USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 27
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When Mr. Gladden became postmaster, he had three hundred call boxes placed in the office. Before his death,
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*
ROADS, TRANSPORTATION, AND POST-OFFICES.
this number was increased to twelve hundred and seventy. After Mr. Pease entered upon his duties as postmaster, the office was enlarged to its present area, new boxes were put in, and arrangements were made which added much to the convenience of the public, and afforded increased facilities for the business of the office. On July 1, 1887, Mr. Pease was succeeded by Ambrose Beatty, appointed to the position by President Grover Cleveland. Soon after the appointment of Mr. Beatty, the postal delivery system was adopted and letter carriers distributed the mail through the city. Five letter carriers were employed, one for each ward, and one for the central or business part of the city. In the spring of 1888, this number was increased to six regular carriers.
On May 1, 1889, Mr. Beatty was succeeded by Ira E. Hicks, appointed by President Benjamin Harrison.
CHAPTER XVII.
MILITARY HISTORY.
T THOUGH no special military school or camp was located in the parishes whose history has been given, except temporarily at Farmington, these parishes were early repre -. sented in the military history of the town and State. As early as 1649, four years after the incorporation of the town, Farmington had a train-band under the command of a ser- geant. This company, then small in numbers, was increased until it became a full company of 64 men, entitled to be commanded by a captain. In 1668, a "troope of dragon- eers " in Hartford county, containing 163 members, had 22 enrolled from Farmington. In 1737 there were four com- panies or train-bands in Farmington, including Berlin and New Britain, whose captains were, Thomas Curtiss, Josiah Hart, Thomas Hart, and Joseph Woodruff. In 1740 a train- band was formed principally from New Britain, and the next year, 'the General Court confirmed the officers, as follows: Jonathan Lewis, captain; John Paterson, lieuten- ant, and Daniel Dewey, ensign - all living in the eastern part of New Britain.
Col. Fisher Gay, Col. John Strong, and others of Farm- ington, were prominent in military affairs. Stephen Lee, and his son, Josiah Lee, both of East Street, New Britain, were captains in the Farmington train-band. Isaac Lee, a grandson of Capt. Stephen Lee, was commissioned "Captain of the Thirteenth company of Train Bands in the Sixth regiment in this colony " in May, 1767. In October of the same year, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Fif- teenth Regiment, and in March, 1775, Colonel of the same regiment. Gen. Selah Hart of Kensington, had been prom-
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MILITARY HISTORY.
inent in the state militia before the revolutionary war. The first Samuel Hart of Kensington, held the office of lieutenant, and his son, Samuel, was captain in the local train-band. Major John Paterson was captain of the second or New Britain train-band, before the French War. Colonel Gad Stanley of New Britain, was appointed captain of the Fifth Company of the Fifteenth Regiment in May, 1773, serving under Colonel Lee. John Lankton was appointed lieutenant of the same company, at the same time.
Ladwick Hotchkiss and his son, Lemuel, John Hinsdale, and Joseph Woodruff, all living on or near East Street, New Britain, were successively captains of the local military com- pany. Joseph and Elnathan Smith were military men, and their tavern and store, on East Street, were the resort of officers and soldiers. Jonathan Belden was commissioned lieutenant of the Fifth Company of the Fifteenth Regiment May 28, 1784, and afterwards became its captain. Noah Stanley in Stanley Quarter, and later, Colonel Francis Hart and Maj. Selah Hart of Hart Quarter, were noted military men.
During the latter part of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth, tle American colonists were frequently engaged in the wars between England and France. Loyal to the mother country, as the strife between these two great nations became transferred to America, the American colonists were actively employed, either in fighting in the English army with the regular troops, or in companies and bands of colonial militia, enlisted for special service in par- ticular campaigns. Samuel Richards, a son of Thomas Richards, the first blacksmith in Stanley Quarter, served in the old French war of 1744-1748, as servant to a surgeon who for a time was stationed at Cape Breton with the British army. Captain Josiah Lee and Lieutenant Noah Stanley, both of them afterwards deacons of the First Church, New Britain, were in military service against the French at the north. Other members of the Great Swamp Society were in the British army in the expedition against Louisburg in this war. Timothy Root died in the service at Cape Breton.
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HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
Major John Paterson, the first deacon of the New Britain Church, being " called of God," as he believed, to serve against the French in the seven years war, held a captain's commission under King George III, and collecting a company of soldiers, chiefly from Farmington, New Britain, and Wethersfield, with his faithful negro servant London, first engaged in the expedition against the French, and then against their allies the Spaniards. He was with the British forces under Admiral Pocock and the Duke of Albemarle, at the taking of Havana in 1762. Andrew Lusk was a drum- mer in this company.
Deacon Noah Standley was also a lieutenant of the King's troops in the French war. Elnathan Smith, his brother, Gideon Smith, and other men of prominence in the New Britain Society, were also in this war. The men who went from Farmington and the Great Swamp parish were a portion of the one thousand men furnished by the State.
Several of the men who served in the British army and fought against the French and Spanish in the wars which closed with the general peace of 1763, were again engaged in the struggle for liberty in the war of the revolution. Others too young to serve in the French wars, were also active in the contest of 1776. The sentiment of the people of Farmington, which then included New Britain and Ber- lin, was strong in opposition to the tyranny of the British government. This sentiment was repeatedly and emphati- cally expressed. At a very full meeting of the inhabitants of the town, held June 15, 1774, when persons were present from New Britain and Berlin, it was voted:
" That the act of Parliament for blocking up the port of Boston is an Invasion of the Rights and Privileges of every American, and as such, we are Determined to oppose the same, with all other arbitrary and tyrannical acts in every Way and Manner, that may be adopted in General Congress; to the Intent we may be instrumental in Securing and Transmitting our Rights and Privileges Inviolate, to the Latest Posterity."
" That the fate of American freedom Greatly Depends upon the Con- duct of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston in the Present Alarming Crisis of Public affairs: We therefore entreat them by everything that is Dear and Sacred, to Persevere with unremitted Vigilence and Resolution till their labor shall be crowned with the desired success."
*
1
321
MILITARY HISTORY.
A committee of thirty-four of the principal men * in the different parishes of Farmington was appointed for the following purpose:
" To take in subscriptions of wheat, Rye, Indian corn and other pro- visions of the Inhabitants, and to collect and transport the same to the Town of Boston, there to be delivered to the Select Men of the Town of Boston, to be by them Distributed at their Discretion to those who are incapacitated to procure a necessary subsistence in consequence of the late oppressive Measures of Administration."
At the same meeting, another committee was appointed " to keep up a correspondence with the towns of this and the neighboring colonies," and also to correspond with the town of Boston, and transmit a copy of the votes of the meeting.t At another town meeting held in Farmington, Sept. 20th of the same year, the selectmen were directed to purchase "Thirty Hundred weight of lead, Ten Thousand French flints, and thirty-six barrels of powder, to be added to the Town Stock for the use of the Town." Special encouragement was also given for the manufacture of saltpeter.
Col. Fisher Gay, who had been one of the most active in the public meetings, and had been a member of the prin- cipal committees, on hearing of the conflicts at Concord and Lexington, shut up his store, and accompanied by Peter Curtiss, went to Boston, where at the head of about a hun- dred volunteers, he was soon engaged in the continental service. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Jan. 23,
* The members of this committee, ineluding, as will be seen, prominent names in New Britain and Kensington, as well as Farmington, were "Fisher Gay, Selah Hart, and Stephen Hotehkiss, Esqrs., and Samuel Smith, Noadiah Hooker, Amos Wadsworth, Simeon Strong, James Percival, Elijah Hooker, Mathew Cole, Jonathan Root, Josiah Cowles, Daniel Lankton, Jonathan An- drews, Jonathan Woodruff, Aaron Day, Timothy Clark, Josiah Lewis, Hezekiah Gridley, Jr., Asa Upson, Amos Barnes, Stephen Barnes, Jr., Ichabod Norton, Joseph Miller, William Woodford, Jedidiah Norton, Jr., Gad Stanley, John Lankton, Elnathan Smith, Thos. Upson, Elisha Booth, Samuel North, Jr., Theo. Hart, and Resen Gridley."
+ The members of this committee were " William Judd, Fisher Gay, Selah Hart, and Stephen Hotchkiss, Esqrs., and John Treadwell, Asahel Wadsworth, Jonathan Root, Samuel Smith, Ichabod Norton, Noadiah Hooker, and Gad Stanley."
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HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
1776, and colonel on June 20th of the same year. He was active in the service until his early death in August, 1776.
A number of other officers and men from the old parish of Farmington were actively engaged some time during the revolutionary war. Three companies from this place were in action against Burgoyne,* and almost every young man was in the service. Large contributions of supplies were sent to the seat of war from this town.
The other parishes also contributed both men and material for the service with patriotic zeal, but Farmington being at that time the most populous town in the county, the old parish, or Farmington Street, became the center of military operations in furnishing material for the army, and in the care of soldiers and prisoners of war.
Dr. Smalley, the pastor of the church in New Britain, was at the commencement of the war believed to be in sym- pathy with the King and parliament. Though generally much respected by his people, some of whom had sat under his ministry for nearly eighteen years, he did not turn them from their devotion to the cause of liberty. When a mes- senger arrived one Sunday afternoon, during service time, with the news that two British ships of war had appeared off New London, Captain Gad Stanley hardly waited for the benediction to be pronounced before he gave notice for his military company to meet the next morning on the parade. As Dr. Smalley passed from the pulpit down the broad aisle, he came to a group of his people gathered about the front door, discussing the news which had just been received. As he passed them, he remarked, "What, will you fight your king?" In the excited state of feeling which then pervaded the community, these words might have produced a tumult, had not Col. Isaac Lee, with prudence and sagacity, poured oil upon the troubled waters and hushed the rising tempest. Dr. Smalley subsequently became fully loyal to the Ameri- can cause.
* After the defeat of Burgoyne, a considerable portion of the captured artillery and other property was brought to Farmington for safe keeping, where it remained until needed by the American army.
-
323
MILITARY HISTORY.
Captain, afterwards Colonel, Gad Stanley very soon pro- ceeded with his company to the seat of war, and did good service for his country. He was at the battle of Long Island, and it is said that at Washington's retreat, he led a regiment safely past the British forces. Lemuel Hotchkiss of New Britain was at this battle, a lieutenant, and was with Colonel Stanley in guarding the retreat. He was also in later engagements, and at the skirmish in Greenwich had a horse shot under him. David Mather was at the latter battle and in other engagements, and his title, ensign, was generally given with his name after his return from the war. During the second period of the revolution, from 1776 to 1778, when the main operations were in the north, a large number, pro- portionally, of the citizens of New Britain and Berlin were in the army; and at White Plains, on the Hudson, in Con- necticut, New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere, fought to secure the independence of the nation. Colonel Selah Hart of Kensington was appointed by the General Court one of a committee to provide stores of lead for the use of the colony, and in 1776 was in command of a regiment at New York, where he was captured by the British and held as a prisoner for two years. He was afterward appointed to the command of a brigade and held this position until the end of the war. Major Jonathan Hart of Kensington was also in the army during the war, and at its close remained in the service until slain by the Indians in Gen. St. Clair's defeat in 1791. Dr. John Hart of the same parish was a surgeon and also an ensign in the army at Yorktown, and witnessed Cornwallis' surrender. Nathaniel Churchill and Benjamin Wright of New Britain, were both captains in the revolutionary war. Dr. Josiah Hart, son of the first Deacon Elijah Hart, was an army surgeon. William Steele and Elias Brown were noted fifers, the latter being a fife major. Noah Stanley, Asher North, Josiah Andrews, and some others, belonged to the light horse, and Josiah Andrus was one of the body-guard of Count Pulaski. Joseph Mather, who in early life had been a sailor, served both in the navy and the army.
324
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
There were many instances of marked patriotism shown by the citizens of all the parishes of Farmington during the revolutionary war. The self-denial and heroism of some of the officers have already been mentioned. There was also self-denial and fortitude exhibited by men in the ranks, and by those who remained at home. Moses Andrews had seven sons who came to years of maturity, six of whom were fitted out for the war by the self-denial and patient industry of their mother. The oldest died in the service in 1776, at the age of twenty-seven, and the next year his youngest brother entered the army at sixteen years of age.
In the dark hours of the struggle of 1777, when Theo- dore Stedman, who had been taken prisoner, had returned from captivity to die in New Britain, and Seth Judd had been killed by the accidental discharge of a gun in camp, the uncle of the latter, Capt. Phineas Judd, nothing daunted, at the age of sixty-two enlisted in the army and went to the front.
Others had fallen in battle; there was much to discourage the most ardent patriots; but in these days of gloom, old men and young men pressed forward to enlist in the service, and mothers, sisters, and wives prepared them to go. Cap- tain Elijah Hart, Jr., at nineteen years of age, enlisted in the service and was at the battles of Saratoga and Stillwater, and at the surrender of Burgoyne. Elijah Smith, Jr., was at the battle of Yorktown, and a witness to the surrender of Cornwallis .*
Several of the soldiers from these parishes became emi- nent for bravery. Some were killed in the service, or suffered in British prisons ; some were promoted for valiant
* After the capture by Benedict Arnold of Groton and New London, and the wanton destruction of those places, contributions were raised in the colony for the relief of the survivors. The following is a copy of a receipt still preserved for money contributed in New Britain.
Recd. 20th of February, 1782, of Mr. Jonathan Belding for New Britton for New London and Grotton Contribution,
Hard money
State money
££2- 1s-3d. C-12 -0.
By Solomon Cowles, Town Treasurer.
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MILITARY HISTORY.
conduct or to fill the places of those who fell in battle. The highest officer, who was a native of New Britain, and was continued for a considerable time in the army, was General John Paterson, a son of Major John Paterson. He was a brigadier-general who, though for many years a citizen of New Britain, entered the army from the State of Massachu- setts in 1775. He was at first commissioned as colonel, and commanded a regiment from Berkshire county, first stationed near Boston, before the battle of Bunker Hill. He was afterwards ordered to New York, and then to Canada to take part in the contemplated attack upon Quebec. He re- turned by the way of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and soon after joined the army of Gen. Washington, and was engaged in active service at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, 1776-7. Being commissioned brigadier-general soon after, he was stationed at Morristown and then at West Point, and participated in the battle of Saratoga and the capture of Burgoyne. He also took part in the battle of Monmouth, and was a member of the court which tried Major Andre .*
In the war of 1812, the people of New Britain had less interest than in the preceding wars. The parish and the town of Berlin, of which it was then a part, were, however, represented in this war. Isaac Maltby, a graduate of Yale College, and a member of the First Church, became briga-
* There are no records found which give a complete list of the persons from New Britain and Berlin, who served in the revolutionary army; but the follow- ing, it is believed, comprises the most prominent persons from the place during this war. General John Paterson, Colonel Gad Stanley, Major Elias Brown, C. ptains Nathaniel Churchill, Lemuel Hotehkiss, Ladwiek Hotchkiss, Phinehas Judd, John Lankton, and Benjamin Wright; Samuel Andrews, Joseph Andrews, Moses Andrews, Isaae Andrews, John Andrews, Jesse Andrews, Nathaniel An- drews, Josiah Andrews, Cornelius Dunham, Ebenezer Diekinson, James Francis, Elijah Francis, Gad Fuller, Dr. Josiah Hart, Elijah Hart, Jr., Seth Judd, Josiah Kilbourne, Colins Ludington, David Mather, Joseph Mather, Asher North, - - North, Nathan Penfield, John Riley, Elnathan Smith, Noah Stanley, Ebenezer Steele, Josiah Steele, William Steele, Jason Steele, Theodore Stedman. From Kensington and Worthington parishes, General Selah Hart, Major Jonathan Hart, Dr. John Hart, and, at some time during the war, nearly all the able- bodied men went into the service of the country in some capacity ; several of whom were killed in battle or died in eamp. Dr. John Hart was in the naval service also.
326
HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
dier-general soon after the war began. Ezekiel Andrews was a captain in the war, and by his courage and military spirit, infused enthusiasm into the company which he com- manded. Cyrus Stanley was also an active officer of the State troops. Salmon Steele was a soldier in the ranks, and, in 1814, took part in the battles of Fort Erie, Chippewa, and Lundy's Lane. His brother, Jason Steele, was also in the army, and died at Sackett's Harbor. There were others, officers and privates, in the service for a portion of the time of the war, but there was not that uprising of the people that was manifested in the revolution, and also in the civil war of 1861-1865.
From 1792 to 1815, a portion of Berlin and New Britain belonged to the Sixthi Regiment and another portion to the Fifteenth, both in the Seventh Brigade and first division, but after the close of the war in 1815, a new organization of the militia was effected, and the system consisted of light infantry, riflemen, cavalry, and artillery, formed into com- panies, regiments, brigades, and divisions. As the different organizations did not necessarily have boundary lines, New Britain and Berlin were represented in several, but chiefly in the Sixth and Fifteenth regiments of the Seventh Brigade. Among the prominent officers of this period and later were, Major Selah Hart, Major Seth J. North, Colonel Joseph Wright, Colonel Francis Hart, Captain J. R. King, Captain Walter Gladden, and some others.
On the breaking out of the civil war in President Lincoln's administration, there was a general uprising of the people of New Britain, and the manifestation of patriotism was almost universal.
The first regular war-meeting in Hartford County, and one of the first in the State pertaining to the war of the rebellion, was held in the First Church, New Britain, Sunday evening, April 14, 1861, a few hours after Major Anderson had evacuated Fort Sumter. Rev. Samuel Rockwell pre- sided. Resolutions to support the government were unani- mously passed amid great enthusiasm, which was raised to
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MILITARY HISTORY.
its highest pitch when V. B. Chamberlain, Esq., presented to the audience, accompained by a thrilling speech, a portrait of Major Anderson. This handsome picture of the hero of Fort Sumter had been encircled with a laurel wreath pre- pared by a few ladies of New Britain. An enlistment paper was presented, and the enlistment of volunteers, headed by Frank Stanley, who was afterward killed at Irish Bend, Louisiana, was begun.
The enthusiasm awakened at this meeting increased; enlistments continued, and on Monday, April 22, 1861, when the first companies from Connecticut were mustered into the United States service, Company G,* First Regiment, from New Britain, was one of them. The first Hartford company was started by Joseph R. Hawley and others, in the office of the Evening Press, April 17th. There were two privates from New Britain in this company. The volunteers from this place were in different companies and regiments of this State, and some residents of New Britain were enrolled in regiments of other States.
Company G, of the Sixth Regiment Infantry, was recruited largely from New Britain, having over seventy members from this place, and was mustered Sept. 4, 1861, going into camp at New Haven .¡
Company A, of the Seventh Regiment, mustered about the same time, had a number of members from New Britain, among whom was Valentine B. Chamberlain, lieutenant.
Company A, of the Thirteenth Regiment, mustered into the United States service, Feb. 18, 1862, with Henry L. Bid-
* The officers of this company were : Frederick W. Hart, captain ; William C. Cunningham, first lieutenant ; Oscar M. Butler, second lieutenant ; Thomas H. Bingham, Henry M. Davis, Levi B. Stone, and William Kinlock, sergeants ; John Tracy, Edward S. Callender, Israel C. Baggs, and Willis A. Hart, corpo- rals, all from New Britain, except Sergeant Davis.
The officers of Company G at time of muster were : Captain, John N. Tracy ; Lieutenants, William H. Stowe and William G. Kinlock ; Sergeants, Wil- liam Burritt, James Whiteley, Henry Kolbe, Matthew McMahon, and Orrin C. Yale ; and Corporals, John P. Cannell, William Kenyon, Charles C. Callender, Julius O. Deming, Joseph J. Ruff, Henry Allen, Ernest Gussman, and William Horsefall ; Musicians, J. Willard Parsons and Henry Gussman, - all from New Britain, except Sergeant Yale and Corporal Allen.
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HISTORY OF NEW BRITAIN, ETC.
well, a former resident of New Britain, as its captain, had over fifty men enlisted from this place .*
Company F, of the Fourteenth Regiment, mustered in Aug. 23, 1862, had sixty-five men, and its principal officers ; from New Britain.
New Britain, Farmington, and Berlin, furnished more than their quota of troops, and raised large sums for bounties and for the support of soldiers' families.
According to the official records, the number of men furnished by New Britain was, of the three months volun- teers, 60, and of the three years men, 645, or 105 more than the quota from the town. The amount expended by the town for bounties, premiums, and support of families was $45,628.45; the estimated amount paid by individuals for bounties to volunteers and substitutes and for commutation was $49,400 or a total of $95,028.45. The grand list in 1864 was $2,608,418.
The quota for Farmington was 312, but the town fur- nished of three months volunteers 11, and of three years men or its equivalent, 360, or 48 more than its quota. Berlin furnished 243 men, or 36 more than its quota. The expendi- tures of the town of Farmington for bounties, premiums, commutation, and support of families was $89,975.98, and the estimate of the sum paid by individuals for bounties and commutation was $15,000. The amount expended by Berlin as published in the " History of the Rebellion" was $35,- 880.66. These sums differ slightly from the town records .¿
* The officers of Company A from New Britain were : Lieutenants, John E. Woodruff and Charles H. Cornwell; Sergeants, Frank E. Stanley, Nelson W. Steele, and Charles R. Gladden ; Corporals, Frank W. Stanley, Norman W. War- ren, Devereaux Jones, Walter G. Carpenter, Newton W. Perkins, Mortimer H. Stanley, and Bernard Fagan.
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