USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement to the present time > Part 2
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CHAPTER XLVII. 1813-1814.
The War continues .-- The British Squadron off New-London .- Three United States' Ships driven by it into New-London .- Troops demanded and furnished by Connecticut for their Pro- tection and the Defence of that place .- Capture of Poutapaug by the British .- Destruction of Property .- The Governor and Legislature complain that Connecticut is left unprotected by the General Government .- Requisition on Connecticut for 3000 men .- Attack on Stonington by a British Fleet .- The Coast of the United States kept in a state of Alarm .- The Capture of Washington and Alexandria .- Defeat and Death of General Ross near Baltimore . 426
CHAPTER XLVIII. 1815.
The President calls an extra Session of Congress .- Alarming Apprehensions from the Enemy .- Mr. Monroe's Plan for in- creasing and concentrating the Military Power of the United States .- Resolutions passed by the Assembly of Connecti- cut, protesting against it as Unconstitutional and threaten- ing to Liberty .- Castine captured by the Enemy -Petitions to the Legislature of Massachusetts for a Convention .- It meets at Hartford .- Its Proceedings .- The News of Peace. -Received with general Joy . . 433
CHAPTER XLIX. 1814.
Depression of Manufactures .- Fall of Prices .- Immense Moral Evils resulting from the Trade with the West Indies .- In- temperance prevails .- Temperance Societies . . 440
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1
INTRODUCTION.
THE history of Connecticut has strong claims on the attention of the intelligent reader : chiefly for these reasons, that its founders established their in- stitutions on principles essentially great and good, and their descendants have wisely sustained them, so that they have produced their appropriate fruits in sound morals, order, and good government. The leading objects for which they left their native land, and twice undertook the arduous labour of forming new settlements in this then western wild- ness, were the extension of the Christian faith and the establishment of religious and civil liberty for themselves and their descendants.
The history of the world affords no example of colonies founded for objects so pure, lofty, and hon- ourable, except in New-England and Pennsylvania. The settlement commenced in Carolina by the French Protestants under Admiral Coligny, in the year 1502, may perhaps be thought of the same noble character : but these colonists were far in- ferior to the English settlers in knowledge and po- litical wisdom, and their enterprise soon came to an unhappy termination. 1
Nothing appears more evident at the present day, than that the principles which governed the founders of New.England were sound in them-
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INTRODUCTION.
selves, and, therefore, calculated to lead to suc. cessful results : but here we should bear in mind, that the pilgrims who landed at Plymouth on the 22d of December, 1620, were the first to bring these principles fairly to a practical test, at a time when comparatively few had yet embraced them, while the general practice of mankind was directly op- , posed to them, and had been so from time im- memorial. At the period even when the settle- ment of Connecticut was commenced, sixteen years after the landing at Plymouth, the experi- ment of the pilgrims had been but very partially tried, or, rather, only just entered upon ; and this new offset from the parent stem was no more than an extension of the same noble, though, as yet, un- proved, plan. North America was at that time one vast, unbroken wilderness, with the exception of a few small spots occupied by feeble, uncon- nected European colonies. Quebec had been set- tled by the French in 160S; Jamestown, in Vir- ginia, by Captain Smith, with a few English emi- grants, in 1609; and New-York and Albany, in 1613, by the Dutch, who, in 1621, extended their territorial claim from the Connecticut River to the Delaware, giving to the country within these limits the name of New.Netherlands ; a few Danes had stationed themselves at Bergen, in New-Jersey, about the year 1624; and some Swedes and Finns had formed a settlement on the western side of the Delaware near Christiana Creek, in 1626. The objects of these colonists were to obtain wealth by trade, and to extend the territories of their respective sovereigns : but, as Judge Marshall, in his history of the American Colonies, remarks,
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INTRODUCTION.
" New England owed her settlement to a higher motive than self-interest."
On contrasting the widely different results of the Spanish and English settlements in America, we might be tempted to regret that the latter were so long delayed : but a moment's reflection will suf- fice to convince us, that New-England was not colonized too late for the best good of mankind. Half a century previous to that event, few men could have been found in England undegraded by the old system of things ; and the principles which distinguished the pilgrims had been adopted in their purity but a short time before their emigration. The Bible had then been in the hands of the peo- ple long enough to be well understood, and its principles had been examined and tested through periods of persecution well calculated to develop their nature, and forcibly to impress them on the minds of those whose lot it was to suffer for con- science' sake. Important political questions, too, had arisen relative to the authority and obligations of rulers and the rights as well as the duties of subjects ; and these had so often been brought to the great test of the Word of God, that its readers had almost necessarily become familiar with the true design and the right theory of government. Hence it was that the planters of New. England, while providing for the perpetuity of their religious institutions, adopted most of those great distinctive principles on which the system of our republic is founded ; though even by them some grave errors, the remains of ancient prejudices, were still re- tained.
Hence, though Connecticut, both in extent of ter-
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INTRODUCTION.
ritory and in the number of its inhabitants, is infe. rior to most of the other states of the American Union, its history is interesting in a degree quite disproportioned to its size and population.
Second to Massachusetts in the time of its set- tlement, this state has exerted a great and salutary influence in establishing and maintaining the char- acter and institutions of the nation from the earliest period of its history. The people of Connecticut shared largely in the labours and expenses, the dangers and sufferings connected with the wars that were waged on our own soil, and those for- eign expeditions in which our forefathers were sometimes involved in aid of the mother-country. They have performed their full part in upholding the agriculture, commerce, and manufactures of the nation, and in directing its councils ; and, while multitudes have gone forth to clear and people new states, in extent vastly superior to their own, at home they have sustained with remarkable uni- formity their simple and economical system of government, and their truly democratic state of society, and have been found under all circum- stances among the most zealous and efficient pro- moters of learning, sound morals, and religion, of good order, civil liberty, and national independence.
So striking, indeed, has ever been the attach- ment of the people of Connecticut to knowledge, industry, religion, and the laws, that their state has long been designated throughout the Union by the familiar though expressive title of "The Land of Steady Habits."
The distinctive character of the people of this state, and their social and moral condition, are
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INTRODUCTION.
doubtless to be ascribed to the principles and in- stitutions of their ancestors ; and where effects so strikingly salutary are observed, it is a matter of great interest to examine and understand the causes by which they have been produced. These causes must be sought for in the history of Con- necticut, a brief and comprehensive view of which is attempted to be given in the following work. The author has endeavoured to be as full and par- ticular in his account as the limits assigned him would permit ; bearing in mind the importance of making his work, both in matter and style, as ac- ceptable as possible to the numerous class of read- ers for whose gratification and instruction it is especially designed. He feels it incumbent on him to express his obligations to the different writers consulted by him in the preparation of this volume, and to whose productions he in great measure owes that taste for the history of his native state and country which has been to him a source of the highest gratification, and which he would fain as- sist in extending among his countrymen.
Surely this is a study, aside from its greater use- fulness, which should be far more interesting to a well-trained mind than those works of fiction which absorb so great a portion of the time of many readers ; and the author is persuaded, not only by observation and reflection, but by his own experi- ence, that it is one from which the young and the old may derive equal advantage and delight. When quite a child, he often listened to the reading of Trumbull's History of Connecticut, with a pleasure not exceeded by that which the perusal of more vo- luminous works afforded him at a later period in life.
B
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INTRODUCTION.
The author has likewise embraced in the fol. lowing pages the results of inquiries made by him, at different periods, among such records of the past as he has been able to discover in his visits to various parts of the country, and many inter- esting facts obtained from persons possessing val- uable information .. Many of the old forts and bat- tle-fields mentioned in this work he has inspected at leisure, taking measurements, notes, and draw- ings on the spot; while family traditions and an- cient manuscripts have often been usefully con- sulted to supply or explain important facts.
THE
HISTORY
OF
CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER I.
Character and Objects of the Founders of Connecticut Colony. -The Founding of New-Haven Colony with similar Designs. -Difficulties arising from the conflicting Claims of European Sovereigns and of English Patents and Companies .- Claims of the Spaniards, English, Dutch, and French .- Justice of the English Claim .- Brief Geographical View of Connecticut, with its present Boundaries, &c.
THE settlement of Connecticut was commenced sixteen years after that of Massachusetts, for the same great purposes, and by men of the same origin and character. Indeed, the original founders of the colony were from Massachusetts, and of the num- ber of those conscientious men who had left Eng. land in consequence of religious persecution in the reign of James I. Finding, after a short residence there, that the few settlements about Massachusetts Bay were fast filling up with emigrants, and would soon be overstocked, and wishing to occupy the fertile shores of Connecticut River before they should be seized by the Dutch, who were then in
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
possession of New- York, they began to prepare for a removal.
Their principal motives were declared to be, to secure freedom of conscience and civil liberty to themselves and their posterity, and to make the savages acquainted with the Christian religion and the blessings of civilized life. Their plan was se- riously opposed by their friends in that colony, who loved and esteemed them too much to be willing to lose them; but they had deliberately adopted it, and were resolved to carry it into execution. The first emigration to the banks of the Connecticut took place in 1636, the company being composed chiefly of married men, with their families, and including several religious congregations, with their pastors, church officers, and members.
Two years afterward another colony was founded at New-Haven, for the same exalted objects, by a congregation which had left England to form a dis- tinct settlement by themselves in the forests of America. Our attention will be directed to these two colonies in turn, up to the period of their final union.
Unfortunately, a part of the territory of Con- necticut was included in the claim of the Dutch ; several conflicting grants were also made at differ- ent periods to companies and individuals in Eng- land, which occasioned serious difficulties ; while disputes of a still graver character frequently arose between Great Britain and France from their rival pretensions in the North, which brought many a fleet and army across the Atlantic, and thus at different times involved the colonies in war for several generations.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The groundwork of these troubles was laid in those early times when this part of America was known only through the first discoverers : the no- tions into which the world was led by their credu- lity and ignorance being often so preposterous as to excite a smile. When Columbus first made known to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain his dis- covery of land in the West, they were disposed to claim all the territories which might be found in that part of the world : the King of Portugal, how- ever, informed them that he considered even the West Indies as justly belonging to his crown, in- asmuch as his subjects had first visited the Azores. With a degree of superstition worthy of Southern Europe, the question was at last submitted to the pope, who gravely decided that Portugal should have all the lands and territories that might be discovered within a thousand miles of Europe, and Spain all that should be discovered beyond.
If the potentates of Europe had been at that time as submissive to Rome as they were a few centuries before, the Western world might have passed quietly into the possession of Spain and Portugal; and what would have been now the condition of our country, it is impossible to tell. But neither Great Britain, nor Holland, nor even France, was disposed to consent to this authorita- tive partition of the newly-discovered regions of the West; and these powers subsequently took possession of different parts of North America, supporting their respective pretensions by long and bloody wars, until the first-named power ul- timately triumphed.
The claims advanced by Great Britain were B 2
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
founded on the discoveries of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, Italian navigators residing in Eng- land, who were sent in quest of new countries, with an expedition fitted out by the king, very soon after the discovery of the West Indies by Colum- bus. John discovered Newfoundland in 1494; and in 1497 Sebastian coasted from the northeast- ern part of the continent nearly to the Gulf of Mexico.
The French laid claim to Nova Scotia, on the ground of its having been visited and taken pos- session of in the name of their king, thirty years afterward, by an Italian navigator in his service, Verranzano. The first settlement attempted by them was in 1540, which was unsuccessful.
The Dutch claim to the country about the mouth and along the course of the Hudson River, was founded on the discoveries made by Hendrick or Henry Hudson, who, while in the service of the King of Great Britain, explored these regions in 1609, and afterward sold his right to the States General. The Dutch government long persisted in maintaining this claim, although it is manifest that Hudson's discovery is embraced in that of Cabot, which had been made one hundred and twelve years earlier, and that the title which he pretended to sell was in fact vested in the King of Great Britain.
In regard to Connecticut, the conflicting charters and grants that were from time to time given, af- fecting different portions of her territory, involved the colony in protracted and serious troubles, and long left her boundaries unsettled. It will be seen in the following pages, that, in consequence of this
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
state of things, her limits were finally curtailed on every side through the injustice of various claim- ants, to whom, for the sake of peace, she chose to submit, in a spirit of conciliation deserving no small praise.
A part of these claims, so discordant in them- selves and so troublesome to the colony, originated in ignorance ; while several of the most vexatious were based on grants made or allowed by different English kings, or by their officers, whose enmity to the colony led them to set justice at defiance.
The title by which the people of Connecticut held the country, was founded on the old patent granted by Robert, earl of Warwick, in 1631, to Lord Say-and-Seal, Lord Brook, Sir Richard Sal- tonstall, and others, associated under the name of the Plymouth Company.
The " Plymouth Council," as it was called, " for the planting, ruling, and governing of New-Eng. land, in America," was incorporated in 1620 by King James I., and from it were derived all the grants under which the country was settled.
In that year, the first pilgrims came over with their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Robinson, and landed at Plymouth, having been driven from England several years before by the severe laws enacted against such as refused to conform to the ritual ap- proved of by James, as the head of the established church. They had resided during this time at Leyden, in Holland : but, wishing to remove to America, they sought to obtain from the king an assurance of religious freedom ; of which, indeed, . he gave them a verbal promise. Plymouth re- mained a separate colony for about seventy years.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
In 1628, the Plymouth Council granted to a company the land between the Merrimac and Charles Rivers, and three miles north and south of them, extending, with the same breadth, to the " South Sea." This grant received the king's seal the following year ; and Mr. Endicott came out with three hundred persons to prepare for the arrival of a still larger number. They established themselves at Salem and Charlestown ; and, sev- enteen ships arriving with additional colonists in 1630, nine or ten towns, including Boston, with two thousand inhabitants, were in a short time set- tled. Many of the emigrants came over by congre- gations, with their pastors ; and among them were the greater part of the first settlers of Connecticut, and not a few of the men afterward most distin- guished in the history of that colony.
In 1630, the Plymouth Council made a grant of Connecticut to the Earl of Warwick, their presi- dent. This was confirmed by the king (Charles I.) in 1631; and, on the 19th of March in this year, the earl conveyed his title to the Plymouth Com- pany. as before stated.
This is the original patent of Connecticut ; and it comprised all the territory from Narraganset River, within forty leagues of the coast. southwest, west by south, or west, "as the coast lieth," to- wards Virginia ; and of that breadth "from the Western Ocean to the South Sea." This, as President Clapp afterward stated, extended from Point Judith to New York, and inland to Wor- cester, Massachusetts, if we take the Narraganset River from its source.
Connecticut, with its present limits, is of an ir-
Y
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
regular oblong form, having straight lines for its northern and the greater part of its eastern and western boundaries. Bordering on Long Island Sound to the south, the line of the state there fol- lows the irregularities of the coast ; and, running southward of west in its general course, the west- ern boundary on New-York is considerably longer than the eastern on Rhode Island. The state lies between 41° and 42° 10' north latitude, and 3º 20' and 5° 10' longitude east from Washington. It is about 90 miles in length, and 70 in breadth, comprising 4764 square miles. Next to Rhode Island, Delaware, and New-Jersey, Connecticut is the smallest state in the Union.
CHAPTER II.
Original Condition of the Country, and the Change in its Ap- pearance, &c., which has been produced by Cultivation and the Arts of Civilized Life .- The Indian Nations or Tribes which inhabited the Connecticut and the neighbouring Re- gions .- The Connecticut or River Indians .- The Pequods and Mohegans .- The Five Nations of New-York, then called Mohawks in New-England .- The Narragansets of Rhode Isl- and .- Wild Animals.
How different from its present appearance must have been the aspect of Connecticut (as of our country generally) when its settlement by Euro- peans was commenced ; and how difficult it is to form a correct idea of its condition at that period, and to realize the wonderful change that has taken
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
place in two centuries ! Instead of those marks of the meliorating hand of civilized man which we now everywhere behold, a dense primæval forest then overspread the entire surface, with the exception of the fine meadows which here and there border the streams, that were reserved by the Indians for planting, and a few other spots which they kept clear of wood for their hunting-grounds. These places were not only destitute of trees, but the grass was burned every autumn after it had be- come dry, that a fresh green crop might tempt the deer and elk to feed there early in the spring. Small collections of wigwams were here and there to be seen, the occupants of which were accus- tomed to remove twice a year : in the winter to the sunny sides of the hills, and, during the dry season, to the shores of the Sound. the banks of streams, or the margins of swamps. Others, again, more permanently settled, clustered their rude dwellings about a few commanding eminences, or spots fortified by nature, to enjoy the protection of their chief, and the defence that such a position afforded to them.
Wild animals of different species, now nearly or quite unknown in the state, were then numerous in its forests. Birds of various kinds abounded in the woods, and vast numbers of water-fowl frequented the streams, the picturesque little lakes in the inte. rior of the country, and the bays and inlets along the coast. These last especially became the favourite haunts of the Indian tribes, from the abundance of food afforded by the different sorts of game and fish, and more particularly clams, which were taken in vast quantities and dried, to season their "succo-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
tash" (Indian corn and beans) in winter. Some of the trees then forming the chief ornament of the forest, have now become comparatively scarce, from having been extensively used in the construction of houses, ships, various kinds of implements, &c., or destroyed in clearing the land and by the browsing of cattle ; while other varieties foreign to the soil have been introduced by that new race of men, be- fore whose superior policy and rapidly-increasing numbers, the original inhabitants have still more completely disappeared. The Indians, as has been before remarked, were in the habit of burning over their open hunting-grounds : but Dr. Dwight is of the opinion that in New-England this practice was less common than in some other parts of the coun- try, where there exist vast tracts wholly destitute of trees, owing, no doubt, to this cause. He thinks, also, that the white men adopted to some extent the Indian custom of burning, after they came into possession of the country. Oak and pine he states to have been the most common trees in the south- ern parts of New-England, except in mountainous and marshy regions. Many of the plants and grains now most frequently met with in our fields have been introduced from Europe either by acci- dent or design, and are annually extending them- selves farther westward by the aid of man, or by means of seed conveyed by the winds and by birds.
Some parts of the coast and rivers of Connec- ticut were occasionally visited by small parties of white men for fishing and trade, several years before the settlements were actually commenced. From the first accounts we have of the country,
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
we learn that it was occupied by inconsiderable bodies of Indians, scattered here and there over the surface, most of which were connected more or less closely with some tribe or petty nation that was independent of every other. Of the aborigines inhabiting the western part of the state, but lit- tle is known; owing, probably, to their unsettled condition, from being exposed to the inroads of the Mohawks. Those inhabiting the banks of the Con- necticut, comprehended by the English under the general name of the River Indians, had their prin- cipal seats and strongholds in Windsor, East Wind. sor, and Middletown. The Sachem of Walling- ford was the sovereign of a large tract of coun- try, extending to the Sound, and including New. Haven. The eastern part of the state was divided between two more powerful tribes : the Pequods, whose principal towns and forts were at Groton and Stonington, and the Mohegans, who, from their chief seat at Norwich, extended their domin- ion beyond the present northeastern boundary of the state into Massachusetts.
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