By Brianna Wallen, SCSU Journalism student
In a sunlit corner of a Milford home, a musket rests on the wall — a relic from a war fought nearly 250 years ago.
With its trigger frozen in place, the unloaded musket connects Richard Platt to his ancestors and the fight for American independence.
Platt, who served as Milford’s town historian from 1998 until 2014, traces his Milford roots back 11 generations, when his ancestors helped found the city.
The Brown Bess was first owned by Platt’s fourth great-grandfather, Capt. Joseph Platt, who fought in the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolution.
According to family stories, Capt. Platt was retreating from the battlefield when he stumbled over the body of a fallen soldier. He then reached down, picked up the musket and brought it home. This was seen as a badge of survival from one of the American Revolution’s earliest battles.
For years, the story went that the weapon had belonged to a dead Hessian — a German troop hired by the British to fight in the war. But after some research, Platt began to doubt that claim.
“When I read David McCullough’s 1776, it said very few Hessians actually saw action in that battle,” Richard said. “And a reenactor I spoke to told me the Hessians didn’t even carry British-issued muskets—they had their own. So I think my great-great-great-great-grandfather was mistaken. It was probably a British soldier.”
After the war ended, Capt. Platt joined the Milford Grenadiers, a ceremonial militia unit that paraded the town as a symbol of protection and security. Richard Platt has his ancestor’s sword, a gleaming saber with an eagle-shaped handle, hanging on the wall in his living room.
Keeping stories alive would later become Richard Platt’s life mission. As the town’s historian, he worked to protect the town’s landmarks, delay demolition permits for older buildings and led walking tours of the city’s green.
“I wasn’t just writing history,” Platt said. “I was preserving it.”
His wife, Jane, also has deep roots to the area. Through her father’s side, she is a descendant of one of the founders of New Haven.
“We’re both historians, so we’re both interested in history,” Jane Platt said. “My ancestor was Matthias Hitchcock.”
For both Richard and Jane, history extends far beyond names and dates.
“I take deep pride in being from Milford and being able to inform others about the past,” Richard Platt said.
Brianna Wallen, a journalism student at Southern Connecticut State University, reported this story in 2025 as part of Journalism Capstone coursework on the Revolutionary War.