Darius Sessions and the Washington Connection DRAFT Version 3.2 by Robert Porter Lynch For Review Purposes Only The History of the People and Events Contents Part 1: Darius Sessions – An Unheralded American Hero............................2 Part II. Darius Sessions & the Seeds of the Revolution .................................4 The Stamp Act and the Sons of Liberty.............................................................................................4 Burning of the Gaspée ......................................................................................................................4 Sessions & Hopkins Thwart the Crown ...........................................................................................14 Prelude to War................................................................................................................................16 Part III. The Shots Heard ‘Round the World ..................................................20 Sessions’ Command Center in Connecticut ....................................................................................23 Continental Congress Appoints Washington to Command Troops ................................................25 Washington Returns to Providence in 1781 ...................................................................................28 Part IV: An Uneasy Peace and Reuniting a Nation .......................................30 A Polarized Citizenry .......................................................................................................................30 Washington Visits Rhode Island in 1790.........................................................................................31 George Washington Part V: The Cole Family.........................................................................................34 and other Patriots sat in this chair to coordinate plans for the Revolution Page 1 Part 1: Darius Sessions – An Unheralded American Hero Darius Sessions was a remarkable patriot who played a significant leadership role in the critical events leading to the Revolution, and continued support, operating a clandestine command center to provide continued assistance to Washington and other Revolutionary leaders. Today he is virtually unknown. Darius was born August 17, 1717, on a farm in between Pomfret and Killingly, Connecticut (west of Providence)1 to Nathaniel Sessions (b. 1681) and Joanna Corbin (b. 1686). His family was apparently prosperous, owning large tracts of land in Eastern Connecticut. After graduating from Yale College in the class of 1737, Darius set up a series of successful mercantile businesses in Rhode Island and practiced law. The records show he was part owner of the Providence-based privateer sloop Reprisal in 1746 during King George’s War and then served as master of the schooner Smithfield in 1750, trading in the West Indies. In 1750, Sessions married Sarah Antram of Providence. During his early years in Providence, it’s likely he was part of the rum trade with his father-in-law, William Antram, whose distillery house was located just north of Sessions' home on South Main Street at the corner of Smith Street in Providence, diagonally across from Ad in the Providence Gazette 16 December1767 King’s Chapel and the Colony House. During the French & Indian War (1754-63) Darius bankrolled the efforts of his brother, Capt. Amasa Sessions, returning from Providence to recruit a company of soldiers from Pomfret and Abington to fight for Rhode Island in that effort. Sessions had the farm house totally reconstructed into a stately colonial mansion. During the American War of Independence it is known that Darius frequently returned to his farm in Connecticut, which became a command center during the war. Sessions signed his name with the title of Esquire, which indicated he was also a lawyer, hence his interest in legislation. He ran for the state assembly in 1763, and later was elected Deputy Governor of Rhode Island in May of 1769,2 succeeding Joseph Wanton, a Tory, who became the new Governor. Wanton succeeding Stephen Hopkins (Sessions’ friend), who was elevated to the colony’s Superior Court, and then later became one of the colony’s two delegates to the Continental Congress. 1 Sessions, Francis Charles; History of the Sessions Family in America, 1890, Letter from Thomas Sessions,p34 & 35 alternatively refer to Pomfret and Killingly, implying that the farm was located between the two, on Hartford Pike. A note in Ibid p 125 states that Nathaniel Sessions build the 16 mile cart road from Pomfret to North Scituate, known as the “Hartford Pike,” what is now Route 101. Darius, as a young boy, drove oxen over the road into town. 2 Elections were held in mid April in those times. Sessions had ten children with Sarah. His last, Thomas, wrote in 1845: "Darius, my honored father, was a scholar, a merchant, a statesman, a Christian, a man. His sound judgment and legal information were generally considered conclusive, and the numerous applications to him gave a very extensive acquaintance.” Thomas Sessions, who later became a Colonel and business partner with his father, was born in 1769,3 the same year Darius became Deputy-Governor.4 Thomas Sessions was a founding member of the Mt. Vernon Masonic Lodge.5 Darius was clearly interested in building the institutions and values that would provide his children with a better future; he was more than just a merchant and legislator; he was deeply involved in furthering the education of the colony, as one of the state’s historians commented: A new order and ideal began at Providence, where the merchant class had begun to accumulate wealth and the free school plan came under discussion by leading citizens. Among those who took the lead in advocacy of public schools [were] Nicholas Cooke, Esek and Stephen Hopkins, Moses and Nicholas Brown, Darius Sessions, Nathaniel Greene, .....[and others], leading citizens of wealth and intelligence. On December 8, 1767, the town of Providence in town meeting voted to build three school houses for small children and one for youth, to provide instructors and pay the bills from the town treasury, the schools to be under the supervision of the school committee. This was the first act of the town of Providence to establish free schools, supported by a tax on all the property of the people.6 It's worthwhile to understand the underlying vision and values of the community leaders of the time, and their building of a civilized culture far into the future, as the state historian described: In the preamble of a report written by Deputy-Governor Jabez Brown [who would be succeeded in the next election by Darius Sessions]....expresses the rising sentiment of the progressive class: "The education of youth, being a thing of the first importance to every society, as thereby the minds of the rising generation are formed to virtue, knowledge and useful literature, and a succession of able and useful men are produced, with suitable qualifications for serving their country with ability and faithfulness; and institutions of this nature are the more useful by how much the more liberal and free the enjoyment of them is."7 3 from Carroll, Charles. Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy. Vol. I, p235 “One man of great influence in his life was his neighbor, Chief Justice Stephen Hopkins, who went on to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776.” 4 The title “Deputy-Governor” was changed to “Lieutenant Governor” in 1800. 5 According to records of the RI Masons curator/librarian, Richard Lynch provided June 2016, indicating Thomas Sessions was a member of St. Johns Masonic Lodge 1 in Providence and a founder of the Mt. Vernon Lodge. 6 Thomas Williams Bicknell, The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Volume 2, American Historical Society, 1920 p 655. This position was also expressed by Thomas Jefferson. 7 Bicknell, Ibid, p 655. Part II. Darius Sessions & the Seeds of the Revolution The Stamp Act and the Sons of Liberty King George was suffering deep financial hardship fighting wars and keeping such a large standing army and navy deployed throughout his empire. To pay for the conflicts and a large military, the Stamp Act was enacted, taxing the colonists for the cost of their defense. The uprising of moral objections was swift, with the colonists screaming “Taxation without Representation is Tyranny!” Quickly across the colonies, the Sons of Liberty were formed, calling for a boycott of all British goods, Sons of Liberty called for Colonial Unity and instead favoring home-grown industries, trades, and crafts. In July, 1769, while Sessions was Deputy Governor, "the merchants, traders, farmers, and mechanics, and in general, all the 'Sons of Liberty' in Providence and the neighboring towns" met at the "Liberty Tree” to “consult and agree on effectual measures to discourage the importation and consumption of European goods.” The following year, a committee made up of Justice Stephen Hopkins, Dep. Gov. Darius Sessions, and others was established to ensure merchants did not violate the non-importation agreement.8 The General Assembly then voted to deny the right of any power except itself to levy taxes upon the colony. Tensions continued to build as Britain just got tougher and tightened the reins further. As the 1770s emerged, the populous of the colonies polarized; loyalist Tories remained faithful to the King in England and the patriotic Sons of Liberty barked for more freedom. Animosities mounted as King George demanded more tax money