Westbrook Goes to War
Throughout the colonial period, Westbrook men fought in England’s Colonial Wars. During the American Revolution they contributed to the war on land as militiamen and at sea as privateer’s men. The colonies were ill-prepared to fight the British Army and Navy, so David Bushnell tried to even the odds. He invented an armed, one-man submarine and set it against the British Navy’s flagship. His inventions made long-term contributions to submarine warfare.
During the Civil War, Westbrook sent sixty-five men to fight and die to preserve the Union and end slavery. The memorials to various wars on the Green outside the museum building suggest the town’s commitment to serving the Nation and its goals for world peace. These wars were also hard on the Westbrook families left behind.