2013-24-12-Christmas Eve-Essex & Cromwell, CT

On the way to Cromwell, CT from Cohasset, Georgia, Britt and I visited historic Essex, CT, on the banks of the Connecticut River. Essex is a small town, with fewer than 7,000 residents, a rich Colonial and post Colonial history and hundreds of beautiful antique homes and buildings from the 1700's and 1800's. Essex is one of the few American towns to ever be attacked by a foreign power; this occurred on April 8, 1814 when approximately 136 British marines and sailors rowed six boats from four British warships anchored in Long Island Sound, six miles up the Connecticut River, past the unmanned fort in Old Saybrook, arriving at the boat launch at the foot of Main Street in Essex close to 4 A.M. The boats were armed with swivel guns loaded with grapeshot , the officers armed with swords and pistols, the marines with "Brown Bess" muskets, and the sailors with torches and axes; they responded to the single cannon fired by the town's surprised defenders with a massive volley, neither side incurring any casualties. They quickly commandeered the town, eliciting a promise of no resistance from the Essex militia in return for promising not to harm the townspeople or burn their homes, while a messenger rode to Fort Trumbell in New London for help. A dubious local myth states that the British Commander did not burn the town as a favor to a local merchant who greeted him with a secret Masonic handshake. The British inflicted heavy damage; the economic losses were among the largest sustained by the United States during the War of 1812. Twenty eight vessels, with a total value estimated to be close to $200,000 (at a time when a very large two story home in Essex would have been worth no more than $1,000), were destroyed by the British One historian has called it the "Pearl Harbor" of that war. On Christmas Eve night at her home in Cromwell, Lee served up her usual fabulous Christmas meal including turkey, ham and all the trimmings. Afterwards, we all exchanged Christmas gifts.