The morning journal-courier., 1908-09-04

! en prisoner while carving on an in- dividual warfare in advance of the main column
 The combined patriot forces hastily marshaled under Colonel Sabin, sen for officer in command. under Captain ! fiillhouse and others. including Aaron Burr. afterwards vice-president of the United States visiting in the vicinity. who took command of section of the defense but they were insufficient to arrest the advance of the invading army. Retreating across and burn | ing West bridge, they planted field pieces in charge of Captain Bradley, and their fire was SO effective as to ] prevent the British from crossing at l this point
 i Unable to enter the town here as anticipated, the British troops kept | on through Allinstown, up to Hotch- kisstown tnow' Westville, the home of our rcgistrar). and the defense at West river was transferred to along the opposite side of the river at this point. Despite vigorous resistance, the city was entered by the enemy.
 The story of the two-days' occu-
 pancy of the town, the plunderlng of the houses and experiences of resi-
 dents has been SO often told, and the legend of every detail being so highly familiar to and cherished by our
 people, if need not be repeated here.
 President Stiles In hls diary says
 that "one-third of the population
 armed and went to meet the enemy.
 A quarter moved out of town and the
 rest, Tories and timid Whigs, remain
 cd unmoved."
 The town was full of confusion and alarm Important papers and valua-
 bles were removed or secreted and
 buried. The women and children, as far as possible, were sent to East and West Rocks.
 Many instances Of heroism may be recalled. Perhaps the most conspic- uous man of the day was the acting
 president of Yale. Napthal Daggett, who mounted on his black mare and with bowling piece across the pum-
 mel of the saddle, rode to the front, followed by an enthusiastic company
 of Yale students. Far in advance of the command, he planted himself in a clump of bushes on Milford Hill and opened a warfare on his own &C.,
 count
 Unable to successfully resist the enemy. Colonel Sabin had ordered a retreat, but Daggett. in his enthusi- I asm, declined to leave the spot and
 kept on blazing away until the head of the line was within few yards of , his ambush.
 A detail was sent to capture him, and the officer in charge addressed Daggett in the following language: What are you doing, you old fool firing on her majestys troops?" Exercising the rights of war; sir"
 was his reply, and off went the fowl , ing piece again. Surrounded and
 taken prisoner he afterwards died of
 the injuries received,
 p Capt John Gilbert, at the head of a , company from Hamden. reaching Broadway, was commanded by Brit 1 lsh officer to surrender and replied by
 shooting the officer, Gilbert was imme- , diately bayoneted by the British sol ders.
 , Many of the names upon our rolls are to be found on the muster rolls of the
 defenders of the town, and are entitled by lineal descent to especially com memorate the events of that day Among the killed and wounded ap- pear the names of Hotchkss, Gilbert : English, Bradley, Daggett, Beers, At e water, Mix and others prominent in
 the local branch of our society Patriotic women cast bullets and sup S piled our troops. Others, by their skilled . and ready Yankee ingenuity, prevented |, disaster and thought too quick for the . now rum befuddled brains of the enc t my, thereby saving property and live.
 Tories, too assisted in the crisis by l their hospitality and assurance of loy- f alty to the king impressing upon the , officers how much the royal cause , would suffer If the town was burned VI General Garth, taken to the top of the