Pvt. Leverett Holden of the CT 29th at East Avon Cemetery

Rededication of Pvt. Holden’s gravesite with descendants of the 29th CT, February 2014

“You are the Pioneers of the Liberty of Your Race….”

Frederick Douglass’s speech to 29th & 39th CT before they departed to join the Civil War, January 28, 1864.

Pvt. Leverett Holden was born in Vernon, CT, worked in Hartford at the Wadsworth Tavern on Albany Avenue and eventually settled in Avon, CT. While in Avon he worked for a short time at The Avon Congregational Church cleaning bricks for their chimney, cut wood for a business in the center of town and lived on what is now West Avon Road in a small rental property. After his military service in the 29th CT, he returned to Avon to live out his life. His gravestone is from the early 20th century and is located in the East Avon Cemetery seemingly segregated from the other graves. The East Avon Cemetery Association won a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office to have ground penetrating radar conducted over and around his gravesite to determine if a burial took place there. It will be done during the summer of 2024. His gravesite was placed on the CT Freedom Trail in February 2023. Pvt. Holden was a freedom seeker who took his enlistment seriously and with bravery. For that we are all grateful.