Not far off was a government depot for military stores under the charge at first of Commissary William Richards and later of Governor Wolcott. This was erected near the site of Doctor Buel’s house. Another was added to it about where the Court House now stands. A military guard was stationed here night and day. At the time of the Revolution, Litchfield was thought to be so far from the fighting line as to be safe from attack by the British. The leaden statue of King George the Third which was pulled down from the pedestal on which it stood on the Bowling Green of New York City was carried up there in pieces for the same reason. Some of the young people of the village had a frolic in the orchard back of Governor Wolcott’s house melting it and running it into bullets to be fired back again at the supporters of the King. An authentic account of the affair is given in the following letter of Henry Guy Gould, son of Judge Gould: An Equestrian statue of Geo-3 stood in the Bowling Green, N. York—It stood till 1776 when twas thrown down. No part of the horse or rider was ever seen after its overthrow. An American gentleman in Russia speaks of it thus. I saw a flaming engraving of it in a black wooden frame. The ringleader was a negro, straining with all his might at a rope, one end of which was fastened to the head of the statue, and the other end tied around the negro’s waist—how this picture got to Russia is a mystery—A Mrs. Marvin and the Wolcotts melted this statue into bullets—running the lead into moulds—besides this the Wolcott ladies made 42,000 cartridges—the statue was lead gilded. In Mr. Wolcott’s orchard was a shed, where he chopped up the statue with an axe—& his sisters & daughters had the fun of moulding the lead into bullets—& making them into cartridges—This is all the record that I can find—but it is a most amusing account of the fact—Could king George have heard the conversation during the melting & moulding of the lead he might have said— “Let not the heavens hear these telltale women rail at the Lord’s anointed.” The “_lead_” was a true satire on the dull heavy old king George—Indeed, I wonder that the proud English nation should condescend to make a statue of their honored king of lead. These bullets were used by our army to shoot at the English. I hope you will not criticise the penmanship, as my hand is rather weak—and I am 71 years old. HENRY GUY GOULD— Litchf’d—Conn^t Oct. 20. 1872— In Kilbourne’s History of Litchfield we also find a detailed account of this frolic and learn that by actual count 42,088 bullets were made.