The tale of three brothers who inspired Litchfield County

FALLS VILLAGE — In Litchfield County, a person can run across a number of things: a neighbor, a beautiful sunset, an abundance of wildlife (although, one hopes, not while driving a car).

Most would not expect to run across a history project, however.

That’s the difference between Peter Vermilyea, historian and teacher at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, and most other people. Out on a jog one day, he came across an obelisk in the West Cemetery in Litchfield. This particular obelisk dates back to the Civil War, Vermilyea’s field of expertise, and is in honor of three brothers, the Wadhams, who died during the war.

At the Falls Village-Canaan Historical Societys’ Tuesdays at Six talk on July 22, Vermilyea told the tragic tale of the three fallen Wadhams brothers,  little-known local heroes.

Vermilyea started his lecture with a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s famous letter to Mrs. Bixby, a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War. After this piece of grim foreshadowing, Vermilyea launched into the heroic tale of Luman, Edward and Henry Wadham.

All three lived in Litchfield County, volunteered to fight in the war and were promoted to officers. They were loved by their men.

Over the course of the lecture Vermilyea’s formidable teaching skills became apparent (he was the Giler-Lehrman Institute’s Connecticut History Teacher of the Year in 2006). He subtly told of the brothers’ bravery and courage, yet he did not once make an assertion of his own that these men were heroes.

Instead he allowed each audience member to come to this conclusion on their own, as all good teachers do.

Then Vermilyea told the audience what he had foreshadowed: All three brothers died in battle in a span of 15 days.

Vermilyea’s talk did not end with the loss of its heroes. He instead showed how the brothers’ sacrifice was an example that rallied residents of Litchfield County to give more to the war that had taken so much from them.

The next Tuesdays at Six lecture will be July 29 at 6 p.m. at the South Canaan Meeting House in Falls Village. Richard Grossman will talk about Ralph Waldo Emerson. Admission is free.