History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

"'.\^ the ihiltlren of Israel were passing' ttii.m^li the uiMerness. tlie 1.1 ■nl seut them manna: When Harry Bro.kleton waiite.I a uife, the devil sunt liiin Haiinali.' " Mr. .V. I'l. Hull, mentioned above, enjoys a dis- tinction which can scarcely be claimed by any other citizen of New England or of the country at large. He is aliout sixty years of age, and yet is f/ic son of a E'rohitlonary so/dici: His father was seventeen vears old when the British Imrned l)anbury. He joined in the ]iursuit of Tiyon through liidgefield, and was in all the lighting. In escaping one of the dashes of the enemy he found himself back of a rock, in company with two boys a trifle younger than himself, who were having their first experience in battle. While wait- ing there he discovered that a Tory was in a brake near by, watching with ready gun for them to re- appear. Putting his bat on the end of his gun, he pushed it out beyond tlie rock. Imiiieiliately the Tory tired, the bullet ]iiercing the hat. The next in- stant he plunged towards the rock, when the three boys fired sinniltaneously at him. At the ilischarge he sprang several feet in the air and came down full length upon his face, but turned in a tl.ish upon his back, and lay there motionless in death. .Vlter the battle Mr. Hull's father went ovvT the ground ti) look for the bodv. He found it where it had fallen, but it 192 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. was stark nake<l. He saw that tlic tlirt'O bullets liad taken cfleet in the Tory's body, — one at the na- vel, and the two others at sueli anjrles as to form tlic letter ^^ " During this catastrophe to Daalmry there was an army hospital in existence here. It was established the month before, and was not touched by the British. The location was on what is now called Park Avenue, at the junction of Pleasant Street, on the lot now oc- cupied by Mr. Henry X. Scribner, and just west of his house. All that property wa-s then owned by Samuel Wildman, grandfather of Mr. Samuel C. Wililman, who leased to the government the laud for the use of the hospital. Mr. Wildman lived then in the modcrni/ed house on the avenue which stands on the east corner, opposite Mr. Scribner. There are several pear-trees in this garden which were set out by Samuel Wildman over a hundred years iigo, and which now yield abundantly. " The soldiers who died at the hospital were buried in a plot of ground now forming the grounds on the south side of George PueU's house on Pleasant Street, near to the corner of the avenue. The soldiers who occupied the hospital were principally French. The place where the dead were buried was held sacred by Mr. Wildman, who would not have it plowed. Some years after it was rented, the tenant, beingeither ig- norant of the burial or extremely jiractical in his views, cultivated the ground. His plowshare turned up nniny bones. Relies in metal of the occupancy of the hosi)ital have been found under the soil in Mr. Scribner's garden. "The hospital it-self was a one-storied building, with a large garret in the steep roof. The first floor was divided into four rooms; the garret Wiis one room. The building wits torn down many years ago by Mr. Sanniel C. Wildman. "A volume entitled 'Connecticut During the War of Revolution' furnishes some incidents of interest to Danbury. In fact, Danbury largely figures in the book, nuich of the matter, however, being the .same that we have already presented. The book wius com- piled in 1841 by Royal R. Hinman, who was then secretary of state. The matter pertaining to Danbury was furnished to Mr. Hinman by Reuben Booth. Wc learn from tliis book that Danbury's grand list in in^>, at the beginning of the Revolution, was "In May, 1777, tiie month fcdlowing the burning, Governor Trund)ull i.ssued, at the suggestion of the General Assembly, a proclamation. The docunient is a sorry confession of man's inhumanity t4) man, especially to his neighbor. It apjiears from this l)apcr tliat a lot of sliiftless and mercenary wretches took advantage of the appearance of tlie enemy here to burn the houses and steal the portable property of Danburians and others who escaped the raid of the British. The proflAmutlon calls upon these grace- less ortieuders to immediately restore such proi)erty and make good such losses, or suffer the severe penal- ties of the law. " We have mentioned the death of a young man named Barnum in the Sugar-House prison, in New York. His father. Col. Joseph Barnum, was seriously affected by the dci)lorable fate of his boy, and became so full of the spirit of vengeance that on the next day after getting the news he loaded his gun and started out to avenge himself on sym]>athi/,ers with the British. Seeing a Tory at work in a field the half- crazed father fired at him, wounding him severely. ' He had previously been a professedly pious man, but frequently after the loss of his son concluded his devotions in his family by invoking a curse upon "old Kingtieorgc and his hellish crew." ' "Several writers say that Xehemiah Dibble, who occupied the old mansion which entertained (ieu. Tryon and received the dying breath of Wooster, did not escape punishment for his Tory symi)athies. They tell that shortly after the retreat of the British a number of young men took hold upon Dibble, and, carrying him to Still Kiver, near where is now the railroad, immersed him several times in the water, giving him what they called a 'thorough ducking.' " In the record of the General Assembly, May ses- sion, 1777, there are the following interesting entries: " ' Tliaddeus Benedict, of Daiibiirj', represented to the Assembly tliat the British tnwps, wlion in Diuilmry, Imrned iiis dwelling.liouse and several other houses kept for public entertainment, and stntetl tliat lie hn<l provided u convenient house in the centre of sjiid town, and a-^kcd for a license U^ keep a puMic house, which waj grunted by saiti .\s<cmbly. *' ' Mary Hoyt, the wife of lauac Hoy t, then late of Danlairy, showed to the Assembly that she had ever been a good Whig and a truw friend to the rights of her country, and that her husband, when the enemy entered said Danburj", being an enemy to liis countr>', wont off and joined the British, by which lie bad justly forfeit***! all his estate, lioth real and personal, anil that the selectmen hail seiKod ujRin all the per- sonal estate of her husband, by means of which she was depriveil of th» necessaries of life, aiul asketl the Assembly t«i order that one-third part of all the clear movable estate should be given to her, an*l the use of one- third part of all the real estate, for her natural life, for her suplMtrt. Tli» .\sseiubly orileretl that said 3Iary Hoyt shoulil have and enjoy one-third part of the pei-sonal and real estate *luring the pleasure of the Assembly,* " At an adjourned session of the same bod^v in Feb- ruary, 1778, occurred the following: "'John Marsh, of Panburj', stated to the Assembly that when (be British troops went into Danburj- ho through surprise jolntsl them and went away with them, but soon made his escape and returned home, and wiu* committed to gn*d, an<l pmyinl pirnlon for the olTen«\ which w« gnmted him, by his Ukkiug the oath of fidelity, au*l piiylng the c*kst of lirvwocution.' "It appears from an item in the report of the (ien- eral Assembly that an attack on Danbury was antici- pated several weeks before from the Hudson Kiver direction. Two weeks before the attack the Governor sent a letter to (Jen. Silliman instructing him to keep a .strict watch U|)on the enemy, who were preparing in New York to go up the North Kiver, with a view, undoubteilly, to destroy the stores at Danbury. On the night of the 27th the General As,sembly received word that there were alarming symptoms from the North River, and almost immediately after that Dan- burv was burned. DANBURY. 103 "In the March (1778) session of the Assembly oc- curs tlic following: " ' Hannah Ciuircli, of Panlmry, the wife of Asa nnireh, ftJieli) late of sail! Danbury, sliewi'ii the Governor and conneil that her hnsband had joined the British army and was tlien in New Yorii, and that she liad im estate to snpport lier, and jiruyed for lilierty to f^o to New York to her hnsband. Tlie Governor and i-onncil j;ave Iier Hberty to <;o to New Y'oric, with sneli necessary apparel as tile committee of inspeetion of said I)an- bnry shall think projier. A rid f^en. Silliman was directed to grant a dag, or juiBsport, to the said Hannah aceordiiigly.' " The t'ollowiivi;-niinicd are the prisoners taken from Danlmry at the time of tlie mid: John l!;irtrain, Na- than I!eneil;et, Heiij;imin 8perry, John Porter, Jona- than Starr, M'illiam Roberts, .Taeob (iray, and A:iron Gray Kiiajip. "In the May (1777) session is the following record : "'Enth Peek, the widow of .lesse Peck, I then I bile .,f Danbniy, stated to the General Assembly that her husliaiid, with three- sons, in tin- si>iinj; of ITTIi enlisted in the serviee of the Stale, and all went throiiKh the fatigue of the campai;;n. Two of the sons were t^ikeii liiisoiiei^ at Fort Washington and sutlered the hardships of captivity in New Y'urk ; one son had the smallpox in the worst manner iiossible, in the most si-aree time of gold, the (then) last winter at New York, who st.irted for home and froze his feet, so that he became a cripi)le. Another son was sent home by the British about the 1st of Jainiary, 1777, infected with the smalliKix, of which he soon died, after his arrival; the hnsband, who bad ariived home a short time previous to his son, took the disease, and also died after a long continement. One other son also took said disease, who by the goodness of God recovereil ; whereby said Ruth was griev- onsly atllicted, and the tow n of Danbury expenderl the sum of tweuty- Bix pounds twelve shillings and six pence in their sickness, and held a claim upon the small estate her hnsband had left for the payment of it, nnd, if paid by her, wouhl leave her with a faniily of small children, and needy indeed; and prayed the Assembly to |.ay the sum afoicsaiil,"