History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 112

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men > Part 112

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" Another pretty prank we had with three great doors of ten feet long and four feet broad, being bored full of holes and driven full of long nails, as sharp as awl blades, sharpened by Thomas Hurlburt. These we placed in certain places where they should conie, fearing lest they should come in the night and fire our redoubt or battery and all the place, for we had seen their footing, where they had been in the night, when they shot at our sen- tinels, but could not hit them for the boards; and in a dry time and a dark night they came as they did before and found the way a little too sharp for them; and as they skipped from one, they trod upon another, and left the nails and door dyed with their blood, which you agree, at last we old soldiers agreed about the way and know we saw the next morning laughing at it. And this I write that young men may learn, if they should meet with such trials as we met with then, and have not op- portunity to cut off their enemies; yet they may with such pretty pranks preserve themselves from danger- for policy is needful in war as well as strength."

act, and took twenty insufficient men from the eighty that came from Hartford, and sent them up again in a shallop, and Capt. Undrill with twenty of the lustiest of our men went in their room and I furnished them with such things as they wanted, and sent Mr. Pell, the sur- geon with them, and the Lord God blessed their design and way, so that they returned with victory to the glory of God, and honor of our nation, having slain three hun- dred, burnt their fort, and taken many prisoners. Then came to me an Indian called Wequash, and I by Mr. Higgisson, inquired of him, how many of the Pequits were yet alive that had helped to kill Englishmen; and he declared them to Mr. Higgisson, and he writ them down as may appear by his own hand and I did as there-

* *

"Thus far our tragical story; now to the comedy. When we were at supper in the great hall they (the Pe- quits) gave us alarm to draw us out three times before we could finish our short supper, for we had but little to eat, but you know that I would not go out; the reason you know 2ndly. You Robert Chapman, you know that when you and John Bagley were beating samp at the Garden Pales, the sentinels called you to run in for there was a number of Pequits creeping to you to catch you; I hearing it went up to the redoubt and put two cross- bar shot into the two guns that lay above, and leveled them at the trees and boughs and gave order to John Frend and his man to stand with handspikes to turn them this way or that way, as they should hear the Indians shout, for they should know my shout from theirs, for it should be very short. Then I called six men and the dogs, and went out running to the place, and keeping all abreast in sight close together. And when I saw my time I said, stand! and called all to me saying, Look on ine; and when I hold up my hand, then shout as loud as you can, and when I hold down my hand then leave; and so they did. Then the Indians began a long shout, and then went off the two great guns and tore the limbs of the trees about their ears so that divers of them were hurt, as may yet appear, for you told me when I was up at Hartford this present year '60 in the month of Sep- tember, that there is one of them that lyeth above Har- ford, that is fain to creep on all fours, and we shouted once or twice more; but they would not answer us again, so we returned home laughing.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

When the English first entered the river, to take pos- session of Kievet's Hook, the first land on the west side of the river that met their gaze, was the "Neck," or "Lynde's Point," as it was afterward called. This Neck was about two miles long, and nearly half a mile wide at its greatest breadth, and was bounded by the Sound on one side, and a cove, known as the South Cove, which is about a mile and a half long, and three-fourths of a mile

in is written.

447

OLD SAYBROOK-THE ABORIGINES.

many or most of the Connecticut towns, a large part of its surface is broken and hilly, but the plain upon which

wide, on the other side. North of this cove, and about a mile from the mouth of the river, was "Kievet's Hook," or Saybrook Point proper, which was formed by the principal part of the village stands is fertile and easy another cove putting up from the river, and known as of cultivation. The soil on Saybrook Point, that on Lynde's Neck at the mouth of the river, and that in the village near the center is light, as is that in the Ferry District, but in Oyster River District the soil is a little heavier, and the farms are equal to any in the State. the North Cove. This point was about a mile in length and about half a mile in breadth, the Neck where it joined the main land probably not being over an eighth of a mile in width, including the marsh. At the present time, the upland at the Neck, which is low, is only about ten or twelve rods wide, but there is quite a stretch of salt INDIANS AND INDIAN WARS. marsh, which has been, and is constantly encroaching While most of the histories of Connecticut, including De Forest's History of the Indians, have very little to say about the Indians that inhabited this town, there is no doubt that it was as densely populated as any part of this State. Heaps of shells, flint arrow heads, and stone hatchets, which are found occasionally even now, after two and a half centuries of cultivation, show that the clams, fish, and game that abounded here, induced many of the savages to make it their home. The ancient burying ground on Saybrook Point, which is only about an eighth of a mile from the fort, was used for that pur- pose by the Indians before the English arrived, as their skeletons, which are found occasionally even now, at- test. The lower part of this cemetery is bounded upon the South Cove; the bank next the cove being about ten or twelve feet high, and in the early part of the present century the waters of the cove came to the foot of this bank, where there was a sand beach. In the " Septem- ber gale," 1815. so much of this bank washed away as to disclose some of the Indian graves, and some of their treasures that were buried with them. The copper box, evidently of Dutch manufacture, before mentioned in a note, a little copper pail, and some bottles were found, which are still preserved. At the mouth of Oyster River, in the western part of the present town, was probably another settlement, as Robert Chapman, who settled there after the Indians had been partially subdued, found that a part of his farm had been dis-forested and cultivated by them. A few years ago the skeleton of a gigantic Indian war- rior (as was supposed) was disinterred on the grounds of G. H. Chapman Esq., in a good state of preservation. The frame was found in a sitting position, but there were no weapons buried with it. The skull was found to have been fractured, probably with a tomahawk in some battle. The skeleton was sent to New London or Norwich. upon the coves. The tides probably flowed across the neck, at every season of spring tides, as they do over the marshes on each side at the present time, but the road has been raised so much above its former level, that it has not turned the point into an island for several years. In fact it had not done so for many years, except when a heavy east- erly storm occurred on the high course of tides. These coves are shallow, except in the channels which are nar- row, and which extend but a short distance from the mouth, there being about four feet of water at high tide, and often almost none at all at low tide. The coves are constantly filling up, and the marshes which surround them on nearly all sides have extended considerably into them, within the memory of a generation, but there was undoubtedly quite a tract of marsh when the English took possession. It was the reeds and grass upon these marshes at this Neck that Lieut. Gardiner went out to burn on the 22d of February 1637 At this place after- ward a row of palisades was extended across from cove to cove, a ditch was dug, and some kind of a fortification erected, with, of course, a guard to watch for hostile Indians. The gate through the palisades is several times mentioned in old deeds as "the Neck gate anciently so called." The North Cove at its mouth, where it joins the river, is quite deep, and forms what is called the " anchoring ground," where 50 vessels may anchor at once. An English book published early in the history of the colony, and giving some account of Saybrook, says that on each side of the point are two bays, in which several hundred sail of vessels may ride at anchor. The bays probably had not been sounded, at least by the writer of the book. These coves abounded with bass, chequit, eels, and crabs, and were the feeding ground of numerous flocks of wild ducks and geese in their season, while the flats west of Cornfield Point furnished an abundant supply of clams. The river, There also seems to have been another settlement about a mile above Saybrook ferry, and not far from the river, for arrows, pestles, axes, etc., have been found there. DeForest, in his " Indians of Connecticut," claims that the Indians in Saybrook and vicinity, were of the Nehantic (now called Niantic) tribe, who had been subdued by the Pequots, but that author afterwards speaks of them as Pequots, and that is the name given them by most historians. In 1634, the year previous to the settlement of Pattaquassett by the English, Captains Stone and Norton, in a small vessel, with a crew of eight men, came into the river on a trading voyage. Captain and even the creeks, were alive with shad and salmon, and it is no wonder that it was a favorite resort of the Indians. Back from this neck, and from the sea coast, a plain, nearly level, and from one to two miles wide, stretched to the first tier of low hills, which abounded in the other sections of the town. The first stream west of Connecticut River was called Oyster River, from the natural beds of oysters that were found in it near its mouth. It rises near the northern boundary of the present town of Old Saybrook, and empties into the Sound about half a mile west of Cornfield Point. Like

448

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

Stone was from St. Christopher's, in the West Indies,* and intended to trade with the Dutch at Hartford. After he entered the river, he engaged a number of Indians to pilot two of his men up the river to the Dutch, but that night they went to sleep, and were both murdered by their guides. The vessel, at night, was made fast to the shore. Twelve of those Indians who had several times before traded with the captain, apparently in an amicable manner, were on board. Watching their opportunity, when he was asleep, and part of the crew on shore, they murdered him secretly in his cabin, and cast a covering over him to conceal it from his men. They then fell up- on them, and soon killed the whole company, except Captain Norton. He had taken the cook room, and for a long time made a brave and resolute defense. That he might load and fire with greater expedition, he had placed powder in an open vessel close at hand, which in the confusion of the action took fire, and so burned and blinded him that he could make no further resistance. Thus, after all his gallantry, he fell with his hapless com- panions. The vessel was then plundered, burned to the water's edge, and sunk. Part of the plun- der was received by the Pequots, and part by the Eastern Nehantics. Sassacus and Nimgrat, the sachems of those Indians, were both privy to the affair. and shared in the goods taken from the vessel.t This massacre took place about half a mile above Saybrook Point, and it is said that some of the timber and plank were found as late as 1785, together with a quantity of bar iron and a few other articles. It was for this murder that the Indians brought the beaver and otter- skin coats and skeins of wampum mentioned in the first part of Lieutenant Gardiner's narrative. In the narrative of Lieutenant Gardiner, mention is made of old Mr. Mitchell's expedition to Six Mile Island after hay in 1636, of the killing of three men by the Indians, and the capture of "the brother of Mr. Mitchell who is the minister of Cambridge," who was roasted alive. Win- throp's Journal speaks of him as " a godly young man named Butterfield."§ The place where this occurred is supposed to be on the east side of the river, at what is now called Calves Island, formerly called Butterfield's Meadow. The capture of Tilly is supposed to have occurred at what is now called Ferry Point, about half a mile above the ferry between Saybrook and Lyme, and which has sometimes been called Tilly's Point. It is supposed that Tilly's warehouse, which was burned by the Indians, stood near the same place. After they had killed his companion, they carried him across the river in plain sight of the English, who could not assist him, where they cut off his hands and his feet, thrust hot embers between the flesh and the skin, and put an end to his life by lingering tortures. As all their cruelties could not extort a groan, the ferocious Pequots themselves pronounced him a stout man. During two

winters (those of 1635 and 1636) the fort was almost in a state of siege. In the winter of 1646 their outbuild- ings, stacks of hay, and almost everything of the kind that was not inside the palings around the fort were burned, and some of their cattle were killed, and others came home with arrows sticking in them. At the time of the skirmish at the Neck leading to the Point, when Lieutenant Gardiner had been out to burn the marsh, the Indians pursued them to the fort, where they chal- lenged the English to come out and fight, and mocked them with shrieks and groans, in imitation of those whom they had tortured. They boasted that they could kill Englishmen "all one flies." A few charges of grape shot from the cannon dispersed them. Of the three men who came down the river in a shallop, one of them being shot through the head, as mentioned by Gardiner, the other two were ripped by the Indians from the bot- tom of their bellies to their throats, cleft down their backs, and hung up by their necks upon trees by the side of the river, that the English, as they passed by, might behold these objects of their vengeance.

EARLY HISTORY OF SAYBROOK FORT.

When Lion Gardiner was hired by the patentees as " engineer and master of works of fortifications," he was to serve them, also, "in the drawing, ordering, and mak- ing of a city." Accordingly, after the Indians had been subdued, the Point was laid out in lots, streets were sur- veyed, and preparations were made for " the reception of gentlemen of quality " from England.

Colonel George Fenwick was probably the only one of the patentees who ever visited the colony. He arrived in May 1636-a few months after Gardiner took posses- sion. How long he remained is not known, but he prob- . ably returned to England in the autumn of the same year. In July 1639, Colonel Fenwick came again to Connecticut, this time accompanied by his wife and fam- ily. They came in one of two ships that arrived at Quin- nipiac, direct from England, after a passage of seven weeks. These are said to have been the first European vessels that ever anchored in New Haven Harbor.

We catch only an occasional glimpse of the daily life of the Fenwicks, at the fort, and that through contem- porary correspondence. Thomas Lechford, a London attorney, who lived in Boston for a few years, and re- turned to England in 1641, tells, in his "Newes from New England," that Master " Fenwike, with the Lady Boteler," were living at the mouth of Connecticut River, "in a fair house and well fortified; and on one side Master Higginson, a young man, their chaplain." "The Lady was lately admitted of Master Hooker's church [in Hartford] and thereupon their child was baptized." The exact date of Colonel Fenwick's departure for England has not been ascertained.

Mr. Fenwick was present with the magistrates at the sessions of the court, October 8th and 9th, and one writer* thinks that he sailed for England soon after, as among the proceedings of the General Court, December

* Gardiner calls him a Virginian.]

+Trumbull, 1, p. 60,

#Field's History Middlesex County.

$Possibly a brother-in-law of Mr. Mitchell.

* John Hammond Trumbull.

449

OLD SAYBROOK-SAYBROOK FORT.

Ist 1645, was an order that "the noats that should be sent by ech vessell to Seabrooke shalbe sent in to Mr. Hopkins as Mr. F. assigne." If so, he again returned to Connecticut, as he was present among the magistrates at the session of May 20th 1647, and that of May 18th 1648, the latter being the last time that his name appears among the list of magistrates. At the session of the court, December 6th 1648, the treasurer was directed to send out warrants to the constables of each town upon the river for the gathering of corn for Mr. Fenwick, in payment of the "Fortt Rate," by the ist of March, "that it may be in readines, when called for, according to order and covenant, by Mr. Fenwicke or his assigne." In the proceedings of the court in 1652, Capt. Cullick is spoken of as Mr. Fenwick's agent, so that there is nothing be- tween 1648 and 1652, in the Colonial Records, by which to determine the date of his departure. Tradition finds the cause of his return in the death of his wife, and the necessity of finding a more suitable home for his infant children. Tradition has given 1648 as the date of the death of Lady Fenwick, but J. Hammond Trumbull says that " his wife's death must have occurred shortly after the birth of her daughter, Dorothy, November 4th 1645."

The most distinguished personage connected with the early history of Saybrook is John Winthrop, the younger. Having accepted the commission to build the fort and begin a plantation at Saybrook, he came with his wife to this country in October 1635. This commis- sion was only for one year, and there is no account of its renewal.

Capt. John Mason, who made Saybrook his home for 12 years, will always be remembered as one of its most prominent characters in the olden times. When the fort at Saybrook was transferred by Col. Fenwick to the juris- diction of the colony, Mason was appointed to receive the investment, and at the special request of the inhabi- tants he removed to that place, and was made com- mander of the station.

The name of Lion Gardiner is almost indissolubly connected with the early history of Saybrook. On the fly leaf of an old Bible which belonged to Lion Gardi- ner, and which was in possession of the family a few years ago, the following is written:

" In the year of our Lord 1635 the 10th of July, came I Lyon Gardner & Mary my wife, from Worden, a town in Holland, where my wife was born. We came from Worden to London, & from thence to New England, and dwelt at SayBrook fort four years-it is at the mouth of Conn. river-of which I was commander, & there was born unto me a son named David, 1636 the 29th of April, the first born in that place, & 1638 a daughter was born named Mary, 30th of August, & then I went to an island of my own, which I had bought and purchased of the Indians, called by them Moncho- nack, by us, Isle of Wight, & there was born another daughter named Elizabeth, the 14th September 1641, she being the first child of English parents that was born there.'

Robert Chapman was another of the early settlers who was prominent in public affairs. According to family tradition, he came from Hull, in England, to Boston, in 1635, from which place he sailed in company with Lion Gardiner for Saybrook, November 3d, as one of the com- pany who were sent to take possession of the mouth of the river under the patent of Lord Say and Seal. He is supposed to have been at this time about 18 years of age.

He was one of the particular friends of Mr. Fenwick, and a man of influence in the town, as is evident from the fact that for many years he held the office of town clerk, and clerk of the Oyster River Quarter, and filled many other important stations. He was for many years commissioner for Saybrook, and was its deputy to the General Court 43 times and assistant 9 times, between the years 1654 and 1684. The records also show that each of his three sons were representatives to the Legis- lature: the eldest 22 sessions; the second, 18 sessions; the third 24 sessions. He was also a large land holder in the towns of Saybrook and East Haddam. Robert Chapman, after the Indians were subdued, settled on a tract of fertile land nearly three miles west of the fort, known as Oyster River, which has descended in the line of the youngest son of each family, never having been bought or sold, and it is now occupied by Robert Chap- man Esq., who is the youngest of the sixth generation. According to the family tradition, Mr. Chapman was born in 1616, and died October 13th 1687.

Mr. John Clarke was an early settler at Cambridge, Massachusetts, as noted by Winthrop in his journal, as early as 1632. We learn from the will of his brother, George Clarke, of Milford, that he came from Great Mundon, Hertfordshire, England, to America. He (John) came from Cambridge to Hartford, Connecticut, about 1636, probably with Rev. Thomas Hooker's com- pany. In the first division of lots at Hartford, in 1639, he drew for a house lot, No. 138, on the west side of Bliss street. He had 22 acres of land assigned to him as his portion, and he was one of the committee to apportion the land. He was a juror of Hartford, in 1641, and was a soldier in the great battle with the Pequot Indians at Mystic, in 1637. He was one of the petitioners to Charles II, for the charter of Connecticut. The precise- time of his removal from Hartford to Saybrook is not known. He was recognized by the General Court as deputy from Saybrook as early as 1644, and was nomi- nated commissioner for Saybrook, in 1664. In 1647, he and "Capt. John Mason were directed to carry on the building of the fort at Sea Brook." He and Robert Birchard were appointed by the court to view the lands then granted to Captain Mason's soldiers. John Clarke was a large landholder in Saybrook, but he removed to Milford where his brother George resided probably sev- eral years before his death. His will was made at Mil- ford, January 19th 1673, and it is found in the New Haven Probate records. The name of his wife is not certainly known, but she was probably a Miss Coley. The order of the birth of his children is not known. Their names

450

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

were: John, married Rebecca Porter, October 16th 1650, and probably did not remove to Milford at all; Joseph, who had a wife but no children, and was lost at sea; Elizabeth, who married William Pratt, of Saybrook; and Sarah, who married Mr. Huntington .* The estate of John Clarke at Milford amounted to £207; at Saybrook, £227; total, £434, Ios. 6d.

PURCHASE OF SAYBROOK FORT.

In 1644, a committee, consisting of the governor and others, was appointed by the General Court of Connecti. cut to treat with George Fenwick Esq., relative to the purchase of Saybrook fort, and of all guns, buildings, and lands in the colony, which he and the lords and gen- tlemen interested in the patent of Connecticut might claim. In December they came to an agreement as fol- lows:

" Articles of Agreement, made and concluded betwixt George Fenwick Esq'r of Sea Brooke Fort, on ye one part, and Edward Hopkins, John Haynes, John Mason, John Steele and James Boosy, for and on ye behalf of ye Jurisdiction of Connecticott River, on ye other part, ye 5th of December 1644.

" The said George Fenwicke Esq'r, doth by these pres- ents convey and make over to ye use and for ye behoofe of ye Jurisdiction of Connecticott River aforesaid, ye Fort att Seabrooke with ye appertenances hereafter mentioned, to be inioyed by them for euer.

"Two demiculvening cast peeces, with all ye shott thereunto appertaining, except fifty w'ch are reserved for his own use.

" Two long Saker cast peeces, with all ye shott there- unto belonging; one Murderer with two chamb'rs, and two hammered peeces; two barrels of gunpowder, Forty muskets with Bandaleers and rests, as also foure car- abines, swords, and such irons as there are for a draw- bridge; one row of lead and irons for the carriages of ordinance; and all ye housing withing ye Palisade:

" It is also provided and agreed betwixt ye said part- ies, yt all ye land uppon ye River of Connecticott, shall belong to ye said Jurissdiction of Connecticott, and such lands as are yet undiscovered shall bee ordered and given out by a Committee of five, whereof George Fen- wick Esq'r, aforesaid is allways to bee one.

"It is further provided and agreed yt ye Towne of Sea Brooke shal be carryed on according to such agreements, and in yt way which is allready followed there and at- tended betwixt Mr. Fenwick and ye Inhabitants there.

" It is also provided and agreed betwixt ye said par- ties yt George Fenwick Esq'r shall have liberty to dwell in and make use of any or all ye howsing belonging to ye Fort, for ye space of ten years; hee keeping those wch he makes use of in sufficient repaire, (extraordinary casualities excepted;) and in case hee remove his dwelling to any other place yt hee give half a yeare's warn

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History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 112

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818