Civil War under my nose: Collinsville, Conn.

The Collins Co. supplied the Union Army during the Civil War.

Canton Historical Museum Civil War
display: Swords and blades made at Collins Co.

The Union army needed bayonets, axes, plows, swords, picks and shovels. Lots of them. The Collins Co. in Collinsville, Conn., filled a good chunk of the army's orders. In fact, the sprawling facility along the Farmington River made 200,000 bayonets during the Civil War, according to an historian at the Canton Historical Museum in Collinsville. The company also has a tie to the famous John Brown, whose raid on Harper's Ferry, Va., in 1859 was a spark that helped lead to the Civil War. Pikes that Brown wanted to use to help incite a rebellion of slaves were made in Collinsville. The old Collins Co. houses a large antiques store and other businesses now. (All the photos in this post were taken with my Blackberry.)

A large antiques business is housed in one of the old Collins Co. buildings today.