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John Morris
John
Morris was Chaplain of the 22nd
Connecticut Volunteer Regiment from May 1, 1862 until September of
1863. He was at the battle of Antietam
and when the Regiment was in danger of being overwhelmed, he picked up a
rifle and ammunition to protect himself.
Morris
courted his bride-to-be, Emily ‘Gussie’ Griswold, in a group of letters
which are owned by the Wethersfield Historical society. They were
married Dec 31, 1863.
Morris collaborated with W.A.Croffut in a
book called “The Military and Civil History of Connecticut” during the
Recent War, which was published in 1868. He went south to assist in
reconstruction and died in 1873.
Robert H. Kellogg
(Robert Kellogg is on the right; his
partner is unidentified. Courtesy of the Museum of Connecticut
History.)
Robert Kellogg joined the army on August 11,
1862 and attained the rank of Sergeant Major in the 16th
Connecticut Regiment. This is the highest non-commissioned rank
attainable. He was captured with his unit and sent to Andersonville, Georgia. While there,
he became a leader of the prisoners helping them to cope with that
horrible existence. He wrote a book about his experience entitled “Life
and Death in Rebel Prisons”. After the war he became involved in
veterans concerns, including commemoration of their prison ordeal.
Through his and others efforts, there is a monument on the State Capitol
grounds with a young man known as Andersonville Boy. Kellogg
is the model for that statue.
Sherman W. Adams
Sherman
Adams enlisted on November 20, 1862 and became Asst. Pay Master of
Gunboat Somerset that was on blockade duty off the coast of the
panhandle of Florida. This duty was usually quietly routine, but served
and important function in the Civil Was starving the Confederacy of
supplies and armaments. Adams is more predominantly known as one of the
authors of “The History of Ancient Wethersfield”. Adams had prepared the
notes but illness prevented the completion of the work which was done
by Henry Stiles. Adams was a member of the Connecticut House of
Representatives and a judge of the Hartford Police Court. He died in
1898, seven years before the publishing of the history.
Gideon
Welles
Although Gideon Welles was not a native of Wethersfield,
he was descended from the Welles family that produced many men of note
for Wethersfield and the rest of Connecticut. Welles was an editor of
the Hartford Times and a prominent member of the Democratic Party. The
Republican party that elected Abraham Lincoln was a coalition party of
Whigs, Free Soilers, Anti-Slavery Democrats and various splinter
parties. After the election he was given Secretary of the Navy, which
rewarded both Democrats and New England.
Welles was considered a
weak member of the cabinet by those members who had similar feelings
about Lincoln. He was loyal to Lincoln and helped about some of the
political moves of Seward, Chase and the senate leadership.
Gifford
Stedman, Jr.
Although Stedman was not at Wethersfield man, his
remains are now here in Cedar Hill Cemetery.
There is also a monument to him in Barry Square. He became colonel of
the 11th Connecticut Regiment at Antietam after the death of Col.
Humphrey.
He was killed at Petersburg
in August of 1864 and breveted Brigadier General as of that date. His
major claim to fame is Fort Stedman at Petersburg which was named after
him posthumously. Lee attacked the fort on March 25, 1865 in a final
attempt to break the siege of Petersburg. It was a failure and the war
in Virginia was over three weeks later.
Reader Dean Mesologites points out correctly that “it was not Gifford Stedman, but Alexander Stedman at Barry Square. He
graduated from Trinity in 1859, then went to be a lawyer in
Philadelphia. In 1861, he came to his home, Hartford, and was mustered
in May of that year where Campfield and Maple intersect at Barry Square.
He was 24 years old when he was killed at Petersburg.” Thank you.
Andrew Hull Foote
This
is another man who was not of Wethersfield but was a descendant of
Wethersfield patriarch Nathaniel Foote. Foote was from New Haven and was
commander of the western Flotilla on the rivers. In February of 1862,
he cooperated with Grant and largely captured Fort Henry
on the Tennessee River with only naval personnel. In the successive
battle to take Fort Donelson on
the Cumberland, the Navy was less successful. Foote was wounded and in
June of the next year he died of complications from that wound.