New England Civil War Museum

The New England Civil War Museum was established in March 1994. It is located within the Memorial Building, inside a former Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Hall in Rockville, Connecticut. Thomas F. Burpee Post #71 of the Grand Army of the Republic held their monthly meetings in the Grand Hall from 1890 until 1929. Camp #45 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, their direct heir have held their monthly meeting here from 1890 until the present, making it the oldest, continuously used GAR Hall in the entire country.

After the Post disbanded in the mid-1930s, its collection of relics, prints, paintings, lithographs, photos, and papers was turned over to Alden Skinner Camp #45,Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War which used the original GAR collection to begin a museum. Since then the Camp has collected hundreds of new items related to both Connecticut Civil War soldiers and the GAR in Connecticut.

The museum encompasses the Hirst brothers' collection (14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry), the Thomas F. Burpee collection (Colonel, 21st Connecticut Volunteer Infantry), Kilbourne Newell collection (14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry) and the Charles Weston collection (musician, 5th & 7th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry). A lot of the museum's original collection was donated by members of Burpee Post.

The Museum contains the O'Connell-Chapman Library, which has over 1000 volumes of Civil War literature, in addition to original copies of the 128 volumes of The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This was compiled by the US War Department and originally published from 1880-1901. The Library also owns the original Civil War map books that accompanies the Office Records and several photographs of local Civil War veterans.

The building has the Grand Hall, an outer room, and a kitchen. The museum and library, along with the hall and its rooms, are the property of the Alden Skinner Camp #45 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Fifteen years ago, the Museum acquired part of its original property from the town of Vernon. Once owned by the GAR, the property was annexed by the town and used as a jail cell. The room now houses the Ross S. Dent Reading Room.

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