The Last Man Connecticut Lost

Quick answer: Who was the last man killed in Connecticut during the American Revolution?

Phineas Meigs, 73, of East Guilford (now Madison). On May 19, 1782, seven months after Yorktown, British brigs drove a flour schooner onto the rocks. Meigs answered the alarm, sent his fourteen-year-old grandson home, and was killed on the beach. His bullet-holed hat survives in a Hartford museum.

John met Phineas Meigs on a roadside history sign at a Connecticut rest stop: a photo of a broad-brimmed wool hat with two holes through the crown. The Revolution is supposed to have ended at Yorktown in October 1781, but peace was more than a year away, and British warships and Loyalist raiders still worked Long Island Sound. At first light on May 19, 1782, two British brigs ran a flour schooner onto the rocks off East Guilford, now Madison. A sergeant fired one shot to raise the alarm, and men came out with whatever they kept by the door. Meigs was seventy-three and owed the war nothing. He came down the lane with his fourteen-year-old grandson, then stopped, gave the boy's musket to an unarmed neighbor, and sent the boy home. On the beach, the militia saved the schooner. A ball from a barge struck Meigs in the head. His grandson kept the hat and, in 1850, gave it to the museum in Hartford as a memorial.

Why it matters for leaders: Service doesn't wait for permission or the official end of a fight; it answers the alarm and protects the next generation.

Q: What happened to Meigs's grandson?

A: He lived, kept the hat, and in 1850 donated it to the Connecticut Historical Society as a memorial; he died the following year at 82.

Q: Where is the hat today?

A: At the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History in Hartford, with entry and exit holes a few inches apart.

Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/the-last-man-connecticut-lost

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation