Connecticut Historical Collections

" We took the same route in our return as in going up, equally exposed though not so much annoyed. Every thing required was cheerfully undertaken, and spiritedly eliecied, by the party 1 hail the honor to command. A small p.irty fiom Vanalstine's post joined ns, which incica^cil my command to I'JO. They landed and returned with us, and behaved exceciliiigly well. The armed vessels Association and Colonel Martin, went close into the shoie, and covered ihe landing on llie Is'ew London side. At the request oltlie General, I i'urnished boats to land forty of ihe troops on the Gro- ton side. Captains Gardner and 'I'homas would gladly have gone up to the town, but were not permitted.'' The following is fiom the New London Gazette, Januaiy -1, ]7S-2. " Last Friday died at Groton, Mr. Carey Leeds, of fever, which he took from JMr. Daniel Eldridyo. a neighbor and friend of his, that died the 1st instant, who with one hundred and thirty men were landed here on the 3d ult. from New York, in a most deplorable situation ; a great part of them have since died, and those of them that have survived, are in such a debilitated state that they will drag out a miserable exist- ence. Numbers in tliis unhappy town and Groton have lost their lives by taking them in, and great numbers of others have been brought to the gates of death, and still lie in a languishing condition. It is enough 10 melt the most obdurate heart of any one, (except a Briton,) to see these miserable objects continually landing here from every ihig that comes; see them poured out upon desolated wharves, sick and dying, aiul the few rags tliL'V hu\e on co\(Mcd with vermin and their own ex- crements In shuri, if their is no reilress for tuis intolerable evil, this town and Groton must be dcpopidaled." After the close of the llevolutionary war in 1783, the General Assem- bly appointed a committee to estimate the damages sustained by the several towns in the state that had been ravaged by the enemy during the war. The damages sustained by New London were estimated by the committee at ,^185,980. To compensate the sufferers in this, and the other towns, the General Assembly, in May, 1793, granted them 500,000 acres of the tract of land reserved by Connecticut, at their cession of lands to the United States, lying south of the western part of Lake Erie, being what are now called " the Fire lands," in the western part of the \Vestern Reserve, in the state of Ohio. During the late war New London was the theater of hostile indica- tions. A squadron under the command of Commodore Hardy having driven two of our frigates under tlie command of Cotfimodore Decatur into the harbor, blockaded it for a considerable time. The concentra- tion of a consitJerable force of the enemy at this place, produced con- lui name fi'oni one tiiuon, ami wis • Ued ik.s. uvo luwcl Ji iK-n, i.'iiiic, accompai licd ; and L--|i(.-ciall V to in|ianv u illi Ji dm, t'li dc-rec iiiibi du'tl iiy alk-r, Ijclon ^ lie NEW LONDON. 279 siderable alarm, and a large body of militia, drafted from different parts of the stale, were kept here to repel any attack from the enemy. Be- sides the militia, a considerable body oi' United Slates troops were sta- tioned here. The forts were strongly garrisoned, and the British made no attempt upon the place. Abont the year 1720, a sect arose in New London, called, from their leader, Rogerenes. The following account of this people is fronrDr. Trumbull's History of Connecticut, second volume. " Tlie Rogerenes wei'c a sort of Qualicis, \\|io had their oii^n'n ; John llogers of New London, tie was a man of unhonnded am to be something; more than common men. One Case and (me Ha called singing Uiialcers, coming thiongli the colony >iiignig and dai with a numbei- of women to assist them in their musical exeieis^'s proclaim how their lips dropped with myrrh and honey, fell in c( and at once made a convert of him lo their leligion. lie, in a h their spirit, and ever reiaineil it. IS'oiu'ithstanding, it was not h commenced a seventh day Baptist. After maintaining the opinion of tliis sect for a short time, he returned again to Gluakerism. To gratify his pride, and that he might appear as the head of a peculiar sect, he dilfered in several {luini.s from the Cluakers. Parliculaily he maintained lliai tJiere weie three ordinances of leligioiis use, baptism, the Lord's sujiper, and imposition ol hands. To make himself more eminent, as the iieail ot a new sect, he commenced preacher of his peculiar scheme, and without any kind of ordination, admmistcred baptism lo his folloueis. 'I'he jnadiiess, immodesty, and tnmulluoas conduct of Uogers and those who (olluwed him, at Ibis day, is liardl'y conceivable. It seemed to be their study and delight in violate the Sabbaili, insult magistrates and minisieis, ami to trample on all law and authority, human and divine, 'i'hey would come uu the; Lortl's (hiy, into the most public as- .sendjlies nearly or quite naked, and in the lime of public worship, behave in a wild ^and tumultuous manner, crying out, and charging the most venerable ininiNiers with lies and false doctrine. They would labor np(Hi the Lord's day, drive cans by places of public worship, and from town lo town, ajiparcntly on jmrpuse to ilistmb Clmslians and Christian as^cmblies. They seemed to take pains lo violate ilie laws in the pre- i,ence of ollicers, ihal they might be comjilained of, and liave an uiijiortunity to insult the laws, the courts, and all civil autburiiy. A jiarlicular instance of their conduct on a certain occasion, when Ilogers was in- dicted lor a high misdemeanor, may seive as a specimen ol their spirit and conduct ju geiicKil. 'l"he crime lor which he was indicted, and llu' mai.ner .i|' hi- own and his followers' conduct, will appear friiii the lollowing e.Mracl liom I'laii'^ lli--iurical Account of Ciuakerisni. * ' It was his manner lo rush into the assembly on the Lord's day, in the lime of God's ■worship, in a very boisterous way, and to charge the minister with lies and false doc- trine ; and tu scicam, shout, stamp, &c. by which he olfercd iiisuQerable molestations to the worship and people of Giut. And'lhis was his maimci in i he-court also, when he pleased, or had a mind to make liimsclf spoil, and he would l.mgli at it when he Jiad done until his sides slioolc. ' I saw him once brought lo court for such a disturbance, comrnitled on the Sabbath. He had connived the matter so as to be just without the door when he was called to answer; upon which h'.' rushed into court with a prodigious noise ; his fcalnics and gestures expressed inori; fury ihan 1 i:\er saw in a disiiai-unl person of any s(.it, and I soberly think, iliai if a legion of devils Irul pushed hiin in headlong, his eiilrance had not been more hoi rid and ghastly, nor have seemed more preternatural. ' When he came to the bar, he demanded 9! the court what their business was with him 1 The indictmenl was ordered to be read. To this he pleaded not guilly, alier a new mode ; for as the clerk read, sometimes at the end of a sentence, and someiiines at the beginning, he would cry out, Thafs a cursed Lie ; and anon, T/ia/'s a deiilish. lie; till at length a number of his followers, of both sexes, tuned their pipes, and screamed, roared, shouted and stamped lo that tlegree of noise, that it was impo.ssible to hear the clerk read.' He professed to be a most holy man, guided in all his conversation In' llie IIolv Ghost, so thai, for the course of twenty years, he had lived wiihoiit the coinmissiun oY one sin. Yet he was almost constantly ccjinmiuing such gross o^en^.es. He was flivorced from an amiable wife for fornication and supposed beastiality. T)ie latter 280 N E w r 0 N D O N . he often confessed out of court. Wlicii he had occasion, he took to his bed a maid ■whom lie had purcliased, and after ^he iiad boiiie him two cliildreii, he put her away. He suHereda hnig imprisuiiineiit, u[)un a strong suspicion that he was an accomplice in burning the meeting-house in New London. He once sal upon the gallows upon a conviction of blasphemy. For these and the like instances, he and his followers suf- fered the penalties of the law; but for his religion, neither he nor his followers suU'ered any thing, any further than it led ihem to such misdemeanors as are punishable by the laws of all Christian nations." Many anecdotes are related concerning this singular people, one of whicli is the following. Among other violations of law and order by the Rogerenes, they took to themselves wives without complying with the requirements of law and decency. " One day as Gov. Saltonstall was sitting in his room smoking his pipe, a man by tlie name of Gorton, with a woman, came in, and addressing the Governor, said, 'sir. I have married this woman, and that too, without the authority of your magis- trates and ministers.' The Governor turned round, took the pipe out of his mouth, and in a stern voice said, 'Gorton, have you taken this woman for your wife ?' Gorton replied, ' yes, I have.' Tiie Gov- ernor turned to the woman, and enr|uire(l, ' madam, have you taken this man for your husband?' Slie rephed, ' Indeed, sir, 1 have.' ' \Vell, then,' said the Governor, * by authority of, and according to the laws of Connecticut, I pronounce you lawfully wedded, husband and wife.' Gorton was astonislied, and after a pause replied, ' Thou art a cunning creature.^ "