heard and fires were seen in the distance as if the British were coming. Beebe suspected this was a trick. So, he sent a small party by a back road to check it out and to cut off the retreat of this scouting party. They captured the culprits, who turned out to be young men from the town who had burned some cornstalks and were playing a joke on the people at the meeting to test their patriotism. A Great Jubilee Day Reverend Beebe organized A Great Jubilee Day on Monday May 26, 1783 in North Stratford, now Trumbull, commemorating the end of fighting in the American Revolutionary War. This celebration included feasting, prayer, speeches, toasts, and two companies of the North Stratford militia performing maneuvers with cannon discharges and was one of the first documented celebrations following the War for Independence and continued as Decoration Day and today as Memorial Day with prayer services and a parade. in May 1783 to commemorate the end of fighting in the American Revolution. The celebration included feasting, prayer, speeches, toasts, and two companies of North Stratford militia performing maneuvers with cannon discharges and was one of the first documented celebrations following the war. Notes References Reverend Samuel Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Volume 1, Fairfield Historical Society, 1886 Reverend Samuel Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Volume 2, Fairfield Historical Society, 1886 History of Trumbull Dodrasquicentennial 1797–1972 Commemorative Book, Trumbull Historical Society, 1972 Henry Phelps Johnston, The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781, Ayer Publishing, 1971 Charles S. Hall, Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons, Ostenigo Publishing Co., Binghamton, NY, 1905 E. Merrill Beach, They Face the Rising Sun, Trumbull Historical Society, 1971 E. Merrill Beach, Trumbull, Church and Town, Trumbull Historical Society, 1972 Dorothy Seeley, Tales of Trumbull's Past, Trumbull Historical Society, 1984 Jonathan Sutherland, African Americans at War: an encyclopedia Vol. 1, 2004 1717 births 1785 deaths American Christian clergy People of Connecticut in the French and Indian War Clergy in the American Revolution American theologians Yale University alumni People People of colonial Connecticut People from Trumbull, Connecticut Military personnel from Connecticut