Civil War under my nose: Collinsville, Conn.



Civil War monument in Collinsville, Conn., cemetery.

 

Close-up of back of monument.

Thirty-nine Civil War soldiers are listed on a well-kept monument in Collinsville Cemetery, about four miles from my home. They died in such places as Irish Bend, La.,; Andersonville, Ga.; Drewry's Bluff, Va., and Sharpsburg, Md.. Their bodies were never returned home. The monument was erected in 1903 by the Collinsville Cemetery Association and the state of Connecticut to honor these men from Canton who died during the war. Among the names listed: Martin L. Wadhams, who served with the 16th Connecticut and was killed at Antietam. I wonder if he's related to the Wadhams brothers of Litchfield, Conn., each of whom was killed in an 18-day span in Virginia in 1864.


The bodies of all 39 men listed on the monument were never returned home.