History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Dr. Amos Jlead, one of the committee of safety, was so chased and hunted by these men as to be obliged, with dog, horse, gun, and blankets, to travid about back in the country foi- a wli(de winter. He retraced by night the tracks he had made by day, and then, moving otf a short distance in another direction, spent the night in the lir.st sheltered place that cuuhl be found. At the close of winter he came down to look at a field of wheat, but when arriving at a certain point he turned back, deeming it unsafe to proceed farther. Boon after, one William Saekett, a refugee, met him, and told him that live men bent on his life had been hidden in that field (d' wheat with their uuiskets all aimed at a certain ]ioiiit in the road wdiere he must have passed hacl he proceeded on- ward. Saekett had not become so liardened but that he gave tliis timely warning, and Dr. Mead wisely retired again into the country. Among the most inveterate Tories were a lamily cd" the name of Knapp, living on what is now known as the Tracy place. One of them, Timothy Knapp, had been paying attentions, with a view to marriage, to a daughter of Titus Mead, tlie.n living in the old house, at present Mr. Solomon ^lead's, a little northeast »t' the village, and on her refusing his hand he proudly told her that she should yet sjieak to him and he would in his turn take no notice of her. This threat was verified in a more terrible way than he intended. Horses were the most valuable booty that the refu- gees could lay their hands upon, and, knowing that Mr. Mead possessed a fine aninud, which he every night led up the oaken stairs to liis garret, Knai>p with two of his brothers went to the house to take it. Mr. Mead had knowledge of their ajiproach, and stationed a man wdio was with him at a back window lip-stairs. It was at dusk, and when the three men had come to the door-steji, after some words, Mr. Mead fired, the ball jiassing through the door and entering the heart of Timothy Knapp. Without I waiting to see the result of the shot, his brothers ran i off in an easterly direction, and at the same time the man stationed at the back window sprang out and ran with all his might. The renuiining refugees, see- ing him and supposing it to be their brother, called out, "Run, Tim, run!" which made him run the faster. At last the daughter, opening the door and seeing Timothy lying there, asked him if he were badly hurt, and he, making no answer, was found dead. She had spoken to him and he bad taken no notice of her. t)n finding him dead, wtinl was sent to the family that his body was lying as it fell on the door-step. They paid no attention to the messenger; and after the liody had lain there for a considerable length of time, 5Ir. Mead burieil it in a lot belonging to the Knapps in a pair of bars, where tlicy must have driven over it in going out and in. Afterwards the family took up the body and buried it close by the house wdicre he was shot, and his lioncs still rest there. A line of willow-trees now marks the .spot, a littk' way south of the house. .Vnother class not so vioU'nf in their individual conduct, but equally inimical in otlier respects, were those who, under guise of permits IVom the English, resided here without molestation from the enemy, and in return for this jn'ivilege gave them sutficient and well-timed information of the doings of Americans in this quarter. There were quite a large numl)cr of this chiss among us, and we cannot but deplore the situation of our forefatliers, thus situated with sj)ies and villainous Tories in their midst and rca<ly enemies close at banil. (!()VKi:\0!l TRYOX'.S EXPEDITIOX TO (iliEENWICH. The attack made upon (ireenwich liy llovernor Tryon, and the escape of (Jen. I'utnam down the ]ireeipicc, are the nio.st prominent incidents in the history of the town. It is an exceedingly difficult task for a Iiistorian to ctdlcct facts merely from tradi- tion, with the assistance of no other record than the otficial report of the commanding officer and short letters written from a distant i)art of the county. An oificer, when forced to retreat after being almost, or perhaps quite, surprised at an outjiost, feels in duty liound to represent the fiicts in as fiivorable light as j)ossible, to avoid discouraging the patriots fighting for their country. Putnam, according to his own ac- count, spent but little time in the village while the enemy wen; here, and the letters are ol)viously incor- rect in many prominent points. Here is I'utnanrs account : "Camp at Keaiuni-.. M:it.Ii 'J, 1770. "A (letaclimeiit from the enemy ut Kiiifi's PriiiKf, cniisistiii;; of tlie Fomteentli, Furly-fourtli, and Fifty-seventli liritisli lie^imi'nt.-^, (in« uf the Hessians, and two of the new levies, niareheil from tlieir liiif> for Ilorweneelv on the evening of the '2Mh nil. with the intention of snr- Jirisint; the troop.s at that place anil destroying the ^aIt-\vo^ks. '* A captain and thirty men were sent from oiir advance lines from Horseneck, who discovered the enemy at New Hot helle in atlvanre. They retired before them undiscoveied as far as Hyener U, where, it growing light, the enemy observed ami attacked them. They defended themselves as well as possible ami made their way pood to Sawpitis where they took advantage of a commanding jiiece of gronud and nnide some little stand; but the superior force of the r-neiny ohIig<-il thetn to retiie over llyram bridge, which they took np, and by that means had an op- IKirtnnity of reaching Ilor-seneck in .safety. " .\8 I was there myself to see the titnation of the guards, I had the trool'H f<nmeU on a hill by the nnjeling-house, ready to receive the enemy as they advanced. They calne on briskly, and I soon discovered that their design was to turn onr flanks and ]iosspss themselves of a detilc in our rear, which would effectually prevent our retreat. I therefoio or- deretl parties out on both flanks with liirecticms to give me inf >rinaticu of their approach, that ^\e miglit retire in season. In the mean time a 37C HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. column mlvnnccd up tho main roa<1, where the remainder of the troops (amountinK to only about sixty) were posted. We liiscliarged some old field-pieces which were there a few times, and gave them a small tire of musketry, but witliout any ctmsiderablc cflVct ; the superior force of the enemy soon oblif;ed onr small detachment to abandon the place. "I therefore diiocted the trcMips to retiie and form on a bill a little dis- tance fn>m Horsoneclc, while I proceeded to Stamford and collected a body of ndlitia ami a few Continental troops which were there, with which I returned immediately, and found that the enemy (after plunder- ing the inhabitants of the piincipal part of their effects and destroying a few salt-works, a small sloop, and a store) were on tlieir return. The officer comnninding tho Continental troops stationed at Horseneck mis- took my orders and went much farther tlian I intended, so that he conhl not come up with them to any advantage. I, however, ordered the few troofw that cnme from S^tanifoni to pursue them, thinking they might have an opportunity to jiick up some stragglers. In this I was not mis- taken, as Your E.xcellency will see by tho enclosed list of prisoners. Be- sides these, eight or nine more were taken and sent off, so that I cannot tell to which pal licular regiments tliey belonged ; one anmmnition- and ono Itaggnge- wagon were taken. In the former there were about two hun- dred ronnils of canister, gr»i)e, and ronnd-sliot suited to three-pounders, some slow-matches, an<l al'oot two buntlretl tubes; the latter wa.s tilled with plunder, which I had the s'atisfactiun of restoring to the ilihabitanta from whom it wiw taken. As I have not yet got a return, I cannot tell exactly the number we lost, tht)ugh I don't think more than ten sol- diers and about that numl>er of inhabitants, but a few of which were in arms. " LM of PriMmeri Ud-en at IIorMiteck on the 20(/i n/f.— Seventeenth Eegi- menl, 15 privates; Forty-fourth do., 5 private* ; Fifty-seventh do., 3 pri- vates; Loyal .\merican Regiment, 0; Emmerick Corps, 8; First Battjiliou of .Vrtillerj', 1 ; I'lonecrs, 1. Total, 38. " N.B. — Seven deserters from Emmerick's Corps." The following is from " Barber's Historical Collec- tions of Connecticut," being extracts from two letters from Fairfield County, dated March 1, 1779, four days after the occurrence : "The enemy have made an excursion within four miles of Stamford by tho best accounts of about fourteen humlrcd or flflcen hundred, under tho command of Governor Tryon ; they reached Horseneck on Friday morning about ninooVlock. .\t Stainfonl they were iwt alarmed till ten o'clock, notwithstanding tlio enemy was discovered at nine o'chwk the preceding evening by a snmll guard of Continental lroo|>s at Katt Chea- ter, under the command of Capt. Titus Wat»>n, who were obliged to give way, though they fuugbton their retreat, and some of them were wounded nnd taken pris^morfl. ('apt. Wats^ui was closely pursued by a light-horse- man whom he had the good fortune to kill, and by the . . . made his cficajw. Gen. rntnam wtu) accidentally at Stamford, but tho Continental troops were too much scattered to be collected in season to oppose the enemy. About two hundred militia and a few Continental troops fell in with the enemy's rear, just as they were IcaviTig Horseneck. al>out the middle of tho afternoon, who killed eight or ten of them and took aUuit fifty prisoners, who had uuide too free with the liqtior they had plun- dereil. They destroyed a small salt-work ami biirnt a schooner which lay at Mianos Creek. They plundered the inhabitants of everything they could lay llu'ir hands on, broke windows, etc., and many families were stii|tt of everything I ut tho clothes they hail on ; even tho house where Governor Tryon luol his headquarters wa-s not spared. They re- trenleil to Rye on Friday evt-ning, nnd next day to King's Briilge. Their retreat was so precipitate that they left bidiiud two wagons loaded with plunder."