Picture Connecticut: Memorials To The State's Role In The Civil War

CONNECTICUT — To commemorate Memorial Day, we celebrate tributes to Connecticut's involvement in the Civil War both at home and on a crucial battlefield.

First, we see the monument erected on 1884 to the 14th Connecticut regiment near the stone wall at Gettysburg, where the unit fought for the Union on the third and decisive day of the struggle. The photo is courtesy of Connecticut residents Joseph and Joshua Prignano.

The inscription tells us that the 14th was shipped out as part of the Army of the Potomac on Sept. 7, 1862 and mustered out on May 31, 1865. In between, the 14th saw action in what now seems like an incredible amount of many major conflicts, including not only Gettysburg, but Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness campaign, Spotsylvania and Appomattox.

A total of 366 from the 14th gave what President Lincoln later called at a cemetery down the road from the stone wall, "the last full measure of devotion."

We return to Connecticut and one officer who began the war in the 14th — Capt. Thomas Burpee, who is honored every year the Thursday before Memorial Day at his final resting place at Grove Hill Cemetery in Vernon.

That day, members of the Alden Skinner Camp No. 45 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and the New England Civil War Museum place flags at the headstones of 145 local Civil War Veterans buried at Grove Hill.

A service then follows at the grave of Burpee. A wreath is placed at his headstone and an honor guard fires a volley.

Museum archives tell us that Burpee (1830-1864) was born in Stafford, married Adeline Harwood in the early 1850s and the couple had three children. The family lived in Vernon when the Civil War broke out and Burpee enlisted as a Captain in Company D of the 14th in July, 1862, according to the museum.
He was transferred into the 21st Connecticut Infantry in September and quickly promoted to major and then lieutenant colonel, according to museum records.

On June 5, 1864, Burpee was recommended for promotion to colonel, but was was mortally wounded four days later by a rebel sharpshooter while inspecting picket lines during the Battle of Cold Harbor. He died two days later without ever receiving his promotion.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly series that features images of the state, past and present.Here are past images:
2024

• A sculpture for a Famous Sculptor, West Hartford
• The Attack of the Flamingos, anywhere
• Historic Tower Turns Red, Vernon
• Eagle Rock, Hebron

• The Cirque, Hartford
• The Amerbelle Spillway, Rockville
• The ECSU Gallery, Willimantic
• Great Captain Island, Greenwich
• Bobblehead Madness, Storrs
• Bobby Sands/Hunger Strike Memorial, Hartford
• Mr. Jonathan Goes To Hartford, Hartford
• The Latest Discount Airline, New Haven
• State Groundhog Gets Arrested, Manchester
• Historic Wartime Sutures, Willington
• Big Business Week In CT, statewide
• The Marketplace at Guilford Food Center Guilford
• Main Street at night, Middletown
• The Hide-and-Seek Bear, Tolland
• The MLK Mural, Manchester
• The Mount Southington Summit, Southington

2023

• All Faiths Gather At Town Park, Vernon
• Riverside Igloos, Milford
• The TPC Pro Shop, Cromwell
• The Santa House, North Pole, er, Northern Connecticut
• Mile 4 Funnel, Manchester Road Race, Manchester
• UConn Lacrosse Giving Back, Connecticut River Valley
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 3, Hartford
• 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