The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en
Volume 15, Number 21
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Thursday, May 26, 2011
150th Anniversary
Berlin’s compelling Civil War history recounted By Cathy Nelson Special to The Citizen
(The following information is from presentations at The Berlin-Peck Memorial Library by Cathy Nelson, assistant director and local historian.) It’s 150 years later, yet the Civil War — or as it was then known, the War of Rebellion — still fascinates us. Recently, my husband and I visited Fort Sumter – very interesting trip. I had not realized that the issues around Fort Sumter had been simmering for several months, since December 1860, and then… Sunday, April 14, 1861 The first shots in the Southern rebellion or war between the states had been fired. The line in the sand
had been crossed. The War of Rebellion had begun. At Kensington Congregational Church, people took immediate action. “Rev. Hilliard was standing at the door of the church when Mr. Samuel Upson, Citizen photos by Olivia L. Lawrence church member and village postmaster, A scrapbook page about the flag came in, bringing at Kensington Congregational the news that Fort Church. Sumter had been fired upon. The story goes 1909 and also Connecticut that Rev. Hillard entered the Magazine September-Octopulpit, laid away his pre- ber 1900.) pared sermon, and delivered “During the following a stirring patriotic address week, the ladies of the whose echoes rang in the church held a meeting and, town for many a day.” (According to accounts in The See History, page 4 Hartford Courant, Nov. 12,
Who kept the faith
The hand-sewn Civil War era flag on display at the Kensington Congregational Church.
Local Marine befriended Iwo Jima flag-raiser By Nick Carroll The Berlin Citizen
“Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours,” goes a quote, by Wallace Bruce, often heard on Memorial Day. The sentiment seems to apply as Maxine Muscatello, 10, places an American flag on a soldier’s grave. Maxine along with other members of Junior Girl Scout Troop 66478, Cadette Troop 66492, and other volunteers, assisted the Berlin Veterans Commission by placing flags at over 400 veterans’ graves in local cemeteries last weekend.
Most everyone has seen the iconic World War II photograph of U.S. servicemen raising the American flag at Iwo Jima. But far fewer are aware that hours before photographer Joe Rosenthal snapped his famous shot on Mount Suribachi, a group of Marines had already erected the stars and stripes there. The guys in Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize winning photo were replacing that U.S. flag with a larger one. See Local, page 7
Berlin resident and former Marine Robert Quarti struck up a friendship with one of the original flag-raisers at Iwo Jima, Charles W. Lindberg, pictured in the foreground.