Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, two of the judges who had signed the death warrant of Charles I of England, had fled to New Haven to seek refuge from the king's forces.

John Davenport had arranged for these "Regicides" to hide in the West Rock hills northwest of the town.

A third judge, John Dixwell, joined the other regicides at a later time.

An uneasy competition rules New Haven’s relations with the Connecticut River settlements centered on Hartford.

The colony had published a complete legal code in 1656, but the law remained very much church-centered.

A major difference between the New Haven and Connecticut colonies is that the Connecticut Colony permits other churches to operate on the basis of "sober dissent" while the New Haven Colony only permits the Puritan church to exist.

Following the issuance of a royal charter to Connecticut in 1662, the colony absorbs the colony of New Haven in 1664, fixing the number of the United Colonies of New England at four: ...