The First Congregational Church of Darien, est. 1744

Before 1741, when Middlesex Society was founded, some Middlesex residents traveled almost 10 miles to attend Sunday services in Stamford. In 1744, the congregation hired its first minister, Moses Mather, who led the church for 62 years.

A notable event that occurred here at the First Congregational Church, then Middlesex Meetinghouse is the Raid on the Middlesex Meeting. A unit of the Loyalist military, known as the Long Island Associators, developed a plan to capture Reverend Mather and the male members of his congregation during Sunday services. Reverend Mather was a strong advocate for independence and the Patriot cause, which made him a target on more than one occasion. The Associators used the cover of darkness from the new moon during the early hours of July 21st, 1781 to travel across the Long Island Sound and hide in the woods near the Meetinghouse until it was time to begin the raid. The raid was led and executed by Captain William Frost, Lieutenant Joseph Smith, and 36 Associator men. Unlike other raids in the area, these troops traveled in ships, not whaleboats, and soldiers may have worn uniforms or uniform pieces.

The raid began around 2:00pm in the afternoon, when the churchgoers gathered after their midday meal. A lookout alerted the congregation of the raiders’ presence, and a few young men escaped out the windows of the church, including two of Mather’s sons. The raiders took jewelry and valuables from the women, and lined up the men of the congregation, tying them together in pairs. There were 48 men captured. Within an hour, the Loyalists, 48 captured men, and their 40 horses were headed back to the shore to sail back to Long Island. During a period of waiting that is understood to be caused by some combination of delayed ships, waiting for the deeper water, and boarding the 40 captured horses onto the boat, some shots were exchanged between Associators guarding the prisoners and the Patriot militia and Connecticut men that gathered in response to the raid. It was night by the time the ships with the Associators, captured men, and horses started their journey back to New York.

The prisoners were kept in the Provost prisons - Jonas Weed was released in a week, but it wasn’t until October until any more of the prisoners were released. The final group of captured Middlesex men, including Moses Mather, spent over five months in the prisons, and were released on December 27th. At least two men died in or returning from prison and according to the poem Decent on Middlesex written by one of the imprisoned men, six men never returned to Middlesex.

Read more about the First Congregational Church on the Darien Heritage Trail marker in front of the church and scan the QR code for more information and oral histories available on the website.