Editing Connecticut (section)

===Colonial period===

{{Main|New Netherland|Saybrook Colony|Connecticut Colony|New Haven Colony|New England Confederation|Dominion of New England}}

Dutchman [[Adriaen Block]] was the first European explorer in Connecticut.<ref>{{cite journal|last2=Varekamp|first2=Daphne|date=Spring–Summer 2006|title=Adriaen Block, The Discovery of Long Island Sound and the New Netherlands Colony: What Drove the Course of History?|url=http://seagrant.uconn.edu/publications/magazines/wracklines/springsummer06/block.pdf|journal=Wrack Lines|volume=6|issue=1|access-date=May 16, 2014|last1=Varekamp|first1=Johan|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231223638/http://seagrant.uconn.edu/publications/magazines/wracklines/springsummer06/block.pdf|archive-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref> He explored the region in 1614. [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch]] fur traders then sailed up the [[Connecticut River]], calling it Versche Rivier ("Fresh River") and building a fort at Dutch Point in Hartford, which they named "House of Hope" ({{langx|nl|Huis van Hoop}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://colonialwarsct.org/1614.htm|title=1614 Adriaen|website=The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut|access-date=May 16, 2014|archive-date=May 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517135338/http://colonialwarsct.org/1614.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:3c Connecticut Tercentenary,The Charter Oak single, 1935 issue.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|On April 26, 1935, the U.S. Post Office issued a postage stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the initial settlement of the Connecticut colony.]]
The Connecticut Colony originally consisted of several smaller settlements in Windsor, Wethersfield, Saybrook, Hartford, and New Haven. The first English settlers came in 1633 and settled at Windsor, then at Wethersfield the following year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cslib.org/earlysettlers.htm|title=Early Settlers of Connecticut|publisher=Connecticut State Library|access-date=July 25, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420061052/http://www.cslib.org/earlysettlers.htm|archive-date=April 20, 2010}}</ref> [[John Winthrop the Younger]] of Massachusetts received a commission to create [[Saybrook Colony]] at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1635.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saybrookhistory.org/web_page.php?id=13|title=Brief History of Old Saybrook|website=Old Saybrook Historical Society|access-date=May 16, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140516202750/http://www.saybrookhistory.org/web_page.php?id=13|archive-date=May 16, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A large group of [[Puritan]]s arrived in 1636 from [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], led by [[Thomas Hooker]], who established the [[Connecticut Colony]] at Hartford.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://colonialwarsct.org/1636.htm|title=1636-Hartford|website=The Society of Colonial Wars in Connecticut|access-date=May 16, 2014|archive-date=February 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211004109/http://colonialwarsct.org/1636.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Fundamental Orders of Connecticut]] were adopted in January 1639, and have been described as the first constitutional document in America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?a=3188&q=392608 |title=STATE OF CONNECTICUT Sites º Seals º Symbols |access-date=January 25, 2008 |author=Secretary of the State of Connecticut |author-link=Secretary of the State of Connecticut |year=2007 |work=the Connecticut State Register and Manual |publisher=[[State of Connecticut]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926135650/http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?a=3188&q=392608 |archive-date=September 26, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Quinnipiack Colony<ref>{{cite book|url={{google books|wmdJAAAAMAAJ|plainurl=yes|page=176}}|title=New Englander and Yale Review|date=1887|publisher=W.L. Kingsley|volume=47|pages=176–177|editor-last2=Kingsley|editor-first2=William Lathrop|editor-last3=Fisher|editor-first3=George Park|editor-last4=Dwight|editor-first4=Timothy|display-editors=3|editor-first1=Edward Royall|editor-last1=Tyler}}</ref> was established by [[John Davenport (clergyman)|John Davenport]], [[Theophilus Eaton]], and others at New Haven in March 1638. The New Haven Colony had its own constitution called "The Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony", signed on June 4, 1639.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ct01.asp|title=Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven, June 4, 1639|website=The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy|publisher=Yale Law School|access-date=May 16, 2014|date=December 18, 1998|archive-date=August 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808131901/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ct01.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

Each settlement was an independent political entity, established without official sanction of the English Crown.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colonialwarsct.org/1638_new_haven.htm|title=1638—New Haven—The Independent Colony|website=The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut|access-date=May 16, 2014|archive-date=November 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115210256/http://www.colonialwarsct.org/1638_new_haven.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1662, Winthrop traveled to England and obtained a charter from [[Charles II of England|Charles{{nbsp}}II]] which united the settlements of Connecticut.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://colonialwarsct.org/1662.htm|title=1662-Charter for Connecticut|website=The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut|access-date=May 16, 2014|archive-date=May 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516233559/http://colonialwarsct.org/1662.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Historically significant colonial settlements included [[Windsor, Connecticut|Windsor]] (1633), [[Wethersfield, Connecticut|Wethersfield]] (1634), [[Deep River, Connecticut|Saybrook]] (1635), [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]] (1636), [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] (1638), [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]] (1639), [[Guilford, Connecticut|Guilford]] (1639), [[Milford, Connecticut|Milford]] (1639), [[Stratford, Connecticut|Stratford]] (1639), [[Farmington, Connecticut|Farmington]] (1640), [[Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford]] (1641), and [[New London, Connecticut|New London]] (1646).

The [[Pequot War]] marked the first significant clash between colonists and Native Americans in New England. The Pequot had been aggressively extending their area of control at the expense of the Wampanoag to the north, Narragansett (east), Connecticut River Valley Algonquian tribes and the Mohegan (west), and Lenape Algonquian people (south).<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web |last=Estes |first=Roberta |date=2012-09-10 |title=The 1637 Pequot War |url=https://nativeheritageproject.com/2012/09/10/the-1637-pequot-war/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=Native Heritage Project |language=en}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Pequot had been reacting with increasing aggression to colonial territorial expansion. In response to the 1636 murder of an English privateer and his crew, followed by the murder of a trader,<ref name="auto2"/> colonists raided a Pequot village on [[Block Island]]. The Pequots laid siege to Saybrook Colony's garrison that autumn, then raided Wethersfield in the spring of 1637. Organizing a band of militia and allies from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes, colonists declared war and attacked a Pequot village on the [[Mystic River (Connecticut)|Mystic River]]. Death toll estimates range between 300 and 700 Pequots. After suffering another major loss at a battle in [[Fairfield, Connecticut|Fairfield]], the Pequots sued for peace.<ref>{{cite book|url={{google books|YHVwmVKjhaoC|plainurl=yes|page=31}}|title=America's Beginnings: The Dramatic Events that Shaped a Nation's Character|last=Williams|first=Tony|date=2010|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-0487-4|pages=32–34}}</ref>

Connecticut's original Charter in 1662 granted it all the land to the "South Sea"—that is, to the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{cite web |website=A Chronology of US Historical Documents |url=http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/colony.shtml |title=Connecticut Colony Charter of 1662 |publisher=University of Oklahoma, College of Law |date=March 14, 2006 |access-date=July 25, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723222151/http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/colony.shtml |archive-date=July 23, 2010 }}</ref> The [[Treaty of Hartford (1650)|Hartford Treaty]] with the Dutch was signed on September 19, 1650, but never ratified by the British, stated the western boundary of Connecticut ran north from [[Greenwich, Connecticut|Greenwich Bay]] for a distance of {{convert|20|mile|km}},<ref name="BOWEN">{{cite book |last=Bowen |first=Clarence Winthrop |url={{google books|XJUNAAAAQAAJ|plainurl=yes|page=17}} |title=The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut |date=1882 | publisher=James R. Osgood and Company | place=Boston | pages=17–18}}</ref><ref name="FLICK">{{cite book |editor-first=Alexander C. |editor-last=Flick |title=History of the State of New York |volume=2 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |year=1933 |pages=50–57}}</ref> "provided the said line come not within {{convert|10|mi|disp=sqbr}} of Hudson River".<ref name="BOWEN"/><ref name="FLICK"/> This agreement was observed by both sides until war erupted between England and The Netherlands in 1652. Conflict continued concerning colonial limits until the [[James II of England|Duke of York]] captured [[New Netherland]] in 1664.<ref name="BOWEN"/><ref name="FLICK"/>

Most Colonial royal grants were for long east–west strips. Connecticut took its grant seriously and established a ninth county between the [[Susquehanna River]] and [[Delaware River]] named [[Westmoreland County, Connecticut|Westmoreland County]]. This resulted in the brief [[Pennamite-Yankee Wars]] with [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://colonialwarsct.org/1769.htm |title=1769—The Pennamite Wars |website=The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut |access-date=May 16, 2014 |archive-date=October 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007000010/http://colonialwarsct.org/1769.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Yale College was established in 1701, providing Connecticut with an important institution to educate clergy and civil leaders.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/about-yale/traditions-history|title=Traditions & History|website=Yale University|access-date=May 17, 2014|archive-date=October 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021235949/http://www.yale.edu/about-yale/traditions-history|url-status=live}}</ref> The Congregational church dominated religious life in the colony and, by extension, town affairs in many parts.<ref>{{cite book|title=Connecticut: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/connecticutbicen00roth|url-access=registration|last=Roth|first=David M.|date=1979|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co|isbn=978-0-3933-3174-5|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/connecticutbicen00roth/page/40 40–41]}}</ref>

With more than {{convert|600|mi}} of coastline including along its navigable rivers,<ref>{{cite book|author=United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|title=The Coastline of the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=omJjbP-BuYkC&pg=PP2|year=1975|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|pages=2–|access-date=April 19, 2020|archive-date=July 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729155941/https://books.google.com/books?id=omJjbP-BuYkC&pg=PP2|url-status=live}}</ref> Connecticut developed during its colonial years the antecedents of a maritime tradition that would later produce booms in shipbuilding, marine transport, naval support, seafood production, and leisure boating.

Historical records list the ''Tryall'' as the first vessel built in Connecticut Colony, in 1649 at a site on the Connecticut River in present-day Wethersfield.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wethersfieldhistory.org/history/ |website=Wethersfield Historical Society |title=History |access-date=April 18, 2020 |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728183151/https://www.wethersfieldhistory.org/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the two decades leading up to 1776 and the American Revolution, Connecticut boatyards launched about 100 [[sloop]]s, [[schooner]]s and [[brig]]s according to a database of U.S. customs records maintained online by the [[Mystic Seaport|Mystic Seaport Museum]], the largest being the 180-ton ''Patient Mary'' launched in New Haven in 1763.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://research.mysticseaport.org/databases/ct-ships/|website=Mystic Seaport Museum|title=Connecticut Ship Database, 1789–1939|date=August 10, 2016|access-date=April 18, 2020|archive-date=January 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200123105205/https://research.mysticseaport.org/databases/ct-ships/|url-status=live}}</ref> Connecticut's first [[lighthouse]] was constructed in 1760 at the mouth of the [[Thames River (Connecticut)|Thames River]] with the [[New London Harbor Light]]house.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/oldest-lighthouse-new-england-state/|website=New England Historical Society|title=The Oldest Lighthouse in Each New England State|date=January 20, 2018|access-date=April 18, 2020|archive-date=July 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728192350/https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/oldest-lighthouse-new-england-state/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====American Revolution====

{{Main|American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:LowsCTmap.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.15|A 1799 map of Connecticut which shows [[The Oblong]], from ''[[Low's Encyclopaedia]]'']]

Connecticut designated four delegates to the [[Second Continental Congress]] who signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]: [[Samuel Huntington (statesman)|Samuel Huntington]], [[Roger Sherman]], [[William Williams (Continental Congress)|William Williams]], and [[Oliver Wolcott]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_signers_gallery_facts.pdf |title=Signers of the Declaration of Independence |website=Charters of Freedom |publisher=National Archives |access-date=May 16, 2014 |archive-date=July 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714194721/http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_signers_gallery_facts.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Connecticut's legislature authorized the outfitting of six new regiments in 1775, in the wake of the clashes between British regulars and Massachusetts militia at Lexington and Concord. There were some 1,200 Connecticut troops on hand at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]] in June 1775.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wpi.edu/academics/military/hillprelim.html |title=Battle of Bunker's Hill Preliminary Study |website=Military Science, Cadet Resources |publisher=Worcester Polytechnic Institute |access-date=May 18, 2014 |archive-date=May 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518174520/http://www.wpi.edu/academics/military/hillprelim.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1775, [[David Bushnell (inventor)|David Bushnell]] invented the [[Turtle (submersible)|''Turtle'']] which the following year launched the first submarine attack in history, unsuccessfully against a British warship at anchor in New York Harbor.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Roland|first1=Alex|title=Bushnell's Submarine: American Original or European Import?|journal=Technology and Culture|date=1977|volume=18|issue=2|page=159|doi=10.2307/3103954|jstor=3103954|s2cid=112333776  |issn = 0040-165X }}</ref>

In 1777, the British got word of [[Continental Army]] supplies in [[Danbury, Connecticut|Danbury]], and they landed an expeditionary force of some 2,000 troops in [[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]]. This force then marched to Danbury and destroyed homes and much of the depot. Continental Army troops and militia led by General [[David Wooster]] and General [[Benedict Arnold]] engaged them on their return march at [[Battle of Ridgefield|Ridgefield]] in 1777.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/accountoftryonsr00case#page/n3/mode/2up |last=Case |first=James R. |title=An Account of Tryon's Raid on Danbury in April, 1777 |location=Danbury, Connecticut |date=1927 |access-date=October 24, 2015}}</ref> For the winter of 1778–79, General [[George Washington]] decided to split the Continental Army into three divisions encircling [[New York City]], where British General Sir [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Henry Clinton]] had taken up winter quarters.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Poirier|first1=David A.|title=Camp Reading: Logistics of a Revolutionary War Winter Encampment|journal=Northeast Historical Archaeology|date=1976|volume=5|issue=1|pages=40–52|doi=10.22191/neha/vol5/iss1/5|doi-access=free}}</ref> Major General [[Israel Putnam]] chose Redding as the winter encampment quarters for some 3,000 regulars and militia under his command. The Redding encampment allowed Putnam's soldiers to guard the replenished supply depot in [[Danbury, Connecticut|Danbury]] and to support any operations along Long Island Sound and the [[Hudson River]] Valley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://putnampark.org/park-history/ |title=Park History |website=Putnam Memorial State Park |access-date=April 27, 2014 |archive-date=January 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129021812/http://putnampark.org/park-history |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the men were veterans of the winter encampment at [[Valley Forge]], [[Pennsylvania]], the previous winter. Soldiers at the Redding camp endured supply shortages, cold temperatures, and significant snow, with some historians dubbing the encampment "Connecticut's Valley Forge".<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Keefe |first1=Thomas C. |editor1-last=Johnson |editor1-first=James M. |editor2-last=Pryslopski |editor2-first=Christopher |editor3-last=Villani |editor3-first=Andrew |title=Key to the Northern Country: The Hudson River Valley in the American Revolution |date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |chapter-url={{google books|NfADAAAAQBAJ|plainurl=yes|page=241}} |access-date=February 17, 2015 |chapter=George Washington and the Redding Encampments}}</ref>

The state was also the launching site for a number of raids against Long Island orchestrated by [[Samuel Holden Parsons]] and [[Benjamin Tallmadge]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Charles Samuel |title=Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons: Major-General in the Continental Army and Chief Judge of the Northwestern Territory, 1737–1789 |year=1905 |publisher=Otseningo Publishing |location=Binghamton, New York |page=110 |url={{google books|llssAAAAMAAJ|plainurl=yes|page=10}} |access-date=February 17, 2015}}</ref> and provided soldiers and material for the war effort, especially to Washington's army outside New York City. General [[William Tryon]] [[Tryon's raid|raided the Connecticut coast]] in July 1779, focusing on New Haven, Norwalk, and Fairfield.<ref>{{cite book |last=Townshend |first=Charles H. |title=British Invasion of New Haven, Connecticut |location=New Haven, Connecticut |publisher=Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers |date=1879 |url=https://archive.org/stream/britishinvasiono00towniala#page/n3/mode/2up |access-date=May 17, 2014}}</ref> New London and Groton Heights [[Battle of Groton Heights|were raided]] in September 1781 by Benedict Arnold, who had turned traitor to the British.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.hogriver.org/issues/v04n04/benedictarnold.htm |last=Baker |first=Edward |title=Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London |journal=Hog River Journal |date=Fall 2006 |volume=4 |issue=4 |access-date=May 17, 2014 |archive-date=July 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713150615/http://www.hogriver.org/issues/v04n04/benedictarnold.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

At the outset of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress assigned [[Nathaniel Shaw|Nathaniel Shaw Jr.]] of New London as its naval agent in charge of recruiting [[privateer]]s to seize British vessels as opportunities presented, with nearly 50 operating out of the Thames River which eventually drew the reprisal from the British force led by Arnold.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nlchs.org/about/shaw-mansion/ |website=New London County Historical Society |title=The Shaw Mansion |access-date=April 18, 2020 |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728223349/https://www.nlchs.org/about/shaw-mansion/ |url-status=live }}</ref>