The Civil War

Connecticut’s Cotton
Connection
A Civil War Exhibit at the Mill Museum

THE PROJECT
The Windham Textile & History
Museum (the Mill Museum)
Founded in 1989,
four years after
the American
Thread Company
closed its
Willimantic plant.
Mission
The Windham Textile and History Museum (The Mill Museum of
Connecticut), located in the historic former headquarters of the
American Thread Company of Willimantic, Connecticut, is a
non-profit educational institution housing a museum, a library, and
an archive. Through its exhibits, programs, and collections, the
museum preserves and interprets the history of textiles, textile arts
and the textile industry, with special emphasis on the experiences
of the craftspeople, industrial workers, manufacturers, inventors,
designers, and consumers. The museum also promotes greater
understanding of major trends and changes in technology,
economy, immigration, society, environment, and culture that
shaped the history of textiles in Connecticut, New England, and
the United States from the colonial period to the present.
What to See and Do at the Museum
What to See and Do at the Museum
150th Anniversary of the Civil
War (1861-65)
How Could the Museum Participate?

 What was Connecticut’s cotton connection?

 Were people living in cotton towns MORE or
LESS likely to oppose slavery in the
Antebellum Era than people living in
communities not connected to cotton?
 When the war came, what were the reasons
men living in cotton communities joined the
Union army?
 What was the impact of the war on
Connecticut’s cotton communities?
Lead Curator: Bev York
What Did We Find Out?
Bibliography
 Beardsley, Thomas R. Willimantic Industry and Community: The Rise and Decline of a Connecticut
Textile City. (Willimantic: Windham Textile and History Museum, 1993.)
 Connecticut State Register and Manual. 1850-61. (For election results.)
 Eves, Jamie H., ed. A Builder’s Tale: Lloyd E. Baldwin’s Willimantic in 1850: Sketches of Early
Residences and Occupants. (Willimantic: Windham Textile and History Museum, 2009.)
 Hubbell, William Stone, and Delos D. Brown and Alvin Millen Crane. The Story of the Twenty-First
Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, During the Civil War, 1861-1865. (Middletown, CT: Stewart
Printing Co., 1900.)
 Marvin, Edwin E. The Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers: A History Compiled from Diaries and
Official Reports. (Hartford: Wiley, Waterman, and Eaton, 1889.)
 Morse, Horace J. Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteer Organizations, with Additional Enlistments and
Casualties, to July 1, 1864, Compiled from Records in the Adjutant-General’s Office, and Published by
Order of the Legislature. (Hartford: Case, Lockwood, and Company, 1864.)
 Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the Army and Navy of the United States During the War of the
Rebellion. (Hartford: Case, Lockwood, and Brainard, 1889.)
 Smith family papers. Norton collection. Windham Textile and History Museum.
 Strother, Horatio T. The Underground Railroad in Connecticut. (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press,
1962.)
 Tourtellote, Jerome. A History of Company K of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the Civil
War. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1910.)
 United States Census for Connecticut. 1790-1910.
 Warshauer, Matthew. Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice, and Survival.
(Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2011.)
 Willimantic, CT, street directories. 1887-1910. Windham Textile and History Museum.
 Willimantic Journal. 7 May 1858 (for Hosmer family); 17 January 1862 (population of Willimantic, list of
126 volunteer soldiers from Willimantic); 15 August 1862 (casualties of 5th C. V. I.)
Cotton and Slavery in Antebellum Willimantic

BEFORE THE WAR

Connecticut’s Cotton Mill Towns Were Economically
Dependant on Southern, Slave-Picked Cotton
 King Cotton
in the South
 Frederick Law Olmsted, The Cotton
Kingdom (1853)
 The significance of the Industrial
Revolution in the North (began 1793)
 The significance of the cotton gin
(1793)
 Eli Whitney
 Catherine Greene
 By 1830, raw cotton was the USA’s
major agricultural export
 Slavery strengthened and expanded
 By 1850, there were 4 million slaves
in the South, compared to only
500,000 free blacks in the entire USA
 Sold South: a massive migration
 While not all slaves worked with
cotton (which grew profitably only in
the Lower South), the majority:
 Lived and worked on plantations
 Did work in some way connected with
cotton
 King Cotton in the North
 After 1793, cotton slowly replaced wool
as the chief textile manufactured in the
North
 Cotton mills sprang up throughout New
England
 In Connecticut in 1850, most of the textile
mills were in the eastern and central
parts of the state; most of the factories in
the western part of the state were metal
mills (although Bridgeport’s and
Hartford’s sewing machine factories were
related to the production of cotton thread)
 In Connecticut in 1850, most of the textile
factories were cotton mills
 By 1830, cotton thread, cloth, and
clothing was the USA’s chief
manufactured export
 In the North, “free labor” (wage labor)
expanded, replacing indentured servitude
and slavery – the number of wage
workers was even growing at a faster
pace than the number of independent
family farmers! If King Cotton in the
South depended on slave labor, in the
North it depended on free labor.
Connecticut Had an Ambivalent Historical
Relationship with Slavery and Race
 Slavery in Colonial Connecticut
 Slavery existed in colonial Connecticut  Adam Jackson, a colonial Connecticut slave
 The first African slaves arrived in Connecticut in  Third generation Connecticut slave
1639, only a few years after the settlement was  Grandmother Maria (probably a West Indies
founded slave) arrived in New London in the late 1680s
 Native Americans were also sometimes on a West Indian trade ship
enslaved  Father John Jackson (Maria’s son) also arrived
 There were also indentured servants in New London in late 1680s on a West Indian
 Many colonial Connecticut families owned trade ship
slaves, although generally in small numbers  Adam was the property of Joshua Hempstead
 About 25% of colonial Connecticut ministers, (1678-1758), a prosperous New London
lawyers, town officials, and farmers owned farmer, shipwright, surveyor, stonecutter, and
slaves politician
 Most colonial Connecticut slaves worked in  Hempstead never owned more than one or two
agriculture, but some worked in seafaring slaves at a time
 Some colonial Connecticut slaves became free,  When Hempstead’s wife died, he never
although even then they did not have equal remarried, choosing to raise nine children by
rights with whites himself
 Connecticut had more slaves than any other  Adam arrived at the Hempstead home in 1727;
New England colony probably slept in kitchen or garret
 Slavery existed in Connecticut for more than  Adam generally assisted Hempstead with
chores
200 years, making it seem “natural” to many
Connecticutters  Mentioned on at least 50 pages of
Hempstead’s diary
Free African Americans in Connecticut

 Jackson family of  Hall family of

Willimantic Hampton
Connecticut Had Abolitionists, Anti-
Abolitionists, and “Free Soilers”
 Abolitionists: Abolitionism in Connecticut occurred in two stages.
 1780s-1830s: movement to abolish slavery in Connecticut (Noah Webster)
 1830s-60s: movement abolish slavery in the entire United States (John Brown,
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Prudence Crandall)
 Anti-abolitionists: In Connecticut, opposition to abolitionism after 1830 had
several causes.
 Economics: Connecticut cotton mills, shippers, and even farmers relied on
Southern slavery.
 Racism: Most Northern whites had racist attitudes about African Americans.
 Nationalism: Many Northern whites feared that abolitionism would divide the
country and destroy the Union.
 Party unity: Many Northern white political activists (especially Democrats, but
also many Whigs) feared that abolitionism would divide their party and allow the
opposition party to come to power.
 Based on anti-abolitionist rhetoric, nationalism and racism were the major
motivating factors.
 Free Soilers: From 1830 on, Free Soilers wanted to keep slavery out of the
North (including Connecticut) and West, but were willing to tolerate it where
it already existed (the South + Delaware). Their primary motivation was to
preserve jobs and farmland for white wage workers and small white family
farmers. (Abraham Lincoln fit into this category.)
The Methodist Melee on Main Street
Source: Jamie H. Eves, ed., A Builder’s Tale: Lloyd E. Baldwin’s
“Willimantic in 1850: Sketches of Early Residences and Occupants
(Willimantic: Windham Textile & History Museum, 2009).

“In the abolition excitement in which many of the old Methodists were
active participants, in the spring of 1837 a most notable outbreak
occurred at the old church. An abolition lecturer by the name of
Phelps appointed a meeting at the church to discuss the question of
the abolition of slavery. Some of the young hotheads, encouraged no
doubt by older ones who should have known better, determined to
break up the meeting, and proceeded in a body to the church, where
a rough and tumble scrimmage ensued, and the meeting was
effectively broken up. The civil authorities were called upon and the
riot act read by Deputy Sherriff Webb. The result was the arrest of
some fifteen or twenty of our citizens, quite a number of our staid old
farmers among them. Some of the most active participants were
fined, but most of them were discharged. Among the strong
abolitionists was Orrin Robinson, who was arrested and fined. He
refused to pay the fine, and Constable Hosmer started to take him to
Brooklyn [a town in eastern Connecticut and the location of the
Windham County jail]. Making an excuse that he had forgotten his
papers, he left Robinson in the road, supposing that would end it, but
Robinson kept on and the Constable overtook him and committed
him to jail.”
How the Cotton Mill Towns Voted
Connecticut in 1850
 COUNTY TOTAL POP FREE BLACK EMPLOYED IN VALUE OF FOREIGN METHODIST
(1850) POP INDUSTRY INDUSTRIAL BORN CHURCHES
PRODUCTS

STATE OF CT 370,792 7,693 47,800 $45,110,102 38,518 185

12.9% of pop

FAIRFIELD 59,775 1,465 7,770 $5,667,320 5,499 43

13.0% of pop

HARTFORD 69,967 1,260 11,716 $10,888,780 10,072 31

16.7% of pop

LITCHFIELD 45,253 1,031 3,475 $4,068,228 3,244 27

7.7% of pop

MIDDLESEX 27,216 289 2,646 $2,109,560 2,995 18

9.7% of pop

NEW HAVEN 65,588 1,429 9,933 $11,283,816 9,288 19

15.1% of pop

NEW LONDON 51,821 1,508 5,379 $5,624,978 4,774 26

10.4% of pop

TOLLAND 20,091 145 2,476 $2,697,042 982 12

12.3% of pop

WINDHAM 31,081 575 4,405 $2,770,378 1,664 9

14.2% of pop
Female Signatures on Anti-Slavery Petitions, by
State, December 1825 - March 1849
STATE Petition 23 Petition 24 Petition 25 Petition 26 Petition 27 Petition 28 Petition 29 Petition 30

MA 166 17027 110462 25186 6445 4116 12086 2883

NY 1486 1713 89083 2518 1205 2427 2309 4999

PA 690 13098 17252 8108 986 1443 2826 2338

OH 623 2793 19640 6477 1586 1208 1054 4933

VT 256 1798 22381 375 343 394 433

NH 1316 26109 5750 68 42 42 581

ME 761 6157 4965 252 459

CT 365 7582 2426 63 90 577

RI 5235 12073 190

IL 1086 586 194 1143 449 714

IN 760 271 421 234

MI 3502 152 152

NJ 1749

DE 29

WI 7 127 203

? 3554

TOTAL 3221 44106 318003 56670 10755 11206 20129 21623

Connecticut Mill Towns, 1850
COTTON MILL TOWNS WOOL, SILK, & LINEN MILL TOWNS
Canaan Bristol
Derby Derby
Glastonbury East Lyme
Griswold East Windsor
Hartland Glastonbury
Killingly Manchester
Manchester Mansfield
Mansfield Middletown
Middletown Montville
Montville New Britain
Naugatuck Norfolk
New Britain Norwich
New Hartford Plainfield
Norwich Simsbury
Plainfield Stafford
Simsbury Torrington
Stafford Vernon
Thompson Wethersfield
Torrington
Vernon
Voluntown
Wethersfield
Windham
Windsor
Woodstock
Elections for Connecticut Legislature
(Lower House), 1850-60
 The pattern:
 In 1850, Connecticut had two major political parties: the majority Democratic Party
and the minority Whig Party. Farmers were the core supporters of the Democrats;
businessmen were the core supporters of the Whigs. In 1854, a strong third party
emerged, the Free Soil Party, which captured some seats in the legislature
(although it had far fewer than either the Democrats or the Whigs). In 1855 the
American Party (the so-called Know-Nothing Party) arose, the Free Soil Party
declined, the Whig Party collapsed, and in 1856 the Know Nothings captured a
majority of the legislature. In 1857 the Know Nothings began to decline, and in 1858
they were absorbed into the new Republican Party, along with old Whigs, Free
Soilers, and antislavery Democrats. In 1860 the Republicans became the majority
party.
 Textile mill towns (cotton and other) were MORE likely to vote for Free Soil Party
(1854) and Republican Party (1860) candidates than an average Connecticut town.
 Farm towns and metal factory towns were LESS likely to vote for Free Party (1854)
and Republican Party (1860) candidates than an average Connecticut town [i.e.,
they were more likely to vote for Democratic Party candidates].
 In 1860, port towns were more likely to vote for Republican Party candidates than
an average Connecticut town.
 The core of Free Soil Party (1854) and Republican Party (1860) strength were in
eastern Connecticut – where most of the cotton mills were located.
1854: Connecticut Legislature: Lower House

OCCUPATION DEMOCRATS WHIGS FREE SOILERS PARTY UNKNOWN

Farmer 68 44 3 0

Lawyer 4 8 1 0

Merchant 4 7 3 0

Artisan 10 8 2 0

Clergyman 0 1 1 0

Manufacturer 4 11 0 0

Mechanic 10 6 1 0

Teacher 2 1 0 0

Physician 5 8 0 0

Mariner 1 2 0 0

Printer 1 0 0 0

Unknown 2 0 0 1
1860: Connecticut Legislature: Lower House

OCCUPATION DEMOCRATS REPUBLICANS WHIGS PARTY UNKNOWN

Farmer 44 82 0 0

Lawyer 6 7 0 0

Merchant 10 25 0 0

Artisan 7 12 0 0

Clergyman 0 0 0 0

Manufacturer 8 7 1 0

Mechanic 3 6 0 0

Teacher 1 1 0 0

Physician 1 2 0 0

Mariner 0 2 0 0

Other 3 0 0 0

Unknown 1 3 0 1
Windham, CT, legislators, 1850s
NAME POSITION YEAR OCCUPATION PARTY BORN

George S. Catlin Senator 1850 Attorney Democrat Harwinton

Alfred A. Robinson Representative 1850 Farmer Democrat Windham

William L. Weaver Representative 1850 Merchant Free Soil Democrat Windham

Elisha G. hammond Representative 1851 Farmer Democrat Hampton

William H. Hosmer Representative 1851 Farmer Democrat Columbia

Fred P. Coe Representative 1852 Physician Free Soil Woodstock

John Baldwin Representative 1852 Lawyer Independent Whig Windham

Giddings W. Keyes Representative 1853 Accountant Democrat Ashford

George Lincoln Representative 1853 Manufacturer Democrat Windham

John Webb Representative 1854 Farmer Democrat Windham

Waldo Bingham Representative 1854 Farmer Democrat Windham

Samuel Lee Senator 1855 Merchant American Windham

Chester Hunt Representative 1855 Physician American Whig Columbia

Vine Hovey Representative 1865 Farmer American Windham

Stowell Lincoln Representative 1856 Manufacturer Democrat Windham

William H. Hosmer Representative 1856 Farmer Democrat Columbia

C. B. Bromley Representative 1857 Physician Republican Lisbon

A. W. Jillson Representative 1857 Insurance Agent Republican Dorchester, MA

A. A. Burnham Representative 1858 Lawyer Republican Windham

John Clark Representative 1858 Merchant Republican Woodstock

Frank M. Lincoln Representative 1859 Merchant Republican Windham

Roderick Davison Representative 1859 Merchant Republican Maine

James Walden Representative 1860 Merchant Republican Canterbury

William Smith Representative 1860 Merchant Republican New London

Underground Railroad
 Metaphor for a series of escape routes leading to
Canada or Massachusetts
 Main lines
 Branch lines
 Conductors
 Stations
 Farmington: CT’s Grand Central Station
 Three main lines in CT: New Haven-Middletown-
Hartford-Farmington-Springfield; New York-
Housatonic Valley-Pittsfield; New London-Norwich-
Willimantic/Plainfield-Danielson-Putnam-Worcester
 Routes changed frequently
Willimantic Conductors

 Source: Horatio
Strother, The
Underground
Railroad in
Connecticut
 John Brown
 J. A. Conant
 J. A. Lewis
Willimantic-Area Soldiers in the Civil War

“AMONG THE GOOD AND TRUE”

Overview
 Thousands of men from eastern
Connecticut joined the Union armies,
including hundreds from the Willimantic
area.
 They joined for a variety of reasons.
 To save the Union.
 To preserve democracy.
 To halt the spread of slavery.
 To abolish slavery.
 For personal glory.
 For soldier’s pay.
 It was their duty.
 They were drafted.
 Unlike soldiers in most U.S. wars (but
similar to the Revolutionary War and
World War II), the vast majority were
civilians.
Overview
 Regiment = 1,000 men
 Regiments organized in
each state
 CT had 30 regiments
Gravestones
 The many Civil War
gravestones in local
cemeteries attest to the
large number of men who
served.
 Windham Cemetery, Old
Willimantic Cemetery,
North Windham Cemetery,
St. Joseph’s Cemetery,
Mansfield Center
Cemetery, etc.
 Most are official U.S.
Armed Forces veterans’
markers.
William Smith of Willimantic:
Irish Immigrant and POW
On August 19, 1861, just four months after
the fall of Fort Sumter and less than a
month after the first Battle of Bull Run,
at Willimantic, CT, William Smith – an
18-year-old cotton-mill worker born in
Ireland – joined Company H of the 7th
Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer
Infantry (CVI) as a private. He served
for the duration, reenlisting on Jan. 1,
1864. He was promoted to corporal on
May 16, 1864, and was honorably
discharged on June 19, 1865, almost
four years after joining up. It was a
miracle he survived. Not only did his
unit suffer appallingly high casualties,
Smith would be captured and
imprisoned in the notorious
Andersonville prison. He would serve in
two important campaigns: the liberation
of the Sea Islands and the Wilderness
Campaign.
Two battered cardboard boxes
That we know much of anything at
all about Smith is also pretty
much of a miracle. He was an
ordinary man, the kind that
didn’t publish memoirs, hold
political office, or inspire
biographies. He was literate,
but he didn’t write much. If he
wrote any wartime letters
home to his girlfriend Maggie,
none have survived.
But in the fall of 2010, two battered
cardboard boxes arrived at the
Museum….
An immigrant and a mill worker
Like many cotton mill workers, Smith was an
immigrant, born in 1843 in Tipperary,
Ireland. (In some census records, he is
recorded as having been born in New
York – perhaps that meant that he had
lived in New York before coming to
Willimantic.)
Among Smith’s surviving papers are his
citizenship papers; in 1872, he applied
for and was granted U.S. citizenship.
Little is known of his early life, of why he
came to America, or even why he was
in Willimantic in 1861. He does not
appear in the city’s 1860 federal
census. His parents do not seem to
have lived here.
His future wife, Maggie Bradshaw (also an
Irish immigrants) did live in Willimantic
in 1860, in a rented company row
house along with her parents, who also
worked for the Willimantic Linen
Company.
The Connecticut 7th
From Willimantic, Smith was sent to New Haven,
where his regiment was officially organized.
Like other regiments, the Seventh had 1,000 men
divided into 10 companies of about 100 each.
The regimental commander was Col. (later Major
Gen.) Alfred Terry of New Haven – a 34-year-
old lawyer, Republican Party activist, and
clerk of the New Haven County court. Terry
helped raise and organize the regiment, after
having fought earlier at First Bull Run. He
stayed in the Army after the war, serving as
military governor of the Dakota Territory. He
negotiated the Treaty of Fort Laramie with the
Lakota, led the relief column that discovered
Custer’s body after the Little Big Horn,
crossed into Canada to negotiate with Sitting
Bull, chased Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce,
and – in a later posting in Georgia –
denounced the KKK. He died in New Haven in
1890.
The Connecticut 7th
Second in command of the Seventh was Lt.
Col. Joseph Roswell Hawley, a lawyer,
ardent antislavery activist, and (at first)
Free Soil and (later) Republican Party
politician from Hartford. Like Terry,
Hawley had fought at First Bull Run.
After the war, Hawley reentered politics
and was elected first governor of
Connecticut and later U. S. Senator. He
would also own and edit the Hartford
Courant.
The Seventh featured volunteers from
throughout Connecticut, including
Redding, Ridgefield, and Southington,
as well as Willimantic, New Haven, and
Hartford.
Company H
Company H was comprised mostly of
men from northeastern
Connecticut.
The captain, John Dennis, was from
Norwich, as were the two
lieutenants, Theodore Burdick and
Gorham Dennis.
Two of the five sergeants were from
Willimantic or Windham, Charles
Wood and Charles Ripley.
Other men from Willimantic or
Windham included Corporal
Charles Hooks and Privates David
Cronan, Michael Flynn, Frank
Gallagher, Edmund Harvey,
Benjamin Sanford, Jerome Snow,
and John Walker.
The Connecticut 7th
From Willimantic, Smith was sent to New Haven,
where his regiment was officially organized.
Like other regiments, the Seventh had 1,000 men
divided into 10 companies of about 100 each.
The regimental commander was Col. (later Major
Gen.) Alfred Terry of New Haven – a 34-year-
old lawyer, Republican Party activist, and
clerk of the New Haven County court. Terry
helped raise and organize the regiment, after
having fought earlier at First Bull Run. He
stayed in the Army after the war, serving as
military governor of the Dakota Territory. He
negotiated the Treaty of Fort Laramie with the
Lakota, led the relief column that discovered
Custer’s body after the Little Big Horn,
crossed into Canada to negotiate with Sitting
Bull, chased Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce,
and – in a later posting in Georgia –
denounced the KKK. He died in New Haven in
1890.
The Sea Islands
 In addition to the better-known
campaigns to capture Virginia and the
Mississippi Valley, Union troops also
waged a campaign for the Sea Islands.
This was part of the Union’s “Anaconda
Plan” to strangle the Confederacy by
cutting it off from the rest of the world.
 Ironically, the Sea Islands were also a
source of much of the cotton that had
been imported into Willimantic to be
manufactured into thread.
 The hot, humid environment of the Sea
Islands was a tough place for
Connecticutters to fight – especially in
their heavy wool uniforms.
Sea Islands Campaign
 The Seventh was sent to the Sea
Islands.
 April, 1862: Fort Pulaski, GA.
 June, 1862: Fort James, SC.
 Oct., 1862: Porotaligo, SC.
 July, 1863: Morris Island, SC.
 Oct., 1863: Fort Wagner, SC.
 Feb., 1864: Olustee, FL. (Just a few
weeks earlier, in January, Smith had
reenlisted for the duration of the war.)
Drive to Richmond
 In the Spring of 1864, the Seventh was
ordered to Virginia, to join the Army of
the Potomac in the deadly Wilderness
Campaign. Smith was promoted to
corporal.
 May, 1864: Chester Station, VA.
 May/June, 1864, Bermuda Hundred,
VA. On June 2, Smith was captured.
Andersonville
 Smith was confined to Andersonville for
nine months.
 He was paroled on Feb. 28, 1865.
 He rejoined his old regiment and
company.
 But by then the fighting was over for the
Seventh. The regiment saw no more
combat.
 Smith was honorably discharged that
summer, when the war finally ended.
He was twenty-two.
The Cost of War
 Smith was lucky to be alive. He
survived seven battles/sieges and a
nine-month incarceration at
Andersonville.
 During the war, the Seventh had 11
officers and 157 enlisted men killed or
mortally wounded, and another lost
another four officers and 192 enlisted
men to disease, for a 36.4% casualty
rate.
 In 1890, Congress voted to provide
pensions for disabled veterans, and in
1897 Smith applied, citing a “partial
inability to earn a support by manual
labor.” In 1899 his application was
granted, when the Bureau of Pensions
declared him an invalid.
 Casualties for Company H, 7th Regiment, C.V.I.
 Capt. Theodore Burdick, Norwich, killed
 Lt. Charles A. Wood, Windham, killed
 Sgt. Charles H. Ripley, Windham, killed
 Cpl. Henry A. Bottomly, Norwich, died
 Cpl. Charles H. Hooks, Windham, disabled
 Musician Lewis Bradford, Sprague, died
 Wagoner Francis Marsh, Norwich, disabled
 Pvt. Jared A. Abell, Bozrah, killed
 Pvt. Joseph A. Brown, Eastford, died of wounds
 Pvt. Theodore D. Bowers, Willington, died
 Pvt. Patrick Donlan, Middletown, disabled
 Pvt. William S. English, New Haven, killed
 Pvt. Robert Erwin, Sprague, disabled
 Pvt. Michael Flynn, Windham, disabled
 Pvt. Allen Fry, Griswold, died
 Pvt. William J. Holland, Mansfield, disabled
 Pvt. Joab Jeffrey, New London, died
 Pvt. Lewis O. Palmer, Norwich, invalid
 Pvt. Arthur D. Pitcher, Norwich, disabled
 Pvt. Horace C. Rogers, Norwich, disabled
 Pvt. Benjamin Sanford, Windham, disabled
 Pvt. George Shay, Plainfield, disabled
 Pvt. George W. Smith, Norwich, disabled
 Pvt. Amos W. Taylor, Sprague, disabled
 Pvt. Perry Yerrington, Norwich, invalid
After the War
 After the war, Smith returned to
Willimantic and married Maggie
Bradshaw. He took a job at the
Willimantic Linen Company.
 He and Maggie had two children: Mary
(b. 1866) and William C. (b. 1869).
 In 1872 Smith became a U. S. citizen.
 For a while, the family lived with
Maggie’s parents.
 Sometime after 1870 Maggie died.
Smith never remarried.
 In 1880 Smith and his children lived on
Schoolhouse Hill.
 Later, when William C. was grown,
Smith moved in with him.
 Smith died in 1899 at the age of 54.
 Future Generations
 William C. Smith grew up to be a
barber in Willimantic. For a time, he
had his own shop. Then, later in life,
he became an overseer at the thread
mill. William C. was also an amateur
actor in local theater, including roles
in plays staged to raise money for the
G.A.R. He was a member of local
Catholic and Irish-American
organizations.
 Mary Ann Smith married into the
Meehan family and remained in
Willimantic.
 Two of Smith’s granddaughters
attended the Willimantic Normal
School and became teachers.
 His great grandson would own and
operate Lake Compounce
amusement park in Southington, CT
Captain Francis S. Long: Killed in Action

 Cotton mill workers James and Francis

(“Frank”) Long – father and son – also
joined the Union Army. James was 46
in 1861; Frank was 22.
 James Long was born in England in c.
1813. He immigrated to Rhode Island,
probably as a child. There, in c. 1834,
he married Jane, an immigrant from
Scotland. The family moved to
Willimantic in c. 1840. James worked
as an operative in one of the city’s
cotton mills.
 Frank grew up in Willimantic and
worked as a mechanic, probably in the
same mill as his father – although at a
more skilled job.
 James joined the 18th C.V.I. He was
discharged after three months, and
survived the war.
The Twenty-first Connecticut
 Frank Long enlisted in the 21st C.V.I.
on August 2, 1862.
 He entered as an officer, first lieutenant
of Company D, comprised almost
entirely of men from the Willimantic
area.
 Company D’s first captain was Charles
Southworth of Mansfield. Southworth
resigned his commission only a few
months later, in November 1862.
 Although Long succeeded Southworth
as company commander, he was not
promoted to captain until July 31, 1863,
when several others were also
promoted.
 One of Company D’s sergeants was
David Conant of Mansfield, a silk
worker, whose brother John had been a
conductor on the Underground
Railroad.
The Army of the Potomac
 21st organized at Norwich in early
Sept., 1862
 Sent to Washington to join Army of the
Potomac
 Dec., 1862: Battle of Fredericksburg
 Jan., 1863: Mud March
 Feb., 1863: 21st moved to coastal
Virginia, where it remained until Feb.,
1864, when it was attached to Grant’s
command in the Wilderness Campaign.
 In combat at Cold Harbor, Petersburg,
Richmond, Bermuda Hundred, New
Market Heights, and Fair Oaks. Also
participated in the occupation of
Richmond, VA, and Charleston, SC,
before being mustered out in June
1865.
 Capt. Francis S. Long was killed in
action at Petersburg in July, 1864.
Casualties and the 21st
 The 21st had five officers and 55  Capt. Francis S. Long, Windham, killed
enlisted men killed and mortally  Cpl. John D. Gaylord, Ashford, disabled
wounded, and one officer and 114  Cpl. Dwight P. Peck, Chaplin, died
enlisted men felled by disease, for a
17.5% casualty rate.  Pvt. John M. Brackett, Willington, died
 Also among the casualties was Pvt.  Pvt. Theodore F. Bennett, Mansfield,
Henry W. Thorne of Mansfield, KIA killed
near Drury’s Bluff, VA, in May of 1864.  Pvt. George H. Crosby, Mansfield, died
(His brother Edwin survived.)  Pvt. Patrick Dunn, Windham, invalid
No more the bugle calls the weary one  Pvt. George Edgerton, Ashford, died
Rest, noble spirit, in the grave unknown.
We will find you, we will know you,  Pvt. William Hulse, Mansfield, died
Among the good and true,  Pvt. Eli Jackson, Lisbon, invalid
When the robe of white is given
For the faded coat of blue.
 Pvt. Elijah F. Owen, Ashford, died
 Pvt. William Robinson, Hampton, killed
 Pvt. Frank Tucker, Franklin, died
 Pvt. Whiting S. Wyllys, Mansfield, died
 Pvt. Jonathan Weeks, Eastford,
disabled
Other Willimantic-area Soldiers
 Cpl. Caesar Hall of
Hampton, farmer, Co. H,
29th C.V.I.
 Sgt. William B. Hooper of
Willimantic, 1st New Jersey
Calvary, Congressional
Medal of Honor
 Gen. Nathaniel Lyon of
Eastford
Conclusion