USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut > Part 22
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" Which made them say the judgment day, Without a doubt was coming, For in the air, they did declare, Was very awful drumming.
" Those lawyers' fees would give no ease, Though well they're worth inditing; To pray they kneel-alas! they feel The worm of conscience biting.
" Being thus dismayed, one of them said, He would make restitution; He would restore one-half or more- This was his resolution.
' Another's heart was pricked in part, But not touched to the center, Rather than pay one-half away, His soul, he said, he'd venture.
" Then they agreed to go with speed And see what was the matter; And, as they say, that by the way, Repenting tears did scatter.
" They traveled still unto the hill With those men they did rally, Then soon they found the doleful sound To come out of the valley.
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" Then down they went with one consent, And found those frogs a-singing, Raising their voice for to rejoice, This was the doleful ringing.
" Home those great men returned then Now filled with wrath and malice, And mustered all, both great and small, From prison and from palace.
" Swearing, I say, thus in array, To be revenged upon them; Thinking it best, I do protest, To go and fall upon them.
" Then armed all, both great and small, With guns and swords and hatchets. An Indian king could never bring An army that would match it.
" Old Stoughton ran and charged up his gun And flourished his sword in the air, But not being stout he at last gave out And fell on his knees to prayer.
" Then armed with fury, both judge and jury, Unto the frog pond moved; And, as they say, a fatal day Unto the frogs it proved.
" This terrible night the parson did fright His people almost to despair, For poor Windham souls among the bean poles He made a most wonderful prayer.
" Lawyer Lucifer called up his crew,- ' Dyer and Elderkin you must come too.' Old Colonel Dyer you know well enough He had an old negro, his name was Cuff.
" 'Now, massa,' says Cuff, ' I'm now glad enough For what little comfort I have, I make it no doubt my time is just out, No longer shall I be a slave.'
" As for Larabie, so guilty was he, He durst not step out of his house; The poor guilty soul crept into his hole, And there lay as still as a mouse.
" As for Jemmy Flint he began to repent For a bible he never had known, His life was so bad, he'd give half he had To old Father Stoughton for one.
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" Those armed men they killed them, And scalped about two hundred, Taking, I say, their lives away, And then their camp they plundered.
" Those lusty frogs they fought like dogs, For which I do commend them, But lost the day, for want, I say, Of weapons to defend them.
" Home those great men returned then Unto the town with fury, And swore those frogs were saucy dogs, Before both judge and jury.
" I had this story before me Just as I have writ it, It being so new, so strange and true, I could not well omit it.
" Lawyers, I say, now from this day Be honest in your dealing, And never more increase your store While you the poor are killing.
" For if you do, I'll have you know, Conscience again will smite you, The bull-frog shout will ne'er give out But rise again and fight you.
" Now Lawyers, Parsons, Bull-frogs, all, I bid you each farewell; And unto you I loudly call A better tale to tell."
REVOLUTIONARY ANECDOTES.
Old Windham was like a bottle of champagne, ever ready to burst forth on occasion. Opportunities to show her spirit were not wanting in the eventful years preceding the revolution. News of the stamp act created a general fermentation, and when it was ascertained that one of her own citizens had ac- cepted the appointment of deputy stamp master, he was waited upon without delay and forced to surrender his letter and make a solemn promise to decline the office. Nor was this enough. The boys were overflowing with patriotism, and no doubt liked a little fun withal; so as an example and warning it was de- termined to hang and burn their culprit in effigy. Word was dispatched to all the neighboring parishes, and over the Scotland hills, down the Mansfield road and up the Norwich pike came throngs of the faithful to join in the popular demonstration.
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A gallows was erected on Windham Green, on which the un- fortunate offender was suspended, and afterward taken down and burned with loud acclamations.
This was only an introductory performance. Finding that the governor of the colony had determined to enforce the orders of the king, a band of five hundred horsemen from Windham and New London counties, with several days' provisions in their saddle-bags, and armed with such weapons as were within their reach, sallied forth to intercept the newly appointed stamp master on his way to Hartford. Putnam is said to have been the in- citer of the movement, but being too ill at the time to accompany the expedition, the command was given to Captain John Durkee, a brave son of Hampton, or what was then Canada Parish.
The cavalcade met Ingersol before he reached the city, and forced him, vi et armis, to sign a resignation prepared for him beforehand, and return to his legitimate business. A few days later General Putnam waited upon the governor in person, and assured him that if he made any further attempt to force the stamps upon the colony his house would be leveled with the dust in five minutes.
To show how this insult to the people's rights had taken pos- session of the popular feeling, and what satisfaction was felt at the repeal of the odious act, the quaint expression of Jonas Man- ning may be cited. Manning was a famous stone-cutter and epitaph writer, and the labor of his hands and brain may still be seen in all of our rural cemeteries. His residence was in the south part of the town, and inserted in the wall, over the front door, was a heavy stone slab, on which the following lines were chiseled :
" Liberty, Property, restored again In George ye IIIds most gracious reign; Now Liberty, Property and no excise, God bless our Kings and keep them wise.
" JONAS MANNING 1766."
The lines were copied from the tablet many years ago. The old house has since been burned and the historic stone was re- duced to fragments by the fire, otherwise it might have stood as a lasting memorial of the times in the archives of the state, the Historical Society of Hartford having made overtures for its purchase.
The aggressive patriotism of the Windhamites was manifested
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again in their summary dealing with the Reverend Samuel Peters, of Hebron, who forbade his parishioners taking up arms in the cause of Liberty, on that memorable Sabbath when the whole country was aroused by the news that powder, stored in Cambridge, had been removed to Boston by order of General Gage.
This tory divine had long been suspected of sending informa- tion abroad, as well as to the resident colonial governors and agents. The resolutions of the colonists were satirized and ridiculed, while he stigmatized them as traitors. Windham was his especial target. In a series of insulting " Resolves " he says : " Bostonians would be able to support their own poor after Windham and other towns have paid their legal demands." And again, "We cannot find any good reasons why the good people of Windham undertook to arraign and condemn Governor Hutch- inson and others for ignorance, insult and treason against law and common sense only for differing in sentiment with some of their neighbors, since there were a few names in Sardis," etc., and he recommends a day of fasting and prayer "that the sins of this haughty people may not be laid to our charge as a Govern- ment," etc.
Such insolent insinuations were not suited to the Windham taste. A committee of five of their leading men was detailed to visit and deal with their reverend antagonist. Miss Larned, in her very interesting history, gives a graphic account of this visit, from which we make extracts :
"On Tuesday Sep. 6th the Committee, accompanied by some hundred of their fellow citizens from the surrounding country, proceeded to his house in Hebron, which they found barricaded and filled with people, said to be armed. A deputation was sent in to inform Mr. Peters of their determination to obtain retraction and satisfaction for his late conduct. A parley was held through the window. Mr. Peters attempted to justify himself, and said he had no arms except two old guns out of repair. They replied they did not care to dispute with him, and advised him to ad- dress the people who thronged about the house, etc. Putting on his white priestly robe, he came out with all his official dignity and proceeded to plead his cause, when the discharge of a gun within the house startled his hearers. The indignant patriots proceeded at once to tear down the barricades, and rushing in, found loaded guns and pistols, swords and heavy clubs, thus
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putting the lie to his assertion. Notwithstanding this discovery he was allowed to proceed with his harangue and retire un- molested, with the understanding that he should draw up and sign a satisfactory declaration. Peters delayed, equivocated and quibbled until the waiting crowd lost all patience and proceeded to deal with him in a more summary manner. Forcing their way into the house again, they seized the struggling divine, tearing his sacred Episcopal gown, and putting him on a cart he was hauled by his own oxen to the meeting house green, where they sat him upon the public horse block and compelled him to sign a declaration and humble confession, framed by the com- mittee, to the intent that he repented of his past misdeeds and would give them no further cause for complaint. He was then made to read this paper aloud, sentence by sentence, to the great crowd surrounding the horse block, which thereupon gave three triumphal cheers and quietly dispersed."
In reporting this affair Peters, with his customary veracity, declared, " The Sons of Liberty destroyed his windows, rent his clothes, even his gown, almost killed one of his church people, tarred and feathered two, and abused others."
A few days after he retired to Boston, and sailed for England in November. Miss Larned very justly adds "that the rancor of his subsequent letters is the best apology for his assailants." These letters, full of spite and malignity, were brought back from Boston by two of Peters' friends who accompanied him thither. A party of patriots met them at a tavern, and suspect- ing they had communications from Peters, questioned them, but allowed them to proceed on their way. It appears they were not yet beyond surveillance. A man hidden behind a fence over- heard them say "they might be searched before they reached home and get into trouble and therefore had better hide their letters." He watched them and saw them alight near a stone fence, then remount and hurry onward. The letters were found in the wall, the men pursued and brought back. They denied having letters and offered to declare it upon oath, but when the documents were shown they were obliged to own the bringing and hiding of them. The town in which this occurred was red hot old Windham and her ardent citizens were the detectives and punishers of the unfortunate wayfarers.
The story of the capture of " Peters' spies " was quickly noised abroad, and young and old, men, women and children hurried
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to the scene of action. Alarmed for their safety the convicted tale-bearers begged for mercy, but public sentiment demanded their punishment. The victims were allowed the choice of running the gauntlet or of being whipped at the public whip- ping post. Finding there was no help for them, they decided on the former, much to the delight of the spectators who could all have a hand in the infliction. After the Indian manner, two opposing lines were formed stretching all the way across the village green from the tavern to the meeting house. The two men were forced to run between them receiving from the enraged populace kicks, cuffs, pokes and insulting epithets to the end of the line.
This story of "Peters' spies" and their punishment by the Windham boys and some of the girls, if we may believe the tradition, was an especial favorite with the revolutionary vet- erans, who added much wit and drollery to their narration. The letters in question were to his mother, a resident of Hebron, and to Doctor Auchmuty of New York. In them he affirmed that six regiments with sundry men of war were on their way from England, and as soon as they came hanging-work would go on ; destruction would first attend the seaport towns, etc. To the doctor he added that the clergy of Connecticut with their churches must fall a sacrifice to the rage of the Puritan nobility if the old serpent, that dragon, is not bound. With much else he adds: "Their rebellion is obvious; treason is common and robbery their daily devotion." Were the reverend gentleman living at present the descendants of those same doughty Puri- tans would undoubtedly make him chaplain of the Annanias Club.
THAT LITTLE GOD BACCHUS.
Travelers on the old stage route from Providence to Hartford cannot fail to remember a quaint little figure perched on the outstretched arm of a great elm that stood directly in front of the Staniford House. The figure represented the jolly god Bacchus, nude and chubby, sitting astride a cask and holding in his arms before him a basket of fruit, grapes, lemons, peaches and pears, all colored so naturally as to tempt the youthful passer-by.
The image had a saucy look. There were great dimples in his chin and cheeks, a roguish laugh in his shining black eyes and on his parted lips. Grape leaves and clusters of grapes en-
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circled his head. His naked body had the look of flesh, and he sat astride his red cask with an air of festive enjoyment. This strange figure had a most singular history. On the 10th of June, 1776, the Americans captured in Long Island sound the British ship "Bombrig," Captain Sneyd, of the royal navy, with all her officers and crew. Four of the prisoners, including the captain, were brought to Windham and lodged in the old jail, where they remained for several months. Their names were Edward Sneyd, commander ; John Coggin, boatswain; John Russel, ship's car- penter, and William Cook, seaman. The fate of their fellow prisoners is unknown. The widow Carey, afterward Mrs. John Fitch, was at that time landlady of the inn adjoining the jail, and her kindness to the prisoners warmed their hearts with gratitude and incited them to the only return in their power, the carving of a wooden image for a keepsake. The subject was well chosen for those times when conviviality and good cheer were supposed to be the special attractions of a country tavern. Russel, the carpenter, was undoubtedly the suggester and master workman, as he had served an English apprenticeship and un- derstood the carving of figure-heads as well as the fashioning of masts. In some way they got possession of a huge pine log, and with no other implements than their jack knives, they as- sailed it as the sculptor assails the block of marble to bring out the hidden image it conceals. Many days of wearisome cap- tivity were thus beguiled and brightened by this labor of love ; but little could they have dreamed that they were thus trans- mitting their own names and history to future generations ..
In due time the work was completed and presented to their kind benefactress, who placed it as a sign in front of her hotel, where it remained until her marriage with Mr. John Fitch, when it was removed to the old Fitch tavern. The heirs of Mr. Fitch are said to have sold it to the landlord of the Staniford House, by whom it was placed on the outstretched arm of his great elm to smile a welcome to coming guests. For a quarter of a century it enjoyed this lofty elevation, when a storm, more fierce than had ever before assailed it, hurled poor Bacchus to the ground. One arm was broken, but with the other he clung firmly to his basket of fruit.
For some time the pretty wine god had been frowned upon by some of the straiter of the modern moralists as an emblem of license, rather than of hospitality; so with the temperance
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY. 219
movement, bruised and sore, the innocent little fellow, like Dickens' poor Joe, was forced to "move on," and for three years lay in the vile obscurity of a wood house. But better days were dawning. A true son of Windham discovered his retreat at last, and for a paltry sum became possessed of one of the finest historical relics of the revolution.
After surgical treatment and a fresh coat of paint Bacchus was taken to New York for exhibition, and old friends who chanced to see it were surprised to behold there the pet of their childhood. In 1872 it was removed to Hartford and placed in the window of A. E. Brooks, where it still remains, gazing ro- guishly out on the passers-by and telling its wonderful tale of the past to the thoughtful inquirer.
Many anecdotes are related of it. While on its way to Hart- ford a lady in the car saw it and was filled with indignation that a monstrosity should be allowed to travel thus. Her wrath was only appeased when the history of the singular traveler was explained and comprehended.
An old lady, leaning on a cane, was walking slowly up the street in Hartford when she came to a sudden standstill at sight of the well remembered image. "Why ! if there isn't Bacchus," she was heard to exclaim. "I haven't seen him for years and years!" and she went on murmuring "for so many, many years." What memories of childhood that figure evoked.
Before closing this brief sketch it may be of interest to the reader to know the fate of those British prisoners who wrought under so many discouragements so lasting a mark. Their story was published in the New London Gazette of November 29th, 1776. By some means the four men had managed to escape from jail and make their way to Norwich, hoping to reach Long Island and regain the British army.
The Gazette says: "Tuesday night last, one John Coggin, late boatswain of the ' Bombrig,' who, with the three other prisoners broke out of Windham jail, was found on board a brig in this harbor. He gives the following account of said prisoners, viz .: That the night after breaking out of jail they, with one Lewis, who was taken in a prize vessel captured in New York harbor by a party under Captain Nathan Hale, stole a canoe near Nor- wich Landing, in which they attempted to cross the sound to Long Island, but at the entrance of the Race near Gull Island the canoe upset, when all of them except Coggin were drowned."
4
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Coggins' story is probably true, as nothing was ever heard of the men afterward, although Captain Sneyd was an officer of ability and high rank in the British navy.
Heartfelt sorrow for the fate of the gentle mannered men whom the fortune of war had placed in their midst for a season was undoubtedly felt by many a good Windhamite who read the above; and the token of their gratitude, wrought with such skill and patient care, was the pride, not only of its fair re- cipient, but of the whole town. No one lives now who looked upon it then. Children and children's children have passed away, old animosities are forgotten ; a New World has sprung from the wilderness with more than a century of growth and unparalleled prosperity, but that little image remains as a link to the past. Were it mine I should write upon it the names of the four prisoners and " Sacred to memory."
THE HOUSE THE WOMEN RAISED.
The women of the American revolution were worthy of being the wives and daughters of brave men. Strong and courageous, they were not only the inciters to patriotism, but most ardent workers in its cause. They accepted privation and sacrifice as a pleasure, and took up the burdens imposed on them with a cheerfulness that made them light. It has often been stated that at one period during the war not an able bodied man was left in Canada parish. The women planted and harvested, then had their merry huskings; pulled the flax and hatcheled it, and had their spinning bees; thus aiding and encouraging one an- other while keeping the wolf from the door. These same women were undoubtedly the first celebrators of the declaration of Am- erican independence, not with cannon and drum beat, but in a much more novel manner.
Only the parish minister, well advanced in years, an old doc- tor, and a one-legged carpenter, represented the adult manhood of the place ; all were in the army. One of these men who left with the first volunteers had been collecting lumber preparatory to the erection of a new tenement .. As months passed and he did not return, it occurred to his wife to set the lame carpenter to work and have the frame ready against his coming. When this was done and still the army claimed its soldiers, another idea was suggested-a proposition to the women to have a merry-making on the 4th of July, and with the instructions of
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the carpenter, to raise the house. Never did proposal meet a heartier response, and on the morning designated, the young girls and strong-handed women were assembling from every quarter of the town, ready for service. Before nightfall a frame, two stories and ample, was ready for covering, the carpenter in- sisting that never before in his experience had a building gone up so smoothly.
A few years since, when the good people of Hampton were celebrating the 4th of July, a patriotic address was made by the late Governor Cleveland, in which he told the story of the house the women raised and the names of the parties interested. At the close of the exercises a procession was formed and marched to the spot, where three hearty cheers were given to the brave women who celebrated the 4th of July for the first time in so remarkable a manner, and who left behind them a monument of strength and courage, we venture to say, unpar- alleled in history.
THE BLACK SHEEP.
" Baa ! Baa ! Black sheep, Have you got any wool ?"
Some one of our colonial ancestors brought over from the Old World a heraldic bear with a crown on its head, and called it the family coat-of-arms. It became obsolete with our independ- ence. Were we to choose another, it would be a black sheep.
Historic mention has often been made of the seventeen cousins from one school district in the second society of Windham who enlisted in the revolutionary army, and of their noble record. In that cold winter of 1777-8, a regiment of the continental troops was ordered from Rhode Island to New Jersey. The line of march lay through Connecticut, only a few miles south of the home of these cousins, the survivors of whom were scattered far and wide in the ranks of the patriot army.
One of these, a mere youth, who had already seen more than a year of hard service, was a member of the regiment which was making its way to New London. So near his home, he felt a great desire to see his mother and friends, and at his request his kind captain gave him permission to turn aside for a single night. The February snow was falling thickly when he reached the homestead, and the ragged soldier, powdered and white, was not at first recognized. His aged grandmother was dozing
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in the corner arm chair, with her knitting work in her lap ; his mother, who had been busy at her loom, left it to question the new comer of news from the army; while his young sister was stirring a pot of bean soup for the family dinner. The poor boy was too much overcome at first to speak, but a moment after was weeping in his mother's arms-weeping, not for himself, but for the darling son and brother who went forth with him to return no more. Poor Willie had fallen in the woods of Maine in that terrible march of Arnold to Quebec.
It was long before the old grandmother would be satisfied that the poor, ragged, famished-looking youth was their own sturdy boy, her especial pet and favorite ; but when convinced of his identity, her knitting needles clicked louder than usual, while tears streamed down her furrowed cheeks. "I knew poor Willie would never stand soldiering," she said after awhile, "but Jim- mie was stouter-built just like his grandfather. He has come home all skin and bones."
"Not quite, Granny dear," he said, turning and caressing her in his old way; "you just see me eat now!"
His sister had just placed before him a bowl of warm soup, which he devoured eagerly, while his mother unbound the rags from his travel-sore feet and washed them, then drew on a pair of warm socks and a pair of his father's half-worn shoes-better than he had seen for months. The clothing they sent him in , autumn never reached him, and the government had done nothing for its soldiers that winter, except to furnish a scanty supply of blankets.
" Never mind, Jimmie," his sister said, cheerfully, “we can make you another suit before you go. We have just commenced the summer cloth."
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