Colchester, the eighth town in the colony incorporated before 1700, received its charter in 1698. Among its early settlers from Wethersfield was Nathaniel Foote, whose ancestors came from Colchester, England, and who obtained a deed for the land from the sachem of the Mohegan Indians. During the Revolutionary War, Colonel Henry Champion of Westchester became chief commissary of the Continental Army and, in response to an urgent plea from General Washington, rushed meat from his own cattle to troops near starvation at Valley Forge. Doctor John R. Watrous served as an army surgeon throughout the Revolution and later became Colchester's most prominent and benevolent citizen, making the welfare of state and town his prime interest. Bacon Academy, noted as an institution of higher learning in the 1800's, drew tuition pupils from all sections of the nation, and many graduates became men of national reputation. The first school for blacks in the state was held in Colchester from about 1805 to the 1840's. The Hayward Rubber Company, founded by Nathaniel Hayward and active from 1847 to 1893, brought the town its greatest prosperity through a nationwide business in rubber goods, especially the famous Colchester Spading Boot.