The 21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized in Norwich, Ct. in September 5, 1862. The regiment was organized after the Union defeat at the Second Bull Run and the Confederate invasion of Maryland. The unit left for Washington on September 11, 1862. According to the regimental history; “During the three weeks ending September 15th eight regiments of three years’ men left the state, to be followed by seven other regiments of nine months’ men before winter.”
The monument for the regiment is in New London, but the men came from all over central and eastern Connecticut. It appears from the foregoing that the regiment was made up as follows : Groton contributed 100 men, Hartford 94, Stonington 75, North Stonington 68, Middletown 61, Plainfield 55, Colchester 50, East Hartford, 50, Montville 45, New London 42, Mansfield 41, Norwich 37, Chatham 30, Voluntown 26, Ashford 20, Windham 18, Brooklyn 16, Pomfret 15, Glastonbury 15, Windsor 12, Sterling II, Haddam 10. Besides these, there were forty-four other cities and towns which contributed at least one man on up to ten. 83% were native born. Of the immigrants, “90 were from Ireland, 32 from England, 9 from Canada and the British Provinces, 8 from Scotland, i each from Switzerland, Denmark, France, Hungary and Russia.”
While many folks mischaracterize Union soldiers as “industrial workers,” this like many regiments included a fairly large variety of occupations. Seventy-nine occupations were practiced by the men of the regiment before they were mobilized. The biggest occupation was farmer, making up 42% of the recruits. According to the regimental history; “Of machinists and laborers there were 70 each, carpenters 53, factory operatives 35, clerks 34, sailors 26, blacksmiths 25, painters 19, teamsters 18, shoemakers 14, manufacturers, merchants, ship-carpenters, 12 each, moulders 10, students and masons 9 each, stone-cutters 8, butchers 7, tailors 7, carriage-makers, teachers, boiler-makers 6 each, dyers 5, together with fifty other employments including almost every kind of occupation in practical life, such as peddlers, tinsmiths, bookkeepers, platers, trimmers, powder makers, harness makers, marble-cutters, bakers, silversmiths, coopers, gardeners, cigar-makers, saddlers, firemen, paper-hangers, barbers, gun-makers, fishermen, ice-dealers, engineers, sailmakers, watch-makers, car-makers, , compositors, calkers, hotel-keepers, drummers’ tanners, railroad-men, paper-makers, newsboys, dentists, book-binders, lawyers, physicians, millers, postmasters, hatters, chemists, artists. Four only report no occupation. One reports himself a gentleman, and one only a bar-keeper.”
Arthur H. Button was commissioned Colonel of the regiment. Button had been educated at West Point and graduated third in his class in 1861. He was a captain of engineering before assuming command of the regiment.
The monument to the 21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment is located in Willams Memorial Park. The monument is at the intersection of Broad St. and Hempstead St. Just two blocks away is the similarly-named “Williams Park,” where Nathan Hale’s statue stands, so use the intersection to get to the right monument!
The monument was unveiled on October 20, 1898 by the State of Connecticut. The monument is dedicated to its “Citizen Soldiers.” Underneath the dedication it has the years the men served “1862-1864.” It is twenty-six feet high.
The dedication ceremony was held 33 years after the end of the war. When the regiment was ready to place the monument in the Town of Windham, the town board refused to place it where the regiment wanted and the regiment switched to New London. While some of the regiment’s veterans had died before the monument was dedicated, the Governor, Lorrin A. Cooke, United States Senator Joseph R. Hawley, Representative Charles A. Russell, His Honor Mayor Beckwith, of New London, and the Rev. J. M. Bixler, of New London all participated.
Above the dedication on the obelisk is the State Seal of Connecticut.
Commander of the regiment, Arthur H. Dutton, was born in Wallingford, Conn., November 15, 1838. His sister writes, ” From his mother, a native of Coventry, Conn., he inherited strong literary tastes, with a love for poetry and romance, which manifested themselves in early life. As a boy, he was of a quiet, retiring disposition, though fond of sports of all kinds, and later in life, while entering with ardor into the pleasures and amusements of youth, all forms of vice were distasteful to him. He was extravagantly fond of reading, and at the age of nine years was familiar with all the works of Shakespeare. A favorite amusement of his boyhood was writing plays, which were enacted by himself and his companions in a vacant bam. which they had converted into a theatre for the purpose. His early education was acquired principally in the public schools of Wallingford, though profiting by whatever advantage of private school the town occasionally offered. From the age of fourteen, he attended for two years the school of Mr. French in New Haven, after which he entered upon the two years’ course at the Yale Scientific School. This he left before graduating in order to accept the appointment of cadet at the United States Military Academy, tendered him by Mr. Clark, then Representative in Congress.” Dutton was killed in June, 1864 at Bermuda Hundred.
Above the seal are two of the battles that the regiment fought in, “PETERSBURG,” and DREWRY’S BLUFF.”
To the right, the obelisk memorializes “FAIR OAKS” and “SUFFOLK.”
The monument also memorializes “FORT HARRISON” and “RICHMOND.”
Williams Memorial Park is a small triangular park in a mixed neighborhood.
The final two battles recorded are “FREDERICKSBURG” and “COLD HARBOR.”
The park is in the Hempstead Historic Neighborhood. This was settled by English settlers in the 1670s. The Hempstead House was used by Abolitionists seeking to help escaped slaves. Since the 18th Century, free Blacks set up households next to white residents in this area.
John Winthrop, the governor of Connecticut is memorialized a few blocks away. He was sculpted by Bela Lyon Pratt. The statue is at Buckley Place off Hempstead Street.
Nathan Hale is two blocks away at Williams Park. Hale was a local resident who was hanged by the British in New York as a spy for Washington.
All color photos were taken by Pat Young. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view.
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