Nearly opposite the Trumbull mansion is the old tavern kept during the Revolution by Captain Alden. It is famous generally as a place of rendezvous of the French officers, for drinking and playing, and more particularly as the house where General Prescott, the British officer who was captured on Rhode Island, stopped to dine, while on his way, under an escort, to Washington's camp, and received a horsewhipping from the landlord. *
Of the remarkable circumstances of Prescott's capture I shall hereafter write. Mr. Wattles, the present proprietor of the old tavern, is a descendant of Captain Alden. While making the annexed sketch we were joined by Captain Dutton, the venerable citizen to whom we bore a letter of introduction, but who was absent from home when we arrived in the village. He has a distinct recollection of all the revolutionary events about Lebanon and vicinity, and could direct us to every spot made memorable by those events.
On the corner of the road leading from Lebanon to Windham is the house once occupied by William Williams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It has been slightly modified, but its general appearance is the same as it was during the Revolution Its present occupant is Mr. Sim-eon Peckam. A biographical sketch of Mr. Williams will be found among those of the Signers, in another portion of this work, and the most prominent events of his life are also noticed in his epitaph, given on the next page.