Rosetown Review: The great cause of 1776
- Richard Donohue
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
by Richard Franklin Donohue
Town Historian
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“This day giving Commencement to the new army, which, in every point of view, is entirely Continental, the General flatters himself, that a laudable spirit of emulation will now take place, and pervade the whole of it. His excellency hopes that the importance of the great cause we are engaged in, will be deeply impressed on every man’s mind … Let us therefore, when everything dear and valuable to free men is at stake, when our unnatural parent is threatening us with destruction from every quarter, endeavor, by all the skill and discipline in our power, to acquire the knowledge and conduct which is necessary in war.”
George Washington, Jan. 1, 1776
During the winter of 1775-1776, militiamen from the Middletown Upper Houses participated in the siege of Boston, preventing the British Army from moving any further into the colony by land. Many of these Upper Houses patriots served in Col. James Wadsworth’s 23rd Regiment of Connecticut Militia under the command of Capt. Comfort Sage.
Sage was born in the Upper Houses in 1731 but his family moved to the lower town when he was 10 years old. By the time he was 27, Sage had become “a man of great influence” as a wealthy merchant with “a number of slaves” and served the community as justice of the peace and quartermaster of a militia unit.
After responding to the Lexington Alarm in April of 1775, Sage was promoted to colonel of the 23rd and sent to Boston, where he and his men were stationed until the following March.
Following the siege of Boston, Gen. George Washington began calling on the Continental Congress and individual colonies to send reinforcement troops against what was an almost certain British threat to New York. In response, Connecticut “ordered the enlistment of seven battalions for the service” under the command of Brig. Gen. James Wadsworth with Comfort Sage, now promoted to colonel, as commander of the 3rd Battalion.
Edward Eells Jr., son of the minister of the 2nd Ecclesiastical Society (now the First Congregational Church of Cromwell), was the captain of the 7th Company of Sage’s Battalion. He had joined the militia in 1774 and marched to Boston during the Lexington Alarm, leaving his wife Abigail and their four children for the remainder of the war.
Along with Captain Eells, the 7th Company included at least seven men from the Upper Houses: Francis Clark, John Eells, Joseph Kirby, Nathaniel Riley, and Levi, Seth and Simeon Savage. Edward’s younger brother John served the company as drummer. Samuel Stocking also served in the 3rd Battalion, but in Churchill’s 8th Company, and Samuel Clarke served in another of Wadsworth’s battalions led by Col. Philip Bradley.
On June 20 Wadsworth’s Brigade left Connecticut to reinforce Washington’s troops in New York. When they arrived, the men were reorganized into four brigades, assigned to different posts throughout the city, and “saw much service during the summer and fall.”
In July, Washington’s fears were realized when the first British vessels were spotted entering the Hudson River. By the middle of August, a British force of 32,000 soldiers and nearly 300 vessels sat ready to invade New York and gain control of the port.
On Aug. 27 the British attacked the American defenses on the western edge of Long Island in what would come to be called the Battle of Long Island. The British surrounded the Americans and forced them to retreat to Brooklyn Heights, where they were trapped between the enemy and the Hudson River.
During the night of Aug. 29 Washington was able to evacuate his entire force of 9,000 men when a thick fog enveloped the area, blocking the view of their escape from the British.
Along with the men of Sage’s brigade, three other Upper Houses patriots fought at the Battle of Long Island and were with Washington during his escape. Daniel Eells had been at Bunker Hill but missed the actual battle because he had volunteered to go on a scouting mission the night before. Later, he was sent to a prison in Bermuda after serving on a privateer that was captured by the British.
After the war, Eells returned to the Upper Houses, married Martha Hamlin and built a home that still stands on Main Street today. Capt. Eli Butler and Seth Kirby served with a troop of horse under Major William Hart during the battle and retreat.
Butler was a member of the Middletown Militia in 1775 and had responded to the Lexington Alarm. In October of 1776, he enlisted in Major Sheldon’s Regiment of Light Horse and, like his comrades, accompanied Washington during the retreat through New Jersey in late 1776.
As the British occupation of New York began to take hold after the Battle of Long Island, many New York patriots felt that they were in great danger. As soon as Aug. 28, the day after the battle, the New York Provincial Congress began arrangements to remove civilians to safe havens in Connecticut. Within days, nearly 25,000 New Yorkers fled the city, leaving the population around 400 individuals.
In October Ezra L’Hommedieu, a member of the New York Provincial Congress, left Southold, Long Island with his family and enslaved servants and moved to the Upper Houses. He purchased a house known as the Pennemenn House on West Street and continued to work on behalf of his people in New York, travelling to meetings of the Provincial Congress and arranging for the rescue of the personal property of other refugees.
Following Washington’s defeat on Long Island and his stealthy retreat, British General Howe pursued the Continental Army over the Hudson to York Island, where the patriots took another stand at Harlem Heights. Unable to run off the Americans, Howe decided to move further upriver and attempt to once again force Washington to surrender.
Realizing the British plan, Washington left 1,200 men at Fort Washington and ordered the remainder of his force to rally at a small supply depot near the village of White Plains. On Oct. 28 the British forces caught up with Washington and attacked on two fronts, forcing the Americans to engage in a fighting retreat.
Once again, three Upper Houses soldiers from Sage’s Battalion – John Eells, Joseph Kirby and Seth Savage – fought in the battle along with Stephen Williams, who was riding with Capt. Jared Shepherd in the Continental Line.
After the American defeat at White Plains, Fort Washington remained the last patriot stronghold on York Island. On Nov. 16 the British quickly captured the fort and took 2,800 prisoners including Samuel Clark of the Upper Houses. Clark was with Bradley’s Battalion of Wadsworth’s Brigade, which had spent most of the summer in reserve near modern-day Jersey City until it was called out in defense of Fort Washington.
Clark and all the surviving members of his unit were captured and held “until December and then with others, nearly dead, was liberated on parole.” Making it home to the Upper Houses in a “very weak and sickly condition,” he applied to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1778 for compensation of 9 pounds to cover his expenses related to “doctoring and refreshment,” which they approved and paid.
On Dec. 25 the six-month terms of many of the men who enlisted in Wadsworth’s Brigade expired. Most would re-enlist in the Connecticut Line in 1777.
According to a census taken by the Colony of Connecticut in the Fall of 1776, the total population of the Middletown Upper Houses was 754 individuals including 23 enslaved servants, 106 married couples, 242 children under the age of 10, and 162 between 10 and 20.
At the time of the census 98 men from the village were in some way fighting in the American Revolution and just 30 able-bodied men remained in the village. While volumes have been published outlining the service of these men, we know little, if anything about, their families.
What of Martha Stow Eells, Rachel Stocking Butler, or Millicent Gaylord Savage? The spirit of the “Great Cause,” as Washington called it, was not only pervasive on the battlefield, but in every aspect of patriot life.
Through modern research, thorough analysis, or in the very least, imagination, perhaps this semiquincentennial anniversary can move us to discover and publish the stories of all the patriots of the Middletown Upper Houses. CL