Oxford). Usually they forced the Loyalists to sign the articles of
Association. Failing that, they extorted a bond
(money) not to take up arms against the colonies as well as not to
discourage
enlistment in the American forces.21 A
roster of a
Committee
of Inspection formed in Derby lists thirty-two names.22
Of these, fully over one-third are men living in Oxford. Of these, only
one is positively known to have been a member of St. Peter's Church.
John Holbrook withdrew from the Anglican
church and returned to the
Congregational church at the outbreak of hostilities.23
The first week of December was chosen to "disarm the
Loyalists in Derby, and annihilate their influence." Many of Mansfield's
most respectable parishioners
entreated Mansfield to
petition the governor of New York (Tryon) for help, and supply a list
of names of Loyalists. The day after the letter was dispatched, a
friend who knew the contents was captured and interrogated before the
Committee of Inspection, who compelled him to divulge its contents.
Mansfield had to flee to Long Island.24
What was in the letter which Mansfield sent ot Tryon, and
suffered so greatly for? Besides the complaints about the treatment
being received by the Loyalists, Mansfield said it was his opinion that
if the King's troops were present to protect the Royalists, "several
thousand men in three western counties of the Colony would join him."25
One of those men saw things differently. John
Davis, of
Chestnut Tree Hill Road, was a
21
Beardsley, 309
22 There is a
preponderance of military titles in the document. These were gained
from prior service
in other military actions before the Revolution, and these men were
prominent in the local trainband (militia). Titles imparted much
importance and respect; as a consequence, men used these titles in
place of the more mundane "Mister."
23 Orcutt, 176. Holbrook's motives might
not have been wholly patriotic, however. There was a rumor that
Holbrook "for many years had entertained a disgust against him
(Mansfield) and his brethren of the church, and seemed to have mediated
revenge, merely because they
did not gratify some private views he had about the place on which to
build
the Oxford Church." Dorothy DeBisschop. "The Rev. Richard Mansfield, A
Tory
Clergyman of Connecticut."
Connecticut
Heritage (Oxford, Connecticut:
privately published). Beardsley, 309.
24 Beardsley, 309. Many Anglican clergymen
had to flee persecution for their staunch beliefs. One humorous
anecdote from Massachusetts, however, illustrates how a priest there
dealt with a ticklish situation. One bone of contention was the
practice in Anglican services
to pray for the King. In this instance, the priest, "like all good
subjects, had prayed so long for 'our excellent King George' that after
the war commenced, he inadvertently used, on Sunday, in his pulpit
devotions, his stereotypical phrase, but saved himself from the
vengeance of his flock by immediately adding, 'O Lord, I mean George
Washington.'" Beardsley, 313
25 DeBisschop,
Connecticut
Heritage. Mansfield seems to have had quite a different
interpretation of
the sympathies of the people of the area!
