Putnam Memorial: Encampment & Remembrance

COLLECTION HISTORY

The people behind the place.

Continental Army troops wintered in Redding in 1778–1779 under Israel Putnam’s command. State Parks describes cold, limited provisions and shortages of clothing and medicine. The site preserves traces of the encampment as well as later interpretation. [CT055-S01]

The 1888 obelisk and reconstructed camp buildings belong to the history of remembrance. The guardhouse was reconstructed in 1890, and the present visitor center began as an 1893 recreation pavilion. Original remains, memorials and reconstructions answer different historical questions. [CT055-S01]

The soldiers' winter of 1778–1779 involved shortages of provisions, clothing and medicine, according to the park's historical account. That experience must be distinguished from the structures later built to explain it. The 1888 obelisk, 1890 reconstructed guardhouse and 1893 pavilion belong to the history of commemoration, more than a century after the encampment. [CT055-S01]

The distinction does not make later memorials unimportant. They reveal what another generation wished to remember and how it chose to teach visitors. Original remains, reconstructions and a building adapted for interpretation carry different kinds of evidence. A photograph of a guardhouse can illustrate a reconstruction, but cannot be presented as a photograph of an original Revolutionary War building. [CT055-S01]