I was using Dave Pelland’s book on Civil War Monuments of Connecticut last weeks to find a site near where I watched a football game with my son Brian. I went to Darien.
Darien, Connecticut played an expected role in the mobilization for war in 1861, but by 1863 it had assumed a new role as one of the first veterans homes for the wounded of the Civil War. As the wounded began to die, burials took place at the Veteran’s Cemetery. The home was used for veterans until 1940 and it housed over 1,000 men. There are 2,184 veterans buried there from the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and Korea.
In the center of the cemetery there is a flagpole with a sculpture at the base. The monument was dedicated in 1936. It contains tributes to veterans who fought in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I.
On the west face you can see a Civil War soldier.
Across from him is a monument with the Gettysburg Address placed there in 2012.
In front of the Spanish-American war sculpture is a monument honoring Oscar E. Peck. Peck was born in nearby Bridgeport in 1848 and as a teenager he joined the Union Navy. He was a Second Class Boy serving on the U.S.S. Varuna in 1862 when he was about fourteen years old. Engaged in the attack on New Orleans he helped take Forts Jackson and St. Philip on April 24, 1862. His ship was in a fight with the C.S.S. Governor Moore and was sunk. Peck was awarded the Medal of Honor. The citation read:
Acting as powder boy of the after rifle, Peck served gallantly while the Varuna was repeatedly attacked and rammed and finally sunk. This was an extremely close-range action and, although badly damaged, the Varuna delivered shells abaft the Morgan’s armor.
Peck is buried nearby.
Behind the monument to Peck is a statue of a Spanish-American War sailor.
On his right is a World War I soldier.
Many of the graves around the flagpole are those of Civil War veterans. A large number came from the soldiers’ home in Darien.
Called the Fitch’s Home for Soldiers and their Orphans it was begun in 1863 and was dedicated on July 4, 1864. It was named after Benjamin Fitch, one of the wealthiest men in America. He initially made his fortune with a chain of dry goods stores. He added to it by investing. When the Civil War broke out, Fitch recruited and paid to equip a local regiment. When local men came back wounded to Darien from Virginia, Fitch donated land and money to start one of the first soldiers’ homes for wounded men. Here is a drawing of the home in 1864:
When the site was dedicated in 1864, The Hartford Courant reported on July 7 that:
“It is proposed to raise for the permanent endowment of the Home, a sum of $100,000, and to provide for the support of upward of 80 disabled soldiers, and the support and education of their children.”
Lt. Gen. Ulysses Grant wrote to Fitch on Nov. 7, 1865:
“I cheerfully recommend the Institution you have founded to the good will and solid support of all our countrymen, as I know the sympathies and beneficence of all good men must be given to so great and worthy a charity,”
Fitch continued to support the home until he died in 1883. Several years later the State of Connecticut took over running the facility. In 1940, just a year before the United States entered World War II, the Fitch Home was closed and the 561 veterans in residence were moved to a new facility in Rocky Hill, Ct. Of those moved, there was one surviving Civil War veteran.
Fitch did not grow up in a happy home. His mother took the unusual step of filing for divorce because her husband abused her, beating her repeatedly. As a young man, Fitch settled along the Erie Canal and he went into the dry goods business. He opened stores in Rochester and Buffalo and soon thereafter in Chicago. As he became wealthy, he moved to New York City where he invested in real estate and owned theaters. In the 1850s, Fitch built a home for his mother in Darien Connecticut. While he donated to charities in New York and Buffalo, after the Civil War, Fitch devoted most of his resources to provide for the veterans of Connecticut.
The home also included a library and a chapel in addition to housing. . The library was filled with original oil paintings.
In 1882, the Courant published a letter from a veteran at the home. It said “The Home is now open for the admission of disabled soldiers of good character under proper restrictions, who will, through the generosity of the donor, be supported without expense and the last days of their lives be made happy by [Fitch’s] patriotic impulses and far-sighted liberality.”
Below is an 1866 illustration of the grounds that appeared in Harper’s Weekly:
Harper’s also published an illustration of the classroom where the children of soldiers were educated.
The same issue published an illustration of the facility’s dining room with children eating their dinner:
There was also a statue of a cavalry soldier returning home to be reunited with his daughter: When the veteran’s home was moved to Rocky Hill, the statue was moved along with it and it still exists!
This 19th Century photo shows the grounds with the “Returned Soldier” statue in the center:
There was racial integration at the soldiers’ home. 3.1% of the veterans housed there were African Americans, exceeding the percentage of Blacks in Connecticut. Most were members of the 29th Connecticut, an all-Black enlisted men regiment. This unit was organized in New Haven with Blacks from throughout the state. At the time African Americans made up less than 3% of the state’s population.
Isaac Smith of the 11th Connecticut Volunteers is one of the many graves here.
Nearby is John Storey of the 13th Connecticut Volunteers.
A small traffic island in the center of the veterans’ graveyard hold the sculpted flagpole.
Not all the graves contain Connecticut soldiers. Here is James Van Orden of the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery.
The veterans cemetery is now contiguous with Spring Grove Cemetery.
Note: All color photos in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
