By Sara Berry
The CCSU campus and nearby Stanley Quarter Park will be the site of Connecticut’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.
Beginning on April 12 and continuing through April 17 a number of events will take place to remind us of the impact Connecticut had in our nation’s civil war.
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 with the first shot fired at Fort Sumter. By the time the war ended four years later, 55,000 Connecticut men had served and 5,354 of them had died. They assembled within days and fought in all of the war’s major battles, including Antietam and Gettysburg.
CCSU history professor Matthew Warshauer is the co-chairman of the Commemoration Commission. The idea for the events came out of a class Warshauer was teaching several years ago, where students worked on research projects surrounding Connecticut’s role in the Civil War. The event has been in the planning process since 2008.
Warshauer calls the Commemoration a “living history lesson.” Planned events include Civil War reenactments, lectures, exhibits and an old-fashioned baseball game. The goal of the commemoration is “That the generations to come might know them,” a quote from a Connecticut Civil War monument located in Northfield, Conn. There are over 130 other similar monuments throughout the state.
What current generations do not know about the Civil War is the role that Connecticut played in it and how divided of a state it was.
Most people think of the Civil War as a division between “good north and bad south,” Warshauer said. What people don’t know is that good and bad existed on both sides. While Connecticut was a pro-union free state, it was also very prejudiced and anti-black.
The Commemoration is just that – a commemoration and not a celebration, Warshauer stresses.
“We don’t want to celebrate war,” he said, rather the intent is to remember what it was.
Warshauer also notes that by looking at the past we can draw some parallels to the present. Both now and 150 years ago our nation has faced serious problems. However, back then people were active. 47 percent of Connecticut men between the ages of 15 and 50 volunteered to go to war while the women were instrumental in sending supplies to the troops. Manufacturing companies like Colt sent arms and ammunition to the troops. Today there is only 50 percent of eligible voters participating in any given election.
More information, and a schedule of events, is available at www.ccsu.edu/civilwar.
