PREFACE.

Ir was with reluctance that the compiler of this collection of Historical facts, undertook his herculean task; he had to wade through an immense mass of records, old files of petitions, letters, depositions, reports, &c. &c., many of which papers had been illy preserved in the offices of the Secretary of State and Comptroller; and many were mutilated and torn, and difficult to decipher. The compiler flatters himself that he has not performed a useless task to the State. Many of the facts contained in this collection, will be found new and interesting to most of the present generation; the whole work will give a livelier character to the deeds of their ancestors during this eventful struggle for liberty and independence. The work contains about 100 pages of general history, so far as Connecticut was concerned in the war of the revolution. Then follows an epitome, not only of all the acts of the General Assembly, relating to the war, but also of the acts of the Governor and his Council of Safety, or Council of War, until May, 1778, as taken from the original records in the Secretary's office.

The language of the records and files, and in some instances the orthography, has been faithfully followed by the compiler.

Connecticut, though one of the great producing States during the war, not only of provisions, but of men and money to carry on the contest, has never had her full merit recognized, in any historical notice yet published, of that eventful time that so thoroughly tried men's souls. It has, therefore, been the object of the compiler to rescue from oblivion, a sufficient amount of authentic facts, to place the citizens of our own State on their true ground, as among the earlier, most zealous, and efficient movers of that physical and moral machinery, which tore America from the cruel embrace of England.

The compiler is satisfied from the investigations he has already made, that no State supplied more men, money, and means of every kind, according to her ability, than did Connecticut; or did more to hasten on the glorious issue of the revolutionary war. Her troops were found in nearly every action in all the States.

She not only furnished her full quota, and more than her quota of the materiel of war, but furnished some of the wisest heads, who planned and executed the great deeds of that important time. Her Putnam was on Bunker Hill; her Spencer in Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, &c.; her Parsons, Wolcotts, Huntingtons, Griswolds, Shermans, Ellsworth, Davenports, Bishops, Wooster, Silliman, Dean, and a host of others, with Governor Trumbull at their head, were foremost in the service-in our State Legislature, and in the Councils of the Continental Congress.

Should errors be found in this work, the reader would readily excuse them, could he see the perfect chaos from which the compiler has extracted the facts here published.

To such gentlemen in this city, and other parts of the State, who have aided in collecting facts, for this work, the compiler tenders them his sincere thanks, because they have been instrumental in preserving some historical facts, for the benefit of their State and country.

HARTFORD, April 28th, A. D. 1842.

R. R. HINMAN.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

A GENERAL VIEW OF CONNECTICUT AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

THE Colony of Connecticut, in 1775, was divided into the six following Counties: Hartford, New Haven, New London, Fairfield, Windham, and Litchfield. These were sub-divided into 76 townships, which by the census taken in 1774, were found to contain the following aggregate of inhabitants :-Whites, 191,448. Blacks, 6,562. Total, 198,010.

Westmoreland, it will be noticed, was included in this census. It contained only 1,922 inhabitants in 1774, but increased rapidly after that period. When the massacre of Wyoming took place (in 1778) the population was estimated at 5,000.

The General Assembly of Connecticut, at their session held at Hartford, in January, 1771, resolved that the lands west of the river Delaware, and in the latitude of that part of the colony of Connecticut east of New York were contained in the boundaries and description of the Charter of King Charles II. to the colony of Connecticut; and as many people had settled on a part of the lands at or near a place called Wyoming, under a claim of the Connecticut colony, they applied to Connecticut to take them under her protection and government. As there were many persons of suspicious and bad characters, who had escaped from justice and resorted to said place to carry on their villanous designs with impunity, to the disgust and annoyance of the good people of the settlement; the Assembly therefore, in January, 1774, enacted that the inhabitants within the bounds of Connecticut colony, on the west side of the river Delaware, were constituted a distinct town, with all the privileges of other towns in the colony of Connecticut. The town was bounded east by the Delaware

river, north by the north line of Connecticut colony, west by a north and south line across the colony at 15 miles distance west from a place in Susquehannah river called Wyoming, and south by the south line of Connecticut colony; which town was also annexed to Litchfield county, and called by the name of Westmoreland. It was however provided, that no person who resided in any other town in the colony should be sued before any justice of the peace in Westmoreland, or the people of Westmoreland be sued in any civil action in any other town before a justice; and that the sheriff or his deputies of Litchfield county should. not be compelled to receive any civil writ to be served in Westmoreland.

And during the same session (1774) the Governor of the colony was desired and authorized to issue a proclamation, to forbid all persons taking up, entering on, or settling any of the lands included in the charter of the colony, which lay west of the province of New York, without liberty obtained from the colony of Connecticut. The Assembly therefore appointed Roger Sherman, J. A. Hillhouse, and Thomas Howell, Esq'rs. (when applied to) to take into consideration the claims and settlements made on lands situate on or near the waters of the Susquehannah river within the boundaries of Connecticut by the charter, and settle the same with the claimants, and quiet their titles under Connecticut colony; and to quiet the titles of all the settlers west of the Delaware river in the colony who had been settled there more than fifteen years, preceding January, 1774.

The Legislature of Connecticut at their May session, 1775, made the the town of Westmoreland a probate district, by the name of the district of Westmoreland. The town was incorporated in January, 1774, by the Legislature of Connecticut ; and in May, 1775, the bounds of the town were extended until it should meet with the line (then) lately settled with the Indians at Fort Stanwix, called the Stanwix line, north and south on the north and south lines of the colony of Connecticut, (with the families on said lands,) were incorporated with the town of Westmoreland, and in the same act it was annexed to the county of Litchfield.

As early as 1754, the inhabitants of Connecticut made a purchase of the natives of a large tract of land extending from the Delaware river westward about 170 miles, including the whole

breadth of the 42° of north latitude, and confirmed to Connecticut, April 23, 1662, by the charter from Charles II. In October, 1763, the settlers were dispossessed by the savages with the loss of many lives and much property, and did not resume their possession until 1769, and continued under the jurisdiction of Connecticut until 1782; during the period from 1774 to 1782 many of the peaceable citizens of Connecticut moved on to the lands, purchased small farms contiguous to each other for better defence, with their small farms for immediate use, and located other lands as a future dependence. And in the year 1776, they furnished the continental army with near three hundred officers and soldiers, to fight the battles of the country, which left the settlement at Wyoming, weak and unguarded. In July, 1778, the settlements were cut off by the savages, tories, and British troops, but they soon regained their position, by the zeal and prowess of those who escaped the carnage of the first attempt of the savages; but by the great loss of men and property, the settlers were reduced and greatly distressed; many widows and orphans were left destitute of the necessaries of life; and the families of near two hundred officers and soldiers then in the army, became extremely helpless and needy, but were soon assisted by the return of their inhabitants and relieved only by the activity of the people of that section of country. They were continually harassed by the savages and tories until the close of the war, with immense loss of lives and property. The settlers of Wyoming were a most important and mighty barrier to the interior of the country, during the revolutionary war, with little compensation or reward.