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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Arnold, Benedict, 1741-1801 (search)
nia from North Carolina, refused to serve with him. When Sir Henry Clinton found that the allied armies were actually going to Virginia, he tried to alarm Washington by threats of marauding expeditions. He sent Arnold, with a band of regulars and Tories, to commit atrocities in Connecticut. Arnold crossed the Sound, from Long Island, and on Sept. 6, 1781, landed his troops on each side of the Thames, below New London. He plundered and burned that town. and a part of his force took Fort Griswold, opposite, by storm. It was gallantly defended by Colonel Ledyard and a garrison of 150 poorly armed militiamen. Only six of the garrison were killed in the conflict, but after the surrender the British officer in command (Colonel Eyre) murdered Ledyard with his sword, and, refusing to give quarter to the garrison, seventy-three were massacred. Then the wounded were placed in a baggage-wagon and sent down the slope towards the river, with the intention of drowning them in the stream
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Avery, Waightstill, 1745-1821 (search)
Avery, Waightstill, 1745-1821 Lawyer; born in Groton, Conn.. May 3, 1745; studied law in Maryland. and began its practice in Mecklenburg county, N. C., in 1769. He was prominent there among the opposers of the obnoxious measures of the British Parliament bearing on the colonies, and was one of the promoters and signers of the famous Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress at Hillsborough in 1775 which organized the military forces of the State: and in the summer of 1776 he joined the army, under General Rutherford, in the Cherokee country. He was a commissioner in framing the treaty of Holston, which effected peace on the Western frontier. Mr. Avery was active in civil affairs; and in 1779 was colonel of the county militia, serving with great zeal during the British invasion of North Carolina. He removed to Burke county in 1781, which he represented in the State legislature many years. He was the first State attorney-general of
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Deane, James, 1748-1823 (search)
Deane, James, 1748-1823 Missionary to the Six Nations; born in Groton, Conn., Aug. 20, 1748; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1773. From the age of twelve years he was with a missionary in the Oneida tribe of Indians, and mastered their language. After his graduation he went as a missionary to the Caughnawagas and St. Francis tribes for two years; and when the Revolution broke out, Congress employed him to conciliate the tribes along the northern frontier. He was made Indian agent and interpreter at Fort Stanwix with the rank of major. He was many years a judge in Oneida county, and twice a member of the New York Assembly. Mr. Deane wrote an Indian mythology. He died in Westmoreland, N. Y., Sept. 10, 1823.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Deane, Silas, 1737-1789 (search)
Deane, Silas, 1737-1789 Diplomatist; born in Groton, Conn., Dec. 24, 1737; graduated at Yale College in 1758; became a merchant in Wethersfield, Conn.; and was a delegate to the first Continental Silas Deane. Congress. He was very active in Congress, in 1775, in fitting out a naval force for the colonies, and in the spring of 1776 was sent to France as a secret political and financial agent, with authority to operate in Holland and elsewhere. He was to ascertain the feeling of the French government towards the revolted colonies and Great Britain, and to obtain military supplies. Mr. Deane went in the character of a Bermuda merchant; and, the better to cover his designs, he did not take any considerable sum of money or bills of exchange with him for his support. The secret committee was to send them after him by way of London, to arrive in Paris nearly as soon as himself, lest a capture should betray his secret. On his arrival in Paris he sought an interview with the Count
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Hall, Charles Francis 1821- (search)
point a few miles short of that touched by the Polaris. They soon returned, when Hall was taken sick and died Nov. 8, 1871. In August, 1872, Captain Buddington attempted to return with the Polaris, but for weeks was in the icepack. She was in great peril, and preparations were made to abandon her. The boats, provisions, and nineteen of the crew were put on the ice, but before the rest of them could get out the vessel brokeloose and drifted away. Those on the ice drifted southward for 195 days, floating helplessly about 2,000 miles. An Eskimo, the friend of Captain Hall, kept the company from starving by his skill in seal-fishing. The party was picked up in April, 1873, by a Nova Scotia whaling steamer, and the Polaris made a port on an island, where her crew wintered, made boats of her boards, and set sail southward. They were picked up, June 23, by a Scotch whaler and taken to Dundee. Captain Buddington was born in Groton, Conn., Sept. 16, 1823; and died there, June 13, 1888.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Ledyard, John 1751- (search)
Ledyard, John 1751- Explorer; born in Groton, Conn., in 1751; was educated at Dartmouth College for a missionary to the Indians, and spent several months among the Six Nations. Having a resistless desire for travel, he shipped at New London as a common sailor, and from England accompanied Captain Cook in his last voyage around the world as corporal of marines. He vainly tried to set on foot a trading expedition to the northwest coast of North America, and went to Europe in 1784. He started on a journey through the northern part of Europe and Asia and across Bering Strait to America in 1786-87. He walked around the whole coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, reaching St. Petersburg in the latter part of March, 1787, without money, shoes, or stockings. He had journeyed 1,400 miles on foot in less than seven weeks. Thence he went to Siberia, but was arrested at Irkutsk in February, 1788, conducted to the frontiers of Poland, and there dismissed with an intimation that if he returned i
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Revolutionary War, (search)
ecticut and west of the present New York line before admission as a StateAug. 20, 1781 Combined armies of Americans and French start for Yorktown, Va., from the Hudson River Aug. 25, 1781 Count de Grasse, with the French fleet, arrives in the Chesapeake Aug. 30, 1781 Lafayette joins French troops under Count de St. Simon at Green Springs, Sept. 3, and they occupy Williamsburg, about 15 miles from YorktownSept. 5, 1781 Benedict Arnold plunders and burns New London, Conn., and captures Fort Griswold Sept. 6, 1781 British fleet under Admiral Graves appears in the Chesapeake Sept. 7, 1781 Indecisive battle of Eutaw Springs, S. C.Sept. 8, 1781 Washington and Count Rochambeau reach Williamsburg Sept. 14, 1781 Siege of YorktownOct. 5-19, 1781 Cornwallis surrenders at YorktownOct. 19, 1781 Sir Henry Clinton, with fleet of thirty-five vessels and 7,000 troops, arrives at the Chesapeake, Oct. 24, and returns to New York Oct. 29, 1781 Benjamin Lincoln appointed Secretary of War by Con
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Sassacus, (search)
Sassacus, Indian chief; born near Groton, Conn., about 1560; chief of the Pequod Indians, feared greatly by the settlers of the New England coast. In 1637 his tribe murdered several women at Wethersfield, and took two girls captive. On June 5, 1637, the colonists attacked the Pequod settlement on the Mystic River and won a victory. Sassacus, however, escaped to the Mohawks, by whom he was murdered the same month.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Seabury, Samuel 1729- (search)
Seabury, Samuel 1729- First Protestant bishop in the United States; born in Groton, Conn., Nov. 30, 1729; graduated at Yale College in 1748. Going to Scotland to study medicine, his attention was turned to theology. Although the son of a Congregational minister, he received ordination as a minister of the Church of England in London in 1743. On his return he first settled as a minister in New Brunswick, N. J., then in Jamaica, L. I. (1756-66), and finally in Westchester county, N. Y., where he remained until the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He was a loyalist, and at one time was chaplain of the King's American Regiment. Becoming obnoxious to the patriots as the suspected author of some Tory pamphlets, the Connecticut Light-horsemen, under Sears, seized him and took him to Connecticut, where he was imprisoned for a time. His authorship was not proven, and he was released, and while the British held possession of New York he spent most of his time in that city. Going t
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Connecticut, (search)
bridge, N. Y., with 1,500 troops, destroys the salt-works at Horseneck, Conn. Here General Putnam is said to have ridden down a declivity in escaping......March 26, 1779 Benedict Arnold plunders and burns New London......Sept. 6, 1781 [Fort Griswold across the river is captured the same day, and out of a garrison of 150 men seventy-three are killed, including their commander, Colonel Ledyard, and thirty wounded, mostly after the surrender. Connecticut furnished during the Revolution 31,ied by Connecticut; vote 128 to 40......Jan. 9, 1788 Wooden clocks first made at Waterbury......1790 Gen. Israel Putnam dies at Brookline, Conn.......May 19, 1790 Connecticut bestows upon citizens, especially those of Danbury, Fairfield, Groton, New London, and Norwalk, who had suffered during the Revolution, half a million acres at the west end of the Western Reserve in Ohio, hence known as Fire lands ......1792 Connecticut sells to the Connecticut Land Company, of 320 citizens, 3,2
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