Revolutionary Connecticut is what Mary Collins and Sal Lilienthal call their look at Connecticut figures in our nation’s war for independence.
One of those was Ethan Allen whose name is mostly associated with Vermont and the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in nearby New York. He led the famed the Green Mountain Boys and later grew into an influential figure in Vermont, but he was a son of Connecticut. Here’s a look
http://www.ctamericanrevolution.com/maps/1_Ethan_Allen_January_2013.pdf
Israel Putnam, a storied figure in the Revolutionary War, is riding high in his hometown of Brooklyn, Connecticut
The state promotes Connecticut as being Still Revolutionary. Now, some folks have taken the“Revolutionary” part of that slogan and developed a tour, complete with maps, images and explanations. With it, you can get a glimpse into the time when Connecticut played a significant role in the founding of our country.
Start your journey into our past here:
There’s a new book to remind us of Benedict Arnold and the devastating raid he led on New London and across the river at Fort Griswold. (Home Grown terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London, by Eric D. Lehman).
The state maintains an impressive park and museum at Fort Griswold in Groton that focuses on the battle, but 20 miles away in Norwich, where he was born, there are few reminders. Basically, there is a historic marker noting his birth site and a dead-end street bearing his name. There is no parking available there, so I’ve reproduced the marker here.
If you wish to get a feel for a period house with an Arnold connection, visit the Leffingwell House Museum at 348 Washington Street, a short distance away, where a guide will tell you both Arnold and George Washington were entertained, probably at different times. 
When the Mystic Seaport reopens Feb. 14, the Winter Vessel Tours will give visitors a unique look at the past. Guided tours will be available at a pair of ships undergoing restoration at the Seaport’s Henry B. DuPont Preservation shipyard, and the historic whaleship, Charles W. Morgan.
The latest to be restored are:
Mayflower II, the full-scale reproduction of the ship that landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, and the steamboat Sabino, a unique coal-fired vessel that regularly carries passengers on the Mystic River in the warm weather months. It is the last wooden, coal-fired steamboat remaining in operation.
The Mayflower II arrived at the Seaport in December from Plimouth Plantation and, courtesy of Mystic Seaport, you can watch it rise out of the water and into the shipyard.
Also part of the tours will be the Charles W.Morgan, the world’s last surviving 19th century whaling ship that made some history of its own last summer when it sailed on an unprecedented voyage after extensive restoration to a number of New England ports.
——————————————————————————————————————–
75 Greenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT 06355
___________________________________________________________________________________
The eastern Connecticut city we know as Norwich was founded in 1659 by a group of English settlers, 69 founding families, who came there from Old Saybrook and bought land from the Mohegan Tribe. As important as that date is to Norwich, its significant and varied history hardly begins there.
Sixteen years before the English arrived, Mohegan warriors, led by Uncas repulsed an attack by a numerically superior force of Narragansetts led by Miantonemo. It has been called The Battle of The Great Plain , an area we know today as the East Great Plains section of Norwich.
The Mohegans, who learned of the approaching army, quickly prepared for battle. In short order, they routed the invaders and tracked down their leader whom they later killed where he was captured, but only after Uncas got the green light from the English.
The battle that helped the English Puritan settlers consolidate their hold on southern New England, is largely forgotten, but visitors interested in early Connecticut history can visit two battle-related sites.
They could not be more different. One, Indian Leap, is at Yantic Falls, not far from where the deadly enemies squared off. Even today almost 400 years later it is visually striking. A foot bridge spanning the raging waters below affords visitors a direct view of the place where fleeing Narragansetts leapt to their deaths from a high escarpment in a desperate attempt to elude the pursuing Mohegans.
Across town in the city’s Greenville section, visitors can walk the site where Miantonemo was captured and later killed. By comparison, it is more modest, even mundane in appearance, but it is, arguably, the more significant location of the two. The capture and subsequent execution of Miantonemo removed an opponent, not only of the Mohegan tribe, but the English. He was trying to reverse the tide of English conquest by uniting the indigenous peoples who stood in their way. It was a dispute with Uncas who favored cooperation with the English that would lead to the fateful encounter in Norwich. (Ironically, the two bitter enemies were briefly united with the English only six years earlier in the Pequot War.)
A small cut-granite monument erected two hundred years after Miantonemo’s death is perched atop a natural rock outcropping at the Greenville capture site. An information tablet outlines the significance of what took place there. The location on a dead-end street in a residential neighborhood offers an opportunity to reflect on a part of the long and sometimes bloody march to Connecticut we know today.
Although Miantonemo lost the battle and shortly thereafter his life, he has been remembered in a number of ways. These include a large public park in Newport, Rhode Island that bears his name, Miantonomi Memorial Park. Located on a hilltop that was later used a lookout spot during the Revolutionary War, it was the Narragansett leader’s sea of power until it was purchased by English colonists in 1637.
Although the spelling of his named varied, the U.S. Navy would name four ships after the respected Narragansett leader, including one, the USS Miantonomoh, that assisted in the D-Day landings at Normandy in World War II, and would be sunk by enemy action three months later off the coast of France.
Uncas certainly has not been forgotten, either. In 2008, the Mohegan Tribe dedicated a memorial at a traditional burial site in Norwich that had been desecrated in centuries past. Located at the intersection of Washington and Sachem streets, not far from the Indian Leap, the park is at the edge of the Royal Mohegan Burial Ground, where it is believe Uncas himself was laid to rest.
In 1833, a cornerstone to Uncas set there attracted national figures, including President Andrew Jackson and his Secretary of War, Lewis Cass. In 1840 money was raised to erect a stone obelisk at the site in memory of Uncas and in 1906 Buffalo Bill visited to honor the famed Mohegan leader. Two years later President William Howard Taft visited the Uncas Monument.
The park created in recent years by the modern Mohegan Tribe after a long struggle is a place of peace and reflection, a fitting remembrance of those who once lived and sometimes fought near there.
Directions to the Royal Mohegan Burial Ground and Indian Leap:
Take I-395 to exit 81E (state routes 2/32). At the end, turn right and follow Rts 2/32, Washington Street, to the intersection of Sachem Street, location of the burial ground. Afterwards, drive down Sachem Street for about 1/4 mile. Make a left onto Yantic Street. Indian Leap and the Yantic Falls are on the right. There is parking and the site is open year round.
Directions to the Miantonemo Monument:
Take I-395 to exit 81E and go to the end of the divided highway. Once there, go straight Instead of turning right as you would for the Indian Leap site and the Royal Mohegan Burial Ground. This will put you on Harland Road (Route 169). Drive until you reach Hunters Road, where you will take a right. Stay on that until the intersection of Norwich Road (Route 12), where you turn right. The monument is on Elijah Street, a left turn opposition St. Joseph’s Cemetery.
The Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch in Hartford’s Bushnell Park commemorates the service of the more than 4,000 Hartford men who served in the Union Arrmy during the Civil War, or as an inscription on the towering monument describes it “The National Cause”. Nearly ten percent of those who served died in the conflict.
The Civil War was fought far from Connecticut, but this state played a critical role on the front lines and on the home front to defeat forces of the southern Confederacy.
More than 55,000 Connecticut men served in the Union Army, 47 percent of the state’s male population between 15 and 50, the historian Matthew Warshauer has written. A significant number, ten percent, were killed and many more wounded, some horribly. Connecticut women were active in caring for the many who were wounded and engaging in other war-related tasks. Those included attending funerals for those were killed in battle, or died afterwards of their wounds. The state’s manufacturers provided a significant amount of arms and munitions, ships for the navy and everything from brass buttons and the military uniforms on which they were attached.
Professor Warshauer reminds us in an article that the state has a complicated history when it came to the slave trade and its efforts to grant its black residents a measure of equality. But, it is clear, Connecticut was committed to preserving the union.
Today, reminders of that commitment are located throughout the state, with more than 130 memorials, including the prominent Soldier’s & Sailors Arch in Hartford and the more modest Kensington Monument in Berlin, which is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as the country’s oldest, permanent Civil War monument.
The New England Civil War Museum in Rockville provides an interesting look at the war and those who fought in it and worth a visit.
The Lebanon Historical Society museum has an excellent Civil War exhibit that remains there until September, 2015, and the Connecticut State Library is a repository of Civil War-related information, including the names of those who served in Connecticut units.
The Civil War was fought far from Connecticut, but this state played a critical role on the front lines and on the home front to defeat forces of the southern Confederacy.
More than 55,000 Connecticut men served in the Union Army, 47 percent of the state’s male population between 15 and 50, the historian Matthew Warshauer has written, with ten percent killed and many more wounded. Connecticut women were active in caring for the many who were wounded and engaging in other war-related tasks. Those included attending funerals for those were killed in battle, or died afterwards of their wounds. The state’s manufacturers provided a significant amount of arms and munitions, ships for the navy and everything from brass buttons and the military uniforms on which they were attached.
Professor Warshauer reminds us in an article for Connecticuthistory.org, the state had a complicated history when it came to the slave trade and its efforts to grant its black residents a measure of equality. But, it is clear, Connecticut was committed to preserving the union
http://connecticuthistory.org/connecticut-and-the-civil-war/
Today, reminders of that turbulent time in our nation’s history are scattered throughout the state, with more than 130 memorials, including the prominent Bushnell Arch in Hartford and the more modest Kensington Monument in Berlin, which is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places as the country’s oldest, permanent Civil War monument.
The New England Civil War Museum in Rockville provides an interesting look at the war and those who fought in it and worth a visit.
The Lebanon Historical Society museum has an excellent Civil War exhibit that remains there until September, 2015, and the Connecticut State Library is a repository of Civil War-related information, including the names of those who served in Connecticut units.
http://www.historyoflebanon.org/index.htm
http://www.newenglandcivilwarmuseum.com/visitingus.htm
http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/subjectguides/pages/civil-war/2151/0/page
In World War I, Connecticut demonstrated its manufacturing prowess once again, as it had for virtually every war since our nation’s founding. Factories across the state produced a wide range of provisions for the troops heading into battle.
Approximately 63,000 Connecticut residents served in the war, including America’s first air ace, a French-born resident of Wallingford, Major Gervais Raoul Lufbery who would die in the skies over his native land, but not before his reputation as a great hero was cemented in the nation’s consciousness.
To learn more about this important time in our state’s history, you can visit www.ctinworldwar1.org, established by the Connecticut State Library and a site maintained by CtHumanities, http://connecticuthistory.org/topics-page/world-war-i/
The Fairfield Museum and Research Center has a special exhibit, the Pequot War and the Founding of Fairfield, 1637-1639, that opened recently and runs through Jan. 5th. On Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. the museum will host a talk by researchers from the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center about recent discoveries related to the important battle in Fairfield nearly 400 years ago, one that led directly to the establishment of an English settlement there, one Connecticut’s earliest.
It’s all part of the town’s anniversary celebration. Before you pay a visit to the Fairfield Museum and Research Center, visit online. There’s plenty of history there in the heart of the Historic Town Green.
——————————————————————————————–
Fairfield Museum and Research Center
370 Beach Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
1-203-259-1598
——————————————————————————————-
Fort Trumbull State Park, located on sixteen acres at the entrance to New London harbor, is as unique as it is historic. The site is dominated by a large 19th century coastal defense fort, but that is only one aspect of the nearly 200 years worth of history that took place here.
That look back in time is offered in a lively and informative way on two floors of exhibits at the Visitors Center. Touch screen interactive displays, theaters, dioramas, along with wall-mounted information panels combine to bring the past nicely into the present.
The story begins when the native people who lived in southeastern Connecticut called it Mamacock.
It continues through both wars to free the American colonies from the mother country, and the Civil War that nearly destroyed the young nation. In varying degrees, Fort Trumbull played a role in each of those historic events
The colorfully illustrated displays about the War of 1812, explore the causes and actions of that largely forgotten struggle that took place 29 years after the United States and Great Britain signed a peace treaty.
In the Revolutionary War British troops landed nearby, engaged the out manned American defenders before marching inland to burn New London, a city made prosperous by a robust maritime economy. That is an important part of the story that is told here.
Both world wars in the 20th century are explored here as well.
Museum designers have done a commendable effort to place the Fort Trumbull story in the context of the times.
The role scientists and engineers played here in developing the sophisticated weapons needed in anti-submarine warfare is offered to visitors. It starts with the Navy’s Experimental Research Station in 1917-1919 and progresses through the Cold War, 1949-1990, and the work done at the Underwater Sound Laboratory.
Also part of the presentations is the role Fort Trumbull played in training officers for the Revenue Cutter Service and its successor agency, the Coast Guard which maintained its academy here until 1932 when it relocated to its present site about a mile upriver.
In World War II the Merchant Marine Officers Training School was located here. The critical role play by those who sailed unarmed ships that took supplies to the war fronts is recounted in exhibit form in the Visitors Center.
Soldiers, sailors and scientists can all lay claim to a piece of the history that was made here.
Mark Twain even plays a part in the Fort Trumbull story. There’s a narrated excerpt of his short story, A Curious Experience, set at the fort during the Civil War when it served as a recruiting center for Union forces.
The fort is open for self-guided tours aided by interpretive signs and nearby is a memorial to the heroic officers of the merchant marine who died in World War II after being trained here.
History buffs can find much to like here, but it is worth a visit from those who just enjoy walks along the water and the spectacular views from atop the fort.
As it says inside the Visitors Center, Fort Trumbull State Park is a place of innovation, a place of wind, water and memories.
——————————————————————————————–
Fort Trumbull State Park http://www.ct.gov/deep/forttrumbull
50 Walbach Street
New London, CT 06320
Highway access: I-95 Ex. 83N/84S
Phone: 860-444-7591
Visitor’s Center and tours: adults $6; children (6-12), $2; 5 and under, no charge. Grounds: free.rounds opened all year, daily 8 a.m.- sunset. Fort and Visitors Center: Memorial Day-Columbus Day, Wed. – Sunday, 9 a.m. 5 p.m.
———————————————————————————————
The Henry Whitfield State Museum in Guilford is chock full of 17th-19th century furnishings and artifacts, starting with the stone structure itself, set in the middle of eight acres of nicely manicured grounds. Its historical pedigree is further confirmed in that it is the oldest house in Connecticut, and the oldest stone house in New England. It was also the first state-run museum, opened in 1899.
It was once the home of the Rev. Whitfield, one of Guilford’s original settlers who came here with a group of fellow Puritans 375 years ago this year seeking refuge from religious persecution in England.
The stone fortress-like structure contains a dazzling array of historical items, starting with a pair of chairs. Yes, chairs.
Museum curator Michael McBride feels one of them is the most important item in the collection. It belonged to William Leete, an original Guilford settler who later served as governor of both the New Haven and Connecticut colonies before they merged in 1643. “His chair is one of the few surviving artifacts associated with Connecticut’s 17th century governors,” he said.
The other chair once belonged to John Hart, the first graduate of Yale College in 1703. As interesting as that is, the Leete chair goes back to the formation of Connecticut itself.
Walking through the house visitors can see many representations of the past, and with a little imagination begin to feel what it must have been like to live in a dark, probably smoky house in considerably less space than they might be used to today.
Its collection ranges from hats to hatchets, clocks and candlesticks, and a powder horn given as a gift by soldiers to Benedict Arnold when he was first Captain of the Governor’s Foot Guard in New Haven in 1771, well before he betrayed his struggling country.
The exhibits also include an 18th century Dutch flintlock musket, Circa 1750, an exhibit on the Pequot War and a French naval sword owned by Capt. Frederick Lee, a hero in the Revenue Cutter Service that would become today’s United States Coast Guard.
Those who know the story of the Mayflower might be lucky enough to time their visit to see a small piece of that famed vessel that brought the Puritans to Plymouth Rock. It is not always on exhibit, but is in the rotation to be displayed soon.
The house is one of three buildings on the site. A visitor center contains a range of information, a gift shop and changing exhibits in two galleries. You may also make an appointment to use the research library.
Connecticut Public Television has featured the house as one of Connecticut’s cultural treasure. Before you visit, you might take a quick glimpse, courtesy of CPTV.
____________________________________________________________
Henry Whitfield State Museum
248 Old Whitfield St. Guilford, CT 06437
1-203-453-2457
____________________________________________________________
Mr. C's Guide to Historic Connecticut 