Litchfield enquirer., 1879-09-18
The Great Celebrations.


 ever known On Wednesday of last week occurred tine Torrington Soldiers Monument
 Celebration, and the Barkhansted Centennial.
 This week Wednesday, comes the great vet
 rans Reunion and the removal of battle flags
 at Hartford. ........ =s.4...
 The Torrington celebration was attended by
 an enormous throng of people. The proces-
 sion was headed by the Winsted and Litch- field companies ot the Fourth Regiment by
 the Sedgwick and Chattield Guards, as bat
 talion, commanded by Lt.-Col Skinner of
 Winsted and about two hundred veterans
 Gov. Andrews and other guests followed ill l carriages; then came four companies of the Coe Brass company fire department and three of the Winsted fire department, headed by the
 Wolcott drum corps The Union and Deluge hose carriages of Winsted were beautifully decorated with flowers. A feature of the pro- cession was the national car of iberty'' with Miss Mary Weed representing the Goddess of Liberty, and forty young ladies representing states and territories. There was also an en- blematic car representing camp scene. The | ! ly decorated, many very elaborately. After the march, the procession halted before the town hall where the the monument has just been erected. The dedication exerclses took place between the hall and the monument on platform seating some eight hundred people. l Among those present were Gov. Andrews and staff i; Gens Harland, Wessells, Bulkeley and Sloat; Hons. Fred'k Miles, Stephen w. Kel- logg, Abijah Catlin, A. H. Holley, Chauncey Howard, Talmadge Baker, B. G. Northrop, John Boyd, G. H. Hollister, and othernotabili- ties of this and other parts of the state. After martial and vocal music, Senator Coe made the presentation address; and Dr. Perrin, President of the Day, replied, accepting the monument in behalf of the people of Torring- ton.
 'Citizen Hawley" was then introduced, and delivered the fine oration which will be found on another page.
 Col. Holmes then read the poem Ca very creditable production).
 Gov. Andrews was next called out and read the excellent address published in our last is- sue. He was followed by Messrs. $. w. Kel- logg, H. $. Barbour, and Abijah Catlin. At the conclusion of the exercises the as- sembed multitude sat down, thousand at time, to the generous colation provided by the citizens of WocottvilIe. Three times successivey the seats were filled, and the Courant estimates the total attendance at not less than five thousand. We clip that papers description of the monument:
 The monument is eight feet in diameter at the base, and is fifteen and half feet ill night including the staLuC Ol seven feet. The first and second bases are octagonal, the pedestal above this point is circular i'll form. Upon the front of the moulded basc ill raised polished letters, are the words:-
 TO THE DEFENDERS
 1961 1865. OF THE UNION.
 Upon the reverse of this base the words ERECTED A. D. 1879.
 Upon the front of the die upon raised shields are the arms of Connecticut and of the United States ill bas relief. Connecting the shields is ribbon bearing the state motto. "Qui Iron- | stuI1 SuStinet." Upon the reverse of the die l is q raised polished tablet with the names of | notable battles ill which volunteers from the town participated :-
 ''Gettysburg, Antietam, Winchester, Malvern Hill, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Cedar Creek" Upon the cap are four tablets bearing polish ed cnlbienls: upon the front, crossed cannon, | upon the reverse crossed sabres upon the right a polished star with anchor inciscd, upon the left combination of arGiy corps badges. The beautiful statue was modelled by Carl Conrads after his famous Antietam statue of | ''Ihc American Soldier" so much admired at | the Centennial exposition at Philadelphia. The entire monument is unique and beautiful. | IL is all of the white Westerly granite, and was furnished by the New England Granite works of this city, at cost of about $3, ,GG0.
 The outlay for this great celebration was very generous, the arrangements in excellent taste, and the whole affair complete success. The people of Torrington may we'll fatter themselves that no like ceremonies in this vi- cinity have been comparable with theirs On the same day occurred the Centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Barkhanisted. Naturally it was more strictly local in character than the celebration proceed ing at the same time in Torringtou. Never theless there are said to have bceu about thir- | ty-fve hundred people present. Early in the | morning processions began to move forward from Barkhamsted Hollow, and iron, the west ern part of tine town, towards the Center. Crowds gathered from all sides with brass band, two drum corps, mounted escorts, a hundred or more antiques and horribles," wagons with ladies in the dress of 1779. The church where the exercises took place was decorated with bunting, and salutes were fired at stated intervals.
 The presiding officer was the venerable Hi ram Goodwin, formerly Judge of the County court, and several times Senator from the Fifteenth Senatorial District. The people were welcomed by the Hon. H. C. Brown of Riv- erton, and an interesting historical address was delivered by native of the place. now resident of Meriden, bearing the not altogether unpatriotic name of William Wallace Lee. There is much of local interest in the facts he had gathered about the town
 Barkhamsted was originally, it seems, fine pine country. In early days it wss heavily timbered, and ship-builoers came up there
 from Windsor, Hartford and other towns, for masts. The first church was built there in 17S4. ''I am told on good authority" says MT. Lee, ''that it took 20, 900 shingles to cover the roof, and that all these shingles, together with all the clapboards, were cut from one pine tree which stood upon the ground where the house was built, and further that all the timber and lumber in the building was cut on the ground where it stood and the green as we i remember if directly in front
 Barkhamsted's first settler did not come there till 1746. Few followed at first. After the sack of Danbury six Tory families left that place to escape persecution, and settled Tn
 Pleasant Valley. Here, however, they found dislike waiting them, and the sins of the fath- CTS were visited upon the children from gen. eration to generation till few remained to en- dure further DerSec,ltion A fau 6aeortoro