General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great BritainPeters, Samuel
History
General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great Britain
Peters, Samuel
Connecticut -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Connecticut -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
The _Sober Dissenters_, chagrined at being disappointed in their
hostile project against Boston, readily embraced the opportunities
which afforded of wreaking their vengeance upon New-York. At the
instance of the rebel party there, who found themselves too weak to
effect their purpose of subverting the Constitution of the province, a
large body immediately posted to their assistance, delivered “their
brethren” from the slavery of regal government, and invested them with
the liberty of doing that which was fit in their own eyes, under the
democratic administration of the immaculate Livingstons, Morris,
Schuyler, &c. As seemed necessary to the furtherance of their pacific
views, frequent irruptions were made afterwards, in which many
loyalists were disarmed and plundered, and some of them taken
prisoners. Among these last were the Rev. Dr. Seabury and the Mayor of
New-York. Governor Tryon happily escaped their fury; as also did the
Rev. Miles Cooper, LL.D., who was leaving his house through a back
window when a party of ruffians burst into his chamber and thrust
their bayonets into the bed he had just quitted. Mr. Rivington was one
of the sufferers by the loss of his property.
These “good people” of Governor Trumbull’s, who dreaded nothing so
much as a civil war, with the reverse of reluctance, plundered his
house of all printing materials and furniture, and carried the type to
Newhaven, where they were used in the service of Congress.
The King’s statue, however, maintained its ground till after General
Washington, with the Continental army, had taken possession of the
city; when it was indicted for high treason against the Dominions of
America, found guilty, and received a quaint sentence of this kind,
viz. That it should undergo the act of decollation; and, inasmuch as
it had no bowels, its legs should be broken, and that the lead of it
should be run into bullets, for the destruction of the English
bloody-backs, and the refuse cast into the sea. The sentence was
immediately carried into execution, amidst the huzzas and
vociferations of “Praise ye the Lord!”
This insult upon his Majesty, General Washington, to his credit,
thought proper thus to notice in his general orders of the next day.
He was sorry, he said, that his soldiers should in a riotous manner
pull down the statue of the King of Great Britain.
While General Washington remained in possession of New-York,
Connecticut served as a prison for those persons who had the
misfortune to fall under his suspicion as disaffected to the cause of
freedom. He was himself, however, at length obliged to evacuate it by
General Howe, to the great relief of such royalists as remained.
In April, 1777, some magazines having been formed by the Americans at
Danbury and Ridgfield, Major-General Tryon was sent with 1800 men to
carry off or destroy them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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