2 Revolutionary War Tales Depicted In Hartford/Tolland Counties

TOLLAND/HARTFORD COUNTIES, CT — The tales of two men — and the monuments placed in their honor — depict both triumph and tragedy during the Revolutionary War that touched Hartford and Tolland Counties.

And they are fitting for Memorial Day in different ways. One is the story of a French nobleman who is celebrated for coming to the aid of the cause during the war and then came back for a victory tour. The other is the story of a common soldier's noble journey from a prison camp to his final resting place.

The Marquis de Lafayette is considered a hero in both the United States and his native France. He was an aristocrat and military officer who offered his services to the Continental Army. According to historic records, he commanded Colonial troops in several battles, most notably the siege of Yorktown.

He also played a role in the 1789 French Revolution and the one in 1830.

In Between, he came back to the U.S. for a glorious reunion with the nation. His famed tour from Worcester to Stafford to Vernon to Hartford and eventually to New York City in 1824 is celebrated with markers in Tolland and Hartford counties.

Historic records tell the tale of the marquis stopping at Smith's Tavern on the Tolland Green, near the Old Tolland County Court House, on his way to Hartford one September day. The American Friends of Lafayette decided to include Tolland on the Lafayette Trail and donated a marker to reflect the town's part in Lafayette's journey.

A few miles away, at the Lafayette Plaza section of Vernon, stands a marker where the marquises continued his trek. Records show Lafayette made a stop there and a monument at the intersection of state routes 30 and 31 depicts the visit

According to the Connecticut Historical Society, he also stopped at the King's Tavern near where the monument stands while visiting America in 1724.

The most celebrated depiction of Lafayette is a statue that was fashioned by American artist Paul Wayland Bartlett in about 1907. It stands at the junction of Washington Street, Lafayette Street and Capitol Avenue in Hartford, across from the Connecticut State Capitol and Bushnell Hall.

Heman Baker's return to the area was not so celebrated.

There is a small tract of land near the Main Street side of the Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine plant in East Hartford. It serves as a memorial to Baker, a sergeant in the Lexington Alarm Company who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Baker was captured by the British early in the war, came down with smallpox, and was released.

He tried to make it back to his home in Tolland but, after a month-long journey, never arrived. He was buried in a lone plot near what is now the the Pratt plant.

In 2004, then-Tolland Town Council Chairman Rick Field, along with fellow Pratt employees Ron Usher and Esther Jagodzinski, took an interest in his story and spearheaded the efforts to restore the grave.

The monument at Pratt thus serves as a testament to Baker and the birth of a nation.

Field said at the time he meticulously researched the circumstances surrounding Baker. According to "The Early History of Tolland," a company of men was formed immediately after hostilities broke out in Lexington, MA, in 1775. The company roll lists Baker as the orderly sergeant.

Field has said that, according to a family history, Baker was captured near New York in September of 1776, but was released that winter after developing smallpox. He made the arduous trek north, but fell more seriously ill and made it as far as East Hartford.

He died in January, 1777, according to the marker near the plot.

Field said he led the efforts to preserve the gravesite to honor an "original American war hero."