Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut: An Account of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Town Held June 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1907, With a Number of Historical Articles and Reminiscences — John Shaqi
Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut: An Account of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Town Held June 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1907, With a Number of Historical Articles and ReminiscencesVarious
History
Two Centuries of New Milford Connecticut: An Account of the Bi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Town Held June 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1907, With a Number of Historical Articles and Reminiscences
Various
New Milford (Conn. : Town) -- History
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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