The Romance of Norwalk

In addition to identifying the graves of Norwalk soldiers killed during the Revolutionary War, the Norwalk Chapter of the D. A. R. erected, from time to time, several monu¬ ments to commemorate certain historic spots made famous down through the years. In 1894, the chapter marked the scene of the France street “Battle of the Rocks” with a tablet placed on a stone block, the inscription on which reads : “On this Historic Ground the American Patriots Bravely Sustained the Cause of Liberty Against the British Invaders, July 12, 1779. Erected by the D. A. R. of Norwalk, 1 894.” The block may be found almost at the junction of France and Cannon sts. It will be noted that the D. A. R. fixes the date as July 12 and not as July 11, the date used by most historians. In 1896, the D. A. R. erected the Founders’ Stone, 170 ROMANCE OF NORWALK corner of East ave. and Fitch st., the inscription on which was given earlier in the history. During the same year, this patriotic chapter marked the scene of the Flax Hill encounter with a granite boulder inscribed as follows: “This Rock Marks the Site of a Battle Between the Americans and the British, July 12, 1779. This Cannonball was Found on the Battle¬ field a Hundred Years After. By the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1896.” A large British cannon¬ ball is embedded in the surface of the rock. This memorial may he found just north of Flax Hill road, in the vicinity of Hillside place, between Bayview and Elmwood aves. In 1899, a memorial marking one of the landing places of the British invaders in 1779, was set on Fitch’s Point in East Norwalk by the D. A. R. April 19, 1901, the Nathan Hale Horse Trough, to which reference was previously made, was erected and placed in front of the Armory. When the automobile re¬ placed the horse, it was moved to the grounds of the D. A. R. home on Mill Hill. Later, a tablet was erected at the foot of Grumman’s Hill, East ave., to mark the hill atop of which the British General Tryon sat and ordered the burning of Norwalk. The tablet is now about to be moved to make way for the cutting of a new road to a real estate development. Thirty-nine did duty in the old Norwalk Guard during the Revolutionary War including: Isaac Isaacs, John Platt, Lieut. Asa Hoyt, Capt. Stephen Betts, Reuben Mott, Matthew Reed, Capt. Lemuel Brooks, Jacob Jennings, Stephen Marvin, Edward Wentworth, Samuel Raymond, Aaron Adams, James Crowley, John Saunders, father and son, Seeley Squires and Commodore Cannon. News of other Norwalk men who took part in the Revo¬ lution seems very scarce. There are three others who must be mentioned: “Captain James Richard was at the invasion of Danbury and Norwalk.” “Captain Job Bartram of Nor¬ walk was wounded at Fairfield, July 7, 1779,” according to “Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution.” “Cap- BURNING OF NORWALK 171 tain David Whitney offered his vessels and his self for the suffering townspeople.” Men from the vicinity of Norwalk who were shut up in prison ships, in the dungeon of the notorious Sugar House in New York, or in other enemy prisons, according to the D. A. R. records, included: Rev. Moses Mather, D. D., taken from the Darien Congregational church; John Clock, detained six months in New York; Thaddeus Bell of Mid¬ dlesex, now Darien; James Bell and Joseph Mather. Col. Stephen St. John was also a prisoner for a time. It will be remembered that poor deaf Fountain Smith was taken from his pretty Norwalk home to New York, where he died in prison. Captain Seth Seymour of Norwalk was another who died wretchedly in an enemy prison and filled an un¬ known grave. He met his end in the Sugar House prison, a brick building some five stories high, “near the Old Middle Dutch Church,” within the limits of New York city. The British literally piled their captives within the walls and there thousands of them died from improper food, lack of clothing and no medical attendance. REBUILDING THE TOWN Chapter XVI Norwalkers Face Heroic Task — Providence Assists And Many Twin Lambs Are Born — General Assembly Peti¬ tioned For Help — State Grant Made In Ohio — IVork Commenced on Erection of Nezv Homes in Norwalk After the burning of the town in the Revolutionary War, Norwalk found herself in a very unhappy plight. Let us stop and see what relief measures were taken by Connecti¬ cut for this community and what Norwalk did to help her¬ self out of her unfortunate condition. According to the Gazetteer of the states of Rhode Island and Connecticut, by John C. Pease and John M. Miles, dated 1819, Nor¬ walk’s loss amounted to $116,238.36. Another historical account places the damages at approximately $130,330.27. At the time of the battle of Norwalk, the town had been settled a little more than 125 years and the taxable property had increased in value from a few hundred pounds to about $300,000, in 1779. These figures would show then, that close to half of the community’s assets were placed on the debit side of the books. The General Assembly of the state estimated the damage at about $1 16,000. H artford took cognizance during the month of July, 1 779? °f Norwalk’s trouble, immediately following the burning and the battle here. Realizing that the town needed every available man for the relief of its own villagers, the Connecticut government ordered that Nor¬ walk be required to furnish for the army only half as many men as asked in the last quota. During the same month, the assembly at Hartford requested Col. Stephen St. John of Norwalk, Samuel Bishop Esq., of New Haven and Thad- 172 REBUILDING THE TOWN 173 deus Burr of Fairfield, “to collect and transmit as soon as may be to his Excellency the Governor, a general statement of the loss and sufferings in the towns to which they respec¬ tively belong.” October 18, 1779, 121 Norwalkers signed a memorial which was sent to the General Assembly, asking relief by exemption from taxes and in such other ways as the Assembly might see fit, on account of the destruction of their property. Meanwhile, throughout Connecticut, con¬ tributions were being taken up to aid the homeless of the three towns of New Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk. In January, 1780, order came from Hartford that Jona¬ than Sturges, Esq., of Fairfield was to make dis¬ tribution of the contributions, throughout this territory. Two months later, in March, 1780, when the Nor¬ walkers found themselves far short of the necessary amount of wood, nails and glass for the rebuilding of their new homes, they, in company with a number of Fairfielders, petitioned the General Assembly to allow them to export grain and pork, so they might import in exchange their necessary building materials. They wished to send the grain and pork “to the eastward country,” and requested that Captain Stephen Thorp be put in charge of the work. The petition and request were granted. Yet still the Norwalkers found themselves unable to carry their heavy burdens and the following winter, December, 1780, a petition to the General Assembly at Hartford, signed by John Lockwood and 37 others prayed the state to abate the taxes laid on the list for 1779 and 1780. As a result of this petition, the state taxes of 123 persons in Norwalk on the list of 1779, and 1 19 on the list of 1780, were abated. Fully four years after the burning of Nor¬ walk, the town fathers decided at a meeting held August 11, 1783, again to apply to Hartford for relief. In spite of its cheerful tone, the petition composed by the fathers shows traces of a resentment on the part of Norwalk, that the Connecticut government had not done more to relieve suffering here, inasmuch as this city, by reason of the fact 174 ROMANCE OF NORWALK that it was a coast town and was raided and burned by the British, shouldered more than its share of the black fortunes of war. LAND GRANT IN OHIO Just how many more petitions Norwalk, Fairfield and New Haven made to the General Assembly of Connecticut, following the Tryon raids here during the Revolutionary War, is not known. But it is known that in 1792, the Assembly made a drastic effort to satisfy all applicants for relief and to make everybody happy. The gift made by the Connecticut government to the homeless and bankrupt people who seemed unable to make a fresh start on the old home grounds, consisted of sections of property owned by the state in Ohio. The property was deeded to the state by the federal government in part payment of war expenses and losses sustained by Connecticut. Following the receiv¬ ing of the last petition for relief by Norwalk and Fairfield, the Assembly by a resolution, “released and quitclaimed, to the sufferers in these and other towns, and to their legal representatives, if deceased, and to their heirs and assigns, 500,000 acres of land owned by the state west of Penn¬ sylvania, bounded north by Lake Erie and so forth. Said land to be divided among the sufferers and their legal repre¬ sentatives in proportion to the several sums which they had lost by the enemy during the war.” The tract became known as “The Fire Lands” because many who settled there had lost all they possessed during the war by fire, at the hands of the enemy. The valuation of the land allotted to Norwalk as the greatest sufferer, was more than 26,000 pounds or about $130,000, approximately the amount of loss suffered by the town through fire. Some years later, a number of Norwalkers left town and settled Norwalk, Ohio, of which more later. That a hard winter, a discouraging, desperate, almost hopeless winter followed the burning of Norwalk, can well REBUILDING THE TOWN 175 be imagined. Here were people facing the bitter cold and snow, minus their comfortable and warm cottages; with no cows in the barn, and no grain in the storage bins; with their stores and their mills and their places of business nothing but ruins. Verily, they had less with which to start again, than had the pioneer families who first settled Norwalk.