the eastern front of the town; a solid stone wall, overlaid with an old
fashioned coping, surrounds it, and a few spruces and hemlocks
overshadow the graves. It is a spot wonderfully rich in historic dust:
two famous Governors of Connecticut, a Chief Justice, a genial poet,
judges, senators, generals and colonels without number sleep within its
confines. To a stranger unfamiliar with the history of Connecticut it
reveals the fact, that within the present century the State was ruled by
these quiet, dreamy, far inland towns, and not by the present bustling,
assuming cities....
THE WOLCOTTS.
The Wolcott plot is near the centre of the yard, marked by five
monuments and four massive tables of marble and granite. On the first
table one reads: “In memory of Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury
of the United States and Governor of Connecticut, born 4th January 1760,
died 1st June 1833.” Further west, on a marble table, is another
inscription: “To the memory of Oliver Wolcott, late Governor of the
State of Connecticut, who was born December 1st, 1726 and who died
December 1st 1797.” They were father and son. Of the elder Wolcott
history has recorded that he was the son of Roger Wolcott, and took up
his residence in Litchfield, as Sheriff, on the organization of the
county in 1751. He was Governor from 1796 until his death in 1797, and,
before this, had been State Senator, Judge, member of the Continental
Congress, major general of militia, and one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. On his return from signing the Declaration
at Philadelphia, it is said, he found in the village a leaden statue of
George III, which had formerly stood in the Bowling Green, New York, but
had been thrown down by the patriots and secretly transported to
Litchfield. The continental levies, then assuming form, were sadly in
need of bullets, and his quick eye at once detected certain encouraging
possibilities in the statue. A shed was at once erected in the
apple-orchard adjoining the General’s house, and the young ladies of the
village invited to a frolic in running bullets. With his wood axe the
patriot cut the statue into small pieces, which were then given to the
ladies, and by them melted and run in moulds. In the Wolcott Papers we
have confirmation of the legend in a statement in General Wolcott’s
handwriting of the number of cartridges furnished by the fallen majesty.
By this paper it appears that Mrs. Marvin made 6,056 cartridges, Ruth
Marvin 6,204 Laura (the General’s daughter) 4,250, Mary Ann (another
daughter) 5,762, Frederick (his son) 708, Mrs. Beach 2,002, and “sundry
persons,” names not given, enough to swell the total to 42,288.
COLONEL TALLMADGE.
Another famous Revolutionary worthy and former resident of the village,
Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, lies near the Wolcott tomb, in a plot
surrounded by an iron railing, and containing, besides his own, the
graves of his two wives. The inscription on his stone is very simple:
“Hon. Benjamin Tallmadge b. Feb 25, 1754, died March 7th 1835,” followed
by the Scriptural sentiment, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks
so panteth my soul after Thee, O God!” Colonel Tallmadge’s course
through the Revolution was a particularly honorable one. For a time he
commanded a squadron of cavalry in Colonel Sheldon’s regiment, and
distinguished himself for both dash and courage. Later, the whole secret
service of the army was intrusted to him, and on the Westchester lines,
and in the whaleboat warfare of the sound, he performed many deeds of
valor. It was largely due to him that André was detected and held for
punishment. From 1778 to the close of the war Colonel Tallmadge was the
confidential friend and correspondent of Washington, and a great part of
the correspondence between the two is said to be still in the hands of
the family. After the war he became a resident of Litchfield, and, as a
Representative from Connecticut, was a marked figure in the debates of
Congress for sixteen years.
LAW SCHOOL.
The modest tomb near by, of Charles Sanford Dart, of Charleston, S. C.,
who died in 1823, while a law student in Litchfield, recalls one of the
most ancient, and honorable institutions of the village—the law school.
A brief search discovers in the southeast corner of the yard the graves
of the Hon. Tapping Reeve, its founder, and of Judge James Gould, his
associate and successor. Judge Reeve’s stone bears the modest
inscription: “Hon. Tapping Reeve. L.L.D.; late Chief Justice of the
State, died Dec. 13th 1823, in the eightieth year of his age.” Judge
Reeve began his career as tutor to the orphan children, Sally and Aaron,
of President Burr of Princeton, and when his gentle pupil became of
proper age married her. He came to Litchfield in 1772, and began what
later became his law school by taking a few young gentlemen into his
family as law students. One of these was his brother in law, the
celebrated Aaron Burr, who was pursuing his studies at Litchfield when
the news of Lexington called him with other adventurous spirits, to the
field. In 1784 Judge Reeve fairly opened his famous school. The legal
questions and complications growing out of the war, had created a great
demand for lawyers, and, as all the ardent and capable spirits, of the
young nation began crowding into the profession the school was thronged
from the outset. For over fifty years it continued without a rival, and
became as famous and popular in the South as on the hills of New
England. Traditions of the school and of the escapades of the students
are rife in the village. Judge Gould conducted the school alone after
1820. In the preface of a catalogue of 1828 it is stated that the number
of graduates before 1793 probably exceeded four hundred. John C. Calhoun
was of the class of 1805. The curriculum then comprised a daily lecture
on the rules and principles of law, which the students were required to
take down in full; every Saturday an examination was held on the weeks
lectures. A moot court for the arguing of law questions was also held
once a week, in which the students had practice in the trial and
disposition of cases. There was also a society for forensic exercises
entirely controlled by the students. The whole course comprised fourteen
months, and two years were required to finish it. The students of the
law school probably found life in the village much more supportable from
the presence there of a hundred or a hundred and fifty fair damsels,
pupils in Miss Pierce’s Female Academy. The grave of this lady should be
in our old church yard near those of the eminent educators named, though
we fail to find it. She was the pioneer in America of the movement for
the higher education of women and her school was the first established
in this country with that object in view.
MISS PIERCE’S SCHOOL.
There are several well preserved old ladies in Litchfield who were among
Miss Pierce’s pupils, and who have exceedingly interesting reminiscences
of their school days to relate. Her school house, a long, low, one story
structure, stood on the main street, a short distance above the building
where Judge Gould gave his lectures. At one time Miss Pierce had under
her care 137 young ladies, representing nearly every State in the Union.
In addition to the ornamental branches—music, painting, embroidery—she
taught philosophy, logic, rhetoric, astronomy, chemistry, and the common
English branches, and is described as having been very thorough in all.
Not finding in the bulky histories then in vogue anything suited to her
purpose, she compiled for her own use a school history in four volumes.
Merit was recorded by a system of credit marks and as Judge Reeve’s law
students made a point of dropping in on Friday afternoons to hear them
read off each young lady was very careful of her record in this respect.
It is remembered that Miss Pierce sometimes showed partiality in
bestowing these favors, for instance, if a Connecticut girl missed four
words in spelling she received a debit mark whereas a Hudson River girl
might miss nineteen and only receive the obnoxious mark with the
twentieth. It is admitted, however, that this law may have been founded,
on Miss Pierce’s knowledge of the superior philological capacities of
Yankee girls. The great events of the school year were the balls, given
sometimes by the young ladies in the school room and sometimes by the
law students in Deacon Buel’s ballroom, or in the large dancing hall of
the tavern. Only young ladies of sixteen and over were allowed to attend
the latter, however, and the law students were furnished each term with
a list of the eligible ones. Then there were charades and amateur
theatricals, and for a real frolic a husking bee on some neighboring
farm. It is probable, however, that there was little need of the young
people looking without for entertainment, for in those days a very
courtly and polished society existed in the village. There were at this
time, it is said, seventeen graduates of colleges residing in the town;
two of these were at different times Governors of the State, two Chief
Justices, three members of the national Congress, and four had been
general officers in the Revolutionary army.
Graduation exercises in Miss Pierce’s school consisted of an examination
of the pupils by a committee appointed for the purpose and the
distribution of diplomas. We were shown one of these, a time-discolored
relic of fifty years’ standing; it was of white silk bound with blue
ribbon, and bore a globe with a female figure studying it; underneath
was the recipient’s name and the motto “We look with pleasure on thy
opening virtues.” Of course among so many young people—the sifted wheat
of their respective communities—there was not a little decorous
love-making, and many romantic tales and love episodes are recounted by
the village gossips. Col. Aaron Burr, during his frequent visits to his
sister, was an object of great interest to the ladies and made many
conquests. For several months in 1781 Mrs. Theodosia Prevost, who the
next summer became the wife of Colonel Burr, was a resident of the
village, and won all hearts by her amiability and wit. John C. Calhoun,
the great nullifier, is remembered as a silent, thoughtful young man,
rather averse than otherwise to society, although an account against him
in the ledger of one of the village merchants shows that he sometimes
made use of the good things of life. Perhaps as pleasant a story as we
heard was that of Miss Mabel Strong, daughter of Judge John Strong, of
Vermont. To attend the school, this young lady, with her escort, rode
from her home in Addison, Vt., to Litchfield on horseback, a distance of
150 miles, and without baggage, her wardrobe for the year being made up
after her arrival. On completing her school days Miss Strong departed to
her northern home, but shortly returned as a bride, and spent the rest
of her days in the village as the wife of one of its prominent
residents. There are many other graves of note in the churchyard, among
them the tombs of the poet Rev. John Pierpont, and two of the children
of Lyman Beecher, and some that excite interest from their quaint and
curious epitaphs. The tomb of Frederick Asa Bacon, of the navy, attached
to the schooner Sea-gull, of the United States exploring expedition,
which foundered off Cape Horn May 1st 1839 with the loss of all on
board, brings to mind almost the first venture of our navy in the field
of scientific discovery.
C. B. T.
[_From Harper’s Magazine for 1877._]
LITCHFIELD HILL.
About one hundred miles from New York city, perched among the hills of
Northwestern Connecticut, at an elevation of more than twelve hundred
feet above the level of the sea, lies one of the most picturesque of New
England’s villages, now chiefly known to the people of the metropolis as
a place of summer residence, but whose crown of glory is its connection
with the past.
Though most of the modern prosperity of the Hill is due to its improved
means of communication with the outer world, its ancient importance may
be largely credited to its comparative isolation. On this account,
probably, was it selected in the war of the Revolution as one of the
chief dépôts for military stores, and for the safe-keeping of royalist
prisoners. When New York fell into the hands of the British, the road
from Hartford through Litchfield became the principal highway between
New England and the West, and over it was hauled most of the provisions
and munitions of war for the Continental forces beyond the Hudson. The
village being far inland and away from any navigable river, it became
the army head quarters in Western Connecticut, and a place of
considerable activity. Its workshops rang with the busy sounds of
preparation, the lowing of beeves and the shouts of teamsters were often
heard in its streets, and its taverns bristled with military importance.
Nearly all of the general officers of the Revolution visited it at
various times, and although it was never the scene of great events, it
bore its share of the burdens of the struggle, and its hospitable roofs
doubtless witnessed many a consultation which led to important results.
But great as were the glories of the Hill in the Revolutionary times,
they were fairly eclipsed in the period succeeding them, when the
celebrated law school, and the no less famous female seminary which
existed contemporaneously with it, attracted pupils from every State in
the Union. These accessions to its population contributed largely to a
society already brilliant, and which included in its numbers a large
proportion of highly educated men and women. It is no exaggeration to
say that this isolated New England town was at that time the centre of a
culture unexcelled, and in some respects unequalled, in its day. The
Rev. Dan Huntington, who was called in 1798 from a tutorship in Yale
College to the pastorate of the Congregational church, describes it as
“a delightful village on a fruitful hill, richly endowed with its
schools, both professional and scientific, and their accomplished
teachers, with its venerable Governors and judges, with its learned
lawyers, and Senators and Representatives both in the national and State
departments, and with a population enlightened and respectable.”
It is no reflection on the intelligence of summer visitors to the Hill
to say that there are probably some among them who never heard of its
chief claim to distinction, and who pass by the simple head-stone that
marks the grave of Reeve and the more ambitious monument that
commemorates in Latin the virtues of Gould, unconscious that through
their efforts Litchfield became better known throughout the Union than
any other place of its population in the country. Yet in many a distant
State their memory is still green, and the writer has often been
questioned concerning the law school, particularly in the South, by
those whose fathers or grandfathers had enjoyed its benefits, yet who
had never heard of its discontinuance.
It was in 1772 that Tapping Reeve, a young lawyer fresh from his
studies, removed from Princeton, New Jersey, where he had for several
years held a tutorship in the college, and began the practice of law
upon the Hill, then a quiet country village, but already beginning to
feel the leaven of the Revolution. With him came his newly married wife,
born Sally Burr, daughter of the Rev. Aaron Burr, president of the
College of New Jersey, and granddaughter of Jonathan Edwards. But a few
years sufficed to give him a reputation for intellect and varied
learning and a commanding position among the lawyers of the State. Mr.
Reeve was a remarkable man in many respects.
In 1784 Mr. Reeve began the instruction of legal students, and met with
such success that up to 1798 more than two hundred young men from his
office had been admitted to the bar. In this year he was chosen a judge
of The Superior Court, and he associated with himself in the conduct of
the school James Gould, one of his own graduates, and who had previously
held a tutorship in Yale College.
It is, perhaps, necessary to explain that the school was never an
incorporated institution, nor were any buildings ever erected for its
use. The instructors lectured each in his own law office, and the
students boarded in the houses of the village. The office of Judge
Reeve, which stood in his own door-yard, was removed several years ago
to West Street, and transformed into a cottage. Judge Gould’s office,
which also stood near his dwelling, is now a cottage without the
village.
Of the graduates from 1798 to 1833, whose names alone appear in the
printed catalogue,[91] no register having been kept for the first
fourteen years, sixteen became United States Senators, fifty members of
Congress, forty judges of higher State courts, eight Chief Justices of
States, two justices of the United States Supreme Court, ten Governors
of States, five cabinet ministers, and several foreign ministers, while
very many were distinguished at the bar.
Like the law school, Miss Sarah Pierce’s female seminary was the first
institution of its kind in the United States, and, like it also, it was
for many years pre-eminent in its sphere. It was begun in 1792, and
during the nearly forty years of its existence more than fifteen[92]
hundred young ladies were educated in its halls, and fitted for the
elevated positions which so many of them attained. Its fame still lives
in the memory of many who shared its benefits; but the visitor curious
in regard to its site is now pointed only to the great elms which once
shaded its roof.
APPENDIX A.
Col. John Pierce, born 1750, son of John Pierce of Litchfield and Mary
Patterson, married Anna Bard of New York, daughter of Dr. Bard,
physician to General Washington. He entered the army May 31, 1775; was
made assistant paymaster to the Continental Army February 10, 1776, and
the same to the Connecticut Colonial troops; deputy paymaster-general
June 7, 1779; paymaster-general January 17, 1781, with rank of colonel.
He was made commissioner after the close of the war to settle the
accounts of the army. He died in New York August 1, 1788. He was
thirteen years in the paymaster’s department of the army; he belonged to
the order of the Cincinnati and was an able officer and a friend of
Washington. He “served his country with a fidelity and patriotism in
those days of peril and great financial stress worthy of great
admiration.”[93]
The following are letters and verses by and to Col. John Pierce:
DEAR BROTHER
I sincerely thank you for your obliging Letter of the 20th Ult. and am
very glad to find you have some of your old warmth of spirit
remaining, for my part placed among so many difficulties & such a
constant scene of Disappointments & Delays, I am sometimes very
melancholy. but your Letter like a chearing Ray of Light, for a moment
Illumined my soul and made me for a while forget our Public Troubles.
Tho’ at the same time the object we aim at, Inspires me to undergo the
greatest and most insurmountable difficulties—it is not the pursuit of
present, but for the lasting happiness, which like the Smiles of
Heaven —— imparted to Thousands, who shall receive the blessing at
_OUR_ Hands. Such a prospect as this I own is flattering and is very
different as you justly observed from the Ideas we in Studious
Emulation, passed happily together in the Calm morning of Social Life,
can I own to you, that the same principles of Ambition which I then
had, are not in my Mind. Dull Metaphysicks & Duller Law Books, and
even Law itself is not my Pursuit, new Connections, and new Schemes of
Ambition are opening, in the very Centre of Intelligence & Politicks.
I am perpetually on the eve of Expectation, or desponding [which is
too often the Case] on Ill concerted Measures and worse Execution
among us, while at the same time my heart is wrung for Human Misery,
especially that which is the Consequence of War.
When we were together, we should have formed in our Poetical
Imaginations, the anxious Parent or the Fonder Virgin, on the flutter
of Apprehension with every Passion of the Soul, for the least whisper
of news that might affect the Object of their Passion, and when the
Youth falls a sad victim of his Virtues, we should partake with True
tears of humanity, the grief, the Pain, the heart breaking Anguish of
their Distress, while all their busy expectations of happiness—and
their warmest wishes are dropped at once into the dark & senseless
grave.
But Dear sir a more cruel scene has fallen to our share, which so far
from being Imaginary——bounds of Language cannot paint, and we can only
say—that every misery the Alotment of poor wretched Mortals fell to
their share. destitute of every thing either to defend them or remove
the cause of their Sickness they were neglectedly left without
Consolation.
And it seemed that those who before pitied the Misfortunes of others
were now wholly taken up, with getting clear from seeing or relieving
them, and those enfeebled by disease would not relieve themselves,
were left to the Mercy of Death. Such was some of our Distresses which
always follow, Sickness & precipitate Retreats, Especially when there
is no Place prepared for that Purpose. A rapid Conquest—a successful
scene of Events lulled into a state of Security—we imagined every
thing would fall before us—and while a Montgomery lived, they did. But
his Death ushered in our Misfortunes—and one continued scene of ill
success Indeed. If we had, as all good Generals ought—secured, to
ourselves a Place of Retreat—our Army would not have suffered so much.
But a fatal blindness pursued us, and we are now to Encounter a large
Army by dispirited, Sickly men.
The opening blossoms and the balmy air
Returning graces of the blushing Fair
With softest charms no more the heart inflames
No more inspires the Philosophik dreams
But now each breast from God & Natures Laws
Asserts his freedom & his Country’s Cause
With humble passion first he beg’d redress
The supphant Posture shew’d our deep distress
Shew’d our own rights; our supplications now
To George’s throne & there unmasked our woes
Yet found too true that Britain’s envious throne
Had lost that Goodness which a George should own
For kind returns the bellowing cannons roar
And hostile fleets invade our infant Shore
Inhuman wretches mark their crimson way
And faithful Boston falls their eager prey.
Can you my Polly hide the tender tear
Or mark unanxious all their mad career
Can your friend Pierce withold himself from good
His heart, his country, or his hand, from blood
No; Let him in freedom pass his happiest days
Or die contented with its setting rays
Then do not mourn if Pierce no more remain
To hear or see his Country’s groans & Chains
See the rich Lordling Virgins Claim
And force sweet Innocence to Death & Shame
His Sisters’ murdered, or his friend betrayed
His Father shackled, and unknown his God
Let his pale Corpse e’er Carnaga thus shall come
Lie low within the dark and silent tomb
Nor know, nor fear, in that propitious hour
A North, or George or any friend of Power
But safe pursue my sister Polly’s way
And in some vale obscure smile on departing day
Secure with him your love alone can claim
Unknown to Envy, and unknown to Fame
With cheerful thanks partake in Natures bower
The purest stream & herb & roots & flower
There in sweetness, Temperance & Love
Fore Taste the blessings of the Blest above
May 5th. 1775
Mr. John Pierce Jun^r. of Litchfield in Connecticut, having the summer
past been employed by Comissary Phelps at Albany as his Clerk and to
assist him generally in the Comissary business, which M^r. Pierce I am
well informed has done with fidelity and dispatch, and M^r Phelps having
now resigned that Department and M^r Pierce being desirous of some
proper employment in the army—I can with great satisfaction, recommend
M^r Pierce as young Gentleman of fair and unexceptionable Character—I
have known him from his Infancy and he has in my Opinion very justly
acquired the reputation of a faithful, industrious prudent and virtuous
Man—A good Writer & Accountant a Man of Business and Dispatch, amiable
in his Disposition, and entirely well affected to the American Cause—And
I believe may very safely be employed in any business, in the Army where
those Qualifications are necessary.
Litchfield 6^{th} Janu^y AD 1776
OLIVER WOLCOTT
The above is a true Copy of an original, which is now in my Possession
as a security for the s^d Pierce’s faithful performance of the Duty of
an Ass. Pay Master.
Albany 29^{th} Feb^y 1776.
JON^A TRUMBULL Jun^r PMast^r Gen^{ll}
in Northern Department.