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 3
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Two or three incidents connected with pioneering in the era of which we are speaking, will form a fitting close to this chapter.
" In May, 1722," says Mr. Morris, " Capt. Jacob Griswold being at work alone in the field about one mile west of the present Court House, two Indians suddenly rushed upon him
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
from the woods, took him, pinioned his arms, and carried him off. They traveled in a northerly direction, and the same day arrived in some part of the township now called Canaan, then a wilderness. The Indians kindled a fire, and, after binding their prisoner hand and foot, lay down to sleep. Griswold fortunately disengaged his hands and feet, and though his arms were tied, he seized their guns, and made his escape into the woods. After traveling a short distance, he sat down and waited until the dawn of day. Although his arms were still pinioned, he carried both the guns. The savages awoke in the morning, and, finding their prisoner gone, immediately pursued him. They soon overtook him, and kept in sight of him the greater part of the day, while he was making his way homeward. When they came near, he turned and pointed one of the pieces at them ; they then fell back. In this manner he traveled till near sunset, when he reached an eminence in an open field about one mile north-west of the center. He then discharged one of his guns, which immediately summon- ed the people to his assistance. The Indians fled, and Gris- wold safely returned to his family."
The following interesting narrative from "Travels in New England and New York," by Timothy Dwight, S. T. D., LL. D., President of Yale College, (vol. i. pp. 113-118,) has been often re-published in this country and in Europe. With characteristic caution, he remarks-" This story may be cir- cumstantially erroneous ; in substance I believe it to be true."
" NOT many years after the County of Litchfield began to be settled by the English, a strange Indian came one day into an Inn in the Town of Litchfield, in the dusk of the evening, and requested the host- ess to furnish him with some drink and supper. At the same time, he observed, that he could pay for neither, as he had had no success in hunting ; but promised payment as soon as he should meet with better fortune. The hostess refused him both the drink and the sup- per; called him a lazy, drunken, good for nothing fellow ; and told him that she did not work so hard, herself, to throw away her earnings upon such creatures as he was. A man who sat by, and observed that the Indian, then turning about to leave so inhospitable a place, showed by his countenance that he was suffering very severely from want and weariness, directed the hostess to supply him what he wish- ed, and engaged to pay the bill himself. She did so. When the In- dian had finished his supper, he turned to his benefactor, thanked him,
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THE CAPTIVE RESTORED.
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and assured him that he should remember his kindness, and whenever he was able, would faithfully recompense it. For the present, he ob- served, he could only reward him with a story; which, if the hostess would give him leave, he wished to tell. The hostess, whose com- placency had been recalled by the prospect of payment, consented. The Indian, addressing himself to his benefactor, said-"I suppose you read the Bible." The man assented. "Well," said the Indian, " the Bible say, God made the world ; and then he took him and look- ed on him, and say, 'It's all very good.' Then he made light; and took him and looked on him, and say, 'It's all very good.' Then he mode dry land and water, and sun and moon, and grass and trees ; and took him and looked on him, and say, 'It's all very good.' Then he made beasts, and birds, and fishes ; and took him and looked on him, and say, 'It's all very good.' Then he made man ; and took him and looked on him, and say, 'It's all very good.' Then he made woman; and took him and looked on him, and he no dare say one such word." The Indian, having told his story, withdrew.
Some years after, the man who had befriended him had occasion to go some distance into the wilderness, between Litchfield, then a fron- tier settlement, and Albany, where he was taken prisoner by an In- dian scout, and carried to Canada. When he arrived at the principal settlement of the tribe, on the southern border of the St. Lawrence, it was proposed by some of the captors that he should be put to death. During the consultation, an old Indian woman demanded that he should be given up to her ; that she might adopt him in the place of a son whom she had lost in the war. He was accordingly given to her, and lived through the succeeding winter in her family, experien- cing the customary effects of savage hospitality. The following sum- mer, as he was at work in the forest alone, an unknown Indian came up to him, and asked him to meet him at a place which he pointed out, on a given day. The prisoner agreed to the proposal, but not with- out some apprehensions that mischief was intended him. During the interval, these apprehensions increased to such a degree as to dis- suade him effectually from fulfilling his engagement. Soon after, the same Indian found him at his work again, and very gravely reproved him for not performing his promise. The man apologized, awkward- ly enough, but in the best manner in his power. The Indian told him that he should be satisfied, if he would meet him at the same place on a future day, which he named. The man promised to meet him, and fulfilled his promise. When he arrived at the spot, he found the Indian provided with two muskets, ammunition for them, and knapsacks. The Indian ordered him to take one of each, and follow him. The direction of their march was to the south. The man fol- lowed, without the least knowledge of what he was to do or whither he was going; but concluded that if the Indian intended him harm, he would have dispatched him at the beginning, and that at the worst he was as safe where he was, as he could be in any other place. Within a short time, therefore, his fears subsided, although the Indian observ- ed a profound and mysterious silence concerning the object-of the ex-
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THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
pedition. In the day time, they shot such game as came in their way, and at night kindled a fire, by which they slept. After a tedious journey of many days, they came one morning to the top of an emi- nence, presenting a prospect of a cultivated country, in which was a number of houses. The Indian asked his companion whether he knew the place. He replied eagerly that it was Litchfield. His guide then, after reminding him that he had so many years before relieved the wants of a famishing Indian, at an Inn in that town, sub- joined, "I that Indian; now I pay you ; go home." Having said this, he bade him adieu ; and the man joyfully returned to his own house."
The Rev. James Hamilton, D. D., F. L. S., of London, England, author of " The Royal Preacher," and other works, in a Lecture from the text, " Cast thy bread upon the waters," &c., gives the substance of this story, which he commences as follows : "Dr. Dwight, an American, tells how, when the country near Albany was newly settled, an Indian came to an inn in Litchfield," &c. (See Royal Preacher, pp. 275-'7.) Ignorance of our local geography, is of course excusable in a foreigner. The incidents of the narrative certainly afford an apt illustration of the truth of the text.
In August, 1723, (as near as can now be ascertained,) Mr. Joseph Harris, one of the most respectable citizens of the town, while at work alone in the woods about a mile and a half west of the village, was attacked by a party of Indians, shot, and scalped. As he did not return home when expected, the alarm was given, and search was immediately made for him, which was continued until the darkness of the night checked all further exertions. In the morning, his body was found leaning against the trunk of a tree. Harris was killed near the north end of the West Plain, a few rods south or south- east of the present residence of Mr. Myron Osborn. He was interred in the West Burying-Ground, where, in 1830, a mon- ument was erected to his memory by voluntary contribution .*
These events effectually alarmed the settlers, and led to those measures of self-defense which are detailed with some degree of minuteness in the next chapter.
* The date of Harris's death given on his monument is 1721. Gibbs and Morris both place the event in " August 1722." These dates are of course impossible-as he was chosen Collector in December of the latter year.
CHAPTER III.
ALARMS AND MEASURES OF DEFENSE.
COULD we go back one hundred and thirty-six years, and, from some elevated stand-point, look down upon Litchfield as it was in the beginning of the year 1723, what a contrast to its present appearance would the scene present ! Here and there, like dots on the surface of the landscape, little openings had been made in the primeval forests by the axes of the settlers. Forty or fifty log-cabins were scattered over the site now occu- pied by this village and its immediate vicinity. A temporary palisade stood where our Court House now stands, and four others were erected in more remote parts of the town, for the protection of the laborers at the clearings : all soon to give place to stronger and more permanent structures. The howl of the wild beast and the yell of the savage, daily and nightly reminded the people of the dangers by which they were sur- rounded. The little hamlet was quite beyond the bounds of civilization-the nearest white settlements being those at New Milford on the south-west and at Woodbury on the south, both some fifteen miles distant. An almost unbroken wilderness stretched westward to the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and northward two hundred and fifty miles to the French villa- ges in Canada. The Indians, still at war with the English, prowled on the frontiers like ravenous wolves eager for their prey. Their yells at the war-dance, an ominous sound, were heard on the distant hills, and at midnight their signal-fires on Mount Tom lit up the surrounding country with their bale- ful gleam. Without mails or newspapers, and with no regular means of communication with their friends in the older towns, they seemed indeed shut out from the world, and dependent
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
upon their own little circle for intellectual and social enjoy- ment. Is it to be wondered at, that some of the first proprie- tors should have fled from scenes so uninviting and hazardous, even at the risk of forfeiting the lands which they had pur- chased ?
In the autumn of 1722, a war had broken out between the Province of Massachusetts and the Eastern Indians, and in a short time its direful influences were felt in Connecticut- some of which have already been adverted to. The savages on our borders, many of whom had previously manifested a peaceable and conciliatory spirit, gave evidence that their pro- fessions of friendship were not to be relied upon. In the spring of 1723, the Committee of War, in Hartford, sent a military corps to keep garrison at Litchfield. At this time, there were about sixty male adults in the town, a large pro- portion of whom had families. The following are the names of those who are regarded as "first settlers"-or persons who became residents of the town during the first three years of the settlement :
Nehemiah Allen, from
Joseph Birge,
Coventry. Windsor. Farmington. 66
Joseph Kilbourn, Thomas Lee, John Marsh,
Wethersfield· Lebanon. Hartford.
Joseph Bird,
Joseph Mason,
Samuel Beebe,
Nathan Mitchell,
John Baldwin,
Samuel Orton,
Ezekiel Buck,
Edward Phelps,
Stratford. Woodbury. Windsor. Stratford.
John Buel,
Thomas Pier, Paul Peck, Jr.
Hartford.
Samuel Culver,
Jolın Peck,
66
Hezekiah Culver,
John Stoddard,
Wethersfield. Lebanon.
James Church,
Joseph Sanford,
Stratford, 66
Abraham Goodwin.
Colchester. Hartford. 66 Wethersfield. 66
Samuel Smedley,
Woodbury. Lebanon.
Benjamin Gibbs,
Josiah Walker,
Woodbury. 66
Jacob Gibbs,
Joseph Waller.
Benjamin Hosford,
66
Nathaniel Woodruff,
Farmington.
Joseph Harris,
Middletown.
Nathaniel Smith, John Smith,
Taunton, Ms.
Joshua Garritt,
William Goodrich,
Thomas Treadway,
Jacob Griswold, John Gay,
Dedham, Ms. Windsor. 66
Benjamin Webster,
Hartford.
Timothy Collins,
Guilford. Hartford.
Eleazer Strong,
John Catlin,
Supply Strong,
Joseph Gillett,
Lemuel Sanford,
John Bird,
Danbury. Stratford. Wethersfield. Lebanon.
Daniel Culver,
Such was the apprehension of danger from the Indians, dur- ing this period, that while one portion of the men were felling the forests, plowing, planting or reaping, others, with their muskets in hand, were stationed in their vicinity to " keep guard." In August of this year, (1723,) a meeting of the
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39
ERECTING GARRISONS.
Householders of Litchfield was held " to consider of and agree upon some certain places to fortify or make Garrisons for the safety and pseservation of the inhabitants of said town." At this meeting it was resolved that four Forts or Garrisons should be erected in different sections of the town. The names of the persons designated to build these Forts, are here inserted, as the list is supposed to embrace ALL the proprietors of the township at that date.
"For building the West Fort-Thomas Pier, Jacob Gris- wold, Ezekiel Buck, Nathan Mitchell Joseph Birge, Danicl Judson, John Stoddard, Daniel Culver, Timothy Seymour, Hezekiah Culver, Thomas Treadway, Lemuel Sanford, John Baldwin, Samuel Beebe and Joshua Boardman.
" For the North Garrison-Thomas Lee, Lieut. John Buel, John Buel, Joseph Kilbourn, Joseph Kilbourn, (Jr.,) Nathan- iel Smith, William Goodrich, Eleazer Strong, Samuel Root, Samuel Somers, Josiah Walker, Nehemiah Allen and Supply Strong.
"For the East Garrison-Nathaniel Hosford, Benjamin Hosford, Paul Peck, Edward Phelps, Samuel Culver, Joshua Garrett, John Caulkins, Joseph Gillett, Joseph Mason, Ben- jamin Webster, John Gay and Thomas Griswold.
" For the South Garrison-John Marslı, John Peck, Benja- min Gibbs, Jacob Gibbs, Samuel Orton, John Bird, Joseph Harris, Abraham Goodwin, Widow Allen, Joseph Bird, Joseph Waller, Nathaniel Woodruff and Samuel Smedley."
On the 1st of April, 1724, Mr. John Marsh was chosen Agent of the town " to represent their state to the General Assembly concerning the settlement and continuing of their inhabitants in times of war and danger."
In May, the subject of the Indian disturbances in this quar- ter occupied much of the time and attention of the Council of War and of the Legislature. The Indians on the western lands were ordered to repair immediately to their respective places of residence, and not to go into the woods without Eng- lishmen in company with them, " nor to be seen, contrary to this order, anywhere north of the road leading from Hartford to Farmington, Waterbury, and so on to New Milford." They
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
were warned to submit to this order on pain of being looked upon as enemies, and treated accordingly. Two hundred men from Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, were directed to hold themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice ; and sixty more from each of the counties of New Haven, Fair- field and New London, with their proper officers, were called for to supply the garrisons at Litchfield and New Milford, when the soldiers then at those posts should be withdrawn. Friend- ly Indians were to be employed in scouting with the English, and £20 each were to be paid for the scalps of the " enemy Indians." An effective scout was to be kept marching in the woods north of Litchfield, between Simsbury, Westfield and Sackett's Farm, [or Sharon.] The thirty-two men, sent on a scout from Litchfield, were directed to be drawn off in ten days. It was also
" Resolved, That orders be forthwith sent to Major Eells, that he impress thirty.two able-bodied men, with a Lieuten_ ant, and send them to Litchfield to be improved in garrison- ing and scouting, as may be thought most advantageous by the said Lieutenant and the commissioned officers in Litch- field-and to continue in said service until they shall be releas- ed by further orders; and that Major Burr send orders to detail nine effective men, with a Sergeant, to march to New Milford, to be employed in scouting for the protection of the frontier ; and a scout of six men are to be employed at Sims- bury, for the discovery of the enemy in that quarter ;- and all the aforesaid scouts are directed to take dogs with them into the service of scouting ; and that the scout now out from Wind- sor, be drawn off on Tuesday next; and the scout now at Litchfield to draw off upon the present appointed scouts arriv- ing there."
" The summer of 1724," says Mr. Woodruff, " was a period of excitement and alarm. The war between the English and the French was then prevailing, and the latter used great efforts to incite the northern Indians to attack the frontier settlements of the whites." The Hon. Noah A. Phelps, in his History of Simsbury, remarks-" The conduct of the Indians at the north and west, during this year, and especially their hostile move-
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MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL OF WAR.
ments in the vicinity of Litchfield, induced the government to take such precautionary measures as the occasion demanded, in order to furnish protection to the weak and exposed settle- ments, A line of scouts was established, extending from Litch- field to Turkey Hills, curving around the most northerly and westerly settlements in Simsbury. On the 14th of June, 1724, Capt. Richard Case, of Simsbury, was directed to employ ten men on this scouting party, to rendezvous at Litchfield. The men employed in this service were Serg't. Jonathan Holcomb, John Hill, Nathaniel Holcomb, Joseph Mills, William Buell, Samuel Pettibone, Joseph Wilcoxon, Benjamin Humphrey, Nathaniel Westover and Charles Humphrey-all belonging to Simsbury. They continued in the service till October."
Among the papers on file in the office of the Secretary of State, is the following memorandum made by Gov. Talcott :
" A brief account of the minutes of the Council of War Book, of men sent into the service this summer, from May 24, to October 6, 1724:
" After the Assembly rose, ten men were sent to Litchfield, till June 24.
June 25-Four men sent to Litchfield from Hartford.
June 30-Major Burr sent ten men, and Major Eles ten men, to New Milford and Litchfield.
July 27-Six men sent from Woodbury to keep garrison at She- paug twenty days.
July 30-Major Burr sent fifteen men, and Major Eles fifteen men, to New Milford, Shepaug and Litchfield.
August 18-Fifteen men were improved in scouts under the com- mand of Sergt Joseph Churchill,* at Litchfield and New Milford; have orders sent to the 5th instant of October to draw off and disband. October, 1724 JOSEPH TALCOTT."
The Assembly, at the October Session, voted " that the gar- risons of soldiers at New Milford, Shepaug and Litchfield, be forthwith drawn off and disbanded ; and that Captain Joseph Minor, of Woodbury, give notice thereof to the officers under whose command said soldiers are, that they be drawn off ac- cordingly, by sending a copy of this to said officers."
* Sergt. Josephı Churchill, of Wethersfield, presented a Memorial to the General Assembly, in May, 1725, stating that during the preceding summer he had been em- ployed in His Majesty's service for fifteen weeks at Litchfield, but had received no pay for Sundays. He therefore asks pay for fifteen Sundays. [Granted by the Low- er House ; lost in the Upper House. ]
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
By our Town Records it appears that on the 15th of October, 1724, a Memorial to the General Assembly was agreed upon, and ordered to be signed by John Marsh, in the name of the town, and sent to New Haven by the hand of Mr. Timothy Collins, to be delivered to the Court. This Memorial is not on record, but is fortunately preseved among the files in the Secretary's Office in Hartford. It is an impressive and inter- esting document, and eloquently details the trials and perils encountered by our fathers amid these now peaceful scenes. It here appears in print for the first time :
" AT a Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Litchfield, Oc- tober the 15th, 1824- 1 7 24
" A MEMORIAL of the distressed state of the Inhabitants of the Town of Litchfield, which we humbly lay before the Honorable General Assembly now sitting in New Haven :
MAY it please your Honors to hear us in a few things. Inasmuch as there was a prospect of the war's moving into these parts the last year, the Governor and Council-moved with paternal regards for our safety-ordered Garrisons forthwith to be erected in this town. In obedience thereto, laying aside all other business, we engaged in that work, and built our fortifications without any assistance from abroad, whereby our seed-time in some measure was lost, and conse- quently our harvest this year small. The seat of the war in this col- ony (in the whole course of the concluding summer,) being in this town, notwithstanding the special care taken of us by the Honorable Committee of War, and the great expense the colony has been at for our security, yet the circumstances of our town remain very difficult in several respects. The danger and charge of laboring abroad is so great, that a considerable part of our improvable lands remote from the town lie unimproved, whereby we are greatly impoverished, so that many of our inhabitants are rendered incapable of paying their taxes which have been granted for the settling and maintaining of our ministry and building a meeting-house, (which we are yet destitute of,) whereby that great work seems to be under a fatal necessity of being neglected.
Many of our Inhabitants are drawn off, which renders us very weak and unable to defend ourselves from the common enemy, and the du- ties of Watching and Warding are become very heavy.
By reason of the late war, our lands are become of little value, so that they who are desirous of selling, to subsist their families and de -. fray public charges which necessarily arise in a new place, are una- ble to do it. Your humble petitioners therefore pray this Honorable Court would be pleased to take thought of our difficult circumstances, and spread the garment of pity over our present distress, which moves us to beg relief in several respects :
1. That our deserting proprietors, who do not personally inhabit,
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MEMORIALS.
may be ordered to settle themselves or others upon their Rights, which will not only be an encouragement to those that tarry, and ren- der our burden more tolerable, but prevent much charge to the colony.
2. That our Inhabitants may be under some wages, that they may be capable of subsisting in the town, and not labor under the difficulty of war and famine together.
3. That some addition be made to the price of billeting soldiers, especially for this town, where the provision, at least a greater part of it, hath been fetched near twenty miles for the billeting of soldiers this year
4. That some act be made concerning Fortified Houses, that the people may have free liberty of the use of said Houses as there is occasion.
5. That there may be an explanation of the Act of the Governor and Council, made the last summer, which obliges every proprietor of a home lot to attend the military, by himself or some other person in his room, as the law directs, in case a person hath fifty pounds in the public list; for many of our deserters have put off their home lots and some of their lands, so that many of them have not a whole Right or a home lot in this place, and so escape execution upon that act.
As to the Indians hunting in our woods, we submit to your Honors' ordering that affair as in your wisdom you shall think best for us.
All of which we humbly recommend to the consideration of this Honorable Assembly, and ourselves your servants desiring Heaven's blessing to rest upon you, and that God Almighty may be with you, to direct in all weighty affairs which are before you, and make you rich blessings in your day and generation, your humble petitioners shall, as in duty bound, ever pray. JOHN MARSH,
In the name and by desire of the rest."
On this Memorial, a Committee of Conference was appoint- ed by the two branches of the Legislature, consisting of Samuel Eells and Matthew Allyn, Esquires, on the part of the Upper House, and Capt. John Fitch, Capt. David Goodrich and Mr. George Clark, on the part of the Lower House. The result of their deliberations was embodied in the following enactment, which passed both Houses at the October Session, 1724 :
" UPON the Memorial of the Inhabitants of the Town of Litchfield- Be it Enacted and Ordained, by the Governor, Assistants and Dep- uties in General Court assembled, and by authority of the same,
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