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THE  COAST  ARTILLERY  CORPS  IN  THE  PAGEANT 
Soldiers  from  Fort  Wright,  Fisher's  Island 


THF.  NAVY  REPRESENTATIVES 

Bluejackets  from  the  Torpedo-Boat  Destroyer  Division 


THE    STONINGTON    BATTLE    CENTENNIAL 

A  RECORD  OF  THE  CELEBRATION  OF 
AUGUST  EIGHTH,  NINTH  AND  TENTH 
NINETEEN  HUNDRED   AND   FOURTEEN 


STONINGTON,   CONNECTICUT 

PALMER  PRESS 

1915 


36' 


COMPILED,  PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED 
BY  THE  PALMER  PRESS,  STONINGTON 
COPYRIGHT    1915    BY    PALMER     PRESS 


t. 


MAV-8i9!5     ©GLA406149 


EX ECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 
Left  to  right,  sitting:  James  H.  Weeks,  Secretary;  Cornelius  B.  Crandall.  Chairman;  Everett  N. 

Pendleton.  Treasurer 

Left  to  right,  standing:  Charles  B.  MeCoart,  Wurtem  A.  Hreed.  Henry  K.  Palmer, 

Jerome  S.  Anderson,  Jr.,  Benjamin  S.  Cutler 


PARADE  HOSE  CARRIAGE 

of  Stonington  S.  1'.  I-'..  Co.,  No.  1.      Miss  Mary 

Kelley  on  carriage;  Robert  Edgar  and  John 

D'Amico  at  tiller.     Steamer  following 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  MASON 

lte\ .  Charles  J.  Mason  in  the  role  of  his  ancestor 

and  carrying'  the  latter's  sword 


FIRE   CHIEFS   IN*  SATURDAY'S  PARADE 

Chief  Ed.  P.  Teed,  Stonington;  Chief  Charles  F.  Donath  and  Assistant  Mason   Manning.   Mystic: 

First  Assistant  Charles  H.  Rose,  New  London;  Chief  Loren  L.  Park.  Noank; 

Assistant  Charles  D.  Main.  Stonington 


RIGHT  OF  LINE  IN  FIRE  PARADE  ON  MAIN'  STREET 

Procession  about  to  start.     Stonington  Fire  Police  in  foreground.  Pioneer  Hook  and  Ladder 
Co.,  No.  1,  of  Stonington,  in  rear 


TO   THE   PEOPLE   OF   THE 
TOWN    OF   STOxNINGTON 


a&j  S4 


FLAG  RAISING  AT  CANNON*  SQUARE 
Rev.  J.  H.  Odell.  D.  1)..  addressing  Stonington  Boy  Scouts  Saturday  morning 


AT  THK  HEAD  OF  THE  LINE 
Marshal  Hadlai  A.  Hull.  "Marshal  Aides  Arthur  N.  Nash  and  Bourdon  A.  Babcock 


Pz  •?'>''??■'%  -I  -  » 

' 

Brftii«, 

\  i  J.  -J  -_l  -  a 

•  '-—*■  ■  f 

MYSTIC   HOOK  AND   I.AlJDI.li   CO..   N„.    I 


B.  F.   HOXIE  ENGINE  CO.,  NO.   I,  OF  MYSTIC 

After  the  parade,  at  Wadawanuck  square 


PREFACE 

THIS  is  a  plain  account  of  the  celebration  of  the  one-hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Stonington.  It  has  been  written 
with  the  simple  idea  in  mind  of  preserving  a  record,  as  nearly  complete 
as  need  be,  of  the  events  of  August  eighth,  ninth  and  tenth,  1914. 
There  has  been  no  attempt  at  embellishment  or  fine  writing;  the  tacts 
of  the  celebration  have  been  set  down  bare  of  flourish  and  fancy.  If 
rhetoric  is  sought,  it  can  be  found  in  the  formal  addresses  of  the  occa- 
sion, while  many  a  touch  of  sentiment  may  be  discovered  in  the  melodious 
verses  which  the  anniversary  evoked. 

It  may  be  objected  that  there  is  too  much  detail  in  the  recital  of  the 
preliminaries  of  the  celebration,  but  it  was  believed  that  the  story  of 
how  the  plan  grew  might  be  of  service  to  other  communities  intending 
to  celebrate  anniversaries  of  their  own.  Some  useful  hints  may  be 
gathered  from  the  experience  of  those  upon  whom  the  management  of 
the  Stonington  Battle  Centennial  devolved. 

An  endeavor  has  been  made  to  give  credit  wherever  credit  was  due 
for  the  success  of  the  celebration,  but  it  is  certain  that  some  names  have 
been  inadvertently  omitted.  Indeed  it  would  not  be  practicable  to  put 
on  record  the  individual  services  of  all  those  who  helped  to  carry  the 
picturesque  enterprise  through.  There  were  literally  hundreds  who 
gave  generously  of  their  time  and  efforts  to  the  task.  All  that  can  be 
said  by  way  of  acknowledgment  is  that  there  was  harmonious  co-opera- 
tion from  the  first  and  that  everyone's  contribution  of  labor  and  counsel 
had  its  share  in  the  consummation. 

The  celebration  was  a  township  affair.  It  owed  its  success  to  the  loyal 
assistance  of  workers  in  every  district  of  the  town.  Pawcatuck,  the 
Road,  the  Borough,  Mystic  and  Old  Mystic  all  gave  their  time,  money 
and  effort.  All  parts  of  the  town  were  represented  on  the  various  com- 
mittees and  in  the  Saturday  and  Monday  parades.  The  new  Stoning- 
ton Hag,  carried  at  the  head  of  the  pageant  of  Monday  with  the  national 
and  State  emblems,  showed  five  stars  symbolic  of  the  five  districts  of 
the  town;  the  churches  throughout  the  town  united  in  patriotic  services 

5 


on  Sunday  in  honor  of  the  occasion.  Not  within  the  present  generation, 
certainly,  has  such  an  appeal  been  made,  and  so  successfully  made,  for 
the  subordination  of  sectional  prejudices  and  rivalries  to  the  interests  of 
the  town  as  a  whole.  May  the  spirit  of  sympathy  and  union  continue 
— from  the  Mystic  to  the  Pawcatuck — and  all  the  people  of  the  town 
feel  in  increased  measure  henceforth  their  essential  unity. 

It  should  be  added  that  generous  assistance  was  rendered  also  by 
New  London,  Groton,  North  Stonington  and  Westerly,  whose  share 
may  be  traced  in  the  following  pages;  by  summer  visitors,  and  by  vari- 
ous others. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  some  of  the  features  of  the  celebration  were 
not  adequately  caught  by  the  camera,  but  the  spirit  and  quality  of  the 
occasion  are  fairly  reflected  in  the  pictures  in  this  volume.  It  was 
impossible  to  include  all  the  attractive  illustrations  that  might  have 
been  put  in ;  the  best  that  could  be  done  was  to  make  a  selection.  It  is 
probable  that  amateur  photographers  have  in  their  possession  many 
attractive  prints  that  the  public  has  never  seen  and  would  be  glad  to 
see.  If  such  photographs  are  in  existence,  and  the  owners  are  willing 
to  contribute  them  to  a  permanent  record  of  the  celebration,  they  might 
appropriately  be  lodged  with  the  Stonington  Historical  Society. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  celebration  not  only  taught  us 
all  the  value  of  united  effort,  but  gave  us  a  new  sense  of  kinship  and 
a  new  hope  for  Stonington's  future. 

H.  R.  P. 


NEPTUNE  HOSE  CO.,  No.  1,  OF  STONINGTON 


STONINGTON  STEAM  FIRE  ENGINE  CO.,  No.   I 


PIONEER  HOOK  AND  LADDER  CO..  NO.   I,  OF  STONINGTON 

Rom ■  Band  of  New  London,  escorting  Alert  Hook  and   Ladder  Co..  No.  1.  of  Westerly,   in  the 

distance 


-■  m 

k*i— 

35 

*> 

r=*\ 

- 

HhII 

••    #a 

- 

CATARACT 

FIRE  CO. 

,   NO.  2, 

Of 

Lakewood 

CONTENTS 


Dedication 

Preface    .... 

Contexts 

Planning  the  Celebration 

Saturday,  August  Eighth 

Sunday,  August  Ninth    . 

Monday,  August  Tenth 

The  Patriotic  and  Pageant  Parade 

The  Pageant-Parade  of  Stoningtox 

The  Centennial  Ball      .... 

Cost  of  the  Celebration 

The  Flag  of  Stonington 

Financial  Report  of  Executive  Committee 

The  Historical  Society  Exhibition 

Committees       ...... 


3 
5 

7 
9 
19 
24 
35 
47 
49 
57 
58 
59 
GO 
61 
63 


!3»  i  I 
I 


B.  F.  HOXIE  ENGINE  CO.  OF  MYSTIC.   FOLLOWED  BY  MYSTIC  HOOK  AND 

LADDER  CO. 


PAWCATUCK  FIRE  POLICE 


ALERT  HOOK  AND  LADDER  CO.,   NO.   1.  OF  WESTERLY 

Wakefield   Military  Hand  and  Wakefield  Hook  and   Ladder  Co.,  No.  1.  following.      Westerly   Band 
escorting  P.  S.  Barber  Hose  Co.  of  Pawcatuck  in  the  distance 


P.  S.   BARBER  HOSE  CO.  OF  PAWCATUCK 
Chief  Henry  A.  Stahle  and  other  officers  of  the  Pawcatuck  Department  in  the  foreground 


PLANNING   THE   CELEBRATION 

FOR  several  years  previous  to  1914  the  desirability  of  celebrating  in 
that  year  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Stonington 
had  been  apparent.  During  the  latter  part  of  1912  a  number  of  local 
organizations  appointed  committees  in  anticipation  of  the  event,  and 
on  December  23,  at  the  call  of  the  board  of  Warden  and  Burgesses  of 
Stonington  Borough,  a  meeting  was  held  in  Borough  Hall  to  which  "all 
organizations  and  societies"  were  invited  to  send  representatives. 

At  this  meeting  Cornelius  B.  Crandall,  Warden  of  the  borough,  pre- 
sided and  James  H.  Weeks  was  appointed  Clerk.  After  some  discussion 
of  the  proposed  celebration,  it  was  voted,  on  motion  of  Charles  E. 
Shackley,  "that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  confer  with  the 
Representatives  to  the  General  Assembly  from  Stonington  in  relation  to 
obtaining  an  appropriation  from  the  State  for  the  celebration."  The 
Chairman  named  as  this  committee  Judge  Wurtem  A.  Breed,  Jerome 
S.  Anderson,  Jr.,  and  Henry  R.  Palmer. 

It  was  further  voted  "that  said  committee  be  instructed  to  formu- 
late a  plan  for  celebrating  and  commemorating  the  one-hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Stonington  and  report  at  the  next  meeting. " 

The  first  definite  steps  were  thus  taken  considerably  more  than  a 
year  and  a  half  in  advance  of  the  date  of  the  celebration.  It  was  felt 
that  the  occasion  demanded  painstaking  and  mature  preparation,  and 
that  whatever  was  done  should  be  decided  upon  in  season  to  allow  the 
details  to  be  worked  out  with  the  utmost  care.  There  was  therefore 
no  distressing  congestion  of  arrangements  at  the  eleventh  hour:  every 
contingency,  so  far  as  practicable,  had  been  anticipated,  and  while 
changes  of  plan  were  found  to  be  necessary  from  time  to  time,  there 
was  no  confusion  on  this  account. 

The  scheme  of  the  celebration  developed  naturally  and  unhurriedly, 
and,  thanks  to  the  co-operation  of  loyal  and  devoted  workers  from  all 
parts  of  the  town,  and  from  the  neighboring  towns  of  Groton,  North 
Stonington  and  Westerly,  was  carried  through  to  a  remarkable  success. 
Practically  everybody  who  was  called  upon  to  help  responded  willingly. 

9 


10 

The  organizations  represented  at  the  first  meeting,  and  the  names  of 
their  delegates,  follow : 

WARDEN   AND   BURGESSES 
C.  B.  Crandall,  W.  P.   Bindloss,  T.  W.  Garity,  H.  A.  Muller,  B.  C.  Chesebro,  C.  B.  McCoart 

J.  A.  Vargas. 

STONINGTON   FIRE   DEPARTMENT 

Chief  Engineer  E.  P.  Teed,  Assistant  C.  D.  Main.      Neptune  Hose  Co. :   C.  E.  Shackley,  C.  B. 

McCoart.     Stonington  Fire  Police:  C.  G.  Cushman,  W.  F.  Wilcox.     Pioneer  Hook 

and  Ladder  Co.:  J.  F.  Joseph,  J.  H.  Weeks.      Stonington  Steam 

Fire  Engine  Co.:  J.  S.  Anderson,  Jr..  F.  J.  Ostman. 

STONINGTON   FREE   LIBRARY 

E.  P.  Edwards,  C.  B.  States,  Miss  Lizzie  M.  Trumbull, 

STONINGTON   MEN'S  CLUB 

W.  A.  Breed,  B.  S.  Cutler,  E.  B.  Hinckley. 

STONINGTON   LODGE,   NO.   50,  A.    O.    U.    W. 

David  Vennard,  Fritz  Buck. 

STONINGTON   HISTORICAL   AND  GENEALOGICAL  SOCIETY 

Miss  Gertrude  Palmer,  S.  H.  Chesebro,  Gilbert  Collins. 

STONINGTON  IMPROVEMENT  ASSOCIATION 

Miss  Louise  Trumbull,  Dr.  C.  M.  Williams,  H.  R.  Palmer. 

STONINGTON   TRAVEL   CLUB 

Mrs.  D.  C.  Stone,  Mrs.  O.  F.  Pendleton,  Mis3  Laura  T.  Wood. 

STONINGTON   GRANGE 

A.  G.  Wheeler,  S.  N.  Williams,  A.  G.  Hewitt. 

LADIES'  CATHOLIC  BENEVOLENT  ASSOCIATION 

Mrs.  J.  H.  Shackley,  Mrs.  Bessie  O'Neil,  Mrs.  Dennis  Danahy. 

LADIES'    AUXILIARY,    ANCIENT  ORDER   HIBERNIANS,  DIVISION   37 

Mrs.  Dennis  Danahy,  Mrs.  T.  J.  McCormick,  Mrs.  P.  H.  Coffey. 

NINA  COUNCIL,  NO  43,   KNIGHTS  OF  COLUMBUS 

Joseph  Gilmartin,  T.  J.  McCormick,  J.  A.  Vargas,  Jr. 

COURT  GEORGE  HOWE  FELLOWS,   FORESTERS  OF  AMERICA 

C.  E.  Shackley,  J.  H.  Shackley,  Joseph  DeBragga. 

PEQUOT  COUNCIL,  NO.  442,  ROYAL  ARCANUM 

H.  B.  Noyes,  Thomas  Wilkinson. 

MYSTIC  MEN'S  CLUB 

H.  J.  Holdredge,  B.  F.  Williams,  Dr.  W.  H.  Gray. 

PAWCATUCK   FIRE  DISTRICT 

A.  G.  Martin,  H.  A.  Stable,  James  Shea. 

Later  the  following  representatives  were  reported: 

ARION   SOCIETY 

Henry  Scholl.  John  Wenmaker. 

ANCIENT  ORDER  OF   HIBERNIANS 

Peter  Flynn.  Edward  Barrett,  W.  J.  Gilmore, 


11 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  list  how  general  and  representative  a  charac- 
ter the  movement  for  the  celebration  had  from  the  start. 

At  a  meeting  on  January  6,  1913,  held  at  Borough  Hall,  a  tentative 
plan  for  a  three-days  celebration,  to  occur  on  Saturday,  Sunday  and 
Monday,  August  8,  9  and  10,  1914,  was  presented  by  the  committee 
appointed  at  the  previous  meeting.  This  report  was  received  and 
adopted,  subject  to  amendments. 

It  was  voted  "that  the  committee  of  three  appointed  at  the  last 
meeting,  viz.  Judge  W.  A.  Breed,  J.  S.  Anderson,  Jr.,  and  II.  R. 
Palmer,  together  with  C.  B.  Crandall,  B.  S.  Cutler  and  Charles  B. 
McCoart,  be  named  and  constituted  an  Executive  Committee,  with 
power  to  appoint  all  sub-committees." 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  was  held  on  February 
2,  1913,  at  the  residence  of  C.  B.  Crandall.  The  committee  was  en- 
larged by  the  addition  of  James  H.  Weeks  and  Everett  N.  Pendleton, 
and  the  following  officers  were  elected :  C.  B.  Crandall  Chairman,  James 
H.  Weeks  Secretary,  Everett  N.  Pendleton  Treasurer. 

It  was  voted  that  regular  meetings  of  the  Executive  Committee  be 
held  in  the  Warden  and  Burgesses  room  on  the  first  Monday  evening 
of  each  month,  beginning  with  March  3. 

It  was  further  voted  that  a  petition  be  presented  to  the  General 
Assembly  through  the  Representatives  of  the  town,  asking  for  the  sum 
of  five  thousand  dollars  to  be  used  by  the  town  "toward  the  proper  cel- 
ebration and  commemoration  of  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  Stonington. " 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  on  February  10  it  was 
estimated  that  the  expense  of  the  celebration  would  be  $0500,  exclusive 
of  $2000  for  a  permanent  memorial.  How  close  to  the  ultimate  cost 
these  figures  were  will  later  appear. 

The  records  of  the  committee  for  March  12  read  as  follows: 

1 '  The  members  of  the  Executive  Committee,  with  the  exception  of  the  Treasurer, 
went  to  Hartford,  Conn.,  on  this  date  to  appear  before  the  Appropriation  Com- 
mittee of  the  General  Assembly  on  the  bill  to  appropriate  85,000  to  assist  Ston- 
ington in  the  proper  observance  of  August  9,  10,  11,  1914. 


12 

"Those  who  spoke  in  behalf  of  the  measure  were  Judge  W.  A.  Breed,  Henry  R. 
Palmer,  Hon.  Abel  P.  Tanner,  Representative  from  New  London ;  Senator  Fred- 
erick A.  Johnson  of  Montville,  Conn. ;  George  R.  McKenna. 

"The  committee  was  well  pleased  with  its  reception  by  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee of  the  General  Assembly.'' 

Meetings  of  the  Executive  Committee  were  held  from  time  to  time, 
and  at  more  frequent  intervals  as  the  date  of  the  celebration  approached. 
On  July  7,  1913,  it  was  voted  to  ask  the  Mystic  Fire  District  to  appoint 
a  committee  of  three  to  co-operate  with  the  General  Committee. 

On  August  4  a  meeting  of  the  General  Committee  was  held,  at 
which  the  minutes  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  date  were  read  and 
approved,  and  the  following  additional  committees  were  appointed : 

FINANCE   COMMUTE!': 

Benjamin  S.  Cutler,  Chairman;  Miss  Louise  Trumbull,   Secretary;  Miss  Jean  C.   Palmer,   John  H. 

Ryan,  Nathaniel  P.  Noyes,  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Cowan,  Miss  Annie  McGrath,  Judge  Elias  B. 

Hinckley,  A.  G.  Martin,  Henry  A.  Stahle,  James  Shea,  Heman  J.  Holdredge, 

Benjamin  F.  Williams,  Dr.  W.  H.  Gray. 

COMMITTEE   ON  INVITATIONS   AND  SPEAKERS 

Henry  R.  Palmer,  Chairman;  J.  S.  Anderson,  Jr.,  Secretary;  Judge  Gilbert  Collins,  C.  B.  Crandall, 

John  W.  Chamberlain,  A.  R.  Stillman,  James  Cooper. 

"The  tone  of  the  speakers  at  the  meeting,"  say  the  minutes,  "showed 
that  the  interest  in  the  celebration  was  increasing."  Letters  from  Mrs. 
Clarence  F.  R.  Jenne,  President,  and  Mrs.  Noyes  D.  Baldwin,  Vice 
President,  of  the  Connecticut  United  States  Daughters  of  1812  were 
read.  These  indicated  a  desire  that  the  society  should  take  part  in  the 
celebration. 

On  September  8  the  Executive  Committee  was  informed  that  the 
Daughters  of  1812  wished  to  provide  a  suitable  permanent  memorial  for 
the  occasion,  and  it  was  voted  that  a  tablet  on  the  site  of  the  old  fort 
be  suggested  to  the  society.  James  H.  Weeks  was  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  obtain  all  the  facts  possible  regarding  the  location  of  the  fort, 
H.  R,  Palmer  and  C.  B.  McCoart  were  made  a  committee  on  badges 
and  souvenirs. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  October  13,  the  fol- 
lowing votes  were  passed : 

"That  the  Committee  on  Invitations  and  Speakers  be  instructed  to  proceed  at 


THE  SUNDAY  EXERCISES  AT  WADAWANUCK  SQUARE 
Governor  Baldwin  delivering  Ins  historical  address 


ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  THE  SUNDAY  GATHERING 
Speakers"  platform  at  right,  speakers  facing  toward  Main  street.     Children's  chorus  on  grand- 
stand near  centre  of  picture 


PROFESSOR  OTIS  E.  RANDALL 

Who  delivered  an  address  at  the  Sunday 

afternoon  exercises 


MISS  ROSAMOND  SPENCER  HOLMES 
Who  unveiled  the-  tablet 


COURTLANDT  W.  AND  HARRY  \V 
BABCOCK 

Colonial  riders 


THE  STONINGTON  BATTLE  FLAG 

William   K.  Holmes,  Jr..  holding  it  aloft.     Ray- 
mond M.  Holmes  at  right 


once  to  invite  special  guests,  particularly  the  representatives  of  the  Army  and  Navy. 

"That  Miss  Grace  D.  Wheeler  be  requested  to  prepare  a  list  of  historical  places 
in  the  borough  to  be  suitably  marked. 

"That  the  Stonington  Historical  and  Genealogical  Society  be  asked  to  take 
charge  of  the  business  of  collecting  and  exhibiting  historical  objects  in  connection 
with  the  1914  celebration,  especially  those  of  local  interest. 

"That  the  committee  adopt  as  the  official  emblem  for  the  celebration  a  picture  of 
the  cannons  and  memorial  monument  on  Cannon  square. 

"That  all  bills  shall  be  paid  by  the  Treasurer  on  the  approval  of  the  Executive 
Committee." 

On  November  17  it  was  voted  "that  it  is  the  sense  of  the  committee 
that  the  place  for  the  memorial  to  be  erected  on  the  site  of  the  old  fort 
by  the  United  States  Daughters  of  1812  of  Connecticut  is  the  corner 
leading  to  the  breakwater."  The  Committee  on  Invitations  and  Speak- 
ers was  instructed  to  inquire  about  a  pageant,  and  the  questions  of  a 
children's  chorus  and  a  flagpole  were  put  in  the  hands  of  sub-committees. 

On  December  1  it  was  reported  that  Mr.  Eugene  Atwood  had  given 
permission  to  have  the  memorial  tablet  erected  on  the  desired  spot  and 
that  Miss  Harriet  N.  Woodard  of  Westerly  had  accepted  the  invitation 
extended  to  her  to  direct  the  children's  singing,  and  a  special  committee 
on  pageant  was  elected  as  follows :  Miss  Louise  Trumbull,  Miss  Anne 
Atwood  and  Miss  Laura  T.  Wood. 

The  pageant  question  was  discussed  at  the  meeting  of  January  5, 
1914,  with  the  members  of  the  Pageant  Committee  in  attendance.  "It 
was  found,"  the  minutes  say,  "that  such  a  venture  would  prove  too 
expensive  to  carry  out."  C.  B.  Crandall  was  appointed  a  sub-com- 
mittee to  ascertain  the  wishes  of  the  officers  of  the  Stonington  Fire 
Department  in  relation  to  the  celebration. 

On  January  28  the  Executive  Committee  reported  to  the  General 
Committee  at  a  meeting  in  Borough  Hall,  at  which  the  minutes  of  the 
former  body  from  August  4,  1913,  to  January  5  were  read  and  ap- 
proved. Recommendations  for  the  three-days  celebration,  in  much  the 
form  finally  carried  out,  were  made  and  adopted.  It  was  voted  "that 
the  sum  of  ^900  be  paid  to  Ed.   P.  Teed,   Chief  Engineer  of  the  Ston- 


14 

ington  Fire  Department  on  or  before  June  1,  1914,  for  distribution  to 
the  several  borough  companies  as  they  may  designate."  In  accord- 
ance with  the  recommendations  of  the  Executive  Committee,  propor- 
tional sums  for  the  Pawcatuck  and  Mystic  Fire  Departments  were 
appropriated  and  it  was  voted  to  purchase  two  flag  poles,  one  for 
Station  Plaza  and  the  other  for  Cannon  Park.  The  Executive  Com- 
mittee was  empowered  to  pay  all  current  bills. 

No  business  was  transacted  by  the  Executive  Committee  between 
January  28  and  April  6.  On  the  latter  date  an  offer  of  Anna  Warner 
Bailey  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  to  assist  in  the 
celebration  was  received  and  accepted.  It  was  voted  to  ask  the  chapter 
to  mark  with  appropriate  signs  the  historic  houses  of  the  borough.  A 
committee  to  have  charge  of  the  unveiling  of  the  tablet  on  the  site  of 
the  fort  was  appointed  as  follows:  Mrs.  C.  F.  R.  Jenne  of  Hartford, 
Miss  Ethel  J.  R.  C  Noyes  of  Washington  and  James  H.  Weeks  of 
Stonington.  A  prize  of  $10  was  appropriated  for  the  best  essay 
on  "The  Battle  of  Stonington,"  not  to  exceed  1000  words,  to  be 
contested  for  by  pupils  of  the  Stonington  High  School;  the  essay 
to  be  read  at  the  historical  exercises  of  Sunday,  August  9.  On  April 
24  a  cheque  for  $5  for  a  second  prize  was  received  from  Miss  Ethel 
J.  R.  C.  Noyes,  and  Mrs.  Courtlandt  G.  Babcock  offered  a  prize  of 
$5  for  the  best  essay  on  the  same  topic  by  a  pupil  of  the  Stonington 
Grammar  School.  Benjamin  S.  Cutler  announced  a  gift  of  $5  as  a 
prize  for  the  best  original  drawing  of  the  battle,  all  the  sketches  to  be- 
come the  property  of  the  Stonington  Historical  and  Genealogical  Society. 
Mr.  Cutler  also  announced  a  gift  of  $100  from  Mr.  Chauncey  B.  Rice 
for  the  purchase  of  prizes  for  motor-boat  races  on  Monday,  August  10. 
The  following  race  committee  was  appointed:  Chauncey  B.  Rice, 
Charles  T.  Stanton,  Edward  F.  Darrell.  Lorenzo  D.  Fairbrother,  Harry 
W.  Babcock. 

At  the  Executive  Committee  meeting  ot  May  18  the  question  of 
policing  the  borough  during  the  celebration  was  taken  up  and  Judge 
Breed  was  appointed  to  consult  with  Deputy  Sheriffs  Broughton  and 
Casey  on  the  subject.    It  may  here  be  said  that  the  police  arrangements 


15 

were  under  these  officers  complete  and  satisfactory.  The  State  Police 
sent  a  number  of  men,  the  police  forces  of  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Nor- 
wich, New  London,  Westerly  and  Providence  were  also  represented, 
and  the  town  and  borough  constables  and  patrolmen  were  constantly  on 
duty.  A  number  of  "crooks"  were  rounded  up,  several  were  shipped 
out  of  town,  and  the  great  crowds  were  amply  protected  in  purse  and 
person. 

At  this  meeting  of  May  18  it  was  voted  to  invite  Major  H.  A.  Hull 
of  New  London  to  be  Marshal  of  the  parade  of  August  10,  and  Judge 
Gilbert  Collins  to  be  Chairman  of  the  afternoon  historical  and  literary 
exercises  of  August  9.  Later  the  Fire  Department  invited  Major  Hull 
to  be  Marshal  of  the  parade  of  August  8.  The  Marshal  Aides  for  both 
parades  as  eventually  chosen  were  also  identical — Major  Arthur  N. 
Nash  and  Major  Bourdon  A.  Babcock  of  Pawcatuck. 

Previous  to  this  time  it  had  begun  to  be  evident  that  the  parade  of 
Monday  as  originally  planned  might  not  be  as  fully  representative  as 
had  been  hoped.  The  dispatch  of  the  Army  and  Navy  forces  to  Mexico 
rendered  it  impossible  for  the  Washington  authorities  to  make  any  def- 
inite response  to  the  invitation  that  had  been  extended  to  them  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  celebration.  Acceptances  had  been  received  from  all  the 
local  and  semi-local  bodies  invited,  but  it  was  felt  that  in  view  of  the 
possible  failure  of  the  Government  to  send  Army  and  Navy  detachments 
to  Stonington  some  additional  features  were  desirable  to  make  the  pa- 
rade a  success.  Negotiations  were  therefore  entered  into  with  Miss 
Virginia  Tanner  of  Dorchester,  Mass. ,  a  graduate  of  Radeliffe  College 
in  the  class  of  1905  and  a  director  of  pageants,  whose  work  at  the  cele- 
bration at  Machias,  Maine,  in  1913  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
committee.  The  idea  of  a  pageant,  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word,  did 
not  appeal  to  most  of  the  committee,  but  when  the  desirability,  not  to 
say  the  necessity,  of  strengthening  the  programme  of  Monday  became 
apparent,  it  was  agreed  that  an  infusion  of  the  pageant  quality  into  the 
parade  would  be  an  excellent  solution  of  the  problem. 

Miss  Tanner  visited  Stonington  on  June  4  and  met  a  number  of  Ston- 
ington people,  including  the  committee,  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  com- 


16 

mittee  members.  Her  tentative  plan  for  a  "pageant  parade"  was 
approved  and  the  sum  of  $300  was  appropriated  to  secure  her  services  for 
the  term  of  three  weeks  in  Stonington.  An  additional  sum  of  $200  was 
appropriated  for  the  expense  of  the  parade.  Eventually  $300  more  was 
appropriated,  making  a  total  of  $800  devoted  to  this  purpose.  Never 
was  money  better  spent  for  an  anniversary  celebration. 

The  Pageant  Committee  as  newly  constituted  consisted  of  Miss  Lou- 
ise Trumbull,  Miss  Anne  Atwood  and  Miss  Tanner.  Miss  Maria  B. 
Trumbull  was  made  the  Treasurer  of  the  committee.  It  was  voted  that 
this  committee  should  arrange  all  the  details  of  the  parade  and  have 
power  to  choose  all  sub-committees,  but  the  plan  of  the  parade  was  to 
remain  subject  to  the  approval  and  oversight  of  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee. Happily  no  friction  resulted  from  this  dual  arrangement.  It 
seemed  to  be  the  desire  of  everybody  to  work  for  the  success  of  the 
undertaking  regardless  of  any  access  of  personal  authority.  The  Pageant 
Committee  proved  to  be  highly  efficient,  and  it  would  be  as  diffi- 
cult as  it  would  be  ungracious  to  withhold  from  it  unstinted  praise.  It 
combined  industry  with  tact  and  ingenuity,  while  to  Miss  Tanner  in 
particular  earnest  approval  must  be  given  for  her  demonstrated  possession 
of  initiative,  courage  and  the  quality  of  "born  leadership."  As  week 
succeeded  week,  the  gradual  and  orderly  unfolding  of  the  plan  of  the 
pageant  silenced  objections,  over-rode  criticism  and  inspired  confidence ; 
while  it  may  be  said,  without  derogation  of  any  other  worker  for  the 
success  of  the  undertaking,  that  the  consummation  on  August  10  was 
generally  hailed  as  a  personal  triumph  for  the  resourceful  and  versatile 
Director. 

Meanwhile  (May  26)  a  committee  on  prize  essays  was  appointed,  con- 
sisting of  Miss  Louise  Trumbull  of  Stonington,  Rev.  J.  L.  Peacock  of 
Westerly  and  Rev.  John  Fleming  of  Mystic.  The  reports  of  various 
sub-committees  showed  the  steady  development  of  the  celebration  plans. 
These  included  the  hiring  of  a  tent  80  x  132  ft.  in  Providence,  for  use 
for  the  proposed  luncheons  to  be  served  on  August  8  and  10.  (After- 
ward another  tent  section  was  found  to  be  necessary.)  Warden  Crandall 
had  direct  charge  of  the  tent  and  the  serving  of  the  luncheons.      It  was 


SHIPS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  NAVY  AT  STONINGTON 

Division  of  torpedo-boat  destroyers  at  anchor  in  the  harbor 


ON   BOAHD  THK  TEKKY 
Many  visitors  inspected  the  flagship  at  the  steamboat  wharf 


START  ()!•'  ONE  OF  Till',  MOTORHOAT  RACKS 


CROWD  ON  BRKAKWATER.  WATCHING   RACKS 


17 

arranged,  with  Dr.  Weeks  as  the  sub-committee  in  charge,  to  entertain 
the  Daughters  of  1812  at  luncheon  in  the  Congregational  church  parlors. 
A  plan  for  the  special  electrical  illumination  of  the  borough  streets  on 
August  10  was  proposed,  but  afterward  abandoned.  It  was  also  pro- 
posed to  invite  the  British  Government  to  send  a  warship  to  the  cele- 
bration, but  this  suggestion  was  finally  given  up  as  impracticable. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  follow  the  committee  in  all  the  minutiae  of 
the  preparations.  Let  it  suffice  to  say  that  every  member  cheerfully 
bore  the  variety  of  tasks  imposed  upon  him.  As  the  anniversary  ap- 
proached, these  tasks  of  course  multiplied,  and  for  days  in  advance  of 
the  celebration  required  well-nigh  constant  attention. 

In  the  meantime  the  Pageant  Committee  and  its  several  sub-com- 
mittees were  busy  and  the  firemen  were  actively  preparing  for  their 
important  share  in  the  programme. 

At  the  Executive  Committee  meeting  of  June  26,  the  Pageant  Com- 
mittee reported  in  favor  of  a  costume  dance  for  the  evening  of  August 
10,  and  this  was  sanctioned,  the  Pageant  Committee  to  be  in  charge. 
From  this  time  forward  many  details  were  settled  upon.  Bands 
for  Sunday  and  Monday  were  contracted  for,  drinking  fountains 
and  other  public  conveniences  were  provided,  two  permanent  flag 
poles  were  erected,  painted  and  equipped  with  the  national  colors;  State 
flags  were  hired,  a  town  flag  was  designed  and  adopted,  the  transporta- 
tion of  school-children  to  and  from  rehearsals  was  arranged  for,  fireworks 
for  Saturday  and  Monday  evenings  were  ordered  (at  an  expense  of  $500), 
horses  were  furnished  for  all  those  requiring  them  in  the  parade  of  Mon- 
day, including  the  Marshals  and  the  Army  officers;  decorations  for  the 
cemeteries  were  prepared,  badges  for  the  specially  invited  guests  and 
various  committees,  the  sons  and  daughters  of  participants  in  the  battle 
and  indeed  for  every  participant  in  Monday's  parade  were  purchased; 
souvenir  buttons  were  bought,  halls,  rooms  and  vacant  lots  were 
rented;  special  train  stops  were  obtained  from  the  railroad  authori- 
ties and  orders  secured  for  the  slow  running  of  trains  through  the 
town  during  the  hours  of  the  Saturday  and  Monday  parades,  public 
concerts  were  scheduled — in   fact  a  thousand   and  one  minor  matters, 


18 


many  of  which  could  not  have  been  foreseen,  were  debated  and  decided ; 
and  all,  it  may  not  be  superfluous  to  add,  in  unbroken  good  fellowship 
and  harmony. 

Further  meetings  of  the  Executive  Committee,  at  which  final 
details  were  arranged,  were  held  on  July  9,  16,  23,  27  and  30,  and 
August  3  and  6.  With  every  contingency  so  far  as  possible  provided 
for,  it  was  felt  that  the  one  great  requisite  for  the  success  of  the  celebra- 
tion was  fair  weather.  The  principal  anxiety  of  the  committee,  the 
question  of  the  participation  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  was  happily  relieved 
by  announcements  from  the  authorities  that  a  detachment  of  Regulars 
from  Fort  Wright,  Fisher's  Island,  and  a  division  of  torpedo-boat  de- 
stroyers from  Newport  would  be  present.  The  success  of  the  Monday 
parade  was  thus  doubly  assured. 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST   EIGHTH 

SATURDAY,  August  8,  the  first  day  of  the  celebration,  dawned 
amid  fog,  but  before  the  hour  set  for  the  first  feature  of  the  pro- 
gramme, the  sun  had  burst  through  the  mists,  and  from  that  time 
onward  till  Monday  night,  when  the  celebration  came  to  a  close,  fair 
weather  continued. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  flags  on  the  new  poles  at  Cannon 
square  and  Station  plaza  were  raised— the  former  by  the  Stqningtorj 
Boy  Scouts  and  the  latter  by  the  Stonington  Tierney  Cadets.  The  Boy 
Scouts  marched  from  their  quarters  in  the  Potter  Block  with  flags  fly- 
ing and  drums  beating,  Scoutmaster  James  H.  Stivers  in  the  lead. 
Upon  their  arrival  at  the  square  two  members  of  the  organization  pro- 
ceeded to  the  home  of  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Odell,  D.  D.,  nearby  on  Main 
street  and  escorted  him,  as  speaker  of  the  occasion,  to  a  position  near 
the  historic  guns.  Dr.  Odell  made  a  stirring  five-minute  address  on 
loyalty,  duty  and  readiness  for  service,  the  flag  was  raised  amid  enthusi- 
astic cheers,  and  wreaths  were  placed  on  the  cannon.  A  large  number 
of  interested  spectators  witnessed  this  impressive  opening  exercise  of 
the  celebration. 

Meanwhile  the  Tierney  Cadets  had  marched  from  St.  Mary's  Roman 
Catholic  Church  to  Station  plaza,  where  Captain  Bernard  Rose  fastened 
the  flag  to  the  halliards,  and  Robert  Shackley  and  William  Farnan 
raised  it  to  the  masthead.  The  Cadets  gave  the  Stars  and  Stripes  a 
rousing  salute  and  the  brief  exercise  was  at  an  end. 

For  more  than  a  week  decorators  from  out  of  town — from  New  York, 
Hartford  and  other  cities — had  been  busy  beautifying  the  borough  with 
American  flags  and  variegated  banners  and  streamers.  Almost  every 
house  and  place  of  business  showed  the  national  emblem,  and  some  of 
them  were  literally  covered  with  the  colors.  Never  before  had  Ston- 
ington made  so  general  a  demonstration  of  patriotism.  It  was  felt  that 
this  was  the  one  greatest  occasion  in  the  town's  history  for  displaying 
the  flag. 

Not  far  from  10  o'clock,  the  torpedo-boat  destroyer  division  ordered 

19 


20 

to  Stonington  for  the  celebration  by  the  Navy  Department  arrived  off 
the  town.  Members  of  the  Executive  Committee  in  B.  S.  Cutler's 
power  boat  promptly  visited  the  flagship  and  welcomed  Captain  A.  W. 
Fitch  and  his  squadron  to  the  borough.  The  ships  and  their  com- 
manders were  as  follows:  Terry,  Captain  A.  W.  Fitch;  Walke,  Lieu- 
tenant L.  F.  Thibault;  Monaghan,  Lieutenant  J.  F.  Cox;  Sterrett, 
Lieutenant  H.  B.  Hird;  Perkins,  Lieutenant  F.  S.  Hatch. 

During  the  early  hours  of  the  day  many  bands  and  fire  companies,  as 
well  as  thousands  of  sightseers,  poured  into  the  borough,  until  the 
streets  and  squares  were  lively  with  the  great  throng.  Two  o'clock  was 
the  hour  set  for  the  fire  parade,  the  chief  event  of  the  day,  and  exactly 
at  that  time  the  fire  alarm  was  sounded  and  the  long  procession  started. 
The  order  of  march  was  as  follows : 

Marshal:  Major    Hadlai  A.  Hull. 

Marshal  Aides:     Major  Arthur  N.  Nash,  Major  Bourdon  A.  Babcock. 

Stonington  Fire  Police,  Captain  Charles  G.  Cushman. 

Pawcatuck  Fire  Police,  Captain  William  Snyder. 

Westerly  Fire  Police,  Captain  John  M.  Aimes. 

Chief  Engineer  E.  P.  Teed  of  the  Stonington  Borough  Fire  Department,  Assistant  Charles  D.  Main. 

Chief  Engineer  Charles  Donath  of  the  Mystic  Fire  Department,  Chief  Engineer  Henry  A. 

Stahle  of  the  Pawcatuck  Fire  Department. 

Stone's  Military  Band  of  Providence. 

Pioneer  Hook  and  Ladder  Co.,  No.  1,  Stonington  Fire  Department,  Captain  Raoul  M.  Delegrange. 

Konomoc  Band  of  New  London. 

Alert  Hook  and  Ladder  Co.,  No.  1,  of  Westerly,  Captain  George  H.  Williams. 

Wakefield  Military  Band. 

Wakefield  Hook  and  Ladder  Co.,  No.  1,  Captain  Charles  J.  Coggshall. 

Westerly  Band. 

P.  S.  Barber  Hose  Co.  of  Pawcatuck,  Captain  A.  R.  Gavitt. 

Excelsior  Drum  Corps  of  East  Greeuwich,  R.  I. 

East  Greenwich  Fire  Co.,  Capt.  E.  A.  Banning. 

Mystic  Band. 

Rhode  Island  Steam  Fire  Engine  Co.,  No.  1,  of  Westerly,  Captain  Frederick  Barker. 

Chesebro  Fife  and  Drum  Corps  of  Stonington. 

Stonington  Steam  Fire  Engine  Co.,  No.  1,  Captain  F.  J.  Ostman. 

East  Greenwich  Band. 

Cyclone  Engine  Co.,  No.  2,  of  Westerly    Captain  A.  D.  Hill. 

Cataract  Fife  and  Drum  Corps  of  Lakewood,  R.  I. 

Cataract  Fire  Co.,  No  2,  of  Lakewood,  Captain  L.  F.  Howland. 

Coast  Artillery  Band,  Bridgeport. 

B.  F.  Hoxie  Engine  Co.,  No.  1,  Mystic,  Captain  Frank  Kuppers. 

Governor's  Foot  Guard  Band,  New  Haven. 


VIRGINIA  TANNER 
Director  of  the  Pageant-Parade 


STONINGTON 
Represented  by  Mrs.  Henrj   Robinson  Palmer 


WOMEN  OF  1814 
Mrs.  Frank  I).  Stanton,  Marshal,  at  right  of  picture 


GALLUP   FAMILY  GHOUP 


WHEELER  FAMILY 
\m :i(  nl  ox-cart  with  descendants  ot'Thomas  Wheeler 


21 

Mystic  Hook  and  Ladder  Co.,  No.  1,  Mystic,  Captain  Frank  A.  Mabbett. 

Deep  River  Drum  Corps. 

Noank  Engine  Co.>  No.  1,  Noank,  Captain  Charles  E.  McDonald. 

Tubbs'  Military  Band  of  Norwich. 

Neptune  Hose  Co.,   No.  1,  Stonington,  Captain  James  J.  McCoart. 

Dreadnaught  Hook  and  Ladder  and  Hose  Co.,  Bristol,  R.  I.,  Captain  Henry  Gallinske. 

King  Philip  Drum  Corps,  Pawtucket. 

Westerly  Veteran  Firemen's  Association,  Captain  George  R.  Haley. 

Warden  and  Burgesses  of  Stonington  Borough. 

G  uests  of  Chief  Engineers  in  Automobiles. 

Officers  of  Connecticut  State  Firemen's  Association. 

Visiting  Chief  Engineers. 

The  line  of  march  began  on  Main  street  with  the  right  resting  on 
Railroad  avenue.  Thence  the  route  was  up  Elm  street  to  Bay  View 
avenue,  to  Elihu  street,  to  South  street,  to  Bradley  street,  to  Bay  View 
avenue,  to  Elm  street,  to  Cutler  street,  to  North  Main  street,  to  Trum- 
bull avenue,  to  North  Water  street,  to  Omega  street,  to  Hancox  street, 
to  Diving  street,  to  Main  street  and  to  Stanton  field  for  lunch. 

The  number  of  men  in  line  was  over  1400.  The  great  tent  on  Stanton 
field  was  ample,  however,  to  accommodate  them.  A  New  London 
caterer  with  a  corps  of  20  assistants  was  in  charge,  while  Warden  Cran- 
dall,  as  a  special  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  kept  a  general 
oversight  of  the  arrangements. 

The  excellence  of  the  parade  was  everywhere  commented  on.  It 
was  one  of  the  largest  fire  parades  ever  seen  in  Eastern  Connecticut,  and 
certainly  as  attractive  a  one  as  could  be  desired.  The  various  com- 
panies wore  uniforms  of  gay  and  differing  hues,  and  the  Mystic  organi- 
zations looked  particularly  spick-and-span  in  their  new  suits  of  white. 
The  fire  apparatus  was  beautifully  decorated  with  flowers,  and  every 
bit  of  brass  and  nickel  had  been  polished  until  it  shone.  The  following 
editorial  comment  of  the  Mystic  Times  gives  an  impartial  opinion  of 
the  event: 

"In  the  parade  of  Saturday  we  were  most  agreeably  disappointed  because  we  did  not  expect  it  to 
work  out  with  such  interest.  And  it  would  not  have  so  done,  had  not  the  individual  fire  companies 
to  a  man  made  the  occasion  one  of  pride  to  himself,  hence  to  his  company.  No  greater  compliment 
could  have  been  paid  the  day  than  the  painstaking  effort  of  the  individual  to  look  and  act  his  best." 

The  New  London  Day  in  its  account  of  the  parade  said : 

"The  entire  parade,  including  the   IS  fire  companies.  Chief  Teed    and   his  guests,  the  assistant 


22 

chiefs,  the  fire  police  of  the  borough  and  Pawcatuck,  and  the  bands,  numbered  over  1400.  There 
was  a  certain  uniformity  of  dress  among  the  firemen  of  the  borough,  each  of  the  three  companies 
of  the  department  wearing  black  trousers  and  black  shoes;  the  Pioneers  and  Neps  in  red  shirts  with 
white  monograms  and  blue  dress  caps;  the  Steamers  with  red  shirts  with  blue  collars  and  cuffs  and 
white  stars  and  blue  caps;  the  fire  police  in  the  regulation  blue  uniform  and  bearing  clubs;  Chief 
Teed  in  the  regulation  blue,  with  brass  buttons  and  visor  cap  mounted  with  the  insignia  of  his  rank. 

"The  chiefs  of  the  companies  bore  trumpets  with  handsome  bouquets.  All  along  the  line  of  march 
the  firemen  were  greeted  with  applause  and  cheering.  All  the  way  out  Elm  and  back  and  down 
Water  and  up  Main  street  again,  it  was  one  triumphal  procession. 

"The  procession  was  concluded  at  the  big  tent  in  Stanton  park,  where  a  banquet  was  served.  Thus 
ended  one  of  the  grandest  parades  by  firemen  that  the  State  has  ever  seen.  Never  was  Stonington 
borough  so  roused  by  sounds  of  music  and  cheering  and  applause,  never  have  its  streets  presented  so 
imposing  a  spectacle.  All  along  the  line  of  march  cameras  clicked  from  sidewalks  and  grandstands." 

The  Stonington  Mirror  said : 

"The  apparatus  of  the  firemen  had  been  richly  decorated  and  the  effect  was  delightful  to  the  eye, 
each  company  having  attempted  something  quite  novel  in  the  way  of  ornamentation,  and  that  they 
succeeded  was  plentifully  evident.  Miss  Constance  Delagrange,  daughter  of  Foreman  Delagrange, 
was  seated  on  the  Pioneer  H.  and  L.  Co.  truck,  while  little  Mary  Kelley,  daughter  of  William  H.  Kelley, 
a  former  member  of  the  Steamers,  held  the  long  strings  of  white  and  blue  ribbon  that,  running  from 
the  company's  front,  directed  the  course  of  the  parade  truck  of  Stonington  Steamer,  No.  1,  on  which 
she  was  seated  holding  a  parasol  of  white.  Including  the  Neptune's  parade  carriage,  all  of  the  local 
apparatus  was  plentifully  decorated  with  flowers,  and  the  fire  engine,  that  had  been  prepared  for  the 
occasion  by  Engineer  Charles  A.  Rix,  by  its  appearance  well  repaid  his  efforts." 

Meanwhile,  shortly  before  five  o'clock,  Hon.  Simeon  E.  Baldwin  of 
New  Haven,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  arrived  by  train  and  was  met 
with  the  automobile  of  Henry  M.  Canby,  in  which  he  was  driven 
around  the  gaily  decorated  town  and  finally  to  the  Congregational 
church  parlors,  where  a  special  lunch  had  been  prepared  by  S.  H.  F.  Ross. 
At  the  table  were  seated,  in  addition  to  the  Governor  and  members  of 
the  Executive  Committee,  a  delegation  of  naval  officers  from  the  tor- 
pedo-boat destroyer  squadron.  After  the  excellent  menu  had  been 
enjo}red,  there  were  brief  remarks  by  His  Excellency  and  Captain 
A.  W.  Fitch,  the  senior  squadron  officer. 

Later  there  were  impromptu  band  concerts  on  Wadawanuck  square 
and  elsewhere,  and  at  7.30  the  Mechanics'  Band  of  Stonington  gave  a 
formal  concert  at  Station  plaza,  preceding  the  fireworks  display,  which 
occupied  the  time  from  eight  to  nine  o'clock.  The  fireworks  were  fur- 
nished by  the  National  Fireworks  Company  of  New  York  and  were 
beautiful  in  the  extreme.     They  were  set  off  on  the  railroad  property 


23 

just  west  of  the  track  leading  from  the  main  line  to  the  freight  station. 
It  is  estimated  that  a  throng  of  five  thousand  persons  saw  the  display. 

This  closed  the  exercises  of  the  first  day.  The  weather  had  been 
perfect,  the  crowds  orderly,  the  parade  a  great  success,  the  fireworks 
exhibition  a  satisfying  climax  to  the  varied  programme.  The  town  went 
to  bed  well  content  with  the  celebration  thus  far,  and  hopeful  that  the 
good  weather  would  hold  over  Sunday  and  Monday. 


SUNDAY,  AUGUST   NINTH 

rpHE  weather  proved  as  pleasant  on  Sunday  as  it  had  been  on  Satur- 
-*•  day.  Every  church  in  the  town  of  Stonington — in  Pawcatuck,  the 
borough,  the  Road  district,  Mystic  and  Old  Mystic — had  been  formally 
invited  to  hold  services  on  Sunday  morning  appropriate  to  the  occasion, 
and  in  nearly  every  instance  the  invitation  was  accepted.  At  Calvary 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  borough  the  service  was  distinguished  by  the 
presence  of  three  high  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  Bishop  Davies  ot 
Western  Massachusetts,  Bishop  Howden  of  New  Mexico  and  Suffragan 
Bishop  Babcock  of  Massachusetts,  each  of  whom  made  fitting  remarks. 
At  the  Second  Congregational  Church  the  large  congregation  (265 
in  number)  included  Governor  Baldwin  of  Connecticut  and  Dean  Otis 
E.  Randall  of  Brown  University,  the  two  speakers  at  the  afternoon 
exercises.  Rev.  Dwight  C.  Stone,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  delivered 
a  sermon  in  which  the  theological  and  ecclesiastical  differences  of  1814 
and  1914  were  pointed  out  and  a  brief  address  was  given  by  Henry  R. 
Palmer,  as  follows: 

ADDRESS   OF  HENRY   R.    PALMER 

"We  are  gathered  in  this  old  church  of  the  old  New  England  faith  to  celebrate  a  marvellous  deed 
in  the  marvellous  history  of  a  great  people,  the  repulse  of  an  English  squadron  of  five  staunch  ships 
and  160  guns  by  a  handful  of  patriots  with  three  small  cannon  and  the  desperate  muskets  of  100 
years  ago;  to  commemorate  a  defence  unique,  unparalleled,  in  the  record  of  the  nation — yet  not  in- 
credible, for  we  remember  Macaulay's  thrilling  tale  of  Horatius  at  the  bridge — Horatius  who  said: 
'In  yon  straight  path  a  thousand  may  well  be  stopped  by  three' —  and  the  equally  splendid  story  of 
Leonidas  and  his  Spartans  at  the  Grecian  pass. 

"From  these  forerunners  of  ours,  the  keepers  of  the  coast  in  1814,  these  earlie?  lovers  of  this  pleas- 
ant stretch  of  Connecticut  shore,  the  sturdy  men  of  Mystic  and  Stonington  and  the  Pequot  country- 
side, we  may  learn  the  lesson  of  the  supreme  emergency.  They  were  the  doers  of  their  routine  duty, 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  Army  of  Every  Day.  Their  business  was  not  the  priming  of  guns  and  the 
repulse  of  navies,  but  the  making  of  a  living  in  the  field  and  shop  and  on  the  sea.  But  all  their  lives 
had  been  a  preparation  for  some  climactic  opportunity,  some  supreme  success  or  failure.  'Our  little, 
unremembered  deeds,'  our  insignificant  sacrifices  or  selfishnesses,  our  indistinguishable  triumphs  or 
overthrows,  are  the  despotic  shapers  of  our  personal  fates.  Out  of  a  thousand  generations  of  the 
weeds  springs  the  unguessed,  unheralded,  unanticipated  flower,  and  out  of  a  thousand  obscure 
valors  sprang  the  consummate  valor  of  the  men  at  the  old  fort  that  held  them  true  to  their  task,  that 
helped  them  to  aim  their  cannon  straight,  and  that  gave  them  a  victory  inexplicable  only  when  we 
forget  the  logical  and  comprehensible  processes  by  which  nature  is  forever  moulding  heroes  out  of 
common  men. 

24 


CAPTAIN  ADRIAN'  BLOCK  AND  HIS  CRKW 
Pioneer  Dutch  Voyagers  of  Hilt 


SAMUEL  CHESEBRO  AND  PRISCIL1.A 

ALDEN 

Jesse  B.  Stinson  and  Miss  Elizabeth  Wilbur  take 

the  parts 


NAVY  ON  MAIN  STREET 


MINER  FAMILY  GROUP 
D.  W.  Miner,  on  horse  at  right,  as  Thomas  Miner 


PALMER  FAMILY  GROUP 
Stephen  B.  Palmer,  on  horse  at  right,  as  Walter  Palmer 


25 

"How  shall  we  honor  them,  the  men  who  fought  for  us,  for  us  the  unborn,  the  unprophesied,  of 
their  far  day?  Not  by  the  blare  of  music  alone,  not  by  the  magic  shower  of  rocket  and  candle,  not 
by  the  inscription  of  their  deeds  in  permanent  bronze,  not  by  the  winding  of  laurel  in  token  of  their 
laurelled  names — by  these,  but  by  more  than  these:  by  honest  emulation;  by  defending  the  old  town 
anew;  by  saving  it  from  its  insidious  modern  enemies,  saving  it  from  its  subtle  bitternesses,  little- 
nesses, factions,  misunderstandings,  jealousies;  saving  it  to  its  larger  and  loftier  possibilities  of  use- 
fulness and  beauty.  Then  we  shall  have  not  merely  a  picturesque  town  by  the  sea,  a  town  that  is 
dearest  to  us  of  all  towns  because  it  is  ours  and  was  once  theirs  to  whom  we  owe  it  and  to  whom  we 
owe  ourselves,  but  a  town  newly  fortified,  newly  ramparted,  newly  transfigured  by  the  light  that 
never  was  on  Fisher's  Island  sound  or  the  shining  surf  of  the  ocean  or  these  leafy  streets  and  lanes — 
the  light  of  unselfish  service  for  our  day  and  generation,  of  mutual  helpfulness,  of  community  co- 
operation. In  that  glad  day,  if  any  good  cause  calls  or  any  enemy  threatens,  we  shall  stand  united, 
not  in  this  borough  alone,  but  throughout  the  township,  from  boundary  river  to  boundary  river  and 
from  the  hills  to  the  sea;  shall  stand  united,  every  neighbor  a  friend  and  every  man  a  brother,  shoul- 
der to  shoulder  and  heart  to  heart;  shall  stand  united  for  Stonington." 

HISTORICAL   EXERCISES 

The  main  historical  exercises  of  the  celebration  were  held  on  Sunday 
afternoon  at  3  o'clock,  a  large  platform  having  been  erected  for  the 
speakers  and  the  specially  invited  guests  on  the  east  side  of  Wadawan- 
uck  square,  just  south  of  Temple  street.  It  had  been  intended  to 
assemble  the  audience  on  the  square  but  the  bright  afternoon  sun  caused 
a  quick  change  in  this  plan  and  the  speakers  and  guests  were  faced  to 
the  east,  while  the  attendant  throng  promptly  gathered  in  the  shady 
street  and  on  the  private  residential  property  beyond. 

The  presiding  officer  was  Hon.  Gilbert  Collins,  a  native  of  Stoning- 
ton and  one  of  its  most  distinguished  sons.  Judge  Collins's  official 
residence  is  in  Jersey  City,  but  he  spends  a  large  part  of  the  year  at  his 
Stonington  home. 

The  exercises  opened  with  an  invocation  by  Rev.  Dwight  C.  Stone 
of  the  Second  Congregational  Church,  after  which  a  chorus  of  school 
children  from  all  parts  of  the  township  sang  "The  Flag  of  Stonington,"' 
a  new  song,  specially  written  and  set  to  music  for  the  celebration.  The 
chorus  occupied  a  grandstand  which  had  been  built  across  Temple  street 
at  its  junction  with  Main.  Miss  Woodard  of  Westerly,  who  had  trained 
the  chorus,  directed  the  singing,  and  a  deputation  from  the  Mechanics' 
Band,  under  the  leadership  of  Charles  G.  Cushman,  furnished  the  ac- 
companiment. 


26 

Judge  Collins,  in  his  introductory  remarks,  touched  lightly  upon 
various  features  of  the  celebration  and  in  a  more  serious  vein  referred  to 
the  great  war  in  Europe.  He  then  introduced  Governor  Baldwin,  who 
had  been  escorted  to  the  platform  before  the  meeting  by  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  and  the  Mechanics'  Band.  The  Governor  spoke  as 
follows : 

GOVERNOR  BALDWIN'S  ADDRESS 

"Why  i?  it  that  State  and  town  have  united  to  celebrate  this  day?  It  is  not  an  anniversary  of  any 
great  military  triumph.  It  does  not  recall  to  memory  a  w;ir  in  which  our  country  reaped  glory  and 
greatness.  The  War  of  1812  was  one  in  which  we  had  few  successes  and  many  defeats.  We  were 
beaten  back  from  Canada.  Several  of  our  States  and  Territories  were  overrun  by  British  troops.  Our 
capital  itself,  after  a  resistance  so  feeble  as  to  be  almost  ridiculous,  was  captured.  Of  the  five  thou- 
sand men  whom  Pennsylvania  was  called  on  to  furnish  from  her  militia  for  the  defence  of  Washington, 
not  one  could  be  obtained.  We  sought  peace,  although  the  objects  for  which  Congress  had  declared 
war  were  not  attained.  We  had  demanded  for  our  ships  of  war  freedom  from  search  by  those  of 
Great  Britain,  and  we  failed  to  get  any  promise  of  it.  The  treaty  of  Ghent  was  little  more  than  the 
expression  of  an  American  wish  for  peace  at  any  price,  consistent  with  the  substantial  integrity  of 
our  territorial  boundaries  as  they  had  existed  before  the  war. 

"The  representatives  of  Connecticut  had  voted  in  Congress  against  the  declaration  of  war.  She 
did  not  believe  it  would  bring  a  remedy  for  our  ills.  She  was  not  surprised  at  the  outcome.  She 
had  anticipated  no  other. 

"She  did  not  look  coldly  on  the  War  of  1812  because  her  people  were  wanting  in  military  spirit. 
From  the  earliest  days  of  the  colony  of  Connecticut  they  had  always  shown  it  as  one  of  their  settled 
characteristics. 

"They  had  to  meet,  in  the  very  hours  of  the  foundation  of  the  commonwealth,  hostile  Indians 
pressing  upon  their  borders.  The  Pequot  War  of  1636  showed  that  the  colonists  could  fight  as  well 
as  pray.  Under  the  lead  of  John  Mason,  whose  statue  overlooks  the  town  of  Groton  on  Pequot  hill, 
they  struck  a  blow — cruel,  it  seems  now,  but  final — which  assured  unbroken  peace  for  forty  years. 

"The  eighteenth  century  brought  new  dangers.  The  French  were  disputing  with  the  British  for 
the  possession  of  the  American  continent.  They  had  built  at  Louisburg  the  strongest  fortress  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  The  people  of  New  England,  in  1715,  by  a  brilliant  dash,  captured  it  for  England, 
and  Connecticut  troops  bore  an  honorablo  part  in  the  achievement. 

"Ten  years  later,  Phineas  Lyman  of  Suffield,  as  major-general  of  the  Connecticut  militia,  was 
commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  sent  against  the  French  fortifications  at  Crown  Point;  and  our 
troops  did  good  service  in  their  capture  and  afterwards  in  that  of  Montreal.  Israel  Putnam  was  with 
him  there,  and  with  him  again  in  the  expedition  against  Havana  in  1762. 

"The  Revolution  drew  on.  Among  the  first  troops  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  in  1775  to  march 
to  Cambridge  were  the  Governor's  Guards  of  Connecticut,  and  those  from  Windham  County  led  by 
General  Putnam. 

"Connecticut  planned  and  financed,  a  few  days  later,  the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga.  Her  troops 
fought  at  Bunker  Hill.  A  Connecticut  general  of  our  militia — Putnam — was  in  command,  and  two 
days  later  was  made  a  major-general  of  the  Continental  army  by  act  of  Congress. 

"A  greater  man  was  made  commander-in-chief,  George  Washington  of  Virginia,  but  Putnam 
ranked  next.     Nor  did  Washington's  own  State  equal  Putnam's  in  the  men  she  sent  into  the  field 


27 

during  the  Revolution.  Connecticut  was  a  small  State  and  Virginia  a  large  one,  but  Connecticut  had 
more  men  in  service  in  the  Continental  army. 

"In  all  these  operations  of  war,  from  century  to  century,  Connecticut  had  fought  in  self  defence, 
or  in  the  defence  of  her  sister  commonwealths.  Again  and  again  she  had  engaged  in  hard  fighting 
but  always  for  a  cause  in  the  justice  of  which  she  thoroughly  and  honestly  believed. 

"The  War  of  1812  came  on  and  she  believed  it  to  be  unjustified.  She  protested  against  it.  She 
caw  ruin  in  it  for  her  commerce,  gain  for  none.  She  had  no  heart  in  such  a  conflict.  To  the  con- 
science of  her  people  it  made  no  real  appeal. 

"Why  then,  I  repeat,  should  we  celebrate  this  centenary  ? 

"It  is  not  brilliant  successes;  it  is  not  material  gains;  it  is  not  days  of  triumph,  only,  that  men 
think  worthy  of  permanent  commemoration. 

"  'Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity.' 

"Stonington  was  the  easy  victim  of  a  British  fleet.  They  burned  a  part  and  could  have  burned 
the  whole.  But  Stonington  found  her  neighboring  towns  promptly  rallying  to  her  defence.  The 
militia  of  Connecticut  were  true  to  their  duty.  They  were  aided  by  volunteers  from  among  the  citi- 
zens generally.  They  brought  artillery,  heavy  for  those  days,  to  bear  upon  the  enemy's  ships,  and 
served  it  with  good  effect.  They  came  in  numbers  sufficient  to  prevent  any  land  expedition  into  the 
surrounding  country,  and  thus  saved  Norwich  from  attack,  and  our  three  men  of  war  laid  up  there 
in  the  Thames  from  capture. 

"The  troops  of  the  United  State3  did  not  come  to  the  relief  of  Stonington.  General  Thomas  H. 
Cushing  of  Massachusetts,  then  in  command  of  the  military  district,  with  headquarters  at  New 
London,  was  appealed  to  but,  wisely  probably,  thought  the  forces  of  the  regular  army  were  more 
needed  there.  He  relied  on  the  militia  of  the  State  to  repel  the  threatened  attack  at  Stonington 
point.  Major  General  Williams,  in  command  of  a  division  of  our  militia,  responded  to  his  call  by 
assembling  one  regiment  here  and  other  detachments  at  the  head  of  the  Mystic  river,  Norwich  and 
New  London. 

"Connecticut  had  protested  originally  against  the  war.  Two  years  before,  in  August,  1812,  at  a 
special  session  the  Legislature  had  made  this  declaration: 

"  'The  people  of  this  State  view  the  war  as  unnecessary  *  *  *  A  nation  without  fleets,  without 
armies,  with  an  impoverished  treasury,  with  a  frontier  by  sea  and  land  extending  many  hundred 
miles,  feebly  defended,  waging  a  war  hath  not  first  accounted  the  cost.'  *  *  *  'By  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  the  power  of  declaring  war  is  vested  in  Congress.  They  have  declared  war 
against  Great  Britain.  However  much  this  measure  is  regretted,  the  General  Assembly,  ever 
regardful  of  their  duty  to  the  general  government,  will  preform  all  those  obligations  resulting  from 
this  act.  With  this  view  they  have  at  this  session  provided  for  the  more  effectual  organization  of 
the  military  force  of  this  State,  and  a  supply  of  the  munitions  of  war.  These  will  be  employed, 
should  the  public  exigencies  require  it,  in  defence  of  this  State,  and  of  our  sister  States,  in  compli- 
ance with  the  Constitution,  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  but  that  the  citizens  of  this  State  will  be 
found,  at  the  constitutional  call  of  their  country,  among  the  foremost  in  its  defence.' 

"The  day  of  trial  came.  It  was  the  day  whose  centenary  brings  us  to  this  place.  The  militia  of 
Connecticut  were  called  upon  to  defend  their  State  and  country — to  defend  them  alone,  save  for  such 
patriotic  assistance  as  could  come  from  the  voluntary  efforts  of  their  neighbors  and  friends.  The 
authorities  of  Stonington,  as  they  saw  the  danger  near,  had  applied  to  Congress  for  aid,  but  in  vain. 
They  appealed  to  the  commandmant  of  the  regular  army  for  the  department,  and  he  too  had  no 
troops  to  spare.     They  appealed  to  the  commandant  of  the  militia  of  their  State,  and  with  success. 

"A  regiment  was  hurried  to  their  relief.  A  landing  was  prevented,  and  the  enemy  at  last  forced 
by  our  heavy  artillery  to  retire. 


28 

"No  man  lost  his  life  during  the  hostilities,  though  one  was  severely  injured  and  died  a  few  months 
later. 

"The  day  had  nothing  in  it  that  was  spectacular,  except  the  bursting  bombs  as  they  fell  upon  the 
village  roofs.     There  was  no  sacrifice  of  blood;  no  great  sacrifice  by  fire. 

"The  full  story  of  the  affair  can  be  found  in  the  account  of  the  semi-centennial  celebration  in  1864, 
and  in  Palmer's  Stonington  by  the  Sea. 

"Originally  it  was  feared  that  much  of  the  village  had  been  burned.  The  Connecticut  Mirror  of 
August  22,  1814,  after  recounting  the  attack  and  its  repulse,  proceeds  thus: 

"  'The  inhabitants,  fearing  another  attack,  have  not  returned  to  their  dwellings,  and  their  desti- 
tute situation  calls  loudly  upon  the  philanthropies  of  their  fellow  citizens.  If  a  brief  should  be 
granted  for  collections  in  the  churches  of  the  State,  we  trust  very  essential  aid  will  be  furnished. 
N'ineteen-twentieths  of  the  inhabitants,  it  is  said,  have  no  other  property  than  their  buildings.' 

"It  will  be  recollected  that  in  those  days  church  collections  for  special  objects  could  not  be  taken 
without  getting  the  approval  of  the  Governor  and  council,  their  license  being  called  the  allowance  of 
a  'brief.'* 

"The  losses  proved  less  than  was  anticipated.     The  bombardment  was  not  renewed. 

"What  there  was  that  was  memorable  was  the  quick  rally  of  our  State  militia,  aided  by  volunteers 
coming  individually  to  the  field,  and  their  intrepid  service  as  artillerists  against  a  formidable  British 
fleet. 

'  'As  Governor  of  Connecticut  and  commander-in-chief  of  her  militia  to-day,  I  am  glad  to  look  back 
a  hundred  years  and  see  that,  when  my  predecessor,  then  in  office,  Roger  Griswold  of  Lyme,  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  repelling  an  invading  fleet  which  the  United  States  could  not  meet  on  the 
sea,  he  found  the  militia  of  Connecticut  quick  to  respond  to  his  call,  and  able  to  acquit  themselves 
like  men  in  the  day  of  peril. 

"'England,'  Nelson  had  said,  nine  years  before,  in  the  famous  signal  flung  to  the  breeze  from 
every  masthead  in  his  fleet  at  Trafalgar,  'England  expects  every  man  will  do  his  duty."  Connecti- 
cut expected  every  man  in  the  ranks  of  her  citizen  soldiery  to  do  his  duty  a  hundred  years  ago  this 
day.  They  did  it,  and  her  citizen  soldiery  of  to-day,  if  they  were  called  upon  to  face  the  flame  of 
battle  and  bombardment,  would  do  no  less. 

"It  is  the  blessing  of  our  country  that,  without  a  standing  army  adequate  to  her  defence,  her 
institutions  secure  her  the  quick  aid,  in  time  of  peril,  of  a  force  of  militia,  brave  as  the  bravest,  and, 
during  these  last  years,  trained  under  a  stricter  discipline  and  to  a  higher  point  in  the  military  art, 
than  at  any  earlier  period.  It  is  this  that  keeps  our  taxes  down,  while  all  Europe  is  groaning  under 
the  load  of  excessive  budgets.  It  is  this  which  enables  us  to  give  our  young  men  facilities  for 
education  which  foreign  conscription  laws  virtually  preclude.  It  is  this,  and  this  only,  which  befits 
a  free  government,  founded  on  the  faith  in  that  religion  which  teaches  that,  in  the  long  run,  right  is 
stronger  than  might  in  the  dealings  of  nations  as  well  as  in  the  dealings  of  men." 

*Stat.,  Ed.  1810,  p.  121. 

Next  on  the  programme  was  the  prize  historical  essay  chosen  from  a 
considerable  number  offered  in  competition  by  students  of  the  Stoning- 
ton High  School.  It  was  by  Henry  M.  Gardiner  of  the  borough,  the 
winner,  who  read  it  as  follows : 

THE   PRIZE   ESSAY 
"Although  on  this  occasion  it  seems  appropriate  to  mention  only  the  battle  fought  at  Stonington 


CHESEBROUGH   FAMILY  GROUP 


WILLIAM   CH  ESEBROUG 1 1 
Dr.  Edmund  D.  Chesebro  of  Providence  takes  the  part  of  his  ancestor,  the  first  settler 

of  the  town 


INDIAN"  TEPEE 


STANTON   FAMILY 
Charles  Stanton  and  Mrs.  James  R.  Carson  next  behind  the  standard 


89 

from  August  9th  to  12th,  18H,  which  we  are  now  celebrating,  nevertheless  there  should  be  a  great 
amount  of  importance  attached  to  the  fact  that  the  town  has  twice  been  visited  by  the  lordly  British. 

"In  the  spring  of  1T75,  within  a  few  weeks  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  came  the  news  to  the  ears 
of  the  peaceful  inhabitants  of  Block  Island  that  Captain  Wallace,  commanding  the  frigate  'Rose',  was 
sailing  toward  their  island  with  the  intention  of  confiscating  the  best  cattle  and  sheep  to  be  found 
there.  Hastily  they  prepared  for  flight,  sending  their  cattle  across  to  Stonington  for  safe  keeping 
in  the  meadows  around  Quanaduck. 

"Wallace,  finding  himself  foiled  in  this  attempt,  and  hearing  that  the  livestock  had  been  sent 
away,  directed  his  course  toward  Stonington,  and  came  to  anchor  a  short  distance  offshore. 

"The  patriots,  encamped  in  the  field  now  north  of  the  house  of  Mrs.  Courtlandt  G.  Babcock, 
formed  quickly  and  marched  to  the  waterfront.  The  British  tried  to  effect  a  landing,  but  after  sev- 
eral attempts,  routed  by  a  hail  of  musket  bullets,  they  at  last  withdrew.  Only  one  American  was 
injured.     Thus  ended  the  glorious  victory  of  August  30th,  1775. 

"Alas,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  British,  Stonington  once  more  met  the  sea  forces  of  his  Britannic 
Majesty    in  the  second  engagement,  and  most  assuredly  the  worse,  only  thirty-nine  years  after,  in 

the  year  1814. 

"At  5  p.  m.  on  Tuesday,  August  9th,  in  this  year,  the  people  of  Stonington  were  most  unpleasantly 
surprised  to  see  approaching  the  point,  under  full  sail,  four  vessels  of  the  British  navy,  namely  the 
'Pactolus,'  seventy-four  guns;  the  'Ramillies,'  thirty-eight;  the  'Dispatch,'  twenty-two,  and  the 
bomb-ship  'Terror.'  This  fleet  came  to  anchor  a  short  distance  inside  Fisher's  Island.  Immediately 
a  small  boat  put  off  from  the  side  of  the  flagship  and  made  its  way  toward  the  shore  bringing  a  dis- 
patch from  Captain  Hardy  to  the  townspeople.  The  import  of  the  message  was  this:  'One  hour 
will  be  given  to  the  unoffending  inhabitants  to  leave  the  town.  If  this  request  is  not  complied  with 
I  will  commence  the  bombardment.'  Captain  Hardy's  name  was  signed  to  this  letter  and  it  was  a 
name  to  be  respected,  for  Hardy  was  a  famous  sea  captain  and  a  close  friend  of  Admiral  Nelson, 
England's  great  naval  hero.  In  fact,  it  was  Hardy  who  embraced  Nelson  for  the  last  time  as  the 
Admiral  was  dying. 

"The  people  of  Stonington  were  naturally  angered  at  this  unprovoked  assault  and  sent  a  decidedly 
negative  answer  back  to  the  commander.  Immediately  preparations  for  defence  were  begun.  A 
four-foot  breastwork,  manned  by  citizens  of  the  town  and  defended  by  two  eighteen-poundeis  and 
one  six -pounder,  relics  of  the  Revolution,  was  hastily  erected.  Women  and  children  ran  hither  and 
thither,  carrying  all  sorts  of  household  effects,  preparatory  to  quitting  the  town. 

"Hardy,  upon  receiving  the  indignant  message,  showed  great  magnanimity  and  deferred  the 
attack  until  evening.  At  8  o'clock  that  same  evening  he  ordered  the  firing  to  begin.  A  heavy 
bombardment  lasted  until  midnight,  answered  frequently  from  the  shore.  At  sunrise  the  next  morn- 
ing the  cannonading  was  renewed,  more  vigorously  than  before.  Soon  the  cannon  within  the  breast- 
work at  the  head  of  the  breakwater  were  spiked  because  of  the  lack  of  suitable  ammunition.  A  third 
requisition  on  New  London  for  powder  and  shot  having  been  successful  they  were  unspiked  and 
again  directed  against  the  fleet.  General  Isham  of  New  London  then  took  command.  Soon  the 
British  sent  a  landing  party  in  several  barges  around  to  the  eastern  shore  of  the  point,  about  where 
Mr.  Dunham's  house  or  Mr.  Broughton's  barn  now  stands.  The  small  six-pounder,  in  the  hands  of 
competent  men,  was  dragged  across  to  the  threatened  spot,  one  of  the  eighteen-pounders  to  the  end 
of  the  point,  and  soon  the  British  retreated  under  the  galling  fire.  The  ships  then  slipped  their 
cables  and  advanced  slowly  toward  the  town.  The  people,  alarmed  at  this  move,  sent  out  to  know 
the  reason,  and  word  was  returned  that  if  the  town  would  surrender  Mrs.  Stewart,  wife  of  the  British 
consul  at  New  London,  they  would  not  be  molested  further.  The  authorities  denied  all  knowledge 
of  Mrs.  Stewart,  and  also  of  the  fitting  out  of  torpedoes,  of  which  they  were  also  accused.      Hardy 


30 

therefore  continued  the  bombardment  during  the  next  day,  the  11th  of  August.  In  the  afternoon 
of  this  day  a  boat  was  seen  approaching  from  the  fleet,  carrying  a  Hag  of  truce.  A  small  boat  in 
command  of  my  grandfather  (Elisha  Faxon,  Jr.)  met  this  boat.  They  parlied  awhile  and  finally  the 
British,  trying  to  gain  the  shore,  were  repulsed  by  the  hardy  defenders.  The  'Kimrod,'  a  twenty- 
gun  brig,  joined  the  fleet  on  this  day,  but  did  not  help  matters  overmuch.  Barges  were  sent  in  to 
force  a  landing,  but  were  repulsed  again  and  again  by  the  gallant  defenders  of  the  breastwork. 
Finally  the  fleet,  being  in  a  decidedly  crippled  condition,  weighed  anchor  on  Friday,  the  13th,  vow- 
ing never  to  molest  Stonington  again. 

"Later  reports  from  the  'Dispatch'  placed  the  dead  at  twenty-one  and  the  wounded  at  over  fifty 
on  that  vessel  alone.  Truly  the  total  loss  must  have  been  very  great  compared  to  that  of  the  towns- 
people who,  as  far  as  accounts  relate,  lost  only  one,  a  victim  of  wounds  received.  Over  sixty  tons 
of  metal  were  thrown  into  the  town  in  the  whole  bombardment,  and  many  tons  were  raised  from  the 
harbor,  including  two  perfectly  good  anchors  left  by  the  retreating  vessels. 

"Relics  of  the  battle  may  be  found  to  this  day,  and  there  are  many  cannon  balls  now  in  possession 
of  the  town  and  private  families.  One  may  see  several  of  these  at  Dean's  Mills  or  on  the  posts  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Library.  Not  long  ago  a  cannon  ball  was  found  in  my  own  yard,  the  same  being 
in  our  possession  now;  and  one  has  recently  been  unearthed  in  the  marsh  to  the  eastward  of  the 
borough.     The  fireplace  of  the  Barker  house  on  Water  street  still  contains  a  large  cannon  ball. 

"Truly  we,  the  inheritors  of  this  glorious  history,  should  be  proud  to  own  Stonington  as  our 
dwelling  place,  and  should  always  think  with  reverence  and  patriotism  of  the  brave  defenders  of 
eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen." 

The  next  number  on  the  programme  was  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner" 
by  the  chorus,  alter  which  Professor  Otis  E.  Randall,  Dean  of  Brown 
University,  who  was  born  in  North  Stonington  and  whose  great-grand- 
father, Colonel  William  Randall,  was  the  militia  commander  at  the 
battle  of  Stonington,  delivered  the  following  address: 

DEAN   RANDALL'S  ADDRESS 

"You  will  forgive  me,  I  am  sure,  if  I  yield  for  a  few  moments  to  sentimental  feelings.  These  are 
the  scenes  of  my  childhood.  These  beautiful  hills  and  valleys,  these  old  attractive  homesteads  sur- 
rounded by  graceful  elms  and  shading  maples,  this  glorious  expanse  of  water,  are  just  as  familiar  and 
just  as  dear  to  me  to-day  as  they  were  forty  years  ago.  I  have  spent  the  larger  part  of  my  life  in 
another  State  and  have  visited  many  parts  of  the  world,  but  I  have  never  forgotten  these  beautiful 
spots,  nor  have  I  ever  ceased  to  be  proud  of  the  people  with  whom  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  associ- 
ate during  my  boyhood  days.  This  is  a  beautiful  place  by  nature,  entirely  independent  of  any 
sentimental  feelings  which  we  may  have.  A  few  months  ago  I  met  a  professor  at  Yale  who  is  to 
retire  from  active  service  in  a  few  years.  He  told  me  that  he  had  for  some  time  been  looking  for  a 
place  on  the  shore  where  he  might  be  willing  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  had  visited 
every  harbor  from  Canada  to  the  Chesapeake  and  had  finally  selected  the  borough  of  Stonington  as 
the  one  desirable  spot. 

"A  hundred  years  ago  this  place  was  the  scene  of  a  great  battle  in  which  our  forefathers  made  a 
heroic  effort  to  defend  their  rights  and  preserve  a  heritage  for  you  and  for  me.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  the  event  or  to  review  the  history  of  the  war  with  which  we  are 
all  familiar.  No  words  of  ours  can  portray  the  hardships  which  our  fathers  experienced  or  the  hero- 
ism and  the  patriotism   which   they   manifested.       How   often   we    have    listened    with    the    keenest 


31 

interest  to  tbe  story  as  it  has  been  told  to  us  by  our  parents  and  our  grandparents,  and  how  proud 
we  have  been  to  learn  that  some  of  our  own  ancestors  were  men  enough  to  be  actively  engaged  in  the 
contest.  It  is  a  glorious  history,  and  one  which  we  cannot  afford  to  forget  or  to  allow  our  children 
to  forget.  We  are  inclined  to  live  too  much  in  the  present.  We  have  too  little  interest  in  that 
which  has  happened  in  the  past.  We  are  too  little  concerned  about  that  which  may  take  place  in 
the  future.  So  long  as  our  present  day  needs  are  satisfied,  so  long  as  our  environment  is  such  as  to 
interest  and  amuse  us,  we  are  content.  The  present,  with  its  great  opportunities  for  temporary 
material  advancement,  with  its  multifarious  forms  of  human  activity,  demands  so  much  of  our  thought 
and  energy  that  we  have  little  time  or  tendency  to  look  into  the  past  or  to  stop  long  enough  to  con- 
sider seriously  the  outcome  of  the  future. 

"We  little  know  how  much  the  efficiency  of  the  present  depends  upon  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  past.  No  man  can  know  his  place  in  the  world,  the  nature  of  the  obligations  which  rest  upon 
him  or  the  proper  methods  of  dealing  with  these  obligations,  until  he  knows  thoroughly  the  life  and 
experiences  of  those  who  have  gone  before.  The  great  problems  of  our  day  concerning  our  social, 
political  and  economic  welfare,  the  great  problems  arising  in  the  fields  of  science  and  engineering, 
the  great  questions  which  are  raised  concerning  international  relations,  etc.,  are  in  no  sense  new 
problems  or  new  questions.  They  may  have  assumed  new  forms  or  may  have  bean  brought  forcibly 
to  our  attention,  but  they  are  the  same  problems  and  the  same  questions  with  which  our  ancestors 
long  ago  had  to  deal.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  attitude  of  past  generations  toward  such  ques- 
tions and  a  full  understanding  of  what  has  been  accomplished  by  them  in  the  way  of  solution  of 
these  problems  is  certainly  essential  before  the  men  of  this  generation  can  safely  and  efficiently  begin 
their  work. 

"It  is  therefore  fitting  that  we  should  set  these  days  apart  for  an  appropriate  celebration  in  which 
we  may  properly  recognize  the  great  bravery  of  cur  ancestors,  in  which  we  shall  show  full  ap- 
preciation of  the  sacrifices  which  they  made  for  us,  and  in  which  we  shall  endeavor  to  learn  and  teach 
such  lessons  as  shall  be  profitable  for  ourselves  and  for  our  children. 

"When  our  forefathers  defended  this  place  against  the  attacks  of  the  British  it  was  not  simply  for 
the  sake  of  their  own  families  and  their  immediate  descendants.  They  were  prompted  by  broader 
and  nobler  motives  than  these.  They  saw  the  injustice  which  their  fellow  men  were  suffering  at  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  They  saw  the  unnecessary  obstacles  placed  in  the  way  of  those  who  were 
struggling  to  make  the  best  of  themselves  and  their  opportunities.  They  saw  the  future  of  a  great 
nation  and  a  prosperous  people.  This  is  why  they  fought  and  bled  and  gave  to  us  our  independence, 
our  rights  and  our  privileges.  Some  of  us  can  claim  direct  descent  from  those  who  participated 
in  the  war,  but  the  benefits  which  have  followed  these  heroic  efforts  were  no  more  intended  for  us 
than  for  those  who  have  since  made  their  homes  here,  for  those  who  abide  here  can  desire  no  less 
than  we  to  make  every  possible  contribution  toward  our  growth  and  prosperity.  Therefore  this  is  a 
celebration  in  which  we  are  all  to  be  interested,  and  in  which  we  all  should  take  part. 

"How  shall  we  celebrate  this  great  event?  What  can  we  do  at  this  time  which  shall  be  appropri- 
ate to  the  occasion,  which  would  be  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  our  forefathers,  were  they  able 
to  speak  to  us  to-day  ?  Many  generous  contributions  of  money  have  been  made,  a  great  deal  of  time 
and  thought  has  been  unhesitatingly  given  in  order  to  make  this  celebration  a  most  attractive  and 
impressive  affair  and  one  long  to  be  remembered.  We  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  those  who  have 
worked  so  long  and  so  faithfully  for  us. 

"Because  of  the  many  attractive  and  interesting  features  of  our  celebration,  is  it  not  possible 
for  us  to  become  so  deeply  absorbed  in  the  details,  so  much  bound  up  in  the  present,  as  to  lose  sight 
of  that  which  we  are  trying  to  celebrate,  as  to  miss  in  some  degree  the  great  lessons  which  we  should 
learn  and  teach  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  to  come  after  us  ?     If  we  do  I  am  sure  you  will  agree 


32 

with  me  that  we  shall  fall  short  of  the  ideal  celebration.  That  which  has  to  do  with  the  immediate 
present  only  with  no  bearing  upon  the  future  is  of  small  consequence  compared  with  that  which 
shapes  and  controls  the  future,  and  we  are  not  worthy  of  our  noble  ancestry  if  we  allow  ourselves  to  be 
so  fascinated  with  that  which  for  the  time  being  is  before  our  eyes  as  to  forget  our  obligations  to  the 
future. 

"There  are  many  profitable  lessons  which  we  may  learn  from  the  great  event  which  we  are  cele- 
brating and  from  the  lives  of  those  who  participated  in  it.     We  can  touch  only  upon  a  few. 

"It  is  well  for  us  to  cultivate  from  our  reflections  the  spirit  of  gratitude  to  God  and  man  for  our 
daily  blessings.  Our  blessings  are  so  common  and  we  are  so  often  carried  away  by  our  greed  for 
more  that  we  are  likely  to  forget  the  great  source  of  all  blessing  and  to  remain  in  ignorance  of  the 
sacrifices  which  have  been  made  for  us  by  those  who  love  and  care  for  us.  This  is  true  of  the  young 
men  and  the  young  women  of  to-day. 

"We  certainly  ought  to  learn  important  lessons  concerning  the  real  meaning  of  perseverance  and 
the  part  it  plays  in  all  important  undertakings.  The  youth  of  to-day  are  apathetic  in  their  attitude 
toward  everything  which  calls  for  strenuous  effort.  They  are  unwilling  to  face  hardships  and  make 
sacrifices.  They  are  little  inclined  to  meet  and  overcome  the  obstacles  of  life  which  we  all  must 
meet  if  we  hope  for  any  measure  of  success.  We  do  too  much  for  our  children.  We  make  life  too 
easy  for  them.  We  take  pains  to  relieve  them  of  every  burden,  to  give  them  the  full  benefit  of  every 
labor  saving  device,  and  to  encourage  them  by  our  tenderness  to  pursue  the  course  of  least  resistance. 
The  same  mistake  is  made  in  our  modern  system  of  education  where  our  young  men  and  women  are 
led  to  believe  that  life  is  play,  not  work.  A  vivid  picture  of  the  struggles  of  our  ancestors,  of  their 
great  and  successful  effort  against  odds  to  protect  their  rights  and  their  homes,  ought  to  fill  our 
youth  with  ambition  and  determination  and  to  inspire  them  to  more  persistent  effort  in  the  face  of 
difficulties. 

"We  may  learn  much  of  the  beauty  of  unselfishness,  a  virtue  which  is  none  too  common  in  this 
age.  We  are  so  self  centred,  we  are  so  greedy  for  the  material  things  of  life  and  so  anxious  about  our 
own  amusement,  that  we  forget  our  obligations  to  those  about  us.  We  may  greatly  enhance  our  own 
happiness  and  teach  our  children  most  valuable  lessons  by  imitating  to  some  degree  the  unselfish 
lives  of  those  whose  memory  we  hold  dear  to-day. 

"Another  characteristic  of  those  early  people  which  is  worthy  of  our  imitation  was  their  genuine 
love  of  home,  for  which  they  would  gladly  make  any  sacifice,  yea  even  lay  down  their  lives.  The 
home  should  be  the  nursery  of  virtue,  the  centre  of  happiness,  the  source  of  the  nation's  power,  but 
it  cannot  be  unless  the  members  of  the  family  make  the  necessary  individual  contribution.  The 
growth  of  club  life  and  the  manifold  organizations  in  which  men  are  interested,  the  agitation  among 
the  women  over  suffrage  and  other  outside  activities,  the  careless  attitude  of  husband  and  wife 
towards  the  marriage  vows,  the  early  age  at  which  our  children  are  weaned  from  the  home  ties  and 
influences,  show  conclusively  that  the  home  to-day  is  not  what  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  is 
not  playing  the  part  which  it  should  in  the  nation's  welfare. 

"In  these  days  of  strenuous  living,  when  individual  interests  are  paramount,  there  is  danger  of 
losing  hold  of  that  spirit  of  philanthrophy  and  patriotism  which  was  so  prominent  in  the  lives  of  our 
forefathers.  Wealth  and  power  are  of  small  consequence  if  they  must  be  acquired  through  the 
advancement  of  the  individual  at  the  cost  of  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  mass.  Our  great 
armies  and  battleships  mean  little  in  the  time  of  war  if  there  is  not  behind  them  all  that  intense  love 
of  man  and  country  which  leads  the  individual  to  forget  himself  in  his  interest  for  others. 

"It  is  natural  for  us  to  regard  hardships  of  every  type  as  unfortunate  and  undesirable.  As  we 
look  back  upon  the  bitter  contests  of  the  past,  with  the  consequent  loss  of  life  and  property,  our 
hearts  go  out  in  deepest  sympathy  for  those  who  were  called  upon  to  sacrifice  and  endure,  and  we 


DENISON  FAMILY 

Mi^  Pliebe  S.  Denison.  Miss  Josephine  1!.  Denison  and  Miss  Elizabeth  H.  Robinson  in  the  fore- 
ground.     Miss  Eliza  F.  Denison  as  Lady  Ann  Borodell,  riding 


AMERICAN"  VOLUNTEERS  OF  18U 
One  of  the  1S1J  cannon  in  the  foreground,  with  wreath 


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■.  ; ..    i 

CARKY  MAINE 

Veteran  drummer  from   North  Stonington.      Dr. 

C.  Wesley  Hale  as  Hag-bearer 


LADY  ANN  BORODELL 

Miss  Eliza  F.  Denison  of  Mystic  in  the  role  of 
her  ancestress 


REV.  AND  MRS.  JAMES  NOYES 

Ira  Hart  Noyes  and  Miss  Ethel  J.  R.  C.  Noyes 

as  the  first  Stonington  minister  and  his  wife 


COLUMBIA 

Mrs.  Martha  H.  Miller 


wish  these  things  might  not  have  been.  Vet  the  richest  blessings  of  life  spring  from  trouble  and 
suffering.  Many  a  man  has  been  saved  from  moral  ruin  or  has  been  led  from  a  life  of  carelessness 
and  indifference  to  a  life  of  usefulness  solely  because  of  personal  misfortune.  Many  a  home  has  been 
saved  from  rupture  when  trouble  came.  The  people  of  the  nation,  widely  scattered  over  the  country, 
forget  their  feuds  and  become  united  by  the  closest  bonds  of  friendship  when  they  are  called  upon  to 
face  a  common  foe.  Without  any  question  the  sterling  qualities  which  we  have  been  commending 
in  the  lives  of  our  ancestors  were  aroused  and  stimulated  by  the  hardships  and  misfortunes  which 
they  were  obliged  to  meet. 

"We  are  therefore  not  celebrating  simply  a  great  victory  over  hostile  forces  but  we  are  rejoicing 
over  the  great  contribution  to  our  success  and  happiness  which  have  corneas  consequences  of  the  war. 
Let  us  then  enter  into  the  celebration  enthusiastically,  for  in  so  doing  we  cannot  fail  to  bring  forcibly 
to  our  minds  the  high  ideals  and  aspirations  of  our  honored  ancestors.  Let  us  learn  to  the  fullest 
extent  the  lessons  which  are  intended  for  us  to  learn.  Let  us  willingly  shoulder  the  responsibilities 
which  are  plainly  ours,  and  train  our  youth  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  them  to  take  up  the  tasks  of 
life  where  we  must  lay  them  down. 

"If  by  our  exercises  here  we  can  succeed  in  arousing  in  ourselves  and  in  our  children  the  spirit  of 
gratitude,  a  greater  appreciation  of  privilege,  quicker  recognition  of  obligation,  truer  notions  regard- 
ing responsibility,  and  a  greater  effort  toward  the  realization  of  these  lofty  ideals  set  forth  by  our 
ancestors,  this  great  Stonington  centennial  celebration  will  be  remembered  in  the  distant  future  long 
after  the  splendor  of  the  pageant  has  been  forgotten." 

After  music  by  the  Mechanics'  Band,  the  following  poem,  "Stoning- 
ton," by  Miss  Anne  Atwood  of  the  borough,  was  read  by  Rev.  Charles 
J.  Mason  of  Calvary  Episcopal  Church : 

MISS   ATWOOD'S   POEM  :   STONINGTON 


White  houses  dreaming  in  the  dusk 
Of  green  old  gardens  where,  the  rows 
Of  lilies  stand— while  over  them 
A  little  sighing  whisper  goes. 

The  shadowed  streets  are  aisles  of  peace 
Where  gentle  ghosts  go  up  and  down; 
Their  light  feet  fall  and  make  no  sound 
In  all  the  twilight-shrouded  town. 

The  quiet  harbor  lightly  holds 
Winged  ships  upon  her  shining  breast, 
From  sailing  over  bitter  seas 
They  have  come  here  at  last,  to  rest. 

And  at  their  mast-heads  lamps  come  out 
Like  starflowers  in  the  deepening  gloom, 
Swinging  a  little  as  they  feel 
The  shorewind  sweet  with  lilac  bloom. 

Or  else  before  the  Dawn's  still  rose, 


The  little  fishing  boats  steal  by. 
Like  wraiths  into  the  trailing  mists 
That  drift  along  the  Southern  sky, 

Dropping  below  the  silent  town. 
Below  the  pallid  harbor  light 
And  out  across  the  silver  tide. 
Beyond  our  wistful  shore-bound  sight. 

Until  the  day  comes  with  a  clear, 
Bright  splendor,  walking  on  the  sea. 
And  every  wave  is  tipped  with  flame 
And  pearl,  and  shines  most  gloriously. 

These  are  the  dreams  that  come  at  night 
To  exiles  half  a  world  away; 
These  arc  the  dreams  that  lead  them  back. 
Before  such  visions  who  shall  say 

Ours  is  a  barren  heritage  ? 

Beauty  is  ours  in  such  largesse 

As  none  can  know  who  has  not  seen 


34 


Our  seasons'  changing  loveliness. 

Bleak  are  our  bare,  unfertile  fields. 
Wind-swept  our  hills  and  gray  our  skies. 
But  when  our  winter  sunsets  flare. 
What  flaming  golden  glory  lies 

Upon  our  uplands;  to  our  shores 
What  wistful,  tender  colors  come! 
And,  oh,  the  air  is  bread  and  wine 
To  us  who  call  the  stark  hills  Home! 

And  when  the  blossom-footed  Spring 
Runs  over  all  the  waiting  land. 
She  brings  such  radiance  on  her  brow. 
Such  wealth  of  beauty  in  her  hand. 

That  where  her  misty  banners  trail 
Across  the  meadows  gemmed  anil  brig]  ' 
With  April,  all  of  life  becomes 
A  delicate  and  gay  delight. 

White  gulls  in  crystal  air,  the  snow 
Of  sails  upon  an  August  sea 
Beyond  the  lowland  pastures,  rich 
With  Summer's  joyous  pageantry, 

A  pageantry  that  wears  into 
Russet  and  amber,  thin  blue  haze, 
On  dim  horizons,  and  the  sweet 
Slow  sadness  of  October  days. 

And  every  field  and  wooded  hill 
That  sees  the  blazoned  months  go  by 


Holds  at  its  heart  some  memory 
Of  prayer  or  song  or  battle  cry. 

Ours  is  a  strange  inheritance, 
Sombre  and  glowing,  ice  and  fire. 
Something  of  sadness,  much  of  pain, 
Gray  abnegation,  hot  desire. 

Beneath  a  harsh  and  sordid  mask 

What  passionate  belief,  what  fine, 

High  courage,  what  strong,  splendid  deeds, 

What  soaring  visions  half  divine! 


To  every  man  upon  this  earth 
One  spot  of  all  the  world  is  given 
Whereby  the  spirit  that  is  his 
Fashions  itself  a  dream  of  Heaven. 

And  we  who  watch  the  marching  tides 
And  know  the  great  winds  from  the  sea 
Keep  in  the  dreams  our  hearts  devise 
A  certain  fine  austerity. 

Never  for  us  the  sensual 

Warm  fragrance  of  the  lotos-dream! 

Ours  is  a  sterner  Heaven,  lit 

And  splendid  with  the  sea's  cold  gleam. 

Even  in  death  we  cannot  lose 
Her  spaces  and  her  mystery. 
And  Paradise  will  hold  for  us 
The  sound  and  color  of  the  sea. 


The  exercises  closed  with  a  benediction  by  Rev.  James  E.  O'Brien, 
pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the  borough.  The 
band  rendered  another  selection  as  the  great  throng  dispersed;  and  in 
the  evening,  at  7.30  o'clock,  gave  an  attractive  concert  at  the  park. 


MONDAY,    AUGUST    TENTH 

IKE  its  two  predecessors,  Monday,  the  last  day  of  the  celebration, 
■*-^  proved  perfect  weatherwise.  This  was  the  more  remarkable  as  for 
weeks  before  there  had  not  been  three  pleasant  days  in  succession. 

The  crowds  on  Monday  far  outnumbered  those  of  the  previous  days. 
They  came  by  every  conceivable  sort  of  conveyance.  The  morning 
trains,  the  trolley  cars,  automobiles  by  the  hundreds,  country  vehicles, 
bicycles,  the  Watch  Hill  ferry,  yachts  and  motor  boats  all  added  to 
Stonington"s  unprecedented  throng.  The  trolley  company  ran  seven 
or  eight  cars,  packed  with  passengers,  on  a  trip.  The  great  majority 
of  the  stores  in  Westerly  and  Mystic  closed  for  the  afternoon,  as  practi- 
cally everybody  wished  to  see  the  pageant  parade.  Of  this  event,  the 
climax  of  the  celebration,  a  writer  in  the  Norwich  Bulletin,  Leslie  T. 
Gager  of  Stonington,  said: 

"Stonington's  Battle  Centennial,  three  days  blessed  with  the  rich  fruitage  of  human  thought  and 
effort  and  crowned  by  nature's  beneficence  with  blue  skies  and  sunshine  and  Sound  breezes,  came 
to  a  grand  and  satisfying  climax  with  the  great  historical  pageant  Monday  afternoon.  Ten  thousand 
people  flocked  into  the  borough  to  see  the  portrayal  by  parade  and  pageant  of  the  establishment  and 
the  growth  and  the  successes  and  glories  of  the  famous  town  by  the  9ea.  And  they  found  a  most 
wonderful  spectacle  carried  out  with  a  smoothness  that  was  notable,  with  a  wealth  of  detail  that  was 
amazing  and  with  a  vividness  that  made  those  scene9  of  days  of  yore  strike  home  with  a  thrill  to 
their  descendants  of  to-day.  This  pageant  was  more  than  a  show — a  superficial  representation  of 
generations  that  are  past  and  their  ways  of  life  and  action — it  was  the  past  being  lived  out  by  the 
present  in  a  virile,  red-blooded  fashion,  it  was  the  spirit  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  old  Stonington, 
showing  forth  in  those  of  the  new. 

"It  was  a  pageant  unique,  one  that  can  rarely  be  held.  Few  places  there  are  that  can  boa9t, 
like  Stonington,  of  so  many  threads,  and  they  of  so  many  colors,  as  those  that  are  woven  into  the 
web  of  Stonington's  history.  Exploration,  conquest,  settlement,  defence,  a  call  to  adventure  that 
led  her  mariners  to  scour  every  sea,  a  spirit  of  patriotism  that  brought  her  sons,  followed  by  her 
daughters'  prayers  and  hopes,  to  fight  on  the  fields  of  every  war,  and  in  times  of  peace  to  bear  a 
worthy  part  in  public  service — these  are  some  of  the  things  thus  recalled  once  more  to  memory  that 
made  Stonington's  pageant  really  great  and  worth  while.  Those  sturdy  men  and  noble  women  of 
colonial  days  and  of  war  times,  worthily  represented  by  their  descendants,  arouse  pride  in  the  past, 
emulation  in  the  present,  ambition  for  the  future.  And  thus  Stonington's  celebration  reached  the 
culmination  of  its  true  significance  on  Monday  afternoon,  after  three  days  that  have  been  really  in 
themselves  history-making  in  the  old  south  county  town." 

The  Westerly  Sun  said: 

"An  artist's  brush  could  not  paint,  nor  could  an  author's  pen  portray,  a  more  pleasing  and  realistic 
picture  than  was  presented  yesterday  afternoon  in  Stonington  borough  by  the  pageant  parade  which 

35 


36 

was  a  part  of  the  three  days'  celebration  of  the  Battle  of  Stonington  anniversary.  In  this  wonderful, 
fanciful,  yet  realistic  picture  of  two  centuries  of  Stonington  life,  not  a  chapter  was  omitted.  From 
the  coming  of  Adrian  Block,  in  1614,  to  the  time,  in  1814,  when  the  brave  men  of  the  borough  pro- 
tected their  families  and  homes  from  the  powerful  guns  of  the  British  fleet  and  ultimately  drove 
them  from  the  harbor,  the  principal  periods  were  introduced.  The  costumes  were  unique  and 
attractive  and  pictured  in  a  true  sense  the  dress  of  the  old.  historic  time." 

THE   MOTOR    BOAT   RACES 

During  the  morning  the  principal  events  of  the  celebration  were  a 
concert  by  Fairman's  First  Light  Artillery  Band  of  Providence  at 
Wadawanuck  park  and  the  motor  boat  races  from  a  line  drawn  from 
the  head  of  the  inner  breakwater  to  a  stakeboat  anchored  near  the  west 
breakwater.  Thence  the  course  was  to  the  red  can  buoy  on  the  north 
end  of  Middle  Ground  Shoal,  and  thence  to  the  starting  line.  Silver 
cups  were  offered  for  boats  in  three  classes:  Class  C,  boats  making  less 
than  twelve  miles  an  hour;  distance  five  miles.  Class  B,  boats  making 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  miles  an  hour;  distance  ten  miles.  Class  A, 
boats  making  eighteen  miles  or  more  an  hour;  distance  fifteen  miles. 

A  light  fog  delayed  the  start  of  the  races,  which  had  been  set  for  nine 
o'clock,  until  about  10.30.  There  were  no  entrances  in  Class  C.  In 
Class  B  the  following  were  the  boats  entered  and  their  elapsed  times  for 
ten  miles  (twice  over  the  course): 

No.  1— Aloah,  B.  L.  Bristol,  Jr.,  Avondale,  finished  fifth.     Time  47.52. 

No.  2 — Vida,  E.  F.  Darrell,  Stonington.  finished  first.     Time  44.17. 

No.  3 — Dido,  C.  J.  Mason,  Jr.,  Stonington,  finished  sixth.     Time  52.36. 

No.  4— Lulu  B.,  Herbert  Brooks,  Mystic,  finished  fourth.     Time  47.36. 

No.  6 — Kanigo,  Courtlandt  W.  Babcock,  Stonington,  finished  second.     Time  44.20 

No.  7 — Rika.  August  Schnellen,  Stonington,  finished  third.     Time  46.20. 

This  was  a  handicap  race  and  Dido  was  the  winner,  with  Aloah 
second. 

In  Class  A  the  following  were  the  entries  and  their  elapsed  times  for 
fifteen  miles  (three  times  over  the  course): 

No.  1— Bull  Moose  II,  Frank  J.  Gregory,  New  York,  finished  first.     Time  36.13. 
No.  2 — Hare,  Robert  Moore,  Jr.,  New  London,  finished  second.     Time  37.34. 
No.  3— Elreba,  Harry  A.  Darlington,  Pittsburgh,  finished  fourth.     Time  44.14.      „ 
No.  4 — Hadji,  Harry  A.  Darlington,  Jr.,  finished  third.     Time  41.56. 

No.  5— Minnehaha  III,  Harry  McNutt,  Mystic,  was  obliged   to   withdraw   at   end    of  fourth 
lap  on  account  of  being  in  a  leaking  condition  from  being  struck  by  another  boat. 


PALMKK   FAMILY 


MARCHING  CHORUS  OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 


INDIAN"  PRINCESS 
Mrs.  Albert  Wilson  of  Stonington 


SYMBOLIC  FIGURE 

.Miss  Maud  Cammon  of  New  York 


WHALING  DAYS 

Charles  E.  Staplin.  2d.  at  left.  William   H.  Hal- 

lett  with  harpoon.     The  whaleboat  was  brought 

expressly  from  New  Bedford  for  the  Pageant 


37 

Elreba  was  declared  winner  on  lime  allowance  and  Hare  second. 

The  committee  members  were  on  the  yacht  Igloo,  owned  by  Dr.  F. 
T.  Rogers  of  Providence.  They  were  Chauncey  B.  Rice,  Lorenzo  D. 
Fairbrother,  Harry  W.  Babcock.  Theodore  Dewhurst,  Charles  H. 
Simmons  and  Edward  F.  Darrell. 

The  harbor  was  a  gay  sight  during  the  races,  with  a  large  number  of 
decorated  yachts  and  motor  craft  at  anchor.  The  bunting-dressed  town 
in  the  background,  and  the  torpedo-boat  destroyer  division  in  the  offing 
— with  the  exception  of  the  Terry,  which  lay  at  the  head  of  the  steam- 
boat wharf  and  was  open  to  the  inspection  of  visitors — added  to  the 
beaut j'  of  the  scene. 

THE    UNVEILING    OF  THE    TABLET 

At  noon  a  company  of  several  hundred  people  gathered  at  the  head 
of  the  old  breakwater,  near  the  corner  of  Water  and  Trumbull  streets, 
to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  memorial  tablet  erected  on  the  site 
of  the  1814  fort.  The  tablet  had  been  erected  on  the  east  side  of  the 
brick  office  building  of  the  Atwood  Machine  Company,  where  a  plat- 
form provided  seats  for  the  speakers  of  the  occasion  and  a  large  number 
of  invited  guests. 

After  music  by  Fairman's  Band,  Rev.  John  O.  Barrows  of  Norwich- 
town,  formerly  minister  of  the  First  Congregational  (Road)  Church, 
offered  prayer  and  Dr.  James  H.  Weeks,  President  of  the  Stonington 
Historical  and  Genealogical  Society,  holding  up  the  battle  flag  of  1814, 
said : 

ADDRESS    OF    DR.    WEEKS 

,-By  way  of  introduction  let  me  present  to  your  admiring  gaze  the  old  flag  that  waved  over  this 
spot  100  years  ago  to-day  and  extend  to  all  a  most  hearty  welcome  to  an  occasion  which  has  for  its 
purpose  the  permanent  marking  of  the  place  where  the  Stonington  defenders  of  1814  stood  to  battle 
a  common  foe. 

"Our  exercises  to-day  are  in  a  special  manner  such  as  will  live  in  the  memory  of  all  here  and  we 
shall  appropriately  mark  a  place  where  heroism  was  displayed,  for  the  men  who  stood  behind  the 
guns  in  the  old  redoubt  fought  for  their  homes  and  to  bring  an  added  honor  to  our  commonwealth. 

"We  have  heard  for  a  long  time  what  the  men  did  at  Stonington,  and  it  is  right  that  we  should. 
It  is  eminently  fitting,  however,  that  a  body  of  women  known  as  the  United  States  Daughters  of 
1812   of  Connecticut    should    have    a   large    part  in   our  celebration,   for  did  not   the  women  of 


Stonington  in  August,  1814,  prepare  the  bread,  corn  and  other  foods  which  enabled  the  men  to  retain 
their  strength  that  they  might  hold  out  till  the  battle  was  won?  Yes,  over  the  hot  fires  on  many  a 
hearth  on  those  hot  August  days  was  prepared  the  food  by  wives,  daughters  and  sweethearts  which 
brought  courage  to  the  hard-struggling  men  and  which  also  reminded  them  that  the  homes  of  loved 
ones  must  be  preserved.  This  is  not  fiction,  but  hard  facts  which  have  been  handed  down  to  us. 
The  women  knew  that  the  men  were  doing  yeomen's  service  and  tbey  were  willing  to  bear  their 
share  of  the  burden. 

"And  my  friends,  your  part  in  this  centennial  makes  for  permanency;  it  is  thus  far  the  only 
feature  which  has,  and  as  the  fair  hand  of  this  young  lady  draws  aside  the  colors  which  now  hide  the 
beautiful  tablet,  I  am  sure  our  people  will  take  this  gift  and  cherish  it. 

"As  we  read  its  bronzed  letters,  may  they  tver  be  a  reminder  to  us  as  well  as  to  those  who  came 
after,  that  our  borough,  town,  State  and  nation  require  our  best  service.  Stonington  had  her  defenders 
in  the  American  Revolution,  in  the  conflict  of  181-2,  in  the  Civil  War  period  and  if  1  mistake  not  the 
higns  of  the  times,  they  are  with  us  still. 

"The  lesson  then  for  us  is  that  the  State  and  humanity  demand  our  best  service.  Be  proud  of  this 
history  of  your  town  and  commonwealth.  There  was  more  than  the  saving  of  a  few  homes  at  stake 
in  the  Battle  of  Stonington,  fought  from  this  spot.  There  was  that  deep  instinct  bred  of  love  for  a 
country  where  God  rules  and  every  man  is  free. 

"Our  assembly  is  made  possible  to-day  by  the  quick  work  of  the  men  who  fought  here  100  years 
ago  to-day.  We  honor  them  and,  as  citizens,  should  make  a  much  closer  study  of  that  conflict. 
Join  then  with  us  in  a  hearty  manner  in  these  very  fitting  exercises,  thus  honoring  ourselves  as  well 
as  those  we  seek  to  honor." 

"The  Flag  of  Stonington'*  was  then  sung  by  the  school  chorus  with 
band  accompaniment,  and  Mrs.  Clarence  F.  R.  Jenne,  President  of  the 
United  States  Daughters  of  1812  in  Connecticut,  spoke  as  follows: 

MRS.  JENNE'S  REMARKS 

"The  desire  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  notable  events  is  instinct  in  the  human  race.  You 
will  remember  that  it  was  Joshua,  the  warrior  priest,  who  bade  the  leaders  of  Israel  each  to  take  a 
stone  from  the  bed  of  the  river  Jordan  and  with  them  to  build  a  monument  to  commemorate  a  crisis 
in  their  history.  'When  your  children  shall  ask,  what  mean  ye  by  these  stones?  ye  shall  tell  them  of 
the  marvellous  parting  of  the  waters  of  the  river  that  your  fathers  might  pass  through  on  dry  land.' 

"Thus  you  will  see  that  it  is  right  and  fitting  for  us  to  gather  here  this  summer  morning  to  place 
and  to  dedicate  a  simple  memorial  which  will  serve  for  many  generations  yet  to  come  as  a  reminder 
of  the  bravery  and  heroism  displayed  by  those  patriots  who  defended  the  town  of  Stonington  against 
the  British,  one  hundred  years  ago  to-day. 

"It  is  the  mark  of  affection  to  remember  their  deeds,  and  we  place  this  memorial  not  in  any  spirit 
of  boastfulness,  but  in  the  interest  of  history,  and  to  preserve  the  memory  of  those  heroes  who  were 
willing  to  do  and  to  die,  if  need  be,  to  protect  their  families,  their  homes  and  their  country  from  the 
hands  of  the  enemy. 

"This  may  not  be  holy  ground  upon  which  we  have  gathered,  but  it  is  certainly  historic  ground, 
and  on  this  occasion  we  love  to  dwell  upon  the  thrilling  scenes  which  were  enacted  here  so  long  ago. 

"We  marvel  at  that  brave  garrison  of  about  a  score  of  men  who  fought  so  well  that  they  not  only 
kept  the  British  from  landing  on  this  shore  but  nearly  sank  the  whole  fleet. 

"It  is  a  tale  of  victory  from  the  beginning  to  the  close,  and  the  repulse  of  the  British  at  Stonington 
proved  to  be  oje  of  the  most  gallant  affairs  of  the  War  of  1812. 


39 

"At  this  time  and  in  this  place  I  desire  to  make  mention  of  the  own  daughters  and  sons  of  the  par- 
ticipants of  this  memorable  battle;  some  of  them  are  with  us  to-day,  and  we  are  honored  by  their 
presence. 

"  We  are  glad  to  look  into  their  faces  and  to  grasp  them  by  the  hand,  for  they  bind  the  past  to 
the  present,  and  we  all  join  with  them  in  honoring  the  memory  of  their  noble  fathers  and  mothers 
'who  have  foupht  their  last  battle  and  sleep  their  last  sleep.' 

"Now  your  honor,  Warden  of  the  borough  of  Stonington,  I  take  great  pleasure,  on  behalf  and 
in  the  name  of  the  National  Society  of  the  United  States  Daughters  of  1812,  State  of  Connecticut,  to 
offer  through  you  to  the  borough  this  completed  memorial  tablet  and  ask  at  your  hands  its  accept- 
ance and  formal  dedication.'' 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mrs.  Jenne's  remarks,  the  tablet  was  unveiled 
by  Miss  Rosamond  Spencer  Holmes  of  Providence,  great-great-grand- 
daughter of  Captain  Jeremiah  Holmes,  who  commanded  the  battery 
during  a  part  of  the  battle.  One  of  the  flags  which  had  covered  the 
memorial  was  given  to  her,  while  the  other  will  be  kept  by  the  Stoning- 
ton  Historical  Society. 

Warden  Cornelius  B.  Crandall  accepted  the  gift  in  behalf  of  the  bor- 
ough of  Stonington.      He  said : 

"It  gives  mc  grcit  pleasure  to  accept  this  tablet  presented  by  the  Daughters  of  1812  to  mark  the 
spot  of  the  old  fort,  and  I  assure  you  It  always  will  be  prized  and  kept  in  memory  of  the  brave 
defenders  of  Stonington." 

The  tablet  is  of  bronze,  30x23  inches  in  size,  and  has  the  following 
inscription : 

"1814— 19U 

Near  this  spot  was  located 

the  fort  in  which  the  defenders  of 

Stonington,  Connecticut, 

bravely  battled  and  drove  the 

British  squadron  from  our  shores 

ninth,  tenth  and  eleventh  of  August, 

eighteen  hundred  and  fourteen. 

Erected  by  the  National  Society  of 

United  States  Daughters  of  1812, 

State  of  Connecticut." 

Following  the  acceptance  of  the  tablet  by  Warden  Crandall  and  the 
singing  of  "America' '  by  the  school  chorus  and  audience,  accompanied 
by  the  band,  a  brief  address  was  given  by  Mrs.  William  Gerry  Slade, 
President  of  the  National  United  States  Daughters  of  1812. 

Mrs.  Slade  put  the  stamp  of  approval  on  the  work  of  the  State  Society 
and  told  how  much  the  organization  of  which  she  was  a  member  meant 


40 

to  her.  She  spoke  in  defence  of  the  War  of  1812.  She  said  that  too 
many  had  the  opinion  that  the  war  did  not  amount  to  much,  that  Great 
Britain  had  used  all  her  power  to  get  her  colonial  possessions  back  after 
the  Revolution  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  second  war  looked  upon  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  as  rebels.  She  gave  a  short  sketch  of  the 
war  and  said  that  the  battle  at  Stonington  came  at  a  time  when  the 
Hartford  Convention  had  been  in  session — an  assemblage  embodying 
the  dissatisfaction  in  New  England  with  the  war.  As  the  British  shots 
were  fired  at  Stonington,  the  Convention  was  broken  up  and  the  ener- 
gies of  Connecticut  were  given  to  the  saving  of  home  and  country.  By 
the  breaking  up  of  the  Convention  every  thought  that  had  not  been  in 
accord  with  the  principle  involved  in  the  war  turned  into  ardent  patriot- 
ism and  each  man  sprang  to  the  task  of  defence.  Had  the  people  of 
Stonington  yielded  at  this  time,  the  Hartford  Convention  would  prob- 
ably have  resumed,  and  no  one  can  tell  what  the  result  would  have 
been.  The  courage  of  the  defenders  of  this  town  obscured  everything 
but  the  country's  cause.  To  Stonington  belongs  the  credit  thus  of 
being  the  turning  point  in  the  saving  of  the  nation.  Mrs.  Slade  spoke 
of  the  noble  inheritance  that  the  present  generation  in  Stonington  pos- 
sesses, and  in  conclusion  paid  a  tribute  to  the  women  who  played  then- 
part  in  the  defence  of  the  place. 

Governor  Baldwin  was  next  introduced.      He  said : 

GOVERNOR  BALDWIN'S  ADDRESS 

"Anniversary  celebrations  of  great  events  have  a  high  motive  and  a  true  use. 

"The  tablet  which  we  dedicate  to-day  commemorates  one  of  the  marked  events  in  the  history  of 
Eastern  Connecticut.  A  naval  force  under  the  command  of  one  of  Lord  Nelson's  greatest  commodores 
and  warmest  friends.  Sir  Thomas  Hardy,  was  driven  back  by  a  few  gunners  on  this  spot  one  hundred 
years  ago.  Some  of  those  who  served  the  gunners  so  well  came  from  Massachusetts,  some  came 
from  the  original  militia  of  Connecticut,  'detached,'  as  the  phrase  ran,  for  such  service,  under  an 
act  of  Congress  passed  April  10,  1K12.  Some  of  the  men  came  from  neighborhood  volunteers.  Part 
of  these  probably  learned  the  art  of  gunnery  as  privateers;  part  in  their  younger  days  as  soldiers  in 
the  Revolutionary  army.  A  man  who  was  twenty  years  of  age  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  we 
must  remember,  would  have  been  about  fifty-one  years  old  in  1K14.  Wherever  they  learned  it.  they 
learned  it  well. 

"Since  those  days  the  use  of  heavy  guns  has  become  largely  an  affair  of  precise  mathematical 
calculations  worked  out  on  paper.  Electricity  gives  its  aid:  the  man  who  fires  is  not  the  man  who 
directs  the  aim.     There  is  less  of  the  human  element  in  the  business,  and  more  of  the  mechanical. 


CAMP  FIRE  GIRLS  FROM  PAWCATUCK,  MYSTIC  AND  STONINGTON 


STONINGTON  GIRLS  CARRYING  AN   AMERICAN  FLAG 


CHILDRKN  OK  1775  AND  hit 


41 

"The  results  are  more  certain,  the  work  is  more  deadly.  Thus  we  proceed  in  what,  to  me,  seems 
the  gradual  progress  of  human  society  from  organized  war  to  organized  peace.  It  is  a  gradual 
progress;  but  all  too  slow.  It  is  a  gradual  progress,  although  it  may  be  for  a  time  interrupted,  as  at 
this  hour,  by  war  of  the  bitterest  type  between  the  greatest  nations. 

"America  this  year  will  present  a  better  record  as  to  military  affairs  thtn  does  Europe.  The 
quieting  of  Mexico  by  the  Pan-American  mediation  will  make  it  a  year  long  to  be  remembered  here' 
as  making  a  new  tie  of  Continential  brotherhood  with  all  our  sister  republics. 

"We  of  the  United  States  are  fortunate  in  having  no  neighbors  strong  enough  to  measure  sword 
with  us.  We  are  fortunate  in  having  no  allies  to  call  upon  us  to  fight  for  them.  We  are  fortunate 
thai  there  is  but  one  people  between  New  York  and  San  Francisco,  for  a  stretch  of  three  thousand  miles. 
Europe  is  a  complex  aggregate  of  separate  governments  interlaced  geographically,  so  as  to  give 
opportunity  for  frequent  misunderstandings,  nnd.  we  may  frankly  say,  sometimes,  for  acts  of 
oppression  exercised  by  the  greater  powers  against  the  lesser. 

"The  great  war  which  now  darkens  Europe  and  her  Asiatic  dependencies  will  be  an  object  lesson 
showing  the  impolicy  of  risking  such  a  state  of  affairs  as  now  confronts  those  continents. 

"Surely  the  human  race  mu9t  eventually  come  to  some  better  mode  of  adjusting  internationa 
differences,  than  the  rule  of  the  stronger.     This  war  now  raging  may  hasten  alon.s?  that  time. 

"Justice  between  nations  is  the  only  thing  worth  striving  for  by  statesmen.  Justice  is  bes 
administered  by  judicial  authority.  I  hope  that  this  very  century  in  which  we  live  will  not  close 
before  there  is  a  real  judicial  court  of  nations,  authorized  to  decide  controversies  which  diplomacy 
cannot  settle.  If  that  day  comes  it  will  cast  no  shadows  over  the  past.  The  story  of  great  action 
like  Gettysburg  and  Waterloo,  and  of  lesser  actions  like  those  whose  centenary  we  are  celebrating 
will  be  preserved  in  the  pages  of  history  and  the  hearts  of  men.  and  the  defence  of  Stonington,  wit 
nessed  by  this  tablet,  will  still  remain  a  treasured  memory,  forever  dear  to  every  son  and  daughter 
of  Connecticut." 

The  chief  address  of  the  unveiling  ceremonies  was  delivered  by  Hon. 
Abel.  P.  Tanner  of  New  London,  who  said : 

ADDRESS   BY   HON.    ABEL   P.  TANNER 

"The  circumstance  that  I  was  not  born  in  this  town  and  have  not  lived  among  you  for  a  good  many 
years — precludes  the  right  I  once  had  to  address  you  as  "Fellow  Townsmen,"  and  I  must  forego  that 
salutation  now.  I  am  consoled,  however,  by  the  fact  that  there  was  a  time,  as  your  land  records 
will  show,  when  Stonington  and  my  native  town  were  one — when  even  my  adopted  city  was  in  the 
game  circuit,  and  all  the  magistrates  sat  side  by  side. 

"But  Stonington  has  yet  other  claims  to  historic  distinction.  I  will  enumerate  some  of  them, 
It  was  one  of  the  first  if  not  the  first  to  suggest  a  convention  of  all  the  colonies,  in  the  crisis  imme- 
diately preceding  the  American  Revolution;  and,  of  that  suggestion,  in  1774,  the  first  Continental 
Congress  was  born.  In  the  next  place,  it  raised  by  subscription,  that  same  year,  a  substantial  fund 
and  sent  it  to  the  distressed  inhabitants  of  Boston  after  that  port  had  been  closed  by  the  king.  And 
somewhere  in  its  archives  may  be  found,  to-day,  the  acknowledgment  of  that  gift,  by  the  martyr. 
General  Warren,  in  which  he  said:  'When  liberty  is  the  prize,  who  would  shun  war?'  And.  curiously, 
Stonington  was  invincible  in  war.  It  was  the  only  town  on  the  Connecticut  coast  to  successfully 
resist  invasion,  in  either  war  with  England.  Neither  Commodore  Wallace,  in  1775,  nor  Commodore 
Hardy,  in  1814,  was  able  to  reduce  this  Port. 

"We  are  concerned  to-day  with  an  incident  in  the  second  war  with  England,  known  as  the  War  of 
1812.     I  presume  most  of  you  are  familiar  with  the  causes  of  that  war,   and  probably  know  that  it 


42 

was  due,  mainly,  to  European  complications.  For  then,  as  now,  Europe  was  aflame  with  war.  It  is 
a  condition  it  will  always  be  subject  to  as  long  as  conquest  lures  and  men  have  lost  their  reason  and 
a  people  can  be  swayed  by  the  impudent  assertion  of  the  divine  right  of  kings. 

"Great  Britain,  then  in  need  of  naval  recruits  in  her  continental  struggle,  was  insisting  on  the 
right  to  search  our  ships,  under  the  pretext  of  looking  for  British  subjects.  At  that  time  she  was  in 
alliance  with  other  great  powers  against  the  first  Napoleon;  and  between  her  'orders  in  council'  and 
his  continental  system,  and  our  own  embargo,  our  foreign  commerce  was  nearly  destroyed.  Our 
merchant  ships  were  being  condemned  in  foreign  ports,  our  protests  ignored  and  sailors  impressed 
from  under  our  flag.  We  bore  it  discreetly  through  many  patient  years  until  it  became  the  boast 
cf  the  British  press  that  'you  couldn't  kick  the  United  States  into  a  war  with  England.'  When, 
finally.  Congress  did  declare  war  there  were  hundreds  in  this  country  who  said  it  was  premature. 
And  they  did  what  they  could  to  embarass  the  conduct  of  the  war.  to  discourage  enlistments,  and 
force  a  dishonorable  peace.  Still,  somehow,  we  carried  the  war  on;  and  when,  at  last,  peace  was 
declared  it  made  no  mention  of  the  cause  of  the  war;  the  treaty  of  Ghent  was  silent  upon  the  question 
of  search.  And  so  peace  was  criticised,  as  war  had  been.  Nevertheless,  that  martial  enterprise 
stopped  impressments,  and  the  'peace  of  a  hundred  years'  attests  the  wisdom  of  its  consummation. 

"We  are  commemorating,  now.  an  event  of  that  war,  as  it  transpired  here;  and,  thanks  to  the 
patriotic  societies,  you  have  set  up  a  memorial — a  bronze  inscription  that  will  be  read  in  futurity 
when  we  have  disappeared.  And  there  is  a  kind  of  solemnity  about  it  all.  It  reminds  us  that  all 
centennials  are  sad.  When  one  is  observed,  it  is  rarely  met  again  by  the  same  individuals,  on  this 
mortal  journey;  its  greeting  is  'Hail  and  Farewell.'  A  century  hence,  another  generation  will 
celebrate  this  day,  we  hope,  with  some  measure  of  devotion,  but  we  will  not  be  here.  Long  ere  that 
time  we  will  have  mouldered  to  forgotten  dust.  To-day  we  hold  the  centre  of  the  stage  in  this  pass- 
ing show;  we  drink  to  the  memory  of  these  heroes,  dead.  who.  with  sublime  courage,  faced  the 
iron  storm  of  war;  but  they  who  will  gather  here  a  hundred  years  to  come  will  know  us  not.  To 
them  we  will  not  even  be  a  memory.  Still,  we  are  not  cast  down.  We  come  not  to  exalt  ourselves, 
but  with  grateful  appreciation;  and  we  aim  to  do  justice  to  the  dead.  Historians  have  not  always 
done  justice  to  the  event  we  celebrate.  Most  of  them  have  given  it  but  scanty  mention  in  military 
annals;  some,  indeed,  have  affected  to  treat  it  with  careless  indifference.  Yet,  all  things  considered 
it  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  exploits  in  the  course  of  that  war.  Recollect  that  no  other  defence 
was  successful  on  the  New  England  coast  during  the  British  invasions.  Even  the  gallant  Decatur 
was  driven  up  the  Thames  river  and  couldn't  get  out.  Consider,  for  a  moment,  the  inequalities  of 
the  contest.  On  the  one  hand,  five  ships  of  war  (including  the  Nimrod,  on  the  second  day)  one  of 
them  among  the  largest  in  the  British  navy— an  overwhelming  marine  force — with  160  guns,  and 
mortars  that  threw  12-inch  shells;  the  whole  under  the  command  of  a  brilliant  naval  officer.  At  that 
time  Commodore  Hardy  was  in  the  prime  of  life.  He  had  fought  gallantly  at  Copenhagen,  at  Gi- 
braltar, and  the  battle  of  the  Nile;  and  the  great  Nelson  had  died  in  his  arms  amid  the  thunders  of 
Trafalgar.  And  against  this  formidable  flotilla  was  what?  A  contingent  of  militia  operating  three 
pieces  of  artillery,  with  insufficient  ammunition;  scantily  protected  by  a  small  redoubt  in  which  but 
few  could  find  shelter;  yet  so  ably  maneuvering  as  to  thwart  all  attempts  of  the  enemy  to  land,  and 
finally  compelling  it  to  withdraw  altogether.  And  when  you  remember  that  during  that  three  days' 
bombardment  over  sixty  tons  of  metal  was  thrown  into  this  place,  with  every  kind  of  missile,  and 
that  the  defenders  were  continually  under  fire,  you  get  some  idea  of  the  skill,  the  resourcefulness 
and  the  prodigious  valor  of  the  Americans  engaged. 

"A  concrete  narrative  of  all  that  took  place  in  this  village  a  century  ago.  between  it  and  a  British 
squadron,  would  doubtless  be  of  interest,  if  time  and  circumstance  permitted.  But  it  is  obviously 
impossible  in  any  address  of  reasonable  length,  and  I  shall  not  undertake  it  now.     It  is  sufficient  to 


43 

say  that  Commodore  Hardy  drew  near  on  the  afternoon  of  the  ninth  of  August,  with  five  ships  of 
war,  including  the  bomb  ship  Terror,  and  at  4  o'clock  he  sent  inland  his  grim  despatch  giving  the 
•unoffending  inhabitants'  one  hour  to  depart.  Can  we  wonder  that  tradition  says  the  people  were 
horrified,  or  that  leading  citizens  thought  of  compromise,  in  the  town's  defenceless  condition?  When 
eventually  they  were  informed  that  no  'arrangement'  could  be  made,  they  might  then  have  fled  with 
the  'unoffending  inhabitants'  and  no  court  martial  would  have  pursued  them  into  retirement.  In- 
stead they  returned  to  the  British  commander  that  defiance  worthy  of  Thermopylae:  'We  will  defend 
this  place  to  the  last  extremity,  and  if  it  must  be  destroyed  we  will  perish  with  it.' 

"The  commander  of  the  fleet,  for  some  reason,  presumably  humane  as  became  that  chivalrous  offi- 
cer, delayed  the  attack  beyond  the  appointed  hour,  so  that  those  who  would  could  get  away.  But. 
at  7  in  the  evening,  he  began  a  furious  cannonade  which,  for  four  hours,  jeopardized  life  and  prop- 
erty in  this  practically  defenceless  town.  And  may  we  conceive  the  effect  of  that  scene,  on  a 
people  unused  to  war,  facing  a  hostile  fleet,  amid  the  roar  of  cannon;  exploding  rockets  and 
bursting  shells;  the  night  made  lurid  by  conflagration.  A  contemporary  has  said  that  there  was 
nothing  very  spectacular  in  the  bombardment  of  Stonington;  that  it  was  an  insignificant  affair.  But 
the  record  does  not  sustain  him.  A  chronicler,  of  the  time,  has  described  it  as  'a  grand  and  awful 
spectacle.'  And  we  can  assume  it  was  spectacular  enough  to  those  who  were  actors  in  it;  to  the 
men  who  manned  the  defences;  who  patrolled  the  streets  and  shore,  or  waited,  with  alternate  hopes 
and  fears,  on  the  neighboring  hills.  Three  times,  under  the  cover  of  their  fire,  the  enemy  sought  to 
land  marines  on  both  sides  of  the  peninsula,  but  they  were  as  often  repulsed  by  the  tire  from  the  re- 
doubt, and  by  musketry  and  cannon  on  the  shore.  In  this  repelling  process,  the  youthful  Jabez  S. 
Swan,  afterwards  the  famous  pulpit  orator,  bore  a  meritorious  part.  Meanwhile,  Colonel  Randall,  a 
brave  and  energetic  officer,  arrived  with  a  portion  of  the  Thirtieth  regiment,  which,  after  a  brief  pa- 
rade back  of  the  'York  House."  marched  to  the  rear  of  the  redoubt,  forming  a  line  of  support.  This 
completed  the  affair  of  the  ninth. 

"The  morning  of  the  tenth  brought,  among  other  volunteers,  Captain  Jeremiah  Holmes  of  Mys- 
tic—a resolute  man — who  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  artillery  practice  while  serving,  involuntarily, 
as  an  impressed  seaman  in  the  British  navy.  It  contributes  to  the  irony  of  the  occasion,  that,  by 
persisting  in  the  offence  which  caused  the  war.  England,  in  one  instance  at  least,  conspired  to  its 
own  defeat.  For  Captain  Holmes  was  given  command  of  the  redoubt;  and,  by  his  skillful  manip- 
ulation of  its  guns,  much  damage  was  done  to  the  fleet.  Unfortunately,  at  this  point  the  ammuni- 
tion failed,  and  for  nearly  three  hours  the  little  garrison  was  obliged  to  remain  inactive  under  a 
galling  fire.  It  was  during  this  period,  when  the  village  seemed  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy,  that 
some  one  suggested  lowering  the  flag,  disabling  the  guns,  and  abandoning  the  defence.  But 
Captain  Holmes  declared  with  emphasis  that  the  flag  should  never  come  down  while  he  was  alive, 
and  he  ordered  it  nailed  to  the  staff.  At  1  o'clock,  a  new  supply  of  ammunition  having  arrived, 
firing  from  the  fort  was  resumed,  and  with  telling  effect.  Captain  Holmes  now  double-shotted  his 
guns  and  sighted  thein  so  accurately  that  the  Dispatch,  which  had  ventured  nearest  the  shore,  was 
'hulled'  at  each  discharge  and  soon  compelled  to  retire.  The  bombardment  continued,  at  intervals, 
for  some  time  longer,  until  the  arrival  of  General  Isham  from  New  London  with  a  strong  force  made 
further  demonstration  by  the  enemy  useless;  whereupon  its  baffled  commander  reluctantly  with- 
drew. And  thus  ended  the  battle  of  Stonington.  In  alluding  to  it  afterwards.  General  Root  said 
in  Congress,  in  1817  : 

"  'There  was  one  achievement  that  sheds  lustre  on  the  American  character,  the  defence  of  Ston- 
ington. A  more  brilliant  affair  did  not  take  place  during  the  late  war.  It  was  not  rivalled  by  the 
defence  of  the  Sandusky,  the  attempt  at  Niagara,  or  the  victories  of  Erie  and  Champlain.  The 
whole  was  achieved  by  men  who  covered  themselves  with  unfading  laurels.' 


44 

"In  conclusion,  one  incident  remains  to  be  told — a  tragic  incident,  that  reveals  and  accents  tire 
pathos  of  war.  The  casualties  of  this  midsummer  campaign  were  few;  perhaps  less  than  a 
hundred,  all  told.  But  they  included  some  whose  names  have  lived.  Among  these  were  two 
amiable  young  men,  barely  nineteen  years  of  age,  who  fought  on  opposite  sides.  One  was  a  commis- 
sioned officer— a  lieutenant  of  marines,  perhaps  an  only  son  who  would  see  the  hills  of  Old  England 
no  more.  He  was  killed  in  one  of  the  earlier  clashes  along  this  coast  and  his  body  lies  not  in  his 
native  land.  Yet,  thanks  to  a  chivalrous  foe  who  understood,  it  abides  in  hallowed  ground. 
To-day,  1  commend  the  thoughtful  tenderness  with  which  the  people  of  Stonington  have  remembered 
the  lonely  grave  of  Thomas  Barrett  Powers.  The  other  was  a  Mystic  boy,  the  lamented 
Frederick  Denis  )n,  who,  left  at  home  by  his  older  brothers  during  the  main  attack,  could  not 
appease  his  martial  spirit,  in  the  echo  of  battle,  but  seized  a  musket  and  hastened  after. 
Later,  while  acting  as  an  aide  outside  of  the  redoubt,  he  was  struck  by  the  fragment  of  a 
rock  splintered  by  a  cannon  shot,  and  mortally  injured.  As  his  comrades  sought  to  remove  him 
to  a  safer  place,  he  begged  them  to  leave  him  and  continue  the  defence.  Thus  perished  these 
gallant  young  men  in  the  carnage  of  battle,  each  for  a  separate  Cause.  We  do  not  now  ponder 
their  opposite  views.  Their  differences  seem  less  consequential,  in  the  retrospect  of  a  hundred 
years.  We  forget  to-day  on  which  side  they  fought  or  what  uniforms  they  wore,  and  remember 
only  their  courage  and  their  sacrifices.  They  spoke  the  same  tongue;  they  belonged  to  the  same 
race;  and  the  soil  of  one  country  holds  them  both." 

The  next  number  on  the  programme  was  a  poem  by  Miss  Grace 
Denison  Wheeler  of  Stonington. 


MISS   WHEELER'S   POEM 


One  hundred  years  ago  to-day 
Our  fathers  stood  upon  this  soil, 

And  heard  their  English  cousins  say, 
Our  guns  will  soon  your  homes  despoil. 

But  brave  of  heart  and  strong  of  hand 
Their  homes  so  dear  they  must  defend. 

So  here  the  guns  were  brought  to  stand, 
And  here  they  worked  until  the  end. 

Within  this  Battery's  little  space, 
Stood  fourteen  men  that  August  day; 

Then  fourteen  others  took  their  place 
To  drive  the  British  ships  away. 

Right  here  our  flag  was  lifted  high, 
And  out  upon  the  wind  that  blew, 

Where  it  was  seen  by  every  eye, 

Old  Olory  its  brave  challenge  threw. 

And  when  at  last  'twas  seen  to  fall, 
Determination  filled  each  eye, 

George  Fellows  grasped  Dean  Gallup  tall, 
And  with  a  Chesebrough  lifted  high. 


Till  on  their  shoulders  straight  he  stood. 
And  raised  the  flag,  so  fresh  that  morn. 

Fast  to  its  staff,  as  best  he  could, 

He  nailed  our  colors,  pierced  and  torn. 

Those  men  were  heroes,  bold  and  true. 

Who  fired  the  guns  and  chalked  the  plank, 

And  worked  unceasing,  though  but  few, 
Without  regard  to  file  or  rank. 

The  names  of  Holmes  and  Fellows  play 

Important  part,  as  do  they  all. 
We  honor  every  one  to-day. 

As  here  their  work  we  now  recall. 

And  so  the  Daughters  Eighteen  Twelve, 
Who  glory  in  their  father's  creeds, 

And  in  the  records  as  they  delve, 
Delight  to  honor  their  brave  deeds. 

Have  placed  this  Tablet  here  to  show 

Where  stood  the  Battery  and  where  fought 

The  men  who  hastened  then  to  go 
Where  love  of  liberty  was  wrought. 


COLONIAL  DAYS  IN  STONINGTON 


•-v    X*  '  ' 


ANOTHKK  COLONIAL  GROUP 


CAPTAIN  KlUD 
T.  Whitridge  Cutler  as  the  Pirate-in-Chief.      The  pirate's  chest  may  be  seen  just  behind  him, 

borne  by  two  associate  buccaneers 


45 

And  too  this  Tablet  marks  the  place  Our  fathers'  fathers'  worthy  deed 
Where,  later,  men  were  wont  to  meet,  Should  in  our  hearts  a  zeal  inspire 

And  tell  how  in  this  little  space,  To  emulate  and  far  exceed 
The  British  met  their  just  defeat.  In  Patriotism's  holy  fire. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Miss  Wheeler's  poem,  Rev.  George  B.  Marston 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church  pronounced  a  benediction,  and  the  band 
rendered  a  final  selection. 

The  Daughters  of  1812  were  entertained  at  luncheon  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church  parlors. 

THE   SITE   OF   THE    FORT 

Following  is  the  report  of  the  findings  of  Ur.  James  H.  Weeks,  who 
was  appointed  by  the  Executive  Committee  to  determine  the  site  of  the 
old  fort: 

"It  becomes  my  duty  to  report  to  you  my  findings  in  relation  to  the  location  of  the  old  fort  used 
by  the  defenders  at  Stonington  in  August,  1814,  when  they  drove  Commodore  Thomas  M.  Hardy 
and  his  Meet  of  British  ships  from  our  shores. 

"All  vestige  of  the  fortification  having  been  obliterated  years  ago,  it  was  only  possible  to  reach  my 
conclusion  from  the  interviews  had  with  a  number  of  persons  who  have  lived  for  many  years  in  Ston- 
ington and  who  have  heard  their  elders  talk  of  the  location. 

"There  can  be  no  question  but  it  was  located  just  south  of  the  east  or  shore  end  of  the  inside 
breakwater,  which  was  constructed  by  the  United  States  Government  and  commenced  about  18-20, 
and  in  the  building  of  this  no  doubt  part  of  the  earthwork  was  torn  away.  This  would  locate  it  in  a 
definite  manner  on  the  land  now  owned  by  the  Atwood  Machine  Company,  of  Stonington,  on  which 
is  at  present  located  the  company's  office,  as  well  as  the  Brown  house,  so-called,  and  on  a  portion  of 
the  land  of  Mrs.  Henry  L.  Teed. 

"Some  of  those  interviewed  do  not  just  put  the  location  on  the  same  spot,  although  within  the 
same  radius.  They  all  agree  as  to  the  main  points.  Edward  H.  Sheffield,  who  has  a  good  memory 
of  early  events  in  Stonington,  said  (Sept.  10,  1913):  'My  father,  Staunton  Sheffield,  had  a  shipyard 
on  the  lands  now  occupied  by  the  Atwood  Machine  Company's  office  and  lands  adjoining  to  the 
south,  and  it  covered  quite  a  piece  of  ground.  About  where  the  present  shore  line  is  was  located  the 
sawpit,  and  the  workmen  would  tell  the  boys  if  they  would  dig  out  the  accumulated  sawdust  they 
would  find  the  bombs  and  cannonballs  used  by  the  British  in  the  battle  of  Stonington.  This,  he 
said,  was  the  method  used  to  get  the  pit  dug  out  at  little  expense.  I  always  understood  that  the  fort 
was  located  on  the  shipyard  land." 

"Judge  Gilbert  Collins  of  Jersey  City  said:  'The  space  between  the  Atwood  Machine  Company 
shop  and  the  lands  of  Mrs.  Henry  L.  Teed  was  always  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  exact  location  of  the 
old  fort.' 

"Postmaster  Nathaniel  P.  Noyes,  a  lifelong  resident  of  Stonington  always  interested  in  matters  of  a 
historic  nature,  said:  "My  father  always  pointed  out  to  us  boys  that  the  fort  stood  where  the  Atwood 
Machine  Company's  office  building  now  stands.'  His  father,  Franklin  Noyes,  was  nine  years  old 
when  the  battle  was  fought  and  saw  many  of  the  bomb9  fired  at  the  defenders.     For  many  years  he 


46 

owned  a  heavy  shirt  which  was  thrown  overboard  from  the  bombship  Terror  during  the  engagement, 
which  had  on  it  in  large  letters  the  name  of  the  ship.  Mr.  Noyes  further  said  the  spot  he  showed  his 
sons  was  at  one  time  the  shipyard  of  Staunton  Sheffield  and  just  at  the  shore  end  of  the  breakwater. 

•'Charles  B.  States  said:  "When  I  was  a  boy,  there  stood  a  stump  of  a  flagpole  on  the  land  now 
occupied  by  the  frame  structure  of  the  Atwood  Machine  Company,  north  of  the  present  entrance  to 
the  breakwater.'  He  does  not  think  the  flagpole  the  one  used  at  the  time  of  the  battle  but  always 
understood  that  the  fort  was  just  southwest  of  the  location  given  above.  This  would  place  it  on  the 
Jand  already  cited  by  those  previously  named. 

"Mrs.  Harriet  Bennett  was  seen  and  said:  'My  mother  always  said  the  fort,  which  was  thrown  up 
hastily  when  the  Stonington  people  drove  Hardy  away,  was  at  the  point  on  which  now  stand  the 
Brown  and  Teed  houses.'  She  well  remembered  the  old  shipyard  and  the  building  of  the  lightships 
by  Staunton  Sheffield  and  helped  to  make  a  set  of  colors  for  the  first  one  constructed.  She  agreed 
with  the  others  and  thus  we  may  feel  that  we  have  good  evidence  as  to  the  location  of  the  redoubt." 


THE  PATRIOTIC  AND  PAGEANT  PARADE 

During  the  early  hours  of  the  afternoon  the  crowds  from  the  neigh- 
boring towns  and  countryside  were  busy  choosing  points  of  vantage 
from  which  to  watch  the  coming  parade,  while  the  participants  in  the 
parade  could  be  seen,  in  all  sorts  of  picturesque  costumes,  making  their 
way  by  hundreds  to  the  assembly  point — the  Atwood  lot  on  Elm  street. 
To  the  casual  observer  it  might  appear  that  these  variegated  units  in 
the  great  show  could  never  be  brought  into  a  congruous  relationship. 
Pequot  Indians,  Revolutionary  maidens,  Dutch  voyagers,  British  sol- 
diers, American  militiamen  and  seventeenth-century  pioneers,  parsons 
and  pirates  struggled  up  the  hill  in  seemingly  hopeless  confusion.  Yet 
out  of  these  diverse  elements  was  woven  a  pictorial  drama  consistent 
from  start  to  finish,  with  a  fine  thread  of  vigor  and  patriotism  running 
through  it  and  a  telling  consummation  in  the  "Victory"  float.  No  one 
who  witnessed  this  fine  series  of  "moving  pictures"  will  ever  forget 
the  beauty  and  sentiment  of  the  scene. 

A  few  minutes  after  three  o'clock  the  long  procession,  composed  of 
1400  costumed  or  uniformed  participants,  started  down  Elm  street  in 
the  following  formation : 

Eleventh  Coast  Artillery  Band. 
Battalion  of  United  States  Coast  Artillery  from  Fort  H.  G.  Wright,  Major  E.  L.  Glasgow  in  com- 
mand; (211  men,  including  band). 
Sailors   from  the  United  States  Torpedo-Boat  Destroyers  Terry,  Walke,  Monaghan,  Sterrett  and 

Perkins,  Captain  A.  W.  Fitch  in  command;  (about  130  men). 
Members  of  the  Grand  Array  of  the  Republic.  J.  F.  Trumbull.  Hancock.  Williams  and   Budlong 

Posts. 

The  Pageant-Parade  of  Stonington. 

(The  pageant-parade  in  detail  will  be  found  beginning  on  page  49). 

Real  Sons  and  Daughters  of  1814. 

Westerly  Band. 

Marching  Chorus  of  School  Children. 

Boy  Scouts  of  Stonington,  James  H.    Stivers,  Scout   Master;  W.    F.  Broughton.  Jr.,   Assistant. 

Westerly,  Silas  T.  Nye,  G.  Benjamin  Utter.  Scout  Masters;  D.   Harold  Rogers,  Charles 

Fowler,  H.  Russell  Burdick,  Assistants.      Mystic.  Flavius  Cheney,  Scout  Master. 

Tierney  Cadets,  Bernard  Rose,  Captain. 

Music  was  furnished  by  the  Coast  Artillery  Band,  the  Mechanics' 
Band  of  Stonington,  Fairman's  Band  of  Providence,  the  East  Hamp- 
ton (Conn.)  Fife  and  Drum  Corps,  the  Chesebrough  Fife  and   Drum 

47 


48 

Corps  of  Stonington,  the  Westerly  Hand  and  the  drum  and  bugle 
corps  of  the  Boy  Scouts  and  the  Tierney  Cadets.  The  line  of  march 
was  down  Elm  street  to  Main  street,  up  Main  street  to  and  around 
Mathews  Park,  down  Water  street  to  Omega  street,  through  Omega 
street  to  Hancox  street,  up  Hancox  street  to  Diving  street,  through 
Diving  street  to  Main  street,  up  Main  street  to  Cutler  street  and  to  the 
tent  in  Stanton  Field,  where  luncheon  was  spread  for  all  those  in  line. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  persons  saw  the  parade.  The 
estimates  run  from  ten  thousand  upward.  There  were  great  masses  of 
spectators  along  the  shaded  sections  of  the  streets,  particularly  on  Elm 
street  above  the  railroad  crossing,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Wadawanuck 
Square,  around  Mathews  Park  and  on  parts  of  Water  and  Main  streets. 
Many  of  the  photographs  of  the  parade  give  a  wrong  impression  in  this 
respect  because  the  photographers  naturally  chose  places  where 
there  were  few  onlookers  and  plenty  of  sun.  A  special  effort  has 
been  made,  therefore,  in  compiling  this  book,  to  secure  photographs 
which  give  some  idea  of  the  density  of  the  throng,  and  some  of  these 
are  printed  in  spite  of  the  fact  that,  being  taken  in  the  shade,  they  are 
not  as  clear  as  most  of  those  taken  in  a  strong  light.  It  is  unfortunate 
that,  so  far  as  known,  there  is  no  picture  in  existence  that  shows  the 
solid  wall  of  automobiles  and  spectators  near  the  railroad  station  and 
Mathews  Park.  The  number  of  motor  cars  along  this  portion  of 
the  route  of  the  procession  is  estimated  to  have  been  several  hundreds, 
all  vehicles  having  been  barred  from  entering  the  borough  limits  during 
the  hours  of  the  parade. 

Following  is  a  detailed  record  of  the  pageant.  It  is  taken  directly 
from  the  official  programme,  which  while  approximately  correct  could 
not  foresee  the  dropping  out  of  a  promised  performer  here  and  there,  and 
was  printed  too  soon  to  include  a  few  of  the  latest  comers.  An  effort 
has  been  made  to  correct  the  record,  but  it  remains  possibly  here  and 
there  incomplete.  As  it  stands,  however,  it  is  practically  an  exact 
report  of  what  may  fairly  be  called  a  fine  historical  spectacle. 


THE    OLD    STAGE   COACH 
Colonial  relic  from  Farmington 


COLONIAL  SCHOOLMASTER  AND  SCHOOL 
Rev.    Dwight  C.  Stone  as  Schoolmaster 


WOMEN  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

By  North  Stonington,  Mystic  and  Stonington 


AMERICAN  CAVALRY  OF   L81  I 
Citizens  of  the  Road  District  in  battle  array 


THE    PAGEANT-PARADE   OF   STONINGTON 

1614-1814 

Virginia  Tanner,  Director  of  Pageant. 

Introductory 
Figure  Symbolic  of  Stonington — Mrs.  Henry  Robinson  Palmer. 
Banner— "Stonington  Celebration.  1814-1914." 
Flagbearers— United  States  Flag.  Edward  T.  Dennehey;  Connecticut  Stats  Flag,  John  W.  Chamber- 
lain; Stonington  Flag.  William  E.  Rose. 

SECTION   I 
The  Coming  of  Adrian  Block 

[Adrian  Block  and  his  Dutch  crew  explored  the  southern  coast  of  New  England  in  16H,  just  300 
yean  ago.  Fisher's  Island  was  named  for  one  of  his  crew,  and  Block  Island  for  the  commander  of  the 
expedition  himself.  Block  was  sent  out  in  the  ship  Tiger  from  Hoorn,  Holland,  (from  which  Cape 
Horn  was  named),  in  1613  by  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  whose  colors  are  displayed  in  this  sec- 
tion. The  Tiger  was  burned,  and  he  built  the  Onrust  or  Restless,  44.  feet  in  length,  one  of  the  first 
vessels— if  not  the  first— built  by  white  men  in  America.  Block  probably  dropped  anchor  in  Stoning- 
ton harbor;  at  any  rate  he  sailed  into  the  Pawcatuck  river,  a  fact  that  made  it  fitting  that  his  voyage 
should  be  commemorated  by  Pawcatuck  in  the  parade.] 

Banner— "Dutch  Explorer,  Adrian  Block.  1614." 
In  the  Restless:     Adrian  Block,  Eugene  B.  Pendleton.     Standard  Bearers,  John  Longhead,  Neil 
McKenzie.     Sailors,  John  Tanner,  Earle  Babcock,  Charles  McSparren,  Charles  Andrews. 
Mechanics'  Band  of  Stonington. 

SECTION  II 
The  Pequot  War 

[In  1637  the  Pequots.  a  warlike  tribe  that  had  driven  the  milder  Niantics  from  what  is  now  south- 
eastern Connecticut  and  southwestern  Rhode  Island,  was  practically  annihilated  near  the  present  site 
of  Mystic  by  a  Colonial  force  under  Captain  John  Mason,  to  whom  Mason's  Island  was  given  for  this 
service.     Some  700  Indians  perished  in  the  battle,  while  the  English  loss  was  insignificant.] 

Banner — "Pequot  Indians." 
Indian  Braves.  Warriors.  Wounded  Indian,  Medicine  Man,  Riders,  etc. 

Pequot  Warriors.      By  Red  Men  of  New  London. 

Marshals,  William  Greig,  James  P.  O'Connor. 
Roy  C.  Barker,  John   M.  Cook,   Michael  Glynn,  Thomas  B.  Terson,   William   H.  Damon,   E.   M. 
Hayes,  Samuel  Prince,  Christopher  Beebe,  O.  F.  Andrews,  Morris  H.  Treadway,  John  Baratz, 
George  H.  Reinacher,  Benjamin  N.  Rose,  Charles  H.  Rose,  E.  N.  Rose. 

Indian  women,  girls  and  boys.      By  Pawcatuck,  Mystic  and  Stonington. 

From  Pawcatuck. 
Marshal.  Miss  Natalie  Hazard. 
Winifred  Casey,  May  Lahn,  Edith  Givin.  Priscilla  Main,  Anna  Schuze.  Mary  Casey.  Jeannie  Smith, 
Gladys  Brown,  Florence  Watrous,  Gertrude  Lahn. 

49 


50 

From  Mystic. 
Marshal,  Miss  Joanna  Burnet. 
Indian  princess,  riding,  Mrs.  Albert  Wilson.     Indian  brave,  riding.  Fred  Noyes  Wheeler. 
Florence  Brown,  Blanche  Burrows,  Esther  Barnes,  Priscilla  Dickenson,  Mildred  Gray.  Marian  Gray. 
Marian  Lamb,  Bertha  Lamb.  Ida  Maynard,  Barbara  Macdonald,  Marian  Prentice,  Cora  Rogers, 

Marshal.  Miss  Edna  Wheeler. 
Indian  princess,  Rita  Denison. 

Almeda  Haley,  Rachel  Edgecombe,  Walli  Hochchild,  Beatrice  Wylie,  Maria  Cooper.  Fiances  Trevena, 
Florence  Crary.  Elizabeth  Cheney,  Esther  Denison.  Violet  Adamson,  Margaret  Galvin. 

Float :     Tepee. 

From  Stonington  and  Mystic. 
Marshals,  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Davis.  Miss  Louise  Trumbull. 
Josephine  Stevenson,  Elizabeth  Adamson,  Margaret  Scheller,  Elsie  Hauschild,  Coretta  Pollard.  Tillie 
Fritz,   Esther  Bindloss,  Prudence  Fairbrother,    Geraldine  Joseph,  Marguerite  Chamberlain, 
Catherine  Dickenson,  Florence  Thompson. 
Indian  boys,  George  Darrell.  Herbert  Simmons. 

Banner — "Pequot  War." 

Narragansett  Warriors.      By  Red  Men  of  Westerly  and  New  London. 

Marshals,  William  E.  Saunders,  Walter  Knight. 

Robert  Knight.  Otis  N.  Chapman,  Walter  Nash,   Rowse  L.  Clark,   William  E.  Saunders,   Ralph 

Kinney,  Albert  Young,  Harold  Maine,  Fred  Boulter,  Raymond  Stillman. 

Marshals,  Alfred  Chapman,  E.  M.  Hayes. 

James  Vozella,  Charles  Austin,  John  S.  Chappell.  John  T.   E.   Morrison,   Francis  Jordan.   John  T. 

Bentley,  Charles  B.  Field.  John  J.  Lawless,  J.  Arthur  Colpas. 

By  Stonington  and  Mystic  descendants  of  John  Mason. 

Rev.  Charles  J.  Mason,  representing  Captain  John  Mason  and  carrying  his  sword;  Charles  J.  Mason, 
Jr..  Ralph  Crumb,  Harry  Morgan,  Clarence  Coogan,  Henry  Coogan,  Arthur  Coogan.  soldiers. 
Fairman's  Light  Infantry  Band  of  Providence. 

SECTION   III 

The  Settlement  of  the  Town 

[The  first  white  settler  within  the  limits  of  the  town  was  William  Chesebrough.  who  came  from 
Rehoboth  in  Plymouth  Colony  in  1619  and  built  a  house  at  Wequetequock.  Thomas  Stanton,  who 
first  landed  in  Virginia,  came  to  Pawcatuck  in  1650  and  established  a  trading  post  on  the  shore  of  the 
river;  later  he  was  interpreter  general  of  the  New  England  Colonies.  Thomas  Miner,  who  had  lived 
in  Charlestown.  Hingham  and  New  London,  settled  at  Wequetequock  in  1622  and  afterward  moved 
to  Quiambaug.  Walter  Palmer,  the  first  of  the  founders  of  the  town  to  emigrate  to  America,  came 
to  Wequetequock  from  Rehoboth  in  16.53,  purchased  Thomas  Miner's  house  and  acquired  the  land 
on  the  east  side  of  the  cove.  Captain  George  Denison,  famous  as  an  Indian  fighter,  settled  near 
Mystic  in  1654,  and  Captain  John  Gallup  and  Robert  Park  established  themselves  in  that  part  of  the 
town  in  the  same  year.  Thomas  Wheeler  came  from  Lynn  in  1667  and  settled  in  the  northern  sec- 
tion of  the  town.) 

Banner— "Early  Settlers,  1619-1666."' 

Chesebro  family.      By  descendants  of  William  Chesebrough  from   Stonington 

and  Mystic. 
Marshal,  Dr.  Edmund  D.  Chesebro  of  Providence,  representing  William  Chesebrough. 


51 

Orville  Chesebro,  who  carries  the  Chesebro  coat-of-arms;  Gilbert  H.  Chesebro,  Mrs.  Gilbert  H. 
Chesebro  and  daughter  Helen  (riding),  Mrs.  William  C.  Thompson  and  daughter  Grace,  Miss 
Mabel  E.  Ingraham,  Henry  Chesebro,  Lucy  Chesebro,  Leon  Chesebro,  Walter  Chesebro,  Miss 
Priscilla  A.  Billings,  William  H.  Peckham,  2d,  Benjamin  F.  Cutler,  Cutler  Chesebro. 

Jesse  B.  Stinson  of  Mystic  as  Samuel  Chesebro. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Wilbur  of  Mystic  as  Priscilla  Alden. 

[In  1698  Samuel  Chesebro  was  attacked  by  robbers  while  in  Duxbury,  Mass.  His  arm  was  broken 
defending  himself,  and  Priscilla  Alden  nursed  him.  married  him,  and  rode  to  Stonington  behind  him 
on  a  pillion,  holding  his  broken  arm.] 

Banner — "Association  of  Pawcatuck  People.'* 

Stanton  Family.      By  descendants  of  Thomas  Stanton  from  Stonington,    Mystic  and 

New  London. 

Marshal,  Donald  P.  Stanton. 
Charles  Stanton,  representing  Thomas  Stanton. 
Mrs.  James  R.  Carson,  Miss  Esther  G.  Perkins,  Miss  M.  Louise  Thayer,  Miss  Katherine  Thayer, 
John  W.   Thayer,  carrying  the  Stanton  coat-of-arms;  Henry  D.  Stanton  and  daughter.  C. 
F.  Stanton,  M.  B.  Stanton. 

Miner  family.       By  descendants  of   Thomas  Miner  from  Quiambaug  and   Mystic. 
With  ox-cart  and  family  possessions. 

Marshal,  D.  W.  Miner  of  Providence,  representing  Thomas  Miner. 
Cornelius  Miner  (driving  ox-cart),  Miss  Grace  Palmer  Miner,  Mason  Manning  Miner,  Mrs.  Henrietta 
Miner  Stanton,  Miss  Hannah  Miner,  Stephen  E.  Jennings,  Mrs.  Stephen  E.  Jennings.  William 
Russell  Jennings,  Harry  Miner,  carrying  the  Miner  coat-of-anns,  Miss  Edith  Rathbun, 
Miss  Phoebe  Stinson,  Miss  Annie  Rathbun,  Alexis  Taylor,  Content  Miner,  Nellie  Hobart, 
Ernest  Gledhill. 

Armed  escort,  James  Higgins,  Ellsworth  King. 

Palmer  family.      By  descendants  of  Walter  Palmer  from  Stonington  and  Mystic. 

Marshal,  Stephen  B.  Palmer,  representing  Walter  Palmer. 
William  E.  Palmer,  carrying  the  Palmer  coat-of-arms;  J.  Culbert  Palmer,  Jr.,  banner  bearer;  Miss 
Sally  W.  Palmer,  Albert  M.  Palmer  and  daughter  Julia,  riding;  Miss  Laura  S.  Palmer,  Miss 
Helen  Koelb,  Milton  Koelb,  Howard  Koelb,  Joseph  H.  Hammond.  Norton  Hammond  Brain- 
ard,  William  N.  Palmer,  Lewis  B.  Palmer. 

Denison  family.      By  descendants  of  Capt.   George  Denison  from  Stonington  and 

Mystic. 

Marshal,  Harry  S.  Babcock,  representing  Captain  George  Denison. 
Miss  Eliza  F.  Denison  (riding),  representing  Lady  Anne  Borodell;  Miss  Josephine  B.  Denison,  Miss 
Laura  T.  Wood,  Albert  Denison,  Oliver   Denison,    Jr.,  carrying  the  Denison  coat-of-arms; 
Miss  Eliza  Anne  Denison,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  F.  York,  Miss  Elizabeth  H.  Robinson,  Miss 
Phoebe  Denison. 

Banner — "Southertown . ' ' 

Gallup  family.      By  descendants  of  John  Gallup  from  Mystic. 

Marshal,  Amos  Gallup  Hewitt. 
Amos  Gallup,  representing  John  Gallup;  Moses  Gallup,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Gallup,  Miss   Lillian  Gallup, 
Miss  Martha  Gallup  Williams,  Miss  Maud  Pettigrew,  Herbert  E.  Wolfe,  banner  bearer;  Mrs. 
George  W.  Tingley,  Miss  Juliette  Haley. 

Banner— "Establishment  of  Stonington,  1666." 


52 

Wheeler  family.      By  descendants  of  Thomas  Wheeler  from  Stonington  and  Mystic. 
With  ox-cart  and  family  heirlooms,  horses  and  pillions. 

Marshal,  Fernando  Wheeler. 

Ralph  Wheeler,  riding  as  Thomas  Wheeler;  Ralph  C.  Wheeler,  Farnsworth  Wheeler,  Mrs.  Arthur 
G.  Wheeler,  Mrs.  Fernando  Wheeler,  riding  in  ox-cart;  R.  C.  Wheeler,  Thibeau,  driver  of 
ox-cart;  Miss  Grace  D.  Wheeler,  representing  Mme.  Mary  Sheppard  Wheeler;  Ralph, 
Marian  and  Richard  Wheeler,  Dorothy.  Donald  and  Mary  Wheeler,  children;  Harry  Wheeler, 
banner  bearer;  Alton  Wheeler,  Miss  Ella  Wheeler. 

Armed  escort,  Charles  0.  Ryon,  Burrows  Perry. 

Dr.  Ira  H.  Noyes  as  Rev.  James  Noyes,  the  first  minister  of  the  town. 

Miss  Ethel  J.  R.  C.  Noyes  of  Washington,  D.  C,  as  the  minister's  wife. 

SECTION   IV 
King  Philip's  War 

[King  Philip,  younger  son  of  Massasoit  and  chief  of  the  Wampanoag  Indians,  was  for  some  years  a 
friend  of  the  English,  but,  angered  by  their  encroachments,  he  formed  a  confederation  of  tribes 
(including  the  Narragansetls)  against  them.  In  1675  war  broke  out.  The  Indians  destroyed  13 
towns  and  killed  600  colonists.  In  December  of  that  year,  Massachusetts,  Plymouth  and  Connect- 
icut troops  to  the  number  of  1,000  invaded  the  Great  Swamp  in  South  Kingstown,  R.  I.,  burned  the 
Narragansett  fort  and  killed  60()  warriors  and  1,000  women  and  children;  the  English  loss  was  30  or 
10  slain.  The  Connecticut  troops  in  this  campaign  rendezvoused  at  Stonington.  Canonchet,  chief  of 
the  Narragansetts,  has  been  called  "'the  brains  of  the  war  on  the  Indian  side."  He  was  captured  in 
the  Swamp  fight  and  brought  to  Stonington,  where  he  was  tried  and  put  to  death.  His  bearing  in 
confinement  was  worthy  the  best  traditions  of  Indian  dignity  and  stoicism.] 

Banner — "King  Philip's  War." 

Float:      "Trial  of  Canonchet." 

Canonchet,  Irving  W.  Congdon;  Indians.  Stephen  Congdon,  Luther  Symonds.  (These  three  part- 
taken  by  men  of  Indian  blood).  White  men,  E.  Frank  White,  Lyle  Gray,  Benjamin  Peas 
body. 

SECTION  V 
Captain:  Kidu  ra  Stonington 

[William  Kidd,  famous  in  the  annals  of  piracy,  was  born  in  Scotland,  probably  at  Greenock,  about 
1675-1701.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  worthy  Covenanting  minister.  Young  Kidd 
went  to  sea  as  a  lad.  privateered  against  the  French  and  won  a  high  reputation  for  stubborn  courage. 
In  161)1  the  council  of  New  York  city  awarded  him  150  pounds  for  his  services.  In  1696  he  was  put 
in  command  of  a  ship  with  orders  to  seize  the  pirates  that  infested  the  Eastern  Seas,  and  in  1697 
reached  Madagascar.  In  1698-99  reports  came  that  Kidd  himself  was  playing  the  game  of  pirate. 
He  was  finally  arrested  in  Boston  and  sent  to  England,  where  he  was  tried  for  piracy  and  the  murder 
of  one  of  his  men,  found  guilty  on  the  latter  charge  and  hanged  (at  London)  in  1701,  protesting  his 
innocence  to  the  last.  Kidd  often  sailed  in  these  waters.  A  store  of  his  buried  treasure  was  found 
on  Gardiner's  Island  and  there  is  a  tradition  that  he  concealed  other  treasure  on  the  shore  of  Lam- 
bert's Cove  in  Stonington.     He  was  an  occasional  visitor  on  friendly  terms  in  this  town.) 

Banner — "Captain  Kidd." 

Captain  Kidd,  Thomas  Whitridge  Cutler;  pirates,  Edward  A.  Staplin,  William  Clay,  etc. 


AMERICAN   REGULARS  OF  1814 


ONE  OF  THE  lsu  DKFKXDERS 


GRAND  ARMY  OK  THE  REPUBLIC 


THE  CROWD  OX  MAIN'  STREET 
I  his  picture  gives  a  good  idea  of  I  lie  throng  of  spectators  during  the  parade  of  Mondaj 


53 

SECTION   VI 

The  Colonial  Period 

[Life  was  not  all  difficulty  and  struggle  in  Colonial  New  England.  There  were  neighborhood 
jollities,  "training  days,"  quilting  bees,  tea-drinkings,  husking  bees  and  dancing  parties.  The 
dances  of  the  time  suggest  those  of  the  present  period — by  Uieir  unlikeness.  It  i9  a  long  way 
from  the  minuet  and  gavotte  of  the  eighteenth  century  to  the  tango  and  maxixe  of  the  twentieth.] 

Banner — "Colonial  Day9  in  Stonington." 
Gaily  dressed  men  and  women  walking  as  to  a  gavotte. 
By  Stonington  and  Westerly. 
Miss  Anne  Atwood,  Miss  Constance  Atwood,  Miss  Blanche  Mason,  Miss  Harriet  Mason,  Miss  Marguer- 
ite Smith,  Miss  Virginia  Mullins,  Mi9sElla  Perkins,  Miss  Dolly  Whaley,  Miss  Marjorie  Odell, 
Miss  Clarice  H.  Loweree,  Mrs.  Horace  N.  Trumbull;  Harry  W.  Babcock,  rider;  Courtlandt 
W.  Babcock,  rider;  J.  Edward  Fairbrother.  Harold  D.  Livingstone,  Frank  F.  Dodge,  Horace 
N.  Trumbull. 

Colonial  Coach. 

This  coach  is  over  one  hundred  years  old  and  ran  between  Farmington  and  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

It  was  loaded  with  ancient  bandboxes  and  trunks  from  the  Historical  Society's 

exhibit,  and  decorated  with  Hags  and  coats-of-arms  of  the  period. 

In  the  Coach:     Mrs.  Christopher  Morgan,  Mrs.  Scott,  Mrs.  L.  H.  Smith,  Miss  Caroline  A.  Smith, 

Mrs.  Charles  P.  Trumbull.     Driver  of  Coach,  John  Holland.     Footman,  William  E.   Ryon. 

Jr.     Outriders,  Frank  Vargas,  Joseph  A.  Vargas,  Jr.     Bugler. 

SECTION    VII 

The   Revolutionary  Period 

[Stonington  bore  its  full  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  as  well  as  in  the  Second  War  with 
England.  On  August  20,  1775,  it  repelled  an  attack  by  the  British  frigate  Rose,  a  20-gun  ship 
which  had  been  harrying  the  southern  coast  of  New  England  in  search  of  food  for  the  British  gar- 
rison besieged  in  Boston.  Captain  Sir  James  Wallace  of  the  Rose  learned  that  the  people  of  Block 
Island  had  sent  their  cattle  to  Stonington  for  safe  keeping.  Accordingly  he  attempted  to  land  here, 
but  the  'Long  Point"  patriots,  armed  with  muskets  only,  refused  to  let  him  come  ashore.  Captain 
Oliver  Smith  gathered  his  Long  Point  musketeers  and  Captain  William  Stanton  hurried  down  from 
the  Road  district  with  his  company  of  militia.  The  defenders  assembled  in  the  Robinson  pasture, 
about  where  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Courtlandt  G.  Babcock  now  stands,  just  north  of  Wadawanuck 
Square.  From  there  they  marched  to  Brown's  wharf,  and  kept  back  the  small  boats  sent  from  the 
frigate.  The  tenders  were  sent  back  to  the  frigate  with  heavy  losses.  Captain  Wallace  thereupon 
began  to  bombard  the  place.  The  firing  was  maintained  for  several  hours  and  nearly  every  house 
was  damaged.  But  only  one  man  on  shore  was  wounded — Jonathan  Weaver,  Jr.,  a  musician  in 
Captain  Smith's  command,  who  received  from  the  next  General  Assembly  a  grant  of  12  pounds,  four 
shillings  and  fourpence. 

Banner — "The  Revolution,  1775." 

British  Soldiers. 

By  Stonington  and  Mystic. 
Marshal,  Frank  V.  Mathews. 
Duncan  Carson.  Joseph  Coffey,  Manuel  Pont,  Albert  Fort,  Raoul  M.  Delagrange,  Hubert  Zeller, 
Roy  C.  Whitall.  J.  Sherman  Hammond,  Walter  E.   Hammond,  Frank  R.   Muller,  Thomas 
Spears.  James  L.  Leahy,  W.  Fred  Wilcox,  Ernest  T.  Dollbaum.  rider;  Horace  Durman.  Wil- 
liam Noyes,  Clifford  Watrous,  Calvin  Harvey.  Albert  G.  Randall,  Joe  Law. 

Group  of  young  girls  carrying  an  American  Flag. 

Helen  Hobart,  Georgianna  Holland,  Alice  McGowan,  Mary  Robinson.  Helena  Olsen,  Ida  Holland. 
East  Hampton  Fife  and  Drum  Corps  in  Continental  uniforms. 


ax 
C. 


54 

American  Minute  Men. 

Marshal,  Charles  D.  Main. 
Andrew  W.  Perry,  Edward  W.  N'orthup,  S.  J.  Swallow,  George  A.  Hallett,  Thomas  Coughlin,  M 
Killars.  Hairy  Scheller,  Theodore  Dewhurst,  Fred  Dollbaum,  George  W.  Dunham,  Asa  „, 
Wilcox,  Leander  Parks,  Irving  C.  Eccleston,  Ellery  York,  Charles  Hillard,  Ripley  Park,  Amos 
P.  Miner,  Jr.,  Ansel  Pendleton,  George  Pendleton,  Herbert  Main,  rider;  Reuben  Cook,  rider; 
Floyd  Main,  Richard  B.  Wheeler,  Jr.,  Philip  Grey,  James  Frank  Brown,  Richard  Darrell. 
With  large  Revolutionary  flags.  Pine  Tree,  Rattlesnake,  etc. 

Women  Descendants  of  the  Revolution  from  North  Stonington  and  Mystic. 

Misses  Louise  Merrill.  Ethel  Hull,  Ruth  Thompson,  Sarah  Thompson,  Lila  Thompson.  Mary  Bissell, 
Alice  Avery,  Grace  Main,  Ruby  Park,  Marion  White,  Catherine  Wheeler.  Edith  Hewitt. 
Ella  Wheeler,  Josephine  Dickenson,  Geneva  Rathbun,  Mildred  Chapman,  Edna  Chapman, 
Cora  Clark,  Mrs.  Edgar  Chapman.  Mrs.  John  D.  Avery,  Mrs.  George  W.  Taylor,  Mrs.  A.  O. 
Colby  and  daughter,  Mrs.  Walter  T.  Fish,  Miss  Louise  Fish,  Miss  Fannie  Fish,  Miss  Jessie 
Fish,  Miss  Ellen  T.  Holmes.  Mrs.  Irving  C.  Eecleston,  Miss  Dora  Thompson  Maine. 

Women  and  Girls  from  Stonington. 

Miss  Barbara  Muller,  Miss  Maud  Spencer,  Miss  Tanner,  Mrs.  Luella  T.  Gager. 

Schoolmaster,  Rev.  Dwight  C.  Stone. 

Children-:  Minnie  Derricks.  Alice  Powers,  Marjorie  Ferris,  Helen  Miller,  Edith  Lathrop,  Myrtle 
Wilkinson.  Josephine  Delegrange,  Lillian  De-Maura.  Leonora  DeBragga,  Emily  Robinson, 
Mary  Clark,  Margaret  Clark,  Catherine  Levens,  Elsie  Morrison,  Marjorie  Fort,  Genevieve 
Lynch,  Constance  Fort,  Emma  DeMaura,  Anna  Gaiity,  Viola  Reid,  Myrtle  Vennard,  Frances 
Joseph,  Constance  Delegrange.  Thomas  Reid.  John  Culligan,  Maurice  Roux,  John  Chevalier. 
Lawrence  Gilmore.  Fred  Buck,  Stiles  Gilmore,  John  MacDowell,  Frederick  Cushman. 

SECTION    VIII 
Whaling    and    Sealing    Days 

[Whaling  and  sealing  were  carried  on  by  Stonington  vessels  from  early  times.  In  the  middle  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  the  whaling  interests  of  the  port  employed  many  ships  and  represented  a 
large  investment.  Fortunes  were  made  in  this  industry.  It  was  from  an  anchorage  in  the  South 
Shetlands  that  a  Stonington  sealing  squadron  in  1821  de9cried  the  peaks  of  West  Antarctica.  In  the 
Hero,  a  mere  shallop  of  15  tons,  Captain  Nathaniel  B.  Palmer  of  Stonington  sailed  to  examine  the 
region  and  find,  if  possible,  new  sealing  grounds.  The  result  was  his  discovery  of  the  land  after- 
ward named  Palmer  Land  in  his  honor,  which  was,  until  recently,  the  most  southerly  known  territory 
on  the  globe.     Captain  Palmer  has  a  rightful  claim  to  be  known  as  the  discoverer  of  Antarctica.] 

Banner — "Whaling  and  Sealing  Days." 

Float:      Whaling  boat. 

By  Stonington. 

Sailors:  Benjamin  C.  Chesebrough,  W.  Averill  Pendleton,  William  H.  Hallett,  Harry  F.  Chese- 
brough.  George  C.  Pendleton.  Charles  E.  Staplin,  id. 

SECTION    IX 

War    of   1812 

[On  August  9,  lsli,  during  the  Second  War  with  Great  Britain,  a  hostile  squadron  under  the  com- 
mand of  Commodore  Thomas  Masterman  Hardy  made  its  appearance  off  Stonington.  The  vessels 
were  the  Ramillies,  7-t  guns;  Pactolus,  43;  Despatch,  22,  and  bombship  Terror.  The  Ximrod,  20  guns, 
was  afterward  added  to  this  formidable  quartette.     Commodore  Hardy  sent  word  ashore  as  follows.- 


55 

"Not  wishing  to  destroy  the  unoffending  inhabitants  residing  in  the  town  of  Stonington,  one  hour  is 
given  them  from  the  receipt  of  this  to  remove  out  of  the  town."  The  place  was  made  ready,  never- 
theless, for  defence.  Behind  a  four-foot  breastwork  near  the  present  entrance  to  the  inner  break- 
water three  guns,  (two  18-pounders  and  one  6-pounder),  responded  gallantly  to  the  fire  of  the  160 
English  cannon.  The  attack  lasted  from  the  evening  of  the  ninth  to  the  twelfth  of  August,  when 
the  enemy  sailed  away,  discomfited  and  crippled,  having  failed  either  to  destroy  the  town  or  to 
effect  a  landing.  The  Despatch  alone  lost  21  killed  and  50  wounded,  and  when  she  withdrew  with 
the  rest  of  the  squadron  was  in  a  half-sinking  condition.  "It  cost  the  King  ten  thousand  pounds," 
wrote  the  balladist  Philip  Freneau,  "to  have  a  dash  at  Stonington."  Two  of  the  defenders  were 
wounded,  one  of  them  so  seriously  that  he  afterwards  died.  Many  houses  were  struck,  but  none 
were  destroyed.] 

Banner— "War  of  1812." 

American  Cavalry.      By  the  Road. 

Marshal,  Seth  N.  Williams. 
Charles  Mell,  John  Williams,  Joseph  Noyes,  Herbert  West,  Edward  Geer.  George  Pendleton,  Varien 
York,  Noyes  Farnell.  Charles  Bennett.  Jr.,  Harry  Rhoades  Palmer,  James  E.  Lord. 

American  Regulars.      By  Stonington. 

Marshal,  James  J.  McCoart. 
Charles  Miller,  Charles  Barnes,  Clark  Barnes,  Ernest  Nippers,  L.  Koehler,  Henry  Burback.  Eugene 
Olsen,  Timothy  Donahue,  John  Chevalier.  M.  Maxwell,  Arthur  Birchall.  Philip  McCormick, 
William  Schribner,  Chester  Miller.  John  Shackley.  Fred  Holland,  Walter  Reed,  Frank  Brier, 
Edward  James  Welsh,  Richard  E.  Fritz.  E.  A.  Burdick,  E.  M.  Delagrange,  Austin  Young, 
Roy  Harper. 

Cannon  used  in  the  defence  of  Stonington  in  1814. 

American   Volunteers.      By  descendants  from  Stonington,  Mystic,  Old  Mystic  and 
North  Stonington,  August  9,  10,  11,  1814. 

Marshal,  Charles  P.  Trumbull,  Jr. 

Professor  Otis  E.  Randall  of  Providence,  great-grandson  and  representative  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 

William  Randall. 

Carey  Maine  of  North  Stonington,  drummer.  Mr.  Maine's  father  and  grandfather  went  to  the  de- 
fence of  Stonington  in  the  hurry  call  of  1814.  HiB  uncle  was  a  regular  soldier  and  his  great- 
grandfather served  in  the  Revolution. 

Vernon  D.  Clark,  Ralph  Koelb,  Clifford  Denison,  Henry  M.  Gardiner,  William  Noyes.  Clarence  Shay, 
Herbert  W.  Rathbun. 

Marshal,  R.  B.Wheeler,  Jr.,  rider. 

Allen  Coats,  B.  P.  Wheeler,  rider,  carrying  old  sword  and  pistols;  Frank  Wheeler,  rider;  Frank 
Thompson,  George  Thompson,  Herbert  Maine.  Edgar  W.  Chapman,  carrying  old  brass 
knuckers;  John  D.  Avery,  Wilfred  N.  Nye.  rider;  Harry  Merrill,  Chester  Merrill,  Merton  T. 
Webster  of  Westerly,  carrying  musket  and  powder  horn  used  in  the  defence;  Fred  Sted- 
man.  rider;  Ernest  Grey,  Leon  Pierce,  Theodore  Perry,  Elwood  Davis,  James  Whitney,  Elisha 
Davis,  William  Marchand,  Charles  C.  Grey,  William  Grey,  Morris  Wyley,  Ray  A.  Gardiner. 
Dr.  C.  Wesley  Hale. 

Float:     Captain  Jeremiah  Holmes,  holding  flag  of  1814. 

William  K.  Holmes.  Jr.,  a  great-grandson,  representing  Captain  Holmes;  Raymond  Holmes. 
Chesebrough  Fife  and  Drum  Corps  of  Stonington. 

Women  of  1814.      By  Stonington. 

Marshal.  Mrs.  Frank  D.  Stanton. 
Misses    Grace    Muller,    Sarah    Graham,    Rose    Studley.    Jennie    Spears.    Annie   Graham.    Emilie 
Florup,  Mary  Chamberlain,  Katherine  Coffey,  Cecilia  Gilmore.  Florena  Thompson.  Elizabeth 


Adamson.  Helens  Vargas.  Ella  Graham.  Helen  Cleveland.  Ida  Thompson,  Marcella  Mennier. 
Teresa  Weisemeyer.  Gertrude  Burbach.  Agnes  Killars.  May  Biightman,  Miss  Comstock,  Miss 
Hodge.  Mrs.  Ruth  Lee  Adams.  Mrs.  Elsie  Killars.  Mrs.  Dwight  C.  Stone,  Miss  Grace  Biight- 
man. 

Children  of  1814.      By  Stonington. 

William  Florup.  Adolph  Lucker.  William  Taggart.  Mary  Taggart.  Josephine  Lucker,  Ora  Vincent, 
Bertha  Winkler,  Catherine  Lehman,  Anna  Schraitz,  Edward  Vennard,  John  Wilcox,  Eugene 
Holland.  John  Tanner,  Raymond  Olsen.  Henry  Morrison,  Norman  Wilcox.  Waldy  Morrison. 
Catherine  McGowan.  Violet  Duke.  Jack  Rhodehouse.  Margaret  Monjo,  Ethel  Rhodehouse, 
John  MacDowell.  Paul  Pampel.  Florence  Buck,  Anna  Farnan,  Anna  Robinson.  Anna  Morri- 
son. Jennie  Spears.  Alma  Spears.  Ruth  Spears.  Wilfred  Spears,  Courtlandt  P.  Chapman, 
riding  a  pony. 

SECTION   X 

The    Victory    of   1814 

Banner— "Victory  of  1814." 

By  Stonington. 

Rider,  symbolic  of  "Columbia" — Mrs.  Martha  H.  Miller. 

Float :      Victory. 

Figure  symbolic  of  Victory — Miss  Ethel  Simmons. 

Symbolic  figures  on  float  and  walking. 
The  Misses  Leah  Connelh  Vera  Bradley.  Pauline  Spargo,  Ethel  Pollard,  Anna  Vargas,  Mary  Hunt. 
Alma  Killars.  Thelma  Hinckley. 

Symbolic  figure,  riding — Miss  Maud  Caramon. 

While  the  luncheon  tent  was  filled  with  the  pageant  paraders,  a  com- 
pany of  specially  invited  guests,  including  the  officers  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  were  entertained  at  Brayton's  Hall.  After  an  ample  menu,  there 
were  several  toasts  with  brief  responses,  and  a  spirit  of  good  will  pre- 
vailed.     The  tone  of  the  speeches  was  one  of  mutual  felicitations. 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  Mechanics'  Band  gave  a  concert  at 
Cannon  Scmare,  and  Fairman's  Band  rendered  another  at  7.30  at  Mathews 
Park.  By  this  time  most  of  the  visitors  had  gone  home,  but  still  there 
was  a  throng  of  several  thousands  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  station  to 
hear  the  Providence  musicians  and  watch  the  second  display  of  fire- 
works.     The  list  of  fireworks  was  the  same  as  on  Saturday  evening. 


BRITISH  SOLDIERS  OF  Ui:> 


BOY  SCOUTS 

James  H.  Stivers.  Seoul  Master,  at  right,  and  W.  F.  Broughton.  Jr.,  Assistant,  in  centre 


GOVERNOR   BALDWIN  SPEAKING  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  TABLET 


GOVERNOR  AND  WARDEN 

Simeon   E.    Baldwin.    Executive  of  Connecticut. 

and  Cornelius  B.  Crandall,  Executive 

of  Stonington   Borough 


HON.   ABEL  P.  TANNER 

Delivering  Ins  address  at  the  unveiling  of  the 

tablet 


THE   CENTENNIAL   BALL 

The  final  event  of  the  celebration  was  the  costume  ball  at  the 
Wequetequock  Casino,  arranged  by  the  Pageant  Committee  and  a 
number  of  other  ladies.  The  ball  was  open  to  the  public,  on  the  pay- 
ment of  one  dollar.  The  attendance  was  large,  and  the  various  dances, 
by  costumed  groups  taught  by  Miss  Tanner,  and  by  Miss  Tanner 
herself,  a  skilful  dancer,  were  thoroughly  enjoyed.  The  special  dances 
were  followed  by  general  dancing,  which  continued  until  nearly  midnight. 

Following  is  the  programme  of  the  dances  arranged  by  Miss  Tanner: 

1.  Indian  Dance  (Indian  melodies),  the  Misses  Rita  Denison,  Gertrude  Lahn,  Catherine  Dickenson, 

Marguerite  Chamberlain,  Geraldine  Joseph,   Esther  Denison. 

2.  Classic  Dance  (Schumann,  Dvorak),  Virginia  Tanner. 

3.  A  Rigadoon  (Grieg),  the   Misses  Anne   Atwood,   Harriet  Mason,    Blanche  Mason,   Constance 

Atwood,  Virginia  Mullins,  Marjorie  Odell,  Clarice  H.  Loweree,  Marguerite  Smith;  Messrs.  J. 
Edward  Fairbrother,  Frank  F.  Dodge,  Harold  D.  Livingstone,  William  E.  Palmer,  J.  Culbert 
Palmer,  Jr.,  Charles  J.  Mason,  Jr.,  Harry  W.  Babcock,  Courtlandt  W.  Babcock. 

4.  Orientale  (Delibes,  Grieg),  Virginia  Tanner. 

5.  The  Sea  (Tschaikowsky),  the  Misses  Vera  Bradley,  Pauline  Spargo,  Alma  Killars,  Leah  Con- 

nell,  Mary  Hunt,  Mrs.  J.  FraDk  Durgin,  Virginia  Tanner. 

The  Pageant  Committee  received  $500  from  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee and  $396.18  from  other  sources,  a  total  of  $896.18.  Its  expenses 
were  $816,18,  leaving  a  balance  of  $80,  which  was  turned  over  to  the 
Historical  Society.  The  receipts  from  the  centennial  ball  were  $289, 
showing  that  nearly  300  persons  were  in  attendance  as  paying  spectators, 
in  addition  to  the  dancers,  musicians  and  other  persons  present. 


5T 


THE   COST    OF   THE   CELEBRATION 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  financial  report  of  the  Executive  Committee 
on  page  59  that  the  amount  expended  on  the  celebration  by  that  com- 
mittee was  $6,897.27.  The  Pageant  Committee  spent  $316.18  in 
addition  to  the  $500  received  from  the  Executive  Committee,  bringing 
the  cost  of  the  celebration  to  $7,213.45  and  the  total  balance  to  $103.04. 
As  the  Executive  Committee  voted  to  turn  over  its  balance  of  $23.04 
to  the  Stonington  Historical  Society  that  organization  received  from 
the  two  committees  the  entire  balance — $103.04.  In  estimating  the 
whole  cost  of  the  centennial  it  would  be  necessary  to  add  perhaps  $4,000 
expended  by  the  fire  companies  of  the  town  and  their  guests,  for  music, 
badges,  entertainment  and  transportation.  Thus  the  figures  go  above 
$11,000,  to  say  nothing  of  the  many  thousands  of  dollars  spent  by 
individual  participants  in  the  celebration. 

The  great  celebration  came  to  an  end  without  any  untoward  happen- 
ing, beyond  an  unimportant  roof  fire  caused  by  a  stray  rocket  during 
the  fireworks  display  of  Monday  evening.  The  three  days'  crowds 
had  been  handled  without  accident  or  difficulty,  and  no  accident  had 
occurred  to  any  of  the  thousands  of  participants. 

As  the  people  of  Stonington  look  back  upon  the  celebration  they 
realize  that  it  served  not  only  to  make  them  newly  conscious  of  their 
rich  historical  heritage,  but  to  weld  them  more  closely  in  sentiment  and 
sympathy  than  they  had  been  before. 


THE    FLAG    OF   STONINGTON 


Words  by  Henry  R.  Palmer 


Music  by  Alfred  G.  Chaffee 


Where  foams  the  blue  Atlantic, 

By  rocky  Napatree, 
And  twilight's  friendly  towers 

Shine  red  and  gold  to  sea, 
Great  Hardy  of  Trafalgar, 

With  all  his  ships  in  row, 
Came  flashing  down  to  take  the  town 

A  hundred  years  ago. 

Chorus  : 

But  in  our  smoking  ramparts 

Were  daring  men  on  guard, 
And  high  above  them  fluttered 

The  striped  flag  and  starred, 
The  flag  of  our  affection 

That  still  adorns  the  sky — 
Where'er  we  be,  on  shore  or  sea, 

We'll  love  it  till  we  die. 

II 

Roared  eighty  guns  to  starboard, 

Roared  eighty  guns  to  port, 
And  hid  the  starry  standard 

That  flew  above  the  fort, 
But  when  the  fight  was  finished, 

It  showed  its  colors  fair, 
The  victor-tints  the  sunrise  prints 

Upon  the  morning  air. 


Chorus: 

For  in  our  smoking  ramparts 

Were  daring  men  on  guard, 
And  high  above  them  fluttered 

The  striped  flag  and  starred, 
The  flag  of  our  affection 

That  still  adorns  the  sky — 
Where'er  we  be,  on  shore  or  sea, 

AVe'll  love  it  till  we  die. 

Ill 

A  hundred  gracious  summers 

Have  decked  New  England's  shore, 
And  Britain's  hostile  squadrons 

Go  up  and  down  no  more. 
The  heroes,  too,  have  vanished 

Who  held  the  coast  of  old, 
But  where  they  fought  our  hearts  have 
wrought 

Their  victory  in  gold. 

Chorus  : 

And  when  our  country  summons 

Her  loyal  sons  on  guard, 
They'll  rally  round  her  banner, 

The  striped  flag  and  starred, 
The  flag  of  our  affection 

That  still  adorns  the  sky — 
Then  three  times  three,  where'er  we  be, 

We'll  love  it  till  we  die. 


59 


FINANCIAL  REPORT  OF   EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE 


Appropriation  from  State  of  Connecticut 

$1,000  00 

"     Town  of  Stonington 

1 .000  00 

"     Borough  of  Stonington 

1,000  00 

200  Subscriptions              ...... 

3,613  50 

Subscription  for  Prize  Essay  (Stonington  Grammar  School) 

5  00 

"      Drawing  (Stonington  Schools) 

5  00 

Proceeds  from  sale  of  Buttons                  .... 

54  65 

Flags         ..... 

5  00 

"         Grand  Stand  Seats            .             . 

81  00 

"                   "         Programmes         .... 

215  16 

"        Spoons      ..... 

9  00 

Race  Cup               .... 

32  00 
$6,920  31 

DISBURSEMENTS 

Appropriations — 

Stonington  Fire  Department 

8900  0C 

Mystic            "".... 

250  00 

Pawcatuck      '*                          ... 

250  0C 

Pageant  Committee 

500  01 

Virginia  Tanner  and  expenses 

342  15 

Boat  Race  Committee 

150  0C 

Historical  Society  (by  request  of  donors) 

75  00 

1st  Prize  Essay  (High  School) 

10  OC 

2nd         "            (          "           )          . 

5  OC 

Prize  Essay  (Grammar  School) 

500 

(Stonington  Schools)     . 

5   00 

Flags  and  Flag  Poles         .... 

401  64 

Centennial  Oak                   ..... 

18  70 

Fireworks                ..... 

500  00 

Transportation  of  Children 

57  60 

Flags  for  Children             .... 

17  15 

Tents,  tables,  grandstands,  etc. 

857  89 

Drinking  Fountains          .... 

13  42 

Crockery,  food  and  service 

911  79 

Police  service  and  expense 

244  55 

Rent  of  rooms,  chairs,  etc. 

98  04 

Rental  of  State  flags 

400 

Decorations  (grandstands,  cannons  and  cemeteries) 

20  20 

Music,  etc.             ..... 

672  50 

Horses  for  Marshals  and  Army  Officers 

20  00 

Buttons,  badges  and  pins 

273  04 

Printing,  etc.         ..... 

198  00 

Miscellaneous        ..... 

96  60 

$6,897  27 

Balance  cash  on  hand            ..... 

23  04 
$6,920  31 

EVERET 

fT  N.  PENDLETON.  Treasurer. 

This  is  to  certify  that  we  have  carefully  checked  over  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Cele- 
bration Committee  and  examined  the  report  of  the  Executive  Committee,  both  of  which  we  find  to 
be  correct  and  in  good  form.  FREDERICK  DENISON, 

A.  R.  ST1LLMAN, 

Auditing  Committee. 
60 


VICTORY  OF   1814   FLOAT 
Miss  Ethel  Simmons  as  Victory 


ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  THE  VICTORY  FLOAT 
This  picture  shows  some  of  the  throng  at  Wadawanuck  square 


EDWARD  H.  SHEFFIELD 

Custodian  of  the  Stoniiiffton  Historical   Society 
exhibition;  at  doorwaj  of  the  exhibition  hall 


STONINGTON  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  EXHIBITION 


THE   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   EXHIBITION 

ONE  of  the  most  successful  features  of  the  celebration  was  the  loan 
exhibition  under  the  auspices  of  the  Stonington  Historical  Society 
at  Ryon's  Hall,  formerly  the  First  Baptist  Church,  on  Water  street. 
The  exhibition  opened  about  June  fifteenth  and  closed  about  October 
twenty-fourth. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  Society  to  have  the  exhibition  in 
charge  consisted  of  Cornelius  B.  Crandall,  Miss  Gertrude  Palmer,  Mrs. 
Nellie  P.  Trumbull,  Miss  Anne  At  wood  and  Dr.  James  H.  Weeks. 
Miss  Palmer,  who  had  been  a  devoted  member  of  the  Society  for  years 
and  had  taken  special  interest  in  the  plans  for  the  exhibition,  was  stricken 
with  a  fatal  illness  a  few  weeks  before  the  opening  day  and  died  on  June 
thirtieth.     The  committee  did  not  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  her  death. 

Much  of  the  success  of  the  exhibition  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Edward 
H.  Sheffield  was  secured  as  the  custodian.  Mr.  Sheffield  gave  the 
committee  his  unremitting  assistance  in  the  gathering  of  articles  for  dis- 
play and  was  not  only  faithful  in  his  attendance  during  the  more  than 
four  months  the  doors  of  the  exhibition  were  open  but  tireless  in  his 
courteous  attention  to  visitors.  As  he  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to 
accept  any  money  compensation,  the  committee  presented  him,  at  the 
close  of  the  exhibition,  with  a  gold  watch  and  chain  in  partial  recogni- 
tion of  his  services. 

The  main  floor  ot  the  hall,  as  will  be  seen  from  a  picture  in  this  book, 
was  occupied  with  a  great  variety  of  interesting  historical  relics, 
most  of  them  of  a  local  character.  It  would  be  impossible  in  any  brief 
space  to  make  even  the  barest  catalogue  of  them.  Never  has  so  remark- 
able a  collection  of  such  articles  been  seen  in  this  neighborhood. 

The  number  of  visitors  during  the  season  is  estimated  at  3000.  More 
than  1500  persons  registered  their  names  and  addresses,  and  it  is  thought 
that  as  many  more  visitors  omitted  to  do  so.  The  receipts  from  admis- 
sions were  $648.09,  and  as  the  price  of  individual  tickets  was  twenty-five 
cents,  it  is  evident  from  a  simple  mathematical  computation  that  the 
number  of  persons  in  attendance  was  at  least  2592.     But  the  admittance 

61 


62 

fee  for  children  was  only  ten  cents,  and  season  tickets  were  sold  for  one 
dollar,  so  that  the  attendance  in  all  probability  ran  sevreral  hundreds 
higher.      The  estimate  of  3000  appears  well  within  the  facts. 

The  receipts  of  the  exhibition  for  admittance  tickets  were,  as  stated, 
$648.09,  while  the  expenses  were  $451.78,  leaving  a  balance  of  $196.31. 
The  committee  made  this  up  to  an  even  $200,  which  Avas  turned  over 
to  the  Historical  Society. 

So  complete  was  the  success  of  the  exhibition  that  a  great  impetus 
was  given  to  the  proposal  for  a  suitable  home  for  the  Society,  in  which 
a  permanent  collection  of  historical  objects  might  be  displayed.  At  the 
time  this  book  goes  to  press,  the  Society  has  seven  hundred  dollars  in 
hand  towards  a  building  fund,  and  hopes  to  secure  enough  additional 
money  to  carry  the  project  through. 

It  may  be  added  here  that  the  work  of  marking  the  older  houses  of 
the  borough  with  the  dates  of  their  construction  and  the  names  of  their 
original  occupants  was  done  by  the  Azma  Warner  Bailey  Chapter  of 
Stonington  and  Groton,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 

The  officers  of  the  Stonington  Historical  Society  are  President,  James 
H.  Weeks;  Vice  President,  Elias  B.  Hinckley;  Secretary,  Miss  Laura 
T.  Wood;  Treasurer,  Dr.  Charles  M.  Williams.  As  Dr.  Williams  was 
absent  in  Europe  during  the  summer  of  1914,  Benjamin  S.  Cutler  was 
elected  Assistant  Treasurer  and  temporarily  performed  the  duties  of  the 
Treasurer's  office. 


COMMITTEES 

EXECUTIVE 

Cornelius  B.  Crandall,   chairman;   James   H.    Weeks,    secretary;    Everett  N.   Pendleton,    treasurer; 
Wurtem  A.  Breed,  Jerome  S.  Anderson,  Jr.,  Henry  R-  Palmer,  Benjamin  S.  Cutler,  Charles 

B.  McCoart. 

INVITATIONS   AND   SPEAKERS 

Henry    R.    Palmer,   chairman;   Jerome    S.    Anderson,   Jr..   secretary;   Gilbert  Collins.   Cornelius  B. 

Crandall,  John  W.  Chamberlain.  Alberti  R.  Stillman,  James  Cooper. 

FINANCE 

Benjamin  S.  Cutler,  chairman;  Miss  Louise  Trumbull,   secretary;  Miss   Jean  C.   Palmer,  John   H. 

Ryan.  Nathaniel  P.  Noyes.  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Cowan,  Miss  Annie  McGrath,  Elias  B. 

Hinckley,  Albert  G.  Martin,  Henry  A.  Stahle,  James  Shea,  Heman  J. 

Holdredge,  Benjamin  F.  Williams,  Dr.  William  H.  Gray. 

SONS   AND   DAUGHTERS   OF   DEFENDERS 

Jerome  S.  Anderson,  Jr.,  Dr.  George  D.  Stanton,  Elias  B.  Hinckley. 

BADGES   AND   SOUVENIRS 

Henry  R.  Palmer,  Charles  B.  McCoart. 

OFFICIAL   PROGRAMME 

Henry  R.  Palmer,  Mrs.  Henry  R.  Palmer,  Jerome  S.  Anderson.  Jr. 

STONINGTON   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   EXHIBITION 
Cornelius  B.  Crandall.  Miss  Gertrude  Palmer.  Mrs.  Nellie  P.  Trumbull,  Miss  Anne  At  wood,  James  H. 

Weeks.   Edward  H.  Sheffield,  custodian. 

CENTENNIAL   OAK 

Cornelius  B.  Crandall. 

MUSIC   BY  CHILDREN 

Wurtem  A.  Breed,  Miss  Harriet  N.  Woodard. 

FIRE  PARADE 

Chief  Engineer  Ed.  P.  Teed,  Stonington,  chairman;  Assistant  Chief  Charles  D.  Main. 

Neptune  Hose  Co.,  No.  1,  Stonington — James  J.   McCoart,  J.   J.  Young,  Manuel  Joseph,  George 

G.  Francis,  John  W.  Chamberlain. 
Stonington  Steam  Fire  Engine  Co.,  No.  1,   Stonington — F.  J.   Ostman,  James  Dally,  J.   Benjamin 

Adams,  Jerome  S.  Anderson.  Jr.,  Charles  A.  Rix. 

Pioneer   Hook  and  Ladder   Co.   No.    1,    Stonington— Raoul   M.   Delegrange,    James   Duke,  W.  F. 

Broughton.  Jr.,  treasurer;  Robert  L.  Burtch,  secretary;  George  W.  Haley. 

Stonington  Fire  Police,  No.  1 — Patrick  Fitzpatrick. 

Chief  Engineer  H.  A.  Stahle,   Pawcatuck;  Assistant  Chiefs  F.   R.  Dawley,  H.   C.  Reynolds.  P.  F. 

Casey. 
P.  S.  Barber  Hose  Co.,  Pawcatuck — A.  R.  Gavitt,  P.  Morrison,  Thomas  Donahue,  Charles  J.  Norris, 

William  Crandall. 
63 


64 

Pawcatuck  Fire  Police — Andrew  Fallon. 
Chief  Engineer  Charles  Donath.  Mystic;  Assistant  Chief  Mason  Manning. 
B.  F.  Hoxie  Engine  Co.,  No.  1,  Mystic — George  H.  Foley,  Herbert  Gledhill.   Henry   Lankes,   Ru- 
dolph Donath,  Edward  McKone. 

MOTOR   BOAT  RACES 

Chauncey  B.  Rice,  chairman;   Lorenzo  D.  Fairbrother,   secretary;   Edward   F.   Darrell,   Harry  W. 

Babcock,  Charles  H.  Simmons,  Theodore  Dewhurst. 

TABLET   UNVEILING   EXERCISES 
Mrs.  Clarence  F.  R.  Jenne  of  Hartford,  Miss  Ethel  J.  R.  C.  Noyes  of  Washington,  James  H.  Weeks. 

LOCATION   OF   OLD  FORT 

James  H.  Weeks. 

PAGEANT 

Miss  Louise  Trumbull,  chairman;  Miss  Maria  B.  Trumbull,  treasurer;  Miss  Anne  Atwood,  secretary; 

MiS6  Virginia  Tanner  of  Boston,  director  of  Pageant. 

CAST 
Mrs.  Dwight  C.  Stone,  Mrs.  Frank  D.  Stanton,  Mrs.  Asa  C.  Wilcox,  Miss  Barbara  Muller. 

COSTUMES 
Mrs.  Edward  P.  York,  Miss  Sally  W.   Palmer,  Miss  Priscilla  D.  Loper,  Miss  Blanche  Mason,  Miss 

Blanche  Collins. 

BANNERS 

Miss  Harriet  Mason,  Miss  Dolly  Wbaley,  Miss  Prudence  Fairbrother,  Miss  Geraldine  Joseph. 

PROPERTIES 

Miss  Anne  Atwood, Miss  Laura  T.  Wood,  James  H.  Stivers,  Theodore  Dewhurst. 

CHILDREN'S  COSTUMES 

Mrs.  J.  Benjamin  Brown,  Miss  Jennie  Trumbull,  Miss  Dolly  Whaley,   Miss  Janie  L.  Gates,  Miss 

May  Louise  Pendleton,  Miss  Josephine  B.  Denison. 


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