NORWALK, Conn. — Among the more than 8,000 Norwalkers who are memorialized on City Hall’s Veterans Wall of Honor, there is one name that stands out on a newly added plaque naming 85 Norwalk veterans.

Thanks to the efforts of Civil War veteran Edwin Lorenzo Tuttle’s great-grandson, Norwalker Ed Isaacs, Tuttle represents the first veteran of that war to be honored on the wall.

Ed Isaacs holds the July 1865 Civil War discharge papers of his great-grandfather Edwin L. Tuttle in Norwalk, Conn. The (Norwalk) Hour

“Civil War veteran Edwin Lorenzo Tuttle, who is my great-grandfather on my mother’s side, along with his son WWI veteran Edwin Alonzo Tuttle, who is my great-uncle, were both recognized,” Isaacs said. “Edwin Lorenzo Tuttle is the first Civil War veteran to be recognized I believe.”

The plaque project was initiated by members of the Norwalk Veterans Memorial Committee.

“This is just a way of honoring the people from Norwalk – not necessarily born in Norwalk but also those who were inducted in Norwalk,” said Dan Caporale, NVMC chairman and Marine Corps veteran. “There’s like 8,000 names right now (on the wall). Every few years we try to update it because we get new veterans.”

With original discharge papers of both his great-grandfather and great-uncle in hand, Isaacs submitted their names more than a year ago to the NVMC for placement on the wall.

“The way it’s set up it that any person who has family who served and has the right paperwork can submit the paperwork to us. We were surprised to see a Civil War veteran,” said NVMC chaplain Charlie Williams. “We looked at it (the paperwork) and said, ‘Well, he certainly served and he’s eligible.'”

According to Isaacs’ research, Tuttle was born in Darien in 1836 and served twice with the Union Army during the Civil War. He enlisted first under his own name and a second time as a paid replacement for another Norwalk man.

“It was supposed to be a short war initially,” Isaacs said. “So people would enlist for six months to a year.”

Tuttle enlisted first with the G Company of 5th Connecticut in September of 1861, and mustered out (was discharged) in March of 1863.

Under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, the regiment fought the first two years of the war as a unit of the Army of the Potomac, participating in a number of battles including Winchester, Cedar Mountain and the second Battle of Bull Run, according to Isaacs’s research.

After mustering out, Tuttle was offered money to fill in for another Norwalk man.

“That was common then to be paid to go in someone’s place,” Isaacs said. “He had no schooling and worked as a mason, so life wasn’t particularly easy for him.”

Tuttle subsequently enlisted with the B Company of the 17th Connecticut Regiment and survived a number of battles, including Gettysburg.

After Tuttle’s service ended, he moved to Rowayton. Isaacs said his great-grandfather was a well-known Rowayton veteran. When Tuttle was 53, he married 22-year-old Emma Louise de Lombrado, the youngest daughter of Rowayton’s first mailman.

Tuttle supported his family by working at various times as a shoemaker in South Norwalk, a stonemason and a general laborer toward the end of his life, in 1903. He is buried in Rowayton Union Cemetery.

The addendum plaque was unveiled June 7 at the entrance to Norwalk City Hall at 125 East Ave.

“It brings tears to my eyes, it’s such an honor,” Isaacs said. “I try to have family members who served in the military recognized whenever I can.”

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