Tag Archives: Revolution

The Hartford Wits

from The Anarchiad  (1786-1787)

from The Anarchiad or American Antiquities: a poem on the restoration of chaos and substantial night (1786-1787)

Excerpt: American Antiquities. – No. IV. Extract from The Anarchiad, Book XXIII

by David Humphreys, Joel Barlow, John Trumbull, and Lemuel Hopkins  

Dr. Lemuel Hopkins (1750-1801), principal author of The Anarchiad, was known as an innovative physician who specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis, to which he prescribed fresh air and a healthy diet over old-fashioned “cures” such as donkey’s milk instead cow’s milk. (He later wrote a satirical poem entitled “Epitaph on a Patient Killed by a Cancer Quack.”) Having received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Yale in 1784, Hopkins was aligned with the Wits in both their intellectual and literary pursuits as well as their Federalist political leanings.  Continue reading from The Anarchiad  (1786-1787) →

The Hartford Wits

from The Conquest of Canaan (1785)

from The Conquest of Canaan (1785)

Excerpt from Book IX.
 

by Timothy Dwight

Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) was 13 years old in 1765 when he came from his home in Northampton, Massachusetts  to New Haven, Connecticut to attend Yale. His father, Major Timothy Dwight (1726-1777), who had graduated from Yale in 1744, was a merchant and farmer who served in the Massachusetts legislature. His mother, Mary Edwards, was the daughter of the formidable preacher Jonathan Edwards, a central figure in the First Great Awakening. Timothy Dwight was first cousins with the politician Aaron Burr.  Continue reading from The Conquest of Canaan (1785) →

The Hartford Wits

Addressed to my Friends at Yale College (1776)

Addressed to my Friends at Yale College, on my Leaving them to join the army (1776)

by David Humphreys, 1776

David Humphreys (1752-1818) entered Yale at the age of 15 in 1767. Brought up in Derby, Connecticut, he was the youngest of Reverend Daniel and Sarah Riggs Bowers Humphreys’ five children and he grew up surrounded by wealth.  During his freshman year at Yale, David Humphreys is credited with establishing “Brothers in Unity,” a literary and debate club that became popular in the 19th century. Humphreys made Boston his home when he returned to America in 1801. However, Humphreys still visited Hartford and introduced Spanish merino sheep to Connecticut, building a successful woolen mill near Derby.  Continue reading Addressed to my Friends at Yale College (1776) →