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Arts & Entertainment

Custer's Connecticut Connection

The Battle of Little Big Horn had Connecticut connections.

More than 30 Milford residents showed up at Mary Taylor United Methodist Church on Monday night to learn about a connection between Connecticut and the Battle of Little Big Horn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. 

“The event at Little Big Horn happened 135 years ago, and it still captures the public’s attention to this day," keynote speaker Sharon Smith Chaucer said.

The seats inside Dodd Hall within the church were evidence of that. They were filled with area people eager to learn about links between the state and the Great Sioux War, Colonel George Custer, and the weapons which were used at Little Big Horn.

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Chaucer is a historian from Milford who wrote "Connecticut's Civil War." She researches historical connections between Connecticut and other conflicts and events. 

Although she has not written a book on ties between the state and Little Big Horn -- the 1876 Montana battle with Native Americans that claimed the lives of Custer and his troops -- she has done a good amount of research on the topic.

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“This all grew out of a book I wrote on the Civil War.  Custer had no personal ties to Connecticut, but the Battle of Little Big Horn most definitely did,” Chaucer, who once worked as a NBC and ESPN commentator, said after the event.

Throughout her lecture, Chaucer explained that Custer’s brigade was made up partly of soldiers from the 1st Connecticut Cavalry.  From this cavalry, it is known that three Connecticut men were among the soldiers in the area of Little Big Horn. 

John Jordan, who stayed with the mule train during the battle, died some years later in Hartford.  Howard Weaver, born in Windham, survived the trip to the Dakota Territory, but died shortly after at a young age.  Edward Holcomb, also of Connecticut, died in the fierce fighting at Little Big Horn on “Last Stand Hill.”

There was also a serious connection between Connecticut and the weapons used at Little Big Horn.  The United States soldiers at the time were using Springfield (Mass.) rifles and Colt .45 Peacemakers, made in Hartford, and the Indians they fought used Henry .44 repeating rifles and Winchester rifles, both made in New Haven.

Chaucer also lectured the audience on some other facts from “Custer’s Last Stand,” including the army’s attempts to drive the Sioux Indians to reservations, the incorrect estimate of the amount of Indians who were prepared to fight at Little Big Horn, Custer’s battle tactics, and the backlash that took place after the slaughter of the colonel and his 220 men.

Many men and women were excited about the experience. 

Barbara Genovese, who works with the Milford Historical Society and is the vice-president of the Milford Preservation Trust, attended the event and said, “I got into history after finishing with politics.  History is how everything around us got started.”

Although the event served the main purpose of educating the public, it also served to call the public to action for the preservation of Milford’s historical monuments.

Dick Platt, Milford’s city historian, held a copy of “The Plan of Conservation and Development” and exclaimed to the crowd, “The local government is satisfied with these pretty words on paper.  But they really just want to keep developers happy.  People need to start acting to preserve our history, before it is too late.”

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