Close-up of Theodore DeMars' gravestone. |
Theodore DeMars of Cromwell, Conn., was only 19 when he was killed at Antietam. He is buried in Kelsey Cemetery in Cromwell, Conn. |
Antietam casualty listed printed in the Hartford Courant on Sept. 27, 1862. This list continued elsewhere on the page and did not include the 14th Connecticut. (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE.) |
For a pretty cool project, I'm aiming to find graves of Connecticut soldiers killed or mortally wounded at the Battle of Antietam who are buried in the state. A little odd, yes, but it beats what these people do.
Using the casualty list from the Sept. 27, 1862 Hartford Courant as a macabre checklist, I have visited many Antietam graves in Connecticut during the past year and told the heart-rending stories of men such as Captain Newton Manross of Bristol, Lieutenant Marvin Wait of Norwich and Private John Bingham of East Haddam. (Find A Grave also is a terrific resource, by the way.)
Four regiments from Connecticut -- the 8th, 11th, 14th and 16th -- fought in the fields and woodlots outside Sharpsburg, Md., on Sept. 17, 1862. Scores of Connecticut men, including 19-year-old Thomas DeMars of Cromwell, were killed there. A private in Company A of the 16th Connecticut, DeMars is buried (above) in Cromwell's Kelsey Cemetery, once a quiet country graveyard but now airport runway loud thanks to nearby I-91.
Funerals for soldiers were a common occurrence in Connecticut in the days and weeks after Antietam. "It is seldom that we are called upon to bury so many braves in so short a space of time," the Hartford Courant noted on Oct. 13, 1862, nearly a month after the battle.
If you can help with my unusual detective work, shoot me an e-mail here.
A penny atop the gravestone of 19-year-old Theodore DeMars, killed at Antietam. |
Very cool idea. Looking forward to seeing your research. I will buy the book when it comes out.
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