At the Anderson Memorial Gun in the Yantic Cemetery one can find concentric circles of soldiers' graves with a 30-pounder Parrot rifle mounted on an iron carriage at the center next to an American flag that flies day and night. Of the 30 men from Norwich who were captured and interred at Andersonville, 15 died from starvation, exposure, disease, or execution. In early 1866 Norwich became the first Northern city to retrieve the bodies of its soldiers who had perished there when they brought back the remains of 9 of the 15 soldiers who could be identified. A public service for their re-interment was held on February 1st, 1866 which was preceded by the closing of local businesses and a parade then followed by an 8-course dinner at the Chelsea Hotel.
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from a member 9/2012:
He was born Sept 10, 1820 Thetford, Orange County, Vermont, United States. He was the son of James Downer Jr (10/23/1761 - 3/8/1849) Find A Grave Memorial# 90469489 and Hannah (Little) Downer (1781 -6/10/1836) # 90469599.

At the Anderson Memorial Gun in the Yantic Cemetery one can find concentric circles of soldiers' graves with a 30-pounder Parrot rifle mounted on an iron carriage at the center next to an American flag that flies day and night. Of the 30 men from Norwich who were captured and interred at Andersonville, 15 died from starvation, exposure, disease, or execution. In early 1866 Norwich became the first Northern city to retrieve the bodies of its soldiers who had perished there when they brought back the remains of 9 of the 15 soldiers who could be identified. A public service for their re-interment was held on February 1st, 1866 which was preceded by the closing of local businesses and a parade then followed by an 8-course dinner at the Chelsea Hotel.
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from a member 9/2012:
He was born Sept 10, 1820 Thetford, Orange County, Vermont, United States. He was the son of James Downer Jr (10/23/1761 - 3/8/1849) Find A Grave Memorial# 90469489 and Hannah (Little) Downer (1781 -6/10/1836) # 90469599.