Book_^]lilIi3. 
 
/ 
 
 AN 
 
 OEATIOf^ 
 
 THE LIFE AND SERVICES 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 DANBURY, APRIL 27th, 1854, 
 
 "When a Monument was erected to His Memory. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY CHAMPION DEMING. 
 
 f artf0r!tr: 
 
 PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY. 
 
 M.DCCC.LIV. 
 
v\iqiJ3 
 
 i^iroe UAkftcvn 
 
Xew Haven, May 8th, 1854. 
 Hon. Henry C. Deming : 
 
 Dear Sir and Brother: 
 The M. W. Grand Lodge of Connecticut, at a special session held on the 
 evening of the 27th of April last, appointed the undersigned a committee, 
 to solicit a copy of the oration, delivered by you, upon the occasion of the 
 completion of the Wooster Monument, for publication. 
 
 The important services rendered by General Wooster in the great cause 
 of American liberty, have never before been fully understood. The deep 
 research exhibited by you in this matter ; the able and eloquent manner in 
 which those services were presented in your address, and the desire that 
 knowledge upon this subject may be widely disseminated, induce us to urge 
 ■ upon you a compliance with the vote of the Grand Lodge. 
 
 We are fraternally yours, 
 
 D. B. BOOTH, ) 
 
 E. G. STOKER, \- Committee. 
 CHAS. BALL, ) 
 
 Hartford, May 14th, 1854. 
 D. B. Booth, E. G. Storeu, and Chas. Ball: 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 I am in the receipt to-day of your letter, communicating the request of 
 the Grand Lodge of the State, for a copy of my oration, on the life and 
 services of Gen. David Wooster, for publication. I regret that the task, of 
 investigating the claims of Wooster, upon the gratitude of his countrymen, 
 had not been imposed upon me at an earlier day. His career was marked 
 by none of those brilliant exploits, transmitted to us by the annalist and his- 
 torian. Devotion to Liberty in the hour of her adversity — a magnanimous 
 forgetfulness of self in the cause of his country— unfaltering patriotism and a 
 self-sacrificing spirit, were Wooster's life, and the uniform, but undazzling 
 illustration of these qualities, for more than thirty years, of severe and dis- 
 heartening warfare, was his career. Such men live in the memories of their 
 contemporaries, rather than on the page of history. But the contemporaries 
 of Wooster were all dead when my investigations commenced. 
 
 I have resorted to all the published memorials, and to every traditionary 
 source, for information respecting him, and yet I feel sensibly, that my outline 
 of his story, is but meagre and unsatisfactory. Such, however, as it is, I 
 offer to you for publication, because this tribute, however feeble, is the fullest 
 that has yet been paid to his memory, and because it may serve, to stimulate 
 the inquiries, of some more diligent and successful biographer. 
 I am very truly, and fraternally yours, 
 
 HENRY C. DEMING. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 I RISE to encounter no forbidding glances, to dis- 
 cern in no Iiostile or averted look the bias of sect 
 or tlie bigotry of party. Divided sentiments and 
 conflicting opinions are not to be harmonized here. 
 One in gratitude, we are one in thought and feeling. 
 In unreserved fellowship, every mind, heart and 
 hand, have united in placing a stone upon the spot, 
 where for more than three-quarters of a century, 
 courage and patriotism have slept unhonored. 
 
 The grave of Wooster is no longer unmarked. 
 No longer do his ashes slumber among a thankless 
 people. The State to its child, its bulwark and 
 martyr. Masonry to the master-builder of its oldest 
 temple, and Danbury to its self-sacrificing avenger, 
 have at length yielded the slow tribute of a monu- 
 ment. High in its commanding position, it now 
 overlooks the commonwealth he served and the field 
 on which he fell ; it proclaims to the South his devo- 
 tion as a patriot, to the East his fidelity as a brother: 
 the arms of the State with its God-trusting motto, 
 and the emblems of military heroism, appropriately 
 
honor and embellish it : it stretches far up toward 
 that heaven to which his faith aspired, and it is 
 fittingly surmounted by the glorious bird which he 
 helped to make the symbol of victory, and the invin- 
 cible standard-bearer of the Republic. 
 
 "Long in its shade shall children's children come, 
 And earth's poor traveler find a welcome home ; 
 Long shall it stand and every blast defy, 
 Till heaven's last whirlwind rends the sky."l 
 
 Amidst war and havoc, through these streets that 
 were then only marked by the blackened and still 
 smoking ruins of wiiat once were dwellings, while 
 most of the inhabitants of this village were homeless 
 wanderers upon the surrounding hills, a few weep- 
 ing followers slowly and silently bore the ashes of 
 WoosTER to their obscure rest. We stand w here our 
 afflicted fathers stood, but graceful habitations have 
 risen from the ruins, happiness and prosperity smile 
 upon this scene of their desolation, peace has revis- 
 ited the land, and with none to molest or make us 
 afraid, beneath a benignant sky, and with every aus- 
 picious omen, we are here to recelebrate the funeral 
 and restore the grave. Soldiers ! let the escort, the 
 dirge and the volley be such as are due to the chief- 
 est among you. Grand Master ! accord your amplest 
 honors; for seventy-seven years not even a sprig of 
 cassia has marked the silent mound where rested the 
 
 1 This poetical waif was picked up by my friend W. W. Eaton ; we are both 
 ignorant to whom it rightfully belongs. 
 
ashes of your eldest brother. Citizens! welcome the 
 day that wipes a stain from the character of the 
 State : our chief magistrate attends to invest all that 
 is mortal, of Washington's companion and Trumbull's 
 friend, with the distinctions of the tomb. Recalled 
 as we are to-day, after such long forgetfulness, to the 
 heroic devotion of one, who though bowed with the 
 infirmities of age, wooed death in his country's cause 
 with more than youthful daring, I should be false to 
 the occasion, to the living and the dead, if even for a 
 moment, I beguiled your thoughts from any other 
 theme, than the character and career of Gen. David 
 WoosTER. Let the hours of this day — let, certainly, 
 the flying moments of the present hour, be sacred 
 to his memory alone ! 
 
 When we look for the origin of his military ser- 
 vices to the commonwealth, we must go back to the 
 period when an infant colony, not yet " hardened 
 into the bone of manhood," against a rugged soil, a 
 rude climate, and civilized and savage foes, was 
 struggling for existence ; when Crown Point and 
 Williamstown and Schenectady were the frontiers 
 of civilization, and only Indian pathways traversed 
 the scene of warlike operations; when cultivation 
 had, as it were, only dotted the wilderness, and 
 provisions were to be brought from widely separated 
 fields, and munitions of war from beyond the seas, 
 and time and space, as yet unvanquished by elec- 
 tricity and steam, had both to be conquered by the 
 
soldier and the commissary, ere the enemy could be 
 reached. We must go back to the period when 
 flying artillery, revolvers and repeating rifles were 
 unknown, and the cumbrous queen's arm, almost 
 as fatal at the breech as at the muzzle, was the 
 most efficient weapon of the soldier. 
 
 In following up these military services we must 
 accompany him for nearly forty years, through four 
 wars, with Spain, with France, with France again, 
 and finally with England. We shall see, inciden- 
 tally, as we pass along, a part of the grand procession 
 of causes which heralded Freedom and Independence 
 to this Western World ; the habit of co-operation 
 taught by the early colonial wars; the military 
 education of our fathers; the conquest of Canada; 
 the expulsion of the French, and the insane revenue 
 policy of the parent state. In the Revolutionary 
 struggle, Wooster's path, unfortunately, only pene- 
 trated the clouds and darkness of the opening night; 
 it ends just as the morning of victory broke in 
 auroral splendor. If he had been permitted to live 
 one half-year longer, if he had been more thoughtful 
 for himself and less faithful to you, the great heart 
 which w^as then moldering in yonder grave-yard, 
 would have leaped in exultation, at the surrender ot 
 Burgoyne. 
 
 David Wooster was born at Stratford, on the 
 second of March, 1710-11, old style, the son of 
 Abraham and Mary Wooster, and the youngest of 
 
six children.' Reared in the Puritan principles and 
 training of that era, the discipline of his early years 
 was severe and sober. He graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege, in 1738. He had but just reached his twenty- 
 seventh year, when England, in violation of treaty, 
 and for the shameful purpose of monopolizing the 
 slave-trade to the Spanish colonies, declared war 
 against Spain. Innumerable pirates and smugglers 
 had been invited to the American seas, by the 
 protection which the British flag extended to an 
 infamous traffic. Disturbed, however, in their adven- 
 tures, by the unexpected war, and by the vigilance 
 of the numerous Spanish cruisers employed in the 
 preventive service, these reckless sea-robbers did 
 not hesitate to levy contributions along the whole 
 American coast, and on a people under whose flag 
 they professed to sail. To provide against a descent 
 upon our exposed seaports, not only by the Spanish 
 coast-guards, but by the buccaneering enemies of 
 the human race, the General Assembly of Con- 
 necticut, at its May session in 1740, ordered a sloop 
 of war to be built and equipped. Within the year 
 
 1 Euth, daughter of Abraham and Mary, born September 26th, 1 700. 
 Joseph, son " " " January 16th, 1702. 
 
 Sarah, daughter " " " April 2d, 1705. 
 
 Mary, " " " " " 3d, 1707. 
 
 Hannah, " " " " February 23d, 1709. 
 
 David, son " " " March 2d, 1710-11. 
 
 For the genealogy of the Wooster family, as -well as for many valuable sugges- 
 tions and references respecting the life of Gen. "Wooster, I am indebted to Mr. 
 E. C. Herrick, Librarian of Yale College. 
 
8 
 
 the sloop was launched at Middletown, and appro- 
 priately named the Defense. Here, in the first war- 
 vessel ever built by his native colony, we first meet 
 David Wooster; here was the commencement of 
 his long career of public service. Of the sloop De- 
 fense,' he was appointed lieutenant, and afterward 
 captain. In this vessel we find him from 1T41 to 
 1743, young, ambitious, and (if we may trust his 
 portrait) handsome, cruising between Cape Cod and 
 the capes of Virginia, (for such were the limits 
 assigned by the resolution of the General Assem- 
 bly,) taking the inner passage through the Sound; 
 as he passes the rock-bound shores of old Connecti- 
 
 1 At the May session, 1741, Capt. George Phillipse was aiipointcd captain of 
 the sloop Defense, and David Wooster her lieutenant. The wages of the 
 captain were fixed at seven shillings per day; those of the lieutenant at four 
 shillings, sixpence ; the warrant officers at two shillings, sixpence, and all others 
 at one shilling, sixpence. 
 
 October, 1741. Capt. Phillipse ordered to discharge the men and lay up 
 the sloop in New London. 
 
 May, 1742. At this session ordered that the sloop be refitted, manned, and 
 to cruise from the capes of Virginia to Cape Cod. 
 
 October, 1742. Capt. David AVooster, commander of the sloop Defense, 
 ordered to discharge the men and lay up the sloop at New London. 
 
 Mav, 1743. The entire control and management of the sloop committed 
 to the Governor and Council. 
 
 May, 1744. Sloop ordered to be manned again, the officers -and men to be 
 instructed, and to be ready for a cruise. 
 
 October, 1744. New spars, sails and cables ordered. 
 
 May, 1746. A memorial from Jolm Roberts, showing that the sloop Defense, 
 on the expedition to Louisburg, landed men at a place called Cape Ann, on the 
 island of Cape Breton, and captured i)lunder. 
 
 Also a petition from David AVooster, late commander of Defense, asking for 
 remuneration for also acting as purser. 
 
cut, riuining into New London for stores and sup- 
 plies from the ship's commissary, Gurdon Salton- 
 stall ; running into New Haven on a stolen visit 
 to Mary, who was yet to be his bride ; looking into 
 the bays of Long Island, and the inlets of the Jerseys, 
 in search for pirates, and then standing away for 
 the capes of Virginia. He hopes all the time that 
 some Spanish argosy with doubloons, from Havana 
 to Cadiz, would be driven so far northward of her 
 course. He searches the horizon for some Spanish 
 cruiser, not more than double the Defense in metal 
 and men, and when, without any adventure, the 
 headlands of Virginia heave in sight, he changes his 
 course and returns to New London, to discharge his 
 crew, or to drill and discipline them, as the General 
 Assembly shall order. During this alarm, so faith- 
 fully did he execute the duties of guardian of the 
 coast, that although neighboring colonies were fre- 
 quently ravaged, the shores of Connecticut were 
 unpolluted by any piratical invasion. 
 
 While WoosTER was employed in this humble 
 service, the Avar that originated in a mere question 
 of colonial commerce, and which at the outset, was 
 confined to these distant colonies, grew into a gen- 
 eral struggle of Europe, involving all the principles 
 on which her states are founded, and desolating 
 the four quarters of the globe. The Pragmatic 
 Sanction, which settled the throne of Austria on 
 Maria Theresa, was solemnly guarantied by all the 
 
10 
 
 principal sovereigns of Europe. But the crown ^Yas 
 hardly placed on her brow, before Frederick of 
 Prussia and Louis of France conspired to despoil 
 of her hereditary dominions, one whose sex, youth 
 and beauty presented the strongest claims to their 
 protection, even if they had not been bound to her, 
 by the sanctity of treaties, and the oaths of kings. 
 England remained true to the house of Hapsburg. 
 Both hemispheres are plunged in war. And as one 
 of the direct results of royal perjury, thousands in 
 the remote, valleys of Connecticut, who would have 
 otherwise descended in green old age to where — 
 
 "The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," 
 
 shed their young life-blood on battle fields from 
 Detroit to Louisburg, and found early graves in the 
 snows of Canada, and the tropical sands of the West 
 Indies. 
 
 On this side of the Atlantic the lightning struck 
 before the thunder was heard. Louisburg, on the 
 island of Cape Breton, was the camp and arsenal 
 of French dominion in America, and the scourge 
 of the English. From it issued the French and 
 Canadians, on their errands of massacre and pillage; 
 from it sped those cruisers that swept our coasters 
 from the seas, and annihilated our fisheries; from it 
 now burst the war-storm upon one of our frontier 
 settlements. At this time, Massachusetts was gov- 
 erned by the resolute and adventurous Shirley. 
 
11 
 
 He conceived the bold idea of striking a blow at 
 this terror and wonder of our primitive forefathers, 
 of uniting the seven Northern colonies in an expe- 
 dition that should drive the plowshare OAer the 
 strongest fortress north of the Gulf of Mexico. It 
 was an enterprise more formidable then, and more 
 unequal to the comparative resources of the two 
 periods, than would be now, an armament from the 
 same states for the capture of Gibraltar, or the 
 emancipation of Hungary. The colonies embraced 
 this plan with unexampled unanimity and zeal. 
 It even assumed the character of an Anti-Catholic 
 crusade. Louisburg w-as not only the head-quarters 
 of a hostile race, but of a hated- religion. A Romish 
 priest had marshaled and led her Indians against 
 our Protestant brethren on the frontiers. The cele- 
 brated Whitfield, then on his third tour through 
 New England, blew these sparks into a flame. He 
 inscribed on a banner, "^ Nil desperandiun Christo 
 duce'' and presented it to a New Hampshire regi- 
 ment. One of the chaplains carried a hatchet, 
 which he had consecrated to the purpose of hewing 
 down the images in the enemy's churches. Under 
 such powerful stimulants, the colonists taxed their 
 strength to the utmost, and exhausted their re- 
 sources. New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 contributed lavishly, money and munitions of war; 
 New England as lavishly, men. Connecticut, never 
 backward in such emergencies, sent an entire regi- 
 
12 
 
 ment to Loiiisburg, under the command of Roger 
 Wolcott, one of those massive characters hewn out 
 by nature for the foundation of states, a man who 
 without one day's schooHng, rose from a w^eaver's 
 shuttle, to the highest civil, military and judicial 
 honors. 
 
 Into this scheme, having for its object the present 
 and permanent safety of all the Northern colonies, 
 WoosTER entered with all the affluent zeal of an 
 ardent and unselfish nature. He was among the 
 first to volunteer in the cause ; he w^as among the 
 first to receive a captain's commission. He was 
 the first to recruit artd arm his company, and report 
 it ready for service. The month which immediately 
 preceded his departure upon this expedition, was 
 perhaps the one of all others to which his mind 
 reverted with the tenderest emotion, while he lay 
 here at the gates of death, in the fatal spring of 1777. 
 For on the 6th of March, 1745, he was married to 
 Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Clap, 
 President of Yale College, a wife who from the 
 date of her nuptials till she followed him to the 
 s^rave, clove to his fortunes with all a woman's 
 unfaltering constancy and devotion. About the same 
 period also, he purchased the old homestead in New 
 Haven,' on the street which now bears his honored 
 
 1 Alfred H. Terry, Esq., of New Haven, was kind enough to examine the 
 New Haven records, and found tliat the deed conveying the old Wooster place 
 to David Wooster, was dated January 18th, 1744-5; consideration, £800. 
 
13 
 
 name, and there established his household gods for 
 the remainder of his days. 
 
 The Connecticut troops sailed from New London 
 on the 11th of April, 1745,' in eight transports, under 
 the convoy of the colony's sloop of war Defense,^ and 
 on the last day of the same month the united arma- 
 ment of the Northern colonies, consisting of one 
 hundred vessels, rounded the point of Chapeaurouge 
 Bay, and anchored in sight of Louisburg. They 
 were here, most fortunately, joined by his majesty's 
 squadron, under Admiral Warren. William Pep- 
 perell, of Maine, an opulent merchant, but with no 
 aptitude for martial exploits, save uniform good luck, 
 was the commander-in-chief of the combined forces, 
 Roger Wolcott, of Connecticut, was second in com- 
 mand. Neither officers nor soldiers were at all 
 skilled in that splendid science of modern times 
 which has blotted out the word " impregnable" from 
 our tongue, and reduced the capture of the strongest 
 fortresses to a mere question of time. But if Pep- 
 perell could not rely upon military art, he had a 
 
 1 Wolcott papers. 
 
 2 Dr. Dwight, in his statistical account of the city of New Haven, states in 
 his short notice of Gen. Wooster, that in the year 1745, "he commanded the 
 Connecticut sloop of war, and was employed to convey the Connecticut troops 
 to Louisburg, and in company with a sloop of war from Rhode Island, engaged 
 the Renounce, a French frigate of 36 guns," &c. 
 
 Prof. liingslcy, in his Historical Discourse, repeats the same statement. 
 
 This is incorrect. "Wooster was not captain of the Defense, the onl}- Con- 
 necticut sloop of war that went to Louisburg, as late as 1745. Capt. John 
 Prentiss commanded the Defense on the Louisburg expedition. V. War 
 Papers, 11, 
 
14 
 
 tower of strength in the courage and hardihood of 
 his troops. His artillery was dragged by human 
 strength, over morasses and up rocky hills, impassa- 
 ble to wheels. Shanties of bush and turf were the 
 only tents of the men; the earth their only bed, and 
 disease a^i as more fatal than the enemy's fire. The 
 royal battery on shore was abandoned at the ap- 
 proach of the New Hampshire regiment. Five un- 
 successful attempts were made to carry an island 
 battery, which, far in advance of the main defenses, 
 held the squadron at bay. It still frowned defiance 
 at the fleet, while back of it the cannon thundered 
 from the shore, and back of all, surrounded by its 
 moat of twenty yards, towered forty feet high, the 
 walls of the stronghold, ail enfiladed by the guns of 
 the bastions. Hope was rapidly yielding to despair. 
 Fortunately the garrison was feeble and mutinous, 
 provisions scarce, and the only ship relied upon for 
 supplies, had been captured by Warren, and more 
 than all, Duchambeau, its governor, was weak, irres- 
 olute, cowardly. While the colonists were at the 
 very point of hazarding the fate of the expedition on 
 the desperate chance of carrying these formidable 
 works by storm, the French governor, more despond- 
 ing than the besiegers, sent out a flag of truce with 
 an offer to surrender. The terms proposed were 
 speedily accepted. On the 19th of June, the forty- 
 eighth day of the siege, the fortress and city capitu- 
 lated ; and the next Sunday, a Puritan chaplain (it 
 
15 
 
 might have been the very one that bore the hatchet) 
 preached against the real presence, before the high 
 altar of a Catholic cathedral. The heart of Roger 
 Wolcott sunk within him as he entered the strong- 
 hold and viewed "the great guns, the moat and the 
 batteries." "Why speak of men?" says he, in a 
 strain of pious gratitude; "it is God that has done it, 
 and the praise belongs to him alone; God, hearing 
 the prayers of his people, by many signal instances 
 of mercy, has led us on, from step to step to vic- 
 tory."' 
 
 I can not pass from this siege without calling your 
 attention to the auspicious coincidence that this cita- 
 del of the French surrendered to a league of the 
 colonies on the ITtli of June, and that on the same 
 day, just thirty years after, was fought the battle of 
 Bunker's Hill. Col. Gridley, who planted the mor- 
 tar, which on the third trial dropped a shell into the 
 citadel of Louisburg, marked out the lines of the 
 famous redoubt on Bunker's Hill. Seth Pomeroy, 
 the oldest brigadier in the Continental service, who 
 walked over Charlestown Neck, through the cross 
 fire of the enemy's ships and floating batteries, to 
 the same blood-stained heights, and Col. Fry, after- 
 ward a brigadier in the same service, who plunged 
 into the fight, cheered by this omen, were both 
 at Louisburg.2 Wooster and Whiting, from Con- 
 
 1 Wolcott Papers. 
 
 2 Everett's Oration at Worcester, 4th of July, 1833. 
 
16 
 
 necticut, were there. So early was Providence mar- 
 shaling the causes and forging the thunderbolts of 
 the Revolution. 
 
 WoosTER seems to have won all the laurels at this 
 famous siege, which could be plucked from such a 
 demoralized and panic-stricken foe. No subaltern 
 was more conspicuous for courage, resolution and 
 martial bearing, while the following incident secured 
 him an unequaled reputation for spirit and chivalry. 
 A British captain had ventured to apply his ratan 
 quite freely to the shoulders of one of Captain Woos- 
 ter's men, a respectable freeholder and church-mem- 
 ber from Connecticut. Wooster remonstrated with 
 the regular for so grossly abusing official superiority. 
 The Briton resented this advice in unmeasured 
 terms, and finally drew his sword to chastise the 
 adviser upon the spot. Wooster successfully parried 
 his thrusts and speedily disarmed him. Applying 
 his own sword to his adversary's breast, he told him 
 that the life he had justly forfeited, could only be 
 redeemed by asking pardon, and promising that he 
 would never again disgrace with a blow, any soldier 
 in the service. The terms were accepted without a 
 parley. The jeers of his companions soon drove the 
 officer from the army, while Wooster won the title 
 of the soldier's protector and friend.^ In considera- 
 tion of the gallantry and gentlemanly deportment of 
 Capt. Wooster, he was intrusted with the command 
 
 1 Am. Hist. Mag., p. 57 ; communicated by Deac. Nathan Beers. 
 
17 
 
 of a cartel ship that was to convey the trophies and 
 prisoners to England/ The year had been a disas- 
 trous one to the British arms. The fail of Louisburg 
 was the only event which redeemed its misfortunes. 
 The ministry were amazingly in want of victories 
 and heroes. Capt. Wooster was received in London 
 with extraordinary exultation. His portrait adorned 
 the walls of the coffee houses, and the pages of the 
 magazines.^ He was followed, feted, presented to 
 court, and gladdened with the sunshine of the royal 
 smile. He was more substantially rewarded. A 
 captain's commission in his majesty's service was 
 graciously given to the future commander-in-chief 
 of the Connecticut rebels.^ With the exception of 
 the author and the lieutenant-general of the expe- 
 dition, he Avas the only individual engaged in it that 
 received any marks of ministerial condescension. 
 Wooster returned to this country by packet to Bos- 
 ton. Impressed while abroad Avith the necessity of 
 some tie that should unite all mankind in a vmiversal 
 brotherhood, he now procured from the Provincial 
 Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, a charter, which first 
 introduced into this colony that Light which has 
 since warmed so many widows' hearts, and illumined 
 so many orphans' pathway. Under this charter, 
 Hiram Lodge was organized, in 1750, and Wooster 
 appointed its first master. 
 
 1 Conn. Journal, May 14tli, 1777. 
 
 2 Lossing's Field-book. 
 
 3 Conn. Journal, May 14tli, 1777; Doc. Hist, of New York, vol. 4, p. 824. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 The fourth intercolonial war, generally called the 
 French and Indian War, now approached — the war 
 which, by Ihially sweeping the French from this 
 continent, removed the first great barrier to the inde- 
 pendence of the states. It grew out of the hollow 
 peace patched up at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. The 
 boundaries defined by that treaty were so uncertain 
 and equivocal, that they only served as pretexts and 
 provocations to fresh hostilities. Each party en- 
 croached upon territory which, under its provisions, 
 the other claimed. The settlements thus planted by 
 Saxon and Gaul, were backed up by both with mili- 
 tary force. Hard words, blows, bloodshed, followed. 
 The parent countries were dragged into the conflict, 
 and thus all-seeing Destiny opened the school in 
 which Washington, Gates, Putnam, Stark, Wooster, 
 Prescott, Montgomery, Lee, Mercer, and a host of 
 others, were educated and disciplined for the iiery 
 ordeal of the Revolution. During the seven years 
 of this final and decisive struggle with France, our 
 feeble colony — Lacedfi^mon of the West — in various 
 expeditions, sent forth upward of 13,000 meji, more 
 than one-tentli of her entire population, more than 
 one-fifth of her male adults. When I reflect that to 
 every call from the crown in this war, Connecticut 
 responded with more than her quota in money and 
 men ; when I rellect that she again decimated her 
 population, and exhausted her means and her credit, 
 in the Revolutionary conllict; I am proud to feel that 
 
19 
 
 she lias fairly earned the discriminating- commenda- 
 tion of Mr. Bancroft, when he says: "No state in the 
 world has such motives for publishing- its historical 
 records; partly because none in tlie world has run a 
 fairer or happier or more unsullied career than Con- 
 necticut, partly because tlie modesty of those who 
 have gone before you has left unclaimed much of the 
 glory due to her, and partly that it is only in the past 
 that you find the Connecticut people an undivided 
 whole ; since then, her increase in numbers has been 
 so disproportioned to her original territory, that her 
 citizens, or their descendants, are scattered all the 
 way from Wyoming to the mouth of the Oregon."' 
 
 The first expedition under Gen. Lyman, of Suflield, 
 commanding provincials, and provincials only, from 
 Connecticut and Massachusetts, on the Stli of Sep- 
 tember, 1755, near the transparent waters of the 
 Horicon, fought one of the bloodiest and most hardly 
 contested battles of the whole v» ar, in which Dies- 
 kau, the flower of French chivalry, was cut to pieces 
 with his entire army. I regret exceedingly that I 
 can not place Wooster's name on this splendid page 
 of our colonial history. I can not discover that he 
 served in this campaign; and can only account for it 
 on the supposition that he was upon active duty else- 
 where, with Col. Pepperell's regiment, to which the 
 captain's commission from the king attached him. 
 
 1 Letter from George Bancroft to J. Hammond Truml)u!], compiler of Colo- 
 nial Records of Connecticut, dated February, 1851. 
 
20 
 
 But after the most careful research into cotemporary 
 chronicles, I have been unable to verify the hypoth- 
 esis. 
 
 In 1756, as colonel of the third regiment of Con- 
 necticut, WoosTER joined at Albany ten thousand 
 regulars and provincials — the finest army yet seen in 
 America — designed, under the guidance of the Earl 
 of Loudon, to capture Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 
 and drive the French beyond the St. Lawrence. 
 But at Albany, from early spring until August, the 
 Coimecticut troops waited for their sluggish com- 
 mander, who was loitering away in New York, the 
 precious moments of action ; w^aited idle, half-starved 
 and decimated by the small-pox, until his lordship 
 arrived, too late in the season for a northern cam- 
 paign. Nothing remained but for such of our men 
 as disease had spared to return to their homes. 
 
 The next year a third levy of five thousand troops 
 was drawn from Connecticut, for the reduction of the 
 same posts, wdiich the inefiiciency of the British gen- 
 erals had spared in the preceding campaign. Col. 
 WoosTER again marched his regiment from New 
 Haven to the head-waters of the Hudson.' Aber- 
 
 1 No resolution of the General Assembly can be found ajiijointing Colonel 
 "WoosTER as colonel in the expedition of 1758. On the contrary, it appears tliat 
 a resolution introduced into the Senate, appointing the field-officers, contains 
 among- other names, that of Eleazcr Fitch, as colonel of the third regiment. It 
 went into the House, and was amended by striking out Eleazer Fitch and in- 
 serting David Wooster. Council refused to concur, and a committee of 
 conference raised ; no account of their report. In tlie War Papers, I find also a 
 resolution appointing Eliphalet Dyer as colonel of the tliird regiment. But there 
 
21 
 
 crombie, whom they afterward described as "one a 
 child could outwit, and a popgun terrify," was the 
 imbecile dispatched by the ministry to conduct this 
 campaign. Reckless of everything but his own per- 
 
 is no indorsement upon it to show that it was passed hy citlicr House or Senate. 
 (8 War Papers, 159.) The records show also that Col. Dyer was appointed 
 colonel of the third. 
 
 It is probahle that for some reason or other Dyer declined to go, andWoosTEK 
 was commissioned by the governor after the adjournment of the General Assem- 
 bly ; power being always given to him to fill vacancies. That Wooster was 
 there, and participated in the battle of the 8th of July, 1758, I think the following 
 evidence will establish : 
 
 1st. David Wooster presents his account for services in the campaign of 
 1758. Among the credits in this account is one for cash received from General 
 Abei-crombie, for guns lost by men killed in the action of the 8th of July, 1758, 
 and items, charging services from May to November, 1758. War Papers, vol. 
 8, p. 41. 
 
 2d. I find also a hospital account, by which Col. Wooster's regiment is made 
 debtor to his Majesty's Hospital .at Lake George, for one man in hospital, August 
 24th, 1758. War Papers, vol. 8, p. 128. 
 
 3d. In an abstract of stoppages of Connecticut troops at hospitals, I find this 
 item: "Col. Wooster's regiment, Lake George, to 24th August, 1758.' 
 War Papers, \o\. 8, p. 128. 
 
 4th. The petition of Samuel Halt, Jr., of Stamford, shows the Assembly "that 
 his son was a volunteer soldier in David Waterbury's company, Col. Wooster's 
 regiment, and at the battle of Ticonderoga, said son received a wound in his hand 
 and was discharged and sent home the 27th of Juli/ last past." The petition is 
 dated 8th of April, 1759. War Papers, vol. 8, p. 175. 
 
 5th. In a manuscript journal of this campaign, kept by the great-grandfather 
 of the author, who as a captain of the Connecticut troops, led his company from 
 Colchester, in this state, and who was afterward Col. Renr)/ Champion, and some- 
 what known in the Revolutionary History of Connecticut, as the " Old Commis- 
 sar_y," I find the following entry: "Oct. 18th, 1758, Coh Wooster's regiment 
 went home." 
 
 6th. Miss Polly Ogden, grand-daughter of Gen. AVoostek, remembers that 
 Madam Wooster said that her husband was in the battle near Ticonderoga, and 
 bai'cly escaped with his life. ' 
 
22 
 
 soiial safety, without waiting for liis artillery, lie 
 pushed forward the flower of his troops, over brush- 
 wood, stum|)s of trees, and all sorts of rubbish, to 
 storm a breastwork of logs, bristling with swivels, 
 and flanked by cannon, behind which Montcalm, the 
 bravest of the brave, lay, ^vith thirty-six hundred 
 French and Canadians. The result can be readily 
 foreseen; swivels and small arms mowed down offi- 
 cers and men. Courage and intrepidity only ren- 
 dered the carnage more terrible. Wooster led his 
 regiment into the thickest of this storm. They stood 
 up to the butchery with unfaltering pluck, and his 
 own escape was one of the miracles of the battle- 
 field. After this prodigal sacrifice of life to his in- 
 competency, Abercrombie emerged from a saw-mill, 
 two miles from the field, where he had been safely 
 ensconced during the action, and in the extremest 
 fright and consternation, hurried his army back to 
 the foot of Lake George. With an abundant force 
 at his disposal, to accomplish all the objects of the 
 campaign, he merely wearied his troops there with 
 laborious idleness, until the approach of winter per- 
 mitted Wooster to return from the battle-field and 
 the barracks, to where, in the mellow light of an 
 October sun, curled the blue smoke of the old home- 
 stead ; to the IJclds where his children gamboled ; to 
 the pious wife who daily and nightly, in the church 
 and the closet, had wrestled ^^ith Israel's God for 
 his safe return. 
 
 Before the next campaign opened, fortunately for 
 
23 
 
 the English dominion in America, and for the great 
 interests of human freedom, the ministry which had 
 sent ignorance and cowardice to lead our armies, 
 was hurled from power, and a man placed at the 
 helm so born to command that he breathed into 
 every servant of the state, the might of his own 
 thoughts and the enthusiasm of his soul. William 
 Pitt now made himself the heart of the British em- 
 pire, and through her stagnant and decaying veins, 
 sent in a vitalizing current, health, strength and 
 energy. Under his auspices, the aspect of affairs 
 upon this continent, was speedily changed. In the 
 month of May, 1759, Col. Wooster led his regiment 
 to Fort George, to join the memorable expedition 
 under Gen. Amherst, which completed the conquest 
 of Canada. 
 
 I have before me a sermon which was preached 
 to Col. Wooster and his regiment, in the North 
 Church of New Haven, just prior to their departure.' 
 
 1 The sermon is by the Rev. Samuel Bh-tl, V. D. M. The subject—" The 
 importance of the divine presence with our host." Text, Exodus xxxiii. 15. 
 "And he said unto him. If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." 
 The sermon closes with an address to Col. Woostek, the officers and soldiers. 
 In the address to the Colonel, the following paragraph occurs : 
 
 " You will always imagine as tliough you lieard your dear yoke-fellow, whom 
 Providence has made your second self, to whom it must needs be a great Piece 
 of Self-Dcnial to part with you upon such an Enterprise, I say you will ever 
 imagine, as tho' you heard her entreating you saying, 'My true and loving 
 Guide, and Protector, keep, ! keep not back your sword from Blood : The 
 Success of your Sword with others, under God, is all the Hope left me, of being 
 happy in tlie enjoyment of those privileges we have mutually shared ; to prevent 
 my becoming a Sacrifice to the merciless Rage of tawny Savages who delight in 
 
24 
 
 The " drum ecclesiastic," in those days, played the 
 same inspiriting airs which had kindled the enthusi- 
 asm of Scottish Covenanters, and led from victory 
 to victory the old Ironsides of Cromwell. In these 
 early colonial struggles, no company marched from a 
 Connecticut village, without the holiest benedictions 
 of the church. They were conjured to fight bravely 
 for church and altar. They were told that God him- 
 self hated the coward; that while "they were en- 
 gaged in the field, many would repair to the closet, 
 many to the sanctuary; that the faithful of every 
 name would employ that prayer wdiich has power 
 with God ; that the feeble hands which were unequal 
 to any other weapon, would grasp the sword of the 
 spirit, and that from myriads of humble, contrite 
 hearts, the voice of intercession, supplication and 
 weeping would mingle in its ascent to heaven, with 
 the shout of battle and the shock of arms.'" 
 
 Upon the advance of Gen. Amherst's forces, Ticon- 
 deroga and Crown Point, the objects of so many 
 fruitless campaigns, were abandoned by their gar- 
 risons. But to guard against every contingency, 
 this over-cautious commander detained his troops 
 to repair and strengthen these important conquests. 
 
 Blood, or being enslaved to a popisli Master. I cannot travel into the Field 
 with you, but my Heart will be with you, and by the Help of divine Grace, I 
 shall continually pray for you.' " 
 
 In the same volume which contains this sermon (283 Pamphlets of Conn. 
 Hist. Soc.) is another on the "curse of cowardice." 
 
 1 Robert Hall to the volunteers of Bristol. 
 
25 
 
 Meantime Wolfe fell in the arms of victory on the 
 lieig'hts of Abraham. The meteor flag streamed from 
 the battlements of Quebec. Montreal was the last 
 foothold of the French in the Canadas. Earlv in the 
 spring, Gen. Amherst, dividing his forces into two 
 columns, directed them by different routes, against 
 this distant post. Gen. Haviland led five thousand 
 men by the way of Lake Champlain and the river 
 Sorel, but the main army, ten thousand strong, to 
 which Col. Wooster's regiment was attached, went 
 by one of the longest and most laborious marches 
 recorded in our military annals.' The state of New 
 York, between Schenectady and the waters of Onta- 
 rio, swarming now w^ith millions of people, the great 
 track of commerce, and the home of industry, was 
 then a wilderness, unbroken save by one military 
 post. Over this immense stretch of forest and marsh. 
 Col. WoosTER and his regiment toiled along from 
 June till August, by such roads as are now known 
 in the heart of Nebraska and Oregon. Arrived at 
 Oswego, the army crossed Ontario in open galleys, 
 
 1 I was for some time at a loss to dotennine whether Wooster went with 
 Haviland or by way of Lake Ontario. No published account throws any light 
 upon the point. But after a long search in the War Papers in the office of the 
 Secretary of State, I found a "Hospital Bill," rendered against Col. Wooster's 
 regiment, as Dr. to his Majesty's Hospital at Fort Ontario, (Oswego,) for men 
 in hospital from July 24th to October 24th. 
 
 There is another bill against him and his regiment for hospital services at Fort 
 Oswegatchie, (near Ogdensburg.) These seem to settle the qnestion that he went 
 by the St. Lawrence. 
 
 There is abundant proof from distinct sources that Putnam and the other Con- 
 necticixt regiments went by the same route. 
 
26 
 
 to the point where the waters of our great inland 
 seas first find an outlet to the ocean. From thence 
 they thread their way, doubtful as to the channel, 
 through those thousand islands, where for many a 
 league the Naiad of the stream and the Dryad of the 
 woods How on together, in joyful honeymoon. The 
 troops capture and garrison all the military posts; 
 they attack and take a French vessel of war; they 
 lose men and batteaux and artillery in descending 
 the great falls ; but on, on, they go, whirling through 
 the rapids, and plunging down the cascades of this 
 magnificent river, to the last retreat of the van- 
 quished Gaul. Gen. Amherst arrived at Montreal 
 early in September. Haviland's column soon reached 
 it by Lake Champlain. Murray had ascended with 
 the English army from Quebec. Twenty thousand 
 Britons were concentrated before a town unprotected 
 ])y either walls or fortifications. Resistance would 
 have been a wanton waste of life ; without a battle 
 Montreal capitulated, and the French, with the ex- 
 ception of a small and feeble settlement at the mouth 
 of the Mississippi, were driven from the continent of 
 North America.^ 
 
 1 Some five j^eai's prior to this event, John Adams, then a musing student at 
 Worcester, gave utterance to the following remarkable language : " All creation 
 is liable to change. Mighty states are not exempted. Soon after the Refor- 
 mation a few people came over into this new world for conscience sake. This 
 ajiparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire into America. 
 If we can remove the turbulent Gallics, our people, according to the exactcst 
 calculation, will become more numerous, within a century, than England itself. 
 AH Eurojje will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from setting 
 
27 
 
 So confident was Choiseul, the keen-eyed premier 
 of Louis XV., that the conquest of Canada would 
 result in the speedy emancipation of these colonies, 
 that after signing the treaty, surrendering New Fiance 
 to the English, he exclaimed exultingly, " We have 
 caught them at last."' 
 
 The twelve years which followed the peace of 
 1763,- embrace the longest period in his life, that 
 
 lip for ourselves is to disunite us." " Within twcntj'-one years from this predic- 
 tion," says Bancroft, in citing it, " this dreamer sliall assist in declaring liis 
 country's independence ; in less than thirty years, after a career of danger and 
 effort, he shall stand before the king of Great Britain, tlie acknowledged envoy 
 of the free United States of America." 
 
 1 Bancroft. 
 
 2 I find in the fourth volume of Doc. Hist, of New York, a deposition from 
 David Wooster, of New Haven, " being a Captain on Half-pay, reduced from 
 his Majesty's 51st Reg. of Foot," in which the deponent goes on to state, that 
 pui-siiant to his Majesty's Proclamation for that purpose, he obtained a grant, 
 under the Great Seal of New York, for 3,000 acres of land on the East Bank 
 of Lake Champlain ; tliat he went on to tlie land and found intruders upon it ; 
 that he proceeded to serve writs of Ejectment upon two principal Bing-leaders, 
 "and thereupon some of tlieir party pi-esented their Eirelocks at the Deponent, 
 declaring that it should be Death for any man that served a declaration of Eject- 
 ment there, but the Deponent, being Avell armed, with Pistols, proceeded to serve 
 the said Ejectments, notwithstanding they continued their Firelocks presented 
 against him dui-ing the whole time," &c. It was, doubtless, the object of the 
 Deposition to show, that the comts of New York had exercised jurisdiction over 
 the tract which was then in dispute between New York and New Hampsliire. 
 Upon the adjustment of that controversy, Gen. Wooster probably lost his land. 
 The deposition is dated 20th day of February, 1773. 
 
 In the 12th volume of Col. of Mass. Hist. Society, page 217, I find an answer 
 from Col. Wooster to the queries issued by the Board of Trade, relative to the 
 present state and condition of the Colony of Connecticut. It is addressed to 
 Gov. Trumbull, and dated New Haven, May 16th, 1774, and describes A\ith 
 much particularity, the trade, commerce and manufactures of that place. 
 
28 
 
 WoosTER was permitted to enjoy the happiness and 
 the repose of the fireside. At this time he was rich. 
 His family were afterward poor. Upon his return to 
 New Haven from Canada, he had engaged in mer- 
 cantile pursuits, which yielded quick returns and 
 large profits. He had himself inherited an ample 
 patrimony, and his bride, in addition to her other 
 claims upon his admiration, possessed also those solid 
 charms, wdiich were not entirely despised even in the 
 heroic age of our ancestors. A salary was attached 
 to the office of collector, which he then held, and he 
 continued to draw his half-pay as captain in his 
 majesty's service. From these various sources he 
 derived an income wdiich enabled him to surround 
 himself with all the comforts and luxuries of wealth. 
 A uature amiable, affable, kindly, rejoicing in the 
 sweets of friendship and the prattle of children, 
 found now some recompense for the privations and 
 dangers of a seven years' war. His style of living 
 was in the highest elegance of the olden time. He 
 spread a bountifid table, kept his horses, his phaeton, 
 and a troop of black domestics. The old family 
 mansion in Wooster street, then fairly isolated in the 
 country, with an unobstructed prospect of the Sound, 
 opened wide its doors in genuine hospitality. It was 
 the resort of the learning, the talent, and the polish 
 
 It appears from the New Haven Records, that Col. AVooster commamled the 
 troops that paraded to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act, in 1766. 
 Barlow, in the Columhiad, has this line : 
 
 "And fearless Wooster aids the sacred cause." 
 
29 
 
 of that era — the dawn of the Revolution. In the 
 winter, the grateful heat of hickory blazed in its 
 ample fire-places. In the summer, the gentle breezes 
 from the Sound fanned the feverish brow, and at all 
 seasons, the long side-board, loaded with the em- 
 blems of cheer and good fellowship, welcomed every 
 ffuest. Madam' Wooster was herself a heroine of 
 the Revolutionary type, strong in mind, bold and 
 earnest in character, and with a presence and man- 
 ners so dignified and imposing as to awe into rever- 
 ence the drunken Tories, who subsequently sacked 
 her dwelling. The only drawback upon her felicity 
 during the earlier years of her marriage, seems to 
 have been that she could not personally share her 
 husband's dangers in the field, and having now re- 
 covered him, safe from war's alarms, she exerted 
 her rare accomplishments to enhance the charms of 
 peace. An only daughter," just budding into woman- 
 hood, warmed the father's heart by her filial devotion, 
 and lighted his dwelling with the social radiance 
 which youth and beauty dispense. An only son,^ not 
 yet faithless to the virtues of his sire, was comfort- 
 ably settled in life, and promised fiiir to gratify 
 paternal pride, and transmit an unblemished name. 
 A retinue of faithful dependents, sailors who had 
 cruised with him in the Defense, orderlies who had 
 
 1 1 use this title because it was uniformly applied to her by her cotemporaries. 
 
 2 Mary Wooster, born 1755, married Rev. John Cosius Ogden. 
 
 3 Thomas Wooster, boi'n 1752, married Lydia Sheton. 
 
30 
 
 been attached to his person in some of his numerous 
 expeditions, old soldiers who had followed him to the 
 wars, surround him in his moments of leisure,' appeal 
 to him in their embarrassments, feed at his lavish 
 board, and adore him as their benefactor and friend. ^ 
 From these tranquil enjoyments, he was now sum- 
 moned to that fnial struggle, of which the previous 
 wars had been the faint and feeble harbinger. When 
 the blood that was spilled in the streets of Lexington, 
 closed forever the door of reconciliation, lie turned 
 his back upon this domestic Eden, abandoned the 
 prospect of commanding opulence, abjured his income 
 from the crown, and accepted in their stead, toil, 
 persecution, danger, and as the event proved, death. 
 He even spurned the temptation of a high commission 
 in the British army, which was earnestly pressed 
 upon his acceptance,^ and to a feeble colony, with 
 hardly cash enough in its treasury to equip him for 
 the war, to a penniless Congress, which must issue 
 bills of credit ere it could set a battalion in the fiekl, 
 gratuitously proffered his services, to encounter the 
 disciplined hosts and the exhaustless resources of a 
 mighty empire. When it became apparent that war 
 was inevitable, he did not even wait for official posi- 
 
 1 These domestic details are from tlie reminiscences of Miss Polly Ogden, 
 grand-daughter of Gen. Wooster, and from those of a venerable lady of Hart- 
 ford, now deceased, a niece of Madam Wooster, and an inmate of her family 
 from 1771 to 1778. 
 
 2 Doratus Wooster, of Vermont, a relative of Gen. WoosTEn, has communi- 
 cated many important facts to tlie author. 
 
 3 From the reminiscences of Miss Ogden. 
 
31 
 
 tion. He was one of that party of private Connecticut 
 gentlemen, who, without committing the Legislature 
 to any open act of hostility, planned the seizure of 
 Fort Ticonderoga, and pledged their own personal 
 securities to the state treasury, for the loan which 
 defrayed the expenses of the expedition.' He thus 
 participated in the first aggressive act against the 
 crown. 
 
 It was not till its May session in 1775, that our 
 General Assembly threw oil" the guarded and equivo- 
 cal language in which they had hitherto masked their 
 warhke preparations, and in plain terms ordered one- 
 fourth part of our militia to be armed and equipped 
 for immediate service. The force thus organized 
 was divided into six regiments, and David Wooster 
 appointed major-general and commander-in-chief, 
 with Joseph Spencer and Israel Putnam as his brig- 
 adiers. Active service immediately followed this 
 appointment. At the solicitation of the Committee 
 of Safety of New York, Wooster was ordered, 
 with the troops under his command, to defend its 
 metropolis against a threatened demonstration from 
 the enemy. 
 
 He was now sixty-five years of age. He was 
 not unprepared for the casualties of battle. He 
 had not postponed till this advanced period of life, 
 the settlement of those momentous questions Avhich 
 
 1 I believe that Gen. Wooster was not one of the signers of the notes Liiven 
 to the state treasurer, but he was an active and influential participator in ttie 
 project for the capture of Ticonderoga. 
 
32 
 
 the soul's immortality suggests. But in early youth, 
 before the mind is distracted with the cares and 
 vexations of manhood, he had brought his reason 
 and faith to accord the inspired claims of divine 
 revelation. He accepted the Holy Scriptures as the 
 only safe rule in this life, and the only sure guide to 
 the next. He reposed his hope for a happy eternity 
 upon the merits of an atoning Emmanuel. In 1732, 
 when but twenty-two years of age, in the church of 
 his birthplace, by a profession of Christianity, lie 
 publicly assumed its vows and acknow^ledged its 
 hopes.' I have alluded to the religious phase of 
 Gen. Wooster's character, not only because a por- 
 traiture of him would be imperfect without it, but as 
 an appropriate introduction to the following incident. 
 It reveals most significantly, whose blessing he in- 
 voked when he first unsheathed his sword in a civil 
 war; upon whose arm he leaned, and whose guid- 
 ance he implored, when about to breast the dark and 
 portentous cloud that lowered before him. It is from 
 the lips of an eye-witness, a venerable citizen of New 
 Haven, now no more, himself an officer of the Revolu- 
 tion.'* "The last time I saw Gen. Wooster was in 
 
 1 Rev. "William B. Weed, of Stratford, examined the reeords of the cliureh in 
 Stratford, at my request, and communicated the fact in the text. 
 
 The records of the clmrch of White Haven, (one of tlie churches that formed 
 the United Society of New Haven,) show that Gen. Woosteu was transferred 
 to its communion in I7G8, hy a commendatory letter from the church in 
 Stratford. 
 
 2 Am. Hist. Ma^., ]). 58, communicated by Deacon Nathan Beers. I have 
 varied sliuhlly the phraseoloLjy. 
 
33 
 
 Jane, 1755. He was at the head of his regiment, 
 which was then embodied on the Green, in front of 
 where the Center Church now stands. They were 
 ready for a march, with their arms ghstening, and 
 their knapsacks on their hacks. Col. Wooster had 
 already dispatched a messenger for his minister, the 
 Rev. Jonathan Edwards, with a request that he would 
 meet the regiment and pray with them before their 
 departure. He then conducted his men in military 
 order into the meeting-house, and seated himself in 
 his own pew, awaiting the return of the messenger. 
 He was speedily informed that the clergyman was 
 absent from home. Col. Wooster immediatelv 
 stepped into the deacon's seat, in front of the pulpit, 
 and calling his men to attend to prayers, offered 
 up a humble petition for his beloved country, for 
 himself, the men under his immediate command, 
 and for the success of the cause in which they were 
 engaged. His prayers were offered with the fervent 
 zeal of an apostle, and in such pathetic language 
 that it drew tears from many an eye and affected 
 many a heart. When he had closed, he left the 
 house with his men, in the same order they had 
 entered it, and the regiment took up its line of 
 march for New York. With such a prayer on his 
 lips he entered the Revolution. 
 
 We now find Wooster, during July and August 
 of 1775, encamped at Harlem. The threatened 
 attack upon New York had not yet been executed, 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 but the summer, notwithstaDtling-, was a busy one 
 for him. The British blockaded in Boston, and dis- 
 tressed for provisions, laid under contribution Long 
 Island and the islands in the Sound, contiguous 
 thereto. Upon Wooster devolved the hard task, of 
 guarding these exposed positions from the enemy's 
 cruisers, and of assisting the defenseless inhabitants, 
 to remove their cattle and crops, to a place of 
 security. He is at Brooklyn, or Oyster Ponds, at 
 Montauk, at Plumb Island, everywhere, hovering 
 over the whole coast with his protecting wings. 
 
 W^hile engaged in these useful but inglorious em- 
 ployments, his enthusiasm met with an unexpected 
 rebuff. The regiments Avhich tlie states had sepa- 
 rately raised, were now received into the pay, and 
 adopted as the army of the United Colonies. Under 
 this new organization, Connecticut was entitled to 
 one major-general, and to this grade. Gen. Putnam, 
 Wooster's inferior in the colonial service, was pro- 
 moted, while the commander-in-chief of the Con- 
 necticut troops, was merely raised to the subordinate 
 rank of brigadier. The slight was the more marked, 
 because Wooster was the only colonial officer, thus 
 overslaughed by the continental commissions. The 
 blow was a severe one. It was the first wound to 
 a soldier's keen sensibility to honor, that he had 
 received in a military career of more than a quarter 
 of a century. I have been so fortunate as to find 
 the precise language, in which he expressed, the 
 first bitterness of disappointed ambition — the earliest 
 
35 
 
 grief of unrequited patriotism. Roger Sherman, at 
 that time our delegate to Congress, had commu- 
 nicated this information to him in a letter, which 
 contained the following paragraph: "I am sensible 
 that according to your colonial rank, you were en- 
 titled to the place of major-general; and as one was 
 to be appointed from Connecticut, I heartily recom- 
 mended you to the Congress. I informed them of 
 *he arrangements made by our Assembly, which I 
 thought would be satisfactory to have them continue 
 in the same order. But as Gen. Putnam's fame w as 
 spread abroad, and especially his successful enter- 
 prise at Noddle's Island, the account of which had 
 just arrived, it gave him a preference in the opinion 
 of the delegates in general, so that his appointment 
 was unanimous among the colonies ; but from your 
 known ability and firm attachment to the American 
 cause, w^e were very desirous of your continuance 
 in the army, and hope you will accept the appoint- 
 ment made by Congress.'" To which Gen. Woos- 
 TER thus replied : " No man feels more sensibly for 
 his distressed country, nor would more readily exert 
 his utmost effort for its defense than myself. My 
 life has been ever devoted to her service, from my 
 youth up, though never before in a cause like this, 
 a cause for which I would most cheerfully risk, nay, 
 lay down my life. Thirty years I have served as a 
 
 1 The lettci' can be found in the second volume of Davis's Life of Aaron 
 Burr, p. C. It is dated the 23d of June, 1775. 
 
36 
 
 soldier; my character Avas never impeached, nor 
 called in question before. The Congress have seen 
 fit, for what reason I know not, to point me out as 
 the only officer among all that have been commis- 
 sioned in the different colonies, who is unfit for the 
 post assigned him. The subject is a very delicate 
 one.'" 
 
 His misgivings, however, were but momentary ; 
 he did not look back to the home he had left, to the 
 position he had abandoned, to the British commission 
 he had scorned. With true magnanimity he over- 
 looked the personal aifront, and forgot himself for 
 his country. In the month of October, in this same 
 year, we find Wooster, (having accepted the Con- 
 tinental commission,) with the troops of the Connec- 
 ticut line at Ticonderoga, as a part of the ill-fated 
 expedition against the Canadas. x4nd we here enter 
 upon the most painful and trying period of his whole 
 history. To command an army in a hostile country, 
 demoralized by defeat, ill-armed, ill-fed, ill-clothed, 
 ill-paid, ill-disciplined, entirely unerpial to the enter- 
 prise in hand ; to be the one individual to whom its 
 prayers and complaints are ultimately addressed, 
 with no power to answer and relieve — the one too, 
 upon whom an anxious and excited nation, imposes 
 the odium of every misfortune and failure — are all 
 
 1 Am. Hist. Ma^., p. G, dated "Camp near Xcw York, July ITtli, 1775." 
 lie alludes in this letter to one wliieli he has written upon the same subject to 
 Col. Eliphalct Dyer. It is very desirable to find this letter to Col. Dyer. 
 
37 
 
 that kind of trial, which stretches to its extremest 
 tension every emotion of the soul. And this was 
 Wooster's position for eighteen months. The dis- 
 asters and suffering of that memorable campaign, 
 the disappointment of the high-raised expectations 
 of the country, the blow that the cause of independ- 
 ence received through its most decisive miscarriage, 
 would singly have been sufficient to break down 
 the strongest spirit. But in addition to his manifold 
 anxieties as commander of the invading army, and 
 his full proportion of the general sorrow, upon Woos- 
 TER was heaped another burthen, more difficult for 
 a high-spirited and generous nature to bear; the 
 thanklessness, the arrogance and the insolence of his 
 superior officer. Gen. Schuyler — the commander of 
 the Northern department — indignities which could 
 not be adequately resented, without jeopardizing the 
 great interests which depended on their cordial co- 
 operation. 
 
 Upon his arrival at Ticonderoga, Wooster found 
 that he had provoked the decided enmity of his 
 immediate chief. Upon his march thither, he had 
 permitted a few of his men to return home on fur- 
 lough, and when he reached Fort George, he had 
 ordered a general court-martial for the trial of all 
 offenses that had occurred during the advance of 
 the brigade. These two acts were regarded by 
 Gen. Schuyler as flagrant violations of his preroga- 
 tive, and he addressed a letter to Wooster, couched 
 
/ 
 
 38 
 
 in the sharp language of rebuke. "In spite of my 
 earnest persuasions," was Wooster's conclusive re- 
 ply, "the troops under my command have refused 
 to sign the continental articles of war, and if gov- 
 erned at all, they must be governed by the law 
 martial of Connecticut, under which they were 
 raised. If there has been any infringement upon 
 etiquette, it was forced upon me by the imperious 
 exigencies of the case, without intentional disre- 
 spect." But no answer could be satisfactory to 
 Schuyler. He would neither forget nor forgive this 
 fancied affront, but professed to see in it conclusive 
 proof of a design on Wooster's part, by virtue of 
 his colonial commission, to supersede Montgomery, 
 who was his senior brigadier in the continental line. 
 He even ventured peremptorily to demand of Woos- 
 TER, as a condition precedent to his further advance, 
 that he should give a direct answer to the question, 
 whether he considered himself above or below Gen. 
 ! Montgomery, in rank? "I have the cause of my 
 I country too much at heart," was Gen. Wooster's 
 patriotic and uiirullled reply, "to attempt to make 
 any difficulties and uneasiness in the army, upon 
 which an enterprise of almost infinite importance is 
 now depending. I shall consider my rank in the 
 army, Avhat my commission from the Continental 
 Congress makes it, and shall not attempt to dispute 
 the command with Gen. Montgomery."' lie was 
 
 1 Third Am. Arch., fuurtli scries, 1107. 
 
39 
 
 now graciously permitted to proceed, but lie had 
 hardly arrived at St. John's, before Schuyler fol- 
 lowed him with the following extraordinary note: 
 
 "TicoNDEROGA, Oct. 23d, 1775. 
 "Sir: Being well informed that you have declared 
 on your way to this place, that if you were at St. 
 John's, you would march into the fort at the head 
 of your regiment, and as it is just that you should 
 have an opportunity of showing your prowess and 
 that of your regiment, I have desired Gen. Mont- 
 gomery to give you leave to make the attempt if you 
 choose. I do not wish, however, that you should 
 be too lavish of your men's lives, unless you have 
 a prospect of gaining the fortress. 
 
 "I am sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 "PHILIP SCHUYLER."^ 
 
 No notice was taken of this surly and offensive 
 missive, until some months afterward, when Gen. 
 Schuyler had foolishly complained to Congress of 
 the unbecoming language which Wooster used in 
 his dispatches. Provoked at such a charge, -from 
 such a source, Wooster then says: "You will re- 
 member your letter to me while I was at St. John's, 
 founded in falsehood, and which you could have no 
 other motive in writing but to insult me. I thought 
 
 1 IV. Am. Arch., fourth series, 1008. 
 
40 
 
 it at the time, not worth answering-, and shall at. 
 present take no further notice of it.'^' 
 
 As if effectually to belie the ung-enerous suspicions 
 of Gen. Schuyler, harmony, which had left the army, 
 was recalled to it when Wooster joined. He co- 
 operated heartily with Montgomery in the execution 
 of all his plans. To their joint exertions, the capit- 
 ulation of St. John's was due ; they jointly attacked 
 and dispersed the force under Sir Guy Carlton, 
 which was hastening to its relief; they were joined 
 in the resolution of Congress, which thanked them 
 for these meritorious achievements. Together they 
 marched upon Montreal. Wooster was left in com- 
 mand of its garrison, while Montgomery advanced 
 upon Quebec, and fell, never to rise again, in the 
 desperate assault of the 31st of December. 
 
 The death of his superior in the field, left Woos- 
 ter in command of a defeated, dispirited, impover- 
 ished army. With two thousand men he was called 
 upon to achieve all the impossibilities demanded by 
 the nation. He was to hold in subjection all the 
 Canadas that had been overrun. With nothing but 
 uncurrent continental bills, he was to clothe and 
 equip his troops. He was to extort supplies from a 
 people he was also directed to conciliate ; and with- 
 out an artillery company, a battering train, a mortar, 
 or an engineer, he was to reduce the strongest 
 fortified city upon the globe. Eight hundred men 
 
 1 IV. Am. Arch., fourth scries, 1217, 
 
41 
 
 were all that could be spared for the operations 
 agamst Quebec, and the madness of attempting to 
 storm it with such a feeble remnant, did not require 
 the failure of the recent experiment to demonstrate. 
 For the approaches of a regular siege, the number, 
 the character, and the equipments of the troops, 
 were entirely inadequate. Nothing remained, but 
 the third alternative, so distasteful and odious to 
 every soldier, in which neither honor nor applause, 
 nothing but reproaches, odium and misrepresentation 
 were to be won; the slow, inglorious, wearying 
 process of a blockade. In the fruitless attempt to 
 starve out the garrison, before supplies could reach 
 them, the tedious months of that long winter finally 
 wore away. 
 
 WoosTER had hardly entered upon the command 
 before the ulcer in Schuyler's bosom opened afresh, 
 and the fire in the rear re-commenced. Remaining 
 himself safely at Albany, and sluggishly forwarding 
 the supplies and provisions at his disposal, he pursued 
 the officer who commanded in the enemy's country, 
 with angry complaints, imperious mandates and in- 
 sulting letters. He issued orders, and then, in a 
 most peremptory tone, commanded Wooster to 
 obey them, as if every previous order had been dis- 
 regarded. He interfered with tlie internal regula- 
 tion of the army and the police administration of 
 the captured towns, and in other matters which 
 exclusively pertain to the general in the field. Be- 
 cause Wooster intimated that some of the prisoners 
 
42 
 
 taken at St. John's, who liad been permitted to 
 return, by permits from the commander of the 
 northern army, were guilty of open acts of hostility 
 to the American cause, Schuyler, with a total blind- 
 ness to his own infirmity, accused him to Congress 
 of writing "subacid" letters/ Throughout the whole 
 correspondence, in courtesy, in forbearance, in gen- 
 erosity, in patriotism, in everything becoming the 
 gentleman and the officer, Wooster leaves his 
 assailant immeasurably behind. Uniformly temper- 
 ate and conciliatory in his language, when goaded 
 to a point where forbearance ceases to be a virtue, 
 he contents himself with informing his superior that 
 " he too claims the right to be treated with the 
 respect due to a gentleman, and an officer of the 
 thirteen colonies." He challenges him to mention 
 a command which has not been cheerfully obeyed; 
 an order wiiicli has not been promptly fulfilled; to 
 specify wherein he has failed to pay all proper 
 respect to superior rank, or to exert every faculty 
 for union, harmony, and the success of the cause. 
 " No personal ill-treatment," says he, " will ever 
 prevent my steadily and invariably pursuing those 
 measures most conducive to the pubKc good." The 
 controversy had now reached such a point, that the 
 two officers could no longer continue in their relative 
 
 1 The reader can examine the entire correspondenec scattered through IV. 
 Am. Arch., fourth scries. The letters can be found l>v consulting titles " "NVoos- 
 tcr" and " Schuyler," in the Index. 
 
43 
 
 positions without serious detriment to the puMic 
 service. Both united in referring their grievances 
 to Congress; a committee was raised, and to the 
 great joy of Woostek, he was recalled from a held 
 where valor, self-denial and resolution, were only 
 repaid A^ith ingratitude and odium. Within one 
 month from his departure, the American army were 
 driven out of Canada, not only defeated but dis- 
 graced. WoosTER immediately repaired to Phila- 
 delphia, and addressed to the President of Congress 
 a letter to the following purport : " The unjust 
 severity, and unmerited abuse, with which I have 
 been assailed in the colonies, by those who would 
 remove every obstacle to their own advancement, 
 and the harsh treatment I have received from some 
 members of the body over which you preside, ren- 
 ders it necessary that I should vindicate my admin- 
 istration of the army in Canada.' The honor of a 
 soldier being the first thing he should defend, and 
 his honesty the last he should give up, his character 
 is always entitled to the protection of the virtuous 
 and the good. I have therefore to request, that a 
 committee may be appointed to examine thoroughly 
 into my conduct in Canada, that I may be acquitted 
 or condemned, on just grounds, and sufficient proof." 
 A committee w^as accordingly raised, and it is un- 
 necessary to say that the result of a most thorough 
 
 1 I am obliged to abbreviate this letter ; the whole of it may be found VI . 
 Am. Arch.. 1081. 
 
44 
 
 investigation, was an unconditional acquittal of all 
 blame. Impartial history lias ratified the verdict, 
 and charged our misfortunes in Canada, not to the 
 officers in command, hut to the absolute and entire 
 inadequacy of the means placed at their disposal.' 
 WoosTER returned to Connecticut, with the undimin- 
 ished respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, 
 and as the Assembly had recently raised six brigades 
 for home defense, he was again appointed by it major- 
 general and commander-in-chief. With zeal un- 
 chilled either by age or misfortune, he again entered 
 the service of our commonwealth. Madam Wooster 
 was frequently heard to repeat, that when her hus- 
 band was called upon to lead the Connecticut troops 
 against the enemy, he would say, "I can not go with 
 these men without money," and would draw from his 
 
 1 Hildrcth states tliat in consequence of dissatisfaction M'ith "Wooster's con- 
 duct in Canada, he resigned, not liowever, until lie had obtained an inquiry and 
 a favorahlc report. I can find no jiroof tliat he resigned his commission as brig- 
 adier-general, unless such a presumption is raised by his accepting that of major- 
 general from tlic General Assembly of Connecticut. 
 
 The committee of incjuiry reported favoralily, August 17th, 177G. On August 
 19th, 177f), he addressed the following letter to the Continental Congress, wliich 
 shows that up to that day he had no intention of resigning. 
 
 "August 19th, 1776. 
 
 " Gent. : Having the pleasure and satisfaction of your approbation of my past 
 conduct in the army, I beg leave to accpiaint your Honors that I am still ready 
 and willing to serve in my proper rank in tlie army, and attend your further 
 orders. 
 
 " To Hon. the Continental Congress." 
 
 IT. Am. Arch., fifth series. 
 
 The resolution which directs the iiLscription for his monument, speaks of him 
 as if he was " brigadier-general in the army of the United States," at the time of 
 liis death. 
 
45 
 
 own funds, and pay both officers and men, taking- 
 their receipts for the same. The papers and vouch- 
 ers for these disbursements were all destroyed when 
 the British pillaged her house, in 1779, and this 
 venerable and accomplished woman was, in her de- 
 clining years, actually imprisoned for debt, and the 
 key of the jail turned upon her, from the impossi- 
 bility of recovering the money her husband had ad- 
 vanced to his suffering country/ 
 
 On the morning of the 25th of April, 1777, twenty- 
 six vessels, with the cross of St. George at their 
 respective peaks, were seen under full headway, 
 steering up the Sound. By noon they are standing 
 in toward Norwalk islands, and by four o'clock they 
 had dropped anchor in what is now known as the 
 harbor of Westport. Two thousand men, infantry, 
 cavalry and artillery, were immediately landed on 
 Cedar Point, the eastern jaw of the Saugatuck's 
 mouth. As the different companies land, they ren- 
 dezvous on the beautiful hill that overlooks the 
 Sound. Having here formed into close column, they 
 pass through the little hamlet called Compo, until 
 they reach the old county road, and follow it to the 
 east, until it meets the road to this place, when they 
 wheel off toward the north, guided by two imps, 
 Stephen Jarvis and Eli Benedict, by name, born 
 in Danbury, under a malignant star. The enemy 
 
 1 I state this fact upon the authority of Col. James "Ward, of Hartford, w!:o 
 remembers it. 
 
46 
 
 establisli their quarters for the night about eiglit 
 miles from their landing place, within the limits of 
 the town of Weston. When it was known that 
 William Tryon commanded the expedition, its des- 
 tination and objects were readily divined. He was 
 the tory governor of New York, and having a natural 
 genius for such pursuits, was armed by his masters, 
 with a firebrand instead of a sword, and employed 
 as incendiary-general, in a predatory war. Connec- 
 ticut was the chosen field of his glory. In 1777, 
 he burnt Danbury ; in 1778, Fairfield and Norwalk, 
 and used the torch freely in a piratical inroad against 
 New" Haven, in 1779. We had fairly earned this 
 enviable distinction. It was not from his own col- 
 ony, but from Connecticut rebels, that the repose of 
 his administration was most disquieted. Before his 
 own constituents had spirit enough to drive him 
 from the government, Wooster marched our militia 
 into his capital and flaunted, " Qui transtulit sustinet'' 
 in his fiice. From aboard the Asia, to which he 
 finally fled, he could see the "Sons of Liberty," from 
 Connecticut, that broke up the infamous press of his 
 favorite Rivington, and for the first time inoculated 
 New" York with patriotism.' He threatened a bom- 
 bardment of the city if the troops from Fairfield 
 county, under Gen. David Waterbury, that went 
 
 1 I hiive found amoiis the jjixpers of Silas Deanc, one of our delegates to 
 Coniircss, the original letter of the patriot Sears, giving an account of this 
 expedition, which he organized in Connecticut. 
 
47 
 
 down to welcome Lord Howe, upon his llight from 
 Boston, were permitted to enter, and the hdvewarm 
 provincial Congress of New York, echoed the threat. 
 It was these timely visits that lirst introduced to his 
 Excellency our humble State, and drew upon us 
 afterward, such frequent tokens of his remembrance. 
 His present advent was the first return visit with 
 which he had honored us, and was the more marked, 
 because it was the first time that a foreign invader 
 had trod upon our soil. 
 
 On the morning of the 26th, the quiet denizens 
 of Reading on the Ridge, open their eyes in wild 
 astonishment, at the unusual spectacle of red-coats 
 filing through their streets, saluting the church as 
 they pass, with a volley of canister and grape, from 
 musketry and cannon. Tryon meets with no serious 
 opposition thus far. The grisly visages of age, and 
 woman's frightened face, are all that gaze from the 
 windows, as his proud array passes along. Every 
 fencible man had early taken the old queen's arm, 
 from the pegs on which it hung, and hastened away 
 to where a more formal reception was in preparation. 
 But as Tryon ascends Hoyt's Hill, a few miles from 
 hence, a serious obstacle presents itself in his path. 
 A solitary horseman appears upon the brow, directly 
 in the line of march, and waving his sword, and 
 turning his head, as if backed up by a mighty army, 
 exclaims in a voice of thunder, "Halt, the whole 
 Universe! wheel into kingdoms!" The British come 
 
48 
 
 to a stand ; flanking parties are sent out to investigate 
 the precise position into which the "kingdoms have 
 wheeled ;" the two pieces of artillery are brought to 
 bear upon " the Universe," when the solitary horse- 
 man, outflanked by these maneuvres, slowly turns 
 about and disappears. It uas now about two 
 o'clock in the afternoon ; the enemy had passed 
 through Bethel's peaceful hamlet, and were now 
 entering the south end of Danbury, when the solem- 
 nity of the occasion was disturbed by another inci- 
 dent, serving to show, that the comic and the tragic 
 thread, are wove together in all human experience. 
 A man by the name of Hamilton, had on deposit at 
 a clothier's, in the lower part of the village, a piece 
 of cloth, which he was determined at all hazards to 
 rescue from sequestration. He' accordingly rode to 
 the shop, and having secured one end of the cloth 
 to the pommel of his saddle, galloped rapidly away. 
 But he was seen by the enemy's light-horsemen, 
 who followed hard upon him, exclaiming, "We'll 
 have you, old daddy; we'll have you." "Not yet," 
 said Hamilton, as he redoubled his speed. The 
 troops gain upon their intended victim ; the nearest 
 one raises his sabre to strike, when fortunately the 
 cloth unrolls, and fluttering like a streamer, far be- 
 hind, so frightens the pursuing horses that they can 
 not be brought within striking distance of the pur- 
 sued. The chase continues through the whole extent 
 of the village, to the bridge, where, finally, the old 
 
49 
 
 gentleman and the cloth make good their escape.^ 
 Tryon established his head-quarters with a tory by 
 the name of Dibble, whose residence was at the 
 south end of Main Street, and in close proximity to 
 the public stores. As the light troops were escorting 
 Erskine and Agnew, the brigadiers of the command- 
 ing general, to a house near the bridge, at the upper 
 end of this street, four young men fired upon them, 
 from the dwelling of Major Starr, situated about 
 forty rods above the present court-house. The 
 British pursued, slew them and a peaceable negro 
 who was in their company, threw their bodies into 
 the house and set it on fire. 
 
 The destruction of the public stores now com- 
 menced. The Episcopal church was filled to the 
 galleries with barrels of beef, pork, rice, wine and 
 rum. In order to save the building, these were 
 removed into the street and consumed, and a white 
 cross conspicuously marked upon the church, to 
 protect it against the general conflagration, which 
 Tryon had already foreordained. The gutters run 
 with the melting pork. The air is thick with the 
 fumes of burning beef The liquids are only spared 
 from the flames, to be appropriated by the soldiers, 
 to their own immediate refreshment. The commis- 
 sioner of the army had, against his will, placed 
 part of the provisions in the barn of Dibble, the 
 tory. These are also carefully removed to the 
 
 1 This story is told by Barber, Hinman, Lossing, and other chroniclers. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 street, the safety of the building insured by a cross, 
 and the provisions spared, probably to be transferred 
 to the loyalist, as rent for the forced occupation of 
 his premises. But short work is made of another 
 barn, used for the same purpose, but owned by a 
 pariot. It was immediately set on fire and con- 
 sumed, with all that it contained/ The soldiers 
 now begin to feel the effects of their free indulgence 
 in rebel rum. They lurch as they walk, they lie 
 sprawling in the streets and the door-yards; but 
 three hundred are fit for duty, as the curtain of 
 night fills upon the indecencies of a general de- 
 bai.ch. The firebrand had not yet been generally 
 used, but the white cross, now seen distinctly on 
 every tory's dwelling, indicates clearly enough that 
 those unprotected by it, are already doomed. These 
 faithful allies had intimated to Tryon, that the foe 
 is gathering in tite neighborhood. His sleep is far 
 from tranquil. Early on the Sabbath morning, while 
 it was yet dark, the signal is given, and on a sudden, 
 a lurid and unnatural glare chases night from the 
 sky. The torch is carried from house to house, and 
 from store to store. From the sacred recesses of 
 home, from the roofs that guard the hard-earned 
 savings of this frugal people, the fire breaks upon 
 the surrounding darkness, and joins in the general 
 
 1 "From tlic best inforniixtion whk'li can be obtained, there were about 3,000 
 barrels of pork, more than 1,000 barrels of flour, several iuindrcd barrels of beef, 
 1,600 tents, 2,000 liushels of grain, besides many otlicr lahiahle articles, such as 
 mm, wine, rice, army-carriages, &c." — Robbinss Century Sermon. 
 
51 
 
 havoc of the element. The aspiring- tongues of flame 
 cUmb and curl round the spire of the Congregational 
 church, until it totters and falls into the burnino- 
 mass. The sun, as it rises, looks only upon the 
 flickering embers of a once smiling village, save 
 where here and there, a solitary house stood un- 
 scathed, but branded with the indelible stigma, of 
 harboring only traitors to freedom. By the cold light 
 of early dawn, is seen, not the stealthy savage, but 
 the disciplined army of a Christian king, stealing 
 away from the desolation they had caused, and from 
 the avenger on their heels, while the aged and the 
 young, the sick, the helpless, and the infirm, gather 
 round the smoldering ashes, for that warmth, which 
 is all that is left of the comforts of home.' 
 
 1 Nineteen dwelling-honscs, the meeting-house of the Xcw Danbury Society, 
 and twenty-two stoi-es and bams, with all their contents, were consumed. — Rob- 
 bins's Century Sermon. 
 
 John McLeon, Eli Mygatt, and others, selectmen of Danbury, stated to tlie 
 General Assembly, convened at Hartford, on the 8th of May, 1777, that the 
 enemy, in their incursion into Danbury, burned and destroyed the public records 
 of said town, and they apprehended great damage might arise to the inhal)itants, 
 unless some timely remedy should be provided. The Assembly appointed Daniel 
 Sherman, Col. Nehemiah Bcardsley, Increase Moseley, Lemuel Sanford, Col. S. 
 Canficld, and Caleb Baldwin, to repair to Danbury, as soon as might be, and 
 notify the inhabitants of said town, and by all lawful ways, inquire into and 
 ascei-tain every man's riglit, and report to tlio next General Asscmldy. 
 
 This committee reported to tlie Assembly that the British troops had made 
 a hostile invasion into said town, and under a pretense of destroying the j^ub- 
 lic stores, had consumed witli fire about twenty dwelling-houses, with many 
 stores, barns, and other buildings, and that the enemy, on their retreat, collected 
 and drove off all the live stock, viz., cattle, horses and sheep, which they could 
 find ; and that the destruction of said property had reduced many of the wealthy 
 
52 
 
 The intelligence of the enemy's landing was com- 
 municated to WoosTER, at New Haven, on the morn- 
 ing of the 26th. Arnold was fortunately there on 
 furlough, who though finally a Judas, was, in mere 
 bravery, second to no man in whom the breath of 
 
 inhabitants to poverty. Having notified the inhabitants, they from day to day 
 examined the losses of eacli sufferer, on oath, and by other evidence, and allowed 
 to each his damage at the time said property was destroyed ; they found that by 
 reason of the price of articles, the inhabitants had been obliged to pay large sums 
 over and above the value, in procuring the necessaries for their families ; that 
 many of them had their teams forced from them to remove the public stores, &c. 
 Tliey gave the name of each sufferer, with his loss allowed, annexed to his name, 
 which amounted to the sum of £16,181 1 4 — which report was accepted by the 
 Assembly, and ordered to be lodged on file, to perpetuate the evidence of the loss 
 of each person, that when Congress should order a compensation, to make out 
 the claims of sufferers. 
 
 On the receipt of this communication, the pay talilc were directed to draw an 
 order on the treasurer for the sum of £500 in favor of the selectmen of Danbury, 
 to relieve the immediate distresses of such persons who Avcre sufferers in Danbury, 
 as aforesaid, who could not subsist without such relief. 
 
 The Assembly also provided, that all persons who had been wounded in any 
 action during the late incursion, should be paid out of the state treasury, all 
 their reasonable expenditures for surgeons, medicines, boarding, and nurses. 
 
 In 1787, the sufferers in Danbury, having received no further relief, again 
 petitioned the General Assembly of Connecticut, upon which petition Hon. An- 
 drew Adams, and otliers, were appointed a committee. 
 
 The chairman of said committee reported, that for want of exhibits and doc- 
 uments, they were unable methodically and correctly to state the facts or losses 
 and estimate of damages ; and also for the want of proper certificates from the 
 treasurer and secretary of state, to report what had already been done for their 
 relief ; but wei'e of opinion that the houses and buildings and necessary house- 
 iiold furniture, destroyed by the enemy, ought to be paid for by the state, at their 
 just value ; and that the only manner in the power of the state, at that time, was 
 to pay the same in Western lands — which report was, in October, 1787, accepted 
 by the House, but rejected by the Upper House. 
 
 Ui)On a memorial in 1791, of the inhabitants of the towns of Faii-field and Nor- 
 walk, in Fairfield county, tlie great losses occasioned by the devastations of the 
 
53 
 
 life was ever breathed. Both generals immediately 
 proceed to the scene of operations. At Fairfield, 
 they learn that Gen. Silliman had ordered all the 
 militia that could be raised, to rendezvous at Read- 
 ing. They follow on, spreading the alarm as they 
 go, and soon arrived at Silliman's head-quarters. 
 With the forces there assembled, they pursue the 
 
 British during the war, were shown to the General Assembly ; on wiiich they 
 prayed for remuneration from the state. The Assembly, in May, 1792, by a 
 resolution, released and quit-claimed to the sufferers named on the state record, 
 or to their legal representatives, if deceased, and to their heirs and assigns 
 forever, 500,000 acres of land, owned by Connecticut, situated west of Penn- 
 sylvania, bounded north on Lake Erie, beginning on the west line of said lands, 
 and extending eastward to a line running northerly and southerly parallel to the 
 east line of said tract of land owned by this state, and extending the whole width 
 of the said lands, and easterly as far as to comprise said quantity of 500,000 
 acres, (exclusive of former grants to sufferers, if any, ) to be divided among said 
 sufferers and their legal representatives, in proportion to the several sums 
 annexed to their names on record, (which land is located in Huron countj', in 
 the state of Ohio.) An additional sum of £8,303 17 10 was added to that 
 previously named for the sufferers in Danbury, making the whole amount 
 £24,484 19 2. — Hinman's War of American Revolution. 
 
 The following is a list of the sufferers, with the loss allowed by the committee, 
 annexed to his name : 
 
 .£ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 Mr. John McLean, . 2,492 1 1 7 David Wood, . . 433 1 
 Capt. Ezra Starr, . 2,296 Joseph Wildman, . . 417 8 4 
 
 Capt. Daniel Taylor, 984 2 Dr. John Wood, . 394 3 4 
 
 Col. John P. Cook, . 953 9 6 Matthew Benedict, Jr., 334 11 
 Major Ely Maggatt, . 116 2 2 Kev. Ebenezer White, 327 110 
 
 Capt. James Clark, . 822 10 6 Jonah Benedict, . 309 9 8 
 
 Major Taylor, . . 700 16 2 Matthew Benedict, . 205 4 8 
 
 Comfort Hoyt, Jr., . 651 15 1 Jabez Rockwell, . 237 16 2 
 
 Thaddeus Benedict, Esq., 521 19 6 Zadock Benedict, . . 169 17 
 Benjamin Sperry, . . 169 16 3 
 
 Which with a number of smaller losses, ascertained by said committee, amount 
 in the whole to £16,181 1 4. 
 
enemy as far as Bethel, whicli they reach at eleven 
 o'clock at night. Seven hundred undisciplined mili- 
 tia constitute their entire force. On the morning 
 of the 27th, Arnold and Silliman are directed to 
 take five hundred men and intercept Tryon in front, 
 wdiile WoosTER, with the two hundred left, follows 
 the enemy's track to worry and harass the rear. 
 He soon comes up with them, and aided by the 
 broken and hilly ground, falls upon one of their 
 regiments, and captures forty prisoners. He again 
 attacks them a few miles from Ridgefield. The 
 British rear-guard, supported by two field-pieces, 
 wheel to receive him. A sharp encounter ensues. 
 Wooster's troops deliver and receive several vol- 
 leys, but the undisciplined handful, soon stagger and 
 fall back, before the grape-shot that the enemy's 
 artillery scatter. The old veteran, more familiar 
 with this iron hail, infuses his own steadfastness 
 into his untried band, and as he is inciting them 
 to a renewed onset, with the clieering words, "Come 
 on, my boys, never mind such random shots," a ball 
 deliberately fired, as it is said, by a malignant tory 
 who recognized his person, struck him obliquely in 
 the back, breaking the bone as it passed, and bury- 
 ing itself in his body. He falls fainting from his 
 horse. He is carried from the field on this' sash, 
 
 1 The sash is the property of Yale College, and with the sword of Wooster, 
 and Iiis portrait, was presented in a letter from Admiral Wooster, of which the 
 following is a copy: 
 
55 
 
 which he wore in the battle. When the surg-eon' 
 examined the wound, he did not disguise from Woos- 
 TER that there was no hope for him this side of the 
 grave. The tidings are received with the serene 
 composure of one who had so recently shown, by 
 a signal contempt for this life, how confidently he 
 expected one more blessed and glorious. He is 
 removed to this place with the tenderest care. His 
 wife, who had been summoned, arrives, but not 
 until the inflammation had extended through the 
 spinal column to the brain, and he could only look 
 on the face he knew the best, and loved the most, 
 with the wild, unrecognizing glare of delirium. Her 
 tearful and impassioned appeals can extort no sign 
 of welcome. For three days he lies here in extreme 
 agony, aggravated by the fruitless search of the sur- 
 geon's probe, for the fatal bullet. On the morning 
 
 "Eev. J. Day, 
 
 " President of Yale University, 
 "Rev. Sir, 
 " As I shall soon leave this my native place, and there is much imcer- 
 tainty as to my ever returning to it again, I beg you to receive, in behalf of the 
 College, these three i-elics of my much respected grandfather, whose memory, I 
 believe, is still cherished by every American patriot. His portrait, I found by 
 mei-e chance, in the city of Santa Yago, the capital of Chili, ia the year 1822. 
 The sword is the same which he had drawn at the time when he fell in repelling 
 the inroads of the enemy of our country j and the sash is that on which he was 
 carried from the field, after receiving the wound whfch caused his death. 
 " With feelings of high respect and esteem, 
 
 " I remain, reverend Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 "A. D. 1837. CHARLES W. WOOSTER." 
 
 1 The surgeon's name was Turner. 
 
56 
 
 of the first of May, the sudden cessation of pain 
 indicates the commencement of that frightful process, 
 which destroys sensation while life still lingers — the 
 unmistakable precursor of death. It was noted by 
 her, who, faithful to the last, unremittingly watches 
 his pillow, that during this and the following day, 
 (as is frequently the case, in the closing scene of an 
 active life,) his mind was busied in exciting reminis- 
 cence. By the feeble light of flickering reason, he 
 was tracing the long and weary pilgrimage, the 
 cruises, sieges, battles, marches, through which he 
 had passed, only to reach the grave. The home 
 of his childhood, the cabin of his ship, the old man- 
 sion by the Sound, pass in a blended image before 
 his fading vision. The dash of waves, the rattle 
 of musketry, the roar of cannon, ring confusedly in 
 his deafened ear. His hand can not respond to the 
 gentle pressure of affection. His breathing grows 
 shorter and shorter, while the icy chill advances 
 nearer and nearer to the heart. As his wife wipes 
 the death damps from his brow, his eyes, hitherto 
 closed, open once more, and in their clear depths, 
 for one glad moment, she discovers the dear, the 
 old, the familiar expression of returned conscious- 
 ness; his lips gasp in vain to utter one precious 
 word of final adieu, and the last effort of his depart- 
 ing soul, is to throw on her, one farewell glance of 
 unutterable tenderness and love. Thus on the 2d 
 of May, 177T, in the service of the state to which 
 his youth, his manhood and his age had been devo- 
 
57 
 
 ted, David Wooster died. Of the thirteen thou- 
 sand sons which Connecticut gave to the French 
 war, and of the thirty-one thousand which she gave 
 to the Kevohuion, lie was among the foremost. 
 Equal to any in courage, in patriotism, in generosity, 
 in zeal for liberty, in that true magnanimity which 
 can forget all personal slights and affronts in her 
 great cause ; second to Putnam, and to Putnam alone, 
 in the length, variety and hardship of his martial 
 labors ; superior even to him, in the glory of his final 
 exit, and the obscurity of his grave. Exhausting his 
 means in the public service, he only bequeathed 
 poverty to his family, and oblivion to his remains. 
 Unrewarded, unrequited in life, in death he received 
 a monument that was never built, and an inscription 
 that was never engraved.' 
 
 1 "Monday, May \9th, 1777. 
 
 " Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to consider what honors 
 are due to the memory of h\te Brigadier Wooster, who died on the 2d of May, 
 of the wounds he received on the 27tli of April, in fighting against the enemies 
 of American liberty." 
 
 The members chosen were ]Mr. Heyward, Mr. S. Adams, and Mr. Sage. 
 
 " Tuesday, June I7th, 1777. 
 
 " The committee appointed to consider what honors are due to the memory 
 of General Wooster, brought forward tlieir report, which was taken into con- 
 sideration, whereupon, 
 
 " Resolved, That a monument be erected to the memory of Gen. Wooster, 
 with the following inscription : ' In honor of David Wooster, brigadier-general 
 in the army of the United States. In defending the liberties of America, and 
 bravely repelling an inroad of the British forces to Danbury, in Connecticut, he 
 received a mortal wound on the 27th day of April, 1777, and died on the 2d day 
 of May following. The Congi-ess of the United States, as an acknowledgment 
 of his merit and services, have caused this monument to be erected.' 
 
58 
 
 We can not follow such a career, we can not 
 stand by such a grave, without renewing our con- 
 secration vows to freedom. By what a long century 
 of conflict; by what death struggles with earth's 
 master-races, the Celt, the Gaul and the Saxon ; by 
 wdiat weariness of spirit, what agony of soul, what 
 squandering of blood, has her fair inheritance been 
 purchased ! 
 
 *' Fix^edom, thy brow 
 Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred 
 With tokens of old wars ; thy massive liiiibs 
 Are strong with struggling. Power at thee 
 Has launched his bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee : 
 They could not quench the light thou hast from heaven. 
 
 Oh ! not yet 
 May'st thou unbrace thy corselet, nor lay by 
 Thy sword ; not yet, O Freedom, close thy lids 
 In slumber, for thine enemy never sleeps, 
 And thou must watch and combat till the day 
 Of the new earth and heaven." 
 
 If in the dangers that threaten her for the future, 
 aught for her welfare is intrusted to us ; if upon our 
 
 " Resolved, That the executive power of the state of Connecticut, l)e requested 
 to cany the foregoing resolution into execution; and that $500 l)e allowed for 
 that pui-pose." — Journals of Congress, Vol. III., pp. 156, 197. 
 
 It lias been said that the appropriation made for the erection of Gen. Woos- 
 ter's monument, " was entrusted to the charge of his son, but never used for 
 the purpose." I can find no proof of this statement, and it has always been 
 strenuously denied by the relatives of Thomas Wooster, and Ijy others who 
 have investigated the matter. 
 
59 
 
 council she ever relies, in those moments that mold 
 her destiny, upon us to defend any of those solemn 
 compacts that secure to her an illimitable domain 
 for the immeasurable future; if upon our arm she 
 is to lean in the impending crisis of her decisive 
 battle, let us repair to the graves of those who have 
 shielded her in the past, as to altars ever lighted 
 with the sacred fire of heroism. Let us there im- 
 plore wisdom, self-denial, patience, courage, strength ; 
 let us there forget all pride of opinion, ambition, 
 selfishness, the bubbles we crave, the vanities we 
 pursue, everything but self-immolating devotion to 
 her holy cause. We need not wander to poetry or 
 fable, to other times, to other lands, or to sister 
 states, for that past renown which nurtures this 
 heroic element of character. We have it nearer 
 home, in our own neighborhood, beneath our own 
 feet. We tread on soil ransomed by blood; the 
 young flowers our children sow, may take their root 
 in the holy clay of unknown martyrs. If we but 
 turn to the silent halls of death, we can find in 
 almost every graveyard of Connecticut, immortal 
 examples of patriotic virtue, imperishable models of 
 every exalted worth; while no chronicle of wild 
 romance, breathes such inspiriting strains to deeds 
 of sacrifice and daring, as the story of Connecticut's 
 struggle for liberty and religion. The living seed 
 of future heroes and patriots is in our fathers' dust. 
 We will treasure up every council which they med- 
 itated in perplexity, every stirring word they uttered 
 
60 
 
 in peril and despair, all that they achieved for lib- 
 erty, with the halter round their necks, and the 
 scaffold before them. We will sacredly guard the 
 graves, that hold such precious inspiration for the 
 future; we will mark them with memorials that 
 shall endure, to the last syllable of recorded time. 
 We will lead the first thoughts of aspiring youth, 
 and the last of desponding age, to the monumental 
 shafts, which tell how Hale, and Led yard, and Woos- 
 TER died. Glorious martyr! over whose ashes we 
 have this day performed the last solemn rites of 
 gratitude, touch our hearts with a spark from that 
 flame which burned in thy own; inspire us with 
 thy unfaltering love for country; teach us nobly to 
 suffer, bravely to die! 
 
c 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 007 198 901 A