Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1911-11-04
An Alleged Youngest Soldier of Civil War
Not on Record
NAME NOT ON THE OFFICIAL ROLL'
of Fire Wagons Warned Against Overdriving Horses
The Prospective Park System

As time goes, the youngest sol Tier
| to serve III the civil war becomes more
4 numerous, and now. after d half-cen-
| fury has elarsed. along comes a man
| in TcTringtou tc wrest the title from,
| Alderman James Iiaggerty of Wilt
| mantle, who served in the Fourteenth
! Il fantry, Vf.S.A. nc is not an Old
/ man with ! cane today and the call
| for troops had hardly become new 5
when ne was enlisted in the regtAar
army, served mis- term of enlistment.
and was honorably discharged, and all
| before he was accustomed to a bar
| ber's chair. According to an interest
| ing item in q New London newspaper
| and credited to the Torrington Regis
| ter. Erwin r. Clemens of ToTrington
| claims the distinction of being the
youngest surviving soldier of the a.
! That may be so. but the claim that lie
| enlisted in tie Eleventh Connecticut
| regiment at New London where the
! regiment was forming. is not quite true
as the regiment was organized ana
! mustered ir at Hartford in October,
| 1861, and New London had no COM
pany in that regiment In fact, there
We're only two men in rhe whole ont
tit credited to New London. and had
Mr. Clemens enlisted in New London
he would have been the third John
Fritz enlisted from New London, and
deserted, and man giving the nome
Of Nicholas Solomon joined the reS1-
menu rs d substitute, and gave his
nJft1e as Nov l@O00On.
So some OF the statements made in
The Register are just trifIe out of
joint Just taking the matter a little
farther. there is no record OF any SOL
der named Erwin W. Clemens, Glenn
mons or Clements that served in any
Connet ticut regiment in the civil War,
| he published article says that NJ.
Clemens has secured his first pension
papers and win receive So a month.
If that be SO, it will not be by reason
of service in the Eleventh or any 9TH
er Connecticut regiment, if the official
records of the state of Connecticut are
correct.
There is a veteran or two in New
London, and perhaps in many other
towns in the state as well, who are
now "a and % years of age and who
enlisted fifty years ago and risked their
James Haggerty of Willimantic. arc
not pressing the claim of being the
youngest soldier of the civil war. II
Il few years more it is probable that
he will be even more numerous in pro-
portion thar were the members Of
Washington's bodyguarG for years be-
fore the dark days of 1861 If Erwin
r. Clemens is to receive a pension he
certainly served his country in time
of need but his record has not been
properly stated in the newspapers.
The work of making the residential
sections of the city Of New London
more beautiful BY the planting Of trees
along the sidewalks was commenced
this week in Montauk avenue and will
be carried just as long as the weather
permits, the new trees to be in keeping
with the prevailing kinds of trees that
are already in place. This tree plant
ing calls to mind the original scheme
of the layout Of the present Montauk
avenue, intended TO be named the
Boulevard. TO begin vita, the new
hon Sr1r4
from end to end and of level grade,
and TO be one hundred feet wide from
curb to curb. In the center for the
entire length was to be a row of trees
roadbed, with the drivcways on either
side. 1t was to be modelled after a
Paris boulevard and to be one of the
finest drives in the country.
But Bryan r. Manan was not mayer
of New London at that early period
when the opening of the boulevard was
Uncier consideration, and the parkway
system and the general Identification
of the city did not get the kind of
attention that is being given u all
thar Is for the advancement of the
New London of today After years of
controversy the so-called boulevard
WAS finally laid out and, instead of be-
ing perfectly straight and of a uni
form width to permit of the center
o, ,iamentation, the boulevard was laid
out IN way that would best accom-
mOdate the owners of the property
along the proposed route; that would
give to them the most building lots.
the roadway proper being of second
arr consideration. The turf was re-
moved from the surface, little leveling
here and filing there and the boule-
ward was open to the public and the
building lots on either side offered for
sale.
Today it is one of the handsomest
hnI~f 5k1f.a n
improved BY the tree planting. but had
the original idea been carried out, it
would have been one OF the handsom-
est in the United States
It is plainly evident that the local
representatives of the Connecticut
Humane society are not sworn TO do
their duty and that the local police
wink at fragrant violations of the ordi-
nance relative to overspeeding and
reckless driving III the streets of New
London. The chief offenders are the
drivers of the fire apparatus who urge
the horses at the animals limit Of
speed and, in some instances, use The
CAD at every step, thus laying them
selves liable to cruelty to animals as
Wen as overspeeding and reckless
driving Such driving through the
public streets, even when going to
fires, would not be tolerated in any
other city in the state. as it not only
violates law, but jeopardizes public
safety anu IS entlf6IN unnecessary. IN
a long run no actual time is gained by
this overspeeding. for when nearing
the end Of the run the horses are often
so worn out that they can hardly walk,
while the same distance could be COW
cred in the same time and without
resort to the gait that kills.
Within a month two horses have
died from the effects of this fast and
reckless driving and at nearly every
alarm when the run is any distance
Of consequence the horses are more
or less in an exhausted condition. 1t
is not so many years ago when the
horses of one hose wagon crashed in
to the pair of another, and one of the
horses legs was broken, in a race to
n fire. 1t is all very we'll for fire ap-
p0ratuS to arrive at fires with the
least possible delay, but it is claimed
that by making quick start and pro-
rceding to the fire at a gait that does