The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Part 5

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: New York : C. B. Norton
Number of Pages: 956

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This I Testify, MATTHEW GRANT. And " thus," says Gov. Bradford, " was the controversy ended, but the unkindness not so soon forgotten."2

These negotiations with the Plymouth People, however, were not the weightiest or most important matters which occupied the attention of the Windsor People. They, together with their neighbors of Hartford and Wethersfield, were now involved in .

1 Probably Stony Hill.

2 Savage observes that although Bradford " was a patentee, the reader will find, with pleasure, that his pen was guided by truth, as well as interest." The ex parte evidence of few men can be so fully relied upon, as that of the excellent Governor Bradford. In connection with this subject, honest Mor- ton, the Plymouth chronicler, says that his people " deserved to have held it [ the Connecticut country ], and not by friends to have been thrust out, as in a sort, they afterwards were."

THE PEQUOD WAR.

a contest, upon the event of which, their lives and welfare, and all that is most dear to the human heart, were staked. We refer to the breaking out of the Pequod War. Since the first approach of the white man to the valley of the Connecticut, that tribe, whose seat was on the Mystic River, seemed to have imbibed a bitter hostility toward the English. As early as 1634, they began the work of murder and pillage, and in 1636 they con- ceived a design of extirpating and driving the whites from New England. The murders of Stone, Noreton and Oldham, and the garrison at Saybrook Fort; the horrible cruelties in- flicted on Butterfield, Tilly and others, had alarmed and exas- perated the English Colonies; and the murderous attack on Wethersfield, on the 23d of April, 1637, aroused them to strike a blow, as sudden as it was successful and decisive. At the court convened on the Ist of May following, the delibera- tions were doubtless weighty and important. The first line of the record, of this Court, is sententious but energetic: "It is ordered that there shall be an offensive war against the Pequots." Mark well the words, "an offensive war." No longer would they stand on the defensire, they had now drawn the sword, and that sword could only "be sheathed in victory or death." And then follows in the same terse and energetic language, "There shall be 90 men levied out of the three plant- ations, Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, in the following proportion : Hartford, 42; Windsor, 30; Wethersfield, 18." Hartford was to furnish fourteen, and Windsor six suits of armor. Each soldier was to carry one pound of powder, four pounds of shot, twenty bullets, and a light musket "if they can." They were also directed to take a barrel of powder from the Saybrook Fort, and Capt. John Mason was entrusted with the command.

Supplies were also levied on the three towns as follows: Windsor was to furnish sixty bushels of corn, fifty pieces of pork, thirty pounds of rice, and four cheeses. Hartford was to furnish, eighty-four bushels of corn, three firkins of suet, two firkins of butter, four bushels of oat-meal, two bushels of peas, five hundred pounds of fish, two bushels of salt. Wethersfield, one bushel of Indian beans, and thirty-six bushels of corn.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

Each plantation was to have its corn ground, and one-half baked in biscuit. It was furthermore ordered that there should be furnished " one good hogshead of beer, for the captain, minister and sick men;" and "if there be only three or four gallons of strong water, two gallons of sack." Mr. Pyncheon's shallop was employed for the occasion. Thus equipped, the troops of the several towns, rendezvoused at Hartford May the 10th, where they found a "pink, a pinnace and a shallop " awaiting them. Here, also, they were joined by seventy Mohegan and River Indians, under Uncas. The staff of command was duly delivered to Captain Mason, by the venerable and reverend Dr. Hooker, of Hartford, whose colleague, the Rev. Mr. Stone, accompanied the expedition as chaplain. Dr. Thos. Pell, of the Saybrook Fort, was the surgeon. The soldiers were " encouraged by the Rev'd ministers," a night was spent in earnest prayer, and the next morning, followed by the tears and lingering gaze of the relatives and friends, whom they left behind - that little fleet of "pink, pinnace and shallop," with "many Indian canoes," dropped down the stream. Never before nor since, did the placid bosom of the Connecticut bear a more precious freight.

It is not our purpose to accompany them during this short but decisive campaign, the details of which are to be found in every history of New England.

Let us, however, return to those who were left at home with- in the Palizado of Windsor. What their feelings and fore- bodings were in the absence of their friends, we can learn from the following letter, written May 17th, two weeks after the departure of the expedition. It is addressed by Mr. Ludlow to Mr. Pyncheon, who, with a few others, had commenced a settle- ment at Agawam, now Springfield, Mass.1 He says: "I have received your letter, wherein you express that you are well forti- fied, but few hands. I would desire you to be careful and watchful that you be not be betrayed by friendships. For my part, my spirits is ready to sink within me, when upon alarms, which are daily, I think of your condition, that if the case be never so dangerous, we can neither help you, nor yon us. But

I See Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc'y.

THE BATTLE AT MYSTIC.

I must confess both you and ourselves do stand merely by the power of our God; therefore he must and ought to have all the praise of it." Further on, in reply to Mr. Pyncheon's urgent request to have some assistance sent to him at Agawam, he says: "I can assure you it is our great grief we can not, for our plantations are so gleaned by that small fleet we sent out, that those that remain are not able to supply our watches, which are day and night, that our people are scarce able to stand upon their legs; and for planting, we are in a like condi- tion with you; what we plant is before our doors, little any- where else. Our fleet went away tomorrow will be seven-night."

But the decisive battle of May 26th had been fought - the Pequod power was broken, the victorious little army was on its homeward march, full of joy and of gratitude for success such as they had hardly dared to hope. Mason was " nobly enter- tained with many great guns" by Capt. Gardiner at the Say- brook Fort, and the welcome which awaited his gallant troops on their arrival home, was indescribably warm and enthusiast- ic. A day of special thanksgiving was proclaimed throughout the colonies, and everywhere the song of exultant victory was blended with prayer and praise to Him who ruleth on high. In all these rejoicings, we may well believe that the good people of Windsor had their full share. Captain Mason, the "very foremost man of them a'," was their townsman. So was brave Sergeant Alvord. So were Edward Barber and David Pattison, whose valiant right arm caused seven Indians to " bite the dust."1 So were lucky Thomas Stiles and John Dyer, who were singularly fortunate in escaping with their lives, being each of them struck by arrows, which stuck in the knots of their neck- handkerchiefs, a twin-like coincidence, which is justly com- memorated by Capt. Mason in his account of the battle, as among the "wonderful providences " of the day.1 Nor was the

1 See Niles's Indian Wars, and " A Brief History of the Pequot War : Especially of the memorable taking of the Fort at Mistick in Connecticut, in 1637, written by Major John Mason, a principal actor therein, as their chief Captain and Commander of Connecticut forces ;" published at Boston in 1736, and republished in the Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc'y, VIII, 2d series.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

valiant Captain himself, without his " special providences" in that fearful fray, though with a modesty as characteristic as his bravery, he makes no mention of it. Yet we have it upon good authority, that in the thickest of the fight, an Indian drew "an arrow to its head" full upon the Captain, whose life was only saved by an opportune thrust of a comrade's sword, which cut the bowstring.1 We may well imagine that wondering child- hood crept closer to the knee of manhood, and that woman's fair cheek alternately paled and flushed as the marvelous deeds and hairbreadth escapes of the " Pequot fight " were rehearsed within the Palizado homes of Windsor. Nor were they with- out more tangible proofs. The Pequods were so thoroughly subdued, that they were hunted down like wild beasts, by small parties of those very River Indians, to whom, but a few days before, their name had been a terror; and for a long time their ghastly grinning heads were brought into Windsor and Hartford, and there exhibited as trophies.

It would be interesting to have a complete list of the thirty gallant soldiers, whom Windsor contributed to the Pequod ex-

1 Trumbull says that this was Sergt. Davis. But Capt. Mason himself men- tions Davis as one of the party who attacked the other entrance of the fort, and were driven back by the flames of the burning wigwams. It seems certain, from accounts of the battle, as well as from tradition, that William Hayden of Hartford was the lucky man who saved the Captain's life. At the com- mencement of the attack, the Captain, Lt. Seely, and sixteen others, effected an entrance into the fort, and in the hand to hand fight which ensued, Wm. Hayden distinguished himself by his daring and prowess. Mason in his own narrative, while modestly omitting any reference to himself, especially men- tions the gallantry of Hayden; and Wolcott, in a poetical account of the battle, written in 1721, thus intimates that Hayden came to the general's assistance at a very critical juncture.

" But fate that doth the rule of action know, Did this unequal combat disallow, For quite too much to force one man alone, To beat an army, take a garrison, Sent Hayden in, who with his sun-steeled blade Joining the general, such a slaughter made, That soon the Pequots ceased to oppose, The matchiless force of such resistless foes."

A sword now in possession of the Conn. Hist. Soc'y, at Hartford, is said to have been the one used by Wm. Hayden in this battle. Its line of descent from him, is at least, unimpeachable.

NAMES OF PEQUOT SOLDIERS.

pedition. Unfortunately, however, we can only name fifteen who are certainly known to have belonged to this town. 1

Capt. John Mason

Nathan Gillet

Sergt. Benedict Alvord

Thomas Gridley

Thomas Barber

Thomas Stiles

Thomas Buckland

Sgt. Thomas Staires

George Chappel

Richard Osborn

Jolın Dyer

Thomas Parsons

James Eggleston

Edward Pattison

William Thrall.

They were absent three weeks and two days. Every soldier received 1s. 3d per day (reckoning six days in the week); Ser- geants, 20d per day; Lieutenants, 20s per week. The Captain 40s per week. A large grant of land was also given to each soldier, and to this day, the memory of an ancestor in the Pe- quot fight, is an honorable heirloom in every Connecticut family.

The next month, thirty men were raised from the three river plantations, who, under command of Lieut. Seeley, were "to set down in the Pequot Country and River, in place convenient to maintain our right, that God by conquest hath given us." To this army of occupation, Windsor furnished ten men, also twenty bushels of Corn and thirty pounds of Butter.2 By an order of the next court, June 26, 10 soldiers were added to this company, of which 5 were from Windsor. The town was also obliged to furnish the following additional supplies: "1 Ram- goat; 201b of butter; { C of cheese; 1 gallon of strong water; 3 bushels of Malt." In the fall, also, Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Haines were deputed to visit the Bay, and enter into arrangements with the authorities there, for an offensive and defensive alli- ance against the enemy; and for a permanent settlement in the Pequot Country. But though the cloud of war had passed, still

1 This list is the result of much careful research, and may be depended upon as reliable, as far as it goes. By availing ourselves of the Yankee pri- vilege of guessing, we could easily fill up our list, and probably with much correctness, but we prefer to state merely what we know, and no more.

2 From Mason's account we infer that Sgts. Palmer and Staires, of Windsor, were engaged in this expedition.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

a new danger threatened the Colonies. The necessary expenses and supplies of the late expedition, although promptly and cheer- fully met, had left the country impoverished and burdened with debt. Every article of clothing and food was purchased only at the dearest rates; and the army had so drained the fields of laborers that their farms had been but partially tilled, and did not yield enough to supply their wants. The Court, foreseeing the great scarcity of provisions, contracted (February, 1638) with Mr. Pyncheon to furnish the Colonies with 500 bushels of Indian corn, or more if it could be procured. The inhabitants were also forbidden to bargain for it privately, and it was limited to certain prices, lest individual speculation should in- terfere with the public good. A vessel, belonging to Elias Parkman of Windsor, was also ordered to be sent to Narragan- sett, to buy corn of the natives there. The winter was very severe, and Winthrop says, that "the snow lay on the ground from the 4th of November to the 23d of March. It was some- times four and five feet deep. Once it snowed for two hours together flakes as big as English shillings." It appears from the records of the next court, that Mr. Pyncheon, being appre- hensive that he should not be able to procure enough corn, Cap- tain Mason and Mr. Ludlow were authorized to " trade to supply their own necessities and the necessities of some others that are in want." In spite of these precautions, however, corn became so scarce that it rose to the extraordinary price of 12s per bushel, Thereupon, a committee was sent to the Indian village of Po- comtock (since Deerfield, Mass.), where they purchased so large- ly that " the Indians came down to Windsor and Hartford with fifty canoes at a time full of corn."

February 9, 1638, the court levied a war tax upon the towns, of which the Windsor proportion was £158:2s, to be paid "either, in money, in wampum four a penny, or in good and merchantable beaver at 9s per pound." Shortly after (March 8) the court order "that there shall be 50 costletts (or coats of armor) provided in the plantation, viz, Hartford 21, Windsor 12, Wethersfield 10, Agawam 7, within 6 months" Also "it is ordered that Captain Mason shall be a public military officer of the plantations of Connecticut, and shall train the military men

MILITARY REGULATIONS.

thereof in each plantation, according to the days appointed ; and shall have £40 per annum to be paid out of the treasury quarterly." All persons above the age of sixteen were ordered to bear arms, except excused by the court. Commissioners and church-officers, and those who had filled those offices, were ex- empted "from bearing arms, watchings and wardings." Maga- zines of powder and shot were established in every town; that of Windsor, consisting of one barrel of powder and 300 weight of lead. Every plantation neglecting to provide such a maga- zine, within three months was fined £2 (40s) and 10s every month until it was provided. Every military man was required to "have continually in his house in a readiness 2 a lb of good powder ; 2 lbs of bullets suitable to his piece ; one pound of match if his piece be a matchlock," under penalty of 5s for every default.

The following order of the court of April 5th, 1638, marks the first highway in Connecticut :

" Whereas there is a desire of our neighbors of Hartford, that there may be a public highway, for cart and horse, upon the upland between the said Hartford and Windsor, as may be con- venient, it is therefore thought meet ; that Henry Wolcott the younger, and Mr. Stephen Terry, and William Westwood, and Nathaniel Ward, shall consider of a fitting and convenient highway to be marked and set out, and bridges made over the swamps, and then it being confirmed by the court, the inhabit- auts of Hartford may with making a comely and decent stile for foote, and fence up the upper end of the meadow ; this to be done by Monday, sevenights, upon penalty of 10s every default."

On May 3d, 1638, Lieut. William Holmes, by authority of a power of attorney, executed on the 20th of October previous, by the company of New Plymouth, sold to Mr. Matthew Allyn of Hartford, all the lands, houses, " servants, goods and chattels " of the said company, in the town of Windsor. And thus was extinguished the last vestige of Plymouth right and title upon the Connecticut River. 1

1 Mr. Allyn, it would appear, afterwards attempted to evade some rates on this land', levied by the town of Windsor, ingeniously claiming exemption on the ground that having purchased from Plymouth, he was not amenable to taxation by the colony of Connecticut,

Whereas by an Order the 7th of December last, tho difference between Mr. Allyn and Windsor concerning land purchased of Plymouth, was, by

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

June 1st. "There was a great Earthquake, about 3 of the Clock in the afternoon, and about a fortnight before, there was a great thunder, and a thunder bolt at Hartford went through a house, and melted a [bar] and hailstones as big as a man's thumb."1

Jannary 14, 1638-9, will ever be memorable in the history of Connecticut as the date of the adoption of its first Constitution. Up to this time the necessary legislation of the three colonies had been transacted by the court, which first met at Hartford in 1636, and consisted of five magistrates, two from Windsor, two from Hartford and one from Wethersfield, holding their authority from Mass. The commission had, in strictness, no force, proprio vigore, after the settlers left the territory of Mas- sachusetts, but it was useful as the basis of organization until a different form of government could be established. The com- missioners were not usurpers ; their authority was originally valid beyond cavil; they were rulers de facto; their powers exercised benignly and wisely and were submitted to with cheer- fulness and promptness. They met from time to time, as occa- sion required, until May, 1637, when committees, afterwards called deputies, were elected by each town to assist the magis- trates. From these two bodies grew our senate and house of representatives. In 1639, however, it being admitted that the people on the Connecticut were out of the jurisdiction of Mas-

consent, referred to Mr. Haynes, Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Phelps, to end the same, and what is agreed on by them is to be yielded unto on both sides, according to which Order and reference we who are mentioned in the said Order have seriously weighed all such arguments as have been ten- dered unto us on both sides, and we can not see but Mr. Allyn ought to be, subject, for the said land and purchase, to the laws and orders and jurisdic- tion of this Commonwealth, and by a necessary consequence, subject to that Plantation of Windsor, wherein the said land lies, and to all such reasonable and lawful orders as are agreed there for the public good of the same, and in equal proportion to bear his share in all rates there, so as while he and his successors live elsewhere then he or they are to pay only according to his proportion of land there, and profits and benefits thence arising, and such stock as is resident usually employed in & thereupon. And our judgment for the present is, that the said Mr. Allyn nor his successors should not be rated in any other place for that land and estate he hath there as aforesaid. It is intended that Mr. Allyn have notice given him, in convenient time, of all such orders as do or may concern him, and that the orders be such as lie within his compass and power to accomplish and perform in a reasonable way." Dated the 4th of Ja. 1638, and subscribed by Jo : HAYNES ED. HOPKINS Ro : LUDLOW WILL' PHELPS.

-Col. Rec. 1, 53.

1 Extract from the shorthand MS. Journal of Henry Wolcott, Jr., of Windsor.

FIRST WRITTEN CONSTITUTION.

. sachusetts, and the patentees of Connecticut having abandoned their proposed undertaking, the people of Windsor, Wethers- field and Hartford met at the last named place, and adopted a constitution for Connecticut ; the first written constitution, de- fining its own powers, which the world ever saw. This docu- ment, recognizing no authority, save God's, superior to that delegated by the People, was drawn up by a member of the Windsor Church, Mr. Roger Ludlow, assisted by the magis- trates. It was modeled on the constitution of the Congrega- tional Church, and from the date of its adoption to the present day, there has been no radical change in the forms or principles of the government of Connecticut.

" The men who formed this constitution deserve to be held in everlasting remembrance. They were not ignorant, or rash, or timid men. They were Ludlow, and Haynes, and Wolcott, and Hopkins, and Hooker, and others of kindred spirits ; men of clear minds and good hearts-men who, in their views of civil and religious liberty, were far in advance of their age, and who, under the guidance of a kind providence, introduced a form of government which, for two centuries, has secured to the people of this state, a measure of peace, of liberty, of order, and hap- piness not surpassed by any other people on earth. I say em- phatically for two centuries. For the charter, obtained from Charles II, in 1662, did little more than assume and ratify the constitution of 1639. It left its great principles unaltered ; and Connecticut was still a republic in every thing but a name.

The constitution adopted in 1818 is altogether conformable, in its principles, to the compact entered into by our fathers ; dif- fering from it chiefly in its adaptedness to a more numerous population, and to the interests of a more widely extended and complicated state of society."1

March 10, 1638-9. " It was reckoned from the beginning of the plantation hitherto that there have died of old and young 27, but not their names exprest ; but 2 that were members [of the church] and the Captain's wife. Of children 16, of servants 8; and that there had been born of children from the beginning to this time 40, but not their names."2

1 Dr. Hawes' Centennial Address at Hartford, 1835.

2 Extract from the Old Church Book, compiled by old Matthew Grant. See Appendix No. 2.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

In 1638-9, the annual flood, which succeeds the breaking up of the ice on the Connecticut River, seems to have been un- usually heavy. Matthew Grant's Church Record states that he found it in the " old book," that " the great flood began on the 5th March [1638-9]. On the 11th of March it began to fall, but by reason of much rain on the 12th day, it rose very high. On the 14th, two youths drowned, being in a canoe on the flood, gathering up pales swimming on the flood, against Thomas Dewey's house, Matthew Ramend and Henry Lush.1 On the 15th and 16th days it [the flood] had fallen near two feet, but on the 16th day was much rain and great wind out of the south east, which made it an exceeding great storm. It damaged houses, and broke down many trees, so that by the cause of which rain, all the 17th and 18th day the water rose very high, more than. had ever before been known by the Indians. It drowned many houses very deep, and endamaged many cattle over the river, for all the ground there was drowned to one little ridge, where Samuel Grant now lives.2 It carried away much timber and hay, and beat up pales out of the ground, and posts and rails, and carried them away, and whole trees and all. On the 18th day at night there was great fear of another storm of wind. It began, but it pleased the Lord, it ceased quickly, and by the morning one might perceive the water was begun to fall, and so it continued ; on the 22d day at night it was well fallen, and yet it was as high as the highest flood we had known before." " August 17th, 1639. Mr. Huit and divers others came up from the Bay to Windsor to settle."3

The arrival of the Rev. Ephraim Huit, was an era in the his- tory of the town. Hitherto the godly Mr. Warham, bereft by the death of Mr. Maverick in 1636, had been without any asso- ciate in his arduous pastoral labors, amid the harassing cares and trials of a new settlement. We can imagine, then, with what feelings of devout joy, he welcomed one who was to be a teacher to his little flock, and a co-laborer in breaking "the

1 These names are somewhat indistinct in the original manuscript.

2 This was in the present town of South Windsor, just in the rear (or west) of the Theological Institute.

3 Matthew Grant's MS. Church Record.

DISAFFECTION OF THE INDIANS.

bread of life " to them. Mr. Huit was then in the prime of life, possessing acknowledged abilities, and high attainments. He had been pastor of Wroxhall, in Warwickshire, England, and . had been prosecuted the year before, for nonconformity, by the Bishop of Worcester, who intended "either to reform or punish him." This was probably the cause of his coming to America. He was accompanied by several excellent families, members of his own church, and was joined by many others in Massachu- setts, while on his way to Connecticut, so that the arrival of his party formed a very considerable accession to the Windsor colony.

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The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Part 5

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1859 Publisher: New York : C. B. Norton Number of Pages: 956

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: New York : C. B. Norton
Number of Pages: 956