Albert Tracey Utley
In progress
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John Turner Wait was born in New London, Connecticut, on August 27, 1822. He moved to Norwich at a young age with his widowed mother. John studied law with the Honorable Lafayette Foster. He served as the State Attorney for New London County for 10 years. John served in the Connecticut House of Representatives for 3 years and was chosen Speaker of the House for one year. In 1874, he ran for LT. Governor on the Republican ticket, but was unsuccessful.
In 1876, John Wait was elected to the 44th Congress, where he served for 11 years. During the Civil War years, he fully supported the war and served as a speaker at numerous recruitment rallies throughout the state. When the war ended, he was made an honorary member of the Sedgwick Lodge, Post #1, Grand Army of the Republic in Norwich.
His home was located in Norwichtown. It was written at the time, “John T. Wait was a courteous gentleman, a respected neighbor, and an honored friend.”
He was married to Elizabeth Rudd Wait on April 22, 1842. They had three children, Marvin, Ann Eliza, and Mary Elizabeth. His son, Lt. Marvin Wait, was the first commissioned officer from Norwich killed in the Civil War.
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At the tender age of nineteen, Marvin Wait was the youngest officer in the 8th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment and the first commissioned officer from Norwich to be killed during the Civil War at the Battle of Antietam.
One of his fellow officers on the field of combat, Lieutenant Jacob Eaton, wrote:
“A braver man than Marvin Wait never confronted a foe; a more generous heart never beat; a more unselfish patriot never fell. Connecticut may well cherish and honor the memory of such sons.”
After the battle, Captain Hoyt of the 8th CVI Regiment wrote:
“Lieutenant Marvin Wait fell at his post while urging on his men into that terrible storm of shot and shell. He was a brave, noble-hearted man, and highly esteemed by all who knew him.”
The unflinching hero was first wounded in the right arm, which was shattered. He then dropped his sword to his left hand; he was afterwards wounded in the left arm, in the leg, and in the abdomen. He was then assisted to leave the line by private King, who soon met Mr. Morris, the brave, indefatigable Chaplain of the Eighth Regiment. The Chaplain then conducted Lieutenant Wait to a fence behind the line of fire and private King returned to his company.
Lieutenant Wait’s last words to Private King were, “Are we whipping them?”
*Place cursor over any image to magnify
IN MEMORY OF
LIEUTENANT
MARVIN WAIT
CO. A 8TH REG’T CONN. VOL.
BORN AT NORWICH
JAN 21, 1843
KILLED WHILE GALLANTLY
LEADING HIS MEN IN THE
BLOODY CONFLICT AT
ANTIETAM MARYLAND
SEPT. 17, 1862
Epitaph on Marvin Wait’s Memorial
After the battle, Captain Charles M. Coit wrote:
“If Lieutenant Wait had only left the battle of his own accord when first hit in the arm, all would have been well, but he bravely stood to encourage his men still further by his own example, and at last nobly fell pierced by bullet after bullet.”
Marvin Wait of Norwich, Connecticut, was a hero in the truest sense of the word
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