Middletown's Gen. Sage's Winter At Valley Forge

In the winter of 1777, General George Washington begins marching 12,000 soldiers of his Continental Army to Valley Forge.

The Continental Army arrived safely at Valley Forge on December 19, where they would face a winter of starvation, disease and death. While they suffered, the Prussian military advisor Frederich Wilhelm Augustus Steuben, also known as Baron von Steuben, drilled the miserable men in proper military discipline. Von Steuben joined the French-born Marquis de Lafayette and Baron Johann de Kalb as well as Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Count Casimir Pulaski from Poland in the effort to turn the rag-tag rebels into a well-trained regiment. Come spring, Washington would have a professional army with which to fight the British. Gen. Comfort Sage of Middletown served with George Washington at Valley Forge.

General Sage was also an early friend of Benedict Arnold. When Benedict Arnold was found to be a traitor, maddened crowds swarmed Middletown and hanged Arnold in effigy. During the excitement, Gen. Comfort Sage hid Benedict Arnold’s two small sons in his home on Cherry Street to protect them from mob violence.

Comfort Sage remained a close friend of George Washington, and many years after the war, he entertained Washington at his home in Middletown. The president had a noontime dinner at Middletown in the Bigelow Tavern, operated by Elizabeth Clark Bigelow, widow of Timothy Bigelow. (The tavern was torn down in 1826). The president then visited with General Sage and his wife, Sarah Hamlin Sage.

In the mid-1700’s, England, then in control of Canada, was having problems with the Catholic French-speaking peoples in Nova Scotia. Eventually, this resulted in large groups being deported to other English colonies. Connecticut received over 400 of these exiles. Sixteen were assigned to Middletown. While their religion made no impact on the town as such, a start had been made.

During the Revolutionary War, French troops, part of the assistance offered by the Marquise de Lafayette on their way to New York, camped at what is now Cherry and Washington Streets. Their officers were entertained by General Comfort Sage who lived on the site now occupied by the National Paint Company. No doubt, Masses were said, as was common with French troops.

National Paint

General Sage and Sarah had seven children. One of their daughters Hannah married Gurdon Saltonstall. General Sage and his family are interred in the Sage Mausoleum in Mortimer Cemetery off of Main Street in Middletown.
Sage Mausoleum

Information from the History Channel and Middletown’s City’s old website when it had the city’s history on it.

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