USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume I > Part 11
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During the summer the court framed such a charter as the members thought would be proper, and Winthrop sent it here in August. The missing copy of the Warwick patent was found by Winthrop in England among papers that were left by Edward Hopkins after his death there. Doctor Trumbull in his "Colonial Records" expresses the opinion that neither before nor after the purchase did the colonists have rights in the territory other than by occupation, purchase from the Indians and by con- quest of the Pequots, and that their purpose had been to buy off as quietly as possible any who might challenge their claims. Gov. Simeon E. Baldwin's theory concerning the original copy is that the Earl of Warwick gave the document to his heir, one of the patentees, and in the confusion of war and the extinction of the earl's family it was not strange that the copy of the copy was all that existed to support the claim prior to the charter of 1662.
Saye and Sele cooperated earnestly with Winthrop. There were many obstacles to be overcome. The secretary of state for the colonies, in a letter, expressed grave fear that the colony had altogether too much freedom, and there were those in the King's circle who agreed with him. But the gravest feature of all- a feature which ordinarily would have precluded the possibility of sending Winthrop on such a mission-had to do with Win- throp's own father-in-law, Rev. Hugh Peters. He had been the outspoken pastor of a church of exiles at Rotterdam, and cross- ing to New England, had begun his activities in behalf of the col- onies as pastor of the church at Salem. One of the promoters of the federation of the colonies, he had been chairman of the com- mission on international affairs and, while fiery of temper, had been one of the strongest of the group which included Hooker, the elder Winthrop and Haynes.
When the Cromwellian war was diverting England's atten- tion from the formation of the United Colonies of New England,
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when men like Stephen Winthrop, brother of John Winthrop, Jr., Capt. Israel Stoughton of Pequot war fame, George Fenwick of Saybrook, Edward Winslow of Plymouth and Gov. Edward Hopkins of Connecticut returned to England to help on Crom- well's cause, and when Hooker felt obliged to reject the petitions of eminent Parliamentarians to return to participate in reform- ing the church (because he would be in the minority among so many Presbyterians), Peters was among the first to improve such an opportunity. To his mind, England was then the field for the Puritans to cultivate; immigration having decreased, New England was suffering in agriculture and commerce, many were leaving the new country and not a few were returning to their old homes across the sea. And when the war was ended, he was the one chosen to preach "the funeral sermon to the King, after sentence, out of Esaias:" "Thou art cast out of the grave like an abominable branch,
* as a carcass trodden under feet *
* * because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain
thy people." And only shortly before Winthrop appeared in London, when Charles II had limited to about ten the number of his father's executioners who should be put to death, Hugh Pe- ters had been one of those selected. His memory ever was re- vered among the Puritans of the stamp of Milton, but the full- blooded Charles hardly could be supposed to have regained his equanimity.
Winthrop's education and genius carried the day against the opposition of many in court circles. A ring which had been pre- sented to Winthrop's father by Charles I was received most grate- fully by his majesty, and in various ways the governor-diplomat won the monarch's personal esteem. His preliminary address was skilfully couched. It voiced the lament of the colonists that they were separated by the sea from the noble seat of govern- ment and their gracious monarch; their grief over the wars in England and their feeling that they had been hidden behind the mountains like a people forsaken in a desert, not applying to an illegal government but waiting upon divine Providence. He be- sought the sovereign "to accept this colony, your own colony, a little branch of your mighty hemisphere"-and he obtained all the territory from Narragansett Bay to the Pacific, including the charterless colony of New Haven.
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He wrote the happy news to Deputy Governor Mason in May and sent the precious document in August, he prolonging his stay because of other concern, including participation in the founding of the Royal Society. It was with regret that the King saw him depart. The charter was issued in duplicate, a fact which was to make romantic history a little later on and to pique curiosity till 1898.
It is said, and appears evident, that Winthrop did not pre- sent the charter endorsed by the General Court but instead one that he drew up in connection with counsel employed by himself. It was the most liberal charter ever granted. In the main it perpetuated the principles of the Fundamental Orders, giving the colony under royal warrant that independence for which it had been founded. There were to be a governor, a deputy gover- nor, twelve assistants and a House of Deputies, two from each town, all elected annually. Laws were not to be made contrary to those of England, but they did not have to be transmitted to England for inspection nor was there provision for royal inter- ference of any kind. The charter was received with much re- joicing and was approved by the people in October. A charter also was obtained for Rhode Island.
Possibly a reason why New Haven territory was included in the charter was that that colony had harbored the regicides, Goff, Whalley and Dixwell. Deep and severe were the reproaches of John Davenport and his followers. After four months of rebuf- fing overtures, the New Haven General Court voted to continue its own government. Winthrop had not yet returned. In a let- ter to Deputy Governor Mason he urged that matters should not be pushed too hard and had hoped from the beginning that New Haven would exercise its option, but the General Assembly (as it was now called) disregarded the advice, recognized the outlying towns that had come into the fold, appointed magistrates and re- quested that deputies should be elected, sending notices to the towns outside of New Haven itself. The next year the subject was foremost at the meeting of the federation commissioners in Boston. Massachusetts and Plymouth decided that "by act of violence" New Haven could not have her rights infringed upon by any other of the United Colonies without breach of the articles of confederation; the "act of power" should be recalled and New
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Haven be left to continue till such time as the subject might be disposed of in an "orderly way."
Since her voters must be church members, New Haven's elec- tors were only 60 per cent of her men; the other 40 per cent were in favor of the union of the colonies. All but three towns seceded which left the others in financial straits and governmental di- lemma. It happened at this juncture that an order from the King relative to navigation was addressed to the governor of New Haven, on the strength of which action the demand was made upon the seceding towns to return to the jurisdiction, while the New Haven court sent a document to Connecticut's General Assembly reviewing the situation and asking that union be not insisted upon. Connecticut remained silent but Massachusetts advisers said that, having made this statement, New Haven could yield with dignity. Simultaneously it appeared that the Duke of York, brother of Charles II, was planning to assert his author- ity under a charter granted by the susceptible Charles, covering Long Island, New Netherlands and all the territory from the west bank of the Connecticut to the east side of Delaware Bay. This looked to New Haven like a second robbery, and altogether it was better to join with Connecticut. The broken-hearted Dav- enport declared that his dear colony's independence was "miser- ably lost." Winthrop put forth no claim to Long Island but arranged to have the western boundary about as it is today, bar- ring a few changes which were to come out of several controver- sies in subsequent years.
The now comprehensive General Assembly was to meet alter- nately in New Haven and Hartford. Winthrop continued as governor till his death in 1676. The marvel of his success had become greater as the years went by, for the King's advisers and their successors were more and more outspoken in declaring that he had exceeded his powers in granting an independent state. And in action the colonists did not hesitate to exercise in- dependence in excess of their charter rights. Certain changes were made to suit their convenience. Thus the charter required that colony officers should be elected by the freemen assembled in one mass meeting; it had become customary for the outlying towns to send their votes to Hartford by their deputies, and as the same was true in New Haven, a law was passed authorizing
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such action, in 1670, but not till 1750 were the words "in per- son" struck out. This was contrary to the English law and would have been taken as a violation of the charter had attention been called to it.
In 1698, the Legislature was divided into two houses, the governor and assistants (or "council") constituting the "upper house." "That there be no fraud or deceit," balloting in town meetings was as follows: Twenty nominations of colony officers were made at the preceding session of the Legislature. As the nominations were read, ballots were taken for governor, deputy governor, secretary and assistants, in order. The nominations for assistants were taken in order, each separately, the twelve having the most votes being declared the choice. Anyone could put in a blank ballot without making himself known, but unless all were blank it would have no effect. The criticism of today is that a nomination was an election, with the result that the votes of the freemen counted for naught. But such was not the case. The "convention" or "caucus," to be sure, was in the preceding session, where, as time progressed, there could develop diver- gences of opinion although as yet there was no division into par- ties; then if results were still unsatisfactory, enough blank bal- lots would appear at the election to make a renomination verv uncertain-and elections came every year. In general, however, nothing occurred to make more than one party, there was fair unanimity and a desire to continue those who served well. In 1689, when an elector must have an estate worth 40 shillings a year, the experiment was tried of having a direct vote of the freemen for the nominees at the nominating session of the Legis- lature, each ballot with twenty names to be written out, but this was abandoned after three years.
The first distinct property qualification for a voter was made in 1657 when the character of some of the immigrants seemed to demand it. In that year, voters for colony (not town) officers must be householders at least 21 years old, have held office or have an estate of £30; ratable estates then averaged £60. In 1679 the law was that each voter for town or county officers must have an estate of at least 50 shillings. There were four counties, Hartford, New Haven, New London and Fairfield, each having three assistants and two commissioners or "justices of the peace."
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When the Dutch were threatening in 1673, it was decreed that there should be a "Grand Committee"-the first Council of. War-to deal with all matters in case of emergency between ses- sions. This committee should consist of the governor, deputy governor and assistants and such others as were named, mostly military men, and generally so after the first year of the law. The Hartford County men on this responsible committee, which was to be of great value in the dark years ahead, were Capt. Benjamin Newberry of Windsor, (and later) Captain Wells, Capt. John Wadsworth and Richard Lord.
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XI ANNIHILATION THREATENED
TERRORISM OF KING PHILIP'S WAR, AFTER REPULSE OF ANDROS- COUNTY MEN AGAIN HEROIC LEADERS-LAST DAYS OF CONNECTI- CUT INDIANS.
The enactment for a War Council, so useful for another hun- dred years, must seem anomalous to him who only pores over the records and stilted correspondence of thirty years up to this time. Aside from consideration of the Dutch threat, attention of those who wrote was devoted to affairs of state, of government and of internal legislation along the paths of peace. Absorbed in such reading, one comes to think that now the colony was sure of its footing and went forward steadily to the final union of states. But among the people themselves it was items like the War Council legislation that reflected a constant and growing sense of wariness, a necessity for keeping prepared, and yet no premonition of what the next century was to bring.
The first act of distinct colonial aid to the mother country was in 1664 when Charles II sent Col. Richard Nicholls who, supported by reinforcements from New England and Rhode Island and accompanied by Governor Winthrop, secured Stuy- vesant's capitulation of New Amsterdam. Almost immediately thereafter was confidence in peaceful colony-building to be shaken when Governor Andros sailed from New York to fix the Connecticut River boundary line of the territory given the Duke of York by Charles. With his fleet and brave soldiery he ap- peared at Saybrook July 8, 1675. The General Assembly had exercised foresight. Capt. Thomas Bull of Hartford, redoubt- able, had arrived at the fort with well-equipped men. The flag of the King to whom the colony had pledged fealty was aloft. Andros and his attendants in all their finery were courteously permitted to land and even to read the duke's epistle. But Bull
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-who Andros said should have "his horns tipped with silver"- abated none of his warlike attitude. As it would be imprudent to fire upon the King's flag, there was nothing for Andros and his retinue to do but to sail home again. Bull was lionized by a much-agitated people, but the stern General Assembly told him that he should have interrupted Andros' reading "by shouts or sound of drum etc., without violence."
In the fall of that same year all anxiety imposed by white men, whether of their own blood or other, dropped into insig- nificance before the outburst from Massachusetts. With no aid from the mother country, war was on, brief in its duration, little more than itemized for the casual reader, but a war whose fear- ful intensity caused the General Court of Massachusetts to de- clare at the close :
There died many brave officers and sentinels, whose memory is blessed and whose death redeemed our lives. The bitter cold, the tarled swamp, the tedious march, the strong fort, the numerous and stubborn enemy they contended with, for their God, King and country, be their trophies over death. Our mourners, over all the colony, witness for our men that they were not unfaithful in that day.
In retrospect the government of Massachusetts ascribed King Philip's war to God's indignation over the sins of the people who had become lax in church discipline, had forgotten to train their children aright, had forsaken the paths of their fathers and had permitted their women to expose their bosoms, to dress their hair indecently and to wear too many ribbons. History ascribes it more nearly to application of Puritan ideas of deportment and government to proud and sensitive Indians who had not been made instruments of aid as in Connecticut. For unchristian- ized natives there was only Anglo-Saxon justice interpreted by the red men as contempt. The Wampanoags had not been Chris- tianized; their chief Massasoit had shared all he had with the newcomers, but his successors, Alexander and Philip, found their people pushed to one side and downward and vaunted pledges violated, according to their interpretation, as when Miantonomoh of the Narragansetts had been allowed to go to his death at the hands of him they called renegade, Uncas of the Mohegans. Al- exander's sudden (but natural) death they ascribed to poison ;
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Philip, young, lusty, supple, came to the chieftainship, bitter of heart. Thrice was he summoned to Boston for investigation, and returned marveling at the exhibition of firearms he had seen. Ordered to surrender his own till signs of an outbreak should disappear, he remarked that he saw that those he did turn in were distributed among the individual colonists and he reminded the government of the spirit of amity which had been promised to the fathers.
For four years breach of faith was charged again and again, till at last the fires were lit and the Wampanoags and the Narra- gansetts and their associates, to the number of over 3,000, were on the warpath. Connecticut, with more methodical preparation and with greater confidence in her local Indians, was the first to take the field. The Podunks alone favored the enemy; Uncas, whose home now was with the Mohegans on the Narragansett border, had been having quarrels with his eastern neighbors; and his followers, chiefly as scouts and guides, were of great assist- ance. Heedless of Andros' threat, the troops were on the march for New London, Stonington and Saybrook July 1, 1675, under command of Capt. Wait Winthrop and Thomas Bull. Shrewd in generalship, Philip's first blow fell on the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, and Brookfield was burning on August 1. Capt. Thomas Watts of Hartford and Capt. Roger Newberry of Wind- sor with troopers and Mohegans, were hurried to the support of the Massachusetts men, followed soon by Maj. John Talcott of Hartford at the request of Major Pynchon of Springfield, for a conference. At Deerfield, September 1, Watts was able to pro- tect the people but could not save their homes. Maj. Robert Treat, formerly of Wethersfield but now of Milford, hastened to the relief of Northfield, where brave Massachusetts men had paid the penalty of lack of vigilance, and escorted the people to Hadley. His force was too small for battle. Recalled by alarm at Hartford, he returned, scouring both sides of the river.
Pynchon as commander-in-chief and Treat as second in com- mand then planned a campaign which they were unable to exe- cute because of the interference of the commissioners at Boston who demanded annihilation in the open. A careless convoy of provisions near Northfield, their guns on their wagons, were
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annihilated. Treat arrived in time to save their bodies for bur- ial-seventy-five in one grave.
Terror hereabouts was greatly increased by the burning of Springfield October 5, 1675. General massacre by the hitherto friendly Agawams would have been included had it not been for information from an Indian employed by H. Wolcott, Jr., a Windsor farmer who brought warning at the risk of his life. Pynchon from the north and Treat from Westfield arrived too late. More Connecticut alarms, especially around Wethersfield, where, as in the other towns, all able-bodied men were taking turns in guarding the homes and the crops, caused the tempo- rary recall of Treat. Disgusted with the interference from Bos- ton, Pynchon resigned and suggested Treat for his successor, but as he was in Connecticut, Major Appleton was named. The small body of fighters was becoming demoralized by foolish or- ders. Treat's return inspired confidence but almost immedi- ately he was recalled because of reports from Glastonbury, and was held in Connecticut pending an attack upon Hartford which Governor Andros of New York wrote he had learned of. This danger passing, Treat hastened to the aid of Appleton, now bot- tled up at Hatfield with the redskins tearing at will through all the country north of Springfield, cutting off farmers and de- stroying crops. At the approach of winter, falling leaves were making it possible to scout through the woods when Treat was summoned to Hartford and Appleton to Boston to receive the plan of the commissioners of the United Colonies for an attack on winter quarters of the Narragansetts, who had not taken the trail but were harboring the families of their friends. Their chief, Canonchet, had signed a treaty but that was drafted "by old men" in his absence and he refused to comply with the agree- ment to turn over the alien Indians in his territory.
The commissioners issued an ultimatum and then, on No- vember 2, a call for 1,000 additional men to invade the Narra- gansett land. Of Connecticut's quota of 215, Hartford sent 110. Gov. Josiah Winslow of Plymouth was chief in command with Treat next to him. Capt. Benjamin Newberry of Windsor hav- ing been disabled was succeeded by Capt. Samuel Marshall. Other Connecticut officers who were to distinguish themselves were Captains Thomas Watts, Nathaniel Seeley, John Gallop,
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John Mason 2nd and Lieutenants James Avery and John Miles, while Rev. James Fitch was to organize Mohegans and Pequots as auxiliaries. On December 18, this the largest army ever as- sembled in the colonies, after a day of fasting and prayer on the 2nd when the people were told by the government of the Bay Col- ony that they were suffering judgment for their sins of frivolity, started at daylight for the Narragansett swamp where some 1,200 warriors were fortified with their women and children. And it was Sunday. That such an expedition should be under- taken with untrained men, badly equipped, through snow and into pathless woods, seeming to invite defeat and so contrary to the first principles of campaigning, is abundant proof of the des- peration. They believed the fate of the colonies was at stake; this blow alone could give them hope. Homes were few and they and their occupants were being destroyed; approaches were be- ing made even to the environments of the equally unprotected larger settlements; whether this was to be white men's land or Indians' must be decided. Hartford no less than Boston can count this as one of the gravest moments in its history.
Guided to the one weak spot in the doubly strengthened pali- sade, the Massachusetts men led the assault but were stopped with heavy loss. Connecticut followed, and there fell immedi- ately Gallop of Stonington, Marshall of Windsor, Lieut. John Stedman of Wethersfield, commanding the Hartford County Dragoons, and Seeley of Fairfield, and Mason was mortally wounded. Exhausted by their long march and dazed with the novelty of their surroundings, the new men were about to be- come the easy victims of the warriors who were defending their homes when the wigwams caught fire and the flames, swept by a swift wind, drove all before them down the large enclosure. Six captains and twenty-five men had been killed and 150 wounded in brief space of time. The English retreated before the flames to the swamp. How many of the Indians had perished could not be surmised, but it must be that the force had been greatly reduced. The position could not be held; the alternative was almost as impossible but had to be accepted and, accordingly, in a fierce snowstorm which beat down many of them, they worked their way in the darkness over the rough trails to their base near present Wickford. Twenty died in their improvised
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litters on the march. While the main body arrived two hours after midnight, stragglers were coming in throughout the next day.
Canonchet would have no parley till his hostage brother was returned from Hartford. The army was speedily recruited up to 1,400, Connecticut furnishing 300. With all the red men he could assemble from any source, Canonchet was striking out through a corner of Connecticut towards the center of Massa- chusetts where presumably were the headquarters of King Philip, but no one knew; at all events the union of such forces must be prevented. A premature blow by Winslow proved dis- astrous. The slow pursuit through snow and over roughest ter- rain, without the chance of a shot, was ever after known as the "hunger march" when the white men had to kill their few horses for food. On through Woodstock to Marlboro, in the heart of the Indian country, they had pushed when Winslow made the costly error of disbanding his forces. The Indians, nearly starved after the arrival of the reinforcements, raided farms more boldly.
To the call for 600 men, with Mohegans, Major Treat re- sponded generously for Connecticut, but before they could be assembled one of the most frightful blows of the war fell upon Lancaster and it was wiped out February 10, 1676. Among the wounded prisoners spared was Mrs. Joseph Rowlandson, wife of the minister who at the time was in Boston begging for a guard for his town. The ball which passed through her side mortally wounded the babe in her arms. Her written story of her cap- tivity and the considerate treatment she received was given out after her removal to Wethersfield and is one of the most valu- able human documents of colonial times. More recruits were brought up. With 200 Major Treat, in March, rescued Capt. William Turner who, with his garrison of seventy-eight, at Northampton, had given up hope.
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