Winner of the 2023 Connecticut Society of Genealogist’s Literary Awards (Genealogical Resource Category)

In May 1783, as the Revolutionary War was nearing its end, the Society of the Cincinnati was formed by its officers, some of whom had served together for as long as eight years, as a way for them to maintain their friendships and provide for their widows and orphans. The Society was named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a Roman general who had left his farm and family to fight for his country, as did George Washington centuries later.

This book contains 715 fully cited genealogical and biographical sketches of all qualified propositi of the Connecticut Society, including renowned heroes such as Capt. Nathan Hale, Gen. Jedediah Huntington, Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons, Gen. Israel Putnam Sr., Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, and Gen. David Wooster. It includes all Original Members and all who qualify under some other basis of the original or amended Institution, including, but not limited to, Died in Service, Rule of 1854, Deranged (retired by consolidation), or Served to End of War.

Volume 1: Thomas Abbe – Cornelius Higgins
Volume 2: Joseph Higgins – Samuel Sanford
Volume 3: Abijah Savage – John Yates/Yeats

About the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut

Near the end of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army officers sought to “perpetuate the memory of that vast event.” Moreover, many of them had not received full payment for their service.

They realized that maintaining communication with one another via the newly formed Society of the Cincinnati would facilitate their ability to pressure Congress to pay what was owed them. In addition, since many had spent their prime years in the military, rather than improving and expanding their farms and trades, they also wanted to establish a pension system for themselves and their widows. Some of these officers suffered grievous wounds, some paid the ultimate sacrifice, but all contributed to the defeat of the British oppressors and helped to establish our newly freed country. Although a few are well known, most were common men who provided invaluable military service but whose legacies have faded in the mists of time. These volumes are a long-overdue effort to memorialize the facts pertaining to the lives of those brave officers who fought for Connecticut regiments and are Qualified Propositi of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut. It also is important to note what they accomplished and why they did it.

Edited by J. Michael Phelps

6 x 9 hardcover; 2,774 pages in three volumes; illustrated