Excerpt from The History of Connecticut, Vol. 1 of 2: From the First Settlement of the Colony to the Adoption of the Present Constitution

IN committing to the press the second edition of the History of Con necticut, I take the Opportunity to express my gratification to the public for the very liberal patronage hitherto bestowed upon the work. The task of preparing these volumes was not commenced with any idea of pecuniary profit, but rather with a view of filling a void which seemed to exist in the historic annals of my native State. The valuable researches of my predecessor, Dr. Trumbull, terminated several years anterior to the American Revolution; from which time onward, Connecticut was without any written history whatever. My main object in undertaking the work, (as I stated in the preface to the first edition, ) was to turn the attention of the descendants of the Connecticut emigrants from the pre sent to the glorious past; to remind them of the sacrifices, the toils, the sufferings of their fathers' fathers; and to awaken, though it be with a momentary breath, the coals that once glowed like the vestal fire day and night upon the altar of Freedom. Those who read these pages, will find that they little need to be ashamed of their origin, and that it can be said of them as truly and in a higher sense than the fifth Henry could say to his tr00ps on the day of battle, that their blood is fet from fathers of war-proof. Indeed, no State since the fall of Lacedaemon has ever, in the history of the world, waged so many wars in the same number of years, with equal success, or voluntarily borne such heavy burdens, as Connecticut. If I have failed to prove these facts, I am sure they are capable of proof when some author more worthy of the theme, shall address his energies to the task. Meanwhile, I humbly commend my labors to my brothers who still remain upon the soil of the State, and to those who, in regions far remote, yet turn their eyes with a fond regard toward the green hills and soft valleys where lie the bones of the men who felled the forest and planted the vine.

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