The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 31

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 31

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Ebenezer Bliss

Timo Strong

John Anderson Jr

Noah Bissell

James Rockwell Matthew Grant

Moses Bissell

Job Rockwell

Benoni Olcott

John Kellogg John Stoughton 1

" All returned from their Expedition &c. except Drake. Moor, Elgor & Gershom Bartlett."

1 Of JOHN STOUGHTON, in the above list, the author of Windsor Firmes says (p. 100) that he " was soon promoted to a lieutenancy and afterward became a colonel in the colonial army, and at the close of the French and Indian war received a large grant of land near Ticonderoga in consideration of his services, but was soon after drowned while transporting stock across Lake George. In a quaintly worded letter (in the com- piler's possession) written from New York, where he was then stationed, he informs his brother Lemuel that " I am recovering from the Small Pox. I have had about twenty of' them, just enough to show that I have had it." His solid silver-hilted sword. carried at the siege of Fort William Henry, and a map of the siege and engaged forces, drawn by himself, which he sent to his brother, Col. Lemuel Stoughton of E. W., are also pre- served. The map has been reproduced in facsimile in Windsor Formes, and is a valua. ble contribution to the history of the French War on Lake George.

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

Capt. Grant's commission as captain of a "Train Band," east of Connecticut River, issued from Gov. Jonathan Law, Oct. 29, 1742, is still in possession of his descendants.'

ALEXANDER (afterwards Dr.) WOLCOTT accompanied the Connecti- ent troops as surgeon's mate.

ISRAEL STOUGHTON.

Capt. DAVID ELLSWORTH (E. W.).

JOHN WARHAM STRONG was a first lientenant in service.

JAMES EGGLESTON, Jr. ( Why. ), was impressed into the service.

EZRA LOOMIS ( Wby. ) died at Louisburg, aged about 24 years, Dee. 18, 1745.

THOMAS BARBER ( Wby. ) died at Lonisburg, aged about 24 years, 1745.

STEPHEN GILLET ( Wby. ) died at Lonisburg, aged about 34 years, Feb., 1746.

CALEB CASE ( Why. ) died at Louisburg, aged about 34 years, May 10, 1746.

JAMES BARNETT ( Wby.) died at Louisburg, aged about 22 years. April 24, 1746.

JEREMY ALFORD ( who lived on Cook's Hill) distinguished himself by his bravery at Louisburg.

For a while America seemed destined to be the theatre of the Anglo-French war. France planned the recapture of Louisburg, but the fleet under D'AAnville, in 1746, was met by storms and pestilence, and. worse than all, left without a commander by the death of D'Anville, and the suicide of his successor- so that it never accomplished anything. Another French fleet, the next year, was captured by the English admirals, Anson and Warren. The New England Colonies proposed a a plan for the conquest of Canada, but it was not seconded by the mother country. At length, a season of " masterly inactivity " was ended by the general peace of Utrecht in 1748; and England, France, and Spain mutuaHy restored to each other the fruits of their conquests. "Nothing was gained, humanity had suffered, without a purpose, and without a result."

The war which the colonies had entered into with such zeal and at great expense, had not brought them any special advantage. On the contrary, it had been an almost useless expenditure of resources, and a loss of thousands of their young men : it left them with a depreciated currency, a paralyzed commerce, and that saddest accompaniment of war, a fearful deterioration of public morals.

The peace of Utrecht. however, procured but a slight cessation of

1 Stoughton's Windsor Farmex, 106.

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WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE FRENCH WAR.

hostilities. France, always restless and intriguing, soon began to in- fringe on the British possessions in Acadia and Nova Scotia. She also, in direct violation of treaty stipulations, extended her frontiers toward Crown Point and Ticonderoga on the north, and Virginia on the west, with the evident design of forming a connection between the head of the St. Lawrence and their possessions on the Mississippi. This, together with their relations with the Indian tribes, would have given them a command of the extensive trade of the interior ; and an oppor- tumity to harrass and annoy the English colonies, which the latter could never consent to.

About this time a number of lords and gentlemen in England, and planters in Virginia, associated themselves under the name of the Ohio Company, and obtained a grant of 600,000 acres of land in the Ohio River country. This movement was immediately resented by the French, mutual skirmishes and reprisals followed, and finally, in 1754, the Vir- ginians, who had commenced a fortress on their patent, were attacked by an overwhelming French force and driven from the ground with a loss of all but two of the English traders, and skins and property valued at €20,000. On the same spot which commanded the whole Ohio and Mis- sissippi country the French built a fortress which they named Fort du Quesne. As may be imagined, this event caused much alarm and appre- hension to Great Britain and her American colonies. Virginia, South Carolina, and New York were speedily in the field, and Col. Washington (afterward the hero of the American Revolution) having defeated a party of French belonging to Fort du Quesne, was afterward attacked by Villiers, the commandant of that post, with a large force; and after a brave defense in a hastily constructed fortress, accepted honorable terms of capitulation, which his bravery had extorted from the French general. At this juncture a convention of delegates from the several colonies was held, at which was disenssed the feasibility of a union of the colonies for mutual protection and defense against the French and Indians.

This necessary movement was warmly approved by the colonies, but. as might have been expected, was strongly opposed and denounced by Great Britain, whose whole policy was repugnant to anything that sa- vored of colonial independence. She evidently feared that the combined strength of the latter might some day be employed to sever the chain which bound them to herself. Consequently a meeting was proposed of the governors of the several colonies, who should, in the largeness of their wisdom, devise ways and means of defense, government, and pro- fection; and the colonies were to be taxed for the expenses of the whole. At this conneil, held at Albany, N. Y., 1754, Connecticut was represented by ROGER WOLCOTT, Jr. It is needless to say that this plan met with the most universal disapproval of the colonies themselves : for they were as iwill-

VOL. I .- 32

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

ing to trust their interests into the hands of kings and favorites as the latter were to grant them any independent powers.

Hostilities between France and England had now proceeded to the extent of actual war. Four expeditions were planned against the former : one against Fort du Quesne, under General Braddock : a second against Nova Scotia : a third against Crown Point, and a fourth against Niagara. In the spring of 1755 the northern colonies were alive with preparations for the coming campaigns. Special assemblies were held and taxes levied to defray the necessary expenses of fitting out the army. It was proposed to raise in New England 5,000 men, of whom Connecticut was to furnish one-fifth, to attack Crown Point and occupy the country around.

In the meantime the expedition against Nova Scotia under Col. Moncton was already in the field. Three several encounters with the French troops and their Indian allies resulted in success to the British arms, and placed the whole of Nova Scotia in their possession. The Acadians, munbering some 15,000, were disarmed and removed to New England and other colonies, where they were distributed as prisoners of war among the different towns. Some of them were sent to Windsor, but their names and subsequent history cannot now be discovered.' This event has received a new and romantic interest from Longfellow's beautiful poem, entitled Evangeline, a tale of Acadie.

While this was going on at the north General Braddock, with 1,500 regulars, had arrived in Virginia from England, and commenced, though tardily, his preparations for the expedition against Fort du Quesne on the Ohio. The history of that expedition is written in letters of blood upon the page of our country's history as Braddock's defeat. The rash- ness and arrogance of its leader were atoned by his death, and redeemed only by the bravery and good sense of George Washington and the Vir- ginia troops. Let us, however, turn from this seene to the operations of the expedition against Crown Point and Niagara, which are more inti- mately connected with the purposes of our history. The former, under the command of Gen. Johnson, luckily intercepted the Baron Dieskau, who, with a large force of French and Indians, was advancing to cut off Fort Edward, which was garrisoned by New York and New Hampshire troops. The battle which ensned resulted in the complete defeat of the French, although with a loss to the British of some brave officers and men. The remainder of the fall of this year was busily occupied in building a fort at Lake George and completing the works at Fort Edward, all of which had to be done in a trackless forest, and in face of many

1 We can only Jearn that three men came here and lived for a while on Hinsdale Hill, as the little eminence was named, on which the present Sixth District school-house now stands.

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WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE FRENCH WAR.

obstacles. All the colonial troops, except those in garrison, returned to their homes in November.

BENJAMIN ALLYN, Esq., of Windsor, was appointed Captain of the 4th Company in the 3d Regiment, in August, 1755. The following is the muster-roll of his company, nearly all of whom were from this town.1

" Roll of Capt. Benj. Allyn's Co. Crown Point Expedition, 85 men enlisted."

Isaac Tucker,

Nath' Gaylor,

Reuben Crow,*

John Japhet,

Zaccheus Crow, Levi Chapin, Ist Lt.

Reuben Cook.

Noah Hunt,

Zebulon Winchell,

Elijah Barret,

Robert Westland,

John Hosmer,

Benj. Baker,

Patt O'Conele,

Andw Shilling,

('has. Burnham,

Jona" Pinney, Jr.,

John Abbot,

Daniel Filley,*

Hez. Welles.

Elijah Evings,

Elisha Williams,

Geo. Colton,

Jona" Buckland, Sgt.

Daniel Eaton,

Ephraim Parker.

Jacob Osborn, Gideon Loomis,

Ebenezer Loomis,

Capt. Allyn.

Zephaniah Snow,

Giles Wolcott,

Asa Pimrey (Perry or Pinney ?),

Joel Soper.

Ely Parker,

John Eggleston, Jr ..

Abner Prior,

Ozias Grant.

John Strong, Drummer,

David Bissell,

Jona" Pinney, Corp",

Jon": Gillett,

Benj. Kinney, Corp1.

Joseph Moore,

Eliphalet Loomis,

Joseph Moore, Jr.,

Gideon Prior,

Charles Burnham, Drake, Sgt.,

Silas Wells,

Zeb. Winslow,

John MeMunnen,

Josiah Standliff, Thomas Jarwell,

Wm. Thomson, Eben Belknap.

Keup Perrigue (Indian).

Asher Isbam,

ISAAC PRAKE (Why.) was buried at Lake George, Oct. 26, 1755, aged 22 years.

The Niagara expedition, commanded by Gov. Shirley of Massachu- setts, was too tardy and too poorly provisioned to effect much. They,

1 State Archives, War, vol. VI.

* Those thus marked remained in garrison during the winter of 1755-56, their names being found in "A Role of Capt. Noah Grant's company in Garrison at Fort Ed- ward Now y" 26. 1756, their wages made out from y- 23 of Nov. 1755 to ye 26 of March 1756."

Thos. Hawkins,

Elijah Denslow,

Joseph Winchel .*

Appleton Hollister, Orvis, 2d Lt ..

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

however, built a new fort near the old one (on the site of the present city of Oswego), and, leaving a garrison there, returned home in October.

The campaign in 1756 opened brilliantly under the command of Lord London and Gen. Abererombie. A fine army, including 7,000 Provincials, was early in the field, anxious to be led against Crown Point, but its leaders were dilatory.' Time was wasted, and after a somewhat indecisive success by Col. Bradstreet, and the inexcusable surrender of Oswego to the French, by which they obtained command of Lakes Onta- rio and Erie, and the surrounding country, the campaign ingloriously terminated.

Capt. BENJAMIN ALLYN was in commission this year in the Crown Point expedition.

MEDINA FITCH (Ell. ) was first lieutenant in 7th company, 24 regiment.

MOSES GRISWOLD was first lieutenant in 1st regiment.

DANIEL BROWN (Why. ) died at Albany in September.

SAMUEL BELCHER died in war, as it is supposed, near Crown Point, 1756.

ITHAMAR BINGHAM (Ell. ) was appointed commissary ( March, 1756), of the hospital in this expedition.

Extensive preparations were made by Great Britain for the campaign of 1757, and early in July a powerful fleet, under Admiral Holburn, with 6,000 regular troops under Gen. Hopson, arrived in Halifax. Here they were joined by Lord Loudon with 6,000 provincials, eager to be led against Crown Point. Lord Loudon preferred to attack Louisburg; but so dilatory was he that, before they were ready to sail, Louisburg was reinforced by the arrival of a large fleet; the project was aban- doned, and Loudon returned leisurely to New York.

But Montcalm, the French general, first surprising and defeating a detachment of 400 near Ticonderoga, pushed on and invested Fort Wil- liam Henry, which was fortified and garrisoned by 3,000 men. After only six days' siege, during which it made a brave defense, it capitulated to the French. Gen. Webb, who was occupying Fort Edward only 14 miles distant, and might easily have relieved his braver compatriots, not only failed to do so, but sent a letter to Col. Monroe, advising him to surrender. The British were allowed to march ont with arms, baggage, and one cannon. But the French and Indians, contrary to stipulations, plundered them of their baggage, killed the Indians in their service, and chased the unfortunate English themselves nearly to Fort Edward, where they arrived in a most piteous plight. Albany was thus threatened, the

'A parade was hell in Windsor for "enlisting men for Crown Point expedition" on 10th April. (Olcott M.S.)

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WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE FRENCH WAR.

people were alarmed, and the colonies sent on large numbers of troops. Connectient alone furnished 5,000 mon within a few days.'

Windsor was by no means behind her sister towns in responding to the call. The following document serves to give us an idea of the urgency of the occasion. Oleott Family MISS. (South Windsor ).

" To Benoni Olcott, Clerk of ye 3rd Company or Trainband in Windsor, greeting: Whereas I've Reed special orders from Lieut. Colonel Geo. Wyllis, Lieut. Col. of y+ first Regiment of ye Colony of Connecticutt to muster my Company for a speedy march to fort Edward for the relief and succor of ye King's garrison and subjects there; These are therefore to require you, forthwith to notify all under my Command that they appear complete in their arms at landlord Porter's tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock for ye attending to yr business above sd as they will answer their neglect at ye peril of y Law. Fail not of thy writ to make Return to my Lieutenant

Dated at Windsor y- 12th day of August A. D. 1757.

EBENEZER GRANT, Capt. for 3d Company. P. S. If we march it will be on horse."

Of the Windsor men who responded to the Fort William Henry alarm. the same month, we have found but three names, viz. : Lieut. DAVID PHELPS of West Windsor, and SAMUEL STOUGHTON and AMMI TRUMBLE of East Windsor. MISS. Archives of the State.

Thus ended this year's campaign, as a British historian remarks, "to the eternal disgrace of those who then commanded the armies and directed the councils of Great Britain."

The year 1758 opened hopefully for the cause of Great Britain. The reverses and losses of the three previous years were so evidently the result of incapacity and bad management as to demand a change of min- isters and policy, in order to retrieve the waning fortimes of the British arms. A new cabinet was formed, and the genius of Pitt and the sound sense and integrity of his coadjutors gave renewed hope of better days. New measures were proposed, a new spirit was infused into every depart- ment of the service at home and abroad. Louisburg was to be reduced, Crown Point and Fort du Quesne were to be the main points of attack in the coming campaign. The colonies were in cestacies, their darling projects were at last about to be realized : and. when his majesty's letter, composed

I SAMUEL ALLEN (son of Joseph and Mary of E. W.) was among the few who escaped. When running through the woods, with nothing but his breeches on, he was caught by an Indian who sprang from behind a tree and seized him by the back of his neck. He turned suddenly upon the Indian and brought his knee forcibly against the pit of his stomach, and brought him to the ground and despatched him by jumping both feet upon his breast.

lle ran in this situation for a while, then meeting a man Mr. Allen said to him: " I cannot run so: do for God sake give me your jacket," which he had the kindness to do.

Hle then proceeded to Fort Edward. Mr. Allen carried the marks made by the Indian's finger nails upon his neck to his grave. (JSS. of Mr. Henry W. Allen of Warehouse Point, Conn.)

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

with the matchless art of Pitt, was received, requesting their loyal aid and support in the raising of 20,000 men, the whole country was in a fever of loyal joy. Connecticut immediately proceeded to raise 5,000, more than she could well afford. yet it was done not only cheerfully but with enthusiasm. They were to be divided into four regiments, cach with its colonel and chaplain ; the already large bounty offered for eulist- ment in previous years was increased, and everywhere the work of enrollment went briskly on. Meanwhile across the broad ocean was sailing a noble feet under Admiral Boseawen, bearing 10,000 troops, commanded by the circumspect Lord Amherst," and the scarcely less skillful Gen. Wolfe. On the 2d day of June that fleet lay before the battlements of Louisburg, and on the Sth the English landed through a rolling surf which upset and broke their boats, and in the very teeth of bristling ramparts and a perfect hailstorm of artillery, drove the French from their batteries and invested the city. For nearly two months the siege went on, but not until the city was a heap of ruins, not until their finest ships were burned and their batteries disabled, did the brave French surrender. With Lonisburg Tell Cape Breton and Prince Edward's Island. Wolfe returned home to meet the commendations of his sover- eign, bearing with him the praises of New England, whose great heart was overflowing with joy and gratulation.

Dr. ELIMIU TUDOR (E. W.), MARK FILLEY and his older brother ( E. W.), were engaged in this expedition.

While this was being enacted the colonies were actively pushing forward their preparations for their long-cherished attempt on Crown Point.

"On the banks of Lake George 9,024 provincials. From New England, New York and New Jersey, assembled. There were the 600 New England rangers, dressed like woodmen, armed with a firelock and a hatchet; under their right arm a powder horn; a leather bag for bullets at their waist; and to each officer a pocket-compass as a guide in the forests. There was Stark, of New Hampshire, now promoted to be a captain. There was the generous, open-hearted Israel Putnam, a Connecticut major, leaving his good farm, around which his own hands had helped build the walls; of a gentle dispo- sition, brave, incapable of disguise. fond of glorying, sincere, and artless. There were the chaplains, who preached to the regiments of citizen soldiers a renewal of the days when Moses with the rod of God in his hand sent Joshua against Amalek. By the side of the provincials rose the tents of the regular army, 6,367 in number; of the whole force Abercrombie was commander-in-chief; yet it was the gallant spirit of Howe that infused ardor and confidence into every bosom." (Bancroft, Vol. iv, 299.)

· On the 5th day of July the whole army of more than 15,000 men embarked at daybreak on Lake George in 900 small boats and 136 whale boats, together with artillery on rafts, and "the fleet, bright with ban- ners and cheered with martial music, moved in stately procession down the beautiful lake, beaming with hope and pride, though with no witness

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WINDSOR'S SHARE IN THE FRENCH WAR.

but the wilderness." Early the next morning they landed at the northern end of the lake, and, forming in four columns, began their march to Ticonderoga. But after two miles had been passed they came in the depths of the wilderness upon a large body of French. The struggle was sharp and resulted successfully to the English, but they lost their bravest man, Lord Howe himself, " the idol of the army "; and, grief- stricken and dispirited, the army encamped on the battle-field which it had so dearly won.

The next morning Abercrombie returned to his landing-place and sent out an engineer to reconnoitre the French works. The engineer reported that they were of flimsy construction, but the better practiced eye of Stark and the New England woodsmen decided otherwise. Aber- crombie, however, heeded only the advice of " his Rehoboam counsellors," and gave orders for storming the French position. But they had an enemy who was wary, cool, and prepared at every point. Again and again, through the hours of a sweltering hot July day, the brave grenadiers and active provincials charged upon those rude ramparts only to be mown down and hurled back by the steady and resistless fire of the enemy. At last, near sunset, they fled promisenously from the field, leaving 1.944 killed and wounded, mostly regulars.

While Monteahn had been in the thickest of the light, with his coat off, seeing, comprehending, directing everything, Abercrombie had been sungly but ingloriously ensconced at a sawmill two miles distant. And although the English possessed the advantages of position and heavy artillery, and in numbers they still exceeded the French fourfold, Aber- crombie embarked his army the next morning, and rested not until "he had placed the lake between himself and Monteahn."

Thus disastrously ended the expedition which had been inaugurated with such bright hopes. Its shame was, however, somewhat redeemed by Col. Bradstreet, who, at his own desire, and according to his own plan, was detached with a considerable force against Fort Frontenac, on the St. Lawrence, near its junction with Lake Ontario. This, after a two days' siege, he captured and destroyed, with its large stores of provisions and military equipments, and nine armed vessels. He then returned to Oswego, having frustrated a proposed attack of the French on the Mohawk River settlements : restored the communication between Albany and Oswego, and obtained the command of Lake Ontario.

In the south, Fort Duquesne had been taken nominally by Gen. Forbes, but really through the sagacity and energy of the youthful Wash- ington, who commanded the Virginians. On its site the flag of Great Britain was joyously planted, and the place was named Pittsburgh, a most enduring trophy of the glory of William Pitt.

Thus, with the exception of the unfortunate affair at Ticonderoga,

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

this campaign closed with honor to the British arms, presenting a marked contrast to the bad management and areunmilated disaster of previous years.

JOHN Chick was 2d lieutenant in 3d company, Ist regiment.

JOHN ELLSWORTH was ensign in 9th company, Ist regiment.

MEDINA FITCH was a first lieutenant.

JONATHAN GILLET was a first lieutenant.

SILAS CASE ( Why.) aged 18, was buried, Sept. 16, 1758, half-way between Albany and Lake George.

JONAH FILLEY (WWW. ) died 1758.

ABEL LOOMIS ( Why. ) buried October 16. 1758, at Greenbush.

JOHN LOOMIS ( Why. ) buried November 12, 1758, between Albany and Sheffield.

JOHN MEMFORD ( Why. ) aged 21, died 1760, with smallpox, in De- eember, above Albany.

RICHARD FITCH, aged IS, enlisted and went to Oswego and Montreal : on his return took the smallpox, which he communicated to three child- ren of his Father's (James ) family.

FRANCIS DRAKE and JEDIDIAH EGGLESTON were impressed and en- listed in the spring, but on account of sickness were allowed to return home, where they were a long time sick.

The campaign of 1759 opened with a free seacoast and a clear road into Canada, whose conquest became the great object of the British min- istry. To effect it, three expeditions were planned, which should act simultaneously. Gen. Wolfe, the hero of Louisburg, was to attempt the capture of Quebec. Gen. Amherst was to reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and then form a junction, via the Sorel and St. Lawrence rivers, with Wolfe at Quebec. Gen. Prideaux was to move against Niagara, and, if snecessful, to embark on Lake Ontario, and passing along the St. Lawrence was to besiege the city of Montreal. The col- onies were required to Furnish the same number of men as for the previ- ous year, and " Connecticut," says Bancroft, "which distinguished itself by disproportionate exertion, raised, as în the previous year, 5,000 men. To meet the past expense, the little colony incurred heavy debts, and learning political economy from native thrift. appointed taxes on prop- erty to discharge them."

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 31

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