Hidden bits of history are just waiting to be discovered

Samuel Colt

“The Past is never dead,” William Faulkner wrote. “It’s not even past.” Faulkner believed that people carry history with them, that what came before is a part of who we are now. In another sense, though, the past is never dead because long-lost pieces of it keep turning up, unexpectedly. 

When I was a newspaper reporter here in Maine, for example, I wrote about a badly disintegrated Civil War flag that had languished in storage for years until experts finally figured out it was the bullet-riddled banner that the famed 20th Maine Regiment carried on Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. It looked like hell because it had been shot to hell.

Connecticut industrialist Samuel Colt’s Civil War exploits paled by comparison to those of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the commander of the 20th Maine who received the Medal of Honor and presided over the formal surrender of Confederate forces at Appomattox. 

In fact, the regiment that Colt created with the blessing of Connecticut Gov. William Buckingham was quickly disbanded, thanks to complaints about Colt’s leadership style, his choice of weapons and his push for long-term enlistments. Colt lost his commission and his men were reassigned to other units. 

But the failed warrior was a pioneering entrepreneur and innovative gun manufacturer (yes, that Colt), so he holds a prominent place in Connecticut history. That’s why the discovery of Colt’s Civil War uniform in a Connecticut cabin is so newsworthy.

As the Hartford Courant reported recently, the find included “an entire officer's uniform, consisting of a dark blue wool dress coat, with buttons and insignia intact; two pairs of trousers; a black fur felt officer's hat with black ostrich feather and rifle insignia; and officer's epaulettes and shoulder boards.” Thanks to my friend Al for the heads up, and for this link to the Courant story.