A Most Unlikely Hero

Adjutant William Campbell & the British Invasion of New Haven

By Peter J. Malia

One of the most enduring stories of Connecticut at War occurred during the British invasion of New
Haven on July 5, 1779. It involved the chance meeting of two men – the Reverend Noah Williston
– minister of the First Congregational Church of West Haven – and a dashing British officer named
Adjutant William Campbell.

History credits Adjutant Campbell with saving the minister’s life. For his extraordinary act of mercy,
the British officer holds a unique – though largely unacknowledged – place in American history. He
is the only known enemy combatant honored by the very American town he invaded with both a
monument and a principal avenue named in his honor. 1

While we know very little in the way of personal details about either man, Williston and Campbell
are forever linked by legend. Their names echo through Connecticut history, whispering a message of
human compassion in a time of ugly war.

A split-second show of mercy between adversaries has transcended time and place to become a
magnificent example of what Abraham Lincoln later called, “the better angels of our nature.” 2

But it was not always that way --- and certainly not on a hot July 5 morning in 1779. Originally,
New Haveners planned to host their first Independence Day parade on that Monday morning.
Instead, the roar of cannon fire and some 2,600 invading troops bearing down on the center of their
town from two directions awakened them. There would still be a parade, of sorts, but it featured His
Majesty’s troops in a display of raw power, occasional cruelty, and eventually such pervasive
drunkenness on the part of the invaders that it may well have spared New Haven from the flames. 3
From start to finish, the invasion of New Haven lasted all of 36 hours. It was the first in a series of
1 Henry S. Johnson, “Why a Redcoat Is Honored in Connecticut,” SAR Magazine, Spring, 1980, LXXIV, No 4. p 24. See also, West
Haven Journal, April 1, 1874. See also, "Exercises at the unveiling of the monument to Adjutant William Campbell, who fell during
the British invasion of New Haven, July 5, 1779"
2 The Campbell - Williston episode has spawned a plethora of articles and oral traditions in the New Haven area from near

contemporary reports, such as that found in the Connecticut Journal, July 7, 1779, and the Journal of Thomas Painter, mss., New
Haven Colony Historical Society, to historical accounts, including Charles Hervey Townshend’s The British Invasion of New Haven,
Connecticut, Together With Some Account Of Their Landing and Burning the Towns of Fairfield and Norwalk, July, 1779 (New Haven,
1879); Erastus Colton, Discourse: Historical of West Haven Congregational Church and of the Old Parsonage, a Sermon Presented at
the 120th Anniversary of the First Congregational Church, mss., First Congregational Parish House; The New Haven Register, July 5,
1891; and Doug Wrenn, “From the Brutal Ugliness of War, Tender Mercies of the Heart,” Magic City Morning Star, July 22, 2006.
3
Rollin Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven, 1638 - 1938 (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1953), 146 – 147; Thomas J.
Farnham, “The Day the Enemy Was in Town, The British Raids on Connecticut, July 1779,” Journal of the New Haven Colony
Historical Society, Vol. 22, No, 2, Summer 1976, pp. 3 – 63. See also, Peter J. Malia, Visible Saints: West Haven, Connecticut, 1648 –
1798 (Monroe, The Connecticut Press, 2009), p. 238.
what we might now call “shock-and-awe” attacks led by Major General William Tryon against the
Connecticut coastline in the first twelve days of July 1779. 4 In New Haven, alone, the British
invasion caused over 120 casualties on both sides. Damages were extensive. But it was the brutality of
the attacks against private citizens that left an indelible mark on Connecticut and the new nation. 5

The obvious question is, why was Connecticut targeted in the first place? Three words provide an
answer: convenience, arrogance, and entrapment.

First was Connecticut’s proximity to New York City. It was just too close to British headquarters to
ignore any longer as a main supplier of men and materiel to the rebel war effort. That was especially
true for New Haven. The town had become a real haven for privateers and irregulars who inflicted
heavy losses on British shipping in the Sound and on Long Island Tories in particular throughout the
course of the war. 6

As brazen as its citizens were in prosecuting their guerilla war in and across the Sound, New Haven
lacked any real defenses of its own. What they had consisted of a handful of small cannon and a few
dozen state troops operating a small fort that had trouble driving off even a few smugglers. To
illustrate that point, Captain Patrick Ferguson surreptitiously drew a map of New Haven’s defenses
only a few weeks before its actual attack. Ferguson’s map clearly indicated that New Haven was a
lightly defended and opportune target. 7

Demonstrating just how oblivious the British high command was to the true nature and depth of
American independence, men like Tryon continued to base their war strategy on the false premise
that the Revolution was the work of a small group of malcontents. A hardliner, Tryon felt, “the war
must be taken to these civilian leaders in all its horror and viciousness, otherwise they would never
give up their delusions and cease their oppressions,” he said. 8

Tryon’s superior -- Sir Henry Clinton -- thoroughly distrusted Tryon as a conspiring opportunist.
Tryon’s low opinion of Clinton was well known and he never missed an opportunity to criticize the
4
The best accounts of the British attacks appear in Farnham, op. cit.; Osterweis, op. cit., and Malia, op. ci
\it, and Townshend, op. cit.
5
The British were well known for under-reporting casualties, especially involving Hessian troops. William Smith, for example, noted
that British losses in the New Haven raid totaled 150 killed, wounded and missing in action. See, William H. W. Sabine, ed.,
Historical Memoirs of William Smith, Historian of the Province of New York; Member of the Governor's Council and Last Chief Justice of
that Province Under the Crown; Chief Justice of Quebec. 2 vols. (New York: Privately printed, 1958), II: 136. Stephen Kemble,
meanwhile, noted that the Guards lost nearly 47 men. See, Stephen Kemble, "Journal of Lieut.-Col. Stephen Kemble, 1773-1789,"
(New-York Historical Society Collections for 1880, p. 180. On the issue of “total war,” see, Paul David Nelson, William Tryon and the
Course of Empire: a Life in British Imperial Service (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, 1990), p. 148 – 150.
6
Farnham, “The Day The Enemy Came to Town,” p. 13. See also, Lord George Germain to Sir Henry Clinton, January 23, 1779, in
William B. Wilcox, ed., The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns (New Haven, Yale University Press,
1954), pp. 397 – 399; Malia, Visible Saints, pp. 110 – 114.
7
Lloyd A. Brown, “Loyalist Operations at New Haven,” Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan, 1938), 12 pp. See also, Journal of
the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol. 24, Issues 1-2: 42; Farnham, “The Day The Enemy Came to Town,” p. 19, and Malia,
Visible Saints, pp. 110 – 114, 119 – 120, 232.
8
Nelson, William Tryon, p. 148.
general’s lack of initiative among his London connections in order to advance his own agenda. Even
more repulsive to Clinton was Tryon’s advocacy of “total war” against civilians. It was just not how
gentlemen conducted themselves in the 18th century. 9

Still, Clinton admitted that he did like one aspect of Tryon’s plan. The British attacks might bait
Washington’s army out of the Hudson River Valley and into what the British commander liked to
call a “final confrontation” on the open field of battle in Connecticut. If the strategy succeeded,
Clinton would reap the rewards as savior of the colonies. If it failed, Tryon would take the blame.

Initially all went as planned. Clinton himself led the assaults against Verplanck’s Point and Stony
Point in May of 1779. Those decisive British victories forced Washington to reinforce the Highlands
and West Point, as Clinton had hoped. Now the second shoe was about to drop in New Haven --
courtesy of Tryon.

As the sun rose over the New Haven harbor that July 5 morning, Yale President Ezra Stiles peered
through his telescope from atop the college chapel. He could see plainly a British fleet of some 48
ships, tenders and row galleys anchored off West Haven’s shore -- some four miles away. It was, Stiles
later recalled, the day the whole town dreaded with “a dire sense of expectancy.” 10

Thomas Painter, a 19-year-old militiaman, had a much closer view. He spent the night near present-
day Bradley Point in West Haven watching the British fleet maneuver into position. At sunrise a
single cannon shot roared out across the harbor from Sir George Collier’s flagship Camilla.

“Instantly a string of boats was seen dropping astern of every transport ship, full of soldiers and
pulling directly for the shore about the middle of ‘Old Field,’ ” Painter remembered. “It was near
high water and a full tide, so the boats could come plump up to the beach.” 11

As soon as they were within range, Painter and a few companions began firing into the crowded
boats until the first invaders stepped ashore. Young Painter now wondered if he had made a fatal
mistake.

“I well knew that after I had been so foolish and imprudent as to fire into an army of men huddled
into their boats -- without any possibility of answering any other purpose than killing and wounding
a few -- I should be immediately cut to pieces, and perhaps deservedly so,” Painter admitted. Survival
being the better part of valor, the young militiaman ran for his life. Musket balls mowed down the
tall grass all around him, like “a shower of hail,” he later recalled. 12

The invading troops were well accustomed to amphibious assaults and soon secured the beach. Wave
after wave of troopers now stepped ashore from their landing craft unmolested.

9
The Tryon raids into Connecticut touched off a firestorm of protests concerning their alleged barbarity. See, Nelson, William Tryon,
pp. 168 – 172, 211.
10
Osterweis, Three Centuries, pp. 141 - 143
11
“Personal reminiscences of the Revolutionary War, by the late Thomas Painter, of West Haven,” in Papers of the New Haven Colony
Historical Society, (New Haven, 1868), Vol.4, pp. 245 – 246.
12
Ibid, pp 245 – 246.
In all, some 1,500 men finally assembled on West Haven’s Old Field under the command of Major
General George Garth, a member of the First Regiment of Foot Guards. Second in command during
the invasion, Garth was responsible for overseeing the western side of a coordinated pincer
movement that had General Tryon leading the eastern side of the assault with 1,100 additional
troops. The two armies planned to rendezvous on the New Haven Green. 13

Garth’s troops read like a Who’s Who of battle-tested veterans. There was a detachment of Landgraf
Hessians, who, says one historian, had “a solid reputation for discipline in the field, steadiness under
fire, and a willingness to endure high casualties.” 14

In addition to the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers, the 54th Regiment of Foot – nicknamed the
“Flamers” due to the number of American homes they torched – also took part in the invasion.
A Royal Artillery company with four light field pieces – along with a detachment of his majesty’s
Third Guard – also came ashore. This last-named group was among the most elite units in the
British army. Known for their strength, size and agility, they were the king’s own bodyguards and
their reputation as fighting men was legendary. 15

On this particular expedition, the Guards would serve as the flanking units to the main army.
Their immediate command fell to their Ensign and Battalion Adjutant – William Campbell.
Before the morning ended, Adjutant Campbell would add yet another chapter to the Guards’ already
legendary history by becoming one himself.

Given the opportunity, Campbell would likely have scoffed at that suggestion. He was simply
performing his duties to king and country. He was, after all, a professional solider and a member of
the Guards since at least the early 1760’s. 16

Nearly 20 years later, he now found himself on a Connecticut beachhead about to do battle against
civilians. That prospect – knowing what we now do about the man – likely troubled him deeply.
Research now suggests that Campbell was a Scots Highlander. Like every other Highlander of his
generation, Campbell had clear memories of British atrocities committed against his own relatives
following the Battle of Colludon in 1746. That confrontation marked the end of the Jacobite
uprising and the Highlanders’ hopes of restoring the House of Stuart to the British throne. But the
days and weeks after the battle are what Scots have never forgotten or completely forgiven. Under
orders from the Duke of Cumberland, “Bloody Cumberland” as he came to be known, English
troops roamed the Highlands on a path of murder, rape and destruction that left every Highlander
family deeply scarred. To wage that same kind of “total war,” or anything even remotely similar to it,

13
Osterweis, Three Centuries, pp. 141 – 149. See also, Farnham, “The Day The Enemy Came to Town,” p. 26.
14
Osterweis, Three Centuries, p. 142; Dennis Showalter, “Hessians: The Best Armies Money Could Buy,” Military History (October
2007). Also available at Historynet.com.
15
Farnham, “The Day The Enemy Came to Town,” p. 18. An excellent history of the Third (or Scottish) Guard can be found at
www.brigadeofguards.org.
16
The first mention of William Campbell in the Third Guards appears in December 1763, when he is appointed corporal. Campbell
no doubt began his military career before 1763 and may have been the same William Campbell listed as a private in the 78th Regiment
that fought in the French and Indian War, before the regiment was disbanded in December 1763. See, Muster Rolls of His Majesty’s
Third Regiment of Foot Guards, December 28, 1763, mss, W.O. 12, The British National Archives. See also,
http://www.clanfraser.ca/muster.
as William Tryon now intended for Connecticut, likely rattled Campbell to his Scottish core.
Whatever thoughts he actually harbored that July morning, he kept to himself…with one
exception. 17 More on that in a moment.

What we do know about William Campbell is this. At a time when most British officers purchased
their rank, Campbell obtained his the hard way – he earned it – through meritorious action in the
field and by working his way up through the ranks -- from private. By the time of his deployment to
America in March of 1776, William Campbell was sergeant major of the 2nd Battalion of the Third
Guards. Within 16 months of arriving in New York, Campbell was promoted to Adjutant and
Ensign of the 2nd Battalion. 18

It was a rare feat for an enlisted man to break into the commissioned ranks of any British regiment in
the 18th century. It was nearly unheard of to do so in the most elite unit of all – the Foot Guards. 19
But Campbell was apparently no ordinary solider. Prior to his American service, he compiled an
exemplary military record with service as far back as the Seven Years War. It also did not hurt that
Campbell reportedly possessed the poster boy-good looks, stature, and attention-to-personal detail
that made him a true stand out in an already prominent military unit. Campbell, in fact, was
variously described at the time of the invasion as “tall and elegant in person and dress,” “a
conspicuous personage,” and “possessing an uncommonly fine personal appearance.” In other words,
he was a model Guardsman, and likely a conspicuous target. 20

Ironically, the sole surviving Campbell relic that resides in the New Haven Museum happens to be
the Adjutant’s personal dressing case. Sold to a local man by Campbell’s light-fingered orderly shortly
after the Adjutant’s death, it is the 18th century equivalent of a modern-day toiletry kit. 21
Now that may seem to be a rather odd item to be carrying around with you as part of an invasion
force until you realize something more about the Guards.

17
For an overview of the pivotal battle of Culloden, see, Stuart Reid, Culloden Moor 1746: the Death of the Jacobite Cause (Oxford,
Osprey Publishing, 2002), 1 – 96. According to George Campbell, a Scottish genealogist, William Campbell was one of only two
brothers known to have been killed during the American Revolution. See, https:// glosters.tripod.com/amrev1.html. See also, Norman
Scarfe, To the Highlands in 1786, the Inquisitive Journey of a Young French Aristocrat (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2001), pp. 177 –
180., where a Ft. William, Scotland, innkeeper noted that he lost two sons in the American Revolution, both officers.
18
See, Muster Rolls of His Majesty’s Third Regiment of Foot Guards , op. cit. For Campbell’s promotion to the rank of ensign, see
London Gazette, September 6, 1777, No. 11803. See also, Linnea Bass to Peter J. Malia, February 8, 2009, available at
http://gs19.inmotionhosting.com/~milita8/cmh/member/member.cgi/noframes/read/6528; Linnea Bass to Peter J. Malia, March 30,
2009.
19
The Foot guards ranked among the Crown’s prized troops and commissions came at a high price. Even the lowest officer’s rank of
ensign, for example, cost 900 pounds sterling in 1776, making the officers’ corps largely the enclave of the well bred and well-heeled.
That, however, did not entirely exclude promotions through the ranks for an impeccable service record or valor in the field. See,
Edward Curtis, The Organization of the British Army in the American Revolution (New Haven, Yale, 1925), Chapter 1. See also, Thomas
Simes, The Military Guide For Young Officers (London, printed for J. Millan, 1779), 1 – 363, passim.
20
On Campbell’s personal appearance, see, John Warner Barber, Connecticut Historical Collections (New Haven and Hartford, 1836),
p. 250. See also, Sarah Day Woodward, Early New Haven (New Haven, Edward P. Judd Company, 1929), p. 93; Michael P. Walsh,
“Campbell's March' Paints Picture of West Haven's History,” West Haven News (August 16, 2001). As for the Americans targeting
British officers, see, Maj. John L Plaster, “Riflemen of the Revolution,” American Riflemen (May 2009), available at
http://www.americanrifleman.org/Webcontent/pdf/2009-5/200959133346-riflemen_revolution.pdf.
21
The dressing kit was purchased by John Townsend, who was captured by the British during the invasion and later exchanged. Sons
of the American Revolution, Revolutionary Characters of New Haven (New Haven, Sons of the American revolution, 1911), p. 109.
See also, http://www.americanrevolution.org/britsol.html.
Neatness was truly next to Godliness as a basic requirement for getting ahead in the Third Guards.
Contemporary reports noted that it literally took hours to prepare yourself, your uniform, and your
weapons for parade-ground inspection, something that was an all-too-frequent occurrence if you
happened to a Guardsman. 22

But there was a practical side to it as well. In an age when armies lined up to fire volleys at each other
from only 50 yards apart, cultivating a fierce reputation and readily identifiable “look” was thought
to strike fear into your adversaries. If the Americans saw the scarlet jackets and blue-lined facing of
the Foot Guards, which designated a royal unit, that was meant to send a shiver down rebel spines.
Whether it actually did or not is doubtful. Still, British and regimental traditions called for Campbell
to take great pains to look every bit the part of an imposing officer in his majesty’s Third Guards, and
from all contemporary accounts, he did not disappoint.

Campbell also had an impressive military record to back up his imposing presence. Prior to joining
the Third Guards teenage William Campbell served as a private and saw action in Canada during
the Seven Years War, while Campbell was still a young private.

By 1768, now Corporal Campbell was involved in the particularly nasty business of quelling London
mobs during the Wilkes Riots. The Guards, acting as the city’s police force, were among Londoners’
favorite targets for abuse and they often showered them with insults and stones in a show of
contempt for what they considered to be the King’s Scottish lackeys.23

Displaying their trademark self-restraint – at least most of the time – Campbell’s regiment (better
known today as the Scots Guards) earned a royal commendation for “its zeal and good behavior” in
“such disagreeable a service,” King George III later commented. Campbell’s subsequent promotion to
sergeant, in fact, was likely in recognition of a job well done in helping to control the rioters.24

By 1772, William Campbell was appointed the regimental recruiter. He likely traveled back to his
native Scotland for an extended assignment to entice his kinsmen into the King’s service. How
successful he was at the post might be judged by the fact that he served in that role for nearly two
years.36 But his skill in getting young men into service might just as likely have been reminiscent of
George Farquhar’s famous dark comedy, The Recruiting Officer. Many a young lad was said to have
awakened to a horrific hangover and little memory of accepting the “king’s shilling” after signing on
as a private during a night of free drinks courtesy of the charismatic recruiting officer. 25

Something else we now know about William Campbell: he was married with a young family.26 Like
many others who started their military careers young, Campbell was intent on making the army his
profession. That profession, however, sometimes involved a good deal of personal risk, which he
proved more than willing to accept.
22
Daniel MacKinnon, Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards, 2 vols. (London, Richard Bentley, 1833), II: 394.
23
Percy Fitzgerald, The Life and Times of John Wilkes, 2 vols., (London, Lord and Downey, 1888), II: 7 – 8, 41, 141, 215.
24
http://www.scotsguards.co.uk/history.htm
25
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/soldiers/soldier_trade_in_world_fact_file.shtml#2
26
Following Campbell’s death, his widow applied to the Compassionate List and received an annual pension of 30 pounds. In order to
receive these funds, the widow would have to demonstrate the need for support of minors. See W04/109, p. 410, British National
Archives.
Chosen by draft to serve in America, Campbell saw action immediately upon his arrival in America
in the Battle of Long Island and then in several other major battles and skirmishes over the next three
years. By the time he stood on the West Haven beach on that July 5 morning, Adjutant Campbell
was a combat-tested veteran of the American Revolution. 27

In many ways, Campbell’s role in the invasion of New Haven was routine, but as the morning
progressed, things went terribly wrong. By 6:00 a.m., the army began snaking its way up Savin Rock
Road in three divisions of 10 companies each. But the line of march reportedly developed gaps
between divisions as some rogue troopers broke ranks to raid homes. 28

When the army approached the West Haven Green, the troops rested at arms while their officers
imposed upon a local family for breakfast. With so many armed men roaming about the confines of
a small village green, trouble was inevitable. Local Loyalists supposedly egged on some of the troops
with stories of the local minister using his church as a rebel recruiting station. Up for some sport, the
troopers reportedly sought out the minister. 29

They did not have far to look. The Reverend Mr. Williston was just then standing by the gate of the
parsonage, located across from the West Haven Green. As the troopers approached him, Williston
panicked and ran, only to trip over a stone wall, breaking his leg. Rushing up to the injured
clergyman, the incident caused a commotion that it apparently drew the attention of Adjutant
Campbell, who decided to investigate for himself what was happening. Finding the terrified
clergyman on the ground in obvious pain, Campbell immediately ordered his men to stand down.

“We make war on soldiers, not civilians,” Campbell was allegedly overheard saying. He ordered the
troopers to carry the minister back to the parsonage, and then summoned the regimental surgeon to
set Williston’s leg. All the while, the British treated the cleric with the utmost respect and kindness. 30

Not least impressed, and obviously much relieved, was the Reverend Mr. Williston himself. The
minister was later fond of saying that despite his physical pain, it was the happiest day of his life, for
he surely believed that he would have been killed had he kept running. Williston’s grandson noted
that the clergyman spent the day “singing praises to the Lord.” For a man well known to be a strict
Calvinist, Williston no doubt saw the hand of the God at work in his rescue. 31

Adjutant Campbell likely never gave a second thought to his rescue of the clergyman. But his alleged
comment that “We make war on soldiers, not civilians,” speaks volumes of both the man and the
officer. Especially considering Campbell’s Highlander heritage, causing harm to an unarmed civilian
-- and a clergyman at that -- was simply unthinkable. 32
27
A full accounting of the Guards’ service in America is available at www.brigadeofguards.org.
28
Woodward, p. 92 -93. See also, Colton, Historical Discourse, p. 12.
29
Colton, Historical Discourse, p. 12; Osterweis, Three Centuries, p. 143.
30
Thomas Painter, Journal, mss., New Haven Colony Historical Society. See also Colton, p.12; and Chauncey Goodrich, “Invasion of
New Haven by the British Troops, July 5, 1779,” in Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol. 2 (New Haven, New Haven
Colony Historical Society, 1877), II: 36 – 37. See too, Dallas McCord, “Honoring British Adj. William Campbell,” at
http://reenacting.net/2001/campbell.html.
31
Goodrich, p. 37. See also, Franklin B. Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College… (New York, Henry Holt &
Company, 1896), pp. 502 – 504.
32
Scottish genealogist and military historian George Campbell noted that it “for William … to attack civilians would have been
Not that any of his troops had more time for mischief. By 10:00 a.m., the sound of distant cannon
fire meant that Tryon’s attack on the east side of New Haven harbor was underway. Garth ordered his
troops to fall in, and the columns moved out towards Allingtown on their way to New Haven. Only
this time, colonial militia grew more numerous and deadly.33

II

As the Old Post Road winds its way from New Haven across the West River, it snakes through
marshlands for nearly three-quarters of a mile … then climbs steeply up Milford Hill.

Today, the south side of that summit is home to the University of New Haven.

On the north side, a sliver of land is wedged between a university parking lot and a private residence.
It contains a solitary granite monument that bears a simple inscription:

Adjutant William Campbell

Fell During the British Invasion of
New Haven
July 5, 1779
“Blessed are the Merciful”

From this vantage point 142 feet above sea level, the panoramic view of New Haven is impressive.
On that sultry July 5 morning in 1779 -- with the temperatures approaching 1000 -- that same
location was the site of a brief but fierce firefight between American forces and the left flank of the
invading British army. 34

Under the command of Captain James Hillhouse and Col. Aaron Burr, who happened to be visiting
his uncle, the Rev. Pierpont Edwards, in New Haven at the time, a ragtag army of some 150 Yale
students, militiamen and Connecticut Foot Guardsmen had dug in behind a stonewall along the top
of Milford Hill. They defended the hill with such tenacity that they initially drove the British
advance guard back several hundred yards.35

The troops driven back were Adjutant Campbell’s friends and comrades. And it was his direct
responsibility to see that they were properly deployed and fully supported. Contemporary reports
described the British as being somewhat harried in their march, with large gaps between units. It was
far from a picture-perfect march and both Major Gen. Garth and Adjutant Campbell knew it. 36

abhorrence above all others and, in respecting civilians, he would have been (very consciously) honoring the family and community
from which he sprang and whose values he cherished. George Campbell to Peter J. Malia, mss., May 16, 2009.
33
Goodrich, “Invasion of New Haven,” pp. 47 – 48. William Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit… Vol. 1 (New York, Robert
Carter and Brothers, 1859), I: 481 – 482.
34
Members of the New Haven Colony Historical Society led by Reverend Alonzo N. Lewis, commemorated The Campbell Memorial
in a ceremony attended by more than 400 guests on July 5, 1891. See, Monument Committee, Exercises At The Unveiling of the
Monument to Adjutant William Campbell (New Haven, Hoggson and Robinson, 1891), pp. 1 – 28, passim. See also, Goodrich, 47 –
48. Farnham, “The Day The Enemy Came to Town,” pp. 22 – 24;, William Smith A Detail Of Some Particular Services Performed In America,
Ithiel Town, ed. (New York, Ithiel Town, 1835), pp. 91 -96.
35
Farnham, “The Day The Enemy Came to Town,” p. 24
36
The entry in the First Battalion of Guards Orderly Book dated Philipsburg, July 24, 1779, first notes, “Sergeant Major Hill is
According to a contemporary British field manual, “The commanding officer of an advanced guard
is not to confine himself to the main body, but occasionally to visit the advanced, and flank patroles
that he may make his own observations, and trust as little as possible to the reports of others.” 37

With his Guards heavily engaged with the rebels on their left flank, Campbell’s response was right
out of the textbook. He spurred his mount up Milford Hill to see what was happening for himself.
That fateful decision cost Campbell his life.

One young man named John Johnson of Allingtown later laid claim to the bragging rights of
shooting Campbell in the chest. But Johnson was never really certain that he fired the fatal shot and
other accounts surfaced through the years that told different stories. 38

One thing most accounts do agree on is this: The mortally-wounded Campbell was carried to a local
home on the south side of the Post Road located just about on today’s main campus of the University
of New Haven. Another family -- coincidently also named Johnson -- owned the modest farmhouse
where Campbell was brought to die. This John Johnson was a 47-year-old farmer, married to Mabel
Thompson, and the couple had six small children at the time. 39

There are several conflicting accounts of what happened next.

In the versions recorded closest to the actual events, Campbell’s orderly is said to have laid the
wounded officer in a bed, then suddenly disappeared -- but not before stealing some of the
Adjutant’s personal effects. In other reports, Campbell apparently lived long enough to ask Mrs.
Johnson if she would send his plume, sash, and watch back to his family. Later chroniclers noted
these items were returned to Campbell’s regiment, but there is no record beyond oral tradition of
that actually happening. In fact, in one of the earliest accounts of Campbell’s death, his body is said
to have been found by the Johnson family already stripped of all but a kerchief that was pushed into
his wound to staunch the bleeding. 40

That kerchief is mentioned in still another account as bearing Campbell’s monogram, and it was
reportedly kept by the family as a memento, but has since been lost. Yet another version notes that
Campbell’s uniform turned up being worn by an unknown officer of the Milford Grenadiers.
That unit was formed shortly after the war and its uniform was likely modeled after the British

appointed Adjutant of the Second Battn. Guards, Vice Campell Killd.” Immediately following that entry is a new standing order: “…
that whenever the Army moves an Officer is to March in the Rear of Each Regimt in Order that if the next Corps does not keep up, he
may give notice to the Officer Commanding his Battn who will Halt till the Breach is Clos’d,” Orderly Books, First Battalion of
Guards, New York. (British), New-York Historical Society. See also, Malia, Visible Saints, pp. 131 – 136.
37
Regulations for the Exercise of Riflemen and Light Infantry and Instructions for Their Conduct in the Field, Printed for the War Office
(London, War Office, 1799). Also available at: http://www.britishbrigade.org/archives/adguard.html.
38
Townshend, British Invasion, p. 30. See too, Goodrich, “Invasion of New Haven,” p. 42. Among other versions, Erastus Colton has
Campell’s “assassin being riddled with bullets,” Colton, Historical Discourse, p. 12. In still another account, the shooter was reportedly
perched in a tree. See, West Haven News Record, September 2, 1929. Considering that there were 150 defenders at the crest of the hill,
it is impossible to determine with certainty who was the shooter.
39
Donald L. Jacobus, Ancient Families of New Haven, No. 17 (November 1927), Vol. V, No. 1: pp. 1044, 1045
40
The kerchief was supposedly kept by the Johnson family, but has been since lost. Goodrich, “Invasion of New Haven,” p. 43.
Townshend, British Invasion, p. 30.
Third Guards – for obvious reasons. 41

Campbell’s body, meanwhile, was wrapped in a blanket, placed on a sheep rack, and transported to a
hastily dug grave on the north side of the Post Road. With temperatures in the high 90’s, all the
victims of the Milford Hill battle were buried quickly. The Americans were later reinterred in their
respective church graveyards. The British and Hessian victims were simply left in unmarked graves
and forgotten, including Adjutant William Campbell. Campbell's grave, in fact, went unmarked for
the next 52 years. 42

In 1831, historian and artist John Warner Barber was so moved by the Campbell story when he first
heard it that he erected at his own expense a small stone to mark the officer’s approximate gravesite. I
say approximate because Barber relied on the memory of then 68-year-old Chauncey Alling, who
witnessed the Adjutant’s burial more than half a century earlier. Treasure hunters eventually made off
with so many pieces of the first Campbell marker by the 1870’s that only a small remnant
remained. 43

By then, the Adjutant had a new local promoter. His name was Harry Ives Thompson. A West
Haven native, Thompson was a gifted artist, avid genealogist, postmaster, and founding editor of The
West Haven Journal, a weekly paper that he used to launch a campaign in late 1873 to rename what
was then called Railroad, or Fourth Avenue, as Campbell Avenue in West Haven. 44

At the time, there was apparent talk of West Haven rejoining the City of New Haven. Thompson
felt his hometown needed to name its streets after something more dignified than numerals and
horse railroads. West Haven records make no mention of a public hearing or vote on the issue. But
the borough records do officially cite Campbell Avenue as a boundary of the Green in April 1874. 45

Thompson’s additional call for a proper monument in memory of Campbell also eventually
happened 17 years after its first suggestion. The Reverend Alonzo N. Lewis of the New Haven
Historical Society led a fundraising effort to install and commemorate the present Campbell
monument in West Haven on July 4, 1891. 46

Lewis also had the stone inscribed with the fifth beatitude – “Blessed are the Merciful” – in
recognition, so legend says, of the annual sermon the Reverend Williston delivered on the Campbell
affair. No such sermon has ever been found. 47

More than 400 people attended the unveiling ceremony – including one protester. They heard local
attorney Francis Cogswell deliver an often-cited historical address that mixed fact with fancy into the
41
Goodrich, “Invasion of New Haven,” p. 43. On Campbell’s uniform serving as a model for the Milford Grenadiers, see, Malia,
Visible Saints, p. 237; Monument Committee, Exercises at the Unveiling of the Monument...,” p. 12.
42
Goodrich, “Invasion of New Haven,” p. 48.
43
Monument Committee, Exercises at the Unveiling of the Monument...,” p. 12.
44
West Haven Journal, November 15, 1873; April 1, 1874.
45
West Haven, Connecticut Burgess Records, April 1874, mss., West Haven, CT City Hall.
46
For the origins of the Campbell Monument, see, Monument Committee, Exercises at the Unveiling of the Monument...,” pp. 3 – 4.
47
While no organized collection of Williston sermons is extant, summaries of many of the minister’s sermons do exist in the Thomas
Painter Family Papers at The New Haven Colony Historical Society. A review of those summaries failed to surface Williston’s legendary
sermon on the beatitudes.
makings of the Adjutant Campbell legend. As that legend grew in the years following the Revolution,
so did the number of people claiming to have some connection to, or personal information about,
the British officer. The result of so many versions and extraneous tidbits surfacing through the years
had predictable results: The few known facts concerning Campbell’s six or so hours of life in New
Haven were interwoven into a colorful quilt that have become more parable than history. 48

Which, of course, perfectly complemented the mindset of Puritan Connecticut in post-

Revolutionary Connecticut. A British officer responds to his better nature by saving the life a
Calvinist clergyman – a virtual “living saint.” The officer’s merciful actions – and his own subsequent
martyrdom – provided an irresistible opportunity for the Calvinists to preach the power of mercy
over might and the justice of the American cause over imperial rule.

Considering the leading proponent of the Campbell story – at least initially – was the Reverend Mr.
Williston himself… you have all the trappings of a Puritan morality play that also happens to be a
compelling story to boot.

In the final analysis, the durability of the Adjutant William Campbell story has much more to do
with us than it ever did with him. It is, in fact, a story as old as civilization itself. No matter the
uniform, the time, or the place – the crucible of war has always forged lessons that magnify the best
and worst in our human nature.

Throughout recorded history, we have celebrated war’s heroes, mourned its victims, and condemned
its traitors and villains. Like some primordial thread woven through the tapestry of civilization, these
are the legends that bind us together as humankind. They are the stories that seem to measure both
our worth and our failings as individuals, as a nation, and as a people. If they contain the stuff of
legend, so be it – they are still our legends and they are worth remembering.

In 1874, Harry Ives Thompson wrote an editorial for his paper in support of Campbell as the name
for what would become West Haven’s main street.

“For the sake of the comfort that good old Parson Williston was spared to experience with his family;
for the sake of the good he lived to do and the multiplied influences that have grown out of his labor;
for the sake of the pleasure we take in reading the account of the generous action, we are glad,”
Thompson wrote, “that Adjutant Campbell was numbered among the invaders of July 5, 1779.” 49

Two centuries later, we now know much more about this British officer and what may have
motivated him to do what he did. With the passions of that war now long behind us, we can salute a
man who, in doing his duty to king and country, also did not forget to be true to the better instincts
of his human nature. That is a story worth telling – and remembering – of a time when Connecticut
was at war for its independence.

New Haven Journal Courier, July 5, 1891.

48

West Haven Journal, April 1, 1874.

49