USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928, Volume I > Part 15
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XIV
WARS OF DISILLUSIONMENT
COUNTY RESPONDS AGAIN AND AGAIN-ITS OFFICERS AFFRONTED- TREASURY DRAINED-ATTITUDE ON FRANKLIN'S UNION PLAN-RE- SENTING STAMP ACT.
These wars of the eighteenth century, some of the evil by- products of which in the colony have now been noted, had an effect upon world history which cannot be overestimated since they had much to do with bringing on the Revolutionary war. There was eventual triumph in the territory of the English col- onies over covetous Europe, but in the '70s it might be said with Jeremiah, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the chil- dren's teeth have been set on edge." George III's coterie for- feited the prize.
Men who above all else had wanted the time which peace al- lows for doing the great civic and physical tasks devolving upon them, who had thrown themselves, unprepared, upon the first annoying Indians and who had set apart days of fasting and prayer to ward off war, early had had to adopt military organi- zation, and to perfect it before the close of their first century in the wilderness. Matchlocks of 1642, with two pounds of match (or specially prepared rope carried on the gunstock) to each gun, had given place to flintlocks in 1673, as they in turn were to give way to percussion caps in 1820. A troop of horse, with Richard Lord of Hartford as the first captain, organized in 1658, was an important adjunct of the militia and was attached to the First Regiment in 1739. In 1668 there was a troop of dragooners com- manded by Benjamin Newberry of Windsor. Sergeant major was the highest office in the county, to which John Talcott was appointed in 1673. Jonathan Bull of Hartford followed him and the position was held by John Chester of Wethersfield in 1702 and by Roger Wolcott of Windsor in 1724. In 1737 Wolcott was
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in command of the county regiment of forty-seven companies, 3,480 men, and two troops, 106 men. Names of Daniel Webster, Gideon Welles and of other prominent families in history appear on the rolls.
Formal regimental organization dates from the law of 1739, when there were thirteen regiments, each with a colonel. Wol- cott's previous titles had been major and colonel. John Whiting was colonel in 1741, followed by Joseph Pitkin, George Wyllys, Samuel Wyllys and Roger Newberry, the two last named in the revolutionary period, or until the title was changed in 1785 to lieutenant-colonel, the first to hold which was Hezekiah Wyllys, then Oliver Mather and then Timothy Seymour till 1800. Part of the Sixth, Tenth and Twelfth Regiments came within the county when it included Middletown, Hebron, East Haddam, Barkhamsted, Bolton, Tolland, Winchester, Colebrook and New Hartford. Colonels of the Sixth till 1800 were Thomas Welles of Glastonbury, John Chester, Jabez Hamlin, Elizur Talcott, Samuel H. Parsons, Tomas Belden, Howell Woodbridge, Roger Welles, Ezekiel P. Belden and Elisha Hale. A troop of horse was added to each regiment in 1741. The thirteen regiments in 1662 averaged 1,558 men each, including the troop.
The clash of English and Dutch interests in the previous cen- tury was a matter of little moment compared with the long drawn-out struggle with France after Dutch King William came to the English throne. He perceived that while the English were superior in number and had built their homes to occupy the land, the clever French were establishing strategic military posts along the outskirts even from the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi. The busy home-makers themselves had given no heed; wide stretches of wilderness, inhabited by savage tribes, intervened. But William had seen in King Louis' flaunt a chal- lenge to Protestantism which must be met by making England and eastern America a unit for defense and aggression. None of his successors exhibited equal judgment.
William died five years after his war and was succeeded by Queen Anne at the time when England, Holland and Austria at- tacked Louis XIV of France for putting his grandson on the throne of Spain, for declaring for James' son for King of Eng- land and for generally disregarding the treaty of Ryswick. The colonies vainly had besought England to give heed to their terri-
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tory, Nicholson of Virginia, Penn of Pennsylvania and Bellomont of New York being especially urgent. In the eighteenth century the fatuity of English rule was in the ascendancy.
The increase of unseemly carriage in the colonies was not a source of the Revolution; it was a reflex of both the alarm and discontent as time had gone on. Intemperance was rampant, petty crimes were common, contempt for law and traditions not infrequent. In Hartford County Capt. William Whiting ruled with a strong hand as sheriff but the jail which had been built in 1698 on the north side of the square was overpopulated. The son of Rev. John Whiting, he established the long-prominent militant branch of the family, and war duty came to demand more time than civic duty. For this war of the Spanish succession, or "Queen Anne's war," which was to run on for eleven years before the crowns of France and Spain were separated, he was of the county Committee of War, the others being such leaders as Na- thaniel Stanley and Captains Aaron Cook and Cyprian Nichols of Hartford, William Pitkin of East Hartford, Maj. John Ches- ter of Wethersfield, and Capt. Matthew Allyn of Windsor. The fiascos of the previous war and the loss by the treaty of what little had been gained, like Port Royal and Acadia, rankled deeply, but training was redoubled as news came of the French- Indian outrages in the South and the North, of the midnight hor- rors at Deerfield, Mass., and of French supremacy on the sea. Alarm succeeded alarm. Fortified houses were designated as during King William's war and all precautionary measures taken. In 1707 a council of war in Hartford ordered firmer or- ganization and dogs were procured to help hunt the Indians who were even now burning Haverhill in Massachusetts.
Requests for aid from England were of no avail. The one cheering prospect was when an expedition thence was equipped, but only to be sent for service elsewhere. Port Royal and Acadia must be scotched, since they were the supply station for the In- dians and the rendezvous for privateers. Col. Benjamin Church was authorized to undertake the task but was forbidden to at- tack Port Royal, which stronghold refused to surrender without attack, despite the presence of a New England fleet. Nicholson of Virginia gained reward in 1710 after five years of personal effort in London itself, in the shape of a fleet to retake Port Royal with the aid of the New England militia. He captured the fort
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and gave the name of Nova Scotia. Of the 1,050 colonials, Con- necticut furnished 300. Officers from Hartford County included Colonel Whiting, Lieutenant-Colonel Allyn, Lieutenants Jona- than Belden of Wethersfield, John Clark of Suffield, Samuel White of Hartford and Rev. Thomas Buckingham, chaplain. And again, in the treaty this prize was to be given up.
In 1711, by earnest desire of the colonies, Nicholson secured from England Admiral Walker's fleet and seven of Marlbor- ough's regiments which were to sail up the St. Lawrence to Que- bec while Nicholson led the colonial levies through the wilderness by way of Lake Champlain. Connecticut furnished two of the transports to cooperate with the fleet. Part of the fleet was lost in the fog and through bad handling, and it put back with a heavy loss in ships and men. Nicholson had assembled 2,300 men at Wood Creek, including the Connecticut men under Whiting and other officers who had assembled before, the name of Capt. John Mason of Norwich among them. There was nothing for them but to make their way over the rough trail back home again.
When in 1723 Massachusetts was threatened with another Indian invasion, prompted by the Canadians, she called upon Connecticut, but the colony had had to draw in its own borders from the west and Major Talcott was patrolling from Simsbury to present New Milford. The Council of War, however, was able to dispatch one company to protect Deerfield and Northfield. An- other company was sent to Litchfield and a bounty of £50 was offered for Indian scalps. Capt. Cyprian Nichols marched with a company to Hampden County.
After a short peace, England set out to clear the Indies and the Florida coast of Spaniards. While fortifying New London, Connecticut promptly responded to the call for 1,000 men to join Wentworth and Admiral Vernon's ships at Jamaica, after stipu- lating that the units should elect their own officers. The troops were treated as hirelings and rumors of jobbery and defection disheartened the would-be loyal men. Tropical disease already had swept the worried ranks when they were sent to slaughter under the walls of Cartagena. Turning northward, the English found Havana an easy prey but the yellow fever an unconquer- able foe. Of the 1,000 who went out less than 100 returned. Among the officers who died was Capt. Roger Newberry, one of Windsor's most promising men.
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It was not till 1744, when France ceased to act secretly as an ally of Spain, that real peril threatened New England. From Cape Breton, where towered Louisburg, "America's Gibraltar," devastation was being dealt along the New England coast, yet the appeal of Governor Shirley of Massachusetts met with no response from the North. It was the business men of Hartford County who aroused Connecticut to offer 500 men and then to increase the number to 1,100, with bounty of £10 and each man to furnish his own equipment. The troops sailed from New Lon- don in the ship Defense, itself a further contribution. Sir Wil- liam Pepperell was in command of the combined forces and Lieut .- Gov. Roger Wolcott his chief lieutenant. Most of the Hartford County volunteers were well-to-do citizens who re- sponded with such alacrity that commissary was neglected and material for rations had to be collected from cellar to cellar. One of the company commanders was William Whiting; Rev. Elisha Williams of Wethersfield was chaplain. The colonial fleet sailed from Boston in March, 1745, undeterred by the non-appearance of England's promised support. Commodore Warren, however, was on his way from West Indies and joined in the attack on Louisburg. By June 17 the citadel had succumbed and was left in charge of the victorious colonists. The appeal to England for reimbursement was disallowed. Neighboring colonies contrib- uted to the fund raised in New England. One American officer received recognition by the royal government, in the person of Capt. David Wooster who chanced to be in England at the time and was made lieutenant in the army on half-pay for life; his life was given in the Revolution when he was aiding in the re- pulse of Tryon's raid on Danbury.
France thirsted for revenge and England planned the con- quest of Canada. Connecticut sent 1,000 (in addition to a de- tachment for Hampshire County) as her portion of New Eng- land's 5,300 in the expedition. The French fleet having met with disaster by storms and disease, England failed to appreciate its opportunity and the expedition was recalled. The treaty was signed in 1748. The expense had been £80,000 which would have been given cheerfully could the victories of the colonists have been sealed. But, as at the previous peace, the prizes won for the mother country-the nests from which the French roamed out to annoy the colonists-were given back to the enemy. Life and
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treasure were deemed to have been wasted by a government which became less and less understandable.
During the peace, Connecticut in common with the other col- onies made rapid progress. In 1755 Connecticut had a popula- tion of 160,000 and industries were being developed. But the time when history could be written in something besides blood had not yet arrived, nor was it to arrive till the country had freed itself of European meshes. The student who would dis- cover new reasons for the war for independence must blind him- self to the record of a hundred years and particularly to the crystalization of sentiment in the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury. No amount of expatiation upon religious views, universal frontier peculiarities or the ambition of individuals or groups can weigh against the officially established experiences of the col- onies, whether as to charter uncertainties, subjection to royal whims, sacrifice through incompetency of satraps or marshals, or being the tail of kites whipped about by every European breeze, in England alone or in any other monarchy.
Fresh strife was made certain by the French policy of en- croachment after the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle. King William's theory was proving tremendously correct. Frontier posts were of little value at this late day. Delegates from New England, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland attended the historic Al- bany convention in 1754. The Connecticut delegates, William Pitkin, Roger Wolcott, Jr., and Elisha Williams-already famil- iar county names-were instructed, especially against undue control of the troops. The plan Franklin submitted was doubt- less as liberal as conditions would allow, but in the pooling of the military under royal direction-that is, through a colonial coun- cil whose president-general should be a royal appointee-Connec- ticut, though the Hartford County men who represented her stood alone, saw insuperable objections. But her breath against acceptance of the plan was wasted, for England on her side feared too much freedom and her counter proposition for actual royal control through governors pleased none; experience was too recent.
War had not been declared, but French aggression must be stopped. Brave Braddock early in 1755 demonstrated with his
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life the unadaptability of European training for American war- fare. For the plans being made, Connecticut stepped out with 1,000 men and 500 reserves to march with the army against Crown Point, the Lake Champlain stronghold, and voted £7,500 in bills at 5 per cent for three years and a tax of 2 pence on the pound. Commissioned major-general, Phineas Lyman of Suf- field, then a member of the upper house of the Assembly, was given command of the colony's troops in the army of Gen. Wil- liam Johnson for the expedition. He also was commander of the First Regiment, John Pitkin of East Hartford lieutenant- colonel, while Elizur Goodrich of Wethersfield was colonel of the Second with Nathan Whiting of Hartford as second in com- mand. Israel Putnam was a captain under Lyman, who soon was to win distinction. Colonel Whiting and Colonel Williams of Massachusetts had been ambushed near Fort Edwards in an advance-guard movement toward the French general Dieskau, who was marching to the relief of the fort. Williams having been killed, Whiting alone rallied the two regiments and brought them back to Lake George where Johnson's column was waiting. In the ensuing battle Johnson was wounded and the command of the army devolved upon Lyman. Though taken at a disad- vantage, he fought for five hours or until Dieskau had been taken prisoner and his force almost wiped out. So great was the rejoicing in Connecticut that two regiments of 750 men each were sent as reinforcements, under command of Col. Samuel Talcott and Col. Eli Chauncey. Their task proved to be merely helping erect Fort William Henry on the site of the battle, for Johnson rested instead of pushing his advantage. England knighted Johnson and allowed £50,000 for expenses; Lyman who had fought the fight was ignored. He was deeply embittered but hardly more so than his fellow colonists. Once more the men toiled home to spend another winter nursing unpleasant mem- ory of a great opportunity lost.
The expedition against Niagara also was a failure but that to Nova Scotia was successful, though it involved the removal of 15,000 Acadians to remote places, some of them to Hartford and vicinity.
The year 1756 brought Frederick the Great's seven-years' war. The earl of Loudon was sent to be governor of Virginia
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and commander-in-chief in America, while Abercrombie was to succeed Shirley of Massachusetts. For him was assembled at Albany the largest army the colonies had known, 10,000 men, in which body Connecticut had double her quota with 2,500. The summer was spent in bickerings, and late fall saw the colonials dragging back to their homes disgusted over failure to act. In the spring came another loud call for 6,000 to unite with 6,000 regulars sailing from England. The treasury exhausted, the Assembly authorized a grand lottery in Hartford, for £1,000, conducted by Col. Samuel Talcott, Col. Samuel Welles of Glas- tonbury, and Richard Edwards. Connecticut furnished 1,400 who expected to resume the Crown Point campaign but instead were ordered to recapture Louisburg, the mighty citadel which had been restored to France after New England had taken it. The British, late in arriving, decided that the strengthened works were too strong to attack and sailed back.
While the Assembly was still drawing on its depleted treas- ury, increasing taxes and devising means to raise more money, while the husbandmen were again leaving their long deserted fields and for the most part furnishing their own equipment, the most depressing tragedy of all was preparing, and that, too, at the spot where hope twice had been turned to bitterness. When the forces summoned to Lake George had been depleted for the Louisburg folly, Montgomery had seen his opportunity to cut through on the line to New York. Webb, whose timidity had been largely responsible for the previous year's failure, was in command of the 7,000 men left to guard this vital point. Disre- garding the advice of Maj. Israel Putnam, Webb got himself into a tangle which, despite the frantic efforts of both Putnam and General Johnson, caused him to abandon Colonel Monroe and his men, women and children at Fort William Henry where the French themselves were hardly able to stay the massacre by their Indians-a tale which needed no garnishing to make it the most harrowing chapter of Cooper's great novel in later years. In Hartford, as throughout the colonies, the shock was para- lyzing for the moment but was followed by a keener sense that the French must be withstood. Five thousand men from Con- necticut in a few days were climbing the same old steep hills on their way to Albany, dragging and pushing their supply wagons with them as usual. This increased the colony's total to 6,400
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in Webb's now well-conditioned army which also included 20,000 regulars, in addition to the large reinforcements from the other nearby colonies. Every man was determined to see the French driven back for once and all. Their commander did nothing; the French devastated the surrounding country, and in the fall it was the same story of the weary homeward march-to fami- lies that were almost destitute through neglect and to an Assem- bly distracted.
Yet the wise men of the Assembly knew that the English people as such were sympathizing with them deeply. There were reverses everywhere and there was a stirring against the government that was reminiscent of the days of George I. That winter the voice of a commoner was heard. William Pitt, in taking over the premiership, said England must be brought out of her enervate state. His letter read in the Assembly March 8, 1758, cheered the fainting colony. The vote was to furnish one- quarter of the 20,000 quota for New England and the where- withal to raise it, by bounties and otherwise. The battle this time in the Lake George section was by an army exceeding its predecessors in numbers and training, led by Howe till he fell. Putnam had ably supported him. Abercrombie, of recent pain- ful memory, succeeded him, lost both nerve and wits, rejected the brave proffers of Putnam and his colonials, kept his artillery in the rear, drove a bayonet charge against entrenchments, was horrified by the sacrifice, and retreated. To add to the bitter- ness of a defeat which facts revealed could have been a splendid victory came the news of the achievement of the gallant Amherst and Wolfe at Louisburg, of Bradstreet of Massachusetts at Frontenac and of Forbes, with Washington, at DuQuesne. Three Connecticut regiments in the defeat were commanded by Lyman, Fitch and Wooster, and other regiments in the army were com- manded by Nathanial Whiting, Eliphalet Dyer and John Reed. It was soon after this that Putnam, conducting a reconnoisance toward Ticonderoga, was betrayed by a British officer who would indulge in pastime shooting, was caught in ambush and was car- ried into long and painful captivity.
The net results of 1758 encouraged England to make one grand stroke the following year, and Pitt found the colonies, though exhausted, responsive. Once more Connecticut voted one quarter of the 20,000 called for in New England, raised the
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bounty to £7 and issued new bills of credit. Lyman and Whiting again led regiments, and Putnam was back for second place in Fitch's regiment. Assembled at Albany in May, Amherst in- spired and led them swiftly in pursuit of Montcalm; Johnson was regaining favor by his victory at Niagara, and Wolfe, with his last breath, was taking Quebec. Most cheerfully, therefore, under Amherst did the old army in 1760 start for Montreal and the Connecticut men had their old commanders. Montreal sur- rendered in the fall; French power in America was ended. In the work of consolidating the territory the next year, Hartford County men were among the 2,500 from the colony who served under Lyman and Whiting, and in the fall among the 1,000 who went out with Lyman and Putnam for a West Indian expedition against Spain, from which only a handful returned.
Formal peace was declared in 1763. Slow and painful was the recuperation of the colonies from the mishandling by the gov- ernment and long were the years to be before the real heart of the English people was to be permitted to reveal itself, as in the editorial of the London Times on Washington's retirement to private life: "In resigning his station, he has concluded a life of honor and glory. His address in resigning his office is a very masterful performance and we shall give it at length."
Parliament's act of 1765 requiring a stamp on every formal paper in itself was no serious matter, after it had been cut down on the admonition of Governor Fitch and of Jared Ingersoll of New Haven; but the Assembly said it infringed upon the col- ony's right to have no taxes but its own, and when Ingersoll, on his way to Hartford as stamp master, reached Wethersfield, 500 mounted Sons of Liberty joined him, and at the State House, in the presence of the Assembly and a throng of citizens, made him read his resignation. Parliament must have heard the noisy cel- ebration over the repeal of that law but it ignored the evidence that the democratic spirit was spreading throughout all the col- onies and decreed a levy on importations. The closing of the re- belious port of Boston was like fire to flax. Indignation meet- ings by towns were followed by a convention which passed reso- lutions of protest and gave encouragement to home industries. Towns vied with each other in expressing their sentiments and in sending aid to the Boston people. In Farmington a copy of
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the act was burned by the hangman. A non-consumption agree- ment was adopted at a convention held in Hartford September 15, 1774, and anyone guilty of serving or drinking tea after that was held to be a public offender whose name was published in the Courant with warning to confess.
GOVERNOR'S FOOT GUARD IN REVIEW BEFORE THE KING OF BELGIUM, 1926 King Albert, the second from the left; Major Louis H. Stanley, commanding First Company, on right of reviewing line; Captain D. Frank Conkey at head of company; color bearers (each six and a half feet tall), Sergeants Valentine E. Gilson and Kenneth A. Woodford. Second Company (New Haven), Major Edwin A. Judge, following.
XV IN THE REVOLUTION
CONSTITUTION PREEMINENT-INDICATIVE LOCAL INCIDENTS-SHAR- ING IN SACRIFICES-FOOT GUARD AND HORSE GUARD-TICONDER- OGA PLOT-"PROVISION STATE"-DEANE, WADSWORTH AND THE OTHERS-WASHINGTON, ROCHAMBEAU, LAFAYETTE-NEWGATE.
The Lexington alarm reaching here the night of April 20, 1775, was met with an immediate session of the Assembly, while men and boys were seizing their guns and starting. Hartford sent four companies, led by Jonathan Welles, Timothy Cheney, Abraham Sedgwick and George Pitkin; East Windsor the same number, under Charles Ellsworth, Matthew Grant, Lemuel Stoughton and Amasa Loomis; Windsor, one company, Capt. Nathaniel Hayden; Wethersfield, one, Capt. John Chester; Sims- bury, two, Amos Wilcox and Zachariah Gillet the captains; Bol- ton, two, led by Ezekiel Olcott and Thomas Pitkin; Enfield, one, Capt. Nathaniel Terry; Glastonbury, one, Capt. Elizur Hubbard, and Suffield, one, Capt. Elisha Kent.
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