History of the First Company Governor's Foot Guard, Hartford

\ K \ \j lô^vx-^^-Û K? . l/hd / >^Yrf -- \ /:r-^# HISTORY Jtrat (Eompattg HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 1771 — 1901 ^ iUfartforb ^xt0 The Case, Lockvvood & Brainard Company 1902 THF NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBEARY 313268R ASTOR, LBN»X AND TILDEN FOL'!«>ACI»NS R 194S L rHE thanks of the compiler are due for papers loaned, infor- mation given, contributed articles, and helpful suggestion and criticism to the folio-wing people : Captain N. G. Hinckley, the Judge J. H. White, and Major W. S. Dwyer, of Veteran Corps ; Chaplain J. IV. Bradin, Paymaster C. C. Strong, Qiiar- termaster-Sergeant Edson Sessions, and Signal-Sergeant Theodore H. Goodrich of the Active Company ; the ex-Governors of the State ; Lieut. Henry K. Morgan ; Colonel James Bolter, Dr. G. W. Russell ; Mr. Nathan Starkweather ; Mr. Albert C. Bates of the Connecticut Historical Society ; Miss Mary K. Talcott and many relatives of deceased officers and members of the Guard. HISTORY OF FIRST COMPANY GOVERNOR'S FOOT GUARD. CHAPTER I. ORGANIZATION. THE year 1771, the date of the organization of the Gover- nor's Guard, was the first of a decade destined to be the most momentous of any in our history. The thirteen United Colonies were still under the sovereign power of Great Britain. They were, in this year of 1771, beginning to cherish those sentiments towards the Mother Country to which the events closely following the Boston Massacre had given rise. The Colonial Wars in which the provincial troops had borne such a prominent part, had greatly impoverished the colonies, but they had not been an unmitigated evil. Frequent inter- course with the well disciplined troops of the British army, and service under some of its ablest generals, had taught the colonists good military science; and the witnessing of the increasing respect shown the regulars, not only in their own country and its provinces, but by the armies of foreign and often hostile nations, had tended to foster in the colonies a love for military organization, and its accompanying martial display. Moreover, there was in the minds of the more serious and far-seeing citizens a growing sense of uneasiness occasioned by the lawlessness of the soldiers of the regular army, detach- ments of which were stationed in all the large towns, and it was felt that better military organizations amoiîg the colonists themselves were needed, not only to encourage a military spirit but to protect the personal rights of the people. The colony of Connecticut was by no means the least important of the thirteen. From the first, under the provisions 4 FIRST COMPANY GOVERNOR'S FOOT GUARD, of her very favorable charter (a charter so well adapted to her constantly growing needs that she adopted no state consti- tution until 1818), she had enjoyed a marked prestige among her neighbors. " Ever republican in her form of government, she has in effect ever been a free and independent common- wealth. Whilst the other colonies were suffering under the domination of royal governors, she has from the beginning been governed by rulers of her own choice."* She had given much to the cause of colonial freedom. Her governors had been men of marked ability, sound judgment, good family, and great executive force, men who held, because they commanded, the respect and veneration of the people. The names of Haynes, Winthrop, Hopkins, Wyllys, and Wolcott could still rouse a feeling of pride and reverence for the Governor, as the foremost representative of the dignity of the colony was constantly increasing. This strong reverence for the office of the chief Executive was also, no doubt, largely due to the fact already stated, that Connecticut had always chosen her Governor from among her own citizens. Hartford was at this time a small provincial town of three thousand inhabitants, remote from the greater towns, and without the commercial activity which characterized the places on the seaboard. There were few churches, few schools; it took three days to go to Boston or New York, and the journey was made in a stage-coach which could be taken but once a week. But Hartford had what but few small towns of that day possessed, an excellent newspaper. At the time of which we speak, the Courant had already been in existence seven years, and if we may judge from the advertisements which it con- tained, it represented an area of territory which included not only Connecticut, but Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The Courant, says Dr. Parker in his history of the South Church, " affords proof of the energy of the people of Hartford even at that day, and shows that in this favored colony great freedom of thought and speech prevailed." This paper was conducted for some years by Ebenezer Watson, one of the Charter Members of the Foot Guard. His daughter became the wife of Isaac D. Bull, Major of the Guard from 1813 to 1816, and his wife, Mrs. Hannah Watson, who conducted * Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut, 18.36. ORGANIZATION. 5 the paper for some years after his death in 1777, was without doubt the first woman editor in America. Small as Hartford was, she had no lack of proper public spirit. She numbered among her inhabitants many a man who would be great in any place or time. She had already shown by her Haynes, her Wadsworth, and her Wyllys, that she possessed sterling patriots, and her citizens all cherished a fitting respect for the government of the colony and those who represented its dignity. It was in keeping with this tone of public sentiment that, at the October session of 1767, the Assembly voted the sum of ^15 3s. to defray the expense of a military company to attend upon and guard the Governor and General Assembly " on the day of the election at Hartford," which election took place on the second Thursday of May annually. Accordingly in 1768 one of the "trainbands" was called out to perform service as escort on the day of the election. This company seem to have been determined to have a jolly • time out of the proceedings, and dressed and conducted themselves in such a manner that they succeeded in turning into a farce what should have been a dignified and impressive spec- tacle. This conduct gave great offense to the Assembly, and that body appointed a committee to take such measures as were deemed expedient to show proper resentment of the outrage. The commissioned officers of the offending company were ordered to appear before the Assembly with a roll of the company, which they did. Upon inquiry it was found by the committee that the officers "did not countenance, abet, or connive at " the ill conduct of the soldiers, but they were censured for not exercising the necessary authority over the men. The soldiers appeared finally before the committee, and, asking the continued favor of the Assembly, signed a confession which read thus: To the Honorable the Governor and Council, and Representatives of the Colony of Connecticut: Whereas we your Honors' suppliants on the day of the last general election in this town, while serving as a guard to His Honor the Governor and General Assembly, are fully sensible of our great misconduct, disrespect and dishonor, in various respects shown to your Honors, which on that occasion might well be taken as peculiarly aggravated and tending to the subversion of order and government, as 6 FIRST COMPANY GOVERNOR'S FOOT GUARD. well as specially pointing to the supreme authority of this colony, do now ourselves herein and most with all humility and sincerity reflect upon ; heartily implore the forgiveness of your Honors for this our offence, and this our of all those we have dishonored or disgraced hereby. And as for the repentance is genuine and unfeigned, we beg leave still to hope favor and goodness we have so justly forfeited.* That this repentance was sincere is shown by the fact that of those who signed the confession — forty-seven in number — nearly twenty afterward became petitioners for the granting of the charter of the Governor's Guards, and were no doubt active and honored members of the company. The disgrace of the proceedings attending the election ceremonies of 1768 sank deeply into the hearts and minds of some of the better young men of Hartford, and the more so since in the next two years, 1769 and 1770, a company from East Hartford was called out to do escort duty at the election. They therefore determined upon the formation of a new military company, which should be established by law for the express purpose of attending upon and guarding the Governor at his inauguration. AVe have already seen how the presence in the colonies of the British regular army had not only fostered the love for martial display, "the pomp and circumstance of war," but had also occasioned the feeling that the time was not far distant when the colonies would need soldiers of their own, trained to perform military duty. All things were propitious for the com- ing into existence of this military company, and in October, petition, was asked to 177 1, the Assembly, in a nobly worded give them the right to exist. To the Honorouble General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut to be held at New Haven on the second Thursday of October instant — the Memorial of us the subscriber, humbly sheweth: That it is with Con- siderable Expense and Trouble that the standing Military Companies in Hartford equip themselves to wait on the General Assembly at the Gen- eral Elections and that their turns come but once in many years — and then it is with Difficulty they are able to perform said duty so as to do Honor to the Ceremony — and that your Memorialists Conceive it would be for the Honor of Government that a Company be constituted to perform said Service and Ceremony Constantly, and that your memorialists *The facts relating to the election day of 1768 are taken from a paper read before the Guard by Mr.

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