Connecticut’s Role In The Civil War

HARTFORD — Who would have thought that such a tiny state so far from the battlefields of the Civil War would have such a lasting impression on the war’s outcome? However, Connecticut was known as the Revolutionary War’s Provision State; the same could be said for “The War of Northern Aggression,” as some in the South refer to the Civil War even today.

The firearms factory where Samuel Colt mass-produced a weapon capable of firing without reloading — altering the course of history, some historians have alleged — was, after all, located in Hartford. A popular post-Civil War slogan was, “Abe Lincoln may have freed all men, but Sam Colt made them equal.”

Colt wasn’t the only Connecticut Yankee producing firearms. Other manufacturers included the Whitney and Winchester companies of New Haven and the Savage and Alsop factories of Middletown. Some even made their own firearms innovations, but none could match that of Samuel Colt.

Fueled by Union demands, factories throughout Connecticut were even changing and developing new products. The Collins Company in Collinsville switched from axe production to swords and bayonets, carriages to army wagons, and ornamental bronzes to artillery accessories such as canteens, brass buttons, uniforms and cartridge belts.

The appropriately named Hazard Powder Company of Enfield produced tons of gunpowder to be used in Connecticut-made firearms. The Hotchkiss Company of Norwalk and Salisbury Iron Works were casting cannons and making gunpowder.

The shipbuilders of Mystic were constructing troop and cargo transports, including the USS Galena, the first seagoing ironclad steamer in the US Navy. In fact, more steam vessels were built at Mystic between 1861 and 1865 than at any other New England port.

Connecticut had many established industries that aided in production for the Civil War: rubber for ponchos, blankets, and boots; machine tools; hardware; leather for saddles and harnesses; sewing machines; and textiles.

The people — Confederate and Union, back home and on the battlefield — were, of course, the driving force of the Civil War. In all, 54,882 Connecticut men participated in the war: 5,065 died, 6,281 deserted, and 4,361 were wounded. Connecticut soldiers fought at such notorious battles as Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg and Cold Harbor.

The effort on the homefront was equally valiant. Connecticut women were instrumental in the organization of aid societies, the Connecticut Soldier’s Relief Association, and in hospitals. Wartime social life in every Connecticut town revolved around the lives of soldiers. Women, children and those unable to fight in the war rolled bandages, knitted mittens, packed food and made regimental flags. Wives of Connecticut soldiers even risked their lives to visit their husbands in camps during winter.

On July 17, 1862, Congress passed two acts allowing the enlistment of African Americans, but official enrollment occurred only after the September, 1862 issuance of The Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1862, President Lincoln authorized the formation of black combat units to serve in the Civil War. Connecticut, however, was slow to organize these units. Black volunteers from Connecticut had to travel to Massachusetts (54th and 55th Infantry) and to Rhode Island (14th Heavy Artillery) to enlist.

Eventually, Connecticut’s Governor Buckingham ordered the formation of a black infantry unit, and in response the 29th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry was quickly assembled. Although blacks from Connecticut enlisted into service, the 29th Connecticut was the only full African-American Regiment from the state.

Connecticut was also home to some of the Civil War’s most influential individuals. After the 1852 publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she became an immediate celebrity in the North. Stowe family lore tells of Harriet’s meeting with President Lincoln in 1862, when he reportedly greeted her with, “So you’re the little woman show wrote the book that started this great war!”

Stowe’s literary friend and Hartford neighbor, Samuel Clemens (a/k/a Mark Twain), oddly enough, served with the Confederates for a mere two weeks in 1862. Turns out that Twain joined a volunteer company of young enthusiasts who were not quite sure which side they meant to choose and broke up as soon as the war took on professional aspects. He wrote about his experience in the short story A Private History of a Campaign that Failed.

Born in Torrington, John Brown was an irreconcilable foe of slavery. After a series of victories against pro-slavery terrorists in the Midwest during the 1830s and 40s, Brown’s methods and cause gained him national fame. In the late 1850s, with increased financial support from abolitionists in the northern states, Brown formulated a plan to free the slaves by armed force. He secretly gathered a small band of supporters and launched his venture on October 16, 1859, seizing the US Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., and winning control of the town.

For many years after his death, Brown was regarded among abolitionists as a martyr to the cause of human freedom. His rebellion is considered by many historians as one of the contributing factors to the Civil War.

Another notable Connecticut figure of the Civil War was Gideon Welles, a popular public figure and editor of The Hartford Times. In 1826, he was elected to the Connecticut legislature. When the Democratic Party began to support pro-slavery initiatives in the late 1850s, Welles changed his affiliation to Republican and unsuccessfully campaigned for governor in 1856. That same year, he helped establish The Hartford Evening News to further the cause of the newly organized Republican Party.

As a reward for his political contributions, President Lincoln appointed Welles as Secretary of the Navy in 1861. He supported The Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure and ordered Navy commanders to give protection to runaway slaves. As the publisher of poignant articles and editorials, Welles has become an important resource for understanding the Civil War period and America’s race relations.

Immediately after finishing a campaign speech in Hartford on March 5, 1860, Lincoln entered the waiting carriage and was surrounded by about 20 to 30 young men with glazed black caps and capes, swinging torchlights. For this small but organized group, it was to be the first procession of the newly organized Wide Awakes (the name taken from a Daily Courant editorial the next day).

The Wide Awakes was a radical wing of the Republican Party with a very strong anti-slavery platform. They were active early supporters of Abraham Lincoln and famous for organizing impressive night parades, carrying lanterns, and wearing distinctive clothing. Within weeks of March 5, their organization swelled to over 2,000 members in Hartford. Soon, Republican Clubs all over the country were adopting the “Wide Awake” name and the affiliation became one of the most potent political forces in our nation’s history.

Connecticut’s role in the Civil War had a transformative effect on the state’s people, industry and political and social climate. Gideon Wells, after eight years in Washington, D.C., commented that the state had lost its mantra as “the land of steady habits.”

In 1856, Frederick Sheldon, a contributor to The Atlantic, surmised, “This brisk little democratic state has turned its brains upon its machinery. Not a snug valley with a few drops of water at the bottom of it, but rattles with the manufacture of notions, great and small.”