History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

"The skirnnsh-line of the British as they ap- proached Daidinry extended from Shelter Rock to Tom Mountain. Tryon was an able general, and, although jiretty well assured that the country was without an organized military force, omitted no proper precaution. The main body came in on the road (now but little usi'd) which skirts the west side of Coal])it Hill. The skirmishers advanced a few rods north of .Soutli Street, covering Main Street, and then rested. Geu. Tryon took up his headcpiar- ters with Nehemiah Dibble, and Gens. Agnew and Erskine, with a body of the troops, preceded by two l>ieces of artillery, started up the main street. "The alarm in Danbury was, of course, consider- able. The town was in no position of defense. The news of the invasion was known in New Haven hours before it was received here. Danliury had a company of cavalry under command of Cajft. Starr, but the greater portion of them were in New York State, in the Federal army. The number here with the few detachments did not form a total of a hun- dred ancl fifty ert'ective men. There were but very few aide-bodied civilians present. The whoU' body of military was under command of Col. Cooke. He withdrew as the enemy advanced, so the only opj>o- sition Tryciu's men found came fnim the few citizens who from every available shelter fired upon the col- umn as it advanced u]i Main Street. "As the fnrcc reached the ] present location of the court-house the two piei-es (jf artillery were dis- charged, au<l the heavy balls, six- and twelve-]>ouMd- ers, flew screaming n\> the street, carrying terror to the hearts of the women and children and dismay to the heads of the homes thus endangered. There are probably a nnndier of these lialls savc<l up by <mr citizens. Two of them, found on Dr. W. F. Lacey's place, are in possession of Cid. Samuel ( Iregory. " Iunuediat(dy upon ( rcns. .\gnew and Erskine taking up their quarters in Mr. Kna]i|>'s house, a [lickct was located. One squad of twenty men occu- l>ied the rising ground wdiere is now the junction of Park .\ venue and Prospect Street. \ second took position <jn the hill innr .Farvis Hull's Ikuisc. The third was located on what is now called Franklin Street. We have jm iHlbriiiation of other picket- ; squads, but it is likely enough that every ap]iroach to the village was guarded. "It is related of a brother of Joshua Porter that, coming into the village to see wdiat the British were doing, he came upon three of the jdeket stationed on Park Avenue. They <'onunanded him to halt. " ' AVhat for?' he inquired, still continuing towards them, " ' You are our i>risoncr,' said they. I " '(iucss not,' he laconically replied, moving stead- ily upon them. "'We'll stick you through and through if you don't stop,' one of tliem threatencil, advancing close to him. "Porter was a man of very jxiwerful build, with i' muscles like steel and a movenu'ut that was a very , good substitute fiir lightning. Tlu'y were close upon j him. There was a gulidi back of them. In a flash he had the fiu'emost trooper in his grasp. In the ! next instant he had hurled him against the other two, and the three went into the gidch in a dcmoral- \ ized heap. The rest of the squad, seeing the disaster, immediately surrounded and subdued Porter. This little aflair, it is said, gave the name of Scpnibble Hill to that ueighborliood. "Porter and a man named Parnum are believed to be the only prisoners the enemy carried away from Danbury. They were taken to New Y''ork City and confined in the infamous Sugar-House iirison. Porter was subsequently released and returned home, but }5arnum die<l tlu'rc from starvation. When foun<l he had a piece of brick in his hand holding it to his mouth, as if to <lraw' moisture IVom it to cool his feverish throat. "The main body <if the troops remained in tlie ; village and shortly engaged in the destruction of the 1 military stores. Those in the Ejiiscopal church were rolled out into the street and there fired, as the edifice 1 was of the Church of England, and so reverenced by 186 HISTORY OF FAIKFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. the English invader. This churcli stood where is now tlie graveyard on South Street, whieh was then its churchyard. The buikliiig was years after re- moved to the corner of Main Street and turned into a tenement. "Two other buildings contained stores. One of these was a liarn belonging to Neheniiah Dibble. The goods were taken out and burned to save the building, a.s Dibble wa.s a Tory. The other was a I building situated on Main Street, near where is now Samuel C. Wildman's place. It wa.s lull of grain. It was burned witli its contents. It is said tliat the fat from the burning meat ran ankle-deep in the street. No less free ran the rum and wine, although not in the same direction. The soldiers who were directed to destroy these tested them first, and the result was a.s i-ertain as death. Before night had fairly set in the greater part of the force were in a riotous state of drunkenness. Discipline wa.s .set at naught. King George stood no chance whatever in the presence of King Alcohol, and went down before him at once. The riot continued far into the night. Danbury was never before or since .so shaken. They went up and down the main street in squads, singing army songs, siiouting coarse speeches, hugging each other, swearing, yelling, and otherwise conducting themselves as becomes an invader wlien he is very, very drunk. The people who had not fled remained close in their homes, sleepless, full of fear, and utterly wretched, with the glia.stly tragedy at Capt. Starr's house hanging like a pall over them. The night wius dark, with dashes of rain. Tlie carousers tumbled down here and there as they advanced in the stages of drunkenness. "Some few of the troops remained sober, and these |)erformed tlie duties of the hour. One of these was the marking of a cross upon the buildings which be- longed to the Tories. This was done with pieces of lime. There was considerable of this property. Sym- pathizers with the government of the mother-country abounded hereabouts. They were men who honestly believed that colonies had no right to secede from the Crown, and they defended their belief when they could, and cherished it at all times. They were jubi- lant now. The proi)cr authorities were in possession, the rebel dement was overcome, and the Tories be- lieved that Danbury was forever redeemed from the ' pernicious sway of the rebellion. "It was two of tlie.se people who piloted Tryon into Danbury. They were Stephen .larvis and Eli Benedict. They were very hapjty men on this dismal night, and the future looked very bright to them. The next night there was a very big difference in the state of their feeling. They had fled from Danbury. Some time after, Benedict came back, but, lieiiig threatened with violence, he left for good. Jarvis Went to Nova Scotia, where he made his home. Once he returned on a visit to his sist<T. He came pri- vately; but, the neighbors getting w..rd <>( bis pres- ence, they went to the house in search of him. His sister hid him in her brick oven, and when the danger was over he secretly left Danbury lor Nova Scotia, never again to return. He lived in the house just east of ( Jeorge Kyder's place, on Wooster Street, and whieh, remodeled, stands there yet. " It was uot a particularly happy night for the gen- eral in command. He had met with a complete suc- cess in reaching Danburj' and destroying the stores, which was the object of his mission. But the great bulk of his force was helpless in the strong embrace of New England rum, and news had come that a force of the enemy was gathering and marching towards him. They were anxious hours to the three generals and their aids, but especially to him on whom rested all the responsibility of the expedition. " Besides tlie approach of Wooster's men, there was the small band of troo])s under command of Col. Cooke, who were undoubtedly near Ijy, ready to give vigorous help to an attacking force, knowing every foot of the ground, and capable of giving an infinite amount of annoyance if nothing more. Then there were gathering farmers from the outlying districts, who had through the al'ternoon given substantial evi- dence of their j)resence by creeping up as near as i)0s- sible and firing at the pickets. The darkness that fell about the town after nightfall might pardonably be peopled with many dangers by even a less imagina- tive person than was the British general. " In the mean time Benjamin Knapp wiLs liaving his own particular trouble. " Mr. Kiiajip wiis a tanner. His house stood on what is now White Street, near the corner of Main. White Street was then called Barren Plain Road, and this name was given it because the road ran across the Balmforth Avenue region, which was then pretty much sand. Barren Plain lload wils not quite as straight as White Street. It bowed to the south about where Hawley&Sayers' coffin warehouse stands. Back and just east of there, on the stream, Mr. Knapp had his tannery. " It is very rarely the resident of a humble village has two brigadier-generals come to spenil Sunday with liini, and the advent of Ociis. .Vgnew aM<l Ers- kine should have been an unbounded delight to Mr. Knapp, but it is doubtful if it were. The generals made themselves fully at home. There was no still- ness about them. They killed Mr. Knapp's .stock and cut up the meat on his floor, and the dents thereof were visible lus long as the building .stood. Mr. Knapp's wife was a .sorely-afflicted invalid, but her inability to attend domestic duties did not in any way embarrass the guests, yet it was very un|>lea.sant for Mr. Knap)). Besides that, the neighboring people, on that eventful afternoon, drew near to the town with their long-barreled guns, and. taking advantage of (he heavy growth of alders along the stream, fired at a red-coat wherever he showi'd liimself There was a picket statii>iiid un the Main Street bridge, and DANBURY. 187