New Haven Independent

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On April 24, 1775, after word of the battles at Lexington and Concord had reached New Haven, the local militia led by Arnold decided to march to Cambridge. But they needed powder. They went to the tavern where the selectmen were meeting and asked for the keys to the powder house. The selectmen and Colonel David Wooster at first refused. But an increasingly belligerent Arnold demanded the keys, which were finally handed over, and the militia headed up to Massachusetts.

The Second Company of the Governor’s Foot Guard has been commemorating this event since 1905. First, at 11 o’clock, they gathered for a memorial service at Center Church. After prayers and remembrances for departed Foot Guard members and a sermon, the company got into formation on Temple Street and marched down Temple, down Chapel, and up Church to the front of City Hall. (Police blocked the streets for them.)

When they got to City Hall, they reenacted according to an ancient script (read it here) the events of April 24, 1775. Arnold—played this year by Major Peter D. Laffin—told Lieutenant Jesse Leavenworth (Captain Gary W. Stegina) to get the keys from the selectmen.

Leavenworth went in the door of City Hall and came back with bad news: the selectmen refused their request. Arnold sent him in again, and he returned with Colonel Wooster (Brigadier General Louis J. Preziosi), who commended the men’s spirit but asked if it wouldn’t be better to wait for some legislative action.

Arnold replied that “haste is imperative.”

At this point, Ward 9 alderman Roland Lemar emerged from City Hall playing the First Selectman—in jeans and a sportcoat but wearing around his neck a set of enormous gold keys. (The part is normally played by the mayor, but Lemar gamely filled in because of an emergency in Mayor DeStefano’s family.)

The First Selectman said, “But this powder is not ours. It belongs to the Colony and we cannot give it up without a regular order.” Arnold replied, “Regular orders be damned. Give me the powder or I’ll take it,” leading the First Selectman to throw in the towel: “Captain Arnold, we believe you are acting hastily, but as you are determined to go, rather than have any further unseemly proceedings at this time where all men should stand together, we give you the keys.”

After the keys were handed over, a cannon was fired several times from a spot on the Green near the corner of Chapel and College, and the Foot Guard returned to the Green for a Battalion Review.

The episode is celebrated because we know that Arnold (at that point, at least) was on the “right side,” and his sense of urgency is seen as a virtue. But it’s a little bit disturbing to see civilian elected officials being overridden by a military leader with open contempt for the process of government. All that aside, Powder House Day is an only-in-New Haven event everyone should check out at least once. There is never much advance publicity, so you have to call around or check the Foot Guard’s web site to figure out when it is going to be.