Connecticut Monument, New Bern National Cemetery, New Bern
This monument was erected by the State of Connecticut Regimental Association to honor its Union soldiers fallen near New Bern in the Civil War. Carved from a single piece of granite in the form of a pylon, or possibly a truncated obelisk, the top of the 6-foot tall column is draped with the flag. The front face of the column features the bas-relief carving of the battle gear of the common soldier volunteer -- cap, canteen, blanket, and rucksack -- mounted over crossed rifles, with the graceful, somber drape of the flag covering the end of the rifle barrel on the right. Below this image, raised lettering names the 15th Connecticut Volunteers. The opposite face of the column bears the bas-relief carving of the armorial bearings of the State of Connecticut. Below it is a commemoration, in raised lettering, of those fallen in battle or from disease. The armorial bearings, or coat of arms, includes the Latin phrase Qui Transtulit Sustinet: He who transplanted sustains.
Base, front: 15TH CONN. VOLS.
Pylon face, rear: TO THE MEN WHO DIED OF / YELLOW FEVER IN 1864. / AND THOSE WHO FELL IN / ACTION BEFORE KINSTON / MARCH 8, 1865.
New Bern National Cemetery, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
November 14, 1894
35.123270 , -77.052680
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. "New Bern National Cemetery New Bern, North Carolina," National Cemeteries, (accessed August 16, 2013) Link
Platt, Orville Hitchcock. "Address of Senator O.H Platt of Meriden, Conn., to the survivors of the Fifteenth Connecticut Volunteers, at the dedication of their monument at Newbern, N.C. November 14, 1894," (1894), (accessed August 22, 2013) Link
Powell, William S. and Beverly Tetterton. 2006. "Cemeteries, National and State," NCpedia.org, (accessed August 19, 2013) Link
Thorpe, Sheldon B. The History of the Fifteenth Connecticut Volunteers in the War for the Defense of the Union, 1861-1865, (New Haven, CT: The Price, Lee & Adkins Co., 1893), (accessed August 22, 2013) Link
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "New Bern National Cemetery," National Cemetery Administration, (accessed August 16, 2013) Link
“Our Resident Yankees,” New Bern Daily Journal (New Bern, NC), November 16, 1894.
“The Blue and the Grey: Ex-Confederates Welcome Connecticut Veterans,” New Bern Daily Journal (New Bern, NC), November 14, 1894
“The Dedication Oration,” New Bern Daily Journal (New Bern, NC), November 16, 1894.
Yes
Barre granite
State of Connecticut Regimental Association
Veterans of the 15th Connecticut Volunteers, their guests, and U.S. Senator from Connecticut Orville Platt arrived by train for the unveiling and dedication. They were greeted, according to the New Bern Daily Journal, by "nearly every" Confederate and Union veteran living in the area. They were escorted to City Hall where they were welcomed by their North Carolina hosts, General Cullen A. Battle and the Mayor of New Bern. The main address of the dedication was given by Senator Platt. Inclement weather required the ceremony to be moved from the cemetery to the courthouse, and afterward a large group of Union and Confederate veterans joined together to decorate the monument with flowers.
The 15th regiment was formed on August 18, 1862, one of the first county regiments organized in Connecticut. In the summer and fall of 1864, the infantry faced the most number of causalities of their service in the war. The monument honors the men who died in combat at Kinston in March of 1865, as well as about 70 men who died of disease at New Bern. Although the monument specifically notes yellow fever, Sheldon B. Thorpe, a retired sergeant from Company K, noted in his history of the Connecticut regiment that the soldiers honored by the monument and buried in the cemetery also died of other diseases of camp and hospital (p. 333).
The New Bern National Cemetery was established Feb. 1, 1867, north of downtown New Bern, a short distance from the western bank of the Neuse River.
The cemetery is the final resting place for the Union soldiers, including 300 U.S. Colored Troops. Today, more than 6,500 people are interred in the cemetery’s 7.7 acres. The cemetery closed to new interments in 1996. The Connecticut Monument at New Bern was the first of four monuments to be sponsored by Union states that sent soldiers to North Carolina during the Civil War.
The monument is located in the southwestern corner of section 13 on the south side of the central drive through the cemetery, at 1711 National Avenue, New Bern, NC. The New Jersey Monument, the Massachusetts Monument, and the Rhode Island Monument stand nearby. Bivouac of the Dead and Gettysburg Address plaques are also located at this cemetery.
The monument sits in the grass covered grounds surrounded by rows of small white grave markers.
Yes
The installation of a monument at New Bern was first proposed at the third Reunion of the 15th Connecticut Regiment at Savin Rock, Connecticut on August 25, 1871. Lt. S. F. Linsley proposed a monument be built to honor the 15th Connecticut Volunteers and a committee was organized. The design was adopted at a subsequent meeting of the veterans' association in New Haven.
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