Connecticut SAR

Welcome to the East Haddam Nathan Hale Schoolhouse blog!

2010-08-24T14:50:09Z

When does the past become history? When someone writes about it.

History is the act of thinking about the past and analyzing it in written form, for others to learn from and enjoy. As much as possible, historians use contemporary accounts, called primary sources, such as journals, letters, newspapers, images, account books, and others, to build their understanding of what was happening in a particular time and place, in a particular individual's life, or to a group of people. Letters and journals, especially, have been the cornerstone of historical research.

So what happens when there are no letters or journals to look at? Really, when was the last time you wrote a letter, other than perhaps a business letter? There are still plenty of people who keep handwritten journals, but increasingly the blog is the most popular form of recording and transmitting personal interpretations of events and ideas. Our goal for this blog is to provide you with regular information about the East Haddam Nathan Hale Schoolhouse, the activities of Connecticut SAR, and how we're continuing to further our understanding of the past. Someday, perhaps, historians will look to this digital record as a primary source for information about the East Haddam Nathan Hale Schoolhouse in the first quarter of the 21st century.

Support for this blog has been provided in part by the Middlesex County Community Foundation. Please visit their Web site and consider contributing to their Give Local campaign. And please let us know what you think, and suggest topics for future posts.

Independence Day Weekend Encampment Update

2010-07-08T13:49:35Z

Compatriot Members of the Connecticut Line CTSSAR,

I just wanted to report on the Independence Day Weekend Encampment at Mount Washington, NH. and the Independence Day Parade in Columbia, CT. Both were very successfull. We had a total of 12 members at the Mt. Washington Event, and 10 at the Parade in Columbia. In Columbia, we were presented a 3rd Place Ribbon for Adult Marching Unit for the 2009 Parade last year. So we have a 2nd place for 2007, 1st Place for 2008, and 3rd place for 2009.(we did not have many members march last year)

Colonel's Compliments to the members of the Line who took part in the Battle scenarios at Mount Washington on Saturday and Sunday. GREAT Job!!! Looking around us after the battle, and seeing all the spent cartridges, there was no doubt, we fired more cartridges then anyone on the field, particularly on Sunday. Speaking for myself, I threw my empty wooden block on the ground and was grabbing reserve cartridges kept below. We also received very nice compliments from the Event Commander. We also had the opportunity to see some wildlife up there, including a Gray Fox and a bear.

We have 1 MORE encampment this year, October 1 - 3, 2010 in Lebanon, CT., to commemorate Gov. Jonathan Trumbull's 300th Birthday. We want to make sure that we are ALL there for that.

Also, compliments to Major Michael Juhase who commanded the skirmish line in the Columbia Parade. The Line looked Good!!! The public really liked the musket firing, and it was good practice for the Veterans Day Parade coming up in November.

Our next event is Sailfest this weekend at the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse in New London. Bring your muskets, but NO cartridges. Per city orders, we will NOT be firing. I will be there on Saturday, from around 8:00 AM to most likely closing at 5:00 PM. Major, bring the box of wooden muskets, we may have the opportunity to demonstrate 18th c. drill with visitors.

If you are on the Connecticut SAR Facebook Page, event photos are posted, if not, photos will be posted this week at: www.ConnecticutLine.org.

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry,

Todd Gerlander, Colonel Commanding

Marksmanship in 1775: Myth or reality?

2010-06-17T19:19:00Z

Some historians have perpetuated myths about the men and guns of the American Revolution, taking aim at American marksmanship. But recent scholarship shows that the citizen soldiers who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill were far better shots than the "professional" British soldiers who faced them. Just how good were they? Read on.

A now forgotten Prussian artillerist of the 19th century, one Col. Schlimmbach, devoted many beetle-browed hours to calculating precisely that during the Napoleonic Wars (c.1799-1815) the enemy needed to fire "a man's own weight" in bullets before scoring a hit. Assuming, then, that he survived both disease and cannon shot, the typical soldier who fought in just a few battles could be fairly certain of enjoying a peaceful, pensioned retirement.

The same could not be said for those British troops fighting the American militia in the early stages of the War of Independence. They stood a dismayingly good chance of being shot by the end of a single engagement. The marksmanship of the American fighting man has a long and storied tradition in our nation's history. Since the Revolutionary era, Americans have assumed that they are, shot for shot, the finest marksmen on the planet.

It was only in the decade preceding World War II that the "myth" of American marksmanship first received incoming fire from historians, especially as it pertained to the War of Independence-the hammer and anvil of the American character. In 1934, Allen French's otherwise magisterial The First Year of the American Revolution claimed that owing to "poor American guns, and the men's lack of practice ... too much has been made of American marksmanship" in the critical year of 1775, when the militia fought at Lexington/Concord and Bunker Hill.

French's dismissal of American expertise was echoed by Christopher Ward in his popular War of the Revolution of 1952. He concluded that at Lexington/Concord, "only one bullet out of 300 found its mark," so demonstrating "the fallaciousness of the belief so often expressed that the Yankees were superior marksmen, dead shots in fact."

Through time, this once-radical view has become conventional wisdom, even among the most painstaking of historians. In his detailed Battle of Bunker's Hill (1975) John Elting went so far as to assert that "at best the average New Englander [in 1775] ... could load and fire a musket with a fair chance of hitting an easy target at short range. But this made him probably as good a shot as the average French or Prussian veteran."

More recently, Michael Stephenson's Patriot Battles (2007) asserted that in 1775 the militia were "indifferent shots when one considers the number of militia involved, the time available to them, the vulnerability of the target, and the relatively low ratio of British casualties to the shots fired."

Now, good history-writing hinges on debate and reinterpretation, but in this case political axe-grinding has begun to intrude. Michael Bellesiles, a Second Amendment critic whose best-selling manifesto, Arming America, has been severely discredited for a multitude of sins, argued that "a total of 3,763 Americans are known to have participated [at Lexington]. Not all of them held guns, and not all fired, but among them they hit 273 British. Expert marksmanship requires training, good equipment, and a regular supply of ammunition for practice. These farmers rarely practiced, generally had no ammunition, and owned old muskets, not rifles, if they owned a gun at all." The implication is that "these farmers" could not hit their own barndoors, such atrocious shots were they.

Before moving on to the real meat of the matter-the issue of marksmanship-let's clear up a few errors in the conventional wisdom. First, the American militiamen were not "out of practice" in the lead-up to war. From the fall of 1774 onward, most New England militia companies were assembling for serious target practice at least twice and more often thrice a week. If anything, it was the British who rarely practiced. Lieutenant Williams of the 23rd Regiment caustically observed that his troops "foolishly imagine that when danger is feared they [should] secure themselves by discharging their muskets, with or without aim." As late as three days before Bunker Hill, most British infantrymen still had not been taught how to "fire ball," take aim, and stand properly, let alone been put through target practice.

What about the "old" and "poor" American guns? Absolutely, the muskets they brought to the fight had seen better days. One veteran remembered, "Here an old soldier carried a heavy Queen's arm, with which he had done service at the conquest of Canada twenty years previous, while by his side walked a stripling boy, with a Spanish fuzee not half its weight or calibre, which his grandfather may have taken at the Havana [1762], while not a few had old French pieces, that dated back to the reduction of Louisburg [1758]."

Yet the antiquity of the militiamen's pieces should not obscure their lethality. These were working, effective, well-maintained arms. In an era when guns were expensive and difficult to make it was common for even regular soldiers to use hand-me-downs. The British, for instance, were using muskets-still perfectly serviceable-dating as far back as 1742. It is not the gun that matters, we should remember, but the man behind it, and in 1775 the American militias were packed with veterans blooded in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and boasting plenty of firefights (and scalps) under their belts. These were hard men who knew their business, not green innocents plucked from the fields panicked into firing harmlessly into the air.

As for not owning guns in the first place, this claim too can be discounted. Virtually every man at Lexington/Concord and Bunker Hill brought a firearm. Deducing exact figures for gun ownership in 1775 is extremely difficult. However, an analysis of the returns of 30 New England militia companies finds that the overall rate of private ownership was about 75 percent, and probably significantly higher. Any man who wished to fight either carried his own gun, used one provided by his township or, in a pinch, borrowed a piece from a neighbor.

Their "unfamiliarity" with shoulder arms is another baseless myth. The militias' arms were treasured tools used every day for hunting and protection. Israel Litchfield, a Massachusetts militiaman, keenly maintained his musket and its accoutrements. According to his diary, he prepared for the worst on March 10, 1775, when he "scoured up my gun" to clear the fouling in the barrel (from shooting at targets) before taking it to Hezekiah Hutson, the local gunsmith, to "put in a new main-spring into my lock." On March 21, Litchfield fine-tuned the amount of gunpowder he needed to be effective at 100 yards by spending the whole day "cleaning the lock and fixing her. After I had cleaned and oiled the lock I put in a good flint and tried her to burn three corns [grains] of powder. I cocked her and snapped and she burned them. I told out just three corns and tried her again and she burned it so I tried her eleven times successfully and she burnt three corns of powder every time and did not miss. The 12th time she missed them but I overhauled and cocked her and she burnt them the next time."

These are not the actions of a man unfamiliar with firearms. But did he and his brethren know how to use them accurately? It is undoubtedly true that not all the Americans were "dead shots," in Ward's words, but a significant number were highly proficient shooters by the standards of the time.

Put simply, the modern criticisms of the militia stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of 18th-century marksmanship and musketry. The error is compounded by unfavorably comparing yesteryear's standards to those of today, a categorical mistake that is like complaining how on a racetrack the Model T Ford cannot even keep pace against the latest Ferrari.

Today, a military-grade rifle, such as the FN SCAR, will group five shots at 100 yards within a 1.29-inch circle. Then, however, the British officially believed that shooters were exhibiting a "high degree of precision" when one of every five or six rounds from a Brown Bess musket hit a three-foot wide target at that distance. In other words, when at least 80 percent of their shots missed a yard-wide bullseye at what was regarded as the optimal combat range, contemporaries praised such performance as extraordinarily good. It is against this standard, not the FN SCAR's, that we must contrast American marksmanship.

There are many reasons for this relatively poor performance. Essentially, it was exceedingly difficult to hit the same specific place more than once with any predictability. Muskets were each hand-made, entailing that one was not identical to another-even when manufactured by the same gunsmith. Quality of construction, the type of wood and iron, the length of the barrel, the placement of the sights, the tightness of the screws, the solidity of the firing mechanism, the pull of the trigger and the weight of the gun: All varied immensely and all exerted an influence on performance.

So too was there no universal standard for gunpowder and projectiles. Different weights and faulty casting (which caused air pockets in the lead) made it impossible to predict how far the ball would fly and along which particular vector, as did improper measuring and mixing of the powder.

Moreover, in order to ease loading, the barrel's bore was larger than the ball, meaning that when the gun was fired, the projectile would exit erratically from the point of last contact at the muzzle.

All things considered, then, even if one's last shot hit the target square on, there was no guarantee that the next would not end up three feet away. As a saying sorrowfully beloved of musketmen went, "One went high, one went low, and where in Hell did the other one go?"

American shooting, however, somewhat overcame these disadvantages by dint of long experience, a lot of practice, and personal knowledge of a gun's idiosyncrasies. Thus, during target practice Capt. Samuel Stockbridge (according to Litchfield) calmly "shot at a mark about 12 or 14 rods [about 70 yards away] and hit it exactly within an inch." He, like Litchfield, knew every inch of his gun.

Stockbridge's talents were evidently not uncommon. Licking their wounds, the British were staggered by the relative precision of American shooters. Sergeant Roger Lamb of the Fusiliers judged that "the generality of the Americans were good marksmen; the whole of their previous military knowledge had been derived from hunting, and the ordinary amusements of sportsmen. The dexterity which by long habit they had acquired in hitting beasts, birds, and marks, was fatally applied" during 1775.

Accordingly, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, American commanders were so confident in their troops' marksmanship that "every platoon officer was engaged in discharging his own musket and left his men to fire as they pleased," trusting them not to waste their shots. Which was why, as veteran Henry Dearborn recalled, his comrades never fired "without a sure aim at some particular object."

That "particular object" happened to be enemy officers, the intention being to disrupt and demoralize the foe. Colonel Prescott-who was defending the redoubt from British assaults-ordered his militiamen to "take particular notice of the fine coats" and concentrate on them. They must have, for after the battle the British noticed that among their hit officers "few had less than three or four wounds," indicating that each was the reluctant subject of several Americans' attention. Only men who could be counted on to hit their targets would be granted the leeway to aim at individuals rather than firing into the mass. Indeed, at Bunker Hill, every one of the 12 staff officers escorting the British commander Gen. Howe was either killed or wounded.

Anecdotally, then, it is clear that the Americans were deemed to be fine shots. But is there any statistical evidence of this fact? To a degree, yes. Let us assume that there were, as the most authoritative estimates have it, 3,500 Americans at Bunker Hill, each of whom began the battle with his official allotment of 15 rounds. As we know that the powder and ball more-or-less ran out near the end, we can posit that the militiamen expended 52,500 shots (3,500 men multiplied by 15 rounds each).

Almost certainly this figure is too high-not every man fired half as many times-but some militiamen fired much more often than that using extra rounds brought from home, scavenged from the wounded, or borrowed from a friend. So, for the sake of simplicity, we can accept these two factors as canceling each other out.

The British totaled up their casualties as 228 killed and 826 wounded, or 1,054 in total. Dividing the number of casualties by the number of shots needed to inflict them gives us a ratio of one for every 50 rounds. Expressed differently, two percent of the Americans' shots hit the enemy.

On the face of it, that may not sound too impressive, let alone provide evidence of superior marksmanship, but comparatively speaking, it was a truly remarkable performance. If we take the average estimate of seven 18th- and 19th-century European military experts of how many balls hit their targets in battles during this period, we arrive at a figure of 0.17 percent, or fewer than one out of every 500 fired. Sir Richard Henegan, for instance, a senior officer serving under the Duke of Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars, calculated that just one out of every 459 British bullets hit an enemy soldier at the 1813 Battle of Vittoria.

Extrapolating from the 0.17-percent average, we can surmise that the Americans were nearly 12 times as effective at hitting their foe than British or European soldiers. Even if we accept Christopher Ward's censorious-and heavily flawed-computation of one hit in 300 (0.33 percent) at Lexington/Concord, militia marksmanship was still twice as good as that of the Redcoats.

Militiamen were not perfect. They were citizen short-term irregulars, not long-service professional troops, and they neither took orders kindly nor could face an infantry assault in the open field. But in 1775 they did know how to shoot. Given their achievements, it is time, surely, to stop heaping calumnies upon their heads and take to heart instead the advice given by the Revolutionary soldier Col. Grayson. He likened the boys of Lexington and Bunker Hill to the "price of a wife: Be to their faults a little blind, And to their virtues very kind."

Alexander Rose is the author of American Rifle: A Biography and Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. His website is www.alexrose.com

Introducing New Book About Signers of Declaration of Independence

2010-06-04T15:21:20Z

Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence (Quirk Books) by Denise Kiernan and Joseph D'Agnese

Dear friends and colleagues,

We want to make sure you're aware of our new book about the signers of the Declaration of Independence: SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY: THE FAME AND MISFORTUNE OF THE MEN WHO SIGNED THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (Quirk Books, $20). The book is a light-hearted retelling of the signers' stories in bite-sized, engaging chapters that appeal to most adult and teen readers. We have also undertaken the creation of a separate, (nonprofit) documentary film about the signers and their legacy. You can watch trailers of the film-in-progress at the website below.

We've had a wonderful response from the historic sites and museums that have carried the book. Clearly, the public has been hearing about the book via coverage we've received in Reader's Digest, Library Journal, AAA Go Magazine, as well as various national and local radio stations and newspapers. The book received a starred review from the School Library Journal, a key influencer of library purchasing. If you run a museum or gift shop, we hope you'll consider featuring it on a table display during the summer's "Independence Season." Shops can it order via Hachette/Chronicle Books at 1-800-759-0190 (ISBN #9781594743306). Individuals can find it in most large bookstores and online.

Several events are planned to promote the book this summer.

"56 Days of Signers" Twitter Event:
From June 7 to August 2, 2010, we'll be tweeting daily short bios about the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Why 56 Days? Because the major events of that historic summer in 1776 took place between June 7 (the day Congress first motioned to break from Great Britain) and August 2 (the day the majority of Signers put their names on the historic document). We'll focus on one Signer per day during this period, posting multiple tweets about them during the day. You can read our daily updates at www.Twitter.com/56Signers. We will of course mention the historic sites we've met in our travels; if you work with a site associated with a Signer and want us to mention any special events coming up this summer, just drop us a line and we'll try to get it into one of the posts occurring throughout your Signer's day.

Events:
We are always interested in speaking or signing at shops, or addressing school groups. Here are current dates and locations where we'll be signing during the summer of 2010. If you're in the area, please stop by to say hi.

June 27: American Library Association Conference, Washington, DC
July 1: National Archives Gift Shop, Washington, DC
July 2: Independence Hall Visitor Center, Philadelphia.
July 3: Old Colony House, Newport, RI
July 4: Old State House, Boston

Signers Fan Page:
If you are on Facebook, we hope you will choose to "like" our page (http://www.facebook.com/SigningTheirLivesAway). We could use the company! We use the Fan page to share news of our events and news that pops up about the Signers. It's been an interesting year, what with the discovery of a long-lost copy of the Declaration and the recent sale of a letter signed by Button Gwinnett--the rarest autograph of all the Signers. Again: If you run a signer historic site and have some news to share, send it to us. We are happy to help you get the word out to our readers.

T-shirts:
We have Signer T-shirts available via our website, and plan to add ones for every single Signer by Fourth of July.

Every year at this time, email in-boxes are crowded with the same old email about the sacrifices of the Signers. Much of the information contained in that email is exaggerated or just plain false. (Example: No Signer was ever "tortured by the British until he died." Preposterous.) If someone sends you an email to this effect during the summer, tell them to get the facts. We enjoy setting the record straight.

Thank you, and enjoy the summer.

Joe and Denise

Joseph D'Agnese
Denise Kiernan
phone: 917.464.3517
"Signing Their Lives Away"
The book: www.signingtheirlivesaway.com
The film: www.revolutionaryroadtrip.com
Twitter: @56Signers
Facebook.com/SigningTheirLivesAway

Memorial Day Events Report

2010-06-01T14:58:43Z

Dear Compatriots of the Connecticut Line CTSSAR,

I just wanted to put out a brief report on Memorial Day Activities. Yesterday the Connecticut Line CTSSAR marched with the Connecticut DAR and the Lebanon Business Association in the Memorial Day Parade in Lebanon, CT. We marched in front of the float, which was decorated to look like Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.'s Store. Russ was dressed as the Governor, and Bob Lasprogato was a soldier purchasing supplies.

When I returned home last night, there was a message on my answering machine from Mary Brown, stating that WE had WON one of the PARADE AWARDS!!! She mentioned that Compatriot Wayland had picked up the award, and had dropped it off at the War Office. She also mentioned that it was a beautiful award/plaque, looking forward to seeing what it looks like!

Great job everyone, THREE HUZZAHS!!!

Following the parade, we drove down to New London to participate in the Captain Nathan Hale Branch's Patriot Grave Marking Ceremony where we fired a three volley musket salute. Again, GREAT job everyone.

Our next event will be the SCHOOLDAYS AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE Event this Friday at the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse in East Haddam. Major Michael Juhase will command the Line that day. Then on Saturday, PARADE PARADE, the dedication of the NEW Parade in New London, and the re-dedication of the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse. Stephen Shaw will need Color Guard members to participate, and to fire the musket salute. The Schoolhouse Re-dedication Ceremony will take place between 2:00 PM and 2:30 PM.

I will send out another e-mail this week with MORE details on our upcoming events.

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry,

Todd L. Gerlander
Colonel Commanding

Patriot's Day Parade

2010-04-20T15:14:10Z

Dear Compatriots of the Connecticut Line CTSSAR,

Just a quick report on the 2 Patriot's Day Parades that we marched in today in Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts. We had 19 marching in the parades today, HUZZAH!!! 17 in Concord and 10 in Lexington.

Wayne Bickley - Putnam
Geoffrey Colby - Putnam
Dan Dudley - Hale
Lee Gerlander - Putnam
Todd Gerlander - Putnam
Randy Gerlander - Putnam
Howard Greene - Putnam
Bob Lasprogato - Sherman
Harry Orcutt - Putnam
Walter Reddy - Sherman
Tyler Smith - Hale
John Towle - Putnam
Allan Van Wert - Putnam
Russell Wirtalla - Putnam
Richard Wright - Putnam

Bonnie Burke - Camp-Follower
Lillie Rose Campbell - Camp-Follower
Liisa Colby - Camp-Follower
Gina Gerhard - Camp-Follower

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry,

Todd L. Gerlander, Colonel Commanding

BIG 3 Report

2010-04-13T13:22:58Z

Dear Compatriots of the Connecticut Line CTSSAR,

Just a quick report on the BIG 3 last Saturday, good thing for e-mails, I can still barely talk.

We had beautiful weather, and a good turnout of public. This year we were able to get in all three parades:

The Liberty Pole Capping and Parade, Bedford, MA.

Meriam's Corner Ceremony and Parade, Concord, MA.

Paul Revere Capture Site Ceremony and Parade, Lincoln, MA.

Good Show!!!

Three Huzzahs!!! to the following members for helping to usher in the Start of the month long events honoring Patriot's Day (April 19, 1775), the Start of the American Revolution.

Wayne Bickley - Putnam
Geoffrey Colby - Putnam
Dan Dudley - Hale
Lee Gerlander - Putnam
Todd Gerlander - Putnam
Randy Gerlander - Putnam
Bob Lasprogato - Sherman
Harry Orcutt - Putnam
John Towle - Putnam
Allan Van Wert - Putnam
Russell Wirtalla - Putnam
Richard Wright - Putnam

Bonnie Burke - Camp-Follower
Gina Gerhard - Camp-Follower

I believe that was everyone, if not let me know ASAP, and I will make corrections.

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry,

Todd L. Gerlander
Colonel Commanding

War Office Restoration

2010-03-31T15:13:00Z

Last Sunday five compatriots and four Coast Guard cadets helped to finish the prep of the plaster walls to get ready for painting.

We need your help to finish the interior work in the War Office for the new exhibits being installed in April. Any and all help is appreciated.

The schedule has change for the upcoming weeks, so we can get more help from the Coast Guard cadets.

Saturday, April 3rd, 9am - 3pm
Sunday, April 11th, 9am - 3pm
Sunday, April 18th, 9am - 3pm
Sunday, April 25th, 9am - 3pm

On Friday, I spent 1 ½ hours for meetings with the paint supplier and Rudy from the salvage yard.

Yesterday, we had the following people for this many hours:

Stephen Shaw - 7 ½
Stephen Marshall - 7 ½
Matt Davis - 5 ½
Todd Gerlander - 8
Cadet Felpe Martinez - 6
Cadet Rachel Rychthmex - 6
Cadet Stephen Taylor - 6
Cadet Chris Shivock - 6
Tim Curtis - 7

More this coming Saturday. Nice to know we can get cadets as long as we provide transportation.

To view more photos, please visit our War Office Facebook page.

Patriotically,
Stephen P. Shaw

REPORT - St. Patrick's Day Parade, New Haven, CT

2010-03-17T13:50:52Z

Dear Compatriots of the Connecticut Line CTSSAR,

First, I would like to thank the 15 members who participated in the St.
Patrick's Day Parade in New Haven, CT. yesterday. It RAINED, and RAINED, and RAINED. Nothing like marching in a parade in a wind and rain storm, and then going home soaking wet! I think we all agreed after the parade that we will probably pass on the next parade in the rain.

Three Huzzahs for the Skirmish Line yesterday, under the command of Major Juhase, both Sgt. Dan Dudley and Pvt. Howard Greene marched with their muskets and fired volleys, in the RAIN, HUZZAH!!!

Wayne Bickley - Putnam
Damien Cregeau - Wadsworth
Dan Dudley - Hale
Lee Gerlander - Putnam
Todd Gerlander - Putnam
Randy Gerlander - Putnam
Howard Greene - Putnam
Mike Juhase - Putnam
Bob Lasprogato - Sherman
Bob Rivard - Independent
James Rothgeb - Hale
John Towle - Putnam
Russell Wirtalla - Putnam

Bonnie Burke - Camp-Follower
Pam Hall - Camp-Follower

I also wanted to thank Lieutenant-Colonel Wirtalla for remembering my Birthday yesterday, and bringing a GREEN, St. Patrick's Day Cake. I would also like to thank the members for all the Happy Birthday wishes.

By now, most of you have received, or will be receiving the recent issue of the SAR Magazine. Note the photo in the Connecticut Section, a nice photo of last years Grand Encampment with a bunch of meat on a spit over an open fire. Now what other SAR does this today? The man who said NOBODY, wins the prize!

Next up, Musket Safety on the 27th and the 5 Parades to commemorate Patriot's Day in April.

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry,

Todd L. Gerlander, Colonel Commanding

CALL FOR PAPERS - STUDIES IN CONNECTICUT BIOGRAPHY

2009-12-16T14:42:43Z

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2010

The Association for the Study of Connecticut History (ASCH), publisher of the journal Connecticut History, and University of Connecticut Torrington are sponsoring a one-day conference on the broad theme of Connecticut Biography on Saturday, November 6, 2010. The meeting to be held at UConn Torrington will feature both concurrent and plenary sessions with speakers from diverse backgrounds discussing a variety of subjects.

Hundreds of men and women with ties to Connecticut, both prominent and obscure, have lived important and meaningful lives that are well worth documenting. Although most researchers will probably focus on single individuals, studies of multiple people and collective biographies will also be considered. Those studied may have had significance in a wide variety of areas, from the law, military, and politics to athletics, education and the arts. This conference will bring together people from different backgrounds and areas of expertise to explore biography.

Historical society and museum personnel, graduate students, independent scholars, teachers, and members of the academy are all invited to make presentations. For consideration, please submit a paper title, abstract, and a short c.v. Application deadline is May 1, 2010.

Proposals should be sent to ASCH vice president, Bruce P. Stark, 84 Beaver Brook Road, Lyme, CT 06371 or (in MSWord format). Telephone (860) 434-0112.

Revolutionary War soldier's skull buried in Milford

2009-11-30T14:39:11Z

Connecticut Post - Bridgeport,CT,USA
By Noelle Frampton
STAFF WRITER

MILFORD -- They don't know his name, where he came from or even how he died.

But it was meaningful nonetheless for the crowd of more than 100 who gathered Saturday morning to hold a funeral and rebury the skull believed to belong to a Revolutionary War soldier with military honors.

"All of us owe him what we owe all veterans and all those who died for the country," said Colonel William MacMullen, of the Fort Nathan Hale reenactment militia in New Haven. "He is no different than a soldier killed in Iraq, Afghanistan. (His remains are) a symbol of what the impermanence of life is, for even in death he was disinterred and we have to bury him once more."

The funeral was held in First United Church of Christ Congregational on West Main Street and resembled the Colonial era, with costumed re-enactors from several area militias and a fife and drum corps playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" as they marched into the church. Later, they led mourners in a procession to the ancient Milford Cemetery, where the remains were laid to rest.

The unidentified skull was unearthed in the 1840s as railroad tracks were being laid near a spot in Milford where 46 Continental Army soldiers died of smallpox. British troops had captured the soldiers in the Battle of New York in late 1776 and abandoned them in early 1777 near what is now the cemetery.

The skull has traveled among historians, archaeologists and other experts since its discovery. Experts determined Advertisement it belonged to a man of European descent who was between 25 and 35 years old. The skull is so well preserved that two of its teeth still remain.

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington returned the skull this month to Connecticut State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni, who drove last week from Hartford to Milford with it in a cardboard box.

City Historian Richard Platt, who with his wife was dressed in Colonial attire, complete with tri-cornered hat and bonnet, said there is no way beyond matching DNA with a descendant to prove the skull came from a Revolutionary soldier or one of the smallpox victims, but circumstances suggest that.

"It's a very appropriate thing that we are doing," Platt said. "Certainly, it's symbolic of the whole group and by honoring him, we're honoring all veterans."

Milford resident Liz Rivera said she brought her grandchildren, 5 and 3, to the funeral to teach them about patriotism and the importance of history.

"I wanted to instill in them the love I have for it," Rivera said. "We've been following the history and path of this body for a while now."

Emma Herz, 8, who was visiting Milford for the holiday weekend from Millerton, N.Y., said the interment was an interesting historical moment.

"I thought it was great to see a soldier from a long, long time ago be buried and it was a great honor because my grandfather was in World War II," the third-grader said.

Local history buffs Gary Gianotti and Tom Beirne earlier this year tracked down the skull, which had been in the possession of the University of Connecticut's archaeology department in Storrs since the early 1990s, when a state law prohibited private museums from owning human remains.

Beirne read the names of the 46 smallpox victims at the beginning of the funeral.

The skull, in a long wooden box, was lowered with ropes Saturday into its final resting place at the foot of the Revolutionary War monument believed to mark the site of the soldiers' mass grave in Milford Cemetery.

"It took a long time for him to get a proper burial," said MacMullen. "Now he has that. He's finally where he belongs, with his compatriots."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
A grave story How Milford's Revolutionary War mass grave came to be: The 200 Continental Army soldiers, sick with smallpox and abandoned by the British here on Jan. 1, 1777, were likely captured during the Battle of Long Island, or the losing fight for Manhattan. They had been held since August in a British naval base at Wallabout Bay, which later became the Brooklyn Navy Yard. As many as 1,000 men were crammed into the steaming hulk of a prison ship, and up to 20 would share a single cell in the New York jail. The abandonment of the POWs here was not a humanitarian act, but a dumping of dying men by captors trying to avoid becoming sick themselves. None of the 46 men who died here were from Milford. The closest was from Stratford, the farthest from Spain. Many more likely died on their way home, some walking as far as Middletown. Local merchant Stephen Stow cared for the ill men in a "pest house" located on the present site of City Hall. Stow died of smallpox himself and is buried with the soldiers. A 30-foot obelisk made of Portland sandstone was erected in 1852 to mark the spot of the common grave in Milford Cemetery. The Soldier's Monument, as it was known, was paid for with $600 in state funds appropriated by the General Assembly and by contributions from the people of Milford. More than 3,000 people marched from Town Hall to the cemetery, accompanied by the New Haven Brass Band, for the laying of the cornerstone on Oct. 28, 1852. The featured speaker that day was Lt. Gov. Charles Hobby Pond, a Milford resident who would be elected governor the following year. Among those attending the ceremony, which included the burying of a time capsule, were several people who had attended the soldiers' burial 75 years earlier. The soldiers were abandoned on Fort Trumbull Beach. The Milford Historic Preservation Trust, led by Regina Cahill, holds a re-enactment every New Year's Eve at the more accessible Gulf Beach, where the trust has also placed a marker. The incident led to a treaty between the United States and Prussia in 1785 that mandated the humane treatment of prisoners of war, and thus indirectly to the Geneva Convention. Prussian soldiers had served as mercenaries on behalf of the British during the Revolution. Sources: Forgotten Patriots by Edwin Burrows, Basic Books, 2008; Connecticut Historical Collections, John Barber, 1838; Milford Trust for Historic Preservation.

Wreaths Across America

2009-11-23T20:06:14Z

Compatriots:

The Wreaths Across America is a wonderful opportunity for our Society to honor veterans during the holiday season. I am asking each compatriot and Branch to participate in the Wreath laying in their community. Please go to the following web site:

http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org

Follow the link "Locations" then find "Connecticut". The link will take you to a list of Cemeteries in our State with the name of the point of contact. I encourage you to contact that person telling them you are from our Connecticut Society and that you wish to participate. I'm also asking the Branch Presidents to encourage their members to a participate in a Branch activity supporting this very wonderful project.

Most ceremonies are in the days surrounding December 7 and 8.

Please after your participation and let me know what cemeteries you visited and the number of Compatriots in attendance. Thank you in advance for your efforts. I remain

You Obedient Servant,
Kenneth D. Roach

Kenneth Duane Roach
President, Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
860-688-8091
FAX 860-687-0792

New and Free DAR Online Databases

2009-11-23T17:02:44Z

The following announcement was written by the Daughters of the American Revolution:

After nearly a decade of scanning, indexing, and other behind-the-scenes work by DAR members and employees, the Daughters of the American Revolution is pleased to announce the availability of the DAR Genealogical Research System on our public website. Here are the direct links:

http://www.dar.org/library/online_research.cfm or www.dar.org (and click on the Library button at the top, then the second tab in the left-hand column).

The GRS is a growing collection of databases that provide access to many materials collected by the DAR over the past 119 years. Included in this collection of databases is the GRC National Index which has been available to researchers for the past few years. There are still some kinks we're working out here and there.

When you go to the link above, you will find several tabs that will enable searching in the various databases:

Ancestor - established DAR Revolutionary War Ancestors and basic information about them with listings of the applications submitted by descendants who joined the DAR [updated daily]

Member - limited access to information on deceased/former DAR members - not current members.

Descendants - index of generations in applications between the DAR member and the Revolutionary War ancestor. There is much eighteenth and nineteenth-century information here. [ongoing indexing project]

GRC- everyname index to 20,000 typescript volumes (some still being indexed) of genealogical records such as cemeteries, Bibles, etc. This index is not limited to the period of the American Revolution at all.

Resources [In particular, the digitized DAR Library Revolutionary Pension Extract Card Index and the Analytical Index Cards.

Other information sources will be coming in the near future, mostly relating to Revolutionary War service, bibliographies, Forgotten Patriots (updates), etc. Read the introductions to these to learn why these are both important genealogical indexes. For example, the Rev. War pension index includes the names of people mentioned in those pensions that were abstracted (not just the pensioner or widow)!!!!]

Library Catalog - our book, periodical, and manuscript holdings

Each of these has interrelated content, and a description of each is given more fully on the website. You will notice restricted information in many search results. This is the result of a concerted effort to protect the identity of our members while providing historical genealogical information to researchers.

The national numbers of members (without the names of living members) given in the search results are needed to order copies of applications and supplemental applications. They do not lead online researchers to any other information about the member.

2009 Veterans Day Parade, Hartford, CT

2009-11-09T17:22:50Z

Dear Compatriot Members of the Connecticut Line CTSSAR, Great Job Yesterday!!!

15 members of the Connecticut Line marched in the Veterans Day Parade yesterday in Hartford, Connecticut:

Wayne Bickley - Putnam
Harry Clarke - Hale
George Crede - Putnam
Damien Cregeau - Wadsworth
Dan Dudley - Hale
Lee Gerlander - Putnam
Todd Gerlander - Putnam
Randy Gerlander - Putnam
Mike Juhase - Putnam
Robert Rivard - At Large
Jim Rothgeb - Hale
John Towle - Putnam
Russell Wirtalla - Putnam

Bonnie Burke - Camp-Follower
Pam Hall - Camp-Follower

I thought we looked Good! We also fired muskets this year. I think we all agree that it looked Great, and the public really enjoyed it. For those who did not attend, we put a three man skirmish line out in front of the CTSSAR banner, commanded by Major Michael Juhase, who did a Great job commanding the skirmish line. By doing this, we were able to both fire muskets, and have the Line continue to march in good order.

That was my biggest concern, being that over the past two years now we are beginning to win parade awards for marching, etc., and we needed to add the firing without losing the marching.

We will again fire muskets in the St. Patrick's Day Parade next year, and possibly other parades (when permitted) under this system.

Not many events left on our 2009 Campaign Calendar, but, still a few to earn MORE Detachment points for 2009 Connecticut Line CTSSAR Awards.

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2009

State Meeting/Luncheon of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

Capt. Daniel Packer Inn
32 Water Street
Mystic, Connecticut

See the CTSSAR State Newsletter, "The Connecticut Line", for Details and Meeting Announcements. Posted on-line at: www.ConnecticutSAR.org

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2009

New London Lights & Song - Santa in the Schoolhouse Nathan Hale Schoolhouse New London, Connecticut

12:00 PM (noon) to 6:00 PM (possibly 4:00 PM, depending on amount of public)

I am sure Stephen can use some Color Guard members to help out at this event. Dress for COLD weather.

As of today, I am planning to attend.

Contact:

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2009

Tree Lighting Ceremony
Gov. Jonathan Trumbull's War Office
Lebanon, Connecticut

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

I am sure Stephen can use some Color Guard members to help out at this event. Dress for COLD weather.

As of today, I am planning to attend.

Contact:

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2009

Boston Tea Party Reenactment
Old South Meeting House
Boston, Massachusetts

WEATHER PERMITTING, We will walk the Freedom Trail, visit Historic Sites, and have lunch at the Green Dragon Tavern. ALL Connecticut Line members who Registered were accepted to attend as volunteers. Members who did NOT pre-register, and want to attend, contact me for ticket information. You will need to purchase a ticket at $7 each.

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Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry,

Todd L. Gerlander Colonel Commanding

Putnam Branch - Journal Inquirer

2009-10-19T16:22:25Z

The Journal Inquirer's front page today has a half page picture of the CTSSAR Color Guard yesterday at the Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor. On page 3 are two more great photographs. Leslloyd F. Alleyne, the JI photographer, did a great job. Try to get a copy today if you can.

The Putnam Branch and Color Guard had a great time and lucked up on the weather. Since there were a total of eight Putnam branch members in attendance, we decided to hold our fall meeting yesterday during lunch. Also spending the day with us were the Presidents of both the Wadsworth and Sherman branches.

In case you missed the information in the CTSSAR newsletter, there are two lectures this month at Wood Memorial Library and Museum in South Windsor and an art exhibit as they celebrate a month of Revolutionary War Events. Our own CTSSAR member, Rev. Paul F. Everett, will be speaking on Oct. 28 and the ever popular George C. Neumann on Oct 21. Our Putnam branch is putting these events on in conjunction with the library so please come out and show your support. More information below.

A big thank you to all who participated yesterday (one drove from Westport and another from MA!) and especially to Todd for all his help. Our next meeting will in the Jan/Feb '10 period.

See you at Wood this month!

Best,

Gary Pitcock

Putnam Branch President