John Talcott

John Talcott (December 18, 1630 – July 23, 1688) was a politician and military leader in early colonial Connecticut.

For the Connecticut industrialist and philanthropist, see John Butler Talcott.

Early life and career
Coat of Arms of John Talcott

John Talcott was born Braintree, Essex, England in 1630 to John Talcott and Dorothy Mott. In 1632 the family immigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1632 and then moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1636. In Connecticut Talcott was elected as assistant magistrate in 1654 and then a deputy (representative, serving from 1660 to 1661. He then served as treasurer of the colony from 1660 to 1676.[1]

Military Career and Service during King Philip's War

Talcott began service in the Connecticut militia as an ensign in 1650 and then was eventually promoted to captain in 1660, major in 1673, and then lieutenant-colonel. During King Philip’s War, he commanded a joint militia force containing Pequots, Niantics, Mohegans, and colonists. From June 1676 through the fall that year Talcott pursued various Native Americans, including Narragansett women and children, throughout southern New England. He led his troops during several massacres and battles, including at Second Battle of Nipsachuck Battlefield where Queen Quaiapen and Stonewall John were killed in one of the few cavalry charges of the War.[2] To reward his service, the General Court gave Talcott along with John Allyn 700 acres of land at Hammonasset (an area that is now the towns of Clinton and Killingworth).[3][4]

References
  1. https://nativenortheastportal.com/bio/bibliography/talcott-john-1630-1688 (accessed 11/30/2021)
  2. Samuel G. Drake, The Old Indian Chronicle (1836) p. 98 (republished account from "A new and father Narrative of the state of New-England, being a further account of the BLOODY INDIAN WAR from March till August, 1676" (London, 1676))
  3. S. V. Talcott, Talcott Pedigree in England and America from 1558 to 1876 (Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company, 1876), 32-35.
  4. Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias, King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict (Woodstock, Vt.: Countryman Press, 1999), 63-64, 232-33.
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