Posted on by joelarch

May 8, 1776

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

Posted on by pblagys

April 15, 1776

The British evacuation of Boston began on Sunday, March 17th sailing their forces to their naval base on Nova Scotia. General Washington made the decision to move his newly formed army to fortify New York City and, particularly, to establish control of the Hudson River. He correctly predicted that this would also be the goal of the British forces. The colonial exodus from Boston began in April of 1776.

Lacking the ships that the British had (Abigail Adams counted 170), Washington was forced to move his army over one of the branches of what were then known as the Post Roads. According to Patricia Q. Wall, in her book, Of Life & The American Revolution- The Journals of Joseph Knap of Stratford, CT 1761-1808, Governor Trumbull (the only colonial governor loyal to the patriot cause), requested that the troops follow the coastal road so that they may protect the colony should the enemy make any attempt to attack Connecticut.

The march would have been difficult and slow. Quill writes that in perfect weather, they could have expected to cover about twenty miles. But conditions were never this good as rain, and even snow, would have slowed their progress. For Fairfield (and Black Rock), the troops would have marched along what is today King’s Highway past where today we find Stop and Shop and then through the center of Fairfield on their way to Norwalk, and ultimately Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Residents living in this area in April of 1776 would surely have been busy supplying these troops with a host of provisions including food, shelter for some, firewood, hay for their horses, repairs for their wagons and much more. This must have been a very busy and tense time for these residents as the war, which had begun a year earlier, was quickly moving to their doorstep.