Charity Leete’s Document Box

On June 18, 1781, three ships carrying 150 British soldiers landed at Leete’s Island, south of Guilford, CT. The British began setting fire to buildings as they advanced towards Guilford. Charity Norton Leete, along with her three children and nearly 40 other women, children, and elderly men, hurried to the woods and hid. Before she fled, Leete filled this box with her family’s silver and important papers. She carried it with her as she ran.

The Guilford militia staged a counterattack and the British retreated, but not before two Guilford men, Simeon Leete and Ebeneezer Hart, were killed in the battle. British soldiers had attempted to burn Leete’s house, but Guilford townspeople put out the fire before it spread. Leete soon returned home with her family and the stash of treasured items she had safeguarded in this box.

Charity Norton Leete’s box is in the Henry Whitfield State Museum in Guilford.