PART I

THE PAST AND PRESENT

INTRODUCTION

Two hundred years ago, in the summer of 1707, the pioneer John Noble,

with his little daughter, made his way through the wilderness from

Westfield, Mass., and set up his rude cabin in the beautiful valley of

Weantinock, on the west side of “Stratford” River, under the shadow of

Fort Hill, near neighbor to the Indians, with whom he became very

friendly. He trusted their friendship so much that he left his daughter

in their care while he went on a journey, following the Indian trail

through the wilderness to Albany, to pilot some gentlemen; and, on his

return, he found her well taken care of.

He subsequently built a log house on the east side of the river on land

now occupied by the residence of Levi P. Giddings.

The next year his son, John Noble, Jr., came and made a settlement, and,

before 1712, twelve families had settled here on sites purchased by the

Milford Company from the Indians, the purchases having been ratified by

the Colonial Legislature; but, strange to say, only two of the twelve,

Samuel Prindle and Isaiah Bartlett, came from Milford town.

Some thirty years previous, Henry Tomlinson and others of Stratford,

Conn., had purchased from the Indians who assumed to be owners, this

tract of land, and Mr. John Read, joint owner, representing them, came

and laid claim to it.

It is said that Zachariah Ferriss, a brother-in-law of Mr. Read, came

here in 1706, before any other white man, and plowed a piece of land

where Roger Sherman Hall now stands, in order to claim title to the land

under the deed of the Stratford Company.

He was sued for trespass by the Milford Company, but won his suit, Mr.

John Read being his counsel.

Mr. Read built a house on or near the site of the Knapp residence, in

which he lived, meanwhile prosecuting his claim to the title of the

land. He obtained a verdict in his favor fifteen times, but the

sixteenth time the General Court ruled against him; and he, being

discouraged, soon after removed to Lonetown, now Redding, named for him.

The Colonial Government soon set off to him a large tract of land in

what is now the town of Kent, of which the Scaghticoke Indians long

after held possession, Mr. Read having exchanged it for territory in the

town of Redding.

Mr. John Read was a notable man: He was well educated in theology and in

the law, being a graduate of Harvard College, and is said to have

preached the first sermon in this place. He was under thirty years of

age when he came here. He married a daughter of Major John Talcott, was

held in high esteem by the Governor of the Colony, and was appointed by

him to many important positions. He held the office of Queen’s Counsel

under the reign of Queen Anne. His son, widely known as Colonel John

Read, was for many years very prominent in the Colony.

Other settlers came through the wilderness and erected their rude

houses. The next thing these pioneers and pilgrims did was to petition

the Assembly for the power and privileges of a township, which were

granted, conferring authority relating to ecclesiastical matters. They

then formed themselves into a church, and called a minister to settle

over them.

“What sought they thus afar?

Bright jewels of the mine?

The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?

They sought a Faith’s pure shrine.

“Ay, call it holy ground,

The soil where first they trod.

They left unstained what there they found,

Freedom to worship God.”

They called Mr. Daniel Boardman to be their minister, and built the

meeting-house and the schoolhouse, for these two institutions went hand

in hand throughout New England and formed the characters of their

descendants.

These early settlers of our town were busy men. They had

[Illustration: MINOT S. GIDDINGS Chairman Historical Committee]

[Illustration: DR. GEORGE H. WRIGHT Chairman Loan Committee]

[Illustration: THE KNAPP RESIDENCE]

hard work to perform in those early days to subdue the wilderness, to

plant and cultivate the corn and the rye for their sustenance, to raise

the flax and the wool which the womenfolk made into garments. Mechanics,

artificers, and wheelwrights were at a premium. The village blacksmith

was a most important and necessary person, and concessions were made and

land given to induce blacksmiths to settle in the community.

Small manufactories were soon established on every considerable stream.

The grist mill, the saw mill, the flax mill--these were important

institutions. The spinning wheel was in every house, and the loom was

set up in every neighborhood. It remained for our day to develop the

immense manufactories situated near the large marts. Those were days

that developed brawn and brain--two hundred years ago.

What were the deeds our fathers performed in those strenuous times? They

have told us but little; a few things were recorded in the town books of

record. They were too busy making history to expend much time in writing

it. They cleared and fenced the fields; they built the town and the

village.

They did not pretend to great academic learning, but they had good

common sense which served them well. They went out to drive off the

French and Indians who harried their borders in their peculiar savage

way. They rallied to defend their liberties in the great War of the

Revolution, for which they poured out their blood and treasure, more

than two hundred and twelve from the town serving in that war.

Referring to the founders of this country, a noted orator said, “How

little did these rulers of the Old World--James the First seeking to

strangle the liberties of England, or Richelieu laying his plans to

build up a kingly despotism--realize that a little group of English

yeomen were founding a colony in a Western wilderness, from whose

vigorous loins would spring a mighty nation to dominate the world when

the Stuart and the Bourbon were alike forgotten!”

Of these Puritans and their English brethren, King James had scornfully

said, “I will make them conform, or I will harry them out of the land.”

He did indeed drive these Pilgrim Fathers from his land; but within five

generations thereafter their descendants had harried the English

Government from these shores, and, within another five generations, had

compelled not only England, but the whole world as well, to conform to

America’s principles of free government, to America’s ideas, to

America’s commercial predominance.

Those early days of New Milford produced some noted men, whose lives and

example did much to mould the characters of the inhabitants. The names

of Boardman, Taylor, Noble, Gaylord, Bostwick, Canfield, Baldwin,

Griswold, Sherman, Sanford, Mygatt, Marsh, Hine, Turrill, and others of

the same stamp will be recalled as those of leaders in the affairs of

the town and the church.

The greatest and the most celebrated man that ever honored the town with

his citizenship was Roger Sherman. He came from Newton, Mass., in 1743,

at the age of twenty-two years, and was active and influential in

affairs of the town and church; but the town could not retain him long.

Of him Edward Everett Hale said: “They say dear Roger Sherman was a

shoemaker. I do not know, but I do know that every central suggestion in

the American Constitution, the wisest work of men’s hands, that was

struck off in so short a time, is the suggestion of this shoemaker,

Roger Sherman.”

It was said that Roger Sherman was placed on every important committee

while in Congress, and that no law, or part of a law, that he favored

failed to be enacted. John Adams said that Chief Justice Ellsworth told

him that he made Roger Sherman his model in youth.

The Fathers of New Milford wrought wisely and well in establishing the

religious and civic institutions. They built well the town and wide the

streets, and their descendants have enlarged and improved so much that

this little village has the name far and wide of being one of the most

beautiful spots in New England.

Remembering these hardy pioneers, their devotion to righteousness, their

perseverance amid discouragements, and their

[Illustration: Elijah Boardman]

many virtues, we all--the loyal sons and daughters of New Milford, those

who went forth to make homes for themselves elsewhere and have now

returned hither, and the strangers from foreign shores who have settled

here--join together this beautiful month of June to celebrate the

founding of the town, two hundred years ago.

MINOT S. GIDDINGS.

GLIMPSES OF OLD NEW MILFORD HISTORY

CONTRIBUTED BY CHARLOTTE BALDWIN BENNETT

Few contrasts could be more striking than our beautiful village of

to-day against the background of the place John Noble, the first white

settler, found two hundred years ago. An unbroken wilderness met his

eye, save for the Indian settlement across the river on Fort Hill, where

the smoke, curling from many wigwams, marked the homes of over two

hundred warriors with their families.

Even four years later, when the white man’s plantation included twelve

settlers and about seventy souls, we find it a rather dismal picture. An

irregular cart path, winding in and out among stumps of newly cut trees,

formed the Main Street. A narrow road led from the north end of this

street to the river, then followed the river bank a mile north to the

rapids, the general crossing place. The first bridge over the Housatonic

was built at New Milford, but not until 1737.

John Noble’s house, the first in the town, stood on the site of Mr. Levi

P. Giddings’ present residence. At the time it was built, it was the

last house this side of Albany, and fourteen miles from any white man’s

dwelling. The original “Town Plot” was on Aspetuck Hill, our forefathers

evidently being impressed even then with the beauty and healthfulness of

the hilltops. What is now Park Lane was also in the first century of the

town a more populous neighborhood than the one in our village. But the

valley offered more shelter and protection in the rigorous winters, and

doubtless the toilsome life of the pioneer made the hill-climbing a

heavy burden; so the valley triumphed at last, and claimed the larger

population.

In 1712 the “New Milford Plantation” became a town, the inhabitants

having petitioned the General Court to that end. In this year, also,

“Mr. Daniel Boardman was called to preach ye gospel at New Milford.”

Previous to this, except for occasional preaching here, the people had

been obliged to go to Woodbury or Derby for church services. John Noble

became a member of the Woodbury Church in these first years. When we

recall what was meant by that long journey of twenty-eight miles through

the wilderness, in which the narrow Indian trail was the only path, we

bow in reverence before the faith and sturdy manhood that laid a sure

foundation for the blessings that have come down to us. John Noble was a

tower of strength to the little community during his brief life here.

He was evidently a modest man, who did not exalt his own deeds; but we

may read between the lines a story of noble service and heroic courage.

He fortified his house as a refuge for the people in times of danger

from hostile Indians. He was the first town clerk elected by the town,

and a surveyor of lands. When he died, in 1714, there must have been

sincere mourning in the little community. He was the first adult person

to be buried in the little graveyard. All honor to John Noble, our first

citizen!

The first sermon preached here was by John Read, who had studied for the

ministry, and who resided here from 1708 to 1711. His house, where

Ingleside School now stands, was used, for several years after he left,

as a meeting-house.

In 1713 the town voted to pay the expense of a minister; also to layout

a pastor’s lot, and to dig and stone up a well for Mr. Boardman, if he

became a settled minister. This recalls one of the first necessities of

the new community--pure water. Strangely enough, this well is the only

vestige now remaining of that earliest settlement. It is on the lawn of

Mrs. W. D. Black’s residence.

The town, meantime, allowed five shillings and sixpence a week for the

minister’s board. His salary was to be paid one-third in grain and

two-thirds in labor, linen, or pork. This gives a pitiful glimpse of the

slender resources of the people, but we remember with pride that there

is no record of the church here ever receiving aid from any outside

source. In 1716 the church was organized, and, on November 21 of that

year Mr. Boardman was ordained. The first meeting-house was commenced in

1718, but was not open for worship till 1720, and was then quite

unfinished, the floor not being laid till 1723. It stood on the highway

on Aspetuck Hill, a little north of the Knapp house.

Until 1745 the Congregational Church was the only one in the town, and

every person was taxed for its support.

There was no Ecclesiastical Society till after 1750. The town was the

Society, and provided for all expenses of public worship. It has been

remarked of these early New England towns that “one might almost say

that the church had selectmen and the town had deacons, so closely were

the two united.” From 1750 to 1790 those who aided in supporting other

churches were relieved of the tax for the support of this one, and, from

1800, only members of this society were taxed for its benefit. The

renting of pews began in 1854.

Before this, committees had “dignified the meeting-house.” All persons

of the age of fifty-six years and upwards were assigned to the first

rank of seats, and all others were seated “according to the taxes they

have paid toward building said Meeting-House.” We are told that in the

early days of the colony the “dignifying the meeting-house,” that is,

the seating people by certain grades of wealth, was unknown. It became

common only after slavery was an established institution.

The people were for many years called to church by the beat of the drum.

An appropriation was made for this when the church was organized, and,

annually, the town appointed a person to beat the drum, and voted to pay

him for the same.

This method may have been employed to remind the people that they

belonged to the church militant. Certain it is, that the marching with

measured tread to the martial sound was a fitting prelude to the grim

and lengthy service awaiting them.

The meeting-houses were not heated till 1823, when two box stoves were

put in the second meeting-house. No wonder our forbears developed strong

and decided traits of character under such Spartan training!

The tithing man was an important factor in church work. As early as 1729

it was voted in town meeting “that James Hine have oversight of the

female sex during exercises on the Sabbath.” We are left in painful

doubt as to whether the “female sex” needed more oversight than the men.

But a later vote recorded relieves our minds, for “two men were

appointed to oversee the youth (males), and one for the female sex;”

during service. So we may conclude our foremothers needed only _half_ as

much watching as the fathers and sons.

The law requiring the appointment of tithing men was passed in 1721.

Earlier, it was customary in New England to appoint an officer to keep

people from sleeping during the delivery of the sermon.

In 1745 the town voted that “any farmers, inhabitants, have leave to

build a small house to repair to on the Sabbath Day, on the common land,

provided the public is not damnified thereby.” This building was “north

of the meeting-house on the side of the hill.” After the second church

was built, in 1754, on “The Green,” opposite the spot now occupied by

Mrs. Henry Bostwick’s residence, the Sabbath Day house was built on the

site of Mr. James Orton’s present home on Bridge Street. These “Sabba’

Day houses,” as they were called, were an important institution in the

Sunday life of those old days.

Here those living at a distance stored loads of wood and barrels of

cider, refilled their foot stoves and rested between services.

This little intermission, in which the settlers took breath after the

two hours’ sermon of the morning, and gained strength for the ninthlies

and tenthlies of the afternoon, is a pleasant picture in the midst of

the rigorous Sabbath. We like to think there was a little relaxation for

the housewives in exchanging their doughnuts and Indian bread, and

comparing receipts for the same, and, _perhaps_, indulging in a little

week-day gossip, when James Hine was not at hand to “oversee.”

The most notable figure in the town was always the minister. He was

_the_ person, the “parson.” Even the “divinity that doth hedge a king”

commands hardly more reverence than that which was paid to the early New

England minister. The very children were taught to make obeisance to him

as he passed along the street. An early rule of the New England churches

read as follows: “If any person or persons shall be guilty of speaking

against the minister, in any shape, form or manner, or of speaking

against his preaching, said person or persons shall be punished by fine,

whipping or banishment, or cutting off of ears.”

Mr. Orcutt, in his “History of New Milford,” says that Episcopal Church

services were held here as early as 1742, perhaps earlier, Rev. Mr.

Beach of Newtown conducting occasional meetings. The first resident

Episcopal clergyman was Rev. Solomon Palmer, who came in 1754. The

second Episcopal church stood on the lower end of “The Green.” It was

consecrated in 1793, though begun many years before.

The Separatists, or Strict Congregationalists, as they were called,

built a house of worship in 1761, near the entrance to the present

cemetery. They disbanded in 1812. The Baptists had a small church in

“The Neck,” now Bridgewater, in 1788, but soon moved away. The Baptist

Church in Northville was formed in 1814. In 1825 the Methodist Church

was established at Gaylordsville. The Methodist Church in this village

was erected in 1849.

The Quakers were early in the field, their first meeting-house in the

south part of the town being built about 1742.

The present Congregational Church edifice was built in 1833. In 1883 the

beautiful new St. John’s Episcopal Church, which is one of the chief

ornaments of our Main Street, was completed. All Saints’ Memorial

Episcopal Church was organized in 1880. The beautiful church building

was erected later on Aspetuck Hill, in memory of the late Judge David C.

Sanford, by his wife. It was consecrated in 1888. The Church of St.

Francis Xavier, Roman Catholic, was built about 1860, and has a large

and flourishing congregation. The most recent addition to our list of

churches is the Advent Church, which has done an excellent work already

in our community. It was built in 1901.

From very ancient times it seems to have been ordained that harmony and

discord should go hand in hand in the churches, for no subject was more

prolific of disturbance than the singing. In the first days of New

Milford the deacons led the singing, standing in front of the pulpit.

There seems to have been a difference of opinion as to any change, for,

in 1739, a meeting was held “to consider about the singing of God’s

praises in the congregation,” and it was voted “that we should ‘half’

the time; that is, to sing one day all the old way, and the next Sabbath

all the new way, for the space of one year, and then have a

reconsideration of the matter.” Samuel Bostwick was chosen chorister for

the new way, and “Nathan Botsford second, in case of the other’s

absence.”

The difference continued, for the following year a meeting was called to

“agree about the singing in church.” It was put to vote that all in

favor of singing all together the old way should go to the east end of

the meeting-house, and those for the new way to the west end. On being

counted, thirty favored the new way, against sixteen for the old. They

peaceably voted that the majority should rule.

Eight years later a new trouble arose as to using Dr. Watts’ version of

the Psalms. It was voted “that Dr. Watts’ version be sung the last

singing in the afternoon on the Sabbath and at lectures.” The next year

it was voted to sing from the old version in the morning, and from Dr.

Watts’ version in the afternoon, for one year, and then altogether from

Dr. Watts. Who could imagine Dr. Watts as a dangerous innovation!

Up to this time no reference is found here to any musical instrument but

the pitch pipe. The bass viol and the rest of the stringed instruments

must have come into use in the church services soon after. How the old

fugue tunes, with the parts chasing each other all the way through, must

have shaken the rafters and waked all the sleepers, without the help of

the tithing man!

This town very early began to uphold morality and order. In that first

century it fined certain persons “for bringing into the town unwholesome

inhabitants.”

The care with which the town guarded its temporal interests is shown by

an early vote, “that a black bonnet, a red woman’s cloak, and a worsted

gown belonging to Hannah Beeman, deceased, be kept for her daughter till

she is of age; if she die under age, the town to have them.”

The cause of education went hand in hand with that of religion in those

early days. When there were but twenty-five families in the town, a

public school was ordered. In town meeting, September, 1721, it was

voted that a school be maintained for four months, the town to bear half

the charge. The next year a committee was appointed to raise money to

hire a schoolmaster three months in winter, and a schoolmistress three

months in summer. One of these early schoolmistresses was the little

daughter of John Noble, who had come hither with him alone through the

wilderness. Deacon Sherman Boardman, son of the Rev. Daniel, mentions

going to school to her, and says she was an excellent teacher. The

“little red schoolhouse” was preceded by the log schoolhouse, which was

soon a frequent landmark through the town. The town was often divided

into new districts. In 1782 there were twenty-one school districts. In

1787 a new building for townhouse and schoolhouse together was erected

at the north end of the Main Street.

The singing schools were a pleasant feature of early days, and, in a

time of few pleasures, afforded a harmless enjoyment. They were usually

held in the schoolhouses, but sometimes at a dwelling in the

neighborhood. In 1792 Mr. Cyrene Stilson is recorded as beginning a

singing school at a private house. There are to-day treasured in many of

our homes, brass candlesticks that were kept bright by our grandmothers

to carry to the schoolhouse for the evening singing school. They suggest

many bits of romance. When the boys were privileged to walk home with

the girls, they carried the candlesticks, we hope, and they doubtless

lingered on the broad doorstep sometimes, in spite of zero weather.

[Illustration: CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

HOME OF NATHANIEL TAYLOR. JR. HOME OF REV. NATHANIEL TAYLOR.

Gen. LaFayette lodged here for a night Count Rochambeau spent a night

here during the Revolution during the Revolution]

One of the brightest spots in New Milford history is the patriotism the

town has shown through all its generations. This sentiment seems to have

been a perennial spring in the hearts of the inhabitants, ready to burst

out into action whenever a crisis arose.

The long list of soldiers in the wars is proof of this. The War of the

Revolution called out a host of brave men from New Milford. Not less

patriotic was the minister, Rev. Nathaniel Taylor. He had long before

served as chaplain in the French and Indian War, and, in 1779, he

remitted his entire salary to alleviate the suffering caused by the war.

It is inspiring to read that in this same year the county treasurer at

Litchfield received the sum of ninety-four pounds sixteen shillings, by

the hand of Col. Samuel Canfield--money contributed by the first

Ecclesiastical Society of New Milford, for the relief of the distressed

inhabitants of the towns of New Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk.

The actual conflict came no nearer than Danbury. A large number of our

citizens participated in that battle. The sending out of troops, and the

mourning in many households for those who did not return, must have kept

the war very near to the hearts of all the inhabitants of the town.

Furthermore, the presence of three brigades (nearly 5000 men) in camp on

Second Hill, for nearly a month in the autumn of 1778, brought the war

atmosphere almost to their very doors.

Once during the war Lafayette and Rochambeau were entertained over night

here; Rochambeau, at the home of Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, north of the

present Congregational Church, and Lafayette, at the house of the son of

Rev. Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Jr., south of the church.

There was a pretty romance of the war here also. Major Jones of

Virginia, in charge of the commissary stores kept here the summer after

the burning of Danbury, fell in love with pretty Tamar Taylor, the

minister’s daughter. We have the story from Mrs. Helen Carr, the

granddaughter of Tamar Taylor, as she heard it from the lips of her

grandmother. The Major’s affection seems to have been returned, but her

parents frowned upon the affair for the sole reason that they could

never let their daughter go to that far country--Virginia. The wooer was

said to be “a very fine man, who won golden opinions from everyone,” the

question of distance being the only obstacle to parental consent.

Four years later Major Jones wrote to Daniel Everett of New Milford, his

sweetheart’s brother-in-law and his near friend, from Yorktown, during

the siege, shortly before the surrender of Cornwallis. Even that

exciting and arduous time seems not to have made him forget the young

lady, for he says: “She is never out of my mind, though it seems Fortune

has not been so favorable as to allot us to the possession of each other

in this short transitory life, or if she has, parents seem to clash....

I wish I had time to write you fully on a subject that floats in my

head, the last when I go to bed and the first when I awake, but must

omit it till a future opportunity.”

After the war was over and the country had become settled, Major Jones,

with his body servant, journeyed on horseback from his Virginia home to

New Milford; but the journey was in vain, and he went sorrowfully home

alone. Pretty Temmie Taylor seems not to have been inconsolable, for she

was happily married later to the Hon. Nicholas Masters of this place.

Mrs. Carr still cherishes the ring and locket given her grandmother by

the earlier lover; and when we touched the ancient tokens, the long

years fell away, and we, too, seemed to live in the love story of olden

time.

New Milford was on one of the regular post roads from Philadelphia to

Boston, and, if the old highways could speak, they might tell many

stories of distinguished men who have travelled over them. We read in

the letters of John Adams of his going through this town on his way to

the Congress in Philadelphia. During the war there was frequent passing

through the place of both British and Continental troops.

When the war was over there was still further expression of the

patriotic sentiments of the people in a vote “that none of those persons

who have voluntarily gone over and joined the enemy, shall be suffered

to abide and continue in the town during the present situation of our

public affairs.” A committee was appointed to carry out these

resolutions, with the result that several never came back, and their

lands were confiscated by the State.

We learn of much pleasant social life in the peaceful days following the

war. There were the “assemblies.” An invitation card for one of these

functions is for “Friday Evening, July third next, at six o’clock.” What

would the young people of our day think of that? Another is for a

“Quarter Ball, at Mr. G. Booth’s Assembly Room, on June 3d at three

o’clock, P. M.”! In winter there were merry sleighing parties to

neighboring towns. Often large companies in twenty or thirty sleighs

enjoyed an early supper together, getting safely home before ten

o’clock.

Afternoon teas were frequent; not like yours, dear up-to-date woman of

to-day, but “tea-drinkings,” where the women took their knitting work

and spent long afternoons in visiting. Mrs. Nathaniel Taylor had on one

occasion such a company. The parson, in his study overhead, was greatly

interested in the fragments of conversation that floated up to him. Each

woman had some exciting tale of her domestic experiences to relate. One

quiet sister, unable to hold her own in the babel of tongues, tried

again and again to tell her story, beginning, “My goose----.” But each

time the quiet voice was drowned, and the story never proceeded further.

When good Parson Taylor was summoned to the tea table he said: “Ladies,

I have been so interested in your conversation, I thought it worth

preserving. So I wrote it down and will read it to you.” Great was the

amusement when he read the persistent efforts of their friend to tell

the story of “My Goose.” After all, human nature is much the same in all

generations.

The town enjoyed in the old days quite a reputation for good living, and

many were the notable feasts cooked over the great fireplaces and in the

huge brick ovens before the days of stoves and ranges. What an amount of

seasoned hickory logs went up the chimney in smoke to cook them! Forty

cords of wood, the record gives, as one item of the minister’s salary

for the year.

The means of transportation in early times furnished one of the most

serious problems. The Housatonic Railroad was not completed till 1840.

Before this, all transportation of produce and merchandise was by wagons

to Bridgeport, and thence by sloop to New York. The mail also came in

much the same way, being brought here from Bridgeport by a carrier on

horseback. Our old friend, the late Colonel Wm. J. Starr, remembered the

postman of his childhood days, who announced his arrival by shouting as

he rode, “News! News! Some lies and some trues!”

We owe to Colonel Starr a vivid picture of the Main Street of the

village nearly a century ago, as he recalled it. It is not an agreeable

picture. Pigs were kept in the street, and before almost every house was

a long trough, where twice a day they were fed. We can hardly wonder

that fevers broke out mysteriously. Geese also roamed at will, and

mischievous youths were known to play a practical joke on some unpopular

man by penning all the geese in the village into his front porch during

the night.

Many of the front yards were adorned with huge wood-piles. A part of the

street was a swamp, through which ran a crooked water course that, after

a shower, left pools of mud, in which pigs and cattle cooled themselves,

for “The Green” was also a cattle pasture. The story is told of a

dignified gentleman of the old school, who, dressed in immaculate white

on a summer Sunday, was hastening across “The Green” to church, making

his way among the puddles, when a large hog, frightened from a pool, ran

violently against him. He had an unsought ride on its back across the

street, and was deposited in a puddle, in full view of the waiting

congregation gathered on the church steps.

In 1838 the open-paved watercourse through “The Green” was constructed

and was regarded as a grand improvement.

The Village Improvement Society as organized in 1871,

[Illustration: JEHIEL WILLIAMS, M. D.

An early and beloved physician. B. 1782, d. 1862.]

and, a little later, under its auspices, “The Green” was put in its

present attractive condition, a covered brick sewer being laid to

replace the open-paved watercourse which previously ran through the

center of the street. This was accomplished on the initiative, and

largely though the instrumentality, of Mr. and Mrs. William D. Black,

whose efforts and energies were always directed for the benefit of the

village. A large and successful fair to raise money for this purpose was

held in a tent on “The Green” in July, 1872, and the residents of Main

Street accepted a voluntary assessment of a large amount to perfect the

work.

A familiar and welcome sight of long ago was the village doctor on

horseback with his saddlebags. He was the friend of everyone, beloved

and venerated next to the minister. His store of huge pills and herbs

and simples carried healing and comfort to all the countryside. Dr.

Jehiel Williams was the last of these old-time doctors in New Milford.

He is still remembered by many with reverent tenderness. His kindness

knew no bounds, and his hearty laugh carried cheer wherever he went. A

cautious man he was. Even his most cherished opinions were always

prefaced with “I ’most guess.” He was cautious also in his remedies, and

the overworked woman of this busy age would hardly accept his cure for

nerves and sleeplessness: “Take a hop, put it in a teacup and fill the

cup with hot water. Drink it at night and I ’most guess you will feel

better.” It was whispered that his huge pills were often made of bread,

when he felt none were needed.

He rode up and down the hills for a lifetime, charging twenty-five cents

for a visit, fifty cents when the journey was long--afterwards sixty-two

and a half cents! On one occasion he rode five miles to find that his

patient had been already relieved by some housewife’s simple remedy. He

declined any fee, merely saying, “What I have learned in this cure is

worth far more to me than the trouble of coming.”

He was friend and helper to three generations, and when, at last, full

of years and honors, he went to his well-earned rest, every household of

the town mourned his departure.

Slavery existed here, as elsewhere in New England, in the first century

of the town. A written advertisement for a runaway slave, offering a

reward for his capture, and signed, “Gideon Treat, New Milford,

September, 1774,” is still in existence. It sounds strange enough to

twentieth century ears. Judging from the records, slaves were generally

well treated in New Milford, and many owners freed their own negroes

long before the days of slavery were over.

A woman is recorded as the first in our town to free a slave. Mary

Robburds, in 1757, gave her negro servant Dan his freedom. Partridge

Thatcher, a lawyer here, was especially noted for his kindness to his

slaves. Judge David S. Boardman wrote concerning him: “He had no

children, but a large number of negroes whom he treated with a kindness

enough to put to shame the reproaches of all the Abolitionists of New

England.” And he freed them all during his lifetime.

But the sins of old days in this matter were somewhat atoned for in

after years by the zeal of the Abolitionists of New Milford in aiding

runaway slaves to reach Canada and freedom. In the later days of slavery

in the South there were several stations of the Underground Railroad in

this vicinity. Mr. Charles Sabin’s house in Lanesville was one, and the

house of Mr. Augustine Thayer on Grove Street in this village was

another. Mr. Thayer and his good wife devoted their lives to the

Abolition cause. They helped many poor slaves on their way, rising from

their beds in the night to feed and minister to them, and secreting them

till they could be taken under cover of darkness to Deacon Gerardus

Roberts’ house on Second Hill, from there to Mr. Daniel Platt’s in

Washington, and so on, by short stages, all the way until the Canadian

border was reached.

The spirit and courage of the fathers have descended to the sons through

many generations. This has been proved again and again in later years,

notably in our Civil War. During all the dark four years from the

terrible day when the flag fell at Fort Sumter to the memorable

rejoicing over the fall of Richmond, there were not wanting brave sons

of this old town

[Illustration: SALLY NORTHROP

Born 1776, died 1870

A resident of New Milford for One Hundred Years]

[Illustration: HENRY SEYMOUR SANFORD

Born 1832, died 1901

Son of David C. Sanford: Attorney at the Fairfield and Litchfield County

Bars]

[Illustration: DAVID CURTIS SANFORD

Born 1798, died 1864

A Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut]

[Illustration: WILLIAM DIMON BLACK

Born 1836, died 1889

Member of firm of Ball, Black & Co., New York City; for eighteen years a

resident of New Milford and active in the development of the town till

his death, 1889]

to offer their lives, and fathers to give of their substance. The

daughters of the town vied with each other in loyal labors for their

country, and, gave their time with their hearts to loving ministry.

In recent days the courage of our citizens has been “tried as by fire.”

The great conflagration of May, 1902, swept away the entire business

portion of the village; yet the Puritan fathers could not have met

disaster more stoically than our brave men of to-day. The cheerful

optimism that built “Shanty Town” on “The Green” while the ruins were

still smouldering showed that the stout hearts of old New Milford were

the same in the _new_, and that noble lives have been its inheritance

through all its years.

We smile as we recall the old days and ways, but we bare our heads

reverently before those godly men and women whose hardships meant a

better way for us. Two hundred years hence others will read _our_

record, and smile, perhaps. Will it be as worthy?

THE OWNERS OF NEW MILFORD

NAMES OF THE PROPRIETORS IN THE MILFORD COMPANY, WHO, UNDER A DEED OF

DATE OF JUNE, 1703, WERE THE OWNERS OF THE TOWN OF NEW MILFORD

COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY GENERAL HENRY STUART TURRILL[1]

The following were proprietors to the amount of £1 4s.: Col. Robert

Treat, Mr. Thomas Clark, Ensign George Clark, Lieut. Joseph Treat,

Ensign Joseph Peck, Jonathan Baldwin, committee; Capt. Samuel Eells,

Sergt. Edward Camp, Rev. Mr. Andrews, Thomas Wlech, James Prime, Stephen

Miles, Barnabas Baldwin, John Woodruff, Mr. Richard Bryan, Daniel

Terrell, Samuel Brisco, Timothy Botsford, Sergt. Daniel Baldwin, Mr.

Robert Treat, Deacon Platt, Thomas Clark, Mr. Samuel Clark, Jr., Samuel

Buckingham, Thomas Buckingham, John Buckingham, William Wheeler,

Nathaniel Farrand, Sr., George Allen, Samuel Camp (mason), John Smith ye

4th, Samuel Clark, Sr., Ephraim Burwell, Joseph Beard, Joseph Camp,

Samuel Camp (Lanesend), Nathaniel Farrand, Jr., Thomas Tibbals, Thomas

Canfield, John Merwin, Samuel Smith (West end), William Gold, Joseph

Wheeler, John Prince, Samuel Camp, (son of Edward Camp), Eleazor

Prindle, Lieut. Camp, William Scone, Samuel Baldwin (wheelwright),

Lieut. Joseph Platt, Sergt. Miles Merwin, Samuel Sanford, Sr., John

Beard, Mr. Samuel Andrews, Sr., George Clark, Sr., Joseph Clarke, Joseph

Peck, Jr., John Camp, Sergt. John Smith, Jonathan Law, Jr., John Allen,

Hugh Grey, Joseph Ashburn, John Summers, James Fenn, Zachariah Whitman,

William Adams, Joseph Rogers, Samuel Stone, Jonathan Baldwin, Jr.;

Jesse Lambert, Frederick Prudden, Sergt. Zachariah Baldwin, Benjamin

Smith, Sr., John Smith, Jr., John Platt, Josiah Platt, Richard Platt,

Samuel Prindle, Sergt. Samuel Beard, Sergt. Samuel Northrope, George

Clarke, Jr., Samuel Coley, Samuel Merwin, Lieut. Samuel Burwell, Samuel

Miles, James Beard, Samuel Nettleton, Joseph Treat (son of Lieut.

Treat), Jeremiah Canfield, Thomas Smith, Nathaniel Baldwin, Jr.,

Jeremiah Beard, Bethel Lankstaff, Andrew Sanford, Sr., Nath. Sanford,

John Merwin, Joseph Tibbals, Billin Baldwin (in right of her father,

Sergt. Timothy Baldwin, deceased), and Mr. Samuel Mather.

The following were proprietors to the amount 12s.: Mr. Robert Plumb,

Andrew Sanford, Widow Mary Baldwin, James Baldwin, Nathaniel Baldwin

(cooper), Henry Summers, Samuel Smith (water), John Clark, and William

Fowler.

TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO

CONTRIBUTED BY SARAH SANFORD BLACK

Upon this hilltop stood the doughty priest

And bade his minions, men of brawn and bone,

To dig for water ere the frost should come

To lock the land and shroud the hill in snow,

Two hundred years ago.

And here they labored long and valiantly,

Till far beneath the sod a rill arose

And ’twixt the rocks a stream broke forth

And sparkled in the Autumn evening glow

Two hundred years ago.

“Thank God for water pure and clear,” he cried,

And in the twilight grey the good priest stood

And looking off beyond the valley fair,

To where the same hills which we love and know,

Two hundred years ago

Seemed to touch Paradise, as now, he called

On God, the wanderers’ God, to bless the well

Which was to them that day, the most desired

Of all the gifts which man or beast could know,

Two hundred years ago.

The years have passed, two hundred years,--and now

We stand beside the well, which was the first

Our village knew,--“The Ancient Boardman Well”;

To-day the bucket dips, the waters flow,

Just as they did

Two hundred years ago.

We look where purple hilltops touch the sky,

We kneel and thank our God for all the past--

[Illustration: THE FIRST WELL IN THE TOWN OF NEW MILFORD

Dug by Priest Daniel Boardman. The property is now owned by Mrs. William

D. Black, and known as “Hickory Hearth”.]

They clasped His hand as we do, tho’ that day

All that their future held they could not know

As we know now,--

Two hundred years ago.

We thank our fathers’ God for all His care,

For smiling fields and busy haunts of men,--

For all the gifts of Science and of Art,--

For lives whose deeds His loving guidance show

Brave as those lives

Two hundred years ago.

All are from Him, these works of hand and brain

His love has made men wise, has kept men true,

Since first upon this hilltop life began,

And water in the wilderness did flow

Here at this well

Two hundred years ago.

THE TWO ABIGAILS

REMINISCENCES OF A TYPICAL NEW MILFORD FAMILY

CONTRIBUTED BY GENERAL HENRY STUART TURRILL

Caleb Terrill, eldest son of Daniel and Zorvia (Canfield) Terrell, was

born in Milford, Connecticut, December 3, 1717. Nearing his majority, he

was given the right of land in New Milford of which his grandfather,

Daniel, Sr., was the original proprietor. The first allotment to this

right was made April 14, 1729, and consisted of about forty-two acres of

land on Second Hill, fronting the old Bostwick place. Here, in the

spring of 1738, Caleb built his house, cleared a little part of his land

and planted a small garden. Late in the summer he returned to Milford.

In September he married, in Stratford, Abigail, daughter of Josiah and

Alice (Canfield) Bassett, his first cousin, and, in a few days, returned

with his bride to the little home on Second Hill. On this spot he lived

until his death, February 29, 1796.

This house was the home of his youngest son, Major Turrill, until his

death in 1847. Among my very earliest recollections, is a visit to this

old place. It was in 1846. I had just passed my fourth birthday, and

spent my first day at school. So I, as the youngest of my name, was

taken by my father to pay my respects to the oldest living member of my

family. I think that this visit produced one of the most lasting

impressions of my childhood. I can recall it now, sixty years after. At

that time Major Turrill was seventy-eight years old. The large

splint-bottomed chair in which he was seated had four enormous legs,

seemingly six inches in diameter at least, the two in front continuing

up to support the broad arms on which his hands reposed, the two behind

extending far above his head. As he rested his head against the broad

splint back, he produced the effect of a grand old gentleman in a

rustic frame. Major Turrill was a broad-shouldered man of medium

height, very upright even in his seventy-eighth year. He had a large,

well-formed head and a strong face of a rather stern cast of

countenance, while his hair, which was abundant, was steel gray rather

than white. My father presented me to him as the youngest of the race,

who had just commenced his life work by his first day at school. He

called me to him and, placing a broad hand upon my head, said to my

father, “A fine little lad,” then turning to me he said, “You must grow

up as fine a man as your grandfather, and stand for your country as he

stood for it.”

The marriage of Caleb and Abigail, descended as they were from some of

the most important of the founder families (she, from the Baldwins,

Bryans, Bruens, and Schells, he, from the Fitches, Pratts and Uffords,

and both, from the Canfields, the Mallorys and the Cranes), was an event

of great importance in Stratford and Milford; and, when it was known

that Caleb was to take his bride to the new Plantation of the

Weantinaug, the interest in the affair was much deepened. The conditions

in those days were quite different from what they are at present. There

were no parlor cars, nor honking autos to whisk the blushing bride, amid

a shower of rice and old shoes, to the seclusion of the city hotel,

there to hide her nuptial joys among the unknown multitude. So Caleb and

Abigail were married in that pleasant Stratford home, she, surrounded by

the friends of her girlhood, who, if the records are to be believed,

were about the whole community, and he, supported by his three stalwart

brothers and troops of cousins. A few days were passed in all the

feasting and gayeties of the times, after which the young couple,

surrounded by a band of the Stratford friends, started on their wedding

journey. At the ferry across the “Great River,” they were bidden

farewell on the Stratford bank, only to be received on the Milford shore

by an equally enthusiastic band of Milford friends, and to be escorted

to Caleb’s home in Milford. This was the founder home of Roger, and

Caleb was the fourth generation to bring a bride to its shelter. His

bride was a namesake of an earlier Abigail, who, ninety-nine years

before, had come with her life mate to the then wilderness of Milford.

Now, this second Abigail, this tenderly reared girl of scarce eighteen

summers, was starting with her life mate, for another wilderness--the

New Milford.

After a short stay at the old Tyrrell home, the wedding journey was

resumed, up the “Great River” to the Weantinaug country. The “house

plenishing,” demanded by the customs of those days, had been furnished

by Josiah Bassett, and had been securely packed in a stout boat to be

rowed and poled up the river, this being, at that time, the only means

of conveying heavy articles to the settlements above. The various

animals necessary to farming, although scarce in the New plantations,

were plentiful in the older ones; and, since Daniel Terrell was a man of

“much substance,” as the records say, an abundant supply had been

assembled at the usual starting place for the journey up the river to

the “Cove,” just above Goodyear’s Island. On a bright September morning,

surrounded by brothers and sisters from both families, and a large

company of friends and relatives, the newly-married pair set forth.

The accompanying friends went as far as the first “nooning,” somewhere

below Derby. There, the last farewells were said, and Caleb, with his

sweet girl wife on the pillion behind him, journeyed to their future

home. They moved up the river, camping at night in some quiet nook,

their boat, with their provisions and camp equipment, securely fastened

to the river’s bank. The bright camp fires flashed out from under the

dense foliage of the grand old primeval forests that lined the banks of

the Great River, while this pair of children strolled in the deepening

gloom, whispering their love, their plans and their hopes of happiness

in their home in the wilderness. For four days they thus leisurely

journeyed towards the cot on Second Hill, reaching the Cove about noon

of the fifth day.

By the mouth of the little brook that falls into the Cove, just at the

foot of “Lovers’ Leap,” they made their last camp, while their boat was

being unloaded and a more permanent camp

[Illustration: FALLS BRIDGE AND THE GORGE]

established, for it would be several days before their belongings could

be conveyed to their home. As the sun was sinking toward the cover of

Green Pond and Candlewood Mountains, Caleb led his bride up the winding

trail that mounts the southern face of the grand old cliffs of Falls

Mountain to Waramaug’s Grave; and, from that sightly place, she had her

first view of the beautiful Weantinaug Valley. Waramaug’s grave has ever

been held an almost sacred spot by the descendants of Caleb and Abigail.

In my early youth, on just such another September afternoon, I was taken

by my father up this winding trail, and sitting on the grass by the side

of those honored stones, was told the tale I have been relating, as each

succeeding generation of the name had been told it before me.

The wedding journey ended in that rough little home on Second Hill.

There, the pair lived for fifty-eight years in happy wedlock; there,

they reared a family of fourteen children (eleven sons and three

daughters) of whom all came to manhood and womanhood; and, thence, in

1796, at nearly four score years, Caleb went to his eternal rest.

Abigail survived him more than twenty years, in the full possession of

all her faculties, and, at the extreme age of ninety-seven years, seven

months, and eleven days, was laid beside the husband of her youth and

the loving companion of so many years.

A wonderful life was that of grandmother Abigail. She lived through four

French and Indian wars, and two wars with England. She saw one son go to

the last French war and return from the decisive battle on the Heights

of Abraham. She saw six sons go to the Revolution, and, having

faithfully performed their part in their country’s struggle--at the

siege of Boston, in the battle of Long Island and White Plains, in the

crossing of the Delaware and at Valley Forge with Washington, in the

battles of Trenton, Saratoga, Princeton, Monmouth, and Germantown--return

victorious and unscathed. She also saw Stephen and Isaac return from the

successful and conclusive struggle at Yorktown. Finally she saw four of

her grandsons return from the second contest with England.

It would be hard to find in American history two more remarkable women

than the two Abigails of the Tyrrell family. The first, Abigail Ufford,

leaving a happy English home in Essex, braving the trials and privations

of the American voyage of 1632, lived through the horrors of the Pequot

War, and went with her young husband to found a primitive home in

Milford. She stood among that company, which, under the umbrageous trees

of Peter Prudden’s home lot, listened to the stately Ansantawa, as,

plucking a branch from a tree and gathering a grassy clod from the

earth, sticking the branch in the clod and sprinkling it with water from

the Milford River, he waved it in the air, declaring that he “gave to

them forever, the earth with all thereon, the air, and the waters above

and below.” In this home, thus acquired, she lived for fifty-five years,

rearing eleven children; saw her sons go to King Philip’s War; and saw

them when they had reached man’s estate, start off with their loving

helpmates, as their father had done before them, to found other

homes--in Southold, in Newark, in Stratford, and in Woodbury.

Ninety-nine years after, comes into that Milford home the second

Abigail, to venture forth in her turn, like the first Abigail, into the

wilderness.

NEW MILFORD IN THE WARS

BY GENERAL HENRY STUART TURRILL

For the first fifty years from its settlement by John Noble, the town of

New Milford had very little concern in the military affairs of the

colonies. The Colony of Connecticut furnished soldiers in the war of

1711 and in 1713; and, in 1721, occurred a great outpouring of

Connecticut colonists for foreign service. In 1745 a call came to

Connecticut from the sister colonies for large numbers of troops for

service outside her borders, and, again, in 1755. In response to these

calls, New Milford seems not to have sent any men. The defense of their

own town and of its outlying districts was about all the colonists of

New Milford undertook in a military way, this being sufficiently

strenuous to engage their entire attention.

We are inclined, in these later days, to smile at the train-band of the

ancient times, but the train-band service of our Colonial fathers was

one of exceeding severity.

The first company in New Milford was organized in 1715, and was

commanded for twenty years by Captain Stephen Noble. The service for the

guarding of the frontier towns in the colony of Connecticut was an

exceedingly arduous one. Every male citizen, except the aged, the

infirm, and the ministers, was obliged to do military duty. These

militia-men had to provide their arms and equipment at their own

expense, and, if any business required their absence from the town, they

were obliged to provide a substitute and to pay, themselves, for his

services. The arms which each soldier furnished consisted of a musket or

rifle, a bullet pouch containing twenty bullets, a powder horn

containing twenty charges of powder, and such an amount of cloth or

buckskin as would make sufficient wadding for this number of charges.

These requirements were constant, and frequent examinations were made

to see that all of the men of the company complied with them.

As New Milford was, during most of these first fifty years of its

existence, a frontier town, a line of guards was established which

reached across the country from Woodbury to the New York boundary, and

the members of the company had to take turns in patrolling this line.

The second company in New Milford was organized in 1744, and both of

these companies continued to exist until the Revolution.

The first recorded service of the New Milford men beyond their own

borders occurred about 1758. The greatest accumulation of men found on

the record is a company raised for the French and Indian War in 1759. It

was commanded by Captain Whiting and was known as the “Tenth Company of

Colonel David Wooster’s Third Regiment of Connecticut Levy.” The New

Milford men were First Lieutenant Hezekiah Baldwin, Sergeant Israel

Baldwin, Corporal John Bronson, Drummer Zadock Bostwick. The privates

were Isaac Hitchcock, Barrall Buck (there are two mentions of Buck, he

being recorded also as David Buck), Martin Warner, David Hall, Dominie

Douglas (whether Dominie stood for minister or was just the baptismal

name, I do not know), Thomas Oviatt, Daniel Daton, Joseph Lynes, Ashel

Baldwin, Elnathan Blatchford, Ebenezer Terrill, William Gould, David

Collings, Joseph Jones, Moses Fisher, Zachariah Ferris, Jesse Fairchild,

Joseph Smith, Benjamin Wallis, Benjamin Hawley, Moses Johnson.

The Colonial Records do not show where this regiment was used. Colonel

Wooster had a long Colonial service and marched with several expeditions

toward Canada. How far these men marched is not on record. They were

enlisted in the spring, and seem to have returned to their homes in the

fall. Whether they went as far as the expedition of that year toward

Canada does not appear. Possibly family traditions might throw some

light on the matter.

In the Eleventh Company of the Second Regiment, Colonel Nathaniel

Whiting commanding, Ruben Bostwick was ensign, and the records show

that Private James Bennett went from the town in 1760.

In the calls from New Milford of 1759 and 1761 occur the names of

Hezekiah Baldwin, Second Lieutenant, Second Company, Third Regiment

(Lieutenant Colonel Hinman commanding), Israel Baldwin, and Josiah

Baldwin. The records show that, in the same year, Ashel Turrell, son of

Nathan, with his brother Nathan, went from the town to the army in New

York or Canada. Caleb Turrill, Enoch Turrill, Isaac Turrill, sons of

Caleb Terrell, also went in the same organization. John Terrell is

mentioned as being in the war (1761), but I judge that to be a mistake,

as there was no John Terrell in the town of New Milford of age

sufficient to answer that call.

The Eleventh Company of the Fourth Regiment was commanded by Captain

Josiah Canfield, the Regiment being commanded by Colonel Wooster. There

appear the names of Ashel, son of Nathan Terrell, and of Enoch, son of

Caleb Turrill.

In the Tenth Company of the Second Regiment (Colonel Nathaniel

Whiting’s) commanded by Captain Gideon Stoddard, the name of William

Drinkwater appears. The following New Milford names are scattered

through the Second, Third and Fourth Connecticut regiments: Bronson,

Baldwin, Beach, Bardsley, Beebe, Bennett, Boardman, Booth, Buck, Buell

(David, afterward a Revolutionary soldier) Bostwick, Camp, Comstock,

Couch, Crane, Curtis, Drinkwater, and Ferris.

Captain Joseph Canfield raised a company in 1758, of which Jeremiah

Canfield was the drummer. The last edition of the Colonial Records

(issued only a year or so ago), the best existing authority upon the

period, gives merely the names of the members of this company and the

length of their service, with dates of enlistment and of discharge.

Exactly what rôle they played it is impossible now to find out. There

are many traditions in the families of their doings, but these family

traditions are not as full as those of the Revolution, which, following

so quickly, effaced memories which would otherwise have survived. There

are some tales of Bill Drinkwater, of Stephen Terrell, and Thomas

Drinkwater, but they are so indefinite that all which can be gleaned

from them is that these men went as far as Quebec, and were in the

battle on the Heights of Abraham, and, possibly, in some of the others.

Most of the members of this company must have returned, as their names

appear in the town affairs after this period. There is no record of any

loss of life, so far as I have been able to find, among the New Milford

men who participated in the French and Indian War. Very little

disturbance from Indians occurred in the vicinity of New Milford during

this war; there is but one instance of trouble, I think, recorded. A

very good understanding with the Indians was attained by the warm

friendship between Waramaug, chief of all the tribes of the region, and

the New Milford minister, Rev. Mr. Boardman, who attended old Waramaug

on his deathbed. Quite an interesting tale is told of his death, but

that will probably be recorded in another place. After the close of the

French and Indian War there seems to have been little military activity

in New Milford, except the keeping up of the two companies under the

rigorous acts of the Colonial Guard. These were officered and drilled as

they had been from their formation. It is not till the period of the

Revolution is reached that the town takes on very much of a military

character.

Canfield, Bostwick and Noble seem to have been the most prominent names

in military affairs during the Colonial period.

The first company of which mention is made in connection with the

Revolution is that of Lieutenant Ebenezer Couch, who served in the

regiment of Colonel Andrew Ward. This company does not appear at all in

either the Connecticut War Book or the rolls of the Connecticut

Historical Society. The first notice of Ebenezer Couch in the

Connecticut War Book is of his commanding a company of Colonel

Canfield’s regiment at West Point and Peekskill in 1777. The only record

of the company is in a roll which was in the possession of the late

Colonel William J. Starr of New Milford, and which, I suppose, was among

his papers when he died. It was raised in May, 1775. The names of its

members are given in the roll of New Milford men in the Revolution,

which is appended to this article and need not be repeated here.

Its history is rather indefinite. It seems to have been raised for the

Lexington alarm, but, being too late for that purpose, it probably went

to the Sound or to New York. The date of its discharge does not appear

on any record, but most of the men are soon found on the rolls of other

companies in the service.

In July, 1775, a company was formed in New Milford, commanded by Captain

Isaac Bostwick, who was first commissioned on the sixteenth of that

month and, later, was recommissioned at Boston. It joined the regiment

of Colonel Charles Webb, under the name of the Seventh Connecticut Levy,

served along the Sound, and then went to the siege of Boston. Its term

of service was to expire in December, 1775. About the time it was to be

discharged, it was reorganized as the Nineteenth Regiment of Connecticut

Line, enlisted for one year. Most of the men of Captain Bostwick’s

company, as well as those of Lieutenant Couch’s company, appear in the

new organization. The company and regiment remained at the siege of

Boston until after the evacuation of that place by the British, when

they accompanied General Washington to New York, going by land as far as

New London and thence by boat. They were put to work at first upon the

fortifications of New York, then, on the completion of that work, they

were taken over to Brooklyn, and were employed, on the left of the line,

in completing the fortifications there. They were not engaged in the

battle of Long Island, but they covered the retreat, after that

disaster, and played an important part in the subsequent movements about

New York. They rendered some aid to the Brigade of Connecticut Militia

in the disastrous affair of Kipp’s Bay, moved with the army across the

Harlem to Westchester, and were hotly engaged, with considerable loss,

in the battle of White Plains.

After this battle, and before the capture of Fort Washington, they were

brought down to Spuyten Duyvil creek, just at its junction with the

Hudson, and were kept there furnishing guards, orderlies and escorts

for the movements about the fort. While the Jumel mansion (then the old

Morris house) was being used as the American Headquarters, many of

Captain Bostwick’s men were frequently on duty about the place as guards

and orderlies. The following is a tradition for which the only authority

is the stories told by the old soldiers around John Turrill’s fireside

many years after: During the engagement of the British with Fort

Washington, a sergeant’s guard under the command of David Buell of New

Milford, which had been placed at a picket station near the base of

Inwood Hill, were separated, by the rapid advance of the Hessians up the

Harlem River (a movement, which, but for the quickness of a soldier’s

wife at the Morris house, would have resulted in the capture of General

Washington), from their regiment across the creek and obliged to fall

back to Fort Washington. Being hotly pursued by the advancing enemy,

they were forced to take cover under the banks of the Hudson, to avoid

the fire of almost an entire regiment. A small party of the Hessians

endeavored to cut off their retreat to the fort and one of them

succeeded in jumping down the bank in front of the New Milford men.

Roger Blaisdell was in the advance, and, as the German stumbled down the

bank in front of him, pushed him with a thrust of his bayonet into the

river and the party reached temporary safety in Fort Washington.

The Fort was soon captured by the British, however, and our New Milford

men found themselves in the unfortunate position of prisoners of war.

The prisoners, according to the stories told by them afterward, were

moved down to a point about where Union Square is now, and were there

confined in a barn, for three days, before any food was given them.

Then, wagons from the British slaughter-houses arrived, loaded with the

hock bones of the cattle killed for the British troops. These wagons

having been backed up to the door of the barn, the hock bones were

shoveled in on the floor, while the prisoners scrambled for what they

could get. It is said that their hunger was so great that they seized

the bones and gnawed them as a dog would. They were kept for three days

in this barn, and were then conveyed down to that much-dreaded place of

confinement, the Old Sugar House Prison, a sugar store-house, which was

between Ann and Fulton streets. It was a building with a large central

portion, and had two wings which projected on either side of a little

courtyard. There were no cellars and the floor was of puncheons (hewn

logs eight or ten inches thick) laid loose on the floor timbers. It was

very strongly constructed in order that it might sustain the weight of

the heavy casks of sugar and molasses which came from the West Indies.

The place where our twelve New Milford men slept was just inside one of

the doors. The two projecting rooms on either side were occupied by the

guard of the prison and the officers, respectively. A sentry paced up

and down the front from the guard room to the room of the officers. The

provisions furnished to the prisoners were exceedingly scanty and of so

poor a quality that they had been condemned as unfit for the use of the

soldiers and sailors of the British army. Their rations consisted mainly

of moldy and wormy pilot bread. This régime, following the “bone diet”

of the barn, soon reduced them to the verge of starvation. These poor

Continentals had little or no money with which to purchase favors and

they were soon in a very bad way. The British profited by this situation

to try to get the Americans to renounce the Patriot cause and enlist in

the British army. A guinea a head was offered to each British soldier

who would induce a rebel to join their cause. The English guard was well

fed and it was very tantalizing to our New Milford men to see the burly

Englishmen enjoying their abundant repasts. Necessity is the mother of

invention, however, and our men soon formed a plan to obtain some of the

much coveted food. The cooking for the guard was done in the room

occupied by them and a limited amount of provisions was, from time to

time, brought there. Late one afternoon, a half-barrel of mess pork was

brought in and opened for use, and left standing under the charge of the

sentry for the night. This was our boys’ opportunity and, as soon as the

other prisoners were sound asleep, they very quietly raised one of the

logs in their floor space and scooped out a little hole in the sand

underneath. A place having been thus prepared for their expected booty,

they then proceeded to get the much desired pork. The night was so dark

that a man could not be recognized at any distance and this was much in

their favor. Roger Blaisdell quietly approached the sentry and,

explaining that he was tired of starving, asked to be told where he

could go to enlist in the British army, adding that he did not dare to

come when the other prisoners were awake. The sentry, overjoyed at the

prospect of the guinea, and fearing that, if he let the man go, some

other would secure the much-coveted prize, told Blaisdell to walk up and

down his beat with him until he should be relieved, when he would take

him to the officer of the day. Accordingly, they paced up and down the

sentry’s beat until, when a good opportunity occurred at the point

farthest from the quarters of the guard, Blaisdell hit his companion a

blow behind the ear which would have felled an ox and which knocked the

sentry senseless. The men, who were on the watch, rushed to the pork

barrel, scooped out an armful of pork each, quickly deposited it in the

hole that they had prepared, replaced the plank, and dropped down upon

it, snoring to beat a bass drum. Of course an alarm was raised and the

prisoners were turned out, but the sentry was too much shaken up by the

blow to be able to tell much about the matter. The loss of the pork was

not discovered that night, if at all, so there was nothing to direct

attention to the men, and they escaped detection. Each night, while the

other prisoners were sleeping, the enterprising twelve would quietly

raise the plank and have a meal of raw salt pork. In after days, those

of the group who survived the prison experiences (particularly Sergeant

David Buell) used to refer to their prison pork as the sweetest food

that they had ever eaten, and for years the standing toast at their

reunions was, “To Roger Blaisdell’s pork barrel.”

Within the last few months I have compared my recollections with those

of other descendants of these men and have found that the traditions of

these events agree so nearly as to warrant the belief that there was

much truth in the stories told by the old veterans.

After being confined for a number of weeks in the sugar house, the

prisoners were taken to the prison ship _Dutton_. Two hundred of them

were transported to Milford and put ashore there. Twenty were dead

before the vessel arrived and twenty more died very soon after. All the

forty are buried in the graveyard of that place. Of the twelve men of

New Milford, tradition narrates the return of only four, Roger

Blaisdell, David Buell, William Drinkwater and Lyman Noble. Through

friends in Milford, they were able to secure a horse, and thus worked

their way back to New Milford, reaching there about March, 1777. This

group was eliminated from Captain Isaac Bostwick’s company and did no

further service until their companions came home from the successful

fields of Trenton and Princeton. Shortly after the fall of Fort

Washington, the regiment containing Captain Bostwick’s company was

ordered to Philadelphia. It was with Washington at Germantown before the

army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Its term of service was

to expire December 20, 1776. But Washington was then planning the move

which ended in the crossing of the Delaware at Trenton, and many of its

members remained in service, at his personal request, for a six weeks’

campaign.

Most of the men of Captain Bostwick’s company were with Washington and

crossed the Delaware on the twenty-fifth of December, 1776, and, on the

early morning of that day, they were in the battle of Trenton, where

they assisted in the capture of the Hessian regiment. They were engaged

in the succeeding battle at Princeton, January 3, 1777, and were finally

discharged on the first of February, 1777, when they returned to New

Milford.

Captain Bostwick appeared as a leader in the Danbury alarm. With him was

John Terrell and David Buell, who had so far recovered from his prison

experiences as to join his old companions on that occasion. Roger

Blaisdell does not appear, but Bill Drinkwater does. With them was a New

Milford man who had been in Captain Couch’s first company, one Ruben

Phillips. Ruben Phillips was a colored man, living in New Milford, who

had evidently been the cook in Captain Bostwick’s company. The

descendants of Ruben Phillips were living, in my time, in the little

house where the road goes up Chicken Hill toward Bridgewater, and this

family knew that their ancestor had been in the Revolution with my

grandfather. A descendant of this Phillips, Chester Phillips by name,

volunteered in the Twenty-ninth Connecticut Infantry in the War of the

Rebellion and was killed in front of Petersburg, Virginia. Truly the

Revolutionary blood of New Milford was as good in the black man as in

the white.

The group from Captain Bostwick’s company were engaged four days in the

Danbury alarm. The following story regarding this little band is extant:

The British had commenced their retreat from Danbury by way of

Ridgefield and these men were following them up very earnestly, pressing

close upon a grenadier regiment which was the rear guard of the British

force. John Terrell, William Noble, Bill Drinkwater and David Buell

rushed together up one side of the famous rock in Ridgefield, while the

grenadiers were still on the other side. One of them (which one I do not

know), showing himself imprudently, was shot by the British grenadiers.

Of the truth of this story I have never been able to learn. It is firmly

believed in and about Ridgefield and also in New Milford. There is a

plate on the rock, I think, commemorating the death of one of the

company.

A number of men from New Milford were in the company of Captain Daniel

Pendleton of Watertown, which belonged to the regiment of Colonel

Judthon Baldwin, a regiment of artificers that served under the

direction of the Quarter-Master-General as a Construction Corps. This

regiment was in all the engagements of the war except those about Boston

and those of the northern army above Albany, in more engagements, in

fact, than any other body of Connecticut troops. In 1780, when General

Green took command of the Southern Department, he requested that Captain

Pendleton’s company be sent to him. The company joined him, as

requested, and was the only body of Connecticut men that served south

of Virginia. It was on duty there until the disbanding of the army in

November, 1783.

This was the only considerable group of men that went as a body from New

Milford after the first two companies; perhaps it might be called the

third company. The enlistments were for short periods and the changes

were quite frequent, until 1778 and 1779, when enlistments began to be

made for three years or the war.

New Milford is credited on the Connecticut War Records and the

Connecticut Historical Society’s rolls with two hundred and eighty-five

men in the war, many of whom served two and three, and some even four

terms of enlistment.

While these soldiers of the Revolution were in the field doing military

duty, their fathers and brothers were at home laboring for their

support; not so easy a task when it is remembered that in the first

three years of the war the Colony of Connecticut paid for the

maintenance and equipment of her troops in the field, for the damage to

her people in the British raids of Danbury and Norwalk, the immense sum

of £516,606. During the last four years of the war the Continental

Congress fixed Connecticut’s share of the expenses of the war at

$1,800,000 a year. At times the tax rates were three shillings on the

pound. The eight years of the war were years of toil and suffering to

those on the sterile hill-farms, where the striving and stress were

about as great as in the midst of the dangers of the battle-field.

Indeed, much of the war had come to these farmers’ very doors, for the

Tories of Squash Hollow and the Quakers of Quaker Hill and Straits

Mountain had not proved themselves exactly the men of peace that they

professed to be.

The leading family of New Milford in the Revolution was the Bostwicks.

There were ten of the name in the service during the war--Amos,

Benjamin, Elijah, Elisha, Ebenezer, Isaac, Israel, Joel, Oliver and

Solomon. The next was the Turrills, of whom there are nine on the

records--Ashel, Caleb, Ebenezer, Enoch, Isaac, Joel, John, Nathan and

Stephen. The Canfields have seven names to their credit--Amos, Ezra,

John, Josiah, Moses, Nathaniel and Samuel--and the Baldwins,

four--Jared, John, Jonas and Theodore.

It would be impossible to give all the actions in which New Milford men

were concerned during the Revolution without giving a history of the

entire war. Some of the marked battles in which they were engaged were

those about Philadelphia, the Mud Forts, Germantown and Monmouth. They

participated in the crossing of the Delaware from Princeton and, later,

were at the surrender of Germantown. New Milford men were with Morgan at

Saratoga and tradition says that they were at the capture of Ticonderoga

and Crown Point, with Ethan Allen. Colonel Warner of Roxbury, the

companion of Allen, who was well and favorably known in New Milford, had

many friends, some of whom may have gone with him on that expedition.

There may be some truth in this story, therefore, as it is extant.

According to one of the legends current in Western Connecticut, a troop

of New Milford and Roxbury men on their way to the Hampshire Grants to

join Ethan Allen, assembled at New Milford. Their first morning’s march

was up the Housatonic to a little spring which comes out near the

present railroad a short distance below Merwinsville. There, they were

met by Deacon Gaylord, who had crossed the river from his place in a

canoe, with a lunch, which included a bottle of applejack, and a jug of

hard cider. He distributed these liquid refreshments so freely, deacon

though he was, that the party were quite jolly before they moved on to

their night camp, which was to be at Bull’s Bridge. Whatever may be the

truth of this story, it is evident that the New Milford men’s eyes were

turned very much toward the Northern Department, and that many of them

served in the operations of that department.

New Milford men were present at the famous charge of Mad Anthony Wayne

at Stony Point. A company of pioneers was selected to go forward and cut

away the pickets in order to facilitate the advance of the charging

column up into the fort. There is a tradition that Lieutenant David

Buell was one of these pioneers, and, as he was in the engagement, the

tradition is probably correct. The pioneers, having cut away the

pickets, scattered to the right and left, in accordance with their

orders, leaving the way open for the charging column, which began the

ascent. The cannoneer of the fort was swinging his linstock to fire a

cannon which pointed right down the line. History gives it that, at this

critical moment, one of the pioneers rushed forward with his axe and

knocked the cannoneer over before he was able to apply the linstock,

thus saving the expedition; and legend claims that this pioneer was

Sergeant David Buell. Legend goes on to say that, in the fort at Stony

Point, the Continental soldiers found a number of Tories (some from the

vicinity of New Milford) who had retired thither for protection. These

Tories were paraded about the fort with ropes around their necks and

David Buell, as a mark of distinction, led the procession, holding a

rope around the neck of the most valiant and troublesome Tory. David

Buell received a pension for his services and was long a resident of New

Milford, where, I believe, he is buried. His house was on Second Hill,

and, in his advanced years, he did little but travel about among his

friends, frequently stopping for some time with a sister who lived in

“Pug Lane” (now Park Lane). His favorite resort, when he was with his

sister, was Mr. Cushman’s Tavern, which is still standing on the road

going up to Second Hill and Northville. It was his morning custom to go

over to the tavern and meet his friends there. It was observed that,

whenever an Englishman and Tory happened into Cushman’s place, David

Buell immediately left. He would go home and say “Umph! an Englishman

was there; I could not stay.” Another favorite gathering place of many

of these old soldiers was at the home of John Turrill, and it was there

that they celebrated the anniversaries. Their habit was to gather in the

morning, go and make a call on Captain Isaac Bostwick, drink a glass of

wine, and then return to dinner at John Turrill’s home, where they would

afterward tell their stories. Many of these stories were quite lurid,

possibly by reason of the quantity and quality of John Turrill’s hard

cider and applejack; for John, although extremely temperate himself, is

said never to have stinted his former companions in arms either in food

or drink.

Stephen Turrill was another noted man in the regiments. He belonged at

first to the company of Ebenezer Couch, but, soon after drifted into a

number of organizations from New Milford which served about West Point.

He was in that part of the country for nearly two years. There are

numberless stories of his encounters with the Tories. One of these is as

follows: A band to which he was attached, while marching through the

lower part of the Debatable Land, came to the house of a Dutch Tory.

They wanted something to eat and asked the woman of the house if she

could give them some milk or anything. She very gruffly told them that

there was nothing in the house to eat, that she had nothing for the

Rebels. Just then, something called her out of doors for a minute, and

the soldiers saw that, over the fireplace, in a large pot, the dinner

was boiling. Stephen Turrill’s inquisitive mind determined to know what

was in that pot. Accordingly, he pulled off the lid, saw a fine bag

pudding, pulled it out, put it in his haversack, and marched away. The

woman quickly discovered her loss and came crying that the Rebels had

stolen her pudding. The sergeant in command marched by his men and then

told the woman there was no evidence of her pudding there; but, after

she had retreated a short distance, he said “Turrill, did you get that

woman’s pudding?” “Yes,” said he, “here it is in my haversack.” The

company passed on and dined sumptuously.

Scattered over the Debatable Land were little guard houses, in each of

which a guard was kept for a week at a time, to intercept the approach

of British or Tories. These guard houses usually consisted of two rooms,

a front and back one. On one occasion----

[General Turrill’s narrative of “New Milford in the Wars,” was

tragically cut short at this point by his sudden death in the office of

the Grafton Press, where he was dictating it. It has seemed more fitting

to leave this narrative in its unfinished condition, as a sort of

memorial to him, than to have it completed by another. Any

inconsistencies that may exist in it may be attributed to the fact that

it did not have the benefit of his correction and revision.--EDITOR.]

[Illustration: HENRY STUART TURRILL

Brig. Gen. U. S. Army]

THE COLONIAL WARS

The names given in the rolls of the Connecticut Historical Society are

as follows:

RANK. NAME, COMPANY, AND REGIMENT. LEVY.

Privt. Ashmon, Justus, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

Sergt. Baldwin, Israel, 11th Co., 3rd Reg. “

Lieut. Baldwin, Hezekiah, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

Privt. Baldwin, Ashael, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “

“ Baldwin, Benjamin, 3rd Co., 1st Reg. 1762

“ Baldwin, Joseph, 10th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Ball, Joseph, 1st Co., 2nd Reg. 1759

“ Baker, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Bartholomew, Lemuel, 2nd Co., 2nd Reg. “

“ Bartholomew, Noah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Beach, John, 1st Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Beardsley, Amos, 2nd Co., 2nd Reg. “

“ Beecher, Nathaniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bell, Robert, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Benedict, Ezra, 11th Co., 2nd Reg. “

“ Beeman, Benjah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bisbee, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bliss, Gillum, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Botchford, Elnathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bostwick, Elijah, 2nd Co., 3rd Reg. “

“ Bostwick, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bostwick, Robert, Jr.[2]

Drummer Bostwick, Zadoch, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

Corp. Brownson, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “

Privt. Brownson, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Brownson, Abram, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Brownson, Israel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Brownson, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Birch, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bradley, Jahuel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Bryan, Augustus, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Buck, Bethial, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Buck, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Buck, Daniel, 11th Cc., 4th Reg. “

“ Botchford, Elnathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Buell, David, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759

“ Buell, Abel, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. “

“ Bunce, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

Capt. Canfield, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Canfield, Nathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Drummer Canfield, Jeremiah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Canfield, Josiah, 2nd Co., 4th Reg. “

Lieut. Castle, Phineas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Carter, Elezer, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Chittenden, Isaac, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759

“ Chittenden, Timothy, 6th Co., 2nd Reg. “

“ Clark, Roger, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Colhoon, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Drummer Cogswell, Edward, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Cogswell, Asa, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Collengs, Daniel, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Curtis, Elezer, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Daton, Amos, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Dayton, Daniel, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Dean, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Deveraux, Jonathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Divine, Timothy, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Divene, Nathaniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Dean, Uriah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Dinsmore, Samuel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Douglas, Dominey, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Downs, David[3]

“ Drinkwater, Thomas, 10th Co., 2nd Reg. 1758

“ Drinkwater, William, 10th Co., 2nd Reg. “

“ Durkee, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Downs, Jonathan, Col. Nath. Whiting’s Reg. 1762

“ Fairchild, Jesse, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Ferris, Zachariah, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “

“ Fisher, Henry, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Fisher, Moses, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Foot, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Galusha, Jacob, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Gould, William, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Green, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Gurney, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Guthrie, Ephraim, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hamblin, Simon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hamlin, Joel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hawley, Jeptha, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hawley, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

Corp. Hawkins, Zadoc, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

Privt. Harris, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Clerk Hine, Abel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Hall, David, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Hitchcock, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Hitchcock, Isaac, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hill, Silas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hinman, Benjamin, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hurd, Lovel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hurd, Noah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hurlbutt, Aaron, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hurlburt, Elijah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Hurlburt, Josiah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Johnson, Moses, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Jones, Joseph, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Lake, Gresslone, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Latimer, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Lynes, Joseph, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Manville, Daniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Manville, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Mun, Gideon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Murray, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ North, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Oviatt, Thomas, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Owen, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Parish, Jacob, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Peet, Jaihael, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Pike, Daniel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Phelps, James, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Sergt. Prindle, Joseph, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Privt. Read, David, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Robbards, Eli, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

Capt. Ruggles, Benjamin, 12th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759

Privt. Rayment, Samuel, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Sanford, Nathan, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Sanford, ( )ade, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Sawyer, Jess., 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Squire, Solomon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Smith, Joseph, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Stone, Benjamin, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

Chaplain Taylor, Rev. Nathaniel, 2nd Reg. 1762

Privt. Taylor, Abram.[4]

“ Terrell, Nathan, 2nd Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Terrell, Ashael, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Terrill, Ebenezer, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Turrill, Enoch, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Turrill, Caleb, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Turrill, Isaac, 7th Co., 2nd Reg. 1759

“ Turrill, Stephen.[5]

“ Tuttle, Andrew, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Walker, Gideon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Walker, Zachariah, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

“ Warner, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Warner, Martin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. “

“ Warner, Solomon.[6]

Privt. Wallis, Benjamin, 10th Co., 3rd Reg. 1759

“ Welton, John, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Wright, Solomon, 11th Co., 4th Reg. 1758

“ Wood, Elisha, 11th Co., 4th Reg. “

THE REVOLUTION

The following is the roll of men on the various records as having had

service in the Revolution who are accredited to New Milford:

Muster roll of a company said to have been raised in New Milford and to

have formed a part of Colonel Andrew Ward’s regiment of Connecticut

Militia, as given in Orcutt’s New Milford:

Lieut. Ebenezer Couch, Lieut. Elizur Bostwick, Ensign Noble Hine, Clerk

Benjamin Bostwick, Sergt. David Whittlesey, Sergt. Benjamin Weller,

Sergt. Mathew Bronson, Sergt. Oliver Bostwick, Corp. Gideon Morgan,

Corp. Uri Jackson, Corp. Nathaniel Cole, Corp. William Nichols, Corp.

Lemuel Thayer, Drummer Eleazer Hendrix, Fifer David Ruggles, Fifer John

Couch.

Privates--Nathan Averill, Benjamin Adams, Salmon Bostwick, John Baldwin,

John Beach, Israel Bostwick, David Buell, Jared Baldwin, David Bosworth,

Caleb Barnes, Mathias Beeman, Stiles Bradley, Joel Bostwick, John

Canfield, Jesse Camp, Jonathan Crittenden, Elija Cary, Israel Camp,

Samuel Copley, Ezra Dunning, Jedadiah Durkee, Caswell Dean, Thomas

Drinkwater, Stephen Evitts, Asa Farrand, William Foot, Jonathan Gray,

Epenetus Gunn, Elnathan Gregory, Liverus Hawley, Ashael Hotchkis, Lewis

Hunt, Richard Johnson, John Keeler, Nathan Keeler, David Keeler,

Jonathan Lumm, Joseph Mygatt, Lyman Noble, Ephram Minor, David Porter,

Samuel Prince, Amos Prime, Ruben Phillips, William Peet, John Rood,

Isaac M. Ruggles, Aziah Robbards, Nathan Rowley, Liffe Sanford, Asa

Starkweather, Jonah Todd, Ebenezer Trowbridge, John Turrill, Stephen

Turrill, William Whitley, Nathan Wildman, Cooley Weller, Abel Wilkins.

Roll of Captain Isaac Bostwick’s company, Seventh Company, Sixth

Regiment, of Connecticut Line: Colonel Charles Webb; Capt. Isaac

Bostwick; Lieut. Hulbutt; Ensign Amos Bostwick; Sergts. Gideon Noble,

Simeon Porter, Simon Mills, Elisha Bostwick, Sowl. Barnum; Corps. Samuel

Bennett, Harmon White, Ebenezer Barnum, Seth Hall; Drummers Eleazor

Hendrix, Calvin Pease; Fifers Nathan Avery, Theodore Baldwin, David

Roch; Privates Nathan Avery, Theodore Baldwin, David Beach, Elizur

Bostwick, Joseph Bates, Jonathan Brown, Reuben Bellamy, Ashel Case, John

D. Comstalk, Timothy Cole, Aaron Curtis, Hedekiah Clerk, Thadeus Cole,

Charles Chapen, Joseph Clerk, Ashael Dean, Jeremiah Douchey, David

Everist, James Gates, John Green, Hedakiah Gray, Daniel Grinnel, Amaziah

Griswold, Joseph Hawley, Levit How, William Hale, Abner Kelsey, John

Lewis, Simeon Lyman, David Lyon, Joseph Murray, Samuel Millar, Ruben

Mager, Josiah Munger, Ruben Philips, Rufus Partridge, Howard E. Prince,

Jeruel Philips, Phineas Palmer, John Smith, Cordeal Smith, Isaac Smith,

Caleb Swetland, Job Tousley, Ruben Taylor, Absolem Taylor, Gamaliel

Terrey, Benjamin Thomas, John Walter, Thomas Woodward, Cornelius

Whitney, Samuel Waters.

Men who crossed the Delaware with Capt. Isaac Bostwick of New Milford,

December 25, 1776, and were in the battle of Trenton and the succeeding

battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777: Lieuts. Hulbutt, Elisha Bostwick;

Sergts. Brownson, Beach; Ensign Amos Bostwick; Corps. Thayer, Grover,

Bell; Drummer Gunn; Fifer Humstead; Privates Jeptha Bartholomew, Luther

Bartholomew, Isaac Brownson, Moses Camp, Moses Canfield, William

Cressey, Jonathan Crittenden, Hezakiah Clark, Jonathan Davidson, Francis

Fields, Aaron Foot, Moses Hurd, Robert Nichols, George Norton, Elisha

Phiney, Ruben Pitcher, Asa Prince, Wills Sherwood, John Turrill.

Officers and men from New Milford who served in the Sixth Company of the

Fourth Regiment, Continental Line: Capt. Josiah Starr; Sergt. John

Stevens; Privates Oliver Bostwick, Josiah Buck, Dar. Barns, William

Beal, Asa Beal, Michael Beach, Amos Beach, Jas. Brown, Josiah Brooks,

Herman Smith, Ephram Alderman, Domini Douglass, Jabes Frizbee, Oring

Ferriss, Elihu Grant, Levi Hunt, Christo. Hington, Geo. Lummis, Eben

Lewis, Jere McCarte, Nathan Nichols, Oliver Phelps, Jos. Phelps, Lemuel

Peete, Timoth. Stanley, Benajah Smith, Geo. A. Smith, John Seeley,

Nathl. Stewart, Enos Scott, Zimri Skinner, Joseph Thair, John Tuff,

Ezekiel Towner, Lem Walter, Jos. Worden, Amos Mc’Kinnee, Robt. Brown,

William Drinkwater, Jonathan Mayo.

New Milford men who served in Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Starr’s

Regiment, Connecticut Line: Lieut. Col. Josiah Starr, Comd. Reg. and

Co.; Lieuts. Augustine Thayer, James Bennett; Ensign Josiah Buck; Sergt.

Oliver Bostwick; Privates Caleb Maxfield, Leef Sanford, Eleazor

Hendricks, Ebenezer Bostwick, Solomon Bostwick, David Cole, Prince

Crosley, Leverus Hawley, Samuel Hubble, Prime Hubble, Sep Hubble, Titus

Heart, Stephen Headges, James Higgins, William Handy, Ira Hotchkis,

Benjamin Heart, Aaron Hall, Ely Nichols, Robert Nichols, Samuel

Nettleton, Holan Nettleton, Samuel Phillips, Jurel Phillips, Elijah

Parker, Elab Parker, Nehimiah Piffany.

New Milford men who were in Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Canfield’s

Regiment of Connecticut Militia, at West Point, in 1781: Lieut-Col.

Samuel Canfield, comd.; Quartermaster Jonah Baldwin; Surgeon Dr. George

Hurd; Capt. Ebenezer Couch, Comd. Co.; Privates Ruben Brownson, Elijah

Hoyt, John Case, Andrew Merwin, Stephen Bennett, Benjamin Mead, Ebenezer

Couch, Jr., Asa Read, Simeon Taylor, David Merwin, Henry Straight, Ruben

Hurlbut.

New Milford men who served in Connecticut Regiment of Pioneers: Colonel

Judthon Baldwin; Capt. Daniel Pendleton, Comd. of Co. in which the New

Milford men were engaged; Sergt. David Porter; Privates Jessie Cole,

John Eggleston, Isaac Turrill, Jonathan Wilkinson, Ashael Turrill, James

Bradshaw, John Turner, Lyman Mott, Samuel Oviatt, Abel Wilkenson, Isaac

Mott, Samuel Turner.

New Milford men who served in Col. Moses Hazen’s Regiment, Connecticut

Militia: Capt. Jeremiah Parmelie’s Co.: Michael Welch, Jabes Tomlinson.

New Milford men who served in the Fifth Troop, Shelden’s Dragoons:

Sergt. Liffe Sanford, David Buell.

New Milford men who served in Second Regiment, Connecticut Line: Col.

Herman Swift; in Capt. Samuel Comstalk’s Co., Squire Davenport; in Capt.

Richard’s Co., Ezerah Canfield, David Cole; in Capt. Belden’s Co., David

Johnson, Moses Scott, Mathew Stewart.

A company of forty volunteers was raised in the towns of New Milford,

Newtown, and Danbury, in December, 1776. The officers were: Capt.

Benjamin Brownson, Lieut. Shadrack Hubble, Ensign Benjamin Seeley. The

names of the privates are not given in the records.

In General David Waterbury’s State Regiment, Captain Charles Smith’s

Company, were the following New Milford men: Sergt. Josiah Barnes;

Drummer Eleazer Hendricks; Fifer Oliver Mead; Privates Nathan Murray,

Benton Buck, John Ingersol, Achillies Comstalk, Amos Canfield, Daniel

Davis, Jonathan Beecher, Isaac Utter, Mingo Treat, John Warner, Jonathan

Jessup.

In Lieutenant John Phelps’ Troop of Horse was Private Nathaniel Canfield

of New Milford.

In Colonel Benjamin Hinman’s Fourth Regiment, Continental Line, Sixth

Company, Capt. Josiah Starr, were the following New Milford men: Sergt.

John Stevens; Privates Oliver Bostwick, Herman Smith, Asa Brownson,

Josiah Brooks, Ephraim Alderman, Josiah Buck.

In Colonel Herman Swift’s Second Regiment, Continental Line, in Captain

Kimberly’s Company, served from January until June, 1783, the following

New Milford men: Sergeants Charles McDonald, Ebinezer Bostwick; Drummer

Job Hawkins; Privates Isaac Lockwood, Bostwick Ruggles, and John McCoy.

The following New Milford men served under Lieutenant Colonel Canfield

in the Tryon invasion: Benjamin Stone, Nathaniel Barnes, William

Cogswell, Ebenezer Couch, Noble Hine, Ruben Bostwick, Adam Hurlburt.

The members of the Society of Cincinnati from New Milford were Colonel

Josiah Starr, Lieutenant James Bennett, and Lieutenant David Beach.

THE WAR OF 1812

The list of men from New Milford who served in the regular army during

the War of 1812, taken from the rolls of the Adjutant General’s office,

is as follows:

Lieutenant Thomas Weller; Privates, Hedekiah Baldwin, Theopholus

Baldwin, Joseph C. Barnes, Rufus Beeman, Samuel Bunnel, Charles H.

Crampton, Kneeland Edwards, Philo Gregory, Joseph Hawley, Stephen

Hawley, Abram Hunt, Warren Hyde, Ithamer Lane, Benjamin Lee, James Lee,

Stephen Lyon, Seth Nelson, Ebinezer Reynolds, John Saxton, Stephen

Seignor, Caleb Shelden, Peleg Slocum, Levi Smith, Eliakim Stow, Samuel

Summers, Jonathan Tharrs, Benjamin Warner, Harry Wakelee, William S.

Wakelee, Thomas W. Way, Squire Whitney, Shelden Wooden.

The War Records of Connecticut do not give the places from which the

Militia and Volunteers came, so it is impossible to tell exactly how

many New Milford men participated in the war. The names of Baldwin,

Barnes, Bartholomew, Bassett, Beech, Buck, Buell, Bostwick, Booth,

Canfield, Comstock, Noble, Starr, Taylor, Turrill, and many other New

Milford names are upon the rolls, but just how many are to be credited

to the town it is impossible to say.

THE MEXICAN WAR

The names of the men from New Milford who served in the Mexican War,

taken from the rolls of the Adjutant General’s office, were:

Henry Burrhants, Sherman Crosby, Albert Morey, Abner M. Philips, Ruben

W. Phillips, Warren S. Tenbrok, James Schemmerhorn.

Two other men from the town were, I believe, in that war: Henry Soul,

son of John Soul, who lived at the point of Buck’s Rocks, and Charles

Ford, who afterwards served in the war of 1861.

THE CIVIL WAR

Allen, Charles J., Mus. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa., R. E. Co. D, 28th

Inft., deserted.

Allen, William, Pvt. Co. A, 8th Inft., deserted.

Anderson, Charles F., Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Atkins, James, Pvt. Co. D, 6th Inft.

Bailey, Andrew E., Mus. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Bailey, Joseph A., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Baldwin, David A., Pvt. and Lt. Co. I, 8th Inft.

Baldwin, Francis E., Mus. 4th Penn. Cav.

Banker, Miles N., wagoner, Co. E, 12th Inft.

Banker, Philo, Pvt. Co. I, 13th Inft., R. E. V. Co. B, died in service

May 6, 1865.

Bartram, Andrew, Pvt. Co. I, 17th Inft., deserted.

Bartram, Ashbel E., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa.

Bartram, Charles E., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Bartram, Charles M., Pvt. Co. I, 14th Inft., missing at

Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, supposed dead.

Bartram, Ferdinand, Mus. 4th Penn. Cav.

Bartram, Oscar F., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa.

Beardsley, Daniel S., Petty Off. U. S. Navy.

Beeman, Charles E., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Beeman, John A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Beeman, Rufus, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Benedict, William E., Pvt. Co. C, 17th Inft., died at Folly Island, S.

C., Nov. 17, 1863.

Bennett, George D., Pvt. Co. I, 2d h. Art.

Bemus, Charles F., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., killed at Port Hudson, La.,

June 14, 1863.

Bennoit, Antone, Pvt. Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 11th Inft.

Birch, George, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Sharpsburg, Md., Sept.

17, 1863.

Bishop, Orange P., Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., deserted Apr. 4, 1863.

Booth, Charles M., Mus. Band 4th Penn. Cav., Lt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Booth, Henry, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

[Illustration: CHARLES D. BLINN

Colonel of 13th Conn. Vols.]

Breen, John, Pvt. Co. K, 15th Inft., Trans. to Co. K, 7th Inft., Sub.

Briggs, Daniel, Pvt. Co. D, 13th Inft., R. E., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art.,

Dis. Disa., May 4, 1862, Wd. Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864.

Bingham, Charles, Pvt. Co. D, 6th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 9, 1864.

Bright, John, Pvt. Co. A, 7th Inft., Sub., deserted March 23, 1865.

Breunel, Charles, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. May 29, 1865.

Bronson, Andrew A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., deserted Aug. 11, 1865.

Bronson, Doctor, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Bronson, Charles R., Pvt. Co. C, 3d Inft.

Bronson, Francis H., Pvt. 14th Reg. Inft., U. S. A.

Bronson, William N., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died in service July 28,

1863.

Brown, Jackson J., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.

Brush, Joseph, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.

Buck, Andrew N., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa. May 11, 1862.

Buckingham, Andrew, Sergt. Co. I, 11th Inft., Dis. Disa. Oct. 24, 1862.

Buckingham, Clark, Band 4th Penn. Cav.

Buckingham, Earl, Band Leader, 2d Lieut. 4th Penn. Cav.

Buckingham, Irwin C., Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. Oct. 19,

1864, Cedar Creek, Va., Dis. Disa. May 23, 1865.

Buckingham, Orlo H., Mus. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Burk, Joseph, Pvt. Co. A, 10th Inft., Sub., deserted June 15, 1865.

Burke, Nicholas, Pvt. Co. M, 2d h. Art., deserted March 25, 1865.

Burns, Edward C., Pvt. Co. C, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted to enemy March

21, 1865.

Burr, Thomas, Pvt, Co. B, 29th Inft., Col’d., Dis. Disa. May 28, 1864.

Cady, Cyrell, Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., Dishon. Disc. Dec. 28, 1863.

Caldwell, Smith P., Pvt. Co. K, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa. Jan. 19, 1863.

Calnen, Thomas, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art.

Camp, Edwin, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Camp, Edwin T., Pvt. Co. C, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa. Feb. 17, 1863.

Campbell, James, Pvt. Co. A, 5th Inft.

Canfield, William E., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Carman, George, Pvt. Co. C, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 1, 1863.

Carpenter, George E., Sergt. Co. F, 29th Inft., Col’d., Dis.

Disa. May 21, 1864.

Carroll, Edward, Pvt. Co. H, 5th Inft., deserted from 14th

Inft. March 29, 1863; Sub., deserted Oct. 5, 1864.

Clark, Titus, Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Cleggett, Louis A., Corp. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d., died

Dec. 25, 1864, Point of Rocks, Va.

Cole, Ferdinand, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., deserted July 27, 1865.

Cole, Henry S., Pvt. Co. D, 7th Inft., deserted Nov. 11, 1864.

Cole, Hobert, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Conlon, John, Pvt. Co. K, 14th Inft., Dis. Disa. Dec. 12, 1863.

Conley, Daniel, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. May 11, 1864.

Copley, George D., Band 4th Penn. Cav.

Corcoran, William, Pvt. Co. D, 20th Inft., Sub., deserted Oct. 5, 1864.

Conkwright, Alexander, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died July 13, 1863, at

Barancas, Fla.

Cummings, James P., Pvt. Co. G, 28th Inft.

Disbrow, David B., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., R. E., Pvt. Co.

H, 2d, h. Art., Dis. Disa. Jan. 15, 1863.

Disbrow, Henry S., Corp. Co. I, 8th Inft.

Disbrow, William E., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Dix, William, Pvt. Co. E, 8th Inft., Sub., shot for desertion Jan. 8,

1865.

Doane, Edward, Corp. Co. D, 13th Inft., Dis. Disa.

Dodge, Robert, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., injured at Port

Hudson, La., July, 1863.

Driscoll, Cornelius, Pvt. Co. G, 1st Reg. Cav., Sub., deserted July 1,

1865.

Dubois, Hiram, Corp. Co. K, 2d h. Art.

Dunham, Benjamin F., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Durand, William, Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted Aug. 25, 1865.

Dutcher, William P., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Wd. May 7, 1864, Walthall

Junc., Va., Dis. Disa. July 15, 1865.

Erwin, George S., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Erwin, Robert, Reg. Qm. Sergt. and Co. Qm. Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd.

Oct. 19, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Va.

Evans, James H., wagoner Co. C, 13th Inft.

Evits, Oliver B., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Farrel, John, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Feb. 18, 1865.

Farrell, William, Pvt. Co. A, 6th Inft., Sub.

Ferris, Hilliard, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died in New Milford July 27,

1862.

Ferris, Jay, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at New Orleans,

La., June 1, 1863.

Ferris, John, Pvt. Co. C, 13th Inft.

Ferris, Robert, Corp. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Sharpsburg, Md., Sept.

17, 1862.

Ferris, Stephen, 1st Sergt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Finn, John, Pvt. Co. I, 10th Inft., Sub.

Fisher, James, Pvt. Co. I, 14th Inft., Sub., deserted Aug. 14, 1864.

Ford, Aaron N., Mus. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at Brashier

City, La., May 22, 1863.

Ford, Charles, Mus. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa.

Franklin, Henry J., Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.

French, Francis L., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Fuller, Alfred E., Mus. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Garlick, Charles, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Wd. at Antietam, Md., Sept. 17,

1862.

Gaylord, Charles H., Sergt. and 1st Sergt. Co. C, 13th Inft.

Goodsell, Jerome, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., deserted Nov. 16, 1862.

Graves, Franklin S., Corp. Co. B, 2d h. Art.

Green, George A., Pvt. Co. K, 28th Inft.

Gregg, John, Pvt. Co. H, 5th Inft.

Gregory, Charles B., Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at Baton

Rouge, La., July 30, 1863.

Gridley, Henry S., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. Oct. 19, 1864, Cedar

Creek, Va.

Griffin, Edward, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., killed June 1, 1864,

at Cold Harbor, Va.

Harrington, George W., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., died Feb. 25, 1864, at

Alexandria, Va.

Hartwell, Willis, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died Oct. 28, 1864, at

Martinsburgh, Va.

Hatch, Calvin B., Sergt. and Lieut. Co. A, 2d h. Art., killed at Cold

Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.

Heacock, Richard, Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.

Healy, James, Pvt. Co. A, 10th Inft., Sub.

Hess, Christian, Pvt. Co. G, 10th Inft.

Higgins, John, Pvt. Co. I, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Oct. 1, 1863.

Hill, Samuel R., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Hine, Frederick R., Pvt. Co., 11th Inft., died Feb. 1, 1864, at

Alexandria, Va.

Hoag, David D., Capt. Co. D, 28th Inft., killed at Port

Hudson, June 14, 1863.

Hoag, George W., Pvt. Co. I, 6th Inft., Wd. at Drewry’s

Bluff, Va., May 16, 1864.

Hodge, Homer W., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold

Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.

Hoffman, Herman, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Hoyt, Charles A., Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold

Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.

Hoyt, Denman, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Hoyt, Henry R., Corp. and 1st Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Hoyt, Horatio S., Pvt. Sergt. and 1st Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Hunt, Gideon L., Pvt. Co. G, 23d Inft.

Hunt, Merritt, Mus. Co. G, 28th Inft.

Hurd, Charles A., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cedar

Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864.

Hurd, Robert B., Pvt. and Corp. Co. E, 1st h. Art., deserted July 28,

1865.

Hutchinson, John, Pvt. Co. I, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, Va., June

1, 1864, at Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864.

Irwin, Charles N., Sergt. and Lieut. Cos. I and E, 8th Inft., Wd. at

Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862, killed at Chapin’s Farm,

Va., Sept. 29, 1864, he having Vol. to remain for that battle after Exp.

of his term of service.

Jacklin, Philip H., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Newbern, N. C., Sept.

23, 1862.

Jackson, Charles W., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., killed at Cold Harbor, Va.,

June 1, 1864.

Jackson, Henry F., Pvt. and Corp. Co. C, 29th Inft., Col’d.

Janks, August, Pvt. Co. B, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted Sept. 6, 1865.

Jennings, Alvin H., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft.

Jennings, David J., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.

Jennings, Jay, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Dis. Disa. Dec. 11, 1862.

Jones, Horace E., Pvt. and Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Judson, Charles, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died, Aug. 10, 1863.

Karge, Earnest, Pvt. Co. C, 11th Inft., Sub.

Kinney, Andrew S., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Feb. 6, 1863.

Knowles, David W., saddler Co. C, 1st Cav.

Lake, David, Corp. and Sergt. Co. I, 8th Inft., killed at Antietam, Md.,

Sept. 17, 1862.

Lampson, Charles E., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Lampson, Frederick G., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., R. E. Pvt. Co. C, 2d h.

Art., Dis. Disa. Feb. 3, 1863.

Lampson, William, Pvt. Co. G, 28th Inft., died July 21, 1863, at Port

Hudson, La.

Lapoint, Joseph, Pvt. Co. E, 6th Inft.

Lathrop, Herman S., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.

Lathrop, Orrin F., Pvt. Co. F, 6th Inft.

Lathrop, William G., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Law, Sidney A., Pvt. and Corp. Co. K, 2d h. Art., died Jan. 29, 1865.

Lawrence, Thomas, Pvt. Co. E, 8th Inft., Trans. to Co. A, 10th Inft.,

Sub.

Lefever, Adolph, Pvt. Co. D, 10th Inft., Wd. at Ft. Gregg, Va., Apr. 2,

1865.

Logan, Frederick J., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Apr. 12, 1863.

Logan, George E., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Weaverstown, Md., Nov.

15, 1862.

Loverage, Joseph R., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died at Washington, Sept.

12, 1864.

Loverage, Remus, Mus. Band 4th Penn. Cav.

Loverage, Romulus C., Sergt. and Lieut. Cos. H and B, 2d h. Art.

Loveridge, Royal T., Pvt. Co. E, 1st h. Art.

Lyon, Edward F., Corp., Sergt., and 1st Sergt. Co. H., 2d h. Art.

Lyon, James, Pvt. Co. D, 1st h. Art., Sub., deserted May 21, 1865.

Mallett, Henry W., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Winchester, Va., Sept.

19, 1864.

Malloy, William, Pvt. Co. L, 2d h. Art., died Aug. 22, 1864.

Marsh, Albert N., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Marsh, Charles N., Corp. Co. D, 1st Cav., Wd. and Cap.

at Gordonsville, Va., Aug. 7, 1862, Cap. at Thoroughfare

Gap, Oct. 7, 1862, awarded Medal of Honor.

Marsh, Daniel E., 1st Sergt. and Lieut. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Marsh, Decater D., Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft., died at Barancas,

Fla., Apr. 12, 1863.

Marsh, Edward W., 2d Lieut. Co. H, and Capt. Co. M, 2d h. Art.

Marsh, George W., on Orcutt’s Rolls as being from New

Milford, but on the Conn. Offl. Rolls, as a deserter from Co.

A, 7th Inft., and a Sub. from Southbury, and as an unassigned

recruit to 18th Ill., who failed to report.

Marsh, Irwin G., Band 4th Penn. Cav.

Marsh, Philip G., Pvt. Co. I, 5th U. S. Art., on Orcutt’s Rolls, not on

Conn. Rolls.

McBath, David, Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1,

1864.

McHenry, Hugh, Pvt. Co. A, 1st h. Art., Sub., deserted July 29, 1865.

McKeagany, William, Pvt. Co. C, 1st h. Art., Sub., deserted July 10,

1865.

McLoy, John, Pvt. Co. C, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Jan. 15, 1865.

McMahon, Joseph, Pvt. Co. G, 28th New York Inft., Sergt.

Co. A., 2d M. R. of N. Y., died in Serv. in N. M., July 17, 1864.

McMahon, Michael, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Petersburg, Va., Aug.

31, 1864.

McMahon, Michael, 3d, Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Winchester, Va.,

Sept. 19, 1864.

Mehan, John, Pvt. Co. H, 11th Inft., Sub., deserted, confined, escaped.

Meney, Francis, Pvt. Co. A, 13th Inft., Sub., Wd. at Winchester, Va.,

Sept. 19, 1864, deserted Oct. 31, 1864.

Merwin, Garwood R., Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., died Jan. 25, 1863, at

Alexandria, Va.

Mintsch, John L., Pvt., Co. D, 28th Inft. and Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art.

Monroe, Edward, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Jan. 25, 1864.

Monroe, John, Pvt. Co. A, 11th Inft., Sub., Dis. Disa. Nov. 11, 1865.

Moore, Frank, Pvt. Co. I, 10th Inft., Sub., deserted March 8, 1865.

Morehouse, Frank, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Morehouse, Lyman F., Pvt. Co. A, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, Va.,

June 1, 1864, Dis. Disa. June 21, 1865.

Morehouse, Henry S., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Morgan, William, Pvt. Co. C, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 1, 1863.

Morrison, William E. L., Sergt. and Pvt. Co. I, 29th Inft. Col’d., Wd.

at Kell House, Va., Oct. 27, 1864, died Nov. 12, 1864.

Mosher, James D., Corp. Co. C, 13th Inft., died at Brasier City, La.,

Aug. 6, 1863.

Mosher, Lewis W., Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold

Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864, Dis. Disa. May 24, 1865.

Munson, John, Pvt. Co. K, 2d h. Art., Wd. at Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864,

died from wounds, Aug. 30, 1864.

Murphy, Michael, Pvt. Co. C, 5th Inft., Sub., deserted Nov. 1, 1863.

Nichols, Ezra L., Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.

Nichols, Orlando, Pvt. Co. G, 10th Inft., Sub.

Noble, Andrew B., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Noble, Henry C., Corp. and Sergt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., Dis. Disa. Feb. 4,

1865.

Northrope, Lawrence, Mus. Band 4th Penn. Cav.

O’Callaghan, Timothy O., Pvt. Co. F, 2d h. Art., killed at Winchester,

Va., Sept. 19, 1864.

Odell, John, Pvt. Co. C, 13th Inft.

O’Niel, William, Pvt. Co. E, 10th Inft., killed at Fort Gregg, Va., Apr.

2, 1865.

Parkes, Joseph P., Sergt. and 1st Sergt. Co. A, 2d h. Art., killed at

Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864.

Phillips, Chester, Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d., killed at

Petersburg, Sept. 23, 1864.

Phillips, Henry, Pvt. Co. I, 11th Inft., deserted Dec. 16, 1861.

Pike, Luther M., Corp. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Plumb, Alonzo, Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft., died Aug. 21, 1863.

Plumb, Harvey G., Pvt. Co. D, 28th Inft.

Plumb, Henry, Surgeon 2d h. Art.

Plumb, Harvey G., Pvt. Co. I, 123d New York Vol.

Potter, George D., Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Potter, George H., Corp. Co. H, 2d h. Art.

Purdy, Charles, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., Wd. at Fort Huger,

Va., Apr. 19, 1863, Dis. Disa., Apr. 4., 1864.

Randolph, Harvey J., Pvt. Co. K, 29th Inft., Col’d.

Read, Herbert H., Pvt. Co. H, 2d, h. Art., Pris. at Ford’s

Mills, Va., June 14, 1864, died in Andersonville, Ga., July 3, 1864.

Rice, Levi, Pvt. Co. H, 2d h. Art., appears on Orcutt’s Rolls,

but not on Government Rolls.

Roach, Thomas, Pvt. Co. D, 8th Inft., Sub., deserted Dec. 2, 1864.

Roberts, Andrew, Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Newbern, N. C., Apr. 1,

1862.

Roberts, Henry M., Pvt. Co. I, 8th Inft., died at Newbern, N. C., Apr.

6, 1862.