Connecticut Historical Collections

" On the evening followins the 7lh of April, two or three of these anchored off Say- brook bar. They immediately dispatched for Pautapoug, two launches, each carry- ing 'J or 12 pound carronades and fifty or sixty men eacli, and four barge.s, supposed to have 25 men each, under tlie command of Lieut. Coole, completely prepared with torches, combustibles, &.c. for the enterprise which they accomplished. Before II o'clock ihey were discovered entering tiie month of the river, by the keeper of the light house, and before 12, many of the men landed at Saybrouk ])oint, and went into the old lort, where no force was then stationed to resist' them. The distance from this place to Pautapoug point is between iive and six miles; but being retarded by a strong northerly wind and ii freshet, they did not arrive there till about four o'clock, Friday morning, the 8th of April. The people knew nothing of their being in the river more than 30 minutes before they arrived, and took possession of the point; and some had no knowledge of it, before the work of conllagration was begun. Picket guards searched houses and stores for arms and ammunition, while the men generally were employed in .setting fire to the vessels, lying in the river, at the point, and on the stocks along the Noith and South coves. About 10 o'clock, they called in their guards and proceeded down the iiver, with a brig, schooner, and two sloops. But the wind shilling from the northeast to the southeast, they set fire to all these, excepting the SAYBROOK. 535 schooner, which ihcy anchored about a mile ami a quarter below (lie point, where they remained till evening. Twenty two vessels of various descriptions were destroy- ed, and a loss occasioned, computed at ltJU,OUU dollars, (jO,000 of which tell on the in- habitants of Pautapoug;. " AVhen the enemy lirst landed, the people living on the point and in the vicinity were in no situation lo oppose them. In the course of the day, some forces collecied from Pautapoug and uther |)laces west of the river; while on the east side, some col- lected from Lyme and New London; but the worL of destruction was finished and the British were more than a mile down the nver. The plan adopted was to oppose them on their way out, for which stations were taken on both sides. P.ut the enemy were detained as has been stated. About sunset a field piece was planted on a point near their resting place, which, by seveial well directed shots, compelled them to leave the schooner. One of these shots killed two men and wounded a third. When night came on, it was excessively dark, and no object cuuld be seen, and they proceeded si- lently down the river, and arrived at their vessels about 10 o'clock in the evening. Many shots were directed against them on the supposition of their being on their way, some of which struck their boats, and probably diu some execution."* TliG village of IVcsthroolc is about four miles west from Saybrook village. Tiie settlcuieut of tliis place coiiniiciiccd as early as 16(54. It was incorporated as a society in 17-21. The Rev. William Wortliing- ton was tlieir first pastor; he deceased in 175(5, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Devotion. Ship building was conuiienced in lllO, on the Pochaug river, and is still a leading branch of business in the jjlace. There are at present about 15 vessels owned here, principally coasters. It is estimated that there are about 1,200 inhabitants in the limits of the society, and two churches, 1 Congregational and 1 JMcthodist. Mv. David BushncJI, the inventor of tlie " American Turtle," a machine for destroying British shi|)piiig, during the Revolutionary war, was a native of this place. There were formerly in the town four Indian settlements ; one at the mouth of Oyster river; one on Obcd's hammock, near the mouth of Pochaug river; a third was at Ayres's point, and so northward to Pau- tapoug point ; the fourth was on or near the Indian reservation in Ches- ter. The Indians in this town and vicinity were s'lbject, some years before the English settled on Connecticut river, to the Petjuots. In 1G31, some of their confederates murdereil Cajit. Slone and Capt. Nor- ton, and their whole crew, consisting of eight men, half a mile above Saybrook point, plundered the vessel, then burned her down to the wa- ter's edge, and sunk her.f In IG35, they received and protected in- dividuals who had been concerned in the murder of ]\lr. Oldham, at Block Island. " But notwithstanding these recent and abominable transactions, they consented to hold a treaty with Mr. Winthrop and his men, and gave to the English their right to Connecticut river and the adjacent country. Thus ihey excited a liope of peace and safety. But a few months, according to the testimuiiy of Dr. Trumbull and various .other writers, disclosed their treachery and wickedness. For in the beginning of Oc- tober, 1G3G, as five men from Saybrook fort went to get hay at Calves' island, four miles north, near Lyme shore, some Pequots who had concealed themselves in the high grass surprised tliem, caught one, a godly young man, by the name of Butter- field, and tortured iiim lo death : from which circumslance the place was named IJiU- lerfield's mpadow. The other four escaped to their boat, but one of them was wounded with 5 arrows.— A few days after this, Joseph Tilly, master ol'a bark, came to anchor * Field's Statistical Account. + As late as 17^5, some of the limber and plank of this vessel were found, together with a quantity of bar iron, and a few other ankles.— Fi eld's Stal. Acct. Saybrovk. 53G S A Y B n O 0 K , nearly opposite Calves' island, and takinsr one man with bim, Trent on filiorc for the purpose of fowling. As soon as he had. discharged his piece, a large number of Pe- qiiois rising I'rom their concealment, took liini and killed his companion ; and then gratified their malice by pulling him to torture. They fust cut off his hands and tiien hisleei; after whicli he Jived three days. But as noiluug which ihey inllicied upon him excited a groan, lliey pronounced him a stout man. Thu place where he was taken and tortured lias since been called Tilly's Point. — Within a fortnight of these transactions, the following calamity was experienced. A house had been erected about two miles from the tort, (at Cornfield point, as it is supposed,) and six,men de- tached from the garrison to keep it. As three of them were fowling near the house, (a practice which the lieutenant had strictly forbid,) they were suddenly attacked by nearly one hundred Pequots : two were taken, and one fought his way through theiii sword in hand, wounded with two arrows, but not mortally. — The following winter the fort was little better than in a slate of constant siege. None could go from it without hazard ; and the cattle, stacks of hay, and almusi every thing belonging to it at any distance, were destroyed. AVlien the spring arrived, the enemy were still more troublesome. As Lieut. Gardiner was going out in the month uf March, w'ith ten or twelve men, to burn the marshes, the enemy rose upon tliem, just as they had turned south from the palisades, killed three of the men and wounded a fourtli, so that he died in the fort the next day. The Lieutenant was slightly woimded, but was able with most of his men to retreat. Encouraged by this success, the Indians followed ihein, surrounded the fort, and challenu'cd ihein to Oglit; mocking them in the groans and pious invocations ol their friends whom they had tortured ; till a dexterous use of the guns, loaded with giape shot, compelled them lo retire. After this, Indians in several canoes beset a shallop, having three men on boaid, as it was sailing down the river. They shot one oi' iliem through the head with an airow, who fell oveiboard. The other two they took and lipped iheni from the bottom of their bellies to their throats, cleft them down their backs, and then susjiended them on trees by the side of the river thai the English might behold lliese objecis of their vengeance. One of the Indians concerned in these barbarities was Ne|>anpuck,a famous Pequot captain, who fur this and other murders was belieaded at New iiaven, in 1039, and whose head was set upon a pole in the maikci phice.' ♦ Soiith view of Lady Fenivick^s Monument on SaybrooJc Point. The above is a representation of the monument of the wife of Col. Fenvvick, and the remains of Saybrook fort, with Connecticut river in the distance to the north of the fort, and a few bulkhngs at the eastern extremity of the landing. Cob Fenwick's wife was Lady Anno Bot- cler or Butler, who, being the daughter of an English nobleman, re- tained her maiden name: she died in 1648, and her husband returned ♦ Field's Statistical Account. V-.-. SAY BROOK. 537 to England and was appointed one of the judges for the trial of Charles I. Her nionuinent is about 30 or 40 rods southwest from the remains of the fort, and perhaps five or six rods from the river, on a piece of elevated ground, called "tomb hill," probably so named from the circumstance of tliis monument being placed upon its summit. It is said that Col. Fenwick made provision to have it kept in perpetual re- pair, it being one of the considerations for which he gave a deed to a large tract of land on the opposite side of the river. If this be a fact, the condition of the deed has been but illy complied with, and it is to be regretted that no more care has been taken to preserve the nuimo- rial of this respectable lady, it being, it is believed, the oldest monu- ment for a female in the state. It is of coarse sandstone, and no in- scription has been seen upon it within the recollection of the oUlest in- habitants of tlie place. There is, however, something of the resem- blance of A. B. on the end of one of the upright stones on the western side, but whether formed by the hand of man, or by the wear of time, it is didicult to ascertain. The moimment of this lady stands on a bleak and exposed situation :