CT soldiers in the famous 54th Massachusetts

… and the less famous 29th and 31st Connecticut.

The end of the Confederacy of U.S. states that fought to continue enslaving millions of people of color was realized with the enlistment of around 200,000 (about 10% of the Union’s fighting force) soldiers and sailors serving in the Navy and in the Army as U.S. “Colored” Troops (USCT).

Connecticut’s 29th and 31st Regiments were “colored” regiments, like the more famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment portrayed in the film Glory.  However, there were men from Connecticut who enlisted in other “colored” regiments and at least three Connecticut soldiers were in the 54th Massachusetts.

  • Crossler, Chauncy – Company F
  • Place Enlisted: Norfolk, CT
  • Date of Enlistment: May 12, 1863

 

  • Hines, Edward – Company A
  • Place Enlisted: Norfolk, CT
  • Date of Enlistment: March 4, 1863
  • Killed at the Battle of Fort Wagner, SC

 

  • Parritt (also spelled Parrot), William – Company G
  • Place Enlisted: Sharon, CT
  • Date of Enlistment: July 14, 1863
  • A former glass maker who died of disease in January 1864 at Morris Island, SC

For more information, see: https://www.nps.gov/boaf/learn/historyculture/faces-of-the-54th.htm

An illegible headstone for a Massachusetts soldier in Wooster Cemetery buried next to Joseph W. Edwards of the 30th CT.  Does this mark the final resting place of a Prince Halstead?  Halstead’s burial card shows him as a member of the 37th MA Infantry, but the official records of the regiment show no soldier with that name.  However, according to “Record of Soldiers
Buried in Danbury, Brookfield, New Fairfield and Ridgefield” (1929) Halstead was a member of the 29th CT.  Is this his grave? (it appears to be…)  Another discrepancy is that Edwards actually served in the 31st and the 30th was never actually a realized regiment.

This is the site where Halstead and Edwards’ headstones stand, overlooking the pond in Wooster Cemetery.