CT 1776: A Revolutionary Event

ACT 1 - January-July 1776: The Dawn of Liberty

• “A Song for American Freedom” By John Dickenson, (The Liberty Song) Connecticut Gazette, (New London) July 16, 1768 – The Music of Revolution – Richard Franklin Donohue
• “Excerpts from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: A Living History Presentation” – Luke G. Boyd, Public Historian, Living Historian; National September 11 Memorial & Museum
• Instructing Connecticut’s Continental Congressional Delegation – Matt Warshauer, Central Connecticut State University
• The Declaration: A Reading – Howard Wright, Science Department Head, Renbrook School. Retired.

ACT 2 - July December 1776: The Scourge of War

• “A Song Composed by a Son of Liberty” Hartford Courant, May 8, 1775 – The Music of Revolution – Richard Franklin Donohue
• “Connecticut’s Armed Forces: Militia; State Troops; Navy & Continental Line” – Dave Naumec, Independent Museum Professional & Associate Researcher, Bywater Historical Services, LLC
• “Freedom’s Unfinished Promise” – John Mills, Alex Breanne Corporation
• “Connecticut’s Indigenous Troops 1776” – Dave Naumec, Independent Museum Professional & Associate Researcher, Bywater Historical Services, LLC

• “A Continental Soldier: Joseph Martin Plumb” – Matt Vallier, New England Civil War Museum; Connecticut Capitol Battle Flag Collection
• “‘The Web They Wove’: Women & Their Wardrobes During Connecticut's Revolution” – Rebecca Bayreuther Donohue, Dirty Blue Shirts
• “What People Heard in the Pews: The Connecticut Clergy” – Nora Howard, Historian of the Avon Congregational Church & Town of Avon

ACT 2 Continued

• “Nathan Hale, A Life and Legacy” – Anne Marie Charland, CT Landmarks, Museum Administrator Nathan Hale Homestead
• “Patriot Federalist: Noah Webster’s Fight for American Cultural Unity” – Jeff Mainville, Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
• “Hidden in Plain Sight: Desertion and the Connecticut Revolutionary Press” – Dana Meyer
• “The Catacomb of Loyalty: A Deep Dive into New-Gate’s Role in the Revolution Sneak peak performance of the original play, “Performance of The Slippery Truth: Prisonbreak at New-Gate” by Patrick Gabridge – Morgan Bengel,

ACT 3 - 1777 and on: The Long Battle for Independence

• “A Song on the Surrender of Lieutenant General John Burgoyne and his Army, to Major General Gates” Hartford Courant, January 20, 1778 – The Music of Revolution – Richard Franklin Donohue
• “The Realities of War” – Dave Naumec, Independent Museum Professional & Associate Researcher, Bywater Historical Services, LLC
• “The Battle of Ridgefield: How Benedict Arnold and the Patriot Militia Galvanized Revolutionary Connecticut” – Keith Marshall Jones, Connecticut Colonel Publishing Company & Ridgefield Historical Society
• “The Raid on Middlesex Parish (Darien), 1781” – Tom Balcerski, Director for Connecticut Studies, Eastern Connecticut State University
• Benedict Arnold – Matt Reardon

Session 1

• “Stories of Connecticut’s Black Patriots – John Mills, Alex Breanne Corporation
  This presentation brings the lived experiences of four Connecticut families into focus: Prince Mortimer of Middletown, Robin Starr of Danbury, Job Lathrop of Norwich, and the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury. Through these case studies, this talk traces how Black men served in the American Revolution while still enslaved—and how, in many cases, they returned home to bondage rather than freedom. Grounded in primary records and descendant-led research, this program reveals a powerful and often overlooked history of service, sacrifice, and resilience, and challenges us to reconsider what patriotism and liberty truly meant for Black people in Revolutionary-era Connecticut.
   
• “The Cause of America: Understanding Thomas Paine & Common Sense 250 Years Later” – Luke G. Boyd, Public Historian, Living Historian; National September 11 Memorial & Museum
  Explore the life of English-born Founding Father Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, the seminal pamphlet published in 1776 that articulated the grievances of British America against King George III, and catalyzed a spirit of Revolution. a discussion on Paine’s political influences, writing style, and his meteoric rise as a widely read pamphleteer.
   
• “Nathan Hale and the Family Who Created a Hero” – Anne Marie Charland, CT Landmarks, Museum Administrator Nathan Hale Homestead
  Join presenter Anne Marie Charland, Museum Administrator of the Nathan Hale Homestead, in Coventry, Connecticut in an exploration of Connecticut State Hero, Nathan Hale and the family who shaped him from small town boy to a Revolutionary War Hero. The discussion will include background into Nathan Hale's life growing up on a farm, attending Yale, becoming an advocate of education for women and his fateful decision to become an intelligence officer for General Washington.

Session 2

• “Ordinary People Were Tories, Too” – Bill and Kristen Keegen, Bywater Historical Services LLC.
  Many ordinary people were opposed to the Revolution, which sometimes got them caught up in accusations, prosecutions, and confiscations of property. This talk examines the lives and difficulties of several families whose members were unwilling to abandon their loyalty to the British King and did not keep quiet enough about it in a time of strong feelings and real danger to all sides.
   
• “The Raid on Middlesex Parish (Darien), 1781” – Thomas Balcerski, Director, Center for Connecticut Studies, Eastern Connecticut State University
  The raid on Middlesex Parish (Darien) in 1781 was the culmination of years of coastal skirmishing along the Long Island Sound. How does an understanding of these “microhistories” change our perceptions of the American Revolution? What happens when neighbor fought neighbor? Should these skirmishes be considered part of the history of Connecticut 1776? In addition, Steven Decsy, an Eastern Connecticut State University independent study student, will showcase early results of an ongoing effort to catalog and visualize the many battles and skirmishes that took place in Connecticut from 1775 to 1783.
   
• “What People Heard in the Pews: The Connecticut Clergy” – Nora Howard, Historian of the Avon Congregational Church & Town of Avon
  The power of Connecticut ministers to form hearts and minds is found in diaries, proclamations, newspapers, and sermons. Ministers in pulpits and on battlefields were captured, died in prison, died by suicide and disease, and went insane. This presentation includes words from the pulpit that inspired people in the pews - from white ministers, a Mohawk Indian and minister, a Black soldier and minister, and a Black female poet. They spoke words about sin, repentance, and turning to God. But their other words to the pews gave meaning, comfort, courage, and hope for the future.
   
• “The Catacomb of Loyalty: A Deep Dive into New-Gate’s Role in the Revolution” – Performance of the original play, “The Slippery Truth: Prisonbreak at New-Gate,” by Patrick Gabridge – Morgan Bengal, Museum Curator, New Gate Prison
  New-Gate Prison is recognized as the first state prison in the United States and served as a prison for Loyalists throughout the American Revolution. What can the prison’s history and the people who were once incarcerated there tell about the foundation of our nation? How were early laws enacted to force people to recognize a new form of government? Themes of citizenship, loyalty and treason were at the core of America’s early foundation. Join us to learn more about the darker (literally and figuratively) side of the Revolution and how our small museum is embracing these themes in our 250th programming.

Session 3

• Association for the Study of Connecticut History (ASCH) Panel – “Encountering Revolutionary Narratives: Education and Memory”
  Steve Armstrong & Allison Norrie - America 250 within the context of public education Natalie Belanger & Sally Whipple - museum narratives and approaches to America 250 Jeffrey O’Leary - Nathan Hale statue and its restoration at Mitchell College Thomas Balcerski and Anna Beecher - discussion/overview of spring 2026 issue of Connecticut History Review: “1776 in Connecticut”
   
• “Steady Habits, Revolutionary Change: Abolition and Emancipation in Wartime Connecticut” – Lucien Lafreniere, MA Candidate, Central Connecticut State University; Captain, Waterbury Fire Department; Combat Veteran United States Marine Corps
  Historians have noted that more research is needed to assess the size, impact, and character of abolition throughout Connecticut’s history. This research weighs the effectiveness of the abolition movement in addition to establishing a more accurate timeline of actual emancipation. This research also argues that the abolitionist movement in Connecticut, though small, generated outsized influence on social opinions about slavery due to a corresponding evolution of religious morality generated by religious leaders and slave conversion. Religious abolition coalescing on the eve of the colonies’ war with the British Empire created a focal point of change in Connecticut.
   
• “The Battle of Ridgefield: How Benedict Arnold and the Patriot Militia Galvanized Revolutionary Connecticut” – Keith Marshall Jones, Connecticut Colonel Publishing Company & Ridgefield Historical Society
  The day-long-running April 27, 1777, Ridgefield battle is examined in fresh, groundbreaking detail. Learn how the British expedition to destroy General George Washington’s primary New England supply depot in Danbury failed to stimulate New York Royal Governor William Tryon’s promised Loyalist uprising in Southwestern Connecticut. Discover the real circumstances of Patriot General David Wooster’s mortal wounding and General Benedict Arnold’s gallant barricade stand. Understand how the battle galvanized CT Governor Trumbull and the General Assembly to tighten screw on Tories, beef up state defenses, and impact the crucial action at Saratoga.

After Lunch Special Session:

• “What a Glorious Crash They Made: Musick of Connecticut’s Revolution”
  What A Glorious Crash They Made features a collection of “New Songs” and Hymns published in Connecticut during the American Revolution. From the time of the Stamp Act through the British surrender at Yorktown, Connecticut’s seditious colonists used these works to foment rebellion, commemorate victory, and give thanks for preservation. Richard Franklin Donohue, Tenor & Harpsichord, will share his original research and explore this fiery repertoire that in the words of John Adams “cultivated the sensations of Freedom.” The program spans the Revolutionary war years with selections like John Dickinson’s Liberty Song, William Billings’ Chester, Andrew Law’s Middletown, and several popular British tunes with “new” texts reflecting the cause of freedom.

Session 4

• Benedict Arnold –- Matt Reardon
   
• “‘The Web They Wove’: Women & Their Wardrobes During New England’s Revolution” – Rebecca Bayreuther Donohue
  Underpinning the sensationalism of battle reports & broadsides is the often silent steadiness of women’s work with textiles. The choices they made every day about fashion and fabric consumption & creation drove the course of Revolution just as determinedly as any congress. As southern New England commemorates the 250th anniversary of the War for Independence, it is these local lives dressed in fulled wool or spun silk that continue to inspire creativity, resilience, and empathy in us today. From the mythology of homespun to legends of midnight rides in red cloaks & calashes, the Dirty Blue Shirts share stories of women who waged war on multiple fronts as well as a look at what they wore as their worlds turn’d upside down. This program is presented by costumed historians and includes reproduction clothing pieces & fabric samples as well as a PowerPoint presentation with images of extant originals. – Rebecca Donohue
   
• “Partisan Federalist: Noah Webster’s Fight to Preserve the Republic” – Craig Hotchkiss, Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society
  Noah Webster’s writings reflect a profound depth of thought on the civic ideals and policies needed for the “united” states to survive and flourish as a “federal republic.” As one of the leaders of the emergent Federalist Party, Webster corresponded with and often debated the most prominent Americans of his time. Webster served as the editor of the Federalist’s American Minerva, the first daily newspaper in the nation’s capital of New York City, and as a spokesman for the Federalist Party. through the administration of John Adams. Ultimately resigned to the failure of his conservative, “republican” vision for America, Webster pivoted to undertake a new approach in his quest for national unity; after 22 years of toil, the monumental The American Dictionary of the English Language became his magnum opus and greatest contribution to America.
   
• “Engaging the Public for America 250: New Haven Museum” – Cynthia J. Riccio, Director of Programs and Planning, New Haven Museum
  As museums nationwide prepare for America 250, this presentation examines how the New Haven Museum is using the commemoration to advance institutional priorities around engagement, inclusion, and storytelling. We will outline our planning framework, partnerships, and interpretive approach, and reflect on how America 250 can serve as a catalyst for long-term impact rather than a one-time anniversary effort. The discussion will include our public programs, the Whitney Library, and the upcoming exhibition, “New Haven’s Unfinished Revolutions.”

Session 5

• “‘On Command with Capt. Nimham’: The Continental Indian Corps of 1778” – Dave Naumec, Independent Museum Professional & Associate Researcher, Bywater Historical Services, LLC
  As early as January 1778, General George Washington considered the formation of a new Light Infantry Battalion which included a company of Indians drawn from the Continental Army itself. By March 1778, Congress approved Washington’s plans including “a body of Indians not exceeding four Hundred.” Abraham Nimham, a Stockbridge Indian Sachem and soldier of note, was commissioned Captain and his fellow Wappingers were detached from their Massachusetts Line Regiments. By July 1778 Connecticut Indians were also detached from their Continental regiments to join “Nimham’s Company.” At least twenty Connecticut soldiers can be tied to the Indian Corps. Enjoy a riveting presentation that focuses on the creation of the Corps and the ambush that led to the Corps’ demise.
   
• “Collecting the Revolution: Connecticut’s History, Objects and Memory” – Beth Burgess, Museum of Connecticut History, and Jodi Polsgrove, Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD).
  Using objects, archives, and places, presenters will tell the story of the CT and the Revolution through the lenses of memory and myth. Learn how our understanding and commemoration of 1776 has and continues to change over time, and the learning opportunities these relics offer us in this American moment.
   
• “To Provision Washington’s Army: 1776 and the Norwich Huntington Group” – Maggie Meahl, Independent researcher (specializing in New London County history)
  We know plenty about the pivotal year 1776 in American history—from the British evacuating Boston in March to the cold, starving Continental army troops surprising the Hessians at Trenton, NJ, on Christmas Day. But do we really know what it takes to provision an eighteenth-century army with virtually no government infrastructure, funds, or military administration? Learn how the Huntingtons, of the inland port of Norwich, CT, and their maritime associates facilitated the transfer of Continental Army troops from Massachusetts to Manhattan throughout 1776. Discover how savvy ship captains shuttled these troops and equipment at Norwich’s wharves at the behest of the merchant Huntington brothers: Joshua and Andrew. The information presented is based on primary source materials from the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History in Hartford, and other primary sources.
   
• “From Print to Patterns: Quantifying Desertion in Connecticut’s Revolutionary War Newspapers” – Dana Meyer
  Hidden in Connecticut newspapers and muster rolls, the stories of Revolutionary War deserters reveal a largely untold history. This presentation uses digital aggregation and analysis of over 200 newspaper advertisements alongside enlistment records to uncover patterns in demographics, enlistment terms, seasonality, and community responses. Newspapers, often partisan and propagandistic, shaped public understanding of military service while functioning as a disciplinary infrastructure, enlisting civilian enforcement and exposing the limits of state authority. By combining computational analysis with close readings of print, attendees will see how digital methods illuminate the human, institutional, and geographical dimensions of desertion during the Revolutionary War.