Litchfield enquirer., 1867-12-19
THE THIRTEENTH CONNECTICUT

School and as popular lecturer, has been writing History of the Thirteenth Con. necticut Volunteers, regiment with which he was connected from its first organiza- tion till the battalion to which 1t was re. tduced, was finally disbanded in 1S66 The narrative is one Of great interest, although the writer has confined himself strictly to his legitimate work of telling the story ol his own regiment.
 l The Thirteenth was organized in 1861, but did not leave the State till the Spring o1 1 1862, when it sailed with the expedition against New Orleans commanded by Far. gut and Butler. It remained in the South west participating in the seige of Port Hudson, and in most of the other military enterprises of the war in that section o1 the country, till the summer of 1864, when it Was brought to Virginia and took part in Sheridan's glorious Valley campaign. In the January following, the veteran bat talion, which was all of the regiment re- maining in the service, was transported to Savannah, and was not again in action. ] We cannot expect to do justice to this excellent work in the short space we can devote to it; but make few selections of especial interest to the people of Litcfeld County, where three of its companies were principally recruited.
 l The first commander of the regiment was Col. Henry W. Birge of Norwich. On his promotion in the fall of 1863, he was succeeded by Col. Charles D. Blynn of Cornwall, who was mustered out in Dec. 1864, and the regiment consolidated into a veteran battalion under Lieut.. Colonel Sprague, then, however, prisoner of war. The following is Col. Sprague's notice of the three companies principally raised in Litchfeld County and oficered by our County mem
 THE LTTCHFIELD COUNTY COMPANIES.
 "Co. c. was raised by Capt Charles b. | Blinn, of West Cornwall, assisted by his cousin, First Lieutenant Isaac W. Nettle- ton of Kent, and Second Lieutenant Chas. | ished recruiting office in Cornwall and another in Kent The company was raised almost wholly from the northwestern DOT tion of the State, especially from the three towns which were the homes of the three ] officers, @ fact which testiies to their per sonal worth and popularity. Another in- dication to the same effect is seen in the | rapidity with which their ranks were filled They marched into New Haven in Novem- Der. eighty-three strong, under the desig- l nation of the "Lyon Guards" called after | that distinguished son of Connecticut who | fell in Missouri early in the war.
 "Nettleton was the first of our officers to die. In September, 1862, he fell under the fatal stroke of disease in New Orleans. His death caused Q deep gloom and heart felt sorrow among his associates His body was embalmed and sent north; but the op- eration had been so unskillfully ly performed that 1t was necessary to throw it overheard in mid-ocean.
 70. was the color company, and right gallantly bore tfe beautiful flag of Con- necticut and the ever glorious Stars and Stripes through many fight.
 ''Co. D. was raised by Captain Cyrus E. Prindle of Roxbury, First Lieutenant Per ry Averill of Southbury, and Second Lieu tenant Joseph H. Meredith of New Haven. 1t lost its patriotic. Captain and Second Lieutenant by resignation the follow Au- gust. In the same month, its efficient first sergeant George Mayne, one of the best drilled non-commissioned officers in the regiment, having served in the summer of 1861, was promoted to an office in the First Louisiana. This Company, though small in numbers, contained many valuable men. Besides Mayne, it gave sergeants Timothy Whittlesey and Eugene Ward in the sum- mer of 1863 to officer other regiments It was called the " Litchfeld County Rifles, '' and that good old County, mother of so many distinguished sons, never had cause to be ashamed of the Company that now bore his name."
 ''Co, I. was raised by Capt. Henry L. Schleiter, of New London, assisted by First Lieut.. Frank Wells, of Litchfeld, and Second Lieut.. Joseph Strickland of New London.
 ''The Captain had began to collect a company under the name of the "New London Rifes," anda in company with Lieutenant Strickland had procured thirty or forty recruits. Lieutenant Wells County, and by the patriotic aid of his | u. and other distinguished men, had obtained fifty or sixty. When the two bodies were consolidated, there was no better looking company in the service, and its deeds were of corresponding merit.
 'Lieut. Strickland was the first officer of the Thirteenth killed in battle. It was at the head of the charging column on the 14th of June 1863, at Port Hudson, and oI the many gallant officers that then fell there was none more fearles or more deeply mourned.
 'Lieut. Wells served on the staff of the celebrated General Phelps, also of Generals Birge and. King. He repeatedly distin guished himself by gallantry in action. He as we'll as Sergt. Loomis Beckwith, and Corp Abner N. Sterry, became Captainsir the Veteran Battalion, after the muster out of the regiment" "A,
 In his account of the battle of Ceda, Creek Col. Sprague says:-
 Capt. Wells, deserves especial mention for going into battle and sharing the peril, of the regiment through the day though he had in his pocket a leave of absence. SURGEON CLARK.
 Second Assistant Surgeon Lucius w Clark, of Winsted Conn.,, had been Yan.