Connecticut Civil War Brothers Reunited At Museum In Vernon

VERNON, CT — Two Connecticut brothers who last saw each other during a chance meeting in the Civil War have been reunited in Vernon.

The uniforms of Seth and Will Plumb returned to their home state when the New England Civil War Museum and Research Center, located at a fully preserved Grand Army of the Republic meeting place inside Vernon Town Hall, acquired them from a collection in Texas.

They are now prominently displayed in a case at the museum.

Seth was the older of the two Litchfield boys and both were assigned to different units in the Union Army during the war. Seth was in the 8th Connecticut volunteer infantry and Will in the 2nd Connecticut Heavy artillery unit.

Then came the battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia on June 1, 1864. Neither was among the the 13,000 Union casualties in the fight and, three days after the carnage, Seth managed to locate Will, museum officials tell us.

They spent about a day-and-a-half together.

"I have seen Seth. We sat and had a visit in the rifle pits, and talked over the past, and could rejoice that we could meet once more while so may brothers and friends were separated by this cruel war, to meet no more on this earth," Will Plumb wrote in a letter to his sister, Lemira, dated June 4, 1864.

Wrote Seth Plumb in a letter to friends dated a day later, "While so many of our dear Litchfield boys have been killed or are [dieing], Will and I have been permitted to meet. Imagine our feelings as we embraced each other."

Both returned to their respective front lines shortly after.

It was the last time they saw each other.

Will Plumb survived the war and returned to Connecticut. Seth Plumb was killed in action at Fort Harrison in Virginia at age 26 four months later.

The collection includes:

• A uniform frock coat worn by Seth Plumb and made by a private tailor. Seth enlisted in the 8th Connecticut as a sergeant in 1861, but was given the coat after he was commissioned a second lieutenant in July 1864.
• Seth's sword belt stash from when he was first sergeant.
• Seth's handkerchief.
• A forage cap work by Seth.
• Will's uniform coat from the GAR veterans organization.
• The Roster of the GAR Post No. 80 in Litchfield.

The items are fully preserved, 160-plus years after their final encounter.

Said museum officials, "The Plumb brothers can be visualized here through their belongings, once again back home in their native state."