History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 8

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

paraded about the village, and then burned upon a huge bon- fire. The neighboring town of Lebanon observed the day with more dignity and solemnity, draping her public buildings with black, and subjecting her effigies to a formal trial and sentence before proceeding to hang and burn them.

The citizens of Windham and New London counties, were fully determined to prevent the distribution of the stamps. When it was found out that Governor Fitch was preparing to carry out the instructions of the king, and that the colony agent, Jared Ingersoll had accepted the position of stamp-master, they sallied out in great force to end the matter at once and forever. Five hundred horsemen, armed with clubs and other weapons, and provided with eight days' provision, marched across the country under the leadership of Captain John Durkee, and intercepting Ingersoll on his way to Hartford, compelled him to write his name to a formal resignation which had been prepared for him. Putnam was accredited with a prominent share in the instigation of this irruption, though at the time he was prevented by sickness from taking an active part in its ex- ecution. As soon as possible, however, he waited upon Gov- ernor Fitch in behalf of the Sons of Liberty, to ensure that no other stamp-master should be appointed, and no further attempt made to enforce the act, and with his usual directness he assured the governor that if he refused to relinquish control of the stamped paper his house would be "leveled with the dust in five minutes." Nathan Frink, king's attorney in Pomfret, was ap- pointed deputy stamp-master for the northern part of the county. After building an office for their reception he was assured by his fellow-citizens that he would never be allowed to use it for that purpose. The words "LIBERTY & EQUALITY. DOWN WITH THE STAMP ACT," were inscribed upon a stone tablet which was raised to a conspicuous position above the door of Mr. Manning's dwelling, near Manning's bridge in the south part of Windham town.

In the various convocations of patriots during this eventful time Windham bore a conspicuous part. Colonel Dyer was sent as a delegate to the first general congress held in New York in October. At a meeting of the Sons of Liberty in Hartford March 25th, 1766, which was said to be "much more generally attended by the two eastern counties of Connecticut," Colonel Putnam, Major Durkee and Captain Ledlie were appointed a

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

committee to arrange a correspondence with the loyal Sons of Liberty in other colonies; and Ledlie, then a resident of Wind- ham, was sent as a representative to a general convention of that order in Annapolis. Such vigorous resistance and the gen- eral suppression of business which it induced, excited the com- mercial men and statesmen of Great Britain to plead for the re- peal of the odious act, which was soon accomplished.

In 1767 Great Britain again laid the hand of oppression upon the colonies by imposing a tax upon paper, glass, painters colors and tea. This again roused a tornado of excitement and opposition throughout the colonies. A meeting in Boston in October called upon the people to act unitedly in refusing to use the imported articles on which tax was laid. In this sentiment the towns of this county heartily acquiesced. All were ready to pledge themselves to abstinence from foreign luxuries. On De- cember 7th Windham met and appointed a committee to draft a response to the appeal of the selectmen of Boston, which response was a month later reported and unanimously adopted by the townspeople. This response was virtually a pledge of the peo- ple not to use any goods imported, mentioned in the list which was embodied in it. Other recommendations were also given tending toward economy in living and thus increasing the pos- sibilities of independence among the colonies. Committees of correspondence were also appointed, to keep up internal com- munication so that the sentiments and action of the sister towns of this and neighboring counties might be known and as far as possible in harmony with each other. Imported luxuries, in

food, drink and dress were given up, and the theory of practical independence was put to a rigid test. Ashford held a similar meeting on December 14th, and Canterbury fell into the line on the 21st. Other towns followed. The sentiments expressed and action taken were harmonious. The closing of the port of Bos- ton by the British parliament in 1774 again aroused the people to expressions of sympathy and indignation. Meetings were held in the different towns, and resolutions of sympathy were passed. These resolutions were not empty ebulitions of wordy and windy patriotism, but were expressions of hearty feeling, and were backed up by substantial contributions for the relief of the oppressed town of Boston. Windham town has the honor of being the first to send such relief. This was given in the form of a flock of two hundred and fifty-eight sheep which were

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

driven to Boston during the last few days of June, as a volun- tary offering. Other towns of the county were soon in the field with contributions from their flocks, which at that time were a considerable part of their available means. Contributions of. other animals and substantial tokens in other forms were for- warded.

As the clouds thickened for war the people of Windham county proved themselves ready for action, as well as for verbal expressions. Mr. Francis Green, of Boston, one of the " address- ers" and adherents of Governor Hutchinson, having ventured into Connecticut to collect debts and transact private business , was forcibly expelled from Windham town, as well as from . Norwich. On returning to Boston he advertised a reward of one hundred dollars for the apprehension "of five ruffians call- ing themselves by the names of Hezekiah Bissell, Benjamin Lathrop. Timothy Larrabee, Ebenezer Backus and Nathaniel Warren," all of them belonging in Windham, and who he de- clares did with the help of a great number of others, "assault the subscriber, surround the house in which he was stopping, forcibly enter the same, and with threats and intimidations in- sist upon his immediate departure." By the patriot journals Mr. Green's ejectment was called "the cool, deliberate remonstrance of the Sons of Freedom." In reference to the affair Colonel Eleazer Fitch, high sheriff of the county, and an adherent of the king, declared "that the Norwich and Windham people had acted like scoundrels in treating Mr. Green as they did." The people thus stigmatized came together in great wrath and firmly resolved and declared that they would administer tar and feath- ers to any blacksmith, barber, miller, or common laborer "who should aid said Fitch in any way," and as these expressions were known to be no idle forms of speech, they were heeded to such an extent that no one dare harvest his wheat and grass, and so they stood till they rotted and fell down on the ground. Also a considerable trade was withdrawn from him, thus executing a most effectual "boycott."

Another instance which serves to illustrate the spirit of the time in Windham county was that of John Stevens, of Ashford, a man of considerable landed property and a prominent citizen. He was suspected of being an enemy to the "constitutional rights of American liberty," and a committee waited upon him, and obtained his confession that he had spoken against the

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

chartered rights of the American colonists. He was compelled to sign a paper in which he humbly asked forgiveness for this offense, and declared that he would never say or do anything against the Sons of Liberty, but was himself a true Son of Liberty and would remain so to the end of his life.

The zeal of Windham patriots was too ardent and effusive to be restricted to the limits of the county. Their intense enthu- siasm in the popular cause led them to take an active part in all aggressive demonstrations. Inspectory committees were con- stantly on the alert, and "Windham boys" were ever ready to aid in forays upon suspected tories. Colonel Abijah Willard, of Lancaster, Mass., a man of large wealth and high character, had made himself obnoxious to the people by accepting the office of mandamus councilor to Governor Gage. He had business in- terests in Connecticut which were intrusted to two attorneys in Windham, whom he invited to meet with him for consultation in the town of Union. A report of his intended visit took wing and when he arrived in Union he was met by hundreds of ardent patriots from Windham and adjoining towns who took him into their keeping, guarding him through the night, and conveyed him next morning over the line into Brimfield, where they for- mally delivered him over to a body of Massachusetts citizens, by whom he was compelled, under pain of being put to work in the Simsbury mines, to ask "forgiveness of all honest men for having taken the oath of office," and to promise not to exercise the functions of the office.

The public mind was in a condition of fever heat, ready to burst out at any moment into a demonstrative uprising of the people to arms. On the 2d of September, 1774, a rumor started from Boston that the British soldiers there had fired upon the people. The news was brought to Colonel Putnam at Pomfret, and he at once forwarded it to other towns south and west. The following day, being Sabbath, Putnam's message was read in many assembled congregations, and the men left their places in the worshipping assembly to take up arms and go to the defense of Boston and the country. Two hundred volunteers left the town of Windham by sunrise on the morning of the 4th, and bodies of men were dispatched also from all the other towns of the county. They had scarcely passed the Massachusetts line, however, when they were met by a contradiction of the alarm.

This revelation that the people throughout the colonies were

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

ready to take up arms whenever occasion should call them to do so, greatly cheered the patriot leaders and stimulated them to further resistance. The report of this uprising excited much interest at home and abroad. Five hundred men were under arms in Pomfret, and Putnam in behalf of them wrote : "Words cannot express the gladness discovered by every one at the ap- pearance of a door being opened to avenge the many abuses and insults which those foes to liberty have offered to our breth- ren in your town and province. But for counter intelligence we should have had forty thousand well equipped and ready to march this morning. Send a written express to the foreman of this committee when you have occasion for our martial as- sistance."

These circumstances suggested to the people the necessity for all possible provision for the conflict, which even then must have seemed inevitable. A convention of delegates from New London and Windham counties was held at Norwich on the 9th of the same month, having for its object a preparation for future emergency. It was then decided that every town should supply itself as speedily as possible with a full complement of ammuni- tion and military stores, that every military company should equip themselves at once and perfect themselves in the practice of military exercises by calling together the companies and giv- ing instructions to those unfamiliar with handling arms and military movements, and the officers were called upon to study more completely their duties, and see that the militia were made thoroughly familiar with the arts of war and military skill and discipline. The general assembly in October directed that each town in the colony should provide double the quantity of powder, balls and flints that they had heretofore been required to keep on hand.

The suggestions with regard to military preparations were carried out with promptness and alacrity by all the towns. The military ardor of the citizens needed little stimulus, but there was great lack of drill and discipline. Company trainings had been statedly observed in every neighborhood, but the pre- scribed regimental reviews had been to a great degree omitted. A grand military parade had indeed been held in Plainfield some time in 1773, especially memorable for inciting the first stirrings of military enthusiasm in the heart of a young Rhode Island Quaker, Nathaniel Greene, who, with hundreds of other

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

spectators, rode many miles to witness the scene. A review of the Eleventh regiment had also been held at Woodstock in May, 1774, which was very notable for the large numbers present, as well as for the patriotic enthusiasm exhibited. Field officers and commissioners from New London and Windham counties now planned a great regimental meeting to be held at Windham town in the spring of 1775. Ten colonels were associated in it, and a corresponding number of regiments were included. The military companies in Plainfield, Canterbury, Voluntown, and the south part of Killingly now formed the Twenty-first regi- ment. The others remained as before, viz .: Companies of Windham, Mansfield, Coventry and Ashford formed the Fifth regiment, of which Jedediah Elderkin was colonel, Experience Storrs lieutenant-colonel, and Thomas Brown major. Pomfret, Woodstock, and the north and central companies of Killingly were included in the Eleventh regiment, of which Ebenezer Williams was colonel and William Danielson major. Lebanon was included in the Twelfth regiment and Union in the Twenty- second. A troop of horse was attached to each regiment. Com- pany trainings were held at least once a month during the winter, and special preparation was made for the parade in April. Lib- erty poles were set up in many of the towns, with appropriate exercises. A great crowd assembled on Killingly hill and hoisted two long sticks of timber united by a couple of cross- ties. From the top of this high pole a flag was flung to the breeze, decorated with a rising sun and other suggestive devices. A stray Englishman who had settled in the neighborhood smiled scornfully at the demonstrations. "Ah !" said he, "you know nothing of Old England; she will come and cut down your liberty pole for you."

It is hardly necessary to say that a remarkable unity of senti- ment existed among the people of Windham county at this time. Tories were very few, and those who did entertain sentiments in favor of the mother country were careful about flaunting those sentiments too strongly in the face of their neighbors. They were, instead, but quiet factors, looking passively on and taking no part in the demonstrations that the people were mak- ing around them, and at the same time raising no voice to op- pose them.

Following the rencontre between the king's troops and the provincials at Lexington on the morning of April 9th, despatches

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

were received in the towns of this county on the next day, and the call for help met with a ready response from thousands who had been preparing for such an emergency. Putnam, plowing in the pleasant April morning, heard the summons, and leaving his son to unyoke the team, hurried off for consultation with town committees and military officers. A second express, com- ing by way of Woodstock, was brought to Colonel Ebenezer Williams, of Pomfret, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and for- warded at once to Colonel Obadiah Johnson, of Canterbury, with a postscript stating that a thousand of our troops had surrounded the First brigade at Boston, and that fifty of our men and one hundred of the enemy were killed. Almost the entire male pop- ulation of Windham county was now up in arms, ready to go to the scene of the conflict. Putnam, on returning from his con- sultations, found hundreds of men already assembled on the Green at Brooklyn, awaiting his orders. He bade them wait un- til regularly called out as militia, and then, without rest or refreshment, he started at sunset on his memorable ride by night to Cambridge. There is evidence that the news was received in Killingly at an earlier hour that morning than it had been received at Brooklyn. An express from Boston came to Mr. Hezekiah Cutler, who, on receiving it, rose from his bed and fired three guns as an alarm. This was answered by fifteen men, who, with Mr. Cutler, were on the road toward Cambridge before sunrise.

Friday, the 20th of April, was a day of activity and excite- ment in Windham county. Preparations were everywhere in progress. Officers were riding rapidly around in every direc- tion, bullets were being cast and accoutrements and rations provided. Many, especially in the northern towns, shouldered their guns and started without awaiting any organized move- ment. Killingly's stock of powder was stored in the meeting house, under the charge of Hezekiah Cutler, who had left orders that each volunteer should be furnished with a half pound ; and the house was thronged all day with squads of men coming in to receive their portion before starting on their self directed march for Cambridge.

On Saturday fifteen companies gathered at Pomfret, the place agreed upon as the rendezvous for the Windham county volun- teers. There the officers were entertained for the night by Mr. Ebenezer Grosvenor, and the men bivouacked where it was most

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

convenient for them. More than a thousand men had offered themselves. On Sunday morning they attended prayers led by Reverend Mr. Putnam, after which a letter from Colonel Putnam at Cambridge was read, and regimental orders were received from Colonel Elderkin. A council of officers being held, it was decided that only one-fifth of the men present should be sent forward, and that the remainder should return to their homes. The whole Ashford company, consisting of seventy-eight men under Captain Thomas Knowlton, a large number from Pomfret under Captain Ingalls, with a few selected from the other com- panies present, were taken. These, under command of Lieu- tenant Colonel Storrs, marched that afternoon to Woodstock, where, at Moulton's tavern, they passed the night. Next morn- ing they moved forward, Lieutenant Colonel Storrs proceeding with them as far as Dudley, when he left them to pursue their way under charge of Major Brown and Captain Knowlton. Their orderly and soldierly bearing attracted great attention on their march, and they were received at Cambridge with special distinction as the first trained companies that had come from outside her limits to the aid of Massachusetts. Thus Windham county for the second time gained the honor of being first to respond with aid to the needs of Boston-the first instance being the forwarding of a flock of sheep when the port was officially closed, mention of which has already been made.

Other companies were soon called for, and followed on as rap- idly as the circumstances would permit. Besides troops of horse, of which each town contributed its proportion, Woodstock sent 140 men, under Captains Benjamin and Daniel Lyon, Ephraim Manning, Nathaniel Marcy, and Lieutenant Mark Elwell ; Wind- ham 159 men, under Captains William Warner, James Stedman, John Kingsley and Lieutenant Melatiah Bingham; Canterbury 70 men, under Captains Aaron Cleveland, Joseph Burgess and Sherebiah Butts; Ashford 78 men, under Captain Thomas Knowlton; Pomfret 89 men, under Captain Zebulon Ingalls ; Plainfield 54 men, under Captain Andrew Backus ; Killingly 146 men, under Major William Danielson and Captains Joseph Cady and Joseph Elliott. The great regimental muster which had been planned for April was, by the logic of events, transferred from Windham Green to Cambridge. In some towns it is said that every able bodied man went to the scene of war, leaving the country at home so destitute of active life as to give it a quite desolate and deserted appearance.

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

The government of Connecticut now decided that one-fourth of the militia throughout the colony should be called out and equipped for the defense of the colony. They were to be formed into companies of one hundred men each, and all were com- prised in six regiments. Israel Putnam was appointed second brigadier general of these troops. Under this regulation the Windham county men were mostly enrolled in the Third regi- ment, of which Putnam was colonel. The officers of these com- panies, as far as they belonged to the towns of present Wind- ham, were as follows: Company 1-Israel Putnam, captain ; Jon- athan Kingsley, Scotland, first lieutenant; Thomas Grosvenor, Pomfret, second lieutenant ; Elijah Loomis, ensign. Company 2-Experience Storrs, captain ; James Dana, Ashford, first lieu- tenant ; Ebenezer Gray, Windham, second lieutenant ; Isaac Farwell, ensign. Company 4-Obediah Johnson, captain ; Eph- raim Lyon, first lieutenant ; Wells Clift, second lieutenant ; Isaac Hide, Jr., ensign ; Lieutenant Clift of Windham, the others of Canterbury. Company 5-Thomas Knowlton, captain ; Reuben Marcy, first lieutenant ; John Keyes, second lieutenant ; Daniel Allen, Jr., ensign ; all of Ashford. Company 7-Ephraim Man- ning, captain ; Stephen Lyon, first lieutenant; Asa Morris, sec- ond lieutenant; William Frizzell, ensign; all of Woodstock. Company 8-Joseph Elliott, captain ; Benoni Cutler, first lieu- tenant ; Daniel Waters, second lieutenant ; Comfort Day, ensign ; all of Killingly. Company 9-Ebenezer Mosely, captain ; Stephen Brown, first lieutenant ; Melatiah Bingham, second lieu- tenant; Nathaniel Wales, ensign; Brown of Pomfret, all the other officers and men from Windham. Company 10-Israel Putnam, Jr., captain ; Samuel Robinson, Jr., first lieutenant ; Amos Avery, second lieutenant ; Caleb Stanley, ensign ; all of Brooklyn.

Many who had gone out on the first alarm were mustered into this regiment without returning home. The men by whom Windham county was at this time represented in the colonial assembly were as follows: Windham-Colonel Jedidiah Elder- kin, Ebenezer Devotion ; Lebanon-Colonel William Williams, Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. ; Mansfield-Lieutenant Colonel Exper- ience Storrs, Nathaniel Atwood; Woodstock-Captain Elisha Child, Captain Samuel McClellan ; Coventry-Captain Ebenezer Kingsbury, Jeremiah Ripley ; Canterbury-David Paine, Eli- ashib Adams; Killingly-Stephen Crosby, Eleazer Warren :

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

Pomfret-General Israel Putnam, Doctor Elisha Lord : Ashford --- Captain Benjamin Sumner, Ichabod Ward; Plainfield-Captain James Bradford, William Robinson ; Voluntown-Major James Gordon, Robert Hunter.

While the " bone and sinew " of the county was absent at the front, there was still left willing hands and active brains at home to work for the common cause at such labors as lay within their reach. And these were neither few nor insignificant; scarce a household that had not some concern with fitting out men and sending supplies to them. All private interests seem to have been laid aside that every thought and energy might be devoted to the common cause. Large bodies of men were now passing across the territory of Windham county, over the great thor- oughfares, from the western and southern sections of the coun- try to the seat of war. New taverns had to be opened along the way and largely increased facilities provided for the accommo- dation of these augmented numbers of travelers. The assembly offered bounties for the manufacture of fire arms and saltpetre. Hezekiah Huntington, of Windham, opened a shop at Willinian- tic for the repair and manufacture of fire arms, and John Brown carried on the manufacture of saltpetre in the same locality. Nathan Frink projected a similar establishment at Pomfret. Samuel Nott and Moses C. Welch devoted their mental energies to experiments with saltpetre and explosives. Colonel Elderkin and Nathaniel Wales, Jr., arranged for the construction of a powder mill.

The excitement of the hour and the reports of successful skir- mishes with the enemy kept the people in high spirits. Hope and enthusiasm were inspired, and the prospects looked bright before the eyes of the Windham county patriots. When the battle of Bunker Hill passed into history, an honorable share of its glory fell to the credit of Windham county. Of the two hundred Connecticut men detailed under Captain Knowlton for special service on Bunker Hill on the evening of June 16th, 1775, one hundred and twenty were taken from the companies of this county, being drafted from the first, second, fourth and fifth companies. Thirty-two men were also drafted from Cap- tain Chester's company, in the Second regiment, and probably a similar number from Captain Coit's company. These were the men who toiled all night and in the early morn upon Prescott's redoubt, banked with wet grass the famous rail fence, and, aided

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

by " Hampshire boys " under Stark, and Connecticut reinforce- ments led by Captains Chester, Clark, Coit, and Major Durkee, drove back from it again and again, with great slaughter, the serried columns of the advancing British, and saved the retreat- ing garrison from capture or annihilation. Many incidents of the fight were carried home to Windham county. Josiah Cleve- land, of Canterbury, kept guard through the night while the men were digging entrenchments, and heard the unsuspicious sentinels on the opposite shore pronounce their watch calls, " All's well!" Abijah Fuller, from Windham, helped Gridley draw the lines of the fortification on Breed's hill. Knowlton, in his shirt sleeves, walked before his breastwork, cheering his men and firing his own musket until it was wrenched from his grasp by a cannon ball, bending the barrel so as to render it useless. Lieutenant Dana was the first to detect the flank movement of the enemy, and having given the alarm, was the first to fire upon the advancing army. Lieutenant Grosvenor fired with the same precision and deliberation that he was accustomed to exercise in shooting a fox, and saw a man fall at each discharge of his piece. "Boys," said Putnam, to several veterans of the French war, as he passed them on the field, "do you remember my orders at Ticonderoga?" Promptly came the response, "You told us not to fire till we could see the whites of the enemy's eyes." "Well," said Putnam, "I give the same order now ;" and most literally it was obeyed. Timothy Cleveland, of Can- terbury, had the breech of his gun stock shot off when in full retreat, and exclaiming, " The darned British shall have no part of my gun," ran back and secured the broken piece in the very face of the advancing enemy. Putnam stood by a deserted field piece urging the retreating troops to make one more stand until the bayonets of the foe were almost upon him. Robert Hale, a saucy Ashford boy, discharged an artillery piece in the very teeth of the foe, and escaped unscathed. Abiel Bugbee, also of Ashford, was one who held his ground to the very last of the fight, throwing stones when his ammunition was expended. A few Windham county men were killed and several others more or less wounded in this engagement, but their loss was much lighter than that of many other sections. In recognition of Putnam's distinguished services he was immediately pro- moted to the rank of major general, fourth in command in the American army. Knowlton and Dana were also highly com-

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 8

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: New York, Preston Number of Pages: 1506

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506