Broadway Civil War Monument New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is best known as the location of Yale University and one of its best known Civil War monuments is only a few blocks from the Ivy League school. The monument honors four local Connecticut units at a small plaza where Broadway and Elm Street meet. At the time the war broke out there were 39,267 people living in the city.  Yale, an all-male school, was a major recruiting ground for officers and men. During the war, New Haven was the largest city in Connecticut.

By 1860, a third of the population was born outside the United States, with more than 7,000 Irish immigrants and 1,800 from Germany and Sweden. These immigrants worked in the burgeoning factories as well as doing the port work of this Long Island Sound community.

It was also an important place for military manufacturing. The New Haven Arms Company was an important arms manufacturer, manufacturing the Henry Repeating Rifle as well as arms from Smith and Wesson. This company became the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

One of the units on the monument is the First Connecticut Light Artillery represented by an artillerist scanning the horizon for Confederates. Many local monuments did not have figures engaged in battle, but the two men, the artillerist and an infantryman on this monument, are in combat.

The inscription says under the artilleryman says:

FIRST CONNECTICUT LIGHT BATTERY
KNOWN AS ROCKWELL’S BATTERY
MUSTERED IN OCTOBER 26TH, 1861
MUSTERED OUT JUNE 11TH, 1865
PARTICIPATED IN THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON
AND OTHER BATTLES IN SOUTH CAROLINA
FT. FINNEGAN, FLA. JAN. 1862 TO MAY 1864
AND ENGAGEMENTS OF RICHMOND AND
PETERSBURG CAMPAIGNS
FROM MAY 1864 TO LEE’S SURRENDER IN 1865
THE TENTH AND TWENTY FIFTH ARMY CORPS

 

The next panel gives credit to the organizers and fundors of the monument:

ERECTED BY/THE JOINT CONTRIBUTIONS OF
THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
AND
THE VETERANS ASSOCIATIONS
OF THE/1ST CONN. LIGHT BATTERY AND
6TH, 7TH AND 10TH CONN. VOLS.
AS A SACRED AND PERPETUAL
MEMORIAL TO THE MEN WHO SUFFERED
AND DIED THAT THE REPUBLIC
MIGHT LIVE: 1861-1865
DEDICATED JUNE 16, 1905

While the units veterans gave money for the monument, much of the cost was born by the State of Connecticut and the City of New Haven.

Here is a better view from behind the soldier’s back.

The globe surmounted by the eagle is thirty-three feet about the ground.

The next side honors the 10th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Like the 1st Light Artillery, this unit engaged in battle near Charleston, and fought under Grant in Virginia. In 1863 it participated in the attack on Battery Wagner protecting Charleston.

l0TH CONN. VOLUNTEERS
IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE SERVICES
AND SACRIFICES OF OUR HEROIC DEAD,
WHO OFFERED THEIR LIVES ON THE ALTAR
OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT AND HUMAN
LIBERTY, THIS TABLET IS LOVINGLY
INSCRIBED BY THEIR SURVIVING COMRADES
OF THE TENTH CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS.
TOTAL NUMBER ENROLLED 1879
TOTAL CASUALTIES 1011
NUMBER OF ENGAGEMENTS 51
TERM OF SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 30, 1861, TO SEPTEMBER 2, 1865
SAFE AND HAPPY THE REPUBLIC WHOSE
SONS GLADLY DIE IN HER DEFENSE

The fence shown below is original and appears in photos from over one hundred years ago.

 

While many statues depicting soldiers have the man at “Parade Rest,” in the New Haven statue of the infantryman the soldier is reaching into his cartridge box for ammunition to load his musket.  Similar to the artilleryman, this is a soldier in battle.

In the photograph above you can see the octagonal base at the bottom.

The uniform in the above photo shows a very lifelike quality.

Below is the plaque describing the 7th Connecticut Infantry  Regiment. The unit was organized at New Haven in September of 1861. It was also sent to South Carolina and helped capture Battery Wagner. Here is the inscription:

SEVENTH CONN. VOLS.
HAWLEY’S BRIGADE,
TERRY’S DIVISION, TENTH CORPS.
TOOK PART IN CAPTURE OF FT. PULASKI,
CAPTURE OF FT. WAGNER,
DEMOLITION OF FT. SUMTER,
CAPTURE OF FT. FISHER
AND THIRTEEN OTHER ENGAGEMENTS.
DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH AND ARMY OF THE JAMES.

The 6th Connecticut Infantry Regiment is honored as well. The inscription says:

6TH CONN. VOLUNTEERS
ORGANIZED SEPT. 1861. MUSTERED OUT AUG. 21st, 1865
TOTAL NUMBER OF MEN WHO SERVED IN THE REGT. 1608
CASUALTIES 877
ENGAGEMENTS
PORT ROYAL, S.C., MORRIS ISLAND, S.C., SIEGE OF PETERSBURG
PORT PULASKI, GA., FORT WAGNER, S.C., DEEP BOTTOM, VA.
JAMES ISLAND, S.C., CHESTER STATION, VA., DEEP RUN, VA.
POCOTALIGO, S.C., DREWRYS BLUFF, VA., CHAPINS FARMS, VA.
FORT FISHER, N.C. WILMINGTON, N.C.
AND MORE THAN TWENTY OTHER MINOR ENGAGEMENTS
AND AFFAIRS.
SERVICE
ARMY CORPS 19TH AND 24TH
DEPARTMENTS
DEPT. OF THE SOUTH. DEPT OF NORTH CAROLINA
ARMY OF THE JAMES ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

 

The dedication took place on June 16, 1905. One of the notables at the ceremony was George Warner, a Connecticut man in his early thirties who served in the 20th Connecticut Infantry Regiment. At the Battle of Gettysburg, his regiment was attacking earthworks on Culps Hill when a Union artillery battery mistakenly opened fire on the regiment. Both of his arms were crippled by the shelling and amputated. After the war, Warner was very active in veterans affairs and when the flag covering the 33 foot statue was removed on dedication day, Warner pulled on a rope that unveiled the monument. According to the program, “The string which held the flag covering…was slowly moved with his teeth [and] the monument was brought to public view.”

 

Professor Henry Wade Rogers, Dean of Yale’s Law School, was one of the major speakers at the dedication. The law dean said that “Upon the issue of slavery Connecticut had been conservative.” While some citizens were abolitionists, many were not. While slavery was never popular in Connecticut, many believed in white supremacy. Rogers said that “In 1831 our Supreme Court decided a case in which it was said a negro was a chattel and assets in the executor’s hands. The Act which finally abolished slavery was not passed until 1848. In this Commonwealth, however, the master never had power of life and death over the slave. The slavery here tolerated was always qualified and never absolute. When war began Connecticut’s Constitution was still on the white basis. None but white men voted here, and none but whites were taxed.” However, when the war broke out, many saw slavery as the cause and wanted it ended.

 

According to reports from the time, as many as 10,000 people celebrated the unveiling of the monument. The governor, the mayor, and a United States senator spoke at the event. Here is the program of the dedication, with Warner’s place being Number 6 in the program.

Across the street from the monument is the Episcopal Church.

The monument is in a busy section of the city, with several moderately-priced dining options nearby. There is metered parking on the street and a parking lot across the street. The triangle where the monument stands is well-landscaped and the statues and the column are well preserved. The brass plaques could use some restoration, though.

All color photos were taken by Pat Young. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view. There is also a monument a short drive away to the first Black regiment from Connecticut.

Sources:

Connecticut Civil War Monuments [Note: The text from the monument was copied from the web site.]

Program of the Exercises at the Dedication of a Soldiers Monument Erected by the First Connecticut Light Battery, the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Connecticut Volunteers

Dave Pelland Civil War Monuments of Connecticut

 

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