The obituary of Commander Ward shown below appeared in Harper’s Weekly.

His funeral was described in detail in an article by Robert Girard Carroon in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S entitled- James Harmon Ward The United States First Naval Officer Casualty of the Civil War. This is the most detailed description of his funeral that I located.

On July 1, 1861, Commander Ward’s body arrived in Hartford accompanied by Captain Ringgold of the U.S. Navy and Lieutenant Huntington of the United States Marine Corps. At 9 AM on the morning of July 2, the City Guard, commanded by Captain Prentice, marched with the remains to St. Patrick’s Cathedral where Father Hughes and other clergy celebrated a High Mass. Commander Ward had converted to the Catholic faith. The St. Patrick’s Church at the corner of Church and Ann Uccello Streets, shown below, where his funeral was held, burned down in 1875. The church there now was rebuilt on the same site.

His body was then moved to Connecticut’s Old State House where it lay in state in the Senate Chamber. The casket was draped with a flag and Commander Ward’s sword, and uniform rested on top of the burial case. Flags were festooned above and around it and mourning badges were all about the room. Hundreds of mourners passed through the Senate Chamber until 4 PM when a procession was formed and accompanied the hearse which was drawn by four black horses and draped in flags, to the North Cemetery, where the body was buried.

From Connecticut’s Old State House website– Located in the heart of Hartford, Connecticut, this building served as a home to all three branches of Connecticut state government from 1796 to 1878. Some of our state’s most important stories of freedom, democracy, and civic action– from the Amistad and Prudence Crandall trials to the Constitutional Convention of 1818– connect to this National Historic Landmark. Today, Connecticut’s Old State House serves as a history museum, gathering spot and place of civic exploration for thousands of local, national and international visitors each year.

My comments- Connecticut’s Old State House was also the site where the Hartford Convention convened in December of 1814. Representatives from five New England states met in a closed session to draft a series of grievances they had with the Federal government over the conduct of the War of 1812. They subsequently published a final report that is in the public domain (The Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates From the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island- Hartford Convention). Delegates were also sent from 2 counties in New Hampshire and 1 county from Vermont. No minutes were kept, and it has been reported that they discussed seceding from the Union although some historians doubt this occurred. Their issues became moot when Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans the following month.

The bells of the city tolled, and minute guns were fired while the procession moved through the streets toward the Old North Cemetery headed by the Hartford City Police and the 1st and 2nd Companies of the Putnam Phalanx. They were followed by a drum band, the 5th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers and their band, Infantry Co. B, Colts Guard 1st Regiment and band, Colt’s Armory Light Artillery Company A, and the Seymour Guard. The hearse came next surrounded by the Hartford City Guard. Carriages followed with officers of the State, members of the legislature, members of the St. Bernard Society, St. John’s Sick and Burial Society, the St. Patrick’s Society, and members of the Common Council. The streets were filled with a “saddened concourse of people” said the Hartford Courant and “The tolling bells, the minute gun, the muffled drum, the funeral music of the Armory Band, the reversed arms, the furled flags in mourning, and the slow march of the soldiery all conspired to render the scene solemn and impressive. The flags were at half mast, many of the stores were closed, and many were dressed in mourning.” At the grave site the service was read by The Reverend C.R. Fisher, Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and the Colt Guard fired three volleys over the casket. The pictures below were taken in the Old North Cemetery.