Moses Mather: Captured not once, but twice!

About an earlier Tory raid—and its tragic consequence.

Following a Tory raid on the town meetinghouse on July 22, 1781, the Reverend Moses Mather and forty-seven men were transported across the Sound.  Dr. Mather spent five mon

ths in a British prison in New York City before being returned home.  If you go to the Darien Town Hall, you will find a painting depicting the raid.  And at the Congregational Church at the corner of Brookside and the Post Road, you will find a plaque commemorating that raid.

But that was not the first time Moses Mather had been captured by Tories.

From Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College (Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1885): “[Moses Mather] was an earnest patriot, and thus made himself especially obnoxious to the Tories of his neighborhood; in August, 1779, he was taken from his own house, with four of his sons, and was held in captivity at New York for about five weeks…”

From the Darien Review, Sept. 27, 1918: “His sermons were entirely too rigorous and in 1779 his home was surrounded and he was made a prisoner.  Here is what the Connecticut State Journal Sept. 8, 1779, said of his return:

‘The Rev. Moses Mather has lately returned from captivity in New York with two of his sons.  He was taken from his house five weeks ago with his four sons by a gang of Tories five of whom were his own parishioners.  The other two sons have not been exchanged.’”

Tragically, one of those sons did not survive the imprisonment.  In Brookside Cemetery is the grave of Moses Mather Jr.  His gravestone reads “In Memory of Mr. Moses Mather the Son of Rev. Moses Mather, he died Sept. 27, 1779 AE 19”

On FindaGrave you’ll find the accompanying information:

“On August 8, 1779 eight Tories, five of whom were Dr. Mather's former parishioners, broke into his home at 68 Brookside Road, now demolished, and captured him as well as…his sons. They were imprisoned in New York City for five weeks until Moses and two of his sons were released…19-year-old Moses, died in prison on September 22. His body was brought back for burial.”