David Wooster
WOOSTER, David, soldier, born in Stratford, Connecticut, 2 March, 1710;
died in Danbury, Connecticut, 2 May, 1777. He was graduated at Yale in 1738,
and when war between England and Spain began in 1739 he entered the provincial
army as lieutenant, and was subsequently made captain of a vessel that was
built and equipped by the colony for the defence of its coasts. In 1745 he
served as captain in Colonel Aaron Burr's regiment, which participated in
the expedition against Louisburg, and commanded the "Connecticut." which
conveyed the troops thither. From that place he went, in Command of a
cartel, to England. He was made a captain under Sir William Pepperell,
and received half-pay until 1774. He was appointed colonel in the 3d
Connecticut regiment in 1755, and later brigadier-general, and served
during the French war, 1756-'63. He was an originator of the expedition
that captured Ticonderoga in April, 1775, and afterward served in the
Connecticut assembly. On the organization of the Continental army he
was appointed one of the eight brigadier-generals, third in rank, and
served in Canada, where, after the death of General Richard Montgomery,
he held for a time the chief command. He resigned from the army, but
on his return to Connecticut he was made the first major-general of
the militia of that state. During the winter of 1776-'7 he was employed
in raising recruits and provisions for the force that was stationed
in Danbury, and was in command of that town when it was attacked by
Governor William Tryon's troops on 26 April, 1777. Tryon, fearing
that he might be cut off on his retreat, marched toward Ridgeway,
a parish in the town of Ridgefield, and when this movement was known
to the American commanders they separated their forces into two parts.
The largest. division, of 400 men, under Gold Selleck Silliman and
Benedict Arnold, was stationed in front of the enemy, while Wooster,
with the remaining 200, was sent to annoy the rear-guard. Arnold, on
arriving at. Ridgefield, constructed a barricade across the highway
between the house of Benjamin Stebbins and a ledge of rock to the
west of the road, and awaited the enemy's approach. The British,
after leaving Danbury, changed their course of retreat, and Wooster
hastened forward until he met the foe a few miles north of Ridgefield,
fell upon the rear of the British column, and, after a sharp skirmish,
took forty prisoners. He made a second assault about a mile north
of the Stebbins house. Several discharges of artillery caused the
American column to break, and Wooster endeavored to rally his men,
exclaiming, "Come on, my boys! Never mind such random shots!" But
a musket-ball pierced his body. He was taken to Danbury, where he
died a few days afterward. On 17 June, 1777, the Continental
congress passed a resolution that a monument be erected to the
memory of General Wooster. The sum of $500 was appropriated for
this purpose, but the money was never paid, and the grave of the
hero soon became unknown. A handsome monument of Portland granite
was erected to his memory in Danbury in 1854.
—His grandson, Charles
Whiting [Wooster], naval officer, born in New Haven, Connecticut,
in 1785; died in California in 1848, entered the merchant service,
and during the war with England armed the privateer "Saratoga," with
which he captured many prizes, acquiring a fortune. When the Chilians
in 1817 were trying to improvise a navy for capturing a Spanish
convoy that was expected in Callao by way of Cape Horn, Wooster
arrived in Valparaiso with his armed brig "Columbus," which the
government bought from him, and, under the name of the "Araucano,"
placed under the command of Wooster, with the rank of captain.
After a fortunate cruise on the coast of Peru and Mexico, his
vessel was sent, with the "San Martin," " Chacabuco," and "Lautaro,"
to capture a convoy of nine transports, escorted by the frigate
"Maria Isabel," which was expected from Spain in Talcahuano. On
28 October, 1818, they found the frigate in that port, and
captured her after a short struggle, Wooster being the first to
board her. In recompense he was given command of the prize,
and, with four of the transports, captured shortly afterward,
the Chilian fleet entered Valparaiso. When Lord Cochrane was
given command-in-chief of the Chilian navy in 1819, Wooster,
refusing to serve under him, resigned and took command of a
merchant-vessel. After Cochrane's departure, Wooster entered
the service again in 1822, taking command of his old ship, with
the rank of post-captain, and in the following year made a
successful cruise on the coast of Peru. He also took part in
the campaigns of 1824-'6 against the Chiloe archipelago. In
1829 he was promoted rear-admiral, and, for a long time before,
he had been practically commander-in-chief of the small Chilian
navy. He went in 1847 to California, where he engaged in mining
on Yuba river, but without success.
—Gen. Wooster's great-grandnephew [actually a first
cousin three times removed],
David, physician, born in Jasper, Steuben County, New York, 10
June, 1825, served as acting assistant surgeon in the United
States army during the Mexican war, being stationed in La Puebla.
He was graduated at the Cleveland medical college in 1849, and
in that year began the practice of his profession in Adrian,
Michigan. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, practiced
medicine, and was a miner on Yuba river until 1856, when he
removed to San Francisco. In 1861-'3 he served as surgeon
in the California volunteers in Arizona and New Mexico. From
1867 till 1871 he was United States special examiner of drugs
in San Francisco, and in 1871-'2 he was surgeon in the United
States marine hospital of that city, where he still [circa 1889]
practices his profession. In 1858 he founded "The Pacific Medical
and Surgical Journal" in San Francisco, which he edited four years.
Besides numerous contributions to this journal and to other
medical periodicals, he has published a brochure on "Diphtheria,"
the first publication in the United States on this disease (1859);
"Diseases of the Heart" (1867) ; a pamphlet on "Hip-Joint Disease"
(1876); and a "Genealogy of the Woosters in America" (San Francisco,
1885).