8408
The public stores were now attacked. The Episcopal Church was filled with barrels ot pork and flour as high as the galleries, and two other buildings were also filled with provisions. One of them, the barn of Mr. Dibble, is still standing, on the southwest side of Main Street, at the lower end of the town. The American commissioners made use of it without his consent. Being a Tory, his barn was spared, and all the stores in it were saved. Those in the church were taken into the street and destroyed. The liquors were freely used by the soldiery, and they passed the night in drinking and carousing.
As yet, the torch had not been applied. The sky was cloudy and the night was intensely dark. Having marched a greater portion of the preceding night, the troops were much exhausted by fatigue and want of sleep. Those who remained awake were intoxicated, except a few sentinels. The force of two thousand men that landed at Compo was reduced, in reality, to three hundred; and could the American generals at Bethel have known the exact state of things in the hostile camp, they might have annihilated the invaders. Tryon was on the alert, and slept but little. He was apprised by a Tory scout of the gathering of the militia at Bethel. Knowing the present weakness of his army, he resolved on flight, and accordApril 27, 1777ingly, before daylight on Sunday morning, his troops were put in marching order.
Fire-brands were applied to every house in the village, except those belonging to Tories. These had been marked with a conspicuous cross the previous evening. At the dawn of day the enemy marched toward Ridgeway, while for miles around the country was illumined by the burning village. **
"Through solid curls of smoke the bursting fires
Climb in tall pyramids above the spires,
Concentering all the winds, whose forces, driven
With equal rage from every point of heaven,
Wheel into conflict, round the scantling pour
The twisting flames, and through the rafters roar;
Suck up the cinders, send them sailing far,
To warn the nations of the raging war."
Joel Barlow. ***
* Joshua Porter, Eleazer Starr, Adams, and a negro.
** Robbins's Century Sermon.
*** This is quoted from the Columbiad, a long epic—the American Revolution its theme. The author was one of the poets of the Revolution whose writings have outlived them. Dwight, Trumbull, Humphries, Hopkins, and a few other men of literary reputation in Connecticut, were his friends and associates. He was a native of Reading, Connecticut, where he was born in 1755. He was the youngest in a family of ten. He graduated at Yale College in 1778. He recited an original poem on taking his bachelor's degree, but it possesses little merit. Four of his brothers were in the Continental army, and during his collegiate vacation he went to the field as chaplain. He was in the battle at White Plains, and displayed good courage in several minor engagements. He married the sister of the Hon. Abraham Baldwin, of New Haven, and in 1783 removed to Westford, where he commenced the publication of the "Mercury." He was admitted to the bar in 1785, and the same year, at the request of several Congregational ministers, pre pared and published an enlarged and improved edition of Watts's version of the Psalms, and added to them a collection of hymns, several of them his own. His "Vision of Columbus" was published in 1787. It was dedicated to the unfortunate Louis XVI. In London and Paris it was reprinted, and received considerable applause. He was engaged, with the literary friends just named, in publishing a satirical poem called he Anarchiad, which had considerable influence. Privileged Orders," and, the following year, The Conspiracy of the Kings. He had some correspondence with the French National Assembly, and, on going to Paris, was honored by the gift of citizenship, and made France his home. His time was devoted chiefly to commercial pursuits, by which he amassed a fortune. He traveled some on the Continent, and in Piedmont wrote a poem called "Hasty Pudding," the most popular of his writings. Returning to Par is in 1795, he was appointed by Washington consul at Algiers, with power to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the dey, and with Tunis and Tripoli. After an absence of seventeen years, he returned to the United States, and built a splendid mansion on the bank of the Potomac. In 1791 he published in London his "Advice to the Washington, known afterward as "Kalorama." The Colitabiad, the original Vision of Columbus greatly altered, was published in 1808, in a splendid quarto, richly illustrated. Its merits have been variously estimated, some regarding it as a fit companion of the Iliad, Aeneid, and Paradise Lost, and others allowing it only a small share of merit. Mr. Barlow had prepared to write a history of the United States, in 1811, when the design was frustrated by his being appointed minister plenipotentiary to the French government. In the autumn of 1812 he was invited by the Duke of Bassano to a conference with Napoleon at Wilna, in Poland. He traveled thitherward without halting to rest. The fatigue and exposure brought on an inflammation of the lungs, which caused his death, at an obscure village near Cracow named Zarnowica, on the 2d of December, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He has been charged with abjuration of Christianity, but the accusation rests solely upon inferences. In private life he was pure and greatly beloved, and his public career was without spot or blemish.—Allen's Biographical Dictionary; Grisivold's American Poets.
Estimated Damage.—Revolutionary Men.—Levi Osborn.—Joel Barlow.—The Sandemanians.
Nineteen dwellings, the meeting-house of the New Danbury Society, and twenty-two stores and barns, with all their contents, were consumed. The exact amount of military stores that were destroyed is not known, but, from the best information that could be obtained, there were about three thousand barrels of pork, more than one thousand barrels of flour, four hundred barrels of beef, one thousand six hundred tents, and two thousand bushels of grain, besides many other articles, such as rum, wine, rice, army carriages, &c. A committee appointed to appraise the private losses estimated the whole amount at nearly eighty thousand dollars.
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On inquiring for men of the Revolution in Danbury, I was referred to three, all of whom 1 had the pleasure of seeing. I first called upon the venerable Levi Osborn, in September, eighty-six years of age. He resided in Danbury when the village was burned, 1818 and remained, amid the jeers of Tories and the insults of the invaders, to protect an aged and sick parent. He is a leader of the sect of Sandemanians, of the division known as "Os-bornites." * His naturally strong mind was yielding to the pressure of bodily infirmities, yet he still lives, an honored representative of the men of 1776.
After sketching Knapp's house, printed on page 403, I walked down to the old burial-ground, toward the lower part of the village, where the remains of many of the men of the
* This small sect derives its name from its founder, Robert Sandcman, a native of Perth, in Scotland. He came to America in 1764, and in Boston and Danbury organized societies in accordance with his peculiar religious notions. His doctrines were similar to those of Calvin, and his distinguishing tenet was, that "faith was a mere intellectual belief—a bare belief of the bare truth." Like other founders of sects, he claimed to belong to the only true Church. His followers meet on the Sabbath and Thursday afternoons of each week, and, seated around a large circular table, each with a copy of the Scriptures, the men read and comment on them as they are moved by desire. The females are silent. The attending congregation not members are mere spectators, and the worshipers seem not to notice their presence. They have prayer and singing, after which they go to the house of one of the members, and partake of a feast of love. Their morals are of the purest kind, and their influence in society is exceedingly salutary. The two divisions are known as the Baptist Sandemanians and the Osbornites. The former practice baptism, the latter do not. Of late years none have joined them, and death is reducing their number. There are a few in England. Mr. Sandcman died at Danbury in 1771, aged fifty-three years. His grave is marked by a handsome marble slab, bearing his name and an epitaph.
Obscurity of Wooster's Grave.—Resolves of Congress.—A centenarian Loyalist—Treatment by his Neighbors
Revolution rest, and among them those of the brave General Wooster, who fell, as we shall presently observe, while gallantly opposing Tryon and his marauders on their retreat from Danbury. Not even a rough stone of the field marked his grave,and no person could then identify it!The fact is a disgrace to the people, past and present, among whom he fell in battle; and the government, whose representatives, with grateful appreciation of his services, long ago voted money to erect a monument to his memory, * is guilty of positive ingratitude in so long withholding the paltry sum, while the long grass is weaving a web of utter obscurity over his dust.
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From the cemetery I strolled down the winding road along which Tryon entered Danbury, and, returning, called to see the venerable Joseph Dibble, then in his hundredth year.
He lives with a nephew, near the same as the first hue of light in the east appeared. Time softened the asperities of feeling, and
* On the 17th of June, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution, "That a monument be erected to the memory of General Wooster, with the following inscription: 'In honor of David Wooster, brigadier general in the army of the United States. In defending the liberties of America, and bravely repelling an inroad of the British forces to Danbury, in Connecticut, he received a mortal wound on the 27th day of April, 1777, and died on the 2d day of May following. The Congress of the United States, as an acknowledgment of his merit and services, have caused this monument to be erected.' "Resolved, That the executive power of the state of Connecticut be requested to carry the foregoing resolution into execution, and that five hundred dollars be allowed for that purpose."—Journals of Congress, iii., 197.
* It has been erroneously asserted that the money was subsequently put into the hands of General Wooster's son, and that it was squandered. This is not true, as the Journals of Congress will show. A bill for the purpose passed the House of Representatives in 1822, but, in consequence of the numerous similar petitions that were presented after the passage of the resolution by the Lower House, the Senate did not concur. Ezra Foote, Esq., a citizen of Danbury, aged eighty-four years, informed me that he could so nearly identify the grave of Wooster as to pronounce it with certainty to be one of two graves, situated, as I ascertained by measurement, twenty feet northeast of the grave of Sandeman. General Wooster was not in the Continental service at the time of his death. Conceiving himself neglected, he had resigned, and was appointed the first major general of militia in his native state.—See note l, page 408.
Tory Guides.—Night Ride toward Ridgefleld.—Return to Danbury.—Ridgefield.—Military Movements.
for half a century he had lived among his old neighbors and their descendants, a worthy and respected citizen. The two guides who piloted the army to Danbury did not fare so well; they were obliged to flee. After the war, Benedict returned to Danbury for the purpose of residing there, but the people at once prepared to ride him out of the town upon a rail, and he fled. Jarvis went to reside in Nova Scotia. Many years afterward he returned privately to Danbury, to visit his relations. His presence being known, some citizens prepared tar and feathers for him. They surrounded his father's house, and demanded his person. His sister concealed him in an ash-oven, where he lay until the search was over and the party gone, when he left the town, and never returned.
Mr. Dibble was too nearly a wreck to give me any clear account of Revolutionary matters in that vicinity, and it was with much difficulty that he could be made to understand my object in wishing to sketch his portrait and obtain his autograph. He was a bachelor, and assured me seriously that he intended to remain one all the days of his life. He lived almost three years longer, and died in the Summer of 1851.
I also called upon Ezra Foote, Esq., one of the patriarchs of the village. Although eighty-four years of age, his erect figure, firm voice, and clear, intelligent eye gave him the appearance of a man of sixty. After half an hour's pleasant and profitable conversation with him, on Revolutionary topics connected with the locality, I returned to the hotel, and prepared to depart for Ridgefield, nine miles distant, after supper. For two or three hours a strong southeast wind had been piling the driving scud from the ocean in huge cumulous masses along the northwestern horizon, and, when darkness came, it was intense. I had hired a conveyance, and a young man to accompany me from Danbury to Norwalk, by the way of Ridgefield, and, in the midst of the gloom and the rain that began to fall, we left the village. For a little while the beaten road was visible, but, when the light dust became wet with showers, not a trace of the track could be seen. The young man became alarmed, and urged me to turn back. I was too anxious to reach New Haven by Sunday to be easily persuaded, and, borrowing a tin lantern from a farmer whom he knew, we endeavored to grope our way. The perforations of the lantern were "like angels' visits, few and far between," and the light that stole through them was just enough to make "darkness visible." After tilting half over by the road side once or twice, and being assured by my companion that there was a "dreadful ugly place in Sugar Hollow, a mile or two beyond," I consented to turn back, on condition that he would be ready to start at peep of day. He promised, and at nine in the evening we were again in Danbury. At dawn we started for Ridgefield. The rain had ceased, and the clouds were dispersing. We had a delightful ride over the broken, but fertile country, and before ten o'clock I had visited the place where Wooster fell, and where Arnold made his escape, and made sketches of the localities. Let us for a moment follow the British on their departure from Danbury, and the Americans in their opposing maneuvers.
Tryon, doubtless fearing that he might be cut off on his retreat directly back to his shipping at Compo, marched toward Ridgeway, a parish in the town of Ridgefield, and north of that village. This movement was probably made to deceive the Americans into the belief that he intended to return by land through West Chester, and then, by a sudden turn, push for the shipping along the least guarded route. When this movement was made known to the American generals, they divided their forces into two parts. The largest division, consisting of about four hundred men, under Silliman and Arnold, proceeded to take post in front of the enemy, while Wooster, with the other division of two hundred, was left to hang upon and annoy their rear.
After proceeding to Ridgeway, the enemy turned southward toward Ridgefield, * their route from Danbury thus forming the two sides of a scalene triangle, of which the present direct
* The tract of land called Ridgefield was named by the Indians Candatowa, which signifies high ground On some of the hills near the village Long Island and the Sound may be seen for a distance of forty miles. Twenty-five of the inhabitants of Norwalk purchased the ground of Catoonah, the chief sachem, in 1708, and the first settlement was made the following year.
The British attacked by Wooster.—Return Fire.—Death of Wooster.—Sketch of his Life.—Approach of Arnold.
April 27, 1777road from villageto village is the hypotenuse. This change of direction was made known to Wooster about nine in the morning, and, hastening forward, he came up to them when within a few miles of Ridgefield. He attacked the rear-guard, and, after attack them on the flank, and a little skirmishing, took forty prisoners.
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Thus he harassed them, and kept them in partial check, until they arrived within two miles of Ridgefield meeting-house, when another smart skirmish ensued. The ground is very broken, and well adapted for such a sort of guerrilla warfare as the American militia kept up. While the enemy were hidden by a hill, near the present road from Ridgefield to Salem, Wooster encouraged his undisciplined army to push forward and The British made several discharges of artillery, which caused the American column to break and give way. Wooster endeavored to rally them., exclaiming, "Come on, my boys! Never mind such random shots!" While thus in the van, urging his troops, a musket-ball took him obliquely in the side and broke his back-bone. He fell from his horse, and was removed from the field to Danbury, at which place he died. *
General Arnold, informed of the change in the route of the enemy, made a forced march across the country to Ridgefield village, where he arrived at about eleven o'clock in the morning, with his force increased to about five hundred men. Across the upper end of the main street he cast up a barricade of carts, logs, stones, and earth, which was flanked on the right by a house and barn, and on the left by a ledge of rocks. Behind this barricade he formed his men in battle order, and awaited the approach of the enemy. As soon as Tryon discovered Arnold, he ordered General Agnew to advance with the main body in solid col-
* David Wooster was born in Stratford, Connecticut, on the 2d of March, 1710. He graduated at Yale College in 1738, and the following year, when the Spanish war broke out, was made a lieutenant, and soon afterward was promoted to the captaincy of the vessel built and armed by the colony as a guarda costa, or coast guard. In 1740 he married the daughter of Rev. Thomas Clapp, president of Yale College. He was a captain in Colonel Burr's regiment, which went on the expedition to Louisburg in 1745, from which place he went to Europe, in command of a cartel ship. He was not permitted to land in France, but in England he was received with distinguished honor. He was presented to the king, and became a favorite at court. He was made a captain in the regular service, under Sir William Pepperel, and his likeness (from which our engraving was copied) was published in the periodical magazines of that day. He was first a colonel and then a brigadier in the French and Indian or Seven Years' War that ended in 1763. He espoused the patriot cause, and was one of the principal conspirators against Ticonderoga in 1775, which resulted in its capture by the provincials under Allen and Arnold. When the Continental army was organized, Wooster was appointed one of the eight brigadiers, third in rank. He was in Canada in 1776, where he had the chief command for a while. Returning to Connecticut, he was appointed the first major general of the militia of his state. In that capacity he was actively employed when Tryon's invasion occurred. He hastened to the field, was fatally wounded, carried to Danbury, and expired on the 2d of May, at the age of sixty-seven years. On the 27th of April, 1854, the corner-stone of a monument to be erected over the obscure grave of the long-neglected Wooster was laid. When search was made for his grave, it was identified by unmistakable evidences. With a skeleton was found some matted wire (the remains of epaulets), a portion of a plume, and a leaden bullet. The latter was a smooth, English bullet, larger than those used by the Americans. These were satisfactory evidence that the right grave had been opened. That bullet undoubtedly gave the death-wound to the patriot. * The bones were re-interred, with imposing ceremonies. The Honorable Henry C. Deming was the Orator on the occasion.
* Colonel David Dimon, one of Wooster's subordinate officers at that time (mentioned on page 403), was a native of Fairfield, Connecticut, and was a brave and useful soldier. He was one of the volunteers who captured British stores at Turtle Bay, New York, and one of Montgomery's staff in the expedition to Canada in 1775. He was active in the capture of St. John on the Sorel, and Fort Chambly, after which he returned to Connecticut on public business, and was not with the army in its reteat at Quebec. Colonel Dimon continued in active service until after Tryon's expedition to Danbury. He had the command at the barricades in Ridgefield, and pursued the British to Compo. A fever, produced by exposure in the service, caused his death in September following, when in the 36th year of his age
Barricade at Ridgefield.—Bravery of Arnold.—Narrow Escape.—March to Compo.—Skirmishes.
umn, while detachments were sent to outflank him and fall upon his rear. With only about two hundred men, Arnold confronted nearly two thousand, who advanced, and delivered and received several fires. In this way the action continued nearly a quarter of an hour. Agnew succeeded in gaining the ledge of rocks. From that position a whole platoon of British infantry fired, with deliberate aim, at Arnold, who was not more than thirty yards distant. Not a bullet hit him, but his horse was pierced, and fell dead under him.
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Seeing their leader prostrate, the Americans fled. For a moment Arnold could not extricate his feet from the stirrups. Perceiving this, a Tory named Coon, from New Fairfield, rushed toward the general with his bayonet, to seize him. "Surrender! you are my prisoner!" shouted the Tory. "Not yet," exclaimed Arnold, as, springing to his feet, he drew his pistol, shot the Tory dead, and bounded toward a thick swamp near by, followed by a shower of bullets, and escaped. The number of Americans killed in this skirmish was between forty and fifty; of the enemy's loss no account was given. Colonel Gould, of Fairfield, was among the slain. He fell about eighty rods east of the house of Mr. Stebbins, seen in the engraving, and his body was carried to Fairfield.
Having repulsed the Americans, Tryon's army encamped upon high ground about a mile south of the Congregational Church in Ridgefield, until daylight the next morning,April, 1777when they resumed their march toward Norwalk and Compo, through Wilton. Four dwellings were burned in Ridgefield, and other private property was destroyed when the marauders struck their tents. As they approached Norwalk, Tryon learned that Arnold was again in the saddle, and was rallying the scattered militia upon the road leading to Saugatuck Bridge. He filed off eastward, and forded the Saugatuck some distance above the bridge, where about five hundred Americans, under Colonel Huntingdon, were posted to oppose his passage. Small detachments of militia annoyed the British all the way from Wilton to the Saugatuck; and while the latter were pushing forward toward Compo and their shipping, on the east side of the creek, the former kept upon the west side, and galled them with cannon-shot and musket-balls. A small detachment of Americans forded the stream, picked off many of the rear-guard of the enemy, and returned without losing a man.
At the bridge was the battalion of the New York artillery, under Colonel John Lamb, with three field pieces, under Lieutenant-colonel Oswald. Perceiving the formidable force there collected, Tryon urged forward his men as fast as they could run, and they succeeded in passing by the bridge before the main body of the Americans could get over. Exposed to an enfilading fire, the enemy were partially checked, and for about fifteen minutes there was a sharp engagement at the bridge. ** The Americans pushed across and followed the flying
* This view is at the north end of the main street. It was taken from the spot where, tradition asserts, Arnold's horse was killed, which is on the west side of the street, near a maple-tree, about one hundred yards southwest of the house of Samuel Stebbins, Esq., seen on the right in the picture. While making this sketch an old man (whose name I forgot to ask) came along, and informed me that on the day after the battle himself and some other boys skinned Arnold's horse, and discovered nine bullet-holes in his hide. The escape of the rider seemed miraculous.
** The bridge where the engagement took place was at the head of navigation in the Saugatuek, nearly three miles from the sea. There is now a bridge upon the site, within the pleasant village of Westport (formerly ealled Saugatuck), which, at the time of the battle, contained only five houses. Seven or eight men were killed near the present Congregational Church in Westport. The smooth and really beautiful elevation of Compo is about two and a half miles south of the village, and commands a fine view of the Sound and of the distant shores of Long Island.
Erskine's Maneuver.—The Connecticut Militia.—Action of Congress concerning Arnold.—Place where Wooster fell.
enemy to Compo, gaining the right flank of their rear in an advantageous position. Here another hot skirmish ensued, and, but for a successful maneuver of Sir William Erskine, the exhausted Britons must all have been captured. That officer landed some marines from the vessels, who furiously attacked the fatigued Americans in front, and drove them back some distance. While this conflict was going on, the main body of the enemy embarked, amid a galling fire from Lamb's artillery. The marines, by a sudden retrograde movement, took to their boats and reached their vessels. At about sunset the fleet weighed anchor.
A large number of the Connecticut militia had collected at Compo, besides those actually enrolled in the special service on that day. Many of them were without arms, others were insubordinate, and a good proportion of the new-comers behaved in the most cowardly manner. Had they possessed a tithe of the courage of their leader, who was seen urging his men at points of most imminent danger, the exhausted troops of Tryon might have been made prisoners or destroyed. Arnold knew this, and, unmindful of danger, urged on the militia by voice and example, until his horse was wounded in the neck and disabled. The opportunity was not courageously improved, and the enemy escaped.
The loss of the Americans during the invasion was about one hundred men; the enemy lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about three hundred. Tryon was slightly wounded. Colonel Lamb, while gallantly leading his men at Compo, received a violent contusion from a grape-shot. Arnold was untouched, though a bullet wounded his horse, and another passed through the collar of his coat. Congress, impressed with the brilliancy of his achievements,May 30, 1777directed the quartermaster general (a) to "procure a horse and present the same, properly caparisoned, to Major-general Arnold, as a token of their approbation of his gallant conduct in the action against the enemy in the late enterprise to Danbury." *
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It was a little after sunrise when we reached Ridgefield, ** and, after sketching the place of the barricade in the village, we rode to the spot where General Wooster fell. It is about a mile north of Mr. Stebbins's, at the forks of the road, one of which is the way from Ridgefield to North Salem. For a long time tradition pointed to a large chestnut-tree as the place where the brave soldier was wounded. The tree has been converted into rails, and the stump, almost decayed into dust, is flanked by the two thrifty sugar maples seen toward the left of the picture. The taller tree is a locust. It is to be hoped that some monument will be reared to mark the spot, before these mature and decay by age. The owner of the land pointed out the locality to us, and expressed the patriotic opinion that "Congress ought to do something." He had long contemplated the erection of a chestnut post at his own expense, but, having done that, the public would expect him "to paint some lettering on t," and he was not disposed to bear the whole burden himself. Clearly right; it would be asking too much of a single citizen.
Returning to the village, we breakfasted at ten at the tavern of Mr. Resseque, whose wife is the daughter of Mr. Keeler, the owner of the dwelling at the time of the invasion. It is about half a mile south of the Congregational Church, where the British planted a cannon
* Journals of Congress, iii., 158.
** Ridgefield is situated upon a high, rolling plain, and contains about sixty houses, on one street, within & mile. Like Danbury, it is beautifully shaded with elms and sycamores.
Relic of the Revolution.—Reading.—Threatened Mutiny there.—Putnam's Speech.—Putnam at Greenwich.
after driving the Americans from the barricade. Near the northeast corner of the house is a four pound cannon-ball, lodged in one of the posts, where it has remained ever since the Revolution. Some Americans near the house were the objects at which some balls were discharged. One passed into the building, just over the north door, and, crossing a staircase, hit a chimney and fell to the floor. A man was just ascending the stairs when the ball entered, with a terrible crash, and passed between his legs. Unhurt, but greatly frightened, he fell to the foot of the stairs, exclaiming, "I'm killed! I'm a dead man!" and for some time he insisted that his legs were shot off. As soon as he was undeceived, he put them in requisition, and fled, as fast as they could carry him, toward Wilton. The house was set on fire, but the flames were extinguished by a Tory brother of Mr. Keeler, whose own property was endangered.
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A few miles northeast from Ridgefield is the village of Reading, * distinguished as being the head-quarters of General Putnam in the winter of 1779. He occupied that position with General Poor's brigade of New Hampshire, two Connecticut brigades, Hazen's infantry corps, and a corps of cavalry under Shelden, for the purpose of covering the country from the British lines in New York, eastward along the Sound. Like many of the New England villages, it is scattered, and beautifully shaded with elms, maples, and sycamores. Putnam's quarters were at a house situated on the Norwalk and Danbury Road, about three miles westward of the Congregational Church in Reading.
During the winter a mutinous spirit pervaded the Connecticut troops. They were badly fed and clothed, and worse paid, for their small pittance, when received, consisted of the rapidly-depreciating Continental bills.
Brooding over their hard lot, the Connecticut brigades finally resolved to march to Hartford and demand of the Assembly a redress of grievances.
The second brigade had assembled under arms for that purpose, when information of the movement reached Putnam. He immediately galloped to the encampment, and, in his uncouth, but earnest manner, thus addressed them: "My brave lads, where are you going? Do you intend to desert your officers, and to invite the enemy to follow you into the country? Whose cause have you been fighting and suffering so long in? Is it not your own? Have you no property, no parents, wives, or children? You have behaved like men so far; all the world is full of your praise, and posterity will stand astonished at your deeds, but not if you spoil all at last. Don't you consider how much the country is distressed by the war, and that your officers have not been better paid than yourselves? But we all expect better times, and that the country will do us ample justice. Let us all stand by one another, then, and fight it out like brave soldiers. Think what a shame it would be for Connecticut men to run away from their officers!" If this speech did not display the polished eloquence of Demosthenes, who made the Athenians cry out with one voice, "Let us go and fight Philip," it possessed the same spirit and produced a similar result. When Putnam concluded his short address, a loud cheer burst from the discontented regiments, and they returned to their quarters in good humor, resolved to suffer and fight still longer in the cause of liberty.
It was during Putnam's encampment at Reading, in 1779, that the famous event occurred at West Greenwich, or Horseneck, in which the general was the principal actor. He was visiting his outposts at West Greenwich, and tarrying at the house of the late General Ebenezer Mead. Early on the morning of the 26th of March, while standing before a a looking-glass, 'shaving, he saw the reflection of a body of "red-coats" marching up the road from the westward. He dropped his razor, buckled on his sword, and, half shaven, mounted his horse and hastened to prepare his handful of men to oppose the approaching enemy. They were a body of nearly fifteen hundred British regulars and Hessians, under Governor Tryon, who had marched from their lines in West Chester county, near King's
* The township derived its name from Colonel John Read, one of its most prominent settlers. His monument is in a small burying-ground a little west of the town-house. He died in 1786, aged eighty-five years.—Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut.
Tryon's Expedition to Horseneck.—Skirmish at Greenwich.—Defeat of the Americans.—Escape of Putnam
Bridge, the previous evening, with the intention of surprising the troops and destroying the salt-works at Horseneck Landing. A scout of thirty men, under Captain Watson, who had been sent out by Putnam, discovered the enemy in the night at New Rochelle. At daylight they had advanced to Rye Neck, and there a slight skirmish ensued between the British advanced guards and Putnam's scouts. The latter retreated to Sawpits, on the Byram River, and thence to Horseneck, pursued by the enemy. *
Putnam arranged his men (only one hundred and fifty in number) upon the brow of the hill, by the Congregational Church in the village. There he planted a battery composed of two old iron field pieces, and awaited the approach of the enemy. They moved up the road in solid column until almost within musket-shot, when detachments broke off and attempted to gain Putnam's flanks. At the same moment the British dragoons and some infantry prepared to charge.
0416m
Perceiving this, and discovering the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, Putnam ordered a retreat, after a few discharges of the field pieces and some volleys of musketry. So near was the enemy, that the retreat of the Americans became a rout. The soldiers broke and fled singly to the adjacent swamps, while the general, putting spurs to his horse, sped toward Stamford, pursued by several of the dragoons. A quarter of a mile eastward of the Congregational Church is a steep declivity, on the brow of which the road turned northward, and passed, in a broad sweep, around the hill. Putnam perceived that his pursuers were gaining upon him, and, with the daring of desperation, left the road and wheeled his horse, while on a gallop, down the rocky height, making a zigzag course to the bottom, and reaching the road again in safety. The dragoons dared not follow, and, discharging their pistols at Putnam, without effect, rode back to the main army, and the general reached Stamford, five miles eastward, in safety.
Tryon plundered the inhabitants of every thing valuable, and, having destroyed a few salta March 26, 1799works, a small sloop and store, and damaged the houses of the Whigs, retreated to Rye the same evening, and the next day reached King's Bridge. As soon as
Putnam arrived at Stamford, he collected some militia and a few of his fugitives, and returned to attack the enemy on his retreat. He succeeded in taking thirty-eight prisoners and in recapturing a portion of the plunder, which he restored to the inhabitants. There were about twenty Americans killed. The loss of the British in killed is not recorded.
I visited the scene of Putnam's exploit in June, previous to my journey to Danbury and Ridgefield, and made the accompanying sketch of "Putnam's Hill," as it is called. It is about five miles west from Stamford, on the main road to New York from Horseneck *
* This name was given to the peninsula extending into the Sound at Greenwich, from the circumstance that many horses used to be pastured upon it.
Putnam's Hill.—Its present Appearance.—Norwalk.—Fitch's Point
Landing. This sketch is taken from the road near the residence of the late General Ebenezer Mead, looking westward. The aspect of the place has materially changed since the Revolution. The old road, as I have mentioned, made a circuit northward around the hill. The present road, seen in the engraving, passes directly over the hill, being a causeway part of the distance, and a deep cut through the rocks on the brow of the eminence. On the hill, just south of the road, and in a line with the tall tree by the causeway, stood the old Episcopal Church; and it was for the accommodation of worshipers there, who lived eastward of the hill, that a flight of seventy rude stone steps was made. These are the steps so celebrated in the popular accounts of Putnam's exploit. They are now quite covered with earth and shrubbery, but their site is distinctly marked. I have given them more prominence than they really have, exhibiting them as they probably appeared when Putnam made his escape.
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Between the trees is seen the spire of the Congregational Church at Greenwich, standing upon the site of the one near which Putnam planted his battery. General Mead and others saw the descent of Putnam. He wheeled his horse from the road near the house of Dr. Mead, seen on the extreme right, and did not go down the steps at all (as popular tradition avers), except four or five of them near the bottom. As he hastened by toward Stamford, General Mead distinctly heard him cursing the British whom he had left behind. The feat was perilous, but, under the circumstances, not very extraordinary. I was told that in 1825 several of the dragoons in the escort of La Fayette to this place performed the same Let us resume our journey.
The ride from Ridgefield to Norwalk was very pleasant. The clouds were dispersed, and the air was almost sultry. The country was rough until we entered the valley of the Norwalk River, a region of great beauty and fertility. Our road lay along that winding stream, and, as we approached Norwalk, the transition from the open country to the populous town was almost imperceptible. Venerable elms and sycamores, planted by the early settlers, shaded handsome mansions thickly strewn along the winding road. These, the tolling of a bell, and the whistle of steam betokened a village near, and in a few minutes we reined up at the principal hotel in the compact street of a busy mart. We are again upon Revolutionary ground, the scene of another of Governor Tryon's marauding expeditions. *
After laying Fairfield in ashes, Governor Tryon and Brigadier-general Garth, with their troops, retreated to their vessels and crossed the Sound to Huntington Bay, Long Island, whence they sailed over to Norwalk on the night of the 11th of July, 1779. The main body landed at about nine o'clock in the evening, "in the 'Cow Pasture,' a peninsula on the
*Norwalk is situated near Long Island Sound, not far from the mouth of the Norwalk River (a small stream), and about forty-eight miles northeast from New York. It was among the earliest settlements in Connecticut, having been purchased of the natives in 1640. The bounds of the east tract, sold to Roger Ludlow, as described in the ancient records, were "from Norwalk River to Sawhatue [Saugatuck] River, from sea, Indian one day walk in the country"—that is, one day's north walk into the country; hence the name of Norwalk. The articles given to the Indians for the tract were "eight fathoms wampum, six coats, ten hatchets, ten hoes, ten knives, ten scizers, ten juseharps, ten fathom tobacko, three kettles of six hands about, and ten looking-glasses." The articles given for the tract on the west side of the river, between it and Five Mile River, sold to Captain Patrick, were "of wampum ten fathoms, hatchets three, howes three, when ships come; six glasses, twelve tobacko pipes, three knives, ten drills, ten needles."—Barber's Historical Collections; Hall's Historical Records of Norwalk.
** This view is from the west side of Gregory's Point, looking north-northwest. The promontory toward the left, covered with dark trees, is called Fort Point. There was an Indian fortification when the first settlers arrived at Norwalk. Further to the left, on the extreme edge of the picture, is seen one end of the rail-road bridge, which crosses Norwalk River. The New York and New Haven Railroad was then in progress of construction. The point derives its name from its former proprietor, Governor Thomas Fitch, whose residence was Norwalk. He was Governor of the colony of Connecticut, and his name is among the beloved of his generation. He died July 18th, 1774, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
Landing of Tryon at Norwalk.—Destruction of the Village.—Conduct of Tryon.—Scenes at Darien Church.
east side of the harbor, within a mile and a half of the bridge." * They lay on their arms all night, awaiting the expected arrival of a company of Loyalists. At dawn they marched toward the town, and were met by a company of about fifty Continental soldiers, under Captain Stephen Betts, who were posted upon an eminence known asGruman's Hill, a little east of the road. A skirmish ensued, but the little band of patriots were soon obliged to flee before overwhelming numbers, leaving four of their party dead. The people, greatly alarmed, fled to Belden's Hill, five miles distant, during the night. The Continentals and a few of the militia took post within "random cannon-shot upon the hills on the north," whence they annoyed the enemy exceedingly. Tryon halted upon Gruman's Hill until the other division landed atOld Well, ** on the west side of the stream. The two divisions joined, and soon drove nearly every Whig inhabitant from the village, dispersed the troops collected upon the hills, and seized one of their cannon.