USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 32
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Previous to this date, Mr. Joseph Trumbull, the commis- sary-general of purchases, resigned his office, and was suc- ceeded by Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, also of Connecticut. General Mifflin soon after resigned the post of quarter-mas- ter-general. A new board of war was appointed, consisting of General Gates, Timothy Pickering, Joseph Trumbull, General Mifflin, and Richard Peters.
The difficulties experienced by Washington, while at Valley Forge, in procuring subsistence for his soldiers, was a just subject of complaint on his part, and on the part of the suf- ferers. The quarter-master's department was without a head,
* Hinman, 296. + Hildreth.
368
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
and was totally inefficient to supply the demands made upon it. The commander-in-chief was compelled to send out parties to seize corn and cattle wherever they could find them. Certificates were given of these seizures ; but their payment was often long delayed, and at last they were nom- inally cancelled by being paid for in depreciated continental bills-contrasting very unfavorably with the gold tendered by the British for all their purchases .*
Washington remonstrated not only to Congress, but to the states individually, and not altogether without effect. In accord- ance with the recommendation of Congress, a convention was held at New Haven, in January 1778, composed of delegates from the eight northern states, which agreed upon the scale of prices, in accordance to which provisions and clothing were to be paid for by the commissaries of the army .; Some of the state legislatures attempted to enforce the scale of prices thus agreed upon, but all efforts to that end proved fruitless. With the same object in view, recourse was had to internal embargoes, which resulted disastrously to commerce.Į
The American army did not leave their winter-quarters until about the middle of May. On the 18th of June, the British evacuated Philadelphia, and having crossed the Dela- ware, took up their line of march through the Jerseys. Washington pursued and overtook them at Monmouth Court House, where on the 29th of June, the battle of Monmouth was fought. The disobedience of General Lee to the orders of the commander-in-chief, prevented the action from being a deci- sive one. The American loss in killed, wounded and otherwise disabled, was about two hundred; that of the British, about three hundred, besides more than fifteen hundred desertions. The occupation of Newport by the British had long been
* Hildreth, iii. 231, 232.
t The commissioners or delegates from Connecticut to this convention, were Roger Sherman, Wm. Hillhouse, and Benjamin Huntington.
# Hildreth. Congress in June following, recommended to the several legisla- tures, the repeal of all laws regulating prices.
369
THE SEA COAST.
[1778.]
a source of chagrin to many of the American officers. There were at this time six thousand men stationed there, com- manded by General Pigot; and a project was formed to capture them. An attempt upon Newport had been made the year before, by General Spencer, of Connecticut, but for various reasons the expedition had proved a failure .*
Sullivan had been appointed to the command of this second attempt to recover Rhode Island from the hands of the enemy. His call upon Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, for five thousand militia, to aid him in this enterprise, was promptly responded to; and two brigades of continentals were sent on from the main army. The French fleet under D'Estaing, designed to cooperate with Sullivan, sailed from Sandy Hook early in August, bound for Newport.
On the 10th of August, the American army, ten thousand strong, landed near the north end of the island, in two divis- ions, one commanded by Greene, and the other by Lafayette. The four thousand French troops who, according to the plan agreed upon, were to have joined them, had been carried off to sea by D'Estaing, in a vain search for the British fleet. In spite of this disappointment, the Americans marched down the island, established themselves within two miles of the enemy's works, and opened a cannonade upon them. Having long waited in vain for the return of D'Estaing, Sullivan abandoned his lines, and retired at night. The enemy pur- sued him, and a sharp action ensued, in which he lost about two hundred men, and the British a still larger number. The Americans continued their retreat, and in a few days the British army was largely reinforced.
During this period, the legislature of the state and the ' council of war had been almost constantly in session. At the January session, 1778, several companies were directed to be raised for the defense of the sea coast. Of these, one
* Congress having manifested some ill feeling on account of this failure, Spen- cer resigned his commission. The people and government of Connecticut vindi- cated his course, by appointing him a member of the Council of Safety and a delegate to the General Congress.
56
370
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
hundred men were raised and stationed at New London. They consisted of a company of artillery commanded by Captain Nathaniel Saltonstall, and a company of musketry of which Adam Shapley was captain. The two corresponding companies stationed at Groton were commanded by William Ledyard and Oliver Coit. A company of musketry under the command of Captain Nathan Palmer, was ordered for the defense of Stonington. As these troops were entirely inadequte to the object contemplated, a regiment was raised expressly for the defense of the coast of New London county. Before they enlisted, however, Colonels Ely, Latimer, and Throop, and Majors Buel and Gallop, performed tours of duty with their respective regiments, at New London and Groton .* Twenty-four men, with a lieutenant, sergeant and corporal, were detailed for the defense of each of the towns of New Haven, Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, and Greenwich; a company of twenty men, with the same officers, were ordered to Milford, and another to Saybrook.
In March, William Ledyard was appointed to the command of the posts at New London, Groton, and Stonington, with the rank and pay of major. Under his direction the works were repaired and enlarged.
Two brigades were ordered to be raised in the state-to consist of six battalions, each battalion to contain eight com- panies, and each company to contain ninety men. These troops were to hold themselves in constant readiness to march wherever they might be directed, at the shortest possible notice. Of these six battalions, Roger Enos, Thaddeus Cook, Samuel Mott, John Mead, Noadiah Hooker, and Sam- uel McLellan, were appointed colonels; Howell Woodbridge, James Arnold, Nathan Gallop, Ely Mygatt, Seth Smith, and Thomas Brown, lieutenant-colonels ; Abel Pease, Abraham Tyler, Joshua Huntington, Eleazer Curtis, Bezaleel Beebe, and Levi Welles, majors.
In May, an act was passed providing for the settlement of the estates of such persons as had voluntarily placed them-
* Caulkins' New London, p. 526; Hinman, p. 300.
371
CONFISCATION ACTS.
[1779.]
selves under the protection of the British, or had voluntarily joined with or assisted the enemy-authorizing the confisca- tion of their property to the use of the state in certain con- tingencies. Two regiments of seven hundred and twenty- eight men each, including officers, together with three com- panies of light dragoons, were ordered to be forthwith raised, to be subject to the direction of the governor and council of war. To meet these and other extraordinary expenses, the governor was authorized to borrow £100,000, on an annual interest of six per cent. A corps of thirty men, exclusive of officers, was directed to be enlisted to act as a guard to the continental stores and public offices in Hartford.
In October, Colonel Enos' regiment of state troops was sent to guard the sea coast in the south-western part of the state. Provision was also made for the defense of the whole line of the coast from Stratford to Stonington.
At the session in January, 1779, an order was laid before the Assembly from Congress, notifying the state that her pro- portion of the public debt and expenses of the general gov- ernment to the close of the year 1779, had been fixed at one million seven hundred thousand dollars; with an intimation that her quota of the six millions of dollars annually for eighteen successive years would be soon determined according to the articles of confederation. Although the assembly adjudged the amount named to be more than her just proportion, mea- sures were taken to raise the money. A tax was levied of three shillings on a pound on the list of 1778, to be paid into the treasury before the 20th day of the following May ; and a further tax on the same list, of two shillings on the pound, was laid. Notwithstanding these exorbitant demands of the new government, Connecticut was determined to do ample justice to her sons then in the continental service. She therefore,
"Resolved, That in consequence of the sufferings of the troops of this state in the army, occasioned by the enhanced prices of the necessaries of life, the sum of forty-five thou- sand pounds lawful money be paid out of the treasury of the
. 372
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
state, by the 1st day of April next, to the officers and soldiers belonging to this state, and now serving in the infantry and artillery in the continental army, in just proportion to their respective wages. And that the further sum of sixty thou- sand pounds lawful money, be paid to them out of the state treasury, by the 1st day of December next, to be distributed justly and equitably among them.' "*
During this and former sessions, acts were passed provid- ing for fitting out and manning armed vessels, designed not only for the protection of our coast, but for the annoyance of the British naval ships on the sound, as well as for priva- teering. Insignificant as was our little fleet compared with that of the enemy, it nevertheless served the objects for which it was designed.
General Putnam, late in the autumn of 1778, had removed his army from White Plains and Peekskill, to Reading, in Connecticut, where he established his quarters for the winter. His position at this place enabled him to cover the country adjoining the sound and the south-western frontier, and at the same time to support the garrison at West Point, in case of an attack. He had under his orders, General Poor's New Hampshire brigade, two brigades of Connecticut troops, the corps of infantry commanded by Colonel Hazen, and the corps of cavalry under Colonel Sheldon.
While at Reading, the soldiers appear to have suffered much for the want of proper food and clothing; and, as their time was passed in comparative idleness, they found abun- dant leisure to brood over their privations and their prospects, and to contrast their condition with the enjoyments of home. They were not soldiers by profession ; but having known and appreciated the endearments of domestic life, and the comparative freedom of thinking and acting for themselves, they could ill brook the iron discipline of the camp, or the
* State Records, MS. At the same time it was voted that as the £45,000 necessary to be raised for the Connecticut battalions in the continental army, could not be procured in season, the governor was desired to write to our delegates in Congress to use their influence with that body to procure assistance.
373
PUTNAM'S SPEECH.
[1779.]
reckless disregard of the principles of humanity as well as of morality that too often follow in the footsteps of war. As if to add insult to injury, they had thus far been paid off in the depreciated currency of the times, which had proved almost useless to themselves and their families. Under these circum- stances, the Connecticut brigades formed the design of marching to Hartford, where the legislature was then sitting, and of demanding redress, if need be, at the point of the bayonet. Putnam having been informed that one of the brigades was actually under arms for this purpose, he galloped to the cantonment, and thus addressed them :
"My brave lads, whither are you going? Do you intend to desert your officers, and to invite the enemy to follow you into the country ? Whose cause have you been fighting and suffering so long in? Is it not your own? Have you no property, no parents, wives or children ? You have behaved like men so far; all the world is full of your praises ; and posterity will stand astonished at your deeds-but not if you spoil all at last. Don't you consider how much the country is distressed by the war, and that your officers have not been any better paid than yourselves ? But we all expect better times, and that the country will do us ample justice. Let us stand by one another, then, and fight it out like brave soldiers. Think what a shame it would be for Connecticut men to run away from their officers !"*
Each regiment received the general with the usual saluta- tions as he rode along the lines. When he had concluded his address, he directed the acting major of brigade to give the word for them to shoulder arms, to march to their regi- mental parades, and there to lodge their guns. They obeyed with promptness and apparent good humor. A single soldier, only, who had been most active in the affair, was confined in the quarter-guard, and was shot dead by the sentinel while attempting to escape during the succeeding night.t
On the night of the 25th of February, a detachment of
* Humphreys, p. 157, 158. + Humphreys, 158.
374
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the enemy under Governor Tryon, consisting of the seven- teenth, forty-fourth and fifty-seventh regiments, one of Hes- sians, and two of new levies, marched from their quarters at Kingsbridge, for Horse Neck, with the intention of surpris- ing the troops at that place and destroying the Salt Works. Horse Neck was one of Putnam's out-posts, and at the date of this incursion of the British, he chanced to be there on a visit. Captain Titus Watson, with thirty men, was sent out by Putnam as an advance corps, who discovered the enemy at New Rochelle, and retired undiscovered, before them, as far as Rye Neck. At this point, as it was now day-light, they were observed and attacked. Captain Watson gallantly defended himself, and continued his retreat to Horse Neck. Putnam immediately planted his cannon and formed his troops on the high ground, near the meeting-house, and for some time held the enemy in check by firing the field-pieces. Ascertaining the superior force opposed to him, and perceiv- ing by their movements that the horse, supported by the infantry, were about to charge, he directed his men to retire through the swamp, and form on a hill which he designated ; while he provided for his own safety by plunging down the precipice in his front, upon a full trot. The declivity was so steep that more than a hundred artificial stone steps had been provided for the accommodation of foot passen- gers. The British dragoons stopped short upon the brink, not daring to follow; but manifested their chagrin at his escape by firing several shots at him, one of which passed through his hat. Putnam continued on to Stamford, where he rallied a body of militia and a few continentals, and immediately returned to Horse Neck. Finding that the enemy, after committing some depredations, had commenced their return towards New York, he started in pursuit; and soon succeeded in taking about fifty prisoners, and in cap- turing one ammunition wagon and one baggage wagon. The latter was filled with plunder, which Putnam had the satisfaction of restoring to its rightful owners.
During Putnam's stay at Reading, two persons were exe-
375
ATTACK ON WEST HAVEN.
[1779.]
cuted-one having been shot for desertion, and the other hung as a spy .*
The British having undisputed possession of New York, during the summer of 1779, amused themselves by frequent incursions upon the Connecticut coast. On the morning of the 5th of July, the day on which the people of New Haven had made arrangements to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the British fleet, under the com- mand of Commodore Sir George Collier, anchored off West Haven, having on board Governor Tryon, with some three thousand land forces. About fifteen hundred of these troops, commanded by Brigadier-General Garth, landed on West Haven Point at sun-rise, and commenced their march toward New Haven. The town having been alarmed, great excitement prevailed, and while a few of the militia and other citizens mustered for purposes of defense, the mass of the people seemed intent on providing for the safety of their families and their property. At West Bridge, on the Milford
* The Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett, who was pastor of the Congregational church in Reading for a period of fifty years, officiated as chaplain to the encampment during the winter, and was present at the execution. He interceded with General Putnam to defer the execution of Smith until Washington could be consulted- the offender being a youth of seventeen years ; but the commander assured him that a reprieve could not be granted.
Mr. Bartlett was an earnest and fearless whig, and openly talked and preached " rebellion ;" so much so, that the tories, who were numerous in the eastern part of the town, threatened to hang him if they could catch him. In consequence of these threats, he often carried a loaded musket with him when on his parochial visits. His son, and successor in the ministry at Reading-the Rev. Jonathan Bartlett, now in his 91st year-well remembers the revolutionary encampment at Reading, and frequently visited it. He is sure that the story in Barber's "His- torical Collections," about Putnam's inhumanity at the execution of Smith and Jones, is incorrect. Though not present himself, he has often heard his father relate the incidents of the occasion ; and, furthermore, he once called the atten- tion of Colonel Ashbel Salmon, (who died in 1848, aged 91,) who was a sergeant in attendance upon the execution, to the statement, and he declared that nothing of the kind took place.
Mr. Bartlett (the son,) recollects that on one occasion during the revolution, he discovered some kegs of powder in the garret, which he afterwards ascertained his father had privately stored there for the use of his parishioners, in cases of emergency !
376
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
road, several field-pieces were stationed, and some slight works of defense were hastily thrown up. Here the enemy were met in so determined a manner, that General Garth withdrew his troops and made a circuit of nine miles in order to enter the town by the Derby road. In this march, a small party who had gathered on Milford hill, had a skirmish with the enemy's left flank, in which Adjutant Campbell was killed. The little company of patriots, though dispersed, soon rallied, and kept up a continual fire upon the British troops during their march to the Derby road. At Thompson's bridge, on this road, the militia, under Captain Phineas Bradley, met the invaders with a sharp fire of musketry and two field-pieces, which was kept up with little intermission until they entered the town. In the meantime, the other division of the British troops commanded by Governor Tryon in person, landed on the east side of New Haven harbor, and proceeded by land to attack the fort at Black Rock. The shipping in the harbor at the same time commenced cannonading the fort, which, as it contained only nineteen men and three pieces of artillery, was finally abandoned to the enemy.
Notwithstanding the proclamation of Commodore Collier to the contrary, the town was given up to promiscuous plunder. In many instances, property which could not be conveniently carried off, was wantonly destroyed. On Tuesday morning, much to the surprise of the inhabitants, the commanding officers called in their guards, and silently withdrew to their boats, carrying with them thirty or forty prisoners-having, however, first burnt the stores on the wharf and seven or eight houses in East Haven. The Americans had twenty-seven killed and nineteen wounded .*
* Killed .- Captain John Gilbert, Michael Gilbert, John Hotchkiss, Caleb Hotchkiss, Jr., Ezekiel Hotchkiss, John Kennedy, Joseph Dorman, Asa Todd, Samuel Woodin, Silas Woodin, Benjamin English, Isaac Pardee, Jeduthan Thompson, Aaron Burrell, a lad, Jacob Thorp, and Pomp, a negro, all of New Haven ; Eldad Parker, of Wallingford ; Bradley, of Derby ; Timothy Ludington, of Guilford ; John Baldwin and Gideon Goodrich, of Branford ; and one person unknown.
377
PRESIDENT DAGGETT IS STABBED.
[1779.]
Among those carried off was John Whiting, Esq., judge of probate, and clerk of the courts. The Reverend Doctor Daggett, President of Yale College, was captured near Milford hill, cruelly beaten, stabbed, and robbed, and then driven in a hasty march on foot for more than five miles.
The hostile fleet soon sailed for Fairfield, and anchored opposite that town on the morning of the 8th of July, where they disembarked. A few militia assembled to oppose them, but the invasion being sudden and unexpected, no systematic plan of defense was attempted. After plundering the town, the torch of the incendiary was lighted, and eighty-five dwelling-houses, two churches, an elegant court-house, jail, fifteen stores, fifteen shops, and fifty-five barns, were burnt to the ground. Colonel Tallmadge arrived in Fairfield from White Plains on the following day.
Sailing thence, the next morning, the village of Green's Farms soon shared the vengeance of Tryon. The church, fifteen houses, eleven barns, and several stores, were con- sumed .*
Governor Tryon and General Garth, perhaps for the pur- pose of gathering fresh courage for the renewal of their expedition, crossed the Sound, and remained in Huntington Bay until the 11th of July. They then sailed for Norwalk, and landed at that place between eight and nine o'clock in the evening. With the exception of six houses, said to
Wounded .- Rev. Dr. Daggett, Nathan Beers, (mortally,) David Austin, Jr., Elizur Goodrich, Jr., Joseph Bassett, Captain Caleb Mix, Thomas Mix, Israel Woodin, (and taken,) John Austin, Abraham Pinto, Nathan Dummer, Jeremiah Austin, Edmund Smith, and Elisha Tuttle, (since dead, whose tongue was cut out by the enemy,) all of New Haven ; Benjamin Hurd, of Branford, and Mr. Atwa- ter, and a negro, of Wallingford.
Many of the dead had the appearance of having been wounded by bullets, and afterwards to have been killed with bayonets. Mr. Beers, (whose name appears in the above list as mortally wounded,) was assaulted in his own house while he was unarmed.
The British lost about eighty-among whom were several meritorious officers.
The amount of property destroyed by the British in New Haven was subse- quently estimated by a committee to amount to £24,893, 7s. 6d.
* Barber's Historical Collections.
378
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
belong to the royalists, the entire village was destroyed, including the public stores and magazines, the vessels in the harbor, and other combustible property .*
General Washington, having learned that Tryon had com- . menced his threatened invasion of Connecticut, directed General Parsons, (then in command near the Highlands,) to hasten to the scene of action. Mustering for the service one hundred and fifty continental troops, and a considerable body of Connecticut militia under General Erastus Wolcott, by forced marches he was able to reach Norwalk on the morn- ing of the 12th of July, immediately after the British had
* Upon a memorial in 1791, of the inhabitants of the towns of Fairfield and Norwalk, in Fairfield county, the great losses occasioned by the devastations of the British during the war, were shown to the General Assembly ; on which they prayed for remuneration from the State. A committee was appointed by the Legislature, in May, 1791, to ascertain from documents in the public offices, the losses, not only of the memorialists, but of others who had been sufferers under similar circumstances, that had been estimated in conformity to previous acts of the Assembly, such as had been occasioned by incursions of the enemy during the war. The Assembly, therefore, in May, 1792, by a resolution, released and quit-claimed, to the sufferers, named on the State record, or to their legal representatives, if deceased, and to their heirs and assigns forever, 500,000 acres of land owned by Connecticut, situated west of Pennsylvania, bounded north on lake Erie, beginning at the west line of said lands, and extend- ing eastward to a line running northerly and southerly parallel to the east line of said tract of land owned by this State, and extending the whole width of said lands, and easterly so far as to comprise said quantity of 500,000 acres, (exclusive of former grants to sufferers, if any,) to be divided among said suffer- ers and their legal representatives, in proportion to the several sums annexed to their names on record, (which land is located in Huron county, in the State of Ohio.)
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