USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > The history of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from the settlement of the town in 1639 to 1818. Vol. I > Part 8
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About this time an attempt was made by Miantonimo to murder Uncas. A report soon spread that the murder had been committed; and Mianto- nimo in order to hide his own treachery, killed the Indian whom he had employed to commit the act. Sequin also joined in the plot against Uncas and the white planters. No sooner had this intelligence reached the set- tlements, than it was discovered that Miantonimo was marching upon the Mohegans with an army of nine hundred men. Uncas having been made aware of his approach, resolved that the Narragansetts should not enter his town. He hastily called together between four and five hundred of his men and went out to meet the enemy. A battle took place about four miles from the town in which he lived. The Narragansetts were put to
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flight ; Miantonimo was taken prisoner, and carried in triumph to Hart- ford. He begged that he might be left to the mercy of the English, but at the request of Uncas, it was decided that he should be kept as his prisoner.
At the meeting of the commissioners of the united colonies at Bos- ton in September the conspiracy of Miantonimo against Uncas and the whites, and the murders he had committed, were proved. Lest the Narra- gansetts and the tribes tributary to them, should seek to avenge the death of their chief, it was decided to give him up to the mercy of Uncas, with the request that no torture or cruelty should be used, " but all moderation exercised in the manner of his execution." It was also decided that the colonies should assist in protecting Uncas against the Narragansetts, if they attempted to revenge upon him the death of Miantonimo, and " that Hartford furnish Uncas with a competent strength of English to defend him against any present fury or assault of the Narragansetts or any oth- ers." The outrages of the Dutch upon the New Haven settlements at Delaware, and those upon the Connecticut river towns and on Long Island were laid before the commissioners by Governor Hopkins and Mr. Fen- wick. It was decided that, as Governor Winthrop had previously in part answered the Dutch governor's letter, he should continue a further reply, by stating the injuries done by the Dutch to the English planters, and de- mand satisfaction ; and that while the united colonies would not wrong others, they should defend each other in a just cause.
The death of Miantonimo having been left to Uncas, he was immedi- ately notified of the decision. With some of his most trusty men to assist him, he took charge of his prisoner; and with two Englishmen, appointed to see that no tortures were inflicted, they all marched to the spot where he had been taken. " At the instant they arrived on the ground, one of Uncas' men, who had marched behind Miantonimo, split his head with a hatchet, killing him at one stroke - Uncas cut out a large piece of his flesh & ate it in savage triumph. He said, 'it was the sweetest meat he ever ate ; it made his heart strong.'" He ordered that he should be buried where he fell, and caused a heap of stones to be erected over his grave. The spot has ever since been called Sachem's Plain, and occupies a beau- tiful rise of ground in the castern part of Norwich.
In accordance with the resolutions of the commissioners, both Con- necticut and New Haven sent armed men to protect Uncas. Governor Winthrop sent messengers to Canonicus, the aged Narragansett sachem, acquainting him with the mischievous plot of Mianton mo, and justifying his execution by his violation of the treaty of 1638, his attempt to mur-
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der Uncas, and his intrigues against the whites. They then offered peace to him and the Narragansetts, in the name of the united colonies. The General Court of Connecticut passed a law authorizing the governor, the deputy-governor, or two magistrates " upon any sudden occasion or immi- nent danger to press men & ammunition for the defence of the country in their necessary travel from town to town : also that each of the towns should have fixed places, where guards should be stationed, from which points in case of danger the inhabitants might be given timely alarm." To avoid quarrels with the Indians, the planters were forbidden to trust them with goods or commodities, under a penalty of double the value of the sale; and " that they should not trade with the mat or in their wig- wams, but in vessels or Pinnaces, or at their own houses, under a penalty of 20 s. each time."
In addition to the guard of forty men, it was ordered that one man out of every family should go fully armed to the meeting-house on the Sab- bath and lecture days, under a fine of 12d. for every neglect of the same, " whereof 6 d. was to be paid to the party that should so inform, & 6 d. to the public treasury." A tax of forty pounds was levied on all the towns for repairing the fort at Saybrook. According to the determination of the commissioners, the soldiers in each of the towns were required to train six days in the year, which days should be appointed by the captains or chief officers of the train bands, namely, on the first weeks of March, April, May, September, October and November. "If the day appointed proved unseasonable, the Officers were to appoint the next fair day." Eight o'clock was the hour set for the training to begin. Those who were absent on such occasions were to be fined 2s. 6d. for every default, except they had been given a license for leave of absence under the hand of two magistrates. The clerks of the bands were to levy upon the delinquents within fourteen days after the forfeiture, and to take 6d. for themselves, and pay the remainder towards the maintainance of drums, colors, etc. If the clerks neglected their duty, they were obliged to pay double the amount of the soldier's finc. Those who were deemed expert soldiers were allowed release on half a day's duty. Roger Ludlow was appointed to call forth the soldiers of the towns " upon the sea coast," and to exer- cise them according to the above act, until some other officer should be appointed in his place. Thus Ludlow was not only the first judge of the town and county court, but the first military officer of Fairfield. In this dread hour, when the inhabitants were few in numbers, upon Ludlow fell the care and protection of the plantation of Uncoway. Upon the Meeting- house green he assembled his small band of officers and men at home,
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with the planters from the neighboring towns, and drilled them for the hour of approaching danger. Several within the past two years had joined the plantation, so that there were enough men to make a considerable show of resistance.
The appearance of an English soldier in those days was a formidable one to the red sons of the forest. His gay, military dress ; his long pike of ten feet, tipped with sharp-pointed iron, which he carried in a rest fastened to a belt around his waist ; his sword hanging in its scabbard at his side, and his long musket and steel bayonet, made him a spectacle of admiration and dread. But now that the Indians possessed English muskets, which they used with great skill, their attitude was one more dangerous than ever before.
During this year the Dutch had cause to deplore the great wrong done by their traders, in selling arms to the Indians. A quarrel had arisen owing to a drunken Indian having killed one of their number. The Dutch demanded that the murderer should be given up to justice ; but their governor, not willing to excite the Indians, neglected to take steps in the case. In the mean time, some of the Dutch excited the Mohawks against the Indians in the vicinity of their settlements, who, in an unexpected moment, fell upon them, killing about thirty of their number. A Dutch captain, named Marine, obtained a commission from the governor to kill as many Indians as fell in his power. With a company of armed men he made a sudden attack upon them and killed about seventy or eighty men, women and children. The Indians, now fully aroused in that part of the country, began a furious and bloody war. They seized the Dutch cattle and hogs and burned them in their barns. Twenty or more Dutch- men were killed and others fled to their fort for protection. The Indians upon Long Island joined in the war, and burned the houses and barns of the Dutch planters. At this critical moment, the Dutch governor made application to Governor Eaton, of New Haven, to send one hundred men to his relief. In his extremity he also applied to Captain Underhill, of Stamford, to assist him, which so exasperated Captain Marine, that he presented his pistol at the governor, and would have shot him had he not been prevented by one who stood near. One of Captain Marine's attend- ants discharged his musket at the governor, and the ball hardly grazed him, when the man himself was shot dead by a sentinel. Those among the Dutch who had been determined upon a war with the Indians, now dreading its consequences, vented their indignation upon the governor for having given a commission to Captain Marine. In their fury they were ready to destroy him, and for his personal safety he was obliged to keep a
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guard of fifty Englishmen about him. The Indians continued their dep- redations and murders, so that by fall all the inhabitants of the Dutch and English settlements west of Stamford were driven in.
Among those most cruelly murdered, at this time, was Mrs. Anne Hutch- inson, who for her religious tenets had been banished from Boston. Not only she, but every member of her household, her son-in-law, Mr. Collins, and several neighbors were killed, numbering eighteen in all. The fury of the Indians made great havoc among the cattle and the ingatherings of the summer harvest, which were burned without resistance.
The Dutch on Long Island who had been obliged to escape from their plantations to their fort, were driven to the necessity of killing their cattle for subsistence, until their condition became one of great distress, and one which called for Christian aid from their English neighbors.
New Haven had refused to send men to the assistance of the Dutch governor, upon the ground that it was incompatible with the articles of confederation. They also questioned the justice of this war. Neverthe- less, it was decided to send them all the corn and provisions necessary for themselves and their cattle. Captain Underhill, of Stamford, rendered them great assistance. With a flying army of from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty English and Dutch, he protected their settlements from total annihilation. It was estimated that he killed about five hundred Indians on Long Island. The Stamford Indians caught the war spirit of the neighboring tribes, and fears were entertained that the settlement would be cut off. In their distress they called upon New Haven to protect them, according to the articles of confederation, or bear the expense of their losses. The Narragansetts were enraged at the execution of Miantonimo. Every white man bore arms, and the gloom of a speedy conflict with the Indians on all sides, filled the hearts of the whites with the greatest apprehensions.
The General Court of Connecticut appointed Wednesday, the 6th of June, as a day of fasting and prayer in all the towns throughout the juris- diction. The same day was observed in the New Haven plantations. Prayers were also offered for their gracious sovereign, King Charles I., around whom raged the horrors of a civil war. So great was the alarm among the chief officers of the colony, that, on the 3d of January, the General Court of Connecticut ordered " one day in each month to be set apart as a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, according to the course of their neighbors in New Haven, to begin upon Wednesday, the 10. inst." From Stamford the war spirit reached the Indians at Fairfield.
In the spring a man from Massachusetts was murdered by an Indian
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near Stratford. Ludlow demanded that the murderer should be given up to justice. This the Indians agreed to do, and desired that ten men should be sent out to receive him. When they saw the Englishmen approaching them, by mutual consent they unbound the prisoner, who forthwith plunged into the forest and made good his escape.
Ludlow regarded this treacherous act to be an insult to the town, seized eight or ten Indians, one or two of whom were sachems, and imprisoned them, until the murderer should be brought to him. The Indians then rose in the most hostile manner. Ludlow wrote to New Haven for advice and assistance. Twenty well-armed men were dispatched to his relief. In the mean time four of the neighboring sachems entered the town, and promised Ludlow that if the imprisoned Indians were released, they would deliver up the murderer to justice within a month. This proposition was agreed upon, and the prisoners were released, but there seems to be no evidence that they kept their word.
The rise of the Indians in Virginia and the horrible massacre of the whites which followed gave grounds for the belief that a further combi- nation had been made between the Southern and New England Indians, for the extermination of all the white men in the country. Notwithstand- ing the dangers which surrounded them, the work of bringing order out of confusion was continued by the General Court.
In order to prevent unnecessary trials before juries, it was decided that all suits under 40s. should be tried before the court of magistrates ; and that in all jury cases the magistrates should have power, in case the jury disagreed, to send them out a second time. If they then disagreed, and did not render a verdict according to the evidence given in, the court was granted power to summon a new jury; and to alter the decisions of a jury in amount of damages given in " as should be judged most equal and righteous." If four out of a jury of six, or eight out of twelve agreed, their verdict was to be decisive. That honesty among merchants might be firmly established, the clerks in the several towns were required once in every year, to appoint a certain day and place, to give timely notice for the inhabitants to bring in their measures for inspection, that they might be tried and compared with the standard weights, measures, etc. Only such yards, weights and measures as had been scaled were to be sold. Good linen and woolen yarn fell under a careful inspection. Any one failing to obey orders, was subject to a penalty of 12d. each default, to be collected by the clerks ; and if upon trial any measures were found lower than the standard, they were to cut out the scal. Owing to the injury done in the colony by sca captains and such as sold wine
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and liquor from vessels and in private houses, it was ordered "that no person should sell wine, liquor or strong water in any place, without a license from the particular court, or from two magistrates."
Seven men were to be chosen from each plantation to write out their individual opinions as to the manner in which the public lands . might be improved for the common good; and their decision or that of any five of them was to control the other planters. This committee was also to order the common fencing around land under cultivation. It was provided that any particular person or persons should have liberty to fence his own allotments according to his or their discretion by mutual agreement, notwithstanding the above order.
On the 3d of June the following important act was passed.
" Whereas many strayngers & passengers vppon occation haue recourse to these Townes, are streightened for waint of entertainment, It is now Ordered, that these seuerall Townes shall prouide amongst theselues in each Towne, one sufficient inhabitant to keepe an Ordinary, for provisions & lodgeing, in some comfortable manner, that such passengers or strayngers may know where to resorte; & such inhabitants as by the seuerall Townes shall be chosen for the said shall searuice, be presented to two Magis- trats, that they may be judged meet for that imployment ; & this to be effected by the severall Townes wth in one month, under the penalty of 40 s. a month, ech month ether Towne shall neglect yt."
Servants and apprentices were not to spend their time to their own advantage, under a penalty of serving their masters threefold the time so spent after their time of service had expired. The clerks in each of the towns were required to keep a record of all marriages and births within three days after a marriage or the birth of a child. A penalty of 5s. was laid upon any man who did not within three days register his marriage. At this time Ludlow requested an answer to his letter, asking the General Court to determine the manner in which he should lay a tax upon the inhabitants of Stratford and Uncoway, and also to decide what he should charge for his services to the country. As yet Fairfield had not been subject to a public tax. According to the laws of Connecticut, before a company was allowed to enter upon the work of a new settlement, the General Court required that they should prove themselves capable of col- onizing a town and maintaining a clergyman.
Thus far the town of Fairfield had steadily increased in numbers ; but as yet no church had been built nor any regular minister settled over the parish. It was the custom in those days in the beginning of a settle- ment for the ruling elders and deacons to carry out the discipline of the society, until the services of a pastor could be secured. The anticipation,
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however, of a settled minister, with an increase in numbers from Concord, very considerably brightened the prospects of the plantation, so that Ludlow, eager to obtain the full privileges of an incorporated town, had applied to the General Court, to fix the amount by which the inhabitants should be taxed.
The heavy taxes at this time laid upon the plantations of Massa- chusetts, had become burdensome to many, and especially to the planters of Concord, who, to their great disappointment, "found the soil of that town very barren & the meadows wet & useless." In 1643 they petitioned the General Court to abate their taxes on this account. An- other difficulty had also arisen in regard to their inability to support two ministers. Some refused to bear their proportion of the public charge, some removed to older or newer settlements, and others returned to England, so that the town rapidly decreased in numbers.
In the summer of 1644 the Rev. John Jones, with about one-seventh or one-eighth of the planters of Concord and their families removed to Fairfield. The list of those who came, so far as it can be gathered from authentic sources is as follows.
Rev. John Jones. Thomas Bulkley. Daniel Bulkley. Thomas Jones. William Bateman.
Joseph Middlebrook .* John Thompkins. Ephraim Wheeler.
Thomas Wheeler, jr.
James Bennet.
William Odell.
Richard Letten.
John Evarts. Peter Johnson.
Benjamin Turney. George Square.
Thomas Wheeler, sr., according to the Wheeler journal, had joined the plantation in 1640, and was, as has already been stated, the first settler at Black Rock.t Ephraim Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler, sr., Thomas Wheeler, jr., William Odell, John Evarts, Joseph Middlebrook, James Bennet, Peter Johnson and Benjamin Turney afterwards settled at Pequonnock. There is ground for believing that some of this company first settled at Black- rock and very soon after went to Pequonnock. The others remained at Fairfield. Several joined the settlement this year from other towns, among whom were William Hill, sr., his son William Hill, jr., Richard Westcoat, John Green, Charles Taintor, Samuel Gregory, James Beers, Jehu and John Burr, with their kinsman John Cable. Besides these there are others, of which mention will be made hereafter. The Rev. John
* Shattuck's History of Concord.
t This statement does not agree with Shattuck or Savage, yet it may be true.
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Jones was granted about seven acres of land in the rear of the Meeting- house green, six acres of which was afterwards called his orchard. His dwelling-house, which probably had been built before his coming, stood back of Edward's pond, with mere-stones between it and the green, run- ning from the north-west corner of his land straight to Jehu Burr's home- lot. Thomas and Daniel Bulkley were granted home-lots in the Newton square, on the north-east side of the green, adjoining the parsonage land. The street running to the Sound between this square and the green was given the name of Concord street. Thomas Jones was granted the corner home-lot south-east of the Bulkleys ; and William Hill, sr., a home-lot north-east of the Newton square, on Dorchester street, bounded north- west by the land of Peter Johnson and Robert Turney; south-east by his son William Hill, jr., and south-west by a highway running to the beach. He afterwards purchased of Alexander Briant, of Milford, the north-east corner lot of the Newton square, upon which he lived at the time of his death, which occurred before 1650, at which time this place is called that of his widow Sarah Hill. George Hull's home-lot lay north-west of William Hill's ; William Bateman's on the same side of the square, between George Squire's and a lot for many years after called Lewis' lot.} John Thomp- kins' home-lot lay west of the pond afterwards called Hide's pond.
There appears to have been a second dividend of the common lands about this time. Stratford laid claim to all the lands at Pequonnock lying on the east side of Mutton lane, which some years afterwards received the name of Division street. All that part of Pequonnock south-east of Golden-hill, between this lane and the Pequonnock river, was given the name of Wolves' Pit plain. It was the custom in those days to dig deep pits in the woods and on the plains, into which wolves and foxes unsus- piciously fell, and were taken by the planters. The high land at the harbor, west of Mutton lane, was called Greenlea .¿ North of Greenlea, and west of Mutton lane lay the earliest settlement of Pequonnock. The small green near the old Pequonnock burying-ground appears to have been the common green used for training, etc. North-east and south-east of this green the first planters took up their home-lots. As their num- bers increased, some of them, with their sons and sons-in-law erected
* This property afterwards fell into the possession of the Bulkleys, and is now owned by the Glover family. Daniel Bulkley's land is mentioned as having been willed to his brother Thomas, in A of Town Deeds, p. 267.
+ This lot was granted to William Hill, jr., the 13. Feb. 1670 (A, Town Deeds, p. 96), and is now owned by Judge S. Glover.
# Seaside park and the beautiful residences north of it once formed a part of Greenlea.
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dwellings at Greenlea. Others found home-lots and fine farming lands along the gradual rise of Tilesome (Toilsome) hill, the summit of which overlooks a magnificent view of the surrounding country and Long Island Sound.
On the east of the settlement, to the west banks of the Pequonnock river, was the Indian reservation of Golden-hill. Another reservation, called the Old Indian Field, which has already been mentioned, was laid out on a neck of land cast of the Uncoway river at Black Rock.
North-west of what was called the Old Indian Field at Black Rock was Try's field,* celebrated for having been the spot upon which the witch Knap was hung, and on the south-east Fairweather island and the village or "the plain of Black Rock." Fairweather island at that time, like the coast all along the Sound, was covered with beech trees. A road extended from Division street to the south-west end of the island, shaded by these trees. From time to time the cutting down of the beech trees for fuel, very materially affected the size and shape of the island, causing the sand and soil to be washed down into the harbor. Black Rock was so named from the black grass or salt grass, and the dark color of the rocks extend- ing out into the Sound. Grover's-hill, which rises southward from the plain to a considerable height, affords a magnificent view of the Sound and the surrounding country. It was probably one of the points at a very early date, from which the guards of the town watched the maneuvers of the Indians, and the approach of Dutch and foreign vessels at this hostile period. The point of land rising between the west bank of the Uncoway river and the salt meadows on the west, was for many years called Sec- ley's point, and at a later date the Penfield mill property ; while the rise of meadow land west of the salt meadows, received the name of Paul's neck. The hill which rises at the junction of the Uncoway river and Uncoway or Mill creek, was for many years called the Old Mill-hill. North-west of this hill, between Paul's neck and Ludlow's pasture lot, lay the Windsor field. North of this, stretching towards Pequonnock, was the Concord field. A rise of ground in this field, overlooking a wide expanse of scenery, has been called Nature Displayed. North of this rises Holland hill, first called Tunzix hill. North-west of this hill lies Fairfield woods, in which was another wolves' swamp. At the foot of Holland hill, a peculiar bend in the old king's highway, gave rise to the name of Cheer, or Chair swamp. South-west of Concord field lay Barlow's plains, extend- ing through to Mill river. This plain was named after John Barlow, who removed thither from the Ludlow square. The locality appears to have
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