East Lyme honors Civil War veterans with a memorial gateway at the entrance to Union Cemetery on East Pattagansett Road.
The memorial gateway features two granite pillars with bronze plaques on their eastern faces listing local Civil War veterans.
Both pillars bear a dedication reading, “Smith Gateway. Erected by the late Flora M. Smith in memory of her father, Frederick Malcolm Smith, Co. C 26th Reg’t [Connecticut Volunteer Infantry] and the following citizens of the Town of East Lyme who also volunteered for service in the Civil War 1861 – 1865.”
The south pillar bears 43 names, with symbols identifying about nine residents who were killed in the war, as well as those buried in the cemetery. The plaque also identifies African American troops.
The north pillar has similar information about 42 residents.
Eighteen East Lyme residents were killed during their Civil War service.
The plaques are undated, but were dedicated after Flora Smith’s death in 1923. Her father served in the 26th Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, who fought primarily in Louisiana in 1862 and 1863.
