ceipt of the intelligence of the passage of the Boston Port Bill, passed strong resolutions against the unjust act, and the towns. expressed their disapprobation of it, and their sympathy with the people of Boston, by calling large meetings, and passing Resolutions. New Haven took the lead, and was followed by most of the towns in the eastern and central sections of the colony, who adopted, most unanimously, resolutions of the most patriotic character, pledging every aid to their suffering brethren in Boston. In these town meetings was generated the spirit of enquiry and resistance to tyranny so essential to that future progress of the war of independence.

Windham county was conspicuous as the seat of this spirit of patriotism and sympathy. Here resided Gov. Trumbull, Gen. Putnam, and many other master spirits of the revolution. This county had been more recently settled by emigrants from Massachusetts, than most of the other counties in Connecticut, and her trade was almost entirely with Boston; hence the sympathy of the inhabitants was ardent in the cause of their distressed brethren in Massachusetts. The contiguous counties were but little behind Windham in their patriotic devotion to what they considered the common cause. But the western section of the colony, especially Fairfield county, does not appear to have participated so strongly in this incipient spirit of the revolution. The remoteness of this part of the colony from Boston, its almost exclusive trade with New York, together with other reasons which were developed in the course of the revolution, explain the cause of the comparative want of patriotic ardor in this portion of the colony.

Paper resolutions, and patriotic words, were not the only effect of these town meetings; but deeds of the most benevolent character, were common events. Donations from almost every town, were sent to the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Boston and Charlestown. Live stock, bread stuff, &c., were sent in great abundance. The town of Windham, at one time, generously gave two hundred and fifty fat sheep; Wethersfield collected and sent on a large quantity of wheat, &c. The inhabitants of Georgia sent to the inhabitants of Boston, sixty three barrels of rice, and £122, in specie sterling, under the care of John Eaton Le Conte, Esq. The city of London subscribed £30,000 sterling for the poor of Boston. In Schoharry, in the

county of Tryon, N. Y. the committee men of that place, collected five hundred and twenty-five bushels of wheat for the relief of the sufferers in the towns of Boston and Charlestown, which was sent.

The town meetings at this time, were conducted with the utmost propriety, and the resolutions adopted, were generally characterized with decision and firmness, and undoubtedly had great influence in establishing among the people, an almost universal spirit of resistance to British oppression, and a determination to support their friends in Boston with every possible aid in their power.

Amidst the glow of enthusiasm, and the strong excitement and indignation against the British ministry and its supporters and upholders, which pervaded Connecticut so generally, in the summer of 1774, it is much to the credit of the inhabitants, that very few acts of violence were committed. Only two are recorded, that are worthy of notice. The first is the case of the Rev. Samuel Peters, of Hebron, an Episcopalian clergyman. It seems that he and his friends had got up for publication, some resolutions approving the conduct of the British parliament, and condemning the opposition of the people of the colonies. This occasioned a visit from some three hundred people, from the towns of Tolland, Bolton, and Hebron, on the morning of the 15th of August, who coerced Mr. Peters to comply with their requisitions.

The other case occurred in Farmington, where the act of the British parliament, (the Boston Port Bill) was burnt in great contempt, by the common hangman, in presence of the assembled multitude.

One of the most remarkable events of the year, was the great alarm from Boston, by which the adage that "coming events cast their shadows before," was most truly exemplified. The alarm was, that the ships of war were cannonading Boston, and the regular troops massacreing the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex. This news spread like wild-fire throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in less than thirty-six hours, the country was rallied for more than one hundred and seventy miles in extent. From the shores of Long Island Sound to the green hills of Berkshire, "to arms!" "to arms!" was the universal cry. Instantly, nothing was seen on all sides, but men of all ages,

cleansing and burnishing their arms, and furnishing themselves with provisions and warlike stores, and preparing for an immediate march; gentlemen of rank and fortune, exhorting and encouraging others by their advice and example. The roads were soon crowded with armed men, marching for Boston with great rapidity, but without noise or tumult. No boisterous mirth or irregularity of any kind, attended their march, but silent firm ness and invincible determination were portrayed in every face. By the most moderate computation, there were in the colony of Connecticut alone, not less than twenty thousand men completely armed, actually on their march for Boston, with full speed, until counter intelligence was received on the road. This alarm was on the 3d of September, 1774.

On the 15th of September, of the same year, there was a patriotic assemblage at Hartford, of delegates from most of the towns in the eastern and central, and a number from the western sections of Connecticut. This might be called the first "Hartford Convention," and was somewhat different in character from that which assembled at the same place nearly forty years after that period.

This convention adopted many strong resolutions in favor of a Non-consumption Agreement, being entered into by the consumers of British goods, and reprobated in the strongest language, the spirit of monopoly and forestalling, that then prevailed to a great degree among the mercantile portion of the community.

About this time, the patriotic opposers of the doctrine of unconditional submission to the authority of the British parliament, adopted the appropriate appellation of " sons of liberty." Liberty poles (having the word "liberty" inscribed on them) were raised in every direction, emblematic of the spirit of the times. Some of these were of an extraordinary elevation. One in East Haddam was 147 feet high; another in the parish of Chester, in Saybrook, 106 feet high. On the one in East Haddam, was hoisted a large union flag, with the emblem of liberty neatly portrayed thereon, fighting the cause of America against tyranny. At the dedication of this pole, by the "sons of liberty," cheers were given, and several guns fired on the occasion, and resolutions adopted, to promote good order and unity.

The press the Palladium of Liberty-was conducted with great ability, and breathed forth the language of freedom, at this

eventful period. The columns of the newspapers then abounded with animating and instructive essays, and dissertations on the abstract principles of justice, with examples taken from ancient and modern history. The three newspapers then published in the colony, were all faithful to the cause of freedom; but the one in New London, called the "Connecticut Gazette, and Universal Intelligencer," published by Timothy Green, was distinguished for its superior devotion to the cause of liberty, and the rights of America.

The delegation to the General Assembly which met in New Haven, in October, 1774, was of the most patriotic character, being composed for the most part, of men who had taken an active part in the town meetings of the preceding summer, or belonged to the association of the "sons of liberty." They were men of determined spirit, devoted to the rights and liberties of their country. This Assembly held an adjourned session in March, 1775, and another in April of the same year. At the April session, a law was enacted to raise one-fourth of the militia for the special defence of the colony; formed into companies of one hundred men each, and into six regiments. A major general, two brigadier generals, and six colonels, were appointed. This force was subsequently sent to Boston, after the affair of Lexington.* This Assembly also authorised the purchase of three

* The annexed companies marched from the following towns in Connecticut, for the relief of Boston, &c., in the Lexington alarm, April, 1775.

Woodstock, Capt. Benjamin Lyon, with 35 men; East Windsor, Capt. Charles Ellsworth, 37, Capt. Matthew Grant, 28; Woodstock, Capt. E. Manning, 22; Branford, Capt. Josiah Fowler, 36; Hartford, Capt. Abraham Sedgwick, 33; Woodstock, Capt. Daniel Lyon, 27; Windham, Capt. Wm. Warner, 41; East Haddam, Col. Joseph Spencer, John Willey, Capt., 43; Canterbury, Capt. Aaron Cleveland, 20; Somers, Capt. Emery Pease, 47; East Windsor, Capt. Amasa Loomis, 43; Windham, Capt. James Stedman, 49, Capt. Return J. Meigs, 43; Norfolk, Capt. Timothy Gaylord, 24; New Hartford, Lieut. Uriah Seymour, 5; Simsbury, Capt. Amos Wilcox, 25; Wethersfield, Capt. John Chester, about 60; Lyme, Capt. Joseph Jewitt, 55; Canterbury, Capt. Joseph Burgess, 20; Union, Capt. Thomas Lawson, 26; Enfield, Capt. Nathaniel Terry, 57; Wallingford, Capt. Isaac Cook; Killingworth, Capt. Aaron Stevens, 26; Canterbury, Lt. Col. A. Johnson, Shrebiah Butt, Capt., 30; Ashford, Capt. Thomas Knowlton, 78; Chatham, Capt. Silas Dunham, 36; Fairfield, Capt. David Dimon, about 50; Glastenbury, Capt. Elizur Hubbard, 47; Brooklyn, Gen. Putnam; Milford, Capt. Peter Perrit, from different places, 73; Windsor, Capt. Nathaniel Hayden, Jr.; New Haven, Capt. Hezekiah Dickerman, 9;

thousand stand of arms, and the issuing of £50,000 in bills of credit equal to lawful money, and laid a tax of seven pence on the pound on all polls and rateable estate in the colony.

Bolton, Capt. Ezekiel Olcott, 34; Colchester, Capt. Eliphalet Bulkley, 69; Middletown, Capt. Cumfort Sage, 43; East Windsor, Capt. Lemuel Stoughton ; Pomfret, Capt. Zebulon Ingalls, 89; Norwich, Capt. Jedediah Huntington, 70; Tolland, Capt. Solomon Willis, 50; Plainfield, Capt. Andrew Backus, 54; Stafford, Lt. Col. Stephen Moulton, Zephaniah Alden, Capt., 17 ; Wallingford, Capt. John Couch; Hartford, Lieut. Col. George Pitkin; Hebron, Capt. Worthy Waters, 61; Guilford, Capt. Noah Fowler, 45; Durham, Col. James Wadsworth, Stephen Norton, Capt.; Mansfield, Lieut. Col. Experience Storrs, Jonathan Nichols, Capt.; Derby, Maj. Jabez Thompson, Capt. Nathaniel Johnson, 32; Lyme, Lieut. Thomas Way, Jr., 6; Killingworth, Capt. Samuel Gale, 25; Capt. Lemuel Roberts, 10; Preston, Capt. Ebenezer Witter, 99; Col. Samuel H. Parsons; Maj. Thomas Brown ; New Hartford, Capt. Seth Smith; Killingly, Maj. Wm. Danielson, Joseph Cady, Capt., 88; Coventry, Maj. Thos. Brown, Joseph Talcott, Lieut., over 100; Lebanon, Capt. Daniel Tilden; Windham, Capt. John Kingsley; Suffield, Capt. Elihu Kent; Woodstock, Lieut. Mark Elwell, 22; Greenwich, Capt. Abraham Mead, 58; Stonington, Capt. Benjamin Park; Bolton, Capt. Thomas Pitkin, 27; Woodstock, Capt. Samuel McLelland, (troop of horse,) about 45; Willington, Maj. Elijah Fenton, Ebenezer Heath, Capt., 30; Stafford, Capt. Amos Walbridge, 23; Saybrook, Capt. John Ely, 59; Stafford, Capt. Paul Blodget, 23; New Haven, Capt. Benedict Arnold; Guil. ford, Ensign Jehiel Meigs, 23; Simsbury, Capt Zachariah Gillet, 26; Hartford, Capt. Jonathan Welles, Capt. Timothy Cheney, 24; Middletown, Lieut. Amos Hosford, 16; Woodstock, Capt. Nathaniel Mercy, 38; Killingly, Capt. Joseph Elliott, 58; Windham, Lieut. Mather Bingham, 22; Stamford, Capt. Joseph Hart, with 33 men marched to New York for its protection, occasioned by the alarm of the battle at Lexington; Capt. Amos Wallbridge and his company; Capt. Lemuel Stoughton and his company.

The number of men, where given, are generally correct, the files from which they are taken are so badly mutilated, they may not be perfectly accurate—and to some Captains, their number of men cannot be ascertained, and in some cases even the towns from which they marched. There were but few towns in this State who were not fully represented at Lexington and Boston immediately after the alarm reached Connecticut.

An account of moneys paid by Connecticut to the inhabitants of the following lowns, for their services and expenses in the Lexington alarm, in April, 1775, per order of the Assembly, in May, 1775.