USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement to the present time > Part 21
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
Thus terminated the long contest between Eng-
Cc 2
306
PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. [1761.
land and France for the supremacy in America. It had continued from the year 1608, when the first settlement was made at Quebec; and had caused many bloody wars, each of several years' duration, and greatly destructive of human life both by land and by sea. In several instances whole colonies were in danger of falling into the power of the French; and, had Providence permitted them to retain permanent possession of any part of our country, how different would have been the condition of the inhabitants !- far more backward than Lower Canada is now in intelligence and im- provement. When we consider the nature and effects of their religious and their political influ- ence, we may presume that the population would have borne a strong resemblance to that of Spain and Italy. The colonies of England, as well as the government of Great Britain, gave public thanks to Almighty God for the conquest of the French possessions : for they regarded it as a most important event in favour of human liberty, civil, social, and religious.
A day of thanksgiving was observed in Con- necticut on the 23d of November, 1760; and a letter of congratulation and thanks was addressed to the king by the Assembly, and another to Gen- eral Amherst, for his wise conduct and the care he had taken of the provincial troops, especially those of Connecticut.
Mr. Pitt, in 1761, requested the General Assem- bly to raise two thirds of the number of troops furnished the last year, as a considerable army was to be employed in extending and strengthening the fortresses, that the country might be prepared for war if the French should again cross the At-
307
1762.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
· lantic. Connecticut furnished 2300 men, in two regiments, under Major-general Lyman and Colonel Nathan Whiting, with clothes and victuals ; and emitted £45,000 in bills. These, with other pro- vincials and regular troops, spent a busy season in repairing and improving the fortifications at Ticon- deroga, Crown Point, &c., and the visiter to those fortresses still sees evidences of the labours they bestowed on those interesting positions.
The Cherokee war, which had been excited by the injustice of the governor of South Carolina, and had proved exceedingly calamitous to that col- ony and its neighbours, as well as to the poor sav- ages, had now been terminated by humane meas- ures ; and Fort Du Quesne was strengthened, un- der the care of Colonel Stanwix.
CHAPTER XXXVII. 1762.
England at War with most of the European Powers .- A large Supply of Troops demanded of the Colonies .- Admiral Rod- ney's Expedition in the West Indies captures Martinique and the Caribbee Islands .- Admiral Pococke and Lord Albemarle, aided by Provincials, take Havana .- The Philippine Islands taken from Spain by Admiral Cornish .- Treaty of Peace at Fontainebleau gives Florida to England .- Indian War .- Sev- eral Fortresses surprised by them .- Much Blood shed on the Western Frontiers .- Major Putnam sent from Connecticut under Command of General Gage .-- Treaty of Peace with many Western Tribes .- Settlement of the Susquehannah Country by a Colony from Connecticut .- Collision with Penn- sylvania .- The Question unsettled till after the Revolution. -Connecticut then received in exchange a part of Ohio.
THE year 1762 found England in a gloomy con- dition, for the previous campaign had left her
-
308
EXPEDITION AGAINST HAVANA.
[1762.
hands much weakened ; and now Spain, as well as almost all the other powers of the Continent, were combined against her and Prussia. In case she should be much farther reduced, the Americans had nothing to expect but a speedy and powerful attempt by France to recover the recent conquests ; and the colonies were called on to prepare for a desperate struggle. Urgent letters came from England for the raising of an army. General Am- herst offered a bounty of £5, with clothes, to sol- diers enlisting into the king's army ; and the As- sembly added £5, and ordered that 375 men should be enlisted.
In the mean time, many of the troops in America, regular and provincial, had sailed for Martinique, to operate there against the enemy, in conjunction with an English fleet. This most powerful arma- ment that had ever been sent thither, under Admi- ral Rodney and General Monckton, captured the island of Martinique on the 14th of February, 1762; and all the Caribbees were soon subject to Great Britain.
Another powerful expedition was sent out from England and the West Indies the same season, with 10,000 men, 37 ships of war, and nearly 150 transports, under Admiral Pococke and Lord Albe- marle, and sailed through the Bahama Passage to Havana, against which it was designed. On the 17th of June the troops landed : but, being foiled in all their attempts against the fortresses, the cli- mate destroyed about half their number in the short space of two months. Four thousand regulars ar- rived from New-York at a most gloomy crisis, with some hundreds of provincials ; and the hopes
1
T
17.
309
(1762.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
of the suffering army were encouraged to renewed exertions. On the 13th of August Havana sur- rendered ; and, with it, the English obtained pos- session of the shipping, and a tract of country ex- tending 180 miles west from the city. Very few of the New-England troops ever returned.
Providence, in mercy, soon brought about events which entirely changed the condition of England and her allies, and removed a dark cloud from the prospects of the colonies. The death of the Em- press of Russia had removed a most powerful en- emy of the King of Prussia ; and the power of the former country was soon brought to the support of the latter. The English fleet in the East Indies, under Admiral Cornish and General Draper, had been successful in the capture of Manilla and the Philippine Islands ; and several other losses had in- clined France and Spain to peace. The treaty of Fontainebleau was signed on the 10th of February, 1762, by which the King of France gave up for ever all claim to the northern parts of North America. In the southern part of it, the French territory was limited to Louisiana. At the same time, the King of Spain, in return for the Philip- pines, gave up Florida to the English, they, in turn, promising to allow the French and Spanish inhab- itants of all those territories the free enjoyment of their religion.
But now, when the prospects for a long peace were the most favourable, new trouble was in prep- aration for the colonies. The Cherokee Indians, as well as the Five Nations, in consequence of suspicions and discontent, fomented, it was be- lieved, by French emissaries, drew many other
310
INDIAN WAR IN THE WEST. [1764,
tribes into a plot for a general and sudden attack upon the extensive frontiers ; and, in 1763, the ad- vanced settlements of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were destroyed or deserted, after the mur- der of many inhabitants and traders. The Indians, by deceit, soon got possession of the forts connect- ing Fort Pitt with the lakes, and also of Michili- mackinac, butchering the garrisons. But they were so manfully resisted at Detroit by Captain Dalyell, and by Colonel Bouquet on the way to Fort Pitt with a re-enforcement, that they soon left those fortresses unmolested, and besieged that of Detroit.
The dangers on the frontiers continued to bc so great, that the Earl of Halifax, in the spring of 1764, demanded troops of the colonies to assist in protecting them. The governor of Connecticut received also a letter from General Gage, then com- mander-in-chief in America, in which he urged their immediate attention to the subject. A meeting was held forthwith, and a battalion of 265 men was ordered to be raised, and placed under the com- mand of Major Israel Putnam, to march to any part of North America where the commander-in-chief should require. An active and effectual campaign was made that season, which brought about a trea- ty in September, and restored peace on such terms as were perfectly satisfactory to the English. Captives were restored, the forts were all given up to them, and it was agreed that, if any tribe should make war with them in future, the others should combine for their defence.
About the year 1735 commenced a remarkable revival of religion in a few places in New-Eng.
L
313
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1764.]
land, which in two years extended to other parts of it, as well as to New-Jersey. It had a power- ful, general, and lasting influence on Connecticut, of a most favourable character. Many of the most pious persons became convinced that they had been far too indifferent to their duty, and expressed great regret for past deficiencies, while they engaged in the practice of religion with greater activity. Some even of the clergy opposed the doctrines which then became prevalent, pronouncing the whole mere enthusiasm or fanaticism : but powerful divines and a large portion of the people being convinced that the cause was the same which produced the wonderful scene on the day of Pentecost, attended frequent meetings, applied themselves to the study of the Scriptures, and to the promotion of the re- vival of religion, which prevailed for several years.
Dr. Dwight says, " a vast multitude of persons united themselves to the Christian church ; and, with few exceptions, testified through life, by their evangelical conduct, the genuineness of their pro- fession. The influence of this body of men, many of whom survived for a long time the peace of 1763, retarded essentially the progress of the evil." The celebrated Mr. Whitfield, of England, a devoted clergyman, visited New-England in 1740 at particular request, and greatly promoted the dif- fusion of religious zeal by his eloquent and im- pressive preaching.
The Susquehanna country had been, for sever- al years before this time, a scene of unfortunate dissension between Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The latter claimed it under a grant made by the king to William Penn in 1681 : while the claim of
312
THE SETTLEMENT OF WYOMING. [1763.
Connecticut was founded on the letters patent granted by King James I. to the Plymouth Compa- ny in 1620. That patent expressly included " all America, lying and being in breadth from 40 de- grees of north latitude, from the equinoctial line to the 48th degree of said northerly latitude inclusive- ly, and in length of and within all the breadth afore- said, throughout the main land from sea to sea." In 1631, the Earl of Warwick, president of that company, granted to Lord Say-and-Scal and oth- ers forty leagues on a straight line near the sea- shore from Narraganset River towards the south- west, west and by south, towards Virginia. This had been granted to him the year before, and was confirmed to him by the king. In 1662 it was confirmed, by a royal patent, to the Colony of Con- necticut ; and in 1755 they had authorized a com. pany of 850 persons to purchase the land of the Five Nations, and recommended to his majesty that the settlers should form a new commonwealth in that region. This was called the Susquehanna Company, and was headed by Phineas Lyman, Ro- ger Wolcott, Jr., Samuel Gray, Abraham Daven- port, Esq., and others.
A settlement was made at Wyoming in 1763, in the midst of the wilderness ; and Eliphalet Dyer was sent to England to procure an arrange- ment of the dispute by royal interference. No- thing can be clearer than the soundness of that claim derived from the charter granted to Connec- ticut in 1620. That instrument conveyed the title to a tract of the same breadth as Connecticut to the South Sea, meaning what is now called the Pacific Ocean ; and a glance at the map will suf-
313
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1769.]
fice to discover that the Valley of Wyoming and much more lay in the range. Pennsylvania, how- ever, persisted in her claim, although it was found. ed on a patent given by Charles II. in 1681, many years later ; and formed the Delaware Company, which proposed the settlement of the same tract of country.
This company applied to Hendrick, the cele- brated Mohawk sachem, to sell them his title to the land : but he refused ; and the Connecticut people were also unsuccessful in a similar applica. tion. Three years after the Connecticut colony had been commenced, Tadeskund, the Delaware chief, was murdered, probably by some of their en- emies of the Six Nations : but the Indians accused the colonists of the crime, and determined on re- venge. The colonists felt so much confidence in the Delawares, that they rejected every suggestion of danger, and did not arm themselves, or take any other measures for security. On the 15th of October, 1763, they suffered severely for this im- prudence : for, while they were scattered about the fields at work, a large body of Indians attacked them by surprise, killed about twenty, and took a number of prisoners, while the rest fled to the woods in the greatest consternation. They had no resort but to return to Connecticut as they could ; and this was a journey of great difficulty, fatigue, and exposure at that season of the year, in the existing state of the country.
In the spring of 1769 a party of settlers arrived from Connecticut to reoccupy their lands : but they found them in the possession of a colony sent out by the Delaware Company, who had bought
D D
314
BLOODY CONTESTS AT WYOMING. [1770.
from the Six Nations such a title as the Connecti- cut people had got from them. Amos Ogden and Charles Stewart had erected a blockhouse, and were prepared to maintain their ground, having obtained a grant of the land from John Penn, on condition that they should drive off the first set- tlers. We should hope that this course, so op- posed to one of the most evident principles of phil- anthropy, was never in fact pursued by him, and that he was not fully aware of the proceedings in that territory, so long disputed with bloodshed.
Several of the Connecticut men, having been decoyed into the blockhouse, were captured and sent away : but their companions, not disheartened, crected a blockhouse of their own, and began the cultivation of some of the land. They were soon, however, obliged to yield to a force of 200 Penn- sylvanians, and leave their crops under the care of seventeen families. Ogden, in violation of the terms agreed on, destroyed their cattle and har- vests, and drove them all away. In February, 1770, Lazarus Stewart, at the head of the Con- necticut men, took Ogden's fort : but it was reta. ken, and, after several attacks and skirmishes, it was burned, and Ogden was compelled to depart, leaving six men in charge of his property. This agreement or capitulation, like the former, was dis- regarded, and his property destroyed.
The following autumn brought 150 men against Wyoming, with Ogden at their head, who took the place by surprise, and treated the people with much inhumanity : but in December Stewart reduced the place again to the power of the Connecticut peo- ple. The governor of Pennsylvania, with an offer
315
1773.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
of £300 for the head of Captain Stewart, despatch- ed a sheriff with his posse to seize him : but Og- den's brother was killed in an attack on the fort, and the garrison fled in the night, except twelve men, who yielded it up. In July a body of Con- necticut people returned, with Captain Zabulon Butler and 70 men ; and, having surrounded the new fort on the bank of the Susquehanna River, they began a regular siege, with trenches and can- non. Ogden got into a boat one dark night, and silently steered down the stream, deceiving his en- emies by means of a bundle of his clothes, which he caused to float at a distance behind him, and at which they directed their fire. He obtained 100 soldiers at Philadelphia, who marched under Cap- tain Clayton : but one division of them was am- bushed and defeated, while the other, after entering the fort, were obliged to capitulate in August, with the rest of the garrison, and leave the ground.
Complaint was made to Governor Trumbull, who declared that the colony had nothing to do with the proceedings of the settlers. At length, after they had remained for some time in quict possession of the territory, and much increased in numbers, they made application for protection; the General Assembly, having already received an opinion favourable to their claim from four learned English council, determined, in 1773, to assert it, and sent commissioners to propose to Pennsylvania an amicable arrangement, or an application to the king for a settlement of the boundaries, or meas- ures to preserve present harmony among the set- tlers. Governor Penn declined all these propo- sals, and the Assembly determined to extend their
316
STATE OF RELIGION.
[1755.
jurisdiction over the settlement; and incorporating it as the town of Westmoreland, attached it to the county of Litchfield, and received a representative from it in the Assembly. A strong remonstrance was made to this act by a number of persons in Middletown : but representatives were still admit- ted from the new town, though much opposition was made by some persons in Connecticut, and pamphlets were published on both sides of the question.
" The actual state of religion in any country," says Dr. Dwight, " must, of course, be an inter- esting object of investigation to every sober and in- telligent man. To give you a correct view of this subject so far as New-England is concerned, it will be necessary to go back to the war which com- menced in 1755 and terminated in 1763. Ante- cedently to the first of these periods, all the changes in the religious state of this country were such as left the principles of the inhabitants essentially the same. They were not changes of the command- ing character, but shades of that character ; through which it varied towards greater or less degrees of purity. From the first settlement of the country to the commencement of the war, the same rever- ence for God, the same justice, truth, and benevo- lence, the same opposition to inordinate indulgences of passion and appetite, prevailed without any ma- terial exceptions. A universal veneration for the Sabbath, a sacred respect for government, an un- doubted belief in Divine revelation, and an uncon- ditional acknowledgment and performance of the common social duties, constituted ever a prominent character. * * * Vicious men constituted a small
.
317
1755.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
part of the society ; were insignificant in their char- acter ; and, independently of the power of exam- ple, had little or no influence on the community at large. They were objects of odium and contempt, of censure and punishment ; not the elements of a party, nor the firebrands of turmoil and confusion. " During this war, foreigners for the first time mingled extensively with the inhabitants of New- England. The colonial officers and soldiers, whose principles had in many instances been imperfectly formed, and whose ardent dispositions qualified them to decide rather than to reason, to act rather than to think, easily imbibed, in an army composed of those whom they were taught to regard as supe- riors, loose doctrines and licentious practices. In that army were many infidels. * * * Many of the Americans were far from being dull proficients in such a school. The vices they loved, and soon found the principles necessary to quiet their con- sciences. * * * The means which had been pursued to corrupt them, they now employed to corrupt oth- ers. From this prima mali labes (this first taint of evil) the contagion spread, not indeed through very great multitudes, but in little circles, surrounding the individuals originally infected."
The revival of religion before referred to offered the principal antidote to this spreading poison.
DD 2
318
CLAIMS OF ENGLISH RIGHTS. [1761.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 1761-1762.
Causes of the Revolution .- The Colonists of New-England claim Equal Rights with the Inhabitants of England .- Rea- sons why the People of Connecticut valued their Charter. -First Restrictions on Trade .- The Navigation Act of 1651 never submitted to in New-England .- Restrictions on Imports in 1663 .- Ditto on Trade between the Colonies, in 1672 .- Board of Trade and the Colonies formed in 1696 .- Restric- tions on Manufactures commenced in 1699-1719 .- The Erec- tion of Manufactories forbidden, and the Making of various Ar- ticles .- Appeals from the Courts required in England in 1680. -Governors' Salaries .- Taxes .- A Change in the Govern- ment contemplated in 1762 .- The Stamp Act.
AND now we approach the important period in which the Revolution separated our country from that of our ancestors; and history most plainly shows, that the cause which led to our national in- dependence was the injustice of the British govern- ment in denying the civil rights which belonged to us as British subjects.
The founders of New-England always regarded themselves and their descendants as retaining the privileges which they had claimed, in common with their fellow-citizens in their native land ; and these were always insisted on by successive generations. The charter of Connecticut confirmed these privi- leges ; and hence its value in the eyes of the people. Every intimation ever made of a design to invade it, alarmed them at once ; and how many assem- blies were convoked, how many solemn delibera- tions were held, how many agents despatched to
319
1761.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
London, what voluminous letters of instruction were written, what an amount of money, labour, solicitude, and prayer was bestowed, for the pres- ervation of that possession, so highly prized for the one great principle which it contained ! That doc- ument enclosed the seed of the revolution : for its friends were regarded as the friends of the colony ; and nothing but opposition to that could make an enemy. They appear to have felt, from early times, prepared to defend it by force, if their weak- ness had permitted ; and more than once the agents of royalty were intimidated by the display of their resolution. It was natural for other colonies to be influenced by the example of New-England; and we find that several of them also began early to urge the same claim to the privileges of English- men. These privileges were those of being free from exactions which they had no hand in impo- sing. They demanded the right of governing them- selves either in England or in America. The for- mer was not allowed, as they could send no repre- sentatives to Parliament; and, therefore, they re- fused to acknowledge the power of Parliament to govern them.
In 1640, as Governor Winthrop states, Massa- chusetts determined not to make application to Parliament for any favours, for fear that it might afford ground for their exercising some unjust au- thority in future. Governor Trumbull, of Con- necticut, in 1779, referring to this fact, declares that the colonies ever denied the right in Parlia- ment to make laws for them "in all cases whatso- ever." The " Act of Navigation," which was pass- ed in 1651, and restricted almost the whole export
320
RESTRICTIONS DISREGARDED. [1761.
foreign trade of the colonies to English and colo- nial ships, was not enforced in New-England, be- cause it was resisted as opposed to this principle.
Virginia was restricted in commerce almost from her first settlement, by being required to send. all her exports to Great Britain. The Navigation Act was passed to prevent the Dutch from having the carrying-trade of the colonies ; and in 1663, in the reign of Charles II., the import trade was re- stricted nearly in like manner and for the same reason. The object avowed was to keep the colo- nies in a firmer dependance on England. But the restrictions did not stop here. In 1672 a duty was laid on sugar, tobacco, indigo, and cotton sent from
one colony to another. Virginia petitioned against this act ; Rhode Island declared it unconstitution- al; and it was but little regarded in New-England, the vessels of which traded with all countries. In 1677 it was reported to the Lord's Committee for the Colonies, that Massachusetts paid no regard to the Navigation Act, but " would have all the world believe that they are a free state." The General Court said, when called to account, that they had never given their assent to the act, as the colony was not represented in Parliament ; and, therefore, it was not obligatory. They, however, ordered that the act should in future be observed. So early as . 1687, the revenue laws were set at naught in Charleston.
The Board of Trade and Plantations was formed in the reign of William, in 1696 ; and, in connex. ion with acts of Parliament, greatly restricted the commerce of the colonies.
In 1699 began the restrictions on the manufac.
321
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1761.]
tures of the colonies, when it was forbidden to send any woollen manufacture out of the country. In 1719 the House of Commons declared "that the erecting of manufactories in the colonies tended to lessen their dependance upon Great Britain." English hatters, iron manufacturers, and others af- terward petitioned that their own trades might be prohibited in the colonies ; and this was done to a great extent. Iron forges, furnaces, &c., were even declared by law to be " nuisances ;" and gov- ernors were required to abate them in thirty days, under penalty of £500.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.