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projectors of this expedition, were, as has already been stated, several patriotic members of the General Assembly, convened at Hartford, in April, 1775. They obtained the funds from the Colony treasury as a loan, for which their individual receipts, with security, was given. The committee appointed by the originators of the expedition, collected sixteen men in Connecticut, and

exert himself and terminate the voyage as soon as possible. The boatman requested Capt. Phelps to take an oar and assist-this was declined, being in full view of the fort, by replying that he was not a boatman. After rounding a point of land, projecting into the lake and intercepting the view from the fort he proposed taking the oar, and did so. Being a strong and active inan, he excited the surprise of the boatman by the velocity of the boat, who with an oath, replied you have seen a boat before now, sir. This circumstance, at the time, excited the boatman's suspicion that his passenger was not a loyal subject, but fear of superior strength prevented an attempt to carry him back to the fort, as he told Capt. Phelps after the surrender. Capt. Phelps reached his place of destination, met his associates, and told them what he had discovered. The next morning, May 10th, 1775, the fort, upon demand made by Col. Allen, by authority of "the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress" was surrendered. The cannon, small arms and ball contained in it, rendered this achievement more important in the success of the revolutionary war than posterity can appreciate.

After the fort was surrendered to Ethan Allen and his company, of about eighty-three armed men, who had proceeded on the expedition without any authority from Connecticut, who had taken the aforesaid measure so effectually to surprise them, that little or no resistance was made. One corner of the fort having fallen down, and all their powder being wet and unfit for use, the officers and soldiers were obliged to surrender to Col. Allen and his company, having also been overpowered by a superior force. After they were disarmed, they were ordered immediately to be sent to Hartford, in the colony of Connecticut, where they were detained as prisoners of war, consisting of forty-seven private soldiers of his majesty's troops, together with Gov. Skeen, Maj. Skeen, (his son,) Maj. French, Capt. Delaplace, &c., besides women, children and several servants. After the arrival of said prisoners at Hartford, on the 24th of May, 1775, Capt. Wm. Delaplace, commandant of the fort of Ticonderoga, (one of said prisoners,) brought his petition to the Assembly of this State, in which he stated that on the morning of the 10th of May, 1775, the garrison of the fortress of Ticonderoga had been surprised as aforesaid; and stated that neither the officers or soldiers held by this colony had been guilty of any crime, and enquired, why they should be taken and held as prisoners, by Col. Allen and his company; and enquired by what authority he had acted; and asked the protection of said Assembly, and wished to be set at liberty, that they might return to the post from whence they had been taken, and join the 26th regiment to which they belonged-or wished to be informed in what light they were to be regarded, as prisoners of war or not-and if as prisoners, by whom detained, &c. The Legislature had no particular action upon the petition of Capt. Delaplace,

proceeded to Berkshire county, Mass., where they obtained the aid of some influential citizens, and forty or fifty volunteers were added to their small force. The expedition then advanced to Bennington, Vt., where it was joined by Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and nearly one hundred volunteers. The little army, consisting of about one hundred and fifty men, thus raised,

but continued to hold them as prisoners of war. Gov. Skeen, Maj. Skeen, and Maj. French, were taken from Hartford to West Hartford, on an order of the Assembly, for their better security-they boarded in the family of widow Hooker in West Hartford about a year, at their own expense. Gov. Skeen had his family with him. They were often insulted by our inhabittants as enemies of the colony, and narrowly escaped tar and feathers by his neighbors at West Hartford, for his insults offered the inhabitants. In May, 1775, the General Assembly directed the committee of the pay table, to give orders on the Treasurer of this colony for the payment of all persons who had actually expended moneys, or given their written obligations therefor, or for personal service in obtaining possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point; also for men and provisions used in taking and securing said fortresses, by any inhabitants of this colony, or others employed by them for that purpose. Two years after, viz. in May, 1777, Samuel Holden Parsons, Esq., informed by his memorial to the General Assembly of this State, that in April, 1775, himself, together with Col. Samuel Wyllys, Silas Dean, Esq., and others, did undertake surprising and seizing the enemy's fort at Ticonderoga, without the knowledge of said Assem. bly, and for that purpose took a quantity of money from the Treasury, and gave their notes and receipts for said money, all which had been expended in said service; and prayed the Assembly to cancel said notes and receipts so given to the Treasurer, which amounted to the sum of £810. The persons who signed said notes, &c., were said Parsons, Dean, Wyllys, Samuel Bishop, Jr., William Williams, Thomas Mumford, Adam Babcock, Joshua Porter, Jesse Root, Ezekiel Williams, and Charles Webb, which sum was directed to be charged over to the General Government.

At this early period of the war, (May 11, 1776) the Americans were jealous and alarmed at the rustling of every leaf, and watchful of every movement. At this time it was the custom of the blacks, as it had been for years previous, and continued to be, some time after the war closed, for the negroes in Connecticut, in imitation of their masters, to elect a negro for their Governor, who by them, was uniformly treated with great attention, and by their respect for him, he never failed to get his title of Governor when addressed by his colored brethren. Cuff was at this time their Governor, and had held the office for ten years, and on the 11th day of May, aforesaid, he resigned his office to John Anderson, a negro servant of Gov. Skeen, which resignation and appointment were in the words and figures following, viz.:

"Hartford, 11th May, 1776.

"I Governor Cuff of the Niegro's in the province of Connecticut, do Resign my Govermentshipe, to John Anderson Niegor Man to Governor Skene.

thousand stand of arms, and the issuing of £50,000 in bills of credit equal to lawful money, and laid a tax of seven pence on the pound on all polls and rateable estate in the colony.

Bolton, Capt. Ezekiel Olcott, 34; Colchester, Capt. Eliphalet Bulkley, 69; Middletown, Capt. Cumfort Sage, 43; East Windsor, Capt. Lemuel Stoughton; Pomfret, Capt. Zebulon Ingalls, 89; Norwich, Capt. Jedediah Huntington, 70; Tolland, Capt. Solomon Willis, 50; Plainfield, Capt. Andrew Backus, 54; Stafford, Lt. Col. Stephen Moulton, Zephaniah Alden, Capt., 17; Wallingford, Capt. John Couch; Hartford, Lieut. Col. George Pitkin; Hebron, Capt. Worthy Waters, 61; Guilford, Capt. Noah Fowler, 45; Durham, Col. James Wadsworth, Stephen Norton, Capt.; Mansfield, Lieut. Col. Experience Storrs, Jonathan Nichols, Capt.; Derby, Maj. Jabez Thompson, Capt. Nathaniel Johnson, 32; Lyme, Lieut. Thomas Way, Jr., 6; Killingworth, Capt. Samuel Gale, 25; Capt. Lemuel Roberts, 10; Preston, Capt. Ebenezer Witter, 99; Col. Samuel H. Parsons; Maj. Thomas Brown; New Hartford, Capt. Seth Smith; Killingly, Maj. Wm. Danielson, Joseph Cady, Capt., 88; Coventry, Maj. Thos. Brown, Joseph Talcott, Lieut., over 100; Lebanon, Capt. Daniel Tilden; Windham, Capt. John Kingsley; Suffield, Capt. Elihu Kent; Woodstock, Lieut. Mark Elwell, 22; Greenwich, Capt. Abraham Mead, 58; Stonington, Capt. Benjamin Park; Bolton, Capt. Thomas Pitkin, 27; Woodstock, Capt. Samuel McLelland, (troop of horse,) about 45; Willington, Maj. Elijah Fenton, Ebenezer Heath, Capt., 30; Stafford, Capt. Amos Walbridge, 23; Saybrook, Capt. John Ely, 59; Stafford, Capt. Paul Blodget, 23; New Haven, Capt. Benedict Arnold; Guilford, Ensign Jehiel Meigs, 23; Simsbury, Capt. Zachariah Gillet, 26; Hartford, Capt. Jonathan Welles, Capt. Timothy Cheney, 24; Middletown, Lieut. Amos Hosford, 16; Woodstock, Capt. Nathaniel Mercy, 38; Killingly, Capt. Joseph Elliott, 58; Windham, Lieut. Mather Bingham, 22; Stamford, Capt. Joseph Hart, with 33 men marched to New York for its protection, occasioned by the alarm of the battle at Lexington; Capt. Amos Wallbridge and his company; Capt. Lemuel Stoughton and his company.

The number of men, where given, are generally correct, the files from which they are taken are so badly mutilated, they may not be perfectly accurate-and to some Captains, their number of men cannot be ascertained, and in some cases even the towns from which they marched. There were but few towns in this State who were not fully represented at Lexington and Boston immediately after the alarm reached Connecticut.

An account of moneys paid by Connecticut to the inhabitants of the following towns, for their services and expenses in the Lexington alarm, in April, 1775, per order of the Assembly, in May, 1775.

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Some members of this Assembly projected the famous Ticonderoga expedition, on their own responsibility, without the sanction of the colonial authority.

The delegation to the General Assembly that was elected in April, '75, to meet at Hartford, in the succeeding May, were not less patriotic than their predecessors. This Assembly held an adjourned session, in July. They sanctioned the successful northern enterprise of the capture of the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point; provided for the prisoners there taken, and sent a force of a thousand men to occupy those important posts; besides affording every aid to their suffering bretheren in Massachusetts.

In the July session, two additional regiments were raised, making in the whole, eight regiments. An additional sum of

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£50,000 in bills of credit, was issued, making the whole amount issued in 1775, £100,000. Duties of the highest responsibility, and most dangerous character, were assumed by the members that composed both delegations of the General Assembly of 1775; but all these duties were discharged in such a judicious and successful manner, that few bodies of men in the history of legislation, are better entitled to the gratitude of the friends of liberty and human rights, than were the disinterested and patriotic members that composed the General Assembly and Government of Connecticut, in 1775.

Officers of the Colony of Connecticut, 1775.

Hon. JONATHAN TRUMBULL, Governor - Hon. MATTHEW GRISWOLD, Lieut. Governor. Assistants, Jabez Hamlin, Elisha Sheldon, Eliphalet Dyer, Jabez Huntington, William Pitkin, Roger Sherman, Wm. Samuel Johnson, Abraham Davenport, Joseph Spencer, Oliver Wolcott, and James Abraham Hillhouse, Esq'rs. Representatives of the Freemen in the several Towns in the Colony.

Hartford County. -Hartford, Col. John Pitkin, Col. Samuel Wyllys; Wethersfield, Maj. Thomas Belding; East Windsor, Wm. Wolcott, Col. Erastus Wolcott; Simsbury, Capt. Judah Holcomb, Asahel Holcomb; Windsor, Capt. Henry Allyn, Capt. Josiah Phelps; Farmington, Col. Isaac Lee, Jonathan Root; Suffield, Alexander King, Capt. John Leavitt; East Haddam, Daniel Brainard, Jabez Chapman; Stafford, Capt. Isaac Pinney, Capt. Samuel Davies; Haddam, Capt. Joseph Brooks, Joseph Smith; Colchester, Maj. Henry Champion, Doct. John Watrous; Somers, Reuben Sikes, Capt. Emery Pease; Hebron, Benjamin Buell, Capt. Obadiah Horsford; Canterbury, Capt. Jonathan Wells, Ebenezer Plummer; Middletown, Col. Matthew Talcott, Titus Hosmer; Bolton, Benjamin Trumbull, Seth King; Tolland, Capt. Solomon Welles, Capt. Samuel Chapman; Willington, Maj. Elijah Fenton, Capt. Timothy Pearl; Enfield, Maj. Nathaniel Terry, Nathaniel Chapin; Chatham, David Sage, Ebenezer White.

New Haven County. -New Haven, Samuel Bishop, Capt. Jonathan Fitch; Durham, Col. James Wadsworth, Daniel Hall; Guilford, Col. Andrew Ward, John Burgiss; Derby, Capt. John Holbrook, Joseph Hull; Waterbury, Joseph Hopkins, Col. Jona

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