Danbury, destruction of.
Governor Tryon was one of the most malignant foes of the
American patriots during the
Revolutionary War. He delighted, apparently, in conspicuously cruel acts; and when anything of that nature was to be done he was employed to do it by the more respectable British officers.
He was chosen to lead a marauding expedition into
Connecticut from New York in the spring of 1777.
At the head of 2,000 men, he left that city (April 23), and landed at
Compo, between
Norwalk and
Fairfield, two days later.
They pushed on towards
Danbury, an inland town, where the
Americans had gathered a large quantity of provisions for the army.
The marauders reached the town unmolested (April 25) by some militia that had retired, and, not contented with destroying a large quantity of stores gathered there, they laid eighteen houses in the village in ashes and cruelly treated some of the inhabitants.
General Silliman, of the
Connecticut militia, was at his home in
Fairfield when the enemy landed.
He immediately sent out expresses to alarm the country and call the militia to the field.
The call was nobly responded to. Hearing of this gathering from a Tory scout,
Tryon made a hasty retreat by way of
Ridgefield, near which place he was confronted by the militia under
Generals Wooster,
Arnold, and
Silliman.
A sharp skirmish ensued, in which
Wooster was killed, and
Arnold had a narrow escape from capture, after his horse had been shot under him. For his gallantry on that occasion the
Congress presented him with a horse richly caparisoned.
Tryon spent the night in the neighborhood for his troops to rest, and early the next morning he hurried to his ships, terribly smitten on the way by the gathering militia, and at the landing by cannon-shot directed by
Lieutenant-Colonel Oswald.
They escaped capture only through the gallant services of some marines led by
General Erskine.
About sunset the fleet departed, the
British having lost about 300 men, including prisoners, during the invasion.
The
Americans lost about 100 men. The private losses of property at
Danbury amounted to about $80,000.
Danbury is now a city widely known for its extensive manufactures of hats, and has an assessed property valuation exceeding $11,500,000. The population in 1890 was 16,552; in 1900, 16,537.
