Time
rolls away, great deeds live on
To stir the blood of coming years;
Men
come and go, and temples fall,
And
dust envelops with its pall
The handiwork of countless spheres.
And
he who treads heroic paths
Shall pass to join the knights agone,
But
each and every deed he wrought
Shall
live to crown the better thought
To build our future hopes upon.
We
aim for peace! It comes thro’ war,
Exalt the name of him who led
The
patriots forth to raise the land
From
‘neath the strong oppressor’s hand;
Immortalize the valiant dead!
June
22, 1904
Joseph
Spencer (October
3, 1714 – January 13, 1789) was an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Connecticut.
During the Revolutionary War, he served both as a delegate to the Continental
Congress and as a major general in the Continental Army.
Spencer
was born in East Haddam, Connecticut. He was trained as a lawyer and
practiced until 1753 when he became a judge. He was active in the militia,
serving in King George's War and as a Lieutenant Colonel of
the Middlesex militia in the French and Indian War.
By the time the American
Revolution began, Spencer had advanced to Brigadier General of
Connecticut’s militia, and in April 1775 he led them to support the Siege
of Boston as the 2nd Connecticut Regiment. In June, when these units
were adopted into the national army, he was made a brigadier general in the
Continental Army; he was amongst the first eight Continental Army brigadier
generals so appointed.
In 1776 Spencer was
promoted to major general in support of William Heath in the Eastern
Department. The following year his military career became difficult. He
cancelled a planned attack on British forces in Rhode Island and was
censured by the Continental Congress. He demanded a court of inquiry and
was exonerated, but when the controversy was resolved, he resigned his
commission on June 14, 1778.
Spencer
first served on the Connecticut Council (or state senate) in 1776. Free of
military responsibility, the state sent him as a delegate to the Continental
Congress in 1779. In 1780 he was returned to the council, and served there
until his death.
Twice
married, Spencer had sixteen children. He died in East Haddam and was buried in
Millington Cemetery west of the Millington Green section of East Haddam near
where he lived. Later he and his wife were re-interred at the Nathan Hale Park
of East Haddam and a monument was erected in his honor.
Monument photo:
Portrait:
Program:
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