USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Middletown > Middletown and the American Revolution > Part 2
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Richard Alsop came to Middletown about 1750 and set up a business shop on Main Street. He specialized in the West Indian trade with such success that he amassed a sizable fortune. At a time when strong American insurance companies were unknown Alsop insured ships for other foreign traders.38 It is not surprising that a man of such weight in local business affairs also should play a significant role in public matters.
Alsop served many terms as deputy for Middletown in the legislature during the years from 1764 to 1774. He had a large family, including Richard Alsop later famous as one of the "Connecticut Wits". Alsop was beginning to assume important responsibilities in the war effort when death cut short his career in April, 1776.39
35. C. R., XV, 224. He was judge of the Probate Court from the foundation in 1752 until 1789. He married twice: first, Mrs. Abigail Chauncey of Durham in 1749; and, after her death in 1768, he married Mrs. Susanna Whittlesey in April 1771. Four children were born of the first union. See Births, Marriages, Deaths, II.
36. C. R., XV, 14, 40, 99, 101, 115, 199, 306, 440, 507; S. R., I, 428; II, 22, 138, 289, 420, 480.
37. S. R., I, 31.
38. The History of Middlesex County (New York, 1884), p. 156.
39. Alsop married Mary Wright in 1760. They had eleven children, nine of whom survived their father. Births, Marriages, Deaths, II. In C. R., XIV, 94, and XV, 144, are references to Alsop's membership on a committee to run a lottery for buoys and other navigation aids on the Connecticut River.
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Benjamin Henshaw in January 1777 took over as one of the two managers of the Salisbury iron foundry, the most important source of cannon and cannon ball in New England. This position involved many perplexing problems of supply, labor force, technique, and transportation, but the managers met them with remarkable success. The State reappointed Henshaw at the end of his first year. Upon completion of two years' service he requested and was granted release from the arduous duties.40
Nehemiah Hubbard and Elijah Hubbard both were highly active in the supply business for the military forces. The former acted in 1777 as the deputy-quartermaster-general for Connecticut. Later he turned to the work of obtaining supplies for the French Army, and he even accompanied the French forces to Yorktown.41 In 1779, he organized a trip to Charleston to obtain much needed rice.42
Elijah Hubbard for many months filled the position of chief commissary for the Connecticut soldiers in the Continental Army. He purchased and transported provisions, clothing, and other supplies. The Governor and Council appointed him to the position on May 16, 1777, and three days later gave him elaborate instructions as to procedures. The complexity of the job was enormous. It in- volved collecting rum, sugar, flour, clothing and many other items from agents in all parts of the State, transporting them, providing forage for the teams, supervising the issuing commissaries, keeping careful records of all items handled and issued, and separate accounts for all expenses and disbursements.43 A steady stream of special problems and orders followed in the ensuing months.44 A typical one was this:
Mr. Elij. Hubbard issuing commissary for this State, applies to be furnished with spirits for the use of our soldiery &C., and on con- sideration: Ordered, that Cap. Jz. Perkins of Norwich deliver and send to said Hubbard twenty hogsheads of the molasses in his hands
40. S. R., I, 157, 574-575; II, 303. The other manager was William Whiting. Years later Henshaw still was trying to collect some £ 442 due him as furnace manager. He finally was granted the claim to be paid out of a tax levied in 1782. A. R. W., XXII, docs. 238-239.
41. Field, Centennial Address, p. 86.
42. Robert East, Business Enterprise in the American Revolutionary Era (New York, 1938), p. 97.
43. S. R., I, 314, 317-318. Royal Flint of Windham seems to have assumed fairly early a sort of joint headship. Ibid., I, 421.
44. A typical sample was the Council of Safety's request of October 24, 1777, for Hubbard to deliver 400 pounds of wheat to the overseers of the lead mine, and also, as much flour as they needed. Ibid., I, 453.
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belonging to this State, to be by said H. improved and manufactured into spirits for the use of our soldiers. Order delivered Gen. Huntington.45 A General Assembly Act of April 1779 resolved:
That Mr. Elijah Hubbard of Middletown be and is hereby im- powered and directed forthwith to purchase and procure a suitable quantity of shoes, skirts, white stockings and linnen cloath, proper for the continental troops in the Connecticut Line, taking care that the several articles be of good quality and workmanship and suitable size for the use of said troops, and make return of his proceedings therein to the Assembly early in their session in May next.46
The next month the General Assembly officially appointed Hubbard "a Sub or State Cloathier for this State" to stay with the Connecticut Line and oversee distributions of clothing to the men. In the same act Chauncey Whittlesey of Middletown was made a "Purchasing Cloathier" to buy and forward clothing to the sub-clothiers, such as Hubbard. The same act called on each town to provide two linen shirts, two pairs of linen overalls, one pair of shoes, two pairs of stockings, and one "frock or hunting shirt" for each soldier up to four-fifths of the quota assigned the town.47 Hubbard apparently found the work full of headaches as the towns usually failed to fill their quotas on time. In July, 1781, the Council of Safety gave Hubbard and his subordinates the power to impress needed articles from towns deficient in filling their requisitions.48 In his long term of service performing one of the most harassing jobs possible, Hub- bard made a highly significant contribution to Connecticut's military effort.
Other Middletown figures of distinction were Comfort Sage, Matthew Talcott, and Samuel Russell. Sage was active in local mercantile affairs for many years previous to the war. During the war he devoted no little time to public affairs both civilian and military. Right after the outbreak of trouble he went to Boston as second in command of a regiment. After the resignation of fellow- townsman Matthew Talcott as Colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment of Militia, Sage took his place.49 Much time was taken up also, in attendance upon eight of the regular sessions of the General Assembly in the period 1776-1783.50
45. Ibid., II, 96. Council of Safety action on June 30, 1778.
46. Ibid., II, 235.
47. Ibid., II, 277-278.
48. Ibid., II, 471.
49. Ibid., I, 30; C. R., XV, 228 n.
50. Beginning in May 1776 and ending with May 1783 session.
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Captain Samuel Russell, active before and after the war as a land trader, came into prominence in the war effort chiefly for his work on the lead mine committee, which he joined in December, 1776. Apparently he handled various purchases, and also delivered lead to the selectmen of other towns such as Glastonbury and Killingworth. The legislature also entrusted him in 1779 with the sale of sundry tools and utensils left at the closed mine works.51 Captain Russell also acted on the committee which asked for the removal of ex-governor Franklin.52
Matthew Talcott was another of the town's figures who played a very busy role in public life during the Revolutionary era. The town sent him to the General Assembly for nine sessions in the 1772-1782 period. Among other duties he served on committees to watch over the interests of soldiers' families, to oversee the lead mine, and to conduct the lottery for improvement of navigation on the Connecticut River. As a note of variety in committee assignments he had the dubious privilege in the fall of 1776 of interrogating ex-Governor Franklin and his servant concerning the recent machinations of that notorious Tory. Talcott also saw brief military service with the Militia. For a time he acted as Colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment, and in March 1776 was ordered to proceed with ninety men to New York for service under Washington.53
From this brief survey of Middletown's leadership in the War years it is quite evident that it was of high caliber. The influence of Middletown citizens spread far out into the wider spheres of State and Continental affairs. It is an interesting fact that Middletown hap- pened to produce a far larger number of eminent civil leaders than military ones.
TOWN OFFICIALS
Under the Connecticut town system of local government the selectmen have been highly influential figures. A glance at Middle- town's roll of selectmen, therefore, is relevant.
51. S. R., I, 129; II, 163, 214, 219, 302, 353. In May 1779 the State ordered payment to him on account of the lead mine of £ 239. 16 s. 31/2 d. This was prior to his sale of tools.
52 Russell undertook varied tasks and positions such as land surveyor, collector of colonial excise taxes, first constable, collector of town taxes, auditor, fence viewer, and occasional moderator of town meeting. He was a captain in the Militia, but never served in the field during the Revolution. Edwin Stearns, "Memorials of William Russell" (typewritten genealogical study), p. 60.
53. C. R., XV, 33, 99, 144, 145, 258; S. R., I, 22, 36.
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SELECTMEN 1775 - 1783
Name
Elected at December Town Meetings In 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782
Titus Hosmer Capt. Philip Mortimer
Josiah Bacon Benjamin Galpin Capt. Isaac Miller
George Phillips Deacon Solomon Sage
Matthew Talcott
Deacon Giles Miller Timothy Boardman Chauncey Whittlesey John Kirby Abijah ?
Capt. Thomas Goodwin
Elijah Treadway Lt. Hugh White
Elijah Hubbard Lamberton Cooper Amos Hosford
Seth Wetmore
Comfort Sage54
It is of interest to note the rapid turnover in selectmen. Not a single person served throughout the war, and some twenty different people acted in one or more of the seven years tabulated. The absence of Titus Hosmer from the roll after 1776-1777 may be explained by the press of larger duties, as may that of others. On the other hand, the very busy commissary, Elijah Hubbard, consented to act as selectman for five consecutive years.
During the Revolution Middletown continued to elect its large assortment of town officials. On December 4, 1776, for example, the townspeople elected an impressive number of officials beyond the seven selectmen. These included: town treasurer, George Phillips, nine "listers", a sealer of weights, a sealer of dry measures, two fence viewers, four "guagers", four leather sealers, seven branders of horses, six pound and key keepers, four packers of meat, thirty-eight surveyors of highways, sixteen tithing men, seven constables, and twelve grand jurors.55
54. Town Votes, II, passim.
55. Town Votes, II, 349-350.
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Other important Middletown officials during the Revolutionary period included:
Judge of Probate Court - Jabez Hamlin (1752-1789)
Portmaster - Wensley Hobby (1775-1807)
Town Clerks - Joseph Clark (1765-1777) Bezaleel Fisk (1777-1797)
Justices of the Peace
Richard Alsop
Isaac Miller
Nathaniel Chauncey
Philip Mortimer
Joseph Clark
George Phillips
Jabre Dickinson
Matthew Talcott
Nathaniel Gilbert
Elijah Treadway
Jabez Hamlin
Seth Wetmore56
Titus Hosmer
During the eight years of the Revolution the town sent, in all, five representatives to the Lower House - Ebenezer Bacon, Dr. John Dickinson, Titus Hosmer, Comfort Sage, and Matthew Talcott.57
AID TO SOLDIERS' DEPENDENTS
During the Revolution no regular system of national allotments and other aid to dependents existed, a situation which acted as a definite deterrent to enlistment on the part of married men with numerous dependents. In spite of the privations involved for one's self and family, however, more than a few married men did volunteer for Continental service.58 The town officially pledged itself, as in a resolve of April 14, 1777, to see that the soldiers' families were supplied with necessities "at the prices limited by Law". Chauncey Whittlesey was one of a committee of twenty formed to carry out this resolve.59 As in more recent wars, nothing incensed soldiers then much more than having their families fleeced by profiteers on the essentials of life.
In raising supplies it was customary to allot each town a definite quota based upon the number of troops in service from that town. On September 25, 1777, for example, the town voted to appoint a committee in each school district to provide the clothing as ordered
56. C. R., XV, 8, 277; S. R., I, 222; II, 6, 254; III, 8, 373; Field, Centennial Address, pp. 228, 229, 233.
57. The town, of course, could send no more than two representatives to any one session.
58. Occasionally pathetic cases were reported. Mary Robinson of Middletown in a petition to the General Assembly told of the death of her husband in battle. She was left with six children to care for. She asked to receive supplies from the state as did the families of soldiers in the Army. At the January 1780 session the legislature denied the petition. A.R.W., XVIII, doc. 12.
59. Town Votes, II, 53.
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by the Governor and Council a fortnight earlier.60 In January, 1778, the legislature ordered every town to provide a long list of clothing for each of its Continental soldiers. In response Middletown called a special town meeting on March 9, at which Jabez Hamlin presided. The town appointed twenty-six men as a special committee to secure the required clothing. As a start, nineteen persons voluntarily offered to provide a total of eighteen blankets and twenty-eight "Sutes".61 Titus Hosmer, Comfort Sage, Elijah Hubbard, Chauncey Whittlesey, Hugh White, and Ebenezer Bacon seem to have been among the most active in such committee work through the years until the work ceased in 1783.62 From an early date the pattern became set by which one committeeman would look after the needs of one Continental soldier's family. The town paid the cost and was later reimbursed by the State. The committee organization worked out as follows:
Date Committee Number on Committee Number of Soldiers' Families Cared for
Organized
December 1779 34
35
December 1780
21
21
December 1781
17
18
December 1782 15
15
Elijah Hubbard stood out as the only man on the list ever to assume responsibility for two families. The listing was made like this:
Lieut. Jez Barcon to Provide for Gideon Crittentons Family
Mr. Elijah Hubbard Do Do Ozias Cone
John Harris
On the whole, Middletown seems to have done a conscientious job of providing supplies to soldiers' families. 63
THE MIDDLETOWN LEAD MINE
A significant chapter of Middletown's Revolutionary history revolved about the lead mine, unquestionably the most important one in Connecticut. This mine, located in a small ravine a short distance above the Narrows, and close to the River, apparently was first worked early in the colonial period and then abandoned for many years.64 With the outbreak of war, lead suddenly came into high demand for
60. Ibid. II, 355.
61. Town Records Middletown, Envelope 3, 1778.
62. Town Votes, II, 382, 395, 405, 413, etc.
63. Ibid. If a committee member failed to provide the supplies, he could be fined and the fine paid to another person who would perform the task. Ibid., p. 382.
64. Forest Morgan, ed., Connecticut as a Colony and a State (Hartford, 1904), I, 505.
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bullets and cannon ball. The General Assembly was aware of the problem and in May 1775 appointed three Middletown leaders, Jabez Hamlin, Matthew Talcott, and Titus Hosmer "to provide such stores of lead as they shall judge necessary for the use of this Colony."65 The committee put in a very large amount of time on the project for the next three years or so. Frequent references to the mining and smelting operations appear in official records. One finds the Council of Safety on September 14, 1775, ordering 300 pounds of powder delivered to the committee for "raising the lead ore".66 A month earlier the Governor had informed General Washington that seven or eight tons of rich ore had been mined, and smelting would soon begin.67 Never did the bullet supply seem adequate to Washington and other military leaders so that great pressure was exerted on the mine operators to produce greater amounts. The Council of Safety observing an upward tendency in lead prices in July 1776 fixed the price at six pence per pound.68
Considerable production was achieved, though never as much as hoped for or needed. At the December 1776 session of the legislature, Captain Samuel Russell of Middletown was added to the lead com- mittee, and he played a prominent role in its later activities.69 In December 1776 the committee reported a total of 5140 pounds of lead on hand ready for distribution to the towns, and the General Assembly ordered the lead cast into bullets.70
In February 1778 the legislators took stock of the overall pro- gress of the lead project and decided that whereas "it appears . .. that said manufacture is unprofitable and far from answering the ex- pectations of the public and the salutary purposes for which it was designed", the undertaking should be terminated as soon as the materials on hand were used up.71 Actually, the vein of lead was
65. C. R., XV, 37. The State paid rent to John Sebastian Stephany, lessee of the mine. Ibid., XV, 368-369.
66. Ibid., XV, 130.
67. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, L, 2-3. In April 1776 Washington asked for as much lead as possible from this source. John Fitzgerald, Writings of George Washington (Washington, D. C., 1938), IV, 497.
68. C.R., XV, 459.
69. S. R., I, 129-130; II, 163, 214, 219, 302, 353. To Russell fell the tedious task of disposing of tools and settling the accounts after the project ended, ibid., I, 302.
70. Ibid., I, 129-130. The committee listed 4273 pounds of lead balls as delivered to State authorities in the period September 26-December 31, 1776. A. R.W., XIV, doc. 298.
71. S. R., I, 538.
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nearly exhausted72 which undoubtedly was a chief factor in the rising costs of mining and refining.
Despite the unhappy note involved in the closing, the project certainly cannot fairly be considered a failure. Out of it came large amounts of vitally needed cannon ball and bullets for the patriot cause-some 15,563 pounds of ball and lead according to a report of the committee.73
An interesting sidelight to the lead mine story was the attempt to refine sulphur from the sulphur ore in the lead mine. In 1776 Thomas Bidwell of Pennsylvania persuaded the legislature to back him in the sulphur project to the extent of providing free ore and free sulphur pots, and a guaranteed price for all sulphur produced. The costs of the venture mounted steadily upward, but no finished sulphur was forthcoming. Before the skeptics could raise loud out- cries, the closing down of the lead mine in 1778 conclusively terminated Bidwell's well-meaning but unsuccessful efforts.74
PRIVATEERING
The use of privateers to prey upon British merchantmen con- stituted an important part of the American naval effort. The Con- necticut River towns sent out a large number of privateers - eighty- six at least, of which Middletown contributed sixteen.75 The local privateers enjoyed a mixture of success and failure. The brigantine Delight, for example, made several successful voyages before being captured. Under the command of Ebenezer Sage, armed with eight guns and manned by a crew of twenty, it made its first trip to Grenada. On its second voyage the records list Nathan Post of Saybrook as commander and Comfort Sage and Company of Middle- town as owners. Later Samuel Johnson of Middletown succeeded to the command, and directed the vessel on a cruise to the West Indies. The Connecticut Gazette for November 1, 1782, reported that the
72. William North Rice and William Garland Foye, Guide to the Geology of Middletown, Connecticut, and vicinity (Hartford, 1927), p. 82.
73. A. R. W., XIV, doc. 298. This was the total delivered to the State through March 20, 1779. Costs were high too. Titus Hosmer reported in May 1779 that the lead committee had disbursed £ 5051. 4 s. 234 d. in all. Ibid., XIV, doc. 299.
74. C. R., XV, 325 f .; A. R. W., V, docs., 347-350, 354, 355; XII, doc. 59.
75. Albert E. Van Dusen, Trade of Revolutionary Connecticut (Ph. D. dis- sertation, University of Pennsylvania; copy at Connecticut State Library), p. 241.
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British captured the ship and took it to New York76 - the end of many Connecticut privateers.
The sloop Dolphin, with ten guns and twenty-five crew, owned by Ebenezer Sage and Company, made at least one voyage under the command of Joseph Smith. Its entire complement seems to have been Middletown men.77
The schooner Bunker Hill, with ten guns and a crew of forty-five men, was owned by Comfort Sage and Company, also. Under the command of Captain Sanford Thompson, it engaged in several ex- citing battles and captures. On April 14, 1780, it fell in with the more heavily-armed British privateer, Dolphin, from St. Kitts. In the ensuing battle, two Americans were killed, and the Captain and three others wounded. Two weeks later Captain Thompson brought into port, as a prize, the British schooner, Lee, with a rich cargo of rum, sugar, and molasses. About a month later Captain Thompson captured a ship from Barbados with 450 hogsheads of rum.78
TRADE
Privateering provided much adventure and occasional large profits, but it was not a solid substitute for the normal ocean-going trade of Middletown.
In the eighteenth-century Middletown, in common with other Connecticut ports, developed an important ocean trade, most of it directly with the West Indies. Such articles as beef, pork, flour, horses, cattle, sheep, and lumber were carried to the Islands; and rum, sugar, molasses, and salt were brought back.79 In the West Indian trade, Middletown seems to have been the leading River town. Among the local merchants who engaged in this trade were Comfort Sage, George and Thompson Phillips, Elijah and Nehemiah Hubbard, Lemuel Storrs, and Richard Alsop. Of the entire group, Alsop derived the greatest profits.80 The outbreak of war, and the establishment of a British blockade of Long Island Sound largely prevented Connecticut merchantmen from going to the West Indies, or anywhere else. The records on ship clearances are very skimpy
76. Louis F. Middlebrook, History of Maritime Connecticut during the American Revolution, (Salem, Mass., 1925) II, 69-71.
77. Ibid., II, 71-72.
78. Ibid., II, 63.
79. C. R., XI, 629.
80. Grace T. Chafee, "Middletown", Connecticut Magazine, IV, 20-21; Field, Centennial Address, pp. 61-62.
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as Arnold's raiders burned the customs' records at New London. The New Haven records of the period indicate little activity by Middle- town ships.81 An occasional Middletown merchantman may have slipped through the blockade, but the total number certainly was tiny. The only alternative was privateering, in which profits were very uncertain. By and large, one may say that Middletown's West Indian trade, as such, nearly ceased during the Revolution.82
However, in the matter of local trade, a much happier picture existed. Located far enough inland to be safe from the likelihood of British invasion, Middletown suffered far less interference with its normal peacetime commercial pattern. The town's small agricultural hinterland also remained exempt from British attack. Another favor- ing factor was the diversion of much across-the-State and interstate traffic from the Shore Road to more northerly routes, including those through Middletown. Other factors also stimulated commercial activity. Middletown became one of the chief supply depots for the Continental Army; and the supplies were forwarded to the New York area, and later in much greater quantity to the Mid-Hudson Valley.83 The war-time supply business in which Nehemiah Hub- bard, Elijah Hubbard, and Chauncey Whittlesey were key figures, definitely quickened and enlarged trading activities.84
Unfortunately, no Middletown paper was printed until after the Revolution, but the Connecticut Courant of Hartford in its advertise- ments reflected much of Middletown's mercantile life. A list of local merchants who advertised in the Courant is suggestive of this.
Years
Name
Products Advertised
Advertising
Bates and Austin
Dry goods 1782
Samuel Buell
Silversmith
1777, 1779-80
William Clay
"Russia duck" 1780
81. In the period of September 27, 1776, through July 2, 1779, customs records show that only two ships entered New Haven from Middletown. During this time a total of sixty ships entered the port. "New Haven Coasters Inward" (MS. at National Archives) .
82. New London, the leading privateering port of Connecticut, found privateering a very poor substitute for normal trade and suffered economic depression throughout the War. Frances M. Caulkins, History of New London (New London, 1885), p. 536. See Van Dusen, op. cit., pp. 145-156, 236-245, 369-381, for further information on leading phases of Connecticut foreign trade and privateering.
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