Soldiers' Monument of Waterbury, Conn.

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The Waterbury Soldiers’ Monument in Western Connecticut is a monumental sculptural work that demands better care and preservation. Dedicated on October 23, 1884 at the end of Waterbury’s Town Green, it is located at 156 West Main Street.

Waterbury was an early developer during America’s Industrial Revolution. By the time of the Civil War, the city had grown to more than 10,000 people and it was a major center for the manufacture of copper and brass. The city expanded with growing industrialization, and with the arrival of Irish and German immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s. 942 men from Waterbury served in the Civil War.

Connecticut had slavery in colonial times, but the state passed laws in the early Federal Period for “gradual emancipation.” The last person enslaved in Waterbury was freed in the 1810s. Timothy Porter was a deacon in the Baptist Church and he began an active Abolitionist movement in Waterbury in the 1840s. While there were some Waterbury people who took a hands-off approach to slavery, Porter began to recruit dozens of citizens to oppose slavery and provide refuge for Blacks arriving in Waterbury on their way to freedom in Canada.

I went to visit the monument in January on a cold morning when the temperature was below fifteen degrees. There are still a number of 19th Century buildings nearby, giving at least some semblance of what the monument looked like on its dedication day. The city decided it needed a monument in 1880 and it accepted a design by George E. Bissell. The sculptor has been a private in the 23rd Connecticut Volunteer Infantry during the war and afterwards he settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to take on monumental works. He studied in Paris and after completing the Waterbury work, he lived in Europe for a time pursuing his avocation. One of his most famous works is the Lincoln memorial in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Waterbury spent $25,000 on the monument, roughly equivalent to half-a-million today. The granite comes from Quincy, Mass., one of the prime sources for stone for these monuments in New England and New York. The height is 60 feet, one of the highest in Connecticut.

The plaza is guarded by a pair of Civil War mortars. The first level has friezes and dedicatory script. Above it are servicemen, and on top is a statue of Victory.

While the stone and the brass sculptures are intact, the weather and elements have discolored the statues and they need to be cleaned and restored. I have seen similar work done in Manchester, New Hampshire, and in New York City and it really adds to the community. The Waterbury monument is unique and by a fairly well-regarded artist and this deserves to be preserved.

The Goddess of Victory is elevated well above the street level and she can be seen from blocks away. The statue is over ten feet tall. In her right hand is a laurel wreath for the victors and in her left is an olive branch symbolizing peace with the former Confederates.

On the West monument is a statue of a farmer with a musket in his left hand stepping over the fence of his farm to join the ranks of the Union army. While companies raised in Waterbury were made up mostly of industrial workers, many farmers came in from surrounding areas to fill out the units.

Underneath the farmer is a frieze depicting a Federal assault. Because of the need for restoration, it is very difficult to see.

I spent a fair amount of time looking at the face of the farmer, who appears angry and committed to putting down the Rebellion.

In a close-up of Victory, you can see the fruits at her feet, symbolizing the prosperity after the country is reunited.

There is a poem at the base over the years “1865-1885”:

BRAVE MEN, WHO, RALLYING AT YOUR COUNTRY’S CALL,
WENT FORTH TO FIGHT, – IF HEAVEN WILLED, TO FALL!
RETURNED, YE WALK WITH US THROUGH SUMMER YEARS,
AND HEAR A NATION SAY, GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
BRAVE MEN, WHO YET A HEAVIER BURDEN BORE,
AND CAME NOT HOME TO HEARTS BY GRIEF MADE SORE!
THEY CALL YOU DEAD; BUT LO! YE GRANDLY LOVE,
SHRINED IN THE NATION’S LOVE FOREVER MORE!
1865-1885

Another statue shows a veteran soldier near a grave with both a laurel and a palm frond for peace.

The statue is very individualized with good details. The body and coat are highly realistic, but with many stains obscuring the workmanship. This veteran soldier sits by the grave of a friend.

Beneath is a frieze of the Monitor and Merrimac which is so stained that from a distance it cannot be made out at all.

In this close-up you can see sailing ships at the right and left, with the U.S.S. Congress going down.

A counterpart to the farmer going off to war is a statue of an industrial worker with his tools in his left hand and a newly acquired sword in his right joining the army. or navy. You can see a gear under his left foot symbolizing the mechanical nature of his work.

There is expert work on the sword and the mechanical devices in the lower part of the sculpture.

Here is a photo of the worker in the 1880s.

The two 10″ Siege Mortars are interesting additions. Because of the large size of the monument they are dwarfed.

The Waterbury American of February 3d, 1881, contained an appeal for donations and said that; “It is a shame that Waterbury should have so long neglected the duty she owes to the memory of her dead heroes Many towns in this State, of not more than two or three thousand inhabitants, have erected soldiers’ monuments, and this growing city should no longer be derelict in extending to the soldiers, who went forth from their homes in the prime of their manhood, and shed their blood for their country, the honor to which they are entitled.” The donations came in quickly from veterans, but contributions from the general public were slower.

Local ministers began to harangue their congregations to follow the lead of the veterans to contribute funds to propel the work forward. A large Grand Army Fair was held where paintings and antiques were sold off to add to the funds for the project. Thirteen dollars was donated by the “little girls” of the Waterbury Industrial School. The equivalent of $300 today, this was donated by children from the poorest part of Waterbury society.

The date of the dedication of the monument was October 23, 1884, but by the beginning of October, none of the work to assembly it had been started! In fact, the granite was still at Quincy, Mass. The city put in electric lights to allow for the construction workers to labor day and night.

The Waterbury Republican of October 21st said that the work was progressing quite well:
:
The work on the soldiers’ monument went steadily on, by
the bright light of the electric lamps, which drowned all inferior luminaries. The faces of the workmen on the
column stood out in a clear-cut, pallid relief, and the parallel lines of light and darkness fell across the upper part of the
shaft and made it look like heavily-veined marble. At a
distance of about a hundred feet from the pedestal was a
ring of interested spectators, who seemed to find unceasing
pleasure in blinking at the light and noting the tiny sparks
that fell from the stone-masons’ chisels. The scene, taken
altogether, was a striking reminder that Waterbury’s great
day was almost at hand.

Another look at the worker.

The lamp posts also share symbolism, with them being made of a cannon barrel supported by muskets with a laurel wreath and a kepi.

Above the frieze depicting the Monitor and Merrimac is a scene depicted from 1862 which the memorial book of the dedication describes this way:

President Lincoln
and Captain John Ericsson, the inventor of the
” Monitor.” With the aid of a small model which
Mr. Lincoln holds in his hands. Captain Ericsson
explains the working of the vessel which he proposes to build. In the background are Mr. John F.
Winslow, one of the builders of the ” Monitor,”
and an officer of the navy, who stands with one arm resting on a model of the hull of an old lineof-battle ship, and looks over Captain Ericsson’s
shoulder. This officer represents the faith of the
naval oflficials in wooden ships, and the refusal of
the Navy Department to adopt the new invention.

One the right, the sculptor depicts crewman manning one of the Monitor’s large guns with Captain John L. Worden.in the background.

The inscription reads:

Brave men, who rallying at your country’s call,
Went forth to fight – if Heaven willed, to fall!
Returned, ye walk with us through sunnier years,
And hear your nation say, God bless you all!
Brave men, who yet a heavier burden bore.
And came not home to hearts by grief made sore!
They call you dead and lo ye grandly live.
Shrined in the nation’s love forevermore!
1865-1885

The final statue looks at the post-war world in which a woman and two children are engaged in a symbolic interaction. They are all grouped around a chair with the word “EMANCIPATION” the upper face, the ultimate result of the sacrifice of the men of Waterbury. Here, the woman is the United States government and the child on her left is asking her to extend education to the Black child on the right. Here is how the dedication memorial book describes it:

The seated fig-ure, whose face is full of motherly tenderness, leans forward in an attitude of listening. Her clasped hands
rest on a large book which stands on her knee half- open ; her right foot is upon a cannon, beside which
lies a broken shackle. The fillet which binds her
hair is ornamented with a miniature shield, graven
with stars and stripes, \yhich marks her out as representing the American government. A well-dressed
school-boy — his bundle of books beside him —stands
at her knee, and while she leans forward to listen to him she looks down benignantly upon a ragged little negro sitting on a cotton-bale at’her feet, who holds in one hand a hoe, and is trying with the other to force
open the leaves of the book upon her knee. In the
school-boy, making an earnest appeal in behalf of
the young negro, the North is represented (by one
of its children —for “children have no prejudices,
and know no color-line “) as appealing to the government to extend to the African race and to the entire
South the educational and other advantages which it has long enjoyed, and which have survived the ordeal
of war. And the negro, who represents an emancipated people, illustrates by his position and action the eager desire of his race to secure the education
and enlightenment which they know to be necessary
to success in a free republic.

You can see under the figure of America’s feet are both the cannon barrel and the broken chain of slavery. The cannon is now silent and slavery is ended.

On the headband of America is the shield of the United States.

In many ways this is a very homey scene of a teacher or mother educating her children, but at her feet are symbols of war and destruction, and slavery.

From this angle, you can see the vehemence of the Northern child, without prejudice, advocating for the “Negro Child.”

Here is a photo from the 1880s showing the sculpture without stains.

The original plan for the monument was that it would have a roll of all those from Waterbury who died in the service and that it would be dedicated to the dead. However, there are no names on the monument. The commemorative committee decided that they did not have a complete set of all the names and they wanted to revised the dedication to those that died and those who survived. Many living veterans still suffered from the wars physical and emotional wounds, and many gave their lives years after the end of the war.

The day of the dedication saw the governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine arrive for the ceremony. The day before the dedication, a terrific storm blew through the city and many of the decorative lights that had just been installed were destroyed. However, the ceremonies went off as scheduled with a large parade led by the 2nd Connecticut Regiment. Next came the three governors and two senators who attended the dedication. Following them were Grand Army of the Republic Posts from all over Connecticut as well as Sons of Union Veterans. Fraternal societies like the Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society fell into the third group of marchers. Finally, the fire departments held up the rear.

In the memorial book that day there were listed all the men from Waterbury who entered the Union service. They included men in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Eighteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-third, Twenty-seventh, Twentyninth (colored), Thirtieth (colored) Connecticut Infantry; the Second NY Cavalry, the First Ct. Cavalry, the First, Second and Third Lt Battery Ct Artillery, First and Second Heavy Battery Ct Artillery as well as the Navy.

Before the Civil War, John Chatfield was an officer in the Waterbury City Guards, a local militia unit. After the attack on Fort Sumter, the Waterbury Guard were incorporated into Company D of the 1st Connecticut Infantry. After three months, this regiment was mustered out and many of the old City Guards joined the 6th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment and Chatfield became its colonel. In 1863, the 6th participated in the famous assault by the 54th Massachusetts on Battery Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina. Chatfield was mortally wounded during the assault,

When Waterbury first began its entry into brass manufacturing, a lot of the technical work was handled by English immigrants who had learned their skills back in their native country. Farmboys from nearby areas assisted them as laborers. Up until 1847, there was only one Irish Catholic immigrant in the city. By 1850, and increasing number of Irish-born people appeared on the Census rolls. More than a thousand Irish lived in Waterbury ten years before the Civil War broke out, most coming as a result of the Famine in Ireland. These immigrants, as well as immigrants from Germany, helped make Waterbury a strong supporter of the Union.