USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > Sketches and chronicles of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut : historical, biographical, and statistical : together with a complete official register of the town > Part 13
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Rogers' celebrated corps of Rangers, an account of whose ex- ploits was published in London by their heroic commander ; and, with Rogers, he participated in the engagement which resulted in the capture of Major Israel Putnam. During much of the succeeding year, he was stationed at Fort Miller under Captain Whiting. In 1760, he enlisted in a company com- manded by Captain McNeile, of Litchfield, and continued in the service for three years-having in the mean time been chosen one of the Sergeants of the company. On the 11th of July, 1764, he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John Marsh, of this town, and settled on the paternal home- stead, north of Bantam Lake, which is still owned and occupied by his descendants. On the breaking out of the revolutionary contest, he was once more summoned to the field-having been commissioned as a Lieutenant in the first recruits raised for that service, April, 1775. He forthwith marched with his company to Boston, and thence, after a short detention, to Crown Point, where he was transferred to the Quartermaster's Department. From this time onward, he was in actual ser- vice (except while detained as a prisoner of war,) until the spring of 1781, at which time he applied for and received an honorable discharge, and once more returned home. As his distinguished public services have been frequently referred to in the preceding pages, it will not be expected that I should repeat them here. Suffice it to say, that he rose to the rank of Colonel in the Continental Army, and enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence and respect of his superiors in office as well as of the soldiers under him. While chief commander of the coast guard of this State, he performed the duties and received the pay of a Brigadier General. A commanding figure, and a peculiar dignity of character and manner, united to an innate kindness of heart and a courage equal to any emergency, contributed to render him an efficient and popular officer.
He was chosen a member of the House of Representatives for the first time in the autumn of 1781, as a colleague of the Hon. Jedediah Strong, and was re-elected during the two suc- ceeding years. In 1788, the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and the general government re-organized. In
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1792, '93 and '95, Colonel Beebe was returned to the Legisla- ture. He also served his fellow-citizens as a Selectman botlı before and after the war ; and through life, was much em- ployed by the Court of Probate in settling estates of persons deceased. He departed this life, May 24, 1824, aged 83-his widow surviving him about a year. Several of his revolution- ary letters, to Governor Trumbull, General Silliman, etc., arc preserved among the " Trumbull Papers" in the Library of the Mass. Hist. Soc., Boston.
Colonel Beebe had six children, viz., 1. SARAH, d. unm'd. 2. ELIZABETH, m. Joshua Garrett, of Litchfield. 3. REBECCA, m. Reuben Rockwell, Esq., of Colebrook, and had children, among whom are, the Hon. Julius Rockwell, late U. S. Sena- tor from Massachusetts, the Hon. Reuben Rockwell, etc. 4. EBENEZER, Major United States Army. 5. JAMES, settled in Winchester, Conn., where he was three times elected a Rep- resentatives, besides being twice chosen Senator for the 15th District. In 1837, he was a member of the Corporation of Yale College. He now resides in Hartford, Trumbull co., Ohio. 6. WILLIAM, settled on the homestead in Litchfield where he still resides ; besides being seven times a Represen- tative, he was a Senator in 1845 ; he has also been President of the Litchfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company, President of the Litchfield County Foreign Mission Society, &c.
THE HONORABLE JEDEDIAH STRONG was born in Litch- field, November 7th, 1738, and here spent his entire life. He graduated at Yale College in 1761, and, with a single excep- tion, he was the first native of the town who ever received a collegiate degree. He first studied divinity, but, being early elected to office, he abandoned the sacred profession for the more congenial pursuits of pettifogger and politician. With in fact little to recommend him to the good opinion of liis fel- low-towusmen, he acquired and long maintained a political ascendency second only to that of Wolcott and Adams. An mperious will and an affectation of power, and a happy facul- ty of being at the same time " all things to all men," no doubt contributed to the result. A diminutive figure, a limping gait, and an unpleasant countenance, were, however, in some
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measure atoned for by a certain degree of promptness and tact in the discharge of public business. He was a good penman, familar with legal forms, and, though his style was verbose and complicated, he was much employed, both at home and abroad, in drafting, compiling and recording the official transactions of public bodies. He was a Representative at about thirty regular sessions of the Legislature-at fourteen of which he was Clerk of the House. In May, 1773, he was appointed (with Roger Sherman, Eliphalet Dyer, Matthew Griswold and William Samuel Johnson,) a commissioner to wait on Governor Penn at Philadelphia, to negotiate relative to the lands west of the Delaware. In May, 1779, he was ap- pointed a Delegate to the Continental Congress, in place of the Hon. Stephen Titus Hosmer, resigned ; and was re-appointed in the October following. He was also an Associate Judge of the County Court for eleven years, a member of the Council of Safety, a member of the State Council, and a Delegate to and Secretary of the Convention which ratified the Constitu- tion of the United States. He was a Lister six years, a Select- man thirteen years, and Town Clerk sixteen years. The first wife of Judge Strong was Ruth Patterson, who died leaving an only daughter, Ida Strong. In 1788, he married Susan- nah, daughter of the Hon. George Wyllys, Secretary of State, Hartford. The sequel is told in the following extract from The Monitor, bearing date July 26, 1790 :
" Last Saturday se'nnight, the Hon. JEDEDIAH STRONG, Esq., a member of the Council of State, and one of the Judges of the County Court in Litchfield, was arrested upon complaint of his wife, and brought before Tapping Reeve, Esq., for trial. The delinquent requested an adjournment that he might pro- cure counsel, and the Court adjourned to Monday last. At the time of trial, the concourse of people made it necessary to ad- journ to the Court House, where, after full enquiry, it appeared in evidence that the accused had often imposed unreasonable restraints upon his wife, and withheld from her the comforts and conveniences of life ; that he had beat her, pulled her hair, kicked her out of bed, and spit in her face times without num- ber. Whereupon the Judge, after summing up the testimony in a very eloquent and masterly manner, pronounced sentence that the delinquent should become bound with sureties for his
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good behavior toward all mankind, and especially toward his wife, in the penal sum of One Thousand Pounds, and to ap- pear and answer the charges against him at the next County Court. Nothing could be more satisfactory than this sentence, among his acquaintances in Litchfield and elsewhere, who have long known the infamy of his private character, wliile his hypocrisy and intrigues have imposed upon the good peo- ple of the State at large."
Several subsequent articles appeared in the Monitor, both for and against Judge Strong. The trial for divorce came on in New Haven, before the Council of State, of which the Judge was himself a member, and resulted in granting the prayer of the petitioner. From this time his career was downward. He became a drunkard and a beggar, and the town assisted in his support. But notwithstanding his degradation, he seems to have retained to the very last an earnest affection for his daughter. He left a long Will in her favor, which may be found on our Probate Records. It is written in his peculiar style, and is a curiosity-bearing date, Marclı 31, 1801. It is mainly occupied with pious reflections and counsels addressed to his daughter. " And finally," he adds, "that worldly wealth or earthly estate which it hath pleased the Universal Proprietor to commit to my temporary care and stewardship on the sublunary, probationary theater, (or the remnant frag- ments after so much spoliation of Envy, Covetousness, Op- pression, or whatever mistake in extreme career of permitted human vicissitude,) my most mature and deliberate option and volition is, that disposition be made as follows : I recom- mend, give and bequeath, to my beloved daughter, Ida Strong, my Bibles and inferior Orthodox Treatises on Religion and Morality, or relative or appertaining to Vital Piety or Practi- cal Godliness, and all other Books, Pamphlets or Manuscripts, except Romances, if any be left extant, which I have long since, (though not soon enough,) intentionally consigned or destined to deserved oblivion in native shades of chaos." The amount of his " worldly wealth," as per inventory, was $96 66; while as an offset to this, claims against him to the amount of a few hundred dollars, were sent in. His executors were Captain Thomas Collier (editor of the Monitor,) and Ida Strong .-
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Judge Strong died August 21, 1802, aged 64, and was interred in our West Burying-Ground. No stone marks his grave, and the precise place of his sepulture is unknown. His daugh- ter Ida died in Rupert, Vermont, in 1804.
COLONEL BENJAMIN TALLMADGE was born at Brook- haven, L. I., February 25, 1754. His father, who bore the same name, was the pastor of the church in that place ; and his mother was a daughter of the Rev. John Smith, pastor of the church at White Plains. The subject of this sketch grad- uated at Yale College in 1773. While superintendent of the High School at Wethersfield, in this State, he received a Lieutenant's commission, with the appointment of Adjutant of the Regiment-both commission and warrant bearing date June 20, 1776. In these capacities he joined the army, and continued in actual service until the close of the war. On the 15th of December, of the year last named, he received a Cap- tain's commission in (Sheldon's) 2d Regiment of Light Dra- goons. As this commission came from General Washington himself, the honor was conspicuous and highly appreciated. He was promoted to the rank of Major, April 7, 1777, and took his station as a field officer of the regiment. A separate detachment for special services was committed to him several times in the course of the war, on which occasions he received his orders directly from the commander-in-chief. On the opening of the spring campaign, 1777, General Washington, foreseeing that General Howe meditated some decisive blow, directed that all recruits should be sent forward to head- quarters as fast as they were collected. He also sent a par- ticular order to Colonel Sheldon (who was at his winter quarters in Wethersfield,) to send on all the effective men of his regiment. Having about men and horses enough for four companies, they were placed in the best possible order, and the command given to Major Tallmadge. His own company were all mounted on dapple gray horses, which, with black straps and black bear-skin holster covers, looked superbly. On his route to Washington's encampment at- Middlebrook, New Jer- sey, he passed with his troops through Farmington, Litchfield,*
* May not this have been the time when Father Champion gave utterance to the remarkable prayer inserted on page 129 ?
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Kent, Peekskill, (where he crossed the Hudson,) Haverstraw, Pompton, and Morristown-reaching the headquarters of the commander-in-chief on the 23d of June. Major Tallmadge participated in the Battles of Short Hills and the Brandywine, though, before the latter engagement, the remainder of the regiment, commanded by Colonel Sheldon in person, had ar- rived. In the Battle of Germantown, the position of Major Tallmadge's squadron was at the head of General Sullivan's division, on the left of the center. In the early part of this sanguinary engagement, the Americans seemed almost certain of success ; but the heavy fog which soon enveloped both ar- mies, prevented them, in some cases, from distinguishing their friends from their enemies. They were thus thrown into confusion-a panic ensued-and our men fled in every direc- tion. By order of General Washington, Major Tallmadge repeatedly threw his dragoons across the principal thorough- fare, to check the retreat of the infantry ; but the effort was ineffectual.
While our army were encamped at Valley Forge in the gloomy winter of 1777-'8, the Major was stationed with a de- tachment of dragoons, as an advanced corps of observation between our army and that of the enemy. In the perform- ance of his duty, he scoured the country between the Schuyl- kill and Delaware rivers-a distance of five or six miles-for the double purpose of watching the movements of the enemy, and preventing the disaffected from carrying provisions to the enemy at Philadelphia. While on this service, he was attacked, about two o'clock one morning, by a large body of British light horse commanded by Lord Rawdon, and after defending himself resolutely for awhile, effected his escape with the loss of but three or four men killed and as many more wounded. While temporarily halting, soon after, at the "Rising Sun" Inn, within sight of the Britishi out-posts at Philadelphia, a country girl arrived from the city, whither she had been sent with eggs, with instructions to obtain some information res- pecting the enemy. While she was communicating with the Major on the subject, the British light horse were seen advan- ing. In an instant he mounted his horse, when he found the
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poor girl at his side, begging him to protect her. Without a moment for reflection, he told her to mount behind him, which she did-and in this way they rode at full speed to German- town, about three miles.
After taking part in the Battle of Monmouth, and in the defense of Norwalk, (Conn.,) Major Tallmadge planned and executed an expedition against the enemy at Lloyd's Neck, on Long Island. Here was a strongly fortified post, manned by about five hundred troops-in the rear of which post a large band of marauders were encamped. For the purpose of break- ing up this band of freebooters, he embarked at Shipan Point, near Stamford, September 5, 1779, at 8 o'clock in the evening, taking with him about one hundred and twenty men. The attack was so unexpected, that nearly the whole party were captured. Having destroyed the boats and huts of the enemy, the party re-embarked, with their prisoners, and before day- light landed on the Connecticut shore, without the loss of a man.
In the autumn of 1780, Major T. was stationed on the lines in Westchester county. Returning from below to the regi- ment, then near Northcastle, on the evening of September 23d, he was informed that a prisoner liad that day been brought in, by the name of John Anderson. On enquiry, he learned the particulars of his capture by three militia-men, Paulding, Van Wert and Williams. He further ascertained that Lieutenant- Colonel Jameson, (who, in the absence of Colonel Sheldon, then had command of the dragoons,) had sent the prisoner to General Arnold's headquarters, accompanied by a letter of in- formation respecting his capture. At the respectful but ear- nest solicitations of Major Tallmadge, Anderson was brought back to Northcastle, but Jameson persisted in sending the let- ter forward to General Arnold. The observation of the Major soon led him to the conclusion that the prisoner had been bred to arms, and communicated his suspicions to Lieut .- Colonel Jameson-requesting him to notice his gait, especially as lie turned on his heel to retrace his course across the room .- The Major remained with him almost constantly, and became deeply interested in his new acquaintance. After dinner on
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the 24th, he requested the use of pen, ink and paper, which were readily granted him. He immediately wrote the cele- brated letter to General Washington, in which he acknowl- edged himself to be " Major John Andre, Adjutant General to the British Army." This letter he handed unopened to Major Tallmadge, who read it with deep emotion. The sad and important sequel of the story is familiar to every reader. A court martial of fourteen general officers (General Greene presiding,) adjudged him to be a spy from the enemy, and that, " agreeable to the law and usage of nations, he ought to suffer death." At 5 o'clock in the afternoon of October 2d, Major John Andre died on a gibbet, in the presence of an immense concourse of sympathizing people. His military suit having arrived from New York, he was executed in full uniform. Major Tallmadge walked with him from his place of confine- ment to the foot of the scaffold, where he bade him an affec- tionate farewell. Years subsequently, he wrote-" I became so deeply attached to Major Andre, that I can remember no instance where my affections were so fully absorbed in any man. When I saw him swinging under the gibbet, it seemed for a time as if I could not support it. All the spectators seemed to be overwhelmed by the affecting spectacle, and the eyes of many were suffused in tears."
In the autumn of 1780, Major Tallmadge requested permis- sion of the commander-in-chief to attempt the destruction of the enemy's works at Smith's Manor, Long Island-but the General regarded tlie expedition as too hazardous to be under- taken. Major T. did not, however, abandon the project, but secretly visited Long Island for the purpose of making obser- vations and gaining information. On his return, he made an- other application, and obtained the consent of General Wash- ington. On the 21st of November, with one hundred dis- mounted dragoons, he embarked at Fairfield-crossed the Sound, and march toward Fort George, on south side of Long Island. The garrison was surprized and captured-the works were demolished, and the houses, shipping, and an immense quantity of stores, were burnt. Some valuable articles of dry- goods were made up in bundles and bound upon the shoulders
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of the prisoners, who were pinioned two and two. The victors then re-crossed the island to their boats, with their prisoners and booty. While the main body was thus on the march. the Major selected eight or ten men, mounted them on horses which he had taken at the Fort, and made a digression for the purpose of destroying the king's magazine at Coram-which he accomplished-and, in the course of an hour and a half, joined his associates at a place where he had ordered them to · halt. The whole company arrived in Fairfield-only one per- son engaged in the expedition having been seriously wounded. Among the prisoners taken were one lieutenant-colonel, one lieutenant, one surgeon, about fifty rank and file, and a host of others in the garrison. For this daring and successful ex- ploit, Major Tallmadge received the public thanks of the com- mander-in-chief and of the Congress of the United States.
He continued in actual service until the close of the war, and was engaged in several other desperate enterprizes. Our article, however, is already too long, and we must close the narrative of his revolutionary services with the relation of a single additional fact. From 1778 to 1783, an important and confidential correspondence was carried on between General * Washington and Major Tallmadge, a large part of which is still in possession of the Tallmadge family.
In November, 1782, he purchased of Mr. Thomas Sheldon, (for the sum of £800,) the premises in North streetin this vil lage, still known as The Tallmadge Place. In the purchase- deed of this property he is styled " late of Long Island, now of the Continental Army." He continued in the public service about a year longer, when the army was disbanded, and the subject of this sketch retired to private life with the rank of Colonel. Before separating, the officers of the army formed themselves into a national association called The Society of the Cincinnati, of which Washington was chosen the first Presi- dent. At the same time, a similar Society was formed for each State. Colonel Tallmadge was chosen the first Treasurer and subsequent President of the Connecticut Society.
On the 16th of March, 1784, Colonel Tallmadge was united in marriage to Mary Floyd, (daughter of General William
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Floyd, of Mastic, L. I., a Signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence,) and at once took up his residence in this village. Here he engaged extensively and successfully in merchandiz- ing until 1801, when he was elected a member of the Congress of the United States. For a period of sixteen years, (by re- election every two years,) he held his seat in that distinguished body. Once more retiring from public life, he devoted himself with even more than his usual zeal, to the advancement of every good cause. For many years he was an officer and liberal benefactor of various charitable institutions and socie- ties ; while his contributions to the needy in his own town were much more frequent and extensive than were known to the public.
On the 3d of June, 1805, Mrs. Mary Tallmadge died in Litchfield, leaving five sons and two daughters, viz., William S., Henry F., Maria, Frederick A., Benjamin, Harriet W., and George W. May 3d, 1808, Colonel Tallmadge married Maria, daughter of Joseph Hallett, Esq., of New York. He died at his residence in this village, March 13, 1835, in the 82d year of his age. The Sermon preached at his funeral by the Rev. Dr. Hickok, was published.
Colonel Tallmadge possessed a tall and portly figure, and a courtesy and dignity of manner, which seem to have belonged peculiarly to the era in which he lived. At the same time he was as accessible to the humblest as he was the highest in the land. All loved and reverenced him. The old soldiers of the Revolution were wont to seek his assistance and advice-and they were ever received with cordiality, and their wishes attended to. Officers, also, of every grade, frequently visited him, and never failed to meet with a hospitable welcome. There are persons yet living, who recollect the interesting and affecting interview between him and Lafayette, at New Haven, where they met in 1824, after a separation of more than forty years. They embraced and wept, as they recurred to the try- ing scenes through which they had passed and the many chan - ges which time had wrought, since, in the ardency of youth, they had parted on a distant battle-field.
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The beautiful homestead where Colonel Tallmadge spent more than fifty years of his life, adjoins that where his com- rade in arms, Colonel Sheldon, spent his childhood, youth and early manhood.
THE HONORABLE TAPPING REEVE, LL. D., became a resident of Litchfield in 1772, and spent more than fifty years of his life in this town. A son of the Rev. Abner Reeve of Southold, Long Island, he was born in that place in October, 1744. He graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1763, and spent four years as a tutor in that institution. On the 24th of June 1773, he married Sally Burr, a daughter of President Burr of New Jersey College, and a grand-daughter of the re- nowned President Edwards. So long as she lived, she was an invalid, and for many years her husband spent a large portion of his time in ministering to her wants. " Though his domes- tic afflictions withheld him from the active scenes of the Rev- olution," says Dr. Beecher, in his Funeral Discourse, "none entered more deeply into his country's cause than lie. He shared with his generation all the vicissitudes, hopes, fears, self-denials and losses, of that arduous day. He possessed, though in early life, the confidence, and participated in the counsels, of the wise and great and good men of that era ; and, at the moment of greatest dismay, when Washington fled with his handful of troops through the Jersies, and orders came for New England to turn out en masse and make a diversion to save him, the Judge was among the most ardent to excite the universal movement, and actually went in the capacity of an officer to the vicinity of New York, where the news met them of the victories at Trenton and Princeton, and once more Washington and the country were delivered." At one time, he had the honor of entertaining at his house in this village, General LaFayette and some of his brother officers, who were passing through this region on important public business. In 1784, he opened his celebrated Law School, of which he was the Principal for nearly forty years. Though fitted to shine in public life, and though official honors were always within his reach, he seems rather to have shunned than sought promotion. He was once elected a Representative, and once only a mem-
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