New London Civil War Monument To Be Rededicated

Two descendants of a Mansfield man who joined a Union regiment in the Civil War 150 years ago are inviting residents to a re-dedication ceremony at a New London monument.

The ceremony will take place from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the monument to the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in Williams Memorial Park. A social hour will follow until 1 p.m.

The event is being sponsored by the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission. Two descendants of Alvin M. Crane, who entered the service on Sept. 5, 1862, and mustered out of the Union Army as a captain in 1865, are organizing the event. The descendants, Alan Crane and Jenifer Dutton Bussa, will be present at the re-dedication and are interested in finding any other descendants of 21st Regiment soldiers.

The monument was first dedicated in 1898 in an event that included remarks from Governor Lorrin A. Cooke and General Joseph R. Hawley, a Civil War veteran who later became publisher of The Hartford Courant and a United States senator.

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