Civil War Remembrances in Winsted, CT

It's been a busy few days for us attending the Civil War commemoration ceremonies. It was actually a celebration of the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Winsted Soldiers' Monument. 

My husband, George, is a Civil War buff. I am okay tagging along, some things are interesting to me and some are not. It always seems that there are a couple of little things that jump out at me and then my mind wanders wanting to know more about those things and I tell myself I will research more when I have a chance.

Over the last few days we have attended a cemetery walk where we were told about the local men who signed up for the Civil War from Winsted, at another venue we heard Lincoln speak, attended a book talk at Whiting Mills (our first time there), were entertained with music from the Civil War at the library and attended the ending ceremony at the monument.

The highlight of these days for me, was seeing Howard Wright as Abraham Lincoln once again. It made us feel as if we were in the presence of Lincoln and enlightened us to his humor and his intelligence and made us long for such a great president again. I hope to write another post about Lincoln later as it brought up many good points relevant to today.

It was interesting hearing a local author, John Banks, from Avon, CT speak about his very specific book, "Connecticut Yankees at Antietam". My husband is most fascinated by Antietam, so this is up his alley. Mr. Banks has a second book on Connecticut and the Civil War coming out soon.

We almost didn't go to the "Greatest Hits of the Civil War' held at the Beardsley & Memorial Library but we made it and it was quite entertaining. Rick Spencer has a soothing voice and played banjo and guitar. He told the history of the songs singing ones representing both sides of the war. He does other historic period songs and we would go see him again.

There was a good turnout for all these events, but it all paled in comparison to realize that almost 20,000 people were at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument in 1890. They came from all over the state via special trains. 

A couple of things we noted, Winsted is one of three towns in Connecticut that have three civil war monuments. Also the Soldier's Monument is the 2nd highest in the state, beat out by the Arch in Hartford. I can remember my high school days at Gilbert on the third floor being able to see the statue off in the distance. My husband thinks it probably can no longer be seen from there. I will have to find out. It lent itself to daydreaming in English class. 

If I were a Civil War buff, I could say so much more, but I can only mention a couple of items that made me ponder. I believe it was William F. Cogswell that our cemetery guide told us was actually from Barkhamsted and that he was a black man but was enlisted in a white regiment. I find it curious that there was a black family in Barkhamsted back then and wonder how they came to live here. 

Another thing that was mentioned in passing but took up residence in my mind was that there were orphanages that were opened because of the Civil War. I am curious how many orphans the war produced but have not yet found any numbers on line but there were several orphanages. Sadly, some children had not lost both parents, but in some cases, the mother may not have been able to bring them up without a husband and gave them up to the orphanages. I will have to read more on this, but from what I have read, these were not like the ones negatively portrayed in movies. 

Now, I have your mind wandering like mine did. I will leave you now with more pictures of the festivities.

The Gilbert School Band marching up the steps to the monument.

Civil War Reenactors entering

Happy Birthday, Soldiers' Monument!

Vintage Baseball

Tonight we had the fun experience of watching a vintage baseball game. We had heard that there were teams that played in vintage costumes via vintage rules and were delighted when we found out that they would be playing in Torrington at Fuessenich Park. We got to see the Simsbury Taverneers vs. the Connecticut Picked Nine from Woodstock.

It was a fun evening and the entertainment was enhanced by the presence of President Abraham Lincoln (Howard Wright) who threw out the first pitch and local Civil War round table members who came in period costumes. Performer Thomas Hooker Hanford sang the Star Spangled Banner and entertained between innings. It has now come back to me that we have heard this talented singer years ago and I remember how impressed we were then with his smooth voice. Tonight he entertained with period songs including "Beautiful Dreamer" and of course, "Take me out to the Ballgame". President Lincoln  also told a couple of stories in between the innings. We have also been fortunate enough to have seen Howard Wright give a presentation as Abraham Lincoln in the past. He has been doing it for years and extremely well.



Abraham Lincoln on the ball field.



Thomas Hooker Hanford singing the "Star Spangled Banner"

The rules were told to us as things happened during the game. These brave players played without baseball mitts and one even played without shoes. The ball was leather and the bats larger than those used now. There were women on the team too.



barefoot player comes home
 

The terms (pitcher was the hurler, catcher was the behinder, just a couple for example) were fun to learn. It was also entertaining seeing them play by these old fashioned rules. If a ball bounced and was caught on the first bounce, it was an out. They could also do some trickery moves--like throwing an onion and not the ball to fake out the other players.

Rather than telling you all about it, I highly recommend you attend one of these extremely entertaining games if you have the chance. I appreciate the players who have kept this living history alive.

We sat behind Abraham Lincoln. Felt funny sitting behind him and "shooting" his picture.



These ladies sat in front of us too.



Thomas Hooker Hanford