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Civil War Day will highlight contribution of Connecticut's Irish during the War Between the States

“Forward the 9th!”
was the cry of a Civil War recruiting poster aimed at Connecticut’s Irish immigrants. The
Middlesex County Historical Society is fortunate to possess this rare poster
seeking Irish volunteers – whose contribution to the Union effort will be
remembered by Cheshire historian, Robert Larkin, during a talk at Civil War Day
on September 7 from 10 am to 3 pm. Larkin’s
talk, which will begin at 1 pm, will
underscore the important contribution of Irish immigrants during the Civil War.



            Larkin will discuss
the state’s Irish Regiment, the 9th Connecticut Volunteers, which
held recruiting campaigns in Middletown and
across the river in Portland,
where the 9th was advertised as “destined to be a gallant
Regiment.”  His interest in the 9th
Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers was inspired by an ancestor who fought with
the regiment, Private John Marlow, who fell near Vicksburg in 1862. A monument honoring Connecticut’s Irish
Regiment was unveiled in 2008.



            The
General Joseph Mansfield House garden,  the setting for the Civil War Day events, will
be brought to life with an encampment of Civil War re-enactors, drilling amid
tents and smoky campfires. The re-enactors represent Company F of Connecticut’s
14th Volunteer Infantry whose mission today is “education,
historic preservation, and authenticity.” Toward that end, Company F donates
its honoraria to the Civil War Trust, the main battlefield preservation group
in the country. Antietam, where Gen. Mansfield was mortally wounded, was Company F’s first
battle.

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            Returning
is the ensemble Back
Swamp, which will perform
stirring Civil War songs starting at 11 am. The group consists of local
musicians Mary Cooke, Joe Mayer and Nancy Meyers on fiddle; Wayne LePard and Tom Worthley on guitar, Bob
McCarthy on bass, and Ron Krom on accordion. Songs by Middletown’s own Henry Clay Work will stir
the audience along with traditional love ballads like Lorena and Shenandoah.



            Society
member John Banks will also be on hand to autograph copies of his newly
published Civil War book Connecticut
Yankees at Antietam .
Several Middletown
soldiers are featured along with their pictures that are in the Society’s
collection.

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            Admission
for this event is $5, with children under 12 free.  In the event of heavy rain, the encampment
will be cancelled, but the music portion and talk will be held.  The Mansfield House, the headquarters of the
Middlesex County Historical Society, is located at 151 Main Street, Middletown
and is handicap accessible.  The
Society’s exhibits, Hard & Stirring
Times: Middletown and the Civil War,
Within These Walls: One House, One Family,
Two Centuries,
and 75th
Anniversary of the Middletown-Portland
Bridge
will be
available for viewing.  For further information,
call the Society at 860-346-0746.







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