Category Archives: Litchfield

Hidden Nearby: Tory’s Cave and the Other Side of the Fourth of July

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Tory’s Cave in New Milford

The Fourth of July brings to mind a famous statement by John Adams, in writing to his wife Abigail about the adoption of the Declaration of Independence: “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” (That Adams was talking about July 2nd is a fun fact, but not important to our story.)

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John Adams

Another Adams observation is relevant as well. Adams is often quoted as saying that in the American Revolution, one-third of Americans were patriots, one-third were lukewarm to revolution, and one-third continued to support the king. This is a misquote; Adams was referring to hostilities that arose between Britain and France during his presidency. This does not, however, change the fact that substantial numbers of Americans were hostile to the cause of independence.

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A Revolutionary-era propaganda print depicting a tar and feathering, in this case over opposition to the Tea Act.

One study has estimated that 6% of Connecticut’s population were Loyalists (also known as Tories). These were concentrated in the western part of the state. Litchfield County’s Tories continued to support the king largely for religious reasons; for example, St. Michael’s Church (now Episcopal but during the war part of the King’s Church of England) repeatedly had its windows broken out of contempt for its Loyalist members. Occasionally, hostile feelings toward Litchfield County’s Loyalists turned violent. Parts of Harwinton and Plymouth were hotbeds for Toryism, and one Plymouth Tory was “hung up till almost dead” on the town green. New Milford, which still contains the topographical feature called Tory’s Cave, witnessed the sentencing of a Loyalist to having to carry a goose to Litchfield for his own tar and feathering.

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William Franklin, loyalist governor of New Jersey

The town of Litchfield, relatively safe from British incursions, was used to jail prominent Loyalists, including New Jersey governor William Franklin (son of the decidedly anti-Loyalist Benjamin) and David Matthews, mayor of New York City. Ultimately, most of Litchfield County’s Loyalists abandoned their property and fled to Canada. While our celebrations of the Fourth of July continue to make Adams’s prophecy about “bonfires and illuminations” come true, it is important to remember that American independence was neither guaranteed nor unanimously supported.

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John H. Large and the Philippine-American War

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John Hay, Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, famously called the Spanish-American War a “splendid little war.” And since the war lasted barely three months, and an American empire was established at the cost of fewer than 500 killed, many at the time agreed with his description. However, within months of the Treaty of Paris, the United States was at war again, this time with the Philippine forces that had been their allies against Spain.

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American troops outside of Manila, 1898.

For the Filipinos, this action (referred to as the Philippine-American War, the Filipino Insurrection or sometimes the War of 1900) was a continuation of their quest for independence that began with an 1896 revolt against Spain. The Americans, however, treated it as an insurrection against their newly-established colonial rule. Serious fighting broke out with the February 4, 1899, Battle of Manila. Much of the fighting was done by irregular Filipino forces, fighting a guerilla war against the Americans. This led to often savage attacks and reprisals by both sides. For example, A. A. Barnes wrote the following home to his brother in 1899: “Last night one of our boys was found shot
and his stomach cut open. Immediately orders were received from Gen. Wheaton to burn the town and kill every native in sight, which was done to a finish. About 1,000 men, women, and children were reported killed.”

Over the three years of the conflict, more than 126,000 American servicemen would serve in the Philippines, with a field army of between 25,000 and 45,000 at all times. Filipino forces numbered between 80,000 and 100,000, divided between regular and guerilla units. The casualty lists were striking, especially in the wake of the Spanish-American War’s relatively minor losses. Over 1,000,000 Filipinos died, most of famine and cholera brought on by the war. Military losses among the Filipino forces numbered approximately 15,000. Approximately 5,000 Americans died in the Philippines, more than ten times the number who perished in the Spanish-American War, making the Filipino Insurrection truly the “forgotten war.”

Among those who died in the Philippines was John H. Large of Litchfield, who served with the Fifth United States Infantry. The Fifth United States saw distinguished service in the Civil War and in the Indian Wars, in which 42 of its members won the Medal of Honor. Befitting a forgotten war, little is known about Large’s (or his regiment’s) service. He died on September 5, 1902, two months after the official end of the insurrection. Guerilla fighting, however, continued on until 1915. Large is buried in Litchfield’s East Cemetery.

Memorial Day: Remembering the 29th Connecticut

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The graves of Robert Lampman and William Elder stand side by side in Litchfield’s West Cemetery.

Memorial Day was originally Decoration Day, created in 1868 to lay flowers or wreaths on the graves those men who died in the Civil War. Tragically, that number was enormous; nearly 400,000 Union soldiers perished over the four years of the conflict. In setting aside May 30th, 1868, as the first Decoration Day, General John Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (the North’s largest veteran’s organization) declared: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

For decades, Logan’s call went unheeded for some Connecticut veterans. When the state put out a call for African American volunteers in 1863, over 1,600 responded. The first 1,200 formed the 29th Connecticut Infantry, while the other 400 became the 30th Connecticut. It is interesting to note that not all of these men were Connecticut residents; as Massachusetts was the only other northern state accepting African American enlistees at this time, volunteers joined the Connecticut regiments from across the Northeast.

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The volunteers that formed the 29th Connecticut trained in the Fair Haven section of New Haven and were mustered into the service of the United States in March 1864. Among these 1,200 were James Lampman and William Elder, who lived in Litchfield after the war; dozens of men from Litchfield County also enlisted in the regiment. In early April 1864, the unit was sent to Beaufort, South Carolina, where the above photograph was taken. For the next four months, the regiment drilled and served on picket duty before being sent to the Richmond theater in August. There it was involved in many engagements in the war’s final year. Thomas McKinley, a white officer serving in the regiment, was mortally wounded outside Richmond on September 24th. He is buried in Litchfield’s East Cemetery. The 29th suffered their most significant casualties at Kell House, near Richmond, on October 27, 1864, when 14 men were killed at 69 wounded. When Richmond fell to Union forces in early April 1865, the 29th Connecticut was the first Union infantry regiment to enter the Confederate capital. After Lee’s surrender, the men of the 29th dispatched to duty in Texas and Louisiana.

 

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The 29th Connecticut monument in New Haven

 

When the war ended, the survivors attempted to return to a normal life. Many, however, were disabled from debilitating wounds or sickness. Many widows of men from the 29th had difficulty getting pensions because the required paperwork – notably marriage certificates – were rare in the African American community. While there were integrated Grand Army of the Republic posts, many were segregated, while African American veterans were blackballed from membership in still other posts. And while monuments were constructed across Connecticut to the state’s white regiments, no monuments were built to honor the state’s African American veterans until one was erected in Danbury in 2007. The following year, the men of the 29th were honored with a monument in New Haven.

For more information on the 29th Connecticut, see ProjeCT29, a website built and maintained by my students: https://pvermilyea.wixsite.com/29thconnecticut