Virtual Trivia

Question 28: First Casualty of War

April 28, 2021

"Explosion of the Gun Whilst Saluting the U.S. Flag at Fort Sumter." From a sketch by B.S. Osborn, Special Correspondent of the "World." Illustration from New York Illustrated News, May 4, 1861,

The first Ridgefield casualty was Joseph Hawkins, but he was not killed in battle. How did he die?

  1. Choked on a piece of hardtack
  2. From disease
  3. Killed in a train crash on his way home
  4. Killed by a celebratory cannon
    5.

In 1862, when he was home on furlough from the 14th Infantry, he was killed by a cannon during a celebration he was attending in Norwalk.

In This Section