George H. Hutchins was a resident of Mansfield on August 11, 1862 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. D of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was struck on the head with a piece of shell while lying in a rifle pit in front of Petersburg, Virginia on June 30, 1864; he died on July 1, 1864.
The descriptive muster roll of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry lists his age as 35 and his occupation as farmer. He is described as 5’ 7” tall with a fair complexion and blue eyes and brown hair. His marital status is married.
In the 1860 U.S. census in Mansfield, he is a 29 year old farm laborer and head of household. He was born about 1831 in Pomfret, and married 16 year old Harriet Elizabeth Parish of Brooklyn on August 17, 1847 in Brooklyn, Connecticut. They were enumerated in the 1850 U.S. census in Mansfield.
He left the following children when he died: Clyanna E. Hutchins, 15, born about 1849; Henry T. Hutchins, 9, born about 1855; Mary J. Hutchins, 6, born about by 1858 and John A. Hutchins, 4, born about 1860.
On October 20, 1864, his widow applied for a pension, No. 69,366 that was granted under certificate No. 47,012. Harriet (Parish) Hutchins married second, Charles W. Nichols, a comrade of her first husband from Co. D of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. The two youngest Hutchins children, Mary J. and John A. were living in their household in 1870. H. Nichols applied for guardianship for the children on August 21, 1969. Harriet no longer qualified for a widow’s pension when she remarried, but the minor children were entitled to a pension.