The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-15

Il gett's sworn statement afterwards. as lvided concealment, and the doctor be- | gan to blaze away with all the vigor of l a battery of guns upon the approaching | ! columns. The engagement was an active one | for short time and resulted in serious | loss to the British. Our forces being on | familiar ground, true to the Lexington l warfare, entrenched themselves behind | stone walls, took advantage of trees 1 and fences and did excellent execution. | | The advancing column were, however, ] too large for our small force and the | l order was soon given to retreat across | 1 the bridge and then burn it, thus pre- | venting the British from entering at i | that point, but the doctor did not heed | the command to retreat. He remained, l continuing the battle on his own &C., | count. His fowling piece did such ex- 1 ecution that detachment was sent up the hill to silence the battery, and more ] than twenty bullets whistled around his l head, but he escaped them. The officer was somewhat surprised, | when in close contact, to find only a | single individual in ambush, with a | intent on resisting the enemy. Near enough to address him, he asked: 1 What are you doing, you old fool firing on his majesty's troops?" "Ex- ercising the rights of war, sir" was the reply The aggressive and determined i manner of the patriot was so conspicu- ous and no surrender so plainly evi- dent in his manner that the command was given to capture him. The English soldiers made a rush with fixed bayo- nets and pierced his body; and, using also the butts of their muskets. threat l ened to kill him at once. In Dr. Dag he expressed it, The was almost depriv- ed of life" After robbing him of his shoe, knee and stock buckles, and with four gashes in his head (caused by the bayonets) and bruises all over his body, he was marched in the heat of the day to the New Haven green by way of Westville, the bridge having been destroyed, when his life was again threatened, but he demanded the rights of a prisoner of war, accompanied by the statement
 that he was an officer of Yale college.
 Owing to his serious wounds and
 weakened condition, and at the earnest
 solicitations of some Tory friends, he
 was allowed to be placed on a bed in
 the house of Widow Lyman, where he
 remained several days in serious con- dition.
 Although he recovered, in a measure, from his wounds, his death occurred the
 following year as the result.
 The Connecticut Journal of November 27 17S0, tells us that his funeral was at-
 tended with an honorable assembly. An academic procession was formed, !consisting of the governors and officers of Yale college, resident graduates and
 40 undergraduates, which moved from the college chapel to the professors
 house, where they were joined by the
 ministry civil authority, gentlemen of liberal education and respectable inhab- itants of both sexes The remains were
 escorted to the college chapel, which proved too small for the numerous as
 sembly, so that the procession again moved to the Rev. MT. Whittlesey's meeting house Center church, where divine service was held. The sermon
 was preached by President Stiles and a funeral oration was delivered in Latin by Sir John Barnett, and the solemnity
 was closed by singing the Funeral Thought" after which the entire pro-
 cession attended the remains to the
 buroal spot and paid the last tribute of respect to a gentleman who had long been distinguished in the instruction
 and government offthe college, and who
 sacrificed his life at the age of fifty four for the cause of American free
 dom.
 Dr. Peters, then of the Church Of England, and a renowned Tory, who tafter the Revolutionary war returned to England and wrote a sarcastic his tory of Connecticut that is seldom quoted, although quite at variance with Dr. Daggett's views on both theology and patriotism, speaks of him ''as an excellent Greek and Latin scholar, pos sessing a mild temper and an affable disposition, and the exercise of his au- thority was untinctured with haughti- ness." Notwithstanding the modera l tion, I have said, that marked his gen. eral character, he was enthusiastic enough to hazard his life, and lost it in command of number of rebels oppos- ing the troops of General Garth.
 Dr. Holmes says of him: "He was a great classical scholar, well versed in moral philosophy, learned divine, with clearness of understanding and acuteness of thought that was charac- teristic of his mind"
 Bradford, in his notices of distin- guished men of New England, says of
 him: "He was a great theologian and great scholar
 Dr. Daggett left good estate, includ-
 ing two acres in the Yorkshire quarter,
 bounded by York, Chapel and Elm
 streets, where he resided
 In personal appearance he was of
 middle height, strong frame, inclined to be corpulent and slow in his gait.
 Always distinguished for resolution
 of character, he began and maintained
 an open and active opposition to the ! British aauea cpaakiDp Uritine nrav-