100 Year-Old Time Capsule from Europe During WWI--
Former Confederate Nurse and Great-Granddaughter of Benedict Arnold’s Would-Be Slayer Speaks from Grave
Message will be read at Anna Warner Bailey Chapter’s annual tea fundraiser on October 25
Groton, Conn.— After 100 years, the mysterious contents of a time capsule were partially revealed at the meeting of the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). The recently transcribed time-capsule letter and the life of the sender will be discussed on:
Saturday, October 25, 2014, 2-4 p.m.
"Tea and War-Weary Message from Century-Old Time Capsule"
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 15 Pearl St., Mystic, CT
Keynote Speaker: Lisa Saunders, author
Admission: $8.00. The Anna Warner Bailey Chapter of the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution (CTDAR) will serve tea, finger sandwiches and dessert on bone china. Proceeds from the tea fundraiser will benefit several civic projects such as the Good Citizen, American History Essay and Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) student awards.
Over the past century, the time capsule was held in a safe at the Fort Griswold Monument House in Groton. Abigail (Abby) Day Slocomb sent the soldered-shut tin case to the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter in a wooden box from her hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1914 during the early months of WWI. Slocomb is the great-granddaughter of Abigail Dolbeare Hinman who tried, but failed, to shoot traitor Benedict Arnold with a musket through her window as he marched on New London ordering it burned.
The time capsule was opened on September 6, 2014, the 233rd anniversary of traitor Benedict Arnold’s burning of New London and the massacre at Fort Griswold in the Battle of Groton Heights, Conn., on September 6, 1781. The time-capsule message was written by the 76-year-old Abigail Day Slocomb on Thanksgiving Day of 1914. In keeping with her patriotic ancestors, Slocomb, the first regent of the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, hoped that sending a time capsule to her DAR chapter would inspire someone to read its enclosed uncensored accounts of the war in order to report the truth about it. She wondered how history would remember the Kaiser: “Is he a mad-man? thirsting for blood?”
Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Oct. 5, 1838, Abby Day summered with her family in Stonington, Conn., beginning in 1851. Abby married Cuthbert Harrison Slocomb of New Orleans and served as a nurse for the Confederate Army while her husband served as an officer. Abby found him among her patients after he was badly wounded carrying dispatches to General Robert E. Lee. Cuthbert died in 1873, and in 1888, Abby moved to Monument Street next to Fort Griswold in Groton. She named her home “Daisy Crest Over Groton.” It’s now a condominium.
As the great-granddaughter of Abigail Dolbeare and Capt. Elisha Hinman, a New London privateer during the Revolution; and granddaughter of mariner Capt. James Day, “who, during the War of 1812, deliberately wrecked his vessel off Point Judith to prevent its capture by the British,” Abby was asked by the Daughters of the American Revolution (founded 1890) to be the first regent of the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter (organized 1893). Under Abby’s determined guidance, the Chapter was responsible for the design of the Connecticut State flag and organization of the Monument House Museum at Fort Griswold.
In 1906, when her married daughter living in Europe became ill, Abby left her Groton home to care for her. Abby did not, however, stop performing patriotic duties. When what was to become known as the Great War broke out, she was determined that the truth would be told it: “…now in my old age I seek in vain for an absolutely unprejudiced & true History of those trying days!”
Janet F. Purinton of Mystic, Regent of the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, said, “We do indeed have many hours of history which we’re anxious to share. Historic Preservation Chairman Louisa Watrous will be opening, cataloguing and storing all the information in archival boxes, which will take a bit of time."
Abby did not live long enough to see the end of the war, which was one of the bloodiest wars of all time. She died three years after sending the time capsule on December 6, 1917, at the age of 79. The war ended on Nov. 11, 1918, on what is known as Armistice Day or Veteran’s Day. Abby is buried at Enzenbuhl, Zurich, Switzerland.
To see images and videos of the time capsule, visit: http://authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com/2014/09/tea-and-talk-on-100-year-old-message.html
For more information, contact Mrs. Janet F. Purinton of Mystic, Regent of Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, CTDAR, at: (860) 572-8780, awbregent@gmail.com.
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Connecticut State flag.
Designed by Abby Day Slocomb and her Anna Warner Bailey Chapter,
National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Based on the 1639 Connecticut
seal, the Latin transcription means, “He who hath transplanted
shall sustain.” The flag hangs in the Monument House Museum at
Fort Griswold.
The time
capsule at Fort Griswold Monument House was sent in 1914 by Abby Day
Slocomb, first regent of Anna Warner
Bailey Chapter, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, from Zurich, Switzerland. She addressed it to regent of the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter,
DAR. A letter from a U.S. Special Commissioner dated March 1, 1915, stated that the “package is to be passed at the port of arrival without examination of its contents, and WITHOUT DESTRUCTION OF THE INNER METAL CASE.”
DAR. A letter from a U.S. Special Commissioner dated March 1, 1915, stated that the “package is to be passed at the port of arrival without examination of its contents, and WITHOUT DESTRUCTION OF THE INNER METAL CASE.”
The opening of the century-old time capsule from Abby Day Slocomb to the
Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, National Society of Daughters of the
American Revolution. Cut open at
Fort Griswold Monument House, Groton, by
Joe de la Cruz of Hillary Company, a metal-fabrication manufacturer. The portrait of Abby Day Slocomb is in the background.
One of several hand-sewn linen
packets pulled from time capsule.
The portrait of Abigail Dolbeare Hinman by Daniel Huntington was commissioned by her grandson, Thomas Day, and completed in 1856. The portrait was donated to the
Lyman Allyn Art Museum of New London, Conn., by a descendent.
Contact: Rebecca Marsie, Communications Coordinator, 860.443.2545 x112 / marsie@lymanallyn.org o
or
Erin Walker
Collections Assistant
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
625 Williams Street
New London, CT 06320
Image is used on the cover of the 2006 book, “Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence,” by Carol Berkin.
***
About the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution:
Chapter meetings/luncheons are 2nd Thursday of Oct-Dec, Mar - Jun, 11 a.m. September meetings held on the 6th to commemorate Battle of Groton Heights.
Mission of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution: to perpetuate the memory and the spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence; to promote the development of an enlightened public opinion, and to foster patriotic citizenship.
Any woman is eligible for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution who is not less than 18 years old and who is descended from a patriot of the American Revolution.
For more information, contact Mrs. Janet F. Purinton of Mystic, Regent of Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, CTDAR, at: (860) 572-8780, awbregent@gmail.com.
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