The CT Post reports planned renovations to the magnificent Winchester Soldiers Monument in Winsted are on hold because $100,000 in a dedicated fund appear to have been stolen by a former finance director accused of stealing at least $2 million from the town.
Category Archives: Civil War
1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery Band, 1865
1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery Band, 1865
The First Connecticut Heavy Artillery band at Fort Darling, Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia, in April of 1965.
The full-resolution image is available at the Library of Congress.
29th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, 1864
29th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, 1864
The 29th Regiment, comprised primarily of African American volunteers, is pictured in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1864.
The regiment is also honored with monuments in New Haven and Danbury.
The original image is available at the Library of Congress.
First Connecticut Battery, May 2, 1863
First Connecticut Battery
Near Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
The full image, in a variety of resolutions, can be viewed at the Library of Congress.
First Regiment Connecticut Heavy Artillery, 1862
First Regiment Connecticut Heavy Artillery
This undated image detail shows the First Regiment Connecticut Heavy Artillery, at Fort Richardson in Arlington, Virginia.
The First Heavy Artillery was formed in the spring of 1861 as the Fourth Volunteer Infantry. In January, 1862, the regiment was converted into a heavy artillery unit.
At Fort Richardson, the regiment participated in the defense of Washington, D.C.
When the Peninsula Campaign began in March of 1862, the First CT was deployed and participated in several engagements. The regiment returned to the defense of Washington and later was involved in fighting near Fort Fisher, N.C., as well as the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond.
The unit mustered out in September, 1865, after more than four years of service.
The full image, in a variety of resolutions, can be viewed at the Library of Congress.
Third Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 1861
Third Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 1861
In honor of Veterans’ Day, we’re going to run images of selected Connecticut Civil regiments from the Library of Congress this week.
Our first image (which you can click to enlarge) depicts the Third Connecticut Regiment Infantry, which served for three months at the beginning of the Civil War.
(Based on early (and overly optimistic) expectations that the Confederacy would be defeated quickly, members of early regiments enlisted for only 90 days.)
In a detail section from a larger image, one of the regiment’s companies is pictured during their training at Camp Douglass in Chicago. (The facility was initially used as a training ground, and became a Confederate prison camp in 1862.)
The regiment left Hartford in May of 1861, and participated in the first Battle of Bull Run in July. The unit mustered out in Hartford in mid-August.
Among the regiment’s officers was Douglas Fowler, a Guilford native and Norwalk locksmith who would later re-enlist in the 8th volunteer infantry regiment, and muster out in February 1862, and then he joined the 17th volunteer infantry regiment. Fowler was commanding the 17th when he was killed in Gettysburg during the battle’s first day.
The full image, in a variety of resolutions, can be viewed at the Library of Congress site.
Abraham Lincoln Statue, Hingham, Massachusetts
A monument to Abraham Lincoln in Hingham, Mass., honors an ancestral connection between the president and the town.
Lincoln’s early relatives, including his great-great-great-great grandfather Samuel, were among the English settlers of Hingham.
The Lincoln statue, on a green near Samuel Lincoln’s home on Lincoln Street, was dedicated in 1939. The south face of the monument’s base bears an inscription with the “With malice toward none, with charity for all” excerpt from Lincoln’s second inaugural address in 1865.
The north face bears a dedication to the family of Everett Whitney, a local lumber dealer who funded with statue with a $30,000 donation (more than $492,000 in today’s dollars) bequest.
The sculpture was created by Charles Keck, whose other works include a Harry S. Truman bust in the U.S. Capitol, the Father Francis P. Duffy statue in New York’s Time Square, the bronze USS Maine plaque that was mounted in nearly 1,000 locations and numerous other works.
A memorial near the north end of the green honors Benjamin Lincoln, another descendent of Hingham’s settlers. Benjamin Lincoln served as a major general during the American Revolution, and accepted the British surrender at Yorktown. He also served as the first secretary of war of the United States.
Memorial Cannon, Stafford Springs, CT
Stafford Springs honors its Civil War veterans with a large cannon in Stafford Springs Cemetery on Monson Road (Route 32).
The cannon, dedicated in 1897, bears an inscription on its south (left) face reading, “A tribute to the patriotism of the men who went to the defence of the country from Stafford in the War of the Rebellion. The present bequeaths to the future the remembrance of the heroic past.”
The west face has an inscription reading, “Veterans 1861-1865.”
The north face bears an inscription reading, “Erected by Winter Post No. 44, G.A.R., assisted by the Woman Relief Corps, and the Sons of Veterans in honor of their comrades. Dedicated May 30, 1897.”
The north face of the monument’s base also highlights the donation of the surrounding veterans plot by Orrin Converse, a local attorney and officer of the Stafford Springs Savings Bank.
The cannon, a 32-pounder Rodman Gun, was cast in 1850.
War Memorial, Hinsdale, Mass.
Hinsdale, Massachusetts, honors its war veterans with a memorial outside the town’s library.
The monument, near the intersection of South Street (Route 8) and Maple Street (Route 143), was dedicated in 1923 and features a Civil War cannon.
A dedication plaque on the northeast face of the monument’s base reads, “This memorial was erected by the Town of Hinsdale and dedicated May 30, 1923. The Civil War tablet and the cannon and balls used in the Civil War, are the gift of Francis E. Warren, soldier and statesman, United States Senator from Wyoming, a native of Hinsdale, award [the] Medal of Honor as follows; ‘Volunteered in response to a call and took part in the movement that was made upon the enemy’s work under a heavy fire therefrom in advance of the general assault.’”
A plaque on the southwest face lists Hinsdale’s World War II veterans in four columns.
A plaque on the northwest face honors veterans of the American Revolution, Spanish-American War, World War I, and fighting along the Mexican border in 1916.
A plaque on the southeast face honors Hinsdale’s Civil War veterans.
The cannon was used in the siege and battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana. Warren, who also served as governor of Wyoming, was honored for his actions during that battle and donated the cannon to Hinsdale. A U.S. Air Force missile base in Wyoming is named after Warren.
The cannon’s carriage was replaced during a restoration of the monument in 2006.
Thanks to Mom and Dad for the images in this post.
Soldiers’ Monument, Centerville, Mass.
One of the oldest Civil War monuments in Massachusetts stands on a small green in the Centerville section of Barnstable.
The Soldiers’ Monument in Centerville, a granite obelisk dedicated in July of 1866, stands near the intersection of Main Street and Park Avenue, and is one of several veterans’ memorials on the green.
The Civil War monument’s front (north) face lists eight names of of local residents who died during their Civil War service. The men ranged in age from 19 to 47.
The north face also bears a shield bearing the monument’s 1866 dedication date.
The west face bears seven names of Civil War heroes ranging in age from 17 to 45, as well as a decorative trophy featuring crossed swords and an inscription reading, “They died for their country.”
The south face bears nine names, ranging in age from 18 to 51, and a shield with an inscription reading, “Erected by the Town of Barnstable.”
The east face lists eight names, ranging from age 16 to 27.
To the north of the Civil War monument, Centerville’s two dozen World War I veterans are honored with a bronze plaque on a boulder that was dedicated in 1927.
Near the southern end of the green, contemporary monuments honor Centerville’s veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
