Reminders Of Juneteenth Contributors Are All Over Connecticut

CONNECTICUT — As we observe Juneteenth 2024, we don't have to look far to acknowledge the state's Black soldiers in the Civil War.

Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and it is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. While the Emancipation Proclamation became effective on Jan. 1, 1863, the news took time to make its way around the country. As a result, it wasn't until June 19, 1865, when the Union army brought word of the proclamation to enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, making them among the last to be freed.

And Connecticut Certainly had a hand in all of it.

And still does.

For example, two graves in Vernon's Elmwood Cemetery are the final resting places of two soldiers from Black Civil War Era regiments.

How they ended up in Vernon seems to be a mystery, even for those at the New England Civil War Museum and Research Center at a preserved Grand Army of the Republic meeting room at town hall. But they are there — Henry E. Blinn, who served in Company F of the 110th U.S. Colored Regiment and Benjamin W. Cross, who served in the 125th U.S. Colored Infantry.

Blinn was born in 1832 and lived until 1905. According to the National Park Service, The 110th was Organized June 25, 1864, from the 2nd Alabama Colored Infantry and was attached to District of North Alabama, Department of the Cumberland, until 1865. Blinn's unit was assigned to the defenses of the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad to March, 1865. It was also part of the Department of the Tennessee until 1866.

In 1864, the 110th was involved in Nathan Bedford Forest's attack on Athens, AL, on Sept. 23 and 24. Forest went on to become the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan's, though he later called for the organization to be disbanded, according to the Library of Congress.

The 110th was mustered out February 6, 1866.

Cross lived until April 12, 1928.

The 125th came on late in the conflict and its aftermath. According to the Library of Congress, it was organized at Louisville, KY, on Feb. 12, 1865. It pulled garrison and guard duty at Louisville, and at other points in the Department of Kentucky.

It was mustered out on Dec. 20, 1867.

Then, there is the celebrated 29th Connecticut Regiment, immortalized with a monument in New Haven.

The 29th marched into Richmond as the first troops to occupy the surrendered Confederate capital. That was April 3, 1865.

The writings of the Rev. Henry G. Marshall, the unit historian, extend the tale to the following day, when Abraham Lincoln arrived and credited members of the 29th with "setting free" Richmond residents of color.

According to the Connecticut State Library, the 29th was mustered into service on March 8, 1864 at more than 1,000 strong. The unit was comprised of non-white or "colored" recruits of varying origins, ages, and occupational backgrounds who were willing to fight for the Union.

Under the command of Col. William B. Wooster of Derby, and led by an all-white officer staff (as was the custom of the day), the black troops of the 29th would distinguish themselves not only at the siege of Richmond, but also at places like Beaufort, Petersburg, Chaffins Farm, Darbytown Road and Kell House.

Enlistment records show volunteers came from the far reaches of the state, like George Johnson, a 22-year-old barber who settled in Union and Isaac Merritt, a 41-year-old laborer from Greenwich. Many are listed as farmers on the books. One of the farmers was Albert Bailey, a 22-year-old who moved to Hartford from New Orleans. Another soldier who came from the South was William Carter, 21, a boatman who settled in Clinton by way of Clark County in Virginia.

Volunteers came from as far away as Trinidad in the West Indies in the case of John Alderman, 19, who settled in Suffield and whose listed occupation is listed as "waiter."

The New Haven monument is located on the 29th's former training grounds at what is now Criscuolo Park. It lists the 45 officers and enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, and the 152 enlisted men and one officer who died from disease or accident.

Many members of the 29th are buried in Connecticut and findagrave.com offers a guide on where to find them. For instance, Armster Dingle, who served in the 29th and died during the war on Jan. 1, 1864, is buried at Mortimer Cemetery in Middletown. Other members of the 29th were laid to rest in the Old North Cemetery in Hartford.

With the 29th seeing action at Petersburg, there is a testament to that battle on the grounds of the Connecticut Capitol. It's the tribute to the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment.

According to the Hartford Preservation Alliance, the 13-inch mortar gun was traced back to the 1st Connecticut and the siege of Petersburg (in 1864).

During the Civil War, it was moved around by rail, which is how it ended up at the Windsor Street freight yard after the war. It was brought to the Capitol by a team of 18 horses, setting the stage for the 1st Connecticut to be the only Civil War regiment to have its memorial placed on the Capitol grounds.