Sneff on Mary Katherine Goddard in Essex, Connecticut, on 18 Jan.

On Sunday, 18 January, Emily Sneff will speak to the Essex (Connecticut) Historical Society and guests on “The Woman Who Printed the Declaration”—the printer, newspaper publisher, and postmaster Mary Katherine Goddard.

Born in New London, Connecticut, Goddard created the first broadsides of the Declaration of Independence to include the names of all the men who had signed the document (up to early 1777).

She had previously printed the Declaration in her newspaper, and she handled other jobs for the Continental Congress. At that time, the Congress had moved out of Philadelphia as the British army pushed south.

Sneff will contrast Goddard’s printings with publications of the Declaration from other printers, including a female printer on the other side of the Atlantic.

Emily Sneff earned her Ph.D. in History from William & Mary studying the spread of the Declaration around the world. Her book When the Declaration of Independence Was News will be published by Oxford University Press in April 2026.

This talk is scheduled to start at 3:30 P.M., with doors at Essex Meadows opening at 3. It is free and open to the public, but the society asks attendees to register for a seat in advance.

Knox Trail Commemorations on 15–18 Jan.

Sestercentennial commemorations of the progress of Col. Henry Knox’s artillery convoys across western Massachusetts continue this weekend.

(I’m trying to list all of these events, but there are so many that I might miss some being promoted locally.)

Thursday, 15 January, 6:30 to 7:30 P.M.
The Most Proper Spot in America: The Continental Arsenal at Springfield
Alex MacKenzie
Captain Charles Leonard House, 663 Main Street, Agawam

The winter meeting of the Agawam Historical Association will hear from Alex MacKenzie, curator of collections at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. Having visited the region in 1776, Col. Knox chose Springfield to be the site of the Continental Army’s laboratory, or depot for building and repairing ordnance and other military supplies. Starting in 1777, that operation eventually grew into the Springfield National Armory, now a national park. This event is free and open to the public.

Friday, 16 January, 6 to 8 P.M.
250th Anniversary of Henry Knox in Monterey
Monterey Library, 452 Main Road

A new exhibit opens at the town library with a reception and remarks by Mark Makuc, Heather Kowalski, Rob Hoogs, and Jonathan Barkan, including presentations on the Bicentennial and current reenactments of Knox’s trek. These presentations will be repeated at the library on Saturday morning.

Saturday, 17 January, 2 to 3 P.M.
250th Anniversary Commemoration of the Henry Knox Trail
Springfield Armory National Historic Site

Revolution 250, Boston Celebrations, the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, and citizens of the towns of Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Palmer, and Warren join to commemorate the “Noble Train of Artillery” on its way to Boston. Attendees can take in the site’s exhibit “The Continental Arsenal at Springfield During the Revolution” and ongoing display of weaponry through the decades.

Saturday, 17 January, 2 to 4 P.M.
Walk the Old Knox Trail
Bidwell House Museum, Monterey

After an outdoor gathering with a bonfire and hot mulled cider, Rob Hoogs will lead attendees along a segment of old road that Knox’s teamsters used, about half a mile each way.

Saturday, 17 January, 7 to 8:30 P.M.
Panel Discussion on Ye Trodden Path
Monterey Library, 452 Main Road

As the Berkshire County Historical Society publishes a new booklet on the trails through the region in 1775, titled Ye Trodden Path, local historians Rob Hoogs, Bernie Drew, Gary Leveille, Ron Bernard, and Tom Ragusa discuss the research going into that publication.

Sunday, 18 January, shows at 1:30 and 4 P.M.
For Love! For Liberty!
Springfield Performing Arts Venture

This new musical theater production by Vana Nespor and Clifton (Jerry) Noble tells the story of Henry Knox, his young wife Lucy Knox, and his mission to bring cannon to the Continental forces around Boston. Middle school history students help the U.S. Park Service, teachers, and grandparents explore this tale. Tickets available through this webpage.

(The photograph above shows William Wilber portraying Henry Knox during the 1976 reenactment, courtesy of Gerry Francis and the Berkshire Edge.)

Online Lecture Series from Historic Deerfield

Here’s another series of online lectures exploring the Revolution during the Sestercentennial, this time from Historic Deerfield.

Sunday, 25 January, 2 P.M.
Mighty Microbes: The Deadly 1775 Massachusetts Dysentery Epidemic and the Other Diseases That Shaped the American Revolution
Woody Holton, Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, author of Liberty Is Sweet

Sunday, 22 February, 2 P.M.
Spain, Native Nations, and the American Revolution
Kathleen DuVal, Carl W. Ernst Distinguished Professor of History the University of North Carolina, author of Native Nations

Sunday, 29 March, 2 P.M.
Picturing the American Revolution
Paul Staiti, Professor of Fine Arts on the Alum Foundation at Mount Holyoke College, author of Of Arms and Artists

Historic Deerfield says this series will “explore the American Revolution not just as a political conflict, but as a broad and complex global event that profoundly shaped the lives of everyone in the colonies. The war’s impact extended far beyond political fervor, crucially affecting Native nations seeking autonomy, free and enslaved Black people across the continent, and every sphere of social, cultural, and economic life—from material culture and daily labor to political ideology.”

All three lectures will be free of charge and presented virtually via Zoom webinar. Register for the links through this page.

(The picture above shows the gravestones of young sisters Betty, Huldah, and Mehetebel Robinson, dead of dysentery in late 1775, courtesy of the Westford Museum.)

Online Lectures from the National Parks of Boston

The National Parks of Boston and the Boston Public Library are teaming up to offer some online lectures for the Sestercentennial.

The announcements of these events don’t names the speakers, but they’re usually N.P.S. rangers and other experts who have researched the topics thoroughly.

Wednesday, 14 January, 6 to 7:30 P.M.
Benedict Arnold: The Trials and Contributions of an Early Patriot
Register here

Before his name is booed across the land, Benedict Arnold was an avid supporter in the Patriot cause. In order for his name to be so reviled he first had to make an impact to the cause. This program will explore the contributions made by Benedict Arnold in the early stages of the Revolutionary War and shed light on the complexities of a man who has become synonymous with betrayal.

Wednesday, 28 January, 6 to 7:30 P.M.
In the Shadow of the Declaration: Boston’s Hidden Architects of American Freedom
Register here

Explore how the Declaration of Independence reshaped Boston by examining the experiences of communities often excluded from its promises. Look at how Black Bostonians organized and petitioned for freedom while women questioned their exclusion from political and social rights. Together, these perspectives reveal how independence sparked debates over who truly benefited from the Revolution, showing 1776 Boston as a place where the ideals of freedom were contested, expanded, and reimagined.

Wednesday, 25 February, 6 to 7:30 P.M.
“Donation People”: Refugees from the Siege of Boston
Register here

The talk will examine the experience of the poor and ill forced out of Boston during the 1775-1776 siege. The refugees, known as donation people, bore the brunt of the American Revolutionary war in Boston, yet their treatment by the people of Massachusetts represented a spirit of welfare in the new nation.

Wednesday, 11 March, 6 to 7:30 P.M.
The Siege of Boston: An Ending and Beginning
Register here

This talk will explore the Siege of Boston – its origins, impacts, and conclusion – and how the departure of the British Military from Boston would influence the pivotal year of 1776 and what became the Revolutionary War.

Wednesday, 25 March, 6 to 7:30 P.M.
Remembering Revolution: Protest and Celebration of the Bicentennial
Register here

This talk will explore how the Bicentennial was celebrated in Boston. Learn how through protest, reenactments, and celebrations, Bostonians claimed the legacy of the Revolution for themselves 50 years ago.

In addition, the central library’s exhibit “Revolution!: 250 Years of Art & Activism in Boston” is open to all in-person visitors through 21 April. “Featuring over 100 artworks and documentary materials from the Boston Public Library’s Special Collections…this exhibition brings to light both familiar and lesser-known stories about America’s ongoing struggle for freedom, civil rights, and belonging for all.”

The Reality of “Dr. Cutts”

Back here, I quoted Edmund Quincy’s story of his father, little Josiah Quincy, starting to study Latin at the Phillips Academy in Andover in 1778 alongside a man more than twenty years older—a former Continental Army surgeon named Cutts.

It’s significant that that story appeared in Edmund Quincy’s biography of his father not in Mayor Quincy’s own words but in those of the author (shown here), remembering what he’d heard from his father decades before.

As I stumbled across gathered evidence, it became clear that the younger Quincy amalgamated multiple figures from his father’s school days into a composite “Dr. Cutts.”

The first figure was James Anderson of Londonderry, New Hampshire, admitted to the same inaugural class at the academy alongside six-year-old Josiah even though he was twenty-nine. As beginning students, they may indeed have been seated together, as Edmund Quincy described.

Next were a pair of young brothers named Cutts, who joined the school in 1782. Josiah Quincy and Richard Cutts (1771–1845) went on to be Harvard classmates who both represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress in the first decades of the nineteenth century, albeit in different parties. Edmund Quincy remembered that surname.

Finally there was John Brown Cutting, whose last name was easily confused with “Cutts” and equally appropriate for a surgeon. He entered the Phillips Academy in 1781, when Josiah Quincy was nine. According to academy records, Cutting was then 23 years old. (According to the age reported when he died, Cutting was a little older, born about 1755.)

John Brown Cutting came to the school from the Continental Army medical department. But he wasn’t a surgeon or surgeon’s mate; rather, starting in 1775 he served as an assistant apothecary. In this period, apothecaries were routinely addressed as “Doctor,” and Cutting definitely used that title.

Other details of John Brown Cutting’s life also connect with what Edmund Quincy described about “Dr. Cutts.” He did spend many years after the Revolutionary War in Europe. In 1806 he did marry a gentlewoman in Virginia: Sally (Carter) Carter (1767–1814), widow of George Carter.

Later Cutting worked for the U.S. government and started spelling his middle name with a terminal E. He died in Alexandria in 1831. Laudatory obituaries appeared in national newspapers and in the Boston Palladium, which likely prompted Josiah Quincy to tell his son stories of his old schoolmate.

Mayor Quincy probably remembered John Brown Cutting vividly not just because he was an unusual older student at Andover but because the man was a world-class networker, schmoozer, and unabashed gossip. Cutting served John Adams as a fill-in secretary in 1787. He aided American sailors as a self-appointed diplomat. He corresponded with both John and Abigail Adams, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Knox, Jackson, Pickering, and more. Gouverneur Morris once described him entering the room with “a World of News.”

I plan to explore stories from the life of John Brown(e) Cutting. For now, though, I simply wish to establish that Edmund Quincy’s tale of a “Dr. Cutts” turns out to have some basis in reality, but not exactly as printed.

Seeking Josiah Quincy’s Much Older Schoolmate

The upstart rural academy in Andover that became the prestigious Phillips Andover prep school published records of exactly who attended. Of course it did.

The Biographical Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of Phillips Academy Andover, 1778-1830 confirms one detail of the story from Edmund Quincy’s biography of his father that I quoted yesterday.

Namely, that age six, Josiah Quincy (1772–1864, shown here past age six) was indeed the youngest student at the school when it opened in 1778. There were five seven-year-olds, though.

The alumni list also confirms that one student at the academy that year was “a man nearly thirty years of age”: James Anderson of Londonderry, New Hampshire, aged twenty-nine.

It’s therefore conceivable that little Josiah and old Mr. Anderson were seated together as the most rank beginners among the Latin scholars. This history of the school makes that assumption.

Otherwise, however, James Anderson doesn’t match Edmund Quincy’s description of his father’s classmate: a former Continental Army surgeon named Cutts who went on to an overseas career and marriage to an heiress in the vicinity of Alexandria, Virginia.

A man from Londonderry named James Anderson did serve as a lieutenant in the first year of the war. He was not, however, a surgeon or surgeon’s mate. His military duties didn’t take him anywhere near Virginia. And we have no indication that that former officer decided to go back to school.

The academy said its James Anderson went on to Harvard College in 1784. Sometimes men of limited means who were fixed on clerical careers started their higher education late, and they might spend a couple of years intensively studying Latin and Greek to qualify for college.

Harvard says its James Anderson didn’t go on to earn a master’s degree, as most aspiring clergymen did. He died in 1835. I can’t find anything more about him. His common name doesn’t help. (In the 1790s, for example, George Washington was corresponding with a Scottish botanist named James Anderson while employing a different James Anderson to operate his distillery.)

When the Sibley’s Harvard Graduates series reaches the class of 1784, it might have more to say about this James Anderson. (This year’s volume covers the classes of 1775 through 1777.) His profile will surely not reveal he went by the name of “Dr. Cutts,” though.

In 1782, a couple of brothers named Cutts arrived at the academy. But they were about Josiah Quincy’s age, not army veterans and not doctors.

So does Edmund Quincy’s account of his father’s adult schoolmate Dr. Cutts have any basis in reality?

TOMORROW: Meet Dr. John Brown Cutting.

“This mature schoolfellow, Cutts by name”

Edmund Quincy wrote The Life of Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts (1867) by drawing on his father’s writings and his own memories.

The father, namesake son of the Patriot Josiah Quincy, Jr., wrote a detailed reminiscence about his years as a student at what became the Phillips Andover Academy. I quoted some here.

To that first-hand account Edmund added information he recalled hearing, such as this anecdote about one of his father’s classmates:

The Phillips Academy at Andover had just been founded [in 1778], mainly by the contributions of his grandfather [William Phillips] and other members of the Phillips family; and it was thought expedient that the founders should show their confidence in the school by sending their children and grandchildren to it. . . .

And at six years old he took his seat on the lowest form by the side of a man nearly thirty years of age, and they began their Cheever’s Accidence [the standard Latin textbook] together.

This mature schoolfellow, Cutts by name, had been a surgeon in the Continental army, who, having scrambled into as much surgical skill as was then thought sufficient for that position without any early advantages of education, was made so sensible of his deficiencies, through associating with the cultivated men he was thrown among in the army, that he resolved to supply them as soon as he had an opportunity.

Resigning his commission, he came to Andover Academy, and went regularly to school for two years, to make up in some degree his classical shortcomings. Out of school, of course, he associated on equal terms with the Preceptor and the other gentlemen of the town. He was a man of wit and talent, and the two ill-mated form-fellows were friends in later years.

Various romantic stories are told of him, of which this is one. During his military service he had won the heart of the daughter of a rich Virginia planter, who would not consent that her hand should go with it to the penniless young surgeon. His scholastic training as well as his military career being ended, Dr. Cutts, after various adventures, went to Europe, where he lived for many years, nobody knew how.

After long years a letter from the lady of his youthful love found him out, which told him that her father, and I think her husband, and whatever other obstacles had hindered the course of their true love from running smooth, were now out of the way, and that, if he retained his old affection for her, and chose to claim her early promise, she was ready to fulfil it. On this hint he hastened home, married his early love, and spent the rest of his life at ease. . . .

All this I remember my father telling us at breakfast, many years ago, on reading in the newspaper the death of his old schoolfellow, somewhere near Alexandria, at a good old age.

Now that’s a fine anecdote of a marriage being saved. Unfortunately, it’s tough to find any evidence to support it, and easy to find contradictory records.

TOMORROW: Little Josiah’s big classmate.

Lehman on “The Burning of New London” in Essex, Connecticut, 11 Jan.

I had a fine time speaking to the Essex Historical Society and guests in Connecticut last Sunday, and that Sestercentennial series of programs will continue this weekend.

On Sunday, 11 January, Eric D. Lehman will speak to the society on “The Burning of New London,” perhaps the most famous fight inside Connecticut during the Revolutionary War.

Lehman, author of Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London, will discuss the life of the complicated Connecticut native who led the September 6, 1781, attack on his home state. A force of 1,600 British soldiers and Loyalists captured Fort Griswold and burned down the town of New London. This dramatic story sheds light on the ethics of the dawning nation and the way colonial America responded to betrayal and terror.

Lehman is a professor of English at the University of Bridgeport and the author or editor of 22 books, including New England Nature, A History of Connecticut Food, and the award-winning Becoming Tom Thumb.

All the society’s Winter Lecture Series talks are free and open to the public in Hamilton Hall at the Essex Meadows community, 30 Bokum Road in Essex. Doors open at 3 P.M., with the talk scheduled to begin at 3:30. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, and the society asks attendees to register in advance.

Knox Trail Commemorations on 10–11 Jan.

The Sestercentennial commemorations of Col. Henry Knox’s mission to bring more heavy artillery to the siege lines around Boston will move from New York into Massachusetts this upcoming weekend.

There are both outdoor and indoor events in the works, with contingency plans for especially bad weather.

Saturday, 10 January, 10 to 11 A.M.
Massachusetts & New York State Line Commemoration
General Henry Knox Cannon Trail Marker, Route 71, Alford

Revolution 250, Saratoga 250, the Daughters of the American Revolution, many state and local officials, miltiia reenactors, and a Henry Knox interpreter will commemorate the Noble Train’s passage from New York into Massachusetts. A wreath-laying ceremony at the marker will conclude the joint observance. There is limited parking and access at this site, so members of the public are urged to attend one of the other events planned for the day. Link

Saturday, 10 January, 11:30 A.M. to 1 P.M.
The Knox Train of Artillery
Hillside Firehouse, Hillsdale, New York

The town will host costumed re-enactors from Fort Ticonderoga in an entertaining, educational program about how the train of artillery passed through North Hillsdale (then called Nobletown) in 1776. Free food and beverages. Link

Saturday, 10 January, 2 to 3 P.M.
250th Anniversary Commemoration of the Henry Knox Trail
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington

Join Revolution 250, Boston Celebrations, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and citizens of the towns of Alford, North Egremont, Great Barrington, Monterey, Otis, Russell, Blandford, Sandisfield, and other towns for a commemoration of the epic 1776 trek through the Berkshires on the way to Boston. Link

Sunday, 11 January, 3:30 to 5 P.M.
Knox 250 – Blandford Cannon Salute & Bonfire Celebration
Blandford Fair Grounds

Hear a 30-minute account of Knox’s journey through Blandford told by a colorful cast of characters in their own words, including General Knox, locals, and citizen Solomon Brown, who stepped in with his oxen to help. A Revolutionary War guard will fire several cannon rounds. Free event, including refreshments.

Attendees can also go inside the Blanford Historical Society to see a slideshow of the 200th anniversary reenactment in 1976 and meet locals who participated. Check the society’s website for any changes due to weather. Link

“New Gate Prison was again broke open”

Three months and a day after he first reported a convict escaped from Connecticut’s New-Gate Prison, keeper John Viets wrote out a second notice for the newspapers.

Here’s the text as it appeared in Hartford’s Connecticut Courant on 3 May 1774:

Simsbury, April 11, 1774.

LAST Saturday night the prisoners in New Gate Prison in Simsbury opened a way that had been in part stop’d up, that led from the place of their confinement into an old deep shaft that was partly filled with rocks & stones;

William Johnson Crawford, and Daniel Humphry (sometimes called Daniel Collyer Humphry) being more bold than the rest, ventured to pull away the stones from over their heads, and to work upwards in the old shaft, and so these two in the shaft pulled down the stones and the other three prisoners be low removed them out of the way to keep a communication between them, and all promised themselves a speedy escape—

when (at about three o’clock in the morning) the rock, stones, &c. in the shaft all gave away, and sunk into the shaft, where Crawford and Humphry were at work, to the great consternation of the three other prisoners, who say they really believe that Crawford and Humphry are both buried under the stones, &c.—but whether they are buried there or by some means escaped appears uncertain to those who have viewed the place, but rather conjecture the latter.

Therefore, this is to give notice, that if any person or persons will take up said Crawford and Humphry, or either of them, and convey them to said New Gate, shall have Ten Dollars reward for each, paid by
JOHN VIETS, Keeper of said Prison.

N B Said Crawford is about twenty four years of age, five feet and eight inches high, black curled hair, black eyes had on a light brown broad cloth cost, red duffel trowsers. Humphry is about twenty years of age, five feet and eight inches high, had on a light brown sea jacket, and brown plush breeches, both well set, spry young men.

That advertisement ran for another week, indicating the two fugitives were unaccounted for a month after their disappearance.

The other three men were still in the prison—two horse thieves convicted alongside Humphry and a “Ruffian” who had mugged a man near Norwich for his rum.

Then the 26 April Connecticut Courant offered this notice:

Last Saturday night
New Gate Prison was again broke open, and the following persons made their escape, viz. Zephaniah Ramsdel about 27 years of age, about 5 feet 8 inches high, lightish yellow hair something short, grey eyes, thinish face; had on a black coat & vest, cloth coloured plush breeches, a blue duffel great coat, and new shoes.—

Also, John Roberts, about 40 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches high, grey eyes, and short black curled hair; had on a brownish or redish colour’d surtout, a pair leather breeches very black if not washed since, a pair old shoes.—

Also, James Williams, a short well set fellow, about 28 years old, with short black hair; had on a blue cap, a pair long nasty linnen trowsers, check shirt, and new shoes. Whoever will take up either or all of said fellows, and return them to said New Gate, shall have Fifteen Dollars reward for each, paid by
JOHN VIETS.

Simsbury, April 25, 1774.

Apparently John Roberts had recovered from falling down a shaft, as reported when he first arrived at the prison.

For those keeping score, in 1774 the colony sent six men to its new New-Gate Prison for sentences of two to ten years, and by the end of April all six of those men had disappeared. (Two of them possibly under rubble, or possibly free.)

COMING UP: A hardened criminal.

“The inexpressible Horrors of that Den of Death!”

At the end of February 1774, Connecticut’s New-Gate Prison was once again ready to house convicted criminals.

The first prisoner sent there had escaped after only a couple of weeks, but the colony paid to block off the shafts to the underground prison, a former copper mine.

On 3 March, the Norwich Packet newspaper reported:

We hear from Windham, that William Johnson Crawford, Zephaniah Ramsdale and John Roberts, all natives of this Country, were last week severally convicted of Horse-Stealing before the County Court then sitting, sentenced to four years confinement in New-Gate, and conducted thither accordingly.

N.B. Two of the above, it is said, are New-Hampshire men.

We hear that John Roberts, one of the above-mentioned unhappy Felons, destined to reside in the subterraneous New-Gate, at Simsbury; upon his Arrival at the Sink of that Infernal Mansion, dropped, or, as it is suspected, willfully plunged headlong into it: His Skull was so miserably fractured, that although those Men who conducted him there remained two Hours after the Accident happened, he was at their Departure unable to articulate a Word, and they imagine that his Peregrinations are completed.---FREEBOOTING HORSE JOCKIES beware, for a Gibbit is comparatively a Toy to the inexpressible Horrors of that Den of Death!

Shorter articles appeared in the 4 March Connecticut Gazette out of New London and the 11 March Connecticut Journal from New Haven. Those papers had nothing to say about John Roberts’s plunge.

On 7 April, the Norwich Packet added two more men to the roster of prisoners:

At the Session of the Superior Court of this Colony, which ended here on Friday last, Daniel Humphry, a Simsbury Man, convicted of breaking into the Cabin of a Vessel, in New-London Harbour, and stealing a Quantity of Coffee, was sentenced to six Years hard Labour and Confinement, in the Copper, Mine, at the Place of his Nativity.--

At the same time James Williams, a Ruffian, for assaulting Zachariah Whipple, on the Road between Norwich-Landing and Preston, and robbing him of a Bottle of Rum, received Sentence to be confined two years in the Newgate Prison at Simsbury.

In early April, therefore, the New-Gate Prison had at least five inmates, sentenced to serve from two to six years. (And apparently stealing a “Quantity of Coffee” was a worse crime than attacking someone for a “Bottle of Rum.”)  

On 12 April, Hartford’s Connecticut Courant told readers:

Last Saturday Night Daniel Humphrey and William Crawford, committed last Week to Newgate Prison, as mention’d in our last, broke out of said Prison and made their escape

It’s heart-warming how a horse thief from New Hampshire and a coffee fiend working a southern Connecticut waterfront were apparently able to run away together.

But that still left three men in New-Gate, right? Or maybe two and a half, if John Roberts was badly injured. 

TOMORROW: Escape methods. 

“Escaped from New Gate Prison at Simsbury, one John Hinson”

Exactly one month after a New Haven court sentenced John Ensign to ten years inside Connecticut’s new prison at Simsbury, as reported yesterday, he disappeared from his underground cell.

On 10 Jan 1774, John Viets, keeper of that New-Gate Prison, wrote out an advertisement for the New Haven newspaper. Here’s the text of the ad as it appeared in the 1 February Connecticut Courant, out of Hartford:

Ten Dollars Reward.

LAST Night escaped from New Gate Prison at Simsbury, one John Hinson, lately committed for Burglary, who is about 5 Feet 8 Inches high, has black Eyes, dark Hair, of a fair Complexion, and about twenty Years of Age—(he was helped out by some evil minded Persons from without).

Whoever will take up said Fellow, and return him to the Subscriber Master of said Prison, or shall discover those that aided him in his said Escape, so that they may be brought to conviction, shall have TEN DOLLARS reward, paid by
JOHN VIETS.

January 10, 1774.

Seven decades later, in 1845, Noah A. Phelps published A History of the Copper Mines and Newgate Prison, at Granby, Conn.. It was based on interviews with Viets’ descendants, so it used his spelling of the escapee’s name (Hinson) rather than what appeared in the newspaper reports of his trial (Ensign).

Phelps wrote:

The first convict received into the prison was John Hinson. He was committed Dec, 22, 1773, and escaped on the 9th of January following, by being drawn up through the eastern shaft by a rope, assisted, it is said, by a woman, to whom he was paying his addresses.

How did the Viets family know this? How confident was Phelps about this information, which he qualified by adding “it is said”?

Despite reasons for less than full certainty, subsequent histories of the Old New-Gate Prison repeat that 1845 account in a definite tone. And it may even be accurate. But in this Boston 1775 series, I’ll emphasize contemporaneous accounts.

Whether or not Viets was right in guessing the escape method, the Connecticut legislature acted quickly to prevent future departures through that shaft. By the end of the month it voted:

Upon the representation of the overseers of Newgate Prison: It is resolved by this Assembly, that said overseers be and they are hereby directed and impowered to cause the east shaft of said prison to be effectually secured with stone or iron, at their discretion, and to cause a log-house to be built and to consist of two or three rooms, one of which to be directly over the west shaft of said prison; taking care to preserve a free communication of air.

Young Ensign was gone, those officeholders might have told themselves, but he’d benefited the colony by providing a useful test of the New-Gate Prison. Now they were making that place stronger. Soon it was ready to receive more convicts.

TOMORROW: Two sets of arrivals.

John Ensign Sent to the New-Gate Prison

On 26 Nov 1773, the Connecticut Gazette of New London reported this legal news:

NEW HAVEN, Nov. 19

A few days since, a young fellow, who says his name is John Ensign, was committed to our goal, for breaking open and robbing Mr. Thompson’s Tavern in East Haven, he being taken in the house, before he had time to get off with his booty.

Brothers named Thompson helped to found East Haven, and I haven’t been able to narrow down which of their descendants ran this particular tavern. One candidate for the scene of the crime is the Stephen Thompson House, shown above in 1939. 

On the last day of the year, the New-Hampshire Gazette ran an item presumably picked up from a Connecticut newspaper, but I haven’t found the original:

One John Ensign was convicted, at the Superior Court at New-Haven, the 9th Inst. for robbing the House of Mr. Thomson of that Place, and sentenced to TEN YEARS Imprisonment in Simsbury Mines, now called New-Gate-Prison, agreeable to a late Act of the Colony of Connecticut.

A long term of imprisonment, as opposed to corporal punishment or execution, was a novelty, warranting coverage even two colonies away.

The 7 Jan 1774 Connecticut Gazette kept up the story:

NEW HAVEN, Dec. 24

The beginning of this Week, John Ensign, was conveyed from the Prison in this Town, to Newgate Prison, in Symsbury.

John Ensign thus became the first prisoner in the colony’s new prison.

Two weeks later, the Connecticut Gazette told readers:

NEW HAVEN, Jan. 14

A few Nights since, John Ensign, made his Escape from Newgate Prison.

TOMORROW: The jailer’s tale.

The New New-Gate Prison

Last month I broke off a series of postings about three men Gen. George Washington sent to Simsbury, Connecticut, to be locked up in the New-Gate Prison.

Now I’m returning to that topic, but first I’m going back to fill in the background of that prison.

In the eighteenth-century British Empire, convicted criminals didn’t usually get sentenced to extended prison terms, with the perpetrator housed and fed by the state.

Instead, the most serious offenses, from murder down to major or repeated property crimes, were deemed worthy of death. Lesser infractions might bring corporal punishment like whipping or public exposure. (For assaults, it was often up to the victim to sue for damages.)

In October 1773 the Connecticut legislature voted to convert an unprofitable copper mine into a prison to house criminals for long periods. Henceforth, men convicted of burglary, robbery, and counterfeiting would be confined underground for up to ten years, or for life if they had already been convicted once. They were expected to work the mine. By modern standards that was harsh, but in this era it was an almost experimental reform.

The colony paid to build a blockhouse over the vertical entrance to the mine and to dig out living quarters below. As “Master or Keeper of said prison,” the legislature appointed John Viets (1712–1777), who ran a nearby tavern, shown above. He was a former Simsbury selectman and militia captain, respected in the community. He hired guards, many appearing to be laid-off miners; they were expected to train the prisoners in digging.

The new prison was dubbed New-Gate, after a famous jail in London. Those two places had little in common, but Americans didn’t know many other lock-ups to compare theirs to.

On 9 Dec 1773, a court in New Haven handed down the first sentence sending a man to New-Gate Prison.

TOMORROW: The first prisoner.