In the archives of the Silas Bronson Library is an oversize leather-bound book containing handwritten biographical information and photographs of a number of Civil War veterans belonging to Wadhams Post No. 49, Grand Army of the Republic. Three of those veterans were Black men enslaved from birth in the South who escaped during the war, joined the North's armies, and eventually moved to Waterbury.
Wadhams Post No. 49
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization supporting Union veterans of the Civil War. The Waterbury branch of the GAR was formed on August 14, 1879 and was named Wadhams Post No. 49 after three brothers, one of whom was a Waterbury machinist, who were killed in action during the Civil War within sixteen days of one another. Post No. 49 began with forty members; at its peak the post included 360 members. One of the post's first activities was to start Waterbury's tradition of honoring Memorial Day, beginning in 1880. Another of the post's lasting contributions was the installation of the Soldiers Monument on West Main Street.
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| Postcard photo of Wadham Post No. 49 |
Wadhams Post No. 49 (also called Wadham Post No. 49) was one of the best GAR posts in Connecticut, known for being genuinely welcoming of comrades from "any station in life" and for "true fraternity, charity, and loyalty."
Arnold Munn (1845-1918)
Arnold Munn was born in Bladen County, North Carolina, in 1845. Near the end of the Civil War, he escaped from enslavement and joined up with the 6th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Munn's biography in the GAR book isn't clear about his status with the 6th CVI. He was most likely a "contraband," a refugee from slavery who was taken in by the Union Army. Military service during the Civil War was segregated, and the 6th CVI was a white regiment. Escapees from slavery sought out the Union Army as it marched through the South, seeking refuge with the northerners.
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| Arnold Munn |
After the war, Munn came to Connecticut with Sgt. William C. Smith, who lived in Orange. Munn stayed with Smith for about a year, then went to work on the farm of Albert F. Sherwood of Derby. Sherwood taught Munn how to read and write, saying "a better pupil no one ever had." Munn stayed with Sherwood for about five years. In 1871, he worked as a teamster for a Mr. Sawyer of Derby and then for J. Gilbert & Sons of Derby.
Munn finally came to Waterbury in 1877, taking a "team work" job for A.S & G.S. Chatfield. After twenty years, he went to work for Waterbury Brass Co., where he stayed for another twenty years. Munn was considered to be "a conscientious and industrious man, and faithful to every trust."
Anrold Munn was one of the founder of Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion Church and served as a Trustee of the church for about forty years.
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| Arnold Munn's page in the GAR book |
Jordan Scott (1844-1914)
Jordan Scott was born in North Carolina. I am not certain about the details of his military connections. His biography in the GAR book doesn't mention any. There was a Jordan Scott who served in the 27th U.S. Colored Infantry, but that appears to be a different person. Waterbury's Jordan Scott may have been a "contraband" like Arnold Munn, someone who emancipated himself by fleeing from his enslavers and seeking refuge with the Union Army, assisting them however he could.
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| Jordan Scott |
Scott came to Connecticut in 1864 with a Mr. Hinman, who ran a school in Southbury. Scott worked for Hinman for a couple of years, learning what he could while working at the school. He next moved to Waterbury, where he worked for H.B. Wooster doing team work such as hauling wood. After a year, Wooster got him a job at Waterbury Brass Company, where Wooster was a superintendent. Scott started working at Waterbury Brass in 1868 and continued working there until his death in 1914, never missing a day of work.
Scott was married three times. His first wife, who had worked for the F.J. Kingsbury family, died soon after giving birth to their daughter. His second marriage ended in divorce, with his ex-wife taking full custody of their daughters, while his third marriage was more successful.
Scott's oldest daughter, Lucy Scott, was a proficient stenographer and typist. She was the organist at the A.M.E. Zion Church for several years. Tragically, she died in 1910 when she was only 33.
Jordan Scott was remembered as "a home loving man" who "seldom went away from the house of an evening, except to attend his Lodge meeting." He was deeply proud of his daughter Lucy and missed the daughters from his second marriage, leaving an inheritance for them and his third wife when he died.
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| Jordan Scott's page in the GAR book |
Albert N. Tucker (1850-1926)
Albert Neal Tucker was born on the Tucker Plantation in LaFourche, Louisiana. He grew up speaking French, the language used on the plantation. When the 23rd Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, arrived in Louisiana, Tucker fled from the plantation and sought refuge with the regiment. Only 13 years old, Tucker did what he could to help the Yankees, participating in the Battle of LaFourche Crossing by carrying water to the wounded on the battlefield. He stayed with the regiment for about six months, then came north to Connecticut with a lieutenant from the regiment.
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| Albert N. Tucker |
Arriving in Waterbury in 1863, Tucker lived in the home of A.B. Wilson, doing various chores in exchange for lodging, food, and new clothing. After about six months, Tucker found a job working on the farm of Deacon E. L. Bronson, where he stayed for two years. After this, when he was about 17 years old, Tucker took a job working as a coachman for D.S. Plume. He stayed in this job until 1901, after which he worked as a janitor at Plume & Atwood. Tucker was a deacon and trustee at Grace Baptist Church.
Tucker proudly studied with Homer F. Bassett, a botanist and naturalist who studied wasps. Bassett was also the head librarian at the Silas Bronson Library for nearly thirty years.
Albert Tucker's son David served in World War I as an undertaker's assistant at Base Hospital #26 in France after three months in the trenches, where he was gassed and sent to the hospital where he later worked.
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| Albert Tucker's page in the GAR book |
Although neither Arnold Munn, Jordan Scott, nor Albert Tucker appear to have enlisted in the military during the Civil War, the veterans of Wadhams Post No. 49 considered them to be comrades deserving of inclusion in their fraternity. Their experiences during the war, their decisions to join the Union Army as it passed by the plantations where they were enslaved, and the services they rendered to the soldiers risking their lives, was more than enough for Waterbury's veterans to welcome them into their ranks.
See Also: Unidentified Civil War Veteran
Additional Sources
Joseph Anderson, History of the Soldiers' Monument in Waterbury, Conn. (Printed for the Monument Committee, 1886)
William J. Pape, History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Volume I (1918), page 295
32d Annual Encampment of the Department of Connecticut, Grand Army of the Republic, Held At Hartford, May 10-11, 1899 (Hartford Press: The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1899), page 65-66
The Waterbury Democrat (various issues)
U.S. Census Records for Waterbury
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