YALE 
 
 HER HONOR-ROLL 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION 
 
 1775-1783 
 
 INCLUDING ORIGINAL LETTERS, RECORD OF SERVICE, AND 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY P. JOHNSTON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED 
 1888 
 
COPYRIGHT BY 
 
 HENRY P. JOHNSTON 
 
 2 ^ 3 
 
 Press of 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM S SONS 
 New York 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ANY one familiar with the personal history of the 
 leaders of the Revolution must have remarked upon 
 the large representation of college-bred men among 
 them. 
 
 This was not only a suggestive fact in the experi 
 ence of a provincial population, but in part explains 
 the method and reasonableness of the revolutionary 
 movement itself. No similar revolt in history was 
 grounded less in bitterness and hate, or developed 
 more naturally from discussion and conviction. As 
 the public controversy the issue in documentary 
 form turned upon the constitutional relation of the 
 colonies to the mother country, it required a certain 
 amount of general learning and familiarity with colo 
 nial history to engage in it intelligently. The ques 
 tion appealed to the educated and professional 
 element, which included not only lawyers, ministers 
 and orators, but many merchants as well whose dis 
 gust at England s restrictive commercial policy in 
 tensified their opposition. The speeches in assem 
 blies and town-meetings, the sermons and pamphlets 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 on the issues of the day, the petitions and protests 
 which British statesmen admired for their dignity 
 and breadth of views, were in many, probably in most 
 instances, the efforts and product of trained minds. 
 The colleges of the day could count among their alumni 
 such men as Otis, Warren, Hancock, the Adamses, 
 Hawley, Trumbull, Wolcott, Jay, the Livingstons and 
 Morrises, Hopkinson, Rush, Jefferson, Harrison, 
 Gerry, Wythe, Lyman Hall, and others whose 
 names are interwoven with the history of that period. 
 Their influence in the earlier and more important 
 Congresses is indicated in the fact that very nearly 
 one half of the signers of the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence were graduates. 
 
 The colonist was proud of such leadership. It 
 proved the wisdom of his policy in encouraging edu 
 cation, especially the higher education, from an early 
 date. The nine colleges he had founded before the 
 Revolution were : Harvard in 1636 ; William and 
 Mary, 1693 ; Yale, 1701 ; Princeton, 1746 ; Columbia, 
 1754; University of Pennsylvania, 1755; Brown, 
 1765; Dartmouth, 1769; and Rutgers, 1770. The 
 aggregate number of their alumni living at the out 
 break of the war was about two thousand five hundred, 
 which may be regarded as a fair proportion of the 
 population in those colonies which supported the 
 colleges ; and they had their full weight in the com 
 munity, for in addition to those who took a dis- 
 
Preface. v 
 
 tinguished part in the larger political field, others 
 became judges, legislators and governors, and filled 
 many of the minor civil offices. 
 
 As a revolutionary soldier, the graduate is less 
 familiar to us. That he made a notable record, 
 however, is quite certain, and its revival would not 
 only be a happy act of remembrance, but the material 
 itself a valuable contribution to the personal history 
 of those times. All the colleges were represented in 
 the field, and in larger numbers than they are gener 
 ally credited with. The four oldest in the list, having 
 many more graduates and graduates of longer stand 
 ing than the rest, were conspicuously represented. 
 
 There was something in the aim and courage of 
 those alumni " Continentals" we cannot very gracious 
 ly forget. Not only could they shout as vigorously 
 against the Stamp Act and talk of their rights as 
 earnestly as any others, but they clearly foresaw that 
 if the sword were once drawn, it would not be simply 
 to decide the limit of ministerial or parliamentary 
 authority, or even to establish their independence as 
 the only remedy of their wrongs. It is remarkable 
 how, after the fighting began, the colonists as a body 
 lost sight of the original issue and dropped all thought 
 of returning to their former allegiance. They were 
 looking to the future. We may say that they fought 
 in the line of destiny. What sustained them through 
 the struggle was largely the inherited conviction that 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 though nominally or politically they were subjects of 
 Great Britain, in another sense and in a more natural 
 way they were the true proprietors of the soil and 
 founders of new communities whose prospective as 
 well as immediate interests it was their first duty to 
 consult. 
 
 In the case of that portion of the revolutionary 
 soldiery to which the writer s attention has been called 
 in the present work, it may be stated that with few 
 exceptions the graduates were descendants of fami 
 lies which came to this country before the year 1690. 
 At the opening of the war they represented the 
 fourth, fifth, and sixth generation from the first immi 
 grant, and were members of what might be called 
 the patrician element in colonial society. It was the 
 element which instinctively considered itself entitled 
 to the control of the continent, as against the mother 
 country, in all matters of vital concern. The best 
 men among them kept referring to the possibilities 
 of the future as being theirs to mark out and develop ; 
 such men, for example, as Dr. Stiles, who both be 
 fore and after he became President of Yale impressed 
 this idea of destiny upon his hearers, or such men 
 as Dr. Dwight, who when tutor at the college deliv 
 ered an address to the students in 1776, in which he 
 reminded them of the wide field and the great duties 
 before them. " Remember," he said, " that you are 
 to act for the empire of America, and for a long sue- 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 cession of ages. . . . Your wishes, your designs, your 
 labors are not to be confined by the narrow bounds 
 of the present age, but are to comprehend succeed 
 ing generations." The graduate of 76 and men like 
 him took up the sword for the new America. Deep 
 ly interested in the movement for himself, he also had 
 a sense of the greatness his descendants would enjoy 
 through his efforts, which in turn places us under a 
 very real and personal obligation to him. 
 
 In the following pages I have ventured to compile 
 this missing record, so far as Yale s part is concerned. 
 An examination, at intervals of leisure, of manuscripts 
 and printed material has been more or less successful, 
 furnishing at least sufficient facts for something in the 
 way of a memorial. The first part includes an out 
 line of the operations in each year of the war, showing 
 the situation wherever graduates were present, and 
 in connection with which some original letters written 
 by them from field and camp are inserted. In the 
 second part will be found the Roll of Honor, or list of 
 all known to have been engaged during the war, with 
 biographical sketches added. Authorities and sources 
 of information are indicated in foot-notes, and in 
 an introductory note to the second part. I am under 
 obligations to librarians and others for assistance, but 
 especially to Prof. Franklin B. Dexter, Secretary of 
 the University and Professor of American History, 
 who has favored me with many data ; Dr. Samuel 
 
Vlll 
 
 Preface. 
 
 A. Green, Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, Hon. Charles J. Hoadley, Librarian of the 
 State Library, Hartford, Conn., and Mr. William 
 Kelby, of the New York Historical Society Library. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, 
 
 January, 1888. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Preface ....... iii 
 
 II. Distribution of the Alumni in 1775 . i 
 
 III. Events in 1775-76. 
 
 The Alarm at the College Young Huntington Chipman s 
 Epic Washington and the Students Company Noah 
 Webster Graduates in the General Uprising Bunker Hill 
 Letters from Chester, Grosvenor, Sherman Dr. Stiles in 
 Camp Ticonderoga and Quebec Wooster, Brown, Coit, 
 Babcock Boston Evacuated Col. Gay .... 8 
 
 IV. Events in 1776-77. 
 
 The New York Campaign List of Alumni Soldiers 
 Declaration of Independence Joseph Hawley Battle of 
 Long Island Colonel Silliman Retreat to New York 
 Tallmadge s Account of It Loss of New York Nathan 
 Hale Bushnell s Torpedo White Plains Trenton and 
 Princeton Letter from Capt. Hull Hitchcock s Gallant 
 Conduct Death of Graduate Officers .... 36 
 
 V. Events in 1777-78. 
 
 The New Continental Army Graduates in Its Ranks The 
 Danbury Raid and Death of General Wooster Events in 
 Pennsylvania Battle of Germantown Lieut. Morris, Pris 
 oner The Burgoyne Campaign Graduates Engaged Let 
 ters from Gen. Wolcott and Capt. Seymour Col. Brown s 
 Exploit The Surrender Washington s Congratulations 
 Letters from Gens. Scott and Silliman .... 64 
 
 VI. Events in 1778-79. 
 
 Valley Forge and Its Discipline General Paterson Alumni 
 in Camp Letters from Lieuts. Chipman and Selden Devo 
 tion of the Army to Washington The French Alliance 
 General Scott to Gates Battle of Monmouth Camp at 
 ix 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 White Plains Battle of Rhode Island Notice from the 
 College Steward . 83 
 
 VII. Events in 1779-80. 
 
 Short Commons at College Letters from Commis 
 sary Colt Yale Loyalists General Silliman and Judge 
 Jones Storming of Stony Point Sherman, Hull, Selden 
 Invasion of New Haven Ex-President Daggett and the 
 Students Major Huntington Complimented Death of 
 Col. Russell .... .... 94 
 
 VIII. Events in 1780-81. 
 
 The Morristown Huts Severe Winter of 1780 Letters 
 from Major Huntington, Commissary Flint, and Others- 
 Battle of Springfield, N. J. David Humphreys, Aid to 
 Washington Letters from Gov. Livingston and Gen. 
 Paterson Dr. Stiles in the French Camp Death of Col. 
 Brown Major Tallmadge and His Services Letter on 
 Andre Humphreys Attempt on Clinton Lieut.-Col. 
 Gray 112 
 
 IX. Events in 1781-82. 
 
 Situation at the North Colonel Hull s Affair at the Out 
 postsLafayette s Virginia Expedition Major Wyllys 
 Letters from Capt. Welles and Others The Yorktown Cam 
 paign Graduate Officers at the Siege Humphreys and the 
 Captured Flags Rejoicings President Stiles to Washing 
 ton 129 
 
 X. Events in 1782-83. 
 
 Peace Negotiations Military Affairs Letters from Welles, 
 Wyllys, and Silliman Tallmadge s Third Attempt on Long 
 Island The Major s Report and Washington s Reply 
 Letters from Sill and Humphreys Evacuation of New 
 York by the Enemy Disbandment of the Revolutionary 
 Army Letter from Hull . . . . . . . 141 
 
 XI. Washington. 
 
 Humphreys Visit to Mt. Vernon in 1786 Letter to His 
 Brother Is Urged to Write a History of the Revolution- 
 Personal Items The " Father of his Country " at Home 
 President Dwight s Eulogy on Washington An Estimate of 
 His Character Personal Qualities, Public Conduct, Mili 
 tary Talents, and Place in History 153 
 
Contents. 
 
 XI 
 
 XII. Majors Wyllys and Heart. 
 
 In the Regular Army Wyllys, Senior Major Stationed in 
 the Ohio Country Recommended for a Colonelcy Letter 
 from Harmar First Indian War Harmar s Defeat, and 
 Death of Wyllys Letters Heart Promoted Major of the 
 Second Regiment St. Clair s Defeat and Death of Heart . 
 
 XIII. Roll of Honor, 
 
 Sketches . 
 
 XIV. Index 
 
 with Biographical 
 
 163 
 
 177 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE 
 IN 1775. 
 
 OF the nine hundred or more Yale graduates 
 known to have been living in 1775, much the larger 
 proportion, approximately two thirds, resided in the 
 colony of Connecticut, the home of the college. The 
 remainder were distributed throughout Massachusetts, 
 Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey, with a 
 limited number scattered at widely distant points 
 north and south. 
 
 In Connecticut the college exerted an appreciable 
 influence. Dr. Benjamin Trumbull recognizes this 
 fact in his history of the colony, where he states that 
 as early as 1743 the alumni constituted a " numerous 
 and respectable " body, and adds, somewhat flatter 
 ingly, that not a few had become " pillars" and " stars 
 of distinguished lustre " in both church and common 
 wealth ; and this may be accepted as equally true in 
 1775, when the relative increase of graduates had 
 very nearly kept pace with that of the population. 
 It may be doubted, indeed, whether at any time, be 
 fore or since, the college has filled so large a place in 
 the eye of the community at home as during the 
 period of the Revolution. 
 
Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 The crisis itself would partially explain this, so far 
 as it called upon men of acknowledged ability, integ 
 rity, and public spirit to engage in the management 
 of affairs ; for it happened that an exceptional num 
 ber of the alumni then living throughout the principal 
 towns were citizens of this stamp. Events gave them 
 increased prominence. But a further explanation 
 may be sought in the relation of the graduate to the 
 society of the time, in which the professions as such 
 had not assumed their modern importance. While 
 the pulpit, it is true, was a power in itself, neither 
 law nor medicine were the attractions then that 
 they are to-day. Apart from the ministers who 
 often attended the sick in their parishes, com 
 paratively few graduates became physicians, de 
 voting themselves exclusively to their calling ; nor 
 were many more lawyers, or regularly entered " bar 
 risters at law" as they were styled, as litigation 
 appears not to have been as general or lucrative 
 as in the period after the Revolution. College 
 men, accordingly, more frequently then than now, 
 dropped into the active life of the community, 
 sometimes combining business with a profession. 
 They kept stores, cultivated farms, acted as agents, 
 owned ships and traded along the coast and with 
 the West Indies. The lay graduate of that day, 
 being less the professional man than increasing 
 wealth and diversity of interests have enabled him to 
 become in later times, engaged in every honorable 
 occupation, and wherever he established himself per 
 manently he exercised a certain neighborhood in 
 fluence, which, in numerous instances, is known to 
 
The Alumni in 1775. 3 
 
 have been neither slight nor transient. Sometimes 
 he became the local dignitary as probate judge or 
 colonel of militia, again as town clerk and justice 
 of the peace, or, perhaps, more often than not, he 
 was moderator of the town-meeting, or chief spokes 
 man on town affairs. When, finally, the war came, 
 his views and example had weight. 
 
 As illustrating the influence and distinction, ac 
 corded to the college element in the State, it may be 
 noticed that while the honored governor, Jonathan 
 Trumbull, was a graduate of Harvard, the house of 
 " Assistants," a body of twelve eminent citizens elected 
 at large, contained in 1775 eight Yale graduates. 
 The secretary of state, one of the five superior court 
 judges, all the county court and many of the probate 
 judges were also graduates. So also were several of 
 the prominent members of the General Assembly, fre 
 quently the Speaker, nearly one half the field officers 
 of the militia for 1774-75, a majority of the impor 
 tant State revolutionary Council of Safety, and six of 
 the twelve members who at different times, from 1 775 
 to 1783, attended the Continental Congress at Phila 
 delphia. At the beginning of the struggle graduates 
 took the lead in the principal town and county war 
 meetings, in some cases presiding over them, as 
 at New Haven, Hartford, New London, Norwich, 
 Windham, and Lyme, and in other cases acting on 
 the committees of correspondence ; while during the 
 progress of the contest it is to be remarked how fre 
 quently they figured on legislative committees charged 
 with the active and responsible duties of the hour. 
 
 In Massachusetts, the Yale representation, was to 
 
4 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 be found mainly in the central and western parts of 
 the State, in Hampshire and Berkshire counties, in 
 the towns of Springfield, Westfield, Pittsfield, North 
 ampton, Stockbridge, Lenox, and neighboring places. 
 The tide of emigration, or removals, had been setting 
 in that direction for some years before the Revolution, 
 and graduates, with others, sought the advantages of 
 new localities. Several of the Ashleys and the Wil- 
 liamses named in the triennial catalogue lived in that 
 section, as well as Hawley, Hopkins, Brown, Dickin 
 son, Sedgwick, and Paterson, who will reappear in the 
 military record. Including the few who resided in 
 Eastern Massachusetts there were at that time not 
 far from one hundred and seventy of the alumni in 
 the State. The great majority of these were in the 
 fullest sympathy with the course of events, and some, 
 like Joseph Hawley, of whom further mention must 
 be made, proved towers of strength. Their influence 
 in Berkshire was not inconsiderable if one may judge 
 from the fact that at the important county convention 
 held in July, 1774, for the declaration of views on 
 the crisis, the chairman, secretary, and three of the 
 five members of the committee to draft the resolu 
 tions, were graduates. What is more, they followed 
 up their patriotic expressions with active service in 
 the field. 
 
 In Rhode Island the number of graduates at that 
 period was small, probably not more than twenty, 
 three or four of whom entered the military service. 
 Three attained some distinction at home in earlier 
 years or during the war as deputy-governors, namely, 
 Darius Sessions, Paul Mumford and Jabez Bowen. 
 
The Alumni in 1775. 5 
 
 Of the soldiers two were colonels. The most prom 
 inent graduates there in 1775 were Hon. Joshua 
 Babcock, formerly Chief-Justice of Rhode Island, and 
 Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles, Congregational pastor at New 
 port, who was to become president of Yale in 1 778. 
 
 In New York we meet with some names that are 
 closely identified with the history of the colony and 
 the State. Our earliest graduate here, and the 
 earliest lay graduate from any college, was William 
 Smith, of the class of 1719, who became the first of 
 the many distinguished lawyers who have adorned 
 the bar of New York City from that day to this. By 
 his contemporaries he is described as a man of pro 
 found learning, unimpeachable character and " the 
 most eloquent speaker in the province." At the time 
 of his death in 1 769 he was one of the judges of the 
 supreme court. That he kept up a warm interest in 
 the college would appear from the statement made 
 by his son, Judge William Smith, of the class of 1745, 
 the historian, that it was upon his recommendation 
 that Philip Livingston, the second proprietor of the 
 manor on the Hudson by his name, was induced to 
 send his sons to the " Academy " at New Haven. 
 These four Livingston brothers, Peter Van Brugh, 
 John, Philip, and William, with some others, continued 
 the succession of Yale graduates in the city down to 
 the war. The first three became merchants, the 
 last a lawyer. Peter was president and treasurer 
 of the first New York Provincial Congress. Philip 
 and William were sent as delegates to the Con 
 tinental Congress. Philip signed the Declaration 
 of Independence, and William, moving into New 
 
6 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Jersey, became the "war governor" of that State. 
 Richard and Lewis Morris, John Sloss Hobart, and 
 Ezra L Hommedieu went to Congress or became 
 judges. Another name is that of John Morin Scott, 
 an eminent advocate, who threw himself heartily into 
 the cause. Chancellor Kent, who was to keep up the 
 college representation in legal circles in New York 
 after the war, speaks of him as " one of that band of 
 deep-read and thorough lawyers of the old school, who 
 were an ornament to the city at the commencement 
 of the Revolution." In all there were about seventy 
 graduates in the State in 1775, most of whom lived in 
 the city or on Long Island. As a body they suffered 
 from the war more than any others. Philip Living 
 ston, Lewis Morris, and Scott, were nearly ruined 
 their fine mansions and estates, in or near the city, 
 being confiscated and despoiled by the enemy. The 
 house of Dr. John A. Graham, class of 1768, was 
 burned by the British after the battle at White Plains. 
 Some were fugitives from their homes during the 
 entire contest ; and some were Tories who will be 
 briefly noticed in the operations of 1779. 
 
 In New Jersey we had about twenty graduates, 
 several of whom were settled pastors. Three or four 
 of the younger alumni were prospecting in Wyoming 
 Valley, Westmoreland County, Penn., which Con 
 necticut then claimed as her territory. Others were 
 to be found in the tracts which afterwards became 
 the States of New Hampshire and Vermont. Lyman 
 Hall, the " Signer," had made his home in Liberty 
 County, Georgia. Very few, if any, were then living in 
 either Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or the Carolinas. 
 
The Alumni in 1775. i 
 
 The college in 1775 numbered one hundred and 
 sixty-four students, who graduated with their respec 
 tive classes. Rev. Dr. Naphtali Daggett was Presi 
 dent and Professor of Divinity ; Rev. Nehemiah 
 Strong, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Phi 
 losophy. Timothy Dwight, Joseph Buckminster, 
 Abraham Baldwin, and John Lewis were Tutors, the 
 first three of whom subsequently became chaplains 
 in the army. Three buildings were then standing on 
 the grounds, two of which remain to-day old 
 South Middle and the Athenaeum, which served both 
 as a chapel and a library. 
 
 These graduates and students, we may repeat, were 
 typical colonists. Barring the few who were either 
 avowed loyalists or assumed a neutral attitude where 
 they could, they belonged to the class which formed 
 the soul of the Revolution. Most of them doubtless 
 felt with Dr. Stiles in July, 1 774, that : " If oppression 
 proceeds, despotism may force an annual Congress ; 
 and a public spirit of enterprise may originate an 
 American Magna Charta and Bill of Rights, supported 
 by such intrepid and persevering importunity as even 
 sovereignty may hereafter judge it not wise to with 
 stand. THERE WILL BE A RUNNYMEDE IN AMERICA." 
 
 
EVENTS IN 1775-76. 
 
 The Alarm at the College Young Huntington Chipman s Epic Washington 
 and the Students Company Noah Webster Graduates in the General 
 Uprising Bunker Hill Letters from Chester, Grosvenor, Sherman 
 Dr. Stiles in Camp Ticonderoga and Quebec Wooster, Brown, Coit, 
 Babcock Boston Evacuated Col. Gay. 
 
 TURNING first to the college, when the war opened, 
 we are quite prepared to find that little community 
 as deeply agitated as any other, and responding as 
 quickly to the popular sympathies. There is this 
 reference to the situation in the journal of one of the 
 students, which expresses much : 
 
 " Friday. April 21, . To-day tidings of the battle of Lex 
 ington, which is the first engagement with the British troops, ar 
 rived at New Haven. This filled the country with alarm and 
 rendered it impossible for us to pursue our studies to any profit." 
 
 The student was Ebenezer Fitch, of the Sophomore 
 class, who was to become the first president of Wil 
 liams College. It is fortunate for our purposes that 
 his journal has been preserved, as the extract quoted 
 appears to be, with an item in the diary of President 
 Stiles, the only contemporary record we have of the 
 effect produced by the Lexington news at Yale. And 
 startling news it was, no doubt. One may readily 
 picture the scene of excitement around the old halls 
 that evening as the students and townsmen alike 
 dwelt upon the details of the encounter and can 
 vassed the probability of having a war at their very 
 
 8 
 
Events in 1775-76. 9 
 
 doors. What shows that they were all profoundly 
 moved, is the fact that on the next day class exercises 
 were suspended and college " broke up." The stu 
 dious Fitch himself could not keep to his books, but 
 went home to Canterbury, and soon after visited the 
 camps then forming around Boston. It was not 
 until June ist that he returned to college. 1 So too, 
 Ezra Stiles, of the same class, surprised his father at 
 Newport, by arriving on the 26th with word that 
 the students were dispersing. 2 Clearly, with drums 
 beating, rumors flying, and serious speculation going 
 on over the consequences of a general conflict with 
 the mother country, there could be little attentive 
 studying for a time. It was something more than an 
 ephemeral excitement or interruption. Three or four 
 of the students, as tradition goes, closed their studies 
 at once and fell into the line of volunteers marching 
 northward. It is certain that Ebenezer Huntington 
 of the Senior class was one. His father, the Hon. 
 Jabez Huntington, of the class of 1741, then a mem 
 ber of the Upper House of Connecticut, and his elder 
 brother, Jedidiah, graduate of Harvard, and after 
 wards general in the Continental army, had both 
 stepped forward unhesitatingly in the earlier stages of 
 the crisis, which may go to explain young Ebenezer s 
 enthusiasm. The tradition in his case, sufficiently 
 supported by the record, is to the effect that failing 
 to obtain permission from the college authorities to 
 
 the diary in "Sketch of the late Rev. Ebenezer Fitch, D.D.," by 
 Rev. Calvin Durfee, Boston, 1865. 
 
 2 Dr. Stiles, in his diary for April 26, 1775, Newport : "About sunset 
 Ezra arrived from Yale College, which broke up last Saturday. The news of 
 Lexington reached New Haven on Friday night." 
 
IO 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 leave immediately, he decamped that Friday night 
 with some of his companions, went to Wethersfield, 
 and then pushed on to the front at Boston, where he 
 found his brother before him. His own home was at 
 Norwich, but at Wethersfield lived his brother-in-law, 
 John Chester, class of 1766, captain of an alarm com 
 pany, and of whom we shall presently hear again, 
 which would account for his hurrying directly to 
 that town. While the faculty were evidently dis 
 pleased at this breach of discipline, they could not 
 but have quietly admired his prompt decision in the 
 case, especially when we recall that the patriotic 
 Daggett was then president, and at the graduation of 
 his class they gave him his diploma ; so that Hunt- 
 ington s name appears both upon the college catalogue 
 and upon the roster of those officers who served un 
 interruptedly and with honor from the beginning to 
 the close of the war. 
 
 The names of the other irrepressible students, who 
 are said to have been Huntington s companions in 
 his flight, do not appear. That class of 75 furnished 
 some fine young officers for the army, several of 
 whom began their service on graduation. Belden, 
 Bushnell, Daggett, Judson, Mix, Morris, Peck, Sill, 
 and Welles became old campaigners, and it is possi 
 ble that one or more of them left with Huntington 
 in April, and then returned to graduate in regular 
 course. Daniel Lyman, of the Junior class, may 
 also have been among the number, as, according to 
 recollections in his family, he joined the expedition 
 against Ticonderoga, in May, and was engaged in the 
 surprise of that important fortress. But in those first 
 
Events in 1775-76. n 
 
 days of alarm and muster we will remember all the 
 students the great body of them, certainly as 
 spirited and true, without distinction. If preference 
 is to be given to any one of them, as being bolder 
 than the rest, it should be perhaps to the Sophomore, 
 Nathaniel Chipman, Vermont s future Chief-Justice, 
 who dared to fan the flame of resistance by writing 
 some martial poetry, and publishing it in the town 
 newspaper. An extract from it must have a place 
 here : 
 
 " America, where freedom held her reign, 
 Now first is doomed to wear the galling chain. ^^ 
 Oppressed, she groans beneath a lawless powe^ " 
 And quakes to hear the gathering tempest nwliy 4 Y 7 
 Rise ! sons of freedom ! close the glorious fig^-* 
 Stand for religion, for your country s right. 
 Resist the tyrant, disappoint his hopes, 
 Fear not his navies, or his veteran troops. 
 Think on those heroes who resigned their breath 
 To tools of tyrants, ministers of death, 
 Who firm, the rage of tyranny withstood, 
 And seal d the cause of liberty with blood. 
 Let their example patriot zeal inspire, 
 And every breast with martial ardor fire. 
 O Heaven ! be gracious ; save our sinking land, 
 
 Crush our proud foes with thine avenging hand." : 
 
 i 
 
 By the first of June, the students had generally re 
 turned to the college, their war spirit evidently still 
 high. One of their number, Abiathar Camp, show 
 ing Tory proclivities, was made the subject of a class 
 meeting, and denounced as an " enemy to his coun 
 try," which meant that all social intercourse with him 
 was to be withheld. Meantime many of them fell to 
 
 "Life of Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, LL.D.," Boston, 1846. 
 
12 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 drilling. A company was organized, either then or 
 at an earlier date, which soon attracted attention by 
 its military bearing. Who the members or who the 
 officers were we do not know, but either among the 
 drummers or fifers one would have seen, upon his 
 own statement, a Freshman by the name of Noah 
 Webster. Stout young Whigs, as nearly all these 
 collegians we re, and not a few of them the sons of 
 public leaders in the colony, they seem to have an 
 ticipated a protracted struggle and the necessity of 
 their own participation in it at no distant day. It 
 requires no effort of the imagination to picture them, 
 dressed in the long coat of the period, knee breeches, 
 and cocked hats, and armed with weighty flint-lock 
 muskets, marching up and down the campus with the 
 air of veterans and a buoyant confidence that they 
 could at least defend that favored spot against the 
 king s minions. 
 
 One event soon occurred which must have been 
 long remembered, and perhaps settled the course of 
 some of the graduating class who may have wavered 
 as to their duty to join the army. This was Wash 
 ington s presence in the town, June 28th, for the first 
 time as the American Commander-in-Chief, when the 
 college company and the two local companies turned 
 out to do him the honors of the occasion. The New 
 Haven journal of the day, noticing the troops and the 
 throng of people who were out, mentions in particu 
 lar " a company of young gentlemen belonging to the 
 seminary in this place, who made a handsome appear 
 ance, and whose expertness in the military exercises 
 gained them the approbation of the generals " ; but a 
 
Events in 1775-76. 13 
 
 more satisfactory account is the following, which 
 Noah Webster himself gave some years later in an 
 address before a gathering of young people : 
 
 "In the year 1775 General Washington passed through New 
 Haven on his way to Cambridge in Massachusetts, to take com 
 mand of the American army. He was accompanied by General 
 Charles Lee, who had been an officer in the British service. 
 These gentlemen lodged in New Haven at the house of the late 
 Isaac Beers, and in the morning they were invited to see a mili 
 tary company of students of Yale College perform their manual 
 exercises. They expressed their surprise and gratification at the 
 precision with which the students performed the customary exer 
 cises then in use. This company then escorted the generals as 
 far as Neck Bridge ; and this was the first instance of that honor 
 conferred on General Washington in New England. It fell to my 
 humble lot to lead this company with music. I was then a Fresh 
 man in Yale College." > 
 
 The day s incidents proved a pleasant reminiscence 
 for both town and college, and doubtless for Wash 
 ington, but the impression upon his memory would 
 have been more vivid could he have then known that 
 of the youthful students whom he saw that morning, 
 more than forty were, sooner or later, to join his Con 
 tinentals, and most of them pass with him through all 
 the varied experiences of the war. 
 
 Of the college company we hear occasionally after 
 this. At a New Haven town meeting, held Novem 
 ber 5, 1775, it was voted " That the Governor be de 
 sired to permit one hundred stands of arms to be 
 lodged in the library for the use of a company in 
 Yale College" ; and again, " That should a company 
 in college be formed and accoutred, they draw half a 
 
 1 From the original MSS. in possession of Paul L. Ford, Brooklyn, L. I. 
 The Beers house stood on the site of the present New Haven House. 
 
14 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 pound of powder to each man." This action would 
 indicate that the company which Washington re 
 viewed had broken up in the fall, owing probably to 
 the graduation of the class of 1775 ; but as New 
 Haven was an exposed place, some sort of an organi 
 zation was kept up, and in 1779 the students will be 
 heard from again. 
 
 Beyond the college, there was the general uprising. 
 The Lexington alarm prompted a spontaneous march 
 of trainbands and volunteers from all points to the 
 help of the Massachusetts people. " Our neighbor 
 ing towns," writes some one, " are arming and mov 
 ing. Men of the first character and property shoulder 
 their arms and march off for the field of action." 
 College graduates were among them, and in respecta 
 ble numbers, the number increasing during the sum 
 mer and fall as war became an accepted fact. Of 
 the Yale alumni, John Paterson, class of 1762, was 
 very early at the front. He lived at Lenox, Mass., 
 was a member of the provincial Congress, then tem 
 porarily adjourned, and commanded a regiment of 
 Berkshire County militia. The alarm reached Lenox 
 on the evening of the 2Oth, and early the next morn 
 ing the regiment was on the march. It took post 
 about a mile and a half beyond Cambridge, and 
 threw up one of the first redoubts on the line which 
 was to turn Boston into a besieged town. Moses 
 Ashley, class of 1 767, was an ensign in the same regi 
 ment ; and Rev. David Avery, class of 1 769, chap 
 lain. Another militia regiment of Worcester and 
 Hampshire County men, stationed at Roxbury, was 
 commanded by Col. Timothy Danielson, of the class 
 
Events in 1775-6. 15 
 
 of 1756. When the alarm reached Wethersfield, 
 Conn., John Chester, class of 1766, already men 
 tioned, started off at the head of a fine company of 
 one hundred young men, equipped by the town with 
 twenty days provision and sixty-four rounds of am 
 munition each. From New Haven, Jesse Leaven- 
 worth, class of 1759, went as lieutenant of volunteers, 
 under Benedict Arnold. Jabez Hamlin, class of 1769, 
 was ensign of Captain Meigs Middletown train-band. 
 Isaac Sherman, class of 1770, son of Roger Sherman, 
 the "Signer," commanded a Massachusetts company. 
 Ebenezer Moseley, class of 1763, led a company 
 formed of "the Gentlemen Inhabitants of Canada 
 Society, in Windham County, Conn., to the number 
 of sixty able-bodied, effective men," who engaged 
 " immediately to equip themselves with arms and war 
 like stores, and be in readiness to march against and 
 oppose any enemy that may attempt the destruction 
 of our lawful rights." 
 
 Presently, as better organization became necessary, 
 we get more complete records and more names. 
 Connecticut raised several regiments to serve for the 
 year at different points. David Wooster, of the class 
 of 1738, a name closely associated with New Haven 
 in Wooster Street and Wooster Square, and more 
 closely associated with the names of revolutionary 
 heroes in his brave death in 1777, was made a general 
 of militia with a regiment also under his personal 
 command. During the summer of 1775 he was 
 posted at and near New York, where upon his arrival 
 he was entertained by the City Military Club with a 
 public dinner. In June Congress made him a Con- 
 
1 6 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 tinental brigadier, and in September he joined the 
 Northern Department, where he had served in the 
 French and Indian War. Among graduates in his 
 command were Lieut. Jesse Leavenworth, who had 
 returned from Massachusetts, Lieut. Robert Walker, 
 James Lockwood, Chaplains Cotton Mather Smith 
 and Benjamin Trumbull, and Surgeons Jared Potter 
 and Samuel Whiting. The greater part of the Con 
 necticut troops, however, were sent to the Boston 
 lines, where before the close of the siege in March, 
 1776, there might have been found, in addition to 
 the officers already mentioned, such others as Colonel 
 Samuel Wyllys ; Lieut.-Colonels Experience Storrs 
 and Fisher Gay; Brigade-Major John Palsgrave 
 Wyllys; Captains William Coit, William Hull, 
 Nathan Hale, the " Martyr Spy," Ebenezer Craft, and 
 Theophilus Munson ; Lieutenants Thomas Grosvenor, 
 Andrew Hillyer, Richard Sill, Ebenezer Huntington, 
 Simeon Newell, Ebenezer Gray, William Peck, John 
 Elderkin, Enoch and Joshua Lamb Woodbridge ; En 
 signs Jonathan Heart and Ezra Selden ; Chaplains 
 John Cleaveland, Benjamin Boardman, Stephen John 
 son, Oliver Noble, and William Plumbe ; and Surgeon 
 Josiah Hart. Three graduates from Rhode Island 
 were Colonels Daniel Hitchcock and Henry Babcock, 
 and Lieut.-Colonel James Babcock. This list is neces 
 sarily incomplete, as the rolls of several regiments 
 and companies which encamped around Boston at dif 
 ferent times during the siege do not exist ; but there 
 cannot be many names missing. The college may be 
 said to have been represented by fifty-five or more 
 graduates at Boston and other points in the opera 
 tions of the year 1775. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 17 
 
 After Lexington, the signal events of the year were 
 the capture of Ticonderoga, the battle of Bunker 
 Hill, and the attempt upon Quebec. Bunker Hill 
 claims attention first as the natural conclusion of 
 Lexington. It was towards Boston that the New 
 England provincials hurried to prevent the repetition 
 of incursions, and they hemmed the British in by 
 blockading the highways and fortifying the country 
 around. On the night of June i6th, Putnam and 
 Prescott pushed matters to an issue by fortifying the 
 hill above Charlestown, and on the following day, 
 the 1 7th, occurred the historic battle. The American 
 line of defence consisted of a redoubt on the hill, 
 with breastworks, barricades, and a post-and-rail 
 fence on the left. 
 
 Six or more of our graduates took part in this bat 
 tle, all of them belonging to the Connecticut detach 
 ment, which is credited with particularly good con 
 duct on that day. They were Captains John Ches 
 ter, William Coit, and Ebenezer Mosely, Lieutenants 
 Thomas Grosvenor and (probably) Ebenezer Gray, 
 and Jonathan Heart, whom tradition puts there as a 
 private soldier. Their position was at the breastwork 
 and rail-fence, where, as all accounts agree, a stout 
 resistance was made. It was a good test of their 
 resolution and their nerves to face the disciplined 
 redcoats as they moved up the hill in deep lines, 
 and all the provincials concerned were justly praised 
 for fighting so well before retreating. Lieutenant 
 Grosvenor was slightly wounded and lost about one 
 third of his soldiers. Captain Coit, whose company 
 was composed largely of New London sailors, is 
 
1 8 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 described as being in " stature and intrepidity," next 
 to McClary, the herculean major of Stark s New 
 Hampshire men, who was killed in the action. Cap 
 tain Chester and his company did not reach the hill 
 till late, but they went into the fight at once and took 
 their places behind the fence, where every man, as 
 Chester says, loaded and fired as fast as he could. 
 The hill and the earthworks fell to the enemy, but the 
 battle belonged to the provincials. It was also a 
 valuable experience for our soldiers, and we shall 
 hear from them all again. Grosvenor, Gray, and 
 Heart, for instance, fought through the war and rose 
 to the rank of field-officers. 
 
 There was much to be done after the battle to 
 secure the retreat and prevent the enemy from pursu 
 ing beyond Charlestown Neck into the open country. 
 Lieut-Colonel Storrs, of Putnam s regiment, was up 
 nearly all night with his men working on a redoubt 
 to command the Neck road. Colonel Paterson s 
 regiment with others stood under arms to defend 
 Cambridge. All were alert ; but the enemy had 
 suffered too heavily to make any further demonstra 
 tion. Then came letters, accounts, and affidavits 
 respecting the battle, many of which long since found 
 their way into print, but they have their interest, and 
 for the present record some things the graduates said 
 will bear repeating. Chester s letter for one, fresh 
 from the scene, dated Camp at Cambridge, July 22, 
 1775, is as follows, the last part unfortunately lost: 
 
 . . . Just after dinner, on Saturday, lyth ult, I was 
 walking out from my lodgings, quite calm and composed, and all 
 at once the drums beat to arms, and bells rang, and a great 
 
Events in 1775-76. 19 
 
 noise in Cambridge. Capt. Putnam came by on full gallop. 
 What is the matter ? says I. Have you not heard ? No. Why, 
 the regulars are landing at Charlestown, says he ; and father 
 [Gen. Putnam] says you must all meet, and march immediately to 
 Bunker Hill to oppose the enemy. I waited not, but ran, and 
 got my arms and ammunition, and hasted to my company (who 
 were in the church for barracks), and found them nearly ready 
 to march. We soon marched, with our frocks and trousers 
 on over our other clothes (for our company is in uniform wholly 
 blue, turned up with red), for we were loath to expose ourselves 
 by our dress ; and down we marched. I imagined we arrived at 
 
 the hill near the close of the battle We were very 
 
 soon in the heat of action. Before we reached the summit of 
 Bunker Hill, and while we were going over the Neck, we were in 
 imminent danger from the cannon shot, which buzzed around us 
 like hail. The musquetry began before we passed the Neck, and 
 when we were on the top of the hill and during our descent to the 
 foot of it on the south, the small as well as cannon shot were in 
 cessantly whistling by us. We joined our army on the right 
 of the centre, just by a poor stone fence, two or three feet high, 
 and very thin, so that the bullets came through. Here we lost 
 our regularity, as every company had done before us, and fought 
 as they did, every man loading and firing as fast as he could. As 
 near as I could guess we fought standing about six minutes." : 
 
 Grosvenor describes what he saw of the fight as 
 follows : 
 
 " Our detachment, in advancing to the post, took up one rail- 
 fence and placed it against another (as a partial cover), nearly 
 parallel with the line of the breast-work, and extended our left 
 nearly to Mystic-river. Each man was furnished with one pound 
 of gunpowder and forty-eight balls. ... In this position 
 our detachment remained, until a second Division of British 
 
 1 From Frothingham s "Siege of Boston." Chester s lieutenant, Samuel 
 B. Webb, of Wethersfield, afterwards aid to Washington and colonel in the 
 Continental army, wrote about the same time : " For my part, I confess, when 
 I was descending into the valley, from off Bunker Hill, side by side of Captain 
 Chester, at the head of our company, I had no more thought of ever rising the 
 hill again than I had of ascending to Heaven, as Elijah did, soul and body to 
 gether." 
 
2O 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 troops landed, when they commenced a fire of their field-artillery 
 of several rounds, and particularly against the rail-fence ; then 
 formed in columns, advanced to the attack, displayed in line at 
 about the distance of musket-shot, and commenced firing. At 
 this instant, our whole line opened upon the enemy ; and so pre 
 cise and fatal was our fire, that in the course of a short time, they 
 gave way and retired in disorder out of musket shot, leaving be 
 fore us many killed and wounded. There was but a short respite 
 on the part of the British, as their lines were soon filled up and 
 led against us, when they were met as before, and forced back 
 with great loss. On reinforcements joining the enemy, they 
 made a direct advance on the redoubt ; and being successful, 
 which our brave Captain Knowlton perceiving, ordered a retreat 
 of his men, in which he was sustained by two companies under 
 the command of Captains Clark and Chester. The loss in our 
 detachment, I presume, was nearly equal. Of my own immedi 
 ate command of thirty men and one subaltern, there were eleven 
 killed and wounded ; among the latter was myself, though not so 
 severely as to prevent my retiring." 1 
 
 Lieut. -Colonel Storrs had been on the hill early in 
 the day, but returned to the command of that part of 
 Putnam s regiment still in camp. On the landing of 
 the regulars at Charlestown, he was ordered to one of 
 the forts near Cambridge. In his brief diary, still 
 preserved, he goes on to say, on the 1 7th : 
 
 . . . No enemy appearing orders soon came that our 
 People at the Intrenchment were retreating and for us to secure 
 y e retreat. Immediately marched for their relief. The Regulars 
 did not come off from Bunker s Hill but have taken possession 
 of the Intrenchments and our People make a Stand on Winter 
 Hill and we immediately went to entrenching. Flung up by 
 morning an entrenchment about 100 feet square. Done princi 
 pally by our Regiment under Putnam s direction. Had but little 
 sleep the night. . . . The action was rather precipitate the 
 entrenchment exposed to the fire of all y e ships and in a place 
 
 1 From the Portfolio, March, 1818. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 21 
 
 where the enemy landed their men under y e cover of the cannon 
 from the ships, and the Post not sufficiently guarded. They 
 forced the entrenchment without much difficulty. 
 
 " 26 th . We hear a Chief Officer is appointed a Gen 1 Washington 
 of Virginia to supercede in the command of y e Troops here." 
 
 Bunker Hill was followed by the siege of Boston, 
 which dragged on into the following March. During 
 the fall and winter the soldiers received visits from 
 their friends, and good things from home. In fact, 
 they were too near their homes, and many stole away 
 for a few days, or left altogether, much to the disgust 
 of officers who were trying to enforce discipline. 
 Chester speaks of this in one of his letters : " The 
 country," he says, "must support his Excellency and 
 the army in this matter, and exert themselves in de 
 tecting and bringing to punishment all offenders. If 
 a firm stand is not now made, we shall never have an 
 army worth a fig." At the same time he was not 
 averse to comforts himself, and on August 28th writes, 
 to our amusement : " I cannot yet live to my mind. 
 Our provision is not a fifth part so good as when 
 we lived from our own colony store. I care not how 
 much of a Continental war it is, but I pray for Con 
 necticut provisions. . . . Half the time no sauce, 
 no milk. . . . The Congress allow no butter, 
 chocolate, or coffe, or sugar, which our colony al 
 lowed us." The pork, "thin, poor, flashy stuff." 
 
 " I 11 tell you," Chester goes on to say, " how I intend to work 
 the matter to Live Better. Brother Jed. Huntington, the Colonel, 
 is stationed very near our Regiment. Jno. Trumbull is lately 
 made Major of our Brigade, & is back again with us at Roxbury. 
 
 1 A portion of the diary of Colonel Storrs, some letters from Captain Chester, 
 and Colonel Gay s brief journal were published by the writer in the Magazine 
 of American History, vol. for 1882. Further extracts are given. 
 
22 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Stephen Thayer is sutler for Huntington s Reg 1 . Park, a young 
 Gentleman from Philadelphia, is Deputy Qua r Mas r under 
 Mifflin, who is Q r M r or Barrack Master Gen 1 . As Mifflin is at 
 Cambridge, Mr. Park is on our wing of the army. We five 
 propose to hire a Room, Kitchen, and Chamber in a House at 
 the foot of the Hill where we are encamp d , and hire a woman 
 to wash and cook for us. My Lieut, will be allowed to join us, 
 if he is a clever fellow ; & if he is not so he shall not be in our 
 company. Here we intend to Live Genteely with our waiters, 
 and Lodge in Tents." 
 
 Chester was a good soldier not the first one to 
 believe in camp luxuries and his new lieutenant, 
 who joined the mess, was to become another in the 
 person of Ebenezer Huntington. The latter had 
 served as a volunteer up to September, when he was 
 regularly appointed in Chester s company. 
 
 The Boston encampment was a novelty for New 
 England, and many persons visited it, some from 
 curiosity, others on business. Among the number 
 was one of our oldest graduates, and the oldest who 
 was actively concerned in war preparations the 
 Hon. Joshua Babcock, class of 1724, of Westerly, R. I. 
 He was introduced to Washington by letter from 
 Gov. Cooke, of that State, as a gentleman who had 
 " highly distinguished himself in the glorious cause in 
 which America is embarked." Another was Rev. Dr. 
 Stiles, than whom there was no warmer supporter of 
 the revolutionary movement, and the full diary he kept 
 of the events of the war, now preserved in the Library, 
 shows how constant his interest remained throughout. 
 An extract from this diary, giving an account of his visit 
 to camp, comes in place here. Under date of Septem 
 ber n, 1775, upon his return to Newport, he writes : 
 
 1 Chester to Mr Burrall, August 28, 1775. From the original, in possession 
 of the late Rev. Dr. John Chester, Washington, D. C. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 23 
 
 " Last Monday I set out for camp, & arrived there on Wed 
 nesday, 6th inst. I dined that day at Watertown with President 
 Langdon [of Harvard], who told me the Corporation had that 
 day met there, & voted that the students should be called 
 together & academic exercises be set up at Concord. Here I 
 saw my uncle Eldad Taylor, Esq., one of the new elected Coun 
 cillors. After dinner I rode to Head Quarters at Cambridge, 
 visited General Putnam, took a cursory view of the encampments, 
 & lodged at Rev d Mr. Farell s, Act. seventy-two, of Medford, so 
 as to be without the camp. Next morn g Rev. Mr. McLintock, 
 Chaplain of New Hampshire Forces, introduced me to Gen. 
 Sullivan, and carried me thro the encamp ts on Winter Hill, Pros 
 pect Hill, & on the E. of Cambridge that is, the encamp 1 of 
 the Left Wing, & Center of the Army. The works are astonish 
 ing ! The Lines are done with a sufficient degree of Elegance, 
 but their Strength & the Quantity of Line & Fortific a are amazing, 
 considered as the work of one Summer only. The whole army 
 is in 3 divisions of two Brigades each. A brigade is 6 Reg ts of 
 10 companies each ; & each comp a 60 Men. So a Brigade 3600, 
 if full, & a Division about 7000. The 3 divisions are 22000. 
 There are some Boys and others worthless Fellows ; but these, 
 with the sick & unfit for duty, & Absentees on Furlough were 
 estimated to me far short of one Quarter of the Army. The 
 Man-Boys are equal to men in general for Duty, especially in an 
 engagement. The rest of the Army were robust, hardy, brave 
 Men, the Flower of N. Engld. So that they told me it might be 
 relied upon that they qad sixteen Thousd. healthy, rugged, 
 courageous, invincible Troops, fit for Action & Enterprize. 
 These are enough. The Arrangement is : the right wing at Rox- 
 bury and Dorchester, 2 Brigades, 7000 ; the left wing at Pros 
 pect, Winter & Plow d Hills, 7000 ; the Center at Cambridge, 7000. 
 The Generals command thus : 
 
 Major-Gen. Ward, His Excell? Gen. Washington, Major-Gen. Lee, 
 B.-Gen. Thomas, Major-Gen. Putnam, B.-Gen. Sullivan, 
 
 B.-Gen. Spencer. B.-Gen. Heath. B.-Gen. Greene. 
 
24 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " The Tents begin on Winter Hill, about i J mile from Mystic 
 Bridge, & so extend all along round to the mouth of Cambridge 
 River. I began the Inspection upon Winter Hill. Here is the 
 largest Fortress in the Army ; one side of it is above one hundred 
 Rods. In a Valley between Winter and prospect Hills is 
 Gen. Lee s House ; we went to it, but he was gone on plow d 
 Hill, so I missed seeing him. Then we proceeded to Prospect 
 Hill, went into Major Sherburn s marquiss Tent. The Major was 
 appointed to Duty, & Col. Hitchcock was so obliging as to carry 
 me thro the Lines. The works are of astonishing Strength. 
 Thence we proceeded & viewed the encamp 15 of the Central 
 Division at Cambridge, and dined at Gen. Putnam s. In the 
 Afternoon, Mr. Leonard carried me to Col. Trumbull s, who pro 
 vides for the Army. There I saw Rev d Mr. Blair (formerly Pas 
 tor of the Old S in B), now Chaplain to the Rifle Men, 800. 
 Then we waited upon his Excellency General Washington, who 
 received us very politely, & invited me to dinner. I was also in 
 troduced to Gen. Heath & Adjutant Gen. Gates, a martial man. 
 After visiting College, now converted into Barracks, we went to 
 the Meetinghouse at VI o Clock. Here I prayed with the Central 
 Brigade, and lodged at Gen. Putnams with Mr. Leonard ; spent 
 the Evening in Company with the General and Gen. Wash 5 
 Aide de Camp, Mr. Randolph, & sundry other Gentlemen very 
 agreeably. 
 
 ." In the Morning of the 8th ins 1 I rode over to Roxbury, & 
 passed Major Gen. Ward s House before I knew it. I break 
 fasted at Gen. Spencers. Then Rev. Mr. Johnson & Rev d Mr. 
 Boardman, two of the Connecticut Chaplains, walked with me & 
 shewed me all the Lines in the 3d Division, or Right wing, under 
 the Command of Gen. Ward. They introduced me to Gen. 
 Thomas also where we sat & conversed some time very agreeably. 
 Then about XI o Clock I took Leave & set out for home." 
 
 In this connection, also, is inserted a personal let 
 ter from Captain Isaac Sherman to his father in Con 
 gress at Philadelphia. It is one of a very few known 
 to exist written by this officer, who subsequently be 
 came quite distinguished in the Continental army. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 25 
 
 He was at this time captain in Gerrish s, afterwards 
 Baldwin s, Massachusetts regiment : 
 
 " BROOKLINE FORT, AT SEWALL S POINT, September 8, 1775. 
 
 " HON RD SIR: I received your letter dated August 2ist, 
 which is the only one received since that favored by Col. Fol- 
 som. It gives me great pleasure to hear that my friends are in a 
 good state of health. Mr. Dagget s stay was so very short that I 
 could not possibly have wrote, he told me you would set out for 
 Philadelphia before his return. 
 
 " I was appointed by the Mass tts Province. Business of al 
 most every kind was entirely stagnated in this Province by rea 
 son of the Publick difficulties, which rendered it almost impossible 
 to obtain any employment sufficient to procure a maintenance, 
 was an inducement for me to enter the army : but far from being 
 the only one. The goodness of the Cause, a desire of being a use 
 ful Member of society and of serving my Country, a thirst for 
 glory, real glory, were the grand incentives. I hope by the as 
 sistance of the Deity I shall be enabled to serve every useful end, 
 never to reflect dishonor upon the Family or myself. The dis 
 tance being so great, the necessity of being Expeditious in recruit 
 ing, rendered it almost impossible to have consulted with you on 
 the affair. I am so far from thinking the advice of the experi 
 enced disadvantageous to youth that I apprehend it to be incum 
 bent duty of young Men to consult and advise with those who are 
 acquainted with the various mancevres of Mankind, and espe 
 cially with a kind, indulgent Parent, who always consults the good 
 of his children. 
 
 " The Questions you proposed I shall answer with Pleasure. I 
 am stationed at Brookline Fort, at Sewall s Point, situated be 
 tween Cambridge and Roxbury, on Charles River. We have no 
 great prospect of a Battle at present. They will never presume 
 without a very Considerable Reinforcement to attempt to force our 
 lines, which are very strong ; nor we theirs. The army is very 
 healthy, in fine spirits, resolute in the Cause. We have no certain 
 News from the British Troops, a few deserters now and then ; 
 but their relations are to be but little depended on. The people 
 in Boston have been and still are in a very disagreeable situation. 
 They have liberty to come out, but they come out very slow, for 
 
26 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 a few Boats pass a day, and those over Winissinet Ferry only. 
 The Generals are well. We have various accounts from England, 
 but no Intelligence to be depended on. Nothing remarkable has 
 happened here of late. Judges nor Justices are appointed. But 
 the Assembly in their next session, I understand, are a going to 
 appoint them. The Council at present are settling the Militia of 
 the Province. I should esteem it a great favor to be informed as 
 soon as possible of the Plan preferred by the Continental Con 
 gress for raising troops for the ensuing Campaign, whether I 
 could obtain the Command of a regiment if I could raise one. 
 
 " There are a number of things I stand in great need of, which 
 cannot easily be procured here but at a very extravagant price. 
 Should be glad you would furnish me with a genteel Hanger 
 [sword], a yard and a half of superfine scarlet Broadcloth with 
 suitable Trimmings for a coat of Uniform, and a piece of Holland. 
 I am in good health ; very much pleased with a Military life, tho gh 
 attended with many inconveniences. I shall for the future take 
 every opportunity of writing, and when anything of importance 
 occurs, shall endeavor to give the earliest intelligence. 
 " I am, Sir, your most dutiful Son, 
 
 " ISAAC SHERMAN. 
 
 " N. B. I should be glad to know what number of men a regi 
 ment will consist of the ensuing campaign. Mr. Seevar, the Bearer 
 of this, will tarry some days in Philadelphia he is after goods. 
 You may, if agreeable, have an opportunity of sending the Things 
 I wrote for with his, and they will be conveyed with safety to me. 
 Mr. Sevar will purchase the quantity of goods he propose at N. 
 York ; these things may be obtained there and sent with his if 
 equally agreeable to you. 
 
 " To the Hon ble Roger Sherman, Esq r , at Philadelphia ; 
 favored by Mr. Sevar." 1 
 
 While troops were hurrying toward Boston, after 
 the Lexington alarm, there occurred, May zoth, the 
 clever surprise of old Fort Ticonderoga, at Lake 
 George. Major John Brown, class of 1771, figured 
 
 3 For a copy of this letter the writer is indebted to the Hon. George F. Hoar, 
 Senator from Massachusetts, a descendant of Roger Sherman. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 27 
 
 prominently in that affair and afterwards in that de 
 partment. He was a rising young lawyer, of Berk 
 shire County, Mass., a capable, manly fellow, full of 
 spirit and resolution, who, on several occasions, did 
 capital service and finally gave his life to the country. 
 Acquainted with his merits, as he was a member of 
 the last Provincial Congress, the Massachusetts Com 
 mittee of Safety requested him, early in 1775, to 
 make a trip into Canada to ascertain the temper of 
 the people and movements of the authorities. This 
 duty he promptly undertook, and on March 2Qth wrote 
 an interesting letter from Montreal to the committee, 
 giving them much information and making some ex 
 cellent suggestions. The letter is important as con 
 taining, so far as the records show, the first proposal 
 to secure Ticonderoga, the old strategic point of the 
 French and Indian War. Brown s words are these : 
 " One thing I must mention, to be kept as a profound 
 secret. The fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as 
 soon as possible, should hostilities be committed by 
 the king s troops. The people on New Hampshire 
 Grants have engaged to do this business, and in my 
 opinion they are the most proper persons for this 
 job. This will effectually curb this Province, and all 
 Troops that may be sent here." x 
 
 Massachusetts was preparing to act upon this hint 
 after Lexington, when Connecticut anticipated her 
 with an independent movement in which our gradu 
 ates again appear. An expedition was set on foot 
 from Hartford, at the instance of ten or twelve in 
 dividuals who advanced the necessary funds from the 
 
 1 Letter published in full in Force s American Archives, 
 
28 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 public treasury, giving their own notes as security. 
 Among them were Joshua Porter, class of 1754, and 
 Silas Deane and Samuel Wyllys, class of 1758. 
 Harvard was represented by Samuel H olden Par 
 sons and William Williams. The prompt action of 
 these gentlemen, proceeding on their own responsi 
 bility, led to speedy success. A few volunteers from 
 Connecticut marched to Pittsfield, where they were 
 joined by John Brown, as well as Israel Dickinson, 
 of the class of 1758, and all continued the march to 
 Bennington and Castleton. There, Hampshire men 
 were met, and an organization effected under Col 
 onels Ethan Allen and Easton, and on the morning 
 of May loth, the garrison of the fort was surprised 
 and captured. This was an acquisition. Brown and 
 Dickinson engaged in the affair, and are mentioned 
 in Colonel Allen s report as having " distinguished 
 themselves very highly both in council and action." 
 Brown marched the prisoners out of the fortress, and 
 was then despatched to report the capture in person 
 to Congress. 
 
 When Montgomery afterwards proceeded to oc 
 cupy Canada, Brown accompanied him as major of 
 Easton s Massachusetts regiment. On the way, in 
 October, he assisted in compelling the surrender of 
 Chamblee and received his general s thanks. " Major 
 Brown," says Montgomery, " offered his services upon 
 this occasion. Upon this, and all other occasions, I 
 have found him active and intelligent." Pushing on 
 to Montreal, where Gen. Wooster, who cordially sup 
 ported Montgomery, was left in command, the main 
 party continued their march to Quebec, to meet Ar- 
 
Events in 1775-76. 29 
 
 nold and assault the city. In that ill-fated attempt, 
 on the morning of Dec. 31, 1775, which cost us Mont 
 gomery s valuable life, many fine officers, who sub 
 sequently rose to distinction, were engaged. Major 
 Brown commanded one of the detachments directed 
 to demonstrate in the front of the city while the main 
 attacks were made in the rear. All failed, and the 
 handful of Americans fell back to continue the ap 
 pearance of an investment through the winter. 
 Brown was stationed at the advance lines where he 
 suffered intensely from the cold. The nature of his 
 duties appears from one of his unpublished letters as 
 well as from this brief order to be found in the frag 
 ment of an old Quebec Order-Book preserved in the 
 Pension Bureau at Washington : 
 
 "Jan. 27, 1776 opposite Quebec. 
 
 " The different guards are to instruct their sentrys that when they 
 see any Rockets thrown from the guards at the hospital or the ad 
 vanced guard at Major Brown s quarters, is to be taken for the sig 
 nal of allarum." 
 
 In the letter, which was written to his wife, Major 
 Brown speaks of a disagreement between himself and 
 Arnold. This seems to have originated at the sur 
 prise of Ticonderoga, and ended in a series of charges 
 preferred against the latter by Brown. The Major 
 mistrusted Arnold s honesty at an early date. His 
 letter is as follows : 
 
 " CAMP NEAR QUEBEC, March 15, 1776. 
 
 " DEAR WIFE : By Lt. Pixley, of Stockbridge, I send this, 
 which I suppose will come direct nothing of great consequence 
 has happened since my last which concerns the army. Capt. 
 Brown [the Major s brother] now lies before me breathing his 
 last, having taken the smallpox about twelve days since. Terri- 
 
30 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ble tidings this to our family at Sandisfield. I have got him a 
 good house in the country, where he has the best attention. I 
 have waited on him with Doctor Binna of Tyringham during his 
 illness, but all in vain. He is lost. I shall be home in the 
 spring, God willing have spent the winter very disagreeably in 
 deed. The Sandisfield troops arrived here three days since, who 
 tell me you are all well. . . . 
 
 "I hear General Lee is nigh at hand, in which I rejoice. Mr. 
 General Arnold and I do not agree very well. I expect another 
 storm soon suppose I must be a Uriah. We had an alarm yes 
 terday. The enemy made a sally on our working party ; it is 
 said with five hundred men. General Arnold immediately or 
 dered me, being on the advance post, to attack them with my de 
 tachment, which consists of about two hundred, more than half 
 of which were sick in hospital. I accordingly marched against 
 the enemy, who had retired into the Fort too soon for me to at 
 tack them. I expect to be punished for disobedience of orders 
 next. On the whole, we are in an indifferent situation at present. 
 I suppose all letters are broken open before they reach the Colo 
 nies, but as this goes by a friend it will come safe. 
 
 " I am solicited to stay another year as Lt. Colonel, but have 
 refused. Shall I consent ? Compliments to all friends, &c. 
 " I am, &c., your loving husband, &c., 
 
 "JNO. BROWN." 
 " To Mrs. Huldah Brown, Pittsfield." 
 
 Word of the Quebec disaster was sent to Wooster 
 at Montreal, now the senior officer in Canada, and he 
 immediately issued the following instructions to Col. 
 James Clinton, commanding one of the New York 
 regiments at that post : 
 
 " HEADQUARTERS, MONTREAL, Jan. 4, 1776. 
 
 " COL. CLINTON : Sir, you are hereby desired and directed to 
 proceed with all possible expedition to the Army lately com 
 manded by our Brave Deceased General Montgomery, and take 
 the command of them till Col. Arnold shall recover from his 
 
 1 From a copy of the original in possession of Mr. H. C. Van Schaack, Man- 
 lius, N. Y. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 31 
 
 wound or till otherwise Ordered with regard to the measures you 
 are to take with the Army, I shall leave it to your discretion, with 
 the advice of the other officers. You will communicate to me all 
 transactions of importance, and upon your arrival, forward to 
 me, by the first safe conveyance, all General Montgomery s public 
 and private papers. 
 
 " By order of GENERAL WOOSTER. 
 
 " JAMES CARR BENJAMIN, Aid-De-Camp." 1 
 
 The attempt on Canada, however, came to nothing. 
 Wooster himself took command before Quebec in 
 April, but he was disliked by Gen. Schuyler, com 
 manding the department, and a Committee of Con 
 gress recommended his removal, which John Adams 
 regarded as an act of injustice. On this^point fur 
 ther facts are presented in the biographical sketch of 
 the General. He was succeeded by Gen. Thomas, 
 of Massachusetts, whose secretary and aid was Major 
 Theodore Sedgewick, class of 1765, afterwards judge 
 and United States Senator. Thomas soon died, and 
 our troops withdrew from Canada. 
 
 The Boston siege promised better success. Capt. 
 Chester, who was promoted major of Col. Erastus 
 Wolcott s regiment in Jan., 1776, continued to write 
 interesting letters to his friends at Wethersfield, sev 
 eral of which have been published. 2 He was very 
 anxious to have the enemy driven out of the town. 
 "Great complaints," he wrote, Feb. i5th, " are here 
 made by y e Gen ls of the want of Powder, which im 
 pedes everything ; they think that even the town 
 stocks ought to be delivered up to the army, for if 
 we can do nothing here this season, forty times the 
 
 1 From the original among the MSS. at "Washington s Head-Quarters," 
 Newburg, N. Y. 2 See note on p. 21. 
 
32 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 quantity in the Country will be of no service when 
 the reinforcements arrive from England. If we 
 can rout this Hornest Nest now we have every 
 thing to hope, if not we ve everything to fear. 
 The cause is General & Common. Why should 
 Distant Colonies & towns carry on a distinct War 
 and lay out for a distinct defence ? You need 
 not fear to Drive on the Salt Petre works vigorously. 
 Pray how go on the Powder Mills. We shall want 
 their most vigorous exertions soon." 
 
 Col. Henry Babcock, and Capt. William Coit, who 
 had been in the Boston camps, varied their service 
 with some independent experiences. Coit, hailing 
 from New London, knew something of sea life, and 
 after showing his courage at Bunker Hill, took com 
 mand of a privateer. It was not long before he fell 
 in with rich prizes. Two that he captured in No 
 vember, 1775, were laden with " fish, flour, hogs, 
 sheep, cattle, potatoes, cheese, and all kinds of poul 
 try, from Halifax, for the use of the hungry crew in 
 Boston." He seems to have had a vein of humor in 
 him, as a published letter states that he landed his 
 prisoners on Plymouth Rock and there made them 
 give three cheers and wish all happiness to America. 1 
 He is said to have been the first rebel to turn "his 
 Majesty s bunting upside down." 
 
 Col. Babcock, of Rhode Island, had been serving 
 as a volunteer with Gen. Putnam, his old companion 
 in the French and Indian War, where he won no little 
 reputation. He was but twenty-one when commis- 
 
 1 Penn. Journal, Nov. 29, 1775. See extract from one of Colt s letters in 
 biographical sketch. 
 
Events in 1775-76. 33 
 
 sioned colonel, and is spoken of as a youth of unusual 
 brilliancy. The Rhode Island Assembly gave him the 
 " home-brigade " early in 1776, and he immediately 
 laid it under strict dicipline, first addressing it j^^ 
 salutatory order as follows : 
 
 11 GENTLEMEN OFFICERS AND BROTHER SOLDIERS : 
 * * # * * * * 
 
 " Many, and most of you, I am certain, have engaged ia the ser 
 vice of your country upon the best Principles, viz., that of .defend 
 ing your aged parents, your wives and children, against .the 
 arbitrary attempts of a wretched, abandoned, and most profligate 
 administration, who have compelled us to take up arms in the 
 defence of all that s dear and valuable. You will therefore 
 bring no disgrace upon so good a cause, but in case of an action, 
 which may sooner happen than many of you may expect, behave 
 yourselves with coolness, firmness, and manly fortitude, by which 
 means you will call down the Divine Blessing upon our arms. 
 
 " I have the pleasure to acquaint you that this wide Extended 
 Continent are almost united to a man to oppose with firmness 
 every attempt to enslave us. The country, My Brothers (for as 
 such I shall esteem every good soldier), cannot be enslaved ; we 
 must and shall be Free, and grow into greatness by opposition. 
 The kingdom of Great Britain (tho* formerly famed for arts and 
 arms) is now gallopping headlong to ruin. The Empire of 
 America is rising to glory. 
 
 " I shall make it my study to inform you of every part of your 
 duty as fast as I possibly can. Your pay and provisions I shall 
 be very careful that you have ; on your part I shall expect the 
 most implicit obedience to the orders of your officers. I wish 
 you health and happiness (which will much depend on a virtuous 
 conduct and keeping yourselves neat and clean) and as much 
 glory as you can possibly wish yourselves. 1 
 
 The Colonel, unfortunately, developed certain ec 
 centricities about this time, which barred his entrance 
 
 1 This and the succeeding extract from the New London Gazette, March 8 
 and April 19, 1776. 
 
34 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 into the field, where otherwise he might have dis 
 tinguished himself. He was deprived of his com 
 mand, but not before he had the opportunity of 
 showing what he could do in a " lucid interval." 
 While stationed at Newport he assisted in driving off 
 the Scarborough, a British twenty-gun ship, which, with 
 two tenders, sailed into the harbor one evening early 
 in April, with the obvious intention of doing mischief. 
 A party of volunteers captured the tenders (a brig 
 and schooner) while the Colonel opened a sharp fire 
 on the man-of-war from one of the forts. He re 
 ceives high praise for his conduct in a published 
 account of the affair, where the writer adds at the 
 close : 
 
 " We are bound in justice to say that the disposition on shore, 
 made by Colonel Babcock, was very soldierlike, and, notwith 
 standing his indisposition, he was on horseback a great part of 
 the night, fired one of the eighteen-pounders from the North 
 Battery himself and hulled the Scarborough, and behaved in so 
 cool and approved a manner as made even the Tories fear him. 
 The Sons of Liberty take this opportunity of returning Colonel 
 Babcock their particular thanks for the Discipline he has estab 
 lished in the Brigade under his command. Notwithstanding the 
 clamor made against him of Insanity, we think him perfectly in 
 his sober senses." 
 
 The British evacuated Boston March 17, 1776, and 
 on the same day our forces took possession. Lieut- 
 Colonel Fisher Gay, of Farmington, Conn., and of 
 Col. Erastus Wolcott s regiment, leaves in his jour 
 nal about the only record we have of the entry of 
 the troops. Col. Gay had lately been requested by 
 Washington to purchase all the gunpowder he could 
 in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and after a rapid 
 
Events in 1775-76. 35 
 
 and successful trip which gave the General great satis 
 faction," he returned to duty near Boston Neck. On 
 the day of the evacuation, March 1 7th, he writes : 
 
 ; . . . Colonel Wolcott on the Hill An alarm in the morn 
 ing. I ordered the regiment to meet before the Colonel s door 
 after prayers. I marched them off with Major Chester. Near 
 the alarm post found instead of going to action the enemy had 
 abandoned Boston. 500 troops ordered immediately. Ordered 
 to march into and take possession of the fortifications in Boston. 
 Colonel Learnard, my self, Majors Sprout and Chester, with a 
 number of other officers and troops marched in and took posses 
 sion and tarried there till the ip th at night ; then returned to camp 
 at Roxbury. Never people more glad at the departure of an 
 enemy and to see friends." 
 
 Boston relieved, Washington put a large part of 
 his army on the road for New York, which was to 
 become the scene of operations in the next campaign. 
 
 1 See note on page 21. 
 
EVENTS IN 1776-77. 
 
 The New York Campaign List of Alumni Soldiers Declaration of Indepen 
 dence Joseph Hawley Battle of Long Island Colonel Silliman Re 
 treat to New York Tallmadge s Account of It Loss of New York 
 Nathan Hale Bushnell s Torpedo White Plains Trenton and Prince 
 ton Letter from Capt. Hull Hitchcock s Gallant Conduct Deaths of 
 Graduate Officers. 
 
 WE now have more stirring times. War came 
 with a reality and energy that put the devotion of 
 the country to a painful test. The change of base 
 from Boston to New York meant the concentration 
 at the latter point of thirty thousand of England s 
 best troops and mercenaries to stamp out rebellion 
 with the hardest blows. In addition, prestige lost at 
 Boston had to be recovered. The result anticipated 
 by the enemy followed. Washington s army, which 
 attempted to defend New York, experienced that 
 series of defeats and losses, beginning with the battle 
 of Long Island and ending with the retreat through 
 New Jersey, with which every one is familiar. It 
 was the anxious summer and fall of 1776, a very 
 critical period of the war, which might have closed 
 with unwelcome apprehensions, had not Trenton and 
 Princeton suddenly changed the situation and revived 
 faith and confidence. 
 
 Between eighty and ninety graduates took part in 
 the operations of the year, some serving to the close 
 of the campaign, others serving brief terms with the 
 
 36 
 
Events in 1776-77. 37 
 
 militia. Most of them were to be found in the army 
 at New York, under Washington s immediate com 
 mand ; a few in the northern department and else 
 where. Twelve or fifteen came with the Continental 
 regiments from Boston for instance, Colonels Wyl- 
 lys and Hitchcock, Major Sherman, Captains Hull, 
 Hale, Grosvenor, and others. In the emergency, 
 that is, in June and July, 1776, especially after the 
 enemy had landed in force at Staten Island, Wash 
 ington called urgently for more troops, and many 
 hurried to his assistance. New York furnished two 
 new brigades, one of which, consisting of four regi 
 ments, was commanded by Brigadier-General John 
 Morin Scott, of the class of 1 746, already mentioned 
 as one of the ablest of the patriotic leaders in the 
 State. Lewis Morris, of the same State and class, was 
 appointed brigadier of Westchester County troops, but 
 being a member of the Continental Congress he did 
 not assume any command until later in the war. 
 William Livingston, of the class of 1741, appeared 
 as brigadier-general at the head of Jersey militia, and 
 watched the enemy on Staten Island until August, 
 when the Legislature elected him governor of the 
 State. Connecticut sent a large proportion of the 
 reinforcements called for, the most reliable of which 
 were the seven regiments raised in June to serve 
 through the year, and placed under the command of 
 Brigadier-General James Wadsworth, of the class of 
 1748. Four of his colonels were also graduates, 
 namely, Gold Selleck Silliman, Philip Burr Bradley, 
 Fisher Gay, and John Chester, as well as two 
 lieutenant-colonels, John Chandler and Giles Rus- 
 
38 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 sell. In August, Brigadier-General Oliver Wolcott, 
 class of 1747, lately returned from Congress, brought 
 down a body of militia from Western Connecticut, 
 and still later Brigadier-General Gurdon Saltonstall, 
 class of 1725, the oldest graduate who ventured into 
 the field, arrived with another body from the eastern 
 section of the State ; while in December, General 
 Wooster, who had been recalled from Canada, sta 
 tioned himself with militiamen in Westchester County 
 and along the Connecticut border. The other gradu 
 ates were generally subordinate officers in these 
 several commands. As far as can be ascertained, the 
 list, with their latest rank, of those who served at any 
 time in this campaign, from the spring of 1776 into 
 January 1777, when the battle of Princeton was 
 fought, would be as follows : 
 
 AROUND NEW YORK. 
 
 Maj.-Gen. David Wooster, Chaplain Ebenezer Baldwin, 
 
 Brig.-Gen. John M. Scott, Abner Benedict, 
 
 William Livingston, Thomas Brockway, 
 
 James Wadsworth, Joseph Buckminster, 
 
 Oliver Wolcott, Ebenezer Cleaveland, 
 
 Gurdon Saltonstall, John Cleaveland, 
 
 Colonel Samuel Wyllys, Hezekiah Chapman, 
 
 Daniel Hitchcock, Stephen Johnson, 
 
 Gold S. Silliman, Isaac Lewis, 
 
 Philip B. Bradley, < Benjamin Pomeroy, 
 
 Fisher Gay, John Storrs, 
 
 John Chester, Benjamin Trumbull, 
 
 Joseph Platt Cooke, Samuel Wales, 
 
 Mark Hopkins, Asst. Adj. -Gen. Eben. Huntington, 
 
 Lieut. -Col. John Chandler, " " Mark Leavenworth, 
 
 Giles Russell, Brigade-Major John P. Wyllys, 
 
 Experience Storrs, " " Daniel Lyman, 
 
 Thomas Seymour, " William Peck, 
 
 Major Isaac Sherman, " " Ebenezer Gray, 
 
 Surgeon Jared Potter, " Benjamin Tallmadge, 
 
 Josiah Hart, Adjutant David Humphreys, 
 
Events in 1776-77. 39 
 
 Adjutant Andrew Hillyer, Lieutenant James Morris, 
 
 Sam. A. S. Barker, " Royal Flint, 
 
 Captain Thomas Grosvenor, * Jonathan Bellamy, 
 
 William Hull, " James Watson, 
 
 Nathan Hale, " Amos Northrop, 
 
 Theophilus Munson, " Nathaniel West, 
 
 Hezekiah Wyllys, " Simeon Newell, 
 
 Jabez Hamlin, " James Hillhouse, 
 
 Samuel Eells, " Ashbel Baldwin, 
 
 Stephen R. Bradley, Aide-de-Camp Thomas Wooster, 
 
 Lieutenant Ezra Selden, Volunteer Joel Barlow, 
 
 Richard Sill, " David Bushnell, 
 
 Jonathan Heart, " Elisha S. Williams. 
 
 AT TlCONDEROGA. 
 
 Colonel John Paterson, Captain Vine Elderkin, 
 
 Surgeon Thomas Russell, " Elijah Abel, 
 
 Chaplain David Avery, Lieutenant William Nichols, 
 
 " Ammi R. Robbins, " Enoch Woodbridge. 
 
 Captain Moses Ashley, 
 
 AT FORT STANWIX. 
 Captain Robert Walker, Lieutenant Nehemiah Rice. 
 
 AT BOSTON. 
 Chaplain William Plumbe. 
 
 William Coit became Captain of the Connecticut man-of-war " Oliver Crom 
 well," with Bela Elderkin as Lieutenant of Marines. John Elderkin was probably 
 a regimental Quartermaster at New York ; Stephen Keyes, also, a line officer. 
 
 Briefly outlined, the events of this year included 
 the battle of Long Island, retreat to New York, 
 evacuation of the city, battle of Harlem Heights, 
 retreat to and battle of White Plains, loss of Fort 
 Washington, retreat through New Jersey, and finally, 
 the battles of Trenton and Princeton. They followed 
 each other rapidly, from Aug. 27th to Jan. 3d. 
 
 The successful defence of New York without a 
 fleet was problematical, but not to attempt it would 
 have been too frank an admission of timidity or 
 weakness. Accordingly, when the Boston army 
 reached the city in April, it was set to work at the 
 old task of fortifying. The men were well used to 
 
40 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 spade and shovel. Something had been done before 
 by New York and Connecticut troops, but vastly 
 more remained to be done. Works were laid out at 
 every defensible point in the vicinity, and digging 
 went on for four months before the enemy were pre 
 pared to attack. Officers had their hands full direct 
 ing the fatigue parties, drilling in camp, and doing 
 guard duty. As to the graduates, Gen. Scott was 
 quartered with his brigade in the city, where batteries 
 were thrown up along the river fronts ; Cols. Silliman 
 and Chester, of Gen. Wadsworth s brigade, on the 
 east side ; Col. Bradley on Bergen Heights and Paulus 
 Hook, now Jersey City ; Col. Wyllys near Jones 
 Hill, East Grand St. ; Major Sherman on the North 
 River, about the foot of Canal St. ; Captains Hull and 
 Hale near Bayard s Hill ; Gen. Livingston at Eliza- 
 bethtown Point, New Jersey ; Cols. Gay and Hitch 
 cock, under Gen. Greene, on the Brooklyn front ; and 
 the others elsewhere from Governor s Island to 
 King s Bridge. 
 
 The last-named officer, Col. Daniel Hitchcock, 
 class of 1761, commanding one of the two Rhode Is 
 land regiments in the service (Col. James Varnum, 
 graduate of Brown, commanding the other) will make 
 an enviable record during this campaign. He went 
 to college from Springfield, Mass., but settled in the 
 practice of the law at Providence, R. I. Gen. Greene, 
 of the same State, thought highly of both his colo 
 nels. Like himself, both were excellent discipli 
 narians, and of mature and safe judgment. Their 
 regiments were among the best in the army, and with 
 others were assigned to the construction and defence 
 
Events in 777^-77. 4 1 
 
 of the works on the Long Island side. Hitchcock s 
 command built Fort Putnam, which stood on the 
 high ground in the present Washington Park, Brook 
 lyn, and in his orders of June iyth Greene named 
 that as their permanent station : " Col. Hitchcock s 
 Reg 1 ., to take fort Putnam and the fort or redoubt 
 on the left of it for their alarm posts. ... In 
 case of an attack all these posts are to be defended 
 to the last extremity." 1 Serving faithfully during 
 the year, the Colonel will render signal and distin 
 guished service at the close, although, unhappily, it 
 was the cause of his death soon after. 
 
 This was the year, also, of the Declaration of In 
 dependence, which brought matters to a definite issue 
 and attached additional significance to all military 
 operations that followed. It practically cut off rec 
 onciliation and foreshadowed a long and determined 
 contest. 2 Four of our graduates were among the 
 " Signers " of that famous instrument, namely, Philip 
 Livingston and Lewis Morris of New York, Oliver 
 Wolcott of Connecticut, and Lyman Hall of Georgia. 
 As the biography of the signers is to be found in 
 print, and generally accessible to the reader, it is 
 enough in this connection simply to recall these 
 names. With them, however, we may mention that 
 of another graduate, not so well known, whose voice 
 was always listened to with deep attention, and who 
 powerfully urged separation from Great Britain at 
 
 1 Gen. Greene s orders in "The Campaign of 1776 around New York and 
 Brooklyn." Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, vol. iii. Brook 
 lyn, 1878. 
 
 2 Dr. Stiles said of it : " Thus the Congress has tied the Gordian knot, which 
 the Parliament will find they can neither cut nor untie. The Thirteen Colo 
 nies now rise into an Independent Republic, among the Kingdoms, States, and 
 Empires on_Earth." Holmes " Life of Stiles." 
 
42 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 
 an early day. This was Hon. Joseph Hawley, Major 
 Hawley, as he was called, class of 1742, who lived at 
 Northampton, Mass. He was an eminent lawyer and 
 frequently represented his town in the General Court 
 at Boston, where he took the lead in public discus 
 sions. He is remembered as a man of great intel 
 lectual power and force of character, but without that 
 ambition which would have led him with men like 
 John Adams into a wider field. His reputation was 
 confined mainly to Massachusetts. There, we are 
 told his influence was " almost unexampled." He 
 seems to have forecast the tendency of the contro 
 versy with England earlier than his colleagues, and 
 always gave a pronounced opinion on current issues. 
 Bancroft states that he was the first to deny openly 
 in a colonial legislature Parliament s right to legislate 
 for America. Later, when few men dared to think 
 of a resort to arms, Hawley saw that it was inevi- 
 able. To those who reminded him of the danger of 
 
Events in 1776-77* 43 
 
 the unequal contest he replied : " We must put to 
 sea. Providence will bring us into port." So firm 
 were his convictions on this point that early in 1774 
 he impressed his views upon the Massachusetts dele 
 gation, then attending the first Congress in Phila 
 delphia, in what he called a series of " broken hints." 
 His sentences were full of fire. "We must fight," 
 he wrote, " if we cannot otherwise rid ourselves of 
 British taxation, all revenues, and the constitution or 
 form of government enacted for us by the British 
 Parliament. It is evil against right. . . . It is 
 now or never that we must assert our liberty. . . 
 Fight we must finally unless Britain retreats." When 
 war came Hawley was again among the first to urge 
 independence as the true ground on which to prose 
 cute it. His letters to Elbridge Gerry in Congress 
 early in 1776 show how much in earnest he was. 
 " Independence," he says to him, "is the only way to 
 union and harmony, to vigor and dispatch in busi 
 ness. Our eye will be single and our whole body 
 full of light. Any thing short of it will, as appears to 
 me, be our destruction, infallible destruction, and that 
 speedily." " You cannot declare independence too 
 soon." "My hand and heart are full of it. There 
 will be no abiding union without it." " Let there be 
 a full revolution, or all has been done in vain. In 
 dependence, and a well-planned Continental govern 
 ment, will save us." " Without an American inde 
 pendent supreme Government and Constitution, 
 wisely devised and designed, well established and 
 settled, we shall always be but a rope of sand ; but 
 that well done, invincible." Nor was Hawley con- 
 
44 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 tent to indulge in words and counsel alone. He be 
 came Chairman of the Northampton Committee of 
 Safety, and was active in the years 1776 and 1777 in 
 raising and equipping troops for service in New 
 York and Canada. A few of his letters to the State 
 Committee, showing what he did in this direction, are 
 preserved in the Massachusetts Archives at Boston. 
 William Tudor, Hawley s contemporary, who places 
 him high among the worthies of that State in that im 
 portant period, pays this tribute to his memory : " He, 
 in fine, formed one of those manly, public-spirited 
 and generous citizens, ready to share peril and de 
 cline reward, who illustrate the idea of a Common 
 wealth ; and who, through the obstructions of human 
 passions and infirmities, being of rare occurrence, 
 will always be the most admired, appropriate, and 
 noble ornaments of a free government." 1 
 
 The campaign opened on August 22d, when the 
 enemy crossed from their encampments on Staten 
 Island to the Long Island shore at Gravesend, and 
 marched towards our Brooklyn lines. Gen. Living 
 ston learned of the movement through a spy and was 
 the first to inform Washington of it. More troops 
 were at once pushed across the East River to defend 
 
 1 See Tudor s " Life of James Otis " pp. 253-60, where he gives Hawley an 
 elaborate notice. A full sketch, with authorities, appears in Prof. Dexter s 
 " Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, with Annals of the 
 College History, Oct., lyoi-May, 1745." N. Y., Henry Holt & Co., 1885. 
 
 Hawley being major of the Second Hampshire Co. Militia regiment before 
 the war, was generally known as Major Hawley. 
 
Events in 1776-77. 45 
 
 the works on that side, and large picket detachments 
 were sent to the hills beyond in the present Green 
 wood Cemetery and Prospect Park. After four 
 days delay, on the morning of August 27th, the 
 enemy advanced and by noon had won what is 
 known as the battle of Long Island. They suc 
 ceeded in outflanking the force at the hills and 
 passes about five thousand men and caused its 
 precipitate retreat to the main works, in the course 
 of which there was considerable fighting, accom 
 panied with the loss, on our part, of about eight hun 
 dred prisoners. By not sufficiently guarding the 
 Jamaica road on the left, the Americans suffered 
 a surprise and defeat. The enemy then prepared to 
 lay siege to the fortified line which ran through 
 what is now the heart of Brooklyn, when Washing 
 ton, on the night of the 29th, silently withdrew the 
 troops and accomplished his famous retreat across 
 the river to New York. 
 
 Quite a number of graduates were concerned in 
 these movements. Gay s and Hitchcock s regiments 
 were already on that side. Among the additional 
 troops sent over after the enemy landed were Col. 
 Wyllys , Silliman s, and Chester s regiments. Silli- 
 man s was sent to various points at the front, and 
 in his letters, still preserved, he describes his ex 
 periences. On the 25th, for example, he wrote 
 to his wife from the picket post in Prospect Park, 
 opposite Flatbush, as follows : 
 
 "I wrote you yesterday morning from Brookline upon the 
 Drum Head in the field as I do now, which I hope you will 
 receive this day Have not so much as a bear skin 
 
46 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 to lie on, only my blanket to wrap me in, for our removals from 
 place to place are so quick & sudden that we can have 
 no opportunity nor means to convey beds, &c., but go only with 
 the cloaths on our backs & our blankets and a little ready- 
 cooked victuals. I am now posted within about half a mile from 
 the Regulars with my Regt. under the Covert of a woody hill to 
 stop their passage into the Country. There are a number of 
 Regts. posted all around the town within about the same distance 
 & for the same purpose. The regulars keep up an almost Con 
 stant Fire from their cannon & mortars at some or other of us, 
 but neither shott nor shell has come near my Regt. yet and they 
 are at too great a distance to fire muskets at as yet. I have 
 a scouting party going out now to see if they can t pick up some 
 or get something from them. I came to this post this day at 12 
 o clock & shall remain here till this time to-morrow, if God 
 spares my life, with no other covering than the trees." 1 
 
 On the morning of the battle, Wyllys and 
 Chester s regiments were stationed on the upper 
 Flatbush road and narrowly escaped capture. They 
 were caught in the thick of the retreat, and reached 
 the lines as the enemy were about to surround them. 
 Captain Grosvenor was with a detachment of rangers 
 who were nearly entrapped. Lieutenants Peck and 
 Newell were doubtless with Huntington s regiment, 
 which lost heavily in prisoners, although they es 
 caped. So also Lieutenants Selden and Sill, in Par 
 son s old regiment, and Captain Huntington and 
 Lieut. Heart in Wyllys . Probably Captain Hez- 
 ekiah Wyllys, brother of Col. Samuel, was with 
 Chester s regiment, as the Adjutant, Benjamin Tall- 
 madge, certainly was. " This was the first time in 
 my life," says the latter, " that I had witnessed the 
 awful scene of a battle, when man was engaged 
 
 1 "Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn." L. I. Historical 
 Society. 
 
Events in 1776-77. 47 
 
 to destroy his fellow man. I well remember my 
 sensations on the occasion, for they were solemn be 
 yond description, and very hardly could I bring my 
 mind to be willing to attempt the life of a fellow- 
 creature." x The Adjutant, however, will develop 
 fighting qualities before long. In the afternoon the 
 enemy approached the fortified line, but were checked 
 by a sharp fire from the forts. Col. Hitchcock seems 
 to have been directing matters in person at Fort 
 Putnam on the left, where he received some injury 
 which obliged him to retire. Two days later he 
 wrote to Col. Little at Fort Greene : 
 
 " The Wrench I rec d in my Back by the Starting of my Horse 
 at my Gun just as I was mounting him, was so great that I 
 scarcely got off from my Bed next Day, but feel much better of 
 it now ; I hear the Regulars have built a Fort on the Hill east of 
 Fort Putnam ; I am astonished that our People are not building 
 two Forts where you & I have always contended for Forts to be 
 built. For Heaven s Sake apply to the Generals yourself & urge 
 the Necessity of it." 
 
 The Colonel had been ordered to New Jersey 
 some days before the battle, but was soon called 
 back to the Brooklyn front. During his absence he 
 sent a note to Little, wishing him all happi 
 ness in case of a battle. " I know," he said, " you 
 will all play the man the critical Hour of America is 
 come ; beat em once, they are gone." 
 
 By two o clock on the 27th the battle was over, as 
 the enemy made no serious attempt to carry the 
 works. Washington sent to New York for addi 
 tional troops, and by night there were about nine 
 thousand men on that side. Among the graduates 
 
 1 " Memoir of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge." New York, 1858. 
 
48 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 were Generals Scott and Wadsworth, Lieut-Colonels 
 Chandler and Russell, Brigade-Major John P. Wyllys, 
 Captains Hull and Hale, probably Captains Munson 
 and Gray, Lieutenants Morris, Barker, and a few 
 others, in addition to those already named as being 
 at the Brooklyn lines and in the battle. 
 
 The retreat from Long Island was effected on the 
 night of the 29th. Washington had already decided 
 on this move, but he called a council of war to con 
 firm it. Generals Scott and Wadsworth were both 
 present. The former, as far as known, is the only 
 member who has left us any thing in regard to 
 what transpired on the occasion beyond the final 
 result. In a letter to John Jay, published in the 
 third volume of the " Long Island Historical Soci 
 ety s Memoirs," he says : 
 
 " I was summoned to a Council of War at Mr. Philip Living 
 ston s house on Thursday, 29th ult., never having had reason to 
 expect a proposition for a retreat till it was mentioned. . . . 
 As it was suddenly proposed, / as suddenly objected to it, from an 
 aversion to giving the enemy a single inch of ground ; but 
 was soon convinced by the unanswerable reasons for it. They were 
 these. Invested by an enemy of above double our number from 
 water to water, scant in almost every necessary of life, and with 
 out covering, and liable every moment to have the communica 
 tion between us and the city cut off by the entrance of the frigates 
 into the East River between Governor s Island and Long Island ; 
 which General McDougall assured us from his own nautic expe 
 rience was very feasible. In such a situation we should have 
 been reduced to the alternative "of desperately attempting to cut 
 our way [through] a vastly superior enemy, with the certain loss 
 of a valuable stock of artillery and artillery stores, which the con 
 tinent has been collecting with great pains ; or by famine and 
 fatigue have been made an easy prey to the enemy. In either 
 case the campaign would have ended in the total ruin of our 
 
Events in 1776-77. 49 
 
 army. The resolution, therefore, to retreat was unanimous, and 
 tho formed late in the day, was executed the following night with 
 unexpected success." 
 
 As we know, this retreat was skilfully managed, 
 the point of embarkation being the site of the pres 
 ent Brooklyn Ferry House. Col. Tallmadge, then 
 Adjutant, gives this description of it in his 
 "Memoirs" : 
 
 " To move so large a body of troops, with all their necessary 
 appendages, across a river full a mile wide, with a rapid current, 
 in face of a victorious, well disciplined army, nearly three times 
 as numerous as his own, and a fleet capable of stopping the navi 
 gation, so that not one boat could have passed over, seemed to 
 present most formidable obstacles. But, in the face of these 
 difficulties, the Commander-in-Chief so arranged his business, 
 that on the evening of the 29th, by 10 o clock, the troops began 
 to retire from the lines in such a manner that no chasm was 
 made in the lines, but as one regiment left their station on guard, 
 the remaining troops moved to the right and left and filled up 
 the vacancies, while Gen. Washington took his station at the 
 ferry, and superintended the embarkation of the troops. It was 
 one of the most anxious, busy nights that I ever recollect, and 
 being the third in which hardly any of us had closed our eyes to 
 sleep, we were all greatly fatigued. As the dawn of the next day 
 approached, those of us who remained in the trenches became 
 very anxious for our own safety, and when the dawn appeared 
 there were several regiments still on duty. At this time a very 
 dense fog began to rise, and it seemed to settle in a peculiar 
 manner over both encampments. I recollect this peculiar provi 
 dential occurrence perfectly well ; and so very dense was the 
 atmosphere I could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance. 
 
 " When the sun rose we had just received orders to leave the 
 lines, but before we reached the ferry, the Commander-in-Chief 
 sent one of his Aids to order the regiment to repair again to 
 their former station on the lines. Col. Chester immediately faced 
 to the right about and returned, where we tarried until the sun 
 had risen, but the fog remained as dense as ever. Finally, the 
 
50 Yale in the RevohUion. 
 
 second order arrived for the regiment to retire, and we very joy 
 fully bid those trenches a long adieu. When we reached Brook 
 lyn ferry, the boats had not returned from their last trip, but they 
 very soon appeared and took the whole regiment over to New 
 York ; and I think I saw Gen. Washington on the ferry stairs 
 when I stepped into one of the last boats that received the 
 troops. I left my horse tied to a post at the ferry. 
 
 " The troops having now all safely reached New York, and the 
 fog continuing as thick as ever, I began to think of my favorite 
 horse, and requested leave to return and bring him off. Having 
 obtained permission, I called for a crew of volunteers to go with 
 me, and guiding the boat myself, I obtained my horse and got off 
 some distance into the river before the enemy appeared in 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 " As soon as they reached the ferry, we were saluted merrily 
 from their musketry, and finally by their field pieces ; but we re 
 turned in safety. In the history of warfare, I do not recollect a 
 more fortunate retreat." 
 
 From this time to the middle of December the 
 British drove Washington from one position to 
 another. With Brooklyn Heights in their hands, 
 New York could not be held, and on September 
 1 5th, when the enemy landed at the foot of East 
 Thirty-Fourth Street, our rear forces retreated to 
 Washington Heights above Harlem, where the main 
 army had already gone. On our part it was very 
 much of a panic, the militia, as well as several of the 
 older regiments, being caught at a disadvantage. 
 Washington could not get them to stand against the 
 regulars in the open field. There was much running 
 that day, several of our graduates doing their share 
 of it, no doubt ; but we shall see how they retrieved 
 themselves in later campaigns. Young Selden, 
 Sill, Morris, Heart, Barker, Newell, and others, were 
 among the number. Brigade-Major John P. Wyllys 
 
Events in 1776-77* 51 
 
 was taken prisoner. Col. Silliman and his command 
 passed through the hardest and most exciting experi 
 ences, as they were the last to leave the city. They 
 succeeded in retreating on the west side through the 
 woods, though constantly in danger of capture. 
 11 What fatigues, what perils, what risks," says the 
 Colonel, three days later, " did I run thro last Sab 
 bath a day never to be forgotten by me. Some 
 times I was in the front, sometimes in the centre, and 
 sometimes in the rear of my party, which extended 
 near 2 miles in length, as I marched thro the 
 woods." x David Humphreys began his revolution 
 ary career in this retreat as a volunteer adjutant in 
 Silliman s brigade. He speaks of it in his " Life of 
 General Putnam." " Before our brigade came in," 
 he says, "we were given up for lost by all our 
 friends. So critical indeed was our situation, and so 
 narrow the gap by which we escaped, that the instant 
 we had passed, the enemy closed it by extending 
 their line from river to river." 
 
 On the following day, September i6th, occurred 
 the battle of Harlem Heights, which was so much of 
 a success for us that the soldiers forgot the experi 
 ences of the day before and quickly recovered their 
 spirits. The fighting was brought on by Colonel 
 Knowlton s Rangers who stirred up the advance 
 parties of the enemy, and then, with the assistance 
 of other troops, defeated them on Bloomingdale 
 heights below Manhattanville. Among the officers 
 of the Rangers a small but picked body of about 
 
 1 For other interesting extracts from Col. Silliman s letters in this campaign, 
 see third vol. of the " L. I. Hist. Soc. Memoirs," already referred to. 
 
52 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 one hundred and thirty men was Captain Thomas 
 Grosvenor, class of 1765, who figured at Bunker 
 Hill. 
 
 There should have been in this action another 
 officer of Knowlton s corps, graduate of 1773, who 
 would have taken special delight in driving the British 
 back to their camp, but who was just then absent 
 from the army on a dangerous errand. 
 
 This was NATHAN HALE. 
 
 A cherished name we have here, and a story so 
 generally familiar that its repetition seems almost 
 superfluous. For the purposes of the record, the 
 details of the case are presented in the biographical 
 sketch of Hale, while in this connection it may suffice 
 to notice the associations through which his memory 
 has been perpetuated. 
 
 Young Hale, of Coventry, Conn., captain in Col. 
 Charles Webb s regiment, had been in the army more 
 than a year without having rendered, as he felt, any 
 real service to the country. Soon after the battle of 
 Long Island he joined the Rangers, with whom he 
 hoped to be more active in the field. Learning that 
 Washington was anxious to ascertain the exact dis 
 position and probable designs of the enemy, he vol 
 unteered to enter their lines in disguise and obtain 
 the information. Crossing from Stamford to Long 
 Island, he made his observations in Howe s camp, 
 and was about to return when he was detected, con 
 demned as a spy, and executed in New York on the 
 22d of September. A British officer who brought 
 word of his fate to the American lines, stated that 
 after his arrest Hale conducted himself with dignity, 
 
Events in 1776-77. 53 
 
 gave his name, rank, and mission, and finally, just 
 before his execution, expressed the sentiment that 
 has immortalized him as one of the noblest sacrifices 
 of the Revolution. " I only regret," was the sub 
 stance of his words, " that I have but one life to lose 
 for my country." 
 
 But slight public notice was taken of Hale s fate 
 at the time, and for four years after the records make 
 no reference to him whatever. This was not alto 
 gether strange. Under the laws of war his execution 
 could not be condemned, and failed to become a 
 subject of official communication. The news shocked 
 his friends in the army, and, doubtless, as they 
 learned of his noble act of devotion, his memory 
 became doubly endeared to them. But possibly, also, 
 they felt that he had made a mistake, that the situa 
 tion did not demand the sacrifice, and that to make 
 much of his martyrdom might appear to be an exalta 
 tion of the role of a spy. Time would do his char 
 acter justice ; and so Hale s fate passed out of mind 
 as one of the sadder " casualties " of the campaign. 
 
 In September, 1780, the American army was 
 startled by the announcement of the arrest of Major 
 Andre, Adjutant-General of the British forces, as a 
 spy. His trial and execution followed. Every 
 attempt was made by the enemy to save his life, and 
 in our own camp, his youth, address, and rank excited 
 universal sympathy. But here was Hale s case pre 
 cisely, or in all its essentials. Andre as a spy at 
 once gave dignity and character to Hale as a spy ; 
 little could be said for the one that could not be said 
 for the other. The latter s memory was immedi- 
 
54 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ately revived, and, we may imagine, with a freedom 
 and satisfaction which could not well be assumed in 
 1776. It happened that Major Benjamin Tallmadge, 
 one of H ale s classmates and closest friends, was 
 Andre s real captor, while most of his college com 
 panions and several of the officers of his old regiment 
 who were in the service with him in 1776 were still 
 to be found in Washington s camp. Some had been 
 promoted to responsible positions. No doubt they 
 all had much to say for Hale at a moment when so 
 much kindly feeling was extended to Andre. While 
 there is do direct evidence that the court which con 
 demned Andre was at all influenced by H ale s case 
 as a precedent, it seems certain that they knew of it 
 (Lafayette, for one, as he states in his " Memoirs"), 
 and that among officers generally the cases were dis 
 cussed and regarded as parallel. From that time 
 Male s memory became in some sort a Revolutionary 
 heirloom. 
 
 As confirming these statements, it is interesting to 
 notice, that, as far as known, it was at this time that 
 the first extended mention of H ale s fate appeared in 
 print, and in the same relation to Andre s name in 
 which it has been almost invariably mentioned ever 
 since. The extract is from the Boston Chronicle as 
 reprinted in the London Remembrancer in 1 782. After 
 noticing the consideration paid to Andre the writer 
 proceeds : 
 
 " But while we pay the debt of humanity to our enemies, let us 
 not forget what we owe to our friends. .About four years ago, 
 CAPT. HALE, an American officer, of a liberal education, younger 
 than Andre, and equal to him in sense, fortitude, and every manly 
 
Events in 1776-77. 55 
 
 accomplishment, though without opportunities of being so highly 
 polished, voluntarily went into the city of New York, with a view 
 to serve his invaded country. He performed his part there with 
 great capacity and address, but was accidentally discovered. In 
 this trying circumstance he exhibited all the firmness of Andre, 
 without the aid of a single countenance around him that spoke 
 either respect or compassion, and though every thing that was 
 said or done to him was adapted to make him feel that he 
 was considered as a traitor and a rebel. Andre appeared great 
 in not contesting the clear grounds upon which he was con 
 demned, and in refusing to employ the absurd and frivolous 
 pleas that Clinton would have put into his mouth. Hale, 
 though not at all disconcerted, made no plea for himself, and 
 firmly rejected the advantageous offers made him by the enemy 
 upon condition of his entering into their service. Andre earn 
 estly wished the mode of his death might have been more like 
 that of a soldier ; but consoled himself by observing, that in 
 either way it would be "but a moment s pang." Hale, calm and 
 collected, took no notice of either of those circumstances. Andre 
 as he was going to die, with great presence of mind and the most 
 engaging air, bowed to all around him, and returned the respect 
 that had been and was still paid to him ; and said : " Gentlemen, 
 you will bear witness that I die with the firmness becoming a sol 
 dier." Hale had received no such respects, and had none to re 
 turn ; but just before he expired, said, aloud : " I am so satisfied 
 with the cause in which I have engaged, that my only regret is, 
 that I have not more lives than one to offer in its service." 
 
 It was during the interval between the battle of 
 Long Island and the loss of New York that David 
 Bushnell, class of 1775, attempted to prove the utility 
 of a torpedo boat he invented while in college. He 
 proposed to blow up one of the British ships of war 
 down the bay, but the practical operator not having 
 become sufficiently familiar with the working of the 
 machine, the attempt failed. Bushnell continued his 
 experiments and showed much ingenuity as a mech- 
 
56 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 anician. He is regarded, by competent military 
 critics, as the originator of modern submarine war 
 fare. Gen. Henry L. Abbot, of the Corps of En 
 gineers in our own army, conceding this distinction 
 to Bushnell, has become so far interested in his 
 various efforts as to collect and print all accounts re 
 ferring to them, for the benefit of the Engineer School 
 of Application at Willet s Point, L. I. His conclu 
 sions in the case are : (i) that Bushnell was the first 
 to perceive and illustrate by experiment that the press 
 ure of water alone may develop an intensity of action 
 in a submarine explosion sufficient to destroy a vessel 
 in the vicinity ; (2) that it was he who gave the name 
 " torpedo" to a case containing a charge of gun 
 powder to be fired under water ; (3) that he in 
 troduced the use of submarine boats, and of drifting 
 torpedoes both coupled by a line and floating freely 
 with the tide, for attacking hostile shipping. 1 Bush 
 nell subsequently became a Captain in the Corps of 
 Sappers and Miners, under Washington s Chief of 
 Engineers. 
 
 After the capture of New York the enemy moved 
 toward White Plains, where the battle of Oct. 28th 
 occurred between portions of the two armies. 
 Among graduates engaged were Cols. Silliman, 
 Chandler, and Chester, Capt. Hull, Brigade-Major 
 Tallmadge, and some others. The victory was 
 claimed by both sides, but Washington again re- 
 
 " The Beginning of Modern Submarine Warfare, under Captain David 
 Bushnell, Sappers and Miners, Army of the Revolution. Being a Historical 
 Compilation Arranged by Lieut. -Colonel Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers, 
 U. S. A., Brevet Brigadier General. 1881." 
 See Biographical Sketch of Bushnell. 
 
Events in 777^-77. 57 
 
 treated to North Castle, and finally withdrew into 
 New Jersey. To the misfortunes of the campaign 
 was added the loss of Fort Washington with many 
 prisoners, among whom were most of Col. Bradley s 
 regiment. The Colonel being absent sick, escaped 
 capture. Washington continued his retreat to the 
 Delaware and into Pennsylvania, with but the rem 
 nant of an army under his command. The British 
 following closely, appeared, by the middle of Decem 
 ber, to be complete masters of the situation. 
 
 In this depressing moment Washington did not 
 stand alone. Strong men extended their sympathy 
 and support. Gov. Livingston, for one, dropped 
 him a line of cheer as he passed down through New 
 ark. Congress was devising means for giving him a 
 better army the next year, and its members wrote 
 hopeful letters. Two from Wolcott may illustrate, 
 one written before the campaign opened, and the 
 other at the close. May 4, 1776, he says : 
 
 " In such tempestuous Times no one can say what the events 
 of things may be, tho I have no apprehension that Great Britain 
 can subjugate this country ; to give us much trouble is doubtless 
 in her power, and a people engaged in war must not always ex 
 pect prosperity in all their undertakings. God has indeed in a 
 wonderful manner hitherto granted us his protection, and I hope 
 he will still continue it. Possess your own mind in peace. For 
 titude not only enables us to bear evils, but prevents oftentimes 
 those which would otherwise befal us. I do not apprehend any 
 personal danger, and if I did, I hope I never shall betray that 
 baseness as to shrink from it, but I do think it is not unlikely 
 we may have a troublesome summer. And if so, let every one 
 bear his part of the publick calamity with fortitude." 
 
 Wolcott was a short time with the army at New 
 
58 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 York, and then returned to Congress. The news of 
 the defeats does not seem to have depressed him, 
 and on Dec. 13, after New York and New Jersey 
 were lost to the enemy, he still wrote with a brave 
 heart : 
 
 " Whatever events may take place, the American cause will be 
 supported to the last, and I trust in God that it will succeed. 
 The Grecian, Roman, and Dutch states were in their infancy re 
 duced to the greatest Distress, infinitely beyond what we have 
 yet experienced. The God who governs the Universe, and 
 who holds Empires in his Hand, can with the least effort of his 
 will grant us all that security, opulence, and Renown which they 
 have enjoyed. The present scene, it is true, appears somewhat 
 gloomy ; but the natural or more obvious Cause seems to be owing 
 to the term of enlistment of the Army having expired. I hope we 
 may have a most respectable one before long established. The 
 Business of war is the result of Experience." * 
 
 But presently, as we know, there came an unex 
 pected turn of affairs in the battles of Trenton and 
 Princeton. With twenty-four hundred troops Wash 
 ington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, and 
 in a storm of snow and sleet dashed into Trenton 
 and captured nearly one thousand Hessians. This 
 was a brilliant stroke, which in a few days was to be 
 followed by another of still greater importance in its 
 moral effect. Returning to Trenton, Washington, 
 on the night of Jan. 2d, found himself in a hazardous 
 position on the east side of Assanpink Creek, with 
 Cornwallis facing him and blocking his escape should 
 he be defeated in the expected battle on the next 
 day. Safety lay in outwitting Cornwallis during the 
 night. The stratagem of the camp fires, the silent 
 
 1 Letters from Gen. Oliver Wolcott to his wife, in the " Wolcott Memorial." 
 
Events in 1776-77. 59 
 
 withdrawal from the enemy s front, the night march 
 to Princeton, the cut through the British lines, the 
 march on to Morristown, the recovery of New 
 Jersey, and the baffling of all Howe s plans, are a 
 familiar story. Walpole, hearing of these surprises, 
 wrote : " Washington has shown himself both a 
 Fabius and a Camillus. His march through our lines 
 is allowed to have been a prodigy of generalship." 
 
 Among our graduates participating in these ma 
 noeuvres were Cols. Hitchcock, Chester, and Paterson, 
 Major Sherman, Capts. Hull, Grosvenor and Ashley, 
 and probably Chaplain Avery, Lieutenants Watson, 
 Elderkin, Flint, and others. Wilkinson states in his 
 " Memoirs," that Sherman led the van of the army on 
 the night march to Princeton. He was then in 
 Glover s brigade. Hull leaves us a letter fresh from 
 the Trenton field as follows : 
 
 . . . " . . . On the evening of the 25th ult., we were 
 ordered to March to a ferry [McConkey s] about twelve miles 
 from Trenton, where was stationed near two Thousand Hessians. 
 As violent a Storm ensued of Hail & Snow as ever I felt. The 
 Artillery and Infantry all were across the Ferry about 12 O clock, 
 consisting of only twenty-one hundred, principally New Eng 
 land Troops. In this Violent Storm we marched on for Trenton. 
 Before Light in the Morning we gained all the Roads leading 
 from Trenton. The Genl. gave orders that every Officer s Watch 
 should be set by his, and the moment of attack was fixed. Just 
 after Light, we came to their out Guard, which fired upon us 
 and retreated. The first sound of the Musquetry and Retreat of 
 the Guards animated the Men and they pushed on with Resolu 
 tion and Firmness. Happily the fire begun on every Side at the 
 same instant, their Main body had just time to form when there 
 ensued a heavy Cannonade from our Field Pieces and a fine brisk 
 and lively fire from our Infantry. This Continued but a Short 
 time before the Enemy finding themselves flanked on every Side 
 
60 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 laid down their Arms. The Resolution and Bravery of our Men, 
 their Order and Regularity gave me the highest Sensation of 
 Pleasure. Genl. Washington highly Congratulated the Men on 
 the next day in Genl. Orders, and with Pleasure observed, that 
 he had been in Many Actions before, but always perceived 
 some Misbehaviour in some individuals, but in that Action he 
 saw none. . . . What can t Men do when engaged in so 
 noble a Cause. Our Men s Time expired Yesterday ; they have 
 generally engaged to Tarry six weeks longer. My company 
 almost to a Man. Orders have now come for us to march 
 for Princetown. . . 
 
 Perhaps no one at Princeton did more effective 
 service than Col. Daniel Hitchcock. He has been 
 mentioned as one of Greene s favorite officers from 
 Rhode Island, present at the siege of Boston and 
 through the New York campaign. His regiment 
 constructed and manned the left of the lines at 
 Brooklyn, and just now he was commanding a brigade. 
 One of his old soldiers remembers him as " an 
 accomplished gentleman " and " fine officer," equalled 
 by few in the army. On the morning of Jan. 3d, as 
 the troops neared Princeton, Mawhood s British regi 
 ment delayed the column. It repulsed Mercer s 
 brigade as well as Cadwallader s militia. This prov 
 ing too serious a matter, Washington personally 
 assisted in rallying the men, and at the same time 
 sent word to Hitchcock to attack the enemy on the 
 right. Hitchcock immediately drew up his com 
 mand, reduced now to less than six hundred men, 
 and advancing to within one hundred yards of the 
 British, opened fire, " rushed on with intrepidity," as 
 
 1 Letter from Capt. Wm. Hull to Hon. Andrew Adams, Litchfield, Conn., 
 Trenton, Jan. I, 1777. In " Legacy of Historical Gleanings," by Mrs. C. V. 
 R. Bonney, vol. i., p. 57. Munsell, Albany, 1875. 
 
Events in 1776-77. 61 
 
 one of his own officers says, drove them from the field, 
 and captured their two pieces of artillery. The 
 militia recovered themselves and also rushed forward. 
 Hitchcock s timely and successful attack helped to 
 clear the way and the troops all passed on to Prince 
 ton. We are told that after the action Washington 
 took Hitchcock by the hand in front of Princeton 
 College and publicly thanked him and his brigade for 
 their gallant conduct. These troops had also bravely 
 defended the bridge across the Assanpink on the 
 previous evening. Their service seems to have 
 become known and appreciated, as we find Dr. Benj. 
 Rush writing, Jan. 6th, from Bordentown, to Richard 
 Henry Lee, of Virginia, as follows : " Much credit is 
 due to a brigade of New England men commanded 
 by Colonel Hitchcock in both actions [Jan. 2d, P.M. 
 and Jan. 3d, A.M.] ; they sustained a heavy fire from 
 musketry and artillery for a long time without mov 
 ing ; they are entitled to a great share of the honour 
 acquired by our arms at Princetown." 
 
 These return strokes put a glorious finish to an 
 otherwise gloomy campaign. The men of the Revo 
 lution attached the greatest importance to them, as 
 we know from many sources. Among others, Col. 
 Chester tells us something of their immediate effect 
 in a letter to Col. Webb, his old Bunker Hill lieuten 
 ant, but now aid to Washington, as follows : 
 
 " We all Congratulate you on the honor you have lately shared 
 in the victories over our Common Enemy, and pray for a continu 
 ation of successes, till they may be obliged to quit the Land or 
 kneel to Great George the American. You Cannot conceive the 
 Joy & Raptures the people were universally in as we passed the 
 
62 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 road. T is good to be the messenger of Glad Tidings. We 
 were the first that brought the news to Peeks Kill of y e Trenton 
 affair. Gen 1 Heath thought it a matter well worth forwarding by 
 Express to Boston, which he did. We have such vague, uncertain 
 accounts of these matters in general that I cannot but think that 
 it would richly pay the expence of forwarding accounts of this 
 kind by express. They make an amazing alteration in the faces 
 of men & things. . . . " 
 
 This campaign entailed the loss of many good 
 officers and men, especially from hardship and dis 
 ease. Among the graduates, Col. Fisher Gay, of 
 Farmington, was the first whose death is recorded. 
 Taken ill a short time before the battle of Long 
 Island, he either died or was buried on the day of 
 the battle, August 27th. " Freedom or Death," are 
 the words inscribed on his sword, still preserved by 
 his descendants. Capt. Jabez Hamlin died in camp 
 September 2Oth. Capt. Nathan Hale s name appears 
 for the last time on the rolls of his regiment as 
 " Killed, Sept. 22, 1776." Chaplain Ebenezer Bald 
 win, a much loved pastor of Danbury, who went into 
 the service with his parishioners, fell a victim to camp 
 malady in October. Col. Mark Hopkins, a lawyer 
 in the prime of life and reputation in Berkshire Co., 
 Mass., died from exhaustion at White Plains, Octo 
 ber 27th, the day before the battle. Lieut. Jonathan 
 Bellamy, son of the well-known divine, died of small 
 pox in New Jersey, January 4, 1777. Last, a great 
 
 1 Letter dated Wethersfield, Jan. 17, 1777. From the original in the Webb 
 
 IVLoo. 
 
 Gen. Heath says in his Memoirs, Dec. 30, 1776 : "Col. Chester, of Connec 
 ticut, arrived at Peek s Kill, from Gen. Washington s camp, with the agreeable 
 news, that the preceding Thursday morning, being the 26th, Gen. Washington, 
 at the head of about 3,000 men, crossed the Delaware, and attacked the enemy 
 at Trenton," etc. 
 
Events in 1776-77. 63 
 
 loss, indeed the noble Hitchcock, who is said to 
 have been suffering from fever when he dashed into 
 the Princeton fight, succumbed to the severities of 
 the campaign and died at Morristown, January 13, 
 1777. He was buried," writes Greene, "with all 
 the honors of war, as the last mark of respect we 
 could show him." 
 
EVENTS IN 1777-78. 
 
 The New Continental Army Graduates in its Ranks The Danbury Raid and 
 Death of Gen. Wooster Events in Pennsylvania Battle of Germantown 
 Lieut. Morris, Prisoner The Burgoyne Campaign Graduates Engaged 
 Letters from Gen. Wolcott and Capt. Seymour Col. Brown s Ex 
 ploit The Surrender Washington s Congratulations Letters from Gens. 
 Scott and Silliman. 
 
 THE disasters of 1776 developed the need of a dis 
 ciplined and permanent force with which to meet the 
 enemy in the contests to come. Congress provided 
 for one by ordering the enlistment of eighty-eight 
 battalions of infantry, to be apportioned among the 
 States, of which Massachusetts was to furnish fifteen, 
 Connecticut eight, New York four, Pennsylvania 
 twelve, and the rest in like ratio, according to popu 
 lation. Sixteen other regiments were to be raised on 
 an independent basis, in addition to the usual artil 
 lery and cavalry complement. Long enlistments were 
 substituted for short terms, the selection of officers 
 was made with more regard to their fitness, a stricter 
 military code was observed, and the departments 
 generally reorganized. This new army, recruited in 
 the early months of 1777, was known as the " second 
 establishment " that of 1776, organized at Boston, 
 being the first, and is familiar to us as the regular 
 Continental Line of the Revolution. While the 
 troops of each State were, as far as possible, brigaded 
 together, and each State recruited its own " Line," 
 
 6 4 
 
Events in 1777-78. 65 
 
 and occasionally clothed and provisioned it, as an 
 army they were wholly under the control of Congress 
 and the Commander-in-chief. Congress, through its 
 President, issued the officers commissions, regulated 
 promotions, purchased supplies and material, and 
 provided the pay. It was this force, thus placed 
 upon a proper footing, that was to be Washington s 
 main dependence through the war ; and under his 
 cautious and skilful leadership it proved equal to the 
 emergency. At times defeated and frequently re 
 duced to privation, it was as often victorious, and in 
 the end saved the country. 
 
 Looking through the scattered rolls of this army 
 the true " Continentals " of the war, we continue to 
 find graduates down for service, many of whom, being 
 soldiers of 1775 and 1776, seem in this way to have 
 pledged themselves to fight it out to the end. Gen 
 eral David Wooster was still a Continental brigadier. 
 Colonel John Paterson was, in March of this year, 
 promoted to the same rank. The Third, Fifth, and 
 Eighth of the new regiments of the Connecticut Line 
 were commanded respectively by Colonels Samuel 
 Wyllys, Philip B. Bradley, and John Chandler, the 
 latter having Giles Russell, a veteran of the French 
 and Indian war, and of the last campaign, for 
 his lieutenant-colonel. Major Isaac Sherman, who 
 served the previous year with Massachusetts troops, 
 was transferred to Connecticut, and became Lieut.- 
 Colonel of the Second Regiment. On the other 
 hand, Captain William Hull left his Connecticut 
 associations and was appointed Major of the Eighth 
 Massachusetts. Both these appointments followed 
 
66 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 upon Washington s recommendation, and both men 
 subsequently did noteworthy service and received fur 
 ther promotion. Captains Thomas Grosvenor, Eben- 
 ezer Huntington, and Ebenezer Gray appear this 
 year as majors, and the former, also as lieut. -colonel 
 under Wyllys. Huntington joined Colonel Samuel 
 B. Webb s independent or " additional " regiment, 
 which prided itself on its personnel, and made a good 
 record. It was quite a Yale corps its major, sur 
 geon, five of its eight captains, and two or more 
 lieutenants in 1777-78 being graduates. The sur 
 geon was Jeremiah West ; the captains, John P. 
 Wyllys, Thomas Wooster, Joseph Walker, James 
 Watson, Samuel W. Williams ; and Lieutenant Roger 
 Welles, who became captain in 1 780. Arranged in 
 other regiments of the State Line were Captains 
 Theophilus Munson, David Humphreys, Vine Elder- 
 kin, Nathaniel Webb, William Judd ; Lieutenants 
 James Morris, Roger Alden, Augustine Taylor, 
 Moses Cleaveland, John Mix, and Nathaniel Chip- 
 man. Ezra Selden, Jonathan Heart, Samuel A. S. 
 Barker, Elihu Marvin, and Nehemiah Rice were five 
 of the eight Connecticut adjutants, all of whom were 
 subsequently promoted. William Nichols appears as 
 lieutenant and regimental paymaster ; Richard Sill, 
 David Judson, and John Elderkin, as lieutenants and 
 quartermasters. 
 
 On the rolls of the Massachusetts Line were to be 
 found, in addition to those of Paterson and Hull, the 
 names of John Porter, first as Captain and then Major 
 of the Thirteenth Regiment ; of Moses Ashley, Cap 
 tain in the First ; of Daniel Lyman, Captain in Hen- 
 
Events in 1777-78. 67 
 
 ley s " additional " regiment and aid to Gen. Heath ; 
 and of Samuel Cogswell, Charles Selden and John 
 Barker, three young graduates of this year s class, 
 Lieutenants in Colonel Henry Jackson s Continental 
 battalion, recruited mainly in Boston and vicinity. 
 
 In the cavalry Colonel Sheldon s Second Conti 
 nental Regiment of Dragoons we have four officers, 
 namely : the Major, Benjamin Tallmadge, who will 
 make himself as famous as a soldier could wish ; Cap 
 tains Thomas Young Seymour and Ezekiel Porter 
 Belden, and Quartermaster Samuel Mills. Captain 
 Robert Walker, of Stratford, raised an artillery com 
 pany and joined the Second Regiment of that arm 
 under Colonel Lamb. 
 
 Several graduates were associated with the staff 
 departments. Peter Colt, a public-spirited merchant 
 of New Haven, received the appointment from Con 
 gress of Commissary of Purchases for the Eastern 
 States. Nathan Preston was an assistant in the de 
 partment of issues and supplies. James Davenport, 
 and probably Benjamin Welles and William Little, 
 served for a term in similar capacities in and out of 
 Connecticut. Royall Flint became assistant to Col 
 onel Jeremiah Wadsworth, Quartermaster - General 
 at Army Head-quarters. Of brigade-majors assist 
 ant adjutant-generals they would be called to-day 
 we had a number during the war. Major Ebenezer 
 Gray held this position for a short time early in 
 1777, in the First Connecticut Brigade, and was suc 
 ceeded by Captain David Humphreys, for whom 
 more enviable honors were in store. In Rhode 
 Island, William Peck became Adjutant-General of 
 
68 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 the troops gathered to watch the enemy who had 
 lately seized Newport. 
 
 As to chaplains where in the previous year each 
 regiment was entitled to one, the number was limited 
 by resolution of Congress, May 27, 1777, to one for 
 each brigade, with a colonel s pay and rations. They 
 were to be nominated to Congress by the generals 
 commanding the brigades, who were enjoined to rec 
 ommend none but " clergymen of experience, and 
 established public character for piety, virtue, and 
 learning." Yale was represented by at least six chap 
 lains of this grade during the war. The three ap 
 pointed in 1777-78 were Rev. Timothy D wight, for 
 Parson s First Connecticut Brigade, the Chaplain for 
 the Second Brigade being the Rev. John Ellis, gradu 
 ate of Harvard ; Rev. David Avery, Fourth Massa 
 chusetts Brigade ; and Rev. William Plumbe, De 
 Fermoy s Brigade at Ticonderoga. At a later date 
 Rev. Abraham Baldwin succeeded Mr. Dwight, and 
 Rev. William Lockwood and Joel Barlow were ap 
 pointed in the Massachusetts Line. Revs. Elihu 
 Spencer and James Sproat, of New Jersey, appear as 
 Chaplains to Department Hospitals. Mr. Plumbe, in 
 the fall of 1777, was appointed by General Gates to 
 the hospitals of the Northern Department. 
 
 Other graduates rendered service of some kind 
 within the year, either with the militia or as volun 
 teers. Colonel John Brown will add to his laurels in 
 the Saratoga campaign. Colonel John Ashley, Jr., 
 Major Theodore Sedgwick, Captain John Strong, 
 Israel Dickinson, Samuel Ely, and doubtless Enoch 
 and Joshua L. Woodbridge and William Lyman, from 
 
Events in 1777-78. 6 9 
 
 Massachusetts, also turned out at that crisis ; as did 
 Generals Wolcott, Wadsworth and Silliman, Colonel 
 Joshua Porter, Dr. Elisha Sill, Noah Webster, and 
 others from Connecticut. Colonel Jabez Bowen, 
 Captains Ebenezer Mosely, Sanford Kingsbury, An 
 drew Hillyer, and volunteers William Edmond, John 
 Depeyster Douwand Oliver Wolcott, Jr., were active. 1 
 James Hillhouse this year became Captain of the New 
 Haven Company of Governor s Foot-Guards, and was 
 thus preparing for the good service he did when the 
 town was invaded by the enemy in 1779. 
 
 Active movements on any large scale did not begin 
 until half the year had gone. There was no fighting 
 in the spring and early summer, except what little oc 
 curred in the course of skirmishes and expeditions, the 
 most considerable of which was the British foray into 
 Connecticut in April, when Danbury was pillaged. 
 This cost us some public and private property among 
 other things, sixteen hundred tents, which could ill 
 
 1 AFFAIRS AT THE COLLEGE. Young Edmond and Wolcott were undergradu 
 ates when they volunteered their service. They were at home, as the college had 
 closed temporarily. 
 
 Interruptions of the course occurred frequently during the war. There were 
 no public commencements until 1781. College was first dismissed for a few 
 weeks, as stated, in April, 1775. In August, 1776, it was again dismissed, as 
 Fitch says, " on account of the prevalence of the camp distemper." He seems 
 not to have returned until November. " Difficulty of subsisting the students" 
 required another recess from Dec. 10 to Jan. 8, 1777. Again, March 22, 77, 
 Fitch writes in his diary : " This morning the President (Dr. Daggett) made 
 an address to the students, informing them that on account of the impossibility 
 of supplying the College with provisions, it would in a few days be dismissed ; 
 and also that he had fully made up his mind to resign the presidency of the 
 College." The students went home about April i, and did not return to New 
 Haven till the fall. In May-June the Freshman met at Farmington, Sopho 
 mores and Juniors at Glastonbury, Seniors at Wethersfield, and continued their 
 studies under their tutors. 
 
 Dr. Stiles writes in his diary : "A large class graduated Sept. 10, 1777, and 
 many students entered the army ; others left College on account of its broken 
 state and expenses in these tumultuous times . . . The public calamities 
 & tumults affect all the colleges." Further interruptions are referred to in 
 1778-79. 
 
70 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 be spared. But a loss more sensibly felt, especially 
 by the Connecticut people, was that of their senior 
 major-general of militia, who fell mortally wounded 
 in the affair. This was the veteran Wooster, the 
 oldest of our graduates then in the field. His death 
 was in every way a noble one, not only on account 
 of the soldierly qualities he displayed at the time, 
 but peculiarly in view of the happy patriotic temper 
 which had governed him from the outset. Upon his 
 recall from Canada in the spring of 1 776 he demanded 
 an investigation at the hands of Congress, and was 
 acquitted of all blame for misfortunes in that quarter. 
 Prejudices, however, existed against him, partly on 
 account of his age, and he was ordered to report to 
 his home, which meant that his services would prob 
 ably not be required again in the open field. Feeling 
 that this was unmerited treatment, and still having 
 faith in himself, he wrote to Congress that he was 
 ready for duty and abided its commands. The state 
 ment made by almost all writers on the Revolution, 
 that he resigned his Continental commission on re 
 turning to Connecticut, is erroneous. Resignation 
 would have been a confession of unfitness or lack of 
 public spirit. He did not resign, and at the time of 
 his death he was the senior brigadier in the army. 
 In the meantime Connecticut appointed him Major- 
 General of all the State Militia, and under this com 
 mission he was stationed on the Connecticut border, 
 with head-quarters generally at Rye, during the winter 
 of 1776-77. With him on his staff for short periods 
 were three graduates, namely, his son, Thomas 
 Wooster, and Stephen R. Bradley, Aides-de-camp, and 
 
Events in 1777-78. 71 
 
 Mark Leavenworth, Secretary and Deputy Adjutant- 
 General. 
 
 The Danbury raid occurred April 25th to 28th, the 
 enemy s object being the destruction of stores at that 
 place. Upon the landing of Gen. Tryon with some 
 two thousand British troops off Norwalk, the militia 
 turned out and attacked them on their return. Gens. 
 Arnold and Silliman, Cols. Huntington, Lamb and 
 others were conspicuously active. At Danbury, Col. 
 Joseph P. Cooke, class of 1750, and at Ridgefield, 
 Col. Philip B. Bradley, class of 1758, assisted in 
 harassing the enemy. William Edmond, then a Sen 
 ior, afterwards Judge of the State Supreme Court, 
 joined in the attack and was severely wounded. 
 Young Oliver Wolcott, a Junior, also turned out as a 
 volunteer. No one, however, displayed more spirit 
 and activity than old General Wooster. The news 
 of Tryon s landing reaching him at New Haven on 
 the 26th. He immediately started for the scene of 
 action, and on the following afternoon, after much 
 riding and little rest, attacked one detachment of the 
 British with a small body of militia. His men giving 
 way, he made every effort to rally them, when he re 
 ceived a mortal wound in the back. He was removed 
 to Danbury, where he expired on the 2d of May, 
 "with great composure and resignation." 
 
 Those who observed the general s movements and 
 received his orders after he reached the vicinity of 
 the enemy were impressed with his energy and good 
 management. Arnold, Silliman and Huntington all 
 speak of him in terms of high praise. The Philadel 
 phia Post, of May 13, 1777, mentioned him as follows : 
 
72 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " We hear that Gen. Wooster died the third instant, 
 of his wounds in the action of the 27th tilt. Although 
 this brave veteran was supposed by some to have 
 outlived his usefulness, yet his spirit and activity 
 shone in this last action of his life with undimin- 
 ished lustre." Congress voted him a monument, but 
 its resolution has never been carried into effect. The 
 following hitherto unpublished letter from Wooster 
 is one of the last bearing on military matters that he 
 wrote : 
 
 " RYE, March io th , 1777. 
 
 " DR. SIR : Your favor of the seventh Inst 1 came to hand last 
 night, and for answer I must inform you that I apprehend a de 
 scent on Long Island is at present impracticable, as the enemy 
 have in the Sound above thirty Ships and Tenders cruising daily 
 from Fairfield to the Westward neither have we boats sufficient 
 to cross over in and what is a greater difficulty, the Term for 
 which the troops here were Inlisted expires next Saturday and 
 Home is the word already. 
 
 " I have however sent Col Enos to wait on you and to consult 
 what may be done in some future day when these Ships have re 
 turned to New York and the Sound not so infested with them, 
 and you may be assured I shall ever cheerfully lend you every 
 assistance in my power, to forward an enterprise which may be 
 of some service to our cause. 
 
 " I am D r Sir with esteem and respect 
 
 " Your most humble serv 1 , 
 
 " DAVID WOOSTER. 
 "The Hon ble Brigadier Gen 1 Parsons." 
 
 This letter, with Wooster s portrait, sword, and 
 sash, on which he was lifted from the field when 
 wounded, is preserved in the President s Room at 
 the college. 
 
 The stirring events of the year occurred in the 
 months of August, September, and October. We had 
 
Events in 1777-78. 73 
 
 nothing more interesting in the whole course of the 
 war. It was the year of Burgoyne s surrender, 
 which, following the siege of Boston, Trenton, and 
 Princeton, convinced the country that with continued 
 exertions there could be no question as to the issue. 
 The enemy s campaign plans included the isolation 
 of the New England States, the control of the Hud 
 son and interior lines of communication, and the sup 
 pression of resistance to the southward as far as the 
 Potomac. Burgoyne coming down from Canada 
 with seven thousand choice troops was expected, with 
 assistance from New York, to effect the first result ; 
 and Howe, taking Philadelphia and defeating Wash 
 ington, was confident of success in that direction. 
 The latter s operations were more or less successful. 
 Philadelphia fell into his hands, and Washington 
 was defeated at Brandy wine, Sept. n. On Oct. 4th, 
 Washington partially redeemed himself by his well- 
 planned attack upon the enemy at Germantown, and 
 later withdrew into winter-quarters at Valley Forge. 
 In these Pennsylvania operations comparatively 
 few graduates participated. No Eastern troops were 
 with the army at Brandywine, with the exception of 
 a portion of the Second Regiment of Light Dragoons, 
 recruited mainly in Connecticut. Benjamin Tall- 
 madge had lately been promoted Major of this corps, 
 and with him may have been Capt. E. P. Belden and 
 Lieutenant Mills, but they were not actually engaged 
 in the battle. At Germantown, however, they were 
 at the front, Tallmadge himself being at the head of 
 Sullivan s column. The First Connecticut Brigade 
 had joined the army by that time and was engaged 
 
74 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 under Gen. McDougall on the extreme left. Pub 
 lished accounts of the battle hardly refer to Mc 
 Dougall and one writer, an officer present in the ac 
 tion, asserts that he never reached the field. This 
 is a mistake so far as the Connecticut troops were 
 concerned, as we know from several sources. A let 
 ter in the Trumbull collection, written apparently by 
 Col. John Chandler, class of 1759, states that his 
 regiment lost twenty-two and that Col. Bradley s loss 
 was " something more." Other graduates in Mc- 
 Dougall s command were Lieut-Col. Russell, Maj. 
 Gray, Capts. Webb and Munson, and Lieuts. Taylor, 
 Rice, Sill, Judson, Daggett, and Morris. The latter, 
 James Morris, class of 1775, afterwards a well-known 
 citizen of Litchfield, Conn., was taken prisoner at 
 Germantown and has left us an account of his ex 
 periences while in the enemy s hands. The follow 
 ing is an extract : 
 
 "We encamped between the River Lehigh and Philadelphia, 
 and on the evening of the 3d of October 1777, the army had orders 
 to march. About 6 o clock, on said evening, the army under the 
 immediate command of General Washington began their march 
 for Germantown. I left my baggage and my bible, which my 
 father bought for me when I was six years old, in my trunk. I 
 marched with only my military suit and my implements of war, 
 without any change of dress or even a blanket. We marched 
 that evening and reached Germantown by break of day, the 
 morning of the 4th, a distance of about 20 miles. The memor 
 able battle of Germantown then commenced. Our army was ap 
 parently successful in driving the enemy from their encampment, 
 and victory in the outset seemed to perch on our standards. 
 
 " But the success of the day by the misconduct of General Ste 
 phens turned against us. Many fell in battle and about 500 of our 
 men were made prisoners of war who surrendered at discretion. 
 
Rvents in 1777-78. 75 
 
 I being in the first company, at the head of our column, that began 
 the attack upon the enemy consequently I was in the rear in the 
 retreat. Our men then undisciplined were scattered. I had 
 marched with a few men nearly 10 miles before I was captured, 
 continually harassed by the British Dragoons and the light in 
 fantry. I finally surrendered to save life with the few men then 
 under my command and marched back to Germantown under a 
 guard. 
 
 " Samuel Stannard, my waiter, a strong athletic man, carried my 
 blanket and provisions, with a canteen of whiskey ; he had made 
 his escape, and was not taken. Of course I was left without any 
 refreshment from break of day in the morning through the whole 
 day ; thus I was driven back to Germantown after performing a 
 march of about forty miles from the evening before at six 
 o clock. I reached Germantown a prisoner of war about sunset 
 fatigued and much exhausted. I was the last officer taken with 
 about twenty men the rest that had been taken early in the day 
 were conveyed to Philadelphia. The evening of the 4th of Oc 
 tober was very cold. I was put under a quarter guard with the 
 few men with me in an open field around a small fire ; no pro 
 vision was made for the Prisoners ; the men with me had a little 
 food in their knapsacks, but I had none. A little after sundown 
 I was shivering with the cold. I asked the sergeant of the Guard 
 if I might see the Commander of the Regiment ; he informed me 
 that he quartered in such a house about twenty rods distant the 
 sergeant, who was manly and sympathetic, waited on me to the 
 house, and informed the Commander that there was an American 
 Officer, a prisoner, at the door who wanted to see him. The 
 Colonel said that he would see him after he had done supper. 
 Accordingly I sat down on the stoop before the door, and after 
 sitting about fifteen minutes the Colonel came out and sat down 
 on the stoop with me ; he asked me many questions respecting 
 my motives for going into the war and rising up in rebellion 
 against my lawful sovereign, and I answered him pleasantly and 
 as evasively as I could consistently with decency. He asked me 
 what I wanted. I told him that I was in a suffering condition ; 
 I had no blanket or any covering to shield me from the cold. I 
 wished for liberty to sleep in the house, and that I stood in need 
 of some refreshment. The Colonel ordered his servants to get 
 
76 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 me some victuals, and said I might go into the room where they 
 were. I went into the room. The servants very politely spread 
 a table, set on some good old spirits and a broiled chicken well 
 cooked, with excellent bread and other food of the best kind. 
 The servants sat off in the room and waited on me in the best man 
 ner. This was really the sweetest meal of victuals that I ever ate. 
 When I had done supper I asked the sergeant who had conducted 
 me there what the Colonel said respecting my lodging in the 
 house. 
 
 " The sergeant replied that the Colonel told him that I was not 
 on parole, and that he was not authorized to grant a parole of 
 honor, and that I must go out and be with the guard. I then 
 asked the sergeant if I could be furnished with a blanket for that 
 night. The soldiers who were waiters to the Colonel immediately 
 brought me a large and clean rose blanket, and said it should be 
 for my use that night. I accordingly went out into the field and 
 lay down among the soldiers who were prisoners, wrapped myself 
 in the blanket, kept my hat on my head, and slept sweetly thro 
 the night. Before I lay down the sergeant informed me that he 
 observed that I had a watch in my pocket, and that I had silver 
 knee-buckles ; that if I would give them to his care he would re 
 turn them to me in the morning, for the soldiers of the guard 
 would probably rob me of them when I was asleep. I accord 
 ingly committed them to his safe keeping, who very honorably 
 returned them to me the next morning, it being the 5th of Octo 
 ber. The prisoners this day had their allowance of provisions 
 dealt out to them for the day. These were cooked by the soldiers 
 who were prisoners, and I partook with them in one common 
 mess. Near sunset of the 5th the prisoners were ordered to be 
 escorted by a guard to Philadelphia, the distance about six miles. 
 I thus marched on and arrived at the new jail in Philadelphia 
 about eight o clock in the evening. I was locked into a cold room 
 destitute of every thing but cold stone walls and bare floors ; no 
 kind of a chair to sit on ; all total darkness ; no water to drink 
 or a morsel to eat ; destitute of a blanket to cover me. . . . 
 Morning finally arrived, and at a late hour we were furnished with 
 some very hard sea bread and salted pork, and I was able to ob 
 tain some water to drink. Being altogether moneyless, I could 
 purchase nothing for my comfort. 
 
Events in 1777-78. 77 
 
 " I pretty soon sold my watch for half its value, and with the 
 money I received for it I was able to procure some food pleasant 
 to my taste. I wholly gave up my allowance of provisions to the 
 poor soldiers. At this time and in this jail were confined 700 
 prisoners of war, a few small rooms were sequestered for the offi 
 cers ; each room must contain sixteen men. We fully covered 
 the whole floor when we lay down to sleep, and the poor soldiers 
 were shut into rooms of the same magnitude with double the 
 number. The soldiers were soon seized with the jail fever, as it 
 was called, and it swept off in the course of three months 400 
 men, who were all buried in one continued grave without coffins ; 
 the length of a man was the width of the grave, lying three deep 
 or one upon another. I thus lived in jail from the 5th of Octo 
 ber, 1777, till the month of May, 1778." 
 
 At the North the more desperate and vital struggle 
 with Burgoyne had been in progress. Graduates were 
 engaged here as elsewhere. Gen. Paterson and his 
 brigade of four Massachusetts regiments formed 
 about one third of Gates Continental force, which 
 did the main fighting. In this force were Maj. Hull, 
 who was closely engaged in the battle of Sept. iQth, 
 Major Porter, and Captain Ashley. Captain Thomas 
 Y. Seymour was also there with the only company 
 of Continental Dragoons in Gates army. As for 
 militia and volunteers such numbers hurried forward 
 at the last moment that probably many names were 
 never enrolled. Among them, for instance, was 
 young Noah Webster, still a Junior at college, who 
 tells us that a large body went from Connecticut. 
 " My father and my two brothers," he writes, " were 
 in the service. I also shouldered a musket and 
 marched as a volunteer, leaving at home no person 
 
 1 From the original MSS. in possession of Hon. Dwight Morris, late Secre 
 tary of State of Connecticut, son of James Morris, the Revolutionary officer. 
 
78 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 but my mother and a sister to take charge of the 
 farm." x With the force on the Hudson under Gen. 
 Putnam, who endeavored to prevent Clinton from 
 New York from co-operating with Burgoyne, were 
 quite a number of graduates namely, Col. Wyllys, 
 Lt.-Cols. Sherman and Grosvenor, Maj. Huntington, 
 Capts. Wyllys, Judd, Wooster, Walker, Brigade- 
 Major David Humphreys, Lieuts. Williams, Heart, 
 Alden, Cleaveland, Chipman, Mix, and Barker, all of 
 whom were Continentals. They were doubtless at 
 that time with their regiments. Gens. Wadsworth 
 and Silliman commanded militia under Putnam, and 
 in all probability other graduates marched with them. 
 Gen. Wolcott, with instructions which left him free 
 to report anywhere, pushed on with about three 
 hundred volunteers directly to Gates camp, Lieut- 
 Col. Joshua Porter having preceded him with a 
 State regiment which fought well in the action of 
 Freeman s Farm, Sept. iQth. 
 
 An extract from one of Gen. Wolcott s letters to 
 Gov. Trumbull, written after Burgoyne had been 
 twice defeated and a few days before his surrender, 
 runs as follows : 
 
 "Camp Beames Heights, Oct 10, 1777. 
 
 " SIR : 
 
 " I came to this camp the 30 ultimo with a little more than 300 
 men. The apparent exigency of our affairs in this Department 
 and the probability of affording some useful succour to this army, 
 were, as I observed in my former letter, my Inducements to this 
 undertaking. How far the step which I have taken has been ap 
 proved of by your Excellency and Council of Safety I have not 
 been told, but as I was directed to afford such aid to this army 
 as I tho t proper, it was my opinion and the opinion of all 
 
 1 From the same MSS. quoted on page 13. See biographical sketch. 
 
Events in 1777-78. 79 
 
 Gentlemen whom I Consulted that the enemy could not be 
 so deeply wounded anywhere as in this quarter, and I am happy 
 to find that the success which has attended our military opera 
 tions in this department has justified my opinion. . . . 
 
 " Our army are on their Front flank, and on the opposite side 
 of the River. Yesterday & in the evening especially the enemy 
 appeared to be in the greatest Confusion and Distress environed 
 on every side by our army, their baggage scattered & a good deal 
 of it destroyed by themselves. A great number of their horses 
 are killed on the Road and several Hundred Barrels of Provisions 
 fallen into our hands. Our army the last night lay on their arms 
 to renew the attack this morning. What will be the events of the 
 day, God only knows, but in all probability it will end in at least 
 the total loss of all the enemy s artillery stores & baggage, if not 
 of the greater part of their army. I cannot well conceive of an 
 army being bro t into a worse situation than that of the enemy s. 
 But the fate of it will be fully known in two or three days. May 
 it please a merciful God to grant that the kindest events may take 
 place as it respects ourselves. It is my belief that the events of 
 the campaign in this quarter will open to us the brightest scene, 
 and will involve in it consequences which will fully establish the 
 American Independency and altho our affairs put on a dis 
 agreeable aspect in other parts yet an aurora borealis from this 
 quarter will dispel the dismal gloom. . . ." 
 
 Another letter from the field we have in the follow 
 ing from Capt. Seymour to his father at Hartford. 
 It was written the day after the battle of Freeman s 
 Farm : 
 
 " HON D SIR : I now attempt to give a relation of an engage 
 ment between the enemy s whole Force and Gen 1 Arnold s Divi 
 sion it began in the morning of the iQth instant between some 
 Advanced Parties till noon, soon after which it became general, 
 and an incessant Fire continued the whole day, we obliging the 
 enemy to quit the Field for three times, though they obstinately 
 contended to keep possession of it. The action was Bloody & 
 would undoubtedly have been decided had not the night parted 
 1 From the " Wolcott Memorial." Original in Trumbull Papers. 
 
8o Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 us. In the course of the Day 1,000 were killed of the enemy & 
 46 taken prisoners, all British troops as they were in front. We 
 lost in the above action 34 killed, 120 wounded & missing. Some 
 officers of distinction were lost on our side, such as two Colonels 
 and some of a less degree. The militia of our State was engaged 
 & behaved bravely. Capt. Wadsworth of Hartford in particular 
 has done himself eternal Honor, tho I am afraid [the] good man 
 is mortally wounded. One of Mr. Tucker s sons was instantly 
 killed after acting the soldier. Our Tents are all struck, and we 
 momently expect to put an end to the Warr in this Department 
 God grant us success in a day so big with important Events. Gen. 
 Lincoln is in the rear of the enemy, & will disappoint all possible 
 hopes of a retreat ; their situation, as I observed in a former let 
 ter, is desperate, for they fought as if it was so, yet the Spirit of 
 our Troops & a Consciousness of the Justice of our Cause made 
 us an overmatch for them. The army still continue in spirits 
 and are doubly animated from the late engagement. I still con 
 tinue to be in health notwithstanding I experience great fatigues. 
 
 "lam, &c., 
 
 " THOS. Y. SEYMOUR. 
 
 " P. S. Various reports say Gen 1 Burgoyne rec d a fatal shot in 
 the action above mentioned we are tjiis day joined by 200 Indi 
 ans of the Onoiada Tribe & with the Riflemen are now gone to 
 beat up the enemy s quarters. This letter I hope will be excused, 
 as it was written on my knee under arms. 
 
 "Camp advanced of Still Water, Sept. 20, 1777." 
 
 We may expect, also, to find Col. John Brown very 
 active in this quarter. Perfectly familiar with the 
 region about Ticonderoga, he undertook, with the 
 approval of Gen. Lincoln, to attack the garrison at 
 that point, and break up Burgoyne s communications. 
 With five hundred men he marched through the 
 woods, "where," as one of his officers says, "man 
 never marched before, except the Indian," and on 
 
 1 From the original among the Trumbull Papers in the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, Boston. 
 
Events in 1777-78. 81 
 
 the morning of September i8th surprised the enemy s 
 outer works, including Mount Defiance, and captured 
 stores and prisoners. He failed in succeeding to the 
 utmost of his expectations, but it was a dashing ex 
 ploit, which added to his reputation. The unknown 
 ofricer adds : " We were commanded by Col. Brown, 
 a fine officer as ever I saw good courage and good 
 conduct." 
 
 Burgoyne surrendered October i 7th. No one ap 
 preciated the event more than the soldiers in the 
 field. When Washington heard of it at " Camp 
 Pennybacker s Mills," Pa., he congratulated his army 
 in the warmest terms. Col. Brown also came in for 
 remembrance. 
 
 ". . . The Commander-in-Chief," runs a portion of the 
 order, " has further occasion to congratulate the troops on the suc 
 cess of a detachment of the northern army, under Col. Brown, 
 who attacked and carried several of the enemy s posts, and had 
 got possession of several of the old French lines at Ticonderoga. 
 
 "Col. Brown, in those severe attacks, has taken 293 prisoners 
 of the enemy, with their arms, retaken more than 100 of our men, 
 and taken 150 batteaux below the fall in Lake Champlain, and 50 
 above the falls, including 17 gun-boats, and one armed sloop, be 
 sides cannon, ammunition, &c. 
 
 " To celebrate this success the General orders that at 4 o clock 
 this afternoon [Oct. 28] all the troops be paraded and served with 
 a gill of rum per man, and that at the same time there be dis 
 charges of 13 pieces of artillery from the park." 
 
 The troops on the Hudson under Putnam were 
 made equally happy with the news. Says Gen. Silli- 
 man, " Fishkill, Oct. 18, 1777, 8 o clock P.M." : 
 
 ". . . On this occasion the whole army was drawn up 
 1 Saffell s " Records of the Revolutionary War," p. 343. 
 
82 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 under arms and formed into a great square, with the Field Pieces 
 placed on one angle and all the General Officers in the centre 
 mounted on Horse Back ; when all the Letters were publickly 
 read, which was followed by a Discharge of 13 Cannon and three 
 loud Huzzas from the whole army on the joyfull Occasion, which 
 seemed almost to rend the air with the noise." 
 
 And this from Gen. Scott to Gates, as found in 
 the Gates Papers, New York Historical Society : 
 
 "KINGSTON, Oct r iSth, n o clock, 1777. 
 " MY DEAR GENERAL ! 
 
 " How can I sufficiently congratulate you upon the most signal 
 and Consequential Event that has happened this War ? an event 
 as glorious to yourself, as it is big with the happy Fortune of 
 America. We just now learn that Sir H. Clinton has come to 
 aV 6 miles below this. The Gov r is arrived and his small Body 
 of Troops are full on their March, and are expected here to 
 morrow Evening. Give me Leave, Sir, to give you a Hint that 
 your good fortune may prove a Trap to Clinton. How would it 
 add to your Trophies to secure him as a prisoner of War. I 
 have too good an opinion of your Generalship to doubt your 
 meeting him in Time and I am convinced that he intends to 
 push up to Albany without the loss of one moment. 
 
 " I am, Dear General, 
 
 " Most Respectfully Yours, 
 
 " JNO. MORIN SCOTT. 
 * The Honorable Major-General Gates, &c., &c." 
 
 After the surrender Gates army dispersed, the 
 militia going home and the Continentals returning in 
 part to Washington and in part encamping on and 
 near the Hudson for the winter. 
 
 1 From the Silliman MSS. in possession of Prof. O. P. Hubbard, New York 
 City. 
 
EVENTS IN 1778-79. 
 
 Valley Forge and its Discipline General Paterson Alumni in Camp Letters 
 from Lieuts. Chipman and Selden Devotion of the Army to Washington 
 The French Alliance General Scott to Gates Battle of Monmouth 
 Camp at White Plains Battle of Rhode Island Notice from the College 
 Steward. 
 
 FOLLOWING Germantown and Saratoga came the 
 historic winter at Valley Forge. The traditional 
 and popular picture of a shivering and famished 
 army, hutted in a bleak camp on the banks of the 
 Schuylkill, is hardly overdrawn, and touches the sym 
 pathies. But it was a valuable experience. Beyond 
 the actual discomfort and suffering, which at best 
 did not continue over six or eight weeks, one may 
 see the Continental soldier generally in good cheer, 
 his patience and determination commendable, and his 
 devotion to his chief growing deeper and warmer. 
 By spring-time the outlook was more encouraging. 
 Intrigues against Washington had failed as they de 
 served ; Steuben, turning the whole camp into a 
 drill-room, had introduced new tactics and a better 
 discipline ; and men forgot their hardships in the in 
 spiring news that France had become their firm ally. 
 There was a schooling of faith and habits at Valley 
 Forge such as the army much needed, and when it 
 moved out for active campaigning in the early sum 
 mer, it was with a sense of strength not before expe- 
 
 83 
 
84 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 rienced, and an air of confidence which, even in 
 gloomy days to come, never wholly forsook it. 
 
 Among college men in this camp we meet again 
 with General John Paterson, who had come down 
 with his troops from Saratoga after Burgoyne s sur 
 render. He seems to have been everywhere and always 
 active. Soon after the army was fixed in quarters, 
 he was detailed to superintend a part of the lines, 
 receiving these brief instructions from General 
 Greene, as given in Colonel Febiger s MS. Order- 
 Book: 
 
 "VALLEY FORGE, Jan. 2Oth 1778. 
 
 " Gen 1 Patterson is kind enough to undertake the Superintendence 
 of the Fortifications of the Left Wing. All the men not on Duty in 
 the respective Brigades in this Wing are to parade every morning 
 at 9 o clock to be employed in the Fortifications of the Camp 
 under the Gen ls Directions. Each Brigade is to furnish a Field 
 officer to com d the Fatigue parties. All officers not upon duty 
 under the rank of a Field officer are to turn out with the men. His 
 Excellency the Com dr in Chief Desires the officers to exert them 
 selves to put the Camp in a Defenceable condition as soon as 
 may be." 
 
 About twenty-five graduates were identified with 
 the Valley Forge encampment, the others in the 
 service being with troops in winter-quarters on the 
 Hudson and in Connecticut. Among the former we 
 find Cols. Bradley and Chandler, both of whom were 
 frequently appointed on a general court-martial. 
 Other names mentioned in the order-books are 
 Sherman, " Field-Officer of the day," Jan. 27, 1778; 
 Hull, Feb. 27th ; Russell, March 2d. Brigade- 
 Majors Alden and Marvin were there ; also Lieuts. 
 Ezra Selden, Flint, Judson, Chipman, Cogswell, Chas. 
 Selden, Barker, Taylor, and doubtless Major Porter, 
 
Events in 1778-79. 85 
 
 Capts. Ashley, Munson, Rice, and Webb, Lieuts. 
 Cleaveland, Mix, and others. 
 
 Letters from this camp, especially from subordinate 
 officers, are rarities. One or two of Chipman s and 
 Ezra Selden s have been preserved. Chipman, as 
 we have seen, wrote poetry in college, and now he 
 writes it from the field. It was in this strain, for 
 example, that he informed his classmate, Cogswell, 
 in April, 1777, that he had just entered the army : 
 ****** 
 
 " But I no more Parnassus tread 
 A foolish whim has turned my head, 
 The Muse has lost her wonted charms 
 And I am rushing on to arms. 
 No more I sing of bloody fight, 
 But now prepare myself to try t, 
 And leave to you the extensive rule 
 You ve late acquired in Country School ; 
 Your whip, your ferrule and your pen, 
 And cringing band of pigmy men. 
 Yes, you may laugh to see me cased 
 In armor, with a cockade graced ; 
 Nor will you laugh alone, I warrant, 
 At such a doughty huge knight-errant." 
 
 * * * # * * 
 
 The rigors of Valley Forge failed to repress his 
 aspirations, and when he sat down to describe his sur 
 roundings to another classmate, Fitch, in Feb., 1778, 
 it was again in verse : 
 
 " Here must we feel the inclement air, 
 Bear all the unequalled toils of war ; 
 Meet hardships in a thousand forms, 
 Now scorch d with heat, now drenched with storms. 
 
 1 This and other extracts from " Memoir of Judge Chipman." 
 
86 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 With cold and want maintain the strife 
 Such are the ills of martial life. 
 
 ****** 
 
 And now, my friend, come view the plain, 
 
 Deformed with mangled heaps of slain ; 
 
 See here by deadly wounds subdued, 
 
 Thousands still weltering in their blood. 
 
 Their country s glory was their all, 
 
 For her they fought, for her they fall. 
 
 Oh grant, kind Heaven, these scenes may end, 
 
 And peace her olive-branch extend, 
 
 In freedom this fair land be blest, 
 
 Nor Britain more our right contest." 
 
 Again Chipman writes, April 10, 1778, to still an 
 other member of his class, Elisha Lee, but this time 
 in good strong prose. The letter confirms the usual 
 statement that the officers of Washington s main 
 army were devotedly loyal to him at the time the 
 Conway Cabal sought to depreciate his services and 
 supplant his authority : 
 
 " I learn that it is a common topic of conversation in Connecti 
 cut, and, indeed, through New England, that General Washington 
 will not fight. Let Gates, say they, take the command, and we 
 shall see an end of the war. General Gates has done well ; he 
 has done gloriously ; I have as high a sense of his merit as any 
 man. But the truth is, Burgoyne failed himself, and Gates con 
 quered him. Besides, Gates was in a situation to command what 
 assistance he pleased, and that the flower of the continent. What 
 shall we say of Washington here at the head of fifteen, or at most 
 twenty thousand men, for his army never exceeded that number, 
 and one third of them Pennsylvania militia, who for the most part 
 never dared to face an enemy. I have seen when our regiment 
 was closely engaged, and almost surrounded, seven hundred of 
 them quit the field without firing a gun. On the seventh of 
 December, the army of the enemy, exclusive of those left to gar 
 rison Philadelphia, and the neighboring posts, amounted to eleven 
 
Events in 1778-79. s; 
 
 thousand effective men. From this you may judge of their 
 strength at the opening of the campaign. There is not another 
 State on the continent where so many traitors are to be found, as 
 in this, and yet General Washington baffled all the stratagems of 
 a wary, politic, and experienced general, and has several times 
 fought him not unsuccessfully. All General Gates has done does 
 not render it even probable, that in General Washington s situa 
 tion he would not have been totally defeated. The army, to a 
 man, except those who conquered under Gates, have the highest 
 opinion of General Washington. They love, I had almost said, 
 they adore him. While he lives, be assured, they will never brook 
 the command of another." 
 
 Two other letters referring to current military af 
 fairs of the year are from Ezra Selden, of Lyme, Ad 
 jutant of the First Connecticut, a young man of much 
 promise, who, as Captain, will distinguish himself in 
 the following summer. One was written from Valley 
 Forge, the other after Monmouth. Both are ad 
 dressed to an old acquaintance, Dr. Mather, an 
 elderly physician of Lyme : 
 
 " VALLEY FORGE, May 15, 1778. 
 " SIR : 
 
 " Agreeable to your desire I do myself the honor of writing you, 
 though nothing material occurs. 
 
 " The welcome news which Mr. Dean brought us from Europe 
 gave great joy to our army his Excellency Directed three Fue 
 de Joys, One for y e Thirteen United States, One for France and 
 one for our Friendly European powers. After Dissmissing the 
 Soldiery He Directed the assembling of the Officers of the whole 
 army and entertained them with as good a Dinner as could under 
 our Situation in the Field be provided, after which they were 
 served with Wine &c., at the same time his Excellency gave 
 the Toasts which were Proclaimed by his aid de Camp who as 
 cended a high Step for that Purpose. After a sufficient merriment 
 his Excellency retired, Desiring the Officers to be very attentive 
 to their Duty as the Intelligence which he had rece d required it. 
 
88 Yale in the Revohition. 
 
 " Our Army is at present very busy and intent upon a New mode 
 of Exercise Pointed by Major General Baron Stuben from 
 Poland. 
 
 " His knowledge in Discipline is very great, his method of ma- 
 nuvering is very Different, but mostly satisfactory ; he never in 
 forms what is to be Done in future ; but gives Lessons and we 
 Practice until he gives new Directions ; he allows no musick 
 while we are manuvering, or does he ever allow us to be steping 
 upon our Posts, but at the word march to step right off, and al 
 ways with the left foot. Our manual Exercise as yet continues 
 the same, excepting in the Charging the Bayonet. 
 
 " By the best information I can collect the Enemy are about 
 leaving Philadelphia. Inhabitants & Deserters inform us that 
 they have their Heavy artillery on Board their Shipping reports 
 also are that they will attack us Prior to their leaving the City. 
 Reports are Reports. Gen 1 Howe has not sailed for England 
 unless within 3 or 4 days. Our Incampment is strongly fortified 
 and Piqueted. I have no suspicions that we shall be attacked in 
 Quarters. 
 
 " There is a very Different Spirit in the army to what there was 
 when I left it [on furlough] ; the Troops considerably well 
 cloathed, but then their cloathing which they have lately Re 
 ceived is such as ought to have been worn last winter, not this 
 summer. 
 
 " Gen 1 M c lntosh is appointed to the Command of Fort Pitt and 
 the Back settlements, &c. 
 
 " I am content should they Remove almost any General Except 
 his Excellency. The Country even Congress are not aware of 
 the Confidence the army Places in him, or motions would never 
 have been made for Gates to take the Command. 
 
 " Our army have not yet taken the field nor do I suspect it very 
 shortly. Two Regiments are ordered into Tents as being sickly. 
 The Army in Gen 1 is not very sickly. 
 
 " I am, kind Sir, with Compliments to Miss Mather, your hum 1 
 Serv 1 " EZRA SELDEN. 
 
 " Doct. Samuel Mather, 
 " Lyme, Conn." 
 
 1 This letter, and the one from White Plains of Aug. nth, from the original 
 in possession of Mr. H. M. Selden, Haddam Neck, Conn. 
 
Events in 1778-79. s 9 
 
 This interesting letter is supplemented by one 
 from John Morin Scott to Gates, which doubtless re 
 flected the satisfaction of the people at large with the 
 terms of the French treaty. Scott, who was now 
 Secretary of State for New York, seems to have 
 been a warm friend and admirer of Gates, but we 
 have no hint in the letter that he would have ap 
 proved his substitution for Washington in the chief 
 command of the army, as the Conway clique pro 
 posed. He writes : 
 
 " HURLEY [near Kingston, N. Y.], May i6th, 1778. 
 " DEAR GENERAL : 
 
 " When I was last at Fish Kill I waited two days in expecta 
 tion of your arrival, but was unfortunately disappointed of the 
 
 pleasure of seeing you. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " I congratulate you on the present promising aspect of our 
 affairs. How often have we had reason since our present con 
 flict to say The dawn is overcast the morning lowers. But 
 now, thanks to a kind providence, we have reason to hope that 
 the bright sunshine of peace, established Liberty & prosperity, 
 both public & private, will speedily shine upon us ; that e er 
 long we shall be able to sit down under our own vines and Fig 
 trees, recounting with delight our doubtful tho successful strug 
 gles for Liberty, and have none to make us afraid. 
 
 " Our Treaty with France has, I think, been wisely concerted 
 on our part ; and exhibits a degree of Generosity and disinterest 
 edness on the part of France, which was hardly to be expected 
 from a Court grown old in Intrigues, and remarkably sedulous in 
 securing advantages by Negotiation. I wait with Impatience to 
 hear further about the expected arrival o/ Commissioners from 
 the Court of London. Their errand, if founded on the two Bills 
 we have seen, will doubtless be unsuccessful. A meer Nolumus 
 taxere, a repeal of certain detestable acts, and a tender of pardon, 
 the acceptance of which would necessarily imply guilt, must be 
 very unsavory to the American Taste, especially after an 
 
QO Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 acknowledgment of our Independence by one of the first powers 
 in Europe. 
 
 " I hope we shall be stronger than ever, both in Council and in 
 the Field. This Summer will require, in my opinion, a greater 
 strength of Head & arm than any we have passed since the com 
 mencement of the controversy. I wish you all imaginable 
 Health and Happiness, 
 "lam, 
 
 " Dear General, 
 
 " With the utmost sincerity and respect, 
 
 " Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 "JNO. MORIN SCOTT. 
 " Honorable Major General Gates." 
 
 The principal event of the year was the battle of 
 Monmouth, fought June 2Qth. Abandoning Philadel 
 phia, the enemy marched up through New Jersey to 
 New York. Washington broke up camp at Valley 
 Forge and followed in pursuit. His advance over 
 took the British rear, and some sharp fighting took 
 place, resulting decidedly to the advantage of the 
 Americans. The action lacked completeness, as but 
 small portions of either army were engaged. Among 
 graduates present were probably the greater part of 
 those mentioned as being in the Valley Forge en 
 campment. Paterson, Russell, Sherman, Hull, the 
 two Seldens, Chipman, Taylor, Cogswell, Alden, are 
 known to have been on the field. Col. Russell for a 
 time commanded Varnum s brigade, which was closely 
 engaged. With many others he was all but overcome 
 by the great heat of the day and the much marching 
 and countermarching his brigade was required to do. 
 
 After the battle Washington continued his march 
 northward, and crossing the Hudson, went into camp 
 
 1 From the original in the Gates Papers, New York Historical Society. 
 
Events in 1778-79. 91 
 
 at White Plains, where he remained through the 
 summer and fall. The army here was the largest 
 Continental force ever assembled at one point or 
 united under his immediate command. It seems to 
 have impressed the British with its strength and con 
 dition, as they made no attempt to force it into 
 a pitched battle. Most of our Continental graduates 
 then in the field, about forty in number, were to 
 be found in this camp. Fifteen or twenty more, in 
 cluding several in State service, were on duty at 
 other points. 1 
 
 From this camp we hear again from Adjutant 
 Selden, as follows : 
 
 " WHITE PLAINS, August n, 1778. 
 " SIR : 
 
 " Yours of the 25111 of July came safe to hand by Mr. Burnham, 
 which at that time I had not leisure to return you my thanks for. 
 
 " Our army continues their post at White Plains, keeping 
 strong Guards Posted between 3 and 4 miles advanced of our 
 Front. Large Detachments are kept constantly advanced of our 
 guards, near the Enemies lines ; and it is not seldom that our 
 Scouts come athwart theirs. It so happened the other day that 
 Two parties were taking possession of an Eminence ; they met 
 on the Summit ; both being surprised, they exchanged a few 
 rounds by way of compliment : The Enemy retired but carried 
 off their dead and wounded if any. We received no damage. 
 
 " A Corps of Light Infantry is now forming by draughts from 
 the several Battalions, which with a junction of Col. Grahams 
 Militia, will compose a body of about 1500 or 1600. This Corps 
 is intended to be officered with the best partisan officers, Com 
 manded by Brigadier General Scott, from Virginia, the intention 
 of which is to preserve the safety and ease of the army, and to be 
 in greater readiness to attack or repel the Enemy. This Corps 
 
 1 Nearly all the graduates named as having joined the new Continental army 
 early in 1777 continued with it for four years, when a reduction in the Lines 
 took place. The number remained about the same, as recent graduates entered 
 the service where others fell out. 
 
92 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 will be constantly in front of the Army, and will in a great 
 measure prevent the unnecessary Fatigue of the Troops, by De 
 tachments for Scouts. 
 
 " These Draughts to continue in this Corps until the Light In 
 fantry of ye army shall be arranged, agreeable to the New 
 establishment ordered by Congress. For the completion of 
 which a Committee from Congress is hourly expected. 
 
 " The Tryal of Maj r General Lee, proves of very long duration 
 as it is not yet over ; he has thrown in his defence in Writing. 
 But I fancy his satyrical turns (of which he is master) upon 
 particular gentlemen will be only verbal. I am informed he 
 affects to treat some officers with Great Neglect. 
 
 " Maj r General Lincoln has arrived at Head Quarters and taken 
 Command. We hourly expect important News from Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 " You may Depend on my endeavoring to pen for you every 
 thing which I shall deem worthy your attention, either for in 
 formation or Divertion. 
 
 " Must Conclude with wishing you & yours prosperity and 
 Friendship with 
 
 " E. SELDEN. 
 
 " N. B. My Compliments to Mrs. Mather & Miss Alice. 
 
 "Doc r Sam 1 Mather, Lyme, Connecticut." 
 
 On August 29th occurred what is known as the 
 battle of Rhode Island, the only military event in the 
 year of any consequence after Monmouth. Gen. 
 Sullivan, commanding in that quarter, attempted, with 
 the assistance of a French fleet, to dislodge the 
 enemy from Newport. In this he failed, but an en 
 gagement took place at Quaker Hill, about twelve 
 miles north of the town, in which our troops fought 
 well and repulsed the enemy. The brunt of the 
 action was sustained by two Continental brigades 
 which Washington had detached from his camp at 
 White Plains. One of the regiments was Col. S. B. 
 
Events in 1779-80. 93 
 
 Webb s, among whose officers, as already stated, 
 there were several young graduates, namely : Major 
 Huntington, Captains Wyllys, Williams, Walker, 
 possibly Wooster, and Lieutenant Welles. With 
 Col. H. Jackson s Massachusetts regiment were Lieu 
 tenants Cogswell, C. Selden, and Barker. Maj. Peck 
 was Sullivan s assistant adjutant-general. Maj. Porter 
 and Capt. Ashley were also there ; and it would 
 appear that all of them took part in the battle. 
 Jackson s regiment was complimented on its good 
 behavior. These officers remained in Rhode Island 
 about a year after this, and then returned with their 
 commands to Washington s army on the Hudson. 
 Peck continued on duty at Providence until the fall 
 of 1781. 
 
 Later in the year Washington s army went into 
 winter-quarters at points in Connecticut, New Jersey, 
 and in the Highlands. The situation at the college 
 is indicated in the following advertisement in the 
 Connecticut papers : 
 
 "The Steward of Yale-College hereby requests the Parents 
 and Guardians of the Students to assist in furnishing a supply of 
 Provisions ; without which it will be very difficult if not imprac 
 ticable for him to subsist the Scholars the ensuing winter. A 
 generous and full Price shall be allowed and paid either in 
 Money, or their Sons Quarter Bills, as shall be most agreeable 
 
 "YALE COLLEGE, Sept. 30, 1778." 
 
EVENTS IN 1779-80. 
 
 Short Commons at College Letters from Commissary Colt Yale Loyalists 
 Gen. Silliman and Judge Jones Storming of Stony Point Sherman, 
 Hull, Selden Invasion of New Haven Ex-President Daggett and the 
 Students Maj. Huntington Complimented Death of Col. Russell. 
 
 THIS was the year of the storming of Stony Point 
 and the enemy s invasion of New Haven and other 
 Connecticut towns. Both events made a stir the 
 former as illustrating the possibilities of the Con 
 tinental soldier when well disciplined and well led ; 
 and the latter as being apparently an unmilitary and 
 useless move, more hurtful in its moral effect to the 
 British than in actual damage to the Americans. 
 What with Sullivan s expedition against the Western 
 Indians, Harry Lee s surprise of Paulus Hook, and 
 minor operations in the South, the account for the 
 year closed quite in our favor. 
 
 At the college there were serious interruptions 
 again. The students had been dismissed on account 
 of short commons in December previous, and were 
 not recalled for two months. President Stiles, on 
 February 2, 1779, appealed to Gov. Trumbull for a 
 supply of flour, and it was only on his assurance that 
 it should be forthcoming that the college was assem 
 bled on the 1 8th. On the next day the president 
 informed the governor of the fact as follows : 
 
 " Encouraged by your Favor of the 3d inst, I have suffered 
 
 94 
 
Events in 1 779-80. 95 
 
 the students to return & yesterday set up College orders, the 
 Steward having got some flour for a beginning in setting up Com 
 mons. . . . This waits upon your Excellency praying that 
 you would be pleased to favor us with an order or Permit directed 
 to Col. Fitch or Mr. Colt for supplying the Steward with flour to 
 the amount of fifty barrels if necessary." 
 
 A still longer break will occur in the summer and 
 fall in consequence of the New Haven raid, but the 
 lack of supplies was generally the main reason for 
 the frequent closing of the college. In fact, from 
 this time to the end of the war it became more and 
 more difficult to obtain supplies of any kind either 
 for the army or the population. " At one time," 
 says Noah Webster "goods were so scarce that the 
 farmers cut corn stalks and crushed them in cider 
 mills, and then boiled the juice down to a syrup, as a 
 substitute for sugar." Assistant Commissary Royall 
 Flint, of the class of 1773, found it almost impossi 
 ble, as he will tell us, to provide flour enough for the 
 troops at Morristown in 1 780. Col. Chauncey Whit- 
 tlesey, class of 1764, Purchasing Clothier for Con 
 necticut, was this year paying thirteen dollars per 
 pair for good shoes, and from ten to twelve dollars 
 for stockings, while his classmate, Col. Peter Colt, 
 Deputy Commissary-General of Purchases for the 
 Eastern Department, was hard at work trying to keep 
 the soldiers ration up to the regulation amount. On 
 this point we have two letters from Colt, written to 
 General Gates, then commanding the Department, 
 which have their interest. 
 
 The first is as follows : 
 
 1 From the original in the Trumbull Papers, Mass. Historical Society. 
 
96 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " HARTFORD, Feb y 12 79. 
 " HON L M. GENERAL GATES : 
 
 " Sir From the most exact survey of our stores, find we have a 
 much better supply of Meat this season than last, & a much worse 
 supply of Flour. 
 
 " The Troops at Providence & other posts under command of 
 General Sullivan, are the best supplied of any in my department, 
 & their stock will not more than subsist them till May. General 
 Putnam & General McDougall are much worse supplied no 
 Flour can be brought from the Southard for our Relief until 
 June. 
 
 " The Farmers, in State of N. York have sold nearly their whole 
 stock of old wheat their new crops are scanty & almost uni 
 versally witholden ; tho we give Eight Doll 5 pr bushel for wheat, 
 & Twenty two & half Doll 5 pr b 1 for Flour. The transportation 
 has been so very bad the whole of this winter, and will doubtless 
 remain bad till May, that we can t remove much Flour Eastward 
 were we in present possession of it. Under these circumstances 
 think it necessary to lessen the quantity of Bread issued to the 
 Troops to a pound pr Man pr diem & where there is no Rice to de 
 liver in lieu of Flour, to deliver meat instead agreable to the for 
 mer Rations. If this meets with your approbation, your Honour 
 will please give such orders to the Issuing Department as will 
 authorize them to comply with this request I am fully convinced 
 that Dutchess & W l - Chester Counties, where my whole depend- 
 ance for Flour lies, will not produce more than half as much as I 
 got last year. " I am your Honour s 
 
 " Most respectfull hum. Servt., 
 
 " PETER COLT, 
 
 " D.C.G.P." 
 
 The second letter concerns the ration of rum 
 which our revolutionary fathers considered as much 
 of an essential as meat or flour. In this they kept 
 up the practice of the British army to which they had 
 been accustomed themselves in the French and In 
 dian war. This letter is also to Gates. 
 
 1 This and the letter following from the originals among the Gates Papers, 
 New York Historical Society. 
 
Events in 17 79-80. 97 
 
 " WETHERSFIELD, June 16, 79. 
 " SIR : 
 
 " By Letters from Miller and Tracy, my assistants at Boston 
 find they have your Honour s orders for such Quantities of Rum 
 as Mr. Southwick may think proper to call on them for He has 
 requested them to send forward weekly Ten hhd. of N. E. &: 
 eight of W. I. Rum that quantity will cost upwards of ,13,000 
 pr week a sum much beyond my abilities to furnish for that par 
 ticular purpose, & is upwards of 8,500 gills pr day. 
 
 " The proportion of W t- Ind. Rum is much greater than is used 
 at the main army. 
 
 " As it will be utterly impossible for me in the present state of 
 the currency, to keep up that supply of spirits, even of the poor 
 est kind, I must request your Honour s direction that a Less 
 Quantity be issued to the Troops, & that a great proportion of 
 what is delivered the troops may be common Rum I would wish 
 to make every kind of supplies in the fullest manner, & in kind 
 to the satisfaction of the army, whose pay and subsistence is but 
 indifferent : but it is out of my power. Congress cannot furnish 
 money sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 " I have the Honour 
 
 " to be, with great Respect 
 " Your most Obt. hum. Ser. 
 
 " PETER COLT, 
 
 " D.C.G. 
 11 Hon. M. General Gates." 
 
 Colonel Colt was engaged from 1777 to the end of 
 the war with the exacting duties of his important 
 office. His name is not familiar even to close readers 
 of our revolutionary history, for the reason that the 
 heads of the subsistence departments are seldom 
 mentioned in the published correspondence of the 
 time. Such men as Colonel Hugh Hughes of New 
 York, Colonel Ephraim Elaine of Pennsylvania, and 
 others, whose services in providing for the needs of 
 the army were great, are comparatively unknown to 
 
98 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 us. Colt was one of these almost forgotten powers 
 who helped to keep the Continental soldier alive. 
 
 In common with all the colleges Yale had among 
 her graduates a small proportion of Tories. Some 
 of them assumed a neutral attitude and remained in 
 more or less seclusion at their homes in different 
 parts of New England and New York. A few be 
 came pronounced royalists and attained prominence 
 on the other side. Such was Edmund Fanning, of 
 the class of 1757, who received the colonelcy of a 
 Provincial corps in New York, and who, after the war, 
 was appointed successively Lieutenant-Governor of 
 Nova Scotia, Governor of Prince Edward s Island, 
 and Brigadier-General in the British Army. John 
 Peters, class of 1759, appeared as Lieutenant-Colonel 
 of the Queens Loyal Rangers, organized in Canada, 
 and fought under Burgoyne down to the evening be 
 fore the surrender, when, with the other Provincial 
 officers and men, he received permission to attempt an 
 escape from camp and succeeded. The few graduates 
 who were clergymen of the English Church were, al 
 most without exception, loyalists ; Bishop Seabury, 
 class of 1 748, for example, and the Rev. Luke Babcock, 
 class of 1755. Mr. Babcock s case is noticeable in 
 view of the fact that his father and two brothers, all 
 graduates, were prominent " rebels " ; although as to 
 divisions in households, it may be mentioned that 
 Heathcote Muirson, an ardent young graduate of 
 the class of 1776, who, as a volunteer, took part in 
 some successful enterprises, and finally fell mortally 
 wounded in the American cause, was the only " rebel " 
 member of a well-known loyalist family on Long Isl- 
 
Events in 17 79-80. 
 
 99 
 
 and. Probably the most bitter of our Tory gradu 
 ates was Judge Thomas Jones, of the class of 1750. 
 Birth, connections, judicial position, and church 
 ties combined to make him a strict monarchist 
 and ministerialist in politics and an aristocrat in 
 society. Personally he was eminently respectable. 
 The Revolution, however, worked his ruin. He 
 seems to have had an instinctive hate for the move 
 ment, and he denounced it vigorously and publicly. 
 When hostilities opened on Long Island in the sum 
 mer of 1776, Washington ordered his arrest and re 
 moval to Connecticut as a disaffected person, whose 
 presence in the vicinity of the two armies could not 
 be permitted. Released on parole in December fol 
 lowing, he returned to his home at Fort Neck on 
 Long Island, but was again seized as a prisoner in 
 1779 an d finally exchanged in 1780. In 1781 he 
 sailed for England, where he remained until his 
 death. His losses and trials preying upon his sensi 
 tive nature, he seems to have sought relief in part by 
 writing a history of the American Revolution from 
 his own standpoint. This work, which has been pub 
 lished within a few years, is curious and interesting, 
 but singularly replete with grave misstatements and 
 prejudiced opinions. Nothing shows the intensity 
 of the Judge s feelings more than his denunciation of 
 his Alma Mater, which he describes as "a nursery of 
 sedition, of faction, and republicanism" " a college 
 remarkable for its persecuting spirit, its republican 
 principles, its intolerance in religion and its utter 
 aversion to Bishops and all Earthly Kings." This, 
 on the whole, is good evidence of the steadfast and 
 generous support Yale gave to the Revolution. 
 
ioo Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 The case of Judge Jones recalls the mishap that 
 befell General Silliman in May of this year. The 
 General was entrusted with the guard of the western 
 end of the Connecticut coast, with head-quarters at 
 his home on Holland Hill, two miles north of Fair- 
 field. Being a vigilant officer, especially disliked by 
 refugees and loyalists, a whale-boat party on Long 
 Island determined to effect his capture. Crossing 
 the Sound on the evening of the ist of May, they 
 broke into his house about midnight and carried him 
 off to the enemy, with whom he remained a prisoner 
 for a year. As the Americans had no one in their 
 possession at that time whom the British would ex 
 change for General Silliman, it was proposed to re 
 capture Judge Jones much in the same way that the 
 General had been seized, and offer him in exchange. 
 The plan succeeded. The Judge was taken at his 
 house on Long Island on the evening of the 6th of 
 November following, and on the 28th of April, 1780, 
 the exchange between the two graduates, old college 
 mates, was effected the General for the Judge. The 
 General received a very warm welcome from his towns 
 men on his return home. 
 
 In the spring of this year also, the enemy captured 
 David Bushnell, inventor of the torpedo, and Jabez 
 H. Tomlinson, then a Junior in college, who was 
 visiting near Stratford, but both were soon released 
 as civilians. Upon graduation Tomlinson entered 
 the service. It was to him that Andre gave the pen- 
 portrait of himself which is now in the college 
 library. 
 
 Military plans and operations in the North in 1779 
 
Events in 1779-80. 101 
 
 centred in a certain sense on Stony Point. From 
 the unpublished correspondence of Sir Henry Clin 
 ton, then the British commander-in-chief at New 
 York, it would appear that an effort was to be made 
 in the summer of this year to draw Washington out 
 of his impregnable position at West Point, and com 
 pel him to fight in the open field. With this in view, 
 Clinton moved up the Hudson, and on the 3ist of 
 May occupied the strong post of Stony Point at 
 King s Ferry, which, with Verplank s Point opposite 
 on the east side, commanded what was known as the 
 short line of communication between the New Eng 
 land and Middle States. Its severance at that point 
 Clinton imagined might have the effect of bringing 
 Washington down to dispute its possession with 
 him. Washington, with his inferior force, declined 
 the challenge, and Clinton, leaving ample garrisons 
 at both Stony and Verplank s Points, returned to 
 New York to await reinforcements expected from 
 England. Upon their arrival, he proposed to strike 
 into New Jersey and again cut Washington s supply 
 line, either at Middlebrook or even Easton, Pennsyl 
 vania. With King s Ferry also in his hands, the 
 British commander felt confident that the distressed 
 American army New England having been drained 
 of provisions would be forced to attack him in New 
 Jersey to restore its southern communications. This 
 would bring about the desired campaign in a more 
 open country. 
 
 Finding that the main body of the enemy had re 
 turned to New York, Washington determined to 
 attempt the capture of the isolated garrisons left at 
 
102 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 King s Ferry. As in the previous year, he organized 
 a corps of light infantry to cover his front and be 
 ready to act on an emergency at the shortest notice. 
 It consisted of four battalions in all some fifteen 
 hundred men and officers under the command of 
 General Wayne. By careful selection of the best 
 soldiers from every regiment in the army and the 
 choice of the most experienced officers, it was made 
 a thoroughly trustworthy body from whose prowess 
 in the field something might be expected. Two of 
 the battalions were organized from the New England 
 lines, and in these we may expect to find a few 
 of our graduates. The rolls indicate that six or more 
 served with the corps at different times during the 
 season, namely, Lieut.-Colonel Isaac Sherman, Major 
 William Hull, and Captains Ezra Selden, Theophilus 
 Munson, Nehemiah Rice, and Nathaniel Webb. 
 With the exception of Hull they belonged to the 
 Connecticut battalion, commanded by Colonel Meigs. 
 All were old soldiers. Sherman, the second in com 
 mand, was a veteran of the siege of Boston, the New 
 York campaign, Trenton, Princeton, Germantown (?), 
 Valley Forge, and Monmouth. In addition, he had 
 served with the light infantry in the previous year 
 under Gen. Charles Scott. The captains could also 
 show a fine record. Major Hull was honored for 
 a time with the command of the Massachusetts 
 battalion, composed of the seven light companies of 
 Paterson s and Bailey s brigades at West Point. 
 Sherman, Hull, and all the field officers of Wayne s 
 Corps were selected by Washington himself ; and there 
 can be little doubt that at the time of their selection 
 
Events in 1 779-80. 103 
 
 he had in mind the difficult and hazardous service 
 they were afterwards called upon to perform the as 
 sault upon the enemy s garrison at Stony Point. 
 
 This storming of Stony Point was confessedly a 
 brilliant piece of work. British officers themselves had 
 words of high praise for it. The point assaulted was 
 a rugged promontory jutting into the Hudson at the 
 southern bend of Haverstraw Bay, formed by nature 
 for successful defence, and held at the time by nearly 
 six hundred regulars, protected by guns, works, and 
 abatis. On the evening of July i5th, Wayne and 
 his infantry approached it silently, and dividing into 
 two columns, moved to the assault at midnight. 
 With such courage, firmness, rapidity, and exact ob 
 servance of orders did the assailants push up the 
 steep rock on opposite sides, that in precisely half an 
 hour, in spite of the sharp fire poured upon them by 
 the enemy, they had carried the works and forced the 
 garrison to surrender. Guns, prisoners, and stores 
 were taken, but the moral effect of the exploit was 
 still more valuable in greatly increasing the con 
 fidence of the Continental army in itself and in 
 compelling some wholesome respect from the enemy. 
 
 Sherman, Hull, Selden, and Munson were in the 
 thick of this attack. Several officers were wounded , 
 but none as seriously as Selden. He was struck in 
 the back by a musket-ball, which was soon extracted, 
 and he remained in the service to the end of the war ; 
 but he never fully recovered from the injury, and 
 finally died from its effects in 1784. His comrades 
 in the army remembered him with affection and re 
 spect as an officer of merit and a man of high prom- 
 
104 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ise. When Selden retired from the infantry Capt. 
 Rice took his place, and Munson, at a later date, was 
 relieved by Webb. It is worth while also to notice 
 here the feelings of indignation unexpectedly excited 
 among a number of the officers of the corps in con 
 sequence of Wayne s failure to mention them, as they 
 deserved, in his official report to Washington. Sher 
 man and Hull, and Majors Murfree and Posey, two 
 officers from the South, felt themselves slighted and 
 insulted. Posey and Sherman wrote so pointedly to 
 Wayne that he considered his personal honor in 
 volved, and hinted at the reparation due a soldier and 
 a gentleman ; but both officers disclaimed any impu 
 tation upon his military character or sense of justice, 
 and the matter went no further. That Sherman s 
 feelings were deeply wounded appears from the fol 
 lowing extract from his letter to Wayne : 
 
 " There appears, in the account you have given, evident marks 
 of a State partiality, all distinctions of which kind I detest, and 
 ardently wish they may be for ever banished from the mind of 
 every friend to his country. They have a tendency to lay a 
 foundation for future broils ; for when once a man is sensibly in 
 jured, if he is possessed of the least feeling, he doth not soon for 
 get it. Why cannot we consider ourselves as one, and walk hand 
 in hand like brethren ? Are we not embarked in the same cause, 
 and does not our independence rest on our united efforts ? But 
 rather than be injured, rather than be trampled upon and consid 
 ered as insignificant beings in the scale, my blood boils at the 
 thought, Nature recoils , and points out a mode, the only one of redress. 
 
 " I am not anxious to have my name transmitted to publick view ; 
 neither do I think any thing can be said of me more than barely 
 attending to duty. I am not writing for myself ; but I feel for 
 those officers under my command, as well as others, who merit as 
 much as those most distinguished by you. 
 
 " Duty, separate from the ties of friendship, is sufficient to in- 
 
Events in 1779-80. 105 
 
 duce me to acquaint you with the sentiments and uneasiness of 
 many officers under your command, which, perhaps, is more ex 
 tensive than you may imagine. It is still in your power to place 
 things in their proper channel, to gain our affection and confi 
 dence, and then, when called into the field, inspired by your ex 
 ample, animated with a desire of crowning you with fresh laurels, 
 every thing will conspire to induce us to play the man." * 
 
 Wayne, however, was too brave and generous a 
 soldier to indulge in wilful injustice to his comrades, 
 and when he heard of the displeasure referred to, and 
 before receiving any letters, he wrote to the Presi 
 dent of Congress, regretting the omission in his first 
 report of "the names of Lieut-Col. Sherman, Majors 
 Hull, Murphy, and Posey, whose good Conduct and 
 Intrepidity justly entitled them to that attention." 
 
 The second event of the year was the invasion of 
 New Haven. This has been regarded as a merely 
 predatory expedition on the part of the British, fitted 
 out for the destruction of ships and boats in the Con 
 necticut harbors, the seizure of cattle, and the plun 
 dering and burning of towns. But we must credit 
 Clinton with having had an ulterior design in the 
 case which might justify the harsh diversion. It 
 was probably never known to that generation of 
 Americans that he hoped, by the show of a general 
 onset along the Connecticut coast, to induce Wash 
 ington to move into that State for its protection, and 
 there push him to a decisive action. It was the 
 same object he had in view in the seizure of King s 
 Ferry, on the Hudson, and the same he proposed to 
 effect in New Jersey, at a later date, with the prom 
 ised reinforcements. But Washington again showed 
 
 1 The letter appears in full in Dawson s " Assault on Stony Point," Appendix. 
 
io6 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 himself Clinton s superior. He "protected" Con 
 necticut by storming Stony Point. While neither 
 commander knew what project the other was medi 
 tating in those early July days, it did happen that 
 the moment Clinton heard of the loss of his King s 
 Ferry garrison he instantly ordered his troops and 
 the fleet in the Sound, which was to extend its havoc 
 to New London, to proceed up the Hudson to re 
 cover the captured post. His plans had again mis 
 carried. 
 
 The " invasion " occurred July 5th, and with it we 
 associate several familiar incidents, such as the rally 
 ing of the students, with others, for the defence of 
 the town, and the patriotic conduct of ex-President 
 Daggett. The enemy landed near Savin Rock, and 
 marched through West Haven, where they were met 
 by small bodies of militia. Among the first to en 
 counter them was a company under Capt. James Hill- 
 house, class of 1773, with students as volunteers, 
 who are credited with excellent behavior before the 
 red-coats. 1 Col. S. B. Webb, of Wethersfield, in re 
 porting the attack to a friend, said : " The enemy, 
 about 2,000, under the infamous Gov. Tryon, have 
 been at New Haven. They took possession of 
 the town on Monday last, there being only about 
 100 of the militia to oppose them. The young men 
 of the town and the collegians behaved gallantly- 
 fought them as long as it could be of service." 2 As 
 
 1 A full account of the attack was published in New Haven, in 1879, by 
 Capt. Charles Hervey Townshend in a pamphlet entitled "The British In 
 vasion of New Haven, Conn.," etc. It includes interesting extracts from Dr. 
 Stiles diary, and much valuable information from other sources. 
 
 5 From the " Reminiscences of Gen. Samuel B. Webb," by his son, the late 
 Gen. James Watson Webb, of New York. Privately printed. 
 
Events in 1779-80. 107 
 
 to President Daggett, perhaps the most interesting 
 account of the part he took in the affair is that con 
 tributed to Sprague s " Annals of the American Pul 
 pit," by Hon. Elizur Goodrich, class of 1779, who 
 was engaged in the skirmishing himself. He says : 
 
 " On the evening of the 4th of July, 1779, a force of twenty-five 
 hundred men, which had previously sailed from New York, 
 landed in the south part of West Haven, a parish of New Haven, 
 about five miles from the centre of the town. College was, of 
 course, broken up, and the students, with many of the inhabi 
 tants, prepared to flee on the morrow into the neighboring 
 country. To give more time for preparation, and especially for 
 the removal of goods, a volunteer company of about a hundred 
 young men was formed, not with the expectation of making any 
 serious stand against such a force, but simply of retarding or di 
 verting its march. In common with others of the students, I was 
 one of the number, and I well remember the surprise we felt the 
 next morning, July 5th, as we w r ere marching over West Bridge 
 towards the enemy, to see Dr. Daggett riding furiously by us on 
 his old black mare, with his long fowling-piece in his hand ready 
 for action. We knew the old gentleman had studied the matter 
 thoroughly, and satisfied his own mind as to the right and pro 
 priety of fighting it out ; but we were not quite prepared to see 
 him come forth in so gallant a style to carry his principles into 
 practice. Giving him a hearty cheer as he passed, we turned 
 down towards West Haven, at the foot of the Milford Mills, while 
 he ascended a little to the west, and took his station in a copse of 
 wood, where he seemed to be reconnoitring the enemy, like one 
 who was determined to bide his time. As we passed on 
 towards the south we met an advanced guard of the British, and 
 taking our stand at a line of fence, we fired upon them several 
 times, and then chased them the length of three or four fields as 
 they retreated, until we suddenly found ourselves involved with 
 the main body, and in danger of being surrounded. It was now 
 our turn to run, and we did for our lives. Passing by Dr. Dag 
 gett in his station on the hill, we retreated rapidly across West 
 Bridge, which was instantly taken down by persons who stood 
 
io8 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ready for the purpose to prevent the enemy from entering the 
 town by that road. In the meantime Dr. Daggett, as we heard 
 the story afterwards, stood his ground manfully, while the British 
 columns advanced along the foot of the hill, determined to have 
 the battle himself as we had left him in the lurch, and using his 
 fowling-piece now and then to excellent effect, as occasion of 
 fered, under the cover of the bushes. But this could not last 
 long. A detachment was sent up the hill-side to look into the 
 matter, and the commanding officer, coming suddenly, to his 
 great surprise, on a single individual in a black coat, blazing 
 away in this style, cried out : What are you doing there, you old 
 fool, firing on His Majesty s troops ? Exercising the rights of 
 war] says the old gentleman. The very audacity of the reply, 
 and the mixture of drollery it contained, seemed to amuse the 
 officer. If I let you go this time, you rascal, says he, will you 
 ever fire again on the troops of His Majesty? Nothing more 
 likely] sa id the old gentleman, in his dry way. This was too 
 much for flesh and blood to bear, and it is a wonder they did not 
 put a bullet through him on the spot. However, they dragged 
 him down to the head of the column, and . . . drove him 
 before them at mid-day under the burning sun, round through 
 Westville, about five miles into the town, pricking him forward 
 with their, bayonets when his strength failed, and when he was 
 ready to sink to the ground from utter exhaustion. . . ." 
 
 Further facts connected with the invasion appear 
 in the sketches of Dr. Daggett, Goodrich, Williston, 
 and John Hotchkiss. The latter, a graduate of thirty 
 years standing, was killed early in the day. 1 
 
 1 Upon the landing of the enemy President Stiles dismissed the students, and 
 those who did not go out to fight retired into the country. Chancellor Kent, 
 then a Sophomore, states in his "Autobiography" (N. Y. Genealog. Record, 
 Jan., 1873) that he went to a neighboring village and read Blackstone s com 
 mentaries. He was so inspired by the work that he there " fondly determined 
 to be a lawyer." In his Phi Beta Kappa address, delivered at New Haven 
 many years later, he gives some interesting recollections (in notes) of Tryon s 
 raid. 
 
 In formally dismissing the students by advertisement Aug. 5th, Dr. Stiles 
 says: " Such is the dangerous situation of the Town of New Haven that it is 
 not judged expedient to call the Undergraduate Classes together again this 
 quarter. It is, however, recommended to the scholars to apply themselves dili- 
 
Events in 1779-80. 109 
 
 That New Haven was not burned by the enemy is 
 sometimes explained by the fact that Col. Edmund 
 Fanning, one of our loyalist graduates already re 
 ferred to, accompanied Tryon on the expedition, and 
 interposed in behalf of the college. In a letter cred 
 ited to him, written in 1 789, he says : 
 
 " I still retain a fond remembrance and tender affection for 
 that well regulated seminary of religion and learning, where 
 under the Doctor s tuition [in 1753-55, when Dr. Stiles was 
 Tutor], I made such progress in my academical instruction as has 
 facilitated greatly those instances of distinction and success with 
 Avhich I have since been honoured by my Royal Sovereign and 
 his people, and it is no small satisfaction to me in the hour of 
 public tranquillity to reflect that amid the Ravages of Civil War, 
 and without injury or infidelity to the service in which I was em 
 ployed, I had my well-meant share in averting, in the moment of 
 impending ruin, its utter destruction. May Guardian Angels 
 still preserve it, and to the latest desirable period of his life may 
 my Reverend and learned friend Dr. Stiles continue to be its 
 principal, its ornament and well merited pride and glory." 1 
 
 Col. S. B. Webb s Continental Regiment has been 
 referred to as quite a Yale Corps. It was at this 
 date still in Rhode Island, where we last heard of it 
 in the action of Aug. 29, 1778. As the colonel was 
 a prisoner, and the lieut. -colonel had been absent 
 for over a year, Major Huntington was, and con 
 tinued to be for some time, its commanding officer. 
 That it was regarded as a fine regiment appears from 
 one of Hamilton s reports ; but the most appreciative 
 
 gently to the studies of their respective Classes under the best Tuition they can 
 find until God in his Providence may permit them to be peaceably reassembled 
 at this seat of Learning." 
 
 1 This extract appears in a letter from Amos Botsford to Dr. Stiles, dated 
 "Westmoreland, New Brunswick, 27th July, 1789," printed in the New Haven 
 Journal and Courier, Oct 6, 1877, 
 
i io Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 mention of it is from the pen of Inspector-General 
 Baron Steuben, who, on Sept. 6, 1779, entered the 
 following remarks on his manuscript inspection re 
 turns, preserved in the New York Historical Society : 
 
 " This Regt. is divided into 7 comp s & is too weak to form a 
 batallion, the only fault I find with the Regt. it being for the 
 first Review the best in order of any Regt. in the army. Their 
 arms are a model. The officers take the greatest pains with their 
 men. The Regt. marches perfectly, & has truly a military air. 
 Majr. Huntington who commands the Regt. deserves particular 
 attention for the superior order in which he has kept the Regt. 
 The officers have not yet received their commissions & I cannot 
 but interest myself for a Corps who have so eminently distin 
 guished themselves." 
 
 Huntington was soon promoted Lieut-Colonel, 
 and Captain Wyllys, class of 1773, Major. 
 
 The record for this year closes with the death of 
 Col. Giles Russell, of the Eighth Connecticut Line, 
 at Danbury, Oct. 28th. He was an excellent officer, 
 though in delicate health, having suffered for some 
 time from an old wound received in the French and 
 Indian war. He had served in the campaign around 
 New York, at Germantown, Valley Forge, and Mon- 
 mouth. Referring to his loss and the succession to 
 the vacancy, Washington says to Gen. Heath, Nov. 
 i, 1779 : 
 
 "... I am sorry to hear of Colonel Russell s death, of whose 
 indisposition I had not known. 
 
 " Lieutenant-Colonel Sherman s right of promotion to the rank 
 of Lieutenant-Colonel-Commandant in consequence must be re 
 ported to the State of Connecticut by the brigadiers of that line, 
 agreeable to the terms of the late general order, as must also the 
 names of the subalterns of the 8th Regiment entitled to promotion 
 
Rvents in 1779-80. m 
 
 in consequence of Colonel Russell s death. The State will signify 
 their approbation to the Board of War, who will issue Commis 
 sions accordingly. Then, and not before, Colonel Sherman will 
 assume his new Command. . . . 
 
 Sherman assumed this command Dec. 28th, follow 
 ing, and retained it until the consolidation of the 
 regiments, Jan. i, 1781. The Eighth Regiment had 
 thus been successively commanded by three gradu 
 ates Chandler, Russell, and Sherman, and had been 
 engaged, in whole or in part, at Germantown, Mud 
 Island, Monmouth, and Stony Point. 
 
EVENTS IN 1780-81. 
 
 The Morristown Huts Severe Winter of 1780 Letters from Major Hunting- 
 ton, Commissary Flint, and Others Battle of Springfield, N. J. David 
 Humphreys, Aid to Washington Letters from Gov. Livingston and Gen. 
 Paterson Dr. Stiles in the French Camp Death of Col. Brown Major 
 Tallmadge and His Services Letter on Andre Humphreys Attempt on 
 Clinton Lieut. -Col. Gray. 
 
 A DEPRESSING year. At the south, in May, we 
 lost Charleston ; in August followed the Camden dis 
 aster. Operations in the north, notwithstanding the 
 arrival of French support, were confined to manoeu 
 vres, with some clever minor enterprises. Take the 
 field over, and fortune smiled on the enemy. 
 
 More than this, in consequence of the protraction 
 of the contest, public activity was suffering a sort of 
 stagnation, and in turn the army in the field suffered. 
 The absence of efficient executive departments un 
 der the Confederation frequently reduced the troops 
 to sore straits. Provisions, clothes, money, and men 
 were wanting when most needed. The mass of the 
 population was not less true to the common aim, but 
 it experienced a reaction from the earlier impulse 
 and energy. There was the same determination to 
 hold out to the end, only a less pronounced enthusi 
 asm, much cavilling at methods, and actually fewer 
 resources at hand. 
 
 January ushered in the famous cold winter of 1780, 
 snow four feet deep around the camps in the high- 
 
 112 
 
Events in 1 780-81. 113 
 
 lands, and " so intense and steady was the weather " 
 that for twenty days no thaw could be observed in 
 places most exposed to the sun. It was the winter 
 when the enemy in New York could send horses and 
 artillery down the bay from the Battery to Staten 
 Island on the ice, and when they expressed uneasiness 
 lest Washington might seize the opportunity to attack 
 King s Bridge or the city itself by way of the frozen 
 Hudson. 
 
 Winter quarters at Morristown reminded Washing 
 ton s troops of Valley Forge two years before. If any 
 thing this season was severer. Major Huntington 
 writing to his colonel, Webb, at Wethersfield, says : 
 
 " MORRISTOWN, 24th December, 1779, IN CAMP. 
 
 "... You will by the date perceive that we are in camp, tho 
 expect, if good weather, to have the men s Hutts so far compleated 
 that they may go into them on Sunday or Monday. The officers 
 Hutts are not begun, nor will they be meddled with till after the men 
 have finished theirs. The severity of the weather hath been such 
 that the men have suffer d much without shoes and stockings, and 
 working half leg deep in snow. Poor fellows, my heart bleeds 
 
 for them, while I d my country as void of gratitude. I wish 
 
 you would send on to me all the cloathing in store immediately. 
 I much want it for the men, tho am Positively forbid by the Gen 
 eral using scarlet coats on any ace*. I wish that Wyllys, who 
 will be at nome soon, might have it in his power to receive some 
 cloathing and forward it to the Regiment. . . ." 
 
 Captain Joseph Walker, class of 1774, also of 
 Webb s regiment, received a furlough and wrote 
 from Hartford to his colonel as follows, under date of 
 Feb. 6, 1780: 
 
 " . . .1 left the Reg 1 the 2i st day of last month and am happy 
 to say in much better circumstances at that time than they had 
 1 This and the extract following, from the Webb " Reminiscences." 
 
U4 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 been for weeks before. Our situation in regard to Provision was 
 such I never wish to see again. Short commons ever ought to be 
 avoided & when it cannot the consequences are to be dreaded in 
 the army that you know. However I can with pleasure inform 
 you (& what I think will give you no small satisfaction), that the 
 Lads bore it with the greatest patience and fortitude. We con 
 sidered the severity of the season, the difficulty of transportation, 
 and were willing to make all allowance possible. 
 
 " My good friend, it requires almost the wisdom of Solomon to 
 conduct at these times, and the virtue of the Angel Gabriel to 
 surmount the difficulties which, to appearances, come upon us 
 as it were in a moment. 
 
 " After our long march you may well think our men were rather 
 destitute of cloathing ; after our arrival we began and completed 
 our Hutts which destroyed our cloathing still more & to my cer 
 tain knowledge we had not more than Fifty men in the Reg 1 re- 
 turn d fit for duty, many a good Lad with nothing to cover him 
 from his hips to his Toes save his Blanket, some wanting one thing 
 & some another, but the most general complaint was shoes 
 
 On the same subject the winter and short rations 
 at Morristown Commissary Royal Flint, class of 
 1773, wrote to Washington : 
 
 " SIR : I have frequently within these few days acquainted Col. 
 Hamilton with my prospects of supplies, and thought I had good 
 authority for all I communicated yet now I find the event does 
 not precisely agree with what I foretold. As soon as I was in 
 formed that there would be a failure of Beef Cattle from the East 
 ward, I used the most probable methods of procuring a supply in 
 this State [N. J.], and I had reason to suppose a sufficiency could 
 be collected to serve the army several weeks. . . . But it does 
 
 not yet come, and the army are almost perishing for want. 
 
 " It distresses me exceedingly that I am obliged to make this 
 report, but I must mention facts. My expectations are as follows : 
 
 Barrels. 
 
 From Mr. Hooper in Sussex County, Salt Meat, . 400 
 From Pitts Town ....... 50 
 
 From the Counties of Middlesex & Somerset . . 250 
 
 700 
 
Events in 1780-81. 115 
 
 At the North River are Cattle . . . 200 head. 
 
 In the County of Orange .... 150 
 
 In Sussex at least ..... 20 
 
 In care of Mr. Dunham, say .... 50 
 
 420 
 
 Our distresses are known to the several persons who have charge 
 of the foregoing provisions, and I am persuaded they will leave 
 nothing undone to forward them. I have no absolute dependence 
 on any further supplies of meat than are mentioned above. The 
 purchasers here say they could buy cattle if they had money, of 
 which I can neither give nor promise them any, as there is not 
 the least prospect that any adequate sums of money will be fur 
 nished the department, and our credit is totally exhausted. With 
 respect to Bread I can only say that there is Grain in great num 
 ber of mills in this State which is getting ready as fast as possible 
 and will not be delayed unnecessarily. I have no more bread at 
 present in camp than will serve the troops to-morrow. I fear the 
 storm will keep the waggons from moving as well as the cattle 
 from travelling. 
 
 " I am with Great Respect, 
 "Your Excellency s Most 
 
 " Ob 1 Serv , 
 " ROYAL FLINT, 
 " Ass 1 Com y purchases. 
 " Morristown, Jan y 3 d , 1780. 
 
 " His Excellency Gen 1 Washington." 
 
 Flint again speaks of his anxiety and exertions as 
 to supplies for the snow-bound troops in camp in the 
 following letters. On Dec. 27, 1779, he wrote to 
 Col. Henry Champion, Deputy Commissary in Con 
 necticut : 
 
 " .... If you fail to supply us our case will grow so desperate 
 that the troops must either be let loose to seek food for themselves 
 or expedients must be used to compel the inhabitants to spare 
 what they need for their families and to stock their plantations. 
 
 1 Trumbull Papers, Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 
n 6 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 The consequence is certain there is no possible chance of escap 
 ing it. The General will see his army suffer the greatest extremity 
 sooner than have recourse to military authority for relief. He is 
 exceedingly cautious and tender in such points ; but the soldiers 
 must eat. I well know your difficulties what you have to en 
 counter from a want of cash and I as well know you have per 
 severance & abilities for the occasion. Struggle a few days longer 
 and I trust your embarrassments will be removed I can 
 not bear the idea of failing at this advanced stage of the war 
 when there is so good a prospect of bringing it to a fortunate 
 close. Was our army now to break up for want of provisions 
 it would give the enemy fresh vigor and stimulate them to 
 persist in a contest in which at present they have no hope of 
 success. Let all these considerations together produce such 
 actions as will enable you to feed the army, and by that means 
 render such a service to your country as ought never to be 
 forgotten." 1 
 
 This earnest appeal, which moved Col. Cham 
 pion to renewed exertions, was followed a few days 
 later by another from Flint, addressed to Gov. 
 Trumbull : 
 
 " MORRISTOWN, Jan y 6, 1780. 
 
 "... The distress of the army for several days past hardly 
 admits of a description. It is a melancholy fact that the troops, 
 both officers and men, have almost perished for want of pro 
 visions. In many instances the extremity has been so severe as 
 to prompt them to commit depredations on the property of the 
 inhabitants. This sudden calamity was occasioned by the early 
 commencement and unusual rigor of the winter, attended by 
 heavy and repeated falls of snow. By these obstructions trans 
 portation was so delayed that the magazines in the vicinity were 
 exhausted before relief could be drawn from the more distant re 
 sources. In this unfortunate situation the Commander-in-Chief 
 has been compelled to lay the Contiguous Country under a con 
 tribution, obliging the inhabitants to furnish a certain quantity of 
 
 1 This and the extract following from MSS. in possession of Mr. J. F. Morris, 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
Events in 1780-81. n; 
 
 provisions within a special time. This expedient, however, is 
 only to produce a temporary succour, and will cease its opera 
 tion as soon as the ordinary chanells of supply are open. I think 
 there is a tolerable prospect of flour from the Southern States, 
 but our principal dependence for meat, as heretofore, rests on 
 Connecticut. As Col. Champion has expressed his fears of not 
 continuing the supplies, I am persuaded your Legislature will 
 consider a circumstance that merits their attention. The most 
 material obstruction in his way is the want of cash, and I feel no 
 probability of a speedy and adequate remedy to this evil from 
 the Continental Treasury. I must therefore request your Excel 
 lency to represent our circumstances to your Legislature, and I 
 am convinced they have both ability and inclination to adopt 
 regulations suitable to our exigencies. Your state has exhibited 
 too many proofs of its attachment to the army to make me doubt 
 of its aid on the present occasion." 
 
 By great exertions on the part of quartermasters 
 and commissaries sufficient food reached camp, and 
 the troops kept in quarters. 
 
 I?arly in the summer Washington moved the 
 greater part of his army toward the Hudson, leaving 
 two brigades in New Jersey under General Greene. 
 The enemy, under Knyphausen, marched out from 
 Staten Island, and attacked this force on June 23d in 
 the vicinity of Springfield. We came out of the en 
 gagement with credit. One of the brigades was 
 Stark s, which then included Webb s regiment, under 
 Lieut. -Col. Huntington, and Henry Jackson s, hav 
 ing eight or nine graduates among their officers. 
 
 It is interesting to find a fact not heretofore 
 brought out that David Humphreys was also on the 
 ground at Springfield, acting as aid-de-camp to 
 Greene, and that he transmitted the first account of 
 the fighting to the Commander-in-Chief. The re- 
 
n8 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 port, in the form of a letter, is subjoined, not only as 
 new material, but as being one of the few reports 
 made directly from the battle-field and during the 
 progress of the action, found in Revolutionary rec 
 ords. The original in the Sparks collection at Har 
 vard College is as follows : 
 
 " HEIGHTS NEAR SPRINGFIELD, June 23, 80, 
 
 "n o clock, A.M. 
 "SiR: 
 
 " General Greene directs me to inform your Excellency, that from 
 the best intelligence he is able to obtain, the enemy are now out 
 in force, with seventeen pieces of artillery At first they made a 
 demonstration of acting on his right ; and large parties were seen 
 from the heights of Springfield filing off in that direction : A con 
 siderable column, in the meantime, advanced on his left, where 
 Major Lee with a body of militia was posted, between whom and 
 the enemy there was some skirmishing without any considerable 
 effect. 
 
 " After having spent two or three hours, in various manoeuvres 
 apparently with a design of gaining our flanks, they of a sudden 
 contracted their front, and pushed a column up the main road to 
 Springfield where a sharp action ensued for a short time, between 
 some detachments, which were posted to cover our artillery on the 
 height, and then advance. Our troops retreated in order, and 
 brought off the field pieces. 
 
 " The troops are advantageously posted to annoy the enemy s 
 progress and General Greene is determined to dispute every 
 inch of strong ground with them. Indeed they must have 
 been very much galled before they got possession of Springfield, 
 as they rec d several very heavy and well directed fires from 
 Angel s & Shreeve s Reg ts which behaved with the greatest 
 gallantry. 
 
 "The firing has now principally ceased the loss on either 
 side cannot be ascertained on our it is not great Several of 
 our wounded are brought off A Dragoon Horse of the detach 
 ment which escorted General Greene was killed with a cannon 
 shot. I have heard of no officers killed and but few slightly 
 
Rvents in 1780-81. 119 
 
 wounded they have this moment set fire to two or three build 
 ings how far the conflagration will extend, I know not In the 
 greatest haste 
 
 " I have the honor to be 
 
 " Your Excellency s 
 
 " Most Obed. Hble Serv 4 
 
 " D. HUMPHRYS. 
 
 " His Excellency Gen 1 Washington." 
 [Endorsed] 
 
 Opened at Mr. Lotts 5, o clock, P. M. 
 by your 
 
 Hum 1 Serv 1 
 
 ANT Y WAYNE." 
 
 Humphreys before this had been aid to Gen. Put 
 nam, and he was now temporarily with Greene. 
 Fortune favored him still farther with an advance 
 ment to Washington s staff, and on the day of the 
 Springfield action his new appointment was announced 
 as follows : 
 
 "HEAD QUARTERS, RACKAWAY, 
 
 " Friday, June 23, 1780. 
 
 "... Cap* David Humphreys of the Connecticut Line is 
 appointed Aid de Camp to the Commander-in-Chief, and is to be 
 respected and obeyed accordingly. . . ." 
 
 This promotion led to that well-known intimacy 
 which afterwards subsisted between Humphreys and 
 Washington. In his poem on " The Happiness of 
 America," he refers to the changes mentioned in his 
 own military career as follows : 
 
 " I too, perhaps, should heav n prolong my date, 
 
 The oft-repeated tale shall oft relate ; 
 
 Shall tell the feelings in the first alarms, 
 
 Of some bold enterprize th unequall d charms ; 
 
 1 From Lt.-Col. Grosvenor s MSS. Order-Book, while serving as Inspector 
 of the Connecticut Division. 
 
120 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Shall tell from whom I learnt the martial art, 
 With what high chiefs I play d my early part, 
 With Parsons first, whose eye, with piercing ken, 
 Reads through their hearts the characters of men ; 
 Then how I aided, in the foll wing scene, 
 Death-daring Putnam then immortal Greene 
 Then how great Washington my youth approv d, 
 In rank prefer d, and as a parent loved 
 (For each fine feeling in his bosom blends 
 The first of heroes, sages, patriots, friends) ; 
 With him what hours on warlike plans I spent, 
 Beneath the shadow of th Imperial tent, 
 With him how oft I went the nightly round, 
 Thro moving hosts, or slept on tented ground ; 
 From him how oft (nor far below the first 
 In high behests and confidential trust) 
 From him how oft I bore the dread commands, 
 Which destined for the fight the eager bands ; 
 With him how oft I past th eventful day, 
 Rode by his side, as down the long array, 
 His awful voice the columns taught to form, 
 To point the thunders, and to pour the storm." 
 
 An earnest, patriotic letter from Gov. Livingston 
 to Baron Steuben, written about this time, will be 
 read with interest. One may gather from its tone 
 how New Jersey came to lean upon him through the 
 war : 
 
 " RARITAN, 2ist June, 1780. 
 
 u DR. BARON: I met your favor of yesterday on the road on my 
 Return from the Assembly. They have passed a more rigorous 
 Law for reducing the Militia to military discipline ; and the Law 
 for filling up our Brigade, I hope will also speedily have its Effect. 
 But it must be confessed that we are always too late and generally 
 begin to think of providing our Quota when we ought to open the 
 Campaign. I am sorry to hear that our Militia quit their Posts 
 before the expiration of their time. It is indeed enough to exhaust 
 the Patience of any officer who has the direction of them. But, 
 
Events in 1780-81. 121 
 
 my dear Sir, there is a kind of passive as well as active fortitude 
 that we must exercise on these occasions, & General Washington 
 who has exhibited a thousand instances of that kind of suffering 
 Heroism, ought to animate us all by his illustrious example. 
 Think not, my dear Baron, of resigning your present Command ; 
 tho in one sense an officer is in danger of reaping n ot but dis 
 grace by commanding such a disorderly band ; yet when it is duly 
 considered how disorderly they are, & that he does great things 
 even with such material, it must add to his Glory. 
 
 " The Militia from the lower Counties of this State are on their 
 way in considerable numbers. Gov. Reed [of Penn.] informs 
 me that his militia are ready to march to our assistance at a mo 
 ment s warning. 
 
 " You want not, Sir, the addition of my Testimony in proof of 
 the great obligations under which you have laid this Country by 
 your signal services. But great as your merit is you may still 
 give it an additional Lustre by rising superior to all the Difficul 
 ties with which I see you embarrassed. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, 
 
 " Dr. Sir, &c., 
 " WILLIAM LIVINGSTON. 
 
 " Major-Gen l Baron Steuben," 1 
 
 Another from Gen. Paterson is a call for arms, as 
 follows, addressed to the President of the Massachu 
 setts State Council : 
 
 " WEST POINT, July 27th, 1780. 
 
 " SIR : The bad economy, which has inseperably attended the 
 operations of America (until very lately) has reduced our Arms 
 
 1 Original in possession of S. L. M. Barlow, Esq., New York. 
 
 Gov. Livingston s pen was equal to any occasion, and at other times he could 
 be as humorous to Steuben as he was serious at this. At the close of the war, for 
 instance, when the Baron applied for the confiscated property of the Bayards at 
 Hoboken, Livingston wrote from Trenton, Nov. 7, 1783, that it would be diffi 
 cult to obtain the grant, and added : "If you never was on the spot yourself in 
 the months of July, August, or September, & if I thought myself at liberty 
 to obtrude my advice upon you, I would say that considering how often you are 
 exposed to lose blood in the way of your profession as a soldier, I would dis 
 suade you from putting it in the power of the musketoes at Hoebuck to augment 
 the effusion ; for never did I set my foot in a place where that troublesome & 
 venomous little volatile during those months swarmed in greater abundance." 
 N. Y. Hist. Soc. MSS. 
 
122 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 to so small a number, that we are not able to arm our New Levies ; 
 from what cause this has arisen is not my business at present to 
 attend to, tho I think it obvious. 
 
 " The operations of this year depend entirely upon the single 
 circumstance of our being able to procure a sufficiency. By some 
 fatal misconduct, or neglect, the Arms expected from Europe 
 are not arrived, and indeed cannot be expected in season ; it is 
 therefore necessary to use every exertion in our power for an 
 immediate supply. 
 
 " I have advised Baron Steuben, Inspector General, to apply to 
 the New England States, for the loan of a certain number, that 
 they may have on hand, or could collect from the several Towns ; 
 tho this may be attended with difficulty, and in some instances 
 (to appearances) injure individuals, yet when put in competition 
 with an inert campaign, it certainly bears no comparison. 
 
 "The Baron has requested me to write you on the subject ; I 
 have not the least doubt, but you will do every thing in your 
 power to procure an immediate supply ; the success of this year 
 most certainly will in a great degree depend on it, and probably 
 the events of the war. 
 
 " I am, your honor s 
 " Most obedient and very 
 
 " Humble Servant, 
 
 " JOHN PATERSON. 
 
 " Hon ble Jeremiah Powell." 
 
 In the latter part of September President Stiles 
 visted his old Newport parish, and took the oppor 
 tunity to call upon officers of the French army, which 
 had lately arrived at that place. He speaks of them 
 as follows : 
 
 "1780. 
 
 " Oct. 5. Introduced to the Commander in Chief of the French 
 
 allied army, the Count de Rochambeau. 
 1 7. Dined at the Generals de Rochambeau. Gen 1 Arnolds 
 
 Flight from West point, 25* ult. 
 
 : 8. Lds day. I preached in the Sabb. -Meeting to my Dear 
 1 Mass. State Archives, Revolutionary Letters, vol. x. 
 
Events in 1 780-81. 123 
 
 Newp* Flock. My Meet 2 house and three others 
 taken up for the Hospitals. 
 
 " 9. Dined at Gen 1 de Chatelux in a splendid manner, on 35 
 Dishes. He is a capital Literary Character, a Member 
 of the French Academy. He is the Glory of the 
 Army. After Dinner the Minister of France, the 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne, with the General, came in & 
 socially conversed round the Table. We had news 
 last Even s that Major Andre, the British spy connected 
 with Arnold, was Executed at Gen. Washington s camp 
 last Monday noon. 
 
 " 10. Visiting. 
 
 " ii. Dined at Mr. Channings with Generals Veiomenel & 
 Chattelux & a number of French officers. 
 
 " 1 6. Writ g Lett, to Dr. Franklin at Paris . . . 
 
 " 17. Anniversary of the Victory at Saratoga, 1777 . . . 
 
 " 19. Took Leave of the General, the Count de Rochambeau, 
 and all Friends in Newport, & left it & sat out on 
 Journey for N. Haven." 
 
 It was in the fall of this year that that good soldier, 
 Col. John Brown, class of 1771, met his death in the 
 field. His services in Canada and in the Burgoyne 
 campaign marked him as one of the ablest partisan 
 officers on our side, and now that troops were needed 
 to protect the settlements in Central New York, he 
 again volunteered with Berkshire militia to meet the 
 enemy in that quarter. He marched to Stone Ara 
 bia, where he received orders fron Gen. Van Renn- 
 selaer to relieve a small post. On the way he was 
 attacked by a large body of Indians and regulars, 
 and after a sharp action, killed with forty of his 
 men. His death was much regretted. Humphreys, 
 who was one of his classmates, feelingly refers to 
 him as follows, in his " Address to the Armies of 
 America." 
 
124 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 "Ah hapless friend ! permit the tender tear 
 To flow e en now, for none flow d on thy bier, 
 Where, cold and mangled, under northern skies, 
 To famished wolves a prey thy body lies 
 Which erst so fair and tall in youthful grace, 
 Strength in thy nerves, and beauty in thy face, 
 Stood like a tow r, till struck by the swift ball 
 Then what avail d (to ward th untimely fall) 
 The force of limbs, the mind so well informed, 
 The taste refin d, the breast with friendship warm d 
 (That friendship which our earliest years begun), 
 Or what the laurels that thy sword had won, 
 When the dark bands from thee, expiring, tore 
 Thy long hair, mingled with the spouting gore ? " 
 
 It is at this period of the war, also, that Major 
 Tallmadge s services come more prominently into 
 notice. We may recall him as one of Male s class 
 mates, Chester s adjutant in 1776, afterwards captain, 
 and now major of Sheldon s Dragoons. In the latter 
 capacity he won the confidence of Washington and 
 was entrusted by him with delicate and responsible 
 duties. It was through Tallmadge s agency that 
 important lines of secret communication were estab 
 lished with persons on Long Island and in New York, 
 from whom much needed intelligence of the enemy s 
 movements and designs was received. How far 
 Washington depended on this channel of information 
 appears from a number of his published letters and 
 from Tallmadge s "Memoirs." 1 The Major also 
 played a leading part in the capture of Andre and 
 was with him much of the time until his execution. 
 
 1 An article, entitled " The Secret Service of the Revolution," published in 
 the Magazine of American History, for February, 1882, contains extracts on 
 this point from the private correspondence then carried on between Tallmadge 
 and the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
Events in 1780-81. 125 
 
 One of his letters respecting that unfortunate officer, 
 recently brought to light, runs as follows : 
 
 "HEAD QRS., TAPPAN, Sept. soth, 1780. 
 " DEAR SIR : 
 
 "... You have doubtless heard before this of the rascally 
 conduct of Arnold. He is gone to the Enemy, where I think his 
 misery, from the neglect which must ensue, will be complete. 
 Poor Andre, who has been under my charge almost ever since he 
 was taken, has yesterday had his tryal, and tho his Sentence is 
 not known, a disgraceful death is undoubtedly allotted to him. 
 By Heavens ! Col. Webb, I never saw a man whose fate I fore 
 saw whom I so sincerely pitied. He is a young fellow of the 
 greatest accomplishments, and was the prime minister of S r 
 Harry on all occasions. He has unbosomed his heart to me so 
 fully, & indeed let me know almost every motive of his actions 
 since he came out on his late mission, that he has endeared me to 
 him exceedingly. Unfortunate Man ! He will undoubtedly suf 
 fer Death tomorrow, & tho he knows his fate, seems to be as 
 cheerful as if he was going to an Assembly. I am sure he will go 
 to the Gallows less fearful for his fate and with less concern than 
 I shall behold the tragedy. Had he been tried by a Court of 
 Ladies, he is so genteel, handsome, polite a young Gentleman, that 
 I am confident they would have acquitted him. 
 
 " But enough of poor Andre, who, tho he dies lamented, falls 
 justly. I am happy to find he has wrote to S r Harry Clinton, in 
 which letter he speaks highly of our treatment towards him, & 
 takes off the idea of his being under Sanction of a flagg when he 
 was taken, which had been told by Arnold to S r Harry, that our 
 Conduct in punishing him might be Censurable. I think his 
 letter to Gen. Clinton will effectually ruin Arnold with the Enemy. 
 
 " Jos. Smith, an accomplice with Arnold, I also bro t on with 
 me. He is now under tryal. . . . 
 " In haste, believe me 
 
 " Your friend & most obed t Servant, 
 
 " BENJ . TALLMADGE. 
 
 " Col. Samuel Webb, at Mr. Bancker s, on the Raritan, State of 
 N. Jersey." 1 
 
 1 From the Webb " Reminiscences." 
 
Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Tallmadge, furthermore, distinguished himself in 
 some gallant exploits, one of which occurred on 
 November 2ist of this year. He conducted an ex 
 pedition in boats across the Sound, marched to Fort 
 George, at Oyster Bay, surprised and captured the 
 garrison of Tory refugees, burned vessels, stores, and 
 hay, and returned to Fairfield, without the loss of a 
 man. Washington complimented him highly and 
 transmitted his report of the affair to Congress, which 
 showed its appreciation by passing the following 
 resolution : 
 
 " IN CONGRESS, December 6th, 1780. 
 
 " WHILE Congress are sensible of the patriotism, courage and 
 perseverance of the officers and privates of their regular forces, 
 as well as of the militia throughout the United States, and of the 
 military conduct of the principal commanders in both, it gives 
 them pleasure to be so frequently called upon to confer marks of 
 distinction and applause for enterprises which do honour to the 
 profession of arms, and claim a high rank among military achieve 
 ments. In this light they view the enterprise against Fort St. 
 George, on Long Island, planned and conducted with wisdom 
 and great gallantry by Major Tallmadge, of the light dragoons, 
 and executed with intrepidity and complete success by the offi 
 cers and soldiers of his detachment : 
 
 "Ordered, therefore, That Major Tallmadge s report to the 
 Commander-in-Chief be published, with the preceding minute, 
 as a tribute to distinguished merit and in testimony of the sense 
 Congress entertain of this brilliant service. 
 
 " Extracts from the minutes, 
 
 " CHARLES THOMSON, Se cy." 
 
 In Tallmadge s party was a young graduate of 76, 
 Heathcote Muirson, who joined him as a volunteer, 
 and behaved so well that he was offered a commission 
 in the Dragoons on the next vacancy. Washington s 
 high opinion of Tallmadge was expressed again long 
 
Events in 1780-81. 127 
 
 after the war, when he recommended him for the 
 command of the cavalry corps which it was proposed 
 to attach to our Provisional Army of 1798. 
 
 One of the last incidents of the year was an at 
 tempt made by Col. Humphreys to capture Sir 
 Henry Clinton, or the German General, Knyphausen, 
 at New York. With Capt. Roger Welles, of the 
 class of 1775, wno had served during the summer in 
 Lafayette s light infantry corps, two other officers 
 and about forty men, he went down the Hudson, 
 Dec. 25th, in the hope of surprising one of the gen 
 erals at his quarters in the city. The wind, however, 
 as Heath tells us, rose freshly from the northwest dur 
 ing the night, and the three boats of the expedition 
 were driven past the Battery. A landing being im 
 possible, they slipped by the enemy s shipping in the 
 harbor, went through the Narrows, and finally made 
 their way unobserved to Brunswick, whence the party 
 returned by land to the army on Jan. ist. The un 
 dertaking was a daring one, but Humphreys had had 
 some experience in such warfare, as he accompanied 
 Col. Meigs on his famous Sag Harbor expedition in 
 1777, and in 1778 himself took a party across the 
 Sound and burned some supply vessels. 
 
 West Point and vicinity became winter-quarters for 
 a portion of the army this year as last. The Con 
 necticut Division built huts on the east side of the 
 river not far from the Robinson House, Lieut.-Col. 
 Gray, class of 1 763, being appointed superintendent 
 of the encampment. Writing to his brother, Dec. 
 22, 1780 (the letter in Miss Learned s Windham 
 Co., Conn.), he says : 
 
128 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " Our huts are built where there is plenty of wood and water. 
 We have had our starvation season I hope the whole of it. It 
 seems as if twas decreed in the Book of Fates that wherever we 
 hut we should have short allowance ; and when Congress order 
 us to keep a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing in the success and 
 plenty wherewith Providence hath blessed us, that the army have 
 nothing to make the heart glad, and a dismal and dark prospect 
 before us. This has been the case for three years past ; but I 
 hope and pray and believe that the scene is changed and better 
 days and times are coming." 
 
EVENTS IN 1781-82. 
 
 Situation at the North Col. Hull s Affair at the Outposts Lafayette s Vir 
 ginia Expedition Major Wyllys Letters from Capt. Welles and Others 
 The Yorktown Campaign Graduate Officers at the Siege Humphreys 
 and the Captured Flags Rejoicings President Stiles to Washington. 
 
 THIS the closing year of active operations, which 
 terminated so brilliantly at Yorktown, opened much 
 as other years had opened blindly, without any sig 
 nificant indications except in the far South. There 
 Greene and Cornwallis were facing each other ; but 
 what turn the situation in the North would take was 
 for the first five months altogether conjectural. To 
 Washington the outlook was discouraging. The 
 army was greatly reduced in numbers, supplies lim 
 ited, the public credit low. It seemed certain that as 
 the enemy were still sending reinforcements to the 
 South they would undertake no offensive operations 
 in the North, in which case Washington would be 
 compelled either to remain idle, or, in conjunction 
 with the French allies then in Rhode Island, threaten 
 New York ; but there, without a cooperating fleet, 
 success could hardly be looked for. It was not until 
 late in May that a campaign was proposed. 
 
 Meantime two enterprises varied the monotony, in 
 each of which graduates took part. One was an ex 
 ploit, successfully conducted by that admirable officer, 
 Lieut-Colonel William Hull, than whom few if any 
 
130 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 of his rank could show a finer record. He had par 
 ticipated in the siege of Boston and the operations 
 around New York in 1775 and 1776, and had en 
 gaged, generally in close action, at the battles of 
 White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, the Ticonderoga 
 retreat, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Stony Point. 
 Washington s personal esteem for him was well 
 known ; it was the same esteem that he accorded, 
 upon the same ground of capacity and meritorious 
 service, to Hull s college mates, Sherman, Humph 
 reys, and Tallmadge. 
 
 In the winter of 1780-81 Hull commanded the out 
 posts of the army on Croton River. Below, towards 
 King s Bridge, lay the middle ground subject to raids 
 by Americans and British alike, and where they fre 
 quently met and skirmished. On Dec. 31, 1780, the 
 latter indulged in one of their excursions, which Gen. 
 Heath, then commanding in the Highlands, mentions 
 in his diary as follows : 
 
 4< This day the enemy were out again. Col. Hull immediately 
 marched down with his whole force to meet them ; by his vigi 
 lance they were prevented from doing any mischief, and on his 
 advance retired towards the saw-pits." 
 
 Hull now proposed to return the compliment. He 
 requested permission to beat up the quarters of 
 DeLancy s Refugee corps at Morrisania, opposite 
 Harlem, and destroy bridges, barracks, and forage. 
 Heath submitted the plan to Washington, who ap 
 proved of it. On the 22d of January Hull marched, 
 with about five hundred men, towards King s Bridge, 
 passed Fort Independence unnoticed, left a detach 
 ment to destroy a pontoon bridge across the Harlem 
 
Events in 1781-82. 131 
 
 opposite Fort Washington, and pushing on to Mor- 
 risania succeeded in effecting a partial surprise of the 
 post early on the morning of the 23d. He took 
 prisoners, burned the enemy s quarters and consider 
 able forage, and then returned by way of East 
 Chester, where Gen. Parsons, with three regiments 
 under Colonels Hazen, Scammell, and Sherman, had 
 taken post to cover his retreat. Hull had, in effect, 
 penetrated eight miles into the enemy s lines, and 
 marched between forty and fifty miles, almost with 
 out a rest. During the last two miles he was com 
 pelled to skirmish with the enemy, who took the 
 alarm and followed him up. With small loss he re 
 turned to the Croton lines the affair being regarded 
 as a bold, well-executed, successful dash. Parsons 
 and Hull s reports of the enterprise were published 
 by order of Congress " in testimony of its approba 
 tion of the spirit and military conduct displayed by 
 the officers and men " on the occasion. Gen. Par 
 sons says in his report : 
 
 " In justice to Lieut-Col. Hull and his officers, I ought to say 
 that much of the success of this enterprise is owing to the judi 
 cious arrangements made by him, and the fortitude and address 
 with which they were executed by them ; and in the state of ex 
 cessive fatigue of his men, the retiring through West Chester in 
 good order, and bringing off his prisoners, near two miles, under 
 the enemy s fire, until he was supported by Col. Hazen, does him 
 great honor . . . And I feel myself under great obligations 
 to Colonels Hazen, Scammell, and Sherman, for the great assist 
 ance I received from them in making the necessary arrangements^ 
 and the cheerfulness with which they and the troops under their 
 command executed the several parts of duty assigned to them." 
 
 Parsons also states that he advanced Col. Sher- 
 
1 12 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 man on the road from William s Bridge to East Ches 
 ter, to prevent the enemy from intercepting Hull by 
 that route. " On his taking post on a hill east of the 
 village, the British halted and did not advance again." 
 
 Washington and Heath both congratulated Hull 
 and his command on their exploit. 
 
 The second enterprise was Lafayette s expedition 
 into Virginia, which was destined to play an impor 
 tant part in the capture of Cornwallis. It was or 
 ganized originally to attempt the capture of Arnold, 
 who, with a British detachment, had taken post at 
 Portsmouth, Va.; but the plan miscarried through 
 failure of naval cooperation. Lafayette was then 
 dispatched into Central Virginia to face Cornwallis, 
 who was moving up from North Carolina in that di 
 rection, and there, in May, June, and July, the former 
 conducted his skilful defensive campaign, in which 
 he was almost constantly on the march, successfully 
 avoiding the superior force of the enemy, and at the 
 same time preventing him from " occupying" the 
 State. Cornwallis closed his movements in August 
 by settling down at Yorktown, with Lafayette watch 
 ing him from different points on the peninsula above. 
 
 Five graduates were with Lafayette in this impor 
 tant preliminary campaign in Virginia. The expedi 
 tion, as first organized, included three battalions of 
 select troops light infantry mainly from New 
 England. One of these battalions, commanded by 
 Lieut.-Col. Gimat, a French officer, had for its major 
 John Palsgrave Wyllys, while three of its eight cap 
 tains were Jonathan Heart, Samuel A. S. Barker, 
 and Roger Welles ; and among the ensigns was 
 
Events in 1 781-82. 133 
 
 Ebenezer Daggett, youngest son of ex-President 
 Daggett, of the college. It so happened that this 
 particular regiment not only distinguished itself 
 under Lafayette s command during the summer, but 
 was to be given the opportunity of distinguishing it 
 self above all other regiments at the crowning event 
 of the campaign the siege of Yorktown. In the 
 sharp skirmish of Green Spring, near Jamestown, on 
 July 6th, Wyllys was in command ; and as for Capt. 
 Welles, we find him not only a gallant soldier, but a 
 frequent letter-writer also, which for us in these days 
 of inquisitive search for new material was a fortunate 
 circumstance. Several interesting Revolutionary let 
 ters from his pen are preserved, some of which are 
 here introduced in their proper connection. The 
 following, written to his father from the heart of Vir 
 ginia, while Lafayette was giving Cornwallis the 
 chase through the State, is one of a very few refer 
 ring to those movements known to exist : 
 
 " LIGHT INFANTRY CAMP (Louisa County), June 16, 1781. 
 
 " HON D SIR : 
 
 "By Capt. Hart, who arrived the nth Instant, I received your 
 favor of the 28th of April last, together with what was intrusted 
 to his care. I am much obliged to you, Sir, for being at the 
 trouble of collecting the money and cloth sent on ; it could 
 never have arrived at a happier period. It found me very desti 
 tute of summer clothes, and almost every other necessary req 
 uisite to render life tolerabile in this uninhabited world. We 
 frequently march whole days without seeing any thing like a 
 house, except a log hut or two. The people of this country are 
 the most ignorant, miserable wretches on earth. Tenants, who 
 are perfect slaves to their landlords, and scarcely know they have 
 an existence. The Marquiss, till lately having a force far infe 
 rior to the enemy, was obliged to retreat a considerable distance 
 
i34 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 into the country. After Earl Cornwallis had formed a junction 
 with Arnold (I say Arnold, because Gen. Phillips died a day or 
 two before Cornwallis arrived), he found himself at the head of 
 about 5000 men. Our army, being re-inforced by the Pennsyl 
 vania line, is now about equal in number to that of the enemy ; 
 but the greater half are militia. Expect hourly to be joined by 
 Baron Steuben, with a thousand men. This gives us so much 
 the superiority that the enemy are now retiring, and its the 
 opinion of some that they will make the best of their way back to 
 Portsmouth. The enemy have much the advantage of us in Light 
 Horse, as we have few here but Militia horse. Tarlton, with a 
 party of L. Dragoons, a few days since penetrated into the 
 country as far as Albermarle, the seat of government (about 70 or 
 80 miles distant from Richmond), and made prisoners two or 
 three of the House of Burgesses, did very little other mischief, 
 and returned with great speed. Were the Militia of this country 
 under as good regulations as those of N. England, four or five 
 hundred horse would not be able to ravage the country 40 miles 
 distant from their main body, and even without a gun s being 
 fired at them. All the arms belonging to this State are deposited 
 in public stores, from which the militia are furnished when they are 
 called into the field ; but are never able to act on any emergency. 
 I should have wrote by Capt. Hart were I apprehensive he would 
 have gone to Conn 1 , to acknowledge the receipt of a letter and 
 some other articles by Capt. Francis last winter. My situation 
 has been such for several months, I have scarcely had an oppor 
 tunity of sending, and now its not direct. There s an officer 
 going to the Grand Army by whom I shall write to Capt. Williams, 
 and enclose this to be forwarded. ... As the gentleman is 
 now waiting I must desist, and am, with the greatest affection, 
 your son, R. WELLES. 
 
 " My respects to all my friends." 
 
 It was during the progress of this campaign in 
 Virginia that Washington planned his own grand 
 combination against Cornwallis. Assured that De 
 
 From the original in possession of Mr. Roger Welles, great-grandson of 
 Capt. Welles, Newington, Conn. 
 
Events in 1781-82. 135 
 
 Grasse with a powerful French fleet would appear in 
 the Chesapeake in the latter part of August, and as 
 sured by Lafayette that the British general had es 
 tablished himself at Yorktown with the evident inten 
 tion of remaining there for a time, he immediately 
 abandoned his pretended operations against New 
 York, and leaving Clinton in the lurch, put nearly 
 half his Continentals and all the French troops on the 
 march for Virginia. The movement was executed 
 with great skill and precision, and on the 26th of 
 September the entire force was concentrated with 
 Lafayette s little army at Williamsburg eleven miles 
 above Yorktown. The trap was successfully set. 
 Blockaded on the bay by the French fleet, and his re 
 treat landward cut off by Washington and Rocham- 
 beau, Cornwallis could not escape. 
 
 Captain Welles has another interesting letter for 
 us here, showing that the troops appreciated the suc 
 cess of Washington s splendid move, and were eager 
 to add the finishing stroke. To his father again : 
 
 " CAMP WILLIAMSBURG, Sept. 15, 1781. 
 
 " I hope I shall not be obliged to write at this distance many 
 weeks longer. We have now the fairest prospect of capturing 
 Lord Cornwallis with his Army. Doubtless ere this you have 
 received an account of the arrival of the French in the Bay of 
 Chesapeak with twenty-eight sail of the Line, and betwixt three 
 and four thousand land forces. The troops are landed and now 
 performing duty with us. They are as fine a body of men as I ever 
 saw. The greatest harmony as yet subsists between the Allied 
 Army. 
 
 " Last evening was announced the arrival of his Excellency 
 General Washington from the Northward, by the discharge of 
 cannon &c., on which the troops were immediately paraded and 
 reviewed by his Excellency, which seemed to give new life and 
 
136 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 spirits to every soldier in the Army. It is said he is to be fol 
 lowed by 6 or 8 thousand troops from the Northward some of 
 which are expected immediately. The army after forming a 
 junction will consist of near 20,000, including militia. The 
 enemy, who are about 5 or 6000 in number, are strongly fortify 
 ing themselves in Yorktown, about twelve miles from this place. 
 We expect orders hourly to move down and closely besiege them. 
 With common success a force so much superior to theirs must 
 soon reduce them. We all wish most heartily it may be the case, 
 if for no other reason than that we may turn to the Northward 
 again. We are tired of this climate, though the troops in general 
 have been tolerably healthy. For my own part, by the hot season 
 and fatigue I was a little reduced, but by leaving the Reg* and 
 quartering in a good house I recruited again very soon. 
 
 " I think it probable you have heard the particulars of the James 
 town affair before this time. Our Reg 1 had a small share in the 
 skirmish, but suffered very little loss. Not an officer wounded. 
 I think we have been exceedingly fortunate. The Marquiss has 
 conducted more like a Fabius through the campaign than an as 
 piring boy, as Lord Cornwallis was pleased to call him. 
 
 " This from your affectionate and dutiful Son, 
 
 " ROGER WELLES. 
 
 " My duty to my dear Mother and love to all friends. I wish 
 most sincerely to see you all." 
 
 It only remained for the allied army to move 
 down upon Yorktown and invest the place, which 
 was done on the 28th of September. Then came 
 the rigorous siege of nineteen days, and Cornwallis 
 surrendered. 
 
 About twelve graduates participated in this final 
 and greatest operation of the war. Five have been 
 mentioned as being with Lafayette. With Washing 
 ton came his aid, David Humphreys. Captain David 
 Bushnell was present with the corps of Sappers and 
 Miners. Among the Continentals which Washing 
 ton brought down was a regiment of Light Infantry 
 
Events in 1781-82. 137 
 
 under Col. Alexander Scammell, whose lieut-col- 
 onel was Ebenezer Huntington, one of the captains, 
 James Morris, a lieutenant, Nathan Haynes Whit 
 ing, and the surgeon s mate, /Eneas Munson, from 
 Yale. This regiment was placed with the other se 
 lect troops under Lafayette, whose position was on 
 the right of the besieging line. His force consisted 
 of six Light Infantry battalions, and it is interest 
 ing to note that of their twelve field officers, all of 
 whom were veterans of the war, eight were gradu 
 ates of colleges, namely, Col. Scammell and Maj. 
 Rice, of Harvard ; Lieut-Col. Huntington and Maj. 
 Wyllys, of Yale ; Lieut-Col. Barber and Maj. 
 Cumming, of Princeton ; Lieut-Col. Hamilton, of 
 Columbia ; and Lieut-Col. Laurens, educated in 
 England. 
 
 The turning-point of the siege was the capture, on 
 the night of Oct. i4th, of two British redoubts which 
 commanded their lines. One was assaulted by the 
 French and the other by the American Light In 
 fantry, with Gimat s regiment, of which Wyllys was 
 major, in advance. With the exception of Humph 
 reys, our graduates there belonged to the assaulting 
 column or the reserve corps, and probably all were 
 present After the surrender, Humphreys was com 
 missioned by Washington to convey the captured flags 
 to Philadelphia and present them to Congress, a 
 scene which afterwards became the subject of an his 
 torical painting. Congress on the occasion voted him 
 an elegant sword. 
 
 Referring to the surrender, Capt. Welles writes to 
 his father Oct. 23, 1781 : 
 
138 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " The hurry and confusion we have been in since the Capitula 
 tion has prevented my writing you any thing particular respecting 
 the siege. I have not yet been able to obtain the Articles of 
 Capitulation, tho I make no doubt you may receive them before 
 this will reach you. I am told they are nearly the same as Clin 
 ton gave Gen l Lincoln at Charlestown. Cornwallis has sur 
 rendered a very fine army. They are said to amount to upwards 
 of seven thousand. The most pleasing sight I ever beheld, to see 
 those haughty fellows march out of their strong fortifications and 
 ground their arms. There is found in their magazines a great 
 plenty of provisions, a considerable quantity of ammunition, and 
 a great number of cannon, both brass and iron. This is by far 
 the heaviest loss the enemy have sustained since the war. We 
 expect soon to be on our way to the Northward." 
 
 Capt. Morris, the young officer who was taken pris 
 oner at Germantown, had been exchanged and was 
 now at Yorktown. He has this brief description of 
 the surrender : 
 
 " The 1 8th day was a day of respite. Our soldiers were di 
 rected to wash up and appear clean on the next day. The British 
 were snug in their tents during this time. On the ipth day our 
 whole army and the french army assembled, our army on the 
 right and the French army on the left, about 6 rods apart, and 
 each line reached more than a mile on an extended plain. We 
 were thus drawn up to receive the vanquished. The British army 
 marched out between our two armies, drums beating their own 
 tunes, colours muffled ; and after they passed in a review of our 
 army they piled their arms on the field of submission and returned 
 back in the same manner into Yorktown." 
 
 With the surrender came rejoicings throughout the 
 country. At New Haven, says the Connecticut 
 Journal, " a numerous assembly convened at the 
 Brick Meeting House, where the audience were highly 
 entertained with an animating, pathetic, and ingenious 
 oration, delivered by one of the Tutors [Mr. Meigs], 
 
Events in 1781-82. 139 
 
 and a Triumphant hymn sung by the students." The 
 college and residences were " beautifully illuminated" 
 in the evening. 
 
 In Heath s camp on the Hudson the enthusiasm 
 was unbounded. Capt. S. W. Williams, class of 1772, 
 wrote to Col. S. B. Webb, Nov. 2 d : 
 
 " The surrender of his Lordship was celebrated here on Wed 
 nesday last an entertainment was provided in open field for all 
 the officers of the army when we made use of 120 gallons of Ma 
 deira with a Quantum Sufficit of Spirits &c. A more sociable 
 time I never experienced every one was happy, many perfectly 
 so indeed the whole week has been but one continued Hurra 
 from Right to Left." 2 
 
 The college conferred the degree of LL.D. on 
 Washington, and subsequently in transmitting the 
 diploma President Stiles wrote him as follows : 
 
 "VALE COLLEGE, Dec. 8, 1781. 
 " SIR : 
 
 " You will receive by Col. Humphrey the Diploma & the Doc 
 torate in Laws conferred upon you by the Senatus Academicus of 
 this University. 
 
 " That this Literary Honor, this Tribute of academic Respect 
 proved agreeable, we are happy to find by the Letter of acknowl 
 edgement you did me the honor to write me on the occasion. 
 
 " We rejoice that the Sovereign of the Universe hath hitherto 
 supported you, as the deliverer of your Country, the Defender of 
 the Liberty & Rights of Humanity, and the Maecenas of Science 
 and Literature. We share the public Joy, and Congratulate our 
 Country on the Glory of your arms, and that eminence to which 
 
 1 Tutor Meigs oration was printed and a copy sent to Washington by Presi 
 dent Stiles. In acknowledging its receipt, he wrote from Newburg, April I, 
 1782 : "I entreat you will make that Gentleman sensible of the high gratifica 
 tion I have received from his ingenious performance, and that you will be con 
 vinced of the ardent passion I have for the promotion of the Cause of Litera 
 ture in general and especially of the pleasure I feel in the increasing reputation 
 and ability of the Seat of Learning under your immediate direction." Stiles 
 Letter Books. 
 
 From the Webb " Reminiscences." 
 
Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 you have ascended in the recent Victory over the Earl of Corn- 
 wallis & his army in Virginia, under such evident and astonish 
 ing marks of the divine Interposition. With every sentiment of 
 Respect & Honour, 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " Your Excellency s most 
 " obed*. serv*., 
 
 " EZRA STILES. 
 "His Excellency G. WASHINGTON." 
 
 The Yorktown army, returning north, reached the 
 Hudson camps about Dec. ist, " all pleased," says 
 Wyllys, " with what was once thought so execrable 
 a sight of the Highlands." Doubtless, after the 
 eight months exacting service in Virginia with La 
 fayette, the Major appreciated the prospect of a win 
 ter s respite. But then he had returned with new 
 "laurels." 
 
EVENTS IN 1782-83. 
 
 Peace Negotiations Military Affairs Letters from Welles, Wyllys, and Silli- 
 man Tallmadge s Third Attempt on Long Island The Major s Report 
 and Washington s Reply Letters from Sill and Humphreys Evacuation 
 of New York by the Enemy Disbandment of the Revolutionary Army 
 Letter from Hull. 
 
 AFTER Yorktown the army and the country looked 
 for peace. Negotiations were opened and continued 
 through 1782, but military vigilance was in no way 
 relaxed on that account. While no large operations 
 were attempted on either side, Washington kept his 
 troops at hand and in a high state of discipline ready 
 to act in case hostilities were renewed. The winter 
 had been passed in camps in New Jersey and the 
 Highlands, and in the spring the army concentrated 
 on the Hudson once more. The Connecticut Line 
 had again hutted in its " Village " nearly opposite 
 West Point, and by April had resumed drilling and 
 parades. From that and other quarters we have a 
 few letters during the year ; for instance, something 
 more from Capt. Roger Welles to his father : 
 
 " CONN CT HUTTS, April 13 th 82. 
 
 "... Yesterday the Conn ct Troops were reviewed by the 
 Commander-in-Chief when he was so particular as to cause every 
 roll to be called by his Aid in his hearing, which circumstance 
 was very pleasing to the soldiery, and served to excite a spirit of 
 emulation among them. After which he made some observations 
 which were very flattering to the officers of the line. 
 
 141 
 
142 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " The army have not rec d any pay as yet, nor is there a prospect 
 at present. There are some notes (signed by the P. M. Gen l, 
 payable in August) come on for the officers to enable them to 
 clothe themselves, which some have rec d from mere necessity and 
 put them off at a considerable discount ; the merchants will take 
 them." 
 
 Again a month later, May i8th : 
 
 " For these ten days or more we have been flattering ourselves 
 that peace was near at hand, but now begin to apprehend it so far 
 distant that nothing short of a successful campaign will procure 
 it for us. Sir Guy Carlton is arrived at N. York and succeeds 
 Gen l Clinton, who has sailed for England. By a flag from N. Y. 
 Gen l Washington has received a large packet in which were dis 
 patches for Congress. Nothing that looks like peace has yet 
 transpired. Hope the dispatches contain something more favor 
 able. It seems there has been a great revolution at home, a great 
 change in the ministry, and administration are willing to redress 
 our grievances, and put us on the same footing we were in seven 
 ty-three. They pretend to think that the Americans are so at 
 tached to the British nation and so anxious for peace, that they 
 will renounce their alliance with the Frence nation : that we 
 were contending with the former ministry, and not at war with 
 the nation at large. I hope the States will exert themselves and 
 get their quota of men early into the field the only means to pro 
 cure peace on good terms. 
 
 " There was last week some little disturbance in this part of the 
 army, but it has all happily subsided. One of the principal pro 
 moters of it was yesterday executed at West Point a soldier be 
 longing to the first Reg 1 ." 
 
 The outposts along theCroton River were as close 
 ly guarded as ever, and in the spring of this year the 
 command was assigned to Major Wyllys. From the 
 beginning of the war these posts, which were some 
 times nearer the enemy, had been under the charge 
 of such trustworthy officers as Burr, Hull, Tallmadge 
 and others, and were seldom surprised by the enemy s 
 
Events in 1782-83. 143 
 
 reconnoitering parties. Wyllys, now quite a veteran, 
 was another good selection. 
 
 He wrote occasionally while on duty. One of his 
 official notes to Gen. Heath runs as follows : 
 
 " PINE S BRIDGE, 28th May 1782. 
 
 " Should it meet with your approbation, I could wish to make 
 some movements on the other side of Croton-River, with that 
 part of the command now with me and to allow the party at 
 Bedford to make some little excursions between the Lines. I 
 cannot imagine it would injure the Service. We have no intelli 
 gence of importance as yet come to hand, or late N. York papers 
 Cap 1 . Smith has just now sent me a Deserter, from the New 
 Bridge whom I send on 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " with the greatest respect 
 " your most obedient & humble Serv , 
 
 "JN P. WYLLYS, 
 " Maj r Comd* on the Lines." 
 
 Another to Col. Webb, June 3d : 
 
 " I hope to find the Troops, when I return, ready to take the 
 Field, as the herbage here is very luxuriant. The Duty here is 
 now much easier than at first or rather is more natural I have 
 slept under cover no night since I have been at the post We 
 make use of Serg nt White s bed of honour on which ten thousand 
 men might sleep without touching however duty may be called 
 hard our men grow sick fast. A party of our volunteer horse 
 which I had sent as a scout fell in with some refugees, five or 
 six of whom they wounded & took one prisoner that is all 
 the military exploit in which I have, as yet, had any hand since 
 the command commenced. I expect Gen 1 [Heath s] thanks for 
 planning." 
 
 The lookout along the Sound was also well kept, 
 and the movements of the enemy s vessels reported. 
 
 1 From the Webb " Reminiscences." 
 
1 44 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Gen. Silliman at Fairfield could be trusted to warn 
 the towns along the coast of all suspicious craft, as he 
 did early in June as follows : 
 
 " FAIRFIELD, June 4th, 1782, 
 
 "7 P. M. 
 a Sm: 
 
 " There is a Fleet of the Enemy s Ships now in the Sound. They 
 are twenty in number. They appeared at four this afternoon 
 about 12 miles to the westward ; they are standing eastward in a 
 regular Line, and are now opposite to my House with a fair but 
 very light Breeze. A Frigate leads and another is in the Reer. 
 The rest of the Fleet consists of Brigantines, Topsail Sloops & 
 Schooners principally large. I am of opinion that they may have 
 on Board with ease 1500 or 2000 Troops. They intend mischief 
 somewhere. New Haven is as likely to be their object as any 
 Place. I have thought it my duty to give you this notice by ex 
 press, that you may be on your Guard. 
 
 " I have to entreat you to forward this Intelligence immediately 
 to His Excellency at Hartford by express ; and also to New Lon 
 don & the other Towns on the Coast between that & New Haven; 
 that they may not be surprised for want of Intelligence. 
 
 " You will excuse this Letter coming open, as I have not time 
 otherwise to give the Intelligence to Stratford & Milford. 
 
 " I am Your Obed 
 " Humble Serv , 
 
 " G. SELLECK SILLIMAN. 
 "To 
 
 " Col. HEZ. SABIN, 
 
 " New Haven." 
 
 A Light Infantry corps consisting of two regi 
 ments was again organized for possible operations in the 
 summer and fall, and placed under the command of 
 Col. Samuel B. Webb. Among the few graduates 
 assigned to it were Major Ashley, class of 1767, and 
 Captain Welles, the latter for the third time on this 
 service. No opportunity, however, was given the 
 
 1 From the original in the Trumbull Papers, Mass. Hist. Society. 
 
Events in 1782-83. 145 
 
 command to distinguish itself as in previous years. 
 Captain Welles writing from the Light Camp at 
 Peekskill, Nov. Qth, says : "We are now preparing to 
 march to-morrow morning to relieve the Troops on 
 the lines. The Block House at Dobbs Ferry is the 
 Post to which I am destined. ... I propose making 
 a visit among my friends soon after the Light In 
 fantry are dissolved, which may be in the course of six 
 weeks or less." 
 
 Toward the close of the year, Tallmadge made his 
 third attempt on Long Island. The first two had 
 been handsomely executed. On this occasion he 
 sought Washington s permission to strike at the pro 
 vincial corps commanded by Col. Thompson, who 
 afterwards became the somewhat famous Count 
 Rumford. Washington granted permission, and pre 
 pared to make a demonstration at the same time in 
 the direction of King s Bridge. The night of the 5th 
 of December was fixed for the movement. But this 
 time Tallmadge was to meet with disappointment, the 
 cause of the failure appearing in his official report 
 and in the following letter he wrote to Col. Colt, then 
 with the French army at Providence : 
 
 " NORTH STREET, Dec. nth, 82. 
 " DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I have been so busily engaged on duty for some time, that I 
 have scarcely had leisure to write a Line to my friends 
 
 " There is, at Huntington on Long Island Col. Thompsons Le 
 gion, the remainder of the Queens Rangers & Tarleton s Legion, 
 amounting to about 500 men, whose abuses to the Inhabitants 
 have induced me to ask consent of the Commander in Chief to 
 break them up. He has been good enough to gratify my request 
 & with a picked body of Lt. Infantry from the army, apart of our 
 
146 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Regt., some Levies & armed boatmen, amounting to above 500 
 men, I moved to Stamford on the evening of the 5 th Inst. 
 
 " Just as the Troops, were about to embark on Shiphard Point, 
 a very sudden squall come up from the West, which prevented 
 our crossing. This was followed by a heavy northwest wind, 
 which continued several days I tarried on the Point three 
 nights with the whole Detachment, till I was convinced the Enemy 
 might have been apprized of our situation, even by the way of 
 Kingsbridge, when to my inexpressible mortification, I was 
 obliged to give over the enterprise. 
 
 " Three of the Enemies boats were discovered on Norwalk Isl 
 ands at this time I sent out some boats under Capt. Brewster, 
 when with about even numbers a most severe conflict insued in 
 which two of the enemies boats were taken by two of ours 
 
 " The notorious Capt Hoyt who commanded one of the enemies 
 boats, had every one of his men either killed or taken Six of 
 the enemy were killed and i Capt. i Lt. & 13 men wounded & 
 Prisoners on our part, not a man was killed but Capt Brewster 
 is badly wounded and several of his men 
 
 " I am still of the opinion that the British Troops are preparing 
 to leave N. Y. & that we shall have the city in the spring. 
 
 " The Garrison of Charlestown [S. C] has undoubtedly left that 
 place & it is said some of the Troops have arrived at N. York. 
 
 " Our Regt will move to Winter Quarters in a few days when 
 our cantonments are known, I will write you again. I am my 
 D r Sir 
 
 " Most affectionately yours 
 
 (Signed) BENJ. TALLMADGE. 
 
 "Mr. Colt" 1 
 
 The Major s chagrin at failure must have yielded 
 to feelings of highest gratification upon reading the 
 following letter from his Chief in reply to his report 
 of the affair : 
 
 "HEAD QUARTERS, Dec. loth, 1782. 
 " DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I received your favour of the 8 th last Evening by Express. Tho 
 you have not met with that success you deserved, and probably 
 
 1 From the original in possession of Frederick S. Tallmadge, Esq., N. Y. 
 City, grandson of Major Tallmadge. 
 
Events in 1782-83. 147 
 
 would have obtained had the Enterprize proceeded, yet I cannot 
 but think your whole conduct in the affair was such as ought to 
 entitle you still more to my confidence and esteem for however 
 it may be the practice of the World and those who see objects 
 but partially, or thro a false medium, to consider that only as 
 meritorious which is attended with success, I have accustomed 
 myself to judge of human Actions very differently and to appre 
 ciate them by the manner in which they are conducted, more than 
 by the Event ; which it is not in the power of human foresight 
 and prudence to command In this point of view, I see nothing 
 irreparable, & little occasion of serious regret, except the wound 
 of the gallant Captain Brewster, from which I earnestly hope he 
 may recover Another time you will have less opposition from 
 the Winds & Weather, and success will amply compensate for this 
 little disappointment. 
 
 " I have almost determined to post you with the Infantry of the 
 Legion contiguous to the Sound, in which case I shall expect you 
 to persevere in your endeavours to keep me perfectly advised of 
 the State of the Enemy and perhaps some favourable moment 
 may yet occur. 
 
 " I am Dear Sir 
 " With sincere regard & 
 " esteem your Most Ob 1 Serv 1 
 
 " G WASHINGTON. 
 "P. S. 
 
 " Your Letter of the 5 th 
 with the enclosures were 
 safely delivered to me. 
 
 " Major TALLMADGE." * 
 
 With the opening of the year 1 783 hostilities had 
 practically ceased. Tallmadge was engaged in sup 
 pressing the illicit trade carried on across the Sound, 
 and the main army, reduced in numbers, was kept 
 prepared for emergencies ; but friends and foes alike 
 regarded the war as over. 
 
 1 From the original in possession of Mrs. George T. Balch, Troy, N. Y., 
 grandaughter of Major Tallmadge. Also in Sparks Washington. 
 
148 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Early in the year Gen. Stirling died at Albany. 
 One of his aids was Major Richard Sill, class of 1775, 
 who officially informed Washington of the event as 
 follows : 
 
 "ALBANY, January i4th, 1783. 
 "SIR: 
 
 " Major-General Lord Stirling took his leave of this world at 6 
 o clock this morning. Lady Stirling and Lady Caty are in the 
 deepest distress. It would no doubt be more agreeable to his 
 friends could he be intered with the honors due to his rank, but 
 the distance of the Troops from this place will render it impos 
 sible to pay so small a tribute to his memory. A subaltern party, 
 which has been stationed in Town as a Guard (being the only 
 Troops in the City) will be ordered to attend on the occasion. It 
 is not as yet determined on what day the funeral will be attended. 
 Under the hope of Coll Duer s arrival it is probable it will be 
 postponed a day or two. I have the honor to be, with the great 
 est esteem and Respect, 
 
 " Your Excellency s 
 
 " Most Obedient Servant, 
 
 " RICHARD SILL. 
 " His Excellency, General Washington. 
 
 " P. S. His Lordship s funeral is to be on Thursday, 
 the 16th." 1 
 
 In April the treaty of peace was signed. During 
 the summer the army, four regiments excepted, was 
 disbanded; on November 25th the enemy evacu 
 ated New York, and a detachment of our forces, 
 led by the Light Infantry, under Col. Hull, occupied 
 the city. There Washington bade farewell to his 
 officers, and then went on to Congress, at Annapolis, 
 to resign his commission. 
 
 At the close of the year a regiment was organized 
 to serve until July, 1784, of which Hull was the lieut- 
 
 1 From the original in the Archives of the State Department, Washing 
 ton, D. C. 
 
Events in 1782-83. 149 
 
 colonel, Charles Selden, class of 1777, adjutant, and 
 Nathan Leavenworth, class of 1778, surgeon s mate. 
 With its disbandment the old Army of the Revolu 
 tion, excepting an artillery company or two, disap 
 peared. 
 
 The last letter bearing upon the war, and with 
 which this portion of the graduate record closes, is 
 the following from Col. Hull, who had been commis 
 sioned in 1784 to superintend the transfer of the 
 northern posts into American hands, as provided by 
 the treaty of peace. It is addressed to Gen. Haldi- 
 mand, commanding the English forces in Canada, the 
 original being in the Haldimand collection, British 
 Museum, London : 
 
 "QUEBEC, 1 2th July, 1784. 
 " SIR: 
 
 " I am instructed to request of your Excellency, in Behalf of 
 the United States of America, the precise Time when each of the 
 Posts within their Territories, now occupied by his Britannic 
 Majesty s Forces, will be delivered up agreeably to the definitive 
 Treaty of Peace, and to propose, as a matter of mutual conven 
 ience, an Exchange of certain Cannon and stores now at the 
 Posts to be Evacuated for Cannon and Stores to be delivered at 
 West Point, New York, or some other convenient place. 
 
 " With regard to the first Point, as the Season of the Year is al 
 ready far advanced, and as much Time will be required in fur 
 nishing necessary supplies for the Garrisons during the Winter, it 
 is an object of very great Importance, and I must beg leave to be 
 solicitous with your Excellency to fix a very early period. 
 
 " As the Posts of the above description are numerous, and it 
 being probable that it may not be convenient to withdraw the 
 Troops from the whole exactly at the same time, I wish your Ex 
 cellency to be particular in fixing the precise period when each 
 will be delivered up. 
 
 " If your excellency approves the Proposal of exchanging the 
 Cannon, Stores, &c., it will be necessary to fix on some criterion 
 
150 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 of their goodness. I would, therefore, propose that the particular 
 negotiations be referred to two Artillery officers, one from each 
 side, who shall personally inspect the Cannon and Stores, and in 
 case of not agreeing, call in a third Person. 
 
 " I Have the Honor to be your Excellency s 
 " Most obed 1 Serv , 
 
 "WM. HULL. 
 "His Excellency General Haldimand." 
 
HUMPHREYS AND DWIGHT 
 
 ox 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 151 
 
WASHINGTON. 
 
 Vt ^V. -, ^ 
 
 Humphrey s Visit to Mt. Vernon in 1786 Letter to his Brother liyVj^ged 
 
 to Write a History of the Revolution Personal Items The " Fame? of Q *"> ** * , 
 his Country " at Home President Dwight s Eulogy on Washington Air^^^* 
 Estimate of his Character Personal Qualities, Public Conduct, Military 
 Talents, and Place in History. 
 
 AFTER the war Col. Humphreys went abroad as at 
 tache to our Paris Legation, and upon his return, in 
 1 786, Washington sent him a cordial invitation to 
 visit Mt. Vernon. Humphreys accepted, and after 
 his arrival there wrote the following letter to his 
 brother, at Derby, Conn., describing his journey and 
 impressions, and indulging in personal, gossipy 
 items, which add to its interest. It is also of value 
 as giving us a glimpse of interior and farm life at 
 Washington s home : 
 
 "MOUNT VERNON, Aug., 4th, 1786. 
 " MY DEAR BROTHER : 
 
 " Tho I hate writing abominably when I have nothing to say, or 
 (what amounts to the same thing) nothing but what relates to 
 myself, yet I will try for once to see what can be said on such an 
 unimportant occasion & on such an unpromising theme. 
 
 " My journey was more agreeable than could have been expected 
 at such a sultry season. It was a fortunate circumstance that we 
 had such plenty of rain as never to be incommoded by the dust. 
 By setting off at 2 or 3 o clock in the morning we also eluded the 
 intensity of the heat. The variety of character to be met with in 
 the stages is truly amusing. I rested some days at the principal 
 places on my route where I received uncommon marks of atten 
 tion. Indeed I have found by recent experience as well as by 
 former travelling a great deal in the world, that a poet like a 
 Prophet is not without honor except in his own Country. 
 
 S3 
 
154 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " Here I am domesticated in the family of the greatest of men. 
 My reception was the most cordial that can possibly be conceived 
 my situation is such as would excite the envy of thousands. I 
 believe I showed you a letter which Gen 1 Washington wrote to 
 me while in Europe & which contained the following paragraph 
 4 The sentiment of your last letter on this subject (writing a 
 history of the war) gave me great pleasure. I should indeed be 
 pleased to see you undertake this business. Your abilities as a 
 writer, your discernment respecting the principles which led to 
 the decision by arms, your personal knowledge of many facts as 
 they occured in the progress of the war, your disposition to justice, 
 candor & impartiality, and your diligence in investigating truth 
 combining fit you in the vigor of life for this task. And I shall 
 with great pleasure not only give you the perusal of all my papers, 
 but any oral information of circumstances which cannot be ob 
 tained from the latter that my memory will furnish. And I can 
 with great truth add that my house would not only be at your 
 service during the period of your preparing this work, but (and 
 without an unmeaning compliment I say it) I should be exceed 
 ingly happy if you would make it your home. You might have 
 an apartment to yourself in which you could command your own 
 time. You would be considered & treated as one of the family, 
 and would meet with that cordial reception and entertainment 
 which are characteristic of the sincerest friendship. 
 
 " Here is a noble work before me, but deterred by the magnitude 
 of the enterprise I have not yet had spirit enough to resolve upon 
 its execution. Whatever I may decide for the moment, I shall 
 not absolutely lose sight of the object. In the meantime, it af 
 fords me no unpleasant reflection to be convinced that the man 
 in the United States who entertains the most favorable sentiments 
 of my morals and abilities is precisely the greatest man in them. 
 Nor is it derogatory to one s reputation to hold so high a place 
 in the confidence & friendship of Gen 1 Washington. These are 
 circumstances that would be flattering to the vanity of almost any 
 man. For myself I feel a rational satisfaction that my honest 
 endeavors to do my duty have met with success & merited his 
 approbation. 
 
 " It will no doubt be a matter of some curiosity to know in what 
 manner my illustrious friend lives in his retirement. It is I as- 
 
Washington . 155 
 
 sure you with much temperance as well as a great deal of exer 
 cise. He rises about 5 o clock & passes a great part of his time 
 in superintending his plantations ; you may judge how extensive 
 they are when I tell you he has had about 800 acres of wheat & 
 700 of corn this year. Besides this attention to the improvement 
 of his estate he is a good deal occupied in opening the navigation 
 of the Potomac, and in answering the letters of his numerous cor 
 respondents in Europe as well as in America. By a letter which 
 he has just received from a foreigner of distinction in Paris I find 
 that one of my Poems which was lately translated into French has 
 been received with much applause, that the King and Queen hav 
 ing read it with great satisfaction, have testified their suffrage in 
 favor of the author. 
 
 " I propose being in New Haven at the Commencement and con 
 sequently shall set out from this so as to be with you early in Sept r , 
 and I have no objection to its being known by my friends who are 
 freemen of your town, that I shall be on the spot and if they should 
 think proper to appoint me one of their representatives I well serve 
 them as such indeed you may show this letter where you think 
 you can do it \vith discretion and propriety. Probably this 
 journey to the Eastward may decide me whether I shall in future 
 consider myself a citizen of my native State or not. I have sev 
 eral projects, some one of which I am confident will succeed. 
 
 " By a letter which I received while in New York from our 
 brother in Portsmouth, I had the pleasure to learn that his family 
 are well. I hope to have the happiness of finding our venerable 
 and good parents with the rest of my relations and friends at Derby 
 in the same condition. In the meantime present me respectfully 
 to them & believe me ever, My Dear Brother, 
 
 " Yours affectionately 
 
 " D. HUMPHREYS. 
 "JOHN HUMPHREYS, Esq. 
 
 P. S. Perhaps I shall not come on quite so soon as I had pro 
 posed, as there is an eminent painter in Philadelphia who is en 
 gaged in giving some historical paintings of the most remarkable 
 events which took place during the war, and who has requested 
 me to sit for him (on my return from the South) as he has occa 
 sion to introduce my figure into two great pieces he has now in 
 hand, viz.: the first, the presentation of the standards taken at 
 
156 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Yorktown to Congress by your humble servant. The other, the 
 
 resignation of Gen Washington. You see whatever 
 
 of my own town may think of it, posterity are likely to have some 
 information concerning me." 1 
 
 It seems appropriate to insert in this connection 
 also an extract from the sermon delivered by Presi 
 dent Dwight at New Haven, Feb. 22, 1800, on the 
 death of Washington, in the course of which he en 
 tered into an analysis of his character and qualities 
 more discriminating and complete than any thing that 
 has come down to us from those days. 
 
 Its intrinsic and historical value must appear in 
 the portions quoted. The text of the discourse was 
 from Deuteronomy xxxiv., 10-12 : " And there arose 
 not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses. . . ." 
 
 " General Washington was great, not by means of that brilliancy 
 of mind often termed genius, and usually coveted for ourselves 
 and our children, and almost as usually attended with qualities 
 which preclude wisdom, and depreciate or forbid worth, but by a 
 constitutional character more happily formed. His mind was in 
 deed inventive, and full of resources ; but its energy appears to 
 have been originally directed to that which is practical and use 
 ful, and not to that which is shewy and specious. His judgment 
 was clear and intuitive beyond that of most who have lived, and 
 seemed instinctively to discern the proper answer to the cele 
 brated Roman question : Cm bono erit? To this his incessant 
 attention and unwearied observation, which nothing, whether 
 great or minute, escaped, doubtless contributed in a high degree. 
 What he observed he treasured up, and thus added daily to his 
 stock of useful knowledge. Hence, although his early education 
 was in a degree confined, his mind became possessed of extensive, 
 various, and exact information. Perhaps there never was a mind 
 
 1 Original in possession of Mrs. William Humphreys (aged 94), of Ashtabula, 
 Ohio, niece by marriage of Col. David Humphreys. 
 
Washington. 157 
 
 on which theoretical speculations had less influence, and the de 
 cisions of common sense more. 
 
 " At the same time no man ever more earnestly or uniformly 
 sought advice, or regarded it when given, with more critical 
 attention. . . . When any measure of importance was to be 
 acted on, he delayed the formation of his judgment until the last 
 moment ; that he might secure to himself, alway, the benefit of 
 every hint, opinion, and circumstance which might contribute 
 either to confirm, or change, his decision. Hence, probably in a 
 great measure, arose, that he was so rarely committed; and that his 
 decisions have so rarely produced regret, and have been so clearly 
 justified both by their consequences and the judgment of man 
 kind. 
 
 " With this preparation he formed a judgment finally and wholly 
 his own ; and, although no man was ever more anxious before a 
 measure was adopted, probably no man was ever less anxious 
 afterward. He had done his duty, and left the issue to Provi 
 dence. 
 
 " To all this conduct his high independence of mind greatly 
 contributed. By this I intend a spirit which dares to do its duty 
 against friends and enemies, and in prosperous and adverse cir 
 cumstances alike ; and which, when it has done its duty, is regard 
 less of opinions and consequences. 
 
 " Nor was he less indebted to his peculiar firmness. He not 
 only dared to act in this manner, but uniformly sustained the 
 same tone of thought and feeling such as he was at the decision, 
 he ever afterward continued to be, and all men despaired of oper 
 ating on him unless through the medium of conviction. The 
 same unchanging spirit supported him through every part of his 
 astonishing trials during the war ; and exhibited him as exactly 
 the same man after a defeat, as after a victory ; neither elated nor 
 depressed, but always grave, serene, and prepared for the event. 
 
 " From other great men he was distinguished by an exemption 
 from favouritism. No man ever so engrossed his attachment, as 
 to be safe for a moment from deserved reproof or censure ; nor 
 was any man ever so disrelished by him, as, on that account, to 
 fail of receiving from him whatever applause, or services, his merit 
 could claim. Hence his friends feared, and his enemies respected 
 him. 
 
158 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " His moderation and self government were such that he was 
 always in his own power, and never in the power of any other 
 person. Whatever passions he felt, they rarely appeared. His 
 conduct, opinions, and life wore unusually the character of mere 
 intellect. . . . His justice was exact, but tempered \vith the 
 utmost humanity which the occasion would suffer. His truth no 
 sober man who knew him probably ever doubted. Watchful 
 against his own exposures to error, he was rarely found erring ; 
 jealous of doing injustice, if he has done injustice, it is yet, I be 
 lieve, unrecorded. 
 
 " His reservedness has been at times censured. To me it ap 
 pears to have been an important and necessary characteristic of 
 a person situated as he was. In familiar life a communicative 
 disposition is generally pleasing, and often useful ; in his high 
 stations it would have been dangerous. One unguarded or 
 ambiguous expression might have produced evils, the remedy of 
 which would have been beyond even his own power. No such 
 expression is recorded of him. 
 
 " His punctuality was extreme. He rose always with the dawn; 
 he dined at a given minute ; he attended every appointment at 
 the moment. Hence, his business, public and private, was al 
 ways done at the proper time, and always beforehand. 
 
 " No person appears to have had a higher sense of decorum, 
 and universal propriety. The eye, following his public and pri 
 vate life, traces an unexceptionable propriety, an exact decorum 
 in every action, in every word, in his demeanor to men of every 
 class, in his public communications, in his letters, and in his 
 familiar conversation, from which bluntness, flattery, witticism, in 
 delicacy, negligence, passion, and overaction, were alike excluded. 
 
 " From these things, happily combined, always seen, and seen 
 always in their native light, without art or affectation, it arose 
 that wherever he appeared, an instinctive awe and veneration at 
 tended him on the part of all men. Every man, however great in 
 his own opinion, or in reality, shrunk in his presence, and became 
 conscious of an inferiority which he never felt before. Whilst he 
 encouraged every man, particularly every stranger, and peculiarly 
 every diffident man, and raised him to self-possession, no sober 
 person, however secure he might think himself of his esteem, 
 ever presumed to draw too near him. 
 
IV ask ing ton . 159 
 
 " With respect to his religious character, there have been differ 
 ent opinions. No one will be surprised at this who reflects that 
 this is a subject about which, in all circumstances not involving 
 inspired testimony, doubts may and will exist. The evidence con 
 cerning it must, of course, arise from an induction of particulars. 
 Some will induce more of these particulars, and others fewer ; 
 some will rest on one class or collection, others on another ; and 
 some will give more, and others less, weight to those which are 
 induced, according to their several modes and standards of jud 
 ging. The question in this and all other cases must be finally de 
 termined before another tribunal than that of human judgment ; 
 and to that tribunal it must ultimately be left. For my own part, 
 I have considered his numerous and uniform public and most 
 solemn declarations of his high veneration for religion, his exem 
 plary and edifying attention to public worship, and his constancy 
 in secret devotion, as proofs, sufficient to satisfy every person will 
 ing to be satisfied. I shall only add that if he was not a Chris 
 tian, he was more like one, than any man of the same description, 
 whose life has been hitherto recorded. 
 
 " As a warrior, his merit has, I believe, been fully and readily 
 acknowledged ; yet I have doubted whether it has always been 
 justly estimated. His military greatness lay not principally in 
 desperate sallies of courage ; in the daring and brilliant exploits 
 of a partisan. These would have ill suited his station, and most 
 probably have ruined his cause and country. It consisted in the 
 formation of extensive and masterly plans ; effectual preparations, 
 the cautious prevention of great evils, and the watchful seizure of 
 every advantage ; in combining heterogeneous materials into one 
 military body, producing a system of military and political meas 
 ures, concentering universal confidence, and diffusing an in 
 fluence next to magical ; in comprehending a great scheme of 
 war, pursuing a regular system of acquiring strength for his 
 country, and wearing out the strength of his enemies. To his 
 conduct, both military and political, may, with exact propriety, 
 be applied the observation, which has been often made concern 
 ing his courage : that in the most hazardous situations no man 
 ever saw his countenance change. 
 
 " Perhaps I shall be thought to have dwelt too long and too 
 minutely on his character. I hope I shall be justified, partially at 
 
160 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 least, when it is remembered that I have been seizing the best op 
 portunity, which I shall ever enjoy, of teaching, in the most affect 
 ing manner in my power, the youths committed to my instruction, 
 and forming a part of this audience, the way to become great, re 
 spectable, and useful. 
 
 "Such, my friends and fellow citizens, was the man whose 
 death we are assembled to lament, and whose worth we com 
 memorate. Like the illustrious subject of my text, he stands 
 alone in his nation. Like him, he was great in the splendor of 
 designation, in wisdom, in effort, in success, in the importance of 
 his talents, virtues and labours, to the nation over whom he pre 
 sided in war and peace ; in the estimation, the love, and the tears 
 of his country. . . . To Americans his name will be ever 
 dear a savour of sweet incense descending to every succeeding 
 generation." 
 
 This eulogy was delivered at the " Brick Meeting 
 House," on the green, at the request of the citizens of 
 New Haven, and afterwards printed. It is now a 
 rare pamphlet. Dr. Dwight had not only met Wash 
 ington in the field during the Revolution, but pos 
 sessed every means of forming a correct judgment of 
 him. Among others, Humphreys, his intimate friend, 
 could tell him much, and in his notes to the discourse 
 Dwight states that he was indebted to Tallmadge 
 for interesting facts. In the extracts given we may 
 see Washington as known to the most observing of 
 his contemporaries. One cannot but be impressed 
 with the fidelity of the portrait. 
 
MAJORS WYLLYS AND HEART. 
 
 1785-1791. 
 
 161 
 
MAJORS WYLLYS AND HEART. 
 
 In the Regular Army Wyllys, Senior Major Stationed in the Ohio Country 
 Recommended for a Colonelcy Letter from Harmar First Indian 
 War Harmar s Defeat, and Death of Wyllys Letters Heart Promoted 
 Major of the Second Regiment St. Clair s Defeat, and Death of Heart. 
 
 WHILE this record properly ends with the close of 
 the Revolutionary War, it would seem to be incom 
 plete in the case of two of the graduates, who, after 
 giving eight years to the cause of independence, soon 
 re-entered the service of the country. They did much 
 in the Revolution ; but were to do as much in after 
 years, until each in similar situations fell heroically in 
 the line of duty. These officers were John Palsgrave 
 Wyllys and Jonathan Heart. 
 
 In the present connection their names revive an in 
 teresting, though somewhat unfamiliar, piece of his 
 tory. Our success in the Revolution gave us a west 
 ern frontier, which Congress was at once called upon 
 to protect, and in April, 1785, a regiment of seven 
 hundred men was raised to take post in the Ohio 
 country, where families from the Atlantic States were 
 beginning to settle. The new regiment was com 
 manded by Lieut.-Col. Josiah Harmar, of Pennsylva 
 nia, and its two majors were to be apppointed from 
 New York and Connecticut. Wyllys received the 
 appointment from the latter State, and one of its two 
 companies was given to Capt. Heart. Both these 
 graduates, it will be recalled, were Light Infantry 
 
 163 
 
1 64 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 officers with Lafayette in his Virginia campaign, and 
 at the siege of Yorktown. What motive took 
 them again into the service does not clearly appear. 
 Wyllys was now an experienced and accomplished 
 officer, and would have been a natural selection for 
 any responsible post. Heart seems to have gone by 
 preference to assist in surveying and defending a sec 
 tion of the. country where some of his friends and 
 former comrades were expecting to settle. His let 
 ters, written from Ohio, show him enthusiastic in his 
 new duties. 
 
 From 1786 to 1790 Harmar s command, which was 
 originally known as the First American Regiment, 
 or the first of our present regular army, was scat 
 tered at various posts along the Ohio and in the ter 
 ritory beyond. Headquarters were originally fixed 
 at Pittsburg, with companies stationed at Fort Wash 
 ington (now Cincinnati), at Vincennes, at Venango, 
 at points on the Miami, and elsewhere. 1 These years 
 were spent in exploring the country, guarding routes 
 of travel, and in efforts to keep peace with the red 
 man. Beyond this there is little to record. Wyllys, 
 who was senior major, is mentioned by Heart in 
 1 786 as having gone to take command on the Miami, 
 and Major Beatty, Paymaster of the Western Army, 
 makes the entry in his journal for June i5th of that 
 year, that " Major Wyllys, in a barge, set off for 
 Muskingham. The officers accompanied him 5 or 
 
 ! As to the position of the command at one time, Capt. Heart wrote from 
 French Creek, on Oct. 14, 1787, as follows: "All is peace and quiet here, 
 though continued accounts of murders, &c., down the river. No accounts 
 from the Wabash country, where headquarters are at present. An extent of 
 1350 miles is not a short line for one Regt. to occupy. That is the distance 
 from this post to post Vincent." 
 
Majors Wyllys and Heart. 165 
 
 6 miles up the river, and regretted parting with so 
 good an officer and agreeable companion." How 
 highly he was thought of appears also in the follow 
 ing extract from a letter written by Col. Harmar to 
 Gov. Huntington of Connecticut, dated " Headquar 
 ters, Fort Washington, March 2, 1790": 
 
 " It is more than probable that an augmentation of the regular 
 troops will take place (indeed I believe the measure will be found 
 absolutely necessary), in which case suffer me to mention Major 
 Wyllys as a very honest, brave, deserving officer, and in every 
 point of view adequate to the command of a regiment. I am in 
 duced to offer this recommendation, not from any solicitation of 
 the major s, but as he is now absent in the Illinois country, and 
 there may be some candidates at home who are upon the courtier 
 establishment, I cannot refrain (from the esteem I have of his 
 character) expressing my wishes to your Excellency upon this 
 occasion." J 
 
 Captain Heart during this time had the opportunity 
 of seeing much of the country, and he frequently 
 wrote to his friend, Major William Judd, of Farming- 
 ton, class of 1763, in regard to its resources and 
 prospects. One of his letters contains his views as 
 to the best manner of settling the new territory, and 
 in another he praises the policy of treating the Indi 
 ans in a strictly friendly and honorable way. 
 
 In 1 787 he was directed to build a work at Venango, 
 Pa., afterwards known as Fort Franklin, " in order 
 to check the Northern Indians on the Frontiers of 
 Pennsylvania by way of the Allegany River." 2 " The 
 
 1 Appendix to Maj. Denny s Journal, Penn. Historical Society Publications. 
 
 - " Fort Franklin on French Creek, near to the post formerly called Venango, 
 is a small strong fort with one cannon, erected in 1787, and garrisoned with 
 one company. The excellent construction and execution of this work reflects 
 honor on the abilities and industry of Captain Hart, who garrisons it with his 
 company, and who was his own engineer." Report of Com. on State of the 
 War Dept., 1788. 
 
1 66 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 United States," wrote Col. Harmar to Heart, "are 
 greatly embarrassed in their Finances and wish to 
 avoid as much as possible an Indian War ; nothing but 
 unprovoked aggression on the part of the Savages on 
 the troops or legal settlers should be an inducement 
 to commence hostilities. ... I make not the least 
 doubt that you are sufficiently impressed with the im 
 portance of this command." 
 
 Indian troubles, however, increased, and in 1790 it 
 became necessary to march against the Miami and 
 Wabash tribes with all the force that could then be 
 mustered. Gen. Harmar led the expedition. Leav 
 ing Fort Washington, Sept. 30, 1790, with three 
 hundred and twenty regulars under Majors Wyllys 
 and Doughty, and an undisciplined body of about 
 eleven hundred Pennsylvania and Kentucky militia 
 men under Col. Hardin, he marched northward and 
 on Oct. I7th reached the principal Indian settlements, 
 in the vicinity of present Fort Wayne, Ind. Here 
 he destroyed several villages including the Shawnee 
 town of " Chillakothe." The Indians nevertheless 
 succeeded, on the I9th, in totally defeating a detach 
 ment sent out under Hardin to ascertain their where 
 abouts. 
 
 As the command had effected one of its main 
 objects in burning the villages, it took up the return 
 march on the 2ist and proceeded eight miles. At this 
 camp Harmar halted and sent back another detach 
 ment to waylay and defeat the Indians, who, elated 
 with their surprise of Hardin, would doubtless follow 
 and seriously harass the main body. Three hundred 
 and sixty picked men, sixty of them regulars, were 
 
Majors Wyllys and Heart. 167 
 
 accordingly detailed for the purpose, and Major Wyl 
 lys placed in command. Col. Hardin, anxious to re 
 trieve the disgrace of the iQth, accompanied the de 
 tachment as leader of the militiamen. Late at night 
 on the 2ist, Wyllys marched out of camp, and crossing 
 the St. Joseph River at the site of Fort Wayne, pre 
 pared to surprise the Indians who were supposed to 
 have returned to their burned villages. He divided 
 his force into three parties with instructions to con 
 verge at the point of attack. Major Hall on the 
 left was to make a detour to the rear of the savages, 
 Major McMillan took the right, while the regulars 
 under Wyllys, with an improvised company of troop 
 ers under Major Fontaine, formed the centre. They 
 had proceeded but a short distance when the militia 
 men on the right and left, discovering a few Indians 
 in their front, pursued them, contrary to Wyllys 
 orders, far in advance of the centre company. A 
 large body of Indians noticing this suddenly fell 
 upon the unsupported Wyllys and opened a destruc 
 tive fire. The regulars bravely standing their ground 
 were in a moment engaged in a terribly close en 
 counter. Fifty out of the sixty fell dead upon the 
 field. Among them was Wyllys. Mortally wounded 
 he asked to be helped upon his horse to give the 
 enemy a last charge, but with men falling about 
 him this could not be done. He died with his 
 comrades, sealing his career as the first of the long 
 line of regular army officers whose lives have been 
 sacrificed in warfare on the frontier. His remains 
 were afterwards buried, with eight or ten others, 
 in a trench on the banks of the Maumee at Fort 
 
1 68 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Wayne. 1 Capt. Heart, though not engaged in this 
 affair, was in the expedition, and in two letters to 
 Major Judd, gives us some idea of its severity. On 
 Nov. 4th, he writes from Fort Washington : 
 
 " We yesterday returned from the expedition against the Miami 
 Villages, that nest of murderers, which we have entirely de 
 stroyed. I suppose the history of New England, that seat of In 
 dian wars, scarcely affords an instance of such another bloody 
 action. They fought with desperation. Our loss was great, and 
 amongst the killed we have to drop a tear to the memory of those 
 good men, Maj. Wyllys and L* Frothingham. I have not time to 
 enter into particulars." 
 
 The second letter, giving particulars," and dated 
 " Fort Harmar, Dec. 3, 1790," is in part as follows : 
 
 " Our troops were formed in three columns, Maj r McMullen, 
 with a battallion of malitia on the right, Maj r Hall on the left, 
 and Maj r Wyllys, with the regular troops and a company of horse, 
 in the center. Very soon after crossing the Miami they lost the 
 disposition. Maj r Hall, with a party of his men, pursued the few 
 scattering Indians, and had got two miles in front. Maj r McMul 
 len had gone more to the right. The commanding officer of the 
 horse, with the fury of a madman, charged the Indians without a 
 single man following him. He fell, and the horse were scattered 
 in confusion. Maj r Wyllys, still moving on, the Indians in a 
 large body came round upon his rear from the right, attacked 
 his party with irresistible impetuosity ; numbers fell the first dis 
 charge ; the remainder, overpowered by numbers, and no assist 
 ance, were compelled to retreat across the main branch of the 
 Miami, about one quarter of a mile from the place where the ac 
 tion commenced. During this the slaughter was great on both 
 sides. By this time a party of Maj. Hall s command and some 
 horse had collected on the opposite shore, and gave the Indians 
 a very warm reception ; but, being very numerous, our men scat 
 tered. They crossed in different places. Our parties retreated, 
 
 1 Brice s " History of Ft. Wayne, Ind.," 1868, in which he says that Wyllys was 
 buried "some twenty rods below the residence of J. J. Comparet, Esq.," p. 
 129, n. 
 
Majors Wyllys and Heart. 169 
 
 except Maj. McMullen, who, having moved on for some distance, 
 and not hearing of the other columns, returned to the French vil 
 lage, and waiting there some time after the retreat of the others, 
 returned to camp with very little loss. Our loss was a Maj r , 
 Lieut, and about 70 men in both actions ; the malitia lost some 
 thing more. The loss of the Indians cannot be exactly ascer 
 tained. From the most accurate calculations it is estimated at 
 120 of their warriors. The general opinion of those late on the 
 field of action is that the number was much greater. 
 
 " The testimony of more than one militia man declares that a 
 regular soldier on the retreat near the St. Joseph river, being sur 
 rounded and in the midst of the Indians, put his bayonet through 
 six Indians, knocked down the seventh, and the soldier himself 
 made the eighth dead man in the heap. There were many in 
 stances in which while the Indian was giving the fatal blow with 
 his tomahawk, he fell by the bayonet, and he who pushed the 
 bayonet fell by the tomahawk in his turn. We returned to head 
 quarters without a single shot being fired afterwards, and though 
 we have every reason to lament the death of Maj r . Wyllys, L 
 Frothingham and many other brave men, we may say the expedi 
 tion, under every consideration, has been as successful as we 
 could expect, and we have every reason to believe, had we not 
 sent back the detachment, more of our men would have been 
 killed by their harassing us on the return than fell in the action." 
 
 The death of Wyllys was greatly regretted. In 
 his general orders and official report to the War De 
 partment, Gen. Harmar refers to him as a gallant 
 officer, who " united the talents of a cultivated mind 
 with the best virtues of the heart," and whose " long 
 and meritorious services claim the grateful remem 
 brance of his country." The New York and Con 
 necticut Cincinnati societies resolved to wear badges 
 of mourning in his memory, while some sympathetic 
 friend published a tribute to the Major s worth in 
 
 1 From papers in possesssion of the Western Reserve Historical Society, 
 Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
i ;c Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 the following lines. The scene is laid by mistake 
 on the " encrimsoned " Wabash : 
 
 " There, if e er chance the traveller shall lead, 
 The blood-drenched shore with rev rence let him tread, 
 And mark the spot where oft, at eve unseen, 
 The weeping Genii plant the laurel green, 
 And Fancy bids her choicest flow rets rise, 
 To deck the lonely grave where WYLLYS lies. 
 
 ****** 
 
 u From England s gentlest blood, an honored name, 
 In virtues, arts, and arms, long known to fame, 
 He sprung : Where Jfartfordcrowns with spiry pride 
 Her high romantic banks and crystal tide, 
 His infant sports and happier hours were led, 
 Till Yale s fair laurels graced his youthful head. 
 What time the Briton, to our guiltless shore, 
 In proud array his thund ring legions bore, 
 When erst Columbia s starry flag unfurl d 
 Show d a new eagle to the wond ring world, 
 The gallant youth appear d at freedom s shrine, 
 Drew his yet unstain d steel, and joined the embattled line ; 
 There in long toils and dangers tried, he won 
 Th approving smiles of god-like WASHINGTON. 
 ****** 
 
 " The patriot bands, reliev d from martial toil, 
 Return and court the long-neglected soil : 
 Severer cares his warrior arms engage 
 To guard the western realm and quell barbarian rage, 
 And lo ! on wild Miami s dusky plain, 
 O er slaughter d heaps he leads his victor train ; 
 There as the foe in trembling haste retires, 
 In glory s arms the hapless chief expires." J 
 
 1 " Lines on MAJOR WYLLYS, of the Federal Troops, who fell in a late en 
 gagement with the Savages at the river St. Joseph, in the Western Territory of 
 the U. States. By a Friend." Printed in Gazette of the United States, Feb. 9, 
 1791- 
 
Majors Wyllys and Heart. 
 
 171 
 
 For Wyllys, his old companion-in-arms and fellow- 
 graduate, Jonathan Heart had a " tear" to shed, lit 
 tle foreboding the parallel fate which was soon to 
 overtake himself. 
 
 In the following year occurred St. Glair s great de 
 feat. Harmar s expedition having failed in the sup 
 pression of Indian savages, Congress authorized a 
 second attempt with a larger force. Another United 
 States Regiment the Second Infantry was organ 
 ized, and Captain Heart promoted from the First to 
 be one of its majors. The expedition left Fort Wash 
 ington in October, 1791, and on November 3d en 
 camped on the left bank of the Wabash, where the 
 town of Ft. Recovery, Mercer Co., Ohio, now stands. 
 At sunrise on the 4th, the camp was suddenly at 
 tacked ,by a strong and determined body of Indians. 
 A desperate fight ensued. Many old, experienced 
 officers of the Revolutionary army were in St. Clair s 
 force, and through their exertions and example the 
 troops were kept from retreating in a panic. The 
 deadly fire of the enemy, however, rapidly thinned 
 their ranks, and the day ended with a defeat more 
 disastrous than Braddock suffered in the French and 
 Indian War. The Second Regiment was the only 
 body of regulars on the ground, excepting the Artil 
 lery, and it was twice called upon to charge the 
 enemy and drive them from positions where they 
 commanded almost every part of the camp. Major 
 Heart, who had been conspicuous for his bravery 
 throughout the engagement, led the second charge 
 with skill and success for the moment, but the effort, 
 in the absence of sufficient support, proved unavail- 
 
172 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ing as well as terribly fatal. Heart and all but three 
 of the officers of the regiment were killed. Panic 
 and retreat closed the day s disaster. 
 
 The commanding officer of the Second Infantry, 
 Lieut.-Col. Darke, was sufficiently brave but without 
 military experience, and according to Col. Winthrop 
 Sargent, St. Clair s Adjutant-General, who was active 
 and observant throughout the engagement, the regi 
 ment was in reality in the hands of Major Heart. In 
 his journal of the expedition, speaking of the last 
 charge, Winthrop says : "In the execution of the 
 command to the Second Regiment, which was per 
 formed with great order and spirit, the whole merit 
 is due to Heart and his own officers, for the Colonel 
 only went along with them, after the exertion for 
 their formation under a heavy and galling fire from 
 the enemy was over. . . . The Major s conduct 
 through the day was soldierly beyond my expecta 
 tions." 
 
 Heart was something more than the soldier. He 
 interested himself in the survey of lands for new set 
 tlers, and was consulted by Gen. Parsons in negotiat 
 ing for the purchase of the Western Reserve, the out 
 lines of which he agreed to lay down. The Ohio 
 mounds and Indian ethnology also interested him, as 
 we know from his letters, one or more of which were 
 published in the " Transactions of the American 
 Philosophical Society." The naturalist, Dr. Benj. S. 
 Barton, speaks of him in the same publication as 
 " My much lamented friend, Major Jonathan Heart" ; 
 and, as in the case of Wyllys, some " friend and class 
 mate " remembered him with a tribute in poetry 
 
Majors IVyllys and Heart. 173 
 
 which appeared in the Hartford Courant for Jan. 2, 
 1792, as follows : 
 
 " Could all that nature boasts protect the life, 
 My friend had yet survived his soul was great, 
 In friendship true there softer passions dwelt. 
 A child of Science born, with patriot s mind 
 That caught the martial flame, by heaven blest, 
 To save a bleeding land. Pleasant in life ; 
 How brave in death ? thy country mourns the loss. 
 From State to State, the moving tale is told 
 Hart is no more. With wreaths of heaven crown d, 
 His shade arose from the embattled plain, 
 Where carnage strow d the ground. Let dew nor rain 
 No more descend, where flow d the crimson stream ; 
 Let angels guard the dust. Sleep, Hero, sleep ; 
 Tho* flesh dissolves, thy fame immortal lives." 
 
ROLL OF HONOR, 
 
 WITH 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 175 
 
NOTE ON AUTHORITIES. 
 
 IN preparing the following biographical sketches, the writer has confined 
 himself mainly to the Revolutionary career of the graduates. Otherwise, beyond 
 their identification and the insertion of such items as have been readily access 
 ible, not much has been attempted. 
 
 The principal data appointments, promotions, and military services gener 
 ally have been obtained largely from manuscript records, there being compar 
 atively little in print containing such details. The following are among the 
 records consulted : 
 
 i. At Washington. The original rolls of the Conn. Continental Line in 
 the Pension Office. Papers and maps in the Library of Congress. Memoranda 
 from the Department of State. 2. The "Trumbull" and " Heath" papers 
 in the Mass. Historical Society, Boston. Sparks Collection, Harvard Univer 
 sity Library. 3. Rolls and papers in the State Library, Hartford, including 
 the Acts of the Council of Safety in the Controller s office, of which Hinman 
 published about one half. The records of the Cincinnati Society and the 
 Wolcott Papers in the Conn. Historical Society. 4. The " Gates," "Steuben," 
 and other papers in the N. Y. Historical Society. The "Tomlinson" collec 
 tion, Mercantile Library, N. Y. 5. Thirty or more order-books relating to 
 the Connecticut troops in the hands of the descendants of Col. Grosvenor, Col. 
 Bradley, Adj. Benjamin, and others, as well as order-books in various historical 
 societies. 6. Numerous letters and documents in the hands of private individ 
 uals, such as the " Webb " MSS., in possession of Gen. Alex. S. Webb, LL.D., 
 N. Y. City; the "Livingston" collection, owned by S. L. M. Barlow, Esq., 
 N. Y. ; Gen. Silliman s papers, referred to in the text ; Mr. Leffingwell s, in 
 New Haven ; Mr. Matthew Griswold s, Erie, Pa. ; etc., etc. 7. Pres. Stiles 
 Diary, Yale Library. Extracts from Major Heart s letters, Cleveland ; Gen. 
 Rufus Putnam s papers, Marietta College, Ohio. 
 
 The fac-simile autographs, with a few exceptions, are reproductions of originals 
 found in letters, returns, and various papers of the Revolutionary period. 
 
 176 
 
ROLL OF HONOR 
 
 WITH 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 I775-I783. 
 
 Class of 1 724. 
 
 JOSHUA BABCOCK, 
 
 Major-General, Rhode Island Militia. 
 
 Although Dr. Babcock, as he was professionally known, was 
 never actively engaged in the field during the Revolution, he 
 stands with propriety at the head of this list, not only as being 
 the earliest graduate who held a commission for service, but also 
 as representing that class of elderly citizens, including many col 
 lege men, who by personal effort and sacrifices at home contrib 
 uted materially to the final success. 
 
 He lived at Westerly, R. I., a town in which his grand-parents 
 were among the first settlers, and where he was born, May 17, 
 1707. Becoming both a physician and a merchant he acquired 
 large wealth, and by taking part in public affairs made his name 
 well known throughout the colony. His friend President Stiles 
 states that he " loved to be acquainted with all gentlemen of note 
 in the religious, political, and learned world, and entertained 
 them with a cheerful joy and pleasure at his house, where 
 they were ever welcome." Among such acquaintances was 
 Benjamin Franklin, who visited at the doctor s home on his trips 
 to Boston. 
 
 Dr. Babcock was a man of public note both before and during 
 the Revolution. He served as a Deputy in the Rhode Island 
 
 177 
 
178 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 i 
 
 Assembly for ten or more sessions between 1740 and 1778, and 
 sat three times as Justice twice as Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of the Colony prior to 1765. In the controversy with the 
 mother country he was outspoken in favor of American liberties, 
 and endorsed all war measures. When Boston was in distress in 
 the fall of 1774, he contributed one hundred dollars to its relief. 
 He assisted in the purchase of arms and payment of bounties 
 to the soldiers, and is said to have advanced considerable sums of 
 money to the State on the public credit. Among his accounts 
 with the State treasurer, December, 1777, is a bill of ^200 "for 
 guns, bayonets, and cartouch boxes furnished by him for the use 
 of the town of Westerly." 
 
 In the important Assembly session of May, 1775, the doctor 
 appears to have taken a leading part, as he was delegated to carry 
 the resolution, authorizing the enlistment of an army of observa 
 tion in Rhode Island, to the Connecticut Assembly, and request 
 that body to transmit in return its " proceedings and transactions 
 relative to the present alarming crisis of affairs." In September 
 following he visited the American camp around Boston, where 
 his half-brother, James Babcock, of the class of 1752, was a 
 Rhode Island officer, and where his son, Col. Henry Babcock, of 
 the same class, who had served in the French and Indian War, 
 was then, or was soon to be, present as a volunteer. On this oc 
 casion he was bearer of an official communication from Gov. 
 Cooke, of Rhode Island, to head-quarters at Cambridge, in which 
 he was introduced as follows to Washington : " This letter waits 
 on you by Joshua Babcock, Esq. He is a gentleman of a genteel 
 fortune, a member of our General Assembly, and hath highly dis 
 tinguished himself in the glorious cause in which America is em 
 barked." 
 
 In May, 1776, Dr. Babcock was elected by the Assembly, 
 Major-General of the " Colony s Brigade," which consisted of ten 
 regiments for the defence of Rhode Island, and in October of the 
 same year the appointment was renewed. As the doctor was 
 then in his seventieth year, this appointment may have been re 
 garded as complimentary, but it was nevertheless a military com 
 mission involving responsibility and exercise of good judgment. 
 He certainly was active. In the early part of September, while 
 holding this commission, he was appointed one of a committee of 
 
Roll of Honor. \ 79 
 
 three to proceed to New York and consult with Washington re 
 specting the defence of Rhode Island. The committee reached 
 the city on the i3th, put up at Gen. Putnam s quarters, No. i 
 Broadway, and on the i4th discussed the situation with the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief and other officers. Dr. Babcock reported the 
 interview by letter to Gov. Cooke (in MS. R. I. State Archives, 
 also in Force), in which he also gave some interesting facts re 
 specting the abandonment of New York on the i5th. He wit 
 nessed our hurried retreat on that day. 
 
 When the enemy took Newport, in December, 1776, the doctor 
 was made a member of the State Council of War, and thus for the 
 time being was quite a military character. Under date of Dec. 
 3ist, he wrote to Silas Deane, in Congress at Philadelphia : " Our 
 small but, in the cause of liberty, loyal colony, approachable by 
 vessels of war by its extent of sea coasts, within twenty miles of 
 any port, have now enlisted, and are spiritedly enlisting above 
 half its militia, and one-fourth the remainder on the Alarm List, 
 bound to hold themselves in readiness for action on an emergence 
 as Minute-men. . . . We are making saltpetre everywhere, and 
 hope, if not from abroad, to be internally supplied with Powder 
 soon. In nowise do we despair ; for as Providence has signally 
 smiled on our attempts, we hope from the justice of our cause the 
 issue will be crowned with success." He continued on the Coun 
 cil of War in 1777 and 1778, and during the two years following 
 sat in the House of Assistants. His death occurred at the close 
 of the Revolution, when peace was assured, April i, 1783. A bio 
 graphical sketch of Dr. Babcock appears in Updike s " History of 
 the Narragansett Church," from the pen of Dr. Levi Wharton, 
 who knew him well, and who says, among other things : " The 
 Doctor was a zealous and enlightened patriot, and as liberally 
 devoted his time and money to the cause, both in a public 
 and private capacity, as a statesman or a citizen, as any of his 
 compatriots." 
 
i8o Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Class ^/ 1725. 
 
 GURDON SALTONSTALL, 
 
 Brigadier-General , Connecticut Militia. 
 
 Gen. Saltonstall was the oldest graduate who at any time dur 
 ing the contest served in the immediate vicinity of the enemy ; and 
 in his case the term was necessarily brief, his duties with the home 
 militia on the sea-board, as well as his somewhat advanced age, 
 preventing any lengthened stay in the field. His principal service 
 was rendered within his own State. 
 
 The General was a son of the Rev. and Hon. Gurdon Saltonstall, 
 tenth Governor of Connecticut, and was born at New London, the 
 residence of the family, Dec. 22, 1708. Inheriting and acquiring 
 social position and influence, he also long held public office. For 
 thirty-four years before his death he was Judge of Probate ; from 
 1744 to 1757, either member of the Assembly, or of the House of 
 Assistants ; from 1739, Colonel of the Third Regiment of Connecti 
 cut Militia. On Sept. 6, 1777 the date being so given in one of 
 his MS. letters he was appointed by Gov. Trumbull Collector of 
 the Port of New London, and held the office for several years. 
 
 The revolutionary troubles found Saltonstall, in Trumbull s 
 words, "a steady and warm friend to the States of America." In 
 June, 1774, he appears on the town Committee of Correspondence, 
 and on Sept. 8th following he presided over a convention of dele 
 gates from the two counties of New London and Windham, con 
 vened at Norwich. On March 30, 1775, he wrote to Silas Deane: 
 " Its evident no more troops are at present destined for America ; 
 however, we must by no means relax our utmost preparations to 
 be ready if called to defend by the sword " ; and again : " Let 
 us lie down and rise up with a fixed determination to maintain 
 Liberty for ourselves and posterity." April 25th, after the Lex 
 ington alarm, he writes : " A volunteer Town Watch of seventy 
 and upwards this day enlisted to watch six months without re 
 ward, save the virtue of doing so ; all my sons are on y e roll. Is 
 it not best to dispatch a vessel to W. Indies for more powder ? " 
 He was decidedly of the opinion that the colonies ou2jht to raise 
 a force of a hundred thousand men at once as their reply to min 
 isterial attempt at coercion. 
 
Roll of Honor. 181 
 
 When the war opened he became busily engaged, with oth 
 ers, with plans and preparations for the defence of New Lon 
 don harbor. The Assembly appointed him in May, 1775, one of 
 a committee to report upon the necessary fortifications, and by 
 November following the " old battery " near the town was rebuilt 
 under his own supervision. He had something to say respecting 
 the site of the new works, which were afterwards named Forts 
 Trumbull and Griswold, although their construction was left to 
 engineers. Under the authority of the Assembly, Col. Saltonstall 
 also established a line of alarm stations and post-riders east and 
 west along the Sound, connecting with other lines, and through 
 them reported all occurrences to the governor. Several of his 
 letters, describing the movements of the enemy s vessels in the 
 summer of 1775, are published in the Deane correspondence 
 (Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. II.), in Force s archives, and in the 
 MS. Trumbull papers. Among the latter papers, for instance, is 
 to be found his first report of their manoeuvres off Stonington, be 
 ginning as follows : u N. London. Aug c 30, 1775. Hon ble Sir: 
 This morning early cannon was fired in the eastern board, & have 
 continued firing ever since, & in the last hour about 40. We had 
 advice at 12 C that 2 men of Warr & a tender were firing on the 
 Houses at the Point in Stonington, without provocation, unless 
 it was that the people had bro 1 stock (a small mater) from Block 
 Island," &c. 
 
 After the battle of Long Island, August, 1776, Washington 
 called for re-enforcements, and Connecticut sent nine militia 
 regiments from the eastern end of the State. Of this temporary 
 force Col. Saltonstall was appointed Brigadier-General by the 
 Governor and Council September 10, 1776, and three or four days 
 later he set out for the army with his son Gilbert as Brigade- 
 Major. Arriving at Westchester several of his regiments were 
 distributed, by Washington s orders, at and near Kings Bridge 
 and one guarded points on the Sound. On September 3oth the 
 General was directed to encamp with his four remaining regi 
 ments on Fordham Heights on the east side of the Harlem, oppo 
 site the Morris Mansion, where he was posted until the army 
 moved to White Plains three weeks later. Whether he was pres 
 ent at the battle October 28th does not appear. Returning to 
 Connecticut, the Assembly appointed him, in December follow- 
 
1 82 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ing, Brigadier-General of the Third Brigade of Militia, and with 
 this rank he resumed his duties at New London, guarding the 
 eastern coast of the State. When the enemy set fire to the town 
 in September, 1781, Gen. Saltonstall s "house, two stores, shop, 
 and barn " were destroyed. Two of his sons also suffered 
 heavily. In April, 1782, the General, with other citizens, signed 
 an address to be submitted to the Assembly, calling for discip 
 lined, permanent garrisons for the Nqw London forts as their 
 only protection in the future, the absence of such being given as 
 the reason of the disaster in the previous year. This is about the 
 last time his name appears on any military document of the war. 
 He survived the peace two years his death occurring at Nor 
 wich, while he was visiting there, September 19, 1785. 
 
 Class 0/1733. 
 
 BENJAMIN POMEROY, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Pomeroy is identified with Hebron, Conn., where he 
 was pastor for nearly fifty years. He served as chaplain of 
 one of the Connecticut regiments during the French and Indian 
 War. Chaplain John Cleaveland, class of 1745, mentions him in 
 his diary for 1758. He also served as chaplain during the Revo 
 lutionary War and appears to have been with soldiers of his own 
 State at the siege of Boston, for a short time, and subsequently in 
 the vicinity of New York. In his notice of Dr. Pomeroy, in 
 Sprague s " Annals of the Pulpit," Rev. Dr. Dav. Porter says : 
 " During a part of that arduous and long-continued conflict he 
 was chaplain to the American army, and made powerful appeals 
 to the troops in favor of the vigorous prosecution of the war. 
 His zeal for national liberty was very manifest in his pulpit per 
 formances among his own people." The Doctor died Dec. 22, 
 
Roll of Honor. \ 83 
 
 1784, in the eighty-first year of his age. His obituary notice in 
 the Conn. Mercury, Jan. 14, 1785, says : " He was a zealous and 
 able advocate for the civil and religious liberties of his country, 
 and warmed with true patriotism, exposed his life in his old age 
 in camp, in the late war with Britain. He was once pursued and 
 fired upon by a party of the enemy near the lines at New York, 
 as he was riding to visit the hospital, and narrowly escaped death ; 
 he left the field in the dear cause of his country, only on account 
 of bodily infirmities." 
 
 Class of 1738. 
 
 DAVID WOOSTER, 
 
 Brigadier-General Continental Army. 
 Major-General Connecticut Militia. 
 
 Gen. Wooster s name and services as a soldier of three wars, 
 in each of which he played an honorable part, and his noble 
 sacrifice in the last, are familiar to readers of American history. 
 
 A native of the old town of Stratford, Conn., where he was 
 born March 2, 1711, he settled in New Haven about 1748, and in 
 time engaged successfully in business. He married Mary Clapp, 
 daughter of the President of the College, and had four children, 
 of whom a son, Thomas, graduated in the class of 1768 and also 
 served in the Revolution, a part of the time with his father. 
 
 Wooster s first public service dates back to the year 1741, when 
 he was appointed Lieutenant on the sloop-of-war " Defence," 
 built by Connecticut to guard her coast during the troubles 
 with Spain, or what was jocularly called in England the war of 
 " Jenkins Ear." In the following year he was promoted Cap 
 tain. He appears again for service when the expedition against 
 Louisburg, Cape Breton, was set on foot in the spring of 1745. 
 For that undertaking Connecticut contributed one regiment of 
 five hundred men under Col. Andrew Burr, with Wooster as 
 
 1 NOTE ON THE CHAPLAINS. About forty graduates are mentioned as hav 
 ing served as chaplains during the Revolution. Most of them were in the 
 State service, or as volunteers, with the militia, and for brief periods at a time ; 
 hence the record in their case is often meagre. Chaplains names seldom ap 
 pear on the State rolls. We have depended largely on published sketches, 
 genealogies, town histories, and sometimes tradition, for authority for including 
 them in the present list. Full notices of quite a number of them appear in 
 Sprague s " Annals of the American Pulpit." 
 
1 84 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Senior Captain. According to accepted accounts, upon the cap 
 ture of the place, July lyth, and in recognition of his soldierly 
 conduct during the siege, he was detailed as one of the officers 
 to effect the exchange of the French prisoners in France, and 
 thence went to England, where he was flatteringly received at 
 court. At about the same time he was appointed Captain in a 
 new regiment of regulars, which was to be raised in America, and 
 the Colonelcy of which was given to Sir William Pepperell, com 
 mander of the provincial troops at Louisburg, as one of the re 
 wards of his success. Wooster, who was the ninth Captain with 
 commission dating September 24, 1745, recruited soldiers for the 
 regiment in Connecticut, and then returned to Louisburg, where 
 it was stationed. There he remained in garrison a part of the 
 time, at least until the peace in 1748, when the regiment was 
 disbanded and the officers retired on half-pay. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the French and Indian War, seven 
 years later, Wooster again entered the service. His previous 
 record stood to his advantage, and in 1756 the Connecticut As 
 sembly elected him Colonel of the Second Regiment, raised 
 for that year, and in 1758, 1759, and 1760 he commanded 
 the Third Regiment. His immediate superior in the various 
 campaigns was his classmate, Gen. Phineas Lyman, commanding 
 all the Connecticut troops, and with him he served successively 
 under Loudoun, Abercrombie, and Amherst. The Colonel had a 
 share in the important movements, and returned home with added 
 military honors and experience. 
 
 When the Revolution opened, Wooster for the third time since 
 his cruise on the sloop " Defence," took up the sword in colonial 
 interests. He was then sixty-four years of age one of nine sur 
 vivors of the thirty-two half-pay officers of Pepperell s old Louis 
 burg regiment but still vigorous and patriotic. As described by 
 his chaplain, Rev. Benjamin Trumbull : " His personal appearance 
 was good, grand, and soldierlike. He was active and cheerful, 
 and retained his activity, cheerfulness and powers remarkably till 
 he fell in the cause of his country." 1 Renouncing his half-pay, 
 he espoused the Revolution. Being a conspicuous veteran of the 
 old wars, the Connecticut Assembly appointed him, April 26, 
 1775, Major-General of six militia regiments, to be raised imme- 
 1 Thanksgiving sermon, North Haven, Dec. n, 1783. 
 
Roll of Honor. 185 
 
 diately for "the safety and defence of the colony." He was also 
 to command the First as Colonel. As New York was threatened 
 by the British, Gen. Wooster marched with his regiment in that 
 direction, and encamped at Harlem, June 28th. His coming had 
 been urged by the New York Provincial Congress, and a week 
 later, July 6th, the " Old General," as he was frequently called, and 
 his officers, were entertained in " elegant style " by the City Mili 
 tary Club. Here Wooster remained through the summer, except 
 during a portion of August, when he was engaged in collecting 
 stock at the eastern end of Long Island. Meantime Congress, at 
 Philadelphia, appointed Wooster, June 22d, Brigadier-General in 
 the Continental Army, and on Sept. 28th he left New York for 
 Albany to serve in the Northern Department under Gens. Schuy- 
 ler and Montgomery. With the latter general he marched north 
 into Canada, and took post at Montreal. Upon Montgomery s 
 fall he was left in command in Canada, with a force altogether 
 insufficient for its conquest. On April i, 76, he took command at 
 Quebec. Gen. Schuyler complained of inactivity and insubordi 
 nation on Wooster s part, and a Committee of Congress recom 
 mended his removal on the ground of incapacity. Wooster 
 afterwards demanded an investigation of his conduct, and satis 
 factorily answering these charges, was acquitted of blame. John 
 Adams throws some light on this matter in his autobiography. 
 After stating that the report in Wooster s favor was not adopted 
 without a struggle, he adds : 
 
 " In this instance again, as in many others, where the same anti-New-Eng 
 land spirit which pursued Commodore Hopkins persecuted Gen. Wooster, I 
 had to contend with the whole host of their enemies, and with the utmost 
 anxiety and most arduous efforts was scarcely able to preserve them from dis 
 grace and ruin, which Wooster had merited even less than Hopkins. In 
 Wooster s case there was a manifest endeavor to lay upon him the blame of 
 their own misconduct in Congress in embarrassing and starving the war in Can 
 ada. Wooster was calumniated for incapacity, want of application, and even 
 for cowardice, without a color of proof of either. The charge of cowardice 
 he soon refuted by a glorious and voluntary sacrifice of his life, which com 
 pelled his enemies to confess he was a hero." 
 
 In the sharp correspondence between Schuyler and Wooster as 
 to affairs in Canada, the latter says in one of his letters, Feb. u, 
 1776: "Since I have been in the army I have exerted every 
 faculty to promote a union among the officers, and have carefully 
 
186 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 avoided every thing that might have the least tendency to cause 
 jealousness. . . . This is no time to altercate ; the whole of our 
 time is little enough to attend to the operations absolutely neces 
 sary for the defence of our country." He seems to have been 
 uniformly governed by this spirit. Upon returning from Canada 
 he was ordered to report to his home in Connecticut. No further 
 Continental service was expected of him, and his resignation was 
 probably looked for. As stated in the teyct, however, he did not 
 resign, but while awaiting Continental orders, accepted new serv 
 ice in the State. Connecticut reappointed him Major-General of 
 Militia, Oct. 23, 1776, and from that time until the following 
 spring he commanded on the Western border. The fact that Con 
 gress ordered a monument erected to his memory, would be suf 
 ficient proof that he was in the service at the time of his death ; 
 but the point is settled beyond question in the memorial for the 
 General s pay presented to the Legislature, May 21, 1777, by his son 
 Thomas, in which he says, referring to the interval from October, 
 1776, to May 2, 1777 : " During the whole of which time said de 
 ceased was in the pay of the Continent as a Brig 1 Gen 1 , which your 
 memorialist expects to be able to obtain," &c. (MSS. State 
 Library.) 
 
 The closing event in the General s career is noticed in the text 
 (p. 71). He met a soldier s fate in fighting the enemy on the 
 Danbury raid. The inscription ordered by Congress to be 
 placed on the proposed monument is arranged as follows on the 
 printed minutes : 
 
 In Honor of 
 
 DAVID WOO S T E R, 
 Brigadier-General in the Army of the 
 
 United States ; 
 
 In defending the Liberties of America, 
 
 and bravely repelling an Inroad of the British 
 
 Troops, to Danbury, in Connecticut, 
 
 he received a mortal wound, 
 
 on the 2yth Day of April, 1777, 
 
 and died on the 2 of May following. 
 
 The Congress of the United States, 
 
 as an Acknowledgement of his Merits and Services, 
 
 have caused this Monument 
 
 to be erected. 
 
Roll of Honor. 187 
 
 No monument was put up until 1854, the expense of which was 
 borne by citizens of Connecticut. It stands over his grave at Dan- 
 bury. 
 
 Class 0/1741. 
 
 JABEZ HUNTINGTON, 
 
 Major-General^ Connecticut Militia. 
 
 The sketch of Gen. Huntington in the " Huntington Family 
 Memoir" and the references to him in Hinman s "Connecticut," 
 indicate his influence and standing before the public during the 
 Revolution. He lived at Norwich, where, as a merchant, he had 
 acquired large wealth. During the Revolution he was prominent 
 as a member of the Upper House of Assistants, as well as of the 
 State Committee of Safety. He had four sons in the service 
 one of them Gen. Jedidiah, graduate of Harvard, and another, 
 Col. Ebenezer, class of 1775, Yale, frequently mentioned in the 
 text. He also held militia commissions himself. In Dec., 1776, 
 he was appointed Second Major-General of the State, and upon 
 the death of General Wooster he was promoted, May, 1777, " first 
 Major-General over all the militia." He seems to have turned 
 out with them on alarms whenever his health permitted. One 
 instance is mentioned when, early in September, 1778, a fleet of 
 British ships appeared off New London, and the militia, to the 
 number of about four thousand, hastened to the town. The 
 Gazette of that place for Sept. n, 1778, says : "Great praise is 
 due to the militia of the neighboring towns, who, on that occa 
 sion, so generally and with so great alacrity, came to our assist 
 ance ; Major-General Huntington was so sensible of this, that on 
 Saturday the several regiments, being drawn up, received his 
 thanks in general orders." His exertions in the public service 
 affected his health and he retired from office in 1779. He died 
 Oct. 5, 1786, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 
 
1 88 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, 
 
 Governor of New Jersey. 
 Brigadier-General, State Militia. 
 
 The "Life "of Gov. Livingston, by Theodore Sedgwick, Jr., 
 published in 1833, and the nine volumes of his correspondence 
 now in possession of Samuel L. M. Barlow, Esq., of New York, 
 are the principal memorials extant of this staunch supporter of 
 the Revolution. He was born at Albany, Nov. 30 (?), 1723, 
 studied law, and became distinguished in his profession in New 
 York City. Having literary tastes, he wrote reviews, letters, 
 and satires, and twice edited a paper. He took an interest in 
 questions of the day, and exerted no slight influence. In 1772 
 he removed to Elizabethtown, N. J., and in 1774 was sent as a 
 delegate to the First Continental Congress. He was a member 
 also in 75 and 76, but was engaged in other service at the time 
 the Declaration was adopted, so that his signature does not ap 
 pear on that document. 
 
 On Oct. 28, 1775, the New Jersey Legislature appointed Livings 
 ton Brigadier-General of the Militia, and in the summer of 1776, 
 while embodying and disciplining the troops, he had a brief ex 
 perience in camp at Elizabethtown Point, opposite the enemy, on 
 Staten Island. In a letter to Mr. Hooper, delegate from North 
 Carolina, he says, Aug. 2Qth : " You would really be astonished 
 to see how grand I look, while at the same time I can assure you 
 I was never more sensible (to use a New England phrase) of my 
 own nothingness in military affairs. I removed to my quarters 
 from the town hither to be with the men, and to enure them to 
 discipline. . . . My ancient corporeal fabric is almost totter 
 ing under the fatigue I have lately undergone : constantly rising 
 at 2 o clock in the morning to examine our lines, which are very 
 extensive, till daybreak, and from that time perpetually till eleven 
 in giving orders, sending despatches, and doing the proper business 
 of quartermasters, colonels, commissaries, and I know not what." 
 His stay in the field was brief; for on Aug. 31, 1776, he was 
 elected Governor of the State, a position to which he was regu 
 larly re-elected until his death in 1790. In this capacity he was 
 to prove invaluable. The Tories hated and abused him heartily; 
 but his faith in the cause, his influence with his people, his tact, 
 
Roll of Honor. 189 
 
 wit, and resources combined to make him a governor for the 
 times. A thankless and burdensome office during the war, he 
 filled it to the best advantage for the country, especially assisting 
 Washington and his army, who so often encamped and fought on 
 Jersey soil. The Governor s letter to Steuben, printed in the 
 text, shows what he was made of, and much more of like charac 
 ter might be quoted both from his published and unpublished 
 papers. With Clinton, of New York, and Trumbull, of Connec 
 ticut, he may be regarded as a true " war governor " of the Rev 
 olution. His death occurred at Elizabeth, N. J., July 25, 1790. 
 An obituary notice, published in the United States Gazette for 
 July 28, 1790, says : " In his death America sustains the loss of 
 one of her most distinguished patriots, and the republic of letters 
 a very brilliant ornament. Born and educated in this country, 
 his whole life was a constant succession of services to pro 
 mote its best interests, and in every public department he dis 
 charged his duty with great ability and the most conscien 
 tious integrity." Reference to his father and brothers appears on 
 page 5- 
 
 NOAH WELLES, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Stamford, Conn. His attachment to colonial interests 
 was shown in Stamp Act times, when he openly preached resist 
 ance against ministerial interference. " He died in office," says 
 Prof. Dexter, " after just thirty years of faithful ministry, Dec. 
 31, 1776, at the age of fifty-eight, from jail-fever, contracted 
 while serving as chaplain to British prisoners in the American 
 Army." 1 
 
 1 Dr. Welles s classmate, Rev. Dr. James Sproat, of Philadelphia, is men 
 tioned in the Journals of Congress as writing to that body respecting hospital 
 service. He may have served as Hospital Chaplain with Dr. Spencer in the 
 " Middle District " for a time. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Moses Mather, class of 1739, pastor in Middlesex parish (Darien), 
 Stamford, is sometimes mentioned as having been chaplain. His patriotism 
 and cruel treatment by the enemy are well known, but he does not appear to 
 have been with troops in camp. 
 
i9 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Class of 1 743 . 
 
 STEPHEN JOHNSON, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Lyme. A patriotic preacher who was appointed 
 Chaplain to Colonel Samuel H. Parsons State Regiment in May? 
 1775, and who went with it to the Boston siege. He was there 
 several months. Dr. Stiles speaks of meeting him in camp, in 
 September. See text, p. 24. Mr. Johnson died Nov. 8, 1786, 
 aged sixty-two. 
 
 Class of 1745. 
 
 JOHN CLEAVELAND, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts. 
 
 Pastor at Ipswich, Mass. ; born at Canterbury, Conn., April 
 IT, 1722. He was chaplain of Col. Bagley s Massachusetts Regi 
 ment in the French and Indian War, when he kept an interesting 
 diary which appears in the publications of the Essex Institute, 
 Salem, for 1874-1875. In 1775 he was with the troops for a 
 season during the Boston siege ; and in the fall of 1776 he ap 
 pears in Washington s army as chaplain of Col. Jonathan Cogs 
 well s Essex County Militia. The regiment reached camp just 
 before the battle of White Plains and was assigned to Parsons 
 brigade. It returned in December or January following. Mr. 
 Cleaveland did not serve again. He died April 22, 1799. * 
 
 SAMUEL TUTHILL, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, New Jersey Troops. 
 
 A physician of Morristown, N. J. He appears on patriotic 
 committees in Morris Co., in 1775, and on Oct. 27th, of that year, 
 he was commissioned Lieut. -Colonel of Col. Matthias William 
 son s regiment of light horse to be raised in the eastern part of 
 the State. Colonel Tuthill resigned soon after, on Feb. 3, 1776, 
 and his name does not appear again on the New Jersey rolls. He 
 died May 31, 1814, aged seventy-nine. 
 
 1 Rev. Nathanael Taylor, of this class, is mentioned in the sketch of his son, 
 Lieut. Aug. Taylor, class of 1776. 
 
Roll of Honor. 191 
 
 Class of 1 746. 
 
 LEWIS MORRIS, 
 
 Signer, Declaration of Independence. 
 Brigadier-General, New York Militia. 
 
 General Morris represented the well-known colonial family 
 of the manor of Morrisania, Westchester Co., N. Y., being the 
 fifth proprietor and third lord of the estate. Gov. Lewis Morris, 
 early Governor of New Jersey, was his grandfather. He was 
 born April 8, 1726, and upon inheriting his large property 
 spent his time in improving it. In 1775 ne was elected a dele 
 gate to the Continental Congress, and went again in 1776, when 
 he signed the Declaration. Previous to this, or June 6, 1776, the 
 New York Provincial Congress appointed him Brigadier-General 
 of the Westchester Militia ; but his duties in Congress and the 
 affairs of his family, who were compelled to leave their mansion 
 in view of military operations in August and September, pre 
 vented him from serving. On June 25, 1778, however, he was 
 reappointed Brigadier-General, and went into camp with the 
 militia of his county. Among Gov. Clinton s MSS., Albany, is 
 a note from Washington to Gen. Charles Scott, Oct. 17, 1778, in 
 structing him " to supply such small parties of Militia with Pro 
 visions as Gen. Morris shall think necessary for the Protection of 
 the Farmers, who by their situation are liable to be interrupted 
 in their farming business," and " to second the Militia in this 
 Duty as much as circumstances will allow." 
 
 For a time during the war Gen. Morris lived in New Jersey. 
 At its close he returned to his estate, which he describes as hav 
 ing suffered " every injury that it could possibly experience from 
 the hand of devastation." On May 6, 1784, he was appointed 
 Assistant Judge of Westchester County, and in 1786 appears as 
 Senator and member of the Council of Appointment. He was 
 also appointed Major-General of the Southern Division of the 
 State, and as such was buried with military honors upon his 
 death, Jan. 22, 1798. His remains were placed in the family 
 vault at Morrisania. An extract from his obituary notice reads : 
 " With his friends he was highly esteemed ; for he possessed 
 those qualities which render the friend truly valuable. To an 
 
1 92 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 uncommon degree of cheerfulness of disposition were united as 
 genuine philanthropy and hospitality as ever graced or warmed 
 the bosom of man." 
 
 JOHN MORIN SCOTT, 
 
 Brigadier-General, Nezv York State Troops. 
 
 A leading citizen and advocate of New York, and one of 
 the early graduates of the College from this city. Chancellor 
 Kent s estimate of him appears on page 6, and Col. Varick, after 
 wards Mayor of New York, who studied law with the General, 
 speaks of him in a private letter in the same high terms of ap 
 preciation. 
 
 Scott was born in New York in 1730, the only child of John 
 and Marian Morin Scott. His grandfather, who was third son of 
 Sir John Scott, Baronet, of Ancrum, County Roxbury, Scotland, 
 settled in New York as a merchant some time before 1700. As 
 a lawyer Scott was eminently successful, and is mentioned by 
 John Adams as being one of the leaders of the bar in 1775. At 
 that time he lived in a country seat, " three miles out of town," 
 or near the corner of Thirty-third Street and Ninth Avenue. He 
 took an active part against parliamentary interference, and " as a 
 powerful public speaker in favor of the colonial cause, might be 
 called the Samuel Adams or James Otis of New York. , In 
 1775-76 he was a member of the Provincial Committee and Con 
 gress. On June 9, 1776, he was commissioned Brigadier-General 
 of a New York State brigade of three thousand men to reinforce 
 Washington, and with it he was stationed in the city until the 
 battle of Long Island. After that battle his brigade was ordered 
 over to the Brooklyn lines. The General wrote an interesting 
 letter describing the situation to John Jay, a portion of which is 
 given on page 48. He was a member of the Council which re 
 solved upon the retreat from Long Island. His brigade was also 
 caught in the forced retreat from the city, Sept. i5th, after which 
 it moved with the army to Harlem Heights and White Plains. 
 
Roll of Honor. 193 
 
 When Washington marched into New Jersey General Scott took 
 post under Heath, on the Hudson, near Peekskill, and there 
 remained on duty until March i, 1777, when his commission 
 expired. Retiring from the service he became Secretary of 
 State, March 13, 1778, and in 1780 was elected a member of the 
 Continental Congress, serving three terms. He was also a State 
 Senator, and a member of the New York Cincinnati Society. 
 During the war he lived at Hurley, not far from Kingston, and 
 upon the evacuation of New York by the enemy he returned to 
 his native city. His health, however, was poor, and he survived 
 but about a year longer, his death occurring Sept. 14, 1784. He 
 was buried in Trinity churchyard. The New York Journal, of 
 Thursday, Sept. 16, 1784, notices his death as follows : " DIED 
 On Tuesday evening last, at 7 o clock, in an advanced stage of 
 life, the Hon. JOHN MORIN SCOTT, Esq., Secretary of the State ; 
 lately one of the members to represent this State in the Hon. 
 Continental Congress ; member of the Hon. Senate during the 
 war ; Brigadier-Gen, of the Militia ; and very eminent as a Law 
 yer for many years in this City. In him his country has lost a 
 steady Friend, Society a useful Member, and his Friends and 
 acquaintance a sincere and affectionate Companion. We hear 
 that his remains are to be interred this day." 
 
 Two of Gen. Scott s letters appear in the text, one written in 
 1777, the other in 1778. 
 
 ELIHU SPENCER, D.D., 
 
 Hospital Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Spencer, of Trenton, N. J., was Chaplain to the New 
 York troops in the French and Indian war, campaign of 1758. 
 He was in the same camp with, and frequently met, Chaplains 
 
194 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Pomeroy and Cleaveland, already mentioned. Like them, he ap 
 peared again in the Revolution. On Sept. 18, 1777, Congress 
 voted to appoint Chaplains for the hospitals in each military 
 department, " at sixty dollars a month, three rations, and forage 
 for one horse." Dr. Spencer received the appointment for the 
 " Middle District," which included New Jersey, Oct. 20, 1777. 
 How long he served in this position does not appear. He was 
 born Feb. 12, 1721 ; died Dec. 18, 1784. 
 
 EZRA STILES, 
 
 President of Yale College, 1778-95. 
 
 As the Connecticut branch of the Cincinnati Society, an asso 
 ciation of Revolutionary officers, elected Dr. Stiles a member in 
 1784, in recognition, no doubt, of his high patriotism and con 
 fidence throughout the struggle, we may include his name in this 
 connection for a similar reason causa honoris. The most appro 
 priate tribute to his memory that can be inserted here is that 
 delivered by Chancellor Kent before the Phi Beta Kappa Society 
 at Yale in 1831 the Chancellor having entered college in 1778, 
 upon the accession of Dr. Stiles to the Presidency : 
 
 President Stiles zeal for civil and religious liberty was kindled at the altar 
 of the English and New England Puritans, and it was animating and vivid. A 
 more constant and devoted friend to the Revolution and Independence of this 
 country never existed. He had anticipated it as early as the year 1760, and 
 his whole soul was enlisted in favor of every measure which led on gradually 
 to the formation and establishment of the American Union. The frequent ap 
 peals which he was accustomed to make to the heads and hearts of his pupils, 
 concerning the slippery paths of youth, the grave duties of life, the responsi 
 bilities of man, and the perils and hopes and honors and destiny of our 
 country, will never be forgotten by those who heard them ; and especially when 
 he came to touch, as he often did, with a master s hand and prophet s fire, 
 on the bright vision of the future prosperity and splendor of the United 
 States." 
 
 Autograph on p. 140.* 
 
 1 Thomas Fitch, of this class, son of Gov. Fitch, class of 1721, was a Colonel 
 of Fairfield Co. Militia. He is mentioned as having hurried off companies to 
 reinforce Washington in the summer of 1776 ; and again his regiment was with 
 Wooster at and beyond Rye in the following winter for a short time. Whether 
 he went in person on either occasion does not appear. He was prominent in 
 his town as a committeeman and representative. Born at Norwalk, Aug. 12, 
 1725 ; died there Jan. 15, 1795. 
 
Roll of Honor. 195 
 
 Class of 1747. 
 
 OLIVER WOLCOTT, 
 
 Signer, Declaration of Independence. 
 Major -General, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 The elaborate Wolcott " Memorial " volume, edited by the late 
 Rev. Dr. Samuel Wolcott, Class of 1833, is the authority for most 
 of the facts in the present sketch of Gen. Oliver Wolcott of the 
 Revolution. It contains documents and letters from his pen not 
 heretofore printed. 
 
 Gen. Wolcott was born at Windsor, Conn., Dec. 20, 1726, but 
 his home, in after years, was at Litchfield. He served as cap 
 tain one campaign, 1748, in the war against the French on the 
 Canada border, and, returning, practised medicine for a short 
 time. After 1751 he generally held some public office. He be 
 came successively sheriff, representative, member of the Gover 
 nor s Council, Probate Judge, Judge of the County Court, and 
 Member of Congress. In 1774 he was Colonel of the i7th 
 militia regiment. After the Revolution he rose still higher, 
 becoming what his father, Roger, and his son, Oliver, were in 
 their time Governor of Connecticut. 
 
 Much of the time during the Revolution Wolcott was in the 
 field or attending Congress. He was a member of the latter 
 body in 1776, when he signed the Declaration of Independence. 
 His classmate, Lyman Hall, then living in Georgia, was also one of 
 the " signers." Being at home temporarily for his health, the State 
 Council of Safety appointed him, Aug. 12, 1776, Brigadier-General 
 of nine militia regiments ordered to join the army at New York. 
 Wolcott took the command, with commission dated Aug. i5th, 
 and was in the city at the time of the battle of Long Island. His 
 regiments being soon distributed in new brigades, he returned to 
 Connecticut, and in November took his seat again in Congress. 
 He was with that body when it retired for safety from Philadel 
 phia to Baltimore in December. Being at home in the fall of 
 1777, he received an urgent request from Gen. Gates to reinforce 
 him with Conn, militia. Wolcott had been appointed by the 
 Legislature, Dec., 1776, permanent Brigadier of the Sixth Militia 
 Brigade, and as such he called for volunteers to go with him to 
 Gates army. Three hundred started on horseback and reached 
 
196 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 camp about ten days before Burgoyne s surrender. One of his 
 letters from that point is given in the text. From Feb. to July, 
 1778, he was again in Congress. In the summer of 1779 he was 
 especially active in obtaining information respecting the move 
 ments of the enemy, who were threatening to enter Connecticut 
 through Westchester County, while Tryon was at New Haven. 
 His papers, deposited in the Connecticut Historical Society, con 
 tain several letters conveying minute intelligence to Washington s 
 camp in regard to Clinton s whereabouts. He had called out 
 the militia, and at the same time wrote earnestly to Washington 
 for help, in view of the enemy s descent on the coast. Washing 
 ton replied : " Be assured, sir, that I have felt much pain at the 
 destruction of your towns, and had been unhappy that I could 
 not, consistent with the general good, afford such an aid of con 
 tinental troops as might have prevented it. I hope, however, 
 that the late fortunate attack on Stony Point will tend to give a 
 check to the continuance of the ravages in your State." Some 
 time before this Wolcott had been promoted Major-General of 
 the militia, although the date does not appear. In 1780-81 he 
 again went to Congress. In 1786 he was elected Lieut.-Governor 
 of Connecticut, and later held the rank of Lieut. -General of the 
 militia. In 1796-97 he was Governor of the State. His public 
 services had thus been continuous and important for many years, 
 and especially during the Revolution was he active and always 
 confident of ultimate success. He died at Litchfield, Dec. i, 1797. 
 His autograph appears on page 42, it being a fac-simile of the one 
 appended to the Declaration. 1 
 
 Class of 1748. 
 
 EBENEZER CLEAVELAND, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts. 
 
 Younger brother of Chaplain John Cleaveland, class of 1745. 
 His principal pastorate was at Gloucester, Mass. He became 
 
 1 Rev. Chauncey Graham, of this class, resided at Fishkill, N. Y., where he 
 had charge of an academy. On Nov. 26, 1776, he was requested by the N. Y. 
 Provincial Congress to take care of sick soldiers, as a physician "at the Conti 
 nental expense." He was doing so as late as Jan., 1777. 
 
 Writing to Gen. Heath, Nov. 29, 1776, Mr. Graham says : " If you know 
 where my kinsman Dr. Graham is you will advise me in your next." This 
 was probably Dr. John Augustus Graham, Class of 1768, of White Plains, a 
 patriotic man whose house was burned by the enemy after the battle there. 
 
Roll of Honor. 197 
 
 chaplain of Col. Jonathan Ward s regiment from Massachusetts, 
 Jan. i, 1776, and served to the end of the year. It was with 
 Washington at New York, and engaged in part at the battle of 
 Long Island. The chaplain is reported as being on " furlough " 
 in October. The regiment was the 2ist Continental Foot, raised 
 for service during 1776. Mr. Cleaveland died July 4, 1805. 
 
 NAPHTALI DAGGETT, D.D., 
 
 Ex-President of the College. 
 Volunteer. 
 
 President Daggett is identified with the war on the occasion of 
 the New Haven raid, in 1779, an account of which appears in 
 the text. His patriotism and courage are proverbial. He was 
 among the first to start out to meet the enemy, but soon fell into 
 their hands. After receiving much cruel treatment he was per 
 mitted to remain in New Haven ; but the shock was such that he 
 never fully recovered from its effects, and his death followed, 
 Nov. 25, 1780. 
 
 Dr. Daggett was born at Attleboro, Mass., Sept. 8, 1727. His 
 brother, Col. John Daggett, of that place, was a man of note and 
 an efficient militia officer in the Revolution. The Doctor was 
 called to the church at Smithtown, L. I., in 1751, where he re 
 mained until 1755, when he returned to the college to fill the 
 new Livingston Chair of Divinity. In 1766 he became President 
 of the College, and retained the position until 1777. He con 
 tinued his relations with the college, as Professor of Divinity, 
 until his death. His two sons, Henry and Ebenezer, both gradu 
 ates, entered the service. Dr. Daggett s own account of his ex 
 periences and capture has been printed several times. It does 
 not differ materially from Mr. Goodrich s description in the 
 chapter for 1779-80, pages 106-8. 
 
 JONATHAN FITCH, 
 
 Colonel and Commissary, Connecticut. 
 
 Colonel Fitch had been the steward of the College for several 
 years before the war ; also Naval Officer at New Haven. He 
 
198 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 was Colonel of the 2d militia regiment. In May, 1775, he was 
 appointed a State Commissary by the Legislature, and the duties 
 of this office appear to have engaged his attention most of the 
 time during the war. He was purchaser of goods and stores of 
 all kinds both for State and Continental troops. One of his public 
 notifications dated New Haven, Nov. 16, 1778, is as follows : 
 " The several Towns in the County of New Haven are hereby 
 notified immediately to bring to me the Quota of Cloathing to be 
 furnished by them for their soldiers in the Continental army, 
 particularly the Blankets, as they are much wanted the present 
 distressing season Captain Prentice having been sent from 
 camp by General McDougal to forward the cloathing to the camp 
 as soon as possible. Jonathan Fitch, Commissary." Col. Fitch 
 was born in Norwalk, Conn., April 12, 1727, and died in New 
 Haven, Sept. 22, 1793. 
 
 JOHN HOTCHKISS, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Resident of New Haven ; born Nov. 12, 1731. He went out 
 with the volunteers to resist the British on the morning of 
 Tryon s invasion, July 5, 1779, and was killed, it would appear, 
 at an early hour. Dr. Stiles states that he fell on Milford Hill, 
 beyond West Bridge, a short time before his classmate, Dr. Dag- 
 gett, was captured. 
 
 JAMES WADSWORTH, 
 
 Major -General,, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 A good sketch of Gen. Wadsworth appears in the history of 
 Durham, Conn., where he lived, and where he was born July 6, 
 1730. He became a lawyer and also held public office, such as 
 that of Town Clerk and State representative, and on May 26, 
 1778, was appointed Judge of the New Haven County Court. 
 
Roll of Honor. 199 
 
 Upon the Lexington alarm, Wadsworth, then Colonel, exerted 
 himself in hurrying troops off to Boston. A letter of the time 
 states that he was in Wallingford " most of Sunday," April 23, 
 1775, and had ordered twenty men from each regiment of his 
 brigade to march the next day. He also went himself, but 
 apparently not to remain long. On June 20, 1776, he was com 
 missioned Brigadier-General over seven State regiments raised to 
 reinforce Washington at New York. Four of these, as stated on 
 page 37, were commanded by graduates. They were engaged in 
 part or in whole at the battle of Long Island, retreat from New 
 York, Harlem Heights, and White Plains. Upon the death of 
 Gen. Wooster, Gen. Wadsworth, who had been made Brigadier of 
 the Second Militia Brigade in December, 1776, was promoted 
 May, 1777, second Major-General, and as such looked after the 
 militia during the remainder of the war. In October, 1777, he 
 was with Putnam on the Hudson, who endeavored to prevent the 
 British from forming a junction with Burgoyne above. Several 
 of Gen. Wadsworth s letters to Gov. Trumbull, describing move 
 ments in that quarter, are among the Trumbull papers, Boston. 
 In one letter he proposes that David Bushnell be sent to blow up 
 the enemy s ships off Kingston. Thereafter he appears to have 
 been active in the State, at one time being with troops at New 
 London on the occasion of an alarm. He is described as " a 
 large, erect, military figure." His death occurred September 22, 
 1817. James and William Wadsworth, who settled at Geneseo, 
 N. Y., were his nephews. 
 
 W*V>J 
 
 Class of 1 749. 
 NATHANIEL BARTLETT, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Bartlett acted as Chaplain to the troops quartered from 
 time to time at or near Redding, Conn., where he was settled. 
 He died Jan. n, 1810, aged eighty-three years. 
 
200 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 THOMAS RUSSELL, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 He is mentioned in the records as surgeon of Col. Heman 
 Swift s Connecticut Regiment, which was on duty in the Northern 
 Department during the latter half of 1776. A native of North 
 Guilford, bom Oct. 16, 1727. He died in 1803 at Piermont, 
 N. H., where he had settled. 
 
 JOSEPH STRONG, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Simsbury (Granby), Conn. ; afterwards at Williams- 
 burg, Mass. He served as chaplain of Cols. Chapman s and 
 Pettibone s militia regiments in Gen. Wolcott s command in 
 Aug.-Sept., 1776, in and around New York. Born, Coventry, 
 Conn., March 19, 1729; died, Goshen, Mass., Jan. i, 1803. 
 
 Class of 1750. 
 
 JOSEPH PLATT COOKE, 
 
 Colonel, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 Resident of Danbury, Conn.; born December 24, 1729. He 
 was a man of considerable influence and property. In 1776 he 
 was Colonel of the i6th militia regiment, which formed part 
 of Gen. Wolcott s force in New York in August and Septem 
 ber, 1776. At the time the enemy captured the city, September 
 1 5th, Col. Cooke was in Douglas Brigade, stationed along Kip s 
 Bay, at the foot of East Thirty-Fifth St., which was driven from 
 its position by the short-range fire of the British men-of-war. It 
 retreated in something of a panic, and formed part of the force 
 which Washington endeavored in vain to rally that day. Col. 
 Cooke afterwards turned out against Tryon in the Danbury raid, 
 and was probably with Putnam s force on the Hudson during the 
 Burgoyne campaign. He died Feb. 3, 1816, aged eighty-seven. 
 
Roll of Honor. 201 
 
 Class 0/1751. 
 
 JUDAH CHAMPION, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Litchfield, Conn. He was born at Haddam, May 21, 
 1724, and died October 8, 1810. Devotedly attached to the 
 cause, he is said to have often preached war sermons. During 
 Burgoyne s campaign he acted as Chaplain, to a Connecticut regi 
 ment probably, and took especial care of the sick and wounded. 
 
 GILES RUSSELL, 
 
 Colonel, Continental A rmy. 
 
 Colonel Russell s record is that of a worthy man and experi 
 enced soldier, who gave nearly twelve years of his life to the pub 
 lic and died in its service. He came of good stock, being grand 
 son of Rev. Noadiah Russell, one of the founders of Yale College, 
 and son of Rev. Daniel Russell, class of 1724, of Rocky Hill, 
 Conn. The Colonel was born at the latter place, November 8, 
 1729. 
 
 The French and Indian war breaking out a few years after his 
 graduation, Russell joined the Provincial forces and took* part in 
 various campaigns to the close. He served throughout with the 
 Rhode Island quota, doubtless having friends in that colony, and 
 received several promotions. Appointed first as Ensign Septem 
 ber, 1756, he was made Lieutenant, February, 1756, Adjutant in 
 March, 1758, and again in February, 1759 (when the regiment 
 was commanded by Col. Henry Babcock, of the class of 1752), 
 and Captain, 1760 to 1763. He served under Johnson, Loudoun, 
 Abercrombie, and Amherst. In the attack upon Ticonderoga. 
 July 8, 1758, he was wounded, but was present again, it would 
 appear, in the following year, at the recovery of Crown Point. 
 He also took part in the expedition against Havanna in 1762, 
 where he lost half his company from the severities of the climate. 
 
 Returning to Connecticut, Russell settled at Stonington about 
 the time of the peace, 1763-64, and practised law until the Rev 
 olution. In that crisis, he again stepped forward and joined the 
 common cause. The Connecticut Assembly appointed him 
 Major of Col. Selden s State Regiment, June 20, 1776, and later 
 
202 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 July 2, Lieutenant-Colonel of Sage s Regiment, with which he 
 served in Washington s army in and around New York, until the 
 close of the year. His brigade was present in the Long Island 
 retreat, at Kip s Bay, and the battle of White Plains. Upon the 
 reorganization of the army, he was appointed, Jan. i, 1777, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighth Connecticut Continental Line, 
 Col. Chandler s (Y. C. 1759), which fought at the battle of Ger- 
 mantown and wintered at Valley Forge, 1777-78. In Nov. 
 
 1777, he was assigned to relieve Col. Smith, of Maryland, who 
 had been bravely defending Mud Island Fort below Philadelphia, 
 but he requested to be recalled on account of illness. Gen. Var- 
 num, his Brigadier, speaks of him at the time as " an amiable, 
 sensible man, and an excellent officer, but exhausted by fatigue 
 and totally destitute of health." Chandler resigning at Valley 
 Forge, Russell was promoted Colonel in his place, March 13, 
 
 1778. He was present at Monmouth, as stated on p. 90, being in 
 command of his brigade part of the time, and was again with his 
 regiment when ordered to march into Connecticut at the time of 
 Tryon s raid, July, 1779. But here again his old wound troubled 
 him and he stopped at Danbury. The only letter from his pen 
 that can be found is dated from that place July i7th. He says to 
 Heath :* " My leg is in such a condition that I must beg Leave to 
 stay here a few Days under the care of Doctor Turner, who 
 I hope will soon patch it up, so that I may Join the Troops." He 
 seems, however, to have failed after this as he died at Danbury, 
 Oct. 28th, following. Respecting his death and his successor, see 
 p. no. The following obituary notice of the Colonel appears in 
 the New London Gazette, Nov. 10, 1779 : 
 
 "... He received an early and liberal education at Yale College, 
 New Haven : The profitable Improvement he made of those Advantages was 
 conspicuously exemplified in his Life and conversation : The brightness of 
 his Parts, the solidity of his Judgment, and the candor and generosity of his 
 Temper, distinguished him as the Scholar and Philosopher. Whenever the 
 Safety of his Country demanded his Assistance, he readily entered into the 
 most active Posts of Life and faced the greatest Dangers, Fatigues, and Dis 
 tress with a Constancy and firmness of Mind, which plainly showed that the in 
 terest of his Country was an object which claimed his highest attention. He 
 served as an officer during the whole term of the late war, to Universal accept 
 ance, in which war he received Wounds, which might be judged, had rendered 
 him unfit, in a great measure for Action; but notwithstanding, at the Commence- 
 
Roll of Honor. 203 
 
 ment of the present, he plainly shewed that that martial Ardour which had 
 fired his Breast heretofore, was not extinguished, but blazed with additional 
 Warmth ; and upon Requisition made, chearfully stept forth in Defence of his 
 injured Country ; and from June, 1776, to the Time of his Death, attended 
 Duty in the Field almost constantly, having visited his Family but few times, 
 and those very short. . . . He often manifested the hightest Sense, with 
 firm dependence on, and reverential Fear of, that Almighty Being, who 
 governs universal Nature uncontroul d. In private Life, he was happily 
 possessed of those amiable Qualities requisite for forming domestic Peace, con 
 jugal Felicity, and Paternal love. He has left a mournful widow, in a very low 
 and debilitated state, and an affectionate and only Daughter to lament his 
 Death." 
 
 / 
 
 COTTON MATHER SMITH, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Sharon, Conn.; born at Suffield, Oct. 26, 1731. He 
 was appointed Chaplain of Col. Benjamin Hinman s Connecticut 
 State Regiment, April, 1775, which served for that year at Ticon- 
 deroga and in Canada under Montgomery and Wooster. He died 
 Nov. 27, 1806. 
 
 Class of 1752. 
 
 HENRY BABCOCK, 
 
 Colonel, Rhode Island Brigade. 
 
 Eldest son of Dr. Joshua Babcock, class of 1724, whose name 
 appears at the head of this roll. In recollections of the Babcocks 
 published in the " History of the Narragansett Church," Dr. 
 Wheaton says that Henry " was a brilliant and extraordinary man, 
 formed by nature and education to be the flower of his family and 
 an ornament to the country which gave him birth." 
 
 1 Col. Thomas Belden, of this class, is mentioned in the sketch of his son, 
 E. P. Belden, class of 1775. 
 
204 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 The Colonel was born at Westerly, R. I., April 28, 1736. He 
 graduated in his seventeenth year at the head of his class. Three 
 years later he took the field in the French and Indian war, being 
 appointed, March, 1755, Captain in the R. I. Provincial Regi 
 ment. In August, 1756, he was promoted Major, a year later 
 Lieut-Colonel, and in May, 1758, full Colonel. He was then 
 but twenty-two years old. In the attack upon Ticonderoga, 
 July 8, 1758, his regiment lost no men killed and wounded, 
 and he was wounded himself in the knee. He served five 
 campaigns with reputation. At the close of the last one, Gen. 
 Amherst wrote to Gov. Hopkins of R. I. (in Force, 4th ser., 
 vol. vi.) : " Whereas Col. Babcock has throughout the whole 
 campaign continually manifested his great zeal for the pub- 
 lick service, I should not do him justice, were I to omit giving 
 him this publick testimony of it, and designing you to return him 
 my particular thanks for the same." When the Revolution broke 
 out he served as a volunteer at the Boston camps for a time, put 
 ting up, apparently, at Gen. Putnam s head-quarters. He was 
 there in the fall of 1775, and on Dec. i, Putnam wrote to Wash 
 ington, recommending him for the position of Brigadier-General, 
 as follows : " I have been upon service with him several cam 
 paigns the last war, and have seen him in action behave with 
 great spirit and fortitude, when he had the command of a regi 
 ment. He has been very serviceable in assisting me in quelling a 
 mutiny, and bringing back a number of deserters. ... I 
 know of no man who will fill the vacancy with more honour than 
 the gentleman above named." (Force.) This recommendation, 
 however, was not acted upon, and when he returned home, he was 
 appointed Colonel of R. I. Militia, Jan., 1776, and in March, 
 Colonel-Commandant of the R. I. Colony Brigade. His orders 
 to his command are noticed on pp. 33-4, as well as his success in 
 keeping off the enemy s men-of-war. It appears that he was not 
 in good health and that his conduct at times required his re 
 moval from command, which was voted by the Assembly in May 
 following. Not having " the perfect use of his reason " was the 
 ground assigned. Col. Babcock afterwards lived at Stonington, 
 Conn., where he died Oct. 7, 1800. Gen. Saltonstall says of him 
 in 1775 : " If he is in perfect health, he is undoubtedly at such 
 time a gallant soldier." One of his MSS. letters is to be found in 
 
Roll of Honor. 
 
 205 
 
 the " Gates " papers, N. Y. Hist. Soc., in which he congratulates 
 that General on the capture of Burgoyne. The " Trumbull " 
 papers also contain one or two of his letters, as well as the pub 
 lished R. I. Colonial Records. 
 
 JAMES BABCOCK, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Rhode Island. 
 
 Of Westerly, R. I., where he was born, Nov. i, 1734. He was 
 half-brother to Dr. Joshua Babcock. In May, 1775, he was ap 
 pointed Lieut. -Colonel of Varnum s R. I. regiment, which was a 
 part of the " Army of Observation " which went from that colony 
 to the siege of Boston. He was in camp there under Gen. Greene, 
 probably to the close of the year. In 1776 he was a member of 
 the R. I. Assembly, and in 1777 is mentioned as engaged in send 
 ing recruits to the Army. He died in 1781. 
 
 GOLD SELLECK SILLIMAN, 
 
 Brigadier-General, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 General Silliman was father and grandfather, respectively, of 
 Profs. Benjamin Silliman, Senior and Junior, who were so long 
 associated with the College. His own father was Judge Ebenezer 
 Silliman, class of 1727, of Fairneld, Conn., where the General was 
 born, May 7, 1732. In 1754 he married Martha, daughter of Deo- 
 date Davenport, of East Haven, and upon her death in 1774, mar 
 ried Mrs. Mary Noyes, widow of Rev. John Noyes, of New Haven. 
 
 Studying law, he became King s Attorney in 1771, and held 
 that office when the Revolution opened. He was a member of 
 the Town Committee of Correspondence, and at the April-May 
 session of the Legislature, 1775, was appointed Colonel of the 4th 
 regiment of militia. In March, 1776, troops being needed to go 
 
2o6 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 on with the fortification and defence of New York, Col. Silliman 
 was ordered to that point by the Governor and Council with a 
 regiment specially organized for the purpose. It remained there 
 during the spring. Hardly had he returned home, when he was 
 reappointed, in May, Colonel of one of the six regiments raised 
 to reinforce Washington for the New York campaign. From that 
 date to the close of the year he was actively engaged, taking part 
 in the movements on Long Island, the retreat to and from New 
 York, the fortification of Washington Heights, and the battle of 
 White Plains. His letters from the field are quoted and referred 
 to in the text, pp. 45, 51. In the meantime, in June, 1776, he had 
 been transferred from the 4th militia to the command of the first 
 of the five regiments of Light Horse ordered for State service. 
 Retaining this command during the contest, he was also promoted, 
 in Dec., 1776, Brigadier-General of the 4th brigade of militia, and 
 from that time to the close of the war was entrusted with the de 
 fence of the western coast of the State. Among other occasions, 
 he rendered good service during Tryon s Danbury raid. In 1777 
 he took the field twice outside of the State ; once in Dec., when 
 Putnam made some demonstration with Meigs regiment towards 
 King s Bridge, and again in Sept. -Oct., during Burgoyne s cam 
 paign, when he led a large body of militia to Peekskill on the 
 Hudson to reinforce Putnam. His reference to the surrender 
 appears on p. 81. On p. 100 his capture by the Long Island 
 Tories and subsequent exchange for Judge Jones are mentioned, 
 and again, on p. 144, one of his letters, giving warning of the ap 
 proach of a fleet along the Sound, is given in full. His activity 
 and vigilance were conspicuous up to the last moment. 
 
 Upon the return of peace, Gen. Silliman resumed his profession 
 of law, and was appointed State Attorney for Fairfield County. 
 He died July 21, 1790, aged fifty-eight years. Several of his 
 letters, as stated, are published in Vol. III., " L. I. Historical Soc. 
 Memoirs," and extracts are quoted in Cothren s " Woodbury " 
 (chapter on the Revolution). Judge Jones " Loyalist History of 
 the Revolution," and " Observations " on the same also contain 
 references and letters. 
 
 / 
 
Roll of Honor. 207 
 
 Class 0/1754. 
 
 JOSHUA PORTER, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 A native of Lebanon, Conn., where he was born, June 26, 1730. 
 After graduation he taught school in North Carolina for a year, 
 and in 1757 settled as a physician at Salisbury. There he lived 
 and practised his profession for forty years. He also took part in 
 public affairs, being elected town representative for more than 
 forty sessions of the Assembly, and sitting as Judge of Probate 
 for thirty-seven years. He served on several important com 
 mittees during the war, and in March, 1776, received the respon 
 sible appointment of superintendent of the State iron works or 
 furnace at Salisbury for casting cannon and making ammunition. 
 He was one of eight or ten individuals who advanced money for 
 the expedition to capture Ticonderoga, May, 1775, and also went 
 there himself to report upon the situation. In 1774 he was ap 
 pointed Lieut.-Colonel of the i7th regiment of militia, and on two 
 or three occasions during the contest performed tours of duty 
 outside of the State. He turned out at the Danbury raid, April, 
 1777, and again in the Burgoyne campaign. In his journal, 
 printed in the Genealogy of his family, he says : " I com 
 manded a regiment at Peekskill, six weeks at y e town of Dan- 
 bury, being burnt, and likewise commanded a regiment at the 
 capture of Gen. Burgoyne and army, and was in y e battles in y e 
 year 1777." At Saratoga he was evidently with one of the two 
 Connecticut regiments, made up of details from various militia 
 regiments, and assigned to Gen. Poor s brigade. They were 
 known as Cook s and Latimer s, and behaved remarkably well, 
 especially in the hot engagement of Freeman s Farm, Sept. 
 Col. Porter died at Salisbury, April 2, 1825, aged ninety-five. 
 
 ELISHA SILL, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Physician at Goshen, Conn. Born at Lyme, April 6, 1730. 
 He is mentioned in the Sill and Hyde Genealogies as having 
 
2o8 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 been surgeon of Wolcott s brigade or volunteer body, which rein 
 forced Gates a short time before Burgoyne s surrender. He was 
 one of a committee of doctors appointed by the Legislature in 
 Oct., 1776, "to examine all persons in this State that were offered 
 to serve as surgeons or surgeon s mates in the Continental army 
 or navy." He died at Goshen in 1808. 
 
 Class 
 DAVID SANFORD, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts. 
 
 Pastor at Medway, Mass.; born December n, 1739. In 
 Sprague s " Annals " he is mentioned as having served for a 
 short time as Chaplain, " an office for which his natural strength 
 of character and fine portly bearing, to say nothing of his ardent 
 patriotism, admirably qualified him." He died April 7, iSio. 1 
 
 THOMAS SEYMOUR, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Connecticut Horse. 
 
 Member of the well-known Hartford family of Seymours, and 
 prominent in public affairs ; born March 13, 1735. His father 
 was Thomas Seymour, of the class of 1724. Col. Seymour s 
 duties during the war were almost entirely of a civil nature as a 
 representative and member of the Committee on the Pay Table. 
 Part of the time he was one of the State Committee of Safety. In 
 June, 1776, the Assembly appointed him Lieut. -Colonel of the 
 first State Regiment of Light Horse (Col. Silliman s), and early 
 in July he was ordered to New York to reinforce Washington 
 until Wadsworth s new regiments reported. He went down with 
 about five hundred men, assembled hastily, and was well received ; 
 but a dispute arose as to whether horsemen could be called upon 
 to do infantry guard duty, as Washington wished, and the command 
 was dismissed and returned home. Reflections being cast upon the 
 conduct and patriotism of his men, Col. Seymour, on reaching 
 Hartford, wrote a full explanation to Gov. Trumbull, which ap- 
 
 1 Rev. Thomas Brooks, of Brookfield, Conn., and Rev. Ephraim Stark 
 weather, of Pawtucket, R. I., of this class, are incidentally mentioned as having 
 been chaplains. The authority does not appear. 
 
Roll of Honor. 
 
 209 
 
 pears in Force s Archives, Vol. L, Fifth Series, p. 513. The Colo 
 nel was elected first Mayor of Hartford after its incorporation as 
 a city. Two of his sons, Thomas and William, graduates, were 
 in the service. His death occurred July 30, 1829. 
 
 Class of 1/56. 
 
 TIMOTHY DANIELSON, 
 
 Brigadier-General, Massachusetts Militia. 
 
 Resident of the town of Brimfield, Mass., where he was born 
 in 1733. A man of considerable distinction in Hampshire 
 County socially and politically. Personally he is described in 
 Holland s Western Massachusetts as "a Herculean giant." He 
 was a delegate in the Provincial Congress in the stirring years 
 of 1774-75. During and after the war he was representative and 
 State Senator. In May, 1775, he was commissioned Colonel of 
 the Hampshire Militia regiment, and served with it at the siege 
 of Boston. Jan. 30, 1776, he was appointed Brigadier-General 
 for his county, and retained that rank through the war. He also 
 became Chief-Justice of his County Court. His death occurred 
 at Brimfield Sept. 16, 1791. 
 
210 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 JOHN STORKS, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Storrs had been pastor at Southold, L. I., before the war, 
 but his church broke up in consequence of hostilities, and he re 
 turned to Mansfield, Conn., his native place. During this inter 
 val he served as Chaplain of Col. Fisher Gay s regiment in 
 Wadsworth s Brigade in the campaign of 1776 around New York. 
 He is reported as being on " furlough " in October. He died in 
 1799. 
 
 Class of 1757. 
 
 JABEZ BOWEN, 
 
 Deputy-Governor, Rhode Island. 
 Colonel, State Militia. 
 
 Gov. Bowen is identified with Providence, R. I. He was a 
 leading member of the State Assembly, and appears on important 
 committees during the war. On May 6, 1778, he was elected 
 Deputy-Governor of Rhode Island, and on Feb. 26, 1781, was ap 
 pointed Chief-Justice. At the May session of the Assembly, 
 1776, he was appointed Colonel of the first militia regiment of 
 Providence County, and served actively with it, being in camp at 
 Pawtuxet in February 1777, when the enemy s vessels were 
 threatening the coast ; and again, later in the year, he writes from 
 Providence, Oct. 3, 1777 : " Major General Spencer having this 
 morning removed his Quarters to Rowland s Ferry, the command 
 at this post devolves on me " (Trumbull Papers, Boston). He 
 appears to have been active also in providing for the wants of the 
 French troops after they arrived at Newport in 1780. Gov. 
 Bowen was born June 13, 1739, an< ^ died about May 7, 1815. 
 
Roll of Honor. 
 
 21 I 
 
 OLIVER NOBLE, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts. 
 
 Pastor at Newberry, Mass. He served as Chaplain of Col. 
 Little s Mass, regiment at the siege of Boston in 1775, and after 
 Jan. i, 1776, appears as Chaplain both for Little s and Hitch 
 cock s R. I. Regiment, which was in the same brigade. He may 
 have accompanied these regiments to New York in the spring of 
 1776. He died in 1792. 
 
 NATHANIEL WEBB, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Windham, Conn., where he was born Aug. 5, 1737. He 
 first appears in the service with the organization of the Continen 
 tal Line in 1777. He was commisioned, Jan. i, Captain in Col. 
 Durkee s Fourth Connecticut, which in the spring went into camp 
 at Peekskill. The regiment joined Washington s army in Penn 
 sylvania in September, and fought at the battle of Germantown. 
 It wintered at Valley Forge, and on June 29, 1778, was closely 
 engaged in Varnum s brigade at Monmouth. Captain Webb, no 
 doubt, was with his regiment in all these movements. In the 
 summer of 1779 he was assigned to Wayne s Light Infantry Corps 
 after the capture of Stony Point. From this time he remained 
 generally in the Highlands until Jan. i, 1781, when, upon the 
 consolidation of regiments he retired from the army. In October, 
 1782, he wrote to Gov. Trumbull offering his services as Captain 
 of a company to be stationed at New London, but nothing came 
 of this. He died Jan. 25, 1814. 
 
212 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Class 0/1758. 
 
 JOHN ASHLEY, JR., 
 
 Colonel, Massachusetts Militia. 
 
 Son of Judge John Ashley, class of 1730, who was one of the 
 early settlers and lawyers of Sheffield, Mass. The Judge was 
 himself identified with the early patriotic movement, having pre 
 sided at the county convention in 1774, referred to on page 4. 
 Before the war he was Colonel of the South Berkshire regiment, 
 with his son as Major. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born about the year 1736. He 
 was commissioned Colonel of the First Berkshire Militia Regi 
 ment April 4, 1777 (Mass. State Archives), evidently succeeding 
 his classmate, Col. Mark Hopkins, who died in October, 1776. 
 He marched his regiment to the Hudson in July, after the evacu 
 ation of Ticonderoga, and appears, from certain references, to 
 have been at Bennington and with the Massachusetts forces in 
 the Burgoyne campaign. He would naturally turn out at that 
 crisis. It is probable, also, that he served on other occasions in 
 that quarter. After the war Col. Ashley took a prominent part 
 in the suppression of Shay s rebellion. He had a smart skirmish 
 with a party in Sheffield, on Feb. 27, 1787, and scattered them. 
 Gen. Lincoln, learning of his movements, wrote him : " Your suc 
 cesses must be important, as they will teach these deluded 
 wretches that they cannot march unchecked by the good citizens, 
 or spread depredations among them with impunity." In 1788 
 he was made Brigadier of the militia, and in 1789 succeeded Gen. 
 Paterson, class of 1762, as Major-General of the Ninth Division. 
 At various intervals from 1782 to his death, he was a member of 
 the Legislature. He died suddenly on the morning of Nov. 5, 
 1799, in the sixty-third year of his age, his father surviving him 
 until 1802. 
 
 t 
 
 1 The Massachusetts Centinel f or March 27, 1787, says : " \oung Burghurdt, 
 a student of Yale College [class of 1787], who was wounded when pursuing the 
 insurgents in their retreat after the action with Col. Ashley at Sheffield, is 
 likely to recover, though his wound was supposed to be dangerous." 
 
 Elisha Lee, class of 1777, resident of Great Barrington, was Aid-de-camp on 
 Gen. Ashley s staff in 1790. 
 
Roll of Honor. 213 
 
 BENJAMIN BOARDMAN, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Middle Haddam, Conn., until 1783, and then at Hart 
 ford. He was born at Sandisfield, Mass., in 1732. He is men 
 tioned as Chaplain of Connecticut troops for a time at the Boston 
 siege in 1775. In the following year he became Chaplain of Col. 
 Durkee s Connecticut regiment in Washington s army, and was 
 with it at its station at Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, in Sept. 
 when the enemy took New York. A letter from his pen describ 
 ing the events of the time appears in Force s Archives. He died 
 at Hartford, Feb. 8, 1802. 
 
 PHILIP BURR BRADLEY, 
 
 Colonel, Continental Army. 
 
 Col. Bradley was born in Greenfield Parish, Fairfield, Conn., 
 March, 26, 1738, but became a resident of Ridgefield. He was a 
 merchant, and influential both socially and politically. On June 
 20, 1776, he received a commission as Colonel of one of the State 
 regiments comprising Wadsworth s brigade in Washington s army 
 at New York, and served in that vicinity to the close of the year. 
 His own regiment was posted most of the time at Bergen Heights, 
 New Jersey, and afterwards at Forts Lee and Washington. At 
 the fall of the latter place in November, the greater part of his 
 command was captured by the enemy. The Colonel was on the 
 sick list and had been taken home on a litter only a few days 
 before. Upon the formation of the new army, Bradley was Com 
 missioned Colonel of the Fifth Connecticut Continental Line, Jan. 
 i, 1777, and served with it in the field for four years. When the 
 British returned through Ridgefield from the Danbury raid in 
 April, 1777, they ransacked the Colonel s house, destroying furni 
 ture and valuables. The Colonel himself, who was at home re 
 cruiting his regiment, turned out and engaged the enemy in the 
 skirmish at that place ; he also distributed one hundred and thirty 
 gallons of rum from his own stores to the fatigued militia, for 
 which losses the Assembly afterwards afforded him relief. Some 
 
 1 Rev. Benjamin Wildman, of this class, pastor at Southbury, Conn., is 
 referred to in the history of Woodbury as having been Chaplain for a short 
 time. 
 
214 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 of the wounded were cared for in his house. In the fall of 1777, 
 Bradley s regiment joined Washington in Pennsylvania and 
 fought at Germantown where it sustained some loss ; then 
 wintered at Valley Forge, 1777-78. In June, 1778, it was at 
 Monmouth, and remained thereafter with the main army on the 
 Hudson in New Jersey and on the Connecticut border. The 
 Colonel frequently presided at Courts-Martial and occasionally 
 commanded his brigade. He retired from the service on the 
 reduction of the regiments, Jan. i, 1781. He was a member 
 of the Cincinnati Soc., Judge of Fairfield County Court after the 
 war, and in Sept,, 1789, was appointed first U. S. Marshal of that 
 District. As a member of the Assembly he served seven years be 
 fore the war and eleven after. He died at Ridgefield, Jan. 4, 1821. 
 
 ISRAEL DICKINSON, 
 
 Captain, Massachusetts Volunteers. 
 
 Of Pittsfield, Mass. He is supposed to have been born at Hat- 
 field in 1735. This reference is made to him in Smith s " History 
 of Pittsfield," Vol. I., p. 180 : " In college he was the classmate 
 and chum of Israel Stoddard ; and both were the friends of 
 Woodbridge Little, who was two classes below them. This early 
 college intimacy led to the settlement of the chums, and soon 
 after, of Little, upon three adjoining estates in a pleasant section 
 of Pittsfield. And there the ante-revolutionary troubles found 
 them in the enjoyment of cultivated and harmonious intercourse, 
 interchanging reminiscences of college life, and, as the books 
 preserved by their descendants prove, indulging and cherishing 
 their taste for intellectual pleasures. Nothing remains to show 
 
Roll of Honor. 
 
 2I 5 
 
 \vhen this delightful union was interrupted by the political differ 
 ences which estranged the friends, if they were estranged ; but 
 immediately after the Lexington fight, when Stoddard and Little 
 were taking refuge in New York from the rage of the people, 
 we find Israel Dickinson prominent in the military operations 
 of the patriots." Stoddard and Little, however, appear to 
 have accepted the Revolution later, as their names are on the 
 list of volunteers marching from Pittsfield to Bennington in 
 
 1777- 
 
 Captain Dickinson joined the party that captured Ticonderoga 
 in May, 1775, and distinguished himself there. See p. 28. He 
 appears to have been active also in 1777, and marched to the 
 Bennington field at the first alarm. He may have been at Saratoga, 
 but we have no further mention of him after August beyond the 
 fact of his death, which the town records show to have occurred 
 Nov. 1 8, 1777, from bilious fever. 
 
 MARK HOPKINS, 
 
 Colonel, Massachusetts Troops. 
 
 Colonel Hopkins was one of three brothers who graduated at 
 the college, and who became men of more or less note in their 
 day. Their father was Tiomthy Hopkins, of Waterbury, Conn. 
 The eldest son, Samuel, of the class of 1741, was afterwards the 
 distinguished theologian of Newport, R. I. Daniel, of the class 
 of 1758, settled as a preacher at Salem, Mass. 1 Mark, of the 
 same class, became a leading lawyer at Great Barrington, Mass. 
 He was born at Waterbury, Sept. 13, 1739. 
 
 In common with other graduates in Berkshire County, Hop- 
 
 1 In Sprague s "Annals" the following facts appear respecting Rev. Dr. 
 Daniel Hopkins : " In 1775, when the Revolutionary war broke out and the 
 situation of the country required their wisest counsels and best measures, Mr. 
 Hopkins was elected a member of the Provincial Congress [of Mass.] ; and in 
 that responsible position he displayed great wisdom and vigor of mind as well 
 as an enlightened and ardent patriotism. In 1778 he was elected a member of 
 the Council of the Conventional Government, and in both offices he served his 
 country with great dignity, fidelity, and efficiency." 
 
216 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 kins took an active part in Revolutionary affairs. When the 
 County Convention met in July, 1774, he was placed upon the 
 committee to draw up resolutions expressing its views on the 
 crisis. In April, 1775, the Provincial Congress at Watertown 
 appointed Mr. Hopkins a member of the Committee of Corre 
 spondence for Berkshire, and in this capacity he was able to be 
 of much service, watching the disaffected element in that section 
 of the State, and furthering the enlistment and supply of troops. 
 On Jan. 30, 1776, the Congress elected him Colonel of the First 
 Regiment of Berkshire County militia to be ready for any emer 
 gency, and a small part of it was sent to the Hudson Highlands 
 for a time. In the summer of this year Massachusetts reinforced 
 Washington s army at New York with a brigade of three regi 
 ments under General John Fellows, of Berkshire, with whom 
 Colonel Hopkins was doubtless well acquainted. The Colonel 
 seems to have accompanied him on this occasion as an aid or 
 volunteer, as his regiment was not in the brigade. However this 
 may be, he was in New York with Gen. Fellows, and a few days 
 after the arrival of the command, Washington appointed him 
 Aug. 7, 1776, its Brigade-Major ; and as such he served through 
 the trying events in and around the city. Fellows troops were 
 not engaged on the Long Island side, but upon the retreat from 
 New York, Sept. i5th, they attempted with other forces, to repel 
 the enemy near Kip s Bay only to be put to rout. They were 
 militiamen without much discipline. When the brigade marched 
 with the main army to White Plains, Colonel Hopkins was still 
 with it, but there he fell seriously ill. The fatigue and excite 
 ment of recent movements threw him into a fever from which he 
 did not recover. He died Oct. 26, 1776, two days before the 
 Battle of White Plains (not on the 27th as stated in the text), a 
 soldier having carried him in his arms to a place of safety in 
 anticipation of an engagement. 
 
 Colonel Hopkins was the grandfather of Ex-President Mark 
 Hopkins of Williams College. 
 
Roll of Honor. 2 \ 7 
 
 SAMUEL WYLLYS, 
 
 Colonel, Continental A nny m 
 
 The eldest of the three Wyllys brothers, of Hartford, who 
 graduated at Yale, and all of whom served in the Revolution. 
 They were the sons of George Wyllys, of the class of 1729, who 
 was Secretary of the Colony and State of Connecticut for sixty- 
 two years, succeeding his father Hezekiah Wyllys in that office, 
 and being in turn succeeded by his son, the above Colonel 
 Samuel. The three held the position from 1712 until 1809, a 
 period of ninety-seven years. This old colonial family which 
 long enjoyed a high social position is now extinct. 
 
 Colonel Wyllys was born about Jan. i (bapt. Jan. 7), 1738. 
 After graduation he spent a few years in England. Returning, 
 he was appointed, in 1771, the first Captain of the First or Hart 
 ford Company of Governor s Foot Guards, which still retains its 
 organization. May i, 1775, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel 
 of the Second or Gen. Spencer s regiment of State Troops, and 
 took part at the siege of Boston until its evacuation by the 
 enemy. While in that camp, July i, 1775, he was promoted 
 Colonel of his regiment. Before leaving Hartford he joined 
 with other individuals in planning and providing the expenses of 
 the expedition which surprised Ticonderoga in May. On Jan. i, 
 1776, he was recommissioned Colonel of his regiment, which re- 
 enlisted as the 22d Foot to serve for one year on the Continental 
 basis. With this command he took part in the New York cam 
 paign, being actively engaged at the battle of Long Island. He 
 was in charge of the upper Flatbush pass, near the eastern line 
 of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and was forced to retreat in haste 
 with all the outguards, when they found themselves outflanked by 
 way of the Jamaica pass. He narrowly escaped capture. His 
 regiment, in Parson s Brigade, was also caught in the retreat from 
 New York, Sept. i5th. After the battle of White Plains, he was 
 posted on the Hudson. On Jan. i, 1777, Wyllys was commis 
 sioned Colonel of the new Third Connecticut Continental Line, 
 and served with it four years, during which period he was almost 
 continuously on duty in the Hudson Highlands or along the 
 Connecticut border. In the summer and fall of 1777, his regi 
 ment formed part of Putnam s force which attempted to check 
 Clinton s advance up the river. Humphreys refers to him in this 
 
218 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 connection in his " Life of Putnam." Early in 1778 his regiment, 
 with other troops, began the permanent fortifications at West 
 Point. Fort " Wyllys " at that point was doubtless named after 
 the Colonel. In the winter of 1778-79, the regiment quartered 
 with Putnam s force at Redding, Conn., and in the following 
 summer it marched with the Connecticut division towards the 
 coast in that State to check Tryon. Wyllys was then in command 
 of his brigade Parsons . In 1780 it was in camp with Washing 
 ton s army on the Hudson, and took part in the manoeuvres of 
 that year. Finally, on Jan. i, 1781, the Colonel retired from the 
 service, with many other officers, in consequence of regimental 
 consolidations. After the war he became Secretary of State and 
 Brigadier-General of Militia. He died June i, 1823, his old 
 Governor s Foot Guards being the escort at the funeral. Mem 
 ber Cincinnati Society. 
 
 Class of -i? $9. 
 
 JOHN CHANDLER, 
 
 Colonel, Continental Army. 
 
 Colonel Chandler was a native of Pomfret, Conn., where he was 
 born Jan. 4, 1736. He is said to have been one of eight young 
 men from that town who graduated in his class. Subsequently 
 he removed to Newtown, Conn., where he practised medicine 
 and occasionally preached. 
 
 Chandler was first appointed Major of Silliman s Conn, regi 
 ment, in March, 1776, ordered to fortify New York. June 20th, 
 following, he was Lieut.-Colonel under Silliman, and served 
 through the New York campaign, on Long Island, at the retreat 
 from the city, and battle of White Plains. Jan. i, 1777, he was 
 commissioned Colonel of the new Eighth Conn. Continental Line, 
 and fought at Germantown. He was in camp at Valley Forge, but 
 on March 5, 1778, resigned his colonelcy on account of ill health. 
 A pension was allowed him for " diseases contracted from severi 
 ties in the service." His Lieut.-Colonel, Giles Russell, class of 1 75 1, 
 
Roll of Honor. 219 
 
 succeeded him. In 1780 the State Council of Safety authorized 
 Chandler to superintend the recruiting of the Connecticut Line, 
 and he appears in the spring of that year at the Morristown huts 
 urging reenlistments and offering new bounties. After the war 
 he became Brigadier of Militia, Judge of Fairfield County Court, 
 and was also a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention 
 in 1788. Later in life he removed to Peacham, Vt., where he 
 died March 15, 1796. 
 
 EBENEZER CRAFT, 
 
 Deputy-Commissary, Massachusetts Troops. 
 
 Colonel Craft was born at Pomfret, Conn., Sept. 23, 1740, his 
 father having removed to that place from Newton, Mass. Some 
 years before the war he settled at Sturbridge, Mass., and in 1775 
 was captain, it is said, of a militia company of troopers at the Bos 
 ton siege ; but there is no record of cavalry at that camp. He 
 served in another capacity. On July i, 1775, upon the recom 
 mendation of Col. Learned, he was appointed by the Provincial 
 Congress, Deputy Commissary in " the Massachusetts army," 
 and seems to have retained the office through the year. Whether 
 he served again during the war does not appear, but when Shay s 
 rebellion broke out, 1786-7, he took an active part in its suppres 
 sion, as Colonel of the Worcester County regiment of horse. 
 
 In 1791 Col. Craft removed to Vermont and founded the town of 
 Craftsbury, where he died, May 24, 1810. He was an active and 
 liberal man, being remembered, for instance, at Leicester, Mass., as 
 the founder of the town academy where his portrait is preserved. 
 In 1785-6 he was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature. 
 
 FISHER GAY, 
 
 Colonel, Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 Colonel Gay s native place was Litchfield, Conn., where he was 
 born, Oct. 9, 1733, but after graduation he taught school at Farm- 
 
220 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ington and permanently settled there. Becoming a merchant, he 
 acquired property and influence, and interested himself in public 
 affairs. In 1774 he was placed on the Town Committees of 
 Correspondence, Vigilance and Supplies, and was also elected 
 Member of the Assembly for the March session in 1775 (Force). 
 At that time he was Lieut. -Colonel of Militia. 
 
 Upon the Lexington alarm, Col. Gay closed his store and 
 marched to Boston at the head of about a hundred volunteers, 
 but did not then remain long in the field. Later, in Jan., 1776, 
 Washington needing troops at Boston, while the main force was 
 reorganizing, Gov. Trumbull sent him, among others, a regiment 
 under Col. Erastus Wolcott, of Windsor, of which Fisher Gay 
 was Lieut. -Colonel, with commission dated Jan. 23, 1776. An 
 extract from the brief journal he kept, describing his experiences, 
 is given on pp. 34-5. With the evacuation of Boston, Gay s regi 
 ment returned to Connecticut. Early in the following summer, 
 however, the Colonel again took the field, having been commis 
 sioned June 10, 1776, Colonel of one of the new State regiments 
 composing Wadsworth s Brigade, raised for service at New York. 
 The brigade was posted in the city along the East River front 
 until August, when a portion of it was moved across to the 
 Brooklyn lines, where Gen. Greene was in command. By the 
 General s orders of Aug. 4th, Col. Gay s regiment was directed 
 to make Fort Sterling, on Brooklyn Heights, and the fort on 
 Cobble Hill, its alarm posts four companies at each. On the 
 25th it was attached to General Parsons Brigade, which had 
 been doing duty on the picket line, and remained on that side 
 until the retreat from Long Island. The Colonel himself, how 
 ever, did not survive these movements. Taken ill, he died in 
 camp on or before Aug. 27th, the day of the battle. It seems to be 
 uncertain whether he died or was buried on that day. " His zeal 
 and self-sacrifice," says President Porter, in his Farmington His 
 torical Discourse, 1872, "were conspicuous. On his sword, which 
 is still preserved, are engraved the words, * Freedom or Death. 
 
 X 
 
 
Roll of Honor. 221 
 
 JESSE LEAVEN WORTH, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut. 
 
 Three of the seven sons of Rev. Mark Leavenworth, of Water- 
 bury, Conn., class of 1737, graduated at the college and served 
 at different periods of the war. They were Jesse, 1759, Mark, 
 1771, and Nathan, 1778. The father, a well-known pastor in the 
 State, was chaplain for about eight months in the French and 
 Indian war, and afterwards heartily encouraged the Revolutionary 
 movement. 
 
 Jesse, the eldest son, born at Waterbury, Nov. 22, 1741, was 
 settled in business at New Haven when the war broke out. He 
 had been appointed, March 16, 1775, Lieutenant of the Second 
 or New Haven Company, of Governor s Foot Guards, under 
 Captain Benedict Arnold, and, upon the Lexington alarm, 
 marched with it to Boston. Gen. Wooster s State regiment was 
 organized soon after, and Leavenworth received a First Lieuten- 
 antcy in it with commission dating May i, 1775. During the 
 summer this command was stationed at New York and in part 
 on Long Island (see notice of Gen. Wooster), and then moved 
 into the northern department under Schuyler and Montgomery. 
 From March to May, 1777, Leavenworth appears on special duty 
 at Ticonderoga, and was one of the witnesses against Gen. St. Clair, 
 when tried for hastily abandoning that post. He was connected, 
 as Captain, with the Quarter Master s department there, and 
 his expenses charged " to the Continent, as the service had been 
 done by order of the President of Congress to the Governor " of 
 Connecticut. Afterwards he purchased lands in Vermont, and 
 for a time resided in Cabot township. His death occurred Dec. 
 i2 (?), 1824, at Sackett s Harbor, N. Y. 
 
 EXPERIENCE STORKS, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 Of Mansfield, Conn., where he was born, Sept. 18, 1734. In 
 1775 he was a member of the Assembly as well as Lieut.-Col. of 
 the 5th militia regiment. Upon the Lexington alarm he col 
 lected five companies and marched from Windham Green, April 
 22d, as far as Providence. From that point he returned to attend 
 the Assembly, first securing powder for Mansfield and fitting out 
 
222 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 a wagon-load of provisions for his men at Boston. In his journal 
 referred to in the text he makes many interesting entries, viz.: 
 " April 27 Bad weather for Tories in the House ; yet we have 
 some." In the May session he was elected Lieut.-Col. of Put 
 nam s regiment, raised with others for the crisis, and on the 27th 
 he started for camp with one company. A part of his regiment 
 was at Bunker Hill under Putnam, and with the other part he was 
 ordered to throw up a work during the night after the battle, to 
 prevent the enemy s following up their success by way of Charles- 
 town Neck. An extract from his journal appears on p. 20. 
 After Jan. i, 1776, Col. Storrs does not appear to have been on 
 service out of the State. His regiment was with Washington s 
 army a short time in the fall of the year under command of its 
 Major. He died July 22, 1801. A sentence in his gravestone 
 inscription reads : " He was portly in figure, and friendly in dis 
 position ; an advocate of his country s rights, a lover of order, a 
 respectable professor of the Christian Religion." 
 
 DYAR THROOP, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 Of East Haddam, where he was a practising " barrister at law." 
 He was born at Bozrah, Conn., Sept. 17, 1738. During the first 
 part of the war he appears as Major and Lieut.-Colonel of militia, 
 the latter appointment being conferred in June, 1776. He doubt 
 less turned out with his regiment on alarms, which came frequently. 
 In Feb., 1777, he commanded detachments from five regiments 
 ordered to New London on one of the alarms. After the war he 
 became Brigadier-General of militia. He died June 4, 1789. 
 
 BENJAMIN TRUMBULL, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Best known as the author of the first extended history of Con 
 necticut, 1630-1764. He was pastor at North Haven. In 1775 
 
Roll of Honor. 223 
 
 he served as Chaplain of Gen. Wooster s regiment in the North 
 ern Department, and in the campaign of 1776 around New York, 
 served with Col. William Douglas regiment in Wadsworth s 
 brigade. He sometimes engaged in battle himself, as he had 
 opportunity to do on Long Island and again at White Plains. It 
 is said that at the latter place he fired with the troops from 
 behind walls. Tallmadge states, in his "Memoirs," that the 
 Chaplain jumped up behind him on his horse as he was about to 
 wade the Bronx River while the enemy were close after them. 
 The shock threw both into the stream and they were nearly 
 captured. Prof. Silliman adds in Sprague s " Annals," that the 
 Chaplain, like Dr. Daggett, turned out on horseback at the New 
 Haven raid, July, 1779, and fired at the enemy "from the 
 saddle." Dr. Trumbull was born Dec. 19, 
 
 2, 1820. / 
 
 
 ELIJAH ABEL, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Born at Norwich, Conn., Sept. 18, 1738 ; lived at Fairfield. 
 He was commissioned June 10, 1776, Captain in Col. Bradley s 
 State regiment, which served through the New York campaign, 
 but was not among the officers captured with the regiment at 
 Fort Washington. This appears to have been the extent of his 
 service outside of the State. In July, 1779, his house at Fairfield 
 was burned when the enemy fired the town. At that time he was 
 Major in the militia and engaged in recruiting men for the Con 
 necticut Line, under Trumbull s directions. He held local offices 
 during and after the war, and became Brigadier-General of the 
 militia. His death occurred at Bozrah, June 3, 1809. 
 
224 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ANDREW ADAMS, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 This was Hon. Andrew Adams, of Litchfield, Conn., referred 
 to sometimes as a Revolutionary officer. He was Major of militia 
 at the outbreak of the war, and later Lieut.-Colonel. References 
 indicate that he probably served for a short time under Wooster 
 along the Westchester Co. border, but otherwise his services 
 were mainly of a civil nature. He ranked high as a patriotic 
 citizen and jurist. Before the war he had been King s Attorney 
 in Litchfield. He served on important committees in the Assem 
 bly after the war broke out, and was thrice a delegate to Congress ; 
 also one of the Governor s assistants. Subsequently he became 
 Judge of the Supreme Court and Chief- Justice. A biographical 
 notice of him, the earliest we have, appears in Morris Statistical 
 Account of Litchfield. He died Nov. 26, 1797, at the age 
 of sixty-one. 
 
 JARED POTTER, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Physician at Wallingford, Conn.; born at East Haven, Sept. 
 25, 1742. He served as Surgeon of Gen. Wooster s regiment in 
 1775, and was present at the capture of St. Johns and Montreal. 
 In the campaign of 1776 he was attached to Col. Wm. Douglas 
 regiment, which took part in the battle of Long Island, the 
 retreat from New York, and battle of White Plains. He was also 
 with a militia regiment, July 5, 1779, when Tryon invaded New 
 Haven. His death occurred July 30, 1810. There is a full 
 notice of Dr. Potter in the N. H. Hist. Soc. Papers, Vol. ii., from 
 the pen of Dr. Bronson, who says of him : " In the first decade of 
 the present century, Dr. Potter was probably the most celebrated 
 and popular physician in the State." 
 
 AMMI RUHAMAH ROBBINS, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Norfolk, Conn. ; born at Branford, Sept., 1740. He 
 was Chaplain of Col Charles Burrall s Conn, regiment, which 
 served in the Northern Department and Canada in the spring of 
 
 1 Woodbridge Little, of this class, is mentioned in the sketch of Israel Dick- 
 inson, class of 1758. 
 
Roll of Honor. 225 
 
 1776, and which he joined March 20th. Mr. Robbins left a 
 journal of his camp life, which has been published. The hard 
 ships of the winter and ravages of the small-pox made his experience 
 a hard one, which affected his health. He was with our force 
 when it evacuated Canada. In his journal he mentions Chaplains 
 Avery and Ripley, and speaks of the great suffering among the 
 soldiers. His death occurred in 1813. l 
 
 Class of 1 76 1 . 
 
 STEPHEN BABCOCK, 
 
 Major, Rhode Island Militia. 
 
 Of South Kingston, R. I. In May, 1778, Captain of militia, 
 and in May, 1779, Major of Col. Dyer s second militia regiment, 
 of Kings County. He is said to have been one of the Captains 
 in Col. Wm. Barton s Light Infantry battalion, raised in the sum 
 mer of 1779, at request of Gen. Gates, for special service in 
 Rhode Island. Major Babcock died Feb. 23, 1789, aged about 
 forty-nine. 
 
 NATHAN BROWNSON, 
 
 Hospital Surgeon, Continental Army. 
 
 Doctor, afterwards Governor, Brownson, like Lyman Hall, of 
 the class of 1747, went South after graduation, and took up his 
 residence in Liberty Co., Georgia. Entering public life he be 
 came, in 1781, Governor of the State. Before that he had been 
 a member of the Provincial and Continental Congress. In 1789- 
 91 he was President of the Georgia Senate. For a time, during 
 the Revolution, he served in the medical department of the 
 South, Congress having appointed him " Deputy-Purveyor of the 
 Hospital" on March 28, 1781, and again on June 6, 1782. He 
 died in Nov., 1796. 
 
 1 Rev. Dr. Levi Hart, of this class, pastor at Griswold, Conn., visited the 
 Boston camps in 1775, and preached to the troops there, but not regularly as 
 Chaplain. 
 
 a Rev. Jesse Goodell of Pomfret, Conn., and Rev. William Southmayd, of 
 this class, native of Waterbury, Conn., are mentioned as chaplains. The latter 
 is said to have died " near Lake Champlain, in 1777." 
 
226 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 WILLIAM COIT, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 Captain of Privateers. 
 
 Of New London, Conn., where he was born Nov. 26, 1742. 
 The Coit Genealogy describes him as a hearty patriot, " blunt 
 and jovial, eccentric, very large in frame, fierce and military in 
 his bearing, and noted for wearing a scarlet coat." He was a 
 merchant and sea-captain. In May, 1775, he was appointed 
 Captain in Col. Parsons Conn, regiment, and distinguished 
 himself, with his company of " independent marines," at the 
 battle of Bunker Hill (p. 17). In the fall of the year, acting 
 under Washington s directions, he took command of the privateer 
 Harrison at Plymouth, and on Nov. 6th brought in two prizes. 
 He sailed again on the 23d, but a week later was driven into 
 Barnstable by British men-of-war. Returning to camp at the 
 close of the year, he retired from land service. In the Webb 
 " Reminiscences " there is a humorous, sailor-like letter from his 
 pen describing the Harrison. " While I can keep the sea and 
 light only on unarmed vessels," he writes, " she will do very well. 
 But if obliged to fire both guns of a side at a time, it would split 
 her open from her gunwale to her keelson." Another reference 
 appears on p. 32. On July u, 1776, Captain Coit was appointed, 
 by Gov. Trumbull and Council, to the command of the " colony 
 ship-of-war," Oliver Cromwell, building at Saybrook. Some diffi 
 culties arose, however, and he was discharged from the command, 
 April 14, 1777. He is not mentioned again until Arnold s attack 
 on New London in 1781, when he was taken prisoner. The date 
 of his exchange does not appear. He is supposed to have died 
 while on a visit to the South. The Hartford Courant for May 17, 
 1802, notices the death of a William Coit on Feb. 16, of that year, 
 at Burlington, Vt. 
 
 DANIEL HITCHCOCK, 
 
 Colonel, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Colonel Hitchcock we know too little. His career was 
 brief, but long enough to mark him as a man of uncommon worth 
 a type of the nobler characters of that day. His ancestry is 
 traced to Luke and Elizabeth (Gibbons) Hitchcock, who settled 
 
Roll of Honor. 227 
 
 at Wethersfield, Conn., in 1644, and whose grandsons, Ebenezer 
 and Peletiah, subsequently settled at Springfield, Mass. Peletiah 
 was the father of Rev. Dr. Enos Hitchcock, graduate of Harvard, 
 1767, and afterwards a well-known chaplain in the Revolution. 
 Ebenezer and Mary (Sheldon) Hitchcock were the parents of 
 Daniel, the subject of this sketch. He (Daniel) was born at 
 Springfield, Feb. 15, 1739, tne thirteenth child in the family. 
 Among his brothers, and twenty-one years his senior, was the 
 Rev. Dr. Gad Hitchcock, graduate of Harvard, 1743. 
 
 Upon graduation, Daniel Hitchcock studied law at Northampton, 
 and in 1771-72 appears on the roll of the thirty or more attorneys 
 practising in the Supreme Court of Mass. Soon after, for reasons 
 not stated, he removed to Providence, R. I., where, at the opening 
 of the Revolution, he was well established in his profession and 
 making his mark. He first appears in a public capacity in Dec., 
 1774, when the R. I. Assembly appointed him on a commission 
 to revive the military laws of the colony. On April 22, 1775, he 
 was elected Lieut. -Colonel of the Providence Train of Artillery, 
 and in May following was made Colonel of the Second or Provi 
 dence regiment in the R. I. " Army of Observation," as it was 
 called, which went to Boston under Gen. Greene and served 
 through the siege. Dr. Stiles speaks of meeting him in camp 
 there (p. 24). In the campaign of 1776 at New York, Hitchcock 
 was stationed on the Long Island side, and his regiment helped 
 to build the works. What part he took there before and during 
 the battle appears on pp. 40, 47. His regiment was known as 
 the Eleventh Foot, on the Continental Establishment for 1776. It 
 accompanied the army in all its movements and retreats down 
 through the battles of Trenton and Princeton, where, as stated 
 in the text, it performed capital service. Hitchcock was senior 
 officer in the brigade at the time, Greene being Division Com 
 mander, and he led it with signal success, especially at Princeton, 
 as described on p. 60. The army encamped at Morristown, 
 where, overcome by the fatigue and exertions of the recent move 
 ments, the brave Colonel died, Jan. 13, 1777. He was buried 
 with military honors on the following day, the Delaware and 
 Philadelphia Infantry Companies, under the command of Captain 
 Thomas Rodney, being detailed as the funeral escort. In his 
 MSS. journal the Captain says, Jan. i4th : " This day the Infan- 
 
228 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 try was ordered to bury Gen. Hitchcock with the honors of war, 
 and as he was a Continental officer I took the command myself." 
 He speaks of the bier being followed by " the mourners, then the 
 officers, and then the battalion in platoons of 10 in open order." 
 Three vollies were fired over the grave. 
 
 The Colonel left a brief will, which was witnessed on Jan. 10, 
 1777, at Morristown, the witnesses stating that " through exces 
 sive pain and weakness " the testator was unable to sign the in 
 strument. The will reads : " I Give one Half of my Estate to 
 the Benevolent Congregational Society in Providence The Re 
 mainder to be equally divided among my Bretheren." This was 
 sworn to before Gov. Livingston, Jan. i5th, at Morristown, and 
 on the i pth March, 1777, recorded at Providence. Among the 
 items of the estate was a gold watch presented to Col. Hitchcock 
 by Gen. Greene, as a mark of the latter s friendship and respect, 
 and which is now in the hands of one of the Colonel s collateral 
 descendants. Before his death the Colonel had been appointed 
 to the command of one of the two R. I. regiments of the new 
 Continental Line. He died unmarried. 
 
 Class of 1762. 
 
 HEZEKIAH BISSELL, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Son of the Rev. Hezekiah Bissell, class of 1733, long pastor at 
 Bloomfield, Conn. He was born April 24, 1743, and settled at 
 Windham as a lawyer. Without doubt he was the officer of his 
 name who was Captain in the 5th militia regiment which rein 
 forced Washington s army in the fall of 1776 that regiment 
 being from Windham County. There was also a State Commissary 
 by his name from the same county. The Woodbridge family 
 record states that he served in the Revolution. He died at 
 Windsor, 1808. 
 
Roll of Honor. 229 
 
 JEDIDIAH CHAPMAN, 
 
 Chaplain, New Jersey Troops. 
 
 Pastor at " Newark Mountain," or Orange, New Jersey, during 
 the Revolution. His parish was in an exposed section and the 
 Tories threatened to capture him. During a part of the campaign 
 of 1776, he served as Chaplain of Col. Martin s New Jersey regi 
 ment in Washington s army, and may have been with it in camp 
 on the Long Island front. He was born at East Haddam, Ct., 
 Sept. 27, 1741, and died in central New York, May, 22, 1813. 
 His name appears by error as Hezekiah Chapman, on p. 38. 
 
 JOSIAH HART, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut. 
 
 Physician at New Britain, Conn. ; born April 28, 1742. He 
 studied medicine with Dr. Potter of Wallingford, class of 1760, 
 and July, 1775, was appointed Surgeon s-Mate of Col. Parsons 
 Connecticut regiment at the Boston siege. On Jan. i, 1776, he 
 appears as full Surgeon of the regiment, and probably served 
 with it in the New York campaign through the year. There 
 is no further record in his case. After the war he was known 
 as a prominent physician both at home and at Marietta, Ohio, 
 where he settled later in life. He died at Lowell, O., Aug., 
 1812. 
 
 WILLIAM NICHOLS, 
 
 Paymaster, Continental A rmy. 
 
 The graduate of this name was undoubtedly the lawyer and 
 officer, William Nichols, resident of Hartford. He formed one 
 of the small party that went from that city to contrive and assist 
 in the capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775. ^ n Z 77^ ne wa s 
 Lieutenant and Paymaster in Col. Heman Swift s Conn, regi 
 ment in the Northern Department, and on Jan. i, 1777, he was 
 commissioned with the same rank in Swift s Seventh Regiment 
 of the new Continental Line. The command fought at Ger- 
 mantown, wintered at Valley Forge, and was with the army 
 at Monmouth. The rolls showed that he retired from the 
 service in July, 1778. After that he seems to have practised 
 
230 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 his profession at Hartford, where he died, Friday, Oct. 13, 1792, 
 aged fifty-one. He was buried on the following day. Member 
 Cincinnati Soc. 
 
 AMOS NORTHROP, 
 
 Lieutenant and Commissary, Connecticut. 
 
 Of New Milford, Conn., where he was born, Dec. 19, 1742. 
 He was First Lieutenant in Col. Samuel Whiting s Conn, regi 
 ment, raised for service on the Westchester line during the 
 winter of 1776-77. Later, according to family tradition, he acted 
 as Commissary, and died of consumption hastened by exertions 
 in the service his death occurring March 19, 1779. His grave is 
 at New Milford. 
 
 JOHN PATERSON, 
 
 Brigadier-General, Continental Army. 
 
 Few officers were more closely identified with the army than 
 Gen. Paterson his service being continuous and active for over 
 eight years and a half. His native place was New Britain, Conn., 
 then one of the societies of the town of Farmington, where he 
 was born 1743-4. His father was major of provincial troops in 
 1762, at the siege of Havanna, and died there of yellow fever. 
 About 1769 the general removed to Lenox, Mass., and practised 
 law. He was sent as a delegate to the first Provincial Congress 
 in 1774, and again to the second, which met at Cambridge, Feb 
 ruary i, 1775. He was at the time colonel of militia, and his 
 regiment was among the first at the front after the Lexington 
 alarm. May 27, 1775, he was commissioned colonel in the Pro 
 vincial service, and his regiment took post at redoubt No. 3, 
 northeast of Cambridge. He served through the siege, and in 
 1776, on the evacuation of Boston, he was ordered to Canada, 
 where, in May, we find him in command at Montreal. In the 
 fall of the year he marched down, with others, to reinforce Wash 
 ington, who was retreating through the Jerseys, and took part in 
 
Roll of Honor. 231 
 
 the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He was then appointed 
 colonel of one of the new regiments of the Massachusetts Conti 
 nental line, with Springfield as the place of rendezvous. On Feb. 
 2ist, of that year, however, he was promoted by Congress Briga 
 dier-General of the Continental Army, and as such returned to 
 Ticonderoga, under St. Clair s command. That post abandoned 
 he joined Gates force with his Massachusetts brigade, and was 
 present in the field all through Burgoyne s campaign. After the 
 surrender he once more joined Washington, and wintered at 
 Valley Forge, 1777-78. There he superintended a portion of the 
 defences, as stated on p. 84. At Monmouth, June 29, 1779, he 
 appears in command of the three Massachusetts brigades on 
 Washington s main line, but not closely engaged ; then on the 
 Hudson and at West Point, where he was post commander two 
 winters. In Oct., 1780, after sitting on the court that tried 
 Andre, Paterson wrote a long letter to Gen. Heath (Mass, archives) 
 complaining that the country was not supporting the army prop 
 erly, and suggesting the best methods of enlisting recruits for the 
 war. As for himself, he declared that he was " ruined " in cir 
 cumstances, and would be compelled to resign his commission in 
 the following year. He remained, however, to render further 
 good service. One of his letters of this period, 1780, appears on 
 p. 121. 
 
 In 1781, 82, and 83, he was generally in the Highlands. He 
 signs himself, in March of the latter year, commander of the left 
 wing of the Newburg cantonment. On June 24, 1783, he received 
 orders to march with the ist, 2d, and 3d Massachusetts regiments 
 to Philadelphia, where a mutiny of old soldiers broke out. There 
 he presided over the court which tried and punished the offend 
 ers. Returning to the Hudson, he retired from the service in 
 December, 1783. 
 
 After the war Gen. Paterson resided in Lenox until about 1789, 
 when he moved to Lisle, Broome County, N. Y. Before that he 
 had become Major-General of the gih Division of Massachusetts 
 Militia, and in 1787 assisted in the suppression of Shay s rebel 
 lion. In his new home he became influential, went to the N. Y. 
 Legislature, and from 1803 to 1805 was a member of Congress. 
 April 2, 1806, he was appointed Chief Justice of Broome County 
 Court of Common Pleas, an office which he appears to have been 
 
232 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 holding at the time of his death, July 19, 1808. Member Mass. 
 Cincinnati Soc. 
 
 THOMAS SKINNER, 
 
 Surgeon, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Colchester, Conn., where he was born May 31, 1741. He 
 was commissioned March 20, 1779, surgeon of the Eighth Conn. 
 Continental Line, and continued in service after January, 1781, 
 when he was surgeon of the Fifth. He probably remained through 
 the war, and then returned to Colchester, where he died Aug. 7, 
 1796. Member Conn. Cincinnati Soc. 
 
 WHITMAN WELCH, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts. 
 
 Pastor at Williamstown, Mass., from 1765 to 1776. He was a 
 native of Milford, Conn. In the early part of 1776 he officiated 
 as chaplain of one of the militia regiments of Western Massachu 
 setts which were sent to reinforce our defeated army before Que 
 bec. The small-pox prevailing in the camp, he contracted the 
 disease, and died there in March, 1776.* 
 
 Class of 1763. 
 
 EBENEZER BALDWIN, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Danbury, Conn.; born at Norwich, July 3, 1745. 
 He had been tutor at Yale and was highly esteemed as an instruc 
 tor and minister. Chancellor Kent, who fitted for college under 
 him, speaking of his worth and public spirit, says, in his $. B. K. 
 address, 1831 : 
 
 1 Jabez Swift, of this class, is mentioned as having died " in camp near Bos 
 ton, 1775." He may have been one of the early volunteers after the Lexington 
 alarm. His native place was Kent, Conn., but he had settled as a lawyer at 
 Salisbury. 
 
Roll of Honor. 233 
 
 " Mr. Baldwin took an enlightened and active interest in the 
 rise and early progress of the American Revolution. ... In 
 the impending and gloomy campaign of 1776 he was incessant 
 in his efforts to cheer and animate his townsmen to join the 
 militia, which were called out for the defence of New York. To 
 give weight to his eloquent exhortations he added that of his 
 heroic example. He went voluntarily as a chaplain to one of the 
 militia regiments. His office was peaceful, but he nevertheless 
 arrayed himself in military armor. I was present when he firmly 
 and cheerfully bid adieu to his devoted parishioners and affection 
 ate pupils." 
 
 Mr. Baldwin volunteered to officiate as chaplain of Col. J. P. 
 Cooke s militia regiment from Danbury, which served at New 
 York for three or four months in 1776. He joined it in August, 
 and was with the troops during some of the trying scenes of the 
 campaign. His experience, however, was cut short by camp dis 
 ease, which terminated fatally. Returning home, he died Oct. i, 
 1776, greatly mourned by his people. 
 
 VINE ELDERKIN, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Windham, Conn., where he was born Sept. n, 1745. He 
 first appeared as captain in Col. John. Douglass State Regiment 
 raised for service in the Northern Department, with commission 
 dating June 20, 1776. The regiment went into the field under 
 another colonel, Samuel Mott, and served during the summer 
 and fall of 1776 at Ticonderoga. While doing garrison duty and 
 working on the fortifications, the command suffered from the 
 small-pox, and late in November it returned to Connecticut. 
 Elderkin then, upon recommendation, entered the Continental 
 Army, and was commissioned Jan. i, 1777, Captain in Col. 
 Swift s Seventh Conn. Regt. With this he doubtless served in 
 Pennsylvania at the battle of Germantown. On Nov. 2d follow 
 ing he resigned. Later, in 1778, an officer of the same name was 
 engaged in the Commissary Department in Massachusetts. 
 
 Before the war Captain Elderkin had been living at Wyoming, 
 Penn., where his father, Col. Jedediah Elderkin, was interested as 
 one of the proprietors in the Susquehanna Co. He died at Green- 
 
234 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 bush, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1800. His brother, Bela, class of 1767, 
 served in the navy. 
 
 EBENEZER GRAY, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Continental Army. 
 
 Col. Gray was born at Windham, Conn., July 26, 1743, and 
 practised law there before the war. He seems to have intended 
 settling at Wyoming, Penn., when the crisis called him into the 
 service. He became Second Lieutenant in Putnam s regiment, 
 May i, 1775, and served through the siege of Boston, taking part, 
 it is said, in the battle of Bunker Hill. January i, 1776, he was 
 promoted First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of Col. Durkee s 
 regiment, and marched with it to New York. There Gen. Par 
 sons appointed him, August 31, 1776, his Brigade-Major, a posi 
 tion he retained until the spring of 1777. He was doubtless in the 
 retreat from New York and other affairs. In the new Continental 
 Army he became Major of the Sixth Connecticut, Col. Meigs, 
 commission dating January i, 1777, and served in Putnam s com 
 mand along the Hudson during the Burgoyne campaign (not in 
 Pennsylvania as stated on p. 74). On October 15, 1778, he was 
 promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Regiment, Col. 
 Swift s, and thereafter served in the main army along the High 
 lands and in New Jersey. In the fall of 78, he was stationed at 
 Norwalk, Ct., when he obtained information of the enemy s doings 
 from Long Island, which he reported to Gen. Gates. He once 
 took a party himself to Lloyd s Neck, attacked some Tories, and 
 brought off fifteen prisoners. One of his tours of duty is indi 
 cated in the following: "Camp Mandeville, August 12, 1779 
 Morning Orders 7 o clock Four Companies to be immediately 
 detached from the Connecticut Line to march with light packs 
 and Blankets with two days provisions. Lieut.-Col Gray to com 
 mand the Detachment." At the Morristown huts, during the cold 
 winter of 1779-80, he was for a time in command of his brigade, 
 and in the spring was posted on the advanced lines. In 1781 he 
 
Roll of Honor. 235 
 
 was assigned to the Fourth Regiment, and in 1782 to the Third. 
 For an extract from one of his letters, see p. 128. He retired 
 June, 1783. Member Conn. Cincinnati Soc. 
 
 After the war Col. Gray resumed his law practice at Windham 
 and held the office of Collector of Excise for a few years. He 
 died June 18, 1795. 
 
 WILLIAM JUDD, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Farmington, Conn., where he was born July 20, 1743, and 
 where he practised as " barrister-at-law " until about 1774-75 
 when he went to Westmoreland, Penn. He was there in Dec., 
 
 1776, when he accepted a Captaincy in Col. Wyllys Third regi 
 ment of the new Connecticut Line, commission dating Jan. i, 
 
 1777. He served four years, mainly on the Hudson, at West 
 Point, and in expeditions. Occasionally he appears as Judge 
 Advocate of a court-martial. He retired Jan. i, 1781, and re 
 sumed the practice of law at Farmington, also representing; the 
 town several sessions in the Assembly. Politics interested him, 
 and he became a leader in the Jeffersonian republican party. 
 Among other questions he agitated was the sufficiency of the 
 Constitution of Connecticut, no new one having been adopted 
 since the Declaration of Independence. A Convention met at 
 New Haven, Aug. 29, 1804, to move for the adoption of one, over 
 which Judd presided as Chairman. As he was Justice of the 
 Peace, the Connecticut Legislature removed him, with three 
 others, from office for thus questioning the State s Constitutional 
 powers. He proposed to make his own defence before that body 
 at New Haven, but ill health preventing he put his brief into print 
 for general circulation. His strength failing he returned to 
 Farmington on the morning of Nov. 13, 1804, and died there at 
 ii o clock on the same evening. On the following day his 
 friends issued his address with this introduction : 
 
236 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 These are to you the people, the last words of a respectable individual, lately 
 of your number, of a man, who served for a long time in the characters of a 
 justice of the peace, of an officer of the revolutionary war, of a representative of 
 his town, of a master of the grand lodge of Connecticut, and of Chairman of 
 the Republican Convention. 
 
 In the course of a busy life, spent in political councils, and in extensive prac 
 tice at the bar, Major Judd had the means of understanding the principles of our 
 revolution, and the history and true interests of this State. With uniform integ 
 rity and firmness, he asserted his political opinions in opposition to the powers 
 of the State, and this last opinion, for which he was removed, was expressed at 
 a time when he had strong presentiments that his end was near. He was 
 anxious to place before the people the reasons which supported him in the 
 declaration that this State has no Constitution of civil government. . . . The 
 last thing which he felt on this side the grave, was a removal from office, 
 for a declaration of the truth of which he had no doubt. 
 
 Major Judd was a member of the Conn. Cincinnati Society. 
 
 HEZEKIAH RIPLEY, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Green s Farms, Conn., where his house and church 
 were burned by the enemy during the invasion of July, 1779. He 
 was Chaplain of Silliman s brigade during a part of the campaign 
 around New York in 1776. A statement from his pen briefly de 
 scribing his experiences on Sept. i5th, the day of the retreat from 
 the city, and the narrow escape of the command, appears in Da 
 vis "Life of Burr." In 1777 he was appointed Chaplain of Col. 
 Chandler s Eighth Connecticut Line, but he never joined it. Dr. 
 Ripley was born at Windham, Conn., Febr. 3, 1743, and died 
 Dec. 1831. 
 
 1 Rev. Ephraim Judson, of this class, was invited to become Chaplain of Col. 
 Andrew Ward s Connecticut regiment in the summer of 1776 at New York, but 
 whether he accepted does not appear. He was for some time pastor at Shef 
 field, Mass. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Woodbridge is also mentioned as Chaplain. He was first at 
 Eastbury and then at West Harland, Conn. 
 
Roll of Honor. 237 
 
 SANFORD KINGSBURY, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 A native of Norwich, Conn., who afterwards lived at Claremont, 
 N. H. He was, doubtless, the Captain Kingsbury who belonged 
 to the State regiment, commanded by Colonel Enos, which served 
 a short time in Rhode Island in 1776-77. Probably he served at 
 other points on alarms during the war. He died in 1833. 
 
 EBENEZER MOSELEY, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 A native of Windham County, Conn., born Feb. 19, 1741. He 
 lived in "Canada Society," and, as stated on p. 15, commanded a 
 company from that place, which organized for service on the 
 Lexington alarm. The company joined Putnam s regiment, and 
 went to the Boston camp, where Captain Moseley took part in the 
 battle of Bunker Hill. He probably remained there through the 
 year. In the early part of 1777 he turned out again, and served 
 under Gen. Spencer in Rhode Island. After the war he became 
 Colonel of the 5th Militia Regiment. By profession he was a 
 minister. An interesting sketch of him appears in the " Moseley " 
 Genealogy. He died in 1825. 
 
 Class of 1 764. 
 
 PETER COLT, 
 
 Deputy-Commissary-General, Continental Army. 
 
 Col. Colt was the youngest son of Benjamin and Miriam (Harris) 
 Colt, of Lyme, Conn., where he was born March 28, 1744. His 
 great-grandfather, John Colt, came from the west of England, 
 about 1634, and settled at Windsor, Conn., in 1637-8, whence his 
 eldest son, John, subsequently moved down the river to Lyme. 
 It was Peter Colt s intention to follow a profession, but in his 
 junior year he, with about eighty other students, was poisoned at 
 breakfast, which so affected his health that he entered into active 
 business life. 1 In 1768 he formed a partnership at New Haven 
 
 poisoning case is noticed in the sketch of Rev. Dr. Isaac Lewis, class of 
 1765, in Sprague s " Annals of the American Pulpit." Trouble between the 
 students and certain French people in New Haven led to an act of revenge on the 
 part of the latter. One of their number is said to have had access to the college 
 kitchen, and put arsenic into the food for " Commons." Many of the students 
 became seriously ill, and a few died. 
 
238 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 with Capt. Hezekiah Howe in the West India trade, which was 
 kept up until 1775. 
 
 Colt took an early interest in public affairs. On May 23, 1774, 
 he was appointed one of the New Haven Town Committee of 
 Correspondence. About May i, 1775, he became military secre 
 tary to Gen. Wooster, but his partner soon dying, he resigned the 
 position to settle his business affairs. While thus engaged, he ac 
 cepted a proposition from his friend, Col. Jonathan Fitch, class 
 of 1748, resident Commissary of New Haven Co., to assist him 
 in his duties. During this connection he visited the Boston camps. 
 While at Watertown, Mass., Sept. n, 1775, he sent a spirited letter 
 to young Aaron Burr, whose friends he knew at New Haven, and 
 who was just starting off with Arnold on the Quebec expedition. 
 " You must now think," he wrote him, " only on the bright side, 
 and make the least of every disagreeable circumstance attending 
 your march. Let no difficulty discourage you. The enterprise is 
 glorious, and, if it succeeds, will redound to the honor of those 
 who planned and executed it." In the following year (1776) he 
 acted occasionally as agent for Col. Joseph Trumbull, Commissary- 
 General of the Continental forces, going up the Hudson River, for 
 instance, in September, to purchase flour and provisions. On 
 Aug. 9, 1777, Congress appointed Colt Deputy-Commissary Gen 
 eral of Purchases for the Eastern Department, which included 
 New England and New York east of the Hudson the most im 
 portant division that fell to any deputy. His duties here were 
 constant and exacting, their nature being indicated in his letters 
 on pp. 96-7 ; and they also led him into an intimate acquaintance 
 with leading men in Congress and the army. With General 
 Greene and Commissary-General Jeremiah Wadsworth, he was on 
 confidential terms. When Congress adopted the policy, 1780-81, 
 of supplying the army by contract, both Wadsworth and Colt 
 engaged to supply the French troops under Rochambeau, and 
 served them until their departure. 
 
 Col. Colt married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Daniel Lyman, 
 Esq., of New Haven, October 19, 1776. About the middle of 
 June, 1778, he moved his office and family to Hartford, but 
 intended to return at the close of the war. He found it impossible, 
 however, to leave Col. Wadsworth, with whom he formed close 
 business arrangements, and he remained in Hartford. From 1789 
 
Roll of Honor. 239 
 
 to 1793 he was Treasurer of Connecticut. In the spring of 93 he 
 resigned, and removed to Paterson, N. J., to take charge of the 
 affairs of the " Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures," a 
 corporation that had been chartered by the State of New Jersey, 
 through the efforts of Col. Alexander Hamilton and Judge Boudi- 
 not, of Newark, both of whom had long been his personal friends. 
 In 1796-7 he went to Rome, N. Y., to superintend the works 
 of the " Western Inland Lock Navigation Company " (the fore 
 runner of the Erie Canal), and upon their completion settled on 
 a large farm at that place. In 1810 he returned to Paterson, 
 N. J., and purchased an interest in the " Society " mentioned above. 
 His sons Roswell and John were already established in business 
 there. Col. Colt died at Paterson, March 16, 1824, Member 
 Conn. Cincinnati Soc. 
 
 SAMUEL ELY, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 A native of Lyme, Conn., born Nov. 6, 1740. He became a 
 minister and preached for some time at Somers. During the war 
 and after he appears in Vermont and Massachusetts. It is cer 
 tain that he was at the battle of Bennington as a volunteer, the 
 fact being brought out in a published charge by one Williams that 
 he was engaged in plundering after the action. A Court of In 
 quiry at Bennington reported, Sept. 8, 1778, as follows : 
 
 " These certify that Mr. Samuel Ely, the Preacher, who was in the two 
 bloody Battles at Benington, and behaved with the greatest Honor, Valiantry, 
 and Courage in both Actions . . . did, when desired, appear before the 
 Court of Enquiry and make a handsome Defence relative to the Plunder he had 
 taken ; as he said what he had taken was at the point of the Sword, as a Volun 
 teer for his groaning, bleeding Country ; and he further said that he supported 
 himself and lived upon his own money while in Camp, and was at no charge to 
 his Country. And the Court being fully satisfied with what he did and what he 
 said, they never ordered Mr. Ely to be advertised." 
 
 1 The writer is indebted to Mr. E. Boudinot Colt, of Paterson, N. J., grand 
 son of Col. Colt, for most of the facts inserted in this sketch. 
 
240 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 The Committee of Safety of Wilmington, Vt, also published a 
 card, in which they say : " We all know that General Stark said 
 if he had five Thousand such Men as Mr. Ely he would drive 
 
 Burgoyne and his army to the D . Besides, we are sorry that 
 
 Mr. Ely should be so treated by Williams and some others, when 
 no man could exert himself more for his distressed Country 
 than he has done in Various Instances." These papers appear 
 in the New London Gazette, Nov. 13, 1778. 
 
 After the war Mr. Ely agitated socialistic views, got into 
 trouble, defied the authorities in Massachusetts, was denounced 
 as a " mobber," and arrested. What became of him does not 
 appear. He is supposed to have died in 1795. 
 
 CHAUNCEY WHITTLESEY, 
 
 Purchasing Clothier, Connecticut. 
 
 Merchant at Middletown, Conn. ; born Oct. 27, 1746. He was 
 licensed to preach, but went into business on account of his 
 health. During the Revolution he was active as Purchasing 
 Clothier for the State. His name frequently appears in the rec 
 ords, one item in the proceedings of the Governor s Council for 
 Feb. 8, 1777, for example, running as follows: " Chauncey 
 Whittlesey, as Commissary, is directed to deliver to Col. Wyllys, 
 clothes made, or such quantity of cloth, &c., in his hands, for 
 soldiers clothing as Col. Wyllys should need for the soldiers in 
 his regiment. Mr. Whittlesey also ordered to make soldiers 
 coats and trim the same in uniform, as Col. W T yllys should direct." 
 He died March 14, 1812. 
 
 1 Jeremiah Hedges, of this class, of Southampton, L. I., is said to have been 
 a Surgeon in the Revolution, and Enoch White, of South Hadley, Mass., a 
 Lieutenant. 
 
Roll of Honor. 241 
 
 Class of 1765. 
 
 MANASSEH CUTLER, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts. 
 
 Dr. Cutler s name is associated most prominently with the Or 
 dinance of 1787, providing for an organized and free Western 
 territory, and the purchase and settlement of Ohio lands. He 
 was a man of varied talents a pastor who interested himself in 
 public affairs, went to Congress, and also had a relish for scien 
 tific research. His native place was Killingly, Conn. date of 
 birth May 3, 1742. He settled over the church at Hamilton, 
 Mass., and in July, 1778, volunteered as Chaplain of Gen. Tit- 
 comb s brigade of Mass, militia, which took part in Sullivan s 
 operations against the enemy near Newport, R. I. This appears 
 from his own diary recently published by the late Rev. Dr. Stone, 
 of Providence, in " Our French Allies." The journal contains 
 much interesting and valuable information respecting the move 
 ment, but unfortunately ends before the battle of Rhode Island, 
 Aug. 28th, was fought. He is said to have been present in the 
 action. His later efforts in behalf of Western settlers and his 
 appearance in public life, made him a prominent figure of the 
 time. He died at Hamilton, July 23, 1823. 
 
 SAMUEL EELLS, 
 
 Captain, Volunteers. 
 
 Mr. Eells was pastor at Branford, Conn., from 1769 to 1808. 
 While Washington was retreating through New Jersey in Nov.- 
 Dec., 1776, the Conn. Legislature called for volunteers to go to 
 his relief. Companies were formed and marched with haste to 
 the Hudson. Mr. Eells announced the call to his parishioners 
 from his pulpit and invited all who would volunteer in the emer 
 gency to assemble on the green. Many did so, a company 
 was formed, and Mr. Eells elected captain. They soon were on 
 the march, but the favorable turn in affairs after Trenton and 
 Princeton rendered any lengthened stay in the field unnecessary. 
 Mr. Eells died April 22, 1808, in the 64th year of his age. 
 
242 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ROSWELL GRANT, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 A merchant of East Windsor, Conn. ; born there March 3, 
 1746. His father, Captain Ebenezer Grant, descendant of Mat 
 thew Grant, who came to America in 1630, had built up a flourish 
 ing business in the place, to which Roswell succeeded. 
 
 His Revolutionary services consisted of occasional tours of 
 duty within and beyond the State. He was a Captain in Col. 
 Roger Enos Regiment raised, with five others, early in 1778, for 
 the defence of the State, and " to be held in constant readiness, 
 to march on the shortest notice, wherever the militia were liable 
 to be called." In the summer following, about the time of the 
 battle of Monmouth, when the enemy reoccupied New York with 
 their entire force, the regiment was ordered to the Hudson and 
 arrived there July 3d. It was stationed at Fort Clinton, the rolls 
 showing that Captain Grant was present with his company. This 
 was a three months tour. Still earlier in the year he was ordered 
 to march " without delay " with a detachment, and report to Gen. 
 Spencer at Providence, R. I., which place the British were threat 
 ening. For this service, which was to continue two months, Jan 
 uary and February, the Governor s Council allowed Captain 
 Grant s Company ^100. Doubtless he was called out in a simi 
 lar way at different times both earlier and later in the war. 
 
 In 1783 the Captain married Flavia daughter of Gen. Erastus 
 Wolcott, of Windsor. He was known afterwards as Major Grant, 
 and was elected several terms to the State Assembly. His death 
 occurred Dec. 31, 1834. 
 
 THOMAS GROSVENOR, 
 
 Lieut. -Col. Commandant, Continental Army. 
 
 A resident of Pomfret, Conn., and for many years after the 
 war Chief Justice of Windham Co. Court. He served in the 
 
Roll of Honor. 243 
 
 Revolution nearly eight years and made an honorable record, 
 beginning with a prompt response to the Lexington alarm. May 
 i, 1775, he was commissional Lieutenant in Putnam s regiment 
 and was closely engaged at Bunker Hill. (See his letter, p. 19.) 
 Trumbull, the artist, gives him a conspicuous place in his paint 
 ing of the battle. Jan. i, 1776, he became Captain in Col. Dur- 
 kee s regiment, and served with it to the close of the Boston siege. 
 Marching to New York he was stationed much of the time at 
 Paulus Hook, now Jersey City. He was present at the battle of 
 Long Island with a party under Knowlton, narrowly escaping 
 capture, and was again with Knowlton s " Rangers " in the suc 
 cessful affair of Harlem Heights, Sept. 16, 1776, Returning to 
 his regiment he participated in the victories of Trenton and 
 Princeton. In the new Continental Army he received pro 
 motion, being commissioned Major of the Third Regt. under 
 Col. Wyllys, Jan. i, 1777, and served with it on the Hud 
 son. March 13, 1778, he was promoted Lieut.-Colonel of the 
 Third. By general orders, July n, 1779, Gen. Heath appointed 
 him Inspector of the Connecticut Division, which position be re 
 tained until the spring of 1782. When Washington marched to 
 Virginia he received the additional appointment, Aug. 19, 1781, 
 of Deputy- Adjutant-General to that part of the army left to 
 guard the Hudson. At the close of the campaign he was re 
 lieved by Heath s orders as follows : 
 
 " HEAD QUARTERS, HIGHLANDS, Dec. i, 1781. 
 
 . . Lieut. Col. Grosvenor finding it difficult from the remote 
 situation of the division of which he is Inspector to do the duty of D. A. G. of 
 this army, Lt. Col. Hull [Y. C. 1772,] is appointed to that office and is to be 
 obey d and respected accordingly. The Gen 1 , requests Lieut. Col. Grosvenor 
 to accept his thanks for the great propriety, and attention with which he dis 
 charged the important duties of the office." 
 
 On May 29, 1782, Grosvenor was promoted Lieut.-Colonel 
 Commandant (a rank equivalent to Colonel) of the First Conn. 
 Regt., and remained with it on the Hudson until Jan. i, 1783, 
 when he retired from the service. He had been a " barrister " 
 before the war, and resuming his profession attained judicial 
 positions. Washington put up at his house at Pomfret on his 
 
244 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 New England tour in 1791. The Colonel died in 1825. Mem 
 ber Conn. Cincinnati Soc. His valuable order-books are still 
 preserved, and have been consulted in the preparation of these 
 sketches. 
 
 ISAAC LEWIS, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Greenwich, Conn.; born at Stratford, Jan. 21, 1746. 
 He was Chaplain of Col. Bradley s regiment from July, 1776, to 
 the close of the year, and was with it in camp at Bergen and 
 other points near New York. He was invited to the chaplaincy 
 of Bradley s Fifth Continental Regt. in 1777, but declined the 
 appointment. Rev. Ichabod Lewis, of the same class, was ap 
 pointed in his place, but his name is not on the rolls of the Fifth. 
 Dr. Lewis died Aug. 27, 1840, in his ninety-fifth year. 
 
 THEODORE SEDGWICK, 
 
 Major and Aid-de-Camp, Massachusetts. 
 
 Prominent as statesman and jurist from 1789 to 1813. He 
 figured in the State Constitutional Conventions after the Revolu 
 tion, went to Congress, and from 1796 to 1799 was United States 
 Senator. He was born near Hartford, Conn., in the spring of 
 1746, read law with Col. Mark Hopkins at Great Barrington, and 
 settled in Stockbridge. Early in 1776 he became Military Secre 
 tary, with the rank of Major, to Gen. John Thomas, Continental 
 Major-General, and went with him to Canada in May of that 
 year. He was one of the council of officers who advised the 
 abandonment of the Quebec investment. Gen. Thomas died in 
 June, and Maj. Sedgwick retired from service. He was active, 
 however, on local committees, and during the Burgoyne cam 
 paign appears to have been a volunteer aid. In the Trumbull 
 MSS. there is a note from Col. Burrall, of Connecticut, stating 
 that he was met by Maj. Sedgwick " with verbal orders from Gen. 
 Lincoln " to stop all the militia on the road to Bennington after 
 
Roll of Honor. 
 
 245 
 
 that battle. At the time of his death at Boston, Jan. 24, 1813, he 
 was Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 ROBERT WALKER, 
 
 Captain, Continental Artillery. 
 
 Captain Walker and his younger brother, Joseph, class of 1774, 
 also a Captain in the Revolution, were sons of Hon. Robert 
 Walker, of Stratford, Conn., who graduated in 1730. 
 
 Robert, born at Stratford in 1745, joined the army at an early 
 date, and served nearly to the close of the war. He was ap 
 pointed Second Lieutenant of Col. Waterbury s State Regiment 
 May i, 1775, which went to the northern department for that 
 year. In 1776 a regiment on the Continental basis was raised in 
 Connecticut for service in the same department, under Col, 
 Samuel Elmore, and Walker was appointed one of its captains 
 April 1 5th. With his company he was in garrison at Ft. Schuyler 
 on the Mohawk from October, 1776, until February following, when 
 he was offered a position in Col. Lamb s artillery regiment to be 
 raised in New York and Connecticut. In his letter of acceptance, 
 dated Ft. Schuyler, Feb. n, 1776, Walker writes to Lamb, who 
 was then living at Stratford : 
 
 " Your Honour informs that if I am not too deeply engaged, and will accept 
 of a company under your Hon rs Command, it shall be at my service, with the 
 privilege of appointing my First Lieut. & 3 Second Lieuts. Was under no obli 
 gations when yours came to hand, tho* I had received a letter from Colo. Swift, 
 by which I was acquainted that the State of Connecticut had appointed me a 
 Captain in his Battalion ; also some other offers made me. After examining 
 the contents, and upon consulting the whole, have determined to accept of your 
 Honour s offer. I must confess my ignorance in that branch, but shall en 
 deavour to give close attention when I shall have opportunity to be instructed, 
 and hope that my conduct may be such that I shall not dishonour the Regt." 
 [MSS. N. Y. Hist. Soc.] 
 
 Walker s commission as Captain in the Artillery was dated Jan. 
 
246 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 i, 1777. He was generally on duty along the Hudson, at West 
 Point, and forts in the vicinity. Some of the time he was with 
 the Connecticut division. One of Gen. Heath s orders, July 19, 
 1779, runs : "Captain Walker, with his six pounders, now at 
 tached to Gen. Huntington s Brigade, is to march with Gen. Nix 
 on s Brigade, and remain with it till further orders." In 1780 he 
 is mentioned as being at the North Redoubt, opposite West Point, 
 Fishkill, and New Windsor. He resigned March 23, 1781. 
 After the war he lived at Stratford and held judicial office. He 
 died Nov. 7, 1810, aged sixty-four. 
 
 SAMUEL WHITING, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut. 
 
 A native of Stratford. He was appointed in May, 1775, Sur- 
 geon s-mate of Col. Waterbury s regiment, of which his father was 
 Lieut.-Colonel. The regiment served in the northern -depart 
 ment. He was probably surgeon of the State regiment his 
 father commanded in 1776-77, and again in 1779 at Fairfield 
 when the enemy burned the place. He died in 1832, at Green- 
 wich(?). 
 
 HEZEKIAH WYLLYS, 
 
 Colonel, Connecticut Militia. 
 
 Brother of Colonel Samuel Wyllys, class of 1758, already 
 mentioned. He was born at Hartford in 1747. His brothers were 
 in the Continental army, while he served mainly at home with the 
 militia. He was Captain in Colonel Chester s regiment in 1776, 
 and was probably with it at the battle of Long Island and White 
 Plains. After that he was appointed Lieut.-Colonel Com 
 mandant of the First Regiment of Militia and frequently turned 
 
Roll of Honor. 247 
 
 out on alarms. He was in Putnam s force on the Hudson in the 
 Burgoyne campaign, also at Stonington, New Haven, and other 
 points during the war. He also assisted in recruiting the Conti 
 nental line. " He lived," says Miss Talcott, in notice of the 
 family, "in the old Wyllys house on Charter Oak hill [Hartford], 
 and was the last of the name who resided there." His death 
 occurred March 29, 1827. 1 
 
 Class of 1766. 
 
 JOHN CHESTER, 
 
 Colonel, Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 Resident of Wethersfield, Conn., where he was born January 
 29, 1749. He descended in the fifth generation from Leonard 
 Chester, of Leicestershire, England, who settled at Wethersfield 
 about 1635. The Colonel was a man of influence and position, 
 and personally popular. Upon the Lexington alarm he hurried 
 toward Boston at the head of a well-equipped company of about 
 a hundred men, which is mentioned as the " elite corps " of the 
 provincial forces in that camp. " As such," says Swett, " it was 
 selected, on the 6th June, to escort Gen. Putnam and Warren, 
 President of Congress, to Charleston, on the exchange of prison 
 ers with the British." Capt. Chester led this company, which 
 belonged to Spencer s regiment, into the Bunker Hill fight, where 
 it distinguished itself. His account of the action appears on 
 page 1 8. In January, 1776, he was promoted major of Col. 
 Erastus Wolcott s regiment, raised for a brief term of service at 
 the siege, and was one of the first officers to enter Boston when 
 
 1 John Elderkin of this class, was without much doubt the officer of the same 
 name who was Quartermaster of Colonel Chas. Webb s Conn, regiment in 1776, 
 and again in 1777. There was such an officer at West Point in 1780. He was 
 born at Windham, Conn., Jan. 18, 1742, and died in 1795; distant relative of 
 Captain Vine Elderkin, class of 1763. 
 
248 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 the enemy left in March. In a letter to Gov. Trumbull, dated 
 February 19, 1776, Col. Huntington recommends Chester for 
 further promotion as " a fit person to fill any suitable place that 
 may be vacant in the army," and in June following he was 
 appointed colonel of one of the seven regiments of Wadsworth s 
 brigade, raised to serve under Washington at New York to the 
 end of the year. This regiment was engaged at the battle of 
 Long Island, and narrowly escaped capture, being stationed on 
 the outposts near the Flatbush pass, now in Prospect Park, 
 Brooklyn. What part Chester took in the retreat to New York 
 appears in the journal of his Adjutant, Tallmadge, quoted on 
 page 49. Soon after he was made brigade commander, and was 
 present at the battles of White Plains and Trenton. At the close 
 of the year he was recommended for a colonelcy in the new 
 Continental Army, but declined the appointment and returned to 
 private life. On this point his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Marsh, says 
 in his address at Chester s funeral : " Inviolably attached to the 
 cause of his country, with reluctance he retired from the army at 
 the imperious call of his family concerns in 1777, greatly 
 regretted, particularly by the Commander-in-Chief, who ex 
 pressed a solicitous desire to retain him in the service." After 
 the war, as before, Col. Chester went to the legislature, served as 
 Speaker several terms, and in 1798 was elected a member of the 
 Governor s Council. In 1791, Washington appointed him Super 
 visor of the District of Connecticut. He was also Probate and 
 County Judge. His death occurred November 4, 1809, from 
 paralysis. Extracts from his letters have been published as stated 
 on page 21, note. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 ANDREW LEE, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Pastor at Hanover, now Lisbon, Conn. He was born at Lyme, 
 May 7, 1745, and died August 25, 1832. The rolls of Col. John 
 
Roll of Honor. 249 
 
 Durkee s Fourth Regt, Connecticut Line, show that Dr. Lee was 
 its chaplain from January i to October 15, 1777. The regiment 
 was engaged at the battle of Germantown, October 4th. 
 
 JAMES LOCKWOOD, 
 
 Secretary and Brigade-Major. 
 
 Born July 9, 1746, at Wethersfield, Conn., where his father, 
 Rev. James Lockwood, class of 1735, was pastor. He was a 
 merchant at New Haven. On the Lexington alarm he appears to 
 have gone in some capacity to the Boston camp. Later he 
 became military secretary to Gen. Wooster, and accompanied 
 him to Canada with Montgomery, who appointed him a brigade- 
 major " in the Northern Army." He was at the capture of St. 
 Johns, at Montreal, and at Quebec in April-May, 1776. This 
 seems to have been the extent of his field service. On September 
 24, 1777, he was appointed recruiting officer of the First Connecti 
 cut Militia brigade. After the war Major Lockwood went to 
 Philadelphia and engaged in business. He is said to have died 
 at Wilmington, N. C., August 24, I795. 1 
 
 Rt x f^ 
 
 JOHN STRONG, 
 
 Captain, Massachusetts Volunteers. 
 
 s \ ^ >^>fc ~^ 
 
 Of Pittsfield, Mass. He is referred to as one of the patriotic 
 citizens of the place who served for short terms at different 
 In May, 1777, he appears as captain of militia on the Hudson^ 
 and again in July at Fort Ann with fifty-four men. September 
 6, 1777, he is one of thirty-one volunteers, "every man with a 
 horse and meal-bag," and all presumably off for Gates camp at 
 Saratoga. In August previous he had marched for Bennington, 
 and may have been in that battle. Capt. Strong was a lawyer by 
 profession ; born October 13, 1744 ; died, probably at Albany, in 
 1815. 
 
 1 David Shepard, of this class, is mentioned as having been a captain, and 
 afterwards surgeon in the Revolution. He was a native of Westfield, Mass. ; 
 died at Amsterdam, N. Y., Dec. 12, 1818, where he had settled as a physician. 
 
 Dudley Woodbridge, of the same class, a "minute-man." A native of 
 Stonington, Conn., he died at Marietta, Ohio, August 6, 1823. 
 
250 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 JOSEPH B. WADSWORTH, 
 
 Surgeon, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Hartford. He settled at Ellington, Conn., as a 
 physician, and during a part of the war served as surgeon or sur 
 geon s mate on the Hudson. He was doubtless with one of the 
 Connecticut Continental regiments. One of his letters speaking 
 of the sick is dated " Camp, May i, 1778." He died March 12, 
 1784, in his thirty-seventh year. 
 
 Class of 1767. 
 
 MOSES ASHLEY, 
 
 Major, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Westfield, Mass., where he was born July 16, 1749 ; 
 afterwards known as Gen. Ashley, of Stockbridge. Upon the 
 Lexington alarm he marched to Boston as a lieutenant in Col. Pat- 
 erson s militia regiment, and served with it through the siege. In 
 September, 1775, he appears as recruiting officer for the regiment, 
 and January i, 1776, as captain. During the summer and fall of 
 that year he served in the Northern Department, then marched 
 south to Washington s camp, and doubtless engaged in the battles 
 of Trenton and Princeton. January i, 1777, he was commis 
 sioned Captain of the First Massachusetts Continental Regt., Col. 
 Vose, and was present with it throughout the Saratoga campaign. 
 After Burgoyne s surrender he marched to Washington s camp 
 again and wintered, 1777-78, at Valley Forge. 
 
 In June, 1778, his command was at the battle of Monmouth, 
 and in August following at the battle of Rhode Island. From 
 1779 to the close of the war he was with the main army on the 
 Hudson, sometimes acting as brigade-major of Glover s brigade 
 and again as inspector. In August, 1780, he was promoted Ma 
 jor of the Fifth Massachusetts Regt., commanded by Col. Rufus 
 Putnam, and continued as brigade inspector during 1781. Au 
 gust 5, 1782, he commanded a light detachment on the outposts 
 and was also one of the majors of the Light Infantry of that year. 
 February 6, 1783, he was transferred from the Fifth to the Sixth 
 Regt., Col. Greaton s, and in June following retired from the 
 army, his service having been continuous for over eight years. 
 
Roll of Honor. 251 
 
 Returning to Stockbridge, where he had married the widow of 
 Col. Thos. Williams, he engaged in business and held office. He 
 appears as County Treasurer in 1788, and as Brig.-Gen. of Mili 
 tia 1790-91. His death occurred from drowning August 25, 
 1791. Member Massachusetts Cincinnati Society. 
 
 The Boston Centinel for September 7, 1791, publishes the fol 
 lowing obituary : 
 
 " It is with the most painful sensations that we announce to the publick the 
 unfortunate death of Brigadier-General MOSES ASHLEY, of Stockbridge, who 
 was drowned at the Dam of his Forge in Lee, on Thursday, the 2 5th ult. 
 General Ashley, at a very early period of life, received the advantages of an 
 academical education ; and though while at College he was distinguished by 
 industry and decency of behaviour, yet it was not by literary acquisitions that 
 his life was rendered most useful. More active scenes have employed every 
 period of his ripened manhood. While in the bloom of life at the age of 
 twenty-four, when America was aroused to opposition by the usurpations of 
 Great Britain, he, with the ardour of youth and a promptitude of decision, by 
 which he was always distinguished, embraced the profession of arms for the 
 security of freedom. He served until the conclusion of the war, and for several 
 of the last years as a Major in the line of Massachusetts. During the whole 
 time it was his happiness and glory to be greatly respected by his superiours, 
 affectionately beloved and confided in by those of his own grade, and almost 
 adored by his soldiery under his immediate command. Brave, enterprising, 
 active, generous, patient, he possessed those qualities by which military fame 
 is acquired. . . . On all occasions he exerted his influence for the support 
 of the due administration of Justice ; and has uniformly practiced the virtues 
 of a modest and worthy citizen. 1 
 
 BELA ELDERKIN, 
 
 Lieutenant of Marines. 
 
 Born at Windham, Conn., Dec. 10, 1751 ; younger brother of 
 Capt. Vine Elderkin, class of 1763. He was appointed by the 
 Governor s Council, Aug. 21, 1776, Lieutenant of Marines, and 
 reappointed to the same position, April u, 1777, for a cruise on 
 the Connecticut ship of war Oliver Cromwell to extend to the 
 middle of October following. He died at Potsdam (?), N. Y., in 
 1829. 
 
252 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ISAAC KNIGHT, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 A physician of East Guilford, now Madison, Conn. He was 
 appointed surgeon of Col. Ely s State regiment, July 3, 1777, a 
 portion of which took part in expeditions to Long Island. Born, 
 May 25, 1745 ; died, Plainfield, March 8, iSiS. 1 
 
 Class of 1768. 
 
 JONATHAN BIRD, 
 
 Surgeon, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 A native of New Britain, Conn. He was Surgeon of the i8th 
 and 22d Militia Regiments from Connecticut, under Cols. Petti- 
 bone and Chapman, which served at New York and vicinity dur 
 ing the summer and fall of 1776. They formed part of the force 
 under Wolcott. He died in 1813, probably at Simsbury. 
 
 THOMAS BROCKWAY, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Pastor at Lebanon Crank, Conn.; born at Lyme in 1744, and 
 died there, suddenly, July 5, 1807. He was chaplain of Col. 
 Samuel Selden s State regiment, Wadsworth s brigade, which 
 served at New York in 1776. His regiment suffered some loss on 
 the day of its retreat from the city, Sept. i5th. Mr. Brockway, 
 who was sick in camp at the time, was removed in a horse cart by 
 a boy and escaped capture. Later in the war when word reached 
 him that the enemy had landed at New London, Sept., 1781, he 
 seized his gun and powder horn, mounted his horse and hurried 
 to the place, arriving too late, however, to be of service. 
 
 JONATHAN HEART, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 Major, Second Reg t, U. S. A. 
 
 Major Heart, whose long and valuable services and sudden fate 
 have been noticed in the closing chapter in the text, pp. 163-173, 
 was born in Kensington, now Berlin, Conn., in 1744. His father 
 was Deacon Ebenezer Hart, descendant of Stephen Hart, one 
 of the early settlers of Hartford and Farmington. Jonathan and 
 
 1 Rev. Samuel Wales, D.D., of this class, Professor of Divinity at the Col 
 lege from 1782 to 1793, was probably chaplain of Connecticut State troops fora 
 short time in 1775-76. He died at New Haven February 18, 1794, aged 46 
 
Roll of Honor. 253 
 
 his younger brother John, non-graduate, also a Revolutionary 
 officer, uniformly spelled their name Heart. 
 
 After graduation the Major taught school in New Jersey, but 
 was at home when the war opened, and appears to have started 
 off with the first volunteers in the Lexington alarm. He dates 
 his term of service from May 4, 1775, when he may have enlisted 
 as a soldier in the ranks. According to family tradition he fought 
 as such at Bunker Hill. However this may be, he was early at the 
 front with Connecticut troops at the Boston siege. On Jan. i, 
 1776, he appears there as ensign of Col. Wyllys regiment, and 
 served with it through the year in the New York campaign. His 
 regiment took part in the battle of Long Island, narrowly escap 
 ing capture, and was again caught in the panic Sept. i5th, when 
 New York was abandoned. It was present but not engaged at 
 the battle of White Plains. During this campaign Heart was pro 
 moted lieutenant, and seems to have been well thought of, as he 
 was again promoted in the reorganized army Jan. i, 1777, First 
 Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Third Regiment, Connecticut 
 Line, commanded by Col. Wyllys. From this time for seven 
 years he was almost continuously on duty. In the summer and 
 fall of 1777, the regiment was posted on the Hudson near Peeks- 
 kill, and formed part of the small force that vainly attempted to 
 prevent the enemy from ascending the river and burning Kingston. 
 In 1778 it assisted in fortifying West Point. On July i, 1779, 
 Heart was promoted captain-lieutenant, but continued as adju 
 tant for several months. He appears in this capacity at the Mor- 
 ristown winter encampment 1779-80, at Westfield, N. J., and 
 other places. On May i, 1780, he was promoted full captain, 
 and transferred, Jan. i, 1781, to the First Connecticut Regiment, 
 under Col. Durkee. At the same time, by orders of Gen. Parsons, 
 Jan. 2, 1781, he was appointed Brigade-Major and Sub-Inspector 
 of the First Connecticut Brigade a position, however, which he 
 retained but a short time, as he was detached in the spring to join 
 Col. Gimat s battalion of Lafayette s Light Infantry Corps, just 
 formed for service in Virginia. Heart was with this body through 
 out its campaign against Cornwallis in that State, and in which it 
 greatly distinguished itself. He was doubtless with it in the se 
 vere affair of Green Springs, July, 1781, near Jamestown. It also 
 had the post of honor at the siege of Yorktown, especially at the 
 storming of the redoubts on Oct. i4th, where Gimat s battalion led 
 
254 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 the American column. Returning with the army to the Hudson, 
 Captain Heart was transferred, Jan. i, 1782, to Col. Zebulon But 
 ler s regiment, and served as brigade inspector and quarter 
 master. In May, 1783, he was transferred to Col. Swift s regiment, 
 stationed at West Point, and was mustered out of the service with 
 it in December of that year. 
 
 Heart s subsequent career is outlined in the chapter in the text 
 referred to. In 1785 he was appointed, by the Governor of Con 
 necticut, Captain in Harmar s First American Regiment, raised 
 for service on the Ohio. The brief journal of his march with his 
 company from Connecticut to Pittsburg, Pa., has lately been 
 edited and published by Mr. C. W. Butterfield. While in the 
 Western country he had the opportunity of making useful surveys 
 and observations. For a time, as stated, he commanded the 
 isolated post at Venango, Pa., which Col. Harmar visited in 1788. 
 In a letter to the Secretary of War, June i5th, the latter says : 
 " Captain Heart, with his small command, has done an immense 
 deal of work there. His garrison was found to be in excellent 
 order. There are a number of the Seneca and Monsy tribes con 
 tinually in his neighborhood, who conduct themselves very 
 peaceably. Indeed, I know of no officer who manages the Indians 
 better than Captain Heart. The Senecas in particular place 
 great confidence in him ; he. is a great favorite among them " 
 (St. Clair papers). The captain was with Harmar in his luckless 
 expedition against the Indians in the fall of 1790, in which his 
 friend Major Wyllys, class of 1773, was killed. On March 4, 
 1791, Heart was promoted Major of the new Second Regiment of 
 Infantry, U. S. A., which formed part of St. Glair s expedition 
 against the Indians in October-November, 1791. In the disas 
 trous battle of November 4th Heart led his regiment with acknowl 
 edged skill and courage, but at about the close of the fighting 
 fell on the field with most of the officers of his command. Ex 
 tracts from some of his letters appear in the text. Member Con 
 necticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
Roll of Honor. 255 
 
 THEOPHILUS MUNSON, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Native of New Haven, Conn., where he was born January 4, 
 I747. 1 According to the Cincinnati Society records he was com 
 missioned captain, March 10,1776, in which case he may have been 
 theTheophilus Munsonwhowas captain that year in Col. Glover s 
 Massachusetts Regiment, the command that proved so service 
 able on the retreat from Long Island in crossing the river, and 
 again at the crossing of the Delaware before the battle of Tren 
 ton. He was also at Princeton. Whatever his service it entitled 
 him to recognition, and on January i, 1777, he was commissioned 
 Captain in the Eighth Connecticut Continental Line under Col. 
 Chandler, which fought at the battle of German town and wintered 
 at Valley Forge. It was also present at Monmouth. In 1779 
 Captain Munson, who commanded the Light Company of his 
 regiment, was detached to Col. Meigs battalion in Wayne s Light 
 Infantry Corps, and took part with it in the storming of Stony 
 Point on the night of July i5th. He was at the Morristown en 
 campment during the winter of 1779-80. Upon the reduction of 
 regiments, January i, 1781, he was transferred to Col. Butler s 
 Fourth, and on January i, 1783, to the First, Col. Swift s, with 
 which he retired from service in the fall. He died March 30, 
 1795, at Redding, Conn., where he settled on a farm about 1788. 
 His wife was Sarah, widow of Jabez Hill, and daughter of John 
 Read, a leading resident of Redding. In 1804 his widow applied 
 for the government bounty land, due for her husband s Revolu 
 tionary services. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JOHN PADDLEFORD, 
 
 Surgeon, Continental Navy. 
 
 A physician of Hardwick, Mass., born 1748. He is referred to 
 in Paige s history of the town as a man of vigorous intellect, up 
 right and public-spirited. He entered the Continental Navy as 
 surgeon, was taken prisoner, and died at St. Eustasia in 1779, 
 when about to be exchanged. His younger brother Seth, class 
 
 1 The members of this family have spelled their name variously, Munson and 
 Monson. 
 
256 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 of 1770, was a member of the town Committee of Correspond 
 ence at the opening of the war. 
 
 THOMAS WOOSTER, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Son of Gen. David Wooster, class of 1738. He dates his ser 
 vice in the Cincinnati Society records from October 15, 1776, 
 when he was aid-de-camp to his father at Rye and on the West- 
 chester County border. His father recommended him to Gov. 
 Trumbull for a position in one of the new Continental regiments, 
 and he received a captaincy in Col. S. B. Webb s " additional " 
 regiment, with commission dated January i, 1777. He was cap 
 tain of the " grenadier " company, and was in the expedition to 
 Long Island in December, 1777, when his colonel and other 
 officers were captured. The regiment served on the Hudson and 
 at Rhode Island during 1777 and 1778. Wooster did not con 
 tinue in the army much after the latter date, the rolls showing 
 that he was on duty until November 7, 1778, and then furloughed 
 to June i, 1779, when, according to one of his own memorials, he 
 left the service. After that he was entered as a " supernumerary " 
 officer entitled to a year s pay. From one of his letters to his 
 colonel in the "Webb Reminiscences," May 12, 1780, it appears 
 that he did not draw his supernumerary pay " as I did not enter 
 the service for the sake of pay or rank, and imagine should not 
 have quitted it till the war was over, if you had not been so un 
 fortunate as to be taken from it." He proposed going to Europe 
 in the fall. After the war Capt. Wooster engaged in business and 
 took up his residence at New Orleans. He was lost at sea (as 
 supposed) while on a voyage from New Haven to that place 
 about 1793. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 1 
 
 1 Samuel Fowler, of this class, of Westfield, Mass., is mentioned as having 
 been in the Revolutionary army. Born September 5, 1749 5 died November 
 26, 1823. He was State Senator. 
 
 Nathaniel West, of the same class, was probably the officer of his name who 
 served as lieutenant of a Connecticut State regiment in 1776 and 1777 in the 
 vicinity of New York. He was a son of Judge Zebulon West, of Tolland, 
 Conn., and brother to Surgeon Jeremiah West, class of 1774. Born September 
 5, 1748 ; died in Vermont in 1815. 
 
Roll of Honor. 257 
 
 Class of 1769. 
 
 DAVID AVERY, 
 
 Brigade Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Franklin, Conn., born April 5, 1746. Few chap 
 lains remained continuously in the service as long as Mr. Avery. 
 When the war broke out he was pastor at Windsor, Berkshire 
 County, Mass., and, upon the Lexington alarm, marched with 
 Paterson s regiment to Cambridge. He was with it during the 
 Boston siege, also in the Northern Department, and again at 
 Trenton and Princeton. About February 15, 1777, he was ap 
 pointed chaplain of Sherburne s " additional " Continental Regi 
 ment, raised in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, 
 and later became chaplain of Gen. Larned s Massachusetts Bri 
 gade. He served through the Burgoyne campaign, and was after 
 wards on the Hudson. He resigned on account of ill-health, 
 March 4, 1780, and subsequently settled at Bennington, Wren- 
 tham, and Mansfield, Conn. His death occurred in the fall of 
 1817 at Shepardstown, Va., where he was visiting and preaching. 
 In Sprague s notice of him he is described as of " commanding 
 presence " and an animated pulpit speaker. 
 
 ABNER BENEDICT, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor for some time at Middlefield, Conn.; born at North 
 Salem, N. Y., November 9, 1740. He was volunteer chaplain of 
 one of the Connecticut State regiments at New York during the 
 summer and fall of 1776, and was present at the battles of Long 
 Island and White Plains. He died at Roxbury, N. J., November 
 19, 1818. 
 
 TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D.D., 
 
 Brigade CJtaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Eighth President of Yale College, 1795-1817. Dr. Dwight s 
 devotion to the Revolutionary cause, like that of President Stiles, 
 was based upon something broader than the popular sense of op 
 pression by the mother country. Both seemed to regard the 
 
258 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 severance of the old ties as necessary to the normal expansion of the 
 colonist. It was the future with its great promise for this vigorous 
 branch of Saxons to which they looked, and which with them 
 was the true end to fight for after the movement had once begun 
 as an act of self-defence. This is apparent from the address, 
 quoted in the preface, delivered by Dr. Dwight before the college 
 in July, 1776. Its burden is the coming America. To quote 
 again, he says to the students : u You may, especially at the pres 
 ent period, be called into the active scenes of a military life. 
 Should this be your honorable lot, I can say nothing which ought 
 more to influence you than that you fight for the property, the 
 freedom, the life, the glory, the religion of the inhabitants of this 
 mighty empire ; for the cause, for the honor of mankind and 
 your Maker." That these words and this view made an impres 
 sion, and probably determined more than one of his hearers to 
 join the army, can hardly be doubted. It is certain that the two 
 classes of 1776 and 1777, which, with others, must have listened 
 to the address in question, sent out some ardent and noble young 
 officers into the service. 
 
 Retiring from his tutorship at the college in the summer of 
 1777, Dr. Dwight soon after accepted a chaplaincy in the army. 
 He was appointed to Gen. Parsons Connecticut Continental 
 Brigade, by Congress, Oct. 6, 1777, and probably joined it about 
 the time of Burgoyne s surrender the brigade being then posted 
 near Peekskill on the Hudson. As David Humphreys, one of 
 Dwight s college acquaintances and afterwards intimate friend, 
 was then Parsons brigade-major, the first suggestion of the ap 
 pointment may have come from him. Among other graduates 
 in the brigade were Col. Wyllys, Lieut.-Cols. Grosvenor and Sher 
 man, and Major Gray, with some younger officers who had been 
 students under him during his tutorship. It is said that the first 
 or one of the first army sermons the chaplain preached was in 
 spired by the capture of Burgoyne, and that it made a stir in 
 camp, the text being from Joel ii., 20 : "I will remove far off 
 from you the northern army." If this sermon was printed at the 
 time, as stated in one sketch of Dr. Dwight, no copy of it has 
 found its way into our principal library collections. In all prob 
 ability he preached such a sermon, as he seems to have been 
 profoundly impressed with the event. When he visited the Sara- 
 
Roll of Honor. 259 
 
 toga battle-field, in the course of his travels years after, he could 
 repeat what he may have foretold in 1777. " Here," he says, " it 
 is impossible not to remember that on this very spot a contro 
 versy was decided upon which hung the liberty and happiness of 
 a nation, destined one day to fill a continent, and of its descend 
 ants, who will probably hereafter outnumber the inhabitants of 
 Europe." After passing the fall at White Plains and along the 
 border of Westchester County, the brigade went into winter 
 quarters at West Point, and began the construction of the works 
 there. How far the spot was appreciated by the troops may be 
 inferred from one of Parsons letters to Col. Wadsworth, at Hart 
 ford, dated Feb. 22, 1778, in which he says : 
 
 " You ask me where I can be found. This is a puzzling question ; the camp 
 is at a place on Hudson s River called West Point, opposite where Fort Con 
 stitution once stood. The situation is pass d description. . . . To a con 
 templative mind which delights in a lonely retreat from the World to view and 
 admire the stupendous and magnificent works of Nature, t is as beautiful as 
 Sharon, but affords to a man who loves the society of the world a prospect 
 nearly allied to the Shades of Death ; here I am to be found at present in 
 what situation of mind, you will easily imagine. Mr. Dwight and Major 
 Humphrey are now here, and a good companion now and then adds to the 
 number of my agreeable family." 
 
 While in the Highlands Chaplain Dwight was quartered at 
 times at the Beverly Robinson house, the scene of Arnold s treason, 
 and on one occasion, with Humphreys, visited Fort Montgomery, 
 which had been captured and abandoned by the enemy during 
 the previous summer. His stay in the army, however, was com 
 paratively brief. The death of his father necessitated his return 
 to his home at Northampton, Mass., in the fall of 1778, where he 
 became the settled pastor for several years. A sermon he 
 preached on the occasion of the surrender of Cornwallis, in 1781, 
 was published, and copies of it are extant. His text was from 
 Isaiah lix., 18, 19 : "According to their deeds, accordingly he 
 will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. 
 . . . When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the 
 Lord shall lift up a standard against him." To Washington s 
 march upon Yorktown he refers as follows : " The wisdom with 
 which this enterprise was planned, the secrecy, expedition, cour 
 age, and conduct with which it was executed, the success and 
 
260 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 glory with which it was crowned, and the benevolent manner in 
 which it was used, cast the brightest lustre on our great Com 
 mander and the army immediately under him." Extracts from 
 his funeral address on Washington appear in the text, pp. 
 156-160. 
 
 Dr. Dwight was born at Northampton, May 14, 1752, and died 
 at New Haven, January n, 1817, the distinguished theologian, 
 scholar, and President of the College. Member Connecticut Cin 
 cinnati Society, to which he was elected July 7, 1795. He sub 
 sequently delivered two annual addresses before it. 
 
 JABEZ HAMLIN, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Of Middletown, Conn.; born, 1752. He was the son of Hon. 
 Jabez Hamlin, class of 1728, for many years a man of note in the 
 colony and State, having been elected forty-three times to the 
 legislature, and repeatedly chosen Speaker. When the war 
 opened young Jabez was ensign of the Middletown " training 
 band " under Capt. Return Jonathan Meigs, afterwards the 
 famous Revolutionary colonel, and upon the Lexington alarm he 
 marched with the company to Boston. The record of this ser 
 vice is preserved in the archives at Hartford. Respecting Ham- 
 lin s subsequent career, Dr. Field states in his Middletown 
 " Sketches," that he became captain in 1776, and died in the 
 service at East Chester, New York, September 2oth of that year. 
 He may have belonged to one of the militia regiments that joined 
 Washington under Gen. Wolcott about the time of the battle of 
 Long Island. 
 
 WILLIAM PLUMBE, 
 
 Brigade Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Resident of Middletown, Conn.; born in Westfield Society, 
 January 6, 1749. Entering the ministry, he became a chaplain in 
 the army in the second year of the war, and served in that 
 
Roll of Honor. 261 
 
 capacity for over four years. He joined Col. Thomas Marshall s 
 Massachusetts State Regt., with commission dated September 7, 
 1776, and was stationed at Castle William, in Boston harbor, for 
 some months. When Marshall s regiment was reorganized for 
 the Continental Line in 1777, Mr. Plumbe continued with it as 
 chaplain, with a new commission dated January ist of that year. 
 In the spring the command marched to Ticonderoga, where it 
 was assigned to Gen. De Fermoy s brigade, and where, upon the 
 request of many officers, the General appointed him brigade 
 chaplain. Mr. Plumbe doubtless participated in the retreat 
 from Ticonderoga early in July, 1777, after which his brigade 
 formed a part of Gen. Gates army above Albany. Gates soon 
 appointed him Chaplain of the Hospitals in the Northern Depart 
 ment, an office created by act of the Continental Congress, with 
 commission dated August 20, 1777, and in this capacity he 
 served until the reduction of the army, January i, 1781, when he 
 retired. He was thus in the field throughout the Burgoyne 
 campaign. These facts appear from records in the Pension 
 Bureau, Washington. After the war Mr. Plumbe settled at Mid- 
 dletown, and although still known as a clergyman, studied and 
 practised law, and held a number of civil officers. He died 
 June 2, 1843, aged ninety-four years, being at that time the oldest 
 graduate of the college. 
 
 NATHAN STRONG, D.D., 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 Pastor at Hartford, and eminent as a divine. In the sketch of 
 Dr. Strong in Sprague s " Annals," the writer says : " His ener 
 gies were all enlisted in his country s cause, and every service 
 that he could render her he did render promptly and cheerfully. 
 For some time he served in the capacity of chaplain. His vigor 
 ous pen was often at work in endeavoring to vindicate his coun 
 try s rights, and to quicken the country s pulse to a higher tone 
 of patriotism." That his interest and influence were appreciated, 
 appears in the fact that the Connecticut Cincinnati Society 
 elected him a member at the same time that Dr. Stiles was elected 
 in 1784. Dr. Strong served as chaplain in Col. Samuel Wyllys 
 regiment in the summer of 1776, and was probably with it at the 
 
262 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 battle of Long Island and the subsequent retreats. On the October 
 returns he is reported " absent sick." He was born October 16, 
 1748 ; died December 25, I8I6. 1 
 
 Class of 1770. 
 
 JOHN DAVENPORT, 
 
 Major, Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 Judge Abraham Davenport s family, of Stamford, was noted 
 for its public spirit during the Revolution. The father, class of 
 1732, was for many years prominent in civil affairs. He took a 
 deep interest in the progress of the war, doing what he could by 
 personal effort for the troops. During the campaign of 1776 
 around New York he cared for the sick soldiers returning home ; 
 " filled his own houses with them," says President Dwight, " and 
 devoted to their relief his own time and that of his family, while 
 he provided elsewhere the best accommodations for such as he 
 could not receive." His eldest son, John Davenport, class of 
 1770, born at Stamford, January 1 6, 1752, seems to have served 
 for a time as commissary of State troops. He appeared also on 
 several important legislative committees on army affairs. At the 
 June session of the Assembly, 1777, he was appointed major of 
 a regiment raised for six months for State defence. He was a 
 lawyer by profession, and in after life became a member of Con 
 gress, serving eighteen years from 1799. He died November 28, 
 1830. His younger brother James, class of 1779, was also in the 
 service. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 1 Phineas Fanning, of this class, of Riverhead, L. I., was a Provincial col 
 onel in his county in 1775-6, but appears to have remained on Long Island 
 after its occupation by the enemy, though not entering their service. He was 
 doubtless a brother of Col. Edmund Fanning, the loyalist, class of 1757, men 
 tioned on pp. 98 and 109. 
 
Roll of Honor. 263 
 
 ANDREW HILLYER, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut State Dragoons. 
 
 Col. Hillyer, as he was afterwards known, resided at Simsbury, 
 Conn., where he was born June 4, 1743. Before entering college 
 he served as a soldier in Amherst s campaign in 1760, and as a 
 sergeant at Havana in 1762. Upon the Lexington alarm he 
 marched to Boston, and remained in camp about a month. Re 
 turning to Simsbury he was appointed a lieutenant in the town 
 company, and joined Col. Huntington s regiment at the Roxbury 
 camp in July. About a month later, or August 23d, Huntington 
 made Hillyer his Adjutant, speaking of him at the same time as 
 "an old soldier, a sensible man, and good scholar." A mem 
 ber of his company describes him as " a handsome, sprightly 
 young man, who had in early life received a college education." 
 His term in campi expired in December, but he stayed three 
 months longer as a volunteer. In the campaign of 1776 
 around New York he appears as adjutant of Col. Jonathan Petti- 
 bone s militia regiment, and was with it at Kip s Bay, on the East 
 River, when the enemy landed on September i5th, and took the 
 city. During the panic of the militia that morning his command 
 sustained some loss. In the summer of 1777 he served under 
 Putnam on the Hudson, and in 1779 was appointed Captain of a 
 troop in the Fifth Regiment, Connecticut State Light Dragoons, 
 commanded by Major Thomas Bull. With this he was stationed 
 at one time at Horse Neck, and engaged in a dash on Col. Bear- 
 more, the tory partisan, who had proved a terror to the inhabi 
 tants near the lines. An account of his exploit appears at the 
 close of Hinman s "Connecticut." He also marched to the relief 
 of New Haven on the occasion of Tryon s raid. In 1782 he was 
 engaged in the duty of hunting up deserters in the New England 
 States. 
 
 After the war Hillyer was appointed Colonel of the Fifth 
 Dragoons, and became a man of influence in his locality. He 
 lived to an advanced age, his death occurring at Granby in Feb 
 ruary, 1828. 
 
264 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 JOHN PORTER, 
 
 Major > Continental A rmy. 
 
 Son of Rev. John Porter, graduate of Harvard, pastor at N. 
 Bridgewater, now Brockton, Mass. He was born at Brockton, 
 February 27, 1752, and fitted for college at Lebanon, Conn. 
 Studying for the ministry he both preached and taught school in 
 the vicinity of his home until the second year of the war, when he 
 raised a company and joined the Thirteenth Massachusetts Con 
 tinentals under Col. Wigglesworth. His captain s commission 
 was dated January i, 1777. In the summer his regiment went 
 into camp at Peekskill, where he was promoted major, June 13, 
 1777. Ordered to join Gates force to the northward, he served 
 through the Saratoga campaign, and then marched to Washing 
 ton s army, wintering at Valley Forge in 1777-78. In June fol 
 lowing he was present at Monmouth, and shortly after marched 
 to Rhode Island, where he was engaged in the battle of August 
 29, 1778, under Gen. Sullivan. There he was for some time in 
 command of his regiment. In January, 1779, by Sullivan s 
 orders, Porter took post with a detachment in the vicinity of 
 Newport to watch the enemy s shipping and secure cattle. In 
 1780, his regiment having rejoined Washington s army on the 
 Hudson, his military record was marred by a painful experience. 
 While on the march with the main force near Hackensack, N. J., 
 about September ist, Major Porter resented certain expressions 
 used toward him by Brig.-Gen. Poor, of New Hampshire, and a 
 duel was the result. The General was mortally wounded, and 
 died on the 8th, much regretted as being one of the bravest offi 
 cers in the service. While duels were not uncommon in the 
 Revolutionary army, this particular affair seems to have been 
 kept a secret, as no reference is made to the true cause of the 
 General s death in any known published or unpublished account 
 written at the time. (See " Porter Genealogy," inserted sheet, 
 p. 51.) Surgeon Thacher states that he died of "putrid fever" 
 after about a week s illness. Major Porter continued in the ser 
 vice, and in the winter of 1780-81 appears as Brigade-Major of 
 the Second Massachusetts Brigade, encamped at West Point. 
 January i, 1781, he was transferred to Col. C. Smith s Sixth 
 Massachusetts, and thereafter was on duty along the Hudson. 
 
Roll of Honor. 265 
 
 On November ist of that year he appears as member of a court- 
 martial, of which his classmate, Col. Isaac Sherman, was presi 
 dent. In December following he was granted a furlough by Gen. 
 Heath, but failed to return to camp. His Colonel reporting in 
 June, 1782, that he had gone to France, a court of inquiry was 
 held, and he was dismissed the service by Washington s orders, 
 October 12, 1782, for violation of the Articles of War in going 
 " beyond sea " without proper authority. It is said that Porter 
 went to France with Lafayette, and was there presented to the 
 king and queen. On his return home he sailed for the West 
 Indies on business, and remained there until his death, which oc 
 curred, as announced in the New York papers, at Port au Prince, 
 December, 1790. 
 
 ISAAC SHERMAN, 
 
 Lieut. -Col. Commandant, Continental Army. 
 
 Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration, gave his two eldest 
 sons, William and Isaac, the benefit of a liberal education which 
 he himself had not received. They graduated in the same class, 
 1770, and both served in the Revolutionary army. A third 
 brother, John, non-graduate, was also in the war, serving as 
 Lieutenant and Paymaster in the Connecticut Line from 1776 to 
 1783. The father, who was Yale s Treasurer from 1765 to 1776, 
 lived at the time and until his death on Chapel Street, opposite 
 the college grounds, where the house still stands. 
 
 Isaac Sherman was born at New Milford, Conn., June 22, 1753. 
 He proved to be a valuable officer, rising from the rank of cap 
 tain to the command of a regiment, and seeing much and varied 
 service. From his letter to his father, printed on page 25, it ap 
 pears that he intended to enter mercantile life and was watching 
 his opportunities in Massachusetts when the war broke out. That 
 
266 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 event absorbing public attention, he fell into line with the great 
 body of young men for the country s defence, and entered the 
 Massachusetts service as a captain. According to the Cincinnati 
 record his appointment dated April 27, 1775. During that year 
 he served in Col. Gerrish s regiment, a portion of which fought at 
 Bunker Hill. Sherman s company does not appear to have been 
 present, but was probably on duty in the vicinity of Cambridge ; 
 later in the year he was there at " Redoubt No. i," or " Brookline 
 Fort," as he calls it in his letter, on Sewall s Point. In the new 
 arrangement for 1776 his regiment was known as the "26th Foot," 
 Continental Service, under Col. Loammi Baldwin, which, after the 
 siege of Boston, went with the army to New York and took part 
 in the movements there and in New Jersey to the close of the 
 campaign. March 26, 1776, he was promoted major of the regi 
 ment, and as such appears on duty as officer of the day and super 
 intendent of works at New York through the summer and fall. 
 Most of the time his brigade was encamped near the foot of Canal 
 Street on the North River, and did not cross to the Brooklyn 
 front at the time of the battle of Long Island. After New York 
 City was abandoned the army encamped on Washington Heights, 
 and in October marched to White Plains. On the way, on the 
 1 8th, Sherman s brigade, then under Col. Glover, encountered the 
 British Light Infantry near New Rochelle, and held its own 
 bravely. From White Plains, where the brigade was not actively 
 engaged, a portion of the army withdrew into New* Jersey, and 
 later won the victories of Trenton and Princeton, which greatly 
 revived the spirits of the soldiers and hopes of the nation. As 
 stated in the text, page 59, Sherman is remembered to have led the 
 van of the Continental troops on the night march to Princeton, 
 January 2-3, 1777. 
 
 Upon the formation of the Continental Line Sherman entered 
 the service of his own State Connecticut, having been brought 
 to Gov. Trumbull s notice by Washington as follows, in a letter 
 of October 9, 1776 : "I would mention Major Sherman, son of 
 Mr. Sherman, of Congress, a young gentleman who appears to me, 
 and who is generally esteemed, an active and valuable officer," 
 and one who " promises good services to his country." He was 
 appointed Lieut. -Colonel of Col. Chas. Webb s Second Connecti 
 cut Line, commission dated January i, 1777, and went into camp 
 
Roll of Honor. 267 
 
 with it at Peekskill. During the summer and fall he served in 
 Putnam s command on the Hudson until November i4th, when the 
 regiment was ordered to join Washington s army in Pennsylvania. 
 Soon after its arrival it was engaged in the skirmish at White- 
 marsh, December 8th, and suffered some loss ; it then wintered at 
 Valley Forge. In June following, the army moved out and fought 
 the battle of Monmouth, where Sherman appears to have been 
 actively engaged in the detachment under Gen. Wayne ; and in the 
 fall of the year, 1778, he was Lieut.-Colonel of one of the battal 
 ions in Gen. Chas. Scott s Light Infantry Corps, detailed for 
 special service at the front in Westchester County. In the fol 
 lowing summer, 1779, he was again detached to serve with Col. 
 Meigs in Wayne s Light Corps, and was present with it at the 
 famous storming of Stony Point on the night of July i5th. His 
 experience with Wayne after the affair is noticed on page 104. 
 At the close of the year Sherman was promoted to the command 
 of the Eighth Regiment, late Col. Russell s, with commission 
 dated October 28, 1779. By a recent act of Congress, all newly 
 appointed regimental commanders were to be styled Lieut.- 
 Colonel Commandant, and by that rank he was thereafter known. 
 (See page no.) In 1780 he served along the Hudson in the main 
 army, and remained there until January i, 1783, when he was re 
 tired by regimental consolidations. During 1781 he commanded 
 the Fifth Connecticut. Washington intended to detach him to 
 Lafayette s corps, destined for Virginia that year, but Sherman s 
 absence from camp prevented. He figured in connection with 
 Hull s affair early in the year, noticed on page 131. 
 
 Sherman was an excellent disciplinarian, as several of his regi 
 mental orders, still preserved, clearly indicate. He enforces 
 neatness, proper saluting, exact marching and drilling, and ap 
 peals to the soldier s pride and ambition. His own record was 
 among the most honorable in the Connecticut Line. After the 
 war, in 1785, he was appointed by Congress one of the assistant- 
 surveyors of Western territory, and served a while in that capaci 
 ty. Later he was interested in the " Mississippi Company," and 
 proposed raising a band of old soldiers to settle on the banks of 
 the river, but the scheme fell through. His later years were 
 passed in Connecticut and New Jersey. He died unmarried in 
 Hunterdon County, N. J., February 16, 1819, being at the time a 
 
268 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Revolutionary pensioner under the act of 1818. Member Con 
 necticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 WILLIAM SHERMAN, 
 
 Paymaster, Continental Army. 
 
 Eldest son of Roger Sherman and brother of the preceding ; 
 born, probably, at New Milford, November 23, 1751. He ap 
 pears in 1780 as Lieutenant and Paymaster of Col. Seth Warner s 
 4< additional " Continental Regiment, which was raised in the 
 Hampshire Grants and other parts of New England in 1777. It 
 was generally stationed in the Northern Department. After the 
 war Sherman engaged in business in New Haven, where he died 
 June 26, I789. 1 
 
 Class of 1771.] 
 
 JOHN BROWN, 
 
 Colonel, Massachusetts Troops. 
 
 The services and death of this high-minded and capable officer 
 have already been referred to in the text. He was a native of 
 Haverhill, Massachusetts ; born there October 19, 1744. During 
 his college course an incident occurred which proved him to be 
 a youth of spirit and action, qualities which were subsequently 
 displayed by him in a marked manner in the field. Dissatisfac 
 tion with " Commons " led to quite a revolt among the students 
 during his Senior year, in which he was evidently one of the 
 
 1 Rev. Joseph Buckminster, D.D., of this class, who was tutor at the college 
 from 1774 to 1778, appears as Chaplain on the rolls of Col. Chas. Webb s Con 
 necticut Regiment in October-November, 1776. The college was broken up 
 at that time, and he may have gone to the army for a brief term. 
 
Roll of Honor. 269 
 
 leaders. We have this reference to it from his own pen in a let 
 ter written to his relative, Mrs. Elizabeth Arnold, Providence, 
 R. I., date April 7, 1771 : 
 
 4 I must tell you that there has been much disorder in college since I wrote 
 you my former letter. We complained that we were oppressed in respect to 
 Commons, which was most manifestly the case. But the authority of col 
 lege not being of our opinion, and refusing to redress us in our way, we left 
 college and went home ; and in about three weeks I, with several others of my 
 class, were cited to meet the trustees of s d college on the 23d instant, April. 
 What the Inquisition or Star Chamber Court may determine concerning the 
 matter is uncertain. They intend to expel several, but as we have the civil 
 authority on our side we do not intend to be expelled. So that it is impracti 
 cable for me to come to Providence until after our trial. " 
 
 How this resulted does not appear, but there was certainly no 
 expulsion, as Brown graduated with full honors. One may infer 
 from Humphreys remembrance of him, page 124, that he was a 
 pronounced and popular fellow handsome, athletic, and intel 
 lectually gifted. Studying law, he practised his profession first 
 at Johnstown, N. Y., and then at Pittsfield, Mass., where the war 
 found him in active sympathy with the Colonial cause. As stated 
 in the text, he was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial 
 Congress in 1774, and early in 1775 was despatched into Canada 
 to ascertain the temper of the people and situation of affairs. 
 When the Connecticut party passed through Pittsfield in May to 
 attempt the capture of Ticonderoga, he joined it and took a lead 
 ing part in the surprise and seizure of that important fortress. 
 On July 6, 1775, he was appointed Major of Colonel Easton s 
 regiment from Western Massachusetts, and served through the 
 year in the Northern Department under Montgomery, who thought 
 very highly of his services. How Major Brown was generally 
 engaged and what part he took in the Quebec campaign appears 
 on pages 27-30. July 29, 1776, Congress appointed him Lieuten 
 ant-Colonel of Elmore s Continental Regiment, raised mainly in 
 Connecticut, and on August ist, voted that he should take rank 
 from November 20, 1775. Elmore s regiment was stationed at 
 Albany and Fort Stanwix, but Brown does not seem to have 
 joined it; and in February, 1777, he resigned his commission, 
 which Congress accepted March i5th. In the following summer 
 he was out again as colonel of a Berkshire County regiment, and 
 did some dashing and effective work in Burgoyne s rear, as stated 
 
270 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 on page 80. After this he made an attempt on the British post 
 on Diamond Island, in Lake George, but failed through lack of 
 sufficient boats and shipping. That he alarmed the enemy, how 
 ever, by this bold manoeuvre is evident from the account given 
 by the British Captain Hall in his " History of the War." Brown 
 then retired to Pittsfield, or Sandisfield, where his family lived, 
 and resumed his law practice ; and in 1780 he appears on the 
 Civil List as Judge of Common Pleas in Berkshire County. In 
 the summer of that year he again, and for the last time, took the 
 field on this occasion going as colonel of a regiment of levies 
 raised to serve for three months from July i4th. The enemy, with 
 their Indian allies, were then threatening the Mohawk valley, and 
 Brown marched in that direction. On October ipth, while hasten 
 ing to co-operate with General Van Rensselaer, of New York, he 
 was led by false intelligence into an ambush, where he and many 
 of his men were killed at the first fire. This was in the settle 
 ment of Stone Arabia. The Colonel s untimely fate was deeply 
 and widely felt, his earlier services having made him very gener 
 ally known in the north. Even the enemy were assured that in 
 causing his death they had deprived us of no ordinary soldier. 
 Haldimand, commanding in Canada, reported to Lord Germaine 
 that Sir John Johnson had destroyed settlements and " killed a 
 Colonel Browne, a notorious and active rebel." A letter pub 
 lished in the London Chronicle January 25, 1781, referring to 
 Johnson s incursion, says : " He was attacked by a notable parti- 
 zan, Colonel Brown, who had greatly distinguished himself in re 
 ducing the garrison of Fort Chamblee to surrender in 1776, and 
 taking the baggage and cutting off part of General Burgoyne s 
 rear at Fort Ticonderoga Landing in 1777. This successful par- 
 tizan was killed on the spot with sixty of his men." 
 
 Many other interesting facts respecting the Colonel, especially 
 his experiences with Arnold, may be found in Smith s " History 
 of Pittsfield," Stone s " Life of Brant," and other works. He 
 fell on his thirty-fifth birthday. In 1836 his son erected a monu 
 ment to his memory, which stands near the Dutch Reformed 
 Church at Stone Arabia. 
 
Roll of Honor. 271 
 
 DAVID HUMPHREYS, 
 
 Lieut. -Colonel r , and A. D. C. to Washington. 
 
 Humphreys was perhaps the most prominent of our Revolu 
 tionary graduates, his position in the family of the Commander- 
 in-Chief giving him a certain distinction which no other rank or 
 office could confer. His good fortune in the army was also a 
 stepping-stone to other dignities in civil life. 
 
 The Colonel or General, as he was afterwards called, was the 
 son of Rev. Daniel Humphreys, class of 1732, of Derby, Conn., 
 where he was born July 10, 1752. He appears in the army first 
 as a volunteer and acting-adjutant of one of the Connecticut mili 
 tia regiments at New York, in the summer of 1776 probably 
 that commanded by Col. Jabez Thompson, who was a Derby 
 man. Humphreys himself states that it was one of the last to 
 leave the city on September i5th, and that he took part in the try 
 ing scenes of the day. Remaining with the army some time 
 longer he returned to Connecticut, and upon the organization of 
 the Continental Line was appointed captain in the Sixth Regt., 
 with commission dating January i, 1777. This regiment, com 
 manded later in the year by Col. Meigs, was recruited mainly 
 from New Haven County. During the following spring, in 
 March or April, he received the appointment of brigade-major 
 (asst. adj. gen.) on the staff of Gen. Parsons, and doubtless had 
 much to do with the mustering and equipping of the new regi 
 ments which early in the summer were to march to the Hudson. 
 Meantime, for his second experience in active warfare, he accom 
 panied Col. Meigs on his famous Long Island expedition in May, 
 when that officer with 170 men sailed across the sound from Guil- 
 ford in whale-boats, proceeded to Sag Harbor, burned twelve of 
 the enemy s supply schooners and a large amount of hay, took 
 ninety prisoners, and returned without the loss of a man. Gen. 
 Parsons despatched Humphreys to Washington with an account 
 of this success, which was probably the first occasion on which 
 the Major had a personal interview with the Commander-in-Chief. 
 In the summer and fall of the year he was with Parsons brigade 
 in Putnam s force on the Hudson, generally in the vicinity of 
 Peekskill, and was quite active in the alarm occasioned by the 
 approach of the enemy up the river when Burgoyne was marching 
 
272 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 down from the north. The following winter and spring were 
 spent mainly at West Point, where his brigade began the con 
 struction of the permanent works. In the latter part of February 
 of that year, 1778, he undertook a small expedition himself. 
 With thirty volunteers he made a descent on the Long Island 
 shore near Smithtown, to destroy a large ship-of-war aground 
 there. The ship, however, had been floated the day before ; but 
 the party burned a brig, schooner, and sloop, and returned with 
 out loss. In the summer of this year we find him taking his turn 
 as " Brigade-Major for the day " in Washington s army as it lay 
 encamped near White Plains after the battle of Monmouth. In 
 the following winter his brigade went into quarters at Redding, 
 Conn., and there on December 18, 1778, Gen. Putnam appointed 
 him one of his Aids. This position he held through the year 1779 
 and into the spring of 1780, when Putnam, through disability, was 
 unable to return to the army. Humphreys, however, had many 
 friends in the service, among others, Gen. Greene, who at that 
 juncture invited him to join his staff temporarily. Writing to 
 that General from Hartford, on May 23, 1780, he says that the 
 arrival of the French fleet and other circumstances " will induce 
 me probably to accept of the kind offer of coming into your fam 
 ily, in the manner you propose." Greene was at that time with the 
 troops near Morristown, N. J., and early in June Humphreys 
 joined him there. On the 23d of that month occurred the skir 
 mish or battle of Springfield, N. J., noticed in the text, where 
 Greene was in command with Humphreys at his side serving 
 actively as Aid. The latter was directed by Greene to send word 
 of the engagement to Washington, which he did in the interest 
 ing letter printed on p. 118. 
 
 On the same day, June 23, 1780, Washington appointed 
 Humphreys an Aid on his own staff, and with the Commander- 
 in-Chief he served until the close of the war. Col. Hull, class of 
 1772, states in his "Memoirs" that it was through his recom 
 mendation, conveyed through Gen. Parsons, that Humphreys re 
 ceived this last and enviable appointment. (See notice of Hull.) 
 From this time he remained constantly on duty in Washington s 
 family, " never for a moment " having been absent, as he writes 
 in 1784, except on official business ; and here too began that 
 close personal friendship between himself and his chief which 
 
Roll of Honor. 273 
 
 continued through life. About six months after his appointment 
 Humphreys received permission to undertake a daring project 
 nothing less than the capture of Sir Henry Clinton, the British 
 commander at New York. 1 On Christmas Day, 1780, with three 
 officers and twenty-seven volunteers, he started down the Hud 
 son in one barge and two whale-boats, his plan being to reach 
 Clinton s head-quarters at the foot of Broadway at night, surprise 
 the guards, and carry him off under cover of the darkness. The 
 scheme failed, however, as a fresh northwest wind rose in the 
 evening and made a landing impossible. The boats were driven 
 past the city, through the English shipping and the Narrows, 
 down to Sandy Hook, whence the party made their way safely to 
 Brunswick and returned to the army a week later, on New Year s 
 Day, 1781. During the following summer and fall occurred the 
 Yorktown campaign, in which Humphreys participated. After 
 the surrender he was commissioned by Washington to convey the 
 captured British flags to Congress, which body voted him an ele 
 gant sword on the occasion. Humphreys grade in the army was 
 still that of captain, but on November 12, 1782, Congress gave 
 him the additional staff rank of lieut.-colonel, to date from June 
 23, 1780, when he was first appointed. 
 
 At the close of the war Humphreys accompanied Washington 
 on his entry into New York, November 25, 1783, when the city 
 was evacuated by the enemy, and went with him to Annapolis, 
 where the chief resigned his commission. His civil career from 
 this time is too well known to be noticed here. He held various 
 diplomatic positions, first in 1784, as Secretary of Legation to 
 Jefferson in France, then in 1790, Minister to Portugal, and in 
 1797, Minister to Spain. He lived in Washington s family at 
 Mount Vernon at different times, and finally settled in his native 
 town of Derby, where he engaged in manufactures and agricul 
 ture. See in text, p. 153, an interesting letter written to his 
 brother from Mount Vernon, in 1786. His poetical works are 
 familiar. In 1786, he was appointed colonel of a new United 
 States Regiment raised in Connecticut, and in February, 1787, 
 during Shay s rebellion, was on duty with 150 men guarding the 
 
 1 Lieut. Pennington, of the artillery, states in his journal that the German 
 General Knyphausen was the officer to be seized ; but others say Clinton, 
 which was more likely. 
 
274 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 arsenal at Springfield, Mass. This command, however, was not 
 kept up. During the 1812 war the old Revolutionary soldiers of 
 Connecticut organized as " Veteran Volunteers " with Hum 
 phreys as " General-in-Chief." He was also Major-General of 
 the State Militia, and made preparations for home defence. Oc 
 casionally he represented his town in the legislature. He died at 
 New Haven, February 21, 1818, and was buried in the old ceme 
 tery, where a monument stands over his grave with a fitting in 
 scription in Latin. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 1 
 
 MARK LEAVENWORTH, 
 
 Deputy Adjutant-General, Connecticut. 
 
 Resident of New Haven; born at Waterbury, May 26, 1752. 
 By profession a lawyer. In the winter of 1776-77 he appears as 
 secretary and assistant adjutant-general to General Wooster while 
 he was stationed on the Westchester border. After the war he 
 went to Paris, where he died Nov. 2, 1812. His brother, Jesse 
 L., class of 1759, was also in the service. 
 
 SHADRACH WINSLOW, 
 
 Surgeon, Privateer. 
 
 Physician at Foxboro, Mass. ; born at Freetown, Dec. 17, 
 1750. A notice of him in the "Winslow Memorial," vol. i., p. 
 63, says : " After graduation Mr. Winslow studied medicine and 
 became a physician of good attainments, with fine prospects. 
 But at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war his patriotic feel 
 ings were aroused to the highest pitch. He became an ardent 
 supporter of the colonies, and resolved to do all possible for the 
 
 1 The writer is under obligations to Mr. Matthew Griswold, of Erie, Pa., for 
 an examination of Col. Humphreys papers in his possession. 
 
Roll of Honor. 275 
 
 cause. Being a gentleman of means, he contributed largely to 
 fitting out a war ship to attack the enemy upon the high seas, and 
 went aboard of her as a surgeon. The particulars of the first and 
 only voyage the ship made are unfortunately wanting, but it is 
 known that she was captured it is said off the coast of Spain. 
 All on board were taken prisoners and brought to the Walla- 
 bought Bay, off Brooklyn, and placed in the dismal prison-ships, 
 which the British government in its policy thought wise and per 
 haps humane to keep there. Here Dr. Winslow was detained a 
 prisoner of war about one year, and suffered much. He used to 
 say that he never fully recovered from the damage his health 
 received." He died at Foxboro Feb. i, 1817.* 
 
 Class of 1772. 
 
 ABRAHAM BALDWIN, 
 
 Brigade Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards U. S. Senator from Georgia. He was born at Guil- 
 ford, Conn., Nov. 22, 1754, and from 1775 to 1779 was tutor at 
 the college. Upon the retirement of Dr. Dwight from the chap 
 laincy of Parsons brigade, in the fall of 1778, Mr. Baldwin was 
 appointed to the vacancy, with commission dating Feb. i, 1779. 
 His brigade served with the main army along the Hudson, win 
 tering at Morristown, N. J., in 1779-80, and at "Connecticut Vil 
 lage," nearly opposite West Point, during the two winters following. 
 With the reduction of the regiments in 1781 he was transferred 
 to the Second Connecticut Brigade, generally commanded by 
 Col. Swift, while Chaplain John Ellis, graduate of Harvard, con 
 tinued with Huntington s brigade, which became the First. He 
 remained in the service to the close of the war, and appears as 
 one of the original members of the Connecticut Cincinnati 
 Society. Some of his letters from camp are published in Todd s 
 " Life of Joel Barlow," who was the chaplain s brother-in-law. 
 
 1 Rev. Lewis Beebe of this class is mentioned as surgeon in the Northern 
 Department in 1775-76. 
 
 Henry Daggett was probably the State Commissary of his name at New 
 Haven. 
 
 Whether the John Hart of this class was the captain of the same name in 
 Col. S. B. Webb s regiment is uncertain. He was the son of Rev. William 
 Hart, of Saybrook, and at the time of his death, in 1828, was called captain. 
 
276 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 After the war Mr. Baldwin went to Savannah and entered pub 
 lic life. He became a member of the Continental Congress from 
 Georgia, 1785-88, was a member of the Federal Constitutional 
 Convention, and served as U. S. Senator from 1799 until his death 
 at Washington, on March 4, 1807. He originated the plan of the 
 Georgia University, and was known generally as a public-spirited, 
 able, and kindly man. 
 
 SAMUEL AUGUSTUS STILL BARKER, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Son of Judge Samuel Barker, class of 1736, of Branford, Conn., 
 where he was born in October, 1756. He first appears in 
 the army as Adjutant of Colonel William Douglas Connecticut 
 State Regiment, commission dated June 20, 1776, and served 
 with it through the New York campaign. The regiment was 
 at the Long Island front, August 27th, in the retreat to New 
 York following, and again in the retreat and panic of Sep 
 tember i5th, when the city was abandoned. Barker was then 
 acting brigade-major to Douglas temporary brigade. Doubt 
 less he was with it also at the battle of White Plains. On Jan. 
 i, 1777, he was commissioned Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 
 Sixth Connecticut Line, first commanded by Douglas, and upon 
 his death by Col. Meigs, and served with it on the Westchester 
 border and along the Hudson. He was in Putnam s command 
 below Albany during the Burgoyne campaign. May 10, 1780, he 
 was promoted captain and transferred to Col. Butler s Second 
 Connecticut, and later in the year he was appointed Brigade- 
 Major and Sub-Inspector of the First Connecticut Brigade. In 
 Feb., 1781, he was detached with a company to serve in Lafay 
 ette s Light Corps, which was to attempt the capture of Benedict 
 Arnold at Portsmouth, Va., but which afterwards was directed 
 towards Cornwallis when he entered that State. Barker, with 
 other graduates, experienced all the hardships and successes of 
 that rapid campaign, which finally terminated in the siege of 
 Yorktown. His regiment, under Col. Gimat and Maj. Wyllys, 
 
Roll of Honor. 277 
 
 took part in the skirmish of Green Spring, near Jamestown, in 
 July, 1781, and again formed the storming party that captured 
 one of the enemy s redoubts at Yorktown on the night of Oct. 
 1 4th. Returning to the Hudson encampments, he continued in 
 the service until his resignation on April 13, 1782. 
 
 After the war Barker removed to the town of Beekman, now 
 Lagrange, Dutchess County New York, through which he must 
 have frequently passed during his military service, and in time 
 came to own a large estate there. He married and left three or 
 four children. Holding local offices, as assessor and supervisor, 
 he also represented Dutchess County in the New York Assembly 
 at eight sessions between 1788 and 1811. In the latter part of 
 his life he was known as " General Barker." Down to 1780 he 
 signed his name as Sam. Augustus Still Barker, and thereafter 
 dropped the " Still." He died at his home, Friday, Nov. 19, 
 1819, in the 64th year of his age. 
 
 JONATHAN BELLAMY, 
 
 Ensign, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Son of Rev. Dr. Joseph Bellamy, class of 1735, tne well-known 
 divine of Bethlehem, Conn. He had lately entered upon the 
 practice of law when the war broke out, but interrupted it by 
 joining Col. Philip B. Bradley s State regiment as ensign, with 
 commission dating June 20, 1776. He was doubtless with it 
 during the New York campaign, being stationed most of the time 
 on the Jersey side at Bergen, Paulus Hook, and elsewhere. A 
 small part of the regiment retreated with Washington s force to 
 the Delaware and took part at the battle of Trenton, but young 
 Bellamy probably was not with it on that occasion, as we have 
 the record that he died of the small-pox at Bethlehem (Oxford), 
 N. J., on or about Jan. 4, 1777, ten days after Trenton. He had 
 lately been recommended for promotion in the new Connecticut 
 Continental Line. 
 
278 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 WILLIAM HULL, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel^ Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards General Hull, of the War of 1812. His revolutionary 
 career is noteworthy not only as being patriotic, highly service 
 able, and at times brilliant, but as extending continuously over 
 the long period of nine years. 
 
 He was born at Derby, Conn., June 24, 1753, being a descend 
 ant of Joseph Hull, who emigrated from Derbyshire, England, in 
 the previous century. When the war broke out he was studying 
 law, but promptly left his books and accepted a lieutenancy in 
 the town company, which joined Col. Charles Webb s Connecticut 
 State Regiment. He was commissioned First Lieutenant July 6, 
 1775, an( * went with the regiment to the Boston camps, where he 
 served through the siege. On February i, 1776, he was promoted 
 Captain in the same regiment, which was reorganized as the 
 " i Qth Foot" in Washington s army for that year, and served 
 under him in the New York campaign. After the battle of Long 
 Island it was ordered over to the Brooklyn front with other rein 
 forcements, but was not closely engaged. At the battle of White 
 Plains, October 28th, as one of the regiments of McDougall s 
 brigade it helped to defend Chatterton s Hill on the American 
 right flank. Hull was present and active in the affair. Later he 
 took part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, the former of 
 which he describes in his letter quoted on page 59. The term of 
 his regiment having expired, Captain Hull, upon the request of 
 some Massachusetts officers and the recommendation of Washing 
 ton, was appointed Major of Col. M. Jackson s Eighth Massachu 
 setts Continental Line, commission dating January i, 1777. 
 Springfield was designated as the recruiting station of the regi 
 ment, and by April, 1777, about three hundred men had joined. 
 With these Major Hull was ordered to reinforce St. Glair s little 
 army at Ticonderoga, which in July following was obliged to 
 evacuate that post. During the retreat from Fort Edward, the 
 Major had an opportunity of showing his skill in handling the 
 rear guard and repulsing an attack. Major Wilkinson recalls 
 this incident in his " Memoirs " as follows : 
 
 "As the rear guard of one hundred men was marching from its post to join 
 the main body, it was fired upon by a small party of Indians, and took flight in 
 
Roll of Honor. 279 
 
 open ground. Attracted by the firing I rode up, and was a spectator of the 
 scene ; the guard was commanded by Major Hull, who on horseback was mak 
 ing the most animated exertions to rally his men, which he at length effected, 
 and in turn drove the enemy with great gallantry." 
 
 In the struggle with Burgoyne which soon followed, Hull s 
 regiment was again actively engaged. Hull himself had the com 
 mand of a separate detachment in the battle of September igth, 
 which fought bravely and sustained heavy loss. In the decisive 
 action of October yth he again took a prominent part. After the 
 surrender the Eighth Massachusetts, with other regiments, was 
 ordered to Washington s army in Pennsylvania, where it wintered 
 at Valley Forge 1777-78. There Hull was appointed, March 29, 
 1778, Sub-Inspector of Gen. Larned s brigade, to which he be 
 longed, and received his instructions from Baron Steuben, In 
 spector-General, who had lately joined the army. In June fol 
 lowing he was present at the battle of Monmouth. In the spring 
 of 1779 the Major commanded the advance posts in Westchester 
 County, and on June 26. of that year was placed in command of 
 the seven companies of Massachusetts Light Infantry, which he 
 skilfully led, under Wayne, at the famous storming of Stony 
 Point on the night of July i5th. Hull was subsequently pro 
 moted Lieutenant-Colonel, commission dating August 12, 1779, 
 and transferred to Col. Greaton s Third Massachusetts Line. It 
 appears that his claim to this rank was contested and brought to 
 the notice of Washington, who thereupon wrote a long letter to Gen. 
 Heath, December 13, 1779, in which he favored Hull. He speaks 
 of him as " an officer of great merit " whose services had been 
 " honorable to himself and honorable and profitable to his coun 
 try." " He might," continues Washington, " have been arranged 
 a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Connecticut Line by the Committee 
 of Congress at White Plains in 1778 ; but many of the Massachu 
 setts officers discovered great uneasiness at the idea of his being 
 taken from them ; and he himself, hoping that all were content 
 with his services and rank, generously refused the offer, and de 
 termined to remain where he was. But he had a better title than 
 this. I only mention it as a trait of his character." 
 
 During 1780 Hull was with the main army, generally along the 
 Hudson. In January, 1781, he conducted the successful expedi 
 tion against the Tories at Morrisania, referred to on pages 130-132. 
 
280 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 When Washington marched to Yorktown in the summer of 1781, 
 Hull was appointed Deputy-Quartermaster of Heath s force left 
 to protect the Highlands and West Point. This office, however, he 
 soon resigned, and on November 21, 1781, he was appointed Divi 
 sion Inspector of the Third Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
 Brigades. A few days later, December ist, he was assigned the 
 more responsible position of Dep. Adjutant-General under Heath, 
 vice Col. Grosvenor (class of 1765), who had resigned the office, and 
 this position he retained until April 29, 1782, when he received 
 a furlough. As the Massachusetts regiments were subsequently 
 reduced in numbers, Col. Hull was transferred, January, 1783, to 
 the 6th, and on June i6th to the 4th, or Col. H. Jackson s. On 
 the last date he was also appointed to the command of the Light 
 Infantry, and led that corps at the head of the American force 
 that marched into New York when the city was evacuated by 
 the enemy November 25, 1783. A provisional body called the 
 " American regiment " was then organized to serve until July i, 
 1784, at West Point, and Hull was appointed its Lieut-Colonel. 
 With its disbandment his long services in the field terminated. 
 
 In the u Military and Civil Life of Gen. Hull " many incidents 
 of his revolutionary career appear from his own pen. Among 
 other interesting facts noticed is the invitation from Washington 
 to Hull in 1780 to enter his family as Aid-de-Camp, which the 
 Colonel, however, declined, as he was then Inspector of Howe s 
 Division. Steuben felt that he would be of greater service where 
 he was than as Aid to Washington, and entreated him not to 
 change. Hull states that he accordingly recommended Humphreys 
 to Washington s notice. 
 
 After the war Hull was commissioned to treat with Gen. Hal- 
 dimand in Canada, respecting the transfer of the northwestern 
 posts into American hands, as appears from his letter, on p. 149. 
 In 1787 he assisted in the suppression of Shay s rebellion, and in 
 1794 was appointed U. S. Commissioner to treat with the British 
 in Canada, and hold treaties with the Indians. In 1805 he was 
 appointed by Jefferson Governor of the Territory of Michigan, 
 and held that office until 1814, being also appointed, in 1812, 
 Brig.-General and Commander of U. S. forces along that frontier. 
 On August 15, 1812, he surrendered Detroit to the enemy, and in 
 January, 1814, was tried by court-martial at Albany and sentenced 
 
Roll of Honor. 281 
 
 to be shot on charges of cowardice and neglect of duty. The exe 
 cution of the sentence, however, was remitted by the President on 
 the ground of his age and revolutionary services. Hull then re 
 tired to Newton, Mass., where he had taken up his residence in 
 1784, and died there on November 25, 1825. In the militia of 
 the State he rose to the rank of Major-General. 
 
 Gen. Hull never wavered in his conviction that the surrender 
 of Detroit was a right and necessary act, and his friends have 
 always regarded him as a victim " sacrificed to the necessity of 
 preserving the Administration from disgrace and ruin." Its own 
 blunders were to be concealed in making Hull the one responsible 
 official in the case. The opinion may be ventured that an impar 
 tial review of the evidence by a military court to-day would result 
 in a reversal of judgment. 
 
 The General was an original member of the Massachusetts 
 Cincinnati Society. 
 
 SAMUEL WILLIAM WILLIAMS, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Grandson of Col. Elisha Williams, fourth President of the 
 college ; born at Wethersfield, Conn., in 1752. Upon the organ 
 ization of the Continental Line he joined Col. S. B. Webb s 
 "additional" regiment, as Lieutenant, February, 1777, and on 
 March 23, 1778, was promoted Captain. The regiment served 
 along the Hudson in 1777, and in the summer of 1778 marched 
 to Rhode Island, under Lafayette, and took an active part in the 
 battle there of August 29th. In June of the following year it 
 helped to check the enemy s advance from Springfield, N. J. By 
 the reduction of the Line, on January i, 1781, the regiment became 
 the Third Conn., and for a short time in the fall of the year Capt. 
 Williams had the command of it. A brief extract from one of his 
 letters, referring to camp rejoicings over the capture of Cornwallis, 
 appears on p. 139. He retired from the service January i, 1783- 
 
282 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 After the war he settled at Wethersfield, held the office of Town 
 Clerk for twenty years, and was sent to the Legislature several 
 sessions. He died on or about September 14, 1812. Member 
 Conn. Cincinnati Soc. 1 
 
 Class of 1773. 
 
 ROGER ALDEN, 
 
 Brevet-Major and A.D.C., Continental Army. 
 
 Descendant in the sixth generation of John Al den, of the May 
 flower Company ; born at Lebanon, Conn., February n, 1754. 
 Trumbull, the painter, speaks of him in his Autobiography as one 
 of his "very particular friends and companions," and an active 
 member of a military company formed by the younger men of 
 Lebanon in anticipation of war. His elder brother, Captain 
 Judah Alden, of Col. S. B. Webb s regiment, was killed in a skir 
 mish in Westchester Co., August 22, 1777. 
 
 Alden was first commissioned Lieutenant and Adjutant of Col. 
 Bradley s Fifth Conn. Line, January i, 1777. The regiment fought 
 at Germantown, October 4th, and encamped that winter at Valley 
 Forge, where the Adjutant was appointed Brigade-Major of Hunt- 
 ington s Brigade. June i, 1778, he was promoted Captain- 
 Lieutenant in Col. Butler s Second Conn., and marched with the 
 army to Monmouth. September i, 1779, he was promoted full 
 Captain, and thereafter served most of the time as Aid-de-Camp, 
 with the brevet rank of Major, to Brig.-Gen. Huntington, being 
 formally appointed to the position by Division Orders, Springfield, 
 N. J., April i, 1780. He probably spent the winter at the Morris- 
 town huts. About a year later, on February 10, 1781, he resigned 
 his commission, and retired to study law, at Fairfield, in the office 
 of Sam. William Johnson. In a letter to Aaron Burr, February 28, 
 
 1 Rev. Dr. John Reed, of this class, for many years Unitarian pastor at West 
 Bridgewater, Mass., is stated, in Drake s "Diet, of Am. Biography," to have 
 served one year as chaplain in the naval service during the Revolution. 
 
Roll of Honor. 28, 
 
 1781, he refers to his four years service, and adds : "I bid adieu 
 to camp, having completed my business, with my thanks to our 
 worthy Commander-in-Chief for his attention to my character. 
 The discharge he gave me equalled my wishes and exceeded my 
 expectations." 
 
 Two years after the war, June 23, 1785, Alden was elected 
 Deputy Secretary of the Continental Congress, Governor Trum- 
 bull recommending him as " a young gentleman possessed of 
 natural good abilities enlarged by a liberal education, and im 
 proved by several years knowledge of mankind in the public ser 
 vice of his country, in which he acquitted himself with honor and 
 reputation." Upon the adoption of the new Constitution, Wash 
 ington, as President, appointed him, July 24, 1789, custodian of 
 the books and papers of the old Congress, together with "the 
 great seal of the Federal Union," until Jefferson, Secretary of 
 State, should enter upon his duties. Alden then became Chief 
 Clerk of the Department ; but giving up this position he went to 
 what is now the town of Meadville, Penn., and became interested 
 in lands of the Holland Co., which, in 1796, he advertises for 
 sale, his address being " Mr. David Mead s Settlement, about 40 
 miles from Lake Erie, in Penn." It would seem that he lived 
 at Meadville until his seventy-seventh year, when the War De 
 partment appointed him, January 20, 1825, Military Storekeeper 
 at West Point. On December 30, 1826, he was also made Post 
 master at the same place ; and these positions he retained until 
 his death, November 5, 1836. The Major was buried in the Post 
 Cemetery, where his tombstone still stands in a fair state of 
 preservation. Col. Bradford R. Alden, late of the regular army, 
 was his son. Member Conn, and N. Y. Cincinnati Societies. 
 
 ROYAL FLINT, 
 
 Deputy Commissary^ Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Windham, Conn., where he was born January 12, 
 1754. His grandfather, Joshua Flint, descendant of Thomas 
 
284 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Flint, of Salem, Mass., appears among the early settlers of the 
 place. His father, James Flint, became a prosperous merchant 
 there, and sent his two sons, Royal and Abel, to college the 
 latter, class of 1785, afterwards the Rev. Dr. Flint, for many years 
 a prominent pastor at Hartford. 
 
 Young Flint visited the Boston camps in 1775, where Nathan 
 Hale speaks of meeting him, and returning home, engaged in the 
 early part of 1776, in making saltpetre at Wethersfield. On July 
 loth following, he was commissioned Paymaster of Col. Andrew 
 Ward s Conn. Continental Regt., which, in August, joined Wash 
 ington s army at New York. This regiment was at Trenton and 
 Princeton. May 28, 1777, Flint received the appointment of 
 Asst. Commissary of Connecticut State troops with " a captain s 
 pay and rations." As such he distributed clothing to the State s 
 soldiers in Putnam s command on the Hudson in the fall of 1777, 
 as well as during the following winter at Valley Forge. The 
 next year, May 27, 1778, Congress commissioned him Asst. Com 
 missary of Purchases, under Col. Wadsworth, Commissary-Gen 
 eral in the Continental Army. In this position he became ac 
 quainted with leading officers in the service, among others, Gen. 
 Greene, who, writing from camp, April 14, 1779, to Wadsworth, 
 says : " Mr. Flint dined with me to-day, and is brave and hearty. 
 We wish for another feast of salmon. When may we expect it ? " 
 The Commissary s interesting letters, on pp. 114-117, indicate 
 the nature of his duties and difficulties encountered. Another 
 letter, given in full below, is valuable as showing the effect of the 
 depreciation of the currency upon the officers in the army, Flint s 
 case being one of many. It is as follows, addressed to the 
 President of Congress : 
 
 " MORRISTOWN, Jan. 23, 1780. 
 
 " SIR : While I see officers of every denomination soliciting an adequate 
 recompense for their services, I cannot, in justice to myself, remain any longer 
 silent. It is, however, with reluctance I trouble Congress with the concerns of 
 an individual, when their attention is so much called to matters more public 
 and important. But if the claim be just, I flatter myself it will not be rejected 
 from want of consequence. My case is this : I accepted the appointment of 
 Assistant Commissary-General of Purchases on the 27th of May, 1778, upon a 
 salary of five dollars per day, two rations for myself and one for my servant, 
 and forage for two horses. As the currency had not then depreciated more 
 
Roll of Honor. 285 
 
 than threefold, I considered that allowance sufficient for my support, and 
 cheerfully entered upon my duty. Since that time the money has been rapidly 
 growing worse, and no additional emoluments have been annexed to my office. 
 The last year of my service I have been obliged to allow my servant higher 
 wages than I received myself, and now find that my expenses amount to several 
 thousand dollars more than my whole pay. My duty has been constant and 
 fatiguing, and of such a nature that no honorary advantages could result from it, 
 however well it might be performed. I have fixed no particular extent to my 
 claim, for I only request that Congress would compare my case with others, and 
 upon this relative view make me a just compensation for past services. 
 I have the honor to be 
 
 " Your Excellency s most obt. hbl. servt. 
 
 " ROYAL FLINT. 
 " His Excellency, S. HUNTINGTON." 
 
 Soon after the foregoing letter was written, Flint decided to 
 retire from the army ; and early in February, 1780, he sent in his 
 resignation. He was still at Morristown, and before returning 
 to Connecticut he wrote as follows to Washington under date of 
 February 6th : 
 
 "SiR: 
 
 " Having finished my service under the Commissary-General, and having no 
 further connection with the department, my authority over the affairs of it are 
 at an end. My continuance here in such a situation will afford no advantage 
 to the public, and consequently no great satisfaction to myself. The circum 
 stances that have compelled my leaving the army have no ways abated my 
 wishes for its prosperity, or my zeal and inclinations to serve it. ... As 
 it has been my ambition in a public capacity to merit your approbation, so, 
 now I am out of office, I shall be no less ambitious, in whatever situation I 
 am, of manifesting my personal attachment to your Excellency." 
 
 At a later date Flint visited the French troops at Newport, and 
 remarked upon their excellent commissariat. After the war, from 
 1786 to 1789, he was U. S. Commissioner for settling the Conti 
 nental accounts of the Eastern States, with residence at Boston. 
 He then became interested in land schemes, taking four shares 
 in the Ohio Company, and appearing as one of the three trustees 
 in the less fortunate Scioto Company. His name is also on the 
 list of purchasers of large tracts in Western New York. In 1792, 
 however, a general crash followed the rage for speculation ; and 
 a letter of that year mentions Flint as among the " ruined." 
 
286 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Subsequently he went to Charleston, S. C., and died there Octo 
 ber 17, 
 
 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Continentals. 
 
 11 Martyr-Spy " of the Revolution. 
 
 The devoted Hale, to whom reference is made on pages 52-55, 
 was born at Coventry, Conn., some twenty miles east of Hartford, 
 June 6, 1755. He belonged to a typical New England family of 
 the last century, his father, Richard Hale, being a farmer and 
 church deacon who brought up his sons under strict convictions 
 of duty. Nathan and his elder brother, Enoch, entered the same 
 class at Yale, where the former certainly was a general favorite. 
 We have the testimony of more than one of his friends and asso 
 ciates that he was a most attractive character, a youth whose dis 
 position and endowments won for him the respect and love of his 
 fellows to an unusual degree. Perhaps no one could speak of 
 him with better authority or discrimination than Dr. Dwight, who 
 was tutor at the college during the last two years of Hale s course 
 and necessarily knew him well. It is this fact that makes the 
 Doctor s reference to him in his " Conquest of Canaan " a valua 
 ble tribute. The extract, well known, will bear repeating : 
 
 " Thus, while fond Virtue wished in vain to save, 
 Hale, bright and generous, found a hapless grave. 
 With genius living flame his bosom glowed, 
 And science charmed him to her sweet abode ; 
 In worth s fair path his feet adventured far, 
 The pride of peace, the rising grace of war ; 
 In duty firm, in danger calm as even, 
 To friends unchanging, and sincere to Heaven. 
 How short his course, the prize how early won ! 
 While weeping friendship mourns her favorite gone." 
 
 1 The writer is indebted to Mr. J. F. Morris, of Hartford, for copies of the 
 Flint letters in the text and sketch. 
 
Roll of Honor. 287 
 
 In a note to this passage Dr. Dwight states that it was written 
 early in the war, and, with two or three similar tributes, was in 
 serted in his poem " to indulge the author s own emotions of 
 regard for the persons named." During the war, also, some other 
 friend of Hale, whose name does not appear, remembered him in 
 a longer poetic effort, which is interesting as being more of a per 
 sonal and descriptive nature. It was first published in the Amer 
 ican Historical Magazine in 1836 in part as follows : 
 
 " Erect and tall, his well-proportioned frame, 
 Vigorous and active, as electric flame ; 
 His manly limbs had symmetry and grace, 
 And innate goodness marked his beauteous face ; 
 His fancy lively, and his genius great, 
 His solid judgment shone in grave debate ; 
 For erudition far beyond his years ; 
 At Yale distinguished above all his peers ; 
 Speak, ye who knew him while a pupil there, 
 His numerous virtues to the world declare ; 
 His blameless carriage and his modest air, 
 Above the vain parade and idle show 
 Which mark the coxcomb and the empty beau ; 
 Removed from envy, malice, pride, and strife, 
 He walked through goodness as he walked through life ; 
 A kinder brother nature never knew, 
 A child more duteous or a friend more true." 
 
 Hale s classmate, Major Tallmadge, his college-mate and fel 
 low-officer, Colonel Hull, some of his pupils and others, have left 
 us ample evidence of the high estimation in which he was held. 
 Through their recollections and memorials one may see in him a 
 nature not only gifted, but capable of any noble, ingenuous act 
 whenever occasion might call for it. 
 
 After graduation Hale taught school, first, at Moodus, Conn., 
 and then at New London, where he was still teaching when the 
 war broke out. The drift of opinion and events, of course, in 
 terested him. Thus to his brother Enoch, then at Lyme, he 
 wrote from New London, August 8, 1774, in an unpublished let 
 ter : " No liberty-pole is erected or erecting here ; but the peo 
 ple seem much more spirited than they were before the alarm. 
 Parson Peters, of Hebron, I hear, has had a second visit paid 
 him by the Sons of Liberty in Windham. His treatment and the 
 
288 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 concessions he made I have not as yet heard." Soon after the 
 Lexington skirmish Hale gave up his school, and on July 6, 1775, 
 was commissioned lieutenant of a company which was attached 
 to Col. Charles Webb s State regiment, and went to the Boston 
 encampment. He served through the siege, and when the regiment 
 was reorganized as the " Nineteenth Foot " in Washington s army 
 of Continentals, to serve until January i, 1777, he was promoted 
 Captain, with commission dated February i, 1776. Marching with 
 the army to New York, Webb s regiment was engaged, with the 
 others, in fortifying the city. It was encamped most of the time 
 on the line of Grand Street, near the Bowery, and Hale was with 
 it constantly, absorbed in his military duties. No opportunity, 
 however, was given him to engage in action, which he evidently 
 regretted. His regiment was ordered to the Long Island front on 
 the morning of August 27th, but took no part in the battle, and 
 after the retreat to New York again went into camp. About the 
 ist of September following, a small body of Rangers was or 
 ganized under the command of Lieut.-Col. Knowlton, and Hale 
 was accepted as one of its captains. As the Rangers were 
 to be at the front, reconnoitering the enemy, Hale felt that 
 with them he could render some valuable service. The choice, 
 however, was to prove a fatal one. Washington at that time 
 was extremely anxious to obtain information from the enemy s 
 camps respecting their preparations for their next advance and 
 the probable point of attack, and he mentioned the matter to 
 Knowlton, who in turn suggested the service to one or more of 
 his own officers. 
 
 " The suggestion appears to have deeply impressed Hale, who, 
 after an interview with Knowlton, went to talk the subject over 
 with his fellow-officer and college friend, Capt. William Hull, 
 of Webb s regiment. This we know from Hull himself. The 
 two captains discussed the question of undertaking the role of 
 a spy. Hull used every argument to dissuade Hale from the 
 dangerous service, and appealed to him as a soldier not to run 
 the risk of closing his promising career with an ignominious 
 death. Hale, however, although fully sensible of the conse 
 quences of capture, could think of nothing but duty. He told 
 Hull that for a year he had been attached to the army, and had 
 rendered no material service ; that he wished to be useful ; was 
 
Roll of Honor. 289 
 
 uninfluenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary re 
 ward ; and so far as the peculiar duty in question was concerned, 
 he felt that * every kind of service necessary to the public good be 
 came honorable by being necessary " Harper s Magagine, May, 
 1880. 
 
 Deciding to undertake the perilous errand, Hale disguised 
 himself as a schoolmaster, crossed from Stamford to Long 
 Island, proceeded to New York, which had just fallen into the 
 enemy s hands, and, obtaining information, started to return to 
 the American camp. Then comes the brief and melancholy 
 record that, being either suspected or recognized, he was arrested, 
 examined by General Howe, the British Commander-irLrChief, 
 condemned as a spy, and executed as such on the morning of 
 September 22, 1776. 
 
 How Hale bore himself during this ordeal is, fortunately, a 
 point on which we have authentic information. His brother 
 Enoch, hearing of his fate, went to the American camp, then at 
 White Plains, and ascertained that the Captain was " suspected 
 by his movements that he wanted to get out of New York," 
 and that " minutes " being found on his person, he was ordered 
 to be hanged. " When at the gallows he spoke, and told that he 
 was a Captain in the Continental Army, by name Nathan Hale." 
 Captain Hull states, in the published extracts from his MSS. 
 " Memoirs," that he conversed with the British officer who 
 brought word to our lines of H ale s fate, and learned from him 
 that Hale conducted himself with the utmost dignity, and, when 
 examined, frankly avowed his name, rank, and mission. Few 
 persons witnessed his execution, but the officer told Hull that his 
 last words were remembered an expression of regret that he 
 " had not more than one life to lose for his country." 2 
 
 All this was in perfect keeping with Hale s character. He had 
 sought to do Washington and the country a useful service, but 
 failing, he accepted the consequences with the composure and 
 
 1 See Enoch Hale s brief diary, published as appendix to address by Rev. Ed 
 ward Everett Hale at New London, September 7, 1881. Boston : A. Wil 
 liams & Co. 1881. 
 
 4 Hull wrote an account of Hale for Hannah Adams " History of New Eng 
 land," published in 1799, which appears there in quotations as he gave it. In 
 his " Memoirs," edited by Mrs. Campbell, after his death, he gives further par 
 ticulars. 
 
2 90 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 devotion that hallow the last moments of all true heroic spirits. 
 Even if nothing more were known of his fate than the mere fact 
 of his execution, his previous conduct and expressions, such as 
 his last conversation with Hull, the tone of his letters and diary, 
 his virtues and motives as recalled by those who knew him, would 
 single him out as a youth to be remembered and his sacrifice one 
 to be fitly commemorated. Thus far his devotion has been hon 
 ored with two public memorials, first by a modest monument 
 erected at South Coventry in 1846, and again by an ideal bronze 
 statue provided by the State of Connecticut and unveiled in the 
 Capitol building, Hartford, June 14, 1887. In printed form we 
 have numerous tributes, among which may be mentioned J. W. 
 Stuart s " Life " of Hale ; Rev. Edward Everett Hale s address at 
 the Groton Celebration in 1881; Mr. Charles Dudley Warner s ad 
 dress at the unveiling at Hartford, 1887; article in Harper s Mag 
 azine, May, 1880 ; a "Poem " delivered before the Alumni Associ 
 ation of Columbia College by John MacMullen, A.M., in 1858 ; 
 and a " Poem " by Judge Francis M. Finch at the centennial an 
 niversary of the Lin^onian Society, Yale College, in 1853, of 
 which the last stanza is as follows : 
 
 " From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 
 
 From monument and urn, 
 The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 
 
 His tragic fate shall learn ; 
 And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 
 
 The name of HALE shall burn ! " 
 
 JAMES HILLHOUSE, 
 
 Captain, Governor s Foot-Guards. 
 
 Afterwards United States Senator from Connecticut. He was 
 born at Montville, in that State, October 21, 1754, but after 
 graduation lived in New Haven, where he practised law. Like his 
 father, who was prominent as a Revolutionary leader in the 
 colony, he took an active interest in the war and at times served 
 in person. He appears as a lieutenant of volunteers to rein- 
 
Roll of Honor. 291 
 
 force Washington, in December, 1776, and may have been in the 
 field a few weeks then. On May 8, 1777, he was elected Lieu 
 tenant of the Second or New Haven Company of Governor s 
 Foot-Guards, and two years later, May 3, 1779, was elected its 
 Captain. He held this rank at the time the enemy invaded New 
 Haven in July, 1779, when he marched out promptly with a small 
 company of volunteers and skirmished with the British as they 
 came up through West Haven from their landing-place at Savin 
 Rock. He showed much spirit on the occasion and is remembered 
 as one of the chief figures among those who attempted the defence 
 of the town. In 1779 and 1780 he also did good service at home 
 in recruiting men for the Continental army under Washington^ 
 Some of his correspondence in the matter is to be found in the 
 Trumbull MSS., Boston. Rising in influence and reputation, Hill- 
 house became a Member of Congress in 1791-94, and thereafter 
 sat in the Senate until 1810. He was Treasurer of Yale from 
 1782 until his death at New Haven, December 29, 1832. 
 
 
 STEPHEN KEYES, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Native of Pomfret, Conn., where he was born, December 6, 1753. 
 He was commissary, probably of Putnam s regiment, in 1775, and 
 served at the Boston siege. On January i, 1776, he was commis 
 sioned First Lieutenant in Col. Parsons Regt., and was doubtless 
 with it through the New York campaign, taking part in the battle 
 of Long Island and the retreat from the city. In Jan., 1777, he 
 appears on a list of captains for Col. Huntington s Continental 
 regiment, but did not serve. After the war he removed to Bur 
 lington, Vermont, where he engaged in business and became Col 
 lector of the district. He was there known as Colonel Keyes. 
 His death occurred at St. Albans, Vt., August 2, 1804. 
 
292 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 ELIHU MARVIN, 
 
 Adjutant, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Lyme, Conn., born December, 1752. He first appears 
 in the service as Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Fourth Regt. 
 Connecticut Line, under Col. Durkee, with commission dated 
 January i, 1777. The regiment fought at the battle of Germantovvn 
 in October of that year, and wintered at Valley Forge, 1777-78. At 
 the latter camp Marvin was appointed Brigade-Major of Varnum s 
 brigade, consisting of two R. I. and two Conn, regiments, and 
 may have been with it at the battle of Monmouth in June, 1778. 
 Soon after this, or before August ist following, he left the service. 
 Returning to Connecticut, he occasionally served with the militia, 
 appearing, for instance, in March, 1779, as Aid to Gen. Wads- 
 worth when troops were ordered to New London on an alarm. 
 He settled as a physician at Norwich and became Brigadier-Gen 
 eral of State Militia. He died September 13, 1798, an obituary 
 notice saying of him : " Departed this life, on Friday morning, in 
 the fifty-fifth year of his age, of the yellow fever, General Elihu 
 Marvin, whose enlightened understanding, whose philanthropic 
 heart, whose regular deportment and domestic virtues distin 
 guished his character." 
 
 EZRA SAMPSON, 
 
 Chaplain, Massachusetts Troops. 
 
 Pastor at Plympton, Mass. Born at Middleboro, February, 1754 ; 
 died in New York City, December 12, 1823. The sketch of Mr. 
 Sampson in Sprague s " Annals of the Pulpit," says : "In 1775 
 he acted as volunteer chaplain in the camp at Roxbury, and in 
 July of that year preached a sermon before Col. Cotton s regi 
 ment, of so patriotic and inspiriting a character that it was imme 
 diately printed by request of the army. His heart was warmly in 
 his country s cause ; and he lost no opportunity of serving that 
 cause during the whole period of the Revolution." 
 
 EZRA SELDEN, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Captain Selden and his cousin, Adjutant Charles Selden, of the 
 class of 1777, were descendants of Thomas Selden, one of the 
 original settlers of Hartford. Joseph Selden, youngest son of 
 Thomas, removed in 1695 to what is now Hadlyme, on the Con- 
 
Roll of Honor. 293 
 
 necticut River, twelve miles from its mouth, and established a 
 homestead which, in 1724, passed to his youngest son, Samuel. 
 This Samuel Selden had two sons, namely, Samuel (second), 
 or the "Colonel," and Ezra, the " Squire," the former inheriting 
 the homestead, and the latter settling in Hamburg Society, six 
 miles below. These two brothers were the fathers, respectively, 
 of the graduates and revolutionary officers, Ezra and Charles. 
 
 Ezra, son of "Squire " Ezra Selden, was born March 23, 1752. 
 Representing a patriotic family, he responded promptly to the call 
 for troops after the first alarm, and joined Col. Samuel H. Par 
 sons regiment at Lyme as Orderly Sergeant, May 6, 1775. With 
 this he went to Boston, and remained through the siege. On 
 January i, 1776, when the regiment was made the Tenth Conti 
 nental Foot, he appears as Second Lieutenant. He marched with 
 it to New York, and participated in the trying events of the cam 
 paign, being present, no doubt, at the battle of Long Island, and 
 certainly in the retreat from the city September i5th. His regi 
 ment was with the army at White Plains, but not actively en 
 gaged. Upon the formation of the Connecticut Continental Line 
 Selden was promoted Lieutenant and Adjutant of the First Regi 
 ment, with commission dated January i, 1777, the regiment being 
 commanded successively until 1781 by Colonels Huntington, 
 Prentice, and Starr. This command fought at the battle of Ger- 
 mantown in October, 1777, and then wintered at Valley Forge. 
 An interesting and valuable letter written by Selden from that 
 camp appears on page 87. The surgeon of the regiment, Dr. 
 Albigence Waldo, states in a brief diary that the Adjutant taught 
 him in mid-winter how to darn stockings so that the patch would 
 "look like knit-work," a timely accomplishment in view of the 
 desperate straits the soldiers were reduced to in the matter of 
 clothes. In the following summer the army entered the field and 
 fought the battle of Monmouth, Selden being with it on the oc 
 casion, and also in the next camp at White Plains, where he 
 wrote the second of his letters published in the text, page 91. 
 Meanwhile he was promoted captain in his regiment, with rank 
 dating from June i, 1778. His captain s commission, signed 
 by John Jay, President of Congress, is among the applications in 
 the Pension Bureau at Washington. 
 
 In the movements of 1779 Captain Selden was given the oppor 
 tunity of distinguishing himself as one of Wayne s Stony Point 
 
294 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 heroes. He was Captain of Light Infantry in Colonel Meigs 
 regiment for the campaign, and engaged in the storming of that 
 post on the night of July i5th. During the attack he was 
 severely wounded in the groin, and was subsequently taken home 
 by his father, who came for him in a carriage from Lyme. Selden s 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Sill, refers to the assault as follows : " The 
 taking the fort at Stony Point is a convincing proof of the bravery 
 of the Americans, and is acknowledged by our enemies. There 
 has nothing been done in the war that exceeds, or even equalled it. 
 The officers and soldiers that were in the attack have gained im 
 mortal honor. Captain Selden received a wound in the back ; 
 the ball is extracted, and he will be well soon." The Captain, 
 however, never fully recovered from the shock. He returned to 
 the army, and remained with it until the close of the war, or May, 
 1783. From 1781 to 1783 he served in Colonel Butler s Fourth, 
 and Colonel S. B. Webb s Third Regiment of the Line. 
 
 After the war Captain Selden married, and settled in the prac 
 tice of law at Lyme, but his constitution was undermined in part 
 by his wound, and he died from hemorrhage December 9, 1874. 
 An obituary notice, written by Dr. Samuel Mather, of Lyme, 
 speaks of him as follows : 
 
 " He was a person of a most beautiful aspect and agreeable disposition ; his 
 deportment and manner of address was such as attracted the attention and ad 
 miration of his acquaintance. Early in life he received a liberal education, and 
 was one of the first that presented himself in the cause of his bleeding country. 
 He served in the various posts from that of an Orderly Sergeant to that of a 
 Captain, which he filled with honor and dignity, and in many instances signal 
 ized himself as an excellent officer and soldier ; in particular, at the reduction 
 of Stony Point, where he received a dangerous wound at the first attack. Not 
 withstanding the distresses of his wound and great loss of blood, he was one of 
 the first with his division that mounted the ramparts and displayed that bravery 
 so peculiar to the American officer. He died with that disposition of mind pe 
 culiar to those that have an interest in the redemption by Jesus Christ. In him 
 the public have lost a great defender of the privileges and liberties of mankind, 
 and an agreeable citizen ; his parents, his wife, with two small children, an af 
 fectionate son, and husband, and a tender parent." 
 
 Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
Roll of Honor. 295 
 
 BENJAMIN TALLMADGE, 
 
 Major, Continental Dragoons. 
 
 Tallmadge s name, it need hardly be said, stands high in the 
 list of distinguished field-officers of the Revolution. Few of the 
 younger men in the army enjoyed the confidence and esteem of 
 Washington in larger measure. 
 
 The Major was born February 25, 1754, at Setauket, Suffolk Co., 
 L. I., where his father, Rev. Benjamin Tallmadge, class of 1747, 
 was long settled as pastor. Upon graduation he taught the High 
 School at Wethersfield, Conn., and was there when the war broke 
 out. He visited the Boston camp in the summer of 1775, but did 
 not decide to enter the service until the following year, when he 
 became Adjutant of the State regiment under Col. Chester, with 
 commission dated June 20, 1776. His regiment served in Wads- 
 worth s brigade at New York, and fought at the battle of Long 
 Island. It was stationed at the outposts in the present Prospect 
 Park, and was forced to a hasty retreat to avoid capture. Tall 
 madge s own account of the affair, and especially of the subsequent 
 retreat to New York and other operations of the campaign, appears 
 in his " Memoirs," published after his death, an extract from which 
 is given on p. 49. When Col. Chester became a brigade com 
 mander, Tallmadge was appointed, September ist, his Brigade- 
 Major, and retained that position until about the middle of De 
 cember. He was with his command at the battle of White Plains. 
 In the fall of the year when State committees were selecting 
 officers for the proposed Continental Line, Tallmadge was recom 
 mended for promotion by his colonel, who highly appreciated his 
 merits, as appears from what he wrote to a friend at Wethersfield, 
 October 3d : " For my part I think it of the last importance to 
 the future well-being of America that good men should now be 
 appointed. No tongue can tell the difficulties this army has 
 laboured under for the want of them. I wish Major Tallmadge 
 might be provided for by Connecticut. I have recommended 
 him ... all allow him fit for any post." Tallmadge mean 
 while accepted a captaincy in a corps of cavalry, which became 
 the Second Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons, under Col. 
 Elisha Sheldon, of Connecticut, and recruited a full company 
 from his own brigade before it returned home. His promptness 
 
296 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 and success in the case enabled him to become senior Captain in 
 his new regiment, with commission dated December 14, 1776. 
 Returning to Wethersfield, he equipped and mounted his company 
 in handsome style, and in the spring of 1777 joined Washington s 
 army in New Jersey. His first experience there was a skirmish 
 with the enemy in the Short Hills. A little later he was pro 
 moted Major, with commission dated April 7, 1777, and as such 
 took part in the movements in Pennsylvania leading to the battle 
 of Brandywine, and was engaged in the following battle of 
 Germantown, October 4th. During the remainder of the war the 
 Second Dragoons was generally stationed in the vicinity of the 
 outposts in Westchester Co. and along the Hudson, while Tall- 
 madge himself at times commanded separate detachments, or was 
 of service to the Commander-in-Chief in a special way as indi 
 cated on p. 124. His management of the secret service referred 
 to was highly approved by Washington, and his skill in conducting 
 expeditions recognized in flattering terms. He was well acquainted 
 with all the neutral ground between the two armies, and knew 
 what inhabitants could be depended upon for correct information. 
 He signalized himself especially in crossing the Sound and attack 
 ing posts on Long Island, as in the case of Fort George, men 
 tioned on p. 126, when he received the thanks and praise of 
 Congress, and again in the case of Fort Slongo, surprised on 
 October 10, 1787, by an expedition planned by Tallmadge, but 
 executed by Major Trescott under his orders. In this connec 
 tion, also, may be read the interesting letter from Washington to 
 the Major, p. 146, upon the attempted expedition in 1782, de 
 scribed by the latter on p. 145. Tallmadge s own tours of duty 
 along the Westchester front were frequent, to one of which he 
 briefly refers as follows in a note to Col. Webb, dated Crompond, 
 July 6, 1780 : "I am to-morrow going on an enterprise down to 
 the Lines with a very respectable command of Horse and foot. I 
 hope the real accounts you hear from me may relate some attchieve- 
 ment. Being on an advanced Post, our Duty is, of course, severe, 
 subject to frequent alarms, and little rest. I have often wished for 
 Miss Webb s faculty of living without sleep, that Duty might not 
 affect me." 1 On one occasion the enemy stole a march upon 
 him and he barely escaped capture. 
 1 Webb s " Reminiscences." 
 
Roll of Honor. 297 
 
 The part played by Major Tallmadge in the arrest of Andre" is 
 well known. But. for his observation and suspicions that officer 
 might have escaped ; and, indeed, had his advice been followed 
 by his Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, Arnold himself might have 
 been captured. He was with Andre" much of the time before his 
 execution, and became quite attached to him, as appears from the 
 Major s " Memoirs " and the interesting letter from his pen on 
 page 125. 
 
 Tallmadge remained in the service until June, 1783, when the 
 army disbanded. After the war, in common with other officers, 
 he became interested in the Ohio Company, and in 1795 appears 
 as its treasurer. He made one trip to Ohio, but returned and set 
 tled at Litchfield, Conn., where he became an influential citizen. 
 From 1800 to 1816 he represented his district in Congress. He 
 died March 7, 1835. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JOSHUA LAMB WOODBRIDGE, 
 
 Captain, Massachusetts Militia. 
 
 Son of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, class of 1732 ; born at Hat- 
 field, Mass., about 1750. He appears at the siege of Boston from 
 May to December, 1775, as lieutenant and sometimes recruiting 
 officer in the State regiment commanded by Col. Benj. Ruggles 
 Woodbridge. His classmate, Nathan Hale, speaks of meeting 
 him in camp there. In the following year he seems to have served 
 a short time in the Northern Department, and in 1777 probably 
 took part in the Saratoga campaign with Massachusetts militia. 
 He is on the rolls of Colonel Tyler s regiment, and in 1778 he was 
 Captain in Colonel Dike s militia regiment, serving in Rhode 
 Island under Sullivan. During Shay s rebellion he rendered 
 General Shepard some assistance, being sent on one occasion 
 
298 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 to ascertain Shay s object. Subsequently Woodbridge engaged 
 in business in Boston. When or where he died does not appear 
 in the published record of the family. 
 
 JOHN PALSGRAVE WYLLYS, 
 
 Major, Continental Army. 
 Major, First Regiment U. S. A. 
 
 Youngest of the three Wyllys brothers, graduates of the college, 
 referred to in the sketch of Col. Samuel W., class of 1758, and 
 the officer who, after " long and meritorious " services, fell in the 
 Indian wars in Ohio, as described in the closing chapter of the 
 text. 
 
 The Major was born at Hartford in 1754, and was apparently 
 living at his father s ample home there when the war broke out. 
 According to one of his own letters and the Cincinnati records, 
 he entered the service as Adjutant of Col. Erastus Wolcott s State 
 regiment, appointment dating January 5, 1776, which served a 
 brief term at the Boston siege early in that year. In the following 
 campaign at New York, Wyllys was appointed, August 7, 1776, 
 Brigade-Major of Wadsworth s brigade of Connecticut State 
 troops, and was doubtless at the battle of Long Island. During 
 the retreat from New York on September i5th, he was taken pris 
 oner by the enemy near Kip s Bay, or along the line of East 34th 
 Street, but was exchanged in the following spring. With the or 
 ganization of the Continental Line he was commissioned, January 
 i, 1777, Captain in Col. S. B. Webb s "additional " regiment, re 
 ferred to on page 66 as " quite a Yale corps," and remained with 
 it to the close of the war. During Burgoyne s campaign the regi 
 ment served under Putnam against the British force that moved 
 up the Hudson from New York, and in December of that year 
 was concerned in an unsuccessful expedition to Long Island. In 
 the summer of 1778 Wyllys marched with his regiment from the 
 Hudson camps to Rhode Island, and engaged in the battle fought 
 near Newport, on August 29th. The regiment remaining in Rhode 
 Island over a year, the Captain appears there sometimes on court- 
 martial and again on special duty. One of his letters in the 
 Gates Papers (N. Y. Hist. Soc.) is a report of an expedition he 
 was ordered to undertake to secure stock on the Elizabeth 
 
Roll of Honor. 299 
 
 Islands. With a party of fifty men he proceeded, about the 3d 
 of September, 1779, to " Coaxitt," " Cuddahone," " Penekese," 
 and other islands, and on the gih returned to Bedford. On the 
 loth he reported as follows : 
 
 The stock upon these Islands far exceeded in value what was supposed the 
 quantity brought off amounted to about sixty head of neat cattle, the same num 
 ber of horses, and upwards of five hundred sheep in fine order. I am happy to 
 say that no abuse, either to the person or property of any Inhabitant, has been 
 complained of, and have the pleasure to reflect that I have been successfully em 
 ployed in depriving the enemies of my country of property which was their own 
 whenever they should choose to take possession as the event has since proved." 
 
 Returning to Washington s army, Webb s regiment wintered, 
 1779-80, at the Morristown huts, and engaged in June, 1780, in 
 the battle of Springfield, N. J., referred to on page 117. What 
 the Inspector-General, Steuben, thought of this regiment, then 
 under the command of Lieut-Col. Huntington (class of 1775), ap 
 pears in his report, printed on page no. Soon after the Spring 
 field affair, Captain Wyllys commanded one of the Connecticut 
 companies in Lafayette s Light Infantry Corps, and was presently 
 promoted Major, with commission dated October 10, 1780. On 
 January i, 1781, Webb s regiment became the Third of the Con 
 necticut Line. Wyllys, however, was absent from it the greater part 
 of the year as Major of one of the three Light Infantry battalions 
 which marched with Lafayette to Virginia. He was assigned to 
 the command February i7th, was soon relieved by Major Throop, 
 and in April reassigned. Referring to this, he wrote as follows to 
 Col. Webb on the i8th of that month : " Major Throop yesterday 
 arrived from the Marquis s detachment, and I am obliged to take 
 up the tour upon the old appointment. I set off to-morrow for 
 Hartford in order to put myself, in some degree, in a condition to 
 take the field. ... I am extremely sorry if my going upon 
 this tour shall oblige you to leave your affairs in a manner differ 
 ent from what you wish, but I could not consistent with a soldier s 
 honour have refused it." In Virginia Wyllys distinguished himself 
 with the Light Corps having command of his battalion in the 
 sharp affair of Green Spring, July 6th, and being with it at the 
 siege of Yorktown following. His regiment was assigned the 
 post of honor at the successful assault on the enemy s forts on the 
 night of October i4th. Returning to the Hudson camps in De- 
 
300 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 cember, 1781, Wyllys thereafter remained with the army in the 
 Highlands, taking his turn also in command of the outposts, as 
 appears from his letters on page 143. His regiment, under Col. 
 Swift, in 1783, was the last of the Connecticut Line in the service, 
 and with it he retired from the field in November of that year. 
 
 Major Wyllys record after the war has already been given in 
 the text, pages 163-170. From 1785 to 1790 he was Major of the 
 First Regiment of the regular army on the Ohio frontier, and 
 there fell in action, October 22, 1790, near the site of Fort Wayne, 
 Indiana. He had devoted fourteen years of his life to the coun 
 try. An appreciative poetic tribute to his memory appears on 
 page 170. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 1 
 
 Class of 1774. 
 
 AMOS BENEDICT, 
 
 Connecticut State Troops. 
 
 Of Danbury, Conn. ; born March 17, 1754. In the Benedict 
 genealogy he is said to have been in the service during the year 
 1776, and that he died of small-pox in camp February 15, 1777. 
 Where or in what capacity he served does not appear. 
 
 AARON JORDAN BOGUE, 
 
 Chaplain, Connecticut. 
 
 A native of West Avon, Conn. ; born May 6, 1752. The Al 
 bany Argus says in obituary notice of him : " He was the oldest 
 of five brothers, all of whom were old enough to take a part in 
 
 J Gamaliel Babcock, of this class, was probably the " Issuing Commissary " 
 of the same name appointed by Gov. Trumbull s council, July I, 1777, to assist 
 in the equipment and provision of the Connecticut Continental Line. The 
 officer was from Lebanon. 
 
Roll of Honor. 301 
 
 the Revolutionary War. At that eventful period he, although a 
 clergyman, obeyed the call as a minute-man, was a soldier and 
 twice a chaplain of militia. He lost all his property during the 
 struggle." He was also chaplain during the 1812 war, and re 
 maining in the service, accompanied General Jackson on his Creek 
 expedition. Retiring to New Lebanon, Columbia Co., N. Y., after 
 the Revolution, he died there in the latter part of June, 1826, 
 aged 74 years. 
 
 WILLIAM LOCKWOOD, 
 
 Brigade Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards pastor at Milford and Glastonbury, Conn. ; born at 
 Wethersfield, January 21, 1753. He was tutor at the college in 
 1779, and in the fall of the following year he joined the army as 
 chaplain. Referring to him in a letter dated October 27, 1780, 
 President Stiles says : " I rec d a letter from Mr. Tutor Lockwood 
 from the army dated 14 inst., wherein he informs that he has 
 accepted a chaplainship in the army in Gen. Nixon s [Mass.] 
 Brigade, and asks to resign the Tutorship." Mr. Lockwood con 
 tinued in the service to the close of the war, being stationed gen 
 erally along the Hudson. In 1783 he was Chaplain of Paterson s 
 First Massachusetts Brigade. He died at Glastonbury January 
 23, 1828. Member Massachusetts Cincinnati Society. 
 
 NEHEMIAH RICE, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Northbury, now Plymouth, Conn. He was the son of Phin- 
 eas Royce (as the name used to be written), who was the grand 
 son of Nehemiah Royce, one of the first settlers of Wallingford. 
 Phineas married Elizabeth, widow of Daniel Lord, of Lyme, and 
 removed to Northbury about 1736. Their son and fifth child, 
 Nehemiah, born in 1753, was sent to college. 
 
 Young Rice entered the service October 15, 1775 ; in what 
 capacity does not appear. On April 15, 1776, he was appointed 
 Lieutenant in Col. Samuel Elmore s Connecticut regiment, raised 
 for service in the Northern Department ; and during the latter 
 
302 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 part of the year he was on duty at Albany and Ft. Schuyler, on 
 the Mohawk. January i, 1777, he was commissioned Adjutant of 
 Colonel Chandler s Eighth Connecticut Continentals, and was 
 doubtless with it at the battles of German town and Monmouth, 
 and at Valley Forge. November 15, 1777, he was promoted Cap 
 tain, and during the fall of 1779 served with Wayne s Light In 
 fantry Corps. At the Morristown winter quarters, 1779-80, he 
 was in temporary command of his regiment. By the new ar 
 rangement of January i, 1781, he went on duty with Sherman s 
 Fifth Connecticut, and served with it until his retirement on Jan 
 uary i, 1783. Captain Rice lived for about ten years after the 
 war, the place or exact time of his death not appearing. Mem 
 ber Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 EZRA STARR, 
 
 Lieutenant, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Merchant and farmer at Danbury, Conn.; born August 9, 1753. 
 The following reference is made to him in the Starr Genealogy : 
 "In 1776 the State paid for fitting out Lieut. Ezra Starr s com 
 pany, and in December of that year sent him for the relief of the 
 army that was suffering for clothing, &c. In 1777 he was 
 awarded .2,296, and in 1778 an additional sum for his loss by the 
 burning of Danbury." He was afterwards Captain in the militia, 
 and assisted in forwarding teams and supplies for Continental 
 troops on the Hudson. His death occurred May 5, 1805. 
 
 JOSEPH WALKER, 
 
 Captain and A.D.C., Continental Army. 
 
 Younger brother of Capt. Robert Walker, class of 1765 ; born 
 i755 at Stratford, Conn. He first appears in the service in 1777 
 as Lieutenant in Col. S. B. Webb s " additional " Continental 
 Regiment. On August 22d of the same year he was promoted 
 Captain, and served on the Hudson and in Rhode Island. One 
 of his letters, written from the Morristown huts in the winter of 
 
Roll of Honor. 303 
 
 1779-80, appears on page 113. By General Orders of December 
 15, 1780, Walker was appointed Aid-de-Camp, with the brevet 
 rank of Major, to Major-General Parsons, commanding the Con 
 necticut Line, and remained with him until the General s resigna 
 tion in March, 1782. On retiring, Parsons recommended Walker 
 to General Gates, who was about to resume command in the 
 army, as follows : 
 
 " MIDDLETOWN, April 10, 1782. 
 
 " I am happy to hear you again think of aiding our country with your ser 
 vices in the field, and from my former experience of your friendship I am in 
 duced to request a place in your family for Captain Joseph Walker, of the 3d 
 Conn. Regt. He has been with me from my appointment as Major-General to 
 this time. Finding myself unable to continue longer in the army, I am unwill 
 ing to disappoint the expectations of so good a character in returning him to 
 his Regt. I think you will be fully satisfied with him on acquaintance." 
 
 Not being reappointed Aid-de-Camp, however, Walker returned 
 to Captain s duty in his regiment, and later in the year became 
 Brigade-Major of the Connecticut Brigade, which office he held 
 until the army disbanded. He retired September, 1783, to his 
 home at Stratford. After the war he became a man of note, fre 
 quently went to the Legislature, and rose to be major-general of 
 militia. He died August 12, 1810, at Ballston Spa, N. Y., where 
 he had gone " in hopes of recovering his delicate health." Mem 
 ber Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JEREMIAH WEST, 
 
 Surgeon, Continental Army. 
 
 Judge Zebulon West, of Tolland, Conn., a town-worthy of the 
 last century, who was several times Speaker of the Colonial As 
 sembly before the Revolution, sent three of his sons to the college 
 Stephen, class of 1755, a minister ; Nathaniel, class of 1768 ; 
 and Jeremiah, class of 1774, physician and surgeon. The latter 
 was born at Tolland, July 20, 1753. 
 
 Dr. West entered the service as surgeon s mate of Spencer s 
 
304 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Connecticut Regiment soon after the Lexington alarm, appoint 
 ment dating July 22, 1775. He served two months before that as 
 volunteer. The regiment served at the Boston siege and he re 
 mained with it to the end of the year. On Jan. i, 1777, Dr. 
 West was commissioned surgeon s mate in Col. S. B. Webb s 
 "additional" Continental Regiment, and on June 22, 1778, he 
 was promoted full surgeon. This was the regiment, as stated in 
 the text, which had an unusual proportion of graduates among 
 its officers. The command was ordered to Rhode Island in 1778, 
 and engaged in the battle there of August 29th. He continued in 
 the service until March 3, 1782, when he resigned. His regiment, 
 which had become the Third Connecticut, was then in camp at 
 " Connecticut Village," nearly opposite West Point. Dr. West 
 not only became a prominent physician, having been elected 
 President of the Connecticut Medical Society in 1805, but also 
 held important civil offices. He was Judge of Tolland County 
 Court for fourteen years, and was member of the Assembly for 
 ten sessions. He died October 18, 1806. 
 
 ENOCH WOODBRIDGE, 
 
 Commissary, Continental Service. 
 
 Afterward Chief-Justice of Vermont. He was a native of 
 Stockbridge, Mass., where he was born December 25, 1750. In 
 1775-76 he appears at the Boston siege, and in the reorganization 
 of the troops for 1776 was made Adjutant of Col. John Paterson s 
 regiment. He is entered as such on the February rolls. If he 
 went with the command to the Northern Department for the remain 
 der of the year, he could not have been wounded at the battle of 
 White Plains, as stated in notices of him. He is said to have 
 served in 1777 in the Saratoga campaign. In 1779 he is men 
 tioned in the Vermont records as a " Continental Commissary of 
 Issues," an office which he may have held to the close of the war. 
 Removing to Vermont, he became first Mayor of Vergennes in 
 1794, and still later Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
 State. He died about April i, 1805. 
 
 1 Isaac Baldwin, of this class, is mentioned as having been in the Wyoming 
 massacre in 1779, and was one of the few who escaped. He was probably the 
 Adjutant of Col. Zebulon Butler s temporary force there. Baldwin was a law 
 yer of Litchfield, Conn., but removed to Pompey, N. Y., in 1811, where he 
 died December 22, 1818. 
 
Roll of Honor. 305 
 
 Class of 1775. 
 
 EZEKIEL PORTER BELDEN, 
 
 Captain, Continental Dragoons. 
 
 Of Wethersfield, Conn., where he was born February 12, 1756. 
 His father, Thomas Belden, class of 1751, who was frequently 
 identified with public affairs, commanded a regiment of militia for 
 State defence. Upon the organization of the Second Regiment 
 Light Dragoons, raised mainly in Connecticut, under Col. Shel 
 don, young Belden received the appointment of Lieutenant, with 
 commission dated December 20, 1776, and on April 7, 1777, was 
 promoted to a captaincy. He was probably at the battle of 
 Germantown, October 4, 1777, where a part of the regiment was 
 engaged. Subsequently he served along the Hudson, in West- 
 chester County, N. Y., and Western Connecticut, and doubtless 
 took part in the several skirmishes and expeditions in which the 
 Dragoons were concerned. He resigned his commission June 
 10, 1780. 
 
 Like his father, Belden afterwards became a man of considera 
 ble note in Wethersfield. Hinman says of him : " He was re 
 peatedly chosen Selectman, was elected Town Clerk in 1812, and 
 held the office uninterruptedly until his death ; was a member of 
 almost all the town committees, a justice of the peace, and repre 
 sentative of the town in the General Assembly forty-nine sessions, 
 and was elected to two more in which he declined serving. 
 He was a man of kind and social feelings, gentlemanly and amia 
 ble manners, and ready and active in the management of public 
 affairs." For some years he was Lieut.-Colonel of the Sixth Mili 
 tia Regiment. He died at Wethersfield October 9, 1824. 
 
 STEPHEN Row BRADLEY, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 Afterwards U. S. Senator from Vermont. He was born at 
 Cheshire, Conn., February 20, 1754, and after graduation taught 
 school there. He commanded a company of volunteers for a 
 brief term early in 1776, and a year later appears as Aid-de-Camp 
 to Gen. Wooster at Rye. He is said to have been with the Gen- 
 
Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 eral when he was mortally wounded near Danbury, and also to 
 have served as a Commissary and Militia Major in 1778-79. 
 About 1779 he removed to Vermont, practised law, and entering 
 public life held various offices. In 1791 he was elected one of 
 the first Senators from Vermont, and for a time presided over 
 the Senate. He served two terms. From Westminster, where he 
 first lived in Vermont, he removed in 1818 to Walpole, N. H., 
 and died there December 9, 1830. 
 
 DAVID BUSHNELL, 
 
 Captain, Sappers and Miners, Continental Army. 
 
 Inventor Submarine Torpedo. 
 
 The " ingenious " Bushnell was born at Saybrook, (Parish of 
 Westbrook) Connecticut, about the year 1742, being nearly thirty 
 years of age when he entered college. He early developed a 
 fondness for mechanics, and during his Freshman year projected 
 a submarine boat for offensive use against an enemy s vessel, 
 which he completed about the time of graduation in 1775. This 
 was built at Saybrook, and was subsequently known as the Ameri 
 can Turtle. The practicability of working the machine having been 
 demonstrated, the attention of Governor Trumbull and his council 
 was called to it in February, 1776, and Bushnell was requested to 
 proceed with his experiments. In the following summer the 
 Turtle was taken to New York to operate against the British 
 man-of-war Asia, lying off Governor s Island. The attempt was 
 made one night in August, but failed because of the inexperience 
 of a new operator to whom Bushnell was obliged to entrust il. 
 The success of the torpedo, however, as a submarine contrivance 
 for the purpose intended was acknowledged. Later in the year 
 another attempt was made in the Hudson, but again failed through 
 unskilful management. Bushnell then turned his attention to 
 other means of destroying the enemy s shipping, the Connecticut 
 Council having authorized him in April, 1777, to continue in his 
 experiments at the public expense, and for the next two years he 
 was secretly engaged in his efforts at different points. For ex 
 ample, in August, 1777, he floated a machine against the frigate 
 Cerberus, lying at anchor in Black Point Bay, west of New Lon 
 don harbor, but it struck a schooner near its stern, and de 
 molished that instead. Commodore Symonds, commanding the 
 
Roll of Honor. 307 
 
 Cerberus, was so alarmed at this destructive attempt that he re 
 turned to New York to warn naval vessels of the " secret modes 
 of mischief " the rebels were devising. Again about Christmas 
 time of the same year Bushnell floated kegs of powder down the 
 Delaware against the fleet off Philadelphia, but ice and tide scat 
 tering them, they proved harmless. One is said to have blown up 
 a boat with two boys in it, and to have caused a general alarm, 
 which prompted Hopkinson to write his humorous verses on 
 " The Battle of the Kegs." Early in May, 1779, while Bushnell 
 was near Norwalk, Conn., a party of the enemy landed at night 
 and carried him off, with a few others, as prisoner. General Put 
 nam, in reporting the incident to Washington, says : " As the 
 last-mentioned gentleman [Bushnell], who was there in the prose 
 cution of his unremitted endeavors to destroy the enemy s ship 
 ping, is personally known to very few people, it is possible he may 
 not be discovered by his real name or character, and may be con 
 sidered of less consequence than he actually is." The enemy, 
 fortunately, did not recognize him, and he was exchanged a few 
 days later, May loth, as a civilian. Although not meeting with 
 the success that his ingenuity, with proper practical apparatus, 
 had made possible, Bushnell retained the confidence of those who 
 knew of his work, and to-day he is regarded as our pioneer 
 naval inventor. General Abbot, whose views are quoted on page 
 56, says in the introduction to his valuable compilation that this 
 graduate " originated the first submarine boat capable of locomo 
 tion of which we have any accurate records. To him, therefore, 
 has justly been conceded the credit of inaugurating modern tor 
 pedo warfare." 
 
 In the summer of 1779 tne corps of Sappers and Miners was 
 organized in the Continental Army, and Bushnell was appointed 
 one of its Captain-Lieutenants, with commission dated August 26. 
 of that year. He was warmly recommended for the position by 
 Governor Trumbull and others. On June, 1781, he was promoted 
 full Captain, and going with Washington s force to Virginia par 
 ticipated in the siege and victory of Yorktown. Returning to the 
 Hudson camps, he remained in the service until the disbandment 
 of the last troops in December, 1783. He was then in command 
 of his corps at West Point. One of the garrison orders from 
 General Knox, dated October 25, 1783, runs as follows : 
 
jo8 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 " Captain Bushnell of the Sappers and Miners will be so good as to super 
 intend the repair of the road from the deposit of wood to the Garrison. This 
 being the only passage for the garrison, it must be put into the best state that 
 our means will admit. Capt. Bushnell will call upon the General for particular 
 instructions." 
 
 After the war Captain Bushnell returned to Connecticut ; but 
 having expended much of his personal property on his inventions, 
 for which he received a very inadequate consideration from the 
 State in 1784, he determined to try his fortunes abroad. He 
 went to France, but returned, and settled as a physician in 
 Georgia, taking the assumed name of Dr. Bush. There he 
 lived in a retired manner until his death in 1826. Member 
 Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 HENRY DAGGETT, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Army. 
 
 Eldest son of President Daggett, born February 24 (?), 1758. 
 He was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Colonel Swift s 
 Seventh Connecticut Line, April 28, 1778, and probably joined 
 his regiment at Valley Forge. In that case he must have been with 
 the army at Monmouth in June following. April n, 1780, he 
 was commissioned First Lieutenant and served as Quartermaster 
 of the regiment, which was thereafter stationed generally in the 
 Highlands. From 1781 to 1783 he was in the Second Regiment 
 under Swift, and left the service with it at the close of the war. 
 After the Revolution he was long a merchant in New Haven, where 
 he died July 20, 1843. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 EBENEZER HUNTINGTON, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Continental Army. 
 
 Son of Hon. Jabez Huntington, class of 1741, who has already 
 been noticed as Senior Maior-General or Connecticut militia. 
 He was born at Norwich, December 20, 1754. The circum- 
 
Roll of Honor. 309 
 
 stances under which he entered the service his spirited flight 
 from college to camp without permission after the Lexington 
 alarm have been mentioned in the text (p. 9), and frequent ref 
 erences to him follow. 1 
 
 In the Cincinnati Society records he dates his war career from 
 April 21, 1775, the day he left New Haven. Going forward by 
 way of Wethersfield to the Boston camps, he served there as a 
 volunteer until September 8th, when he was appointed lieutenant 
 in Captain Chester s company, in Spencer s regiment. His 
 brother, Colonel Jedidiah H., recommending him to the governor 
 in a letter of August 25th, says : " He has in several instances, 
 whilst at this camp, exhibited evidences of his courage." January 
 i, 1776, Huntington became First Lieutenant in Col. Wyllys 
 regiment and served with it to the close of the Boston siege and 
 through the campaign around New York. He was doubtless at 
 the battle of Long Island, where his regiment was stationed at 
 one of the Flatbush passes, and again in the retreat from New 
 York and subsequent operations. During this campaign he was 
 promoted Captain, and on October 26, 1776, he received the tem 
 porary appointment of Dep. Adj. General to Heath s division, 
 which position he retained to the end of the year. 
 
 Upon the organization of the Continental Line Huntington 
 was promoted, January i, 1777, Major of Col. S. B. Webb s "ad 
 ditional " regiment raised in Connecticut, which has been men 
 tioned as having more Yale graduates among its officers than any 
 other, and which was intended to be an elite corps in the army. 
 It saw much service and sustained its reputation. During the 
 year 1777 it formed a part of Putnam s force on the Hudson, and 
 early in December engaged in a secret expedition to the Long 
 Island shore. This met with failure, however, and cost the regi 
 ment its colonel and other officers taken prisoners of war. Hun- 
 
 1 In a letter dated September 25, 1775, published in the family genealogy, 
 Huntington admits that he left college without leave, and states furthermore 
 that if the Faculty declined to award him a certificate or diploma of gradua 
 tion on that account, Pres. Langdon, of Harvard, stood ready to give him one. 
 If the date of this letter is correctly printed, Huntington simply had not heard 
 that the Yale Faculty had voted him the degree of A.B., July 25th previous, 
 when all the members of his class received the same. August 8th following 
 Harvard awarded him the honorary degree. The minutes of the Fellows at 
 Watertown read : " Voted, That Ebenezer Huntington, of Norwich, admitted 
 to the degree of Bachelor of Arts this year at Yale College, be admitted in this 
 College ad eundem" 
 
3io Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 tington was fortunate enough to get back safely. Writing to Gen. 
 Gates, Gov. Trumbull says : " Major Eben r . Huntington with 
 eighty men escaped and came to New London the morning of the 
 i4th inst. [Dec.] at Day Brake." Others returned at different 
 points, and the regiment reassembled in winter quarters. In the 
 summer of 1778 it was despatched with other troops into Rhode 
 Island, where it fought well in the battle of August 29th. The 
 Lieut. -Colonel leaving the service presently, Major Huntington 
 commanded the regiment for more than two years after the bat 
 tle ; and that he kept it in excellent shape appears from Steu- 
 ben s criticism on page no. Remaining in Rhode Island until 
 the fall of 1779, the regiment next appears in winter quarters at 
 Morristown, N. J., 1779-80, and in June, 1780, it took part in the 
 action at Springfield under Huntington s command, as stated on 
 page 117. See also letters pp. 113-14. In the following autumn 
 the Major was promoted Lieut.-Colonel, with commission dating 
 October 10, 1780. He had received the appointment before that, 
 but a dispute arose between himself and Lieut. -Col. Ebenezer 
 Gray, class of 1763, as to seniority of rank, which caused a long 
 delay, resulting, however, in Huntington s favor his commission 
 being made to ante-date Gray s by five days. The case was 
 warmly contested, as it was referred successively to the Governor 
 and Council of Connecticut, to the Board of War, to Washington, 
 and by the latter to a court of inquiry, consisting of Major-Gen 
 erals Gates, Heath, and St. Clair, and Colonels Greaton and Og- 
 den. A final decision was not reached until October, 1782. On 
 June 27, 1781, Huntington was detailed to serve as Lieut.-Colonel 
 of Col. ScammeH s Light Infantry regiment, which formed the 
 van of the army, and marched with Washington to Yorktown. 
 Upon Scammell s death at the opening of the siege, Huntington 
 commanded one half the regiment as a separate corps and Col. 
 Laurens the other half, both being assigned to Lafayette s Light 
 Division on the right of the line. For a short time during the 
 operations and after he is said to have served as Aid to Gen. Lin 
 coln. Returning to the North, Huntington remained with the 
 army until the final disbandment in November, 1783. He was 
 then Lieut.-Colonel of Swift s regiment. 
 
 After the war Col. Huntington resided at Norwich as a business 
 man, went to Congress two terms, 1810 and 1817, and held the 
 rank of Brigadier and Adjutant-General of the Connecticut mill- 
 
Roll of Honor. 
 
 tia for several years. He died June 17, 1834. Member Connecti 
 cut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 DAVID JUDSON, 
 
 Captain, Continental A rmy. 
 
 A native of Woodbury, Conn.; born March 9, 1755. Accord 
 ing to the Cincinnati record his service in the army began June 
 7, 1776, when he probably joined one of the Connecticut regi 
 ments in Wadsworth s brigade at New York. January i, 1777, 
 he was commissioned Second Lieutenant in Colonel Chandler s 
 Eighth Connecticut Line, which fought at Germantown and win 
 tered at Valley Forge, 1777-78. Judson was certainly at the lat 
 ter camp, as in after life he used to recall the fatigues and hard 
 ships of the troops there. March 10, 1778, he was promoted 
 First Lieutenant, and was doubtless present at Monmouth in June 
 following. In 1779-80 he acted as Brigade Quartermaster of 
 Parsons brigade. Wintering at Morristown, he remained with 
 Washington s army, generally along the Hudson, until the close 
 of the war, having in the meantime, May 29, 1782, been promoted 
 Captain in the First Regiment under Col. Zebulon Butler. Re 
 turning home, he rose to some prominence, and from 1794 to 
 1801 was Brigadier-General in the State Militia. In 1806 he re 
 moved with his family to Black Lake, in the town of Oswegatchie, 
 N. Y., where Ogdensburg now stands, and died there, February 
 1 8, 1818. His son, David C. Judson, was for fifty years identified 
 with the growth and interests of Ogdensburg. Member Connecti 
 cut Cincinnati Society. 
 
312 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 JOHN Mix, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Army. 
 
 Of Farmington, Conn. ; born 1755. He entered the army as 
 Ensign in the Third Connecticut Regiment, Colonel Wyllys, 
 January i, 1777, and served at first along the Hudson, and in 
 fortifying West Point. April 28, 1778, he was promoted Lieu 
 tenant and Adjutant of Col. Butler s Second Connecticut Regi 
 ment, and afterwards acted as Quartermaster. From January i, 
 1781, to the close of the war he was in Col. S. B. Webb s regi 
 ment in the Highlands. He remained in service until September, 
 1783. After the war Mix settled in Farmington, and held various 
 offices. He kept the position of Town Clerk for thirty-two years 
 from r79i, represented his town in the Assembly, six sessions ex- 
 cepted, for twenty-five years, and from 1810 to 1820 was Probate 
 Judge. In 1796 the governor appointed him Quartermaster- 
 General of the State Militia, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. 
 He was thereafter known as Col. Mix. In 1776 he married 
 Martha Cowles, daughter of Solomon and Martha (Spencer) 
 Cowles, who died February 23, 1826, aged 72. Col. Mix himself 
 died April 29, 1834, leaving no descendants. Member Connecti 
 cut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JAMES MORRIS, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Resident of Litchfield, Conn., where he was born January 19, 
 1752. He first appears in service as Ensign of Col. Fisher Gay s 
 Connecticut regiment, Wadsworth s brigade, which formed a 
 part of Washington s army in the campaign of 1776 around New 
 York. His commission from the governor was dated June 2oth 
 of that year. He was at the Brooklyn front during the battle of 
 Long Island, and passed through the subsequent experiences of 
 the army to the battle of White Plains. January i, 1777, he re 
 ceived the appointment of First Lieutenant in the new Fifth 
 Connecticut Regiment, Col. Bradley s, and served with it in 
 Pennsylvania, where he was taken prisoner at the battle of Ger- 
 
Roll of Honor. 313 
 
 mantown, October 4th. His own interesting account of his cap 
 ture appears in the extract from his journal, printed on page 74. 
 He remained a prisoner at Philadelphia for about eight months, 
 and then embarked with other prisoners for New York, where he 
 was paroled to certain limits around Brooklyn. He took up his 
 quarters at Mr. John Lett s house in Bushwick, and was not ex 
 changed until January 3, 1781. How he spent his time there ap 
 pears from his pen in Doc. 57, Vol. III., L. I. Hist. Soc. series. 
 During his captivity he was promoted Captain-Lieutenant, July 
 29, 1780, and full Captain on August 22d of the same year. 
 
 His case is referred to in Division Orders of June 23, 1781, as 
 follows : 
 
 " Capt. Morris being a Prisoner at the time of his promotion, and having 
 had no opportunity of being heard on his claim of Rank with Capt. Weed, a 
 Court of Enquiry is therefore to sit this afternoon at the President s Marquee 
 to hear the claims of those officers and report with their opinion. Col. Butler 
 will preside. A Capt. from the 2d and 4th Regts." 
 
 In the summer of 1781, not long after rejoining the army, he 
 was detached with his company to serve in Col. Alex. ScammeH s 
 Light Infantry Regiment, organized for special duty at the front. 
 It engaged in some skirmishes in Westchester County, and then 
 marched to Yorktown, Va., with Washington. There it was as 
 signed to Lafayette s Light Division on the right of the line of in 
 vestment, and supported the column under Hamilton, which 
 assaulted one of the enemy s redoubts on the night of October 
 i4th. Captain Morris reference to the surrender appears on page 
 138. Returning to the Highlands, he remained in the service un 
 til January i, 1783. 
 
 After the war Capt. Morris returned to Litchfield and estab 
 lished the " Morris Academy " for young men preparing for col 
 lege or business life, which became widely known and patronized. 
 He represented the town in the Assembly several sessions. His 
 death occurred April 20, 1820. Member Connecticut Cincinnati 
 Society. 
 
 
314 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 SIMEON NEWELL, 
 
 Captain, Connecticut Troops. 
 
 A native of Southington, Conn.; born February 5, 1748. 
 Descendant of Thomas Newell, one of the first settlers of Farm- 
 ington. He entered the service in the summer of 1775 as Ser 
 geant in Major Clark s company, Col. Jed. Huntington s regi 
 ment, and served through the siege of Boston. October 19, 1775, 
 he was promoted Ensign on the Colonel s recommendation, and 
 again promoted, January i, 1776, Lieutenant in Huntington s 
 reorganized regiment, which was called the Seventeenth Foot. 
 This regiment served through the New York campaign, and was 
 closely engaged at the battle of Long Island under Gen. Parsons. 
 It fought along the northwesterly edge of the present Greenwood 
 Cemetery, and lost heavily in prisoners. Newell, if with his 
 regiment at the time, escaped, and served to the end of the year. 
 On the October returns, shortly before the battle of White Plains, 
 he appears as one of the only nine company officers in camp fit 
 for duty. He was then recommended for a lieutenancy in the 
 new Connecticut Continental Line ; but his name does not ap 
 pear on the rolls, although his Cincinnati certificate, dated 1786, 
 states that he was Captain. In 1780 he seems to have been on 
 special duty, under the governor s directions, ferreting out traitors 
 and Tories, who were suspected of mischief at various points. In 
 one letter he thanks the governor for his recognition of his ser 
 vices. Some years after the war he removed to Sodus Bay, 
 N. Y., where his eldest son resided, and died there in 1813. 
 Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JOHN NOYES, 
 
 Surgeon, Continental Army. 
 
 A physician of Lyme, Conn.; born 1756. He was the eldest 
 son of Judge William and Eunice (Marvin) Noyes, the judge 
 being a grandson of Rev. Moses Noyes, early pastor at Lyme. 
 Dr. John s younger brothers, William and Matthew Noyes, also 
 graduated at Yale. William received an appointment as Ensign 
 
Roll of Honor. 315 
 
 in the army, and his name was placed on the rolls about the time 
 of his graduation, but he did not accept. 
 
 Dr. Noyes was commissioned Surgeon of Col. Josiah Starr s 
 First Connecticut Regiment, October i, 1778, and served to the 
 close of the war. He was stationed generally on the Hudson. 
 Returning to Lyme after the war, he practised his profession suc 
 cessfully until his death, July n, 1808. Member Connecticut 
 Cincinnati Society. 
 
 WILLIAM PECK, 
 
 Deputy Adj. -General, Continental Army. 
 
 A descendant of William Peck, one of the founders of New 
 Haven Colony. He belonged to the Lyme branch of the family, 
 and was born at that place December 15, 1755. Col. Peck en 
 tered the service during the siege of Boston, and remained in it 
 until after the surrender of Yorktown. He appears first as Adju 
 tant of Huntington s Connecticut regiment the Seventeenth Con 
 tinental Foot, January i, 1776, from which it would seem that he 
 had been in camp before that. He went with the army to New 
 York, and on June 23, 1776, was appointed, by Washington s or 
 ders, Brigade Major of Spencer s brigade, and continued in the 
 same capacity when it was placed under Gen. Parsons command. 
 Upon Spencer s promotion as Major-General, Peck was appointed 
 his Aid-de-Camp, with the brevet rank of Major, August 14, 1776. 
 Spencer s division was transferred to the Brooklyn front, and en 
 gaged in part in the battle of August 27th. Major Peck was 
 doubtless active there and during the retreat, as well as in the re 
 treat from New York on September i5th following. The battle 
 of White Plains, October 28th, opened with a skirmish between 
 the enemy and some regiments of his division. In 1777, when 
 Gen. Spencer was sent to take command in Rhode Island, Peck 
 went with him as Deputy Adjutant-General of the forces there. 
 This position he held under Generals Sullivan, Gates, and Heath, 
 who successively commanded that department. The following 
 
316 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 MSS. note from Sullivan to Gates shows the former s apprecia 
 tion of him : 
 
 HEAD QUARTERS, PROVIDENCE, 
 
 " March the 26th, 1779. 
 DEAR GENERAL : 
 
 "I beg leave to introduce to your Acquaintance, and recommend to your 
 Patronage, Col? William Peck, a Gentleman who has acted as Adjutant-General 
 in this Department since I have had the honor of commanding it. His atten 
 tion to and observance of the duties of his station as an officer have been so gen 
 erally acknowledg d, and his private character so uniformly unexceptionable, 
 that I think myself fully justified in this Recommendation. 
 
 " I have the honor to subscribe myself, with Esteem, Dear Genl. 
 
 Yr. obedient and very hble. Sevt. 
 
 " JNO. SULLIVAN. 
 "The Honble. M. Genl. GATES." 
 
 After the French contingent arrived in Rhode Island in the 
 summer of 1780, Peck doubtless met many of its officers. The 
 Marquis de Chastellux makes this reference to a visit at his house 
 in Providence : 
 
 "The 13th (Nov., 1780) I breakfasted with Colonel Peck: He is an 
 amiable and polite young man, who passed the last summer with General Heath 
 at Newport. He received me in a charming small house, where he lived with 
 his wife, who is young also, and has a pleasing countenance, but without any 
 thing striking. This little establishment, where comfort and simplicity reign, 
 gave an idea of that sweet and serene state of happiness which appears to have 
 taken refuge in the New World, after compounding it with pleasure, to which 
 it has left the Old." 
 
 The Colonel retired from the service in October-November, 
 1781, and settled at Providence, where he died May 19, 1832. 
 For nearly twenty years he was United States Marshal for Rhode 
 Island, a position to which Washington first appointed him. 
 Member Rhode Island Cincinnati Society. 
 
Roll of Honor. 317 
 
 RICHARD SILL, 
 
 Major and A.D.C., Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Lyme, Conn., where he was born July 15, 1755. 
 He appears first at the siege of Boston, 1775-76, and is entered on 
 the rolls of Col. Parsons Connecticut regiment, January i, 1776, 
 as Lieutenant and Paymaster. The regiment, which was the 
 " Tenth Foot " of that year s establishment, took an active part 
 in the campaign around New York. Sill was with it present at the 
 battle of Long Island, and the retreat to New York. On the day 
 the city was abandoned, September i5th, he was caught in the 
 hurried march and panic of the troops, and mentions some of the 
 incidents in testimony he gave before a court of inquiry. 
 January i, 1777, he was reappointed Lieutenant and Paymaster 
 in Col. Chandler s Eighth Regiment of the new Connecticut 
 Line, which served in the Pennsylvania campaign at Germantown 
 and Valley Forge. He was probably at Monmouth in June, 
 1778, and is reported " sick in camp " at White Plains, where the 
 army was stationed after the battle, in August following. During 
 the winter of 1779-80 he was at the Morristown huts. Promoted 
 Captain April 22, 1781, in Sherman s Fifth Connecticut, he 
 served along the Hudson, and for a time was assistant to Col. 
 Grosvenor, Deputy Adjutant-General of the Connecticut Division. 
 Still later, September 26, 1781, he was invited to become Aid-de- 
 Camp, with the rank of Brevet-Major, to Maj.-Gen. Lord Stir 
 ling, with whom he remained until his death on January 14, 1783. 
 His letter reporting the General s death to Washington appears 
 on page 148. The Major then being at Albany, studied law in 
 the office of Aaron Burr, where he also met Hamilton, and estab 
 lished himself in the profession in that city. His career was suc 
 cessful, but cut short by impaired health, his death occurring 
 June 4, 1790, at Bethlehem, N. Y., at the residence of Col. 
 Francis Nicoll, whose daughter Elizabeth Major Sill had married 
 May 2, 1785. He served two sessions in the Assembly, and not 
 long before his decease had been appointed one of the New York 
 commissioners on the disputed Vermont boundary. Noticing 
 his death, the Albany Gazette says : " It would be a piece of in 
 justice not to observe on this occasion that, independent of the 
 services of this gentleman in the army of the United States during 
 
318 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 the late war, his good sense, affable manners, and amiable dispo 
 sition, added to the strictest integrity in public as well as private 
 life, rendered his character in the highest degree respectable, and 
 his death a public misfortune, as well as a most distressing loss 
 to an amiable, disconsolate wife and two lovely infants." Mem 
 ber Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 BENJAMIN WELLES, 
 
 Commissary and Surgeon, Connecticut. 
 
 Dr. Welles, the son of Rev. Dr. Noah Welles, of the class of 
 1741, was born at Stamford, November 22, 1756. The State rec 
 ords show that on June 10, 1777, he was appointed Issuing 
 Commissary of Supplies for the Connecticut Continental troops. 
 Studying medicine he appears also to have served as Surgeon at 
 a later period of the war. Subsequently he settled in the practice 
 of his profession at Wayne, N. Y., and again at Kinderhook, 
 where he died April 19, 1813. 
 
 ROGER WELLES, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 An active light-infantry officer of the Connecticut Line. He 
 was a descendant of Thomas Welles, one of the early governors of 
 the Colony ; born at Wethersfield, December 29, 1753. Teach 
 ing school until the close of 1776, he joined the army as Lieuten 
 ant of Col. S. B. Webb s " additional " Continental Regiment, 
 with commission dating January i, 1777. During the summer 
 and fall of that year he served under Putnam along the Hudson, 
 and in the first part of the following year assisted in the construc 
 tion of the works at West Point. May 16, 1778, he was promoted 
 First Lieutenant, and as such was doubtless at the battle of 
 Rhode Island on August 29th. He was Lieutenant at one time 
 in Capt. J. Walker s and again in Wooster s company, both gradu 
 ates. His classmate, Major Huntington, commanded the regi 
 ment most of the time in that department. During the cold 
 winter of 1779-80 he encamped with the army at Morristown, his 
 regiment then being in Stark s brigade, which in June following 
 
Roll of Honor. 319 
 
 took part in the action near Springfield, N. J., under Gen. Greene. 
 When Lafayette s Light Infantry Corps was organized for that 
 year, Welles was assigned with Capt. Wyllys, class of 1773, to one 
 of the Connecticut companies. Meanwhile he was promoted 
 Captain, to rank from April 9, 1780, and when Lafayette marched 
 to Virginia with a Light Corps in February, 1781, the Captain was 
 again detached to serve with him, with Wyllys this time as the 
 Major of his battalion. Under Lafayette he experienced all the 
 fatigues, hardships, and excitements of his famous campaign 
 against Cornwallis, and shared in the final success at Yorktown. 
 Extracts from some of the Captain s letters from Virginia appear 
 on pages 133-42. At the siege of Yorktown his battalion, un 
 der Col. Gimat and Major Wyllys, stormed one of the enemy s 
 forts on the night of October i4th, and thereby hastened the sur 
 render of Cornwallis. Welles, who was an officer of fine presence, 
 being six feet two inches tall, was among the first to enter the 
 fort. Returning to the Hudson camps, the Captain was for the 
 third time assigned to the Light Corps, which in 1782 was com 
 manded by his own Colonel, Samuel B. Webb. He continued in 
 the army until November, 1783, when he retired with Col. Swift s, 
 or the last Connecticut regiment in the service. 
 
 After the war he settled at Newington, and represented the 
 town in the Assembly every year from 1790 until his death on 
 May 27, 1795. He was at the time Brig.-General of the Seventh 
 Brigade of the State Militia. Member Connecticut Cincinnati 
 Society. 
 
 ELISHA SCOTT WILLIAMS, 
 
 Land and Naval Service. 
 
 Afterwards a Baptist minister ; born, probably, at East Hart 
 ford, Conn., October 7, 1757. In a notice of him as being the 
 oldest living graduate of the college at the time, the Yak Literary 
 
320 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Magazine for August, 1844, says : " There was no public com 
 mencement at his graduation on account of the war. He was in 
 the battle of Trenton ; afterwards going to sea, was in an action 
 with the British ship Levant, of thirty-two guns, in which the cap 
 tain of the American ship was killed." The American vessel was 
 the General Hancock, a private armed cruiser from Boston, com 
 manded by Capt. Hardy. After a close engagement which oc 
 curred September 19, 1778, the Levant was blown up. 
 
 The above is the only record that can be found respecting Mr. 
 Williams. Studying for the ministry, he preached first in Maine, 
 and from 1803 to 1812 at Beverly, Mass. He died at the latter 
 place February 3, 1845. 
 
 Class of 1776. 
 
 ELEAZAR WILLIAMS HOWE, 
 
 Connecticut Service. 
 
 Of Killingly, Conn. We have the brief reference here that im 
 mediately after graduation Howe went into the army with Lieut.- 
 Col. Experience Storrs regiment, and " died within a month." In 
 that case he was with the main army in the vicinity of White 
 Plains after the loss of New York, and probably died in October- 
 November, 1776. The regiment was the Fifth Militia, and had 
 been ordered into the field for two or three months service in the 
 fall of that year. 
 
 DANIEL LYMAN, 
 
 Major and A.D.C., Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards Chief-Justice of Rhode Island ; born at Durham, 
 Conn., January 27, 1756. In the history of that town he is said 
 to have been one of the students who left college upon the Lex 
 ington alarm and went to the Boston camps. It is also stated that 
 he accompanied Arnold to Ticonderoga, and was at the capture 
 of that place in May, 1775. Returning to his studies, he gradu 
 ated with his class, and very soon after appears in Washington s 
 army in the position of Brigade-Major of Fellows Massachusetts 
 
 1 Rev. Noble Everett, of this class, is said to have served as Chaplain. Hist, 
 of Winchester, Conn. 
 
Roll of Honor. 321 
 
 State Brigade, appointment dating October 17, 1776. He was 
 present at the battle of White Plains, and thereafter continued in 
 the service to the close of the war. Upon the organization of the 
 Continental Line he joined Col. W. R. Lee s " additional " regi 
 ment, raised in Massachusetts, with the rank of Captain, commis 
 sion dating January i, 1777. The regiment was largely recruited 
 from Boston, where the Captain remained for over a year. Gen. 
 Heath at that time commanded the district, and on April 2, 1778, 
 he appointed Lyman " Town Major " of the city, his duties cor 
 responding somewhat to those of Provost Marshal. On May pth 
 following, the General invited him to become a member of his 
 staff with the rank of Brevet-Major, a position which Lyman ac 
 cepted and retained throughout the contest. During the opera 
 tions in Rhode Island in the following summer, 1778, he acted as 
 volunteer aid upon the staff of Gen. Sullivan, and as such wrote 
 frequent letters to Heath at Boston, giving details of the opera 
 tions. He appears to have gone to Rhode Island at the request 
 of the latter General. In the summer of 1779 Heath returned to 
 Washington s army in the Highlands, and assumed command of 
 the Massachusetts and Connecticut divisions on the east side of 
 the river above Peekskill, Lyman being with him. The following 
 winter he again spent in Boston, and in the summer, 1780, he ac 
 companied Heath to Rhode Island, where they met the French offi 
 cers upon their arrival with the French contingent. Upon the dis 
 covery of Arnold s treachery in September, Washington requested 
 Heath to repair immediately to the army, and from that time he 
 remained with it until June, 1783, when the General and his Aids 
 retired from the service. 
 
 After the war Major Lyman settled as a lawyer at Newport, 
 became Judge of the Superior Court and then Chief-Justice. In 
 May, 1790, Washington appointed him Surveyor of Newport, but 
 he was removed by the next administration. Respecting this 
 change the Connecticut Courant has the following item in the issue 
 for March 2, 1802 : " The office of Surveyor and Inspector for 
 the port of Newport, which was conferred on Major Daniel Lyman 
 by President Washington, as a mark of the nation s favor for his 
 services in her cause, has been taken from him and presented to 
 Mr. John Slocum, of Newport, as a reward for his services in the 
 cause of Mr. Jefferson." The Major died at North Providence, 
 
o 
 
 22 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 where he lived later in life, October 16, 1830. Member Rhode 
 Island Cincinnati Society, of which he was President in 1818. 
 
 WILLIAM LYMAN, 
 
 Massachusetts Service. 
 
 In a sketch of General Lyman, printed in the History of Dur 
 ham, Conn., it is stated that he " served through the Revolution." 
 His name, however, does not appear on Continental rolls during 
 the last half of the war. He was probably the William Lyman 
 who served with militia regiments at different times. There is 
 such a name on the list of officers of Col. Dike s command, which 
 was in Rhode Island with Gen. Sullivan in August-September, 
 1778. 
 
 Lyman was born at Northampton, Mass., December 7, 1755. 
 During Shay s rebellion he was Aid to Gen. Shepard, with rank of 
 Major, and from 1796 to 1800 was Brigadier- General of State 
 Militia. He became a member of Congress and subsequently 
 received the appointment of Consul- General of the United States 
 at London, where he died, September 2, 1811. He was buried 
 at Gloucester Cathedral, and afterwards his friends erected a 
 monument to his memory in the old cemetery at Northampton, 
 Mass. 
 
 SAMUEL MILLS, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Dragoons. 
 
 Afterwards Rev. Samuel Mills, of Chester, Conn. ; born in the 
 town of Canton, 1753. Joining the army as Quartermaster-Ser 
 geant of the Second Regiment Light Dragoons, under Col. Shel 
 don, January 12, 1777, Mr. Mills engaged in the Pennsylvania 
 campaign in the fall of the year, and was doubtless present at the 
 battle of Germantown. Two months later, on the night of De 
 cember 14, 1777, he was taken prisoner while on duty, with a cap 
 tain and twenty men of his regiment, " near Vandeering s Mills 
 on the ridge road running by the Schuylkill to Philadelphia." 
 The party was surprised and five of them captured, " whose 
 names," says the captain in his account of the affair, "are, 
 
Roll of Honor. 323 
 
 for the satisfaction of any concerned, Quartermaster Samuel 
 Mills, Isaac Brown, John Chauncey, Ephraim Kirby, and Na- 
 both Lewis." They were disarmed, plundered of their spurs, 
 watches, and valuables, and then ordered to be killed. " Not 
 withstanding the entreaties and prayers of the unfortunate 
 prisoners for mercy," continues the captain, " the soldiers fell 
 upon them (the officers setting the example), and after cut 
 ting, hacking, and stabbing them till they supposed they were 
 dead, they left them (Brown excepted, whom after most cruelly 
 mangling they shot), setting fire to the barn to consume any one 
 who might be in it. Mr. Mills, after being wounded in several 
 places in the head, had his life spared and is now a prisoner. 
 Brown and Chauncey are dead. Kirby and Lewis have been 
 properly taken care of and I trust will recover." Conn. Gazette, 
 January 16, 1778. Mills was confined in Philadelphia a few 
 months and then removed to New Lots, near Brooklyn, L. I., 
 where he remained until exchanged in 1780. While a prisoner 
 he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the Dragoons, June 2, 1778, 
 but upon his exchange, resigned, October 8, 1780. 
 
 After the war Lieut. Mills studied for the ministry, and in 
 1786 became pastor of the Fourth Congregational Church of 
 Saybrook, now in Chester, where he died February 17, 1814. 
 Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 HEATHCOTE MUIRSON, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Member of a prominent loyalist family of Setauket, L. I. 
 The father, Dr. George Muirson, was a physician of some dis 
 tinction, but on account of his sentiments the Legislature of New 
 York, during the war, attainted his person and confiscated his 
 estates. He left the country, but subsequently returned and died 
 at New Haven, Conn., February 20, 1786. A son, Sylvester, 
 brother of Heathcote, class of 1771, was also a loyalist. 
 
 Heathcote Muirson espoused the Revolutionary cause and sac 
 rificed his life in it. During hostilities he lived in Connecticut 
 and served on expeditions as a volunteer. In particular, he took 
 part in Maj. Tallmadge s attack on Fort George, L. L, November 
 22, 1780, and acquitted himself so well that the Major mentioned 
 him honorably to Washington, who in reply approved of the for- 
 
324 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 mer s recommendation that Muirson be appointed to the first 
 vacancy among the officers of the Second Light Dragoons. 
 
 On July i2th of the following year, 1781, he engaged in an 
 other attack, this time against Lloyd s Neck, L. I. The enter 
 prise was conducted under the protection of two or three French 
 ships. It is stated that Muirson went along as a guide and volun 
 teer, and that while he was reconnoitring the Tory fort at that 
 point his arm was carried away by a cannon-shot. Whatever the 
 particular service he was engaged in, he was mortally wounded on 
 the occasion and died soon after. As to his burial-place, tradi 
 tion has it that he was taken by the French to Newport and 
 buried there, which is not improbable. 
 
 JOEL NORTHROP, 
 
 Surgeon s Mate, Connecticut. 
 
 Younger brother of Lieutenant Amos Northrop, class of 1762 ; 
 born at New Milford, Conn., July 27, 1753. Studying medicine, 
 he acted as Surgeon s Mate at the Military Hospital at Danbury 
 for a time. In 1779 he removed to New Haven to practise his 
 profession, and died there February 9, 1807. A biographical 
 sketch of him appears in Vol. II., New Haven Historical Society 
 Publications. 
 
 NATHAN PRESTON, 
 
 Commissary, Connecticut. 
 
 A native of Woodbury, Conn., where he was born April 20, 
 1756. On June 4, 1777, the State Council appointed him Com 
 missary of Issues for the Connecticut Continental troops, a posi 
 tion which he appears to have held for some time. After the war 
 he attained considerable prominence as a lawyer, held offices, and 
 became a judge. His death occurred September 20, 1822. 
 
 AUGUSTINE TAYLOR, 
 
 Lieutenant and Paymaster, Continental Army. 
 
 Son of Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, class of 1745, who is spoken of 
 in Sprague s " Annals of the Pulpit " as " a zealous advocate of 
 the American Revolution." " One of the ways in which he 
 evinced this was by remitting to his people, during the contest, an 
 entire year s salary. This fact the parish records show, under his 
 hand, bearing date April, 1779." 
 
 Augustine Taylor was born at New Milford, Conn., November 
 
Roll of Honor. 325 
 
 28, 1755. He joined the Connecticut Continental Line as Second 
 Lieutenant or Ensign of the Seventh Regiment, under Col. Heman 
 Swift, commission dated January i, 1777. The regiment went 
 into camp at Peekskill on the Hudson, and in September joined 
 Washington s army in Pennsylvania, taking part in the battle of 
 Germantown, October 4th. Doubtless Lieut. Taylor was there, as 
 he was at Valley Forge during the following winter, 1777-78. He 
 was also present at the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, where 
 he suffered some permanent injury to his eyesight. A month 
 later, July 26th, he was appointed Paymaster of his regiment, and 
 on June 20, 1779, received promotion to a first lieutenancy. 
 During the following winter, 1779-80, the regiment encamped 
 with the army at the Morristown huts, and thereafter was gen 
 erally stationed with the Connecticut Line in the Highlands. 
 Lieut. Taylor remained with it until his resignation June 25, 1781. 
 Returning to New Milford, he became an influential resident, 
 and in 1812 was appointed Major-General of State Militia, with 
 the command of the posts at New Haven and New London. 
 Not being in good health at the time, his exertions led to brain 
 affection, which terminated in his decease February 10, 1816. 
 He is described as a martial and "elegant-looking man." May 
 5, 1782, he married Huldah Canfield, daughter of Col. Samuel 
 Canfield, of New Milford, who survived her husband about thirty 
 years. The General was the uncle of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Taylor, 
 class of 1807, the New Haven theologian. 
 
 JAMES WATSON, 
 
 Captain, Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards United States Senator from New York ; born at 
 Woodbury, now Bethlehem, Conn., April 6, 1750. He descended 
 from John Watson, an early settler of Hartford, and was one of 
 four brothers who served in the Revolutionary army. Of these 
 one died in camp, another was severely wounded, and the third 
 became a Captain in the Continental Line. 
 
326 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 At the close of his Senior year, Watson received the appoint 
 ment of Lieutenant in Col. P. B. Bradley s State Regiment, with 
 commission dated June 10, 1776, and served until the end of the 
 year in the campaign around New York. His regiment was gen 
 erally stationed on the Jersey side, along Bergen Heights, and at 
 the loss of Fort Washington in November suffered heavily in 
 prisoners. Returning to Connecticut, he joined Col. Samuel B. 
 Webb s " additional " Continental Regiment, with the rank of 
 Captain, to date from January i, 1777. The regiment went into 
 camp at Peekskill on the Hudson, but some disagreement arising 
 in regard to the seniority of the captains, Watson retired about 
 July 1 5th. In a letter of that date written from camp, he refers 
 to his claims as based upon "former services." Later in the war, 
 April, 1780, he was appointed Purchasing Commissary for the 
 Connecticut Line, and appears to have continued in that position 
 for some time. Referring to this, a writer from Hartford says : 
 " Our Assembly have adopted the plan of Congress on finance. 
 They have also taken up the supplies for the army, and appointed 
 Col. Champion for the purchase of cattle, pork, flour, etc., and 
 Capt. Watson for the purchase of rum and hay. . . . To 
 morrow the Captain begins his purchases, and you may be sure 
 he will succeed." 
 
 Removing to New York City after the war, Captain Watson 
 became a successful merchant and prominent citizen. He was 
 appointed Naval Officer, went to the Assembly several sessions, 
 and was elected Speaker, served two terms, 1796-98,33 State Sen 
 ator, and was then elected United States Senator. This last posi 
 tion he retained about two years, resigning March 19, 1800. He 
 also appears among the Regents of the University of New York 
 after 1795. It was largely under his auspices that the New Eng 
 land Society in New York was organized. His death occurred at 
 his residence, No. 6 State Street, on May 15, 1806. Member 
 Connecticut and New York Cincinnati Societies. 1 
 
 1 Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, of this class, a native of Litchfield, Conn., is stated 
 to have been an officer in the Revolutionary War. He became a well-known 
 Episcopalian clergyman, settled first at Stratford, Conn,, and later at Roches 
 ter, N. Y. 
 
Roll of Honor. 327 
 
 Class of 1777. 
 
 EBENEZER BALLANTINE, 
 
 Surgeons Mate, Continental Army. 
 
 Dr. Ballantine was born July 14, 1756, at Westfield, Mass., 
 where his father, Rev. John Ballantine, who graduated at Harvard 
 in 1735, was long the settled Congregational pastor. After study 
 ing surgery and medicine he entered the service as Surgeon s 
 Mate of Col. Thomas Nixon s Sixth Massachusetts Continental 
 Regiment, May 20, 1780, and remained with it to the close of the 
 war. His regiment belonged to the main army on the Hudson, 
 and was at times stationed at West Point. Joel Barlow, class of 
 1778, was the Chaplain of his brigade, and John Porter, class of 
 1770, Major of the regiment. After the war Ballantine continued 
 his medical studies, and settled as a physician at Schodach Land 
 ing, N. Y., where he practised with much success. In 1822 he 
 removed to Marion, Ohio, and died there in the following year, 
 1823. Member Massachusetts Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JOHN BARKER, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Army. 
 
 Born at Lebanon, Conn., 1757. With his classmates, Cogswell 
 and Selden, he joined Col. Henry Jackson s Massachusetts Con 
 tinental Regiment, to rank as Lieutenant from January i, 1777. 
 He joined Washington s army in Pennsylvania some time after 
 the battle of Germantown, and wintered at or near Valley Forge. 
 At Monmouth, June, 1778, his regiment was closely engaged, and 
 soon after marched to Rhode Island, and fought in the battle of 
 August 29th. On this occasion it was complimented on its good 
 conduct. Lieut. Chipman speaks of meeting his classmates, 
 Barker, Cogswell, and Selden, at Stamford as they were on the 
 march to Rhode Island. Lieut. Barker continued in the service 
 until about March i, 1779, when he resigned. After the war he 
 settled as a physician at New Haven, where he died February 24, 
 1813. 
 
328 Yale in the Revohition. 
 
 NATHANIEL CHIPMAN, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards United States Senator from Vermont ; born at 
 Salisbury, Conn., November 15, 1752. He was commissioned 
 January i, 1777, Ensign in the Second Connecticut Continental 
 Line, Col. Charles Webb, and late in the year joined Washington s 
 army in Pennsylvania, where in December he engaged in the 
 sharp skirmish of White Marsh. That winter the regiment en 
 camped at Valley Forge, where he was promoted First Lieuten 
 ant December 29, 1777, and in June, 1778, he was present at the 
 battle of Monmouth. The army then encamped at White Plains, 
 where Lieut. Chipman resigned his commission October 16, 
 1778. Extracts from one of his letters from Valley Forge, and 
 also from some of his poetic efforts, appear on pages n, 85, 86. 
 
 Upon leaving the army Chipman studied law, and in the spring 
 of 1779 removed to Tinmouth, Vt., to practise. There he rapidly 
 rose to distinction, and filled high offices. He became United 
 States District Judge, Chief- Justice of the State Supreme Court, 
 and for six years after 1798 was United States Senator. In 1816 
 he was appointed Professor of Law in Middlebury College. His 
 death occurred at Tinmouth February 13, 1843. 
 
 / **^ 
 
 MOSES CLEAVELAND, 
 
 Captain-Lieutenant, Continental Sappers and Miners. 
 
 Of Canterbury, Windham County, Conn., where he was born 
 January 29, 1754. Like a number of other students of his own 
 and other classes, he entered the service before his Senior year 
 closed, and without loss of his graduation degree. He joined 
 the Second Connecticut Continental Regiment, Col. Charles 
 Webb, as Ensign, to rank from January i, 1777. During the 
 Burgoyne campaign he served under Putnam on the Hudson 
 below Albany, and late in the fall of the year was ordered to 
 Washington s army in Pennsylvania. His regiment took part in 
 the sharp affair of White Marsh in December, 1777, and soon 
 after, on the 25th of the month, Cleaveland was promoted First 
 
Roll of Honor. 329 
 
 Lieutenant. His regiment then went into camp at Valley Forge, 
 and in June, 1778, was present at the battle of Monmouth. In 
 the summer of the following year he was transferred from his 
 command, and received further promotion as indicated in the fol 
 lowing order dated Headquarters in the Highlands, August 
 31, 1779: ". . . Lieut. Cleaveland is appointed Capt.- 
 Lieut. in the corps of Sappers and Miners vice Little, resigned." 
 He joined the corps September ist, with commission dated Au 
 gust 2, 1779. With this he continued about two years, and then 
 resigned June 7, 1781. 
 
 Returning to Canterbury, Captain Cleaveland practised law, 
 became a member of the Assembly, and Brigadier-General of 
 Militia. In 1796 he was appointed superintendent of the Con 
 necticut Land Company, which had purchased the " Western Re 
 serve " in Ohio, and early in October of that year the survey of 
 the site of the present city of Cleveland was completed. The 
 place was named in his honor. The General then returned 
 home, and died there November 16, 1806. Member Connecticut 
 Cincinnati Society. 
 
 >> 
 
 SAMUEL COGSWELL, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Army. 
 
 Son of the Rev. Dr. James Cogswell, of Scotland Parish, Conn., 
 and brother of Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell, noted early in the 
 present century as a physician at Hartford, both graduates of the 
 college. Samuel was born May 23, 1754. He first appears in 
 the service, with commission dated July i, 1777, as First Lieu 
 tenant in Col. H. Jackson s " additional," afterwards Sixteenth 
 and Ninth Massachusetts Continental Regiment, which wintered 
 at and near Valley Forge in 1777-78. The regiment was closely 
 engaged at Monmouth in June following, and again in the battle 
 of Rhode Island August 29th. In that State it remained for over 
 
330 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 a year, being posted at camps " Graves Hill," " Newtown," 
 " Kingston," etc. It started to relieve the Penobscot expedition 
 in August, 1779, but returned, and after a brief stay at Castle 
 Hill, Boston harbor, it again marched to Washington s army, and 
 wintered at the Morristown huts, 1779-80. In June, 1780, it was 
 engaged at the battle of Springfield, N. J., and then marched with 
 the army to the Highlands. In July, 1781, Cogswell appears as 
 Adjutant of detached companies at West Point, and by Mc- 
 Dougall s garrison orders of September 4th he was appointed 
 Brigade-Major of a temporary brigade under Col. M. Jackson. 
 Late in the following year, November 12, 1782, he was appointed 
 Deputy Judge- Advocate, and held the office for several months. 
 By consolidation of regiments he was transferred from the Ninth 
 to the Seventh, and on June 16, 1783, was assigned to the Fourth, 
 with which he remained till the final discharge of his brigade 
 toward the close of the year. He may have been present at the 
 evacuation of New York, November 25, 1783. On his way home 
 he stopped at Stamford to visit his brother, Surgeon James Cogs 
 well, who on December i9th wrote to his father as follows : 
 
 " This will be delivered by my brother Samuel, whose company we have 
 been favored with some time. It must be very pleasing to you to see him again 
 after so long absence, returning from the dangers that attend a military life, un 
 sullied with the vices that accompany it, and as one who has had a share in the 
 arduous task of successfully opposing one of the most potent nations in the 
 world, and in procuring peace and independence. For my own part, I view 
 him with a kind of respect, mixed with fraternal affection, gratitude, and love." 
 
 After the war Cogswell went into business with his classmate 
 Selden at Lansingburgh, above Troy, N. Y. He was killed while 
 out hunting, August 20, 1790, by the accidental discharge of a 
 gun in the hands of one of the party. His widow married his 
 classmate, Ebenezer Fitch, afterwards first president of Williams 
 College. Some of his war letters appear in the Cogswell gen 
 ealogy. Member Massachusetts Cincinnati Society. 
 
Roll of Honor. 331 
 
 ELI CURTISS, 
 
 Lieutenant, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Plymouth, Conn. After the war he practised law 
 at Watertown, and was the first member of the profession to settle 
 there. According to a memorial, signed by himself, on file in the 
 Hartford Archives, he joined the Eighth Connecticut Continental 
 Line Col. Chandler s as Sergeant-Major, April 10, 1777. He 
 served with it at Germantown, Valley Forge, and Monmouth. On 
 November 17, 1777, he was promoted Ensign, and at Valley Forge 
 he was again promoted Lieutenant, April 21, 1778. This rank he 
 held until December 4, 1779, when he resigned. He is said to 
 have lost an arm in the service, but he makes no mention of this 
 in the memorial referred to. His death occurred at Bristol, 
 Conn., December 13, 1821. 
 
 JAMES DAVENPORT, 
 
 Commissary of Supplies, Connecticut. 
 
 Fourth son of Hon. Abraham Davenport, class of 1732, and 
 brother of Maj. John Davenport, class of 1770 ; born at Stamford, 
 Conn., October 12, 1758. Towards the close of his Senior year, 
 or May 30, 1777, young Davenport was appointed by Gov. Trum- 
 bull and his Council, an " Issuing Commissary of Supplies for the 
 Connecticut troops in Continental service." In this capacity, 
 with the rank of Major, he made himself useful both in and out 
 of the State. The details of his service are meagre, but it was 
 probably of the same character as that of Commissary Flint, of 
 the class of 1773. One item is preserved in the following note he 
 received from Gen. Greene, then Quartermaster-General of Wash 
 ington s Army, dated Camp near Fredericksburg, N. Y., November 
 9, 1778: "SiR With this you will receive an appointment as 
 deputy quartermaster-general for the special purpose of providing 
 for and conducting the British prisoners, lately commanded by 
 General Burgoyne, and the guards attending them, from New 
 England to Virginia." 
 
 Inheriting his father s talents and spirit, Major Davenport 
 afterwards became prominent in civil life, serving in both houses 
 of the Connecticut Legislature, acting as Judge of Common Pleas, 
 and elected to the House of Representatives in 1796. He was 
 
33 2 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 also a member of the Commission in 1789 to make a treaty with 
 the Wyandot and other Indians for the purchase of the Connecticut 
 Western Reserve Dr. Dwight says of him : " His life was without 
 a stain ; and in his integrity, candor, and justice his countrymen 
 placed an absolute reliance. With these qualifications, it will not 
 be a matter of wonder that at an early period of his life he was 
 employed by the public in an almost continued succession of 
 public business : or that he executed every commission of this 
 nature honorably to himself and usefully to his country." He 
 died August 3, 1797. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 JOHN DE PEYSTER Douw, 
 
 Commissary, New York. 
 
 A native of Albany, N. Y., where he was born January 25, 1756. 
 In his obituary notice he is mentioned as having been " an officer 
 in the Commissary Department of the Army in the campaign of 
 1777 against Burgoyne." He used to speak, in his lifetime, of 
 the skirmish of Moses Creek, near Saratoga, in which he took 
 part. Mr. Duow lived to an advanced age, filled offices of trust, 
 and was universally respected. His death occurred at Albany, 
 February 22, 1835. 
 
 WILLIAM EDMOND, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Afterwards Judge Edmond, of the Supreme Court of Connecti 
 cut ; born in Woodbury, now South Britain, September 28, 1755. 
 His only military service was rendered incidentally, but with 
 spirit, on the occasion of Tryon s raid to Danbury, in the spring 
 of 1777. He appears to have been at home at the time. Hearing 
 of the enemy s approach, he hurried forward and joined in the 
 running fight of April 27th, during which he fell severely wounded. 
 Defending himself bravely, he escaped capture, but was obliged 
 to remain helpless in the field all the following night. Respecting 
 the wound, from which he suffered until 1781, he says in his jour 
 nal : " The thigh bone near the knee-joint was entirely broken off 
 in two places about three inches apart, the intermediate bone 
 divided or split lengthwise in three pieces. Three pieces were 
 extracted, together with about one third of an ounce ball, which 
 
Roll of Honor. 333 
 
 was wedged between them. These pieces the doctor retained as 
 a trophy of his surgical skill." 
 
 Studying law, Edmond settled in Newtown, Conn., and opened 
 an office in the house of Gen. John Chandler, whose daughter 
 Elizabeth he afterwards married. In 1797 he was elected Mem 
 ber of Congress, serving two terms, and then appointed Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the State, which position he retained until 
 1819. He died at Newtown, August i, 1838. A full and appreci 
 ative sketch of Judge Edmond may be found in Cothren s " An 
 cient Woodbury," Vol. I., p. 434, from the pen of the late Gov. 
 Henry Button, of New Haven (Y. C, 1818). 
 
 SAMUEL HOPKINS, 
 
 Vohmteer Surgeon, Naval Service. 
 
 A native of Hadley, Mass.; born October 31, 1756. He settled 
 as a physician at Newbury, Vt, but in 1782, as we have the record, 
 he sailed as Surgeon of a " Letter of Marque " bound to the West 
 Indies and Holland. While at Martinique he died of yellow 
 fever July u, 1782. His service was incidental, as he seems to 
 have intended to leave the vessel on its arrival in Holland and 
 continue his medical studies abroad. 
 
 SOLOMON PINTO, 
 
 Ensign, Continental Army. 
 
 Born at New Haven, and one of three brothers, Abraham, 
 Solomon, and William, who entered Yale. Abraham did not 
 graduate, possibly because he was wounded at the time New 
 Haven was invaded by Tryon. Solomon with the others turned 
 out as a volunteer on the occasion, and a family tradition is to the 
 effect that he was taken prisoner and sent to England. However 
 this may be, he was at New Haven in the following year, when he 
 joined Washington s army. 
 
 According to the Cincinnati records, his service began 
 March 18, 1780, as Ensign in the Seventh Connecticut Line, Col. 
 Heman Swift. He seems, however, not to have been formally 
 assigned to duty by division orders until October i7th, following. 
 (See sketch of Eb. Daggett, class of 1778.) The army was then 
 in the Highlands. A year later young Pinto was detached to take 
 part in Tallmadge s expedition against Fort Slongo, L. I., which 
 
00 
 
 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 was skilfully surprised and carried on October 10, 1781. He re 
 tired from the service at the general disbandment in June, 1783. 
 He died in 1824. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 WILLIAM PINTO, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Native of New Haven, and brother of preceding. At the time 
 of Tryon s invasion of New Haven, July 5, 1779, young Pinto 
 served with his brothers as a volunteer. When his brother 
 Abraham was wounded, as stated above, he took him on his horse 
 and carried him out of danger. Later in the war he was on duty 
 at Fort Trumbull, New London Harbor, and upon the landing of 
 Arnold s expedition on the morning of September 6, 1781, was 
 despatched with the news to Gov. Trumbull. In after life he 
 became an extensive West India merchant, and lived to an ad 
 vanced age. His death occurred at New Orleans in 1847. 
 
 CHARLES SELDEN, 
 
 Adjutant, Continental Army. 
 
 Fourth son of Col. Samuel Selden, of Hadlyme, Conn., who 
 died a prisoner of war in New York in October, 1776. His de 
 scent from Thomas Selden, one of the first settlers of Hartford, is 
 noticed in the sketch of his cousin, Capt. Ezra Selden, class of 
 
 1773- 
 
 Charles Selden was born at Hadlyme, November 23, 1755. 
 With his classmates, Barker and Cogswell, he joined Col. Henry 
 Jackson s "additional" Continental Regiment, which subsequently 
 became the Sixteenth, and again, by consolidation, the Ninth, 
 Sixth, and Fourth of the Massachusetts Line. It was recruited 
 mainly in Boston and marched to the field in the latter part of 
 September, 1777. Selden was commissioned Second Lieutenant, 
 to rank from July ist of that year. The regiment joined Wash 
 ington s army, then in Pennsylvania, and during the following 
 winter and spring it was encamped at Valley Forge and vicinity. 
 Upon the abandonment of Philadelphia by the enemy in June, 
 1778, the regiment was ordered forward to guard the city, but in 
 
Roll of Honor. 335 
 
 a few days joined the army, which had moved out from Valley 
 Forge, and took an active part in the battle of Monmouth on the 
 28th. It was closely engaged, as appears from the evidence at 
 Lee s trial, and no doubt Selden was with it at the time, as we 
 find him on the march soon after to Rhode Island, where he was 
 again in the thick of battle on August 29th, under Sullivan and 
 Lafayette. Remaining in Rhode Island for about a year, the 
 regiment, in August, 1779, hurried to the relief of the ill-fated 
 Penobscot expedition, but, returning, encamped for a short time 
 on Castle Island, Boston harbor, and then joined Washington s 
 army in New Jersey. During the winter of 1779-80 it encamped 
 at the Morristown huts. Meantime Selden was promoted First 
 Lieutenant, March 15, 1779, an ^ from December of that year 
 until September, 1780, was Acting- Adjutant of the regiment. In 
 June, 1780, he engaged in the battle of Springfield, N. J., and 
 thereafter served to the close of the war with the main army in 
 the Highlands. On May 31, 1782, while encamped at the " New 
 Boston " huts, near West Point, he received further promotion, as 
 appears from the following note of that date : 
 
 " SIR : I request that Lt. Chas. Selden, of the gth Mass. Regiment, maybe 
 appointed (in orders this day) Adjutant of said Regt. vice Capt.-Lt. Clap pro 
 moted, to be obeyed and respected accordingly. 
 
 " I am, etc., 
 
 " HENRY JACKSON, 
 " To Gen. HEATH. Col. gth Massachusetts." 
 
 During 1782-83 Jackson s regiment was encamped at Ver- 
 planck s Point, Newburgh, West Point, and other places on the 
 Hudson. When the Massachusetts Line was finally reduced to 
 four regiments in the summer of 1783, the Ninth became the 
 Fourth, and on June i6th Selden was reappointed Adjutant. 
 With this he remained until the close of the year. The Fourth 
 Regiment formed part of the force that occupied New York City 
 upon its evacuation by the enemy, but Selden s order-book indi 
 cates that he had lately received a furlough and was absent. His 
 long and active services, however, were not at an end, for upon 
 the organization of a new regiment to serve from January i to 
 July i, 1784, to guard West Point, Selden again accepted the 
 Adjutancy, and remained with the command until its muster out 
 as the last infantry corps of the old Revolutionary army. 
 
336 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Soon after leaving the service, or in the fall of 1784, Selden 
 went into business with his classmate, Cogswell, at Lansingburgh, 
 above Troy, N. Y. (firm name, " Cogswell & Selden "), and be 
 came prosperous and influential. In 1803 he was appointed one 
 of the Regents of the University of New York, in 1804 went to 
 the Assembly, and from 1808 to 1811 sat in the State Senate. 
 He died at Troy, January i, 1820. Member of Massachusetts 
 Cincinnati Society. 
 
 THOMAS YOUNG SEYMOUR, 
 
 Captain, Continental Dragoons. 
 
 Eldest son of Col. Thomas Seymour, class of 1755 ; born at 
 Hartford, June 19, 1757. He was commissioned, January 10, 
 1777, Lieutenant in the Second Regiment, Continental Light 
 Dragoons, under Col. Sheldon, and soon after entering the field 
 was ordered to report with his troop of horse to Gen. Gates in 
 the Northern Department. That he was active in the campaign 
 against Burgoyne may be inferred from his letter on page 79, 
 written, as he says, "under arms," on the lines "advanced of 
 Stillwater." From papers in the Pension Bureau, it also appears 
 that after the surrender he was detailed to escort Burgoyne to 
 Boston, and that from the captive General he received a saddle 
 and brace of pistols as a token of regard. Trumbull, the painter, 
 introduces Capt. Seymour on horseback in his picture of the sur 
 render. There is also a miniature of him in the Yale Art Gallery, 
 Trumbull collection. He remained in the service about a year 
 longer, resigning November 23, 1778. 
 
 After the war Seymour practised law at Hartford, became 
 
Roll of Honor. 337 
 
 Major of the Governor s Foot Guards there, and filled several 
 offices of public and private trust. He died May 16, 1811. 
 Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 
 &+ 
 
 NATHAN HAYNES WHITING, 
 
 Adjutant, Continental Army. 
 
 Son of Col. Nathan Whiting (Y. C., 1743), of New Haven, and 
 a descendant, upon his mother s side, of John Haynes, first Gov 
 ernor of Connecticut; born at New Haven, November 6, 1759. 
 His father was a distinguished officer of the French war, present 
 at the capture of Louisburg. 
 
 Whiting entered the service early in 1780, by joining Col. S. B. 
 Webb s Continental Regiment, then commanded by Lieut.-Col. 
 Huntington the following letter best explaining his first connec 
 tion with it : 
 
 " CAMP STEEN RAPPIE, yth Sept., 1780, 
 
 5 miles North from Hackinsack. 
 "SiR: 
 
 " I would beg Liberty to recommend Mr. Nathan Haines Whiting for an 
 Ensigncy in the gth Connecticut Regiment he is a young Gentleman of family 
 & Education, & hath serv d some time as a Volunteer in the Regt. His En 
 signcy to bear date from the gth day of April last. The small number of offi 
 cers in the Regiment makes it necessary that his appointment should be made 
 as soon as Possible, as your Excellency will see by the enclos d Return of 
 officers. 
 
 " I am, with the Greatest Respect and Esteem, 
 
 " Your Excellency s Most Ob*- and very Humble Servant, 
 
 "EBEN. HUNTINGTON, 
 " Lieut.-Col. Com d *- gth Conn. Regt. 
 " His Excellency, Gov. TRUMBULL." 
 
 Whiting received this appointment, and on February 10, 1781, 
 was again promoted as Lieutenant in Webb s regiment, then the 
 Third Connecticut. In June following he joined Col. Scammeirs 
 Light Infantry Corps, with which he marched to Virginia and 
 participated in the capture of Yorktown. While there he acted 
 as Adjutant of Lieut.-Col. Huntington s battalion of Infantry. 
 
338 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Returning to camp in the Highlands, he continued in service un 
 til January i, 1783. 
 
 Settling in West Hartford, Whiting practised law, held local 
 office, and served several terms in the Legislature. He died Sep 
 tember 16, 1801. Member Connecticut Cincinnati Society. 1 
 
 Class of 1778. 
 
 JOEL BARLOW, 
 
 Brigade Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 The well-known early American poet, political writer, and di 
 plomatist ; born at Redding, Connecticut, March 24, 1754. It is 
 said that during his college course, when studies were temporarily 
 suspended in the fall of 1776, he joined Washington s army as a 
 volunteer, and took part in the battle of White Plains, October 
 28th. After graduation he devoted himself to literature and 
 poetic composition, and gained the favorable notice of such wits 
 and writers of the time as Dwight, Humphreys, Trumbull, and 
 others. It was to Humphreys that Barlow was partly indebted 
 for his appointment as Chaplain in the army, as the following ex 
 tract of a letter from the former to Gen. Greene goes to show : 
 
 "Hartford, May 23, 1780. ... I cannot but feel myself under great 
 obligations to you for the generous concern you are pleased to take in Mr. Bar 
 low s affairs. There is one way in which I think he might be serv d effectually, 
 and in a manner reputable to himself and beneficial to the Public. I mean by 
 having him appointed a Chaplain to some vacant Brigade : for tho he is not in 
 orders at present, he would, I am well assured from his character and some 
 other circumstances, qualify himself for the office immediately, accept the ap 
 pointment with cheerfulness, perform the duty with dignity, and have leisure 
 enough to prosecute his favorite pursuits. The Rhode Island and 4th Mass. Bri 
 gades, I am informed, are vacant." 
 
 Chaplain Abraham Baldwin, of Parsons Connecticut Brigade, 
 also interested himself in the matter, and the result was the ap 
 pointment of Barlow to the chaplaincy of the Fourth Massachu- 
 
 1 Thomas Ives, of this class, afterwards a man of some note in Berkshire Co., 
 Mass., is said to have served short terms during the Revolution. 
 
 William Little was possibly the Issuing Commissary of his name from Leba 
 non, Conn. He was at Valley Forge and other places. 
 
 Samuel Morey, of Norton, Mass., is stated to have been Surgeon some time 
 during the war. 
 
Roll of Honor. 339 
 
 setts Brigade, formerly General Learned s, but then commanded 
 by Col. John Bailey. Barlow thus succeeded Chaplain David 
 Avery, class of 1769, who had resigned in March previous. Dur 
 ing 1781-82 the brigade was the Third Massachusetts. The 
 young poet rapidly fitted himself for his new position by a partial 
 course in theology, and joined the army on September 2, 1780, 
 near Paramus, N. J. Camp life and associations proved congenial 
 to him, especially as he found much time to indulge his favorite 
 pursuit. He preached once a Sunday, his fourth effort being what 
 he describes as " a flaming political sermon, occasioned by the 
 treachery of Arnold," and which, as he was afterwards informed, 
 did him " great honor." He was invited at an early day to dine 
 with General Greene, who stood high with the army, reputed, as 
 he says, " the second character on the continent." Washington 
 also extended him a similar invitation ; and after the occasion he 
 wrote to Miss Ruth Baldwin, the lady to whom he was engaged : 
 
 1 How do you think I felt when the greatest man on earth placed me at his 
 right hand, with Lord Stirling at his left, at table ? I graced the table with a good 
 grace, and felt perfectly easy and happy. There were many gentlemen there. 
 You must allow me a little vanity in these descriptions, because the scenes are 
 new. Since the preaching of my sermon upon the treason of Arnold and the 
 glory of America, several gentlemen who did not hear it, and some who did, 
 have been to read it. They talk of printing it. Colonel Humphreys has made 
 me promise to loan him the plan and the first book of my poems to read at 
 head-quarters. He and many other friends pay me particular attention." 
 
 Barlow remained in the army to the close of the war. He 
 thereafter acquired celebrity at home as the author of the " Co- 
 lumbiad," " Hasty Pudding," and other effusions. Still later he 
 went abroad, figured during the French Revolution, and in 1811 
 was appointed Minister to France by Madison, but did not live 
 to render the diplomatic service to the United States he hoped to. 
 While on a journey to Wilna to meet Napoleon, he died somewhat 
 suddenly at Zarnowicke, near Cracow, Poland, December 24, 1812. 
 Member Massachusetts Cincinnati Society. 
 
 1 In the recently published " Life and letters of Joel Barlow," by Mr. Chas. 
 Burr Todd, will be found a number of interesting and valuable letters written 
 both to and by him during the Revolution. 
 
340 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 EBENEZER DAGGETT, 
 
 Ensign, Continental Army. 
 
 Youngest son of President Daggett, and brother of Lieut. 
 Henry Daggett, class of 1775. He was appointed, July 26, 1780, 
 Ensign in the Seventh Connecticut Line, and formally assigned to 
 duty in division orders as follows: " Totoway, Oct. 17, 1780. 
 Messrs. Ebenezer Dagget and Solomon Pinto (Y. C., 1777), having 
 been appointed Ensigns in the 7th Regt. by the Governor and 
 Council of the State of Connecticut, they are to do duty and to 
 be obey d and respected accordingly." Early in February, 1781, 
 he was detached to serve in Colonel Gimat s Light Infantry Bat 
 talion, and under Lafayette experienced the hardships and suc 
 cesses of his Virginia campaign against Cornwallis. He was 
 doubtless in the affair of Green Spring in July of that year, and 
 through all the operations of the siege and victory of Yorktown. 
 Unhappily he was attacked by the small-pox, and died at the 
 Head of Elk, Maryland, on the way home, November 20, 1781. 
 
 FREDERICK WILLIAM HOTCHKISS, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Son of John Hotchkiss, class of 1748, who was killed during 
 Tryon s New Haven raid. The college record states that he 
 acted as aid to the officer commanding the New Haven militia 
 (probably Col. Sabin) on the same occasion, July 5, 1779. Two 
 of his uncles, as well as his father, were killed on that day. Mr. 
 Hotchkiss was afterwards long pastor at Saybrook, Conn. He 
 died March 31, 1844. 
 
 NATHAN LEAVENWORTH, 
 
 Surgeon s Mate, Continental Army. 
 
 Youngest of the Leavenworth brothers who entered the Revo 
 lutionary service (see Jesse Leavenworth, class of 1759) ; born at 
 Waterbury, Conn., December n, 1761. Studying medicine after 
 graduation, he joined the Eighth Massachusetts Continental Regi 
 ment, Col. M. Jackson, as Surgeon s Mate, with commission dated 
 February i, 1780. He retained this position until the last of the 
 army was disbanded, in December, 1783, and was then reappointed 
 
Roll of Honor. 341 
 
 in the new American Regiment, which continued in service at 
 West Point until July, 1784. His regiment belonged to Washing 
 ton s main army on the Hudson. In the fall of 1784 he went to 
 the Cheraw District, S. C., but returned to Waterbury in 1793, 
 and died there January 9, 1799. Member Massachusetts Cincin 
 nati Society. 
 
 NOAH WEBSTER, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Young Webster, the future lexicographer, was one of the many 
 volunteers who fell into line with the Connecticut militia ordered, 
 in August and September, 1777, to reinforce Putnam on the 
 Hudson or Gates at Saratoga during the Burgoyne campaign. 
 His father and two brothers were in the service at the time. The 
 regiment Webster marched with joined Putnam above Peekskill, 
 and was moving northward with his force when the news of Bur- 
 goyne s surrender reached them. The late Prof. Chauncey S. 
 Goodrich mentions this fact in his sketch of Webster in Vol. II. of 
 the American Literary Magazine, and adds : " They were met by 
 a courier waving his sword in triumph and crying out as he passed, 
 1 Burgoyne is taken ! Burgoyne is taken ! It was perhaps the 
 most eventful crisis of the war. An army of British regulars had 
 for the first time surrendered to a body of undisciplined Conti 
 nental troops, and well might every American who had shared in 
 the conflict, or who was hastening to meet its foe, exult in such a 
 victory. Mr. Webster, even in old age, could never speak of it, 
 or of his feelings as the shout of the courier rang through the 
 ranks of the regiment, without a strength of emotion which was 
 often expressed by tears." Webster s own reference to this ser 
 vice appears on p. 77, and on p. 13 may be found an interesting 
 extract from one of his early addresses, describing Washington s 
 first visit to Yale and his reception by the students. Born at 
 Hartford, October 16, 1758 ; died at New Haven, May 28, 1843. 
 
342 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 OLIVER WOLCOTT, JR., 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Afterwards Secretary of the Treasury under Washington and 
 Governor of Connecticut. Son of General and Governor Oliver 
 Wolcott, class of 1747 ; born at Litchfield, January n, 1760- 
 Like young Edmond of the previous class, he turned out as a 
 volunteer on the occasion of Tryon s Danbury raid in April, 
 1777, and took part in the movements with the militia. In the 
 summer of 1779 he acted as Aide-de-Camp to his father, who then 
 commanded on the western border of the State, and at a later 
 period was appointed a State Commissary. On July 20, 1779, 
 Gen. Parsons invited him to join the Continental army, as appears 
 from the following note of that date to Gen. Wolcott : " In 
 arranging our Line, a number of Ensigns are vacant. If your Son 
 is willing to accept one of these vacancies, I shall be happy in 
 having it in my power to gratify the inclination of the Son of so 
 worthy a father. I am determined to have these offices filled by 
 young Gentlemen of Spirit and Learning, to make the army re 
 spectable, or leave them vacant " (Wolcott " Memorial "). The 
 father replied that he preferred to have his son continue his law 
 studies which he had lately taken up. After his civil career he 
 resided in New York, where he died June i, 1833. 
 
 Class of 1 779. 
 
 JEREMIAH GATES BRAINARD, 
 
 Ensign, Continental Army. 
 
 Afterwards Judge Brainard, of New London, Conn. He be 
 longed to the family of Brainards (or Brainerds) identified with 
 the settlement of East Haddam, where he was born July 28, 1759. 
 He was appointed, July 26, 1780, Ensign in the Seventh Regi 
 ment Connecticut Line, Col. Heman Swift, but did not remain 
 
 1 In his pamphlet on Pittsfield, Mass., Rev. Dr. Field states that Thomas 
 Gold, of this class, was for several months Secretary to Gen. Putnam in 1777. 
 The General then commanded on the east side of the Hudson. 
 
 Edmund Foster, of the same class, native of Reading, Mass., is said to have 
 engaged in the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775. He was then a Sopho 
 more, and may have been at home at the time. Afterwards pastor at Littleton, 
 Mass. 
 
Roll of Honor. 343 
 
 in service beyond the month of April, 1781. Rev. Dr. Field 
 states that he was employed on detached duty " principally in at 
 tending to the accounts of the Connecticut Line at the War 
 Office in Philadelphia." Returning home, Brainard studied law 
 with Col. Dyar Throop, class of 1759, at East Haddam, and then 
 settled at New London. He was Representative, Mayor of the 
 city, and from 1806 to 1829 Judge of the Superior Court. He 
 died January 7, 1830. 
 
 ELIZUR GOODRICH, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Afterwards member of Congress, Judge, and Mayor of New 
 Haven ; son of Rev. Dr. E. Goodrich, class of 1752, born at 
 Durham, Conn., March 24, 1761. He took an active part against 
 the enemy when they invaded New Haven on July 5, 1779, turn 
 ing out with his fellow students and fighting until he was wounded. 
 After the British occupied the town, a soldier entered the house 
 where Goodrich had retired to have his wound dressed and be 
 gan to abuse him. Notwithstanding his condition, young Good 
 rich seized the soldier, drove him to the wall, and handled him with 
 such energy and hostile intent that the fellow begged for mercy 
 and went off. Goodrich settled at New Haven as a lawyer, be 
 came Judge of the County Court, served as a Representative to 
 Congress from 1799 to 1801, and was Mayor from 1803 to 1822. 
 His account of Tryon s invasion and Pres. Daggett s capture ap 
 pears in the text with events of 1779-80. He was the father of 
 the late Prof. Chauncey A. Goodrich of Yale College. 
 
 WILLIAM SEYMOUR, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Younger brother of Capt. Thomas Y. Seymour, class of 1777 ; 
 born at Hartford, December 28, 1758. It appears that he was 
 with his uncle, Col. Wm. Ledyard, at the time Arnold attacked 
 New London in September, 1781, and was one of the sufferers of 
 the Fort Griswold " massacre " on the Groton side. While assist 
 ing in the defence of the fort he fell terribly wounded. His case 
 was reported upon by a Legislative Pension Committee in Janu 
 ary, 1783, as follows : "William Seymour, of Hartford, a volun- 
 
344 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 teer in the fort, was wounded by a musket ball which entered into 
 and passed through the joint of the knee, fracturing and breaking 
 the bones in such manner as that the greatest part of the sub 
 stance of the knee joint separated and issued out. In this condi 
 tion he, for about three weeks, suffered the most severe pain and 
 distress. When no other means could be thought of to save his 
 life, amputation was performed and his limb taken off about half 
 way between the knee and body, and after a long, languishing 
 confinement he is restored to a considerable degree of health, 
 though wholly disabled from performing any considerable exer 
 cises or following any considerable business." (Allyn s Battle of 
 Groton Heights.) He is also said to have received thirteen 
 bayonet wounds after being shot as described. Although crippled 
 for life, Seymour eventually was able to engage in business in 
 Hartford, and lived to an advanced age. He died, unmarried, at 
 Bloomfield, Conn., December 20, 1843. 1 
 
 Class of 1780. 
 
 JOHN BARNETT, 
 
 Brigade Chaplain, Continental Army. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Barnett was Chaplain in the Massachusetts Line for 
 about eight months during the year 1782. He evidently suc 
 ceeded Rev. Enos Hitchcock, graduate of Harvard, in the chap 
 laincy of the Second Brigade of that Line, so that all the 
 Massachusetts chaplains were at that time graduates of the col 
 lege the other two being Messrs. Barlow and Lockwood. Mr. 
 Barnett is said to have injured his voice permanently by open-air 
 preaching in camp, and thereafter was not a settled pastor for any 
 length of time. From 1790 to 1795 he was at Middlebury, Vt. 
 He was a native of Windsor, Conn.; died at Durham, N. Y., 
 December 5, 1837, aged eighty-four, being at the time a Revo 
 lutionary pensioner under the act of 1818. 
 
 1 William Baldwin, of this class, was recommended in July, 1780, by Col. 
 Meigs, of the Sixth Connecticut, for a position as Ensign in his regiment, but 
 he does not appear to have accepted, no such name being on the rolls. Meigs 
 says : " Mr. Baldwin is a young gentleman belonging to Branford, lately gradu 
 ated from Yale College." 
 
Roll of Honor. 345 
 
 WILLIAM FOWLER, 
 
 Ensign, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of East Haddam, Conn. ; born September 27, 1761 ; 
 the youngest son of Rev. Joseph Fowler, of the class of 1743, 
 Congregational pastor at that place. This branch of Fowlers 
 came of Windham County ancestry. 
 
 The Ensign s career was brief a year s service. He received 
 his appointment February 27, 1781, and was assigned to the Fifth 
 Regiment, Connecticut Line, under Colonel Sherman. The regi 
 ment took part in Washington s feint upon New York in the sum 
 mer of that year, remained on the Hudson under Gen. Heath 
 during the Yorktown campaign, and wintered at camp " Connecti 
 cut Village," above Peekskill. There young Fowler was taken 
 sick, and died on or about February 28, 1782. The Hartford 
 Courant of March 5th following says of him : " Died of the small 
 pox, at camp, last week, Ensign William Fowler, of East Had 
 dam. He was a gentleman of a liberal education, and much 
 esteemed by all his acquaintance." 
 
 ^ENEAS MUNSON, 
 
 Siirgeoris Mate, Continental Army. 
 
 Dr. Munson was the son of Dr. ^Eneas Munson, of the class of 
 1753, who for many years in the last and present centuries was a 
 practising physician in New Haven, and President of the Medical 
 Society of Connecticut ; born September n, 1763. Very soon 
 after graduation, or September i, 1780, Munson was commissioned 
 Surgeon s Mate in Col. Swift s Seventh Connecticut Continental 
 Line. During the winter of 1780-81 his regiment was hutted with 
 the Connecticut Division on the Hudson, opposite West Point. 
 In June following he was detached to assist Surgeon Thacher, of 
 the Massachusetts Line, in Col. Scammell s Light Infantry corps, 
 which, after engaging in one or two sharp skirmishes in West- 
 chester County, marched in August with the army to Yorktown, 
 Va. There it took a leading part in the siege, and in after life Dr. 
 Munson had many incidents to tell of the operations and surren 
 der. Returning north he rejoined his regiment, which in 1781-82 
 was the Fourth Connecticut, under Col. Butler, with Dr. Timothy 
 
34 6 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Hosmer as Chief Surgeon. Remaining in the Highlands, he 
 served until the disbandment in June, 1783. 
 
 After the war Dr. Munson practised medicine at New Haven 
 nearly as long as his father, and is remembered by the older resi 
 dents of the place. He died August 22, 1852. Member Con 
 necticut Cincinnati Society. 
 
 
 JABEZ HUNTINGTON TOMLINSON, 
 
 Ensign, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Stratford, Conn. ; born about 1760. During his 
 Junior year he met with an experience which is said to have de 
 cided him to enter the service. The New Haven Journal of 
 June 9, 1779, reports it as follows : 
 
 "One night last week a party from L. I. landed at Old Mill in Stratford, 
 and plundered the house of Mr. Joseph Lewis of a considerable sum of money, 
 all the clothing, linen, etc., and went off with their booty, taking with them a 
 young man named Tomlinson, a member of Yale College, who was there on a 
 visit." 
 
 Tomlinson, who lived to an advanced age, used to recall this 
 incident to residents of Stratford still living. The capture oc 
 curred on the night of May 3ist, when the party in question took 
 him to a British man-of-war in the Sound, whose captain treated 
 him civilly, but who obliged him to proceed to New York to 
 secure his release or exchange. It was several weeks before he 
 was exchanged, and upon his return he resolved to enter the 
 army. He was appointed Ensign of Col. S. B. Webb s Continen 
 tal Regiment April 5, 1780, and was one of the officers on guard 
 at Major Andre s quarters during his captivity and trial. It was 
 to Tomlinson that the unfortunate Major presented the pen-and- 
 ink sketch of himself now preserved in the library of Yale Col 
 lege. The Ensign remained in service until May i, 1781, when 
 he resigned and returned to Stratford. He died there, a respected 
 citizen, January 14, 1849. 
 
 1 Erastus Pixley, of this class, resident of Great Barrington, Mass., is stated 
 to have been one of the students who volunteered to march against the enemy 
 on July 5, 1779, when New Haven was invaded. He died May 31, 1795. 
 
Roll of Honor. 347 
 
 Class of ij%i. 
 
 SIMEON BALDWIN, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Afterwards Judge Baldwin of the Supreme Court of Connecti 
 cut ; also Mayor of New Haven in 1826. He was a brother of 
 Chaplain Ebenezer Baldwin, class of 1763, and was born at Nor 
 wich, December 14, 1761. At the time of Tryon s invasion of 
 New Haven, July 5, 1779, he turned out as a volunteer with other 
 students and took part in the day s skirmishing, especially near 
 " Neck Bridge," over Mill River. After the war he settled as a 
 lawyer at New Haven and filled important offices. From 1803 
 he served one term as a Representative in Congress, and subse 
 quently the positions mentioned above. His death occurred May 
 26, 1851. 
 
 The following graduates rendered service before entering college : 
 
 Class of 1781. 
 
 SAMUEL HINCKLEY, 
 
 Massachusetts Service. 
 
 He was a native of North Brookfield, Mass.; born Dec. 22, 
 1757. Entering the service in 1776, probably with a Massachu 
 setts regiment, he took part in the battle of White Plains, Oct. 28th> 
 of that year, and was wounded. He was a grandson of Gov. Thomas 
 Hinckley, of Massachusetts. For forty-six years he filled the 
 office of Register and Probate Judge ; died at Northampton, June 
 15, 1840. 
 
 Class of 1782. 
 
 PAYSON WILLISTON, 
 
 Volunteer. 
 
 Son of Rev. Noah Williston, class of 1757. He took part in the 
 skirmishing on July 5, 1779, when New Haven was invaded. 
 Speaking of the day s experiences, he says, in Sprague s " Annals ": 
 " It was my lot to mingle in that scene as a member of the Artillery 
 Company who opposed the British who landed on the West side 
 
348 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 of New Haven harbour ; and I distinctly remember the Presi 
 dent s [Daggett] coming up and addressing to us patriotic and 
 earnest words, bidding us go on and fight, &c. ; and he rushed 
 along himself, and very soon after came near paying for his 
 patriotism with his life. This was a few months before I entered 
 College." Williston studied for the ministry, and was for many 
 years pastor at Easthamptom, Mass., where he died January 30, 
 1856, in the ninety-third year of his age. 
 
 Class 0/1786. 
 
 WILLIAM STONE, 
 
 Soldier, Continental Army. 
 
 A native of Guilford, Conn. He served three years in the 
 Continental army, having enlisted as a soldier in Capt. Stephen 
 Hall s company, of Col. Swift s Seventh Connecticut Line, June 8, 
 1777. With this regiment he engaged at the battle of German- 
 town, October 4, 1777, wintered at Valley Forge, and was present 
 also at Monmouth, June, 1778. After that until his term of service 
 expired, June 8, 1780, he was with the army on the Hudson- 
 He appears also to have served in 1776, as he is said to have 
 taken part in the battle of White Plains, in October of that year. 
 Entering college after the war, he graduated in 1786, studied for 
 the ministry, and devoted most of his life to missionary work in 
 New York. He died at Sodus, N. Y., March 20, 1840, aged 
 eighty-three. 1 
 
 Class 0/1788. 
 
 DANIEL WALDO, 
 
 Soldier, Connecticut Service. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Waldo, at the time of his death the oldest graduate 
 of the college, was born at Windham, Conn., September 10, 1762. 
 In 1778, before entering college, he was drafted for a month s 
 service at New London, and subsequently enlisted in State levies 
 for eight months. He was taken prisoner near New York and 
 
 1 Hon. Stanley Griswold, of this class, is mentioned as having been a lieu 
 tenant in his father s company before he entered college. 
 
Roll of Honor. 349 
 
 confined in the Sugar House, where he suffered greatly. Studying 
 for the ministry, he was settled at West Suffield for eighteen years 
 after 1792, and for shorter periods elsewhere. He lived to an 
 advanced age. A noteworthy event of his life was his appoint 
 ment as Chaplain of Congress in 1856, and again in 1857, when he 
 was ninety-four and ninety-five years old. " His faculties were 
 unimpaired throughout his long life, and his last sermon was 
 preached after he entered on his one hundred and second year." 
 He died at Syracuse, N. Y., July 30, 1864. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Total number of graduates included in " Honor-Roll," with biographical 
 
 notices ............ 196 
 
 Number mentioned incidentally or in notes, of whose record no details 
 have been found, but who, without much doubt, rendered service 
 of some kind ........... 38 
 
 Total 234 
 
 Addenda. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Pomeroy, p. 182, was Chaplain of Col. Wyllys Third Con 
 necticut Line from January i, 1777, to July i, 1778. 
 
 Capt. Nathaniel Webb, p. 211, states in a memorial that he served through 
 the year 1776, before joining the Continental Line. 
 
 Joseph B. Wadsworth, p. 250, was full Surgeon of Col. Sherburne s "addi 
 tional" Continental Regiment, raised partly in Connecticut, from Sept. i, 1777, 
 to Jan. i, 1781. 
 
 Dr. Isaac Knight, p. 252, was one of the Guilford volunteers who started 
 towards Boston on the Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Boardman, p. 213, appears as Chaplain of Capt. Comfort 
 Sage s " Troop of Horse " from Middletown, in the Lexington alarm. 
 
 Capt. William Coit, p. 226, was Captain of one of the New London compa 
 nies in the Lexington alarm. 
 
 Rev. Elisha Atkins, class of 1773, is stated to have served as Chaplain ; pastor 
 at N. Killingly. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Austin, class of 1783, is mentioned as having rendered some 
 service during the Revolution. 
 
 Commissions, Dates, etc. 
 
 Giles Russell, pp. 201 and 202, was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fourth Con 
 necticut, Col. Durkee, not the Eighth, before becoming Colonel of the latter. 
 
350 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 The commissions of Eben. Huntington, p. 308, as Lieutenant-Colonel and 
 of John P. Wyllys, p. 298, as Major, were finally made to date from October 
 10, 1778, instead of 1780. 
 
 Discrepancies will doubtless be found between the dates of a few of the ap 
 pointments and commissions given in the biographical sketches and the dates as 
 given in some official rolls and papers. In certain cases the dates of officers 
 commissions were changed, and in one case we have three dates for the same 
 commission. This was due to conflicting claims, and in the above honor-roll 
 the last or most authoritative date has been followed. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbott, Henry L., Gen., on Bush- 
 
 nell s torpedo, 56, 307 
 Abel, Elijah, Capt., 39 ; biog., 223 
 Adams, Andrew, Lieut.-Col., biog., 
 
 224 
 Alden, Roger, Aid-de-Camp, 66, 78, 
 
 84, 90, 93 ; biog., 282 
 Andre, Maj., 53, 54 ; Tallmadge s 
 
 letters on, 125; pen and ink portrait 
 
 at Yale, 346 
 Arnold, Benedict, mentioned, 29, 30, 
 
 71, 79, 122, 123 ; Tallmadge on, 
 
 125, 270 
 
 Ashley, John, Judge, mentioned, 212 
 Ashley, John, Jr., Col., 68 ; biog., 212 
 Ashley, Moses, Maj., 14, 39, 59, 66, 
 
 77, 85, 144; biog., 250 
 Atkins, Elisha, Rev., mentioned, 349 
 Austin, Samuel, Rev., mentioned, 349 
 Avery, David, Brigade Chaplain, 14, 
 
 39, 59, 68 ; biog., 257 
 
 B 
 
 Babcock, Gamaliel, mentioned, 300, n. 
 Babcock, Henry, Col., 16, 32 ; orders, 
 
 33, 34; biog., 203 
 Babcock, James, Lieut.-Col., 16 ; 
 
 biog., 205 
 Babcock, Joshua, Gen., 5, 22 ; biog., 
 
 177 
 
 Babcock, Luke, Rev,, mentioned, 98 
 Babcock, Stephen, Maj., biog., 225 
 Baldwin, Abraham, Brigade Chaplain, 
 
 7, 68 ; biog., 275 
 
 Baldwin, Ashbel, mentioned, 326, n. 
 Baldwin, Ebenezer, Chaplain, 38, 62 ; 
 
 biog., 232 
 
 Baldwin, Isaac, mentioned, 304, n. 
 Baldwin, Simeon, Hon., biog., 347 
 Baldwin, William, mentioned, 344, n. 
 Ballantine, Ebenezer, Surgeon s Mate, 
 
 biog., 327 
 
 Barber, Francis, Lieut.-Col., of 
 
 Princeton College, 137 
 Barker, John, Lieut., 67, 84, 93 ; 
 
 biog., 327 
 Barker, Samuel Augustus S., Capt., 
 
 39, 48, 50, 66, 132 ; biog., 276 
 Barlow, Joel, Brigade Chaplain, 39, 
 
 68 ; biog., 338 
 Barnett, John, Brigade Chaplain, 
 
 biog., 344 
 
 Bartlett, Nathaniel, Rev., biog., 199 
 Beebe, Lewis, mentioned, 275, n. 
 Beers, Isaac, Washington at his house, 
 
 13 
 Belden, Ebenezer Porter, Capt., 10, 
 
 67, 73 ; biog., 305 
 Belden, Thomas, Col., mentioned, 
 
 203, n. ; 305 
 Bellamy, Jonathan, Lieut., 39, 62 ; 
 
 biog., 277 
 Benedict, Abner, Chaplain, 38 ; biog. , 
 
 257. 
 
 Benedict, Amos, biog., 300 
 Bird, Jonathan, Surgeon, biog., 252 
 Bissell, Hezekiah, Capt., biog., 228 
 Boardman, Benjamin, Chaplain, 16, 
 
 24 ; biog., 213 ; 349 
 Bogue, Aaron Jordan, Chaplain, biog., 
 
 300 
 
 Bowen, Jabez, Col., 69 ; biog., 210 
 Bradley, Philip Burr, Col., 37, 38, 40, 
 
 57, 65, 71, 74, 84 ; biog., 213 
 Bradley, Stephen Row, Capt., 39, 70; 
 
 biog., 305 
 Brainard, Jeremiah G., Ensign, biog., 
 
 342 
 Brockway, Thomas, Chaplain, 38 ; 
 
 biog., 252 
 Brooks, Thomas, Rev., mentioned, 
 
 208, n. 
 Brown, John, Col., 4, 26-28 ; letter, 
 
 29 ; 68, 80, 81, 123 ; biog., 268 
 Brownson, Nathan, Surgeon, biog., 
 
 225 
 Buckminster, Joseph, Rev., 7, 268, n. 
 
352 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Burghardt, Hugo, mentioned, 212, n. 
 Burgoyne, Gen., campaign of, 73, 77 ; 
 
 graduates present, 77, 78 ; letters 
 
 from them, 78-82 ; Capt. Seymour 
 
 and, 336 
 Bushnell, David, Capt., 10, 39, 55, 56, 
 
 100, 136, 199 ; biog., 306 
 
 Camp, Abiathar, denounced in class 
 
 meeting, II 
 Champion, Judah, Chaplain, 38 ; 
 
 biog., 2OI 
 Chandler, John, Col., 37, 38, 48, 56, 
 
 65, 74, 84, in ; biog., 218 
 Chapman, Jedidiah, Chaplain, 38 ; 
 
 biog., 229 
 Chastellux, Marquis de, and French 
 
 officers visited by Pres. Stiles, 122, 
 
 123 ; on Col. Peck, 316 
 Chester, John, Col., 10, 15-17 ; letter, 
 
 18 ; 20-22 ; letter, 31 ; 35, 37, 38, 
 
 40, 45, 46, 49, 56, 59 ; letter, 61 ; 
 
 biog., 247 
 Chipman, Nathaniel, Lieut., u, 66, 
 
 78, 84, 85; letter, 86590; biog., 
 
 328 
 Cleaveland, Ebenezer, Chaplain, 38 ; 
 
 biog., 196 
 Cleaveland, John, Chaplain, 16, 38 ; 
 
 biog., 190 
 Cleaveland, Moses, Capt., 66, 78, 85 ; 
 
 biog., 328 
 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, Stony Point ope 
 rations, 101-6 ; and Arnold, 125 ; 
 
 attempted capture of, 127 
 Cogswell, Samuel, Adj., 67, 84, 90, 
 
 93 J biog., 329 
 Coit, William, Capt., 16, 17, 32, 39; 
 
 biog., 226 ; 349 
 Colt, Peter, Dep. Com. Gen., 67; 
 
 letters, 95-98 ; biog., 237 
 Congress, Continental, votes Wooster 
 
 a monument, 72, 180 ; honorable 
 
 mention of Tallmadge, 126 ; of 
 
 Hull, 131 ; votes Humphreys a 
 
 sword, 137 
 Cooke, Joseph Platt, Col., 38, 71; 
 
 biog., 200 
 Craft, Ebenezer, Capt., 16 ; biog., 
 
 219 
 
 Gumming, John N., Maj., of Prince 
 ton College, 137 
 Curtiss, Eli, Lieut., biog., 331 
 Cutler, Manasseh, Chaplain, biog., 
 
 241 
 
 D 
 
 Daggett, Ebenezer, Lieut., 133 ; 
 
 biog., 340 
 Daggett, Henry, Lieut., 10 ; biog., 
 
 308 ; Henry D. (Y. C., 1771), 275, n. 
 Daggett, Naphtali, Pres., 7, 10, 
 
 106-8 ; biog., 197 
 Danielson, Timothy, Gen., 14 ; biog., 
 
 209 
 
 Davenport, Abraham, Judge, men 
 tioned, 262 
 Davenport, James, Asst. Com., 67 ; 
 
 biog., 331 
 
 Davenport, John, Maj., biog., 262 
 Deane, Silas, Hon., mentioned, 28 
 Dickinson, Israel, Capt., 4, 28, 68 ; 
 
 biog., 214 
 Douw, John De Peyster, 69; biog., 
 
 332 
 Dwight, Timothy, Brigade Chaplain, 
 
 vi., 7, 68; address on Washington, 
 
 156-60 ; biog., 257 
 
 Edmond, William, 69, 71 ; biog., 332 
 Eells, Samuel, Capt., 39 ; biog., 241 
 Elderkin, Bela, Lieut. Marines, 39 ; 
 
 biog., 251 
 
 Elderkin, John, 16, 39, 59, 66, 247, n. 
 Elderkin, Vine, Capt., 39, 66 ; biog., 
 
 233 
 Ely, Samuel, Volunteer, 68 ; biog., 
 
 239 
 
 Everett, Noble, Rev., mentioned, 320, 
 n. 
 
 Fanning, Edmund, Loyalist, 98 ; let 
 ter, 109 
 
 Fanning, Phineas, mentioned, 262, n. 
 
 Fitch, Ebenezer, mentioned, 8, 9, 
 69, n. 
 
 Fitch, Jonathan, Col., 95 ; biog., 197 
 
 Fitch, Thomas, Col., notice of, 194, n. 
 
 Flint, Royal, Asst. Com., 39, 59, 67, 
 84 ; letters, 114-16 ; biog., 283 
 
 Foster, Edmund, mentioned, 342, n. 
 
 Fowler, Samuel, mentioned, 256, n. 
 
 Fowler, William, Ensign, biog., 345 
 
 Gates, Gen., mentioned, 24 ; Bur- 
 goyne s Campaign, 77-82 ; letters 
 
Index. 
 
 353 
 
 on, 86, 88 ; Gen. Scott to, 82, 89 ; 
 Col. Colt to, 96, 97 ; 310, 316 
 Gay, Fisher, Col., 16, 34 ; letter, 35 ; 
 
 37, 38 ; 40, 45, 62 ; biog., 219 
 Gold, Thomas, mentioned, 342, n. 
 Goodell, Jesse, Rev., 225, n. 
 Goodrich, Elizur, Hon., Volunteer, 
 
 biog., 343 
 
 Graham, Chauncey, Rev., as physi 
 cian, 196, n. 
 
 Graham, John A., Dr., mentioned, 6, 
 196, n. 
 
 Grant, Roswell, Capt., biog., 242 
 
 Gray, Ebenezer, Lieut.-Col., 16-18, 
 
 38, 48, 66, 67, 74 ; letter, 127 ; 
 biog., 234 
 
 Greene, Gen., 23 ; on Col. Hitchcock, 
 40, 63 ; instructions to Gen. Pater- 
 son, 84 ; battle of Springfield, 117- 
 19 ; Humphreys reference to, 120, 
 272 ; Barlow s, reference to, 338, 
 
 339 
 Griswold, Stanley, Hon., mentioned, 
 
 348, n. 
 Grosvenor, Thomas, Lieut.-Col. Com., 
 
 16-18 ; letter, 19 ; 37, 38, 46, 52, 
 
 59, 66 , biog., 242 
 
 H 
 
 Hale, Nathan, Capt., 16, 37, 39, 40, 
 
 48 ; compared with Andre, 52-55, 
 
 62 ; biog., 286 
 Hall, Lyman, signer of Decl., 6, 
 
 41, 42 
 Hamilton, Alexander, Lieut.-Col., of 
 
 Columbia College, 137 
 Hamlin, Jabez, Capt., 15, 39, 62 ; 
 
 biog., 260 
 Harmar, Gen., defeat of, and Maj. 
 
 Wyllys, 163-71 
 Hart, John, mentioned, 275, n.; see 
 
 Heart. 
 Hart, Josiah, Surgeon, 16, 38 ; biog., 
 
 229 
 
 Hart, Levi, Rev., mentioned, 225, n. 
 Hawley, Joseph, Hon., 4; on inde 
 pendence, 4244 
 Heart, Jonathan, Maj., 16-18, 39, 
 
 46, 50, 56, 78, 132, 163-73 ; biog., 
 
 252 
 Heath, Gen. William, mentioned, 
 
 23, 24, 62, 130-32, 143 ; orders, 243; 
 
 310 
 
 Hedges, Jeremiah, mentioned, 240, n, 
 Hillhouse, James, Capt., 39, 69, 106 ; 
 
 biog., 290 
 
 Hillyer, Andrew, Capt., 16, 39, 69; 
 biog., 263 
 
 Hinckley, Samuel, biog., 347 
 
 Hitchcock, Daniel, Col.,i6, 24, 37, 38, 
 40, 41, 45, 47, 59-61, 63 ; biog., 226 
 
 Hobart, John Sloss, Judge, men 
 tioned, 6 
 
 Hopkins, Daniel, Rev., mentioned, 
 215, n. 
 
 Hopkins, Mark, Col., 4, 38, 62 ; 
 biog., 215 
 
 Hopkins, Samuel, Surgeon, biog., 333 
 
 Hotchkiss, Frederick William, Volun 
 teer, biog., 340 
 
 Hotchkiss, John, Volunteer, 108 ; 
 biog., 198 
 
 Howe, Eleazar Williams, Volunteer, 
 biog., 320 
 
 Hull, William, Lieut.-Col., 16 37, 
 39, 40, 48, 56 ; letter, 59 ; 65, 84, 
 90, 102-5, 129-32, 136, 137, 148; let 
 ter, 149 ; 243 ; biog., 278 
 
 Humphreys, David, Aid-de-Camp, 38, 
 51, 66, 67, 78 ; letter, 117-20 ; 127, 
 136 ; letter, 153 ; biog., 271 
 
 Huntington, Ebenezer, Lieut.-Col., 
 9, 10, 16, 22, 38, 46, 66, 78, 93, 
 109,110; letter, 113; 117, 137; 
 biog., 308 ; 350 
 
 Huntington, Jabez, Hon., 9 ; biog., 
 187 
 
 Independence, Declaration of, gradu 
 ates among signers, 41 ; Joseph 
 Hawley on, 43, 44 ; Pres. Stiles on, 
 41, n. 
 
 Ives, Thomas, mentioned, 338, n. 
 
 J 
 
 Johnson, Stephen, Chaplain, 16, 24, 
 
 38 ; biog., 190 
 Jones, Thomas, Judge, Loyalist, 99, 
 
 100 
 
 Judd, William, Capt., 66, 78, 165 ; 
 
 biog., 235 
 Judson, David, Capt., 10, 66, 74 ; 
 
 biog., 311 
 Judson, Ephraim, Rev., mentioned, 
 
 236, n. 
 
 K 
 
 Kent, James, Chancellor, mention of 
 Gen. Scott, 6 ; notice of Pres. 
 
354 Yale in the Revohition. 
 
 Stiles, 194 ; of Chaplain Eben. 
 
 Baldwin, 232, 233 
 
 Keyes, Stephen, Capt., 39 ; biog., 291 
 Kingsbury, Sanford, Capt., 69 ; biog., 
 
 237 
 Knight, Isaac, Surgeon, biog., 252 ; 
 
 349 
 
 Lafayette, Marquis de, Virginia cam 
 paign, 132 ; graduates with him, 
 133 ; Capt.Welles letters, 133-35 
 
 Laurens, John, Lieut. -Col., of South 
 Carolina, 137 
 
 Leavenworth, Jesse, Capt., 15, 16 ; 
 biog., 221 
 
 Leavenworth, Mark, Dep. Adj. -Gen., 
 38, 71 ; biog., 274 
 
 Leavenworth, Nathan, Surgeon, 149 ; 
 biog., 340 
 
 Lee, Andrew, Chaplain, biog., 248 
 
 Lee, Charles, Gen., at New Haven, 
 13 ; at Cambridge, 23 ; Lt. Selden 
 on, 92 
 
 Lee, Elisha, mentioned, 212, n. 
 
 Lewis, John, Tutor, mentioned, 7 
 
 Lewis, Ichabod, Rev., mentioned, 244 
 
 Lewis, Isaac, Chaplain, 38 ; biog., 244 
 
 L Hommedieu, Ezra, Hon., men 
 tioned, 6 
 
 Little, William, mentioned, 67, 338, n. 
 
 Little, Woodbridge, mentioned, 214, 
 
 215 
 
 Livingston, John, mentioned, 5 
 
 Livingston, Peter Van Brugh, men 
 tioned, 5 
 
 Livingston, Philip, Signer of Dec l, 5, 
 6, 41, 42, 48 
 
 Livingston, William, Gov., 5, 37, 38, 
 40, 44, 57 ; letter, 120 ; biog., 188 
 
 Lockwood, James, Maj., i6;biog., 249 
 
 Lockwood, William, Brigade Chap 
 lain, 68 ; biog., 301 
 
 Lyman, Daniel, Aid-de-Camp, 10, 38, 
 66 ; biog., 320 
 
 Lyman, William, 68 ; biog., 322 
 
 M 
 
 McDougall, Gen., at German town, 
 
 74; mentioned, 96 
 
 Marvin, Elihu, Adj., 66, 84; biog., 292 
 Mather, Moses, Rev., mentioned, 
 
 189, n. 
 Mills, Samuel, Lieut., 67, 73 ; biog., 
 
 322 
 
 Mix, John, Lieut., 10, 66, 78, 85 ; 
 biog., 312 
 
 Montgomery, Richard, Gen., on Col. 
 John Brown, 28 ; Wooster s refer 
 ence to, 30 
 
 Morey, Samuel, mentioned, 338, n. 
 
 Morris, James, Capt., 10, 39, 48, 66 ; 
 journal, 74, 137 ; journal, 138 ; 
 biog., 312 
 
 Morris, Lewis, Signer of Dec l., 6, 37, 
 41,42; biog., 191 
 
 Moseley, Ebenezer, Capt., 15, 17, 69 ; 
 biog., 237 
 
 Muirson, Heathcote, Volunteer, 98, 
 126 ; biog., 323 
 
 Mumford, Paul, Dep. Gov., men 
 tioned, 4 
 
 Munson, ^neas, Surgeon, 137; biog., 
 
 345 
 
 Munson, Theophilus, Capt., 16, 39, 
 48, 66, 74, 85, 102-4 I biog., 255 
 
 N 
 
 Newell, Simeon, Capt., 16, 39, 46, 
 50 ; biog., 314 
 
 Newport, R. I., the Scarborough 
 driven from, 34 ; Col. Babcock s 
 conduct, 34 ; Pres. Stiles visits 
 French officers at, 122, 123 
 
 Nichols, William, Lieut., 39, 66; 
 biog., 229 
 
 Noble, Oliver, Chaplain, 16 ; biog., 
 
 211 
 
 Northrop, Amos, Lieut., 39; biog., 
 
 230 
 Northrop, Joel, Surgeon s Mate, biog., 
 
 324 
 
 Noyes, John, Surgeon, biog., 314 
 Noyes, William, mentioned, 314 
 
 Paddleford, John, Surgeon, biog., 255 
 Parsons, Gen. Samuel H., mentioned, 
 120; report on Hull s expedition, 
 131 ; letter from West Point, 259, 
 271 ; on Capt. Walker, 302 
 Paterson, John, Gen., 4, 14, 18, 39, 
 59, 65, 77, 84, 90 ; letter, 121 ; 
 biog., 230 
 Peck, William, Asst. Adj. -Gen., 10, 
 
 16, 38, 46, 67, 93; biog., 315 
 Peters, John, Loyalist, mentioned, 98 
 Pinto, Abraham, mentioned, 333 
 Pinto, Solomon, Ensign, biog., 333 
 Pinto, William, Volunteer, biog., 334 
 
Index. 
 
 355 
 
 Pixley, Erastus, mentioned, 346, n. 
 Plumbe, William, Brigade Chaplain, 
 
 1 6, 39, 68 ; biog., 260 
 Pomeroy, Benjamin, Chaplain, 38 ; 
 
 biog., 182 ; 349 
 Porter, John, Major, 66, 77, 84, 93 ; 
 
 biog., 264 
 Porter, Joshua, Lieut. -Col., 28, 69, 
 
 78 ; biog., 207 
 Potter, Jared, Surgeon, 16, 38 ; biog., 
 
 224 
 Preston, Nathan, Com., 67; biog. 
 
 324 
 
 Putnam, Gen. Israel, at Bunker Hill, 
 18-20, 23 ; Dr. Stiles and, 24 ; 
 mentioned, 78, 81, 96, 120 
 
 Reed, John, Rev., mentioned, 282, n. 
 Rice, Nathan, Maj., of Harvard, 137 
 Rice, Nehemiah, Capt., 39, 66, 74, 85, 
 
 102, 104 ; biog., 301 
 Ripley, Hezekiah, Chaplain, biog., 
 
 236 
 Robbins, Ammi Ruhamah, Chaplain, 
 
 39; biog., 224 
 Rochambeau, and French officers, 
 
 visited by Pres. Stiles, 122, 123 
 Russell, Giles, Col., 37, 38, 48, 65, 
 
 84, 90, no ; biog., 201 ; 349 
 Russell, Thomas, Surgeon, 39 ; biog., 
 
 200 
 
 Saltonstall, Gurdon, Gen., 38 ; biog., 
 
 180 
 Sampson, Ezra, Chaplain, biog., 
 
 292 
 
 Sanford, David, Chaplain, biog., 208 
 Scammell, Alexander, Col. of Har 
 vard, 137, 310 
 Scott, John Morin, Gen., 6, 37, 38, 40; 
 
 letters, 48, 82, 89 ; biog. 192 
 Seabury, Bishop, mentioned, 98 
 Sedgwick, Theodore, Maj., 4, 31, 68 ; 
 
 biog., 244 
 Selden, Charles, Adj., 67, 84, 90, 93, 
 
 149 ; biog. , 334 
 Selden, Ezra, Capt. 16, 39, 46, 50, 66, 
 
 80; letters, 87-91 ; 102-4; biog., 
 
 292 
 Selden, Samuel, Col., mentioned, 293, 
 
 334 
 
 Sessions, Darius, Dep. Gov., men 
 tioned, 4 
 
 Seymour, Thomas, Lieut. -Col., 38 ; 
 biog., 208 
 
 Seymour, Thomas Young, Capt., 67, 
 77 ; letter, 79 ; biog. 336 
 
 Seymour, William, Volunteer, biog., 
 343 
 
 Shepard, David, Dr., mentioned, 
 249, n. 
 
 Sherman, Isaac, Lieut. Col. Com., 
 14; letter, 24; 37, 38, 40, 59, 65, 78, 
 84, 90, 102-5; letter, 104; no, 
 131 ; biog. 265 
 
 Sherman, Roger, Hon., mentioned, 
 265 
 
 Sherman, William, Lieut., biog., 268 
 
 Sill, Elisha, Surgeon, 69; biog., 207 
 
 Sill, Richard, Maj., 10, 16, 39, 46, 50, 
 66, 74; letter, 148 ; biog., 317 
 
 Silliman, Gold Selleck, Col., 37, 38, 
 40; letter, 45 ; 51, 56, 69, 71, 78 ; 
 letter, 81 ; 144 ; biog., 205 
 
 Skinner, Thos., Surgeon, biog. 232 
 
 Smith, Cotton Mather, Chaplain, 16 ; 
 biog., 203 
 
 Smith, William, Judge, mentioned, 5 
 
 Southmayd, William, Rev., men 
 tioned, 225, n. 
 
 Spencer, Elihu, Chaplain, 68 ; biog., 
 193 
 
 Sproat, James, Rev., mentioned, 
 189, n. 
 
 Starkweather, Ephraim, Rev., 208, n. 
 
 Starr, Ezra, Capt., biog., 302 
 
 St. Clair, Gen., defeat of, and Maj. 
 Heart, 171 ; mentioned, 310 
 
 Steuben, Baron, Inspector-General, 
 Selden s reference to, 88 ; compli 
 ments Webb s regt.and Maj. Hunt- 
 ington, no; Livingston to, 120; 
 mentioned by Paterson, 121, 122 
 
 Stiles, Ezra, Pres., vi, 5, 7, 8, 9 ; 
 diary, 22 ; 41 ; letter, 94 ; 108 ; 
 diary, 122 ; letter, 139 ; biog., 194 
 
 Stirling, Lord, Gen., appoints Sill his 
 Aid, 148 ; death of, announced by 
 Sill to Wash. 148 ; Barlow s men 
 tion of, 339 
 
 Stoddard, Israel, mentioned, 214, 215 
 Stone, William, Rev., Soldier, biog., 
 
 348 
 Storrs, Experience, Lieut. -Col., 16, 
 
 1 8 ; diary, 20, 21 ; biog., 221 
 Storrs, John, Chaplain, 38 ; biog., 210 
 Strong, John, Capt., 68 ; biog., 249 
 Strong, Joseph, Chaplain, biog., 200 
 Strong, Nathan, Chaplain, biog,, 261 
 Strong, Nehemiah, Prof., mentioned, 7 
 
356 Yale in the Revolution. 
 
 Sullivan, Gen. John, mentioned, 23, 
 
 92, 96 ; on Col. Peck, 316 
 Swift, Jabez, mentioned, 232, n. 
 
 Tallmadge, Benj,, Maj., 38, 46; ex 
 tract from memoirs, 49, 54, 56, 67, 
 73, 124; letter, 125 ; 126, 142 ; let 
 ter, 145-47; biog., 295 
 
 Taylor, Augustine, Lieut., 66, 74, 84, 
 90; biog., 324 
 
 Taylor, Nathaniel, Rev., mentioned, 
 190, n. ; 324 
 
 Throop, Dyar, Lieut. -Col., biog., 
 
 222 
 
 Tomlinson, Jabez H., Ensign, 100 ; 
 biog., 346 
 
 Trumbull, Benjamin, Chaplain, I, 16, 
 38 ; biog., 222 
 
 Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, men 
 tioned, 3, 94, 189 
 
 Tuthill, Samuel, Lieut. -Col., biog., 
 190 
 
 \Y 
 
 Wadsworth, James, 37, 38, 40, 48, 
 69, 78 ; biog., 198 
 
 Wadsworth, Joseph B,, Surgeon, 
 biog., 250; 349 
 
 Waldo, Daniel, Rev., Soldier, biog., 
 348 
 
 Wales, Samuel, Rev., mentioned, 
 252, n. 
 
 Walker, Joseph, Capt, 66, 78, 93 ; 
 letter, 113 ; biog., 302 
 
 Walker, Robert, Capt., 16, 38, 67 ; 
 biog., 245 
 
 Washington, Gen., reviews the Yale 
 Company, 12, 13 ; mentioned in 
 Storrs diary, 21 ; Nathan Hale 
 and, 54 ; Lieuts. Chipman and Sel- 
 den on, 86, 88 ; capture of Stony 
 Point, 101-6 ; on death of Russell 
 and promotion of Sherman, no, 
 in ; Humphreys letter to, on the 
 battle of Springfield, 118 ; appoints 
 Humphreys his Aid, 119; on Tall 
 madge, 126 ; opinion of officers, 
 130; on Hull, 132; at Yorktown, 
 129, 134-9, 2 59; LL.D. conferred 
 on, and Pres. Stiles letter to, 139, 
 140 ; reviews troops, 141 ; Welles 
 letters, 141, 142 ; Tallmadge s third 
 L. I. expedition and, 145 ; Hum 
 phreys from Mt. Vernon, 153-56 ; 
 
 D wight s eulogy, 156-60; to Wol- 
 cott, 195 ; Barlow and, 339 
 
 Watson, James, Capt., 39, 59, 66 ; 
 biog., 325 
 
 Wayne, Gen., and storming of Stony 
 Point, 103-5 I !I9 
 
 Webb, Nathaniel, Capt., 66, 74, 85, 
 102 ; biog., 211 ; 349 
 
 Webb, Samuel B., Col., mentioned, 
 19, 66, 92, 93, 106, 109, 144 
 
 Webster, Noah, Volunteer, 12 ; on 
 Washington and the College Com 
 pany, 13 ; 69, 77, 95 ; biog., 341 
 
 Welch, Whitman, Chaplain, biog., 
 232 
 
 Welles, Benjamin, Com., 67 ; biog., 
 3i8 
 
 Welles, Noah, Chaplain, biog., 189 
 
 Welles, Roger, Capt., 10, 66, 93, 127, 
 132 ; letters, i33-35~42 ; 144, *45 J 
 biog., 318 
 
 West, Jeremiah, Surgeon, 66; biog., 
 
 303 
 
 West, Nathaniel, mentioned, 256, n. 
 Whiting, Nathan Haynes, Lieut., 
 
 137 J biog., 337 
 Whiting, Samuel, Surgeon, 16 ; biog., 
 
 246 
 Whittlesey, Chauncey, Col., 95; biog., 
 
 240 
 Wildman, Benj. Rev., mentioned, 
 
 213, n. 
 
 Williams, Elisha S., 39 ; biog., 319 
 Williams, Samuel William, Capt., 66, 
 
 78, 93 ; letter, 139 ; biog., 281 
 Williston, Payson, Rev., 108 ; biog., 
 
 347 
 
 Winslow, Shadrach, Surgeon, biog., 274 
 
 Woodbridge, Dudley, Minute-man, 
 249, n. 
 
 Woodbridge, Enoch, Capt., 16, 38, 
 68 ; biog., 304 
 
 Woodbridge, Joshua Lamb, Capt., 16, 
 68 ; biog., 297 
 
 Woodbridge, Samuel, Rev., men 
 tioned, 236, n. 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver, Gen., 38, 41 ; let 
 ters, 57, 58 ; 69 ; letter, 78 ; biog., 
 
 195 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver, Jr., 69, 71; biog., 342 
 Wooster, David, Gen., 15, 28 ; orders, 
 
 30, 31, 38, 65, 69-71 ; letter, 72 ; 
 
 biog., 183 
 Wooster, Thomas, Capt., 38, 66, 70, 
 
 78, 93 ; biog., 256 
 Wyllys, Hezekiah, Lieut-Col., 38, 46; 
 
 biog., 246 
 
Index. 
 
 357 
 
 Wyllys, John Palsgrave, Maj., 16, 38, 
 48, 50, 66, 93, 1 10, 132, 133, 137, 
 140, 142 ; letters, 143 ; 163-71 ; 
 biog., 298 ; 350 
 
 Wyllys, Samuel, Col., 16, 28, 37, 38, 
 40, 45, 46, 65, 78 ; biog., 217 
 
 Y 
 
 Yale College, ancestry of alumni, vi.; 
 distribution of, 1-7 ; Lexington 
 
 alarm at, 8-10 ; the Students Com 
 pany, 13, 14 ; studies interrupted, 
 69, n. ; notice from the Steward, 
 93 ; supply of flour for, 94, 95 ; 
 students dismissed, 108, n.; Col. 
 Fanning intercedes for, 109 ; cele 
 brates the Yorktown surrender, 138, 
 139; confers degree of LL.D. on 
 Washington, 139 ; Washington on, 
 139. n - 
 
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 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 (510)642-6753 
 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing 
 books to NRLF 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 
 days prior to due date. 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 JUN 2 2001 
 
 12,000(11/95) 
 
BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
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