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Albert Hazzard is easy to notice at the Riverside Cemetery in Norwalk, given the prominent placement of his Civil War headstone. But of the 46 graves for men who died in the great conflict 150 years ago, seven are unmarked.
All 46 were honored Saturday. Five men dressed as Union soldiers placed flags in honor of those who might otherwise have been forgotten. A wreath was placed to honor all of them. The men fired a volley. Then Madeleine Eckert, a member of the Norwalk Historical Society, relayed stories of the soldiers.
They included Andrew Geddes, a Scotsman who had the misfortune of being captured and sent to the infamous Andersonville Prison, and James O. Jennings, great-grandson of Jacob Jennings, a Revolutionary War soldier buried at St. Paul's. He served in the 8th Connecticut Regiment.
"I was so thrilled to know. All we talk about is Jacob Jennings," said Eckert.
Then there Robert Bones, who may have gotten close to Abraham Lincoln he was in a jail in Bridgeport City Hall when the president came there to speak.
Bones served in three regiments; he was originally in the 28th regiment, but was absent without leave and transferred to the 9th Connecticut Volunteers. He was in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. Later, he was in the 17th Regiment
Before the war, Bones was counted in the 1860 census. He was in jail under a charge of excessive swearing. "My favorite," Eckert said. "How in the world do you go to jail for excessive cursing?"
Do you have an ancestor buried at Riverside Cemetery? Comment below!
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