Company G, Fourteenth Regiment Connecticut

Volunteer Infantry 1862  - 1865, Inc.

A 501 (C) 3 Historic Preservation and Educational Organization Since 1997

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Historic Preservation

It Is Our Turn And Our Responsibility!

Remembering Those That Died For Our Freedom

In addition to participating in battle reenactments and living history programs, Company G is involved with various historic preservation projects such as the Adopt-a-Position Program at Gettysburg National Military Park, as well as Connecticut monument restorations at Antietam Battlefield.  From 1998 through the present time our organization has raised funds for Antietam & Gettysburg Battlefield preservation projects, and multiple Civil War Trust sponsored battlefield land acquisitions. Company G, 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Inc. is extremely proud of our record in battlefield preservation. Sadly, another reenactment group has recently laid false claims to many of the preservation projects that were actually done by Company G, 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry even though they were not in existence when these projects were completed. A list of projects Company G, 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry has participated in can be found at the bottom of this page.

General Mansfield Monument - Antietam Battlefield

Sometime during the twentieth century, an individual removed the bronze State Seal of Connecticut plaque from the General Mansfield monument. Erected in 1900 near the Smoketown Road in the East Woods on the Antietam Battlefield, (Sharpsburg, Maryland), it became the focus of the not-for-profit reenactment and historic preservation organization, Company G, 14th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 1862-1865, Inc. Since October 1, 1999 the group successfully raised the necessary $3,700 to reproduce the bas-relief bronze plaque. Mr. Bruce Papitto of Westerly, Rhode Island sculpted the work. The preservation committee chose him based on his earlier, excellent, production of the 16th CVI monument plaque and as you may judge, he produced yet another work of art.

To accomplish the task, the following organizations participated in the project by generously donating resources toward the fundraising goal. They are: DiSanto Bertoline & Co., P.C., Enterprise Systems Groups, the Antietam National Battlefield Preservation Fund, the 8th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, Co. A, Inc., Company G, 14th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 1862-1865, Inc., MOLLUS (Military Order of The Loyal Legion of The United States), individual donors too numerous to mention and an anonymous donor.

 Due to the lack of any documentation regarding the original plaque, the 11.25" x 15.75" piece replicates the one on the Major General Sedgwick equestrian monument at Gettysburg. The Connecticut-born Mansfield, a major general of the Twelfth Corps during the Battle of Antietam, sustained a mortal wound in the chest during the early hours of the conflict on September 17th, 1862. He is buried in Middletown, Connecticut. We are extremely excited about the image found on the Sedgwick monument given its late nineteenth-century stylistic qualities and the fact that it appears on a major general’s monument. Moreover, Sedgwick was a native son of Connecticut. We are very proud to afford the means necessary to make the Mansfield monument whole again and now that the plaque has been replaced, all the Connecticut monuments [at Antietam] have been cleaned, restored or stabilized within the past five years. No other Civil War battlefield ‘hosted’ more Connecticut troops so we have the responsibility of preserving the monuments dedicated to commemorate their efforts and ultimate sacrifices to preserve the Union and abolish slavery.


General Joseph King Fenno Mansfield
 
Mansfield Monument - Antietam Battlefield
 
Monument Rededicated September 13, 2002

Detail of Replacement Plaque

16th Connecticut Vounteer Infantry Monument at Antietam Battlefield

In 1997, Company G, 14th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, 1862-1865, Inc. and the Connecticut Historical Society raised over $11,000 to replace the bronze plaque on the monument to the 16th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Monument.

Like the 14th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, the 16th CVI mustered into service in August 1862. Even more ill-prepared than the 14th, they were part of Harland's brigade which crossed the Antietam to the south of the lower bridge at Snavely's Ford and ended up in Otto's corn field on the afternoon of Sept. 17. As part of the Union's left flank, they were mercilessly attacked and "used up" by Gen. A. P. Hill's veteran troops and therefore sustained extremely high number of casualties for their first "outing" as a regiment.

This monument's very artistic and sophisticated bronze plaque had been stolen. Bruce Papitto labored over 200 hours creating the clay and plaster models, then after two castings, spent more time cleaning and chasing the piece. The replica 16th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry plaque reproduced by Mr. Papitto was from a period photograph of the original plaque found in the Connecticut State Library Archives. Thanks to a very large gift from a donor who had an affinity for the Ninth Corps, the project concluded in 1998.

The bronze was presented to Antietam National Battlefield Superintendent John Howard in September of 1998 in the Christ Reformed Church, UCC. The church is known for the stained glass "Connecticut" windows presented by survivors of the 16th CVI, several of whom convalesced there following their "baptism by fire."

 
16th Connecticut Monument with Original Plaque 
 
16th Connecticut Monument with Replacement Plaque 
 
Original Plaque
 
Replacement Plaque

To read an article from the Civil War News about these two plaque replacements:  

11th & 16th Connecticut  Windows at German Reformed Church Sharpsburg, MD

The Christ Reformed Church on West Main Street in Sharpsburg, Md., was used as a hospital for Union soldiers after the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. The men of the 11th and 16th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry were brought into this church and laid out on the pews. When the church was unable to pay for the repairs after the war the parish proposed “to give an opportunity for the Grand Army Posts whose comrades fell at this battle to put one or more memorial windows in the church to commemorate their names, and thus render this church historic.”

 

The men of the 11th and 16th CVI did just that for the parishioners. Both regiments placed stained glass windows in the church. In 2007, Company G, 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry stepped up again and donated money to help restore these windows to their original glory.

 
11th Connecticut Window
 
16th Connecticut Windows


Preservation Projects Since Our Group Was Established in 1997

Key: CWPT - Civil War Preservation Trust which became Civil War Trust (CWT) in 2011

1998

16th Connecticut Monument on the Antietam Battlefield

Replaced Missing Bronze Plaque

 

2000 - $3805

Mansfield Monument on the Antietam Battlefield

 

2002 - $500

Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF)

 

2003 - $1500

16th Connecticut Monument on the Antietam Battlefield

CWPT Antietam Preservation March

 

2004 - $584

CWPT Appomattox Court House Acre

 

2005 - $1134

CWPT Chancellorsville Battlefield Acre

CWPT Daniel Lady Farm at Gettysburg

New England Civil War Museum, Rockville, CT

 

2006 - $656

CWPT Frasier’s Farm, Glendale Battlefield

CWPT Slaughter Pen Farm, Fredericksburg Battlefield

Remembrance Day Luminaries, Gettysburg National Cemetery

 

2007 - $2196

11th & 16th CVI, Tiffany Windows, Christ Reform UCC, Sharpsburg, MD

CWPT Cedar Creek Battlefield Preservation

CWPT Slaughter Pen Farm, Fredericksburg Battlefield

CWPT Franklin Battlefield Preservation

CWPT In Memory of Ilene Downes

CWPT Chancellorsville Battlefield in Honor of Nancy Eddins

Lawrence, MA CW Memorial Guard, S. Needham Monument Restoration

Winsted CT Civil War Tower Restoration Fund

CWPT Glendale Battlefield

Preservation of Richard Lee Certificate

Remembrance Day Luminaries, Gettysburg National Cemetery

 

2008 - $1102

New England Civil War Museum, Rockville, CT

CWPT Crater at Petersburg, Fisher’s Island and Averasboro

CWPT In Memory of Cecelia Mellow

CWPT Bentonville Battlefield

CWPT Morris Island

Remembrance Day Luminaries, Gettysburg National Cemetery

CWPT Ream’s Station Battlefield

 

2009 - $2961

CWPT In Memory of Tresa Durinick

CWPT Cedar Creek Battlefield

CWPT Sailor’s Creek Battlefield

Talcottville Civil War Monument

Walnut Grove Cemetery, Meriden

CWPT In Memory of Leigh Brundage

Remembrance Day Luminaries, Gettysburg National Cemetery

CWPT Third Winchester Battlefield

CWPT Glendale Battlefield

CWPT Fredericksburg, Slaughter Pen

CWPT South Mountain

CWPT Trevillian Station

CWPT Chancellorsville/ Wilderness

CWPT Appomattox Court House

CWPT Malvern Hill Battlefield

 

2010 - $2313

CWPT Synder Farm, Gettysburg Battlefield

CWPT Franklin Battlefield in Memory of Larry McBeth, NR

CWPT Reams Station Battlefield

CWPT Brandy Station Battlefield

CWPT Fredericksburg, Slaughter Pen

CWPT Franklin Battlefield, Carter House

CWPT Bentonville Battlefield

CWPT New Market Battlefield

CWPT Second Manassas Battlefield

Shenandoah Valley Association

Talcottville Civil War Monument

Remembrance Day Luminaries, Gettysburg National Cemetery

CWPT in Memory of Adolf Purrone

CWPT Powers Hill, Gettysburg Battlefield

CWPT in Memory of Thomas Corrigan Doyle

 

2011 - $2100

New England Civil War Museum, Rockville, CT

CWT Powers Hill, Gettysburg

CWT Gettysburg Campaign

CWT Benner House, Gettysburg

CWT Gaines Mill/Cold Harbor in Memory of Captain Bill Wilson, 1st Maryland, National Regiment

CWT Gettysburg in Honor of Albert R. Sattler

CWT Gaines Mill

 

Total: $18,851.00 (as of 2/23/2012)