Picture Connecticut: Capitol Grounds Tour Continues

HARTFORD, CT — This week, the Picture Connecticut series takes us on Part 3 of a tour of the state Capitol grounds.

A statue of Col. Thomas Knowlton stands guard in front of the building. Knowlton hailed from Ashford and is widely recognized as a hero in both the French and Indian War and The American Revolution.

According to Connecticut History.org, Knowlton enlisted as a private in Colonel Phineas Lyman's Connecticut provincial regiment in 1757 during the French and Indian War and his campaigns included the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga in 1758. His service culminated with the siege of Havana in 1762, by which time he had risen to the rank of second lieutenant.

After the war, Knowlton was a selectman in Ashford and was a militia captain. When hostilities between the Colonists and British broke out at Lexington and Concord, he led a company of 78 men to help surround the British in Boston. He was elevated by the state General Assembly appointed to captain of the fifth company of Israel Putnam's Third Connecticut Regiment and played a part in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

In January 1776, Knowlton received a promotion to major of the Twentieth Continental Regiment of the Continental army, according to Connecticut History.org. His assisted George Washington in the defense of New York.

After promotion to lieutenant colonel, Knowlton led a group of light infantry fighters known as Knowlton’s Rangers, an intelligence unit that featured Nathan Hale.

On September 16, 1776, at Harlem Heights, Knowlton was fatally wounded and in his General Orders the next day, Washington paid tribute to "the gallant and brave Colonel Knowlton, who would have been an honor to any country," according to Connecticut History.org.

____

Picture Connecticut is a weekly Patch series featuring unique images of the state, past and present.

Previous featured images:

• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 2, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 1, Hartford
• The Doughboy, East Hartford
• The Walt Whitman Stone, West Hartford
• The indoor bush plane, Hartford County
• The Big Pink Chair, Ellington
• The Notch, Granby
• The CT 9/11 Monument, Westport
• Vintage Gas Pump, Somers
• Tobacco Harvest, East Windsor
• Late Afternoon, Lakeside, Coventry
• Fogarea, New Haven County
• Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens, Washington Depot
• Connecticut River Police Boat, Rocky Hill
• The first dentist, Windsor
• The Frog Bridge, Willimantic
• The World War Bridge Rapids, Putnam
• The Peeking Cow, Tolland County
• The Ivy Lacrosse Tournament, New Canaan
• The Bradley International Airport runway, Windsor Locks
• The Underground Railroad, Unionville
• The cow carousel, Ellington
• Charles Island, Milford
• State Veterans Cemetery, Middletown
• Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, Glastonbury/Rocky Hill
• The Old County Jailhouse, Tolland
• Agent Orange Monument, Andover
• The Sunken Garden, Farmington
• Lafayette Tour Monument, Vernon
• The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury
• Bob's Discount Furniture Studios, Manchester