East Lyme’s Civil War veterans are honored with a 1926 monument in the historic Old Stone Church Burial Ground.
The cemetery, which was formed in 1719, also has a number of modern markers honoring the graves of residents who served in the French & Indian War, American Revolution, Civil War, and other conflicts.
The Civil War memorial consists of a bronze plaque mounted on a granite slab atop a small hillside in the cemetery. The plaque, on the monument’s east face, bears a dedication reading, “In perpetual remembrance of the men of East Lyme who offered their lives to preserve the Union.”
The plaque also lists the names of 91 residents who served in the Civil War, as well as its dedication date of June 14, 1926.
The relatively late dedication makes the East Lyme memorial one of the state’s last Civil War monuments with a dedication ceremony that could have been attended by veterans of the conflict.
Old Stone Church Burial Ground is at the intersection of Society and Riverview Roads in the Niantic section of East Lyme.
Source: East Lyme Historical Society
Capt. John Johnson (d. 1804), American Revolution veteran, and his wife Amy (d. 1806)
Additional headstone behind the Johnson graves
Reynolds Johnson (d. 1859), American Revolution veteran
Thomas Beckwith (d. 1770) and his wife Sarah (d. 1786)
Elisha Miller (d. 1779), French & Indian War
Frederick Clark (d. 1863), Civil War