History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 45

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317

USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 45

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"Capt. Hurlbut remained in the service till dis- abled by a mortal wound at Tarrytown, in the sum- mer of 1781. For the exploit that cost him in the end his life he received the thanks of Washington in the public orders of the army. It merits a par- - ticular relation.

" A vessel in the river containing a considerable quantity of stores for the American army had been set on fire by the guns of the enemy. Capt. Hurlbut being an excellent swimmer, volunteered his service, swam to the vessel, and amidst a severe fire from the British ships extinguished the flames, cut the cable that the wind might drift her to the side where the Americans were encamped, and then took to the water again. Before reaching the shore, being much fatigued, he threw himself on his back, as swimmers often do for repose, and just then was struck in the groin by a grape-shot. The ball was successfully ex- tracted, and after a long confinement he so far recov- ered as to appear abroad. He belonged to the Second Regiment of. Light Dragoons, and the first time that he was able to resume his post the troops lon- ored him with a salute. Unfortunately his horse be- came restive, reared, and threw him. The old wound was broken up, he languished many months in severe pain, and at last was brought home to die. The com- mander-in-chief himself gave orders that every requi- site care and attention should be used in his removal. His friend, Mr. Colfax, and the surgeon, Dr. Eustis (afterwards Governor of Massachusetts), accompanied him to New London, where he expired 8th of May, 1783.1

In this connection another army incident may be mentioned, which, though in result a failure, illus- trates the daring spirit of adventure for which the New London men of that day, whether sailors or soldiers, were remarkable.

"On the 16th of August, 1776, Commodore Tup- per, lying at New York, sent two fire-vessels, a sloop and a schooner, up the river to make an attempt to burn the British frigate 'Phoenix' in the night. Of the eighteen men detached on this expedition a large proportion were from New London. Stephen Hemp- stead and Thomas Updike Fosdick were two of the number. Fosdick, who was then an ensign in the company of Capt. Nathan Hale, had command of the sloop. Owing to accidental circumstances the enterprise failed, but it was well conceived, and, as far as it went, executed with boldness and skill."

CHAPTER XIII.

NEW LONDON-(Continued).

WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

Privateering-Sea-Captains-The Schooner "Spy"-Brig " Defiance" -- "Old Defiance"-The "Oliver Cromwell"-Brig " Resistance"-The " Hancock"-The Privateer "Governor Trumbull"-Ship " Confeder- acy"-The " Deane"-The " Putnam"-Continental Ship " Trumbull" -Benedict Arnold-He Marches on New London-Flight of the Inhab- itants-Burning of the Town-Arnold's Official Account-Estimate of the Loss-List of New London Sufferers-Washington's Visit to New London.

"WHILE humanity, reason, and religion concur in deprecating the whole practice of war, and look for- ward with ardent aspiration to the time when other modes of accommodating the difficulties of nations shall prevail, we must not withhold from the brave soldier and adventurous seaman that species of fame and merit which is their due. If we would write his- tory faithfully we must go back to the era and live and breathe the scenes described. We must not look at the war of the Revolution by that light which has but just began to dawn on the Christian world in re- gard to the folly and iniquity of war. Men fought under an exalted impulse for their homes and fire- sides, their liberties and their altars. It was the way in which the age manifested its devotion to truth, freedom, law, and religion. Yet blessed will be the period when these sacred principles shall find a holier expression.

"It has been customary to make a distinction between the regular navy of the country and those private armed vessels called letters-of-marque, or pri- vateers, as if the former were an honorable service and the latter but little removed from piracy. The distinc- tion is unjust, one was as fair and lawful as the other; both were sanctioned by the custom of nations, the object of each was the same. The Continental ves- sels no less than the privateers seized upon peaceful

1 " ** Many of these particulars are taken from a certificate given in De- cember, 1783, by Gen. Washington to Mrs. Welsh, a widowed sister of Capt. Hurlbut.

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

merchantmen, and as much historical credit should be awarded to the brave privateersman as to the com- missioned officer.

" It is a fact also that has not been sufficiently noticed in respect to the seamen of the Revolution that often with undaunted spirit they went into bat- tle against fearful odds, and in these unequal combats were not unfrequently successful, such power las Providence given to those who manfully contend for the right.

"The British, after gaining possession of New York, fitted out a host of privateers from that port and from Long Island that infested the Sound and the whole New England coast, and in the course of a few months nearly every packet, coaster, and fishing smack belonging to New London was captured or destroyed. The inhabitants were driven in self- defense to build privateers and to arm as cruisers whatever craft they had left or could seize in their turn from the enemy and set them afloat to defend their property.

" Aggression, leading to retaliation, and swaying back and forth over an increasing space with acceler- ated fury, is the diagram of war.

" A place whose great and almost sole advantage consists in commercial aptitude is necessarily de- pendent upon peace for prosperity. From the begin- ning to the close of the Revolutionary contest a cloud of depressing gloom hung over New London. Her mariners and artisans were deprived of employment; her shopmen and merchants were impoverished or bankrupt; religion, education, and morals were at a low ebb, and the shadows grew deeper from year to year.

"It may be doubted whether any two places in New England exhibited a greater contrast in these respects than those near neighbors, but by no means intimate friends, Norwich and New London. Nor- wich suffered in her commerce as well as New Lon- don, but she was not kept in continual jeopardy ; extraordinary inroads excepted, she was safe from invasion. Her growth was scarcely checked by the war, and, setting aside the suffering from scarcity in the first years of the conflict and the family privations resulting from the drain on the male population for the army, her prosperity was but little diminished. It was a place of refuge for many families from Bos ton, Newport, and other exposed situations on the coast, and this influx of residents kept her currency easy. With a wise foresight and a prompt enterprise, favored by her situation and natural advantages, she early turned her attention to manufactures. These came in to fill the vacuum occasioned by her lost commerce.

" New London had no such wholesome resource. The privateering business very naturally stepped in, and, as far as bustle and excitement went, filled the void, but as a path to gain it was fraught with hazard and uncertainty. Neither merchants nor adventurers

acquired wealth by privateering. Even the most for- tunate commanders barely obtained a competent live- lihood for the time being for their families. The history of the most successful is comprehended in two or three profitable voyages, a few brilliant ex- ploits, and then capture and imprisonment.

"The alternations in this warfare succeeded each other like cloud and sunshine on an April day. The excitement of hazardous undertakings and the sud- den changes continually taking place gave to life a romantic and vivid interest. Often when the Sound was apparently pervaded by British vessels a letter- of-marque would seize a favorable opportunity, push out of port, and return with a prize. As connected with New London, sea skirmishes and naval disasters were prominent features of the war. A band of sea- captains, prompt, valiant, experienced, and danger- loving, had their rendezvous in this port. Some were natives of the town, others belonged in Groton, Nor- wich, Middletown, and Saybrook.

" Capt. Elisha Hinman was the youngest of three brothers who came from Woodbury, Conn., before or about 1760 and established themselves in New Lon- don. He was a veteran of the sea before the com- mencement of the Revolution, and took an early part in the contest. He commanded the 'Cabot,' a Con- tinental brig in the squadron of Commodore Hopkins, and afterwards succeeded Paul Jones in the ship ' Alfred,' which he was unfortunately obliged to sur- render to the 'Ariadne' and ' Ceres,' on a return voyage from France, March 9, 1778. Being carried a pris- oner to England, after a short confinement he found friends who aided his escape to France, from whence he returned home, and engaged for a time in private adventures. In 1779 he went out in the privateer sloop 'Hancock,' owned by Thomas Mumford, and had a run of brilliant, dashing success. In 1780 he took command of the armed ship 'Deane.'

" Peter Richards, Charles Bulkley, and John Welsh, the lieutenants of Capt. Hinman in the ' Alfred,' were confined in England for several months in Fortune prison, near Portsmouth, from whence they escaped by digging under the outward wall, and reaching the coast of France in safety, returned home in the spring of 1779. These all went out subsequently in private armed vessels.

"William Havens, Nicoll Fosdick, Samuel and Lodowick Champlin, William Leeds, Daniel Deshon, Nathaniel Saltonstall, seamen more brave and skill- ful than these to harass an enemy or defend a coast cannot be found at any period of our country's his- tory. The merchant service was not wholly aban- doned during the war. Several of the commanders that have been named and others made occasional voyages to French ports, though in general with some armature. Capt. William Rogers made a safe voyage to France and back again in 1779. Several cases occurred in which vessels that sailed before the war unarmed were long detained in foreign ports, and

183

NEW LONDON.

even laid up till the return of peace. Capt. John Lamb, sent by Nathaniel Shaw in the ship ' America' to Gibraltar in 1774, was absent three years, the owner in the mean time receiving no remittances.1 Capt. James Rogers, arrested by the war in a foreign port, suffered a detention of six years, but arrived in safety with his vessel in September, 1781.

"New London Harbor was the recruiting-ground of the State schooner 'Spy,' Capt. Robert Niles, a fortunate vessel with a skillful commander, which performed good service during the whole war, and closed her accounts in neat and beautiful style by carrying safely to France the first copy of the ratified treaty of peace. This vessel was of fifty tons burden, carried six guns (four-pounders), and from twenty to thirty men. Her cruises were short, but she was con- tinually upon the lookout, ever ready, ever service- able, alert in discovering smugglers, intercepting unlawful communications, taking prizes, and giving notice of the movements of the enemy. She sailed from Stonington with a copy of the ratified treaty, and arrived at Brest in twenty-one days, having passed undiscovered through a British fleet that lay off that port, owing her safety, probably, to her diminutive size, which prevented her character from being sus- pected.

"The brig ' Defence,' fourteen guns, built by the State in 1775 at the ship-yard of Capt. Uriah Hayden, in Connecticut River, was brought around to New London to be equipped and to enlist her crew of one hundred and twenty men. She sailed on her first cruise in May, 1776, under Capt. Seth Harding, and in the course of it took two transport-ships and a brig, all bringing Highland recruits to the British army. The 'Defence' enjoyed a couple of years of prosperity, often dropping into New London Harbor to recruit. Three of her lieutenants, Leeds, Angel, and Billings, had been sea-captains, sailing from the Thames. In 1778 this vessel was altered into a ship at Boston, and the command given to Capt. Samnel Smedley ; but her career was closed March 10, 1779, on Goshen Reef, within sight of New London. She struck, bilged, overset, and went to pieces as she was about to enter the harbor from a successful cruise. Several of her crew perished in the hold.

"Another State brig, called the 'Old Defence,' under the command of Capt. Daniel Deshon, was taken in January, 1778, by the enemy and carried into Jamaica.

" The 'Oliver Cromwell,' a twenty-gun ship, built at Saybrook in 1776 by the State, was also fitted out from New London. Her first commander was Capt. William Coit, and she was expected to sail in October, but difficulties existed among her people, and the British kept a constant watch over the harbor, so that

she was detained through the winter. The next spring Capt. Harding was transferred to her from the ' Defence,' and she succeeded in getting out in May, 1777.2 In June she took a merchant brig, called the ' Medway,' and in July the brigantine ' Honor,' which sold, with her cargo, for £10,692. In September she captured the 'Weymouth Packet,' a brig of fifteen guns, which was fitted up for a cruiser and called the 'Hancock.' The 'Cromwell,' after two and a half years of faithful republican service, was destined to pass into the ranks of royalty. She sailed from New London in May, 1779, in command of Capt. Timothy Parker, of Norwich, a seaman of tried gallantry and experience. She was absent twelve days, sent in four prizes, two of them armed vessels, and touched in herself to land her prisoners. She sailed again the 1st of June, and on the 5th, off Sandy Hook, had a sharp engagement with the British frigate 'Daphne.' Her mainmast being shot away, three men killed, and another ship coming up to the aid of the 'Dapline,' Capt. Parker surrendered his ship. She was soon cruising again under the royal ensign, and bearing the new name of 'Restoration.' 3

" The Continental armed brig 'Resistance,' ten guns (fours), Capt. Samuel Chew, was fitted out at New London at the suggestion and under the orders of Nathaniel Shaw.4 The officers were mostly New London men. On the 4th of March, 1778, in a des- perate conflict in the West India seas with a letter- of-marque carrying twenty guns, Capt. Chew and Lieut. George Champlin, of New London, were killed.5 The two vessels parted, and the brig was carried into Boston by Lieut. Leeds. She was taken by the British in November and burnt.

"The ‘Governor Trumbull,' a privateer ship of twenty guns, built in Norwich by Howland and Coit, was considered a very fine vessel. She went to sea on her first cruise in March, 1778, Capt. Henry Billings commander, and left the harbor for the last time in December of the same year. In March, 1779, while cruising in the West Indies, she was captured by the 'Venus' frigate, which had formerly belonged to Massachusetts, and was originally called the 'Bunker Hill,'

1 " Lamb arrived at Boston from Martinico in December, 1777, in a brig called the ' Irish Gimblet.' Among his lading were seventeen brass cannon, with other warlike stores, for Congress, shipped by William Bingham, of St. Peter's, Martinico.

2 " In March, 1777, on the day of the marriage of Capt. Elisha Hinman, the officers of the 'Oliver Cromwell' ordered a complimentary salute to be fired front the ship. Some mischief-lover among the crew charged the cannon with a hand-grenade, which 'whistled through the town the like was never known.' The terrified inhabitants caused the offender to be arrested and put in irons.

3 " From a New York (royalist) paper of July 24, 1779 : ' The frigate "Restoration" (formerly the "Oliver Cromwell") is now fitling for sea, and will be ready in six days to join the associated refugee fleet lying in Huntington Harbor, and intending soon to pay a visit to the rebel coast.'

4 " It gives me pleasure to hear of Capt. Chew's success, as the fitting him out was a plan of my own."-Letter to the Marine Committee of Congress, Feb. 2, 1778 (MS.).

5 " Capt. Chew was a brave and skillful officer, an emigrant from Vir- ginia to New London, and brother of Joseph Chew, heretofore mentioned. The two brothers, like many others in that day of divisions, took oppo- site sides in the contest. Joseph Chew had been obliged to leave the place on account of his adherence to the royal canse.

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

" Early in 1779 three privateers lying in New Lon- don Harbor determined to attempt the capture of the brig ' Ranger,' a refugee privatecr of twelve guns that infested the Sound and had taken many prizes and plundered the coast in some instances. The brig 'Middletown' and sloops 'Beaver' and 'Eagle,' under Capts. Sage, Havens, and Conkling, fell upon her as she lay by the wharf at Sag Harbor, cut her out, and came back with her in triumph. This was on the 31st of January. The next day the same associated trio made a bold but unsuccessful attack on seven vessels which had put into Sag Harbor. In this affair the 'Middletown' grounded and was abandoned to the enemy.

" May 27, 1779, Capt. Richard McCarty, of New London, in a sloop bound for the West Indies, was wrecked in a snow-storm on Plum Island, and him- self and crew, six persons, all lost.

" The ' Confederacy," a Continental ship of thirty- two guns, built on the Thames, near Norwich, and equipped at New London, sailed on her first cruise May 1, 1779, under Capt. Seth Harding. This ship was popularly said to have been built of Tory timber. Most of the wood for her hull was cut in Salem, Conn., on the confiscated estate of Mr. Brown, a royalist, and the trunnels of the ship were from locust-trees that grew on land near the harbor's mouth, New Lon- don, which had belonged to Capt. Oliver, a former officer of the king's customs. To make up the com- plement of men for her crew it was necessary to have recourse to the odious practice of impressment.1 Able-bodied men were becoming scarce upon the coast through the constant drain for army and navy. The call for 'gentlemen volunteers,' which was the customary soothing address of the recruiting-officer. had been so frequently reiterated that it had ceased to be answered with alacrity.2

"The privateering business was at no time so active, so daring in exploit and brilliant in success as in 1779. Both parties, the patriots and the refugees, pursued it with eager rivalry. Between the 1st of March and 13th of June nine New York or Tory privateers were captured and brought into New Lon- don. One of them, the 'Lady Erskine,' a brig of ten guns, was taken within sight of the harbor by the sloops 'Hancock' and 'Beaver,' Capts. Hinman and Havens, who cut her off from a fleet of twenty-one sail which was passing towards Rhode Island under convoy of the 'Thames' frigate of thirty-six guns.

" A vivid illustration of the life and bustle which this fitful business created at intervals in the town is furnished by Green's Gazette of June 3d. In that paper were advertised for sale at auction on the 8th instant the following prizes: brig ' Bellona,' one hun- dred and sixty tons, sixteen guns ; schooner ‘Mul- berry,' seventy tons; sloop 'Hunter,' ninety ; sloop ' Charlotte,' sixty ; sloop 'Lady Erskine,' sixty, ten guns-all prizes to the 'Beaver' and 'Hancock ;' schooner 'Sally,' fifty tons, ten guns; sloop 'De- spatch,' fifty, eight swivels ; schooner ' Polly,' forty- prizes to the 'American Revenue ;' also three other prize sloops with all their cargoes and tackle.

" In the Court of Admiralty held at New London a week later than the above (June 10th), eighteen prizes were libeled, all taken in the month of May.

" The refugee adventurers from New York and Long Island, if less enterprising, were far superior to the Americans in number and resources. If unsuc- cessful in one undertaking they had means to urge forward another. Capt. Samuel Rogers, the most noted privateersman on that side of the Sound, was three times captured, brought to New London and confined in jail, between March and October, 1779. It was said that during this summer forty refugee privateers had their rendezvous in Huntington Bay. In the end they swept the Sound, as with a besom, of everything American ; at the close of the year scarcely a sail was left on the Connecticut coast. Everything in this line was to begin anew at the keel.

" The fate of Capt. Edward Conkling was pecu- liarly heartrending. Cruising off Point Judith in the sloop ' Eagle,' he captured and manned six prizes in succession, which left the number of his crew less than that of the prisoners on board. The latter, scizing a favorable opportunity, rose upon their cap- tors, and obtaining command of the vessel exhibited the most savage ferocity. The brave captain and sev- eral of his men were cut down after they had surren- dered, and their bodies brutally mangled. Only two boys were spared. This was on the 9th of May. The 'Eagle,' before the close of the month, while pre- paring for a cruise against her former flag, was de- stroyed by an accidental explosion in the harbor of New York. 'Several persons on board at the time,' says the newspaper notice of the event, 'lost their lives, and among them the infamous Murphy, who murdered Capt. Conkling.'

"In October, 1779, three large French ships, the 'Jonatas,' 'Comte d'Artois,' and 'Negresse,' came into the harbor under jury-masts, with valuable car- gocs of West India produce. They had sailed with the usual autumnal fleet of merchantmen from Cape François for Europe, but on the 15th of September were dismasted in a violent hurricane, and so much damaged that they bore away for the American coast. By singular good fortune they escaped the British cruisers, but were obliged to sell their damaged car- goes at a low rate and to winter at New London. In

1 " Monday night last, about fifty seamen and landsmen were pressed by a gang from the ship ' Confederacy,' now lying in the harbor, and carried on board; a part of them have been since released."-Green's Gazette of April 29th.

2 " The last advertisement of the ' Oliver Cromwell' will serve as a specimen of this alluding style :

"'The ship " Oliver Cromwell," Timothy Parker, commander, ready for a cruise against the enemies of the United Independent States. All gentlemen volunteers that have a mind to make their fortunes are de- ølred to repair Immediately on board said ship in the port of New Lon- don, where they will meet good encouragement.'

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NEW LONDON.

the 'Negresse,' which sailed for France early in May, went as passenger Col. John Trumbull, the son of the Governor, and since well known as an historical painter. The 'Jonatas' was purchased of the French owners, and fitted out by individual enterprise as a private cruiser. She carried twenty-nine guns,- twenty-four nines and five fours,-and sailed on a cruise June 1, 1780, under the command of Capt. Hinman.1

"The extreme severity of the winter of 1779-80 is well known. On the 2d of January a violent storm commenced ; the tide and wind together raised the waves till they dashed over Beach or Water Street like a flood, filling the lower stories of the houses and damaging the shipping and goods. To this succeeded about five weeks of extreme cold. The Thames was closed up as far down as the light-house, a sight which the oldest natives do not see more than twice, and seldom but once in their lives. A storm on the 7th of February opened the harbor at the mouth, but opposite the town it remained shut till the second week in March. The day previous a barbecue had been served upon the Isle of Rocks, midway between New London and Groton ; but at night a furious southeast storm broke up the ice, and the next morning a dash- ing current was running where sleighs had crossed and people had feasted the day before.2

"The ' Putnam' was built on Winthrop's Neck by Nathaniel Shaw in 1778. Her armament consisted of twenty nines. Capt. John Harman was her first commander. In the spring of 1779 she was fitted for a six months' cruise under Capt. Nathaniel Salton- stall. After being out three months, and sending in six prizes, she went into Boston harbor, and was there impressed into the Continental service, with her crew and equipments, and sent with the fleet under Com- modore Dudley Saltonstall, of the ship 'Warren,' against the British post at Penobscot. The issue of that expedition was extremely disastrous. The 'Put- nam' was one of the vessels driven ashore and burnt to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. The officers and crew fled to the woods and escaped capture.

"The frigate 'Trumbull,' twenty-eight guns, built by order of Congress at Chatham, in Connecticut River, during the winter of 1779-80, was brought into the Thames to be equipped and to enlist her crew. Capt. James Nicholson was her commander. On the 2d of June, 1780, she had an action with the letter-of-

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 45

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1317

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317