USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 8
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From Hartford : Thomas Bull, Wm. Blumfield, John Brunson, Thos. Bunce, Thos. Barnes, Peter Blachford, Benjamin Burr, John Clarke, Nicholas Clarke, Sergt. Philip Davis, Nichª Desborough, Thomas Hales, Samuel Hales, William Haydon, John Hills, John Hallaway, Thos Hollybut (Hurlburt), Jona. Ince, Benjamin Munn, Nich. Jennings® Nich. Olmsted, Richard Olmsted, John Purkas, William Pratt, Wm. Phillips, Thos Root, Thomas Spencer, Arthur Smith, Thomas Stanton, Rev. Samuel Stone, George Steele, Samuel Whitehead, John Warner, Stephen Hart, Zachary Field, William Cornwell, Thomas Munson, - 37.
From Windsor : Serj. Benedict Alvord, Thos. Buckland, Thomas Barber, John Dyer, Richard Osborn, Tho® Styles, Serj. Stares, Thomas Parsons, Thomas Gridley, William Trall, Nathan Gillett, James Egleston, Geo. Chappell, Capt. John Mason, - 14.
From Wethersfield: John Johnson, Jeremy Jagger, Lieut. Robert Seeley, Richard Westcoat, - Merriman, Thomas Standish, Thos Tibballs, Henry Smith, John Nott, - 9.
Of the Men from Saybrook : Capt. John Underhill, Edward Pattison, James Rogers, Edward Lay, John Gallop, John Woods, - 6.
In all here are sixty-six ; but Dr. Trumbull notes the family name of another, Mr. Hedge, who was certainly in the battle and was probably from Windsor. Captain Mason in his narrative says : " A valiant, reso- lute Gentleman, one Mr. Hedge, stepping towards the gate (of the Fort), saying, ' If we may not enter, wherefore came we here,' and immedi- ately endeavoured to enter." This makes sixty-seven. Captain Mason states that there were but seventy-seven white men actually in the battle. Of the original ninety, several had to be left to guard and man the vessels, while the others went to the fight ; and none of these should be deprived of the honors of the expedition.
Captain Mason concluded to take "the farthest way about," instead of the Pequot (Thames) River, and when the winds were propitious set sail for the Narragansett country. They started off on a Friday morning and reached the place where they were to land Saturday evening, but did not go on shore. They kept quietly in their vessels
51
THE PEQUOT WAR.
over the Sabbath, and doubtless Chaplain (the Rev. Samuel) Stone held religious services on board. On Monday the wind blew so strongly from the northwest that they could not safely land. So was it on Tuesday till near night, when it became calmer. As soon as they had landed they found the nearest Narragansett sachem and explained the object of their expedition ; and he gave full leave, as they had antici- pated, to march through his country. So they left certain men with the vessels and proceeded on their way. The place where they had landed was not far off from Point Judith, and the distance from there to the Pequot Fort, in a straight line, could not have been more than about twenty-five miles ; but by devious ways their marches, in all, seem to have been from thirty to thirty-five miles before reaching the enemy.
Captain Mason and his men setting out on Wednesday morning marched about eighteen miles to Nyantick, where they passed Wednes- day night. Though the sachem here was ungracious, yet friendly In- dians from the Narragansetts joined themselves to the river Indians with whom they set out, till they had in their train not far from five hundred Indians, of whose treachery they were the more afraid because they were dependent upon their help.
When Mason landed near Point Judith a messenger arrived report- ing that Captain Daniel Patrick had reached what is now Providence, on his way from Massachusetts with a military force, and asking Captain Mason to wait till he could join him. But Mason feared that any delay now would only give the Pequots an opportunity to discover his plans, and he determined to go forward without waiting for the reinforce- ments. On Thursday morning he started from the Nyantick country and marched about twelve miles, when they made a halt of some hours to rest and refresh themselves. Toward night they moved on three miles till they came into the immediate vicinity of the fort, without giving any knowledge of their approach.
Next morning was Friday, and in the early morning the terrible blow was delivered, by gun, by sword, by fire, or in any way to insure the quickest and most wholesale destruction of men, women, and chil- dren. Captain Mason sums up the result of that attack in these words : " And thus in little more than one Hour's space was their impregnable fort with themselves utterly Destroyed, to the number of six or seven Hundred, as some of themselves confessed. There were only seven taken captive and about seven escaped."
Captain John Underhill, who was in the fight, says: "There were about four hundred souls in the fort, and not above five of them escaped out of our hands."
It is not needful that we should repeat the horrible details of that battle. Palfrey in his History has summed up this whole matter in a paragraph admirable for its wisdom and charity.1
In 1637 Connecticut consisted simply and solely of the three original plantations, Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. We have elsewhere treated of the co-operation of these towns in the Pequot War, and the general style of their government in their new beginnings. In the
1 History of New England, vol. i. p. 467.
52
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
spring of 1638 the New Haven colony planted itself at the mouth of the Quinnipiack River, and thus gave a sense of friendly neighborhood between the dwellers on the river and those on the south shore.
In 1639 the new written Constitution was adopted in the Connecti- cut colony, and society was organized on a basis of more strength and dignity. New-comers were rapidly dropping in to the three towns singly or in little companies. The annihilation of the Pequot tribe gave to the planters a sense of security in their daily toil and in the slumbers of the night.
In 1639 Roger Ludlow, of Windsor, led off a little colony to plant the town of Fairfield, which seems to have been the earliest organized outgrowth from the river plantation. By its locality, its more natural connection would have been with the New Haven colony ; but it reckoned itself from the first as within the Connecticut jurisdiction.
Not far from the same time, and in connection with Mr. Ludlow's movements, a settlement was begun in a place bordering on Fairfield, called by the Indians Uncoway, but soon after known as the town of Stratford. This also, though near New Haven, was one of the Connec- ticut plantations.
Each year there were "two General Assemblies, or Courts, the one on the Second Thursday of April, and the other on the Second Thurs- day of September." The one in April was called the Court of Election, when the governor, magistrates, deputies, etc., were chosen. The other General Court, in September, was for the making of laws, and the transaction of all business touching the welfare of the colony. Both of these meetings were from time to time adjourned, so that the court was usually together several times each year.
In 1644 the town of Saybrook, with all its rights and belongings, was made over by sale and purchase to the Connecticut colony ; and though there were many later frictions before matters were finally adjusted, yet Saybrook stands historically connected and associated with the river towns above, from the year 1644. The same year Agawam (Springfield), which had kept up a kind of half-way lingering connection with the towns below, was entirely taken out of this connec- tion, and fixed as belonging to the Massachusetts jurisdiction.
In 1645 Farmington, on the Tunxis River, was surveyed and bounded, and admitted into the list of Connecticut towns. Mr. George Wyllis, in making his will in March, 1645, calls this infant settlement Tunxis Cepus. Sometimes in those early records it was written Unxus Sepus. A settlement had already been begun there, for Mr. Wyllis gave " forty shillings to the pore at Tunxis Cepus." Dr. J. H. Trumbull says Sepus or Cepus is an Indian word for a little river.
The plantation on the Pequot River, begun in 1645 by the younger Winthrop, was called a town in 1646, and known sometimes as Na- meage and sometimes as Pequitt. To what jurisdiction it appertained was for a time uncertain. At a General Court of Connecticut, March 20, 1658, this matter was settled. "The plantation at Pequet is named by this court, New London."
At a General Court at Hartford, Sept. 11, 1651, we find the follow- ing items in the records : " It is ordered, senteneed, and decreed, that Mattabeseck [Middletown] shall bee a Towne."
"It is likewise ordered that Norwauke shall bee a Towne."
53
THE CODE OF 1650.
In the year 1650 the Code of Laws was completed under the direc- tion of Mr. Roger Ludlow, and accepted. This helped to give a sense of order and security throughout the infant commonwealth.
At a meeting of the General Court of Connecticut, held April 10, 1646, Edward Hopkins governor and John Haynes deputy-governor, the following action was taken : -
" Mr. Ludlowe is desired to take some paynes in drawing forth a body of Lawes for the government of this Comon welth & p'sent the to the next Generall Court, and if he can prouide a man for his occations while he is imployed in the said searuice he shalbe paid at the Country chardge."
It is provided in this vote that this work of embodying the colony laws should be completed in a year and report thereof made to the Court. But in a work of this magnitude and importance it could hardly be expected that it would be finished in a year. At a meeting of the Court, May 25, 1647, an additional minute was passed as follows : -
" When Mr. Ludlowe hath p'fected a body of lawes, as the court hath desired him, it is the mynd of the Court that he should, besids paying the hyer of a man, be further considered for his paynes."
These arrangements having been made and orders passed, Mr. Lud- low was busy about a work which must, if properly done, occupy considerable time; and we hear no more until Feb. 5, 1650-51, when we find on the records the following : -
" This Courte graunts and orders, that the Secretary shall bee allowed and paid the sum of six pounds, being in p't of payment for his great paines in draw- ing out and transcribing the country orders, concluded and established in May last."
The " country orders " here spoken of are the code of laws before provided for ; and by this entry we learn that the code was completed and established in May, 1650, and hence called "the code of 1650." The colonial secretary at that time was John Cullick, of Hartford ; and the last vote quoted relates to his compensation for "drawing out and transcribing" the same. The whole code may be found in the first printed volume of the Colonial Records of Connecticut, 1636-1665; it covers fifty-four large and compactly printed pages. Mr. Ludlow had doubtless been paid for his valuable services in making the compilation, according to the intimation given in one of the votes we have quoted.
Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, the editor and compiler of the first vol- umes of the Colonial Records, adds a note at the opening of the code, from which we extract the following : -
" This Code [usually cited as Mr. " Ludlow's Code " or " the Code of 1650 "] is recorded at the end of Vol. II. of the Colony Records [the manuscript volumes], and separately paged. The orders subsequently passed were, from time to time, added at the end, or occasionally inserted under the appropriate title, by the Sec- retary. Prefixed to the Laws is a copy of the Fundamental Orders, or Constitu- tion of 1639, already printed on pages 20-25 of this volume." 1
This Code is divided into eighty-eight sections, arranged alphabeti- cally according to the topics treated, beginning with Ability, Actions,
1 Colonial Records, vol. i. p. 509.
54
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Age, and Arrests, and ending with Watches, Wolves, Wrecks of the Sea, and Vessels.
In this year (1650) some important business was accomplished touching the Narragansett Indians and the Dutch. The commissioners of the four colonies met that year, September 5, at Hartford. This confederation of the four colonies had been formed and ratified May 19, 1643. At the meeting in 1650 Massachusetts was represented by Mr. Simon Bradstreet and Mr. William Hawthorne; Plymouth, by Mr. Thomas Prince and Mr. John Brown ; Connecticut, by Mr. Edward Hopkins and Mr. John Haynes ; and New Haven, by Mr. Theophilus Eaton and Mr. Stephen Goodyear.
It was now thirteen years since the utter overthrow of the Pequots had brought a wholesome fear over all the other New England tribes. But by degrees acts of cruelty and wrong had been perpetrated by the great tribe of the Narragansetts, for which they had been brought to terms, and had agreed to pay a large tribute as a penalty for these outrages. Whenever the times set for payment came, the Narragansett chiefs delayed and prevaricated, all the while making fair promises, until the patience of the English was exhausted. At this meeting of the commis- sioners at Hartford, the Narragansett tribute-money being yet unpaid, one of the first items of business was to despatch Captain Humphrey Atherton, then at Springfield, with twenty men, to collect their long- delayed payments. Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, in his "History of Connec- ticut" (Vol. I. p. 188), has told us how this commission given to Captain Atherton was executed : - -
" He was authorized, if they should not be paid upon demand, to seize .on the best articles he could find, to the full amount of what was due ; or on Pessa- eus, the chief sachem, or any of his children, and carry them off. Upon his arrival among the Narragansetts, he found the sachem recurring to his former arts, putting him off with deceitful and dilatory answers, and not suffering him to approach his presence. In the mean time he was collecting his warriors about him. The captain therefore marched directly to the door of his wigwam, where, posting his men, he entered himself, with his pistol in his hand, and seizing Pessacus by the hair of his head, drew him from the midst of his attendants, declaring if they should make the least resistance, he would despatch him in an instant. This bold stroke gave him such an alarm that he at once paid all the arrearages."
In addition to this Indian business, the commissioners, at this meet- ing of 1650, undertook to clear up and strengthen the relations of New England with the Dutch. Ever since the coming of the English into the river, in 1633, there had been conflicting interests and claims, in reference to which we have to confess that the Dutch had carried them- selves quite as kindly and forbearingly as their opponents.
There was one more source of uneasiness and trouble which came before these commissioners for adjustment. Ever since the bargain had been made with George Fenwick, in 1644, for the delivery of Say- brook, its fort and stores, to the Connecticut Colony, the people in the towns above had been dissatisfied with the terms on which that bargain had been completed. It bound the Connecticut people to such a system of toll-paying as was petty and disagreeable. This business had been reviewed and a change effected in 1646. But there were still friction
55
GENERAL HISTORY TO 1665.
and strife. The year 1650 so adjusted matters as to bring comparative peace. A general sum was to be paid by the colony for a term of years, instead of this individual tribute. There were still some after troubles about this matter.
The year 1653 was one of great fear and disturbance throughout the colonies, especially in Connecticut and New Haven. The difficulties with the Dutch came back in greater strength than ever. There was a wide-spread belief that the Dutch Governor at New York was in a plot with the Indians for a general uprising to extirpate the English planta- tions. Six of the eight commissioners for that year thought they had sufficient grounds for declaring war against the Dutch. Massachusetts held back.
In 1654 a fleet was sent out by Cromwell to assist the New England colonies in their difficulties with the Dutch. There were great runnings to and fro, Massachusetts consenting, but not directly assisting, to raise an army of co-operation with the fleet. But while these excitements were abroad, the news came of a great victory of the English over the Dutch in a naval battle in which the Dutch suffered such immense loss that they were glad to sue for peace; and so New England drifted through these Dutch difficulties without actual war.
The number of ratable persons, as given by the historian Trumbull, in the Connecticut Colony for the year 1654 was 775, which would imply a population of nearly 4,000. Hartford had the highest number, 177; but Windsor had been rapidly gaining on Hartford since the Pequot War, for Windsor had 165 of these ratable persons. At the time of the · war, in 1637, Hartford furnished forty-two men as its quota, and Wind- sor thirty. The smallest town in Connecticut was Norwalk, which had twenty-four rates. The grand list was £79,073.
In the year 1660 a full and final adjustment was made with the Fen- wick heirs, in the matter of the purchase of Saybrook, when it was found that the heirs had been overpaid, and that they were indebted to the colony to the amount of £500.
This year (1660) saw the end of the English Commonwealth under Cromwell and his son Richard. Cromwell died on the 4th of Septem- ber, 1658, and Richard, after idling away a few months in his father's illustrious seat, retired to private life ; for there was nothing else for him to do. His resignation took place in July, 1659, ten years after Charles I. had been publicly tried and executed. Palfrey says : " Intel- ligence of the accession of Charles the Second to the throne of his ancestors was not long in reaching Boston. The Journal of the Gen- eral Court, which sat three months later, contains no reference to the new state of things.1
John Leverett was at that time the agent of Massachusetts in Eng- land, and in the month of November a letter received from him made it plain that it was time for Massachusetts to speak. Accordingly, an extra session of the General Court was at once called, and an Address to the King prepared. It was nearly a year after the king's accession when the Plymouth Colony sent an address of welcome; but its mes- sage, when sent, was full and hearty. It was nearly a year before the New Haven Colony acted in this matter, and then not until its memory had been jogged by a letter from Massachusetts.
1 History of New England, vol. ii. p. 447.
56
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Connecticut pursued her own course. At the session of the General Court held March 14, 1661, we find the following entry upon this topic. The opening sentence shows that the subject-matter had been under consideration some time before : -
" In reference to former intentions and motions weh could not be brought to a ful conclusion, for ye manner and meanes to accomplish the same, til this meet- ing of ye Generall Court, It is concluded and declared by this Court. That (as it was formerly agreed by those Magistrates and Deputies that could then be as- sembled together) it is our duty and very necessary to make a speedy address to his Sacred Majesty, our Soveraigne Lord Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, to acknowledge our loyalty and allegiance to his highnes, hereby declareing and professing ourselves, all the inhabitants of this Colony, to be his Highnes loyall and faythfull subjects. And doe further con- clude it necessary that we should humbly petition his Majesty for grace and favour, and for ye continuance and confirmation of such priviledges and liberties as are necessary for the comfortable and peaceable settlement of this Colony."
At the regular May meeting of the Court a draft of an address to the king, drawn by Governor Winthrop, was presented, with which the Court was well satisfied ; but as some additions or changes might be needful, a committee was chosen to " compleat ye Address, and draw up the Petition to his Majesty." At a session of the Court, June 7, 1661, all these matters were finally fixed and arranged : -
" This Court haueing considered the Address and Petition compleated by the Committee, to be sent and p'sented to his Matie of Soveraigne Lord Charles the 2nd, and also the Instructions drawen vp for o" Wory Governor, Agent for the Col- ony in ye p'misses, doe approve of that wch ye Committee hath done."
The Court went on to make provisions for the support of Governor Winthrop in England, and for the expenses which would be incurred in his effort to procure a charter. With all its honors and congratulations to the king in the address, the great object of Governor Winthrop's personal visit to England was, if possible, to obtain a charter which would put certain perplexing questions forever at rest.
With this delicate and important business intrusted to his hands, Governor Winthrop left for England in July, 1661. Dr. J. H. Trumbull, in written notes appended to the first volume of the Connecticut Colo- nial Records, says, " Gov. Winthrop sailed from New Amsterdam (New York ) 23d July, in the Dutch ship, De Trouw." In another note he says, "July 18, 1661, in the book of Monthly Payments, 27 lbs. pow- der are charged 'to salute Gov. Winthrop coming here (New York) from the Fresh River to proceed in the Trou to Fatherland.'"
In one's approaches to kings and rulers, the manner often weighs as much as the matter ; and Connecticut was exceedingly fortunate in having intrusted this business to a man of polished and courtly ad- dress, who had so many friends in England to open the doors for him into the king's presence and give him a favorable introduction to the throne.
In this year (1660) the town of Huntington, Long Island, having petitioned to be taken under the Connecticut jurisdiction, as Southamp- ton had done in 1644 and East Hampton in 1649, the General Court granted their request, conditioned only on the consent of the Commis-
57
GENERAL HISTORY TO 1665.
sioners of the United Colonies. No objection was made from that quarter, and accordingly Huntington became a quasi town of Connecti- cut. In 1662 the same permission was given to the town of Southold, Long Island. This connection of the Long Island towns with the Con- necticut Colony must have ceased altogether when the new charter went into operation, because that charter did not touch Long Island. Its territory was bounded on the south by the Ocean Shore, and Long Island Sound was understood to be a part of the ocean. Turning to Howell's History of "Southampton, Long Island" (pp. 60, 61), we find this whole matter made clear and definite : -
" March 12, 1664, Charles II. granted, with other territory, Long Island and islands adjacent to his brother James, Duke of York. . .. Under the patent granted to Connecticut, Nov. 3, 1644, the province claimed jurisdiction over Long Island. [There is a mistake in this date ; he doubtless refers to the charter given to the Saybrook patentees.] ... Gov. Winthrop, on seeing the letters-patent to the Duke of York, informed the English on Long Island that Connecticut had no longer any claims upon that island."
After this statement Mr. Howell adds the following : -
" This union with New York was, however, very unacceptable to the inhabi- tants at the east end of the island. Their intercourse with the towns along the Connecticut River was frequent, and in customs, education, and religion they were identical with their New England brethren. A considerable trade had grown up between the three towns on the east end and Connecticut, and the efforts of his Royal Highness's officials to divert this to New York met with hearty resistance."
While this topic of a new charter was on the docket, a very per- plexing element intruded itself upon the colonies. As soon as it was known, in the summer of 1660, that Charles II. was coming back from the Continent to take the throne, several of the judges who had signed the death-warrant of Charles I. fled the land. Two of these judges, William Goffe and Edward Whalley, reached Boston in the very vessel which brought the news that Charles II. was on the throne. At first they lived openly at Cambridge, hoping and expecting that they would be covered and protected by the forthcoming Act of Indemnity. Some- time later another of the king's judges arrived, -Colonel John Dixwell. When Goffe and Whalley found that they were not exempted, but were singled out for vengeance, they thought they should be safer elsewhere than in the Massachusetts Bay. They betook themselves to New Haven, and were in various places along the river and the south shore. The story of the concealment of those judges forms one of the wild and romantic stories connected with the early history of New England. The two officers from England, Thomas Kellond and Thomas Kirk, were all the while in hot pursuit, but somehow it strangely happened that they could never come quite up to the fugitives. They had taken the wrong road, or were just a few minutes too late; and this, too, notwithstanding they had so many people to help them. This was a very ugly chapter to be opened just as Governor John Winthrop had gone over to England to obtain a charter.
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