second, for the defence of New London and Long Island. The third, a great draught from the eastern section of the State, to Westchester county, N. Y. The fourth, for the defence of Rhode Island. This last detachment was commanded by Gen. Joseph Spencer, who had been recalled from his command in the State of New York. The fifth, was a draught from the extreme western section of the State, for the defence and protection of its western border, during the latter part of the year. This force was commanded by Maj. Gen. Wooster, who had recently returned from Canada, where he had been in service during the early part of the season.

In all these draughts, besides those employed for its own defence, probably more than fifteen thousand men marched from Connecticut.

The delegates to the General Assembly, which met at New Haven, in October, 1776, were called upon to discharge a great and perilous duty-to sanction the Declaration of Independence, which had, in July, been adopted by the Continental Congress. The members composing this Assembly, are entitled to great praise for their Roman firmness, and almost unprecedented unanimity, with the sword of British vengeance hanging over their heads. During the darkest period of the revolutionary struggle, they resolved on freedom or death, and boldly assumed the high functions of self-government.

The General Assembly, at the December session of this year, formed the militia of the State into six brigades. The Hon. David Wooster, of New Haven, and Jabez Huntington, of Norwich, were appointed Major Generals; and Hon. Eliphalet Dyer, of Windham, Gurdon Saltonstall, of New London, Oliver Wolcott, of Litchfield, Erastus Wolcott, of East Windsor, James Wadsworth, of Durham, and Gold S. Silliman, of Fairfield, were appointed Brigadier Generals.

Near the close of the year 1776, there were four regiments ordered to be raised, by enlistment, to join the army near New York, and continue in service until the 15th of March, 1777.Samuel Whiting, Thaddeus Cook, John Ely, and Roger Enos, were appointed Colonels to command these regiments.

About the same time, a regiment of volunteers was authorized to be raised, to march to the aid of Gen. Washington. Noadiah Hooker was appointed Colonel of this regiment.

CONNECTICUT, AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1777-8.

THE campaign of 1777 opened by the invasion of Connecticut by the British, for the first time during the war. The following account of this invasion, is taken from the New London Gazette, of May 9th, 1777 :

"On Friday, the 25th inst. (April,) twenty-six of the enemy's ships appeared off Norwalk islands, standing in for Cedar Point,

Sept. 21, 1777. By a petition of Ozias Marvin, of Norwalk, dated 21st Sept. 1777, it appears that at the time the British troops landed at Campo and marched to Danbury, the militia of Norwalk, Stamford, &c., were stationed the first night at Saugatuck, near where the enemy landed for the purpose of watching the movements of the enemy during the night-the weather was cold and chilly and the militia complained of the want of refreshments, and Mr. Marvin fur. nished them with forty-five gallons of rum, out of which he filled twenty-four case bottles to carry with them on their march to Danbury, together with sixty pounds of dried beef, eight pounds of sugar, &c. That the people generally near Campo, deserted their houses, and Capt. Marvin was with his company, during the night watching the enemy, and the next morning pursued them, and continued until they returned to their ships.

At the battle near Bennington, in Vermont, on the 16th of August, 1777, between a part of the British army, commanded by Gov. Skeen, and the militia under Gen. Stark, Gen. Burgoyne had detached his men, in number about 1500, composed of British troops and tories, to traverse the country as far as Bennington, as a terror to the new settlers of Vermont, and to procure provisions for the army, as well as to wreak his vengeance on such as had disregarded his calls of mercy, and indignantly slighted his proffered protection. Gov. Skeen had advantageously marched his men within five miles of the meeting house in Bennington, where for their security they erected breast works, which Gen. Stark saw would be a miserable protection, (who was providentially there with his brigade of militia,) and therefore determined to give him battle. And he invited Col. Simond's regiment of militia, from Berkshire county to assist him; a part of Col. Brown's regiment; the volunteers from the neighboring towns; and Col. Warner (of Connecticut) with a part of his regiment. The weather was fine, and between 3 and 4 o'clock, P. M., General Stark attacked the British in front and flank in three or four different places at the same instant. The action was extremely hot for nearly two hours. The flanking divisions carried their points to great advantage, when the front pressed on to their breast work with an ardor and patience unexpected by Gov. Skeen. The blaze of the guns of the opposite parties, reaching each other, the fire became uncomfortably hot, but the militia mounted their breast works,

where they anchored at 4 o'clock, P. M., and soon began landing their troops. By 10 o'clock, they had landed two brigades, consisting of upwards of two thousand men, who marched immediately for Danbury; where they arrived next day at 2 o'clock, P. M. The handful of Connecticut troops there, were obliged

amidst peals of thunder and flashes of lightning from their guns, without regarding their field pieces, when the enemy at once deserted their breast works and ran, and in five minutes their camp was in confusion, their battal. ions broken to pieces and fled in great haste; when our whole army pressed after them with redoubled ardor, pursued them about a mile, killed many of them, and took a great number of prisoners, and one field piece had fallen into the hands of the Americans. When they stopped to get breath, the quemy being reinforced, the American front fell back a few rods for convenience of ground, and being directed and collected by Col. Rossiter, and reinforced by Maj. Stratton, renewed the battle with redoubled ardor, and marched into their ranks with great impetuosity, and soon put them in confusion and to flight again, and pursued them about a mile and took many prisoners, three brass field pieces, when it became so dark they could follow them no farther. The enemy fled precipitately the next night towards the North river. Gov. Skeen in his surprise and consternation, fled on horseback. The Americans lost in killed, about forty-five men, and more than that number wounded. The bag. gage of the British fell into our possession. The number of prisoners taken were said to be about six hundred-two of their colonels mortally wounded, many inferior officers taken, and the general's aid-de-camp. Many of their soldiers deserted and joined the American army. This action was not only a crown for Gen. Stark, but it proved to the Americans his valor, prudence, and warlike spirit, and greatly endeared him to the soldiery of the country.

The following is the account given at the time by an eye witness, of the number of prisoners taken in the action, viz.: 2 colonels, 1 lieutenant colonel, 1 major, 5 captains, 12 lieutenants, 4 ensigns, 3 surgeons, 2 Canadian officers, 1 baron, 398 Germans and 37 British privates, 38 Canadians, 175 toriestotal 680-two brass 4 pound cannon, two do. 3 pounders, one medicine wagon, and a quantity of baggage. [Connecticut Courant.]

A man by the name of Palmer, under Gen. Clinton, had been taken as a spy and brought into the camp of Gen. Putnam, at Peekskill, N. Y., and was found to be a tory that had been made a lieutenant in the British service. Governor Tryon demanded his release, and threatened vengeance if he should be exccuted by the Americans. Gen. Putnam answered the demand as follows, to Gov. Tryon :

"Sir-Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your service, was taken in my camp as a spy; he was tried as a spy; he was condemned as a spy; and you may rest assured, sir, he shall be hanged as a spy.

"I have the honor to be, &c.

"To His Excellency Gov. TRYON.
"P. S. Afternoon. He is hanged."

"ISRAEL PUTNAM.

to evacuate the town, having previously secured a part of the stores, provisions, &c. The enemy, on their arrival, began burning and destroying the stores, houses, provisions, &c. On the appearance of the enemy, the country was alarmed; and early the next morning, Brig. Gen. Silliman, with about five hundred militia, (all that were collected,) pursued the enemy. At Red

In 1776, the red ground of the American flag was altered to thirteen blue and white stripes, as an emblem of the thirteen colonies united in a war for their liberty.

At the battle of Germantown, while Maj. Burnet was attending to a cannon, in turning round, a musket ball from the enemy cut off his cue, which fell upon the ground by his side without injuring him.

The following story shews the faithlessness and treachery of Indians.

A sargeant with twelve men, who, travelling through the woods in New Hampshire, on his way to the American army, his route being far from any settlement, the sargeant being familiar with the Indian character-carly in the afternoon in a copse of woods, a number of Indians rushed out before them, apparently pleased to meet the sargeant and his men, and claimed to be their best friends, declared they had taken up the hatchet for the Americans, and would scalp the villainous English as they would so many wild cats-greeted the sargeant and his men by the appellation of brother, with a hearty shake of the hand, and scon left them. The sargeant after marching his men a short distance, halted them, and informed them they should all die before the next morning; that the friendship of the Indians was a fiction, and they would see them again before morning. When night came, they encamped near a stream of water, which was a protection on one side; they then fell a tree about the size of a man's body, kindled a large fire, then cut the tree into thirteen pieces about the length of their bodies, and rolled each nicely in their blankets, placed their hats on the ends of the logs and placed them before the fire, at such distance as each log should be taken for a man wrapped in his blanket. They then placed themselves behind the limbs of the fallen tree; when it became dark, they with loaded guns, with a bright fire, and with a constant watch, kept perfect silence. As the fire began to get low, a tall Indian was discovered, moving cautiously and skulking Indian like, about the premises; full of sus. picion he crept forward, counted his thirteen men quietly sleeping as he sup. posed by the fire; he silently retired; another slyly crept up and counted the men and retired; when the party of sixteen Indians came up, gazed at the logs until they were satisfied the thirteen men were in a sound sleep, they took good aim at the logs, discharged their guns, gave the horrid war whoop and stepped forward to murder and scalp the sargeant and his men; the sargeant and his men took deliberato aim in the brush, and not an Indian was left to tell the result of their expedition.

1777. Solomon Leet, of Guilford, on the 15th of January, 1778, stated in his petition to the General Assembly, holden at Hartford, in said January, that on the 17th day of June, 1777, the enemy landed at Sachem's Head, in Guilford,

ding, he was joined by Maj. Gen. Wooster, and Brig. Gen. Arnold. The heavy rain all the afternoon, retarded the march of our troops so much, that they did not reach Bethel-a village two miles from Danbury-till 11 o'clock at night, much fatigued, and their arms rendered useless by being wet. It was thought prudent to refresh the men, and wait the attack of the enemy on

and set fire to his house, and two barns, which were consumed, with all his household furniture, and many other articles of value which he had caused to be appraised, with an inventory; and asked the Assembly for relief, which was granted.

A Letter from John Brooks, to the Author of this Work.

1841. My young friend and neighbor called on me in your behalf, to give some account of the occurrences which took place in Stratford, in the time of the revolutionary war. When that commenced I was but eleven years of age; my recollection of things which took place in Stratford, during that period, may not be very correct, as I have only to depend on memory. Capt. John Brooks, who was my father, and one who took a very active part in the cause throughout the war, and of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, was chased in from sea by the ship Asia, (after the battle of Lexington) which was the first British armed ship that arrived on our part of the coast, and soon after made her appearance in Long Island Sound, and anchored off Stratford. This caused great alarm amongst all classes of the citizens, who did not know how to act, whether for or against their king; but in a short time many of the most wealthy inhabitants became strong royalists, and some received commissions to raise forces and join the British. This was particularly the case with a very likely young man by the name of Chapman, who was sent off with others under a flag of truce by the civil authorities to ascertain from the commander of the ship what was his request or design. At this time Chapman received a lieutenant's commission to raise forces under the king, who did absolutely succeed in enticing away several of the young men from Stratford, all of whom took up arms against their country. The ship remained some days at anchor, in which time there was a communication kept up between her commander and the inhab. itants, who found a ready market for what they had to spare. By this time people had got pretty well settled down in their principles; those who became tories, were so out of honest principle, thinking it a heinous crime to rebel against their lawful sovereign; the contest soon became warm, and Captain Brooks who took up strongly in the cause, soon became a conspicuous character, and was burthened with several appointments, both by town and State; in particular, he was Barrack master, (as it was then called) for all the troops passing and repassing through the town, in consequence of which the small pox broke out in his family. This was in January, 1777, and was occasioned by the entertainment of some prisoners on their way home, who were taken at the surrender of fort Washington, and were landed at Stratford Point, by a flag of truce out of New York, which was then in possession of the British. These prisoners had been long confined, in different prisons, when an exchange took place; they had been much exposed to small pox; and although every precau.