

DEFENCE OF NEW HAVEN. 263 



against bomb-ketches. Money was contributed by the citi- 

 zens, and personal labor also was contributed to strengthen 

 the old fort of the Revolution on Prospect Hill, east of the 

 harbor. Officers of the College and their pupils entered 

 zealously into the plans of defence, and quotas of the 

 students, say fifty at a time, led by their officers, worked 

 in relief-parties along with the citizens. Professor Day 

 and myself were among the laborers ; we worked in ear- 

 nest, as our blistered hands might prove. Engineering 

 skill was also employed ; a substantial bomb-proof was con- 

 structed to contain the powder ; the old breastwork in the 

 form of a regular redoubt was raised, and a triangular out- 

 work to protect the gate on the land side. Some heavy can- 

 non were drawn up from Fort Hale, a low and indefen- 

 sible water-battery but little above the waves. There were 

 no soldiers, however, to man our main fort, but the citizens 

 and military companies volunteered. On the day when the 

 British squadron were descried near Guilford, the com- 

 panies paraded. I saw Mr. James A. Hillhouse, the scholar 

 and poet, in the ranks, marching with shouldered musket 

 as a volunteer, emulating the example of his noble father, 

 when this city was invaded by the British forces, July 3, 

 1779, during the American Revolution. Happily our alarms 

 died away and no hostile aggression was made. On one 

 occasion there was a report that a small British cruiser was 

 in the Sound, and forthwith an artillery company, com- 

 manded by Captain Philos Blake, volunteered to go out to 

 attack the enemy. I saw them embark on board a sloop 

 at the end of the long wharf, with their pieces of field artil- 

 lery mounted as for long service. I saw it with regret, for 

 it was obvious that they stood no chance against ship-guns, 

 and that their only hope would be the forlorn one of board- 

 ing. Happily they did not sail, and Captain Blake remains 

 my neighbor to this day.* 



* Captain Blake states that Major Thomas Sherman had the chief com- 

 mand, and that they sailed for some distance out into the harbor before they 

 were led to abandon this imprudent enterprise. F. 



