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Connecticut in the Civil War

Credit Dawn Kay / Creative Commons
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Creative Commons
Objects from the Civil War

Here's a little bit of Civil War history that seems to have started here in Connecticut. It was in this month of February in 1860 that Cassius Clay, a Kentucky planter turned anti-slavery crusader spoke in Hartford not far from where we're doing this show today. He was accompanied by a torch-bearing honor guard in capes and caps. The Hartford Courant called these young men "wide-awakes." 

The wide-awakes became a phenomenon in Northern states, a youthful and sometimes aggressive obsession of Republican sentiment. By September, a New York newspaper estimated there were 400,000 wide-awakes.

But, not all of our history from that period falls on the side of the angels of our better nature. We're in our downtown Hartford pop-up studio at 231 Trumbull Street to explore Connecticut's checkered Civil War legacy. 

Leave your comments below, email us at colin@wnpr.org, or tweet us @wnprcolin.

Guests:

  • Professor Matt Warshaur is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, author of  "Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice, and Survival" and a board member of the Connecticut Humanities
  • Dr. Frank Mitchell is the Interim Assistant Director & Curator of the Amistad Center at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.
Chion Wolf is the host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public.
Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows.

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