Today we don’t typically associate July 4th with celebrations in the Town of Franklin and, instead, Memorial Day is now that town’s major holiday.

However, it wasn’t always like this, and The Fourth of July has historically been a major town celebration. Like any celebration or commemoration, however, it was not a neutral act. Where you celebrated, and who you celebrated with, often spoke volumes with Franklin’s fourth of July events taking on larger meanings.

Take for example the 1830 celebration. It was mostly a gathering of the town’s Anti-Jacksonians, that is those opposed to President Andrew Jackson and they made the effort to have an account of their toasts printed in the newspaper. This was also a Dry event, without alcohol, as “the spirit of Patriotism was the only Ardent Spirit that a wise and enlightened community required, and that seemed to pervade every breast.” Not only were they anti-Jacksonian, they were also pro-Temperance.

The day was headed by Captain Oliver Johnson Jr., who had led the 4th Company, 18th Militia Regiment for a time and was assisted by Colonel Henry Hazen, one time commanding officer of the 2nd Militia Horse Artillery Regiment. After a speech at the Meetinghouse, the party “repaired to a nearby grove”. There, each toast was accompanied by martial music, likely provided by the bandsman of the 4th Company, 18th Militia Regiment.

Striking explicitly at the populism, patronism, and expansion of executive power that were the hallmarks of the Jackson administration, they made pointed toasts such as:

“To the Memory of George Washington. The Commander in Chief of the American Army, and the first President of the U. States-May his successors in office be clothed with the mantle of his virtues, and many they never sacrifice the interest of their country at the shrine of popularity”.

“To the President of the United States [Andrew Jackson]. May he possess all the Republican virtues attributed to him by his friends.”

“To the Vice President of the United States [John C. Calhoun]. May he not in his zeal to serve the interest of a party, forget that of his country.”

“To the Yeomanry of the our Country, the bone and sinew of the Nation-May they know their strength and not be trampled upon by the advocates of aristocracy.”

“To our own Free Institutions. May they ever remain the greatest of blessings to their possessors, and a guide to other nations, whenever they shall emancipate themselves from the thraldom of Monarchy.”

Even more tellingly, when volunteers offered up toasts Benjamin S. Hastings, Esquire offered to a toast to the “African Slaves of our country.-May they soon be emancipated from their present bondage”. While Hastings then hoped that the formerly enslaved would be sent to Africa, this abolitionist toast given above that of toasts to “the surviving patriots of the revolution”, “our army and navy”, “the militia”, and to the “United States of America” and to “Americans” is important, and the those who attended this Fourth of July Party in 1830 were making a very clear and pointed statement about the Jackson Administration, Slavery, and Alcohol.

J.T. Willes rounded out the toasts with the following:

“[To] Americans. […] May they possess the principles of liberty in their purity; and may generations yet to come ever defend their rights and liberties-disdaining slavery-despotic servitude”.

Words that echo forth to today, July 4th, 2024. In troubled times, may we not forget them.

What’s in store with the Town Historian? I’ve got A LOT in the works, so I think its only fair to give everyone a sneak peek:

SUBMITTED:

BOOK CHAPTER in “Something Like Philosophy: Being a Symposium of Military Privation & Suffering”: I have a chapter on life oboard submarine during the First World War. My chapter has been submitted and the book is coming together, so stay tuned!

WRITING:

ARTICLE in the Journal of the American Revolution (www.allthingsliberty.com) about Franklin’s militia during the War of Independence.

RESEARCHING/PRODUCING:

YOUTUBE VIDEO: “The Case of the Missing Town Greens”. Research is almost done, and I have been working on the script and workshoping editing ideas. Filming will begin by the end of the month and this video will be taking a look at the myth that Franklin had no town green or villages.

YOUTUBE VIDEO: “Sign of the Seven Stars: Taverns in Franklin during the 18th and 19th Centuries”. Research has begun, and I have a number of important trips to take to the State Library and Connecticut Museum of Culture and History for materials related to this video. This video will look at the many taverns of Franklin’s history, and the role they played in the community socially and politically.

YOUTUBE VIDEO: “Franklin’s Founding Myths and the Reality of European Colonization”. This is early in the research stage but will be examining the town’s founding myth of “trapper John Ayer” and will, as of this stage, overturn much of what you may have thought you knew about the town’s earliest history.

BOOK: I am knee deep in researching a book about Connecticut’s militia from the 1790s through 1816, focusing in on the Constituonal Crisis created by the War of 1812 and how the country nearly tore itself apart, with our town’s militia featuring as a case study of the militia as an institution.

Pictured: Some of the many secondary sources I use to help flesh out our town’s history.

Last night wasn't the first time that the Northern Lights could be seen from this part of Connecticut! On November 20th 1761, Jabez Fitch of Norwich Long Society recorded in his diary that "Last night there was a Remarkable Light in the North". On July 11th, 12th, and 13th 1762 he also recorded seeing the Northern Lights.

Fitch was from the part of the Long Society which is now Griswold, but his Brother-in-Law Samuel Rudd was a colonial Franklin tavern owner and Fitch frequently made trips to “Brother Rudd’s”. Rudd, and many others, would have been able to witness this phenomenon right here in Franklin!

Photograph taken by yours truly, on Meetinghouse Hill, on May 10th, 2024.

Primary sources are anything but boring! It is easy to imagine that the war of words Dr. Samuel Nott got into in 1799 with members of the Somersett Lodge of Royal Arch Masons in Norwich could be an argument on Facebook today...

Dr. Nott allegedly crossed the road in the middle of a Masonic Funeral, nearly hitting some with his horse. He patently denied the accusations and maintained that had passed at some distance from them and it was all an overreaction, and in an attempt to garner sympathy, claimed worry about his sick son was why he had crossed the road so quickly.

Dr. Nott claimed he didn't even realize it was a Masonic procession, yet the Masons claimed that was impossible as they were almost all wearing traditional Masonic garb.

The battle took a personal turn, and in a sense of fairness, Dr. Benjamin Ellis, Elisha Edgerton, and Prosper Rudd (all three men were from Franklin) revealed themselves as the writers of some of the earlier entries in this wordy duel over the appropriateness of Dr. Nott's crossing the road.

All the language used here is taken directly from two entries in that newspaper battle, published in the Norwich Packet during October and November 1799. Only a couple of words were changed and Nott's speech was abridged for clarity. Dr. Nott's is from the October 24th issue, and the adapted Masonic reply is from the November 14th issue.

I was at Minuteman National Park today for the 249th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and I’m standing next to the historic Hartwell Tavern.

While Franklin’s residents were uninvolved in this particular engagement, the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at this battle, and thus its effects reverberated within our community.

When word reached “Ancient Norwich” that a battle had taken place, militiamen from West Farms, Pautipaug, and 1st Society mustered. They had been reformed into the 20th Militia Regiment in 1774 and had intensified their training over the year prior. While at this juncture they didn’t go far, it was only a matter of weeks before Franklin’s men were at the Siege of Boston. The American War of Indepdence had begun, and we were right there for it, and would continue to be until its bitter end in 1783.

This is realistically what a militiaman from 3rd or 7th Company (West Farms and Pautipaug) would have looked like in that first year and is entirely hand-sewn.

Stay tuned for America250 events in town. If you’re looking to get involved, the Franklin America250 Commission meets next on Thursday, May 3rd at 6:15 p.m.

It's been about 205 years but is anyone still looking for their bar of iron?

Who is watching Masters of the Air? Did you know that this show ties into some of Franklin’s history?

During World War Two, a number of Franklin men served on Bombers. One example is Staff Sergeant Laveris Laterra who served as a Nose Gunner on a Liberator bomber in North Africa and Italy. His plane was hit hard by flak after an attack on oil refineries at Campina in Italy, but the plane was able to make it back to their airfield. To land, the crew deployed silk parachutes off of the waist guns, so that the plane would slow on landing. They reached the end of the runway at 40 miles per hour, but thankfully survived.

Staff Sergeant James Carboni was a decorated Waist Gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber nicknamed “Blue Weiny”. They flew out of England to attack German and German occupied cities across Europe. He ws decorated with the Air Medal with Oak Leaves cluster.

Shows (and movies) can be a great way to connect to history, so when watching, make sure to think about the men from Franklin who went through similar experiences in World War Two.

Pictured here is a VERY special reproduction of something which has not been seen in Franklin since 1816.

This reproduction hat and frontispiece is made in the style that was worn by members of one of Franklin's two militia companies during the War of 1812: the 2nd Company of the 20th Militia Regiment which recruited out of the western half of town. The 6th Company recruited in the eastern half of town. The Officers of 2nd Company during the War of 1812 were as follows:

Captain Daniel Gager Jr., Lieutenant Stephen Tracy, Lieutenant Simeon B. Hyde, Ensign Jonathan Bailey, and Ensign Uri Hartshorn.

A General Order dated December 31st, 1812 stated new regulations in which musicians, non-commissioned officers, and privates were to, "wear a round black hat, with a japanned frontispiece ornamented with a gilt spread eagle, and the number of the company and regiment to which they belong, and a black feather with a red top on the left side to rise five inches above the crown.

While there are no examples of this hat plate for either of Franklin's companies, this reproduction is based on surviving examples from the 3rd Regiment (New London, Waterford, and Montville) and the 8th Regiment (Groton and Preston) whom were both part of the same militia brigade (3rd Brigade). There is a matching example for the 20th Regiment to which Franklin’s militia belonged.

The regiments of the 3rd Brigade all likely sourced their frontispieces from Major Increase Wilson of the 3rd Regiment who advertised making them in an 1813 issue of the Connecticut Gazette newspaper printed in New London. Other pieces would have been sourced in the area; period advertisements for stores such as "John Breed & Co." advertised feathers for sale, while the hatters Joseph W. Tracy and Samuel Ripley advertised their "Military HATS of all description".

The 20th Militia Regiment, 2nd and 6th companies included, were first called out for the defense of New London in June 1813 and again for the Battle of Stonington in August 1814 and did their duty in uniform.

Ultimately, 40 privates, NCOs, and Musicians of the 2nd Company wore a frontispiece with this design, while 40 privates, NCOs, and musicians of 6th Company wore won which said "6th Compy". This is a one of a kind piece which will help me better tell some portions of Franklin's history.

I would like to give thanks to the following individuals for helping make this project a reality: M. Brenckle, Hatter. for expertly making the hat, Derek Heidemann of Old Sturbridge Village for making the tin plate, and to Astrid Donnelan of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration for painting the plate so beautifully.

Did you know that half of the eligible male population of Franklin participated in the American War of Independence? If you were a man in Franklin in the 1770s, it was a coin-toss if you were to go to war!

The American Revolution saw men from Franklin fighting on both sea and on land in a variety of capacities across the eight years of the war across different "branches" of service. Franklin had men serve as privates, NCOs, officers, Naval Surgeons, and in many other capacities and the scale of this participation showcases in many ways that men from here were believers in the Revolutionary cause. Some men were, of course, drafted into Continental Service, but the overwhelming majority seem to have been behind the cause. Many served at Battles whose names you may recognize: Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Germantown, Monmouth, and Yorktown to name some of the most famous.

To put numbers to these statements, my research has currently uncovered approximately 160 Franklin men who were actively engaged in the American Revolution. In 1774, the West Farms and Pautipaug Ecclesiastical Societies had a population of 1,328. In 1790, Franklin had a population of 1,192, with 27% of the population that year being white men above the age of 16. 16 was the minimum age for militia service during the Revolution, with 60 being a maximum.

If we extrapolate the percentages of each population group in 1790 backwards to 1774, we end up with a population of 359 white males above the ages of 16, with the list of Revolutionaries encompassing 45% of that number. Of course, "16 or older" also includes men who were ineligible for military service due to their profession or age, so while we do not have a precise percentage, we can readily assume that the 160 men indicated through research made up about 50% of the men eligible for service.

In 1774 we have the total numbers of white males between 10 and 20, and then 20 and above, but these numbers do not match super exactly with US Census questions. If we take those two groups as a percentage of the Norwich population at the time, we get 33% of the town being males between 10 and 70 years old, which if the that population is even across Ecclesiastical Societies, is about 438 males between 10 and 70 in Franklin in 1774.

Part of the population captured by that number is, of course, either below 16 or above 60, so the number of white males between 16 and 60 must be fairly close to 27% of the population. If those aged 10-15 and 60-70 skew heavily, that means an even lower percentage of the population was eligible for military service, thus meaning the list of 160 encompasses an even greater percentage of the eligible participation.

All of this math is to say that Franklin was heavily involved in the Revolution, both in terms of real numbers and statistically and we should not forget this!

How often do you get to see the faces of some of Franklin’s earliest residents? Pictured here is Nathan Lord, one of the namesakes of “Lord’s Bridge” across the Shetucket and one of the earliest selectmen of the town.

You may be thinking though, “isn’t Lord’s Bridge in Sprague?”.

While today Baltic and land on the west bank of the Shetucket are part of Sprague, from 1786 to 1861 Franklin encompassed that land, and the river, up to the east bank of the Shetucket.

Nathan Lord was born in 1738 on Plain Hill. His father, Eleazer, was a prominent merchant and landowner. As the 18th century marched on, Eleazer purchased land farther and farther north on Plain Hill until he reached the Shetucket. By that point, his family was married into the Hazen family of Pautipaug.

During the American Revolution, Nathan was elected as Captain of the 1st Alarm List Company of the 20th Militia Regiment. These were men who were otherwise exempted from militia service who were to serve in alarms (and thus armed themselves and trained) and if they were over 50, would not march outside of Connecticut.

Nathan had purchased his own land on the Shetucket in the early 1780s, before his father granted him even more in his 1786 will, all near “Elderkin’s Bridge”, which is now the site of “Lord’s Bridge” and seems to have taken the name after the bridge was rebuilt in the 1790s.

When “Ancient Norwich” was divided in 1786, Nathan was planted firmly in Franklin, and was was chosen as one of the first six selectmen of the town. He was elected again for 1787 and 1788, but declined to serve after his first two terms. 

Nathan’s sons served in the 7th (later 6th) Militia Company, 20th Militia Regiment which recruited from East Franklin. Nathan Jr. died in 1808 in New York, while his son Henry was at the Battle of Stonington in 1814. Henry would also open the second Post Office in Franklin in the 1820s, the Lord’s Bridge Post Office, and he was its first postmaster. Today it continues as the Baltic Post Office after it was renamed in 1867.

Nathan Lord and his family were not members of either the West or East Churches in Franklin, but rather the Hanover Church in Lisbon, demonstrating some of the continuing ties between “Ancient Norwich”. He and his wife Mary are buried in the Hanover cemetery. He died in 1833.

His portrait was painted by Samuel Lovett Waldo & William Jewett sometime after 1818.

Photograph is from Plain Hill Road at Speilman’s Farm looking north at Meetinghouse Hill.

Gift of Margaret Plunkett Lord and family, for the descendants of Charles Edwin Lord (1865-1942), 2007.67.1. Photograph by David Stansbury. © 2008 The Connecticut Historical Society.

Photographs and all rights purchased by the Connecticut Historical Society.

Franklin’s “Road to Revolution” has begun! 2025 is just around the corner, and with it, the 250th Anniversary of the beginning of the American War of Independence.

Much like 1774, 2024 is a year of preparation, although we aren’t readying the community for war. But, this will be a long road, filled with research, events, and writings about the town’s Revolutionary War history.

And sometimes, that means talking about actual roads! Pictured is a close up of a section of a 1781 map titled “Marche de l'armée française de Providence à la Rivière du Nord.” which showcases the march and encampments of the French Army as it moved from Providence and eventually to Yorktown.

Here on this map is Franklin, as the West Farms and Pautipaug Societies, the latter rendered as “Putly”. The maker of this map also copied a mistake from an earlier English map which “flipped” the two socities, West Farms should be in the west and Pautipaug the east.

In any case, Lebanon was the site where the Duc de Lauzun’s Legion encamped over the winter od 1780-1781, and some of Lauzun’s soldiers ventured down the road, through Franklin, to visit the Taverns of Norwich. They very likely stopped by our very own Hyde Tavern, which was on that direct path. See less

This is a muster roll from the American Revolution for the 20th Regiment of Connecticut Militia. Highlighted are two companies which together mustered 5 officers and 44 men an NCOs, for a total force of 49 Officers and Enlisted.

What's so special about these companies?

They're Franklin's! Captain Isaac Johnson was voted and commissioned as Captain of the 3rd Company of the 20th Militia Regiment in the October 1774 session of the Connecticut legislature. Captain Ebenezer Lathrop Jr. was elected and commissioned as Captain of the 7th company in a March 1775 special session of the state legislature. 

Here they were serving as Militia Companies in New York during the New York Campaign of 1776. Sadly, the names of the men under their command have been lost and I am unable to verify any of their specific service. Of course, I have otherwise identified over 150 men from Franklin who were involved in the Revolution.

"Franklin" had a militia beginning in 1666 when Norwich created its first militia company. As the town grew, especially towards the west, a need for a closer militia company and ecclesiastical society were born, and in 1708 the 2nd Company of Norwich militia was formed.

In 1719 the 3rd Company broke off from the 2nd. It was created after the state granted the "West Farms" its own Ecclesiastical society and is explicitly referred to as the "West Farms" company in the Colonial records. The 7th Company was first raised in 1738 and was carved out of the eastern portion of the West Farms, what would eventually become the Pautipaug Ecclesiastical Society. The next year the Militia was formed into Regiments and Norwich was made part of the 3rd Militia Regiment. 

In late 1774, Norwich was given its own Militia Regiment, the 20th. Through these initial reorganizations, Franklin's militia structure was preserved and two companies - the 3rd and 7th - continued to operate until 1793. That year, in response to the 1792 Federal Militia Law, the 20th Regiment reorganized and the 3rd Company became the 2nd, and the 7th became the 6th.

Franklin would continue to have these two militia companies until 1816 when the State Militia was reorganized once again. Franklin was annexed into the new 18th Regiment that year, and lost the old "2nd" company. In its place was left the old "seventh" company, re-designated as the 4th Company of the 18th Regiment and still led by the last officers of the 7th Company, 20th Militia Regiment - carrying on the legacy of the New York Campaign in 1776.

Well, I figured I'd start a mini-series about the Uniforms of Connecticut, and I'm going to start with something that is a bit of an oddity: The Connecticut State Corps during the War of 1812.

The State Corps was founded in late 1812 as a bit of a parallel to the Militia and is rooted in Connecticut's Federalist government being against the war. Legally, it wasn't the Militia, so in case the Democratic-Republican Federal government attempted to force a Militia Requisition, this seems to have been a way to attempt to blunt the number of men available in such a call up. Connecticut Democratic-Republicans were afraid that it was a way for the State to arm Federalist supporters to ultimately engage in a civil war!

The Corps was formed of two Infantry Regiments, four Artillery companies, and four troops of Horse and enlisted militia Exempts, militiamen (who gave up their spot in the Militia), and entire Militia companies if they volunteered as a whole (I'm not aware at this time of this actually occurring but it was allowed per the letter of the law). However, in an almost contradictory way, militia companies could not be drained below their legal limit of 36 enlisted NCOs and Privates through enlistment into the State Corps.

The Corps, while being lofty in idea, had consistent recruitment problems throughout the war and were never at a full complement. Some companies had over 100 men, while most hovered around 40 to 50 men each, with officers bitterly complaining about the recruitment difficulties.

The Corps would not see any "major" battles, but was a integral part of Connecticut's defense throughout 1813 and 1814, particularly in helping guard locations such as New London and Saybrook. A particularly noteworthy State Corps adventure occured in the Summer of 1814 when approximately 20 men at Fort Fenwick rowed into the Long Island Sound and recaptured a schooner that had been taken by the British.

It is currently unclear if any Franklin men joined the State Corps, the closest company (in Norwich) only mustered about 40 privates and NCOs and so far I have been unable to locate any muster rolls for that company.

So what did they look like? Thankfully, we actually have a period water-color image of a State Corps camp at New London, circa 1813-15, and the General Orders for the uniforms of the Corps (Courtesy of the Lyman Allen Museum, 1971.312).

In this painting, we can see many of the details laid out in the January 28th, 1813 General Order which mandated the uniform (Connecticut Museum of History and Culture, War of 1812 Militia Papers, Box 13, Folder "Correspondence of Nathaniel Terry with Ebenezer Huntington".

"The Non-Commissioned officers and privates of the Infantry, are to wear blue coats (without lappels) lined with white, red cuffs, a stiff stand up collar of red, [...] the skirts of the coat are to be turned up and connected with a piece of red cloth, in the shape of a diamond, trimmed with white worsted cord.

[...]

The pantaloons are to be made of blue woollen cloth, welted with red.

The vests to be white woollen cloth, single breasted, and without skirts.

The Non-Comissioned Officers and soldiers are to wear black gaiters, [...] the buttons to be black, and the button holes wrought with black.

The shoes are to be short quartered.

The stock for the neck is to be made of black leather.

The covering for the head is to be a helmet of black jerk leather, [...] to be covered with a strip of bear-skin, [...] a black father, with a red top, to be worn on the left side of the helmet, to rise one inch above the bearskin-and a cockade of black leather, four inches in diameter, covering the stem of the feather."

Company Officers had much the same uniform with some slight, fancier, alterations and also wore half boots. Their helmets were the same, except with a silk ribbon cockade instead of a leather cockade. Musicians wore a red coat.

Field Officers had that uniform, just with longer skirts, white breeches, and long boots. Additionally they wore Cocked Hats/Chapeau de Bras instead of the leather helmet.

Artillerymen wore the same uniform, except that they had a red lining in their coats with a red vest and yellow buttons! Cavalry had a "Short hussar jacket", blue pantaloons trimmed white, red vests, and "helmets as now worn by the first regiment of Cavalry" with long boots.

A prime example of this painting being of the State Corps is the figure standing prominently close to the center. He is likely an NCO as evidenced by his musket and what appear to be gaiters. He is certainly wearing the Tarleton helmet, and the welting can be seen clearly on the right leg of his pantaloons.

The man kneeling in front of the fire can be seen only having his pantaloons (more like pantaloon trowsers) which are lifted slightly as he crouches down, revealing the shoes and socks. The Militia, on the other hand, were wearing bootees.

While the figures in the painting match this fairly closely, there are of course some differences, notable there is a distinct lack of red, on the coats, although that may have been a function of this being a watercolor painting, and indeed the feathers on the hats are flipped (red with a black top instead of the black with a red top).

We also have some evidence of a little variation among the troops, such as the NCO wearing a shako with a white feather. There is also the figure in green, a mystery! Possibly a member of a militia flank company.

Tune in next time where I'll be diving into the Connecticut Militiaman's uniform!

When I became the President of the Franklin Historical Society in 2019, I would never have guessed some of the treasures that are in our archives. 

The COVID Shutdown in 2020 provided FHS an opportunity to process donations that had been backlogged. Among them was a collection donated in the mid-00s by the late Polly Hinckley that consists of materials from Franklin from the 1700 and 1800s. These materials had been collected by her father, lifelong Franklin Resident, Bernard Gager Crandall.

Nestled in with these materials was this printing of Common Sense by Thomas Paine, one of the most important documents of the American War of Independence.

This copy was printed in Norwich between the second half of January to February 14th, 1776. It was likely printed by the bookbinder Nathaniel Patten and purchased by a resident of the West Farms or Pautipaug Ecclesiastical Societies (which became Franklin). It is bound in a 1769 edition of the New London Gazette. This is a cheap binding option and could indicate that the purchaser was lower class, or even possibly wanted to disguise their purchase. “Old Norwich” was generally very supportive of the Revolutionary cause, West Farms and Pautipaug with it. This object is a reminder of Franklin’s revolutionary history.

This book, and other objects in our collection, speak to Franklin’s deep history that extends to well before European colonization up through today. It is a continued honor to serve as both the Town Historian and as the President of the Franklin Historical Society.

We plan on displaying this, and other objects, in the coming years as we reflect on 250 years of the United States' History.

I would like to thank Connecticut Humanities for highlighting this part of our collection, and for the grant opportunities they have afforded us. Their funding has allowed us to help preserve and protect our collection, and to be able to display these objects in exhibiting. They help keep Franklin’s history alive!

Franklin War of 1812 veteran Alvan Abell photographed late in his life.

Happy Fourth of July!

Did you know that at least 78 militiamen from Franklin were active during the War of 1812? At this time, Franklin mustered the 2nd and 6th Companies of the 20th Militia Regiment. The 2nd Company drew men from the historic area of the West Farms society, while the 6th Company drew men from the historic area of the Pautipaug Society.

They first served two weeks at Fort Trumbull in New London beginning on June 1st, 1813. The British had begun their blockade of the Long Island Sound and New York City, and before its grip closed too tightly, Commodore Stephen Decatur, with the ships USS United States (55 guns), USS Macedonian (38 guns), and USS Hornet (20 guns), had attempted to break out of the Long Island Sound and into the Atlantic Ocean but were unsuccessful and retreated into the Thames River and New London. Soon, the British vessels under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s former Flag Captain, Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, appeared off of New London, these were the HMS Ramillies (74 guns), HMS Valiant (74 Guns), HMS Acasta (40 guns), and HMS Orpheus (36 guns) made their presence felt closely off of New London and the Acasta had chased Decatur the closest.

With this looming British threat, Connecticut militia was mustered in the region and sent to New London and Groton to man Fort Trumbull, Fort Griswold, and any other defensive works, in case the British fleet under Captain Hardy attempted to storm the Thames to destroy or capture Decatur’s small fleet – which none the less represented about a quarter of the US Navy at the time! So with that, 57 men from Franklin, organized into those two companies, marched to New London to take up garrison duties. At the time, the 2nd Company was commanded by Captain Daniel Gager Jr., while the 6th Company was commanded by Captain Thomas Dow. Six of the 25 men that Captain Gager’s commanded are buried in Franklin, while eighteen of Dow’s men are buried here.

Ultimately, Hardy did not attack New London and the Militia was sent home on June 16th, 1813. The Long Island Sound was still a hotbed of activity. There were smugglers attempting to run the blockade and make enormous profits, there were “torpedoes” (effectively what we would call sea mines) and even early submarines being tested to destroy British vessels and break the blockade. Stephen Decatur even tried to escape the Thames on multiple occasions, but the British force he was facing was simply too strong.

June 1813 would not be the Franklin militia’s last encounter with Captain Thomas Hardy or the British Fleet. In Mid-1814, a new commander took over blockading duties in the North from Hardy (who was now subordinate) and a new order had been issued by the British command that towns along the coast should be destroyed as necessary to sow terror. There were not many viable targets along the Long Island Sound, and Hardy ultimately selected Stonington as his target.

On August 9th, 1814 HMS Ramilles (74 Guns), HMS Pactlus (38 Guns), HMS Dispatch (20 guns), and HMS Terror (a ‘bomb ship’ armed with two large mortars) appeared off of Stonington. After formalities in which Hardy encouraged the populace to vacate the borough, the officials refused. So would begin the Battle of Stonington, with the local militia forces defending against the British bombardment.

That evening the British began their bombardment with HMS Terror firing “carcass” shells intended to light fires, “bomb” shells intended to explode, and a number of barges firing Congreve Rockets (intended to light fires). These weapons had been used to deadly and destructive effect against Copenhagen in 1807 in which that city was burned to the ground. With a handful of cannons, the local militia mounted a small defense, one which surprised the British and ultimately their bombardment that night was unsuccessful.

By this point the 20th Militia Regiment had been stood up and was mustered in Norwich by noon on August 10th. However, aside from the Artillery company, the 20th Militia Regiment remained in Norwich. 6th Company had a new commanding officer as Captain Dow had died earlier in the year. Captain Alvan Abell took his place and was the one to lead the 32 men of 6th Company to Stonington. 2nd Company mustered 27 men and was still led by Captain Daniel Gager Jr.

They waited in Norwich with the rest of the 20th, and the regiment did not get orders to move to Stonington until Thursday, August 11th and at 2pm they began their march to Stonington.

While the 20th had been waiting to move in Norwich, the British had been busy in Stonington. The 10th saw HMS Terror and HMS Dispatch begin the bombardment afresh. Using this as cover, the British attempted to land a party of Marines, but one barge was destroyed by the militia’s artillery fire, and the rest rowed back to their ships. After this, the militia fired on HMS Dispatch, the closest vessel, and managed to strike it a number of times.

The 11th was quieter, as a bizarre diplomatic game began to unfold, and the HMS Terror did not begin the bombardment again until 3pm. They fired mortar shells at the town until sunset.

It was on this day, the 11th, that the 20th Militia Regiment was ordered to move to Stonington. They arrived at about midnight, and a few hours later the 2nd and 6th Companies would be subject to British artillery fire. At sunrise (just about 5am) on the 12th, the Terror began its terrible but ultimately ineffective bombardment again. As the sun rose, HMS Pactlus and HMS Ramillies prepared to fire upon the village. From approximately 8 O’Clock to 1 PM they bombarded the town with their broadsides. Some claim they fired only three broadsides at the town, while others seem to claim that fired more or less consistently in that period.

After this final attempt, the British vessels sailed away from Stonington. The town was not much worse for wear, with little real damage and casualties extremely minimal. Very few American defenders were wounded, and only one would later die of his wounds. None were outright killed. Most houses were hit, but lightly damaged, with only a handful that were beyond any repairs. The British had possibly suffered little more, Captain Hardy claimed officially only two men were killed – but Amos Palmer of Stonington claimed after the war that based on conversations he later had with officers from Dispatch that the British casualties were 21 killed and 50 wounded. We will never know for sure whether Hardy was telling the truth.

The Franklin militia companies had stood with others from Connecticut in defense of Stonington, a small seaport town that had not participated in the “torpedo” war on the Sound and was selected for destruction because it was thought to have been an easy target. For hours, beginning in the early morning of August 12th, they were subject to British fire and likely helped man the defensive breastworks along the Stonington coast. They remained in Stonington until the evening of August 13th (in case the British decided to return) and were then ordered to Groton and encamped about a mile from Fort Griswold. They would remain there and at Fort Griswold until August 23rd, 1814.

Of this second group, 6 of Captain Gager's men are buried in Franklin, and 16 of Captain Abell's are.

Captain Alvan Abell went on to be a member of the State Legislature five times from Franklin, and was photographed later in his life.

Sources: DeKay, James Tertius. The Battle of Stonington: Torpedoes, Submarines, and Rockets in the War of 1812. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute Press, 1990.

Norwich Courier, “ATTACK ON STONINGTON!”, Page 3, August 17th, 1814.

Smith, Stephen B; Camp, Frederick E; Barbour, Lucius A.; White, George M, Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the I. - War of the Revolution, II. – War of 1812, III. – Mexican War. Hartford: Adjutants General Office, 1880.

One of the important things to remember about any local history is that it often has national, and international ties. Not only that, there's a wide appeal!

I am pleased to announce that my article "Franklin, CT In The Great War" was published in Volume 2 Issue No. 11 (May 2023) of Salient Points Magazine, published by The Great War Group.

Salient Points has a dedicated readership in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the US and is focused on the First World War.

A copy will be available at the Janet Carlson Calvert Library soon!

https://greatwargroup.com/

This is not my first article published in Salient Points, but I suspect it is one of the first international articles about Franklin to be published!

Stay on the lookout for MORE research and writing on Franklin. There's MORE Maritime Franklin events this year with the Franklin Historical Society, and we have some exciting talks planned for next year.

And then, starting in 2025, we will be entering the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution. Franklin History will never be the same!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ch0nWg3kwI

Here is a wonderfully produced documentary about the segregated 29th Connecticut Regiment during the Civil War. 10 black men from Franklin enlisted in the regiment, while at least one 29th veteran moved here post-war. Additionally, Captain (later Major) Ross of G company had lived in Franklin from about 1850 to 1861 and he first enlisted in the Civil War from Franklin.

29th Veterans who enlisted from Franklin are as follows:

A Company: 

- Private John Jones, 19 years old, Waiter. 

B Company:

- Private William E Burris, 25 years old, wounded in the thigh at Kell House, October 27th 1864. Died November 11th, 1865.

- Private William Carpenter, 18 years old, Farmer.

- Private George Rogers, 25 years old, farmer. Deserted after April 25th, 1864 at Annapolis MD.

- Private John Williams, 19 years old, Waiter.

C Company:

- Private Henry Wood, 21 years old, farmer. Among the first men into the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia.

D Company: 

- Private Gilbert Brackson, 21 years old, farmer.

- Private Samuel Francis, 35 years old, farmer.

F Company:

- Private Richard Anthony, 18 years old, farmer.

- Private John Randall, 35 years old, farmer. Wounded at Kell House severely in the right ankle, right leg amputated at the thigh, died November 11th, 1864 of his wound.

Moved here after the war:

A Company:

- Private Frank Jackson, 19 years old, Farmer. Moved here post war and is buried in the local cemetery, wounded slightly at Kell House, October 27th 1864.

Officers:

G Company:

- Captain William J. Ross, 32 years old in 1864. Promoted to Major after the fall of Richmond.

WOW! What a find in the National Archives for Memorial Day! This is the EARLIEST film footage of a Franklin resident! 

It is of Michael Yuschalk having the Croix de Guerre he earned during the First World War pinned on his chest by Major General Clarence Edwards at Camp Devens in 1919 right before demobilization. You can see him speak for a moment with Connecticut Governor Marcus Holcomb.

Last year the photograph of this moment was discovered, but the film footage is brand new to us.

Please take the time today this Memorial Day to remember Michael Yuschalk and Franklin's many other "Doughboys".

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/24704

New archival discovery: another image of Franklin WWI veteran Charles W. Frink. He is pictured here in 1919 with his unit, 'C' Company of the 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division and was identified by comparison with other surviving images of Frink.

Frink was drafted on February 27th, 1918 and was quickly assigned to his unit. He spent only a month training in the United States before they arrived in France. They would first train with the British before serving their first stint in the trenches in mid-June. It was there that Frink had his "baptism in fire" when the Germans conducted a raid against 'C' Company's position. His platoon survived, but the engagement took a heavy toll on the Company as a whole. He wrote to his mother on June 28th about this action:

"we are in the first line trenches, which is not especially an enjoyable place to be, [...] if anybody says they like the trenches you can tell them you don't believe them as they aren't in their right mind. The second platoon was wiped out except five, and some of our boys were gassed and two were shell shocked, but the rest of us are all right."

Frink would continue to serve with 'C' Company of the 308th through what is one of the most famous episodes of the United States' experience during the First World War. During the Meuse-Argonne offensive (September 26th - November 11th, 1918) the 308th was part of what became known as the "Lost Battalion". The 308th Infantry, elements of the 307th Infantry, and some support units, were cut off by the Germans in the Argonne Forest. From October 2nd to October 7th, Frink was trapped in "the pocket" with the rest of his unit. Ultimately reinforcements were able to breakthrough to the 308th, but not without cost. Of the approximately 700 men who participated, only 200 were alive and unwounded. Frink was among the wounded, having sustained multiple shrapnel wounds, and spent time recuperating in a hospital. Before he was out, the war was effectively over with the Armistice signed on November 11th.

While he survived this experience, it surely left him a changed man. Beginning with his homecoming in 1919, Frink embarked on a series of talks about his time with the Lost Battalion in the Franklin area: He spoke at Franklin's Memorial Day service, at churches, and even at private parties. 

Prior to the war, Frink worked as a milk driver for his father's fairy farm, and he returned to that work upon returning home. By 1930 he is listed as a "Milk Dealer" and later that year he married the widow Hazel S. Ulmer of Norwich. Sometime during the 1930s Frink left the Dairy business and moved to Norwich. In 1940, he was listed as a Watchman for the City of Norwich. He died tragically young in 1941, aged 45.

Charles William Frink was not just a "Doughboy". He was a member of the local community, one whose life is in many ways emblematic of rural Eastern Connecticut in this period. Many continued to leave farms for manufacturing centers to find work. Frink's life was likely affected by the Great Depression, possibly explaining why he moved into his wife's home in Norwich instead of her settling with him in Franklin. It may too explain the shift in career, with a move to a steadier hourly income by 1940 as a watchman.

This photograph is courtesy of the US National Archives: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/236677605

Your scholarship often will outlive you. Here is David Price’s 2022 book “The Battle of Harlem Heights 1776”, published by Westholme Publishing.

In the Bibliography is work done by Franklin’s very own Ashbel Woodward and his son Patrick Henry Woodward. P. H. Woodward was a driving force in the creation of a monument to Thomas Knowlton at the State Capital.

Dr. Woodward’s work was originally published in 1861, his Patrick Henry’s in 1895. Yet both are still helping out historians today!

Here we have a letter written on behalf of William Eustice Kingsbury (buried in the Plains Cemetery) by Roswell Park D.D. to the 13th President, Millard Fillmore. 

This was part of Kingsbury's application to study at West Point. What is remarkable here is that Fillmore's family had actually lived in Franklin starting in the early 1720s.

What's more, is that in describing where Colonel Jacob Kingsbury lived (William E. Kingsbury's late grandfather), Dr. Park said he lived in NORTH Franklin.

More research will always need to be done, but it seems that that "North Franklin" has been a part of local identity and lexicon since before the railroads and post office. It could point to a regional split between the parts of town that had formerly been "West Farms" and those which had been "Pautipaug" or it could have been more strictly geographical.

In any case, President Millard Fillmore knew of North Franklin in 1851!

I am pleased to announce that the Franklin Historical Society was awarded $5,000 in grant money from Connecticut Humanity's Cultural Operating Funds Grant!

The Franklin Historical Society will be using these funds to help create exciting new exhibiting focused on Franklin and the American Revolution for the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the Revolution's start. The money we received will help us create professional signage and to create exciting displays for visitors to see original artifacts from the war and to better understand how the actions of the Revolutionaries helped shaped Franklin today!

This CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant is provided to The Franklin Historical Society from CT Humanities (CTH), with funding from the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.

CT Humanities is an independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and collaborative programs. CTH projects, administration, and program development are supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources. Learn more by visiting cthumanities.org.

The Office of the Arts is the state agency charged with fostering the health of Connecticut's creative economy. Part of the state's Department of Economic and Community Development, the Office of the Arts is funded by the State of Connecticut and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Illustration of whalers from the 19th Century.

In 1851, 17-year-old Edgar N. Leonard, a black teenager born in Windham, Connecticut, but living in Franklin decided to sign on for a whaling voyage out of New London aboard the ship “Columbus”, destined for the Northwest American coast. There, they would hunt whales, a process which would take at least two or three years, if not longer. Leonard was one of many young black men who worked in Franklin but have been rendered “invisible” because of the nature of the work they did and what sources captured information on these individuals. What brought him to Franklin in the first place? What would have drawn him to sea? Did Edgard N. Leonard decide to sign onto this voyage alongside another young black man, 20-year-old Nelson Davis, of Lebanon also listed on the Columbus’s crew?

To answer these questions, however, would be to get ahead of myself. Leonard, and others, represented a class of workers who had existed in Franklin for generations at that point: Farmhands. This critical labor, assisting Farmers who owned the land, was most often performed by young men. Some farmhands came from the community itself, such as the sons of neighbors, or from outside the community, from those in search of steady work. This work was, ostensibly, ‘visible’. Farmhands did not work in secret and worked outdoors. They made their presence felt each year as the crops were planted, as they grew, and as they were harvested. In many cases this work was performed by young black men who had very few opportunities for work outside of this backbreaking labor.

Tying into the previous essays on slavery and the military, this kind of farm work had been performed by the enslaved in the 17th and 18th centuries, although we can surmise based on the evidence that by the 19th century the few remaining enslaved peoples in town were not working farms based on their (surmised) ages. That said, we should be careful to remember that Franklin’s early farm economy was in part sustained with some enslaved labor. Their labor, although ‘visible’ in the sense that it was performed knowingly and in the open, has been rendered ‘invisible’ by the way that Franklin’s history has been discussed, inadvertently erasing them from the picture.

The same could be said of the later Black farmhands. This was backbreaking labor, hence why farmhands tended to be younger. and we know that some of these men – like Samuel Hollis who was killed at the Battle of the Crater in 1864 – had escaped slavery. Those men escaped, only to find themselves once again doing difficult farm labor. Free Black men, like Lebbeus Quy, worked as a farmhand until late in his life (it should also be noted he was not freed until 1777). He was extremely poor; the work did not compensate nearly enough to allow for more than bare subsistence.

Yet, there were other limited options for black men in this era. One of the most attractive, although no less backbreaking and arguably more dangerous, was to go to sea. Life at sea for black men in the 18th century was still filled with the same prejudices and racism found on land – with one real exception in that Black men were able to advance “up the ranks” in the Maritime world. Black men could very easily hold positions of authority onboard merchant or whaling vessels, and some black men even became captains. Pay, while still generally poor and unfair, was divided on equal lines for men of each rating.

Going to sea for years at a time was not an easy choice, but you can begin to see why black men may have made that choice. It was far from a good environment, and was extremely dangerous, but it could prove to be an even marginally better environment than on land. Furthermore, the decision to go to sea has allowed us to have a record of some of the black men and families from Franklin who would otherwise have been lost because they did not live here in “census” years. This too is “invisible” labor. It doesn’t occur in Franklin but is performed by Franklin residents. It occurs in faraway waters, and the sources that pertain to such voyages are not typically kept in town. Yet, whale oil was an important 19th century commodity, and the trade provided by other Black Franklin sailors helped fuel the local economy and brought goods from around the world to the area.

Samuel Hollis existed in both worlds before he enlisted in the Army in February 1864. His enlistment paper states that he worked as a sailor, and he had likely come to Franklin (at least temporarily) to work as a farm hand. While Black farm laborers worked and lived in Franklin before the Civil War, the number of men who enlisted in the Army during the war would have created a “vacuum” of labor – there were jobs to be filled and men like Hollis were likely drawn to Franklin because of the openings. Hollis enlisted in the Winter, and the Army offered bounties for enlistment, so he likely saw it as a sounder financial move. Furthermore, Black men were motivated to join the US Army to defeat the Confederates, permanently end slavery in the country, and gain Civil Rights which all also likely played a role in his decision. His time in Franklin is only documented because of his enlistment into the Army but we are able to draw out much about his life and experiences from what is effectively one document.

Other kinds of “Visible” laborers include waiters and bartenders. The famous “Hyde Tavern” which was located on the southern portion of Route 32 is one such example of an establishment which had black workers. By 1880, it was owned by 30-year-old George Greenleaf. Working and living there as well was 28-year-old Mary Loumas [Loomis?], born in Virginia, her 8 year old son Daniel also lived with them and was attending school. Mary was participating in more “domestic” style labor, although in a visible context. She would have been serving those who came to the Hyde Tavern drinks and food – although it burned to the ground in 1888. Nineteen-year-old John Jones, born in New Jersey, also worked as a waiter when he enlisted in the 29th Connecticut Regiment in December 1864. Like other jobs, these were among the kinds of works that Black Americans could obtain a living from – both men and women. It was often demeaning work – and never far removed from the kinds of work that enslaved Black people had been made to do.

Yet, there is another major category of black labor that would be “invisible”: Domestic servants. Reminiscent of the language often used to describe enslaved peoples during the 18th century “servants”, these (mostly) women labored inside the homes of the wealthy to keep the homes clean, meals cooked, and any other manner of domestic chore that needed to be done. One example of a family that had hired a black maid were the Woodward family. On the 1870 census, a 78-year-old woman named Lucinda Quay was listed as a servant in their household. She had been on the 1860 census in Stonington with her husband, he had likely passed away and she needed money to support herself. So, she turned to domestic work.

They were hardly the only family to hire domestic servants (of any race); another prominent example would be the Smith family. In the late 1890s they hired a young girl named Viola Whitford to work as their servant. In 1902 she died of consumption at age 18. By 1910 they had hired another young Black girl as their servant, Helen Comager. On the 1910 census she was 13, and she may have started working for them when she was even younger. Stanley Armstrong recollected that she attended school with him, and that she sung in the Church choir. William C. Smith was active in the church as a deacon and she was likely made to go by him. Helen sadly died in March 1918, barely aged 20, likely of Spanish Flu. Both girls were buried in the Plains cemetery by the Smith family. Yet their stones only list their first names. Their last names are omitted, as well as their dates of birth and death. In effect, their identity was erased by their manner of burial. Their childhood domestic labor rendered invisible. Their labor was also generally invisible, occurring inside the homes of specific families, away from outsiders.

The kind of work that Black Franklin residents were able to perform was generally circumscribed, and many of these families were left poor. Often enough the work was essentially the same as those who had either been freed or escaped slavery. Conditions had generally not improved. Overlaid all of this was the rise of “Jim Crow” laws in the South, codifying racism and segregation into the legal system. While the North never had “Jim Crow” laws, there were still ample legal, financial, and educational barriers to the success of many Black families in the North. Yet, without these people, life in the 19th century would have been very different. They helped crew the ships that kept the nation alight with whale oil, they tended fields to produce necessary crops, they worked in taverns and in homes. These were not easy or well-paying jobs, and they are often forgettable. Yet, we owe it to these individuals to remember their labor and lives, and to better understand the ways that Franklin is a part of larger historical processes. We owe it to remember that Black History IS Franklin History. We owe it to remember that enslaved and free, Black people have been a part of Franklin since its conception.

29th Connecticut Regiment in South Carolina during the American Civil War.

EDITORS NOTE: More recent research has changed my understanding of Lebbeus's Quy service and more records regarding he and his family's life in Franklin have been uncovered.

Original essay archived for posterity. - Matt Novosad, 8 September 2024.

I thank everyone for the positive responses to my first essay in this series on black history, and now present the second:

Over the Winter of 1860 to 1861 the Confederate States seceded from the United States to preserve the institution of Slavery and further actions by the Confederate Government throughout the war only reinforced this foundational goal of the Confederates. Among the most infamous of orders was issued by Jefferson Davis and Confederate Government on December 24th, 1862 which read “that all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong to be dealt with according to the laws of said States,” and furthermore, “that the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States when found serving in company with armed slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy”. The Confederacy was going to treat Black American soldiers and their white officers as slave insurrectionists and would either reenslave the enlisted men or put them to death, while their white officers would be subject to death. This order would have tragic results for at least one Franklin Civil War veteran – but more on him later.

This was the reality facing Black men who enlisted in the American army during the Civil War. Nor was it the first, or last time, that Black men would serve the United States in a military capacity. While such standing orders did not exist during the American Revolution or the First World War, in each case Black men volunteered (or were drafted) to fight for a country which very often did not care for them. What would inspire someone to make that decision? Why fight for something which patently doesn’t represent you and which would very likely lead to your death? These are the questions I hope to answer for you all today, and to shine a light on the difficult history of Black service in the American military.

The reasons for any individual to participate in military service in any time period are going to be varied: adventure, freedom, food, shelter, or any other number of factors may drive someone to enlist. As a group however, we do see some patterns emerge in black military service in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. One of the defining factors that led to service, especially during the Civil War onwards, are the concepts of “Martial Manhood” and “Martial Citizenship”. Black men were by and large not seen as masculine figures by white American society, as well as having little to no rights of citizenship depending on the part of the country they were in. Military service was seen as a way of asserting one’s masculinity – through brave actions in battle, and of essentially “buying” citizenship through serving the government.

While the logic behind such actions makes sense neither ever really worked for Black Americans. Time and time again existing racist stereotypes shaded the way that white Americans viewed Black military service and performance. During the First World War, for example, the men of the black 92nd Division were claimed by their superiors to have poor time in putting their gasmasks on during a gas attack, and thus suffered higher casualties. Their white commanding officers claimed it was possibly because they supposedly had “wider” faces then white men and thus the “Corrected English Model” gasmask did not properly fit. Yet, the statistics don’t bare out this racist accusation as the 92nd Division had one of the best records of gas casualties among American units in France. It was one of many false accusations leveled against the men of the 92nd Division, and towards Black American soldiers since the American Revolution.

With these ideas of “Martial Manhood” and “Martial Citizenship” in mind, let us turn back towards Franklin. How do we see these ideas play out here? Finding Franklin’s Revolutionary War history is difficult, and finding black Revolutionary War history is even more so. While undoubtedly part of our town’s collective history, the region was still under Norwich’s political aegis and record keeping for the West Farms and Pautipaug regions could be spotty at best. We know that there were many enslaved people in Norwich, and even have some records for their existence in West Farms and Pautipaug, yet these records are often silent on the names of the enslaved. The difficulty then lies in tying any of the known black individuals (free or enslaved) from Norwich to West Farms or Pautipaug – and thus to Franklin. As of right now, there was at least one Black Revolutionary War veteran from Franklin: Lebbeus Quy. Other Black men would have been the comrades in arms of the many white Revolutionaries from Franklin.

The Continental Army was the first and last integrated American military until Truman’s Executive Order 9981 in 1948. After 1783, and through some of the most important wars that the United States fought in, the military was entirely segregated. This does not mean, however, that an integrated military is free of racism. Far from it, but it is astounding that only during the American Revolution that black men were able to serve alongside all others (as segregation would only later apply to black men, and no other minorities in the US). There are approximately 289 men who are definitively known to have been black and served in the American military during the Revolution from Connecticut. Of these 289, 14 are definitively known to have been from Norwich, although others could possibly have been, such as marine Amasa Waterman who served onboard the Connecticut ship “Oliver Cromwell” in 1778. The 14 are as follows, and many only have a first name – their only other identifier being their skin color:

Bachus Fox

Elezear Groto

Brister

John

Jubiter

Kedar

Micha

Ned

Pomp

Prince

Toby Pendall

Lebbeus Quy

Ebo Raimond

Ceaser Stewart

There are approximately 100 other names of men who may have been black based on their names, however without further evidence it would be unwise to draw any conclusions as sometimes white men did have those names as well. There are also others who had “white” sounding names which would otherwise mean they are entirely invisible in the record. So that is to say that the above list is in no way a “complete” list, but one that we can say is as complete as it can be at this time.

Let us now look at Lebbeus Quy’s service and life in more detail. His 1819 Pension application very clearly states he was from Franklin. Further evidence bolsters this claim. While the 1790 Census can be difficult to parse as the enumerators for New London County did not separate their count out by town, so all of New London County is in one list, you can start to define where one town begins and another ends with enough familiarity and there is a “Negro Quy” listed between members of the Tracy and Lathrop family in the census. These same Tracy and Lathrop family members were definitively from Franklin. As well, in 1809, a younger Lebbeus Quy died and was recorded in Franklin’s vital records. With all of this, we it is safely established that Lebbeus Quy is one of the approximately 120 currently identified Franklin Revolutionary War Veterans, so what did that look like for Quy?

Quy’s service started on May 10th, 1775 when he enlisted into Captain Nathan Peters’ company of Colonel Danielson’s Regiment. Colonel Timothy Danielson was from Massachusetts but had received permission to raise some of the men for his regiment in New London and Hartford counties. Quy served two months and twenty two days in Peters’ company, before joining Captain John Durkee’s company in the Third Connecticut Regiment commanded by Israel Putnam. Durkee’s company had been formed mostly from Norwich and the surrounding area, and it was here he would intermingle with other Franklin veterans such as Bela Armstrong. Durkee’s company is also notable as 8 Mohegan men were included among its ranks.

Connecticut’s muster rolls for 1776 are much spottier, and Quy states that he continued to serve under John Durkee at that point. In 1776 Durkee commanded the 20th Continental Regiment which ultimately saw action at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. There is also a Lebbeus Quy who is listed as a Seaman under Captain Seth Harding on the Brigantine Defense in CT State service. Harding commanding the Defense in 1776 and it is possible that there was a gap in Quy’s Infantry service between his discharge at the end of 1775 and his joining Durkee again in 1776. It is hard to say if this is the same Lebbeus Quy, as he does not mention it in his pension application at all. This may partially be explained as the 1818 Pension Act only applied to Continental Army and Naval service, and if he had served a period with the CT State Navy it would not count towards his service on his Pension.

No matter, however, as in June 1777 he enlisted again in Continental Service. At that point he enlisted in Andrew Fitch’s company of the 4th Connecticut. The 4th Connecticut was led by Colonel John Durkee. Quy enlisted for the duration of the war, rather than a three year period. The Continental Army would keep him to his word, and he served with the Connecticut Line through the end of the American Revolution. With the 4th Connecticut he saw fighting at the Battle of Germantown in 1777 and the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Another Franklin veteran of the 4th CT believed that “he rec’d no wound and his life was spared” during the Battle of Germantown because of the intervention of God, demonstrating how heavily engaged the 4th Connecticut was and how much they suffered in the fighting. Lebbeus Quy was with them throughout it all. He was also with the 4th Connecticut at Valley Forge in the Winter of 1777-78.

The 4th Connecticut would be merged and moved around after 1778, but Lebbeus Quy was with the Connecticut Troops until the end of the war. He was ultimately discharged in June 1783 at West Point, the last of the Continental Army. He had served approximately 8 years in American service, and may very well be the longest serving Revolutionary from Franklin as Reverend John Ellis enlisted for the first time in July 1775. So from the very beginning, black soldiers from Franklin went above and beyond for the United States.

What did Quy get out of it? It is difficult to say that he had an easy life after the war. He worked as a farm laborer and was very poor. On the 1790 census his household lists two other free black people, and one enslaved. The enslaved was likely someone he was working to purchase the freedom of as was common practice. But the town he lived in until his death, of which is unknown, still held people in bondage. Much of his service is only recorded as he applied for a pension in 1818, a pension he was only applicable for because he was poor. He couldn’t vote, nor could he join the militia which in Connecticut was restricted to white men. The “black laws” still applied to him. What was freedom for Lebbeus Quy? What did the words “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” mean to him? We may never know, as his military service records and pension are effectively the only documentation we have of his life. We know he had some sort of family, as his 33 year old son (also named Lebbeus Quy) died in Franklin in 1809.

Lebbeus Quy may have been among the first Black American soldiers from Franklin, but he certainly would not be the last. As discussed in the introduction, the American Civil War was fought over the enslavement of Black people, and the Confederates treated any black soldiers as slave insurrectionists. Yet, black men from Franklin were not deterred. Thirteen men, all of whom we would not know had a connection to Franklin otherwise, enlisted in the military during the course of 1863 to 1864. However, unlike in the Revolutionary War, they served in segregated units. In some cases, these units were not used for combat but to do more menial work that white superior officers felt that their black troops would be better at.

These men were in Franklin mostly working as farm laborers, but some had other jobs. Samuel Hollis, for instance, was an escaped slave from Maryland who worked as a sailor but had come to Franklin at least for a time – with a permanent residence in Philadelphia. The thirteen men are as follows:

Richard Anthony

Gilbert Brackson

Charles H. Briggs

William E. Burris

William Carpenter

Samuel Francis

Samuel S. Hollis

David Hutchinson

John Jones

John Randall

George Rogers

John Williams

Henry Wood

Another Black Civil War veteran, Frank Jackson, moved to Franklin after the war.

The vast majority of these men served in the various companies of the 29th Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment. The 29th CT had such an influx of recruits that the excess enlistees were used to bolster Federal units, primarily the 31st United States Colored Troops. The 29th saw action throughout 1864, with some of its heaviest fighting occurring at “Kell House” in late October that year.

However, the 29th's greatest achievement would come in 1865. The Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia had been besieged and its defenders worn down. Eventually the Confederate defenders slipped away and gave their capital city up to the Union. And what unit would be first into Richmond? None other than ‘C’ and ‘G’ Companies of the 29th Connecticut. There were Franklin men in both companies, and ‘G’ Company was commanded by Captain (later Major) William J. Ross who had started his military career in the Civil War in the 3rd Connecticut Regiment, enlisting from Franklin.

How’s that for symbolism? The Confederate capital was taken by Black American soldiers, an ultimate insult to those who were fighting to keep Black people enslaved. Not only that, the city was captured by men and officers from Franklin. Of course, up to that point the 29th suffered approximately 500 casualties during its fighting in Virginia – such an honor had been hard won. Their service was not complete either, as they were shipped to Texas for garrison duty, before finally being returned to Connecticut in August of 1865.

Samuel H. Hollis, the escaped slave I mentioned earlier, had been one of the men placed instead in the 31st USCT. It was while he was serving with them that he would sadly become one of the many victims of Confederate violence towards Black men and those who led them. On July 30th, 1864 the “Battle of the Crater” was launched. A large amount of explosives were detonated under the Confederate lines, and the Union soldiers charged in bravely. But bravery would not be enough, and the Confederate General, Major General William Mahone abided with Jefferson Davis’s standing orders. Black American soldiers who were captured were summarily executed by bullet and by bayonet. Both those who were wounded and unwounded were the targets of this racialized slaughter.

Samuel H. Hollis did not survive the Battle of the Crater. His service record simply states that he was “missing, presumed killed”. What did he die for? What did other black Franklin fight for? Slavery was abolished, yes, but what of rights and freedoms? Governor William Buckingham declared to the 29th CT and 31st USCT on their return to Hartford that “although Connecticut now denies you privileges which it grants to others…the voice of a majority of liberty-loving freemen will be heard demanding for you every right and every privilege”. Buckingham had laid bare the truth that both Connecticut and the United States had failed its Black citizens to that point.

Buckingham was incorrect in the long term. Civil Rights would not be fully attained in the aftermath of the Civil War. Instead, the system of Jim Crow laws would emerge in the South and while never as explicit as in the South, laws and society in the North would make life extremely difficult for Black Americans – it is very arguable we are still fighting some of those battles. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan would founded to commit acts of terrorism towards Black people, and these sorts of organizations have had an influence even in Connecticut. Those thirteen men helped end slavery in the United States, but they would come back to a broken country.

Their grandchildren would not be in a much better place. This leads me to the final individual I’d like to highlight today: Homer Eugene Peckham. Homer Peckham was born in Windham in the 1890s, and by the time of the First World War he was a farmhand for Felix Garceau who owned Blue Hill Farm. Peckham ultimately would be the only black veteran of the First World War from Franklin and is currently not commemorated on either First World War monument in town.

Unlike Lebbeus Quy or Samuel Hollis, Peckham did not enlist in the military and was instead drafted. Unlike most Black draftees during the First World War however, Peckham was assigned to a combat unit – ‘C’ Company of the 367th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division. Out of the nearly 400,000 Black Americans who served in the US Military in the war, only about half went to France, and of the 400,000 only 40,000 were in a combat unit. Most Black soldiers were relegated to manual labor, tasks such as moving supplies or building camps. There was a widespread fear among white Americans that if you trained and armed black men, they would rise up against the racist systems that kept them as a lower class.

Yet it was precisely this that led to some Black thinkers arguing in favor of black military service. The American Army had, pre-war, only a handful of segregated units. These individuals felt that by expanding black military service, they could move the cause of civil rights forward by demonstrating that Black Americans could “do their bit” just as well as any white man and that they could be trusted. While these arguments did have some purchase, and black service was expanded on and expected during the war, it was mostly in demeaning physical labor. In some cases, labor units did not even receive official Army uniforms!

It is remarkable that Peckham was assigned to an Infantry regiment. It was also not guaranteed that he would have even fought under the American flag. The famous 93rd Division was loaned to the French as the leadership of the American Expeditionary Force was uncomfortable leading any black men in combat, and felt that because the French utilized Black soldiers from their colonies, the 93rd would be a better fit. The 92nd Division almost had the same fate, with it being offered to the British military. However, the British declined on the grounds that training the 92nd would create “administrative difficulty”. The British gladly accepted white American units.

The 92nd Division was stuck with the American Expeditionary Force, and would be the only Black combat unit to fight under the American Flag. Additionally, the 92nd Division was the only formation with Black Commissioned Officers. Their war record would be tarnished by their white commanding officers who brought with them a whole slough of racist stereotypes which influenced their analysis of the 92nd’s performance – such as the aforementioned gas masks. Another persistent racist rumor that followed the 92nd was that they were a “Rape Division” and attacked white French women wherever they were stationed. There is no evidence to support these assertions, and these simply built off of existing racist stereotypes of black men being hyper-sexual and of being a danger to “innocent” white women.

The 92nd first went into the trenches at the end of August, 1918 where they were trained by a French unit. It was here that Homer Peckham was “slightly” wounded in the hand on September 5th in the St. Die sector. The exact definition of “slightly” is never given, but it was clearly serious enough to warrant mentioning. It didn’t keep him out of action later that month, however, during the Meuse Argonne Offensive. This was one of the largest battles in American history, and the 92nd acquitted themselves about as well as could be against tenacious German defenses. They were in some cases blamed for the failures of white units, and when elements of the 92nd Division fell apart during some assaults early in the Offensive, it was because their officers had become indecisive and crumbled under real enemy fire.

Black soldiers in France were also subject to violence at the hands of their white comrades. There are credible reports of black soldiers being lynched by white American soldiers, and numerous fights broke out. There were also white southerners who attempted to apply Jim Crow to French establishments and society by trying to enforce the “color line” of segregation seen in the United States. Some establishments acquiesced, others did not. In any case, the Army of 1918 was hostile to its black soldiers on whose backs the war effort was being made possible.

The 92nd Division and Homer Peckham returned home in 1919. Here it seems that he had a troubled life after the war. He works for Felix Garceau for at least a few months after his return but moves away. He was beaten by a Norwich policeman for “public drunkenness” at one point for instance. He died in 1932 at age 43, in a country which did not give a damn about him as a person. He is buried alongside his father and their graves face “outwards” from the rest of the graves in the cemetery.

What each of these case studies demonstrates is that Black military service was varied. Yet, no matter the period, there was hope that Black military service would expand the rights and privileges afforded to Black people in the United States. Yet, this high minded ideal never quite worked out, even though Black men from Franklin and the country at large sweated, bled, and died in service of the United States. Franklin has been as much a part of this world as anywhere else in the United States.

EDITORS NOTE: More recent research has changed my understanding of which Ebenezer Lathrop was an enslaver, and it does not seem that Ebenezer Lathrop Jr. of Pautipaug Society enslaved Primus. Rather, Lathrop's older uncle of the same name was Primus's enslaver.

Original essay archived for posterity. - Matt Novosad, 8 September 2024.

Connecticut began what was known as “Gradual Emancipation” in 1784, a year after the official end to the American Revolution. Under “Gradual Emancipation”, the children of the enslaved would be free after reaching adulthood. These children would not be free until, at the earliest March 2nd, 1809 (assuming a birth-date on the day that the law took effect, March 2nd, 1784). Connecticut did not truly abolish slavery until 1848 – but then there was no real point – it was a symbolic gesture made after all those who had been enslaved before March 2nd, 1784 were dead and had still held their children in bondage until they were well into adulthood.

This was not a neat and orderly move into inevitable abolition – for it freed no one but the unborn. Furthermore, while the importation of enslaved persons in Connecticut was prohibited by a 1774 law, there were regular legal questions around the precise wording of the law and enslavers exploited loopholes to bring more enslaved people into Connecticut (albeit, in much smaller numbers). Slavery did not go away quietly from Connecticut, but remained a part of the explicit social fabric of the state until nearly the Civil War.

So that brings us to Franklin. The year 1820 saw the enumeration of the 4th Federal Census under the administration of James Monroe. Connecticut had an overall population of 275,248 persons, with a black and native population of 7,967 comprising 2.9% of Connecticut’s overall population that year. Franklin had a population of 1,161 people that year, of which 60 were black or native, 5.2% of the town’s population. This figure represents a proportion nearly double that of the state overall! It would be naive, however, to assume that all these men and women were free.

No, in 1820 there was still one enslaved man – over 45 years of age – living in Franklin. He had been enslaved by Amos Woodworth sometime before 1784. Woodworth himself had been born in 1759, and the man he enslaved was likely born around that time as well. It is likely that we will never know the identity of the enslaved man. Like so many other enslaved people, his identity was stripped from him in both life and death. He is hardly the only enslaved individual who was in Franklin that we have little information on.

A striking example comes from 1777. John Tracy of West Farms placed an ad in the Norwich Packet newspaper advertising a “runaway”. The “runaway” in question was a 14 year old black girl who had run away from her enslavement at John Tracy’s hands. Tracy’s ad was blunt and told us nothing of this girl – only that to harbor her would be done at an “individual’s peril”, a clear threat to not harbor her and help her escape slavery. Slavery is an inherently violent act and system. Upholding it required enslavers to utilize violence (and its threat) against both the enslaved and those who wished to help end the system.

In fact, violence was built into Connecticut’s laws about slaves, known collectively as “the black code”. Whipping was the punishment protected and encouraged by Connecticut law. The enslaved could be whipped for being outside past 9:00pm or “disturbing the peace” or for using “unseemly language”. Free Black people in Connecticut also could not sell objects without some form of explicit proof of ownership, or in the case of the enslaved, without explicit permission from their enslavers. While these laws were aimed by white slave owners to control the enslaved, they also applied to Connecticut’s free Black population as well.

We have evidence for this violence within Franklin. In 1784, Captain Jacob Hazen was excommunicated from the Congregational Church. The most serious of the charges brought to him by the Church membership and Dr. Nott was that he had “unreasonably whipping a negro which belonged to another man”. This was a charge he did not deny but instead “justified his conduct”. The issue was not even that he had whipped an enslaved man in the first place, but that he had crossed the threshold from “reasonably whipping” to “unreasonably”. Had he not crossed that line, there would have been no admonition for his violence against the enslaved individual. Here again another case where we will never know the identity of that enslaved person and who they were. These were people who, in addition to the physical violence inflicted upon them to keep them enslaved, had their identities stripped and viewed as unimportant by white society; a further kind of violence.

There is at least one case of an Enslaved individual likely buying the freedom of his family in Franklin. The 1790 census lists a family whose head is a man named only as “Negro James”. His household included himself and two enslaved people. It is very likely that these were friends or family members that he had “purchased” to ultimately manumit which was a frequent occurrence, although without more documentation it is difficult to say for certain.

We also know of formerly enslaved people who came to Franklin. Primus, who had been enslaved by Ebenezer Lathrop Jr (commanding officer of the West Farms company of Militia), was admitted into the Franklin church in 1784. He would have moved here with his wife Venus. Whether their daughter Flora had followed them is unclear and Venus passed away in 1785. No death record exists for Primus. Another example is Cato Quash, who had been born enslaved and was a resident of Ellington in 1793. He came to Franklin to marry Selah (Celia) Pedro, the widowed wife of James Pedro.

This early church membership and these marriages among Black people in Franklin are important to note as Dr. Samuel Nott, the church’s pastor, wrote that he went against the racist wishes of the Church membership in order to conduct marriages for black residents, including people like Cato and Selah Quash. Furthermore, it seems that at some point during the 19th century black members were no longer admitted into the church at all. Yet, even if not accepted into the church, free Blacks and the enslaved made their presence within Franklin known. They were a part of this town’s fabric.

Now that we have examined some of the individuals effected, let us look at how the town was a part of the wider system of slavery. Many goods were produced utilizing enslaved labor at some point in their production chain which was bought and used by Franklin residents. The most notorious of these were molasses and cotton, which will be discussed in turn. Molasses was produced from sugar farmed on Caribbean plantations which utilized vast numbers of enslaved peoples. This sugar (and the molasses created from the sugar) was then shipped to New England and turned into Rum. Rum was one of the most popular drinks of the 18th and 19th centuries in New England, and it was only possible to have it in such vast quantities because of enslaved labor. This Rum (and other goods) was then exchanged for more enslaved peoples in Africa, who were then shipped across the Atlantic in the horrific Middle Passage to the Caribbean and elsewhere. Franklin residents not only drank Rum, but also even directly stored molasses at various points. For example, during the American Revolution a cargo of molasses was captured by privateers and brought into Norwich. While the State legislature and decided what exactly to do with this cargo (and who should own it), it was split amongst the various parts of Norwich, including Franklin.

Cotton was produced on plantations by the enslaved in the American south. This mode of Cotton production did not end until the Civil War and in 1857 a new textile factory opened on the Shetucket River between Franklin and Lisbon. While this new factory was nominally on the Lisbon side, the factory owners paid taxes to both Franklin and Lisbon. Furthermore, while the bosses lived in Lisbon – the mostly immigrant workers lived on the Franklin side of the river in a village that very quickly became known as Baltic.

For four years this factory produced cotton textile goods, with cotton that came from the South produced on plantations. This factory then paid taxes to Franklin and Lisbon. Franklin, as a town government, benefitted directly from southern cotton for four years. However, this arrangement did not survive the Civil War. Beyond the fact that the war led to the abolition of slavery, in 1861 it was decided to create a new town called Sprague which incorporated land from both Franklin and Lisbon. For the factory owners, this eliminated the complex tax situation that they had previously been in. For Franklin’s Protestant residents, it was a chance to rid themselves of the mostly Catholic immigrants. Yet, this factory only had its beginnings because of the existence of slavery and its products and is one of the ways in which Franklin’s history is intertwined with that of slavery’s.

What of slavery’s legacy? The prevalent nature of slavery and racism towards Black people has had long lasting effects on the United States, Franklin included. During the 19th century, for instance, it affected the kinds of jobs that Black men and women could participate in and their exclusion from the political process of the United States. Franklin was no stranger to these factors, and represents (in the small scale) life across the United States in this period. It is important that we reckon honestly with the past and understand that this is part of Franklin’s history. Slavery existed in Franklin until the 1820s, and slavery in Connecticut until 1848. The ultimate legacy of Slavery in Franklin is that previous historians and chroniclers have not discussed the subject at all. It was a legacy of ignorance. Race and slavery was either ignored or brushed aside. This is not a history which can so easily be tossed away, it must be carefully reckoned with.

Next week I will be discussing the subject of black participation in the Military and Franklin through the lens of three wars: The American Revolution, Civil War, and the First World War.

I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who was able to come out to the talk on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, and it was a pleasure to be able to discuss even just a handful of Franklin's many Revolutionary War veterans and the different experiences they had.

This past Saturday we discussed:

Reverend John Ellis and his sons Joseph Ellis & Dr. Benjamin Ellis. Rev. Ellis served as a military Chaplain from 1775-1783 and was present with the Continental Army's encampment at Valley Forge. His son Joseph was taken prisoner by the British at the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and endured many months in harsh captivity, before being exchanged later that year. Dr. Benjamin Ellis was a Regimental and Ship's Surgeon and served onboard the galley "Shark" and ship "Oliver Cromwell", both of Connecticut's State Navy.

We also talked a bit about the Waterman family, in particular, Ezekiel Waterman who had fought as a Provincial soldier during the French & Indian War, and then was with the Connecticut Militia at the 2nd Battle of Saratoga. He brother, Ebenezer Waterman Jr. enlisted in the 1st Connecticut Regiment in 1777, and after either injury or being wounded, he was transferred to the Invalid Corps in 1780. His son, Luther Waterman, served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment and was killed at the Siege of Fort Mifflin, on November 14th, 1777. Three days after his 21st birthday.

All six of these individuals lived on Meetinghouse Hill and were among the social elite of the town. The ways that they experienced the Revolution were different than those of other groups or other classes of people.

These are but some of the "neighbors you never knew you had".

One of the challenges of researching Franklin’s Revolutionary War experience are finding primary sources relating specifically to what became Franklin, as often “Norwich” is just used as shorthand (as opposed to Norwich West Farms or Norwich Pautipaug).

Additionally, many did not leave written records.

Here, however, is a pension record for Ebenzer Metcalf. This was from his application in the 1830s. In 1777 he was living in Norwich, and in August of that year when the Connecticut Militia was being raised for service against John Burgoyne at Saratoga he was among their number.

In his deposition he specifically noted that Captain Ebenezer Lathrop Jr.’s company of the 20th Militia Regiment (Norwich) was the West Farm’s militia company (and stating that it was “now Franklin”) and that they volunteered in large number. This is borne out by a study of those who went to Saratoga from Norwich, a majority of those whom it is known where they lived in Norwich, were from West Farms or Pautipaug. A 1779 muster roll also notes those who belonged to Lathrop’s company, and all of them were from West Farms.

Sources like this are critical for better understanding the relationship between the militia and Norwich’s governance, identity, and Franklin’s role in the Revolutionary War.