Ansonia, Ct. is a small city of 19,000 inhabitants. At the time of the Civil War, the area had fewer than 3,000 people. The Soldiers Monument was dedicated in 1876, a relatively early erection by a small city. It was placed in a corner of of Pine Grove Cemetery at 71 Howard Avenue. The monument was dedicated on May 30, 1876.
At the dedication, the parade led off with the Ansonia Band and the Civil War veterans of Kellogg Post No. 26, G.A.R.. They were followed by two Irish immigrant organizations and a tea totaler groups. Because the peace had only been secured a decade before, many of the people viewing the parade were overcome by grief for those young men who never came home again.
The person in charge of putting the monument together was M.J. Walsh. The sculptor was Galvano Plastice. The monument is in the middle of four 10 1/2″ artillery pieces.
Ansonia was first settled by Europeans in 1652. It sits upon the Naugatuck River which made it a useful spot to load farm produce for shipment to the cities along Long Island Sound. In the 1840s, a canal was built to power industry like a sawmill. In 1845 the Ansonia Copper and Brass company began its production and it played an important role in keeping the Union supplied with armaments.
During the war, Ansonia had not been designated a city yet and it was still administered by nearby Derby. Many of Ansonia’s men joined units with men from Derby. The first unit to enter the war was the “Derby Blues.” This company of 82 men started drilling in 1860 in anticipation of the conflict. Young men in the area also formed a post of “The Wide Awakes,” a Republican quasi-military organization. Both the Blues and the Wide Awakes frequently marched through the middle of the town.
After the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, a meeting was convened in Derby in which a thousand people showed up. The area recruited men for the Second Connecticut Infantry Regiment and an entire company was formed. Later men from the town joined the 6th and 10th Connecticut regiments. Recruits from the town also joined the First Connecticut Cavalry Regiment, the Third Independent Battery of Artillery, and the First Regiment of Heavy Artillery. Men from the area joined more than a dozen other units of the Union Army.
The ten inch guns that surround the monument are appropriate since more than 20% of the men of the town served in the heavy artillery.
The figure on the pedestal is unusual because most town that erected a single statue put up an infantryman. Here in Ansonia the figure is an artilleryman. The artilleryman was originally facing South but he was repositioned to face North when a new entryway was opened.
The Parrott Rifle shown here would be the “heavy artillery” that was used to protect forts especially around Washington.
The rear of the monument says that:
Ansonia’s Tribute
To the Memory of Her Sons
Who Gave Their Lives
To Their Country
In the Rebellion Of
1861. – 1865.
Originally this inscription was on the front, but when the statue was repositioned it is now on the rear.
On the base of the monument are carved four important battles:
Malvern Hill • Gettysburg • Antietam • Mobile
On the 100th Anniversary of the Civil War the monument was dedicated again on May 30, 1961.
The cemetery is a quite place. The monument sits on a slight hill which is easily accessible. There is a paved road to the monument, however the last fifty feet have to be walked over grass.
Local groups still hold services at the memorial and placed the flags here on veterans day.
The Parrott Guns fired balls weighing as much as thirty pound. These guns were made at the start of the Civil War in 1861.
The artilleryman was cast with a battering ram, but it is missing.
Nearby Derby’s Civil War monument was vandalized in 2016. I have seen photos taken of Ansonia’s statue from about twenty years ago that show the rammer in the artilleryman’s hand. I wonder if the person who stole bronze plaques from the Derby monument also was behind the disappearance of Ansonia’s ram.
The Parrott Guns were manufactured at the West Point Foundry, where they were developed.
Note: All color photos of buildings in this post were taken by Patrick Young except as noted.
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Sources:
Connecticut’s Civil War Monuments
The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642 — 188O. by Samuel Orcutt and Ambrose Beardsley Published: Press of Springfield Printing Company, Springfield, Mass., 1880.
Civil War Monuments of Connecticut 2nd Ed. by Dave Pelland (2014)
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