1659.
in the colonial history of a people who were among the earliest and most ardent supporters of the Revolution. *
It was a charming spot where the Puritan settlers founded the city of Norwich, a name given to it in honor of the English birth-place of some of them. "Birds and animals of almost every species belonging to the climate were numerous to an uncommon degree; and the hissing of snakes, as well as the howling of wolves and bears must soon have become familiar to their ears.
To complete the view, it may be added, that the streams swarmed with fish and wild fowl; in the brooks and meadows were found the beaver and the otter, and through the whole scene stalked at intervals the Indian and the deer." ** The planting of this settlement greatly pleased Uncas, but irritated the Narragansets; the former regarding it with pleasure, as the latter did with anger, as a barrier to the meditated invasions of the Mohegan country by the tribe of Miantonômoh. Uncas remained a firm friend to the whites until his death, which occurred soon after the close of King Philip's War, probably in 1683. He died at Mohegan (Norwich), and was interred in the burial-ground of his family, situated upon the high plain just above the falls of the Yantic. The royal cemetery has been inclosed, and a granite monument erected therein to the memory of the celebrated sachem.November 1, 1660 The first male white child born in Norwich was Christopher Huntington, afterward recorder of the town. The name of Huntington is intimately connected with the whole history of that settlement, and is prominent in our revolutionary annals. Several of that name were engaged in the army, and one. Samuel Huntington, was President of Congress. Indeed, the whole population seemed to be thoroughly imbued with the spirit of freedom, and from the Stamp Act era until the close of the war for independence, almost every patriotic measure adopted was an act of the town, not of impromptu assemblages of the friends of liberty or of committees. **** Like
* The reader is referred to a well-written volume of 360 pages, A History of Norwich, Connecticut, from its Settlement in 1660, to January, 1845: by Miss F. M. Caulkins. It is carefully compiled from the town records, old newspapers, and well-authenticated traditions, many of the latter being derived from then living witnesses of the scenes of the Revolution. I am indebted to this valuable little work for much interesting matter connected with Norwich.
** Miss Caulkins, page 40.
***This monument is on the south side of Prospect Street, and stands within a shaded inclosure surrounded by a hedge of prim, upon the estate of Judge Goddard. The obelisk is a single block of granite, and, with the pedestal, is about twenty feet high. The monument was erected by the citizens of Norwich. The foundation-stone was laid by President Jackson, while visiting Norwich during his Eastern tour in 1832. Several small tomb-stones of those of the royal line of Uncas are within the inclosure. The name has now become extinct, the last Uncas having been buried there about the beginning of the present century. A descendant of Uncas, named Mazeon, was buried there in 1827, on which occasion the wife of Judge Goddard (he being absent) invited the remnant of the Mohegan tribe, then numbering about sixty, to partake of a cold collation.