The Romance of Norwalk

Hearing that large quantities of provisions, war munitions, clothing and medicines were being stored in Ridgefield and Danbury, Sir William Howe ordered General William Tryon to either burn or else bring back with him, those pro¬ visions and supplies. April 25, 1777, 2 6 British ships ap¬ peared off Compo Point and 2,000 armed troops, with Tryon in charge, landed on the sandy beach. In the en¬ counter that followed with the natives, one American soldier was killed and one British major and three soldiers were wounded. The latter four were taken back to the British boats. Arrived in Danbury, Tryon proceeded to destroy every¬ thing on which he could lay his hands including: 1790 tents, 700 barrels of flour, 2000 bushels of grain, much clothing, 1800 barrels of pork and beef, and “ankle deep ran the fat from the smoldering meats” according to Rockwell’s “His¬ tory of Ridgefield.” Nineteen houses were burned and 20 shores and shops. In Ridgefield, General David Woos¬ ter, patriot was killed, and General Benedict Arnold, who had come down from New Haven with a force of his own, fought the fight which earned for him unstinted glory. During the battle of Ridgefield, nine bullets went through his horse and he narrowly escaped death. Whatever else may be said of Arnold, and Fiske the historian maintains that he was shabbily treated long before any thought of treason entered his mind, the fact remains that he was an uncommonly brave soldier. Just before Arnold died, a broken-hearted old man in England in 1801, he asked, not for his smart scarlet British uniform, but for his American “old blue and buff one.” One of the last entries in his diary says: “It is the only REVOLUTIONARY WAR BEGINS 145 uniform I have ever worn with honor and I would be buried in it.” The very last entry in his diary follows: “June 14th, 1801 (Note by an unknown hand, probably Miss Fitch) General Arnold expired at half past six this morning. His. last moments were unconscious, but at dawn he was heard calling to his body-servant, Sage. He lay across the bed, half dressed, his lame leg in the buff breeches, the other still unclothed, as if he had fainted while drawing it on; on his body an old blue coat they told me had been his American uniform.” - The End.” Before leaving Ridgefield, the British burned six houses, killed a number of cattle, robbed homes of clothing and destroyed two mills. On the return journey to the coast, through the outskirts of Norwalk, the British helped them¬ selves to cattle, horses, clothing and provisions. Captain Ozias Marvin was in command in Norwalk at the time. From the moment that Tryon and his men landed at Compo, to the time they embarked for Long Is¬ land again, he watched every move of the British, and with his soldiers, hung upon their rear and harassed their march. He took part in the battle of Ridgefield. Captain Marvin supplied many of the continental soldiers with refreshments for which he was later allowed by the General Assembly, 28 pounds, one shilling and four pence lawful money. This was in pay for 45 gallons of rum, 60 pounds of dried beef, eight pounds of sugar, and 25 cases “bottles.” TORIES IN NORWALK Chapter XIV Rowayton and South Norwalk Suffer From Marauding Ex¬ peditions — Tories Here Send Cattle and Grain Across Sound to Enemy — Rev. Moses Mather of Darien Carried Off by British — Fairfield Is Sacked and Burned. During the next few years, marauding expeditions by the British along the coast in this vicinity, were frequent. Squads of the enemy had the habit of coming across from Long Island, landing in Ring’s End, Stamford, and then helping themselves to anything on which they could lay their hands, in Stamford, Darien, Rowayton, West, East and South Norwalk. Darien and Rowayton fared the worst. The Britishers would creep up through the villages after dark, attempting to lead the cattle away without creating any dis¬ turbance. If caught, they were quick to shoot down the townspeople, or to fire their homes, were protests made. The colonists protected themselves as best they might. Oscar Mills of Highland Ave., has in his possession an American cannonball which he says was fired by the Nor- walkers from a point about 200 yards south of a stone house on Wilson Point (Mrs. Belden Wilson’s old home), at an¬ other house down on the edge of Hoof and Horn creek (Wilson’s Cove). This house was known to be the refuge of certain thieving British. The ball struck the ground in front of the house to the right of an underground passage which led from the house out to the shore edge. Here the British used to load on the cattle they had taken from the Norwalk farms. Mr. Mills has in his possession also, a hand¬ made, hard steel, British knife believed to have been used by the English for the slaughter of the Norwalk cattle, and 146 TORIES IN NORWALK 147 to have been lost off a British ship at the mouth of the Creek. HOMES PILLAGED At one time during marauding trips to Rowayton the British ransacked a house and then proceeded to set fire to it by stuffing live coals in the mattress. A neighbor saved the place. The tale is told of Mrs. Phineas Waterbury of Rowayton, who, one dark night, hearing the British driving off her cattle, threw open the window and yelled as loud as she could: “Turn out the Guard!” “Turn out the Guard!” Neighbors almost a mile away later insisted they heard her cry. The British fled. Poor Mrs. Waterbury had an unhappy time of it during the Revolutionary War. Her husband was taken by the British as a prisoner to New York and her 20-year-old son was brought in dead one night, having been shot by the enemy while on guard duty. Sometimes the British offered pay for the provisions they wanted. One Goodman Wood who lived in the Flaxhill neighborhood was so approached but he declined to do busi¬ ness. One morning Wood awoke to find most of his feath¬ ered friends gone. Around the neck of a gander he found a note and a bag of coin. The note read as follows : “Deacon Wood, your geese are good And stealing is but slander; We’ve bought your geese for a penny a piece, And paid it to the gander.” The exposed condition of Norwalk meant not only that the town’s militia must be retained for defense, but also that an additional guard must be stationed here. So in July, 1777, Colonel Roger Enos of New Haven was ordered to send “the fullest company under his command to the town of Norwalk, to be posted there as guards for the defense of that part of the coast.” In October of the same year, after the Norwalkers had suffered serious losses at the hands of the marauders, 71 of the inhabitants sent a memorial to the General Assembly which asked that an armed sloop of ROMANCE OF NORWALK 148 about six or eight guns be sent to cruise in the Sound for their protection. In May, 1778 the Norwalkers complained again to the Assembly concerning the raids on their farms and cattle. At the time there were numerous Tories in Norwalk who kept up intercourse with the British on Long Island and acted as their agents in the stealing and selling of cattle. The hus¬ band of Mrs. Sally Selleck of Rowayton for some time served as middleman for the British in Five Mile and in Darien. But perhaps the most ardent Tory of all in Nor¬ walk, at least the one who made the most money here during the Revolution was Esaias Bouton, descendant of an old Norwalk family. This Tory, known as the “Dweller of the Pampaskeshank” lived midway between Wilson Point and Rowayton on a knoll on Wilson Cove, close to the Pampaskeshank river. His home was a two story frame structure whose main fireplace faced one of the front win¬ dows. The reflection of the hearth, when a fire was burning, could be seen far out on the water. Only when the British were able to sight the glowing signal did they land and creep up to Bouton’s home. There the owner proceeded to “drive sharp and profitable bargains for produce and cattle from his domain, which could only be designated by his mark, that of a “crop of the lefft eear.’’ Bouton was a firm friend of the Rev. Jeremiah Learning, pastor of St. Paul’s Episcopal church, termed “as big a Tory as could be on earth, who continued to pray for the King as long as he dared to.” Workmen repairing Bouton’s house in 1798 found between the roof boards and the rafters, the following copy of an order in Tryon’s own handwriting: “Deliver the beef, grain and vegetables, previously ordered, to my commissary. Send them to the usual place of ship¬ ment. Gen. Tryon.” So annoying did the Tories in Norwalk become after a while, that the inhabitants finally called a special meeting when they voted to raise 90 men to serve six months in the protection of the town. These men were to be distributed TORIES IN NORWALK 149 as follows: Eighteen east of Norwalk river; eighteen at “Ketchum’s” ; eighteen at the “going on of Stephen’s Island’’ ; eighteen at Old Well; eighteen at Flax Hill; and eighteen in Darien. These men were ordered not only to guard the coast but to keep in subjection non-patriotic people within the Norwalk territory. i REV. MATHER CAPTURED It is quite probable that this action was partly the result of the white hot fury to which the patriots were aroused by the capture of the Rev. Moses Mather of the Darien Congrega¬ tional church. Rev. Mather, be it known, is ancestor to the Norwalk Mathers and was a descendant of Rev. Increase Mather, theologian and of Cotton Mather, noted Puritan author. Rev. Mather’s capture occurred July 22, 1781, when a company of British landed on the west shore of the Pampaskeshank and traveled down to Darien with the in¬ tention of taking prisoners certain members of the congrega¬ tion whom they disliked. According to the Connecticut Jour¬ nal under date of July 26, 1781 : “The enemy’s party con¬ sisted of about 40, who came over the night before, from Lloyd’s Neck in seven boats, which they carried into a thick swamp near the meeting house.”