Abstracts from the Connecticut (Formerly New London) Gazette Covering Southeastern Connecticut

In 1780, Connecticut and the country were still in the midst of a rebellion against the greatest power in the world. This volume of news abstracts provides a view of everyday life of the citizens of Eastern Connecticut as they experienced the turmoil of the Revolutionary War with all its victories and defeats. The appearance of strife and effects of the war were everywhere; soldiers were very visible and many of the townsmen of the region had enlisted in the army. Those left behind carried a heavy burden. Some patriots took to the sea in single ships, either privateers or frigates commissioned by Congress. Captured American soldiers faced the horrors of the British prison ships where thousands of prisoners were crammed into the lower decks. The British exchanged these emaciated, sick and dying American prisoners for their own; many American patriots did not survive. The Gazette carried more than news of the war, presenting both prosaic and interesting items of everyday life in New London and Windham Counties: people got sick and died, and their estates were probated; horses, cows and pigs strayed; apprentices and slaves ran away; felons escaped; soldiers deserted; wives renounced straying husbands and vice versa. New London was the home of the Gazette; however, Groton, Stonington, Norwich, Saybrook, Lyme, Colchester, Preston, and Lebanon were also served by the paper, as well as the neighboring towns of Windham County. Individual indices to full names, places, subjects, and ship names augment the wealth of genealogical and historical information preserved on these pages.