USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 42
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"The declarations and resolves issued by these meetings were similar to those of hundreds of towns at that juncture. In December the town added two other members to the Committee of Correspondence, viz., John Deshon and William Coit. At this time, also, a Committee of Inspection was appointed, con- sisting of thirty persons, who had instructions ' to take effectual care that the acts of the Continental Con- gress, held at Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774, be abso- lutely and bona fide adhered to.' Any seven of the members were to form a quorum, and in cases of emergency the whole were to be called together at the court-house. From this period almost all action relating to the contest with England was performed by committees, or by spontaneous combination among the citizens, or by colonial and military authority, and the results were not recorded.
"Committee of Correspondence for the year 1776: Gurdon Saltonstall, Nathaniel Shaw, Jr., Marvin Wait, John Deshon, John Hertell, William Hill- house.
"Jan. 15, 1776 .- ' Voted, that if any person within the limits of this town shall at any time between now and the 1st of January next unnecessarily expend any gunpowder by firing at game or otherwise, shall for every musket charge forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings lawful money into the town treasury.'
" March 31, 1777 .- A Committee of Supply was ap- pointed to provide necessaries for the families of such soldiers as should enlist in the Continental battalions
1 This account of the war of the Revolution is taken chiefly from Miss F. M. Caulklus' History of New London.
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then raising in the State. This was in compliance with the orders of the Governor and Council of Safety, and a committee for this purpose was annually chosen till the conclusion of the war. The selectmen and informing officers were enjoined to search out and punish all violations of the law regulating the prices of the necessaries of life.
" At the same meeting the town clerk was directed to remove the books and files of the town to some place of safety, reserving only in his own custody those required for immediate use.
" In conformity with this vote the town records were removed into the western part of the township, now Waterford, and committed to the charge of Mr. George Douglass, by whom they were kept at his homestead until after the termination of the war. By this wise precaution they escaped the destruction which swept away a portion of the probate records, and probably all those of the custom-house, on the 6th of September, 1781.
"June 23, 1777 .- ' Voted almost unanimously to admit of inoculation for smallpox, agrecably to a resolve of the General Assembly in May last.'
"The Committee of Correspondence for the years 1777 and 1778 consisted of three persons only, the first three named on the list of 1776. The Committee of Inspection was reduced to nineteen, and in Janu- ary, 1779, it was entirely dropped.
"The Articles of Confederation agreed upon by Congress in 1777, and referred to the several States for consideration, were in Connecticut ultimately pre- sented to the inhabitants in their town-meetings for decision. The vote of New London was as follows:
" Dec. 29, 1777 .- ' Gurdon Saltonstal), moderator. Voted in a very full town meeting, nem con, that this town do approve of and acquiesce in the late proposals of the honorable Continental Congress, entitled " Ar- ticles of Confederation and perpetual union between the United States of America," as being the most effectual measures whereby the freedom of said States may be secured and their independency established on a solid and permanent basis.'
" In October, 1779, a State convention was held at Hartford ; the deputies from New London were Gur- don Saltonstall and Jonathan Latimer.
"From year to year, as the war continued, the pop- ulation decreased, estates diminished, and the burdens of the town grew heavier. The difficulty of furnish- ing the proper quota of men 'and provisions 'for the army annually increased. Large taxes were laid, large bounties offered for soldiers to serve during the war, and various ways and means suggested and tried to obtain men, money, clothing, provisions, and fire- arms, to keep the town up to the proportion required by the Legislature. Much of the town action was absorbed by this necessary but most laborious duty.
"June 27, 1780 .- A bounty of £12 per annum over and above the public bounty was offered in hard money to each soldier that would enlist to serve during the war, £9 to each that would enlist for three years, and £6 to each that would enlist to serve till the 1st day of January next.
"In December, 1780, a committee was appointed to collect all the fire-arms belonging to the inhabit- ants and deposit them in a safe place, for the benefit of the town. Only extreme necessity could justify an act so arbitrary.
"So many of the inhabitants of New London had been trained as fishermen, coasters, and mariners that no one is surprised to find them, when the trying time came, bold, hardy, and daring in the cause of freedom. In all the southern towns of the county- Stonington, Groton, New London, Lyme-the common mass of the people were an adventurous class, and ex- ploits of stratagem, strength, and valor, by land and sea, performed during the war of independence by persons nurtured on this coast, might still be recov- ered sufficient to form a volume of picturesque ad- venture and exciting interest. At the same time many individuals in this part of the country, and some, too, of high respectability, took a different view of the great political question and sided with the Parliament and the king. In various instances fam- ilies were divided, members of the same fireside adopted opposite opinions and became as strangers to each other ; nor was it an unknown misery for parents to have children ranged on different sides on the bat- tle-field. At one time a gallant young officer of the army, on his return from the camp, where he had sig- nalized himself by his bravery, was escorted to his home by a grateful populace, that surrounded the house and filled the air with their applausive huzzas, while at the same time his half-brother, the son of the mother who clasped him to her bosom, stigmatized as a Tory, convicted of trade with the enemy, and threatened with the wooden horse, lay concealed amid the hay of the barn, where he was fed by stealth for many days. This anecdote is but an example of many that might be told of a similar character.
" It would be of no service now to draw out of ob- livion the names of individuals who at various times during the eight years of darkness and conflict were suspected of being inimical to the liberties of their country. Many of these changed their sentiments and came over to the side of independence, and all at la-t acquiesced in their own happiness and good for- tune, growing out of the emancipation of their coun- try from a foreign sceptre. It is an easier as well as inore pleasing task to mention names that, on account of voluntary activity, sacrifice of personal interest, and deeds of valorous enterprise, exerted for the rights of man, lie prominent upon the surface, illu- minating the whole period by their brightness.
"Those who came earliest forth in the cause de- mand our especial admiration, since it is emphatically true that they set their lives at stake. In a civil ca- pacity the early names of note and influence were those of Deshon, Law, Hillhouse, Mumford, and Shaw.
"Capt. John Deshon served as an agent in erecting the fortifications at New London, and as commissary
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
in various enlistments of troops. This was under the authority of the Governor. In July, 1777, Congress appointed him one of the naval board of the Eastern Department.1
" Richard Law2 and William Hillhouse were mem- bers of the Governor's Council, and each carried a whole heart into the Revolution. Hillhouse was also major of the second regiment of horse raised in the State.3 Law had been nominated as a member of Con- gress, but in June, 1776, just at the critical period of appointment, he was confined in a hospital with the smallpox. His name was thus deprived of the honor of being affixed to the Declaration of Independence. In October, 1776, he was elected to Congress, and excused from further service in the Council.
"Thomas Mumford, of Groton, belonged to that company of gentlemen, eleven in number, who in April, 1775, formed the project of taking Ticonderoga. This undertaking, so eminently successful, was wholly concerted in Connecticut, without any authority from Congress. The company obtained the money requisite (£810) from the colonial treasury, but gave their indi- vidual notes and receipts for it. The Assembly, in May, 1777, canceled the notes and charged the amount to the general government.4 In 1778, Mumford was one of a committee appointed to receive and sign emissions of bills, and also an agent of the secret committee of Congress.5
"Nathaniel Shaw, Jr., was an enterprising mer- chant; we may add that he performed important ser- vice to the country during the Revolution, particularly in naval affairs. His judgment in that department was esteemed paramount to all others in the colony. He also acted as a general agent or friend of the country in various concerns, military and fiscal, as well as naval. His mercantile letters, though brief, and devoted to matters of business, contain allusions to passing events that are valuable as cotemporaneous authority. They have been already quoted, and fur- ther extracts will occasionally be made.
1 " Council records in Hinman's ' War of the Revolution,' p. 466. John Deshon was of French Inguenot extraction. His father, Daniel Deshon, was a youth in the family of Capt. Rene Grignon at the time of the de- cease of the latter, at Norwich, in 1715, and is mentioned in his will. After the death of his patron he settled in New London, where he mar- ried Ruth Christophers, and had several sons and one daughter, who married Joseph Chew. He died in 1781, at the age of eighty-four, which carries his birth back to 1697. Three of his sons were conspicnons in the Revolutionary war. Capt. Daniel Deshon was appointed in 1777 to the command of the armed brig 'Old Defense,' owned by the State, which was unfortunately taken by the British In January, 1778. John, mentioned in the text, was the second son, and born Dec. 25, 1727. Rich- ard, another son, served in the army. The name is supposed to havo been originally Deschamps.
? "Son of Governor Jotmthan Law, and born in Milford, March 17, 1732-3. Ile was, after the Revolution, judge of the district of Connecti- cut, and chief justice of the Superior Court. The late Capt. Richard Law and Hon. Lyman Law, M.C., were his sous.
a " Maj. Hillhouse was subsequently for many years chief judge of the County Court. Tradition confirms the truth of the character engraved upon his momment :
4 " State Records, Hinman, p. 11.
"' A judge and statesman ; honest, just, and wise.' 6 " Ibid., p. 497.
" To P. Vandevoort, Oct. 22, 1773 :
""In regard to the tea that is expected from England, I pray heartily that the colonies may not suffer any to be landed. The people with us are determined not to purchase any that comes in that way.'
" We have here a hint that apprises us of the spirit of the inhabitants of New London in regard to the duty on tea. Aged people have related that some salesmen who had no scruples on the subject, having received small consignments of custom-house tea, as experiments to try the market and tempt the people to become purchasers, were either persuaded or com- pelled to make a bonfire of it upon the Parade; and that not only the tea-chests from the shops were emp- tied, but some enthusiastic housekeepers added to the blaze by throwing in their private stores. It is further related that parties were made and weddings cele- brated at which all ribbons, artificial flowers, and other fabrics of British manufacture were discarded, and Labrador tea6 introduced.
"Shaw to Vandevoort, April 1, 1775 :
"'Matters seem to draw near where the longest sword must decide the controversy. Our Gen. Assembly sets to-morrow, and I pray God Al- mighty to direct them to adopt such measures as will be for the interest of America.'
" To Messrs. Wharton, Philadelphia, May 5th :
"' I wrote to you by Col. Dyer and Mr. Dean, our colony delegates to congress, desiring you to let them have what money they should have occasion for to the amount of 4 or 500 pounds. I really do not know what plan to follow or what to do with my vessels.'
" To the selectmen of Boston, May 8th :
"' I have received from Peter Curtenins, treast of the comes in New York, 10) bbls. of flour for the poor in Boston. He writes me he shall forward £350 in cash for the same use.'
" To Capt. Handy, May 31st :
"' I never met with so much difficulty to get hard money since I was in trade as within these two months past. I have large quantities of West India goods in store in Boston, in New York, and in Phila, but cannot raise a shilling.'
" If such difficulties as are here described were ex- perienced by men of large resources, it may easily be imagined that all the smaller mercantile concerns must have been harassed and impoverished to the last extremity. The stagnation of business was general. Neither cash nor merchantable bills could be ob- tained. The most lamentable destitution prevailed ; everything was wanted, yet no one had the means to buy.
" To Messrs. Thomas and Isauc Wharton, Sept. 18, 1775 :
"' I shall set out to-morrow for the camp at Roxbury, and it is more than probable that I may come to Philadelphia on my return, and hope I shall be able to procure Adams' Letters, which I have never seen.'
" To an agent in Dominica, Jan. 16, 1776 :
"' All our trade is now at an end, and God knows whether we shall ever be in a situation to carry it on again. No business now but prepa- ralions for war, ravaging villages, burning towns,' etc.
" At a very early period of the contest Mr. Shaw took the precaution to secure supplies of powder from the French islands. In December, 1774, he had rep- resented to the government of the colony the great destitution of New London, and other exposed places
6 " This was probably the Ceanothus Americanus, a plant sometimes used during the Revolution as a substitute for tea, and usually called Jersey tea.
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in this respect, and urged them to send without delay to the West Indies for a considerable stock, offering a fast sailing-vessel of his own to be used for this end. The Assembly acted on this advice, sending him an order to obtain six hundred half-barrels with all possible speed. In July, 1775, to the commander of a sloop fitted out with flour and pipe-staves for His- paniola he gave the brief direction : 'Purchase gun- powder and return soon.' Again, in January, 1776, he writes to William Constant, his agent in Guada- loupe, requesting him to purchase powder 'to the amount of all the interest you have of mine in your hands ;' and adds, 'make all the dispatch you can : we shall want it very soon.' We learn from his ac- counts that in 1775 he furnished the regiment of Col. Parsons with powder, ball, and flints, and that in June, 1776, at the order of the Governor, he forwarded an opportune supply of powder to Gen. Washington. July 22d he wrote himself to the commander-in-chief, stating that he had recently forwarded to him three cases of arms and a quantity of flints, adding, 'and now, by the bearer, John Keeny, I have sent two cases of arms, and one chest and bar of Continental arms and cutlasses, as per invoice.' July 31st he advises Robert Morris, chairman of the secret committee of Congress, that he has received another supply of powder: '13,500 cwt. arrived from Port-au-Prince and safe landed.'
" The first naval expedition under the authority of Congress was fitted out at New London in January, 1776. The command was given to Commodore Hop- kins, sometimes styled 'admiral.' The fleet consisted of four vessels, the 'Alfred,' 'Columbus,' ' Andrea Doria,' and ' Cabot,' varying in armament from four- teen to thirty-six guns.1 The preparations were made with great expedition and secrecy, no notice being given respecting it in any of the newspapers. It was destined to cruise at the South and annoy the British fleet in that quarter. Dudley Saltonstall, previously in command of the fort, or battery, on the Parade, was appointed senior captain ; Elisha Hinman, a lieu- tenant; Peter Richards and Charles Bulkley, enter- prising young seamen of the place, were among the midshipmen .; eighty of the crew were from the town and neighborhood. The fleet sailed about the 1st of February to its rendezvous in Delaware Bay, less than a month from the time in which the first prepa- rations were commenced. The only results of this expedition, from which apparently some great but indefinite advantage was expected, were the plunder of the British post of New Providence and a fruitless combat with the British ship 'Glasgow' on their homeward voyage, near the eastern end of Long Island.
"The commodore re-entered New London Harbor on the 8th of April ; 2 he had taken seventy prisoners, eighty-eight pieces of cannon, and a large quantity of
military and naval stores. Many of the heavy pieces of ordnance had arrived previously in a sloop com- manded by Capt. Hinman.
"Just at the period of the return of this fleet the American army was on its way from Boston to New York.3 Gen. Washington met Commodore Hopkins at New London, April 9th. The brigade under Gen. Greene was then here, ready to embark in transports. Washington slept that night at the house of Nathaniel Shaw.
" Commodore Hopkins, immediately after his re- turn, formed a plan for the capture of the 'Rose' man-of-war, commanded by Sir James Wallace, then cruising upon the coast. Gen. Washington consented to furnish two hundred men to assist the enterprise, and the Governor and Council ordered the ' Defence' and the 'Spy' to join the squadron for the cruise.4 Thus reinforced, the commodore sailed to the east- ward; but his plans were not accomplished. Neither the details of the project nor the cause of its failure are now understood. The disappointed fleet went into port at Providence.
" A large number of seamen belonging to the fleet were left behind in New London, sick, and in the charge of Mr. Shaw. To him also was confided the care of the stores that had been disembarked.
' Mr. Shaw to Governor Trumbull, April 25th :
"' Inclosed is an invoice of the weight and size of thirty-four cannon received from Admiral Hopkins, ten of which are landed at Groton, viz .: three twenty-four-pounders, two eighteen, and five twelve. The remain- der are at New London. He has landed a great quantity of cannon-ball The mortars and shells Gen. Washington desired might be sent to New York, and the admiral has sent them. The remainder of the cannon are part sent to Newport, and part are on board the fleet, which he wants to carry to Newport. The nine-pounders are but ordinary guns, the others are all very good.'
" To Francis Lewis, Esq., at Philadelphia, June 19th :
"' I have received a letter from Commodore Hopkins, wherein he says that I was appointed by Congress as their agent for this port. I should be glad to have directions how to proceed. I am in advance at least a thousand pounds for supplies to the fleet and hospital in this town ; one hundred and twenty men were landed sick and wounded, twenty of which are since dead; the remainder have all since joined the fleet at Providence.'
" To Hon. John Hancock, President of Congress, July 31st :
" The cannon and stores delivered me by Commodore Hopkins amount to £4765 4s. 10d. L. M.
"' Last Sunday a ship sent in as a prize by Capt. Biddle, in the " Andrew Doria," ran on the rocks near Fisher's Island, being chased by a British ship of-war, and immediately a member of armed men from Stonington went on board, and, as they say, prevented the man-of-war from destroy- ing her. The next day Capt. Hinman, in the "Cabot," went to their as- sistance, and has saved and brought into port ninety hogsheads of rum and seven of sugar; remainder of the cargo is lost. The " Cabot" has been lying here ever since Commodore Hopkins set out for Philadelphia, with a fine brave crew, waiting for orders.'
"July 10, 1776, Nathaniel Shaw, Jr., was appointed by the Governor and Council of Safety 'agent of the colony for naval supplies and taking care of sick sea- men.' From this period during the remainder of the struggle, as an accredited agent of Congress and the colony, he furnished stores, negotiated the exchange
1 " Cooper's Naval History.
2 " New London Gazette.
3 " Sparks' Life of Washington.
4 " Hinman, p. 356.
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of prisoners, provided for sick seamen, and exercised a general care for the public service in his native town. He was also engaged on his own account, as were also other prominent citizens of the place, in sending out private armed vessels to cruise against the enemy. These for a time met with a success which stimulated the owners to larger adventures, but in the end three-fourths, and perhaps a larger proportion, of all the private cruisers owned in New London were captured and lost.
" At the May session of the Legislature in 1776 the Governor was placed at the head of the naval and custom-house business of the colony, with power to appoint subordinate naval officers for the ports of New Haven, New London, Middletown, and Nor- walk. Duncan Stewart, the English collector, was still in New London, where he dwelt without other restraint than being forbidden to leave town except by permission from the Governor. That permission appears to have been granted whenever solicited. In 1776 he spent three months in New York upon parole, and in June, 1777, obtained leave to remove thither with his family and effects, preparatory to taking passage for England, to which country the Governor granted him a passport. Permission was also given him at first to take with him the goods of Dr. Moffatt, late his majesty's controller of customs; but this was countermanded, representations having been made to the Governor that Dr. Moffatt had withdrawn from America in a hostile spirit, and had since been in arms against her. His goods, which consisted only of some household stuff of trifling value, were there- fore confiscated.
" The populace took umbrage at the courtesies ex- tended to the English collector. At one time, when some English goods were brought from New York for the use of his family, the mob at first would not per- mit them to be landed, and afterwards seized and made a bonfire of them. The ringleaders in this out- rage were arrested and lodged in jail; the jail-doors were broken down and they were released; nor were the authorities in sufficient force to attempt a recom- mitment. It was indeed a stirring season, and the re- straints of law and order were weak as flax. It is, however, gratifying to know that Mr. Stewart was al- lowed to leave the place with his family without any demonstration of personal disrespect. He departed in July, 1777.
"[ Note on the Shaw Family. The elder Nathaniel Shaw was not a na- tive of New London, but born in Fairfield, Conn., in 1703, to which place, it is said, his father had removed from Boston. He came to New London before 1730, and was for many years a sea-captain in the Irish trade, which was then pursued to advantage. lle had a brother, who sailed with him in his early voyages, but died on a return pa-sage from Ire- land in 1732. Capt. Shaw married in 1730, Temperance Harris, a grand- daughter of the first Gabriel Harris of New London, and had a family of six sons and two daughters. Three of the sons perished at sen at differ- ent perlods, aged twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two,-a degree of ca- lamity beyond the common share of disaster, even in this community, where so many families have been bereaved by the sea. The other sons lived to middle age. Surah, the oldest child, married David Allen, and died at the age of twenty-five. Mary, the youngest, has already been
mentioned as the wife of the Rev. Ephraim Woodbridge ; though dying at the age of twenty-four, she was the only one of Capt. Shaw's family who left descendants. The parents lived to old age. Capt. Shaw died in 1778, his relict in 1796.
" Nathaniel Shaw (2d) was the oldest son, and born Dec. 5, 1735. He lived through the dark days of the Revolution, always active and enter- prising, but was suddenly cut off by the accidental discharge of his own fowling- piece, before the nation had received the seal of peace, April 15, 1782. His wife preceded him to the grave; she died Dec. 11, 1781, of a malignant fever taken from some released prisoners, to whose necessi- ties she ministered.]
"Early in the year 1775 an independent military company was formed in New London, under Capt. William Coit. It was well trained and equipped, and held itself ready for any emergency. Immediately after the news of the skirmish at Lexington was re- ceived this gallant band started for the scene of con- flict. They encamped the first night on Norwich Green, the second on Sterling Hill, and the third in Providence. Another militia company went from those parts of the town which are now Waterford and Montville, under Maj. Jonathan Latimer ; Capt. Abel Spicer with another from Groton. Fifty towns in Connecticut sent troops to Boston on this occasion. In May the General Assembly ordered remuneration to be made from the colonial treasury for expenses incurred in the Lexington alarm, and the quota of New London was £251 18s. 6d. This amount is the fifth highest on the list. Windham stands first ; Woodstock, from whence Capt. Samuel Mclellan turned out with forty-five mounted men, is next; then Lebanon, Suffield, New London.1
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