The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘People are forgetting our history’
Reenactor brings stories of Conn. residents, soldiers to life
CORNWALL — For historic character reeanctor Kevin Titus it’s a matter of making sure people do not forget the rich history of the famous people who once called Connecticut home.
To that end Titus most recently honored a local Civil War veteran who is buried at the Old Cornwall Hollow Cemetery.
“He’s always been someone who’s very important to me — he’s such a famous general,” Titus said, of Major General John Sedgewick. “We have famous generals and officers from other towns around Connecticut too, and a lot of people don’t know about them. What’s happening to our history? People are forgetting about them.”
Titus honored Sedgewick with a flag laying ceremony, gun salute and prayers at the cemetery.
“While we were there, people were just pulling over and coming up to the grave, or sitting in their cars and watching,” Titus said. “It was great to see people stopping and listening.”
Titus invited the Rev. Alex Gorecki from Christ
Castle Church in North Canaan, and fellow reeanctor Michael Esposito, a resident of Massachusetts, to participate in the ceremony.
Titus noted, “when you do something like we did Sunday, people notice. They come over to watch, and it’s great. They learn about history.”
Gorecki said he had never prayed over the grave of a Civil War soldier before.
“I read from the Book of Common Prayer,” he said. “I blessed the graves and the people who were buried there. I loved being there.
“I have a couple degrees in history, and I was really glad that Kevin invited me,” he said.
Sedgewick, of the Union Army, was born in 1813 and died May 9, 1864 in action in the battlefield at Spotsylvania Courthouse Virginia. His home was just down the road in Cornwall, Titus said. Titus, represented a member of the 4th Dismounted Calvary Unit, and Esposito, represented the 1st U.S. Infantry, and also honored an unknown Confederate soldier who is buried near Sedgewick.
“Sedgewick was born at end of the War of 1812, and just 32 years later, he would fight in a war with Mexico,” Titus said. “In just 16 more years, he would answer the call to war once again, the American Civil War.”
After being wounded in 1862, Sedgewick returned to Connecticut and built a house on Hautboy Hill Road, but was called to service again in 1863, and given command of the 6th Army Corps of the Potomac. Titus said Sedgewick was close friends with President Abraham Lincoln.
“He was so well loved by all his men that they called him Uncle John,” Titus said. “On May 9, 1864 at 2 p.m., he noticed that his men were hiding, taking cover from wild bullets. He was annoyed that they were worried, and said, ‘They could not hit the side of an elephant at this range.’”
A moment later, Titus said, Sedgewick was hit in the left eye by a sharpshooter, and fell dead from his horse.
“When Lincoln heard of the loss, he exclaimed ‘My God. I have lost my right arm!’” Titus said. “Sedgewick was the highest ranking officer to die from either side in the Civil War.” After his funeral in Washington, DC, Sedgewick was buried in Cornwall in May 1864.
Titus, a resident of Huntsville in Falls Village, is a historian, actor and radio broadcaster who has appeared in television and movies on memorable people, and said he has played roles such as George Reeves, known for his role as Superman in the 1950s; President Warren G. Harding, British General Benedict Arnold, pilots Charles Lindberg and Emilio Carranza.
His favorite portrayals, however, are veterans from the United States’ long war history. “I like to bring up more about our local history and our heritage,” Titus said. “There are many Civil War veterans buried around here.”
Titus has represented historical figures and events for more than 40 years, and travels the country to portray them. This summer, he plans visits to West Virginia, New Jersey and Connecticut. His company is DEOA Historical Productions, and he belongs to a number of associations that support his work — the North and South Reenactors, Army of the Potomac, Army of North Virginia, and others that promote American history education. “We have Facebook pages, and we invite each other to our programs,” Titus said. “We go all over the country.”
The Titus family has connections to the Civil War, he said, and acting out a character began when he was a child and spent time with his uncle, actor Bill Shipley, who was in “Car 54” on TV. “It just happened; I recreated a Civil War drummer boy when I was 14 or 15, and I just started doing it more and more,” Titus siad. “I’ve portrayed every character you can think of.”