DOB/DOD: November 24, 1842 (Collinsville, CT) – March 14, 1903 (Hartford, CT); 60 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Sarah J. Mills (1844-1909) on October 17, 1867, in Collinsville, Connecticut.
CHILDREN: Two sons, William E. (died in infancy) and Caspar (1876-1909). One daughter, Katherine “Kitty” (1878-1882).
ENLISTMENT: August 18, 1862, in Canton, Connecticut.
WOUNDED: June 14, 1863, in Port Hudson, Louisiana.
DISCHARGE: August 26, 1863.
FAMILY: Born to John (1812-1845) and Tryphena Converse Simonds Creighton (1811-1884). One sister, Adelaide Simonds Jones (1838-1911). One brother, John C. (1840-1845). One half-sister, Ellen E. Creighton (1848-1852).
MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING: Civil War
BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army
UNIT: Company A, 25th Connecticut Infantry
DATE OF ISSUE AND PRESENTATION: February 25, 1899 (36 years later)
AGE ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT: 20
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Major William Edgar Simonds, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 14 April 1863 while serving with the 25th Connecticut Infantry, in action at Irish Bend, Louisiana. Sergeant Major Simonds displayed great gallantry, under heavy fire from the enemy, in calling in the skirmishers and assisting in forming the line of battle.
Before military service, William attended public school and Collinsville High School and graduated from Connecticut State Normal School in New Britain in 1860. He enlisted in August 1862 and was promoted to Second Lieutenant of Company I of his regiment on April 24, 1863. After his military service, he attended Yale University and graduated from Yale Law School in 1865. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1883 and 1885, and served as Speaker in 1885. In 1889, he was elected as a Republican to the 51st U.S. Congress, served until 1891, and was a United States Commissioner of Patents (1891-93). Author of Simonds’ Manual of Patent Law, Simonds on the Law of Design Patents, and the Digest of Patent Decisions.
From The Hartford Courant March 16, 1903
The Honorable William Edgar Simonds, formerly a congressman from this district, well known in Grand Army and political circles, a member of the Hartford County bar, and prominent in patent law and agricultural interests, died at his rooms in the Linden, No. 427 Main Street, shortly after 9 o’clock Saturday morning. Mr. Simonds had been critically ill for several weeks and had been in ill health for several months. His death was caused by a complication of diseases. Ever since leaving the volunteer Army in 1863, Mr. Simonds had suffered from stomach trouble, which he attributed to dyspepsia and which was probably a symptom of one of the diseases which ultimately caused his death. His home was in Canton, but he had occupied rooms at the Linden in the winter for several years.
Brief funeral services will be held at the Linden at 11:30 o’clock this morning, and the body will be taken to Collinsville on the train leaving the Central New England railway station at 12:35 p.m. Funeral services will be held at the Congregational Church in Collinsville at 1:30, the Episcopal service being used. The interment will be in Canton Center. The honorary bearers will be: Captain Edwin E. Marvin of the Fifth Regiment, C. V., Judge John H. White, Judge William S. Case, Meigs H. Whaples, treasurer of the Collins Company; Francis B. Allen, vice-president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company; John H. Thatcher, assistant adjutant ‘general of the Department of Connecticut, Grand Army of the Republic, with Mr. Allen, representing also Robert O. Tyler Post, No. 50; N. G. Williams of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and George W. Flint of Arlington Heights, Massachusetts.
The active bearers will be Edward H. Sears, president of the Collins Company; Harry E. Harrie, Dr. J. Warren Harper, L. P. Waldo Marvin, Emerson A. Hough, and M. Stanley Neal. The services will be conducted by Rev. James P. Faucon, assistant rector of Christ Church, assisted by Rev. C. E. Cooledge of Collinsville.
Mr. Simonds was born in Collinsville on November 24, 1842, and was descended through his father from the families of Simonds and (Daniel) Webster and through his mother from the families of Weaver and Converse, the latter tracing an unbroken line from Roger de Ceigneries, who went to England from Normandy with William the Conqueror. Mr. Simonds’s father died when he was 4 years old, leaving his wife with three children, of whom Mr. Simonds was the youngest. Mrs. Simonds was without resources other than the work of her hands but managed to educate her children. William was educated in the public schools of his native village and, when 16 years old, entered the employ of the Collings Company and thus was able to save enough money to take a course of study at the Normal School in New Britain, lasting a year. He then taught school until the summer of 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. He was soon appointed Sergeant Major of the regiment and was mustered into the United States service in that grade. He served with the regiment in the Department of the Gulf and, for distinguished gallantry at the battle of Irish Bend, Louisiana, on April 14, 1863, was promoted to Second Lieutenant of Company J. At a reunion of the regiment held in this city twenty-five years later, the late Colonel George P. Bissell, who was in command of the regiment at the battle of Irish Bend, highly complimented Lieutenant Simonds, with others, for the part they took in the battle, especially referring to the formation of a regimental line by Major Thomas McManus, Adjutant Ward, and Sergeant Major Simonds when the regiment was under a sharp fire. Mr. Simonds was promoted on the field for his coolness and bravery on that occasion.
Lieutenant Simonds was mustered out with his regiment on August 26, 1863, and decided to study for the law. He entered Yale Law School and graduated therefrom in 1865 with the degree of bachelor of law. He practiced law by himself for about two years and then became interested in patent law, which branch he followed all during his subsequent career at the bar. Mr. Simonds was the author of several works on patent law, which have been accepted by the legal profession as standards. They include the following works: “Design Patents,” “Digest of Patent Office Decisions,” “Summary of Patent Law,” and “Digest of Patent Cases,” the latter of which embraced all patent cases decided by the federal and state courts since the foundation of the republic. In 1884, Mr. Simonds was appointed a lecturer on patent law at Yale Law School, which position he filled for many years. He also held a similar position at the Columbian University in Washington, D. C.: His recognized position as a leading patent lawyer brought him a large practice which included causes before the United States Supreme Court and the circuit courts of the United States in several districts in the Eastern states.
Mr. Simonds was always a Republican in politics and was elected a representative from the town of Canton in the General Assembly of 1883. He was one of the leaders of the party at that session owing to his natural ability and his position as House chairman of the important committee on railroads. He was influential in the passage o of the “short haul” bill and in other measures of considerable importance. His action on the “short haul” bill was much appreciated by the manufacturers of the State. Mr. Simonds wasn’t re-elected to the House in 1885 and elected speaker, a position which he filled with good judgment and to his credit. He was an earnest advocate of the bill which established the Storrs Agricultural College, now the Connecticut College, and aided materially in the passage of the bill at that session. He was made a trustee of the college, a position which he continued to fill until recently by successive re-election by the General Assembly.
Mr. Simonds was considered an authority on the subject of agriculture and had delivered many public addresses on that important subject. He gave close attention to the subject of political economy and published several interesting articles on that subject. “Discontent Among the Laboring Classes,” which was published in the state labor report for 1888, and an article on “Wool and Woolens,” written about that time, are two of the most important articles written by Mr. Simonds in that line.
Mr. Simonds’s legislative experience brought him into prominence politically, and in 1888, he was nominated for Congress by the First District Republican convention and was elected, defeating the sitting Democratic member. He served as a member of the Fifty-first Congress from March 4, 1889. to March 4, 1891. His service in Congress was signalized by his successful efforts on behalf of international copyright law. It was the first international copyright law in the country, although the subject had been agitated in Congress and before the country ever since the days of Henry Clay, who began the agitation of the subject seventy-five years or more ago. Mr. Simonds was unanimously renominated for Congress in 1890 but was carried down in the Democratic landslide of that year.
In 1891, President Harrison appointed Mr. Simonds United States Commissioner of Patents, which position he held for two years. The administration of the office during that period was distinguished by the introduction of reforms in methods of administration and by many valuable reports to Congress. He rendered many judicial decisions, some of them on important causes which had held the attention of the patent office for many years.
Mr. Simonds was an orator of no mean repute. He delivered an oration on the late ex-Governor Marshall Jewell in 1883, a celebrated speech on the Gettysburg appropriation in 1885, the Memorial Day address in this city on May 30, 1887, a historical address on the centennial of the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard in 1889, and the Memorial Day address at Arlington Military Cemetery in 1993. He had delivered a great number of Memorial Day addresses in many cities and towns in the state. Mr. Simonds was quite popular among Grand Army men and with associations of old soldiers. He was one of the charter members of Nathaniel Lyon Post, No. 2, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) of this city and retained his membership in that body until transferred to Robert O. Tyler Post, No. 50, about three years ago. He was a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States and several social and benevolent organizations. He was elected department commander of the Grand Army in 1898 and served his term of one year with credit to the organization. During the early days of the Connecticut Western Railroad, Mr. Simonds was an agent for the town of Canton regarding its loan to the road, succeeding his father-in-law, Honorary A. O. Mills, in that capacity.
Mr. Simonds’s membership in fraternal organizations included the Sons of the American Revolution, Village Lodge, A. F., and A. M., of Collinsville, Pythagoras Chapter, R. A. M., Washington Commandery, No. 1. Knights Templars and Sphinx Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Simonds was married on October 17, 1877, to Miss Sarah J. Mills, the daughter of Honorary Addison O. Mills of Canton, by whom he had three children, one of whom, Casper J. Simonds, with Mrs. Simonds, survives him. He also leaves a brother, Albert Simonds of Stafford Springs, and a sister, Mrs. Leroy Jones of Collinsville.
From Canton Today Magazine + Today Publishing article, Simonds’ Civil War heroics merited Medal of Honor; David K. Leff; April 2019. Used with permission.
CANTON HISTORY – APRIL 1863 — Rising stiff and chilled on the morning of April 14, 1863, 20-year-old Canton native William Edgar Simonds awakened to a gray morning in Louisiana, where he was camped with several units of Union troops during the Civil War.
After a hasty breakfast, the men set out on a winding road following Bayou Teche. Eventually, they entered an immense sugar cane field in a place called Irish Bend. It was crowded with desiccated, breast-high stalks from the previous year.
On orders of the commanding officer, Col. George P. Bissell, they marched down the field, right wing deployed ahead as skirmishers. Suddenly, there was gunfire from the dense wood of magnolia, cottonwood, briars, vines, and palmettos growing nearby. Lead raked the dry, brown canes with a sound like hail on a window.
With the skirmishers helplessly pinned down ahead, the colonel shouted for the men to hit the dirt, load, and rise up and fire at an enemy who was all but invisible among the trees.
Simonds thought of the ambushed skirmishers cringing on the ground up front under threat of certain death. They’d been through a lot together since leaving Connecticut. Without warning or even knowing why, Simonds got up.
Bullets whizzing overhead, he kept low and painstakingly worked his way up from the rear through a hazardous no man’s land of muddy furrows and brittle cane stalks to where his compatriots were trapped under a withering enfilade.
The air was thick with acrid smoke when Simonds found his Civil War heroics merited the Medal of Honor, the trapped men. Breathing heavily, blood pounding in his ears, his face and uniform were spattered with muck. Startled by his appearance, the troops stared as if at a ghost.
Finally finding his wind, Simonds mustered an authoritative voice that commanded obedience and ordered the skirmishers to move. Urging them to keep low, he hurried the isolated patrol through the canes and safely back to the regiment under unrelenting enemy fire.
Although outnumbered and outgunned as exploding artillery shells rained down, Simonds and the other troops were eventually saved by reinforcements just as the end was drawing near. With fresh men on the field, the Union turned the tide of battle. For his gallantry in uniting the unit under fire, Bissell promoted Simonds from Sergeant-Major to Lieutenant. Following a congressional investigation 36 years later, Simonds was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for bravery bestowed by the United States.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society believes Williams Simonds’ Medal of Honor is in the Canton Historical Museum in Canton, Connecticut. On a visit to the museum, it was discovered the medal wasn’t there. The photos that follow are part of a display in honor of William Simonds in the Canton Museum. They were taken by the webmaster on a visit to Canton to document Lt Simonds’ final resting place.
Buried in Collinsville Cemetery, 18 Cemetery Road, Collinsville, Connecticut. Photos by Jeff DeWitt.
END