Historical Society Ghost Walk Part 2: Young Charles Daggs, ‘A Freedman’ in Waterbury

June 5, 2021 | By David Luce 

Editor’s Note: Below is an edited version of the presentation by David Luce of the Waterbury Historical Society on Charles Daggs, a freed slave who moved to Waterbury during the Civil War. It was one of three presentations at the Memorial Day Ghost Walk at Hope Cemetery. 

As we commemorate Memorial Day 2021, let's go back in time. It is May 1861. Less than a month ago, Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was fired upon. Things in Waterbury are getting very busy -- the Civil War has begun.

Newly commissioned Waterbury residents, U.S. Army Capt. Charles Dillingham, son of then state Sen. Paul Dillingham (later governor), and Lt. William Wirt Henry (of whom you will hear more later) have been ordered to form Company D of the 2nd Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It will be made up of the local militia, including men from Waterbury and other nearby communities. 

David Luce delivers his talk about Charles Daggs at Daggs’ gravestone in Hope Cemetery on Memorial Day. Luce used a spray bottle with water to moisten the stone in order for participants to read the weathered inscription noting Daggs as “A Freedman” who died in 1864. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

The 2nd Regiment moves immediately to Washington, D.C., in order to protect the Capitol. They arrive in June and are quartered at Bush Hill plantation in Alexandria, Virginia. In fact, the regiment takes over the entire place! 

During the Civil War, many former Southern plantations were taken by the Union as "spoils of war." Richard and Virginia Scott were the owners but Richard had recently died and his wife, Virginia, had inherited the property. In 1850, slave records indicate there were 20 slaves at Bush Hill. Today we are speaking about two of them, Charles Daggs and Lorenzo Bryant. My talk focuses on Charles Daggs. 

Bush Hill plantation at that time was a significant operation. There was a 16-room house, slave quarters, numerous livestock, fields of wheat and rye, and apple and pear orchards. There was much work for the plantation’s slaves. The Scotts referred to their slaves as "servants," which might have been the term they used for their house slaves. But with the size of the place, many were doing farm and field work. Virginia Scott was reported by some accounts to be "secesh" -- a term referring to secessionists -- but she apparently had some Union sympathies as she continued to live in the main house for the duration of the occupation. The war brought great hardship to such a place and Virginia was doubtless glad to give up control. 

It was at this time that Charles Daggs became a "Freedman." I assume it was a matter of him simply coming over to the Union side, made easy by the fact that Union troops were now living at Bush Hill and the officers, including Capt. Dillingham and Lt. Henry, were no doubt occupying the main house. 

Charles Daggs almost certainly was born of slave parents at Bush Hill, in about 1843. I believe (because of what we will later learn) he was educated to some extent and probably worked as a house slave. 

Charles and Lorenzo Bryant must have impressed Capt. Dillingham because in late 1861, he sent them both to Waterbury with Lt. Henry, who was then on furlough for measles. Lt. Dillingham directed that Charles was to live with his parents, Sen. and Mrs. Dillingham, a sure sign of the respect he had for Charles. He would then have lived in the Waterbury family home that Paul Dillingham had built and which still stands at 6 No. Main Street (currently the office of Mansfield Orthopedics). 

Apparently, Charles (referred to in newspaper articles as "contraband," a term used to describe the fact that freed slaves were formerly the "property" of southern slave owners but now were in service of the Union) was a very bright young man. This is notable considering that many slave owners did not encourage the education of their slaves. Daggs did well in school in Waterbury, making "progress superior to that of any other scholar in school," according to one historical account. 

Unfortunately, his life in Waterbury was brief. He died in March 1864 of disease. There is an interesting if somewhat disturbing story about his burial. I believe this 1867 newspaper article might have been an attempt by opponents of by then Gov. Paul Dillingham to embarrass the governor, not unlike misinformation we hear in the news today. The account says that Daggs was buried in the Dillingham family plot although cemetery records indicate he indeed was buried in Hope Cemetery but in a different section from the Dillinghams.

Daggs’ gravestone with wild phlox left by participants at the Memorial Day Ghost Walk. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti