march 2014 - New London County Historical Society
Transcription
march 2014 - New London County Historical Society
Bushnell’s Mine Almost Sinks a Frigate When the Royal Navy fleet of warships and transports, carrying a British army of more than 7,000 soldiers, passed New London, Connecticut, on December 6, 1776, the British were just a few days from easily capturing Newport, Rhode Island and bottling up the privateers and commercial vessels from Providence, Bristol, and other ports in Narragansett and Mount Hope Bays. The British navy turned its attention as well to New London, which had the most active port in southeastern New England during the war, sending out many commercial vessels in the West Indies trade and privateers to prey on British shipping. During the Revolutionary War, New London had in action fifty-nine privateers, which captured more than 150 British vessels and 300 prizes overall. Nathaniel Shaw, Jr., the leading merchant and patriot in New London, acted as Naval Agent for the Continental navy and the state navy of Connecticut. He owned outright ten privateers and owned interests in two more, which brought in fifty-seven prizes. New London merchant Thomas Mumford also owned ten privateers and interests in two others. New London’s John Deshon, who served on the Continental Navy Board of the Eastern Department By Christian M. McBurney and a Connecticut state navy committee, owned eight privateers and an interest in one other that captured eight prizes. Sir George Collier, an admiral of the British fleet out of New York, called New London “a famous receptacle for privateers, and was thought on that account to injure British trade as much as any harbor in America.” The British naval command commenced a blockade of New London using a single frigate—the 28-gun HMS Cerberus— from the time that the British fleet arrived in Black Point Bay west of New London on its way to Newport in early December 1776. She captured the following: on December 11, the Lyon out of New London, carrying lumber and horses; on December 30, the brig Liberty bound from New London to the West Indies, carrying horses, flour and lum- ber; and on January 30, a commercial brig out of New London, also bound for the West Indies. The Cerberus carried the brig into Newport. The 32-gun frigate Amazon replaced Cerberus for the months of February and March, bringing New London commerce to a halt and creating panic in the town from fear that British marines would stage a raid. In February, New London merchant Nathaniel Shaw wrote that trade in the port town was at a standstill due the British blockade. Connecticut authorities could not do much to stop the blockade by British frigates, but steps were taken to insure that they were not provided with food, supplies or intelligence by local Tories or others. The Connecticut General (Continued on page 5) Priceless? The Second Annual Antiques Appraisal Event 10 April Do you have an antique or a family heirloom you think might be priceless? Find out at our Second Annual Antique Appraisal and Silent Auction fundraiser. Thursday, April 10th at New London’s Historic Thames Club. Tickets are $20 (which includes one appraisal and hors d’oeuvres) and you can purchase additional appraisal tickets for $5 (limit of 3). A cash bar and food will also be available. Exciting Silent Auction items will have you checking the bid sheets often. Purchase tickets on the NLCHS website, or call. NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 1 “Ye Towne’s Antientest Buriall Place” The Rogerses T here were numerous members of the Rogers family in eighteenth century New London, all apparently descended from the first James Rogers who came to New London sometime between 1656 and 1660. Writing in the mid-nineteenth century, historian Frances Caulkins said, “Perhaps no one of the early settlers of New London, numbers at the present day so great a throng of descendants as James Rogers.” (202) He and his wife had five sons, all of whom had several to many children. Since they followed the usual pattern of using family first names, it is very easy to mix up, say, one James (or Samuel, or John, or Jonathan, or. . .) with another. Joshua Hempstead the diarist frequently used occupation to distinguish them, such as James Rogers Mariner (Aug. 20, 1743) and John Rogers Cooper (July 10, 1745). There was also Jonathan Rogers Stick, who had a wooden leg (Dec. 28, 1731). Rogers was buried. died yesterday of a Swelling his Crotch & lower parts yt Stopt his Water &c. he hath had it but about a Week.” He was 49. The Rogers genealogy has a different explanation of his death, “He was killed by the dischage of a gun set by the Indians to kill a fox. . .” This might have been a different James Rogers, or apocryphal. It would certainly have been more acceptable to Victorian sensibilities than Hempstead’s version. The gravestones of the first three members of the James Rogers family buried in the burying ground all have the wrong dates on their gravestones. The usual cause of such discrepancies was a long delay in having a headstone carved. If no one had written down the date, for instance in the family Bible, memory blurred and did not always produce the right date. James’s stone is off by the most. It says he died Nov. 6, 1714, aged 63. James In this article we will be covering the was born February 15, 1652 (all dates in relatively few members of the Rogers New Style) in Milford. He married Mary family who have headstones in the AnJordan November 5, 1674. According to tientest Burial Ground. Almost all of the Rogers genealogy, “He was called them come from the James (son of the ‘mariner,’ and appears to have been a first James) branch of the family. ship-master to the last, but taking The one man who does not belong to shorter voyages as he grew older.” The that branch of the family was named, genealogy also paraphrases Caulkins’s inevitably, James. This James was the story about his marriage: “He comson of Joseph Rogers of Poquoyaug manded the vessel which brought over (now the Pleasure Beach area of Water- the family of Jeffrey Jordan, and when ford). James was born in 1672 in New he arrived he purchased the eldest London. He married Sarah Stevens of daughter, Mary, and married her. In Killingworth on March 27, 1699, and after life he was accustomed to say that they had nine children. Hempstead reit was the richest cargo he ever shipped cords in his diary on July 22, 1721, and the purchase of Mary was the best “James Rogers of Poguoyoag Son of Jos bargain he ever made.” The Jordans had 2 NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER been Redemptioners, people who came over and then worked off their passage by being indentured servants. According to the genealogy, James was an active member of the Rogerene sect, and paid the usual price of fines and imprisonment for his beliefs. (This may or may not be accurate. See reference to the many Jameses, above. For more information on the Rogerenes, see the references below.) As for the actual date of his death, Hempstead notes on Sunday, November 8, 1713, “James Rogers Senr Died this morn about 9 clock. Mond 9th fair.. . . In ye aftern I went to ye funeral.” James died quite well off; his inventory filled three folio pages. James’s wife Mary had predeceased him by several months. Her gravestone says she died February 8, 1713, (Continued on page 4) A Spring filled with Heritage Events I f it’s time for the March newsletter, spring is nearly here! We have had a busy winter at the Shaw Mansion, and we are anticipating an even busier spring. New and Renewed Members The most important part of my message is to thank all of you who have contributed so generously to the annual fund. We have received donations, large and small, from many members. Without their stalwart support, we would not be able to offer our programs or make the plans we have for the upcoming months. I hope that many of you have been able to enjoy this winter’s Second Sunday programs of historical talks. In January we had a wonderful program on Edward Baker’s and Tricia Royston’s favorite objects in our collection. This also served as a farewell to Tricia who has retired after working as our librarian and archivist for eight years. We miss her already. In February Dr. Jason Mancini from the Mashantucket Pequot Museum presented a ground-breaking talk on NativeAmerican mariners and whalemen out of New London. On March 9th, we will have a chance to hear about the rare treasures in our map collection. Did you know we own one of the earliest maps of Chicago? Even more exciting is the return of our antiques appraisal event, Priceless? on Thursday, April 10th. After a successful inaugural event last year at the Garde Arts Center, generously hosted by Steve and Jeanne Siegel, this year Priceless? is moving to the historic Thames Club. The Priceless? Committee of Karyn Garside, Karen Beasely, Christopher Donohue, and Fawn Walker are making sure that this year’s event surpasses the last. Channel 3’s Scott Haney will be our honorary chairman. We will have eight to ten skillful appraisers who will help you distinguish your collectibles from your priceless treasures, we will offer refreshments, and the Thames Club will have a cash bar. There will be door prizes, and a silent auction that will include the chance to purchase a week-long time share. Please save the date and mark your calendars for a wonderful evening. Advance ticket sales will available through our website. Also in our future is the late May arrival of the Charles W. Morgan, making its first port call in New London on its return to the sea. The New London County Historical Society will be presenting a new exhibit, “Whaling out of New London,” opening on May 21st to coincide with the Morgan’s visit to New London. This brand-new exhibit will tell the story of New London’s important role in the whaling industry and highlight the many unique objects in the collection that link our society to New London’s whaling heritage. We plan a preview party to give you a first peek at our often hidden treasures. We will also be working with the New London Maritime Museum and New London Landmarks for a fund-raising party to be held on the deck of the Morgan in June. Please join us in celebrating New London’s heritage at one or all of these events! Thank you, Nancy Steenburg NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 3 The Rogerses (continued) (Continued from page 2) aged 62, but the 8th was the date of her funeral. Hempstead says on Saturday, February 7th, “James Rogers Senr his wife died this morn at James House. Sund 8 fair. I was att Ms Rogers’s funeral in the forenoon & at Meeting in ye aftern.” The reference to James’s house most like referred to her son James. Mary may have been at her son’s house to nurse his wife, Elizabeth, whose stone says she died February 28, 1713, aged 32. Hempstead, however, notes on January 31st “James Rogers’s wife Died this morn. Sunda febry 1. . . James Rogers Junr wife was Buried between Meetings. very Sharp Cold.” The Rogers genealogy gives a reference which stated Elizabeth’s maiden name was Harris, but says “no record has been found showing such to be the fact.” Apparently the author could not find a date for the marriage, either. James was born February 2, 1675. He owned the covenant in 1701, and their children were baptized in the Congregational Church. After Elizabeth’s death, James joined the church March 15th. He was published to Freelove Hurlbut June 21 (as per Hempstead; the genealogy says June 29, which was not a Sunday) of that year. They moved to Norwalk, CT, and had several more children. James died July 9, 1735, in Norwalk. The remaining Rogers stones in the burying ground are all for children. Ichabod, one of James’s grandsons, and his wife Ruth have two children with headstones there. Ichabod was born February 14, 1727, and baptized February 19th. He married Ruth Shapley April 21, 1751. Ruth was well known to Joshua Hempstead. She made several jackets, pairs of breeches, and once a great coat for the Hempstead household from 1747-1749. Ichabod died in 1767, and is called a mariner on the inventory of his estate. The children with headstones are Ruth, died June 26, 1752, aged 9 months, and Ichabod, died December 25, 1758, aged 1 year and 5 months. It is possible they have other children buried in the burying ground; the genealogy lists seven children, at least three of whom died quite young. Benjamin, another son of Ichabod, and his wife Rhoda (Coit), also have a child buried in the burying ground. Benjamin was born in 1754, and married Rhoda August 17, 1777. She was born in 1757. Benjamin died in 1814, and Rhoda in 1831. They had eleven children, several of whom died either young or unmarried. The only stone for that family in the burying ground, however, is for their son Benjamin, who was born November 20, 1778, and died October 20, The stones for all of the adults above are 1790, aged 13. together, toward the rear of the burying These are hard to find. I could not find ground (from the main entry on HempRuth’s at all. It is supposed to be to the stead Street) and somewhat to the left. left of the stone for Thomas Avery, Mary and Elizabeth are buried either which is clear. Ichabod’s is behind side of their husband. Both of those Avery’s. The lower part of it is spalled. stones are in good condition. James’s is Benjamin’s stone is behind the stone worn and faint. James, son of Joseph, is for Adam Shapley, and is sunk fairly in front of their stones. His stone is also deep. All of these are to the left of the in good condition. 4 NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER adult stones, near the table stone for Elizabeth Livingstone. The last Rogers child in the burying ground is Josiah, son of Josiah and Lucretia. The father Josiah was the son of William (son of James, son of James, so a cousin of Ichabod). He was born in 1731, and was a successful privateering captain. He died of smallpox, and is buried near the old light house. His widow Lucretia married Nathaniel Shaw, Jr., and young Josiah, who died March 20, 1764, aged 7 years and 8 months, is buried with the group of Shaw graves. (See the newsletter for May, 2011, for more details.) Patricia M. Schaefer References: Caulkins, Frances Manwaring, The History of New London, Connecticut to 1860. New London, CT: New London County Historical Society, 2007. Hempstead, Joshua, The Diary of Joshua Hempstead, 1711-1758. New London, CT: New London County Historical Society, 1999. Prentis, Edward, Ye Antient Buriall Place of New London, Conn. New London: Press of the Day Publishing Co., 1899. Rogers, James Swift, James Rogers of New London, CT, and his Descendants. Boston: Published by the Compiler, 1902. Schaefer, Patricia M. A Useful Friend: A Companion to the Joshua Hempstead Diary 1711-1758. New London, CT: New London County Historical Society, 2008. Caulkins and Schaefer both have information on the Rogerenes. For information from a Rogerene point of view, see Bolles, John Rogers and Anna Bolles Williams, The Rogerenes: Some Hitherto Unpublished Annals Belonging to the Colonial History of Connecticut. Boston: Stanhope Press, F. H. Gilson Co., 1904. Also available through archive.org. Bushnell’s Mine Almost Sinks a Frigate (Continued from page 1) Assembly enacted a law prohibiting any person from taking a small craft on the water without written permission from a town selectman. On March 6, New London selectmen went further, ordering all vessel owners to bring their boats to New London harbor above Fort Trumbull. In April, Governor Trumbull and the Connecticut Council of Safety inspected Fort Trumbull at New London and Fort Griswold across the river in Groton. Surprisingly, given New London’s active role in privateering and supplying the American army with provisions brought into its port, British ships were not permanently stationed outside of the port. The New London blockade ended in late March 1777, coinciding with the departure of Admiral Lord Richard Howe’s fleet from its winter station at Newport. The failure to blockade New London permanently was a strategic error on the part of the British navy’s high command, although Admiral Howe may have believed that he lacked a sufficient number of warships. With no British frigate stationed outside New London, Connecticut privateers from there and other ports were able to intercept ships sailing between the British headquarters at New York and the Newport garrison. For example, in early May 1777, two British supply ships on their way from New York to Newport were captured by American privateers and brought into a safe Connecticut port. One of the ships carried prominent Newport Loyalist John Freebody, who was reportedly carrying $20,000 in cash and notes. Still, British cruisers hunted American vessels outside the New London harbor with some frequency. For example, on April 21, 1777, two vessels coming out of New London and Stonington were captured by a British frigate near Block Island. In mid-July 1777, Captain Andrew Palmer, while commanding a small sloop from Stonington, was captured and “carried into Newport.” Palmer would eventually die of small pox in a British prison ship in Newport. Other members of his crew also died resulting from the deplorable conditions on board the Newport prison ship and an outbreak of disease, including his lieutenant, a gunner and the vessel’s cooper. The cat-and-mouse game continued. On July 20, twenty-three British war ships and transport ships were spotted sailing to the east towards New London. Alarm guns were fired in New London, and the local militia gathered to defend against an invasion, but the fleet continued on its way eastward. Not missing any opportunity, the next day the armed schooner Spy slipped out of New London harbor and captured two vessels from the fleet that had stayed back to pick up some wood on Long Island. In early August 1777, with the HMS Cerberus back patrolling outside New London harbor, David Bushnell had an idea of how to destroy the frigate. This led to one of the most unusual naval attacks not only of the entire Revolutionary War, but in all of naval history. The instigator, David Bushnell, was an inventor and Yale College graduate from the coastal village of Westbrook, Connecticut. At Yale, he had experimented with underwater explo- sions and timed bombs. In September 1776, he had engaged in a brilliant but failed attempt to use what is called the first submarine to attach a time bomb to a British warship. The attempt failed because the operator of his vessel, called the Turtle, could not bore a hole into the submerged vessel’s hull. While he is today renowned for that effort, he is less known for experimenting with a “water bomb,” which essentially was a stationary drift mine loaded with gun powder. During Governor Trumbull’s and the Connecticut Council of Safety’s visit to troubled New London in April 1777, they visited with Bushnell. It was probably at this time that the inventor gave the following demonstration: To show that powder could be made to explode under water, I first demonstrated before some noted personages in Connecticut, with 2 ounces of gunpowder placed 4 feet under water, and then by using 2 pounds of gunpowder placed in a wooden bottle under a hogshead, with a 2-inch plank between the hogshead and the powder. The hogshead was loaded with stones . . . A wooden pipe, descending through the lower head of the hogshead and through the plank into the powder in the bottle, was primed with powder. A match put to the priming exploded the powder with great effect, splintering the wood plank, demolishing the hogshead, and casting the ruins of the hogshead, stones, and a column of water many feet in the air. Impressed by the display and intrigued by a chance to retaliate against a British war ship, the Council of Safety provided Bushnell with supplies and encouragement for his new “invention for annoying ships, etc….” On the night of August 13, Bushnell laid plans for sinking the British frigate Cerberus, which was then anchored in Black Point Bay. Just that morning, the frigate NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 5 (Continued from page 5) had captured and burned a schooner off Plum Island. Bushnell personally sat in the whale boat while oarsmen rowed in the darkness, towing two of his mines toward the Cerberus. Each mine was loaded with powder and was to be detonated by a flintlock mechanism; and each one was connected by a line of about 600 yards long, buoyed by small sticks of wood at intervals. As Bushnell later described his device, “The machine was loaded with powder, to be exploded by a gun-lock, which was to be unpinioned by an apparatus to be turned by being brought alongside of the frigate.” It is not clear from his description if this mine had a timed mechanism to trigger the explosion, as did his bomb for his submarine. Stealthily, Bushnell released one of the mines and let it float towards the unsuspecting Cerberus. Next, allowing the line to trail behind the boat, the whaleboat crew rowed ahead of the British frigate until the entire length of the line had been reached. Then they dropped the other mine in the water, allowing the tide to do the rest of the work. Bushnell’s goal was for a mine to attach itself to the Cerberus without being noticed by the British and for the flintlock mechanism to trigger the explosion of the mine. One of the mines was spotted by alert British sailors before it became attached to the Cerberus. At about 10 p.m., the commander of the Cerberus, Captain John Symons, ordered the line of one of the mines to be towed in. The other end of the mine’s line was spotted by sailors aboard a schooner, which Bushnell had not seen in the night, that was anchored next to the Cerberus. Thinking it was a fishing line, the sailors aboard the schooner hauled it in. When they got to the strange heavy iron mechanism, three men 6 NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY struggled to bring it onto the schooner’s deck. About five minutes after it was hauled aboard, while three sailors were tinkering with the mechanical device in the stern of the schooner, the mine exploded. The explosion destroyed the schooner, instantly killed the three men, and blew a fourth man in the bow of the vessel into the water, wounded. Captain Symons immediately dispatched a boat to rescue the survivor and ordered the line towing the second mine to be cut. The log of the Cerberus stated the explosion set the schooner “on fire and burst the sides of her out so that she sank immediately.” Bushnell’s attempt to sink the Cerberus, while failing through bad luck, did result in the Cerberus returning immediately to Newport so that Symons could inform Admiral Peter Parker of the incident and warn other British naval officers of the threat. “[T] he ingenuity of these people is singular in their secret modes of mischief,” complained Symons to his superior. The schooner was the first vessel ever destroyed by an exploding mine. Despite the promise of the mine as a weapon, no more of them were used in southeastern New England. Mines would increase in effectiveness once they were triggered by a ship contacting them, as opposed to using Bushnell’s timed or other mechanism. Bushnell later applied other innovative ideas to floating mines in the Philadelphia theater. The crew of the Cerberus was shaken but not deterred from its task of blockading New London harbor. Back in action on August 16, it ran a commercial schooner, the Olive, on its way back from the West Indies to New London, onto a Rhode Island beach. The next day, it drove a sloop from Connecticut heading for home onto the same beach. The same day, a sloop out of New London was taken by a tender of the Cerberus, but crew members managed to escape in a small boat to Block Island and eventually made their way back to Connecticut. The dangerous cat-and-mouse game between the Royal Navy and New London privateers would continue for the remainder of the war. Christian McBurney, a member of the historical society, resides in the Washington, D.C. area and is an independent historian who has authored the recently released Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott (Westholme, 2014). He is also the author of The Rhode Island Campaign: The First French and American Operation of the Revolutionary War (Westholme, 2011). For more information on these books, see www.christianmcburney.com. To read this article with full footnotes please go to the NLCHS website: nlhistory.org/?p=2292 Save These Dates for a Spring filled with Heritage Events 9 March—Second Sunday — Maps in the collection — Shaw Mansion 4pm 10 April—Priceless? Annual Antiques Appraisal Event — Thames Club at 5pm 21 May—“Whaling Out of New London” exhibition opening 22 May—National Maritime Day 24 May—MORGAN open to the public in New London for free 22 June—Connecticut's Historic Gardens Day NEWSLETTER Books available from the New London County Historical Society The Amistad Incident as Reported in the New London Gazette & General Advertiser. (NLCHS) $5 The History of the Amistad Captives. (NLCHS) $10 A reproduction of a pamphlet by JW Barber, 1840. Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut, 1650-1900 by Barbara Brown and Dr. James Rose. (NLCHS) This republished book is a milestone in genealogical research of African Americans and Native Americans in New London County. $35 The Diary of Joshua Hempstead 1711-1758. (NLCHS) $75 For Oil and Buggy Whips: Whaling Captains of New London County, Connecticut, by Barnard Colby. $18 Revised 1999. Personal journal serves as fascinating and invaluable account of Connecticut life in early 18th century. Biographical sketches of local whaling captains document New London’s role in this industry. Greetings from New London. (NLCHS) $10 Life on a Whaler, by Nathaniel W. Taylor. (NLCHS) $25 Collection of early 20th-century postcards from our archives. Story of Taylor’s two-year Antarctic voyage as physician aboard New London’s Julius Caesar (1851-53). New London Goes to War - New London during World War II, by Clark van der Lyke. Drawn from the records and correspondence of the New London City Council. (NLCHS) The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut, by James A. Slater. Fully illustrated with photographs, this book provides a description of and maps the burial grounds of eastern Connecticut. Common to this Country: Botanical Discoveries of Lewis & Clark, by Susan Munger. Illustrated volume exploring plants discovered by Lewis and Clark on their westward expedition. The Day Paper, by Gregory N. Stone. $40 $23 $30 History of New London’s award-winning daily newspaper. Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and the Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier, by John Lawrence Busch. New London native son Moses Rogers and the first crossing of the Atlantic by a steam-powered vessel. Murder of Mayhem? – Benedict Arnold’s New London, Connecticut Raid, 1781, by Dr. Walter L. Powell. Excellent research in a small readable format. History of New London, Connecticut: from the first survey of the coast in 1612 to 1860, by Frances Caulkins With a new introduction and a revised index 2007 (NLCHS). History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians to the year 1866, by Frances Caulkins With a new introduction and a new index 2009 (NLCHS). Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676 Excellent examination of New London’s founder, from Walter Woodward, the Connecticut State Historian. “The Rockets’ Red Glare:” The War of 1812 and Connecticut, by Dr. Glenn S. Gordinier. Written to accompany the 2012 exhibition at the Lyman Allyn, this work is full of local connections to this war that shaped Connecticut (NLCHS). For Adam’s Sake: A Family Saga in Colonial New England, by Allegra di Bonaventura A new work exploring the lives and families of Joshua Hempstead and that of Adam Jackson, his slave, and other early New London families. These Images of America titles available from NLCHS New London New London Firefighting Reinventing New London Naval Submarine Base New London Lighthouses and Life Saving along the Connecticut and Rhode Island Coast Groton Groton Revisited Mystic $11 $20 $20 $20 $20 $20 Members Receive a 10% Discount. $20 $20 $20 If ordering by mail, please add $5 shipping and handling for the first two books and $1 for each additional book. $35 $10 $60 $60 $45 $18 $30