Road to Antietam: Washington, DC

Today I left Guilford to take the train from New Haven to Union Station, Washington, DC. Before I left, I went on my Sunday morning run with my friends from the Podunk Pounders but turned off a little early so as to keep my legs fresh. On my return from the Half Mile/Nut Plains neighborhood, I ran down Goose Lane to Boston Street. As I passed the Alderbrook Cemetery, I tried once again unsuccessfully to find Ward Benton's grave marker.

It seems like it should be an easy task. Most veterans prior to World War II have a very distinctive white marble gravestone; except there are a few exceptions that I have found. I should be able to find the Benton burials; except there are many groups of Benton's buried there. Ward Benton's name should show up on the plot map developed when the markers and bodies were moved from the Guilford Green; except it doesn't. And although I have found the marker of his good friend Henry B. Dudley, and possible the marker of his first wife, and I have found his name listed on an inventory taken during the Great Depression, I have not been able to find his marker. I had also visited the graveyard in North Guilford and the West End Cemetery. Both cemeteries are filled with Bentons and veterans, but I have been unable to find the one marker I was looking for. I will continue my search upon my return. I have the feeling if I ask for help, his marker will be found very quickly.

Since I could not find the marker, I stopped and gave my respects to Henry B. Dudley, Ward's friend. I also visited the monument on the Green and gave my respects to Ward Benton, Richard Hull, and E.I. Field, our war dead from Antietam. Just as on the monument, Guilford showed its thankfulness for the sacrifice given, I to am thankful to the veterans, living and dead who have given so much so we might live in freedom.

This past week, I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Ward Benton's home on East River Road in Guilford. Carol Wright made my daughter and I welcome as she showed me the home and the yard, being careful to point out the changes that have been made since the Benton family left. She said that the family moved to the Northwest after Ward's death. This can be confirmed by the fact that the letters were returned from Minnesota. (I wonder if this has anything to do with the missing grave marker?) Carol also shared a very interesting story with me about when the letters were returned to Guilford… but I will save that for another day.

If you have not read the letters made available online through the Guilford Free Library by permission of the Guilford Keeping Society, please check on them at www.guilfordfreelibrary.org and click on the picture of Ward Benton on the right side of the page. If you go onto the August 1862 letters and read the 17th and 26th letters, you will be right on track with were I am on the hike. In 1862, the soldiers were put in freight cars and shipped down to Washington with no thought to comfort and hydration. According to Ward Benton, soldiers had to break out the boards on the side of the cars in order to not suffocate. (My trip on the Acela was much less dramatic.)

Charles Page's book on the 14th Connecticut Volunteers (1902) describes how the soldiers marched across the Capitol before bivouacking for the night. It also said that they passed in review before President Lincoln!

For the students who are following this blog, I appreciate all of the comments about the hat. You should have seen the looks I got on the Capitol Mall wearing the hat. Also, the first student to answer the following question right on the comment page will receive an extra point. Which of the buildings I took pictures of where present when the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment marched across Washington, DC in August 1862? 1. Union Station, 2. The Capitol Building, 3. The Smithsonian, 4. The Washington Monument, 5. The Jefferson Memorial, 6. The White House, 7. The Lincoln Memorial?

I am a little sore, but I am happy to be in Washington to continue my adventure.

Semper Fidelis,

Dennis