Mathew Brady, 1st Connecticut artillery park encamped at the former quarters of the Louisiana Tigers, ca. 1862 – Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
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 a strategic manufacturing advantage in arms, munitions, and other provisions. Women’s innovations included soldier’s aid societies, with Bridgeport’s being the nation’s first. The societies supplied essential items to troops and tended to the wounded and dead. This was not, however, a time of easy unity. Residents debated almost every aspect of the war and remained divided on the subject of African American rights. Today, over 130 monuments, including the oldest one in the north, mark the Civil War’s lasting imprint on the state.
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The Complicated Realities of Connecticut and the Civil War
The history of the Civil War surrounds Connecticut residents both in terms of its physical realities and in the lasting legacies of a complicated conflict. …[more]
[Archived] The Complicated Realities of Connecticut and the Civil War
Citizens’ dedication on the battlefield and home front did not always signal agreement on key issues of the day. …[more]
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Websites
Connecticut. “Connecticut Men in the Civil War.” Connecticut Military Department, 2017. Link.
Documents
“Connecticut African American Soldiers in the Civil War, 1861-1865.” State of Connecticut - Historical Commission, 2000. Link.
The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. “Connecticut Militia, Friday, December 27, 1861 (Connecticut Militia Returns),” 1861. Link.
“Emancipation Proclamation,” 1863. National Archives - Our Documents. Link.
Connecticut Historical Society. “Finding Aid to the Civil War Manuscripts Project,” 2017. Link.
Warner, Ezra J. Patent Number 19,063 - Can Opener. 19,063. Waterbury, CT, issued January 5, 1858. Link.
Connecticut State Library. “Research Guide to Civil War Materials,” 2017. Link.
Books
Spencer, J. Ronald, ed. A Connecticut Yankee in Lincoln’s Cabinet: Navy Secretary Gideon Welles Chronicles the Civil War. Hartford, CT: The Acorn Club, 2014.
Hill, Isaac. A Sketch of the 29th Regiment of Connecticut Colored Troops Giving a Full Account of Its Formation, of All the Battles Through Which It Passed, and Its Final Disbandment. New York, NY: Baker & Godwin Printers, 1881. Link.
Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteer Organizations, with Additional Enlistments and Casualties to July 1, 1864. Hartford: Case, Lockwood and Company, 1864. Link.
Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Catalogue of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Regiments of Infantry, First Light Battery, and First Battalion of Cavalry, Connecticut Volunteers, 1861. Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Co., 1862. Link.
Warshauer, Matthew. Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice, and Survival. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2011.
Banks, John. Connecticut Yankees at Antietam. Charleston SC: The History Press, 2013.
Warshauer, Matthew. Inside Connecticut and the Civil War: Essays on One State’s Struggles. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2014.
Connecticut. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the Army and Navy of the United States During the War of the Rebellion. Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1889.
Soldiers’ Hospital. Rules and Regulations of the Soldiers’ Hospital at Fitch’s Soldiers’ Home, Noroton Heights, Connecticut. Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1890.
Croffut, W. The Military and Civil History of Connecticut During the War of 1861-65. New York, NY: Ledyard Bill, 1868. Link.
The Story of the Twenty-First Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, During the Civil War. 1861-1865. Middletown, CT: Stewart Printing Co., 1900. Link.
Audio
Connecticut in the Civil War. WNPR: The Colin McEnroe Show, 2014. Link.
Articles
Richards, T. Addison. “The Norwich Arms.” In Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, edited by Henry Mills Alden, 28:450–65. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1864. Link.
