History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

cred in Jsorwalk in 1S51, in which ho says, "On Satnrflay, tlie KHli, the Britisli tlrct a|i|icaiiMl in our liarliiir," ami "as tlu' morning of tiii' .'^alil>atli dawnuil the British troops were seen iMinccntratiiii; from botli sides of our liarbor at (irumnu)n's Hill, and the roar of cannon and fire of muslcets, in strange contrast with the usual stillness of the Sabbath, deepened the terror of the scene." The doctor fixed the date of the event with no dispute in view. Whatever we have or may say in relating the remi- niscences of Norwalk wliich have gained credence and been incorporated into its local history will be in no spirit of unjust criticism, but with a view to arrive at the truth and to show the im]irol)ability <]f some of the stories which for more than aijuarter <if a century have been supposed to I>e facts. ICvery statement in the history of the town not sustained by at least a probability should at once be discariled from it, the mystical features of which have obtained credit since the death of those who participated in the engage- ment of July 11, 177'.'. and sanctioned by Dr. Hall's history, made up in part by interviewing the very aged people of the town. 8ome of these reminis- cences were incredible, as were some of the incidents related of (ien. Washington and <d' Dr. Franklin when they were said to be journeying Ihrough Xor- walk. Gen. Washington may or may not have ]>a.ssed through the town on or about .Tune :i(i, 177o. soon after his appointment by Congress coniuianiler-in- chief of the Continental army. He made the tour of the Northern vStates very soon after the adjourunu^nt of the first session of the first Congress, with the view of harmonizing the discordant elements rile in the country, and of observing the nnitcrial growth ami condition of the pcojile since tlic idose of the lievcjlu- ionary war. .rames Seymour. Sr., related that (li'U. Washington passed through the town soon after he was inaugurated President of the new republic, and when ojiposite his residence he saw an imi)roved plow by the roadside and alighted from his carriage, seized its handles, and examined it closely, making nuiny in- quiries as to its efficiency. It i.s important to know on whicdi of tliese occasions Miss I'hebe Comstock saw (!en. Washington, in order to prove her reminiscences of him correct and worthy a ])lace in the aninils of the town. It will be neeessiiry to examine one of Miss Phebe's stories of an earlier date in order to test hi'r memory relating to those given by her eoneerning the buriung of the town in 1779. At the age of sixteen she and her slave O'ne, it is said, rode into town on horseback to see Dr. Franklin, the philosopher and sage. ]u tlu' summer of 1778, Br. Franklin was in the northern counties of Eng- land, and while at the Lake of Derwcnt, it is said, for the gratification of the persons with him, he smoothed its ruffled surface with oil, which he carried in the head of his cane. Perhaps this story preceded his return to America, and as he passed through the country the children wen' eager to see the nnm who hud ]ierfornied so wonderful a feat in the old country. Hence the story of his smoothing the rijiplecl waters in Norwalk. Ocbdier, 1723, Pienjauiin Franklin left lioston to seek his fortune. He visite<l it three times from that date, making the jouriu'y each time by water. Dur- ing ]7fio he ])lanned a tour of the noithcrn c(donies to examine the ]iost-oHices. This is the only time that he was in Norwalk. So there should be no cre- dence given to her story as to her seeing I)r. Franklin quieting the ripple(l wafers on the church green in file town with s]iirits of turpentine. The story was a creation <if her childish dreams. She or < )'nc never saw him, for the very good reascui that they were both born alHiuf 17113, the vear Dr. Franklin inspected the post-otHces. The true accounts of the events of the battle cd" Norwalk were corroborated by all those enL'aged. When Tlnmnis Benedict, Nathaniil Raymond, Thomas Walter, ami Daniel Hoyt, .loscpli and Major Warren, Samuel Richards, and many others, related incidents of the Revolution and the burning of Norwalk, eaidi confirmed the story of the others as to tinu\ ]daee, and the nature of the occurrences, thus establishing the facts beyond controversy. This is not the case when Miss Comstock and Cnes- imus ndated their adventures during the same jieriod. Tlieir wonls stand n]Hin their naked assertions. They never had the credit among their contem]ioraries of seeing a tithe of what they claimed they saw, par- ticularly during the lOth and 11th of July. 177;i. It is not to he presumed even that Dr. Hall, when ques- tioning !Miss I'hebe Comstock, did not understand what she said. He gave her statements just as he re- ceived them from her lijis, and was well aware that the la<ly was giving an account of her own acts, not those of her nuither. So Dr. Hall did not get the afiair of raking salt-hay mixed or muddled, for he was remarkable in comprehending the ideas of others in eonvi'rsation, and noted for exactness of statement. When it is said that Miss Comstock and her slave wi're on the meadows raking salt-hay when the British fleet anchored in the harbor in 177!', the critical reader knows that it was not the fact, — first, for the good reason that when Norwalk was lai<l in ashes the inhabitants were in the midst of their grain harvest ; second, our people were never in the ]iraetice of cut- ting salt-hay until the grain was stori'il. August and Set)tend)er have from time inunemorial been the months for cutting and stacking salt-grass. The statement, then, that Onesimus and his mistress gave the fir.st alarm when the P>ritish were about to invade ] the town is simply a cannrd. The British shipping was seen by the coast-guard, early on the morning of the 10th of .Tuly, advancing towards the. north shore, and they gave the usual ' alarm, ('an there be a (irobability even that tlie twain, 500 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. after tlie commotion caused by tlie morning alarm, went down to the meadow to gatlier grass and stayed there all day? Who believes that this colored oracle looked up about sundown and beheld the British fleet in the luirbor? Neither were they on the meadows after the town w:ia burnt. If they were, and the ]>e(iple rallied and captured two " red-coats," where is the history of the event recorded ? Who ever heard the account except j from the lips of these persons? The whole .story is an improbability. The statement of Onesimus that he saw the harbor full of British vessels numned by red-coats gives a positive denial to the assertion of the colored oracle, for the enemy were never in the harbor in force after July 10, 1779. No doubt but he had a great scare, and mounted his horse and rode home, but it was long after the war. But, as the statement appears, Onesimus, wlien he reached his home, tells tlie elder Phebp tliat the British had come. Here Miss Piiebe is lost sight of, and the slave and Mrs. Phebe proceed to the hill, and she climbs into an apple-tree, — sweet, of course, — and from her lookout sees the red-coats carrying their dead and wounded to their boats ; which supposes they may have been moored on Clrumnion's Hill. But it so happened that they were ancliorcd at Cow Piisturc and Fitche's Point. Who is so simple as to believe that Mrs. Comstock from her perch saw the river, or Grummon's Hill even? It is about six miles from the hill where she sat to Cow Pasture; even with a powerful eye-glass she could not see either. A\'hich are we to believe? Miss Pliebe says she got into the apple-tree and saw the enemy ; Onesimus says that it was the elder Phebe who climbed the tree the red-coats to see. Doubtless the statements are the result of impressions derived from conver- sation of older peojile heard at so early an age that tlie listeners were fin;illy led to believe that they had really seen all which they related of the events of 1779." With these facts before us, their reminiscences of the British landing and burning of the town should no longer have a place in the history of Norwalk. IlKMINLSCEXCES OF THE IXDr.AN CITY OF N.\RA. .MAKE AND IT.S FOl'.VDEU.'*. AND OF THE I'AM- rA.SKE.-illArK— I.NCIDEXTS OF THE llEVOLUTIOX- Aliy WAR IX TIIEIH LOCALITIES. One mile south of the city of South Norwalk, and midway between it and Five-Mile Itivcr landing is an inlet or arm of the Sounil, now known as " The Cove," which from the commencement of commerce between New Amsterdam and the New England colonie.s has been a safe anchorage for vessels in the carrying trade from the northea-sters which at certain seasons of the year sweep acro.ss it. This inlet, or the stream which empties into it, was known by the Imlians as the Pampaskesluiuk. Later the inhabitant.s called it Hoof and Horn Creek, from the fact that cattle often per- ished in the brook at the crossing of the highway. The Pampaskeshauk was the west bound of the pur- chase by Richard Webb, Nathaniel Ely, and others, of the Indians, Feb. 15, 1651, which said, "Brook and passage the bounds west e.xtcndeth up into the country by marked trees; and the aforesaid land bounded on the south with the sea, and on the north with the Mohakes' Country." As the Mohegan In- dians possessed the country bordering on the Hudson River, probably the purchase from the Norwalk In- dians by Webb and Ely extended to Byram River.