USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut. Volume I, 1600-1760 > Part 65
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry."
The chief public interest in Windham between 1750-55, was the grand colonization scheme then brought before the public. That spirit of enterprise, that migratory impulse, which has led the sons of the Pilgrims from Plymouth Rock to the coast of the Pacific, was early manifested in Windham County. As early as 1735, residents of Ash- ford and Killingly, joined with others from towns in Massachusetts, in petitioning for a township among the Equivalent Lands allowed to Connecticut, and received a grant, afterwards laid out as Town No. 1, Vermont. Windham settlers followed in 1737, asking for a town east of Salisbury, and although their request was refused, many residents from that and other Windham County towns removed with their families to the new towns in Litchfield County. But it was not till 1750, that the spirit of emigration, long smoldering, broke out into open flame. Connecticut's chartered right to a strip of land forty leagues wide, extending southwest across the continent to the Pacific Ocean, had never been yielded. The marvellous richness and beauty of the Susquehanna Valley were already celebrated, and now it was proposed to plant a Colony in this beautiful region, and thus incor- porate it into the jurisdiction of Connecticut. The originators of this notable scheme are unknown, but it was soon promulgated and discussed in several Windham County townships, and, early in 1753, thus laid before the General Assembly :-
" To the Honorable Assembly, to be holden at Hartford, second Thursday of May next, the memorial of the subscribers, inhabitants of Farmington, Windham, Canterbury, Plainfield, Voluntown, and in several other towns, all of Connecticut Colony, humbly showeth : That, whereas, there is a large quantity of land lying upon a river called Susquehanna, and also at a place called Quiwaumuck, and that there is no English inhabitant that lives on said land, nor near thereunto, and the same lies about seventy miles west of Dielewey River, and, as we suppose, within the charter of the Colony of Con- necticut, and that there is a number of Indians that live on or near the place of land aforesaid, who lay claim to the same, and we, the subscribers, to the number of one hundred persons, who are very desirous to go and inhabit the aforesaid land, and at the place aforesaid, provided that we can obtain a quiet or quit-claim of the Honorable Assembly, of a tract of land lying at the place aforesaid, and to contain a quantity sixteen miles square, to lie on both sides Susquehanna River, and as the Indians lay claim to the same, we propose to purchase of them their right, so as to be at peace with them; whereupon, we humbly pray, That the Honorable Assembly would grant to us a quit-claim of the aforesaid tract, or so much as the Honorable Assembly shall think best, upon such terms as your Honors shall think reasonable, and in such a way and manner, that in case we cannot hold and enjoy the same by virtue of said grant, yet notwithstanding. the same not to be hurtful or prejudicial on any account to this Colony, and in case we can Hoid and possess said land, then to be always under the government, and subject to the laws and discipline of this Colony, and, provided, that we, the said subscribers, shall within three years next coming lay the same out in equal proportion, and settle upon the
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SOCIETIES OF WINDHAM, ETC.
same, as also purchase the right of the Natives as aforesaid, or in some other way grant us the land aforesaid, as your Honors shall think best, as we, in duty bound, shall ever pray. March 29, 1753.
Henry Linkon.
James Keigwin.
Jedidiah Darbe. Cyprian Stevens. David Stevens.
Stephen Stoyell.
John Smith, Jun.
Hugh Kennedy, Jun.
Phinehas Tracy.
John Dorrence.
John Pellet. Joseph Parks.
Josiah Russel.
Isaac Gallup.
Lemuel Deane.
Thomas Douglas.
Ezra Spalding.
Nathan Parke.
John Stevens.
Robert Parke.
Asa Parke
Benjamin Crary.
Nehemiah Parke.
George Crary.
Christopher Crary.
Jolın Kinne.
Jolin Parke.
Moses Kinne.
William Parke.
Henry Hart.
David Waters.
Oliver Crary.
John Spalding.
Gideon Keenay.
David Downing.
Nathan Keenay.
Stephen Rhodes.
Stephen Keenay.
William Gallup.
Thomas Keenay.
Adam Kasson.
Peter Miller.
John Smith, 2d.
George Gordon.
Benjamin Smith.
Samuel Gordon.
William Church.
Matthew Patrick, Sen. and Jun.
Elijah Francis.
Jacob Patrick.
Ephras Andrus.
Samuel Kasson.
Ebenezer Smith, Jun.
Archibald Kasson.
Stephen Kellog.
Jeremiah Kinne.
Samuel Thomas.
Samuel Smith.
Josiah Cortis.
Francis Smith, 3d.
William Andrews.
James Montgomery. .
Eliphalet Whiting.
Thomas Cole.
Solomon Stoddard.
Peter Ayers. Noah Briggs.
Timothy More.
Patrick Fay.
Jonathan Pettibone. John Pellet.
Ezekiel Prince.
Joshua Whitney. «
Thomas Parke. Sen. and Jun.
Nath. Babcock. <
Nathan Parke.
Eleazer Spalding.
Joseph Parke.
Robert Jameson.
John Pike.
Phinehas Green.
Benjamin Parke.
Amos Spalding.
Robert Dixon, 3d. William Cady. Jabez Fitch. John Keigwin.
Robert Hunter. Robert Gordon.
Thomas Stewart.
Although no formal answer was given to this petition, the subscribers received sufficient encouragement to go on with their efforts. A large number of the memorialists were from Voluntown and the less prominent towns, but now Windham entered into the scheme with great avidity, and her most prominent inen lent their influence for its promotion. A meeting for forming a company for the colonization of the Susque- hanna Valley, was held in Windham, July 18, 1753. A large number of persons was present, and very great enthusiasm manifested. Articles
Ichabod Welles.
Ebenezer Robinson.
Jonas Shepard.
>
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. .
of agreement were presented and adopted, receiving more than two hundred and fifty signatures. Jonathan Skinner, Jabez Fitch, Eliphalet Dyer, John Smith and Captain Robert Dixon, were appointed a com- mittee "to repair to the place on said river, view said land and pur- chase right of natives, receive, prepare, lay out and convey said land" -- the company agreeing that each subscriber should pay to the committee, "two Spanish milled dollars before said committee, thus going to settle, go out on said business ; and on their return, upon their render- ing their accounts, pay each one's proportion of expense." They were further instructed to set out immediately, or before September 1; to secure a tract of land twenty miles one way and ten another, and not expend over a thousand pounds. Captain John Fitch, Jedediah Elder- kin and Samuel Gray were also appointed "to hold the original subscriptions made at this time, receive the money, and deliver the same to the committee appointed to go on said affair to the said Sus- quehanna, take their receipts therefor, and when said committee shall return, take and examine their accounts." Representatives of almost every family in Windham, Plainfield and Voluntown, David Nevins of Canterbury, John Hubbard and Israel Putnam of Brooklyn Parish, and John Stevens, Ebenezer Larned and Isaac Lee of Killingly, were among these original subscribers. A few of these signers were from Colchester and adjacent towns, but much the larger proportion was from Windham County.
Interest in this attractive enterprise was not long confined to the towns where it was initiated. Applications for admission to the Com- pany soon came from every corner of Connecticut. At an informal meeting held in Colchester, August 28, William Whiting and Lieu- tenant Woodward were empowered to take subscriptions in that vicinity. At a meeting in Canterbury, September 6, Samuel Gray was chosen clerk, and it was agreed that the payment of one dollar should entitle a signer to half a right. An important meeting was held in Windham, January 4, 1754, when it was agreed to admit forty persons, each, from New Haven, Fairfield and Litchfield Counties ; thirty, from Hartford County ; twenty from New London, and ten more from Windham. The price of a share was now raised to four dollars. Timothy Woodbridge was granted a share as a free donation, and appointed an agent for the Company for the Susquehanna Purchase ; to order, act and transact the whole affair of said purchase with the chiefs of the Indians that are the native proprietors of the land pro- posed to be purchased. Notwithstanding the rise in the value of shares, so great was the number of applications that, in May, it was voted, That five hundred more should be admitted to the Com- pany at five dollars a share, doubling the number allowed from each
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SOCIETIES OF WINDHAM, ETC.
county. Members were now admitted from the more distant Windham County towns-John Grosvenor from Pomfret, Colonels William and Thomas Chandler from Woodstock, and many others. The most keen sighted and public-spirited men were ready to aid and promote this scheme of colonization. Offering the promise of romantic and stirring adventure, Colonial aggrandizement and pecuniary profit, it was no marvel that it gained so strong a hold upon popular favor.
During the summer, negotiations were successfully conducted be- tween representatives of the Six Nations, which claimed the land, and Messrs. Woodbridge and Dyer on behalf of the Company, and a deed secured of a tract of land called Quiwaumuck or Wyoming, in the Susquehanna Valley. The succeeding meeting of the Susquehanna Company was held in Hartford, November 27, 1754. The project now had far outgrown county limits and embraced the whole Common- wealth. Eliphalet Dyer officiated as moderator ; Samuel Gray as clerk. George Wyllis, Esq., was chosen treasurer. Phinehas Lyman, George Wyllis, Daniel Edwards and Eliphalet Dyer were appointed a com- mittee, to manage, transact and do everything in the name and behalf of the Susquehanna Company, in order to prefer the circumstances of the purchase lately made of the Indians, and all proper exhibits, to lay before his Majesty for his grant and confirmation. It was voted, to petition the Assembly for incorporation ; that two dollars more be raised on every old share and one dollar on half a share, to be improved in completing the purchase, and that the clerk be a receiver, and that he transmit the same into the hands of the treasurer. One thousand dollars were ordered to be immediately transmitted to Colonel John Henry Lyddas of Albany, in order to complete the purchase, in com- compliance with the agreement of the agents, and more if necessary. Eight hundred " wholesome persons" were now allowed in the 'com- pany, new subscribers paying nine dollars per share. Samuel Tolcott of Hartford, Isaac Tracy of Norwich, Samuel Gray of Windham, Oliver Wolcott of Litchfield, Samuel Bishop of New Haven and Joseph Wakeman of Fairfield, were intrusted with the management of affairs in their respective counties.
In May, 1755, an address was prepared and presented to the Assem- bly, asking its countenance and protection in erecting a new colony, with liberty to employ suitable persons to erect monuments at the corners of the land already purchased, procure and lay out a township, and to build and erect sufficient fortifications, a grist-mill and sawmill. In response to these requests, the Assembly resolved :----
" That they are of opinion that the peaceable and orderly erecting and carry- ing on some new and well-regulated colony or plantation in the lands above- said would greatly tend to fix and secure such Indian nations in allegiance to his Majesty and friendship with his subjects, and accordingly hereby manifest
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
their ready acquiescence therein, if it should be his Majesty's royal pleasure to grant said lands to said petitioners, and thereon erect or settle a new colony in such form and under such regulations as might be consistent with his royal wisdom, and also take leave humbly to recommend the said petitioners to his royal favor in the premises."
As incorporation and confirmation were beyond the province of the Government of Connecticut, the Company was forced to await the issue of an appeal to the Crown. The culmination of the long- standing difficulties between England and France prevented further action at this period. A protracted war was at hand. Hostilities had already commenced, and the Susquehanna Company was forced to defer occupation of their Purchase till a more favorable season.
IX
WINDHAM'S FROG FRIGHT. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. STATISTICAL SUMMARY.
THE rival claims of France and England to American territory had involved the Colonies from the outset in frequent war and blood- shed. The final controversy, extending from 1754 to 1760, cost them many lives, much treasure and great suffering. The breaking out of this War was at the darkest period of Windham's history. Religious dissensions had divided and weakened her churches, and malignant dis- tempers decimated and desolated her families. Six of her ablest ministers and many prominent public men had been stricken down. Children had died in great numbers, so that scarce a household was left unbroken. In those mournful days, when many hearts " were trembling at the manifest judgments of God," a rumor of impending war deepened the gloom. Tales of Indian atrocities and butcheries had been handed down from generation to generation. War with France was a war with ferocious savages, incited and guided by skilled brains and backed by all the resources of civilization. The colonization scheme by which many had hoped to escape difficulties and discouragements and begin life anew under more favorable auspices, was likely to be blighted or deferred. Her citizens would be called out to engage in this deadly carnage, and her homes and villages left exposed to the incursions of murderous savages. These gloomy prospects filled many hearts with anxious forebodings and subjected Windham to that ludicrous panic more widely known than any event in her history ; to magnifying an uproar in her Frog Pond into the clamor of an approaching army.
This memorable incident occurred in June, 1754. Though war was not formally declared, hostilities had begun. A Virginia regiment, led
WINDHAM'S FROG FRIGHT. 561
by Colonel George Washington, was already in the field, laboring to expel the French from possessions claimed by the Ohio Company. Delegates from many of the Colonies were in session at Albany, endea- voring to concert a scheme of common defence. The public mind was disturbed and apprehensive. Windham's prominence in the recently-formed Susquehanna Company gave her especial cause for anxiety. This attempt to rescue from the Indians a large tract of land bordering on the disputed territory might have aroused suspicion and hostility, and exposed them to the vengeance of the enemy. The feverish enthusiasm with which they had hailed that attractive scheme gave place to doubts and misgivings, and premonitory croakings were heard on every side. Thus troubled and perturbed, the residents of Windham Green were aroused from their slumbers one sultry sum- mer night by sounds wholly unlike anything ever before heard or reported even by the oldest inhabitant. Mr. White's negro-man, returning from some nocturnal rendezvous, was the first to hear these sounds and give the alarm to his master and the neighbors. Rushing out from their beds, they listened with horror and amazement. A din, a roar, an indescribable hubbub and tumult seemed to fill the Heavens and shake the earth beneath their feet. The night was still, cloudy,
and intensely dark. Sky, village and surrounding country were shrouded in thickest blackness, and thus the terrified listeners were thrown wholly upon conjecture and imagination. Some feared that the Day of Judgment was at hand, and that these unearthly sounds were but the prelude to the Trump of Doom. Others seized upon the more natural but scarcely less appalling explanation, that an army of French and Indians were marching upon the devoted village. Distinct articu- lations, detected amid the general Babel, made this conjecture more probable, and ere long the name of Windham's most honored citizen, most prominently connected with the Susquehanna Purchase, was clearly eliminated. " We'll have Colonel Dyer," " We'll have Colonel Dyer," was vociferated in deep, guttural tones. " Elderkin too,"
"Elderkin too," responded a shrill tenor. Yes! both these noble young men were demanded by the insatiate savages. The words " Teté," "Teté," next detected, inspired some hope. It was possible that even then a treaty might be effected. Thus in fear, terror, and conjecture passed the night-the astounding clamor continuing till the breaking of day. That any terrified Windhamite was so demented as to sally out with gun and pitchfork to meet an army of famished frogs en route for the Willimantic, is extremely doubtful.
The morning brought a solution of the mystery from families near the mill-pond. Windham's own amphibious population had broken her peace and made all the disturbance. The family of Mr. Follet, who
71
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
owned the mill-privilege and lived adjacent, were awakened by a most extraordinary clamor among the frogs. They filled the air with cries of distress described by the hearers as continuous and thunderlike, making their beds shake under them. Those who went to the pond found the frogs in great apparent agitation and commotion, but from the extreme darkness of the night could see nothing of what was passing. In the morning, many dead frogs were found about the pond, yet without any visible wounds or marks of violence. There was no evidence that they had been engaged in battle. Some mysterious malarial malady, some deadly épizoötic, had probably broken out among them and caused the outcries and havoc. The report of their attempted migration in search of water is positively denied by trustworthy witnesses. There had been no drought, and the pond was abundantly supplied with water, being fed by a never-failing stream.
The mortification of the Windham people upon this unexpected and humiliating revelation is quite beyond the power of description :-
" Some were well pleased, and some were mad; Some turned it off with laughter; And some would never hear a word About the thing, thereafter. Some vowed that if the De'il, himself, Should come, they would not flee him, And if a frog they ever met, Pretended not to see him."
No people were so fond of playing jokes upon others as these same residents of Windham Green, and now that the joke was turned upon them, no mercy was shown them. Those of their fellow townsmen who had not been victimized overwhelmed them with banter and ridi- cule. The tragic alarm was made the most comical of farces. The story flew all over the County with innumerable additions and exaggera- tions-a bit of choice fun, pleasantly enlivening the cares and anxieties of that mournful period. Rev. Mr. Stiles of Woodstock, forgetting his losses and conflicts, thus playfully descants upon the affair to his nephew :-
" WOODSTOCK, July 9, 1754.
" If the late tragical tidings from Windham deserve credit, as doubtless they do, it will then concern the gentlemen of your Jurispritian order to be forti- fied against the dreadful croaks of Tauranean Legions; Legions, terrible as the very wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. Antiquity relates that the elephant fears the mouse ; a hero trembles at the crowing of a cock-but pray whence is it that the croaking of a bull-frog should so Belthazzarize a lawyer ? How Dyerful ye alarm made by these audacious long-winded croakers :
' Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme, Tauranean terrors or Chimeras Dyer.'
I hope, sir, from the Dyerful reports from the Frog Pond, you'll gain some instruction, as well as from the report of my Lord Cook."
Nor was the report of the Windham panic confined to its own
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County. Even without the aid of newspapers and pictorial illustra- tions, it was borne to every part of the land. It was sung in song and ballad ; it was related in histories ; it served as a standing joke in all circles and seasons. Few incidents occurring in America have been so widely circulated. Let a son of Windham penetrate to the uttermost parts of the Earth, he would find that the story of the Frog-fright had preceded him. The Windham Bull-frogs have achieved a world-wide reputation, and with Rome's goose, Putnam's wolf and a few other favored animals, will ever hold a place in popular memory and favor.
The War, so gloomily foreboded, broke out in earnest in 1755. Four important expeditions were planned by the English. In August, a regiment was raised in eastern Connecticut, to assist in the reduction of Crown Point, assigned to Sir William Johnson. Eliphalet Dyer was appointed its lieutenant-colonel. Each Windham County town was ordered to furnish its proportion of men. John Grosvenor was captain of the company in Pomfret, with Nehemiah Tyler for first and Israel Putnam for second lieutenants. Notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers of the service, the requisite recruits were speedily secured. A strong military spirit pervaded the towns, deepened by a sense of religious and patriotic obligation, and all were ready to bear their part of the public burdens. The spirit with which Windham County engaged in this dreaded war, is manifested in the following votes passed in Ashford. At a church-meeting, September 9, 1755,
" Voted, to keep a day of fasting and prayer one day in a month to Almighty God, in behalf of our friends that are gone and going to defend our land against an encroaching foe ; that they may be preserved and have success."
On the same day, it was voted in town-meeting :-
" That the town do concur with the church in keeping a day of fasting once a month."
This regiment at once joined the forces at Lake George and did good service during the remainder of the campaign. Putnam's uncommon daring, and fitness for military exploits, were at once shown and recog- nized. Associating himself with a company of Rangers, under com- mand of Captain Robert Rogers, he engaged with great ardor and boldness in most exciting and hazardous service. The official report of his first thirty days' service is a series of hairbreadth escapes and thrilling adventures. Alone, or with a single companion, he passed night after night in reconnoisances-creeping under bushes into encampments of hundreds of hostile Indians, and lying all night within reach of their muskets, or venturing within a rod of the sentry at
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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
Crown Point, and having his blanket shot through in divers places in retreating from his perilous position.
Another son of Windham County distinguished himself greatly during this first campaign. Nathan Whiting, youngest son of Rev. Samuel Whiting of Windham, was graduated at Yale College in 1743, and had established himself in business in New Haven. Appointed lieutenant-colonel of the First Connecticut regiment, he had assisted in establishing and manning Fort Edward, and then accompanied the main body of the army fourteen miles westward to the south part of Lake George, where they prepared to construct another fortification, but before their intrenchments were completed, they learned that Baron Dieskau, with a strong force, was on his way to Fort Edward, where a great part of their ammunition and provisions was deposited. A detachment of twelve hundred nien was at once dispatched-September 8-under Colonel Ephraim Williams of Massachusetts, to intercept this force, and relieve the Fort if possible, but within three miles of the camp they were themselves attacked by the whole body of the French and routed with great slaughter. Colonel Williams, Hendrick, the Mohawk chief- tain, Major Ashley and several other officers, were slain at the first onset. The soldiers fled in great confusion, but were rallied with much skill and gallantry by Lieutenant-Colonel Whiting, then left in com- mand, who succeeded in leading them back to the camp in good order, and engaged with great spirit in the subsequent battle, wherein the French were routed and General Dieskau wounded and taken prisoner. " For his extraordinary services" upon this and other occasions, a reward was granted him by the Assembly of Connecticut. His brothers William and Samuel Whiting, also served as colonels during this war.
After the battle of Lake George, active operations were suspended for the winter. Rev. Samuel Chandler of Gloucester, chaplain of one of the regiments, furnishes the following array of reasons for not pro- ceeding on the expedition against Crown Point :- "1. Water in river rising. 2. Bad roads. 3. Wagoners worn out. 4. Batteaux shot and shelled at Fort Edward. 5. No provender for horses to haul them. 6. Soldiers dispirited. 7. Many sick. 8. No Mohawks to join them. 9. Scant provisions. 10. Great Sea in the Lake."
The failure of the several projected expeditions, and the overwhelm- ing defeat of Braddock, greatly depressed the Colonists. A severe earthquake shock felt in all parts of the country, hightened the general feeling of uncertainty and alarm. This occurred November 18, at about four in the morning. The air was clear and calm, moon shining as pleasant as ever was seen at the time, but the sea roaring at the shore with such a noise as hardly ever was known. The first shock lasted about one and a half minutes and was succeeded by a second still more
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