By Valentina Toro
Contributor
The names of Black Civil War soldiers emerged from weathered stone on Nov. 20, as volunteers cleaned headstones at Westville Cemetery, revealing history that had long been fading from public memory.
The event, hosted by the Veterans’ Office and Department of History, brought students and community members together for a hands-on preservation effort focused on the 29th anniversary of Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment and other Black Civil War veterans.
“I’m really thankful that Jason included us. I think it’s great that we have this much history in New Haven,” Britt Conroy, the university’s coordinator of Veteran, Military and Adult Learner Services, said. “Maybe nobody has been here to visit them in a hundred years, and that’s a pretty big deal.”
For many volunteers, the work was both a lesson in history and a reminder of the long-lasting costs of war.
Professor Jason Smith, who works within the history department, said the project exposes students to the human impact behind military service.
“I hope that it gives people a sense of the cost of war and the tolls of war,” Smith said. “This is a concrete way for people to engage, remember and do something productive that makes people feel good.”
Cleaning the headstones also helped students connect New Haven’s present-day community with its past.
Participants worked in small groups to scrub away moss and dirt, gradually restoring the bright white surfaces of headstones belonging to soldiers who served more than 150 years ago.
Business administration major Francisco Cortes, a freshman who was volunteering at the event, said the experience changed the way he views local history.
“I think this is a really important way of showing how much I appreciate the New Haven community, along with all the people who sacrificed their lives for this country,” Cortes said.
Smith said the project also encourages students to ask deeper questions about the individuals buried in the cemetery.
“It gets people to ask questions about who these people were,” Smith said. “It reminds us that society owes veterans something, whether from Iraq and Afghanistan or the Civil War.”
The restoration work revealed just how fragile historical memory can be. Several stones had become so discolored that names and dates were nearly unreadable before volunteers began cleaning.
For Conroy, the transformation underscored the significance of the effort.
“You can see some of the stones are super discolored, and the ones we’ve cleaned off are brilliant white,” Conroy said. “You couldn’t even read some of these names before.”
As volunteers finished their work, some students said the project encouraged them to reflect on what it means to serve a community.
Cortes said the lessons extended far beyond the cemetery.
“It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture,” Cortes said. “Taking a couple hours to make sure these gravestones are clean is a way to ensure they’re not forgotten.”
