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 9
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100
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
left behind-where all (except Sergeant Mather,) died within a few days, most of them with the small-pox. Here follow the names of these " picked men." The notes prefixed, appear to have been added by Captain Beebe at the different periods corresponding with the dates :
" An Account of the Prisoners' Names and Places of Confine- · ment.
Sergt. Cotton Mather-returned home.
Sergt. David Hall-died of the small-pox on board the Gros- vener, Dec. 11, 1776.
Elijah Loomis-died.
Gershom Gibbs-died on board the ship, Dec. 29, 1776.
Timothy Stanley-died on board the ship, Dec. 26, 1776. Amos Johnson-died Dec. 26, 1776.
Timothy Marsh-died on his way home.
Barnias Beach-died on his way home.
Samuel Vaill-died on board the Grosvener, Dec. 27, 1776. Nathaniel Allen-died of small-pox, Jan. 1, 1777.
Enos Austin-died of the small-pox, Dec. 4, 1776, in the evening.
Gideon Wilcoxson-died.
Thomas Mason-reached home.
Alexander McNiel-died.
Daniel Smith-died in New York, of small-pox, Jan. 1, 1777. Noah Beach-reached home.
Daniel Benedict-reached home.
Isaac Gibbs-died Jan. 15, 1777.
Oliver Marshall-died on his way home.
Solomon Parmely-went on board the ship, and I fear he is drowned, as I cannot find him.
David Olmsted-died Jan. 4, 1777.
Jared Stuart-died Jan. 26, 1777, in the morning.
John Lyman-died Jan 26, 1777.
Elisha Brownson-died on his way home.
The above Prisoners are at Livingston's Sugar House.
Zebulon Bissell-died in Woodbury, on his way home.
Aaron Stoddard-died Jan. 12, 1777.
John Parmely-died Jan. 15, 1777.
Joel Taylor-died Jan. 9, 1777.
James Little-reached home.
Phineas Goodwin-died Jan. 5, 1777.
[ The above at the Church called the North Church.
101
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.
Oliver Woodruff-reached home. Remembrance Loomis-died on his way home. [ The above at Bridewell.
The above Prisoners belong to Capt. Beebe's Company, Col. Bradley's Regiment.
Corporal Samuel Cole, Jeremiah Weed, Joseph Spencer, John Whiting,
Were either killed or made their escape from Fort Wash- ington, on the 16th of Novem- ber, 1776."
Probably no similar instance of mortality occurred during the entire war. Only six survivors out of a company of thirty-six hale and hearty young men, is a per-centage of loss rarely reached even in the most fatal engagements. But few, if any, of these men were slain in battle. They died misera- ble deaths, from cold, hunger, thirst, suffocation, disease, and the vilest cruelty from those to whom they had surrendered their arms on a solemn promise of fair and honorable treat- ment ! Well might Ethan Allen (a professed infidel,) with clenched teeth, exclaim to Captain Beebe, as he did on one occasion-" I confess my faith in my own creed is shaken ; there ought to be a hell for such infernal scoundrels as that Lowrie !"-referring to the officer in charge of the prisoners.
Captain Beebe, in consideration of his office, was allowed the limits of the city on his parol of honor, but was compelled to provide himself with food, lodging, and shelter. He was accustomed to visit his men daily, so long as any remained, and did whatever he was allowed to do, to alleviate their wretched condition. He was not exchanged with the other prisoners, but was detained within the " limits" for nearly a year, at his own expense. During much of this time, Colonel Allen was held in New York as a prisoner of war ; and, before the remnant of the Litchfield soldiers were exchanged, these two gallant officers often met for consultation.
In June, 1776, the General Assembly ordered six battalions to be raised in this State and marched directly to New York, there to join the continental army. A company was raised in Litchfield for this service, of which Abraham Bradley was Captain, Tilley Blakesley, 1st Lieutenant, Thomas Catlin, 2d Lieutenant, and James Morris, Jr., Ensign.
102
THE HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
Among the " Wolcott Papers" is preserved the following Deposition made on the 3d of May, 1777, before Andrew Ad- ams, Esq., J. P., by Lieutenant Thomas Catlin, of this town, (father of the late Dr. Abel Catlin,) who was an officer in the American army in New York in 1776. He avers, in substance, " That he was taken Prisoner by the British Troops on New York Island, September 15, 1776, and confined with a great number in close Gaol, eleven days; that he had no susten- ance for forty-eight hours after he was taken ; that for eleven whole days they had only about two days' allowance, and their pork was offensive to the smell. That forty-two were confined in one house, till Fort Washington was taken, when the house was crowded with other Prisoners; after which they were in- formed they should have two-thirds allowance-which consis- ted of very poor Irish Pork, Bread hard, mouldy and wormy, made of canail and dregs of flax-seed. The British Troops had good bread. Brackish water was given to the Prisoners, and he had seen $1 50 given for a common pail of water. Only between three and four pounds of Pork was given three men for three days. That for near three months, the private sol- diers were confined in the Churches, and in one were eight hundred and fifty; that about the 25th of December, 1776, he and about two hundred and twenty-five others were put on board the Glasgow at New York to be carried to Connecticut for exchange. They were on board eleven days, and kept on black, coarse broken bread, and less pork than before. Twen- ty-eight died during these eleven days ! They were treated with great cruelty, and had no fire for sick or well. They were crowded between decks, and many died through hardship, ill usage, hunger and cold."
This is another specimen of the treatment of our prison- ers by the enemy. It is a source of gratification to every American to be able to say, that British prisoners in American hands, in the same contest, were treated more like gentlemen than like brutes.
" Before the revolution," says Mr. Gibbs, in his History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, "a leaden equestrian statue of George III. stood in the Bowling Green
103
THE LEADEN STATUE.
in the city of New York. At the breaking out of the war, this was overthrown, and, lead being highly valuable, was sent to General Wolcott's at Litchfield for safe keeping ; where, in process of time, it was cut up and run into bullets by his daughters and their friends."
In a paper read before the New York Historical Society, by the author above quoted, in October, 1844, he gives a curious and interesting history of this statue, from which the following extracts are made :
" ACCOUNT OF THE STATUE OF GEORGE III. FORMERLY STANDING ON THE BOWLING GREEN, NEW YORK.
" Most of the members are probably aware that an Equestrian Statue of King George III. stood upon the Bowling Green, in this city, prior to the Revolution, and was overthrown soon after its com- mencement. I believe, however, that its subsequent fate has never been recorded, and having in my possession a paper giving authentic information on the subject, I have supposed that the royal effigy might be worth a brief obituary.
Holt's (New York) Gazette, as quoted by Mr. Dunlap, gives the following notice of its erection :
' August 21st, 1770, being the birth-day of Prince Frederick, the father of George III., an elegant Equestrian Statue of his present Majesty, George III. was erected in the Bowling Green, near Fort George. On this occasion the members of his Majesty's Council, the City Corporation, the Corporation of the Chamber of Commerce, the Corporation of the Marine Society, and most of the gentlemen of the City and Army, waited on his Honor, the Lieutenant-Governor Col- den, in the Fort, at his request ; when his Majesty's and other loyal healths were drunk under a discharge of thirty-two pieces of cannon, from the Battery, accompanied with a band of music. This beautiful Statue is made of metal [Dunlap says, by way of parenthesis, ' the writer did not like to say what metal represented his royal majesty, the best of kings-it was lead,'] being the first equestrian one of his present Majesty, and is the workmanship of that celebrated statuary, Mr. Wilton of London.'
Symptoms of disloyalty, betokening revolution I suppose, soon man- ifested themselves in the rude treatment of the effigy, for on the 6th or February, 1773. an act was passed 'to prevent the defacing of statues which are erected in the city of New York.'
Upon the above account Mr. Dunlap observes-' This statue stood till sometime in 1776. I saw it in 1775. In 1776 it was thrown down, and tradition says converted into bullets to resist his gracious majesty's soldiers when sent to enforce the doctrine of ' the sovereign- ty of the British Parliament over the Colonies in all cases whatsoever' -the doctrine of Mr. Pitt, Lord Chathamn, which he died in an effort to enforce. The pedestal stood until long after the Revolution. No
104
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
fragment of the horse or his rider was ever seen after its overthrow, and so completely had the memory of the event been lost, that I have never found a person who could tell me on what occasion it was or- dered, or when placed in the Bowling Green.'
Some cotemporary notices of the destruction of this effigy have been pointed out to me, which I will cite. The first is from a book of general orders issued by Washington, the original of which is in the possession of this Society. It is as follows :
' July 10 .- Though the General doubts not the persons who pulled
- - down and mutilated the statue in Broadway last night, acted in the public cause, yet it has so much the appearance of riot and want of order in the army, that he disapproves of the manner, and directs that in future these things shall be avoided by the soldiery and left to be executed by proper authority.'
The next is in a letter from Ebenezer Hazard to General Gates, dated July 12th, 1776, which will be found among the Gates Papers, and in the Society's Collection-and is as follows:
'The King of England's arms have been burned in Philadelphia, and his statue here has been pulled down to make musket balls of, so that his troops will probably have melted majesty fired at them.'
Another is in a letter from New York, of July 11, 1776, published in the New Hampshire Gazette of the 27th-
'Last Monday evening, the Equestrian Statue of George III., with tory pride and folly raised in the year 1770, was, by the Sons of Freedom, laid prostrate in the dust-the just desert of an ungrateful tyrant. The lead wherewith this monument is made, is to be run into bullets, to assimulate with the brains of our infatuated adversa- ries, who, to gain a peppercorn, have lost an empire. A gentleman who was present at the ominous fall of his leaden majesty, looking back to the original's hopeful beginning, pertinently exclaimed in the language of the angel to Lucifer-' If thou be'est he, but ah how fallen ! how changed !' '
Mr. Stephens* (Incidents of Travel in Russia, etc., vol. ii, p. 23,) mentions having met with a curious memorial of its destruction, and at an out of the way place. This was a gaudy and flaring engraving in a black wooden frame, representing the scene of its destruction, which he found in a tavern at Chioff, in Russia. 'The grouping of picture,' he says, ' was rude and grotesque, the ringleader being a long negro stripped to his trowsers, and straining with all his might upon a rope, one end of which was fastened to the head of the statue and the other tied around his own waist, his white teeth and the whites of his eyes being particularly conspicuous on a heavy ground of black.' How this picture found its way to Russia, it would be difficult to imagine ; it would certainly be not less a curiosity here than there.
The document I have mentioned gives an account of its remaining history in a shape which history seldom assumes, that of an account
* John L. Stephens, the celebrated traveler, was a graduate of the Litchfield Law School.
105
THE LEADEN STATUE.
current. It is preserved among the papers of General (afterwards Governor) Wolcott, of Connecticut. It is a statement of the number of cartridges made from the materials of the statue by the young la- dies of Litchfield, and is in these words :
' Mrs. Marvin,
3456 cartridges.
66 6 on former account, 2602
6058
Ruth Marvin on former account,
6204
Not sent to court house 449 packs,
5388
11,592
Laura, on former account,
4250
Not sent to court house 344 packs,
4128
8378
Mary Ann, on former account,
5762
Not sent to the court house 119 packs, out of which I let Col. Perley Howe have 3 packs, 5028
10,790
Frederick, on former account,
708
Not sent to court house 19 packs,
228
936
37,754
Mrs. Beach's two accounts,
2,002
Made by sundry persons,
2,182
Gave Litchfield Militia, on alarm,
50
Let the regiment of Col. Wigglesworth have
300
Cartridges, No.
42,288
Overcharged in Mrs. Beach's account,
200.
42,088'
The original document is in General Wolcott's hand writing, and is endorsed 'number of cartridges made.' There is no date to it, nor is there mention made by him of the fact of their being made from the statue ; but a memorandum added by his son, the last Governor Wol- cott, explains it as follows:
'N. B. An equestrian statue of George the Third of Great Britain was erected in the city of New York, on the Bowling Green, at the lower end of Broadway, Most of the materials were lead, but richly gilded to resemble gold. At the beginning of the Revolution, this statue was overthrown. Lead then being scarce and dear, the statue was broken in pieces, and the metal transported to Litchfield as a place of safety. The ladies of the village converted the lead into cart- ridges, of which the preceding is an account. O. W.'
The Mrs. and Miss Marvin and Mrs. Beach, mentioned in the pa- per, belonged to families who yet reside in Litchfield ; the other per- sons named, were the two daughters and youngest son of General Wolcott. 14
106
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
Litchfield, it may be noticed, was, during the war, a place of great importance as a military depot. After the capture of New York by the British in 1776, all communication between New England and Pennsylvania was turned to the westward of the Highlands on the Hudson, and the troops and stores were usually passed through that village as a point on the most convenient route to the posts on the river yet in possession of the Americans. General Wolcott, who was a member of the Continental Congress, lived there ; and, during the intervals of his congressional attendance, was constantly occupied in raising troops to supply the requisitions of Washington, Putnam and Gates. It appears from his letters that he returned to Connecticut shortly after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, of which he was one of the signers, and it is probable that the statue was transported there at his instance, immediately after its destruction. Of its identity as the material for the cartridges above mentioned, there can be no doubt. The last Governor Wolcott, on graduating from Yale College in 1778, was appointed to an office in the Quarter Master's Department, under General Greene, and was posted at Litch- field in charge of the stores there, His opportunity for knowing the fact, as mentioned in his note, was therefore certain. The late Hon. Judge Wolcott, moreover, who figures in the account as 'Frederick,' and who was a boy at the time, informed me a few years ago that he well remembered the circumstance of the statue being sent there, and that a shed was erected for the occasion in an apple-orchard adjoining the house, where his father chopped it up with a wood axe, and the girls had a frolic in running the bullets and making them up into cart- ridges. I suppose the alarm of the militia, on which some were dis- tributed, was Tryon's Invasion in 1777, when Danbury was burnt. On this occasion, fourteen men, the last in Litchfield capable of bear- ing arms, were started at midnight to aid in repulsing the enemy."
A few miscellaneous facts relating to Litchfield men are here introduced nearly in chronological order.
It should have been mentioned previously, that Captain David Welch, of Litchfield, commanded a company that was called into active service early in 1775, and in April of that year he was commissioned as Major in Colonel Hinman's regi- ment. He served throughout the war, and was an efficient and popular officer. During this year, also, Jedediah Strong was appointed a Commissary to purchase Horses for the Army ; and Oliver Wolcott was chosen a member of the continental congress. Fisher Gay, of Farmington, (a native of this town,) was one of the Lieutenant-Colonels appointed and commis- sioned at the special session of the Legislature held in March.
In May, 1776, Amos Parmeley was allowed by the Assembly £14: 12: 1, lawful money, " for nursing his sick son, John,
107
MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS.
who was a soldier in Major Welch's company, General Woos- ter's regiment, in the northern army, in 1775." This is the John Parmeley who died in captivity in New York, in Janu- ary, 1777. Jedediah Strong was appointed Commissary for the purchase of Clothing, and on a Committee to exchange bills of credit for specie.
On the 4th of July, OLIVER WOLCOTT appended his name to the Declaration of Independence. In October he was re- appointed a member of the continental congress.
Drs. Reuben Smith and Seth Bird were appointed by the Legislature, in October, on a committee " to examine all per- sons in this State that should be offered at Surgeons or Sur- geons' Mates in the continental army or navy, and if found qualified, to give them certificates."
Andrew Adams was appointed, with others, to cause the arrest of all suspected persons, and those dangerous to the liberties of America.
In December, the Legislature appointed Tapping Reeve and Lynde Lord on a committee to " to rouse and animate the people," and endeavor to procure the enlistment of volunteers for Washington's army. A company was forthwith raised in Litchfield, and the following officers were commissioned-Na- thaniel Goodwin, Captain ; Alexander Waugh, Lieutenant ; and Ozias Goodwin, Ensign. At the same session, Colonel Wolcott was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and given the command of the Fourth Brigado.
While General Wolcott was attending upon the sessions of Congress in Philadelphia, his principal Litchfield correspon- dents (aside from Mrs. Wolcott and his son Oliver,) were Samuel Lyman, Esq., and Dr. Reuben Smith-both, of course, true patriots. Mr. Lyman was accustomed to write upon family matters, and on public affairs generally ; while Dr. Smith kept the General advised on subjects of local interest. We give the subjoined letter from Dr. Smith entire-with the simple suggestion, that considerable allowance must be made for the personal and political prejudices of the writer. His insinuation in regard to Major Welch, for instance, was alike ungenerous and uncalled for. If his active service on the
108
HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
field does not afford sufficient evidence of his zeal in the cause of Independence, we have yet a surer test of his patriotism in the fact that it was again and again endorsed by a majority of his fellow-townsmen, in electing him to various public offi- ces-at times; too, when they would not tolerate the least suspicion of toryism. When Dr. Smith's letter was writ- ten, a feeling of coldness and despondency seemed to pre- vail among the patriots throughout the colonies. A re-action had succeeded the enthusiasm with which the Revolution was inaugurated. Frequent reverses had led some of the truest friends of freedom to fear as to the final result of the conflict in which they were engaged. In addition to this, the fact is not to be disguised that there had been from the first a for- midable minority of the voters of this town who were bitter opponents of the "Great Rebellion," as they were wont to term it. These facts will serve to account for the temporary inactivity of the patriots in Litchfield, of which the Doctor complains.
" Litchfield, 17th April, 1777.
Hon'd Sir-Your favor of the 1st instant came to hand the 15th, and I now sit down to give you the desired information, though ignor- ant of any proper conveyance.
At the Town Council in January, John Marsh, 3d, and Daniel Rowe, were objected to as Innholders; upon which Captain John, who is this year one of the Selectmen, moved that Marsh might be called in, which was agreed to. He accordingly came in, and acknowledged the several charges in substance, and openly declared that in his opin- ion America had better settle the dispute on the best terms they could obtain from Great Britain ; that the further we proceeded, the deeper we should get in the mire, (his own words,) and must finally submit. Captain John tried to help him out, by putting some questions which would admit of ambiguous answers ; but the young man was too open and frank in his answers, and accordingly was left out, as was Rowe. Captain Seymour and David Stoddard were put in their room.
The latter end of January I joined the army under General Woos- ter, and retreating soon after in a stormy night, was over fatigued, fell sick, was carried up to Horseneck and there discharged, and re- turned home some time in February. Some soldiers having brought home the small pox, I found a number had ventured upon innoculation without making proper provision that it might not spread in the town. The people were much divided ; some warmly engaged for innocula- tion, others as warmly opposed. Unhappily for me, I was chosen one of the Selectmen this year, (with Captain Marsh, Mr. Strong, Cap- tain McNiele and Captain Osborn,) and was therefore under a necessi-
109
LETTER FROM DR. REUBEN SMITH.
ty of interposing in the matter ; and thought best, as it was against law, neither to encourage or oppose, but endeavor to bring it under proper regulations-in which, however, I failed of the wished for suc- cess, our counsels being very much divided. Several having taken it the natural way from those that were innoculated, Captain Marsh was engaged to crush innoculation wholly ; and some people have been so unreasonable as to say Mr. Strong was both for and against it. Be that as it way, it served as a game. Both had like to have been losers.
I can't recollect that March produced anything very remarkable except the struggle about the small pox.
April is a month of great importance and expectation. Several appeared by the suffrages to be candidates for election at the Freemen's Meeting. Mr. Adams came in first; and, after many rounds, Mr. Strong just carried it against Captain Bradley. Captain John Marsh fell much short of the number I expected. Major Welch, who for some time has appeared a cool friend of the American cause, was ob- served to have nearly all the tory votes. So much for Deputies. The Constables for Litchfield were Lieutenant Mason, (since dead,) Al- exander Catlin, Briant and David Stoddard. Lieutenant Mason was appointed in the winter service, was seized with a pleurisy at De- Lancey's Mills, (Westchester,) sent over to Rochelle, and when we retreated from Fort Independence, was removed to Mamrock, where he died the same day. His eldest son, who was with Captain Beebe at Fort Washington, came home about the same time in a very miser- able condition, and is since dead. Captain Beebe and Lieutenant Jesse Grant still remain in captivity. It was said, after our success at Trenton and Princeton, that we were abundantly able to exchange all our prisoners; and certain it is, that we have numbers in hand, and yet our people are held prisoners. Is there not somewhere a neg- lect? May these partial ills be productive of universal good ! Has my honored friend any bright prospects ? Has he any cordial for one almost in the Nadir of Despondency ? Public spirit and virtue exist with us only in idea. Almost every one is pursuing his private gain, to the entire neglect of the public good. Our proportion of the continental army, I believe, is not half completed. Men will not en- list, and if drafted only for six weeks, (as has lately been the case,) they will rather pay a fine of five pounds. Thirteen men were the other day drafted in Captain Marsh's company to go to Peekskill and to be held but six weeks after their arrival. Not one has gone or in- tends to go. This town met last week and voted £12 premium for every one that should enlist into the continental army for three years or during the war; but I cannot learn that one man has enlisted since. This day orders came to town from the Governor and Council of Safe- ty to fill up the Eight Battalions immediately, by drafting men out of the militia and alarm companies, till the 1st of January ; but it will not be done, as a fine of five pounds will excuse from going.
Our money is continually depreciating. This week, John Collins sold two yoke of oxen for £95, which might have been bought a twelve month past for £20 per yoke. Every necessary article is continually
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