Search results for: pequot war


Pequot bowl, trade item, 17th century

Causes of the Pequot War

…the Pequot attempted to subjugate other tribes throughout Connecticut and the islands offshore. By 1635, the Pequot extended their political and economic ties through a tributary confederacy using coercion, warfare,…

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Detail from the Articles of agreement between the English in Connecticutt and the Indian Sachems

Slavery and the Pequot War

…of Fairfield. During this time and throughout the war, many captured Pequot men were killed, while women and children were given to colonists as spoils of war, placed in captivity…

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The village of the Pequot Indians

Pequot War

Pequot War (1636-1637) Though the major engagements of the Pequot War took place within a two-year span, the conflict had much earlier roots. After years of confrontations over land, trade,…

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The figure of the Indians' fort or palizado in New England and the manner of the destroying it by Captayne Underhill and Captayne Mason

Connecticut Declares War Against the Pequot – Today in History: May 1

…states, and our future Nation interacted with the Pequot and other Native tribes. Contributed by staff for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center’s Battlefields of the Pequot War project….

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Soldiers with cannons, 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery

The Complicated Realities of Connecticut and the Civil War

By Matthew Warshauer Connecticut has a remarkable Civil War history, and although it is a small state, it was in many ways instrumental to the Union’s survival. The history of…

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J.O. Davidson, Battle of Port Hudson

Connecticut’s Naval Contributions to the Civil War

…approaching Vicksburg from the north. The 445-ton Albatross was built three years before the war in Mystic, Connecticut, at the shipyard of George Greenman and Company. Before the war she…

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General Joseph R. Hawley

General Joseph R. Hawley Helps Commemorate Connecticut’s Civil War Soldiers

…dedications, and one of Connecticut’s most prominent Civil War veterans, General Joseph R. Hawley, took a leading role in fostering the war’s remembrance. After 1865, Civil War veterans attended Decoration…

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Amos Doolittle, The looking glass for 1787. A house divided against itself cannot stand

The War Connecticut Hated

By Walter W. Woodward for Connecticut Explored For most Connecticans, the War of 1812 was as much a war mounted by the federal government against New England as it was…

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Detail from A mapp of New England by John Seller

Lion Gardiner Helps to Fortify Early Old Saybrook

…allies among the tribes the Pequot had subjugated. A series of escalating confrontations and retaliations ensued that culminated in what became known as the Pequot War among the English. It…

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Hall of Flags: Memorial to Connecticut’s Civil War Colors

…Battle Flag Day – Courtesy of Matthew Warshauer Pictured is the back of a participant medallion from Battle Flag Day – Courtesy of Matthew Warshauer Restoring Connecticut’s War-Torn Battle Flags…

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Connecticut in the French and Indian War

…and Indian War, an arrogant British officer challenged him to a duel. Print ca. 1850-1869 – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated Reinvigorated Efforts The fortunes of war turned…

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Hotchkiss & Sons Artillery Projectiles

Connecticut Arms the Union

By Dean E. Nelson for Connecticut Explored A year into the Civil War, the US War Department’s “Commission on Ordnance and Ordnance Stores” reported to Congress on the state of…

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Home of Charles Dudley Warner. Hartford, Conn.

Charles Dudley Warner: 19th Century Writer and Social Commentator

…commentary. Charles Dudley Warner Makes His Way To Hartford Born in the small town of Plainfield, Massachusetts in 1829, Warner grew up on a relative’s farm in nearby Charlemont after…

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Gideon Welles’s Role in Lincoln’s Cabinet

…greatest technological developments during the Civil War was the creation of ironclad warships which were used extensively in battles throughout the war. In 1861, when Virginia seceded, Union forces abandoned…

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Remembering Civil War Prisoners of War

…in Wirz. He was the only person executed for war crimes during the Civil War. An Andersonville Prison survivor recovering in a hospital, ca. 1864 – Library of Congress, Prints…

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Connecticut’s War Governor, William A. Buckingham

…Connecticut’s War Governor Olin Levi Warner, ca. 1874 – Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art The state honored Governor Buckingham 20 years after the Civil War ended. The state funded…

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War and Defense

…and weaponry critical to victory. This helped make the Revolutionary War, World War II, and other conflicts ongoing focal points for patriotic commemoration. And, while war has sometimes fueled technological…

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Corpse preserver

Death and Mourning in the Civil War Era

…to war. Troops from the state fought in almost every major and minor battle of the Civil War, and casualties numbered in the thousands. Many more died in confederate prisons…

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Advertising card of the Dr. Warner’s Caroline Corset

From Bombs to Bras: World War I Conservation Measures Transform the Lives of Women

…on Women’s Fashion With the decline of available corsets during the Great War era, the backless brassiere gained popularity. D. H. Warner, President of Warner Brothers Corset Company from 1894…

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Twenty-three-year old Virginia Algonquian man

Algonquin Man 1645

…occupants of this area. In the early 17th century, just before European contact, the tribe had approximately 8,000 members and inhabited 250 square miles (160,000 acres). The Pequot War of…

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Image of Soldiers Memorial, Company B, 29th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers

Connecticut’s Black Civil War Regiment

…that black people had fought in, and made important contributions to, every previous American war, most notably the Revolutionary War. Prejudice Blocks Black Enlistment Until War’s Third Year In January…

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Civil War Monuments and Memorials in and Around the State Capitol

…all to learn from and enjoy. If you would like to learn more about Connecticut in the Civil War, please visit our Civil War topics page, pick up Dr. Warshauer’s…

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The 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Flag and Display

By Cornel Garfman Civil War Battle Flags During the American Civil War, battle flags were so important to soldiers, men would routinely risk their lives so that their unit banner…

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Muster of Civil War troops, Main Street, New Britain, May 11, 1861

The Civil War Commences: Connecticut’s Involvement in the Civil War

By John Potter for Your Public Media The American Civil War began in South Carolina on April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter;…

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Vietnam Protests in Connecticut

By Andy Piascik Connecticut opposition to the war in Vietnam paralleled that found in many other parts of America. When the movement against the war was in its early phase,…

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Connecticut Agricultural College coeds gathering maple sap for war effort

A New Source of Farm Labor Crops Up in Wartime

…the war but began anew with the coming of the Second World War. In 1942, Mrs. Joseph Alsop reorganized the WLA in Connecticut. After initially balking at the idea of…

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World War II scrap metal drive, Hartford, ca. 1941-1944

Women and Defense: World War II on the Connecticut Home Front

By Ben Gammell for Your Public Media Uniform of Virginia Grover Bulkeley, Greater Hartford Chairwoman of the Woman’s Organization for War Savings during World War II – Connecticut Historical Society,…

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The wreck of Major Lufbery's machine, May 19, 1918

World War I Flying Ace Raoul Lufbery

…returning to France in the summer of 1914. In August 1914, France and Germany went to war, a war that later drew in many nations, including the United States and…

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Gun Wheel of the First Light Battery, Connecticut Volunteers

By Mike Blanker On May 15, 1864, during the Civil War Battle of Proctor’s Creek in Virginia, a Confederate artillery shot struck and damaged a gun wheel on one of…

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Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, December 1947

The Atheneum Joins War Effort – Who Knew?

…making its facilities available to social, civic, philanthropic, and arts groups for meetings and events. Throughout the war it hosted the meetings of such groups as the Hartford War Chest…

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Oakwood Acres temporary housing

The Debate Over Who Could Occupy World War II Public Housing in West Hartford

War II public housing tract called Oakwood Acres. During this period, public housing tracts were created to shelter the many war workers and their families drawn to the Hartford area…

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Pomp and Circumstance: Civil War Commemoration

…July 19, 2013 – Courtesy of Anthony Roy The Forlorn Soldier’s sordid story sustained until the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission took up the task to relocate the Civil War

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A Godmother to Ravensbrück Survivors

…by concentration camp survivor and French war heroine Jacqueline Péry d’Alincourt, who, along with other French, Polish, and Czechoslovakian political prisoners interned during World War II at the Ravensbrück concentration…

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Honor and Duty: The Life of Alfred Howe Terry

…16, 1865. Terry received national recognition for his service in capturing Fort Fisher. Secretary of War Edwin W. Stanton wrote the following to Terry: “The Secretary of War, in the…

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Boy Scouts carrying World War I banners

Hartford’s Commemoration of World War I Servicemen and Women

…its appreciation for the servicemen and women of the Great War in numerous and profound ways. Hartford Commemorates the First World War Hartford Honor Roll in City Hall – Dudley…

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Food Needed to Win the War Comes from Washington

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson started the rallying cry of, “Food Will Win the War,” motivating Americans to increase farm production and…

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Crisis Management during the American Civil War: The Hartford Soldiers’ Aid Society

By Nick Streifel The American Civil War was one of the deadliest periods in American history. Over 600,000 Americans perished during the conflict, more than all other US wars combined….

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Henry Austin, Grove Street Cemetery Entrance, 1845, New Haven

An Overview of Connecticut’s Outdoor Sculpture

…– Connecticut Historical Society   Civil War Memorials Nearly half of the 19th century’s public monuments were erected as war memorials, with examples found in nearly every Connecticut town. At…

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World War I broadside referencing Kaiser Wilhelm's Willing Helpers, ca. early 1900s from the Connecticut War Exhibit

Winning the Great War without Some Books

…against saboteurs. After the Declaration of War, Holcomb created the State Council of Defense, one of 48, to mobilize citizens, industries, labor, and organizations to win the war. “Truth” is…

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Lantern Hill

Breaking the Myth of the Unmanaged Landscape

…a small bait-and-tackle operation, the Eastern Pequot reservation is undeveloped, but through the trees a mile northwest looms the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe’s museum and casino complex. Farther northwest is the…

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Little Sorrel

Little Sorrel, Connecticut’s Confederate War Horse

War Jackson rode his new horse into some of the most famous Civil War battles, including Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg, and it was Little Sorrel who carried Jackson on the fateful…

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The Allied Market

Washington’s Sister Susie Society

…In the spring of 1916, the Sister Susie Society even undertook the support of a Belgian war orphan named Daniel Bataille. They maintained this responsibility throughout the war and for…

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Black and white photograph of a ship at port

They Also Served: Chinese, Southeast Asians, and Hawaiians in the American Civil War

By Nancy Finlay While oversimplified narratives about the American Civil War often reduce it to a simple conflict involving the binary classifications of Black and white, not all the participants…

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School children placing flowers on the graves of World War I servicemen

Memorial Day 1920 Brings a Changing of the Guard

…of Hartford’s Memorial Day parade and observances. Veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898) numbered fewer as well. New to the ranks were Connecticut’s veterans of the World War, many who…

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The U.S. frigate United States capturing H.B.M frigate Macedonian

Site Lines: The Mysterious Blue Lights

…Complications In 1813, US Secretary of the Navy William Jones had dispatched Decatur, hero of Barbary wars at Tripoli in 1803-1804 and conqueror of the British warship Macedonian in 1812…

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Connecticut’s Chickamauga Tree: An Investigation

By Christopher Frank Within the halls of the Connecticut State Capitol is the remnant of an oak tree containing pieces of artillery fire that were supposedly from the Civil War

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Warren Congregational Church

Warren Congregational Church, a Longstanding Community Center

Located at 4 Sackett Hill Road in Warren, Connecticut, is the Warren Congregational Church. Designed in the Federal style, it received a listing on the National Register of Historic Places…

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Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London

…as naval agent was signed by John Hancock two weeks later. Shaw profited from the war as owner of 10 privateers and part owner of 2 more. During the war,…

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Senator William Wallace Eaton

William Eaton, a Peace Democrat and Civil War Opponent

…role he played as a leader of the loyal Democrat opposition throughout the Civil War. In that capacity, Eaton consistently articulated the Jeffersonian view of the respective roles of the…

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Airmen returning home, Bradley Field, Windsor Locks

Bradley Airport’s Military Origins

In 1941, with war raging on the European continent, the United States government anxiously pursued opportunities to establish an air base in Connecticut to bolster defenses along the East Coast….

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A US Army Air Force Waco CG-4A-WO glider

Daring World War II Escape of a Bethany Soldier

…World War II in the air corps, and serving again in the Korean War, Fowler returned to Connecticut, eventually becoming a resident of Unionville. He passed away at John Dempsey…

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More than two dozen veterans of the Ninth Regiment gathered for a reunion at Savin Rock in West Haven

Fighting Sons of Erin: Connecticut’s Irish Regiment in the Civil War

…Most were desperately poor refugees from the potato famine devastating their homeland. These largely illiterate newcomers were not warmly welcomed to the new land, especially because an overwhelmingly Protestant Connecticut…

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Detail from View of Essex, Centerbrook & Ivoryton, Conn. 1881

The British Raid on Essex

…single greatest loss of American shipping of the entire war. During the War of 1812 the British navy’s blockade of Long Island Sound nearly shut down commerce along the Connecticut…

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Detail view of the 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers

29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers Fought More than One War

By Todd Jones Midway through the Civil War, Connecticut created the state’s first African American regiment, the 29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Fighting bravely for the final year of the war,…

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Defenders of the Flag Monument, Soldiers Monument, Plainville

A Special Place to Honor Military Veterans in Plainville

…as a way to commemorate the sacrifices of those who fought and died in American wars. Containing monuments to soldiers of two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Civil War, and…

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World War I Poster

War and the Fear of Enemy Aliens – Who Knew?

…that Greenwich had a special police unit trained to handle suspected foreign agents operating in Connecticut. By Karen Frederick and Anne Young During the First and Second World Wars, Greenwich’s…

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A Monument Memorializes the Fallen

…Civil War, Vol. V, 1911. The regiment performed garrison duty around the capital until May of 1864, when they were deployed south to Virginia. There, Major General Benjamin Butler had…

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Video – Home Front: A State Divided as War Looms in Europe

YouTube – CTHPrograms   – Co-produced by Connecticut Public Television and Connecticut Humanities as part of the Connecticut Experience series on CPTV. This clip from Home Front: During World War

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New Haven: What Was Everyday Life Like During the Civil War?

Questions? We get a lot of them and some of the most recent ones have revolved around life and work during the Civil War? So we decided to investigate a…

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Attack on the Narragansett fort

America’s Most Devastating Conflict: King Philip’s War

…to him by the English. His death in 1676 essentially ended King Philip’s War, a violent and bloody conflict between the Wampanoag and English colonists. While most of the fighting…

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View in Batterson, Canfield & Co.'s Monumental Works

James G. Batterson, Stone Contractor

…as the “War Committee.” Speaking at a public memorial service held several years after Batterson’s death, William F. Henney announced, “During the war of the Rebellion [Batterson] was of invaluable…

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The 29th Leaves for War – Today in History: March 19

On March 19, 1864, as the 29th (Colored) Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry was preparing for deployment to the South to fight in the Civil War, they were presented with their…

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The First Yale Unit: How U.S. Navy Aviation Began

…and seven additional raids before the end of World War I. All twelve original Yale Unit members survived the war, though they lost friends along the way who had joined…

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Nathan Starr Cutlass

Nathan Starr’s Cutlass Fought the War of 1812

…and scabbards for the War Department after the Revolutionary War, making him the nation’s first sword manufacturer. Starr’s 1808 government contract called on him to produce this regulation Navy cutlass…

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Detail from an 1863 broadside

Henry Ward Beecher, a Preacher with Political Clout

By Gregg Mangan Henry Ward Beecher was a renowned clergyman, author, anti-slavery activist, and reformer in the 19th century. At a time when ministers played a prominent role in American…

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Stubby

A True Dog of War: Sergeant Stubby

…When the division shipped out for Europe to fight in the First World War, Private Conroy managed to smuggle Stubby aboard the SS Minnesota the transport that brought the Connecticut…

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Thomas Dodd (at podium), Nuremberg trial, ca., 1945-46

Connecticut Lawyer Prosecutes Nazi War Criminals at Nuremberg

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Thomas Joseph Dodd, a Norwich-born lawyer from Connecticut, served on the United States’ prosecutorial team as Executive Trial Counsel at the International…

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A Civil War Soldier Engineers an Iconic Career

Horatio Wright was a Connecticut native who served with distinction during the Civil War. Rising rapidly through the ranks of the Union army, Wright commanded troops in battles fought all…

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Fitch’s Home for Soldiers, ca. 1864

Fitch Soldiers’ Home Closes – Today in History: August 28

…residence hall, became home to thousands of Connecticut soldiers, sailors, and marines from the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, the Mexican War, and World War I. The grounds were eventually…

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A car with one person driving and a man with a camera standing on the back bumper and a woman kneeling on the roof with a camera.

Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White: “No Picture Was Unimportant to Her”

…South Africa, and the war in Korea. Bourke-White became one of the country’s most respected photojournalists, especially through the eras of the Depression and World War II. Among those who…

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Cover of a patriotic song dedicated to Lincoln's secretary of the navy Gideon Welles

Gideon Welles, US Secretary of the Navy and Lincoln’s “Neptune”

…His development of the Navy into a force that could successfully execute blockades of Southern ports was a key factor in the North’s Civil War victory. Also, he was instrumental…

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Camp of the 13th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers

What’s in a Number? Connecticut’s Thirteenth Regiment Goes Off to War

…in New Orleans, the men of the unit quickly found themselves in the middle of a war of words between pro-Southern and pro-Union factions in the city. During these first…

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Connecticut Women's Land Army, University of Connecticut

World War II

World War II (1941-1945) In 1939, as war dawned in Europe, Connecticut debated. Those dubbed isolationists urged US detachment while internationalists favored a united response to the Axis. As pro-war

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The Gettysburg Address and Heroic Fathers Bronze Tablets at the State Capitol

…of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. The first tablet lauded the dedication of “Our Heroic Fathers” who fought in the Civil War, and was designed, purchased, and erected by…

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Right foot of James Wilbraham

Civil War Soldier Dies of Gangrene – Today in History: July 10

On July 10, 1864, Civil War soldier Curtis Bacon of Simsbury died of gangrene from injuries he suffered in combat nearly two months earlier. On May 15, 1864, Bacon’s regiment,…

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Sloop-of-War Ship’s Figurehead Lands at State Capitol

…Renee The USS Hartford was a sloop-of-war launched on November 22, 1858, at the Boston Naval Yard. During her commission, she served in many prominent campaigns, most notably as the…

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Video – Home Front: Connecticut During World War II – Civil Defense

YouTube – CTHPrograms – Co-produced by Connecticut Public Television and Connecticut Humanities as part of the Connecticut Experience series on CPTV. This clip from Home Front: During World War II…

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Connecticut’s Capitol Building – Inside and Out

…the Republican Party in Connecticut and was elected to be the chairman of the War Committee during the Civil War. Because of his role within the party, he is credited…

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Celebrating Civil War Men and Women – Today in History: April 9

Today marks the anniversary of not only one, but two Civil War anniversaries. On April 9th, 1927 the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC) and Daughters of Union Veterans (DUV) joined together…

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The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Tablet

…S. Grant was a general during the Civil War and the eighteenth president of the United States. The Connecticut Division of the Sons of Veterans, USA (an organization composed of…

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U.S. Frigate Constitution, Isaac Hull, Esqr., commander

Fame and Infamy for the Hulls of Derby

By Carolyn Ivanoff for Connecticut Explored Men fought the War of 1812 over an enormous area, from Canada and the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi and along…

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Map of a collection of islands. There is a key in the bottom left hand corner

The Incident of the Stonington Schooner ‘Breakwater’: A View from Indian Country

…aged persons, widows, and fatherless children.” But over the past twenty years, through a deeper understanding of the hidden and nuanced histories of American Indians—Pequots, Mohegans, Narragansetts, Wampanoags, and Shinnecocks…

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John Rogers, Checkers up at the Farm,1875, painted plaster

John Rogers was a 19th-Century Sculptor for the Common Man

…enough success to give him the confidence to put his skills on display in New York City (just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War). Sculpting the Civil War

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USS Bexar tour, bazooka demonstration

The Bazooka Changes War – Today in History: June 14

…penetrate the heavy armor of enemy tanks in World War II, and when Army Major General L.H. Campbell Jr. briefed the press, he described the bazooka as “so simple and…

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A Memorial to General Hawley at the State Capitol

…at the paper that Hawley got word of Lincoln’s call to serve in the Union army at the onset of the Civil War. It has been reported that in April…

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Effect of Confederate shot on the USS Galena, 1862

Mystic-built USS Galena Part of Plan to Strengthen Union Navy

…midst of the Civil War (1861-1865) marked the emergence of a new type of naval architecture. It also heralded a shift in naval warfare that resulted from the ingenuity of…

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The Influence of Woman, Harper's Weekly, 1862

Bridgeport Women Answer the Call – Today in History: April 15

…Connecticut, and just as quickly, Connecticut’s women mobilized for war. The Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society in Bridgeport initially supported the Sixth Connecticut Regiment, but the needs of the war effort…

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Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch, Hartford

The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Hartford

…the first permanent triumphal arch erected in the United States and, unlike other war memorials around the state, does not list the names of those individuals who served or died…

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Orville Platt Helps Define International Relations after the Spanish-American War

…Assembly where he played an instrumental part in passing a bill that provided voting rights to Connecticut soldiers serving out of state during the Civil War. A Powerful Member of…

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Black and white photograph of a woman painting a man

Laura Wheeler Waring: Renowned African American Portrait Artist and Educator

By Louisa Talucci Iacurci Marian Anderson painting by Laura Wheeler Waring – National Portrait Gallery Laura Wheeler was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1887. Her father was the pastor of…

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New Haven Green

The Connecticut Town Green

…and provisions from the War Office located at the edge of the green. The War Office also served as the meeting place for the Council of Safety, a wartime group…

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American troops of the 28th Infantry Division march down the Champs-Élysées

Connecticut Servicemen in the “Bloody Bucket” Division

…training in Wales and England. The 28th Infantry Division Enters the War On July 22, 1944, the 28th Division entered the war with a landing on the beaches at Normandy….

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Detail from a map of Hayt

Ebenezer Bassett’s Historic Journey

…struggled with revolt, civil war, and foreign invasion. Inspired by the American and French revolutions and led by Toussaint L’Overture, a formerly enslaved coachman and genius of guerrilla warfare, Haiti…

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The Deutschland at the Connecticut State Pier in New London

New London Harbors a German Submarine During World War I – Who Knew?

…the German navy acquired the Deutschland and converted her into a warship. In her navy tenure, she successfully sank 42 ships. At the war’s end (in November of 1918) Germany…

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University of Connecticut, Commencement

UConn and the Evolution of a Public University

…in World War II, the university’s female students took leadership in campus organizations, but only for the duration of the war. In factories such as the Cheney Silk Mills in…

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Connecticut’s Loyal Subjects: Toryism and the American Revolution

War Turns As critical colonial victories began changing the course of the war in the summer of 1777, the governor of Connecticut issued a proclamation, in accordance with the Assembly,…

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The Old Brownstone Soldier

…part of the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission’s efforts to study and inspire awareness of the American Civil War and Connecticut’s involvement in it. << Previous – Home – Next…

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Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford

Where Mr. Twain and Mrs. Stowe Built Their Dream Houses

…in 1867, merging the two papers. He was a general in the Civil War and a war hero and narrowly won election as governor of Connecticut in 1866. He later…

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The southeast block of West Street, Litchfield as it looked in the Civil War era, 1867

The Peace Movement in Litchfield

…founding families of Litchfield. The Civil War Disrupts the Town’s Tranquility The peace of this historic community was shattered with the tumultuous start of the Civil War. Residents’ sentiments varied…

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Morton Biskind Warned the World About DDT

…enterprise encourages men to invent, create, and improve… – World War II Posters, Office of War Information, National Archives Dr. Morton Biskind In the late 1940s, however, a Westport physician…

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Combat between the Frigate Constitution and the British Frigate Guerriere

A Patriotic Legacy in Print

…who felt the country had won a “Second War of Independence.” Despite its indecisive conclusion, the war’s outcome was seen as a validation of the freedom the United States had…

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Jack Brutus, Connecticut War Dog – Who Knew?

… that although Jack Brutus’s military status was unofficial, he became the official mascot of Company K of the First Connecticut Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. Jack Brutus, or…

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The U.S. Frigate Constitution commanded by Isaac Hull

War of 1812

…and Stonington garnered increased support for the war. Arms, munitions, and textile manufacturers in the state benefited, as did privateers, by meeting wartime needs. Connecticut also supplied a national hero:…

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The Forlorn Soldier

…public history from Central Connecticut State University and as a part of the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission’s efforts to study and inspire awareness of the American Civil War and…

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Black and white photograph of a submarine draped in American flags on the water.

Electric Boat: From Innovation Trials to WWII Submarine Leadership

…on becoming an industry leader. Electric Boat began building submarines during World War I. It was the decade between the Cuttlefish launch in 1934 and the end of World War

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Brick School, Warren

Warren

…as a part of Kent, the town incorporated in 1786 and was named after Revolutionary War hero Joseph Warren. An early agricultural community, Warren, like its neighbors, took part in…

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Plan of USS monitor, 1862

Cornelius Bushnell and His Ironclad Ship

…and 1862, the Monitor went on to defeat the Confederate frigate CSS Merrimac in perhaps the most famous naval battle of the Civil War. After the war, Bushnell looked to…

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Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Fighter Wing fly in formation behind a KC-135

Connecticut’s “Yankee Watch” Squadron Protects the Skies Here and Abroad

…before moving to Hartford’s Brainard Field in 1923, the Flying Yankees saw action in France during World War I. The 103rd also contributed in World War II by flying submarine…

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Video – Home Front: Connecticut During World War II – Migration and Housing

YouTube – CTHPrograms – Co-produced by Connecticut Public Television and Connecticut Humanities as part of the Connecticut Experience series on CPTV. This clip from Home Front: During World War II…

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Almira Ambler, Civil War Nurse

A Voice for Veterans: A Civil War era ‘Whistle-Blower’ – Who Knew?

By Diane Hassan for the CTPost.com Almira Ambler, Civil War Nurse – Danbury Museum & Historical Society …that Almira Ambler, wife of the anti-slavery Baptist minister Edward C. Ambler was…

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General Mansfield's uniform epaulets

One of the Honored Dead: General J. K. F. Mansfield

…E. Lee. An Engineer in the War with Mexico Major General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield – Courtesy of Middlesex County Historical Society Advancement came slowly in the peacetime army, and…

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Civil War encampment

Civil War

Civil War (1861-1865) Some 55,000 Connecticut men served during the Civil War and, of those, roughly 10 percent lost their lives. On the home front, state industries gave the Union…

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The Old State House, Hartford

The Hartford Convention – Today in History: December 15

…1812, Britain and the United States were at war. The New England states did not support the war. They feared a land invasion and refused to place their militias under…

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Connecticut: Home to the Boxcar Children Mysteries – Who Knew?

…that Gertrude Chandler Warner, a lifelong resident of Putnam, Connecticut, authored the popular series The Boxcar Children Mysteries? In 1924, Warner, a first-grade school teacher at the Putnam Grammar School,…

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Apostle of Peace: Elihu Burritt’s Quest for Universal Brotherhood

…the Mexican War in the mid-1840s, the devastating crisis of the Civil War in the 1860s, and the Spanish-American War at the end of the 1890s. In between there was…

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Enoch Smith Woods, Colonel Thomas Knowlton

Thomas Knowlton: A Small Town’s National Hero

…regiment in 1757 during the Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War). He fought in numerous important battles during the war, including the Battle of Fort…

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Postwar United States 1945-1970s

Postwar United States (1945–1970s) Struggles over social, moral, military, and environmental conflicts dominated headlines across the country in the decades following World War II, as Americans took a stand on…

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Engraving drawing of several buildings

John Warner Barber’s Engravings Chronicle Connecticut History

…history through his historical writing and hundreds of engravings—many of which still exist today. Early Life in East Windsor John Warner Barber – The New York Public Library John Warner…

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American Whaler printed by Elijah Chapman Kellogg

New London’s Indian Mariners

…Western Niantic, Mashantucket Pequot, and Lantern Hill Pequot); the Narragansett reservation in Rhode Island; and the Montauk reservation in New York. Arguably, this consortium represents and anchors one of the…

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Nathaniel Lyon. Lithograph by E.B. & E.C. Kellogg

Nathaniel Lyon: Colorful Commander from Connecticut

…in the Seminole and Mexican Wars, against American Indians in various western posts, and against Missouri border “ruffians” in the Bleeding Kansas affair. On the eve of the Civil War,…

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Laboring in the Shade

…moved to sorting sheds and warehouses, where processing continues throughout the rest of the year. World War I Diversifies Tobacco Workforce Until the advent of World War I, Hartford-area whites,…

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The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company in East Hartford

The Early Years of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company

…continued to innovate, increasing the power of their engine designs throughout the war years. By the end of the war, the power of Pratt & Whitney’s largest engine had tripled…

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Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Vietnam Veterans Against the War – Today in History: April 19

Vietnam Veterans Against the War – Operation Dewey Canyon III On April 19, 1971, Vietnam veterans groups from Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford joined demonstrations in Washington, DC. Calling for…

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Vietnam War Moratorium peace demonstration, Bushnell Park, Hartford

Vietnam War

Vietnam War (1956 to 1975) The Vietnam era was as divisive in Connecticut as it was in the rest of the United States. Over 600 Connecticut servicemen lost their lives…

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Captain Nathaniel Shaw Mansion, New London

New London’s Sound Defense

war effort to no small degree. In addition, the disruption these raids caused to British trade led Britain’s mercantile class to exert pressure upon its government to end the war….

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Burial of Unoin soldiers, Fredericksburg, VA, 1864

Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877

Civil War and Reconstruction (1850–1877) The mid-nineteenth century was a period of massive upheaval in America. The country’s battles over race, slavery, and state’s rights ultimately degenerated into Civil War….

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Hall of Flags, State Capitol, Hartford

Collections: Battle Flags

…the Second Congress, First Session, they instructed all states to create a state and regimental flag as the “legislature of the respective states directed.” During the Civil War Connecticut units…

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Alfred Howe Terry Born in Hartford – Today in History: November 10

…and Photographs Division, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection At the outbreak of the Civil War, Terry was appointed Colonel of the 2nd Connecticut Infantry Regiment. He fought in the first battle of…

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William E. Simonds

William Edgar Simonds: A Schoolteacher Turned Civil War Hero

Born into a destitute family, William Edgar Simonds originally set his sights on a career as a school teacher. Service to his country during the Civil War, however, changed all…

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Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor

…the Revolutionary War, he changed sides, abandoning the Americans’ fight for independence in return for the military rank and financial reward he received in the British army. Prior to his…

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Levi B. Frost House, Southington

The Frost House Once Offered Travelers a Warm Welcome

…part of the Marion Historic District, the home is significant both architecturally and historically for the insight it provides into early New England history. Revolutionary War Hero Among Barnes Tavern…

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Poster with a blue and red flag and several people underneath cheering

Army-Navy “E” Award Honors Connecticut for Support Against the Axis Powers

By Sharon L. Cohen During World War II, the US military bestowed the top five percent of United States war plants with the Army-Navy Excellence in Production (“E”) Award for…

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Gideon Welles Appointed Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy – Today in History: March 7

War – National Archives, Pictures of the Civil War On March 7, 1861 Gideon Welles was officially appointed into Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet as Secretary of the Navy. Welles was born…

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Contagious Ward, Greenwich General Hospital, 1916

Health Department Fights Unseen Enemies During World War I

By Karen Frederick and Anne Young In the years after World War I broke out in Europe, Greenwich, like the rest of the United States, faced the menace of two…

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Hopkins Street Center once known as the Pearl St. Neighborhood House

A Woman Who Developed Tolerance: Leila T. Alexander

On Saturday, November 18, 1944, at noon after the meeting of the Connecticut War Council in the Senate Chambers of the State Capitol, Governor Raymond E. Baldwin, Jr. awarded certificates…

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Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War (1775-1783) Even before war erupted, Connecticut passed anti-Tory laws. In time, these—and harassment from liberty-minded neighbors—forced many loyal to Britain to flee their homes or suffer imprisonment. When…

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Combate de Cavite, 10 de Mayo 1898

The Colvocoresses Oak

…George graduated in 1831. The elder Colvocoresses enjoyed a distinguished career in the United States Navy, achieving some fame for his exploits on blockading duty during the Civil War. While…

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Israel Putnam: A Youthful Trailblazer Turned Colonial Militiaman

by Patrick J. Mahoney Israel Putnam is perhaps known best for his role as an American general during the Revolutionary War. The courage, leadership, and perseverance that endeared him to…

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The Story Trail of Voices

…the last fluent speaker of the Mohegan-Pequot dialect. Fidelia’s grandfather, Gerdon Wyyougs, was a Pequot. Along with Emma Baker, Fielding served as a teacher to future Mohegan Medicine Woman Gladys…

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Detail of a land point on a map labeled "Cornfield Point"

Cornfield Point: Old Saybrook’s Forgotten Scenic Alcove

…significance to the Pequot War. Fewer state residents realize that another key historical location exists on the opposite end of the coastline just a short ride down the street. Cornfield…

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Liberty Bond Day, Groton Iron Works, Noank

World War I

World War I (1917-1918) When the United States entered Europe’s Great War in 1917, Connecticut manufacturers provided the military with munitions, clothing, and other goods. From Manchester silk and Waterbury…

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Shipbuilding at Gildersleeve Ship Construction Co., Portland

The Gildersleeve Shipbuilding Legacy in Portland

…well as for military protection during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Perhaps the most recognizable name in the history of Portland shipbuilding is Sylvester Gildersleeve, the man…

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Postcard of the Merritt Parway, Conn.

Great Depression and World War II 1929-1945

Great Depression and World War II (1929–1945) Governor Wilbur Cross helped navigate Connecticut’s course through the Great Depression. After a devastating collapse in the stock market that led to massive…

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United States Army dirigible with crowd of onlookers

Airborne Pioneers: Connecticut Takes Flight

…The focus of commercial air travel in post-war Connecticut was Windsor Locks’ Bradley Field, an active Army air base during the war that was turned over to state ownership in…

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Billings & Spencer Company

Christopher Miner Spencer, 19th-century Arms Manufacturer

…service. Post-War Innovations Boost Industrial Efficiency After the Civil War, Spencer remained active in manufacture and the development of new ideas. In 1869 he partnered with Charles E. Billings to…

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Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys

Ethan Allen Born – Today in History: January 10

On January 10, 1738, future hero of the Revolutionary War Ethan Allen was believed to have been born to a farming family in the frontier village of Litchfield, Connecticut. By…

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Harriet Beecher Stowe's residence

Hartford’s Nook Farm

…the winding Park River. The men built their homes and parceled out land to family members and friends. What evolved in the years after the Civil War was Nook Farm,…

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Commemorating the USS Hartford at the Connecticut State Capitol

By Eric Cruanes The Connecticut State Capitol building is home to many artifacts of the Civil War, each one a reminder of the honor and sacrifice of those who fought….

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Side of a house with a painting on one wall

The Orrin Freeman House and the Spirit of ‘76

…early 1840s. So, how did it end up with one of its most distinctive features—a giant mural of Revolutionary War soldiers? What’s in a Name? Spirit of ’76 Mural –…

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Reporting News of Pearl Harbor – Today in History: December 7

…and Italy declared war on the United States. The United States was now at war on two fronts. “History in the Headlines” transcript, December 7, 1941 – Andre Schenker Papers,…

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Silas Deane House, Wethersfield

Site Lines: Silas Deane

…secured by the diligent efforts of Connecticut’s own Silas Deane. Deane’s extraordinary role in making the War for Independence viable should have placed him among the illustrious pantheon of America’s…

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Photograph of a brown two story house with an attic and two chimneys. There is a white fence in front of the house

The Welcoming Warmth of Kent’s Seven Hearths

…the hearth is universal in its meaning: comfort, warmth, and welcome. When John Beebe Jr. created seven of them in Flanders, keeping warm posed a significant challenge during the winter…

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The Smith-Worthington Saddle Company

Saddles Fit For a Shah

…saddles for both the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War and secretly outfitted Cuban revolutionaries during an insurrection against Spain in 1895. But it was World War

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Assembly of parachute flare casings

Munitions Assembly Line 1943

…the armed forces with weapons, ships, planes and armaments. World War II was no exception to this tradition. With the outbreak of the war, work orders began to pour into…

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Litchfield’s Revolutionary War Soldiers’ Tree

…of the town’s Revolutionary War soldiers. A small marker stands at the southeast corner of the eastern section of the Litchfield Green – Peter Vermilyea Soldiers Pledge to Battle Tyranny…

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William Eustis plans for New London

Defending Connecticut: Fortifying New London Against the British in 1812

…Great Britain on June 18, 1812. That summer, as the war got underway, Secretary of War William Eustis wrote to Captain C. D. Wood in New London, Connecticut: Sir, You…

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Detail of a bed curtain attributed to Priscilla Kingsbury

The Decorative Arts of Connecticut

…agricultural surplus. By 1760, for example, merchants in Hartford had 20 warehouses along the river to accommodate the import and export of goods. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many…

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A plan of the first Society in Lebanon

Exploring Early Connecticut Mapmaking

…professions. Moses Warren (1762-1835), one of the makers of the important 1813 state map, was a professional surveyor. Born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, to Moses Warren Sr., he moved to…

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USS Confederacy (by William Nowland Van Powel

USS Confederacy: The Life and Service of Connecticut’s Continental Frigate

Written by Damien Cregeau and Dayne Rugh for the Connecticut History Review Though most of the famed battles of the American Revolution took place on land, in truth, the war

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Early 20th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

…work dropped off significantly in the 1930s, women often joined men in the factories. World War I and Great Depression Breed Anti-Immigrant Sentiments By the start of World War I,…

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Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stratton

Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10

…Grace Episcopal Church in New York City, Charles Stratton of Bridgeport married Lavinia Warren of Middleboro, Massachusetts. The cover of Harper’s Weekly showed Mr. Stratton in a formal morning coat…

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To show an image of Mary Townsend Seymour

Mary Townsend Seymour: Hartford’s Organizer, Activist, and Suffragist

war was not limited to the newspaper; she also joined the Red Cross and helped form a local chapter of The Circle for Negro War Relief in 1918 which helped…

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Connecticut, from the Best Authorities

Stamford’s Three-Gun Armada

During the Revolutionary War, American privateers utilized armed whaling boats to keep the British from the colonies’ shores and prevent illicit trade in British goods. In 1778, 1779, and 1780,…

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Leroy Anderson at home in the 1950s

Leroy Anderson Composed Iconic Music in Woodbury

…utilizing his language skills as a translator and interpreter for the US Counter Intelligence Corps in Iceland during World War II. In all, Anderson spoke ten languages and his abilities…

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Artwork of a ship close to shore with people in rowboats. There is a large flag protruding from the mast of the ship. There is text at the bottom of the image.

Connecticut’s French Connections

…on the northern frontier and took part in attempts to invade Canada in 1690 and again in 1709, during Queen Anne’s War. During King George’s War in 1745, eight Connecticut…

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Count de Rochambeau - French general of the land forces in America reviewing the French troops

Rochambeau Returns Over and Over to Andover

Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, was a French nobleman and army general who contributed significantly to the Colonial army’s victory in the war for American independence. Rochambeau’s French troops…

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DN-1: The US Navy’s First Airship

…German cartoon of a zeppelin over London with a panicked crowd below. Source: H. Pearl Adam, International Cartoons of the War (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1916), n.p.,…

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Battle Flag Parade, Hartford, Connecticut, September 17, 1879

A Day of Celebration – Today in History: September 17

…of Connecticut’s Civil War veterans. In early 1879 officials decided that Connecticut’s Civil War battle flags would be transferred from the State Arsenal into cabinets in the new State Capitol…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Crisis and Recovery, 1929-1964

…limited government, and one-party rule were gone forever. World War II brought a cascade of war orders into Connecticut and ended the Great Depression. Women found their lives transformed by…

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Rosamond Danielson: Windham County Suffragist and Community Leader

…contributing to other state and regional activism. War Work and Philanthropy Connecticut State Council of Defense during World War I – Connecticut State Library, Dudley Photograph Collection, Connecticut History Illustrated…

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The 29th First to Enter Confederate Capital When It Surrenders – Today in History: April 3

…as part of a semester-long graduate student project at Central Connecticut State University that examined Civil War monuments and their histories in and around the State Capitol in Hartford, Connecticut….

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Detail from the map Colony of Connecticut in North-America by Moses Park

East Haven’s Revolutionary Salt Works

…Massachusetts in the 1630s, he owned a wharf and large warehouse in East Haven that he utilized to grow his business. Revolutionary War Creates Business Opportunity When the Revolutionary War

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Over Time: Warren’s Historical Population

Town: Warren Incorporated: May, 1786 Incorporated from: Kent Connecticut is currently divided into 169 “towns” with distinct geographical boundaries. These boundaries changed as parishes were set off from larger town-tracts,…

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A Muster Ceremony, New Haven Green

The First Battle of Bull Run: Connecticut Troops Stand Firm When the Battle Turns Against Them

…American Civil War, involving over 50,000 participants on both sides, and was a military fiasco for the North. The State of Connecticut did not suffer terribly on this particular field,…

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Nurses getting water at Base Hospital No.21, Rouen. This unit supported the British Expeditionary Force

Ruth Hovey: Heroic Battlefield Nurse

By Emily Clark During the Great War, heroes could be found on the battlefields and in the trenches across Europe, fighting to protect freedom in one of the deadliest conflicts…

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The Forlorn Soldier Conservation Ceremony, July 2013

War Commemoration Commission’s efforts to study and inspire awareness of the American Civil War and Connecticut’s involvement in it. Forlorn Soldier Conservation Ceremony Forlorn Soldier Time-Lapse Music Video Tom Callinan…

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Guy Hedlund playing Guy Frances in Fortune's Pet

Portland’s Guy Hedlund: Actor and Activist

…only a $5 stake in return, Hedlund pleaded with Koppleman to do everything in his power to keep the US out of the war. By the war’s end, Hedlund lived…

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A Soldier’s Welcome

…the Civil War generation. The Forlorn Soldier, now protected from the elements, joined other relics commemorating the Civil War. These artifacts include a statue of Civil War Governor William Buckingham…

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Deep River, 1934 aerial survey

Road Signs of the Air

…“roofs of factories, lumber sheds, garages, warehouses, state armories, freight stations and other buildings advantageously located.” Bridgeport had 7 markings, Meriden had 6, and Hartford had 5. None were painted…

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Private Henry Cornwall

Private Henry Cornwall 1862

Private Henry Cornwall, 20th Connecticut Volunteer, 1861 – Connecticut State Library The State of Connecticut sent over 55,000 troops to help the Union cause during the Civil War. Those troops…

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Congressional pugilists

Roger Griswold: A Governor Not Afraid To Challenge Authority

…the spring of 1812, Griswold’s administration faced the difficult task of charting Connecticut’s course through the political debates surrounding war with Great Britain. Griswold personally opposed the war and refused…

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Connecticut Residents Did Not Let Veterans Day “Go Commercial.”

…contributions of veterans from World War II and Korea, as well as World War I. Veterans Day always fell on November 11, until 1968, when President Johnson signed the Uniform…

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Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stratton

Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren Wed – Today in History: February 10

…Grace Episcopal Church in New York City, Charles Stratton of Bridgeport married Lavinia Warren of Middleboro, Massachusetts. The cover of Harper’s Weekly showed Mr. Stratton in a formal morning coat…

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David Bushnell and his Revolutionary Submarine

…the Delaware River; both were successful. When the war ended—and with brother Ezra having died in 1786—David Bushnell left Connecticut and went to Warrenton, Georgia, with Yale classmate Abraham Baldwin….

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Testing the camping equipment on The Gunnery’s campus in Washington

Reading, Writing, and the Great Outdoors: Frederick Gunn’s School Transforms Victorian-era Education

…(center) Girls’ camp, Milford, 1863 – The Gunnery Archive Camping at Point Beautiful on Lake Waramaug, New Preston, ca. 1870s – The Gunnery Archive The success of the Civil War

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Joseph Alsop - Hennepin County Library

Joseph Alsop: Cunning Political Columnist of Mid-Century America

…Photo taken at the Wood Ford Farm at 27 Nod Road in Avon the weekend before Joseph Alsop left to serve in World War II. Left-right: John, Corrine, Stewart &…

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Drawing of a group of women gathered together sewing

Hebron’s Josephine Sophia (White) Griffing and a Vision for Post-Emancipation America

…not end with emancipation. Even before the Civil War, a number of Northern female abolitionists formed aid societies to educate and provide personal support to formerly enslaved people. These organizations…

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Columbite

The Industrial Might of Connecticut Pegmatite

…in vacuum tubes, capacitors, and other electronic devices. During World War II muscovite was extremely important to the war effort, and many of the pegmatite mines in Connecticut were prospected…

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Hazardville Powder Company

Powder Hollow in Hazardville – Who Knew?

…that 40% of all the gunpowder consumed in the Civil War came from Powder Hollow in Hazardville (a part of Enfield, Connecticut). Not only that, but during the attack on…

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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

YouTube – CPTV – Created by the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and the Department of Economic and Community Development….

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Timeline: Settlement of the Colony of Connecticut

1614 Dutch explorer Adriaen Block sails along the Connecticut coastline and up the Connecticut River. 1631 The Earl of Warwick signs the “Warwick Patent,” a deed of conveyance granting land…

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Illuminations at the entrance to the Bulkeley Bridge

Mighty, Mighty Hartford

…which showed every type of military equipment used by Connecticut soldiers from the Pequot War to the Spanish-American War. There was a water carnival of 300 decorated yachts on the…

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Advertising leaflet for the "Cal" Pistol, J. & E. Stevens Co., Cromwell

Cromwell’s Iron Men Made Toys for Boys and Girls

…local competitors, found their way to store shelves all over the country by the start of the Second World War. World War II production needs, however, created an iron shortage…

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Print of a factory

Illuminating Connecticut’s Past: The Bradley & Hubbard Legacy

…the United States entered World War II, prompting the Parker Company to focus on the war effort. The intensification of the conflict diverted most metal production to war-related goods, leaving…

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Valley Forge, 1777

A Connecticut Slave in George Washington’s Army

Nero Hawley, born into slavery in Connecticut in the 18th century, fought in the Revolutionary War. After his emancipation at the age of 41, he went on to become a…

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Colt workers in front of the Armory, 1876

Workers at the Colt Armory, Hartford 1867

…with gold. These pieces consistently won prizes in international trade fairs, and were often presented to notable world personalities. During the Civil War, Colt Firearms officially supplied only the Union…

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Fort Griswold, 1781

Fort Griswold Attacked – Today in History: September 6

On September 6, 1781, British forces overtook Fort Griswold and, in an infamous move that would be recalled throughout the American Revolutionary War and long after, they killed many of…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1819-1865

…the repression of immigrants. Repeatedly, the Assembly had to elect a governor by joint ballot when no candidate in the multi-party statewide election won a majority. Civil War soldiers mustering…

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Freedom to the Slave

From the State Historian: Connecticut’s Slow Steps Toward Emancipation

War emancipation were mixed: While Connecticut Republican Governor William Buckingham personally traveled to Washington to urge President Lincoln to emancipate enslaved people months before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, other…

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Joseph Hopkins Twichell: Asylum Hill’s Religious Leader and Mark Twain’s Closest Friend

…and studied for the ministry before seeking greater adventure and becoming a chaplain for a Civil War regiment. He eventually became the pastor of Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford;…

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Monumental Bronze Company

…make gun mounts and munitions for World War I and the firm never produced another grave marker. After the war, Monumental Bronze executives realized that public demand had significantly shifted…

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The Girl in White, movie advertisement starring June Allyson as Emily Dunning Barringer

New Canaan’s Pioneering Female Physician

…World War under way, Barringer worked with numerous organizations that supplied medical care throughout Europe and led a campaign promoting the service of female physicians in the military—a campaign that…

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Henry Deming: Mayor of Hartford and New Orleans

War, as colonel of the Twelfth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. The Twelfth Regiment served as part of a force of 15,000 troops under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler…

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Woman in military outfit standing between two men who are pinning something to her shoulders.

Colonel Ruth A. Lucas: Literary Advocate

…the Tuskegee Institute and graduated in 1942 with a degree in education. In July of 1942, during the middle of World War II, Lucas joined the newly formed Women’s Army…

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The Legend of Old Hayfoot, the Forlorn Soldier

…of the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission’s efforts to study and inspire awareness of the American Civil War and Connecticut’s involvement in it. << Previous – Home – Next >>…

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Vonsiatsky and the German American Bund in the 1940s

The Vonsiatsky Conspiracy Case

…city of Warsaw (then ruled by Russia). In 1910, a Polish nationalist assassinated his father, an officer in the Russian imperial gendarmerie. As a young man, Vonsiatsky enrolled in a…

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Unveiling of the Grant Memorial Tablet – Today in History: October 4

…Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox that ended the Civil War and the 18th president of the United States. The Division chose to honor Grant because his grandfather, Noah Grant,…

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Makris Diner, 1795 Berlin Turnpike, Wethersfield

A Hip Road Trip

…the turnpike after World War II. As the major thoroughfare from Boston to New Haven, by 1947 the turnpike saw on average about 11,000 cars daily. By 1953, that number…

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Detail of a map of Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown’s Beman Triangle: A Testament to Black Freedom and Resilience

…neighborhood. Although African Americans bought property and formed neighborhoods throughout the pre-Civil War North, some as close to Middletown as Little Liberia in Bridgeport and Jail Hill in Norwich, the…

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James Lukens McConaughy sworn in as Governor by Chief Justice William M. Maltbie

Did You Know a Connecticut Governor Was a US Spy?

…McConaughy’s rhetoric in the first gubernatorial campaign of the post-war era also highlighted the start of the Cold War in its emphasis on the threat from communism. In his acceptance…

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Anna E. Dickinson

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson at Touro Hall – Today in History: March 24

…in support of the reelection campaign of wartime governor William A. Buckingham. As a woman, Dickinson did not have the right to vote, yet she was allowed to use her…

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Civil War Monument, Kensington

Kensington Soldiers Monument Dedicated – Today in History: July 28

…Civil War Monument in US As 2013 and the monument’s 150th anniversary approached, the Kensington Congregational Church, which owns and cares for the memorial, joined with the Connecticut Civil War

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Providing Bundles for Britain and News for America

…of America’s most trusted news writers and war correspondents. In addition, she worked diligently to bring relief to children and families in need during World War II and returned to…

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Shaker advertisement to board horses, 1884

Enfield’s Shaker Legacy

…Emily Copley. The seed business fell into decline during the Civil War years and was discontinued by the 1870s. With the outbreak of the war, the Shakers could no longer…

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Graphic of multi colored lines spinning around a gold circle that reads "National History Day 2024 Turning Points in History"

Connecticut History Day 2024: Turning Points in History

…more dependent on slavery and helping bring about the Civil War. Turning points can continue to affect how society operates into the present and future. In 1878, the Boardman Building…

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Andrew Mamedoff

Connecticut Daredevil Andrew Mamedoff Joins Royal Air Force

…the first Americans to join England’s Royal Air Force. From Airshows to World War II Fighter Pilot Born in Warsaw, Russian Empire (today, Poland) in 1912, Mamedoff grew up in…

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Benjamin Spock: Raising the World’s Children

…a Sane Nuclear Policy. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and a featured speaker at anti-war demonstrations beginning in 1967. In 1968, he and four other activists…

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Henry Ward Beecher, ca. 1866

Henry Ward Beecher Born – Today in History: June 24

On June 24, 1813, Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litchfield. The Beechers were already well-known because Lyman Beecher, Henry’s father, was a nationally renowned clergyman, and Henry, too, became…

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Can Opener, E. J. Warner, patented January 5, 1858

The First US Can Opener – Today in History: January 5

…with a saw-like action, which, unfortunately, left quite a jagged edge. Though never a big hit with the public, Warner’s can opener served the US Army during the Civil War

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Colonel William Douglas

William Douglas: A Colonial Hero’s Sacrifice

William Douglas was a successful merchant and military leader who settled in North Branford just prior to the Revolutionary War. Despite retiring with substantial wealth acquired through trade with partners…

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James Trenchard, View from the Green Woods towards Canaan and Salisbury, in Connecticut

Dynamic Tensions: Conservation and Development up to the 1920s

…Threatens Electrical Service” and characterized the Governor’s tree-trimming plans as a “War on Trees.” “Mark my word,” warned Governor Dannel Malloy, “when we start to do that… there are going…

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Native American Musical Instrument - Connecticut Historical Society

Connecticut Native American Arts

The five Indigenous tribes recognized by Connecticut state law include the Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot, each with its own history and identity. The…

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Ensign, Bickford & Company fuse factory campus, ca. late 1800s

The Steady Evolution of a Connecticut Family Business

…he was elected to the Connecticut legislature. He served on a committee to raise troops when the Civil War began in 1861. The younger Toy obtained a captain’s commission in…

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View of Old Whitney Hall (foreground) and the Storrs Congregational Church

Connecticut Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home

…Civil War. Closed in 1875 and sold soon after, the former orphanage became the site of Storrs Agricultural School (now the University of Connecticut) in 1881. According to university historian…

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Reverend James Pennington: A Voice for Freedom

…eventually received more than 10 offers from white ministers to preach from their pulpits. New York and the War Years Three years later, in 1847, the First Colored Presbyterian Church…

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General Nathaniel Lyon

From the State Historian: The Final Journey of Nathaniel Lyon

…10, 1861, at Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, Nathaniel Lyon became the first Union general to die in the Civil War. General Lyon Cemetery, Eastford – Dave Pelland, CTMonuments.net His death came…

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The Hartford Convention or Leap no leap

The Hartford Convention or Leap no Leap

…December of 1814. Historical Background The Hartford Convention, as it came to be known, met during the War of 1812 in reaction to the rise to power of the rival…

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Fort Griswold

Fort Griswold and the Battle of Groton Heights 1781

East of the Thames River, on Groton Heights, Fort Griswold stands commanding the New London Harbor and the surrounding countryside. In the midst of the Revolutionary War, 1781, the fort…

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Guyton flying the V-173, November 23, 1942

Boone Guyton Tested the Limits of World-Famous Aircraft

…serving on board the aircraft carriers Saratoga and Lexington prior to World War II. After completing his naval training, Guyton accepted a position with a commercial airline but United Aircraft,…

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Section of the map "Connecticut, from actual survey" (1813)

Caleb Brewster: A Patriot Against Freedom

…member of the Culper Spy Ring during the Revolutionary War—was also an active participant in the African Slave Trade. Runaway Advertisement in the Fairfield Gazette Advertisement by Caleb Brewster in…

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Historic photo of the Ebenezer Avery House, Groton

The Ebenezer Avery House – Who Knew?

…that the Ebenezer Avery House on the grounds of Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park in Groton once served as a hospital and refuge for the wounded after the Revolutionary War’s…

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Eleanor: The Maltese Port painting by Vincenzo D'Esposito

The Slaters Go Round the World

…to serve as a convoy escort during World War I and conveyed relief supplies after the war. She participated in at least one dramatic rescue during the war and remained…

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The Stonington Battle Flag

The Stonington Battle Flag

…Ghent in December 1814, ending the war. The flag remained in the care of Francis Amy, orderly sergeant of the 8th Company, until his death in 1863. The flag then…

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Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918

…with pigs a likely intermediary. The pandemic coincided with another devastating event: the Great War, more commonly known today as World War I. During the late winter and spring of…

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Detail of Guilford and Long Island

Stealth Attack from Guilford Launched – Today in History: May 23

…large stores of hay, grain, and rum. They brought with them 96 prisoners of war. Not a single patriot had been lost. But Guilford would have its turn to feel…

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Camp a Danbury le 23 Octobre 11 milles de Salem

Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at Danbury

…to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French army in America during the Revolutionary War. France formalized its aid to the colonies following the treaties of…

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Soldier, Patriot, and Politician: The Life of Oliver Wolcott

…Confederation, remains one of Connecticut’s most significant and understudied revolutionary figures. His experiences during the Seven Years’ War and American Revolution made him a sought-after leader for the inexperienced American…

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Joel Barlow

The Hartford Wits

…final major defeat of the war, it was Humphreys who presented British General Cornwallis’s flag to the Continental Congress. After the war’s end, Trumbull, Barlow, and Humphreys settled in the…

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Camp à Contorbery, le 7 Novembre, 10 milles de Windham

Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at Canterbury

…to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French army in America during the Revolutionary War. France formalized its aid to the colonies following the treaties of…

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Camp à East Hartford, le 29 Octobre, 12 milles 1/2 de Farmingtown

Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at East Hartford

…once belonged to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French army in America during the Revolutionary War. France formalized its aid to the colonies following the…

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The Great Remedy. Hand-colored lithograph by E.B. & E.C. Kellogg

The Great Remedy: Picturing the Emancipation Proclamation

…Civil War. While the war would drag on for two more years and it would be another century before African-Americans achieved full equality under the law, the Emancipation Proclamation was,…

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David Hotchkiss House, ca. 1980

The Prospect Green as a Historical Narrative

…of 2000, the Prospect Green Historic District contains 16 buildings, sites, and objects that include churches as well as a police station, volunteer fire station, grange, and Civil War monument….

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Waterbury’s Radium Girls

By Nicole Fontaine The Waterbury Clock Company experienced an increased demand for watches after the First World War, and to turn a profit, they hired women at low wages to…

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Delivery truck for The Lustron Home

Metal Homes for the Atomic Age

By Stacey Vairo for Connecticut Explored A visitor to Connecticut’s suburbs can count on seeing an assortment of typical post-war houses in styles such as the ubiquitous Ranch or ever-present…

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The Boston Braves playing during spring training

Spring Training Baseball Comes to Wallingford

…donated all of the revenue they generated while in Wallingford to the Red Cross war effort. After the war and the lifting of travel restrictions in the US, baseball readily…

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Camp à Windham, le 5 Novembre, 16 milles 1/2 de Bolton

Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at Windham

…belonged to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French army in America during the Revolutionary War. France formalized its aid to the colonies following the treaties…

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Hammonasset Beach State Park

Hammonasset State Park Serves the State and its Residents

…from treaties and transactions to the fallout of war and disease, brought the land increasingly into European hands. From Firing Range to Public Beach The area around Hammonasset served a…

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Hometown Hero: Wallingford Remembers Stanley Budleski

…Historical Society. Gift of Mary Jane Dapkus. Yalesville Memorializes World War II Pilot Growing up, Stanley—known as “Bing” to his friends—was fascinated by airplanes, and he became an airplane mechanic…

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Charles G. Finney

Charles Grandison Finney Spreads Revivalism and Education throughout the Mississippi Valley

Charles Grandison Finney was a revivalist preacher and educator born in Warren on August 27, 1792. He was the seventh child of Josiah Finney and Sarah Curtiss—two of Warren’s earliest…

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The Language of the Unheard: Racial Unrest in 20th-Century Hartford

…conditions that, some warned, were bound to spark uprisings. Black families lived in the “worst housing conditions in the country,” according to a 1908 report. Child mortality was almost three…

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Illustration of Hebron by John Warner Barber

Changing Sentiments on Slavery in Colonial Hebron

…six years, without assistance from a master or aid from the local population. With the war’s end, no one offered any opposition to Cesar, Lowis, and their several children re-occupying…

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Camp à Walen-Town, le 8 Novembre, 10 milles de Contorbery

Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at Voluntown

…to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French army in America during the Revolutionary War. France formalized its aid to the colonies following the treaties of…

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Camp à Farmington le 28 Octobre, 13 milles de Barn's Tavern

Map – Rochambeau’s Camp at Farmington

…belonged to Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the commander of the French army in America during the Revolutionary War. France formalized its aid to the colonies following the treaties…

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Bradley Field, Windsor Locks

Bradley International Airport Transforms Windsor Locks into Regional Gateway

…area for overseas deployment and, toward the end of the war, as a camp for German prisoners of war. The field was deactivated in 1945 and returned to state ownership…

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Nathan Hale Statue, Hartford

Nathan Hale Hanged in New York – Today in History: September 22

On September 22, 1776, the British hanged Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale for spying. Born in Coventry in 1755, Hale attended Yale College and later became a schoolteacher. After hostilities…

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Detail of Connecticut and Parts Adjacent, 1780

Levi Pease, Stage Route and Transportation Innovator

…at the start of the Revolutionary War. Serving in various special functions throughout the war, Pease was primarily in charge of transportation-related matters. He delivered correspondence, purchased horses and foraged…

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Panorama of Bushnell Park, 1920s

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch – Today in History: September 17

War. The life-sized terra cotta frieze depicts scenes of war on the north side and scenes of peace on the south. On the south frieze, Hartford is represented by the…

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Eighty-Five Hundred Souls: the 1918-1919 Flu Epidemic in Connecticut

…the disease, which was further facilitated by the movements of soldiers. World War I Hastens Spread of the Disease Ward 83, American Red Cross Military Hospital Number 1, ca. 1918….

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Fred. J. Hoertz, Your work means victory: Build another one

Freighter Worcester Launched – Today in History: April 5

…The freighter was built at the Groton Iron Works in support of the war effort for the Emergency Fleet Corporation of the United States Shipping Board. Groton Iron Works, formed…

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Section of a handwritten document

Black Loyalist Refugees: Toney Escapes During the Burning of Fairfield

By Alec Lurie When English warships landed at Fairfield’s Kenzie’s Point in July 1779, townspeople knew disaster was in store for coastal Connecticut. Some, however, saw British flags as a…

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The Gilbert clock model is on the right

Papier-Mache Clocks – Who Knew?

…that the William L. Gilbert Clock Corporation of Winsted was one of the few clock-making firms in Connecticut allowed to continue the manufacture of clocks during World War II. Why?…

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Burning of Fairfield

British Burn Fairfield – Today in History: July 7

On July 7, 1779, during the Revolutionary War, the British anchored a fleet of warships off the coast of Fairfield, Connecticut. The British soldiers waited for the fog to lift…

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Civil War Sanitary Commission

Sanitary Fair – Today in History: July 25

On July 25, 1864, the Stamford Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society held a Sanitary Fair. Sanitary Fairs were established in response to the needs of Civil War soldiers beyond what the…

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Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.

Governor Jonathan Trumbull Dies – Today in History: August 17

…Trumbull was known for keeping an even temperament while mediating disputes and for the way he rallied Connecticut residents to supply provisions for the Continental army during the Revolutionary War….

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Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company

Samuel Colt: From Yankee Peddler to American Tycoon

…sustain his business, Colt had to fold his company in September of 1842, leaving him in debt. A War with Mexico Renews Demand The outbreak of the war with Mexico,…

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Richard Brooks, Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell Launched – Today in History: June 13

…the establishment of Connecticut’s navy. The Navy was formed after the start of the American Revolutionary War in July of 1775 when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized Governor Jonathan Trumbull…

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Constance Baker Motley: A Warrior for Justice

By Andy Piascik The cover photo of Equal Justice Under Law, Constance Baker Motley’s 1998 autobiography, captures Motley, James Meredith, and Medgar Evers exiting a federal courthouse in New Orleans….

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1776-1818

…subject which can engage our attention.” – Governor Oliver Wolcott Jr., 1818 A Second War with Britain The Connecticut ship, Arbula Many in Connecticut opposed the War of 1812 and…

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Ralph Earl, Oliver Wolcott

Oliver Wolcott Dies – Today in History: December 1

…military leader during the Revolutionary War. The latter role culminated with his appointment to Brigadier General of the Connecticut Militia. After the war, Wolcott continued in political service as the…

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D-Day – Today in History: June 6

warned in the first bulletins that the news could be German propaganda. Not until 3:32 am did General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s London headquarters issue a statement confirming that the invasion,…

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Caleb Brewster and the Culper Spy Ring

…in the early years of the Revolutionary War, helped organize the Culper Spy Ring. Brewster’s friendship with the Tallmadges and his expertise as a seaman made him a natural for…

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First Company Governor’s Horse Guards escorting President Taft

Oldest Cavalry Unit – Who Knew?

…to such notables as George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and William Tecumseh Sherman. The unit’s duties, however, have not been limited to official state ceremonies. During the Civil War, the unit…

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A worker cutting ivory

Ivory Cutting: The Rise and Decline of a Connecticut Industry

…prior to the Civil War, these men moved into that field. Their firms, however, were generally underfinanced, which limited production. Yet, what occurred in 1862 and 1863 made Deep River…

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Commissary Sergeant 29th Regiment

Connecticut 29th Mustered into Service – Today in History: March 8

…into service to fight for the Union’s cause in the Civil War. Almost a year earlier, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln had issued an executive order, the Emancipation…

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German American Bund parade

Southbury Takes On the Nazis

In the late 1930s, in an attempt to avoid a second world war, countries around the globe worked to curb increasingly hostile Nazi aggression through policies of appeasement. The United…

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Inventor Charles F. Ritchel

Charles Ritchel and the Dirigible

…during the war and pioneered the use of the inflatable life raft. After World War I, however, the company was unable to find new peacetime customers. In 1921, it was…

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Map of Connecticut showing the settlements in 1670

Connecticut’s Oldest English Settlement

…1631, a war between the River Indians of the Connecticut Valley and the Pequot of the Thames Valley sent the River Indian sachem, Wahginnacut, to the Massachusetts Bay colony to…

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Detail of the South Part of New London Co.

The Rogerenes Leave Their Mark on Connecticut Society

…late 1880s – Mystic River Historical Society, Stinson Collection By the middle of the 1800s the Rogerenes became firmly anti-war and anti-military. The Quakertown Rogerenes invited Quakers to join them…

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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: Lebanon Green

YouTube – CPTV – Created by the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and the Department of Economic and Community Development with additional funding provided by Connecticut Humanities….

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University of Connecticut main campus

Homer D. Babbidge, Leader in Education

…“ten outstanding young men of the nation” in recognition of his work administering the National Defense Education Act of 1958. The NDEA reacted to Cold War fears of Soviet ascendancy…

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Martha Graham Dance Company, 1937 - The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Library Digital Collections

Hartford’s Anna Sokolow, Modern Dance Pioneer

…Her contemporaries inspired and challenged her and Sokolow explored serious themes in Strange American Funeral, Inquisition ’36, Anti-War Trilogy and Excerpts From a War Poem in a series of critically…

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Norwich Arms barrel room

Norwich’s “Volcanic” Past

…Company, and the Norwich Arms Company, all provided armaments used during the Civil War. James Mowry, the founder of the Norwich Arms Company, won a contract in 1862 for 30,000…

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The Importance of Being Puritan: Church and State in Colonial Connecticut

…population—adult male householders and landowners—was qualified to vote. Connecticut Feels the Effects of the English Civil War Increasing conflict back in England between Charles I and his Puritan subjects marked…

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Samuel Colt…and Sewing Machines?

…the Revolutionary War and during the War of 1812. Plus, if an artisan-produced musket or revolver failed on the battlefield, the army would need a field blacksmith to repair it,…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1929-1964

…militant. Organized labor grew enormously in strength and influence in the 1930s and helped mobilize legislative support for the minimum wage, worker’s compensation, and unemployment insurance. The lure of wartime…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1776-1818

The General Assembly Wages War Loyalists were numerous in Connecticut, especially in Fairfield County, and posed a real threat to the war effort. The General Assembly responded with laws punishing…

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David Humphreys

David Humphreys, Soldier, Statesman, and Agricultural Innovator

…Gold medal awarded to David Humphreys by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, 1802 A Distinguished Career at Home and Abroad During the Revolutionary War, Humphreys’ military talents and patriotism…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1905-1929

…on to Washington. War in Europe greatly stimulated the Connecticut economy as contracts from the European combatants flooded into the state’s brass industry and arms makers. American entry in the…

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The health of the child is the power of the nation

Helen F. Boyd Leads the Charge for Better Public Health

…forces during World War I. Boyd claimed: The battle to keep up the highest standard of public health must not be delayed for one moment. There must be women to…

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photo of Dave Brubeck, jazz musician

“Take Five” with Dave Brubeck

…army during World War II. While in the army, Brubeck led a band that traveled into combat areas to play for troops, and while he was close to the front…

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Pulling Down the Statue of King George II, New York City

Mariann Wolcott and Ralph Earl – Opposites Come Together and Make History

…formed 10,790, a figure representing a quarter of all the bullets produced from King George’s fallen statue. An Artist Struggles Through the Revolutionary War Meantime, Ralph Earl firmly allied himself…

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Gerald MacGuire and the Plot to Overthrow Franklin Roosevelt

…Legion’s Connecticut commander. MacGuire was born in Rhode Island on May 10, 1897, served in the First World War, settled in Darien, and worked at a prominent Wall Street brokerage…

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The Connecticut Poll Tax

…Connecticut and New Haven colonial governments, stipulated that “all charges of the war be born by the poll.” Although no war ensued, Massachusetts enacted a law in 1646, which included…

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Postcard of New London Bridge on Thames River, New London, Conn.

I-95 Reaches New London

…and World War II. With the postwar development of the Interstate Highway System, the single-span bridge soon proved unable to handle the ever-increasing flow of traffic. In 1963, planning began…

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Detail of the Bethany Airport Hanger from the Aerial survey of Connecticut 1934

A Busy Airfield in Bethany

…from enemy attack during World War II). By the 1960s, encroaching land development projects, increased government regulation, and skyrocketing costs placed tremendous pressure on the airport’s operations. In 1965, the…

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A Shipping and Railroad Magnate Remembers His Connecticut Roots

…throughout the South, Morgan’s vessels faced harassment and seizure by both Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War, but he still managed to turn a profit from lucrative wartime…

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Full body painting of a woman in colonial dress holding a firearm looking outside

Abigail Hinman: Heroine of the American Revolution or Legend?

By Emily Clark New London resident Abigail Hinman, the relatively unknown wife of sea captain Elisha Hinman, allegedly made a name for herself as a patriot in 1781. Her story…

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The Articles of Confederation: America’s First Constitution

By John Morrison Amid the chaos of the Revolutionary War, which pitted 13 separate entities against a common enemy, it became apparent that the colonies’ different agendas were stalling military…

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Portrait detail of Frederick Douglass

“An Admirable Portrait” of Frederick Douglass

…paid less than their white counterparts for their Civil War service. Douglass had been active in recruiting young men to serve in the so-called “colored” regiments, including Connecticut’s 29th Regiment…

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Preserving an All-American Downtown in Torrington

…Arts Center. Perhaps the most famous preservation project in Torrington is the Warner Theater. Built as a movie palace by Warner Brothers Studios in 1931, and capable of seating 1,700…

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Ashbel Woodward house, Franklin

Franklin’s Ashbel Woodward was a Battlefield Surgeon and Historian

…he purchased property from the estate of Dr. Reuben Burgess, where Woodward lived for the remainder of his life. Civil War Service and Civic Spirit For the better part of…

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Excelsior Cutlery

Connecticut Pocketknife Firms

…tariffs led to a drastic decline in European imports, which all but ceased during World War I. Before the conflict, tariffs encouraged skilled Europeans to migrate to America, but the…

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The Burning of Danbury

By Richard Buel When General George Washington ordered that Danbury serve as a supply depot for the Continental army in early 1777, he based his decision on the town’s importance…

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Sloan Wilson, the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, is Born – Today in History: May 8

…set in Westport, Connecticut, examines the life of a returning World War II veteran in post-war suburbia and his subsequent angst-ridden struggle to maintain his family’s upper-middle-class lifestyle. Many consider…

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Borden's Evaporated Milk Crate Label

Evaporated Milk’s Connecticut Connection – Who Knew?

…Company. The company’s first major orders came from the US Government which used condensed milk to feed the troops during the Civil War. The company changed its name to the…

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Black and white drawing of a man from the waist up. He is wearing a collared jacked with a neck covering

Lemuel Haynes: America’s First Black Ordained Minister

…career in religion. At the time his indenture expired (in 1774) the American colonies seemed destined for war with Great Britain so Haynes put his theological dreams on hold and…

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Bushnell's Turtle

The Turtle Submarine – Today in History: September 6

On September 6, 1776, the first functioning submarine, called the Turtle, attacked the HMS Eagle anchored in New York Harbor. Designed by Saybrook native and Yale graduate David Bushnell, the…

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A 1908 reenactment of Thomas Hooker’s 1636 landing in Hartford

Colonial Revival Movement Sought Stability during Time of Change

…of the past: a gun that had belonged to Revolutionary War hero General Israel Putnam, an antique tall clock, relics of the Charter Oak, and what would become the icon…

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Struggles and Decline

…and other farmers before World War II, it began to work against them in the post-War era. Increased efficiency of production meant, paradoxically, overproduction leading to lower prices for farm…

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The Platt Amendment – Today in History: June 12

On June 12, 1901, the Cuban Constitutional Convention agreed to the terms of the Platt Amendment. Drafted by United States Secretary of War, Elihu Root, the Platt Amendment was a…

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Borough of Stonington

…The town taxes were for services not provided by the borough (e.g., education). In June of 1801, in accordance with the act, they elected a warden, six burgesses, a clerk,…

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John Warner Barber, Groton Monument and Fort Griswold

Blood on the Hill: The Battle of Groton Heights, September 6, 1781

By Richard Malley Linen Vest, about 1781. Col. William Ledyard’s linen vest came to CHS from his daughter-in-law Maria Ledyard. Note puncture hole in the side, suggesting a bayonet wound…

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Hannah Bunce Watson: One of America’s First Female Publishers

…Watson on August 1, 1771. Ebenezer was the publisher of the Connecticut Courant newspaper at his shop on Main Street in Hartford. The paper became popular during the Revolutionary War

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John Warner Barber, Public square or green, in New Haven

Benedict Arnold Demands the Key – Today in History: April 22

On April 22, 1775, Benedict Arnold demanded the key to New Haven’s powder house. After hearing the news of the fighting at Lexington, Massachusetts, Arnold, as the commander of the…

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Governor Tryon's Expedition to Danbury

The British Attack Danbury – Today in History: April 26

On April 25, 1777, British forces land at the mouth of the Saugatuck River with plans to attack Danbury. General William Howe had ordered Major General William Tryon, royal governor…

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Fight at Ridgefield

Battle at Ridgefield – Today in History: April 27

On April 27, 1777, American forces under the command of Major General David Wooster attacked the retreating British troops under Major General William Tryon in Ridgefield. In anticipation of Tryon’s…

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View of Camp Columbia, Morris

Hidden Nearby: Camp Columbia State Park in Morris

…In the years prior to World War I, a boathouse was built on Bantam Lake. Future expansion was halted by the coming of war, and in 1917, officers’ training for…

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John Brown

John Brown Born – Today in History: May 9

On May 9, 1800, the man who became a catalyst for the Civil War was born in an 18th-century saltbox house in West Torringford. John Brown, who would spend most…

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Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury

Danbury Prison Protest – Today in History: August 11

…1940 the Federal Correctional Institution, also known as the Danbury prison, became a site of political protest. During World War II, the prison was one of several facilities nationwide to…

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Navy Steamship Galena, 1861

Ironclad Commissioned – Today in History: April 21

On April 21, 1862, the USS Galena was commissioned. New Haven businessman Cornelius Bushnell submitted the design for the Galena by naval architect Samuel H. Pook to the United States…

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Large white sail boat with three masts next to a dock. It is labeled "US Coast Guard" on the side.

Maritime History: The Founding of the United States Coast Guard Academy

…the aftermath of World War II, the United States claimed the vessel as a war reparation and brought it to Connecticut where it remains in use today. In addition to…

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Standing at Rest, at Last: The Story of the Forlorn Soldier

…part of his master’s studies at Central Connecticut State University, Roy along with Dr. Matt Warshauer, found not just a story, but a great story of a cast-away statue that…

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WTIC-TV filming airplane

Oldies But Goodies – Order DVDs from the Vaults of the Connecticut Humanities

…I – The Colonial Era to the Civil War (1998 w/CPTV: 1 hour) African Americans in Connecticut, Part II – The Civil War to Civil Rights (1998 w/CPTV: 1 hour)…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: A New State, A New Constitution, 1776-1818

…remained in the hands of the same political and religious elite that had governed Connecticut for decades. The General Assembly emerged from the war a far stronger institution. The great…

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Black and white Logo for WDRC Radio station

WDRC AM/FM – Connecticut’s Oldest Commercial Radio Station

…on these developments, unregulated amateur and experimental broadcasts commenced until a ban during World War I. Recognizing a need for regulation after the war, the US Department of Commerce issued…

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Birth of a Nation Advertisement

Hartford’s Challenge to “The Birth of a Nation”

By Steve Thornton Can a movie change history? The Birth of a Nation did. The original 1915 film fomented racial bigotry and consciously distorted the history of the post-Civil War

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Print of a parade of a two-faced Benedict Arnold through the streets of Philadelphia

New London’s Tradition of Burning Benedict Arnold…in Effigy – Who Knew?

…that New London has a yearly tradition of burning an effigy of Benedict Arnold, the infamous Revolutionary War general turned traitor. Norwich-born Benedict Arnold was a lauded major general in…

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Chief G’tinemong/Ralph W. Sturges

…in administration and criminology. That training prompted his service as a security and intelligence officer for the United States Government during the Second World War. After the war, he worked…

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Map detail of an island

The “Welcoming Beacon” of Sheffield Island Lighthouse

…“Winnipank, Indian Sagamour of Norwalk” occupied the island, followed by Norwalk’s first minister, Thomas Hanford. After subsequent owners and a stint as community land, a Revolutionary War captain named Robert…

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Mohegan Federal Recognition

…Understanding” (or “Compacts”) were signed by the Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequot Tribes with the State of Connecticut. In their accord, the Mohegan Tribe agreed to terminate their ancient land claim…

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Family outing, ca. 1922. Personal collection.

Native Americans

…American-owned Indian museum in the US. The state-recognized sovereign nations in Connecticut are the Eastern Pequot, Golden Hill Paugussett, and Schaghticoke tribes with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan having federal…

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John Randall House, North Stonington

North Stonington’s Randall House, Nothing Ordinary about It

…roasted meats, such as goose and venison, using pre-Revolutionary War recipes and wore period-style clothing to enhance the diners’ experience. Interior, west front room, John Randall House, North Stonington, ca….

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Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Most Famous American in the World

…book of the 19th century, second only to the Bible, and galvanized the abolition movement, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War. It changed public opinion, created characters still…

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Mounds Candy Bar Involved in Espionage – Who Knew?

…that a storied Naugatuck business had its own “navy” and that it performed espionage services for the United States government during World War II? It’s true. That business was the…

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Portrait of a man dressed in 18th century clothing. He is wearing a black suit with a white neckcloth

Samuel Huntington, the first President of the United States, dies – Today in History: January 5

…the Third Pennamite War (dispute over settlements by Connecticut’s Susquehanna Company in Pennsylvania), the distribution of the lands held in the Western Reserve, the ratification of the United States Constitution,…

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Oliver Wolcott Library

Modernism in Connecticut through Photographs

…architecture that reflected a new way of living. After World War II thousands of veterans returned home. With a growing economy, need for affordable housing, and a desire for a…

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Map shows the neighborhood where the murder took place

Murder on the Map: The Mysterious Death of Captain George M. Colvocoresses

…Society Captain George M. Colvocoresses, naval officer, Pacific explorer, Civil War hero, and survivor of kidnapping, yellow fever, and various wars, was killed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1872. Colvocoresses, or…

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St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland

The Wearing of the Green: 19th-century Prints of Irish Subjects by Hartford’s Kellogg Brothers

…of the Cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, were also mostly recent Irish immigrants. Prints of Irish War Heroes and Political Slogans Target New Market “The Battle of Bull’s…

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Playing with Time: The Introduction of Daylight Saving Time in Connecticut

…cost them an hour of daylight, making farm workers an hour late getting to the fields. Connecticut patriotically supported Daylight Saving during the war, but once the war was over,…

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Needlework by Prudence Punderson

Prudence Punderson, Ordinary Woman, Extraordinary Artist: Needlework in Connecticut

War was over, the couple reunited, married, and planned a life together. Sadly, their life together was cut short after their daughter, Sophia, was born. The story of this young…

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Brass City/Grass Roots: What Makes a Farm a Farm? Other Sites of Food Production in Waterbury

War I and Victory Gardens during World War II, encouraged and aided not just by local government but also by the large brass factories. Like many cities, Waterbury established a…

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North and South: The Legacy of Eli Whitney

War. Nancy Finlay grew up in Manchester, Connecticut. She has a BA from Smith College and an MFA and PhD from Princeton University. From 1998 to 2015, she was Curator…

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Blue background with a seal in the middle. Banner under the seal with Latin words.

Connecticut’s Official State Flag – Who Knew?

…standard version. In 1895—after asking the legislature for a state flag to decorate their new meeting space—the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) from…

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Red Cross Headquarters, Hurricane of 1944

The Great Atlantic Hurricane Hits Connecticut

War Council and the establishment of a storm headquarters at the office of Hartford Mayor William H. Mortensen. Additionally, state officials activated the War Emergency Radio Service (the first time…

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Ernest Borgnine: Breaking the Hollywood Mold

…the Second World War, Borgnine retuned to Connecticut and, with nothing in particular to do, heeded a suggestion from his mother to study acting. At the rather advanced age of…

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Ralph Earl, The Battle of Lexington, April 19th, 1775 etched by Amos Doolittle

News From Lexington: Contemporary Views of the Opening Battles of the American Revolution

…but most historians agree the Doolittle’s four etchings are an accurate reflection of the actual events. Such contemporary views of Revolutionary War battles are extremely unusual, and Doolittle’s four prints…

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Tomb of Lady Fenwick, Saybrook Point

An Old Saybrook Borough has a Stately History

Warwick signed the Warwick Patent, which was a deed of conveyance granting 11 of his contemporaries land rights in what is now southeastern Connecticut. Included in this group were the…

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Black and white photograph of the profile of a woman wearing a hat and sheer veil over her face

Emmeline Pankhurst’s “Freedom or Death” Speech Energizes Connecticut Women in 1913

…left the field of battle in order to explain . . . what civil war is like when civil war is waged by women.” The Guardian named her 90-minute “Freedom…

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The Minute Man, Westport CT

…centuries who benefited from the nation’s desire for sculptural projects honoring historical figures and heroes of other conflicts after the Civil War. To provide scope, The American Art Annual for…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: A Society in Ferment, 1819-1865

…tragic war fell upon Connecticut. This article is a panel reproduction from An Orderly and Decent Government, an exhibition on the history of representative government in Connecticut developed by Connecticut…

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Herbert Abrams Self Portrait

Herbert Abrams Immortalizes the Nation’s Leaders

…in World War II as a pilot and flight instructor. After the war, he graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and studied at the Art Students League in New…

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Map – Connecticut Landmarks of the Constitution

…Office And the scene of an early challenge to a “more perfect union” 17. Hartford: Old State House, NHL THE HARTFORD CONVENTION during the War of 1812 brought together New…

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Large room with many people sitting in rows facing a man speaking at a podium

Connecticut and the Armenian Genocide

…Ottoman Empire and oppression and violence against Armenians rose for decades. With the outbreak of World War I, Ottoman authorities viewed the Armenians as an increasing threat to their security….

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Corporal Thomas Fox , Second Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, B Company with his regimental flag

Disaster at Cold Harbor: Connecticut’s Second Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment

…and guard duty. In November 1863, the War Department ordered the Nineteenth to be reorganized as the Second Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment, and officers were sent back to Connecticut…

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Everett B. Clark seed barn, Orange

Orange Seeds Yield Corn, Alfafa, Soy, and More

…beginning his operation, Everett put his career on hold to join the Union army and served in the Connecticut Volunteer infantry during the Civil War before being taken prisoner in…

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Ralph Earl, A View of the Town of Concord etched by Amos Doolittle

Ralph Earl: Portrait of an Early American Artist

…drew four pictures of the battles and Doolittle translated them into engravings for printing; these are the earliest Revolutionary War battle scenes distributed in America. He also painted portraits of…

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A Connecticut Nazi Spy Has a Change of Heart

…academy in Annapolis, William attended MIT where he openly expressed his desire to settle in Nazi Germany at the conclusion of World War II. William Colepaugh Learns German Spycraft Increasingly…

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The crew and passengers of the steamboat Sunshine

Rising Tide: Steamboat Workers on the Connecticut River

…the war ended, however, the labor supply was plentiful and wages were periodically slashed. Over the next 15 years, steamboat workers earned 30% less than they had during the war….

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Illustration of Lorenzo Carter's first cabin

Putting Cleveland on the Map: Lorenzo Carter on the Ohio Frontier

…Environs:The Heart of New Connecticut by Elroy M. Avery, 1918 Carter was born in Warren, Connecticut, in 1766. His father, a Continental army soldier, died when Lorenzo was 11, forcing…

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Brass City/Grass Roots: From Farmers to Developers: The Rasmussens of Town Plot

…his land into half-acre parcels for house lots. The Depression and World War II stalled development, but Hans’ sons Floyd and Wesley continued their father’s project post-War, creating housing at…

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The “Father of American Football” is Born – Today in History: April 7

War I. Walter Camp as Yale’s Team Captain from the book Football Days Memories of the Game and of the Men Behind the Ball by William H. Edwards, 1916 The…

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The Webb Mansion, Wethersfield

Washington Didn’t Only Sleep Here: George Washington at Wethersfield’s Webb House

…existed in large part thanks to Washington’s leadership of American troops to victory over that same British military in the war for independence. All of the trips Washington made to…

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A receipt for two prints of John Trumbull paintings

Jeremiah Wadsworth, “foremost in every enterprise”

War, he advanced to commissary for the eastern division of the Continental army and in 1778 succeeded Joseph Trumbull as commissary general for the entire army. He earned the trust…

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Votes for A Woman: Sara Buek Crawford

…sisters. In 1861, a sixteen-year-old Charles enlisted with the 41st New York Volunteer Infantry to fight in the Civil War. Branded the DeKalb Zouaves, the regiment was comprised of German…

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Poster with a blue and red swirl

Alexander Calder and Making Art Political

…notables to sign anti-draft petitions and anti-war advertisements in national newspapers. In 1972, Calder joined a group of about one hundred high-profile artists—including Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg—to support Senator…

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Forlorn Soldier Oral History Interviews

…the monument for over a century, Matthew Warshauer, co-chair of the Civil War Commemoration Commission, and Francis Miller, proprietor of ConservArt, the company contracted to preserve and relocate the statue….

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The Shoemakers printed by E.B. & E.C. Kellogg

The Sole of New Canaan’s Shoe Industry

…Benedict from History of Fairfield County, Connecticut with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers Prior to the Civil War and the growth of machine stitching, little…

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Whitneyville Armory, Whitney's Improved Fire-Arms, from an advertisement, ca. 1862

The Whitney Armory Helps Progress in Hamden

…order to support himself. In addition to tutoring the children of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, Whitney soon gained a reputation as man with a gift for invention. In 1793,…

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Thornton Wilder

Hamden’s Literary Legend

…After briefly leaving school to serve as a corporal in the Coast Artillery Corps during World War I, he graduated from Yale in 1920. From there he went on to…

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George Washington Slept Here

George Washington Slept Here (Just Perhaps Not Well)

…Washington traveled from Boston to Hartford, he stopped in Pomfret, Connecticut, to inquire about the residence of Revolutionary War veteran, Israel Putnam. Concluding that a trip to see his old…

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John F. Weir, Roger Sherman, ca. 1902

Roger Sherman, Revolutionary and Dedicated Public Servant

…nation’s first constitution). He involved himself in issues of supply purchasing, Native American affairs, and the administration of the post office. In addition, he served on the Board of War

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Connecticut Courant building

The Hartford Courant: The Oldest US Newspaper in Continuous Publication

…the Civil War – Connecticut Historical Society In the years that followed the war, the paper maintained its prominent position in American culture. It ran ads for such famous Americans…

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John Brown: A Portrait of Violent Abolitionism

…decade before the Civil War. Considered by pro-slavery Southerners as “a damned black-hearted villain,” abolitionists met Brown’s radical exploits with a combination of admiration and revulsion. John Brown was born…

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Poem relating the Beadle murders

The Beadle Family Murders – Today in History: December 11

…a Wethersfield merchant gave money for the relief of Boston. In exchange for his goods, Beadle accepted Continental currency, which dropped greatly in value during the war. When Beadle no…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1866-1887

The Rise of the Factory The Civil War propelled Colt, New Haven‘s Remington Arms, and other Connecticut weapons producers to new heights of production. The state’s munitions industry maintained its…

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Clare Boothe Luce Changed Perceptions about Women in Business and Politics

…upon her earlier journalistic experience to provide Life readers with in-depth first-hand accounts of her travels across the different theaters of war. Her wartime writings presented a marked criticism of…

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Mark Twain with his friend, John Lewis

A Life Lived in a Rapidly Changing World: Samuel L. Clemens

…Boer War in South Africa and the Boxer Rebellion in China fueled his growing anger toward imperialistic countries and their actions. With the Spanish-American and Philippine War in 1898‚ Sam’s…

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Meriden Silver Plate Company, nut dish

Meriden

…Silver City. In 1944, the War Manpower Commission named Meriden “The Nation’s Ideal War Community,” for its industrial and patriotic contributions during World War II. Today’s economy is primarily service-based….

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The Interstate Highway System Comes to Hartford

…government looked for ways to improve transportation in the event the United States went to war. War broke out before workers accomplished much in Hartford, but by 1945 a multilane…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1929-1964

…ready, the State Capitol begins a black-out test on December 12, 1941, five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the War the General Assembly granted the governor broad…

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The “Red Scare” in Connecticut

…the First World War (ironically, some of those arrested were war veterans themselves). Postmaster General Albert Burleson attempted to clarify the laws’ purpose: “For instance, papers may not say that…

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Beatrice Fox Auerbach meets with the department heads of her store, G. Fox & Company

Beatrice Fox Auerbach: Retail Pioneer Led Iconic Family Department Store

…education, Auerbach devoted much of her life to the betterment of her community and the world. She made contributions to civilian relief efforts during World War II by establishing a…

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Ingersoll Mickey Mouse Wrist Watch, 1933

Waterbury Clock Company Saved by Mickey Mouse – Who Knew?

…was the largest clock maker in the United States. With the advent of World War I, Waterbury Clock continued to place itself at the forefront of innovation when they modified…

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Looking Back: Tempest Tossed, the Story of Isabella Beecher Hooker

…minister Henry Ward Beecher, when he stood accused of adultery. Isabella Beecher’s Formative Years Isabella Beecher was born February 22, 1822, in Litchfield, then home to a progressive girls’ school,…

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Samuel A. Foote

Samuel Foot: A Trader Turned Governor

…to New Haven and found employment in the West India trade, traveling on numerous voyages before the War of 1812 brought an end to his commercial prosperity. Cheshire Politician Becomes…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1819-1865

…voting, and expelled Irish units from the state militia. A War to Set Men Free Advocated first by a small group of ministers and other abolitionists, the anti-slavery cause took…

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Hazard's Electric Gunpowder, Hazard Powder Company

Colonel Augustus G. Hazard, Gunpowder Manufacturer – Who Knew?

…as Hazardville. During the Civil War, the company supplied 40% of all the gunpowder used by the Union army. Success, however, did not increase safety in an inherently dangerous business….

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New-Gate Prison courtyard

Notorious New-Gate Prison

…New-Gate not only housed thieves, counterfeiters, and murderers but Tories (a label given to those sympathetic to the British cause during the Revolutionary War) as well. Connecticut’s Council of Safety…

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Tomlinson Cottage, Retreat for the Insane, Hartford

Hartford Retreat for the Insane Advanced Improved Standards of Care

By Michael Sturges In the early national period, following the Revolutionary War’s end in 1783, dependant adults, such as the elderly, disabled, or unemployed, would be cared for by their…

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Cheney Brothers Mills

The Cheney Brothers’ Rise in the Silk Industry

…mulberry tree, morus multicaulis, to the United States. US Silk Market Booms and Crashes In 1833, three sons of Manchester’s George Wells and Electa Woodbridge Cheney—Ward, Frank, and Rush—invested heavily…

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Thomas Jefferson and the Embargo of 1807

Connecticut and the Embargo Act of 1807

…had continued to serve throughout the Revolutionary War. Trumbull Jr. had been governor since 1797, and in 1809 was serving the last of eleven consecutive terms in that office. (He…

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Major General Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) Once lauded for heroism, Norwich-born Benedict Arnold earned infamy as a traitor during the American Revolutionary War by leaving liberty’s cause to side with the British. As…

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Hoffman Wall Paper Company in Hartford

Tradition and Transformation Define Hartford’s Jewish Community

…Washington for refugee relief. Both before and after the war, Hartford Jews fought to bring in the refugees, many of whom were members of their own families. World War II…

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Hiram Bingham IV

Hiram Bingham IV: A Humanitarian Honored for Saving Lives during WWII

…At the start of World War II, Marseilles, along with numerous other European port cities, received an influx of refugees (many of them Jewish), fleeing from the advancing German armies….

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A return of the number of inhabitants in the State of Connecticut

Connecticut’s Black Governors

…into war after the battles of Lexington and Concord. In 1776, for example, with Connecticut’s government in the hands of the revolutionaries, a slave named John Anderson became black governor…

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Starr Mill

Understanding the Environmental Effects of Industry by Examining the Starr Mill

…Constitution Museum Construction of the Starr Mill After obtaining a substantial war department contract in 1812, Nathan Starr Jr. constructed a brick factory on the land his father purchased in…

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Tantaquidgeon Lodge, Montville

Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Mohegan Cultural Renewal

…history due to his collaboration with the English during the Pequot War. Despite the negative implications of an English alliance, Uncas was able to secure the safety of his people…

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Map of changing Connecticut's boundary lines

Surveying Connecticut’s Borders

…the lands within Connecticut’s charter (between the Mystic and Pawcatuck Rivers) as payment for assistance during the Pequot War. Lucky for us, Connecticut prevailed and kept that valuable piece of…

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Bridge on the grounds of Gillette's Castle

A Public Responsibility: Conservation and Development in the 20th Century

…under a single park administrator (Hawes retired early) and with the same primary purpose: “public enjoyment.” World War II also slowed conservation efforts save for the acquisitions of what became…

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Plan of the ancient Palisado Plot in Windsor

Pre-Colonization and Settlement Up Through 1763

…destabilized relations between various tribes of indigenous peoples that helped bring about the Pequot War—a conflict that ushered in an era of greater militancy in European-Native American relations. In 1662,…

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Pachaug Trail, Wiclcabouet Marsh, Voluntown

The Story of Connecticut’s Largest State Forest

…roots in Voluntown’s industrial past. When Europeans first arrived in the area that is now Pachaug State Forest, it constituted tribal lands of the Narragansett, Pequot, and Mohegan people. The…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Searching for the Common Good, 1965-Now

…for massive urban renewal projects. Federal anti-poverty programs waned as the costs of the Vietnam War escalated. Connecticut’s hard-pressed cities broke out in rioting in 1967 and again in 1968…

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Lyman Hall memorial, Center Street Cemetery

Wallingford Native Son Signed the Declaration of Independence

Lyman Hall was a doctor, minister, and statesman from Connecticut who traveled throughout the original 13 colonies during the latter half of the 18th century. Hall served in the Second…

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Painting of a man sitting in a chair. There is a drapery behind him. He is wearing a reddish brown suit from the 18th century

Roger Sherman Dies – Today in History: July 23

On July 23, 1793, Roger Sherman—a Connecticut merchant, lawyer, and statesman—died in New Haven. Roger Sherman moved to Connecticut as a young man and applied himself to a number of…

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Map of Plan of the city of New Haven - Connecticut Historical Society Museum & Library

New Haven’s Long Wharf

…boats (“lighters”) that were sent to small wharves on tidal creeks. In 1663, Samuel Bache received the first grant to build a wharf and warehouse in the harbor. Twenty years…

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Detail of an advertisement for Connecticut Pies, 1913

The Pie Man from Georgetown and the Connecticut ~ Copperthite Pie Company

…79th Highlanders of New York in the Civil War. After the war, Henry returned to Connecticut where he put his highly prized wagon-driving skills to work for a pie maker….

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Putnam’s Cave or Wolf Den

The Last Wolf in Connecticut

By Emily Dunnack Israel Putnam is a name that stands out in the colonial history of Connecticut as a war hero of the French and Indian War and the American…

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Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut

From the State Historian: Discovering the Explorer Hiram Bingham III

…aviation training center in France during World War I. Explorer Turned Politician After the war, Bingham flew into politics. A Republican favorite, he became lieutenant governor of Connecticut in 1922…

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Pier at Savin Rock, West Haven, 1905

Savin Rock Park: “Connecticut’s Coney Island”

…Haven, 1906, 1981.136.1 – Connecticut Historical Society Kelsey served with the 6th Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteers during the Civil War. An entrepreneur at heart, Kelsey spent his postwar years…

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Nathan Hale: The Man and the Legend

By Nancy Finlay He never lived in the Nathan Hale Homestead. There is no credible proof he ever said, “I only regret that I have but one life to give…

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Training and rescue submarine S-4 submerging

Video – Undersea University – US Navy’s Submarine School

Produced by the US Government in 1965, this film of the US Naval Submarine Base New London submarine training school includes a tour of its Submarine Library, a demonstration of…

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Norwich City Hall, Union Square, Norwich, New London County

Site Lines: Monuments to Connecticut’s Lost County Government

…Hall Willimantic grew rapidly after the Civil War. Early on, the town, which served as county seat, was more concerned with fulfilling the county’s basic needs than with building a…

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The Thimble Islands – Little Islands with a Big History

…to the Thimble Islands. Only a $1.00 for a round trip. The area’s resort industry declined during the Civil War, but by the war’s end, tourism once again boomed. Residents…

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The Seth Wetmore House: A Storied Structure of 18th Century Middletown

…Civil War History George Washington’s Gravestone, Indian Hill Cemetery, Middletown – Find a Grave Though renowned for its Georgian architecture and New England features, the house also has connections to…

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Walt Dropo, Boston Red Sox

Walt Dropo Stars Throughout New England

…stay in Storrs was interrupted in 1943 when he entered the army during the Second World War. He served as an engineer in Europe and returned to UConn after being…

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Wooden sign in front of a tree reading "welcome to Banner Lodge"

Banner Lodge: A Vacation Playground for an Excluded Population

…their annual outing at Banner Lodge in 1933. Other Jewish-run businesses and organizations, such as the Jewish War Veterans and the predominately Jewish Furriers’ Guild and Pharmacists’ Association, held encampments…

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Portrait of James Williams from his biography

James Williams, More than Trinity College’s Janitor

…which he crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean on any ship that accepted his labor. He was at sea during the War of 1812, serving on the USS Hornet. Williams was a…

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Postcard of Charles Island, Milford, CT

A Good Spot and a Healthy Place: A Short History of Charles Island

…Park But the days of Charles Island’s service as a trendy resort location were short-lived. In the years following the Civil War, Charles Island’s reputation as a wholesome family resort…

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The Hermitage, Peter's Rock

Peter’s Rock: North Haven History with a View

…wound in the Revolutionary War that deformed his spine and left him partially crippled. Brockett built a small hut on the northern base of the mountain and lived out his…

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Greenwich Emergency Responders: On the Move Overtime

…38-foot Blackhawk, 22-foot Seafin, 18-foot and 14-foot skiffs and an amphibious duck. 1943 During World War II, Greenwich Police and Fire Departments work to eliminate the number of high explosive…

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Artist Louis Paul Dessar Dies – Today in History: February 14

…after graduating the College of the City of New York and the National Academy of Design—studying under Lemuel Wilmarth and John Q. A. Ward. In 1886, Desser continued his studies…

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Hazard Powder Company gunpowder barrel

One-Legged Stools – Who Knew?

…helped establish over 100 mills in an area of Enfield that later became known as Hazardville. His Hazard Powder Company supplied the gun powder that helped fight the Civil War,…

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Robertson Field, also known as Robertson Airport, Plainville

Plainville Has Been Flying High for Over 100 Years

…unimaginable to those remaining earthbound. In addition, the airport’s strategic location made it an ideal base for the Civil Air Patrol during times of war and for small businessmen in…

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State Representative William A. O'Neill and State Senator David M. Barry

William O’Neill: Climbing Up the Political Ladder

…insurance for Prudential. He then joined the United States Air Force, serving as a combat pilot during the Korean War. His political career began when he returned home from the…

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James Lindsey Smith Takes the Underground Railroad to Connecticut

By Nancy Finlay In the years before the Civil War, the Underground Railroad enabled thousands of Americans of African descent to escape from slavery. In the North and in the…

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Alexander Calder at Stegosaurus sculpture dedication

A World in Motion: Artist and Sculptor Alexander Calder

…Spanish Civil War. After the end of World War II, the Calders began to spend more of their time in Europe, particularly France. In 1953, they acquired a house in…

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The birthplace of John Brown, Torrington

The Fight Over Slavery Reaches Torrington

In the years prior to the Civil War, Torrington, like many towns in New England and the rest of the country, found itself divided by the issue of slavery. Abolitionist…

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Black and white image of a stove

The Stamford Foundry Company Made Notable Stoves

…them until about 1840 when the supply of iron ore ran out. George E. Waring started the Stamford Foundry Company in 1830, making plowshares and other items in the town…

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Boot Blacks and the Struggle to Survive in Hartford

…paper money was a show of faith in the US government, both during and after the Civil War, and those who hoarded gold and silver were waiting for the North…

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Trinity College Students Call Attention to Histories of Inequality

…Could Occupy World War II Public Housing in West Hartford by Emily Meehan In the 1940s, African American war workers eligible for government-funded housing found access restricted to some properties…

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Stanley Works for New Britain

…of War Information The success of Stanley Works in the decades that followed came not only from a dedication to producing quality tools but from the foresight company executives had…

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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden

YouTube – CPTV – Created by the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network and the Department of Economic and Community Development….

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Newspaper clipping titled "For Orphans of Cuba"

Children of the Reconcentrados: Caroline Selden’s Cuban School

…rebellion against Spanish rule and continued to work for Cuban independence. Another rebellion, the War of Independence, broke out in Cuba in February 1895. Attempting to quash widespread popular support,…

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Asaph Hall, August 1899

Goshen’s Asaph Hall Becomes an Astronomical Success

…the Hart Hollow section of town and his grandfather, who moved to Goshen in 1758, served under Ethan Allen during the Revolutionary War. After the death of his father, Asaph…

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Jonathan Trumbull

Jonathan Trumbull

…Indian War, Trumbull won election as deputy governor of Connecticut in 1766. With the death of Governor William Pitkin in 1769, Trumbull became governor of the colony. During the Revolutionary…

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Morris Academy

Hidden Nearby: The Morris Academy

…future in the ministry. The Revolutionary War, however, got in the way. He served first in the Connecticut militia, then in the Continental army, fighting on Long Island, at White…

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Carl Sandburg, Poet from the Grassroots, Reaches Connecticut Audiences

…spoke frequently at Wesleyan University and received an honorary degree there in 1940, the year he won his first Pulitzer Prize (for Lincoln: The War Years). Sandburg shared the stage…

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Map of The Part of Pennsylvania that Lies Between the Forks of the Susquehannah, Divided Into Townships

The Susquehanna Settlers

…nations, as well as within the Connecticut colony itself. Yankee-Pennamite Wars After the purchase, Connecticut colonists began moving into western Pennsylvania around 1762, establishing their first permanent settlement by 1769….

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Silas Deane

Silas Deane

Silas Deane (1737-1789) Silas Deane was a politician and diplomat credited with successfully soliciting the foreign aid the colonies needed to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War. Prior to…

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View on the Erie Canal

Benjamin Wright: The Father of American Civil Engineering

…as a lieutenant under George Washington during the Revolutionary War, became so ridden with debt that Benjamin spent more time working to help support his family than he did in…

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Dodd Gun Bill Becomes Law

Thomas J. Dodd and the Gun Control Act of 1968

…Dodd’s most notable accomplishments was serving as Executive Trial Counsel in 1945 and 1946 for the United States’ prosecutorial team at the Nuremberg trials, which held Nazi war criminals accountable…

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Capital Community College Students Explore Hartford’s Immigrant History…In Their Own Words

…the large voting potential of the Puerto Rican community.” George Keller: The Man in the Arch by Amanda Duenes Following the outbreak of the Civil War, George Keller went forth…

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Man sitting on a bench in front of a storefront

Jewish Farming Communities in Connecticut in the 19th and 20th Centuries

…and descendants who settled in the town following World War II. Nancy Finlay grew up in Manchester, Connecticut. She has a BA from Smith College and an MFA and PhD…

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Elm Arcade, Temple Street, New Haven

A Beautiful and Goodly Tree: The Rise and Fall of the American Elm

…shade trees and to line village and city streets. In the early 1830s, when John Warner Barber documented the appearance of every town in Connecticut for his book, Connecticut Historical…

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Mamie Eisenhower launches the USS Nautilus

The Launch of the USS Nautilus – Today in History: January 21

On January 21, 1954, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower launched the world’s first nuclear submarine at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Shipyard in Groton. Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower was…

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Advertisement for Phillips' Milk of Magnesia in the Washington DC Evening Star, 1945

Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia Originated in Stamford

By Edward T. Howe Trademark registration by C.H. Phillips for Milk of Magnesia brand Preparation of Magnesia – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division In 1873, Charles H. Phillips…

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The White Pine Acts – Who Knew?

…that cutting down a white pine tree was once a punishable offence. The British Crown instituted the first White Pine Act in Massachusetts in 1691, but extended it to all…

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Adeline Gray at the Pioneer Parachute Company, Manchester

First Human Test of a Nylon Parachute – Today in History: June 6

On June 6, 1942, Adeline Gray made the first jump by a human with a nylon parachute at Brainard Field in Hartford. Her jump, performed before a group of Army…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Making Self-Government Work, 1819-1865

…request for equal voting rights but did finally abolish human servitude in Connecticut in 1848. The terrible casualties of the war divided public opinion in Connecticut. Democrats bitterly opposed Lincoln’s…

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USS Nautilus

USS Nautilus Passes Under North Pole – Today in History: August 3

On August 3, 1958, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) made history by becoming the first ship to pass underneath the North Pole. The 1,830-mile journey was launched from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,…

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Hat-factory With Hose-house On The Hill, Danbury

Rivers of Outrage

Written by William Devlin for the Connecticut History Review Pollution of Connecticut’s waters by industrial waste and sewage in the decades after the Civil War was arguably the state’s first…

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Governor Ella Grasso

The Education of Ella Grasso

…arrived in Windsor Locks early in the 20th century, they followed tens of thousands of Europeans who immigrated to the United States in the decades after the Civil War. By…

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Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class

By Steve Thornton Connecticut has no shortage of war memorials or statues featuring prominent business and political leaders. The celebration of the state’s ordinary working people, however, is almost nowhere…

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Great River Park, East Hartford

East Hartford

…During the Revolutionary War, French troops under Lieutenant General Comte de Rochambeau twice camped in town: before and after they aided General George Washington’s forces in the 1781 defeat of…

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Stone-Otis House

Orange

…when residential building began after World War II. During the Cold War the town served as a Nike Missile deployment area for the defense of Greater New Haven. Today, Orange…

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A Different Look at the Amistad Trial: The Teenager Who Helped Save the Mende Captives

…Covey from John Warner Barber’s book A History of the Amistad Captives:…” On July 2, 1839, the Africans seized the schooner Amistad from Portuguese slavers who planned to sell these…

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Wesleyan Hills Helps Redefine Suburbia

…soldiers returned from the fronts and wartime manufacturing slowed, Americans wanted to find homes outside of overcrowded cities. Additionally, the increased wartime production pulled the country out of the Great…

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The Old State House, Hartford

Jackson v. Bulloch and the End of Slavery in Connecticut

by Andy Piascik In 1784, as the American Revolution drew to a close, the new government of Connecticut passed the Gradual Abolition Act to address the issue of slavery in…

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Map of the West Indies, 1717

Connecticut and the West Indies: Sugar Spurs Trans-Atlantic Trade

…the approximately 5,000 slaves in Connecticut at the time of the Revolutionary War, most came to the colony through the West Indies Trade. Between seven and nine million enslaved Africans…

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Elizabeth T. Bentley, 1948

Elizabeth Bentley Born – Today in History: January 1

…and then graduate school at Columbia University. At Columbia, Bentley found a kindred community in the American League Against War and Fascism, and she eventually joined the Communist Party of…

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Leffingwell Inn, Norwichtown

Christopher Leffingwell Born – Today in History: June 11

On June 11, 1734, businessman and civic leader Christopher Leffingwell was born in Norwich. Leffingwell’s ancestors founded Norwich in the 1660s, and he continued and expanded the family business with…

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Designed to Heal: The Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane

…plan. Patients able to comply with hospital regimens occupied the wards closest to the central building, while the hospital reserved the rooms at the ends of the wings—farthest from the…

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Eighteen-hundred-and-froze-to-death: 1816, The Year Without a Summer

…the weather, his activities that revealed the weather. In the first days of March 1816, Robbins planted peas. A week later he noted that the day was “quite warm.” Three…

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Portrait of an older man wearing a black suit and a white clerical collar. He is also wearing glasses and has a white handkerchief in his breast pocket

Canon Clinton Jones: A Revolutionary Figure in Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ History

…a “Cell Block G” to house all gay and transgender people. Canon Clinton Jones negotiated meetings in the prison to speak with the warden. The warden claimed the separation was…

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John Fitch's steamboat model

John Fitch Born – Today in History: January 21

…on to find some success as a silversmith in Trenton, however, and during the Revolutionary War the Committee of Safety of the Province of New Jersey called on him to…

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A Revolution On Two Wheels: Columbia Bicycles

…Civil War veteran who continued to use the honorific “Colonel” after the war, was one of the visionaries who recognized the potential for the bicycle. The early postwar years saw…

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Benedict Arnold house, New Haven

Benedict Arnold died in London, England – Today in History: June 14

On June 14, 1801, Revolutionary War general and traitor Benedict Arnold died in London. Arnold became involved in local politics while a New Haven merchant-sea captain trading in horses and…

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Launching of the Nautilus

Launching of the USS Nautilus 1954

The USS Nautilus demonstrates Connecticut’s continuing maritime traditions and dedication to our national defense. In July of 1951, Congress authorized the construction of the world’s first nuclear powered submarine. Five…

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Shelf clock by Eli Terry

The Life of Chauncey Jerome: An Insider’s Look at What Made Early Bristol Tick

…Making Becomes an Industry Like other artisans, Eli Terry and associates first made their wares one at a time by hand. The clocks they crafted had moving parts, or movements,…

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Drawing of a town common with a church on the right side, a building in the center and a couple buildings on the left. There are a few trees and a few people

Lee’s Academy: An Icon of Education for 200 Years

…Madison, Temple Beth Tikvah, the Boy Scouts, and the Girl Scouts. Lee’s Academy also provided offices for the Red Cross during World War II. Later, Lee’s Academy served as the…

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Connecticut River and Mt. Holyoke Range from Mountain Park, Connecticut

The Connecticut Valley Authority That Never Was

…opposition from business interests and cultural conservatives wary of the federal government. Eventually, efforts converged on a voluntary agreement between states; and those politicians who wanted a Connecticut Valley Authority…

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Music Vale Seminary, Salem

Music Vale Seminary in Salem Credited as Being First in US

…outbreak of the Civil War. Enrollment at Music Vale Seminary declined precipitously in the 1860s as many of its southern students dropped out to return home. Then, in 1868, the…

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Armory Fire

Colt Armory Burns – Today in History: February 4

…spread about the factory fire; because it took place at the height of the Civil War, some believed Confederate sympathizers started the blaze. However, no one ever discovered the real…

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Advertisement for Isaac Doolittle's bell foundry

Early Church Bell Founders

…craftsman in many endeavors. He built the first printing press in the colonies in 1769, made the first brass wheel clocks, operated a powder mill during the Revolutionary War, and…

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Naugatuck Railroad Station

Henry Bacon Helps Beautify Naugatuck

…a sea of magnificent public buildings of polished stone. Evelyn Beatrice Longman assisted by Henry Bacon, Great War Memorial, ca. 1920, pink granite, town green, Naugatuck – Smithsonian American Art…

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Globe Onion

The Many Layers to Onion Farming in Westport

…from Westport and the surrounding area once flooded the markets of New York. By Ship and Rail, Connecticut Onions Head to Market Around the time of the Civil War, the…

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Frame for Indian round house

Living Rituals: Mohegan Wigwam Festival

…by hunters and warriors. It was light to carry and nourishing. We have been told that a small quantity was placed in a deerskin sack to be placed at the…

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Connecticut River, 2011

The Connecticut River

…political power of the Pequot-Dutch trading alliance. Despite being offered incentives to establish a presence in the river valley, the English initially expressed little interest until September 26, 1633, when…

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An Orderly & Decent Government: Significant Events & Developments, 1634-1776

Pequots fled south to Fairfield where they were crushed in a second fierce battle. Settlement of Connecticut Towns, 1635-1761 Problems of settlement dominated the General Assembly’s agenda virtually from the…

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Groton

The New London County town of Groton sits between the Thames and Mystic Rivers on the eastern end of the state’s shoreline. Europeans settled this Pequot land in 1650, and,…

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A front view of Dartmouth College, with the Chapel, & Hall

Eleazar Wheelock: Preacher, Dartmouth College Founder

…American, as his first student. Occom went on to become a well-known Presbyterian minister to the Pequot Indians. Encouraged by Occom’s success, Wheelock established Moor’s (More’s) Charity School in Lebanon…

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Portrait of Eugene O'Neill and Carlotta Monterey O'Neill

Eugene O’Neill’s Connecticut Connections

…next to one another on Pequot Avenue. The family lived first in the smaller of the two and then for a longer period in the larger house called Monte Cristo…

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Gurdon Bill Store, Ledyard

Ledyard

…Colonel William Ledyard, a Revolutionary War soldier killed at the Battle of Groton Heights. Predominately a farming community in the 19th century, Ledyard in the 20th century became a bedroom…

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