Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/153

DELAWARE COUNTY. 129 sundered the wretclied body, one part to the zenitli, the other to the nadir — ^ Beacraft, it is for coming again to the bosom of that country, upon which you have spit the venom of hate, and thus added insult to injury, never to be forgotten/ Here they untied him, vfith this injunction — to flee the country, and never more return to blast with his presence so pure an atmosphere as that where liberty and independence breathe and triumph — with which it was supposed he com- plied, as he has never been known in these parts since. He expressed his gratitude that he had been so gently dealt with ; acknowledging his conduct to have been worthy of capital punishment. The capture of the scout under Colonel Harper, was the last incident of note that occurred in Harpersfield during the war ; it was at that time completely destroyed by Brant, and -at the close of the war hardly a vestige of the former settle- ment remained. Isaac Bennet, of Stamford, says his father was in Stamford before the war, and helped survey the township of New Stam- ford ; that he bought a farm in the township, and afterwards finding a piece of land near the Cook-house that suited him better, he exchanged farms. At the latter place there were a few families just commencing a settlement. Daniel Bennet and Abijah, his son, (the residue of the family being in Con- necticut,) joined them some time previous to 1780, and were taken prisoners with others, the same spring that the Harpers were, but not by the same party ; were taken to Oneida^ and there remained for three months. From thence they were taken to Canada, and were absent four years and five months before they returned to Connecticut, their native place. The elder Bennet was a tailor by trade, and he was employed in making clothes for the king's troops ; the younger Bennet was a drummer. In the winter of 1786, this family of Bennets settled in