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TRIBUTE
TO
OLD LEBANON.
ADDRESS c,
*^^^
Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Buckingham,
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.,
BROTHER OF LEBANON'S SECOND WAR GOVERNOR.
[Reprmied from " The Lebanon War Office .'"'X
HARTFORD, CONN:
Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company.
1891.
^^y is
/£>
DR. BUCKINGHAM'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President and People of Connecticut :
I am not, I suppose, one of the Sons of the Revolu-
tion, but I claim to be a true and loyal son of Connecticut.
Though I have spent all my professional life in Massa-
chusetts, and cherish the profoundest respect for her in-
stitutions and people, still I was born and trained here.
Our ancestor was one of the original settlers of the New
Haven Colony, and one of his sons bore a leading part
in the organization of your churches and in the founding
and rectorship of Yale College. And familiar as I am
with your achievements, is it strange that I honor and
love my native State ? Especially since you selected my
brother to be your Governor, when the war for the Union
was coming on, and so nobly sustained him and the
Union until all opposition to it was put down, and slav-
ery, the cause of all our dissensions, was forever removed,
do you wonder that my heart turns admiringly and grate-
fully to you, and always will under whatever skies I may
chance to find myself? Since the State put $2,000,000 at
his disposal at the outset of the war for the purposes of
the war, and at his suggestion loaned the credit of the
State to the General Government to sustain its credit,
and furnished soldiers at his call till every quota called
for was supplied without ever submitting to a draft, and
when you withheld not your noblest sons from the sacri-
fices of war, and so many of them went forth never to
return, — can one brought up among them, with their
principles in his heart, if not their blood in his veins, fail
to admire them and the State that trained them to be
such patriots?
God's best gift to Lebanon was its first settlers. Captain
Joseph Trumbull, the first of the name here, and the
founder of the Lebanon branch of the family, settled here
in 1704, just after the town was organized. He was a
farmer and a merchant, and subsequently engaged, with
his sons, in foreign commerce, building vessels of their
own on the Thames and the Connecticut, and exchanging
their exports for imports from the West Indies, England,
and Holland. He had eight children, four sons and four
daughters, of whom his oldest son, Joseph, his partner
in business and supercargo of one of their ships, was lost
at sea, and David, the youngest, was drowned in the mill-
pond at home on his college vacation. Jonathan, the
" War Governor," had just graduated from college and
finished his preparation for the ministry, and was to have
been settled in Colchester, when his brother was lost at
sea, and he felt constrained to abandon the ministry and
go to the assistance of his father. Here he acquired that
business knowledge and ability which proved so valuable
when he came to administer the affairs of the State and
succor Washington and his army in their extremity. No
wonder General Washington looked to him with hope
when he could find help nowhere else, saying, " Let us
see what Brother Jonathan can do for us " ; and little
wonder that he found it when the State responded with
such contributions and sacrifices to the appeals of their
heroic Governor.
The Governor's own family was as follows :
Joseph, born March, 1737, was Commissary-General
of Washington's army.
Jonathan, Jr., born March 26, 1740, was Paymaster
in Washington's army, and afterwards Governor of the
State.
Faith, born Jan. 25, 1743, married Gen. Jedediah
Huntington, of the Revolutionary army.
Mary, born July 16, 1745, married William Williams,
" signer of the Declaration of Independence."
To say that this whole family tilled so many hic-h
f^h T„"5* '^'^''"8^-hed abilit^and fidelity that le
ather filled every civil and judicial office of the State
from one of the deputies of the town to the General'
Court, to the speakership of the House of Repreten a
^ives and frotn Judge of Probate to the office of "he"
he btcime r!o ''' '"r™^ ^""^ «"P--^ Courts, b fore'
he became Governor; that the sons all filled their mill
tary offices with honor, and especially in departments
wh,ch required the highest financial integrity and aMty
and when the youngest showed such peculiar aDtitude'
or the military profession, and yet turn'ed XCI
o become the historical painter of his country and make
he panels of the Capitol at Washington the memr'a!
sphere with equal grace and patriotism; and to sav no
more, is honor enough for one household ^
the'^ri^Tu f"" :i^''^"^»-^ f«'»%. that married into
the Trumbull family. Rev. Solomon Williams D D
tle°f:", °';"^'°" ^^^" *« P-'- here, belonged^;
he farnily of those who suffered the barbarities of cap
my that attended the burning of Deerfield by the
Indians m ,704. One of his sons, Eliphalet, was pastor
of the church in East Hartford some fifty years ^nd
another Ezekiel. was for thirty years hig'L'^Sfl; of
Hartford county, and he the father of one of the Chie
Justices of Connecticut. Dr. Williams might weU hal
been the father of one of the signers of th^ Declaration
o Independence, judging from the jubilant sermon he
Pleached on the surrender of Quebec in 1750 when a
general thanksgiving was observed, and he sTwen
appreciated the importance of it, regarding ■ the Ton
quest of Quebec, the capital of Canada, as rf more Tm
portance than has ever been made by the EngUsh sin"
England was a nation." His son William, — usually
styled Colonel William Williams — the one who immor-
talized himself by signing that Declaration of Independ-
ence, graduated at Harvard College and studied for
the ministry with his father, but joined the English and
Continental forces in the old French war, on the staff of
his cousin, Colonel Ephraim Williams, who fell in that
campaign. Of ardent temperament, beautiful in person,
eloquent of speech, and capable of inspiring others with
his own convictions and patriotism, he went over the State
arousing the people to their danger and their duty, while
his brother-in-law, David Trumbull, was buying up
all the pork in the vState, and collecting gunpowder and
clothing from every quarter, to enable our poor army to
keep the field. The man who would risk his life to
secure our independence, and impoverished himself to
maintain the cause, might well be regarded as the
apostle of Liberty, and the most efficient supporter of the
patriotic Governor. When the outlook was darkest, and
one of the Council of Safety expressed the hope that we
might yet be successful, he replied : " If we fail, I know
what my fate will be. I have done much to prosecute
the war, and one thing which the British will never par-
don, I have signed the Declaration of Independence.
I shall be hjing f "Well," said another member of the
Council, " if we fail, I don't know that I could be hung.
For my name is not attached to that Declaration, nor
have I written anything against the British govern-
ment." " Then," said Williams, ^' you ought to be Jiung for
not doing your duty^ As has been said of him: "With
tongue, pen, and estate he gave himself to the cause of
the colonies. During the gloomy winter of i yyj he sent
beef, cattle, and gold to Valley Forge, saying, ' If inde-
pendence shall be established, I shall get my pay ; if not,
the loss will be of no account to me.' "
Another of those families was the Mason family, not
only distinguished by their natural characteristics and
practical ability, but by their high descent. They were
the descendants of Major John Mason, of Pequot fame,
and the first proprietor of land within the limits of the
town. The Colony gave him for his services five hun-
dred acres of land, and much more was purchased of the
Indians, until he was the chief proprietor of the whole
township. Fifty years ago, three of his descendants, two
sons and a daughter, with large families, were influential
people in the town, and not only noted for their noble
personal appearance, but as well for their business ability
and public spirit. Another of them was Jeremiah
Mason, the famous Massachusetts lawyer, and contem-
porary of Mr. Webster, who paid such a beautiful tribute
before the Boston bar to his abilities and worth. But the
most remarkable characteristic of this family was — as
has been shown in Chancellor Walworth's " Genealogy
of the Hyde Family" (Vol. II, page 926) — that they
were descended from William the Conqueror, from the
Plantagenets of England, Matilda of Scotland, Louis the
Fair of France, and from Charlemagne, the great
Emperor of the West, and with blue blood enough in
their veins to stock a kingdom.
Such were some of the people who had the early
guidance of affairs and the shaping of public sentiment
in this New England town. And such were some of the
moulding influences which made the State what it was
and shaped our general government ; and wherever they
have been carried by emigration, must have been a
blessing, as they have been here.""'^ The springs where
* When I was a boy, emigration from this town was going on to
" 'hio," — Ohio — " Genisee county," in and about Rochester, N. Y., and " up
county," which meant Vermont. Dartmouth College, under Pres. Whee-
lock, then " Moore's Charity School " for the education of Indian youth, had
been taken up almost bodily and transported from Columbia, then a part of
this town, to Hanover, N. H., just across the river. And so many of the
settlers went with it from this vicinity that twenty or more of the neighbor-
ing towns in Vermont bear the names of Connecticut towns from which the
settlers came. Indeed, the State had so much of this settlement in it that it
was named " New Connecticut," and the name was only changed because
there were other settlements of similar origin taking the same name — like
the " New Connecticut " in the Susquehanna Valley, and the " New Connec-
ticut " of Northern Ohio, both of which distinctly show the characteristics of
their origin.
tnotintain streams take their rise, and flow down through
fertile plains, and alongside of wealthy cities, to enrich
the commerce of the world, and bless its countless inhab-
itants, are interesting spots to visit, and suggestive of
what smaller towns may have done for the world and are
likely to do in the future.
The list of Governors which this town has furnished
to the State is certainly remarkable, both in number and
character, especially considering its population and bus-
iness. Entirely an agricultural town, with never more
than three (3,000) thousand inhabitants, it has filled the
chair of State with such men as these, and for such
terms of office:
Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., - 1769 to 1784
Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., - 1798 to 1809
Clark Bissell, - - - 1847 ^o 1849
Joseph Trumbull, - - 1849 to 1850
William A. Buckingham, - 1858 to 1866
Here are five Governors from the same town, holding
the office by annual election for one-third of a century,
and filling the office with becoming dignity and distin-
guished usefulness. We do not wonder at the pleasant
boast of the people of the town : — " We supply Norivich
with butter and cheese, and the State tvith Governors, espe-
cially when they want good ones''
The Trumbull Tomb, where so many of the family
and their kindred sleep, is an object of peculiar interest.
As has been said : " Within this family mausoleum rest
the sacred ashes of more of the illustrious dead than in
any other in the State, or perhaps the country. Here rest
the remains of that eminently great and good Jonathan
Trumbull, Sr., the bosom friend and most trusted coun-
sellor of Washington ; of his good wife. Faith Robinson ;
of his eldest son, Joseph, the first Commissary-General of
the army under Washington ; of his second son, Jona-
than, Jr., Paymaster-General of the same army, private
secretary, and first Aid-de-Camp to General Washington,
and afterward Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives, member of the United States Senate,
and Governor of this State ; and by his side his good
wife, Eunice Backus; of his third son, David, Commis-
sary of this Colony in the Revolution, and Assistant-
Commissary-General under his brother in the army of
Washington, and by his side his good wife, Sarah
Backus ; of his second daughter, Mary, and by her side
her illustrious husband, William Williams, one of the
signers of the immortal Declaration of Independence, —
and many others who have from these descended. What
a tomb is here ! What a shrine for patriotic devotion ! "
— [Rev. Mr. Hine's " Early Lebanon."]
As I have stood before that tomb with my brother, I
can think of nothing so likely to have inspired him with
his patriotism as this. Sure I am, that next to his duty
to God, no stronger motive influenced him than the
desire to be to his State and country somewhat such as
Trumbull was in the War of the Revolution. And the
heroic statue to his memory, which you have set up in
your State Capitol, like the one erected to the honor of
his predecessor in the National Capitol, will carry down
their names together to posterity, — the one as " the War
Governor of the Revolution,'^ and the other as " tJie War
Governor of tJie Rebellion^
It is the memory of such spotless and noble charac-
ters ; the places where they were born, and lie sleeping ;
the associations of their early lives, and the scenes of
their active usefulness, which serve to influence and en-
noble us. And it is to revive and deepen such impres-
sions and transmit them to others that we gather in this
old historic town, and set apart, with appropriate ser-
vices. Governor Trumbull's War Office to such uses. It is
only a plain wooden building, built by the Governor for
a store, but where most of the twelve hundred sessions
of the Council of Safety were held during the war.
Here is where Washington and so many of the leading
men of the times came to consult him, and where some
10
of the important expeditions of the war were planned.
It is generally understood that the meeting here of so
many of the commanders of the French land forces and
the officers of their navy with our own statesmen and
commanders had reference to the combined expedition
against Yorktown, which terminated the war, though the
final determination might have been reached at " the
Webb Tavern " in Wethersfield — a humble building,
but ennobled by the great men who gathered there, the
noble plans projected there, the great achievements
carried out to their sublime results from such a place.
It is the glory which sunshine gives to a humble flower ;
the glory of modest worth and faithful usefulness ; the
glory somewhat which Heaven sheds over a sainted
soul : —
" Sacred the robe, the faded glove,
Once worn by one we used to love ;
Dead warriors in their armor live,
And in their relics saints survive."
As we have thus re-read this chapter of your history,
we have been more than ever impressed with the in-
fluence of individual characters and families and noble
deeds upon a town, a State, the country. It is men and
women that make history, and it is history, in turn, that
makes them of coming generations ; it is parents who
transmit their own characteristics ; it is the family that
moulds the children ; it is such characters and such
families which are the wealth of the nation ; it is their
principles and achievements which are the cherished
treasures of our State and of the country. And so we
reckon them among God's best gifts to any community.
But for these how changed would our condition be, and
how different our history ? If our old Puritan Governor
had been no more patriotic than the rest of them ; if
his son-in-law had not affixed his signature to that im-
mortal declaration ; if his sons, in the commissary de-
partment of the army, had not been so efficient and in-
corruptible in the management of its affairs ; if France
II
had not sent Lafayette and her army and her navy to
our assistance ; if the last expedition of the war had not
been planned in that old War Office — how changed
would have been the result! And we are grateful to
God — supremely grateful — for such a result. His
Providence settled the town with such families, and
trained such characters. The same good Providence
gave us the sympathy and aid of the French nation.
And the God of battles gave us the final victory. We
bow with reverent and grateful hearts before this God
of our fathers; and He shall be our God, as well as
theirs, forever and ever.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
014 111 909 6 ^
