Washington Goes to War!
“Life is very uncertain, especially to the soldier. Let us be ready.”
-Samuel A. Whittlesey, January 31, 1863
From the Collection of the Litchfield Historical Society,
Litchfield, Connecticut.
The people of Washington, Connecticut, like the nation, had no idea that the shots fired by Confederate batteries against the federal garrison at Fort Sumterin Charleston harbor, South Carolina on April 12, 1861 would ultimately lead to four bloody years of Civil War and to the deaths of more than 620,000 Americans. But everyone knew that War was possible, for they could not avoid being aware of the heated political and economic debates that increasingly divided northern and southern states in the decade before 1860—debates that were centered on the question of whether slavery should be extended into the new western territories of Kansas, Nebraska, and California, as well as the passage of the “Fugitive Slave Laws,”which made it a federal crime to assist escaped slaves in any manner.
When President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers on April 15th, 1861, Lewis Logan, Charles Goodyear, and Henry Rowe, students at the Gunnery, rushed to join the 4th Connecticut Regiment—becoming the first of some 132 men from Washington (or credited to the town) to join the army. Most of these volunteers were from families that had been part of the town for generations. Sadly, in a story all too familiar in communities both North and South, the young men of Washington would pay a heavy price. In the next four years, nearly half would be casualties, including 27 men who died as a result of combat or disease.
“Washington’s gift to the cause, then, may be fully expressed in these two words, HER BEST.”
Written by Dr. Walter Powell