Soldiers' Monument and Memorial Park
Soldiers' Monument and Memorial Park
P.O. Box 322
Crown Street
Winsted, Connecticut 06098

Emancipation

Connecticut's gradual emancipation laws caught many young black people in its grip in the late 18th and early 19th century. James Mars (at left) wrote about his experience in a book released during the Civil War titled "Life of James Mars: A Slave Bought and Sold in Connecticut". His father, Jupiter Mars had lived on the Old Waterbury Turnpike in Winchester Center.

  • Home
  • 2017 Cemetery Walk
  • Memorial Day, 2017
  • Monument History
    • Restoration History
  • Monument Tour
    • Name Plaques
    • List of Names
  • 2016 Cemetery Walk
  • 2016 Summer Program Series
  • 2016 Memorial Day Poems
  • June 11 Walking Tour
  • 2015 Events
    • 2015 Annual Cemetery Walk Slide Show
    • Coming Home Events Slide Show
    • Town Green Memorial Day Ceremony program
    • 2015 Memorial Day Address
  • 2014 Events
    • 2014 Cemetery Walk slideshow >
      • 2014 Cemetery Walk- October 25, 2014
    • Ragtime Ball October 4, 2014 ( event proceeds benefit Soldiers' Monument!)
    • Patrick Falci, Actor, Historian and Lecturer - September 27 >
      • 2014 SoMo Picnic Slideshow
      • Patrick Falci - You Tube - The Making of the Film " Gettysburg"
    • July 26 Picnic
    • Cold Harbor Commemoration, May 24, 2014 Day and Evening program >
      • 2013 events >
        • 2013 Slideshow of Cemetery Walk
        • Winsted Journal preview of Cemetery Walk
        • 2013 Cemetery Walk Poster
        • 2013 Living History Event, September 7 poster
        • Slideshow- September 7, 2013 Living History
        • Memorial Day, May 27, 2013 Photo Gallery
        • YouTube- Sept. 7, 2013 Living History Event videos
        • August 4, 2012 Living History Slideshow
  • Park Info
    • Park Use Application
  • Links
    • Antietam Illumination - YouTube
  • March 2016 SoMo Sentinel-Front page
    • March 2016-SoMo Sentinel page 2
    • SoMo Sentinel- March 2016- page 3
    • March 2016-SoMo Sentinel page 4
  • May 2015- SoMo Sentinel Front Page
    • May 2015- SoMo Sentinel Page 2
    • May 2015- SoMo Sentinel p.3
    • May 2015- SoMo Sentinel p.4
  • February 2015 SoMo Sentinel-Front page
    • February 2015-SoMo Sentinel page 2
    • February 2015- SoMo Sentinel- p.3
    • February 2015- SoMo Sentinel p.4
    • February 2015- SoMo Sentinel p.5
  • Newsletter Archives- May 2014
    • May 2014 SoMo Sentinel - Front page >
      • May 2014 SoMo Sentinel - page 2
      • May 2014 SoMo Sentinel- Page 3
      • May 2014 SoMo Sentinel - Page 4
      • May 2014 SoMo Sentinel - Page 5
  • Newsletter archives - May 2013 to November 2013
    • May 2013 Front Page >
      • May 2013 Page 2
      • May 2013 Page 3
      • May 2013 Page 4
      • November 2013 SoMo Sentinel Front Page
      • November 2013 SoMo Sentinel Page 2
      • November 2013 SoMo Sentinel Page 3
      • November 2013 SoMo Sentinel Page 4
      • November 2013 SoMo Sentinel Page 5
  • SoMo Store
  • Contacts and Map

Sound the loud timbrel...

As word spread of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on that cold New Year's Day of 1863, black and white abolitionists gathered in the North and in areas of the Union-occupied South to celebrate and praise God. "Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea, Jehovah hath triumphed, his people are free" became the most popular hymn among freedmen and former slaves. What specifically, did emancipation mean for  black men in the town of Winchester, CT?

Prior to the Emancipation, ironically at the very battle that allowed President Lincoln to announce his preliminary Emancipation, a black man from Torrington who signed up in Winchester was killed in the bloodbath of Antietam. Over the next year, the political  and social ramifications of arming black men would rise to the fore at the Connecticut State House and through every city and town in Connecticut. 

Thomas M. Clarke, abolitionist editor of the Winsted Herald was originally aghast at the idea claiming that the subservience of black men would make them poor soldiers. He stated " our word for it, all the battles fought by negroes will be lost; all the forts garrisoned by them will be captured; and all the weapons placed in their hands will be considerably worse than thrown away, for the enemy will get them, cheap, and turn them against us."

In August of 1862, an unidentified person from Winsted, wrote to Governor William Buckingham telling him that he was asked, apparently, numerous times by black men who wish to be enlisted in a regiment of black men. The governor carefully worded his reply that a black regiment being introduced into a white brigade would create "so much unpleasant feeling and irritation that more evil than good would result."

Clarke moved away from his former position, ever so slightly, to align himself with the governor, "there is in many regiments an almost unanimous aversion to that kind of negro equality which must exist when both are brought into camp and into battle together."

By December 12, 1862 some black troops had been used and General Butler and General Saxton lauded the armed former slaves. Saxton was quoted as saying "they are obedient to orders, vigorous in attack, and in battle they are trumps", adding that " I have always been a Democrat", as was Butler, " and I am not now an abolitionist, but I cannot help acknowledging the valor and capacity of these men. I tell you they would finish up the war themselves if they were given the opportunity to do it..."

At this point, agreement was coming together. On May 22, 1863, the official order-General Order #143 was issued giving details on how the United States Colored Troops would be organized (some states like Massachusetts were allowed to start recruiting earlier). Although Buckingham started recruiting in August, the State House did not give its approval until November 1863. Many black men did not wait for Connecticut to begin recruiting, enlisting in Massachusetts-and in the case of black Winchester patriots-enlisting in Rhode Island.

 Eventually 10% of all enlisted men in the Union army were black. They would suffer incredible casualties due to the Southern position that blacks were not to be taken prisoner and to the Northern use of black troops as skirmishers on the front lines. Disease also took a heavy toll. Of the 6 black men currently identified- only 2 survived the war in their segregated brigades, however,  in death their names are integrated with those of their white comrades-in-arms on the Soldiers' Monument.

William Coggswell                              Henry Dee
Edward Hazzard                                 Edward Dolphin 
Lewis Hazzard                                    James Dolphin



Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.