The Connecticut Society has preserved the following historic landmarks in the State:
1. The Lebanon War Office at Lebanon, Connecticut, in which the meetings of the Council of Safety during the Revolution were held. This Council was appointed by the General Assembly of Connecticut early in the war, with power to forward troops, munitions of war and supplies, together with other powers, making the Council a substitute for the General Assembly when that body was not in session.
The building was restored and repaired by the Connecticut Society in 1891 and 1988 and is now used as a public library and depository of Revolutionary relics. For further particulars see “The Lebanon War Office,” published by the Society in 1892.
2. The Nathan Hale Schoolhouse at New London. This building in which Nathan Hale taught from May, 1774, to July, 1775, at which time he joined the Army, has been purchased by the Connecticut Society, with the assistance of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It has been restored to its original condition, and removed to public ground granted for the purpose. The building was dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies, on the 17th of June, 1901.
3. At Compo Beach in Westport, Connecticut, there was dedicated on June 17, 1910, a monument which represents ” The Minute Man,” a life size statue of a Revolutionary Patriot. This memorial was erected by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution to commemorate the resistance to the landing on April 25, 1777, of the British troops under General Tryon for their march to Danbury.
4. The Society has contributed to the preservation of the Putnam Wolf Den at Pomfret, Connecticut, which has been acquired by an organization for the purpose of preserving this landmark in commemoration of the youthful heroism of General Israel Putnam.
5. In 1906, the Society contributed to the fund which was being raised for “The Memorial Annex” to be added to the Groton Monument House, at Groton, Connecticut.
6. It has restored and preserved the memorials at Lebanon erected over the remains of Jonathan Trumbull, the Governor, and William Williams, the Signer.
7. The Society has contributed to the fund which was raised for the ” The Connecticut Bay” which has been erected in the ” Memorial Church ” at Valley Forge, Penn.
8. The society has aided the DAR in the erection of a memorial, on South Coventry Green, to Nathan Hale, the Martyr Spy.
9. In 1973, the Society was given the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse in East Haddam.
It should not be forgotten in this connection that to The Connecticut Society, The National Society gives the credit of inaugurating the movement which resulted in the establishment of Flag Day on June 14th.
Bronze tablets have been placed as follows:
June 29, 1894 – On the elm tree in front of the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, commemorating the first visit of Washington to Connecticut. See Year Book, 1895 6, P. 47. This tablet, since the removal of the tree, has been in the rooms of the Connecticut Historical Society.
July 5, 1895 – At Beacon Hill, New Haven, commemorating the defense of New Haven at the time of Tryon’s invasion, July 5, 1779. The proceedings at the ceremony, with addresses in full, are recorded in a book published by the David Humphreys Branch of the Society.
June 17, 1896 – In the Lebanon War Office, indicating the character of the building, and recording the names of some of the prominent men in the Revolution who have been within its walls. See Year Book, 1897 9, P. 51.
June 17, 1901 In the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse at New London, commemorating the service and martyrdom of Nathan Hale, and indicating the character of the building.
June 6, 1904 Upon the front of the Union League Club in New Haven in memory of Roger Sherman. The inscription on this tablet states that upon the site of this building stood the home of Roger Sherman, and near here in 1793 he died.
July 4, 1913 The Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch placed a bronze tablet on the Wadsworth Athenaeum to mark the site of the home of Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth, Commissary General of the American Forces in the War for Independence and a trusted friend of George Washington and “Brother Jonathan Trumbull.” Here in 1775 he entertained Washington on his way to assume command of the Continental Army at Cambridge. In the southwest chamber Washington met the French Commander Count Rochambeau and considered the plans which in October resulted in the fall of the British power in America.
June 27, 1914 A bronze tablet was placed on the Hotel Taft in New Haven to mark the site of the old Beers Tavern where Washington remained over night on his way to Cambridge.
June 27, 1914 A bronze tablet was placed at Westport marking the spot where the Farmers made a stand against the British during the famous raid on Danbury during the Revolutionary War.
October 18, 1919 A granite boulder with a bronze tablet was placed on the site of the John Bissell farm in Windsor, to mark the birth place of Daniel Bissell, the Patriot Spy of the American Revolution.
October 13, 1926 – Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch placed a boulder and bronze tablet at Farmington, to commemorate the camp ground of Rochambeau and his four regiments of Soldiers on their way to assist Gen. Washington in 1781, and on their return in 1782.
Memorial Day, 1927 – Capt. John Couch Branch placed a bronze tablet to the memory of Capt. John Couch, in the Old Broad Street Cemetery where his body and twenty-five other members of his company rest.
June 17, 1928 – Gen. David Humphreys Branch placed a bronze tablet on the grave of Gen. Humphreys, giving the English translation of the Latin inscription upon his monument.
June 17, 1928 – Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch placed a boulder of native granite and bronze tablet upon the same at Silver Lane, East Hartford, in memory of the Camp Ground of the French Soldiers there in 1781 and 1782.
Gen. David Humphreys Branch has placed markers at Light House Point and Savin Rock showing where the British soldiers landed at the New Haven invasion of July 5, 1779.
1997 – Gen. David Humphreys Branch put a marble stone with a bronze marker on the East Haven Town Green to commemorate the encampment of the Marquis de Lafayette in July, 1778
The Society has issued, upon carefully attested applications, 3,300 bronze grave markers, designating graves of Revolutionary Soldiers and Patriots in the State. These markers were designed by a member of the Society, and adopted for the purpose of marking graves of Revolutionary Patriots throughout the State.
The publications of the Society have been:
1. Year Book for 1891, 1892, 1893 4, 1895 6, 1897-9, 1900-3
2. Manual and Roll / Roster / Directory for 1889, 1898, 1901, 1903, 1905, 1908, 1913, 1917 18, 1919 20, 1926-28, 1930, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1969, 1976, 1979, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
3. The Lebanon War Office, 1896
4. Vindication’s of Patriots of the American Revolution by Jonathan Trumbull, 1896
The David Humphreys Branch of the Society has published:
1. Songs of the Revolution, 1893
2. Exercises at the Unveiling of the Beacon Hill Tablet, 1895
3. Revolutionary Characters in New Haven, 1911. The last named publication contains a large amount of historical information not before published.
The Gen. Gold Selleck Silliman Branch of the Society has published:
1. A pamphlet containing the addresses and describing the ceremonies connected with the unveiling of the Compo Beach Memorial was arranged and published by Henry C. Sherwood.
The Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch has published:
1. In pamphlet form an address upon ” The Battle of Bunker Hill,” by Francis Parsons Esq.
2. One upon “Old Furniture” by Henry W. Erving, one of its members.
The Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin Branch has published:
1. An account of Tryon’s Raid on Danbury in April, 1777, 1927
2. The Battle of Ridgefield
3. The Career of Gen. David Wooster, a very interesting pamphlet of 56 pages.
