt. Richard Sacket, of the same company, was taken prisoner, having unwisely separated him- self from his company. The light-horse of the enemy, under Col. Holmes (a Tory) and Capt. Kipp, attacked the company. The latter retreated to the vicinity of a tavern recently kept by William Merritt, in King

* Heath's Mem., p. 324.

379

GREENWICH.

Street, where they formed to withstand the charge of the troop of horse. Without shelter of any kind, and upon an open plain, these eighteen men successfully stood charge after charge from the troop. Lieut. Mosher ordered his men not to fire a shot, but sternly to await the onset. At the first charge Col. Holines, finding himself repulsed, ordered Mosher to surren- der or he would eut them all to pieces. The only reply vouchsafed by Mosher was, "Cut and be damned!" and with silence he withstood the first and second charges. But after the third charge he or- dered his men to fire on the retiring troops, which they did with terrible execution. One man was killed and eight dangerously wounded, Capt. Kipp mortally. The horses of Col. Holmes and Capt. Kipp were also killed under them. Mosher's men, taking advantage of the discomfiture of their assail- ants, escaped to a neighboring picee of woods, not having a man even wounded. It is said to have been the most astonishing feat, on the part of both the officers and men, that was enacted during the whole war. Gen. Washington often spoke of this affair, and it was reported all over Europe to show the utility of the bayonet, and that a small body of infantry thus armed may successfully resist a strong body of cav- alry. Several of the enemy were severely wounded before they were fired upon.

THE BRITISHI IN NORTHI STAMFORD.

At one time during the war the nearest American outpost to New York in this quarter was at Byram, and the enemy being bent upon a depredatory expe- dition to North Stamford and Long Ridge, came sud- denly in the night and cut every one of the guard to pieces. This whole expedition seems to have been marked by bloody and horrible decds, and it is said that Tarleton himself commanded the force. The whole populace around collected and followed the enemy, to attack and worry them on their re- treat. An ambuscade was formed at a defile in Round Hill, uear the residence of Roswell Mills, Esq., where the road passes through steep rocks overgrown with thick laurel. At other places on their return the British and Tories were sorely pressed, but here a deadly fire poured in upon them, kill- ing and wounding great numbers. On that day in the retreat one of their regiments lost their stand- ard, to their great mortification and disgrace.

ANDREW MEAD, HUMPHREY DENTON, AND RICII- ARD MEAD.

These men-more, perhaps, than any others-de- serve the highest praise for their brave and daring aets. It was not so much their province to counsel and advise as to act. "Old men for counsel and young mien for action." Such men as Dr. Amuos Mead, John Mackay, and Abraham Mead were of great service to the inhabitants as counselors. They were all past the meridian of life, and one of them,

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.

History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 93

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