History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

tliis ]iiii'ty w;is a special tarjrct. All tliis iiuule Mr. Knaiip very nervous, as he (-(luld not very satisfae- torily show that he was not in leairue with the ani- hushed jiatriots. ami he f'rareil lii-^ pniperty wunld sutt'er. However, it did not. The liritish jjenerals, in view of the aeeoiiiiHodatinn and illness of Mrs. Kiiajip, spared the hnuse in the general eonHafrration that followed. The house was removed twenty-five years ago to make room for the present huilding. It was the stereotyped house, — side to the street, with baek r(Jof sliipini; down to within a man's heij;ht cd' the ground. "At midnight the U]ir(iar eansed liy the iiuiiidatiim of two thousand siddiers and the ahsorptinn of sueh a great quantity of New England rum had to a great degree abated. Tryon was fully awake. His ])ositi<Mi was heeoming exeeedingly perilous. Shortly after midnight word lame to him that the rebels, under AVooster and ,\rnold, had reached Bethel and were preparing to attack liiMj. 'I'his was unexpeeted to hiiu. He had thought to siiend the JSabbath leisurelv in Daid)ury. The word that came from Bethel radi- cally ehaiiged his programme. At onee all became bustle. Tlie drunken sleepers were aroused to. new life i)y the most available means, and a niovenicnt made t<iwards immediate evaeuati(jn. "It was nearly one o'clock Sunday morning when Tryon got word of the Bethel gathering. Up to that hour there had been but three buililings destroved (already mentioned). As soon as the men were aroused and in place, excepting those detailed tor picket, the work of destruction began. This was about two o'clock. In the next hour tlie buildings owned by Tories were nmrk<'d with a cross, done with a chunk of lime. The work of burning was then commenced. "The first house burneil stooil just west nt' the Episcopal church on South Street, liut some little distance from the street, and where is now the garden of the late Charles Ryder's house. There was a long garden attached to it, and at the opposite end of tlie garden, almost reaching Main Street, wa.s another house. These buildings were owned and oeeui>ied by John McLean, one as a dwelling, an<l the (jiie i>n the corner as a store. "Mr. McLean was C(nnmissary of the Continental troops in that vicinity, and tlie object of the visit of the enemy to Danliury was to destroy the army l>ro- visions which he had accumulated in his store and in the Episco|)al church, which was then unfinislied. They would not liurn the church, but rolled the bar- rels of flour and pork into South Street, and burned them and the buildings, the lard being over .shoe deep after the conflagration. "Mr. McLean had sent off all his working teams towards West Point with supplies, and had nothing at home but a pair of fatting oxen and a sa<lille-horse. Upon the alarm of the enemy's ai)proacli tlie oxen were put before a cart with a feather-bed in it, upon which his wife and children proccecled to New Jlil- ford, while he remained burying and putting in safety such f)f his ])roperty as he could conceal until the British appearcil ovc-r Coal|iit Hill. They saw and pursued him, calling out, ' ( >ld Daddy,' ' Kebcd,' etc., and firing after him when the fl<'etness of his horse seeme<l likely to carry liim out of their reach. Some of the bullets jiassed through his coat and hat, but he escaped uninjured,, joining his family in New JFilford, whence they removed to a farm which he owned in Stony Hill, and remained until the (dose of the war. They then returned to Danbury and built the house now standing near the foot of Main Street. A few of his descenihints still reside in the town, but none liearing his name, the only grandson being Dr. .lohn A. McLean, of Xorwalk. "Capt. Daniel Taylor. :\Iaj. Taylor, Comfort Iloyt, .Tr., and .losc[i]i AVildnian were also among the suf- ferers, but the writer knows not where their ]iropcrfy was located. "The .second house tired was on the ea.st side of Main Street, a few rods from the corner of South Street, and where the big pine-tree now stands. After that there was no order in the tiring, I)Ut the flames seemed to burst out simultane<iusly in all directions. "Dr. .[(dm Wood's place, about where are the places of William Bedient and the late Philander Comstock, was destroyed. There were two wells in this vicinity, each of which was filled with iron, can- non-balls, etc., wdiieh could not be burned, and were thus put out of the way. David Wood's house, where William H. Clark now lives, was burned. Across the street from him lived Capt. James Clark, who lost his liouse. Next to Clark was Maj. Mvgatt's home, just south of E. R. Whittlesey's place, also burned. Another contriljiifion to the flames was the house of Rev. Ebene/er White, where G. F. Bailey's house now is. Zailoe Benedict's house stood where Schop- jiaul's bakery is, north of the depot. Mr. Knapp must have thought the trouble was getting pretty close to him. Capt. Joseph P. Cook's house also went. It stood wdiere Lucius P. Hoyt's house is. "The record says there were nineteen dwelling- houses burned in all. It is sai<l also that there were several stores bnrned. They must have been owned by members of this list. Wc know that Capt. Cook owned one of the stores, and that the Woods owned another. Cook's store stood where he lived, and the latter was where Mr. Bedient's place is. Near Samuel C. Wildman's house stood a blaeksmith-sho]), which also perished. In it was made a jjart of the chains with whidi the Hudson was barricaded at West Point. The meetin,g-house of the New Danbury Society was also burned. It stood on Liberty Street, lietweeu Delay Street and Railroad .V venue. " As but nineteen houses were burned, it was not .so much of a conflagration, alter all. Danbury then ha<l a population of some two th<iiisand five hundred. To accommodate these there must have l.ieen at least four 188 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. hundred dwellings in the township, and nearly, if not quite, three hundred in the village. HLstorians say that every house wsis burned except those belonging to Tories. If this be .so, then the humiliating retlee- tiou is ours that the great bulk of Danbury was Tory. Tliank Heaven for the strength to believe that it is not so I It is likely that the British burned only those buildings that were available in their hasty getting together, including those whose owners may have been particularly obno.\ious to the loyal heart. " With the lire well under way the pickets were called into the formed line, and the invading army took up its march in retreat. " Tryon did not undertake to return a.s he came. The force under Woosterat Bethel deterred him from that, and he sought to make a dUtour through Ridge- fiehl." TIIK FIOHT. " In the light from the burning buildings the BritLsh troops took up their line of march from town, passing over Deer Hill by way of the road now called Woos- ter Street. No sooner had the last man left Main Street than the advance of the American squad, which had hung on the outskirts of the village since being driven out, api)eared on the street, and immediately followed after. "Before the last of the British were fairly out of the village the gray dawn of the Sabbath waved up from the east, aud as it advanced into the broader light of the new day it showed tlic long line of British filing through Miry Brook road, and the straggling but determined rebels, armed with long muskets, car- ried with both hands, bringing up the rear, aud doing their be.st to harass the foe, aud succeeding. Still, with all their ])atriotic zeal, we arc obliged to enter- tain but a jioor idea of their nuirksmanship, for there is no record that any of the enemy were killed on Danbury soil. " Among this crowd of daring if not effective per- sons there was one who was sufficiently rapid in his manual of arms, however short he may have fallen frcim l)eing effective. He was poised on a fence the afterno<in before, and fired thirty-tiro shots at the skirmish-line of the advancing British without being touched by a single one of the many bullets sent after him. Wlien his ammunition was gone he held up his cartouch-box to the enemy to show its emptiness, and then left, shouting lus he ran these very patriotic words : " ' Ho that flghu and runs nway May llvi' tu Hghl nnotlicr .lay, Iliit lie Hint in in U\\\U uliiiii SlKill liovcr live lo flglit n^liili.* " A movement of a body of two thousand men could not be made, of course, without the knowledge of the neighbors. The people of the adjoining districts and villages had been ai>prised of the arrival of the British in Danbury by the families who had tied from the doomed town. All tiiat S:itiird:iy iiiL'bl men were , hovering about the place, looking with hungry eyes for every manifestation from the enemy. No sooner had the line taken up it.s march than these people knew of it, and, determining the route, sought to an- noy the march all that was in their ])owcrtodo. One of their acts was to destroy the bridge over Wolf Pond Run, in Miry Brook District. When the enemy reached this place they were obliged to stop and throw over a temporary bridge of rails. This made a delay, and enabled the forces under Wooster to gain headway. " One historian says that the British marched through Sugar Hollow. This is plausible enough if the force had been an excursion-party hurrying to Ridgefield to take a railway-train, but no militarj' man would be so insane a.s to take his men through such a defile, where there was every advantage and ample protec- tion for an enemy. "(tCu. Tryon look his people through Ridgebury, having an open country for his skirmishers. He was confident that by making this ditour he would mis- lead Wooster, and escape to his boats without serious iuterrujition.