History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

•"Early the next morning (Satnrdayl llrig -Gen. Sillim.an, with ab,,ut five hundred militia, l)Ul-sued the enemy ; at Reading he w.xs joined bv Maj.-Gen. Wooster anil Brig.-Gen. Arnold. The heavy rain all the after- noon retarded the march of our troo|is so nnich that they did not reach Bethel la village two miles from Danbury) until eleven o'clock at night, much fatigued and their arms rendered useless by being wet. It was thought prudent to refresh tlie men and attack the enemy on their return. Early tlie next morning (wliich proved rainy) tlie whole were in motion: two hundred men remained with Gen. Wooster, and about four hundred were detached uinler Gen. .\rnold and Gen. Silliman. on the road leading to Norwalk. At nine a.m. intelligt-nce w.xs received that the enemy had taken the road leading to Xorwalk, of whieli Gen. \\ ouster was informed, and pureued them, with whom he came up about rb-ven o'clock, when a smart skirmish ensued, in which Gen. Wooster Willi behaved with great intrepidity, unfortunately received a wound by :i musket-ball through the groin, wliiih it is feared will prove mortal. <;i-ii. Arnold, by a forced march across the coiiDtry, reached Ridgefield at ele\en o'clock, and, having posted his small party (being ,joined by about one hundred men) of five hundred men, waited the approach of the enemy, who were soon discovered advancing in a coliimn with three til ld-]iieires in front and three in the rear, and large flauk-gnanls of near Iwo biiiidied men in each. At noon they began discharging their artil- leiy, and were soon witliin musket-shot, when a smart ai:tion ensued between the whole, and which continued for about an hour, in which onr men behaved with great spirit, but, being overpowered by numbers, were obliged to give way. . . . "'Our loss cannot be exactly ascertained, no returns being made. If is judged to be about sixty killed and Wiiuuded. '"The enemy's loss is judged to be more than double onr number, and about twenty prisoners. The enemy on this oc.'asion behaved with their usual barbarity, wantonly and cruelly murdeiing the wounded prisoners who fell into their hands, and plundering the inhabitants, burning ;uid destroying everything in their way.' "According to the above account from the Connec- ticut State Jiiitniii/, the American troojis aiiproached Danbury in a storm of rain. The British must have been more fortunate in their progress, judging from the following incident: Mrs. Stephen Ambler, who died at a rijie old age some years ago, was a girl of sixteen at tluit time. Her father, whose name was Munson, occupied a house which stood where Mr. E. A. Houseman's place now is, on Deer Hill Avenue. Many of our readers will remember the liouse. Miss Munson and her mother were engaged (]uilting on that Saturday when the news of the appni:icli of the British was lirought here. She went to an upper wiu- diiw, which commanded a view clear through Bethel, ;inil slie saw the moving m;bss of men, distinguisliing their presence by the reflection of the sun on their burnished arms and accoutrements. The spectacle made so vivid an impression upon the mind of the young girl that she never forgot the sensation she then exi>erieneed.* * Miss Munson subsequeiiHy married Stephen Ambler (who, witli his six brothers, served in the war), and became the grandmother of Oliver P. Clark. 184 HISTORY OF FAIKIIKI.Ii CO IN TV, CONNECTICUT. "The British ronchcd the villafie shortly after two o'clock, so it was ahoiit one o'clock when Miss Mun- son saw them. The colunin had had an uninter- rnpteil march from the water. This is not surprising. The country was full of Tories, — men who were in sympathy with the king's cause and who knew every foot of the country. Through these Tryon knew the condition of defense and ortense of the people, and by them was guided along the safest and most direct route. With sucli knowledge and help, and with troops in fine condition, the march to l)anl>ury was l>ut an excursion. "Some four miles below here is an eminence called Hoyt's Hill. It is not on the turnpike, but is located by the road to Lonetown, s(mthcast of the |)ikc. It was along this road the British approached I?cthel. The hill is on the border of Kcddiiig and JJethel, and is not eight miles distant from here, as Harlicnir in his chronicles states. " An incident occurred here that has been confused by two or three versions. HoUister, in his ' Hi-story of Oonnecticut,' says that Tryon was confronted on I Hoyt's irill by a presumably insane horseman, who a]>]narcd on the crest waving a sword and conducting liimself very much as if he was in command of a con- siderable army in the act of climbing the opposite side of the liill. The British commander halted his force and sent out skirmishers to reconnoitre, when it ■was discovered that the stranger was alone, and, in- stead of leading on an enthusiastic army to almost certain victory, was making the best of bis way back to Danbury. "This account is apparently a distortion of an inci- dent that really did occur, although it has the sanc- tion of local tradition, and is repeated (in honest be- lief) by several aged residents, who got it from their parents, who were living here at the time. " Joseph I'. Cooke, a resident of Danbury, was in eommand of the few Continental soldiers here at this time, with the rank of colonel. AVe do not believe the troop was very large, — merely a guard over the government store which was locateil here. " When the news of the British approach was learned in Danbury, Dr. John Wood dispatched a young man in his employ named Landiert Lockwood to learn the size and contemplated line of march of the British troops. Young Land)ert reached the sum- mit i>( Hoyt's Hill, when he suddenly and rather un- expectedly came upon the foe. He must have been riding at a snnirt speed, or he would not have become so helplessly entangled as he turned out to be. When he discovered the enemy he wius too close upon them to get nwny, and in attempting it he was wounded and captured. He learned a great deal of the Britisli and their designs, but the value of it was consider- ably impaired by this incident. "Tryon's troops marcheil through Bethel without (singularly enough, taking in account his 'blood- thirsty' nature) doing any <lamage to ]\f,' or |)roperty. After leaving Bethel the ranks were deployed, ami Danbury was a])proached in open order, s(mie of the advance being so far deployed as to take in Shelter Hock Bidge on the right. The father of the vener- able Thomas Andrews, of Bethel, with several com- IKinions, went on Shelter Rock to see the British col- umn pass, and while there were surpriseil and shot at by the royal scouts. "On reaching the south end of our village (ien. Tryon took up his headquarters in the house of Neliemiali Dibble, on South Street. The same liuilding has ever since been known as the Wooster I'lace, from the fact of Gen. Wooster dying there a few days later. Several years ago it was torn down. iiorsE or Mill, Ml N WHICH uKX. woo.sTKit " It was between two and three o'clock in the after- noon when the British arrived. The leader having selected his head<|uarters, the <iuartering of the force for the protection of themselves was next attended to. Tryon's as.sistant,s, tJens. Krskineand Agiicw, accom- panied by a body of mountcil infantry, proceede<l up Main Street to the junction of the Barren Plain road (now White Street), where Benjamin Knapp lived. Knapp's house .stood about where is now D. V. Nich- ols' brick block, long known a.s Jlilitary Hall, the corner of which is occupied by F. W. Barnum, drug- gist. The two generals quartered themselves upon Mr. Knapp. taking complete posses^^ion of the house, with the exception of one room where Mrs. Knapp Wiis lying ill. "On this diLsli up Main Street the party met with two incidents. ,\ man named William Hamilton had a piece of doth at a fuller's on South Street. When he hi'anl of the approach of the enemy, he got on his horse anil rode there in full haste for his goods. Ue was rather late, however, and when he came out into the street to remount his horse a s<iuad of the force DAN BURY. 185 was ii])on liiiii. Danlmry's Ikii-scs rcmld ii<it have had the ivputatidii for speed they now enjoy, or Mr. Ham- ilton was very jjoorly i)rovided, for tlie steeds of the military gained on him at every rod of the way. He flew up Main Street with a half-dozen troo|iers in full pursuit, and on reaching West Street, then a mere lane, turned up it, the hair on his head being very erect. The pursuers followed him, and one of them, being more in advance and close ujion him, swung his sword to cleave him in two, when a singu- lar but most fortunate accident occurred, llanulton lost a part of his hold on the roll, which he had u|i to this time tenaciously clung to; the cloth llcw out like a ribhon, frightening the pursuing animals and rendering them unmamigeable. "The column that came up JIain Street were fire<l at from the house of Oapt. Ezra Starr. This building stood where now is the residence of the Hon. D. 1'. Nichols, corner of Main and Boughton Streets. Tlie shots were fired by three young men. It was an at't of reckless daring, and the actors must have l)een very young, as the shots could not have possil)ly had any other effect on the invasion than to have exas- perated the invaders. These men were Joshua Porter and Eleazer Starr and a negro named Adams, who was in Ezra Starr's employ. Mr. Porter lived in Ob- long (Westville District). Pie wits in the village after a gallon of molasses when the enemy came. Starr lived on the corner of JIain and Elm Streets, within a few feet of The News office. Both men went into the captain's house, and there awaited the ai)proaeh of the enemy. They were killed on the premises, and the building was immediately fired, the three bodies being eonsumeil with it.