The governor of Connecticut colony made it clear to General Thomas Gage when the British general first arrived in Boston in May of 1774, that he was not on the British Crown’s side. Governor Jonathan Trumbull, who had served as governor since 1769, also refused the request to assist made by General Gage after the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of 1775. Joining together in an effort to cooperate for the good of his Majesty’s service, as Gage had put it, was definitely not Governor Trumbull’s cup of tea.
General Gage was on a mission to disarm the colonist militiamen, while Governor Trumbull turned his country store into a War Office. Trumbull packed up boxes and barrels of his own merchandise and sent them via teams of oxen-pulled carts to the militiamen. No, Governor Jonathan Trumbull would not be assisting the British appointed military governor Gage.
Throughout the Revolutionary War, Jonathan Trumbull was a major supplier to the patriot army. He sent thousands of barrels of flour, corn, beef, pork and even herds of cattle. Ammunition, such as musket balls and powder, was supplied, along with cannons, more men and whatever was needed. Jonathan Trumbull earned Connecticut the nickname, “The Provision State.”
Trumbull’s reliability when it came to providing what General George Washington requested, earned him the honor of being declared, by George Washington, “the first of the patriots.”
After the war, Jonathan Trumbull became the Governor of Connecticut State, and served until 1784. He is one of two governors who served both before and after the Revolutionary War. Rhode Island’s Nicholas Cooke, is the other.
Jonathan Trumbull’s youngest child, John Trumbull, was an aide-de-camp of General George Washington in 1775. He is known as the “Painter of the American Revolution.” A number of his paintings relating to the American Revolution now hang in the rotunda of the United States Capitol. A statue of his father, Jonathan Trumbull is one of the statues from Connecticut in the National Statuary Hall Collection, also located in the U.S. Capitol.
Diana Erbio is a freelance writer and author of “Coming to America: A Girl Struggles to Find her Way in a New World”. Read more in her series Statues: The People They Salute visit The Table of Contents and the Facebook Page. (I’ll be adding to the Substack Table of Contents as I transfer the Blog Posts. Please subscribe to this Substack 😊🇺🇸🤓)
A governor standing up to tyranny. Gonna need more of those soon. Very soon….
Just have to luv those early patriots!🇺🇸👍