Jeremiah Wadsworth

He declared the government of Connecticut to be in his own hands and that the colony was annexed to Massachusetts and the other New England colonies, and proceeded to appoint officers.

Captain Jeremiah Wadsworth, a patriot of those times, had hidden the charter in the hollow of Willis's Oak, whence it was afterwards known as the Charter Oak.

Then the English governor couldn't get it, exclaimed Malcolm delightedly.

Wasn't that splendid? It was a grand hiding place, certainly, for no one would think of looking inside a tree for such a thing as that, and they were grand men who preserved their country's liberties in those trying times.