USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 52
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* Josiah Atkins being rendered unfit (by sickness) for service in the light infantry-Has permission to pass from this to the Highlands in the State of New York to rejoin the regiment to which he belongs. J. GIMAT, Lt. Col. Commandant.
CAMP BEFORE YORK, 8th Oct., 1781.
The commissaries of the respective Posts are requested to furnish the above Soldier with provision as it shall become due. J. GIMAT, Lt. Col. Commandant.
CAMP BEFORE YORK, 8th Oct., 1781.
This was the day the American forces began the firing on Yorktown.
481
WATERBURY IN THE REVOLUTION.
any of the infantry belonging to Waterbury in Connecticut (my wife and friends: living in that town), or to any who belong to Woodbury or Watertown or any of the towns adjacent, it will hardly fail to reach my house, Josiah Atkins in Waterbury, or in the Society of Farmingbury. Give them some of your bounty to induce them to be faithful in discharging their trust in delivering this to my wife. This is a thing I so anxiously desire, that if you do not use your utmost endeavor for this purpose, I cannot forgive you, neither will God (unless by bitter repentance-but the things you have taken will rise in Judgment against you). Thus I entreat you by these powerful inducements, and I could use many more-but relying on your goodness, generosity and benevolence, I shall add no more; assuring you, I ever was while in life, the friend and well-wisher of all the soldiers.
JOSIAH ATKINS.
P. S. Should this fall into the hands of any other person than a soldier, I do request and expect the same kind treatment at their hands, and though I nor mine should not be able to reward you, yet God will.
The journal also contains a number of letters, addressed to his wife, in one of which he makes the following reference to his journal: "I cannot say a perfect one, as some things were left out through mistake, and many more on purpose, because I thought they would afflict you more than comfort-they being afflicting to me." He also makes allusion to his "full disappointment of the business that induced him to enlist in the army (which alone could give him content in the service);" refers to his little daughter as "my little innocent, my heart's delight," and again, as "Sally, my babe, my darling ! who is the delight of my eyes." There is one very remarkable letter, in which he pictures the physical and men- tal effects of his trials upon himself, until he was obliged to banish thoughts of his best friends from his mind, as though they had been his most dangerous foes. The letter ends with the words, "I thought I could not be contented to take my last little portion of land (though but my length and breadth), and leave my lifeless lump on this barren soil ! However, when I reflected that this bar- ren soil of Virginia must be enriched with the rich manure of Con- necticut; that my little lump was no dearer to me than another man's to him; that our cause is just and must be supported, and that God will raise the dead here as well as in Connecticut-these thoughts put me to silence, and I became (I hope) in some measure resigned to God's will."
I have not been able to learn in what manner or by whose hand the diary of Josiah Atkins was returned to his wife. It seems probable that he died at the hospital at Hanover, to which he had returned on October 12th, after his journey of 120 miles to procure his passport, in order to join his former regiment in the Highlands of New York. In a letter addressed to his wife, and included in
3I
482
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the diary, he counsels and urges her, in the event of his death, to marry again; but to make provision, in that case, for his daughter Sally.
Josiah Atkins married Sarah, the daughter of Deacon Josiah Rogers, Jan. 31, 1779. His daughter Sally was born Nov. 20, 1780, and became the wife of Asahel Lewis. His son Josiah, born Oct. 15, 1781, died in 1799. The estate of Josiah Atkins was in the Pro- bate court, at Waterbury, in February, 1782. Mrs. Atkins married in 1790, Amos Culver. A granddaughter of Mrs. Sarah Culver remembers how tenderly her grandmother (who died in 1845) cher- ished the little book, which always held its own place among her treasures. It is said of Mrs. Culver that the boys of the neighbor- hood in which she lived would leave their games at any time to hear her talk, and that she had great influence over them.
That this valuable and unique addition to the history and the literature of the war should be presented to the public only after the lapse of more than a century, is truly surprising.
Waterbury, as it was found at the close of the long, the desper- ate, the demoralizing struggle for freedom-when the soldiers returned from making war, to make for a time but indifferent citi- zens-was, in many of its aspects, a new Waterbury. Into it came a new impetus, wrought from contact with the outside world. Men could not mingle for so long a time with the army from France and participate in the scenes that marked the closing year of the war, and not with their return, bring a new spirit into the town.
The festival, held on the plain at West Point, in honor of the birth of the Dauphin of France, in May of 1782, was not without its far-reaching influence. The sight of a thousand men working for ten days to erect a "curious edifice, six hundred feet long," and supported by a grand colonade of one hundred and eighteen pillars, made of the trunks of trees; the adorning of it with "American and French military colors," with emblem, device, and motto; the parading of the whole allied army "on the contiguous hills on both sides of the river, forming a circle of several miles in open view of the public edifice"; the feasting and the demonstrations of glad- ness that followed, were not in vain.
On April 19th, 1783, eight years from the 19th of April, 1775, the commander-in-chief ordered the cessation of hostilities between the United States of America and the king of Great Britain. In May of 1783 the Society of the Cincinnati was formed. Its mem- bers were all officers in the Continental army. Major David Smith, Captain Nehemiah Rice (Royce), Dr. Ebenezer Beardsley, Major
483
WATERBURY IN THE REVOLUTION.
Ezekiel Scott and Isaac Bronson, (who was surgeon's mate) were the Waterbury members of the Connecticut Society; Surgeon Nathan Leavenworth, of the Massachusetts Society. The treaty of peace was signed September 23d. On November 2d, Washington issued his "farewell orders to the armies of the United States," concluding with the words : "And being now to conclude these his last public orders, to take his ultimate leave in a short time of the military character, and to bid adieu to the armies he has so long had the honor to command, he can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations to their grateful country, and his prayers to the God of armies. May ample justice be done them here, and may the choicest of Heaven's favors, both here and hereafter, attend those who, under the divine auspices, have secured innum- erable blessings for others! With these wishes, and this benedic- tion, the commander-in-chief is about to retire from service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn, and the military scene to him will be closed forever." On the 25th of November the British army evacuated New York, and the American troops, under Gen- eral Knox, took possession of the city. This event was soon fol- lowed by the public entry of General Washington and Governor Clinton. The scene enacted in Francis' tavern soon followed, when Washington not with words, but with tears and kisses, bade farewell to each of the principal officers of his armies, and went out in silence to the barge that lay in waiting at "White Hall," to convey him on his way to Annapolis, whither he went to lay before congress the commission under which, as Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States, he had led armies and colonies to honorable independence and victorious peace.
Since writing the above, the following miscellaneous facts have been gathered. To the list of those who " joined the enemy" have been added the names of Samuel Doolittle, Thomas Fenn, Titus Finch, Jesse Hikcox, Jared Hikcox and Robert Hotchkiss.
Daniel Finch absconded October 1, 1776. He deserted the enemy the 13th of August, 1779, returned home, and was ordered to reside in Hartford.
Seth Warner deserted in December, 1776. He "made his escape at the risque of his life from Newport," and threw himself upon the mercy of his country. He was allowed to return to Waterbury and be confined within the bounds thereof under the care of the select- men, if the town was willing to receive him; if not willing, he was to go to Windsor.
Richard Miles was induced to repair to New York, where he joined the enemy. November 11, 1778, he escaped, returned to
484
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Waterbury and took the oath of fidelity. He was restored to his rights on paying the cost of prosecution.
Joseph Mun of Waterbury, a "poor African servant" of William Nichols, petitioned May 2, 1780, for his liberty, he having served in the war. He stated that he "was sold to Thomas Seymour, Esq., of Hartford, then to Daniel Barber, and so from one to another until he came into the hands of William Nichols, who, on condition of his faithful service for three years, encouraged him with his free- dom," which Nichols refused to grant at the end of three years' service. Mun then offered to enlist, and Nichols consented. Mun enlisted in Thaddeus Cook's regiment in 1776, and continued to serve almost continually until 1780. Before Nichols absconded he gave a bill of sale of Mun to Thomas Hikcox, Jr. Mun's petition for liberty was not granted. April 5, 1781, he was discharged (at the Highlands) from service by Col. Durkee, on account of a broken arm and stiff knees. Hikcox, through his lawyer, John Trumbull, who had hitherto contested the petition for emancipation, now withdrew his opposition (a broken - armed, stiff -kneed slave not being profitable to a master). The petition was finally negatived in 1785.
In March, 1781, Stephen Matthews petitioned for pay for fifty- five tons of hay which he had bought at the request of the State Commissary and which was stored in Wallingford. He transported it to Waterbury, but no receiver had been appointed for it, and it was exposed all winter. "Sheldon's whole regiment of horse fed upon it for six days and left such receipts as he pleased."
Dr. Isaac Baldwin, physician, was employed by the State to attend Ebenezer Hibbert-a soldier in Col. Swift's regiment-dur- ing his sickness in Waterbury in October and November, 1778. He paid him nineteen visits, for which he charged the same number of pounds and shillings. His bill for medicines was appended. William Rowley, who had nursed and boarded Hibbert, had received his pay in 1780, but no bill for medical services had been paid. Dr. Baldwin's petition was denied.
Col. Angel's regiment, of Rhode Island, passed through Water- bury in September of 1777 .*
Captain Curtis, of Waterbury, and his company "belonging to Col. McClellan's regiment of new-raised troops," were ordered to march immediately to New Haven, for the defence of that place, on August 28, 1778.
* See also " Break Neck" in the Place-name Chapter, for account of the passage of the French army.
485
WATERBURY IN THE REVOLUTION.
To the list of Waterbury's Revolutionary soldiers are added the following :
Freelove Blake, Eldad Hotchkiss,
Nathan Page,
Richard Blake,
Medad Hotchkiss,
Nathan Platt,
Daniel Brown,*
Reuben Matthews,
Elisha Stevens,
Jonathan Carter,
(died August 2, 1779),
Benjamin Terrill,
Simeon Cole,
Christopher Merriam,
Jedediah Turner,
Mark Hopkins,
Job Oviat or "Uffit,"
Capt. Samuel Upson,
(died at White Plains),
Among the errors which, of necessity, have been embodied in the "Adjutant General's report of Connecticut Men in the Revolu- tion " (and which each town in the state should correct while such corrections may be made), perhaps the most noticeable one in our own town is that relating to Josiah Atkins.t There were two men of that name, both from Waterbury and cousins, who were in service at the same time in 1775.
By an error, the name of Joseph Atkins has been placed upon the roll on page 354, in Captain Douglass' company-whereas, it should be Josiah Atkins. If we needed other evidence than the diary (of his service), we have only to turn to page 351 and find there the names of Henry Evens-of whom Josiah Atkins has told us: "On the night of August 31, 1781, I was called up to see Henry Evens, thought to be dying;" and of Rufus Robbins, of whom, August 3, he wrote : "We marched through Richmond and encamped six miles above. Here we buried one of our number, who died this day on ye road in ye hospital waggon. We buried him in a wood. He was aged twenty-three years. His name, Rufus Rob- bins, and unmarried. His parents live in Lyme, Connecticut."
It may also be mentioned that our Lake Potter (so named from the fact that Lake's father, Daniel Potter, was, on the day of Lake's birth, August 13, 1759, on Lake George, he being then in service in the French and Indian war) is concealed under the name of Lake Patten.
Waterbury, at the close of the war, found herself territorially reduced by the towns of Watertown and Plymouth of a large sec-
* In command of the fort at Milford in 1779. Benjamin Hine was associated with him.
+ Josiah Atkins, whose diary has been given, wrote the following letter, which, having been carefully preserved, lies before me:
CAMP AT STILLWATER, NOV. YE IOTH, 1777.
DEAR SISTER-I would inform you that I am well at present, but having orders to march immediately cannot stay to write. I send you a copy of our affairs, which is good news to every soul that loves freedom. I must say no more. JOSIAH ATKINS.
P. S. I may have mist the day of ye month, but am not certain. Abigail Atkins,
At Farmingbury.
Josiah Atkins taught school in Farmington from October, 1770, to April, 1772.
486
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
tion of her former domain, and of perhaps fully one-half of her wealth and population. Nevertheless, the following summary of the tax-list for the year 1782 reveals to us a total valuation of more than £20,000, and an enumeration of a little over 400 taxpayers- whereas, the estimate at the beginning of the war, when the town was a unit, was about 750 taxpayers.
The following is :
A true List of the Polls and Estate of the Town of Waterbury ratable by Law on the 20th Day of August, 1782, Errors Excepted.
No. Polls from 21 to 70 years of age, at £ 18 .
£5.868
9 684 76 Polls from 16 to 21
459 Oxen, &c., 66
4 1836
929 Cows, &c. . .
3 2787
424 Steers, Heifers, &c., of 2 years,
2 848
386
I year, 386
1894
602 Swine,
602
310
Dwelling Houses, 242
2816
Acres of Plow Land, I405
I845
212
Boggy Meadow, mowed,
53
II
66 Meadow Land, 208
472
4074
Uninclosed Land, Ist Rate,
407
4935
2d
246
1982
66 " 3d 49
I Riding Chair with open top,
3
I3 Silver and other Watches,
19
9 Steel and Brass Wheeled Clocks,
27
I Wooden Wheeled Clock,
I
2I Ounces of Silver Plate,
-
Additions were made of about .
600
A List of Persons Assessed for Faculty, with the several sums assessed on the List of August, 1782.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
BLACK SMITHS.
Isaac Baldwin,
12 Samuel Frost, Jr., . 5
Preserved Porter,
I2
Ephraim Warner, 12
Abel Bronson, -
TRADER OR SHOPKEEPER.
Irijah Terril, .
·
30
Jared Byington, 8
Elijah Sperry, . ·
5
William Leavenworth, 30
Samuel Judd, . 25
Jacob Sperry,
I5
Isaac Bronson, Jr.,
20
Charles Cook, 5
Thaddeus Bronson,
15
Isaac Hopkins, 8
Thomas Porter, Jr.,
I5 William Adams, Jr., 5
·
not mowed, I
556
472I
Bush Pasture,
.
Ard Welton, I2
Dan. Tuttle, . IO
TAVERN KEEPERS.
TANNERS AND SHOEMAKERS.
William Adams, IO
.
326
528
Horse kind of 1, 2 and 3 years old,
4613 66 Upland, Mowing and Pasture,
·
WATERBURY IN THE REVOLUTION.
487
GOLD SMITH
CLOTHIERS.
Joseph Hopkins, .
.
£28
William Rowley,
.
Elijah Osborn,
JOINER.
Col. Jonathan Baldwin,
25
David Prichard, . 5
Lemuel Hoadly,
6
WHEEL MAKER.
Sebe Bronson,
.
IO
David Byington,
.
. 5
George Nichols,
I2
MALSTER.
Jobamah Gunn,
18 Uri Scott, ·
5
£ 408
JOHN WELTON, -
DANIEL BYINGTON, SIMEON HOPKINS, JUDE HOADLEY, ELI BRONSON, NOAH BALDWIN, STEPHEN IVES, AMOS CULVER,
Listers
of Waterbury.
Dated Jan. 21st, 1783.
£5 5
OWNERS OF MILLS.
CHAPTER XXXV.
FROM 1783 TO 1825-" THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY "- THE QUIET LIFE OF WATERBURY IN THOSE STIRRING TIMES-ITS LOSSES OF TERRITORY BY THE WITHDRAWAL OF SEVERAL TOWNS -ITS LOCAL GOVERNMENT-ITS TOWN MEETINGS AND THE DUTIES OF ITS SELECTMEN -THE STIMULUS OF THE WAR OF 1812- A SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE IN TRADE AND MANUFACTURE - THE STRUGGLE FOR A NEW CONSTITUTION AND ITS FINAL SUCCESS- THE DISESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES- AN ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT OHIO MOVEMENT-THE EXPERIENCES OF SOME WATERBURY EMIGRANTS.
T HE opening years of the period at which we have now arrived have been called with truth "the most critical period in American history." The surrender of Cornwallis occurred October 19, 1781. But the real end of the Revolutionary war dates from Washington's proclamation of a cessation of hostilities, April 19, 1783.
Often as the story has been told in these modern days, the full significance of the crisis that followed the close of the Revolution- ary war is still far from being popularly appreciated. The jeal- ousies which separated state from state, the vast distances which divided the remoter portions of the country, the rude facilities for travel, the varying views inherited and developed of the several sections, and the natural fear shared by all of the encroachments of a central power if one were constituted, combined to strengthen a spirit of division which boded ill for the hopes of those who, like Washington, cherished the dream of national unity. It is hard for us of to-day to realize the actual conditions of travel at that time in New England and the only occasional means of communication which existed. John Fiske tells us that "in 1783, two stage coaches were enough for all the travellers, and nearly all the freight be- sides, that went between the two cities of Boston and New York." Forty miles was a good day's journey, starting at three o'clock in the morning and ending at ten o'clock in the evening, " if the roads were in good condition." Such a journey was not only tiresome and slow, but hazardous as well. Says Mr. Fiske : *
* " The Critical Period of American History," page 61.
489
AN ERA OF RECONSTRUCTION.
Broad rivers like the Connecticut and Housatonic had no bridges. To drive across them in winter, when they were solidly frozen over, was easy; and in pleas- ant summer weather to cross in a row-boat was not a dangerous undertaking. But squalls at some seasons and floating ice at others were things to be feared. More than one instance is recorded where boats were crushed and passengers drowned, or saved only by scrambling upon ice-floes.
If it took a week or ten days to make a journey of this kind from Boston to New York, the means of postal communication were equally slow and uncertain. Says Professor Dexter of Yale in his paper entitled " New Haven in 1784" :
Post-riders took letters twice (or in severe weather, once) a week to New York, doing a large commission business, to the benefit of their own pockets, by the way. The return mails from New York divided at New Haven, one going each week via New London and Providence to Boston, the other taking the inland route to the same destination by Hartford and Springfield, and by each route there was a return mail weekly.
Professor Dexter notes that the New Haven post-office was "the receiving-office for all the inland region not served by the Hart- ford, New York and New London offices." He adds that "thus not only all letters for such near points as Cheshire, Wallingford, and Waterbury, but all for towns as far off as Litchfield and New Milford, were left in New Haven to be delivered to any one bound for those parts." If no Waterbury man stopped to get the letters received in New Haven for his town, for example, these letters were advertised in the New Haven newspaper. They were sent to the dead letter office at Philadelphia if the advertisement failed in three months to discover those to whom they were addressed.
When we consider how uncertain was postal communication at this period, how completely out of touch were even adjoining parts of the country, the growth of the influences that made for disunion is not to be wondered at. It is perhaps easy to understand the hostility between Connecticut and New York, but it is much more difficult to understand the similar hostility between Connecti- cut and Massachusetts, communities derived from the same source and governed by the same purpose. New York, for example, laid a duty on Connecticut fire-wood, a business which brought in no small income to the thrifty Yankees. In retaliation the business men of New London, in mass-meeting assembled, unanimously agreed to suspend all commercial intercourse with New York. On the other hand, when in 1785 the other three New England states virtually closed their ports to British shipping, Connecticut not only threw hers wide open, but followed this up by laying duties upon imports from Massachusetts. These incidents illustrate how
490
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
strong was the feeling of hostility of state toward state without regard to neighborhood or, as in the case of Massachusetts, simi- larity of origin.
Then it must be remembered that the country which had been drained by the exhausting war had very generally increased the evils of poverty by the experiment of inflation. Connecticut and Delaware are the only states among the thirteen that escaped the paper money craze and the consequent depression after it was over.
Without going further into the details of existing conditions, it may be interesting to sketch hastily the remedy which was found and the prominence of Connecticut in the task of discovering the remedy. As will be remembered the proposition of Washington for a convention to consider means for improving the navigation of the Potomac grew, as he in his far-sightedness had anticipated that it might and hoped that it would, into the movement which led to the assembling at Philadelphia in May, 1787, of the Federal con- vention which framed the constitution. The delegates to this con- vention from Connecticut were Oliver Ellsworth, afterward chief- justice of the United States, Roger Sherman, and William Johnson, afterward president of Columbia college and a fellow of the Royal society. The first rock upon which the deliberations of the conven- tion seemed likely to split was the question whether membership in the Federal Congress should be apportioned according to popula- tion or according to states. Naturally the former plan was favored by the larger colonies, and the latter by the smaller. When things looked darkest Oliver Ellsworth and Roger Sherman suggested what is known as " the Connecticut compromise," which was finally adopted in substance. Franklin's pithy comment on it was that " when a joiner wishes to fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit from both." By this compromise it was decided that the mem- bership of the lower house of the Congress should be determined on the principle of population, while the membership of the upper house should be determined upon the principle of statehood. With this obstacle to harmony removed an important advance was made toward the possibility of union. A little later, when the question at issue was the method of electing the president, Mr. Ellsworth was one of those who suggested the device of an electoral college. Still again, when the convention was at a loss what to do in case of a failure to choose a president by the electoral college, whether such a choice should be given to the Senate representing the states or to the House representing the popular vote, Roger Sherman came forward with a compromise, which was carried, to this effect, that, in such a case, the House should elect the president, but that the
491
AN ERA OF RECONSTRUCTION.
vote in the House should be taken by states, and not by a simple counting of members. The device of the Federal Supreme Court to interpret the constitution, the distinguishing feature of the American system of government, which is without a precedent in history, was shaped largely in a committee of which Mr. Ellsworth was a leading and influential member.
From this hasty review we are able to appreciate the important part played by the representatives of Connecticut in framing the constitution of the United States. Connecticut also had the honor- able distinction of being the fifth state to ratify the adoption of the constitution (by a vote of 128 to 40), the ratifying convention being in session for only five days. It would be gratifying if we could find traces in the local records of the interest taken by Waterbury in the exciting events and important discussions which were the birth-throes of a nation. We know indeed that John Hopkins and John Welton were the delegates from Waterbury to the convention which did its business so rapidly in ratifying the new Federal con- stitution, over which the conventions in many other states wrangled with much tediousness and little patriotism. But the names of these delegates constitute almost all the information now at hand in regard to this important matter.
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