Connecticut's Civil War Monuments

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Shailerville Tylerville Cemetery
SR 154 and Camp Bethel Road
Haddam, CT

Dedicated: ca.1880s
Type: Brownstone obelisk
Height: 13', 6"

BROOKS MONUMENT, Haddam, is significant historically because it records the death by starvation of two brothers who served in the Civil War from Haddam. Casualties and deaths attributed to the war but not battle-related created many family tragedies. The fate of the brothers William and George Brooks is especially poignant.

William D. Brooks enlisted on August 12, 1862, was mustered in on August 24, and promoted to corporal on February 24, 1863. After being captured at Plymouth, North Carolina, on April 20, 1864, he died at Andersonville Prison, Georgia, on August 8, 1864. George S. Brooks enlisted, was mustered in, and was captured with his brother. George was released from Andersonville on February 22, 1865, only to die of starvation at Wilmington, North Carolina, on March 6, 1865.

See BANNING AND ROWE MONUMENT, Hartland, for similar tragic accounts of two other Connecticut soldiers captured at Plymouth on the same day. In that action 436 men of Company F, 16th Connecticut Volunteers, were captured, killed, or wounded. Survivors tore their flag apart, each man keeping a piece. In 1879 the pieces were put together to form a banner now in the Hall of Flags, Connecticut State Capitol.

Regrettably, information regarding BROOKS MONUMENT, such as whether the brothers are interred here, when the monument was erected, and any special circumstances regarding the decision to memorialize the brothers, is not at hand. It may be that the stone was not cut until after the death of the father in 1905 (see lettering below).

BROOKS MONUMENT is significant artistically because it is a good example of l9th-century stonecarving. The overall proportions of base, dado, and shaft are standard but good. The moldings between the components of the monument make effective transitions, and the die and obelisk shaft are embellished to a high degree. The shield on the front and the trophies on the sides are robust and well-detailed. The funerary cloth at the top is naturalistic and detailed, even to the tassels. Stonecarving of this general character is found in many 19th-century Connecticut cemeteries, but BROOKS MONUMENT is above average in extent and quality of workmanship.

BROOKS MONUMENT is a brownstone obelisk located opposite the main gate and toward the back of the Shailerville Tylerville Cemetery, which is a small flat area of 1.9 acres. The monument is the Brooks family gravestone; it incorporates memorial inscriptions to two sons, stating that they starved to death while prisoners of war.

A low mound of earth surrounds the monument. From its high base, torus, cavetto, and fillet moldings make the transition upward to the foot of the dado. Cyma and torus moldings carry the design from dado to the base of the obelisk, which is fluted, front and rear. In addition to the shield on the front of the die, a Civil War trophy of crossed flags, rifles fitted with bayonets, and wreath is raised on the east and west sides of the shaft. The top of the obelisk is covered with a funerary cloth, raised and striated to create the effect of drapery. Tassels, in stone, hang down from the top on the east and west sides.

Front (north) face of dado base, raised caps:

    Above, face of die, caps incised in raised shield:

East:

West:

Libby M. Kaye, Haddam Municipal Historian, letter, June 2, 1994.