Bob O’Brien’s reproduction of an 1870 commemoration photo at Gettysburg, with George Warner center.
On June 17,1887, a man who had lost both arms to friendly fire at Gettysburg stood before tens of thousands and pulled a cord attached to long draperies that dropped away to unveil the newly finished Soldiers and Sailors Monument atop East Rock. The Civil War double amputee had to use his teeth.
On Sunday, 125 years later to the day, Mark Marganski, Private George W. Warner’s great-great-grandson, placed a wreath on the monument before a far smaller crowd concerned that the sacrifices of American history are being forgotten.
Allan Appel Photo
Carte de visite of George Warner, with a 1904 memorial parade medal of the kind he may have worn. Warner died in 1923, in New Haven.
As 30 onlookers watched beneath a bright warm sky, a dozen reenactors in their wool uniforms, representing several local regiments, including the descendants of the Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment, brought some of that history to life before the monument at a somber anniversary rededication.
Beneath the Angel of Peace, relief sculptures representing the Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War, all shone in their newly restored gleam. All the wars except 1812 were represented, with Bill Macmullen sporting the hard-to-find Mexican War uniform and a Ft. Ticonderoga cannon that would not fire due to the high wind.
Raymond Sims, Sr. (holding the flag) of Hamden represented the descendants of the 29th Colored Regiment.
George Warner was a local New Haven area farmer, listed in records as hailing from Bethany. He answered the Union call in 1862. He lost both arms when his unit, the 20th Connecticut, was hit by their own artillery while trying to retake Culp’s Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg.
He returned home to a wife and five children, whom he supported selling books as well as carte de visites showing the highly unusual fact of his own survival. He in fact outlived several of his children and was one of the centers of attention, along with Generals Sherman and Sheridan, when 20,000 people paraded by the monument for speeches and remembrances.
Bob Larkin with Paul Kenney of the New Haven Police Historical Association.
Bob Larkin of the local Irish-American Historical Society canvassed local civic and historical organizations to see who was marking the 125 birthday of the monument. The answer: none. That was unacceptable to Larkin. Thus Sunday’s event was born.
It emerged in no small part because Larkin’s great-great-grandfather was John Marlow of the Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. That young man left his home on East Street in New Haven, then shipped South . “He died nine months later opposite Vicksburg, from malaria,” said Larkin.
Bob O’Brien said he took an interest in local history when his grandson at Hamden Middle School showed him the unit on Gettysburg. “You can’t learn much about Gettysburg in one paragraph.”
Now O’Brien, who retired last year after a long career as a prosecutor with the States Attorney’s Office, has become the go-to guy for information on George Warner, whose memorabilia he had on display Sunday. He’s also privately giving unique tours of all the city’s Civil War monuments. There are nine, Evergreen Cemetery’s being the oldest. The nine-monument tour includes a pub crawl. All in the interest of history, of course.
But it’s a serious matter. “It’s important to know what sacrifices Americans went through to make the country what it is today,” said Marganski, as he prepared the wreath to honor George Warner and all the dead, and their families, of the four wars. “It’s amazing how few people know.”