Company G, Fourteenth Regiment Connecticut
Volunteer Infantry 1862 - 1865, Inc.
A 501 (C) 3 Historic Preservation and
Educational Organization Since 1997
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)
