USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from its earliest settlement to the present time. Ed. by W. H. Carpenter and T. S. Arthur > Part 11
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To one as ambitious for distinction as young Arnold, the unobtrusive duties of an apothecary were not at all attractive. Once previous, when only sixteen, he had enlisted; but this caused
185
1760.] BENEDICT ARNOLD.
his mother such distress, that her friends pro- cured his release and brought him home again. On the present occasion, either the dullness of the campaign afforded him no opportunity to gratify his love of stirring adventure, or the re- straints of garrison life proved irksome to the restless and unyielding spirit that swayed him ; for, before the year was out, he deserted and returned home, narrowly escaping the vigilance of an officer sent in pursuit of himself and other recusants.
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186
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1762.
CHAPTER XIV.
Spain joins France against England-Expedition against Ha- vana-Putnam joins it-Transport bearing the Connecticut regiment driven on a reef-Escape of all on board-Havana taken-Great mortality among the provincial troops-Peace of Fontainebleau-Wyoming settled by Connecticut emi- grants-Jurisdiction claim of Connecticut-Wyoming set- tlers driven away by the Indians-Stamp Act proposed- Alarm of the colonies-Colonel Barre's reply to Townshend -Stamp Act passed-Course of Governor Fitch-Of Trum- bull and Putnam-National Congress assembles-Its action -Proceedings approved by Connecticut-" Sons of Liberty" -Ingersoll's address to the Connecticut people-Stamp Act a nullity-It is repealed-Rejoicings in Connecticut-Sad accident at Hartford-Townshend's revenue bill passed- Action of the colonies-Pitkin governor of Connecticut- Townshend's bill repealed-Wyoming reoccupied by emi- grants from Connecticut-Collisions with the Pennsylvanians -Connecticut people triumphant-Assumption of jurisdic- tion by Connecticut.
MEANWHILE, aggrieved by the establishment of British commercial posts in Central America, Spain had entered into what was called the " Family Compact" with France. Hostilities were again commenced vigorously, but not on the North American continent. To humble Spain, a powerful armament was fitted out in England against Havar In addition to four regular regiments from New York, a large body
187
SIEGE OF HAVANA.
1763.]
of provincials, under General Lyman, was or- dered to join the expedition. Putnam accom- panied as commander of the Connecticut regi- ment.
Arriving safely on the coast of Cuba, the fleet there encountered a terrible storm, during which the transport bearing Putnam and half the Con- necticut regiment was driven upon a reef. All on board succeeded, however, in gaining the shore, where they remained strongly intrenched till the storm had lulled, and then re-embarked in the convoy. The fleet then sailed for Havana, which the English troops had already invested. The arrival of the American reinforcements gave new life and energy to the besiegers, who, in a few weeks, had lost half their number by priva- tions, sickness, and in unsuccessful assaults. Incited to fresh effort, they speedily forced Ha- vana into a capitulation, on the 12th of August, 1762. But the victory was dearly purchased by the English, who sunk by hundreds under the baneful influence of an unaccustomed climate. Of the provincial regiments, only a feeble rem- nant, composed chiefly of officers, lived to return home.
The capture of Havana, and other successes of the English, speedily brought the allied powers to terms. Peace was finally restored by the treaty arranged at Fontainebleau in November, 1762, and signed at Paris, February 10th, 1763.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1763.
By this treaty, all the North American conti- nent east of the Mississippi was ceded to Great Britain.
Early in the subsequent spring, a small band of emigrants left Connecticut, and, after toiling through the intervening wilderness, began to build their cabins in that beautiful, but till then unsettled region, which has since become cele- brated as the Valley of Wyoming. These emi- grants were the pioneers of other and larger bodies sent out by the "Susquehanna Company," an association of some eight hundred Connecticut people, who, with the sanction of the assembly, had purchased the tract from its Indian owners in 1755, but had been prevented by the war from settling it at that time. Over the colony thus planted, Connecticut claimed jurisdiction-a claim undoubtedly authorized by the terms of its charter, but which Pennsylvania, as will pre- sently be seen, was by no means willing to allow.
Five years subsequent to their first settlement, the Wyoming colonists, while dispersed at work in their fields, were suddenly and unexpectedly attacked by the neighbouring Indians. Twenty, or thereabouts were slain; many were taken captive; the rest abandoned their new homes, and fled through the woods to Connecticut.
In the mean time, the first act of the great drama of the War of Independence had been wit- nessed. From the days of Cromwell, England
189-
STAMP ACT.
1764.]
had exercised an odious regulative and restric- tive power over the commerce and manufactures of the North American colonies. Relieved from other cares by the peace of 1763, the British ministry unwisely determined to subject the pro- vinces still further to the authority of the home government.
Urged on by Grenville, the prime minister, Parliament, in March, 1764, resolved that it had a right to tax the colonies. With a view of ex- ercising the right thus claimed, it advised a bill requiring certain legal and other documents to be written on stamped paper, sold by crown officers, at prices which drew a stated tax from' the purchaser.
Alarm and indignation at once agitated the American provinces. Declaring that their liber- ties as British subjects would be lost, if they were thus taxed by a legislative body in which they were not represented, the colonists forward- ed to England remonstrance after remonstrance against the proposed measure. Nor did they lack bold and able friends in Parliament. While the obnoxious bill was being debated in the House of Commons, Townshend, one of the ministry, spoke of the colonists as " children planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, and pro- tected by our arms." Rising in his seat, Colonel Barre, who had served in America, indignantly retorted : "They planted by your care ? No !
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1765.
your oppressions planted them in an unprotected and inhospitable country .... They nourished by your indulgence ? They grew up by your neglect of them. ... They protected by your arms ? They have nobly taken up arms in your defence. .. . Be- lieve me-remember I this day told you so-that the same spirit of freedom which actuated those sons of liberty at first, will accompany them still; that they are a people jealous of their liberties, and will vindicate them if ever they should be violated."
Unheeding the warning thus given, and re- gardless of the petitions and remonstrances of the colonists, the ministers urged the bill through Parliament. Finally passed in March, 1765, it was to become operative on the 1st of November following.
The intervening period was one of intense ex- citement. From New Hampshire to Georgia a bold spirit of opposition to the Stamp Act per- vaded the colonies. In Connecticut, Governor Fitch and a majority of the assistants seemed little disposed to resist the operation of the mea- sure, but the popular feeling, directed by such men as Trumbull and Putnam, was earnestly against it.
At the recommendation of Massachusetts, a · national Congress, composed of delegates from nine colonies, assembled at New York in Octo- ber, and adopted a declaration of rights, a peti-
191
SONS OF LIBERTY.
1765.]
tion to the king, and memorials to both houses of Parliament. Spirited but respectful in their tone, these documents exhibited in a clear and strong light the rights and the grievances of the colonists, who, it was contended with an over- whelming force of argument, could not be taxed unless by the consent of their respective as- semblies.
As the action of the Connecticut delegates was restricted to a report of the convention's proceedings, they did not sign the various pa- pers adopted, but the assembly gave them its immediate and cordial approval.
Meanwhile, associations designed to unite the people in forcible opposition to the Stamp Act, had been formed in the northern provinces. Originating in Connecticut and New York, and thence rapidly extending to the adjoining colo- nies, these associations, borrowing the name " Sons of Liberty" from the speech of Barre, made the intimidation of stamp-officers the chief object of their formation, and mutually bound themselves to repair at once to the assistance of any place which might be endangered by its re- fusal to submit to the obnoxious law. Guided by combinations of this character, the popular spirit soon evinced itself alarmingly.
In view of the odium to which he was subject- ed, Ingersoll of Connecticut, who, at the instance of Franklin, had accepted the office of stamp-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1766.
distributor for his own colony, published an ad- dress " to the good people of Connecticut," in which he informed them that he "meant them a service" by that acceptance; " but," he con- tinued, " if I find that you shall not incline to use any stamped paper, I shall not force it upon you, nor think it worth my while to trouble you or myself with any exercise of my office."
As in Connecticut, so in the other colonies, the stamp-officers either resigned voluntarily, or were compelled to do so by threats of violence, which in many instances were promptly exe- cuted. On the 1st of November, neither stamps . nor stamp-officers were to be seen. After a short delay, business proceeded as if no such things existed.
A new and, ostensibly, more liberal ministry had meanwhile come into power. Finding that the obnoxious act was in effect nullified, they procured its repeal on the 19th of March, 1766. The gratification of the colonists was extreme. The assembly of Connecticut, which was in ses- sion at Hartford, when the intelligence of this provincial triumph arrived, appointed the Friday following as a day of general rejoicing,' to be ushered in by the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon, and the hoisting of flags and streamers. But a terrible accident marred the pleasures of the day. Near by where two militia companies were training on the green, stood a brick school-
193
TOWNSHEND'S BILL.
1767.]
house, containing a large quantity of powder, which, probably set on fire by the wadding from one of the soldier's guns, exploded with terrific violence, and killed or wounded more than thirty of the surrounding people.
But if the joy of the Americans was great, its duration was not long. Expediency alone had induced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act : its right to tax the colonies was still claim- ed. The Rockingham ministry being speedily overthrown, a new one was formed, prominent in which was the talented but changeable Charles Townshend. Though but a few months previous he had received from Massachusetts a special vote of thanks for having brilliantly advocated the annulment of the Stamp Act, Townshend brought forward, in January, 1767, a new bill to draw a revenue from the provinces by imposing duties on tea, paints, lead, and glass. In the following June, this scheme, professedly for the regulation of commerce, but in reality an insidi- ous attempt to burden the colonies with taxation, was carried triumphantly through both houses of Parliament.
Immediately penetrating the covert design of Townshend's bill, the Americans stormily agi- tated its repeal. Petitions and remonstrances flowed in upon the ministry from all parts of the colonies. Non-importation agreements as to cer- tain English goods, and plans for the encourage-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1770.
ment of home manufactures, adopted first in Massachusetts, speedily found numerous friends in the other provinces, and especially in Con- necticut, where Fitch, who favoured the Tory or ministerial party, had been superseded by William Pitkin, an open advocate of the Whig or popular cause.
Alarmed at length by the storm they had evoked, the English ministry, in April, 1770, procured the repeal of all the duties imposed under the late act, with the exception of three- pence a pound upon tea. Having thus gained a second partial triumph, the colonists, modifying their non-importation agreements so as to include tea only, for a time confined themselves chiefly to the consideration of minor questions of inter- nal polity.
Unsubjected to the caprices of a royal go- vernor, Connecticut, unlike her sister colonies, had been little agitated by political excitements, except they were such as sprung from the dis- cussion of great national topics. Even with re -. gard to these but an unimportant difference of opinion existed among the freemen, few of whom were not ardent Whigs and staunch friends of the rights of the provinces.
But shortly previous to the partial abrogation of Townshend's revenue bill, events occurred that caused no slight stir in the local politics of Connecticut, and led to a contest, not unattended
195
WYOMING SETTLEMENT.
1770.]
by bloodshed, between the inhabitants of two pro- vinces which, at this particular juncture, should have been bound together by the strongest ties of amity.
In the spring of 1769 the Connecticut settlers of Wyoming returned to the lands from which they had been driven during the previous autumn. Unexpectedly, and greatly to their chagrin, they found them nearly occupied by a company of Pennsylvanians, to whom the proprietaries of Pennsylvania had granted the same territory. By this company a blockhouse had been built, and every preparation made to retain their oc- cupancy.
Nevertheless, erecting a blockhouse of their own, the Connecticut people began to till anew their devastated fields. Hot disputes ensued ; and, presently, one Aaron Ogden, at the head of two hundred Pennsylvanians, captured the eastern immigrants and obliged them to return to their former homes, stipulating, however, that their crops might be cared for by a few families whom he allowed to remain until fall. But, re- gardless of this stipulation, Ogden presently destroyed their cattle and harvests; and drove away the families that had been left to attend to them.
In February, 1770, Captain Lazarus Stewart, returning with a party of immigrants, took Og- den's blockhouse, which, being soon after recap-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1770.
.
tured, was again assailed by Stewart, and finally burned. Ogden himself was forced to leave the country, which, during the ensuing spring and summer, remained quietly in the possession of the Connecticut settlers.
At this juncture, the Pennsylvania proprieta- ries complained to Jonathan Trumbull, the newly- elected governor of Connecticut. He, however, declared that the province was not responsible for the acts of the emigrants.
In the autumn of 1770, Ogden suddenly ap- peared in the valley at the head of a hundred and fifty men, and took many of the Connecticut people prisoners, treating them, according to their own story, with great inhumanity. But the triumph of the Pennsylvanians was of brief duration. In December, Stewart returned with a force to which they were compelled to submit.
A reward was now offered by the governor of Pennsylvania for Stewart's capture. This a sheriff, assisted by Ogden and his men, under- took to accomplish. Assailing the Connecticut people's blockhouse, they forced it to surrender. But in the attack a brother of Ogden was slain, while Stewart, with most of the garrison, escaped during the night.
In July, Captain Zebulon Butler returned from Connecticut with seventy men, and began a re- gular siege of the new fort which the Pennsylva- nians had just completed. As Butler was pro-
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WYOMING SETTLEMENT.
1773.]
vided with cannon, Ogden found his position a critical one. Secretly escaping down the Sus- quehanna, he hastened to Philadelphia, where he procured a hundred soldiers, and marched them to the assistance of his beleaguered fortress. Warned of Ogden's advance, and at the same time learning that he had divided his force, Butler determined to attack him in detail. His plans were completely successful. One division was ambushed and put to flight ; the other, hav- ing entered the fort, presently surrendered with its garrison.
For two years subsequent, the Connecticut claimants of Wyoming remained in quiet posses- sion under a government of their own. In 1773, however, they applied to Connecticut to assume jurisdiction. Their claim being sustained by high legal authority, the assembly, after a vain attempt to procure an amicable arrangement with Pennsylvania, incorporated the Wyoming settlement as the town of Westmoreland, annex- ed it to Litchfield county, and admitted a repre- sentative from it into their body. This last proceeding seems to have met with earnest but unavailing opposition from a respectable party in Connecticut. For a while the discussion with regard to it raged warmly ; but other and more momentous questions soon caused it to be for- gotten.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1774.
CHAPTER XV.
Tax on tea rendered nugatory by non-importation agreements -Parliament attempts to force tea into America-Opposition · of the colonies-Tea destroyed at Boston-Rage of the mi- nisters-Port of Boston closed -- National Congress of 1774 -Action of the Connecticut assembly-Battle of Lexington -Boston invested-Patriotism of Putnam-Arnold before Boston-Zeal of Governor Trumbull-Of the Connecticut assembly-Connecticut during the war-Allen and Arnold at the capture of Ticonderoga-Enterprise of Arnold-Com- plaints of his enemies-Throws up his commission-Putnam at the Battle of Bunker Hill-Washington commander-in- chief-Arnold's march through the wilderness to Quebec- Joins Montgomery-Assault on Quebec, and death of Mont- gomery-Arnold maintains the blockade of Quebec-Canada evacuated-Arnold the last to quit the enemy's shores.
MEANWHILE, by their non-importation and non-consumption agreements, the colonists had rendered the tax on tea almost nugatory as an assertion of parliamentary right. Finding that in consequence the East India Company's ware- houses were full of the obnoxious commodity, the English ministry prepared to force a large quan- tity of it into the colonies, and thus relieve the company from its embarrassments, and establish by precedent the right of taxation claimed for Parliament. Having removed the existing duty on teas exported from England, they made ar- rangements with the East India Company to
199
TEA DESTROYED AT BOSTON.
1774.]
send several cargoes of the " pernicious weed" to America, where, it was hoped, as the tax was now only such in name, a good market would be found for it.
But, in their opposition to the ministerial plans for drawing a revenue from them, the colonists were swayed by other and far higher than mer- cenary motives. The duty was now really no- thing, but if they should once pay it there might be no end to the taxes which such a surrender of right, principle, and liberty, would authorize Parliament to levy. Declaring their abhorrence of the new ministerial scheme, as being an in- sulting attempt to bribe them into a compliance with their own political subjection, they at once prepared to give it the full and inflexible force of their opposition.
By the time the tea ships arrived, the whole country was in a ferment. At Charleston the tea was permitted to be stored, but not to be sold. The cargoes intended for New York and Philadelphia were sent back to England again. At Boston the public indignation was more vio- lently evinced. On the evening of the 16th of December an assemblage of citizens, disguised as Indians, boarded three vessels containing tea, and threw their cargoes into the ocean.
By this decided action the object of the mi- nisters was signally frustrated. Their rage was proportioned to the completeness of their defeat.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1775.
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As Massachusetts and its chief city had led the opposition, bills were speedily adopted in Par- liament, by which that colony's charter was vir- tually annulled, and the port of Boston closed, greatly to the subsequent suffering of its inha- bitants.
These measures but provoked the colonies to sterner resistance. In New England every green became the training-ground of well-organized companies of "minute men." But, while the idea of an appeal to arms was thus encouraged, steps were taken to procure a more peaceable adjustment of difficulties. For this purpose a national Congress was called. Meeting, at Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, this body, in which Connecticut was ably represented by Roger Sherman and Silas Dean, adopted a. declaration of rights, a petition to the king, and addresses to the people of England and of Canada.
Having, on the 3d of November following, ap- proved the proceedings of this Congress, and reappointed the former delegates, the Connecti- cut assembly ordered cannon to be mounted at New London, the militia to be trained frequently, and the towns to lay in a double supply of ammu- nition. At a special session in March, 1775, they commissioned David Wooster as a major- general, and Joseph Spencer and Israel Putnam as brigadiers. Fought but a few weeks after-
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ACTION OF THE ASSEMBLY.
1775.]
ward, on the 19th of April, the battle of Lex- ington unsheathed the sword and called the colonies to arms.
The intelligence of this affair, borne swiftly from town to town, within two days brought a provincial force of twenty thousand men to the siege of Boston. Prominent among the officers commanding was the still athletic figure of Put- - nam, who, though verging upon his sixtieth win- ter, had left his plough standing in the furrow, and, without even changing his clothes, hurried to the scene of hostilities. From New Haven came Benedict Arnold, at the head of sixty vo- lunteers, whom his energy had called into the field.
Sharing the spirit of the aged Trumbull, whose patriotic zeal suffered no abatement during the long and wearisome War of Independence, the Connecticut assembly, in raising troops, pro- viding for their support, and in sustaining the awakened energies of the people, displayed the most commendable promptitude and vigour. A week after the fight at Lexington they voted for six regiments of a thousand men each. To officer these, Putnam, Wooster, and Spencer were con- firmed in their previous appointments, and Hin- man, Parsons, and Waterbury received the re- maining commands. Nor was it only in the first outbreak of resistance to the tyranny of an ignorant ministry that Connecticut exhibited
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1775.
this spirit of promptness and energy. During the whole contest for independence she sent large and effective armies into the field. The seventh in population, as near as can be calcu- lated, of the original thirteen colonies, she stood second to Massachusetts only in the number of her revolutionary troops, which amounted to nearly thirty thousand.
Scarcely had the battle of Lexington been fought, when a party of forty persons hastened from Connecticut to Vermont, where, at Castle- ton, in accordance with a previous arrangement, they met Colonel Ethan Allen, at the head of more than two hundred Green Mountain Boys. The object of this expedition was the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Unexpectedly, and greatly to Allen's astonishment and indigna- tion, just as the little band was about to start, Benedict Arnold, attended by a single servant, made his appearance and claimed command, on the strength of a colonel's commission from Mas- sachusetts. A hot discussion ensued, and the expedition would have ended in nothing had not Arnold compromised by joining as a volunteer, with the rank of colonel, but without any au- thority.
At early dawn on the 10th of May, the two rival and ambitious colonels, marching abreast, Arnold on the left, entered Ticonderoga, at the head of their men, whose huzzas, as they formed
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ENTERPRISE OF ARNOLD.
1775.]
a hollow square inside the fort, were the first notices the garrison had of an enemy. The sur- prised commandant at once yielded to Allen's energetic demand to surrender " in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The same day Crown Point surrendered unresist- ingly to a detachment led by Seth Warner, who, like Allen, a native of Connecticut, had been one of the early settlers of Vermont.
Joined by a few recruits, whose number soon swelled to a hundred and fifty, Arnold, on the strength of his Massachusetts commission, pre- sently took command at Crown Point, as well as of a little fleet which his enterprise had won from the enemy. Bold, restless and untiring, he did much valuable service, not the least of which was the forwarding of cannon and mortars from Crown Point to the army besieging Boston.
But, overlooking his zeal, activity, and mili- tary skill, his enemies saw nothing in him but pride and presumption. Reiterated complaints with regard to these at length induced Massa- chusetts to send a committee to inquire into his conduct, to order his return if they thought pro- per, or, if he were allowed to remain, to render him subordinate to Hinman, who, with his Con- necticut regiment, was to take command of the captured fortresses. Permitted to read the com- mittee's instructions, Arnold at once disbanded his men, threw up his commission, and loudly
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