Perhaps one of the best known features of the Seal of the Town of Beacon Falls, adopted on that town's Centennial in 1971, is Toby the Indian. A well- known landmark in that town is called "Toby's Mountain," in memory of this Narragansett Indian. The history of this man is one which covers the history of the entire area and is closely tied with Col. Ebenezer Johnson, one of the early settlers of Derby. Johnson was a leading citizen in affairs civic and military and was wealthy by the standards of his day. He owned extensive land tracts, including much of what today is Seymour, Oxford and Beacon Falls. But he most often remembered as the man who freed his Indian slave, Toby.
    It may surprise some readers that not only Negros but Indians were held as slaves in New England. Slavery was recognized in England, and the colonists brought the institution to this country. Under the laws of the colonies, persons might be sold into slavery for crimes committed, or they might be enslaved after taken captive in battle, regardless of race or color. In addition, black slaves were kept from generation to generation, as were Indians. However, the English generally did not allow white persons born of slave parents to remain in slavery.
    The Connecticut General Court had established rules regarding the ownership of slaves. The laws specifically gave owners of Indian slaves who were captured in war the right to ship them out of the country for sale, if the slaves attempted to escape their master.
    Orcutt and Beardsley, in their History of Old Derby,  state "Of Indians captured in war, a considerable number were sold into slavery, but what proportion it would be impossible to say. It was a defensive measure to which the colonists were impelled by the fact that they were 'contending with a foe who recognized none of the laws of civilized warfare.' It