The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 30

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I > Part 30

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Captain MATTHEW ALLYN led a company from this town in this umfor- tunate campaign. We learn from his letters to his wife ( Wolcott Manu-

1 Deaths in Hatfield, Gen, and Hist. Reg., is, 169. Possibly it is this Barber of whom tradition had preserved the story (recorded in Oliver Ellsworth, Jr.'s, Ms, of 1802) that " one lieut. Barber, who lived as long ago as when W. was first settled [ ?] or soon after its first settlement, was a very large stout man, and famous as a Lieutenant of Militia. The Indians making an insurrection, Lt. Barber went to quell them, but in the skirmish was shot and had his thigh broken: being thus disabled, however, he shot the Indian who shot him, and knocked down with the butt of his musket another Indian who was advancing upon him; but other Indians coming up, he was killed and scalped."

239

QUEEN ANNE'S AND INDIAN WARS, 1702-21.

seripts, Library of the Conn. Hist. Soc'y ) From the camp at Wood Creek, that himself, " TIM PHELPS, OBADIAH OWEN, NAT TAYLOR, and BART- LETT are sick. Taylor the worst."

On the town records are the following entries :

" Sept. 24, 1709. BENJ'N NEWBERRY, JR., died at the camp at Wood Crerk.

October HEZEKIAH BISSELL died near Albany.

SGT. ISAAC PINNEY, I WILLIAM STRATTON, STEPHEN TAYLOR, SAMUEL THRALL,

died aboard the vessell coming from

Albany.

In this expedition Rev. Timothy Edwards of ( East ) Windsor, and the Rev. Mr. Buckingham of Milford, were appointed by the legislature chaplains to the Connecticut troops. Leaving Windsor For New Haven in July, Mr. Edwards reached Albany with a detachment under command of Lient .- Col. Livingston on the 15th of August. Their march to Albany through a wild and uncleared country was full of toil and exposure. On his arrival there he wrote a letter to his wife, from which we make the following extraet :

" Whether I shall have any time to write you after this, I know not; but however that may be, I would not have you discouraged or over anxious concerning me, for 1 am not so about myself. I have still strong hopes of seeing thee and our dear children once again. I can not but hope that I have had the gracious presence of God with me since I left home, encouraging and strengthening my soul, as well as preserving my life. I have been much cheered and refreshed respecting this great undertaking, in which I expect to proceed, and that I shall, before many weeks are at an end, see Canada; but I trust in the Lord that he will have mercy on me, and thec my dear, and all our dear children, and that God has more work for me to do in the place where I have dwelt for many years, and that you and I shall yet live together on earth, as well as dwell together for ever in Heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ, and all his saints, with whom to be is best of all." !

On the 20th of August the troops marched for Wood Creek, but Mr. Edwards, being overcome by the unaccustomed fatigue and exposure, was taken sick ; and on the 4th of September was conveyed in a boat to Still- water, and from thence to Albany, through the woods in a wagon, and on a bed. After remaining a short time he was, by the failure of the expedition and consequent return of the army, restored in safety to his anxious family and parishioners.

Nothing of importance was accomplished the next year (1710) except the reduction of Port Royal, to which Connecticut, although poorly able, contributed 300 troops. Flushed with this success, General Nich- olson made a voyage to England to solicit the means for another invasion of Canada. Contrary to all expectations of the colonies, ho succeeded in his design, and in Jime arrived at Boston with the news that a fleet

1 Sprague's Innals of the American Pulpit.

1 1

240

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

might soon be expected from England, and with her majesty's orders that the colonial government should have their quotas of men and means in immediate readiness for the expedition. Among the Stoughton Mas, we find an autograph copy of the Connecticut Governor's proclama- tion, signed by his own hand, as follows:

By the Honourable Gardon Saltoustall, Exp. Governour and Commander in Chief of her Majestic's Colony of Connecticut in Nor England.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS, the General Assembly of this Colony have granted, 300 men, to Serue in the Expedition her Majestie hath appointed for the Reduction of Port Royal and Nova- Sentia, under the Comand of the Honble Col". Francis Nicholson, as General of all the forces in the said Expedition, and the Honbe William Whiting, Esq., as Colo- nell of the Regiment to be Raised in this Colony for the said Service -

For the incouragement of able body'd Persons to inlist themselves Volumtiers in the Same, I do hereby, by & with the advice of the Councill and at the desire and with the Consent of the Representatives in General Court assembled, assure all such persons who shal Voluntarily inlist themselves for the said Service with the Captain or other Chief Officer of the Respective Companies to which they belong, or the Major of the County in which they reside, that they shall each of them have a Coat of the Vallue of thirty Shillings, a firelock of the Vallne of forty Shillings, three years freedom from all Impr :- sses to serve out of this Colony, & one months pay in hand before they go out of the Colony, go under our own officers & return home as soon as Port Royal and Nova Sco- tin are redneed, or the Expedicon otherwise determined. Given under my hand in New- haven the 9th day of August, in the 9th year of her Majestic's Reigne. Anno Dom. 1710.

God Save the Queen.

G. SALTONSTALI ..

The above document is interesting as showing what inducements were offered to volunteers for war service in those days.

But, when the British fleet arrived it had neither pilots nor provisions. The colonies found that nearly the whole burden of the affair was to be thrown upon them, and the suspicion which naturally arose, that Queen Anne's tory ministry were not very anxious about the conquest of Can- ada, rather served to dampen the zeal which they had for the service.

Yet " in a little more than a month from the arrival of the fleet the new levies and provisions for that and the army were ready." Connecti- ent, besides vietnaling her own troops, furnished New York with 200 fat cattle and 600 sheep. More than this could not have been expected. On the 30th of June a splendid fleet, under Admiral Walker, having on board an army of 7,000 troops, sailed from Boston for Canada. On the same day General Nicholson began his journey to Albany, where he find himself at the head of 4,000 men from New York, New Jersey, and Connectient, the latter commanded by the veteran Colonel Whiting. Admiral Walker, however, loitering on his way, and calculating the pos- sibilities of winter dangers, was caught by a terrible storm on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, among the Egg Islands. Eight or nine vessels

211

QUEEN ANNE'S AND INDIAN WARS, 1702-24.

were shipwrecked, and nearly a thousand lives lost, and the admiral sailed for England, consoling himself that had he "arrived at Queher, ten or twelve thousand men must have been left to perish of cold and hunger : by the loss of a part, Providence saved all the rest !" The failure of Walker left Nicholson no option but to retreat. Thus inglori- ously terminated the campaign which had been heralded by so much preparation. It was a sore blow to the hopes of the colonies, and many began to think that "it was not the design of Providence that this northern continent should ever wholly belong to any one nation."

In Timothy Loomis's memorandum book is recorded that

" The Training Day they had throughout the Colonies to press soulders to go take Canada was the 6th of July, 1711. There went out of Col. Allyn's Company seren. The names are as follows: JOSEPH HOLCOMB, THOMAS GILLET, BENJAMIN HOWARD, BENJ. BARBER, BENEDICT ALVORD, EBENEZER COOK, NATHAN GRISWOLD.

They set away from Windsor July 10, 1711. They returned to Windsor againe October 12, 1:11.

The following Windsor men were also in service, in Captain Moses Dimond's Company ( State Archives, MIxx. War, iii. Commissary Account of Roger Wolcott ):

Lieut. SAMUEL BANCROFT, NATHANIEL GRISWOLD. JOSEPH GRISWOLD,

Sgt. NATH. PINNEY,

ISAAC PINNEY.

ROGER WOLCOTT (afterward Governor ) was Commissary of the t'on- necticut Stores in this expedition.

The following year (1712) was unmarked by any occurrence of importance. Various scouting parties were employed in ranging the woods.

JOSEPH PIFELPS, Jr., of Windsor, while engaged in a scout under Lieut. Crocker, in the summer of this year, had a narrow escape from the Indians, in which he lost his coat, blanket, hat, and divers other traps. (State Archives.)

In 1713 the war, which had grown out of European changes and convulsions, was ended by the treaty of Utrecht, which, by establishing the territorial relations of France and her neighbors, closed the series of universal wars for the balance of power, and left no opportunity for future contest.

The peace between England and France did not wholly relieve the New England colonies from trouble and alarm from their Indian neigh- bors. The latter, under the insidious influence of the French, continued to show signs of reslessness and ill-will, which, in 1724, broke out into actual hostilities. These lasted until the close of 1724, when a satisfac- tory peace was established between the Indians and whites. In this

VOL. I .- 31

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

war Massachusetts was the heaviest loser. Connecticut, however, was obliged to make heavy sacrifices for the common safety. The whole colony was put into a complete state of warlike defense, but suffered no loss of lives. Besides garrisoning her own frontier settlements, Connec- tient furnished and paid fifty or sixty men each year for the defense of Hampden County, Mass.

The Windsor militia were not called into very active service during this war. 1723, Capt. Matthew Allyn of Windsor was again on the War Committee of Hartford County. Certain hostile movements of the Indians in the vicinity of Litchfield, in the summer of 1724, induced the goverment to guard against any sudden attack by establishing a line of scouts from Litchfield to Turkey Hills, including the most exposed portions of Simsbury. AZARIAH PINNEY, SHUBAL GRISWOLD, and NATHAN WATSON were stationed at Litchfield on this seont. Watson claimed to have shot an Indian, which was stoutly denied by some of his companions, but as stoutly affirmed on affidavit by others.

At Turkey Hills a garrison was established, to which nine Windsor men were sent ; six of them remained from July 4th to August 13th, and three until August 22d. On the 12th of July " an alarm at Turkey Hills" induced the Council to send there three sentinels from Windsor, under Captain WOLCOTT and Lieut. ELLSWORTH. They were, however. dismissed after one day's service.

At length there came a respite from war's fieree ravages. Again

" Life, active, prosperous life. Ran through the woods, and mantled o'er the land. As the trees fell, the log-hut sprang in place; The Jog-hut, like the tent in fairy tale, Expanded to the village."

CHAPTER XIII.

WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE OLD FRENCH WAR

1739-1762.

N the latter part of 1739, England declared war against Spain, and the American Colonies were called upon to assist in the proposed expeditions against the Spanish settlements in the West Indies. Four regiments of troops were to be raised in the north, who were to form a junction at Jamaica with the largest fleet and the most powerful army which had ever been sent into the Gulf of Mexico. The colony of Con- nectieut seconded the wishes of the royal government with her usual alaerity. The governor issued a proclamation for volunteers, recruiting officers were appointed in each county, and every influence was used to forward the objects of the expedition. It was at this time that regimental organizations were first established in Hartford County : thirteen regi- ments, cach commanded by a colonel, were made np. Windsor and Win- tonbury companies were in the First Regiment of Hartford County, the history of which will be found in Hartford Evening Post, 17 March, 1880. In October, 1740, the armament, under the command of the able and popular Lord Catheart, sailed for the West Indies. At Dominica, Cath- cart fell a victim to the climate. and the command devolved upon his second, Wentworth, and Vice-Admiral Vernon, whom they were to join at Jamaica.

" The enterprise, instead of having one good leader, had two bad ones." Wentworth lacked experience and resolution ; Vernon was arro- gant and impetuous. There could be no nnity between such different temperaments, and the fate of the expedition was virtually sealed before it fairly commenced. Time was foolishly wasted ; and, when the splen- did fleet of over 100 vessels, with 15,000 sailors and 12,000 troops, fully provisioned and equipped, at last set sail, it was on a fool's chase after the French and Spanish fleets, which had already left the fatal climate.

1 We have endeavored, as far as possible, to designate the parishes of Ancient Wind sor, to which individuals belonged, by the following abbreviations: E. W., East and South Windsor : ENl., Ellington ; Wby., Wintonbury, now Bloomtickt. All others are supposed to bave belonged to Windsor proper. The Wintonbury names are mostly gleaned from the MS. pastoral records of the Rev. Hezekiah Bissell, first minister of that parish. The others from town and church records, and the State Archives.

244

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

Then, instead of attacking Havana, which was the keystone of the Gulf, although poorly defended, Vernon preferred to attack Carthagena, the strongest point in the Spanish power. A brave but rash attempt to storm the town was repulsed, with heavy loss to the assailants ; then the rainy season set in, and the fever of the marshes began a havoe among the English troops more deadly and rapid than the heaviest fire of artil- lory. In two days there died three thousand four hundred men. Of nearly one thousand New England men who left their homes but a few months before, scarce one hundred survived, and before the return of the fleet to Jamaica, in November, 1741, it was estimated that twenty thou- sand lives had been lost, mostly by the pestilence. In every town, and in almost every family in this and the neighboring colonies, was heard the voice

"of farewells to the dying And mourning for the dead."

Several citizens of Windsor enlisted in this unfortunate expedition, according to Timothy Loomis's AMIS. records.

" July 6. 1740. Volunteers appeared in Capt. Henry Allyn's company for Cuba, alias the West India settlements, viz. :

"THOS. ELGAR. ALEX. ALVORD, CYRUS JACKSON, ASAHEL SPENCER, AARON

From the State Archives we glean the names of RETURN STRONG, NATHANIEL HAYDEN, and ROGER NEWBERRY.

The latter gentleman was a distinguished citizen of Windsor, and his death is thus quaintly recorded on the town books:

" ROGER NEWBERRY, Esq .. Capt. of one of His Majestic's Companies belonging to Connecticut, and Listed in His Majestic's Service in ye war against ye Spanish West In. dies dyed (according to the best account that is yet given) May 6, 1741. In his Return from Carthagena to dimica about Three days before y" Transport arrived at Jimica."

The character of this excellent man is thus portrayed in the follow- ing obituary notice, found by us among some ancient manuscripts in an old garret in South Windsor, and reprinted here verbatim et literatim :

" Windsor, July 29, 1741. Last Monday we had the Melancholy news of the Death of the Worthy Capt. Roger Newberry who went from this Town on the Expedition. He was well descended. The Honorable Major Benjamin Newberry, that had adven- tured his Life in his Country's Service in the Indian war, and sate several years att the Councill board, was his Grandfather. Capt. Benjamin Newberry, who died of Sickness in the Expedition Formed against Canada, 1709, was his father.

" This Gentleman had a Liberal Education Bestowed upon him which he was care- Ful to Improve and was an accomplished mathematician and Good Historian. He always carryed about with him a Lively Sense of the Divine providence and of man's accountableness to his Maker of all his tho'ts, words and actions, and gave his Constant Attendance on the Worship of God in the Public and Private Excercises of it, was Just in his Dealings, a Sure friend and faithful Monitor.

245

WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE FRENCH WAR.

He had a very Quick and Clear apprehension of things, a solid Judgment and Te- nacrous memory; his Discourse and Conversation was affable and Instructive and so Prenliarly winning that most were his Real friends as were acquainted with him. His mind was formed for Business, which he followed with an Indefagitable aplycation by which he not only discharged to Good Acceptance the public Trusts that were put upon him, but also advanced his own Estate.

" In May, 1740, he being then a member of the Generall Assembly was pitcht upon by the Governor and Councill, yen, he had the suffrage of the Assembly to Invite him to Lead one company of the Troops from this Collony in this Expedition. Ile took it into Consideration and after Sometime appeared Inclined to undertake it, whereupon Some of his Relations to Dissuade him from it Laid before him the Dangers of his own Life and the Great Loss his family would Sustain if he should miscarry. He answered:

". I can Leave my Family with the Divine Providence: and as to my own Life Since it is not Left with man to Determine the time or place of his Death I think it not best to be anxious about it. The Great thing is to Live and Dy in our Duty. I think the War is just and my Call is Clear. Somebody must venture and why not I, as well as another.' So he took out his commission and Proceeded to fill up his Compiny, and there appeared such a Readiness to serve under him that he said he thought he could have made up his Compiney in [his] own Town.

" He was att the Takeing of Boto Chico, from which fort two Days after he wrote a chearful. Letter to his Wife Expressing his Great Hopes of Takeing the Town of Carthagena and thereby finishing the Expedition and opening a way for his Return.

" Butt soon after this he was Taken Sick and Languished until the fifth of May When he had almost Completed the thirty-fifth year of his age, he not far from Jamaica Departed this Life and wee Shall see his face no more nutill the Sea gives up the Dead that are in it.

"He hath Left his antient mother to Lament the Death of this her only Son. Ilis own Widdow with seven small Chilren, one att her Breast, a Family to mourne under this heavy Bereavement and Combat with the Difficulties of an unquiet World."!

In March, 1744, France, long suspected by England of assisting Spain, boklly threw off the mask, and war was mutually declared between the two nations. In the hostilities which followed success for a time attended the French, who captured Canso, and whose cruisers took many vessels and completely broke up the English fisheries. This, of course, deeply touched the interests of the New England colonies, who were largely engaged in the fish trade, and it became the general desire of the country that Louisburg should be taken. Having unsuccessfully applied to the home government for assistance, they at length resolved to under- take it alone. The deliberations on the subject were weighty and divided, but the war party preponderated, and preparations were accordingly made. None of the colonies outside of New England would join the hazardous undertaking, but nothing daunted by this or the manifold ob- stacles which presented themselves, an army of 4,000 troops, together with a fleet fully equipped, was raised within the short space of two months. To this force, which was commanded by Lieut .- Gen. William Pepperell, of Massachusetts, Connectient contributed 500 men, under com- mand of Lieutenant-Governor ROGER WOLCOTT of Windsor. Under com-

'Ser. also, biographical sketch in the Newberry Genealogy, in 2d volume.

246

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

mission as Major-General, from Govs. Shirley of Massachusetts, and Law of Connecticut, he was second in command of the united colonial army. Of his arrival at and departure for the seat of war, from New London, Miss Caulkins' history of that town gives the following account :

"April 1st. Gen. Wolcott arrived, and was welcomed with salutes from the fort and sloop Defence. His tent was pitched on the hill at the S. E. corner of the burial place. On Sunday, the 7th, Mr. Adams preached to the General and soldiers, drawn up on the meeting house green. On the 7th the commissions were published with im- posing ceremonies. The eight companies were arranged in close order on the green, and the throng of spectators around the hill. Through them. Gen. Wolcott, supported right and left by Col. Andrew Burr and Lieut. Col. Simon Lothrop, marched bareheaded from his tent to the door of the custom-house, where the commissions were read. The troops embarked Saturday, April 13th, and the next day, at one o'clock P.M., the fleet sailed. The Defence carried Gen. Wolcott and 100 men."

On the 224 of April the army was joined at Canso by Commodore Warren, from his station in the West Indies, with a fine fleet of large ships : and full of joy and enthusiasm the army and fleet set sail for Louisburg. It is needless here to recount the details of that eventful siege, which lasted from April 30th till its capitulation on June 17th. Suffice it to say that after numerous successes by land and water, which seemed like special interposition of Providence: after miracles of labor, bravery, and endurance, Louisburg, the apparently impregnable Gibraltar of North America, capitulated to the brave New England troops. Not until the victorious army entered the gates of the city. did they know the extent of their achievement, nor the difficulties which their bravery had overcome. Wonder struggled in their hearts with emotions of adoration to Him who had given them the victory. "God has gone out of the way of his common providence," said they, " in a remarkable and almost miracu- lous manner, to incline the hearts of the French to give up, and deliver this strong city into our hands." God had indeed granted to an undisei- plined army of mechanics, farmers, and fishermen, led by a merchant general, a victory almost unparalleled in history. The news was received in England with exultation, and in New England with a frenzy of popu- lar joy. Words cannot express the enthusiasm which was everywhere felt.

It was a prond day for Windsor when she welcomed home again her brave son, the lieutenant-governor. Ilis journal affords us a pleasant glimpse of the scene.

"Tuesday 30th. Col. Whiting with his troops and sundry Gentlemen from Hart- ford and Wethersfield came to me at my lodgings [at Wethersfield, on his way from New London, where he had arrived July 18th], from whence they attended me to my own Home at Windsor, where we arrived about two afternoon. Here we had a Good Dinner. Drank some bowls of Punch, &c., and after the Discharge of the Great Artil- lery and small arms Gave 3 Huzzas, and parted Good friends." - Coll. Conn. Hist. Society.

247

WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE FRENCH WAR.

Among the Wolcott Mss. in Library of the Connectiont Historical Society, is preserved his daily journal, from May 30th to JJuly 20, inclu- sive, detailing the events of the siege and giving copies of the official communications between the respective commanders-in-chief. Following this journal is a connected narrative of some twenty-eight folio pages, in his handwriting, in which he gives a careful " retrospect of the expedi- tion, in the projection, prosecution, and success of it." Its length pre- «Indes insertion here, but it is but just to say that it displays, in a most forcible manner, the Governor's strong character, and, above all, his deep, sincere trust in the wise ordering's of a great and merciful God.

Windsor contributed many of her best citizens to this enterprise, but it is impossible to ascertain the names of all.

Probably, in this expedition were the following East Windsor men, whose names are found in a document among Capt. Ebenezer Grant's papers, endorsed :

"An Acct of ye Men that went upon an Expedition into ye frontiers under my com- mand, Dec. 19th, 1745:

" Lt. Thomas Grant

Caleb Booth. Jun'

Ensign Gideon Wolcott

Elisha Munsil

Serg't Thomas Drake

Joseph Egelstone

Serg't Thomas Skinner

Benj. Bancroft

Sergt. Joseph Diggons

John Osband

Clerk, Josiah Wolcott John Prior Ammi Trumble Jun' Jolin Grant & John Grant Ir

Sam" Watson John Sikes Ephrm Wolcott

Nathaniel Stoughton

Sam" Smith

Benj Phelps

James Harper

Jerijah Bissell

Joseph Nuberry

Gershom Bartlett

Ezra Elgor

Zebulon King

Joseph Bartlett

Ebnz' Moor

Abijab Skinner

Jacob Elmor

Samll Bartlett

Nath1 Porter Jr

Willm Bissell

Benj Cook

Joseph Elmor Jr

John Gaylord

Azariah Grant

Robert Wood

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 30

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038