| JOHN BENSON MARKER | 5695 Main Street Type: Single grave
marker of zinc Designer, fabricator, and supplier: Monumental
Bronze Company, attr. JOHN BENSON MARKER, Stratford, is
significant historically because it identifies the man it
memorializes as "(colored)." Recognition of African American
Civil War soldiers as such is relatively rare in Connecticut.
See SMITH GATEWAY, Niantic in East Lyme, and SOLDIERS' MONUMENT,
Weatogue in Simsbury. A companion memorial next to JOHN BENSON
MARKER is not so identified. According to a local resident who
long has been interested in the cemetery, it is not unusual that
a black soldier is buried here. There are "quite a few" African
Americans in the burying ground, people who lived in the
neighborhood. JOHN BENSON MARKER, Stratford, is significant
artistically because it is a carefully designed memorial in
zinc, an unusual material for Civil War gravestones. The basic
segmental shape, flags, borders, and raised figure on the
reverse all demonstrate attention to detail in t