Momentum toward a complete separation from the British Crown was moving swiftly by the beginning of May quickly leaving behind any thoughts of reconciliation with the Mother Country. A few days before this date, Rhode Island, originally settled by fiercely independent refugees from Massachusetts Bay, boldly declared its own independence from Great Britain.

“The colony’s general assembly passed a resolution charging King George III with forgetting his dignity and entirely departing from the duties and character of a good king…endeavoring to destroy the good people of the colony, and of all the United Colonies, by sending fleets and armies to America”. (McMillan, pg 107)

And on this day in 1776, “Richard Henry Lee, the great statesman from Virginia, received alarming news that thousands of foreign mercenaries were heading to America to reinforce the British army… including Hessians, Hanoverians and Scotch Hollanders” (McMillan, pg 107)

Within days, eight of the thirteen colonies had pledged their support for pursuing independence. Though there were still five colonies that were withholding outright support for this cause, by the middle of May, the tide was clearly moving in the direction of independence.

A local reflection of this shift could be seen in the town of Fairfield where tolerance for loyalists (those who wished to remain loyal to the crown) was clearly waning as the patriot cause was growing (Connecticut was one of those eight colonies pledging support for independence). “In May of 1776, Benjamin Huntington informed his wife that thirty-nine loyalists were currently imprisoned in the Fairfield jail”. (Farnham, pg. 82)

A few years later, in 1779, Fairfield would pay a very high price for their support of independence at the hands of General Tryon and British and Hessian troops.

The Year that Made America McMillan,Tom Lyons Press, Essex CT. 2025

Fairfield- the Biography of a Community 1639 -1989 Farnam, Thomas J, Fairfield Historical Society, 1988