Gone With The Winsted: 
The Civil War in The Litchfield Hills

President Lincoln by William Marsh, 1860.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gone With The Winsted: The Civil War in The Litchfield Hills

In 1861, following the election of Abraham Lincoln to the United States presidency on a platform to prohibit the legal slavery of African Americans, seven southern states seceded from the country, and the American Civil War began.

While no battles were fought on the soil of Connecticut, Peter C. Vermilyea has gone to lengths to detail the political climate of Northern communities and military recruitment efforts in the early years of the conflict in a new book from The History Press, “Litchfield County and The Civil War.” Vermilyea, a history teacher at Housatonic Valley Regional High School and the author of “Wicked Litchfield County” and “Hidden History of Litchfield County,” will appear at the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village for a discussion Saturday, March 2, at 2 p.m.

At the time of Lincoln’s election, three local weekly newspapers served Litchfield County — The Litchfield Enquirer, The Winsted Herald, and The Housatonic Republican — and the area had entered a period of economic stagnation after the uptick in enterprise when the Salisbury Furnace produced the majority of cannons used in the American Revolutionary War. The region’s swampy meadows and rocky soil, Vermilyea points out, did not attract any swell in the population size following America’s independence, especially after the county’s iron mines and furnaces were acquired by the Barnum and Richardson Company.

Still, these underpopulated Northwest Connecticut towns wanted to be represented in the war and were resolute to have area men in prominent positions in the state’s regiment. Vermilyea writes that the average Litchfield County recruit for the 19th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, which served in the Union Army, was 27 years old, equally likely to be married or unmarried, and thanks to “the county’s long-standing support of public education… 95 percent of its men who marched off to war in the summer of 1862 were literate.” From a photo of the infantry preserved by the Litchfield Historical Society, we also know the majority were in possession of hefty, dark mustaches on their upper lips. Nearly half were farmers, and many were Irish, thanks to the efforts of Irish-born Michael Kelly, who worked to enlist the considerable immigrant population of the town of Sharon.

Litchfield’s Camp Dutton training ground, which has been the site of contemporary Civil War reenactments, was a place of maturation for the twentysomething-aged soldiers in more than one way — swaths of young women were regular visitors, the sight of fitted bodices and floor-skimming skirts as visible as any Prussian blue military coat. The era’s more cordial aspects of courtship had been evidently thrown out the window in wartime, leading to more lax views on a flirtatious brush of one’s lips on a soldier. Affection from these young women was perhaps seen as more permissible, considering the likelihood that these men would never return home. The Enquirer lamented that “the very flower and cream of our county — the best and dearest to many of us… we shall never see anymore.”

In one letter home, a soldier at Camp Dutton wrote that a certain Lieutenant Frederick Barry “spent this p.m. and evening with Miss Alice Marsh, the most beautiful lady that has visited our camp… I was quite fascinated by Miss Alice the very first time I saw her… and as I think Lieut Berry the finest looking man in our regiment, it is not strange to think that I should wish there might be a Mrs. Lieut B from New Milford before we go.”

In 1864, after the men of Camp Dutton had been stationed guarding the Washington capitol from Virginia for 20 long months, battling the threat of disease rather than the threat of Confederate violence, they joined The Battle of Cold Harbor near Mechanicsville. It was an unmatched battle for the Union soldiers, resulting in an unnecessary litter of corpses and the Union “suffering more than three hundred casualties in about an hour of fighting.”

“Litchfield had approximately 3,200 residents when the war began and sent 299 men off to war,” Vermilyea records. “27 were killed or mortally wounded, another 27 died of disease and five died in prisoner of war camps.” In many ways, Camp Dutton and the promise of valor had been the highest point of Litchfield County’s Civil War effort.

Latest News

Donald Francis ‘Frank’ McNally

MILLERTON — Donald Francis “Frank” McNally Jr., passed away peacefully at Vassar Brothers Medical Center on Wednesday Jan. 8, 2025, after a short illness. Frank was a resident of Millerton since 1996. He was born on Jan. 27, 1955, in Cold Spring, New York, at Butterfield Hospital and was raised in Garrison, New York, where he enjoyed exploring and camping in the wilderness of the Hudson Valley, participating in the Boy Scouts as a bugler, and competing as captain of his high school wrestling team.

He was a graduate of James I. O’Neill High School in Highland Falls class of ‘74 and SUNY Cobleskill class of ‘76 where he majored in animal husbandry, specializing in equine science. He then proudly volunteered for the United States Peace Corps where he accepted an assignment to his host country of the Philippines, where he met his wife. Frank would then pursue his lifelong passion for horses and horseback riding on several horse farms in Dutchess County. Later he would work for New York state where he would then retire, spending his time caring for animals, reading, fishing and taking photographs. Frank enjoyed a good laugh with family and friends, while also occasionally winning a game of RISK. Frank was an avid reader, often reading several books a week while in the constant company of his cat.

Keep ReadingShow less
Florence Eugenia Cooper

NORFOLK — Florence Eugenia Cooper died on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, at the age of 92 at Geer Lodge in Canaan, Connecticut where she had been a resident for 2 ½ years. She also spent a couple of days a week at the home of her daughter, the artist Hilary Cooper and her husband Chris Crowley, in Lakeville.

Florence (neé Muhas) was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Greek immigrants. She went to local public schools and then to college at Barnard where she was mentored by Professor of Religion Ursula Niebuhr, wife of the philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr, who urged her to go to her alma mater St Hugh’s College, Oxford University where she earned a D. Phil degree. Later, she received an M.A. in foreign policy with a specialty in China, at the London School of Economics.

Keep ReadingShow less
Frederick Ralph Scoville II

WEST CORNWALL — Frederick Ralph Scoville II, 72, of 243 Town St., died Jan. 7, 2025, at the Waterbury Hospital surrounded by his loving family. Fred was the husband of 45 years to Lynn (Pollard) Scoville. Fred was born in Torrington, son of the late Ralph and Thalia (Hicock) Scoville.

Fred spent his whole life in West Cornwall. He attended Cornwall Consolidated and Housatonic Valley Regional High School. The only time he left was to attend the University of Connecticut for animal science. After school he came home to work with his father on the family farm taking over full-time in 1996 milking dairy cattle and selling hay. His life passion was the farm. He could always be found tinkering on equipment or surveying the neighborhood on his golf cart. The only thing that rivaled the farm was his love of his family. His wife, sons, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren meant the world to Fred.

Keep ReadingShow less
Violet Leila Woods

MILLERTON — Violet Leila Woods, 95, passed away peacefully on Jan. 1, 2025, in Mesa, Arizona. She was born on Jan. 23, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York. Following birth, Violet resided in Millerton, New York, where she lived until moving to Jacksonville, Florida following her retirement. She was preceded in death by her husband, Norman Woods; her parents, Henry George Rice and Eurie Marion Rice; her ten siblings; Audrey, Glendon, Joseph, George, Robert, Gordon, Beulah, Marion, Edith, and Betty. Violet, more commonly known as “Vi” lived a long, fulfilling, and wonderful life spent with family and friends.

Day to day, Violet spent time playing sudoku puzzles and was an avid reader, finding joy in exchanging books with friends. She also found great joy playing bingo, pinnacle, poker, and had a lifelong passion for knitting and crocheting, which she learned from her mother. Many friends or relatives have received sweaters, blankets, and afghans hand-made by Vi. Her handmade gifts truly touched the lives of many.

Keep ReadingShow less