This volume continues the publication of the public records of the Colony of Connecticut, from the Union with New Haven Colony, (May, 1665,) to the close of the year 1677, — comprising one of the most interesting and eventful periods in our colonial history. Like the volume which preceded it, (and of which it is in immediate continuation,) it is designed to supply a full and literally exact copy of the original records; and to this end, the transcriber has not been sparing of time or labor, in preparing the copy and in the supervision of the press.
The second part of the volume comprises the Journal and correspondence of the standing Council, or council of war, from the commencement of the great Indian war, in June, 1675, to October, 1677. The Journal is published entire, and a considerable number of letters and other documents to which the Journal refers or which were deemed necessary to its illustration, have been incorporated with it. This mode of arrangement is perhaps liable to some objections; but no other occurred to the compiler which seemed, on the whole, to be less objectionable or to promise less inconvenience to the reader. Copies and abstracts of letters, &c., which did not originally constitute part of the Journal itself, are printed in a smaller type, and references are, in all cases, given to the volumes from which they have been extracted. Abstracts and partial copies are included between brackets.
Where the omission of a word, in the original record, rendered the sense obscure, or where a slip of the recorder’s pen had introduced a different word from that which he manifestly intended to write, the omission has been supplied or the error corrected, by words in italics, and between brackets. Words supplied as the probable reading, where the paper of the original is so worn or defaced as to be quite illegible, or where one or more words are lost by a blot or by the mutilation of the page, are likewise distinguished by brackets. While the original orthography has been strictly adhered to, the same liberty has been taken with the punctuation and use of capital letters, as in the former volume; nor has it been thought worth while to retain, in all cases, the character &, (invariably employed by Secretary Allyn,) the too frequent recurrence of which tires the eye of the reader and mars the beauty of a printed page more than even the false spelling or the numerous contractions and superior letters.
The Appendix contains copies and abstracts, more or less full, of a great number of documents not previously published. Some of these will, it is believed, prove of interest to the general reader; and many of them, as supplying valuable material of colonial history, seem scarcely less worthy of preservation than the Record itself. These papers have been brought together, under several titles, with such regard to classification and arrangement in order of time, as was found practicable. Of some of the transactions to which they refer, (as for example, the controversy with Gov. Andross, and the affair at Saybrook, in 1671,) an attempt has been made to compile as complete a documentary history as the records and files in the State Department would supply.
In the selection and arrangement of the letters, &c., incorporated with the Journal of the Council, as well as of the documents contained in the Appendix, the principal difficulty has been the compression within the limits of a single volume, of all that seemed essential to the explanation of the record, or that possessed sufficient historical value and interest to render its publication desirable. With what degree of success this difficulty has been encountered, the readers of the volume must themselves determine; and the hope is indulged that those whose experience in similar labors has best qualified them to appreciate the embarrassments and perplexities incident to their prosecution, will prove the most lenient judges.
Indexes of names and of subjects have been prepared with considerable care; and, if less perfect than those who have occasion to consult them might desire, are, to say the least, somewhat more satisfactory than those given with a former volume.
The initial letter of the Charter of 1662, enclosing a head of Charles the Second, is a reduced copy, in facsimile, of a finely executed drawing on the original Charter.
To friends, in this and other States, whose commendations of the compiler’s earlier labors have encouraged him to their further prosecution, he returns grateful acknowledgments; and especially, to the Connecticut Historical Society, upon whose memorial to the General Assembly, in behalf of the continued publication of the Colony Records, a resolution extending the patronage of the State to the volume now published, was predicated.
Contents:
- Title Page
- The Charter of Connecticut p. 3
- Records of the General Court, from May, 1665, to Oct. 1669, [from Vol. II. pp. 206-271.] p. 13
- Records of the General Court, from May, 1670, to Oct. 1677, [from Vol. III. pp. 1-91.] p. 126
- Journal and Correspondence of the War Council, 1675-1677 p. 331
- Certificate of the Secretary of State p. 510
- Appendix
- Name Index
- General Index
Appendix:
- I. Reports of the Committee to hear Uncas’s Complaints p. 511
- II. Tawtanimo’s grants to Richard Baldwin p. 513
- III. Letters from King Charles II. (1666;) p. 514
- IV. Correspondence with Massachusetts, respecting a Synod p. 516
- V. Lists of Freemen in the several towns, Oct. 1669 p. 518
- VI The Rhode Island Boundary, (1665-1677;) p. 526
- VII. The Mortgaged Lands; Major Atherton and his partners p. 541
- VIII. Lands granted by Massachusetts, in the Pequot Country p. 545
- IX. The rumored Indian Plot, of 1669 p. 548
- X. Proceedings of the Commissioners to establish the Rhode Island boundary; June, 1670 p. 551
- XI. Correspondence with Massachusetts respecting the boundary line; 1671-1673 p. 554
- XII. New London and Lyme Riot; 1670 p. 557
- XIII. Letter from the King, announcing the declaration of war with the States General, &c. p. 559
- XIV. Hostilities with the Dutch, 1673-4 p. 561
- XV. The published Laws, of 1672-3 p. 567
- XVI. Claims of Gov. Andross; 1674-1675 p. 569
- XVII. Laws for the Pequots; 1675 p. 574
- XVIII. Stonington Petition; 1675 p. 577
- XIX. Gov. Andross at Saybrook p. 578
- XX. The King’s Letter, respecting William Harris p. 586
- XXI. Report of a Committee, about the Narragansett Lands; 1677 p. 589
- XXII. Letters from Rev. James Fitch, respecting Uncas and the Surrenderers p. 591