Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-09-18
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From Life Illustrated.
Fall of the Charter Oak, Hart
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From Life Illustrated.
Fall of the Charter Oak, Hart
ford, Connecticut.
The old Charter Oak has Bowed its head at
last. It had braved the blasts Of Il thousand
winters, and seen thirty generations OF men
rise and ripen and die. Before thear of print
inr was invented, or tho process OF making
gunpowlcr was discovered, the Charter OAK
waved its branches on the solitary banks OF
the Connecticut. When the ancient l'rlton
wis AS rough and wild as the savage of the New
World. and five hundred years before Columbus
was born--nay, when all the scientific world
Supposed the earth to be a fiat surface, and the
possibility of Western Continent was not
dreamed of--cven then, the Charter Oak was an
old tree. But it has fallen at last 1t was
It dead. lis umbraseous foliage still waved
th, breeze but the last storm was too stern
for its enleebled trunk to sustain the pressure
upon its Widespread branches, and it bowed Its
venerable head, which had stood 50 long, IL mon
umcnt ., centuries.
Its l,yoc trunk has for years been but a mere
she'll, and has only been preserved from moro
rapid decay by the unceasing ,are OF Hon. l.
w. Stuart, on whose grounds the tree stood'-
Notwithstanding the efforts to prolonS It's me-
it has for some time been evident that the trunk
was gradually Weakening, and that ere long i'S
strength would, not be sufficient to support the
massive tree, and in the storm OF August 1lst
the Charter Oak, the pride of the city ana
State. and the Mecca of Patriot Pilgrims from
every part of the country, fell quietly and slow =
ly to the gr,und, with crash which startled
the sleepers in the neighborhood
About tAree years ago, some boys built II flre
in the hollow of this tree, whEh burned out
the pink, and though it was feared that TINS
would kill it, such was not the fact fresh
sprouts sprung out the next spring ana Mr.
Stuart took great pains to preserve this Valueu
relic of the original forests OF New England
but more especially interesting as the tree IN
which the old British Charter OF Connecticut
was secreted and preserved. At this time the
hollow in the trunk of the old oak was SO largo
that fire company of twenty-seyen iul-sfo"h
men stood up in it together
The tree measured thirty-three feet in circum-
ference at the bottom; and it has broken OH 81
as to leave esht feet of the stump on one side
and six feet ON the other-the stump measur-
ing twentyonc feet in circumE'renco at It's
top.
In height it was but about se7enty 'cet, pu'
y is b.antkss e4tcndug their protecting arms
far in every direction, gave to the monarch o
the forest a place among the largest OF It's race
The porton of the trunk which shows an!
siens of life is mostly on the southeastern SIDE
and is only some two or three inches In thick
ness. Que is surprised not that 1t has fallen
but that it has stood 50 long, and recei'c'
nourshment enough through 50 small a'poruo'
Of its body to sustain it in such romarNaol
yigor. We noticed branches of this year
growth nearly ii foot in length and in ever
part the tree was in full foliage. A swarm 0
bees had taken up their quarters in hoilo'
branch, about thirty feet from the ground an
were thus summarily disposseSsed of their tene
mcnt.
The age of the Oak can not be told with COZ
rectncss, but good judges place 1t IRON eig"
hundred to thousand years Whenour lore
fathers first came here, it was veneratcd by ID
Indians, and, at their earnest solicitation, wa
spared the AK, of the settler. " 1t has bee
the Guide af our ancestors for centuries sal
Al -; ,,c. ,,l,p -
< hen the leaves are the size Of mouses ear
.hen is the time to put the seed i'll the grounc
To iar more important use 1t was put by OF
colonial ancestors, and as the present is mo
fitting time to review the history OF events
which il bore so prominent part, we pr'nt u
annexed sketch, from pamphlet published
few years since by the Connecticut Historic
Society:
1.-THE adventures who with Rev. Thorn
Hooker as their leader in the years 1853 a
1886, pierced the profound wilderness viii
thon stretched westward from Boston, and co
menced new settlement at Windsor, Hartlor
and Wethersfeld supposed themselves to
within the limits of the Colony of Massach
setts. At the beginning their magistrates IL
ed under the authority of the government
Boston.
When the inhabitants Of the three TOW
on the Connecticut asccrlaincd that they W
without the limits of Massachusetts, they W
already distinct, organized political conn
nifty. On the Gath of January, l63o GA
Jan 0. S.) the fathers Of the State net
Hartford, personally, in full convention, Il
framed for themselves II written constitute
proceeding from people. and in their name
tablishing and defining government.
Connecticut, from it's first settlement, ch
her own rulers and magistrates. She never
royal governor or Judge April Goth, l6
Charles H. granted q charter to the colo
which confirmed the right and privileges VIII
the people had previously enjoyed. Cot
Mnther called it the freest charter under
cope of Haven
" Charles II. died in 1885. The kingly p'
or and divine right Of his successor, james
could endure no such free charter. lie orde
Sir Edmond Andross to 90 and demand It's
render, or to seiza it, Judge Sewall in
Diary, says: Wednesday, Obtober Goth, It
His Excellency, with sundry of ye council,
tices, and other gentlemen, four blew coats,
trumpoters, Sam BGgh, fifteen or twenty
coats, With small guns and short lances in
top of YIN, set out for wood-cocks, in orde
20 to Connecticut to assume ye goyernmer