Capt. Hugh Ledlie letter to Samuel Gray(1765 October 9)

MS 2008.8
4 pp.

Capt. Hugh Ledlie, New York, to Samuel Gray, Windham, Connecticut. Hugh Ledlie, a shopkeeper in Hartford, Connecticut, and captain during the French and Indian War, was a prominent member of the Windham, Connecticut Sons of Liberty during the Stamp Act crisis. Ledlie was probably involved in the intimidation of Nathaniel Wales in Windham which convinced him to resign his post as stamp agent. On September 18, 1765, another stamp agent, Jared Ingersoll, was approached by two groups totalling over 1,000 men. Faced with this incredible outpouring of hostility, Ingersoll resigned his post as well.

Following this incident, the Connecticut legislature voted to send Eliphalet Dyer, William Samuel Johnson, and David Rowland to the Stamp Act Congress. Dyer was a prominent resident of Windham who served in the General Assembly before being appointed to the Governor’s Council. Ledlie writes of accompanying Dyer to the Stamp Act Congress. They arrived on October 2, five days before the Congress convened. Ledlie writes that these men will determine the fate of the British colonies in North America. He refers to November 1, the day the Stamp Act is to go into effect, as “that fattal Day which is Dreded by Every Socalled thinking man” and expresses his hope that “the present Congress will do something worthy Such a Sett of Smart Men as they appear to me to be …”