THE RECORD OF REDDING
Mr. Grumman has produced a wholly novel and unique work[[1]] of a character never before attempted so far as we are aware. It is a record of the services and sufferings of the Revolutionary patriots of a Connecticut town, which through its sons made history and influenced public opinion in a much greater degree than its position and importance would have promised. It is a record also of the loyalists of the town, who suffered even more for their King and Cause than did the patriots, since defeat and banishment with confiscation of their estates was their final portion.
Redding (formerly written Reading) is one of the “hill towns,” of Connecticut, seven miles from Danbury and thirteen from Bridgeport, the two “shire towns,” of Fairfield County. Its people have always been noted for brain force and intelligence. The number of its sons who have won high places in the professions, in art, literature, diplomacy, the army and navy is something remarkable. At the outbreak of the Revolution it was the seat of a polite and learned society far superior to that of the average country town of the day.
Mr. Grumman divides his book into two parts—“Military History,” (a terse and simple account of the campaigns in which Redding soldiers figured, with incidents) and “Revolutionary Soldiers and Patriots of Redding,” a series of biographies which is the larger and more valuable portion of the work. In Part I he first sketches in sharp outline the two opposing forces which the troubles with England created in Redding as elsewhere—the patriots and tories. The former organized their “American Association,” the latter—very numerous and respectable in Redding—formed their “Redding Loyalist Association,” (perhaps the first of the kind in America), in February, 1775.
“In the present critical situation of publick affairs,” to quote its preamble this Association adopted a set of “Resolves” which were published in James Rivington’s Gazette for Feb. 23, 1775, as follows:—
First. Resolved, That while we enjoy the privileges and immunities of the British Constitution we will render all due obedience to his most Gracious Majesty King George the Third, and that a firm dependence on the Mother Country is essential to our political safety and happiness.
Second. Resolved, That the privileges and immunities of this Constitution are yet (in a good degree) continued to all his Majesty’s American subjects, except those who, we conceive, have justly forfeited their right thereto.
Third. Resolved, That we supposed the Continental Congress was constituted for the purpose of restoring harmony between Great Britain and her colonies and removing the displeasure of his Majesty toward his American subjects, whereas on the contrary some of their resolutions appear to us immediately calculated to widen the present unhappy breach, counteract the first principles of civil society, and in a great degree abridge the privileges of their constituents.
Fourth. Resolved, That notwithstanding we will in all circumstances conduct with prudence and moderation we consider it an indispensable duty we owe to our King and Constitution, our Country and posterity, to defend, maintain and preserve at the risk of our lives and properties the prerogatives of the Crown, and the privileges of the subject from all attacks by any rebellious body of men, any Committees of Inspection, Correspondence, &c.
(“Signed by one hundred and forty one Inhabitants whose names are to be seen at the Printer’s.”—adds Rivington.)
The effect of this document on the patriots of Redding was like that of a red rag on a bull. They at once set to work to discover its signers and presently made public in a circular the entire list so far as they belonged in Redding. It was given out by the Committee of Observation under this preamble.
“Whereas, There was a certain number of resolves published—and whereas said Resolves are injurious to the rights of this Colony and breathe a spirit of enmity and opposition to the rights and liberties of all America and are in direct opposition to the Association of the Continental Congress: and notwithstanding said resolutions were come into with a (seeming) view to secure the said signers some extraordinary privileges and immunities, yet either through negligence in the printer or upon design of the subscribers, said signed names are not made publick—and now if there be any advantage in adopting those principles we are willing they should be entitled there to; and for which end and for the more effectual carrying into execution said Association we have taken some pains and by the assistance of him who carried said resolves to said Printer we have obtained the whole of said names. But as we mean not to publish the names of any except those who belong to said Reading, their names are as follows.”
Some seventy-four names follow, and then this note:
“There are only forty two Freeholders in the above number; there are several minors, &c., to make the above number of seventy four that belong to said Reading, and we hereby hold them up to the publick as opposers to the Association of said Congress.
Signed by order of the Committee of Observation for said Town of Reading.
Ebenezer Couch,
Chairman.”
The Loyalist Association met this challenge by boldly publishing in Rivington’s Gazette the entire list of signers, and the battle began. The course of events very soon brought many of the loyalist signers into hearty accord with the patriots, as Mr. Grumman shows, but those who persisted were treated with such severity that they fled to the forests and caves, where they were concealed until they could escape to the British lines.
Free Masons will be interested in Mr. Grumman’s account of the making of American Union Lodge, among the officers of the Continental Line while the right wing of the Continental Army lay in winter quarters in Redding, 1778–9. “During the siege of Boston,” he says, “the meetings of the Grand Lodge ... were suspended and a commission was granted by John Rowe (the successor of Gen. Joseph Warren as Grand Master), to Col. Joel Clark of the Connecticut troops to establish a lodge within the army, which was to hold its meetings whenever convenient as the army moved from place to place.” This lodge was to be designated “The American Union Lodge.” It was accordingly organized, but the change of base to New York and the stirring events which followed seem to have prevented further meetings. Its Master, Col. Clark, died after the Long Island campaign and the Lodge appears to have lapsed until the encampment at Redding brought the Connecticut officers together with leisure to renew their fraternal relations. For this purpose the Lodge was convened early in February, in conformity to the following notice:
“On the application of a number of gentlemen, brethren of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, to the members of American Union Lodge held by authority under the Right Worshipful John Rowe Esq. Grand Master of all Masons in North America, where no Grand Master is appointed, requesting that the said American Union Lodge meet for the purpose of re-establishing the Ancient Craft in the same. Agreeable to which a summons was issued desiring the members of the American Union Lodge to meet at Widow Sanford’s, near Reading Olde Meeting House, on Monday the 15th of inst. February at 4 o’clock post m. and an invitation sent to the others, the brethren of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons to attend at 5 o’clock Post m.
Jonathan Heart,
Secretary.”
At this first meeting Gen. Samuel H. Parsons was elected Master in place of Col. Clark, deceased.
Several meetings of the Lodge were held while the Army lay at Redding, two of which were attended by Washington (though Mr. Grumman does not note the fact). On March 22 it held a dinner at Esq. Hawley’s, “the Rev. Dr. Evans and a number of gentlemen and ladies being present,” and a “Grand Banquet” on April 7th, four days before orders came for the Army to prepare to leave. A very full account of this is given by Mr. Grumman in a quotation from the Lodge records:
It having been voted to dine at three o’clock, at half past one the procession began as follows:
1. Br. Whitney, Outside Tyler.
2. The Wardens with white rods.
3. The youngest Brother with the Bag.
4. The Brethren by Juniority.
5. The W. Master with his Rod.
The Treasurer on his right hand supporting the Sword of Justice: the Secretary on his left supporting the Bible, Square, and Compasses.
6. Br. Peck, the Inside Tyler. Music advanced playing the Entered Apprentice March.
The W. Master and Brethren having seated themselves together with a number of respectable Inhabitants, gentlemen and ladies, the Rev. Doct. Evans delivered a discourse suitable to the occasion.
After dinner the W. Master called on Bro. Munson and others for songs and sentiments when the company were favored with the following, each song and toast being enlivened with appropriate music.
| Song by Bro. Munson | Watery Gods |
| Toast | Health of Congress |
| Music | Grenadier’s March |
| Song by Bro. Munson | Elegy on Gen. Wolfe |
| Toast | Arts and Sciences |
| Music | Dead March |
| Mason’s Song by Bro. Redfield | |
| Toast | The Good and Just |
| Music | Prince Eugene |
| Song by Bro. Munson | Colin and Phebe |
| Toast | The Ladies of America |
| Music | Country Jig |
| Song on Masonry by Bro. Marshall Music | Splendor of the Morning |
| Song by Bros. Munson and Marshall | The Tempest |
| With Jack the Seaman to conclude. |
At six o’clock the procession returned to the Lodge room and the Lodge being opened it was,
“Voted, That the thanks of the lodge be presented in writing to the Rev. Doct. Evans for his polite address and sentiments delivered this day, and that Bro. Waldo wait on him with the same; also that Bro. Waldo present our thanks to the Rev. Mr. Bartlett and to the other gentlemen and ladies who favored the lodge with their company at dinner.”
Todd, in his History of Redding gives one of the songs sung on this occasion.
But it is in his biographical record of the patriots and loyalists of Redding that Mr. Grumman’s book is most original and valuable. There are one hundred pages of these, compiled with an accuracy and fullness surprising to one who realizes the paucity of material of this sort now extant and the difficulty of securing it.
Joel Barlow, poet, statesman, and earlier, Chaplain in the Army was one of the most distinguished of these. Mr. Grumman has a very interesting extract from the diary of the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, dated Sept. 14, 1773, regarding young Joel’s matriculation at Moor’s preparatory school in Hanover, N. H., not given by any of the poet’s biographers so far as we are aware.
“Mr. Samuel Barlow of Reading, Mass, (Ct.?) brings his son Joel to school. The said son is to officiate as waiter on table at meal time and also to be at the beck of Miss Elizabeth: only in play time and vacations to perform such errands and incidental service as she shall have occasion for in her business, and in consideration of her services and his to have his board, viz: eating, drinking, washing, firewood, candles, study room and tuition.”
This Miss Elizabeth Burr was of Fairfield, Conn., near Reading, and came to have charge of Joel, and to “superintend the cooking in commons and manage the prudentials of it.” She was probably a relative and did this to aid the boy in getting an education, his father having a family of ten to provide for.
A typical Reading patriot was the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett who served the Congregational Church there as pastor for fifty-seven years, and who when hostilities broke out brought his sword, freshly ground, to his son Daniel, and bade him go and defend his country. Another was Lemuel Sanford, who represented Redding at twenty-two sessions of the General Assembly, covering a period of twenty years, served on numerous committees and died a Judge of the County Court.
The greatest patriot of all, and one of the greatest of the historic struggle, William Heron, Mr. Grumman places among the loyalists. This man was an Irishman, born in Cork in 1742, of good family and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was the intimate personal friend of Lord Howe, and the friend and trusted adviser of Washington and Putnam. Howe’s well known leniency toward the Americans was perhaps due to him, and the minute knowledge the patriot chiefs had of the British forces, and the plans of their leaders came largely from him. He was a shrewd, tactful, forceful, brilliant man with all an Irishman’s power of blarney, and hating the British as a loyal Irishman should, he yet hoodwinked Sir Henry Clinton, and his Adjutant General, Major Oliver DeLancey, into the belief that he was secretly an adherent of the British cause, and could give them valuable information. For years—with the full knowledge of Washington and Putnam—he maintained a correspondence with them, was allowed to come into the city of New York, was dined and wined by them, went freely about the city, and obtained information of the greatest value to the patriot leaders. What information he gave the British in return was either of no great importance, or would have come to them by some other channel. In Clinton’s “Record of Private Intelligence,” discovered in London in 1882, and purchased by Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet,[[2]] there are several letters from this man, some of them implicating Major General Samuel H. Parsons, of Connecticut, in treasonable intercourse with the British, but this was only a part of the plot. The career of Heron during the eight years of the war would furnish material for a dozen historical romances. Mr. Grumman prints a letter from Parsons to Washington, dated Apr. 6, 1782 in which he says of him:
“He is a native of Ireland, a man of very large knowledge, and a great share of natural sagacity united with a sound judgment, but of as unmeaning a countenance as any person in my acquaintance. With this appearance he is as little suspected as any man can be. An officer in the department of the Adjutant General is a countryman and very intimate acquaintance of Mr. Heron, through which channel he has been able frequently to obtain important and very interesting information.”
Parsons adds that he knows him to be a consistent National Whig, always in the field in every alarm and in every trial proving himself a man of bravery. Corroborative proof of this view is found in the fact that after the war, instead of being run off to Nova Scotia with the other loyalists, Heron represented Redding in seventeen sessions of the General Assembly, and was given other offices of importance by his townsmen.
A typical loyalist of Redding was John Lyon, a farmer and business man, who owned one hundred acres of land in the town with two houses thereon, beside a half interest in a schooner and much merchandise. This man not only signed the “Reading Resolves,” but carried them to Rivington, the King’s Printer in New York, who printed them. For this act in March, 1775, he was seized by a mob, ill treated and robbed, and his merchandise at Mill River (now Southport) to the value of five hundred pounds was also seized. The persecution continued until he was obliged to fly to the British lines, where he entered the King’s service, aided in raising the “King’s Rangers,” a loyalist regiment, and acted as guide during the war. At the close of the war he fled to Nova Scotia with his wife and two sons and settled at Kingston.
In his memorial to the King from which the above facts are taken, he estimates his losses at £1,790, and was allowed £290 in satisfaction (?) thereof.
Charles Burr Todd.
Bethel, Conn.
